Today was a good day! A beautiful, sunny, spring day in Colorado! For those of you who live in Colorado, you know what I mean! When the HUGE piles of snow are melting away and all of a sudden it seems like there are some little green spots in the grass! Then they grow bigger and bigger and bigger... it is really a good feeling!! Next week is Easter..how fitting. Jesus dying on the cross, then being raised from the dead and giving us new life in Him. Real physical evidence of new life all around us, created by the God of the Universe, and we can just stand looking out our window and see it happening...very cool! At church this morning I heard an awesome message about this week before Easter...what life was like this week for Jesus, the week before His death. How He stepped out in faith and fulfilled what God asked Him to do. How he followed the plan without asking "why?". How He trusted in His Father and in His plan.... We can look back, reading the Bible and say how easy it must have been, easy to follow the plan knowing what the outcome would be. Even knowing the death He would suffer we can say that! (That is seriously crazy!) But in our own lives it is so difficult to see what God's plan is for us. I have struggled with that so many times in my life. But this is one time that I am so excited to say I know we are following the plan. Maybe we haven't done things exactly right or when we were supposed to, but here we are now and we are where we are supposed to be. Somehow we made it!
What is the weather like in Ukraine? That's something I want to know! Is it like it is here? Are my girls enjoying the warmer spring weather? Are they getting to go out and get some fresh air? Have they been sick this winter? Are they okay? The more I think about that stuff, the more I miss them and worry about our little Alexandria and Juliana. It has been so hard for Madalyn, I know it must be hard on them, too. And Alexandria has some heart issues still...I know she needs medical attention! Praying for God to protect them and keep them safe and healthy. We are working hard to come and get you little ones!
I mentioned fundraisers last time. My most wonderful friends are helping me and giving me great ideas on how to raise awareness and money to fund this adoption. I could not have better friends than I do! Thank you--you know who you are!! I will try to update this blog as soon as we have more ideas and plans in place!

So, we have alot of experience with adoption....or so we think anyway. We have been dealing with attachment and behavior "stuff" for about 13 years or so. We've had several different homestudies done. A couple for domestic adoptions and one for an international adoption. My point...adoption has been on our brain for years! Sometimes it seems that it is a selfish thing on my part...I just want what I want. But I know in my heart that is not true. Something much deeper is driving this...or should I say Someone?

So we have got all our formal application paperwork in for starting our homestudy. It was ALOT of work! But it seemed easy considering it is stuff we have filled out or completed so many times before! Really not, but at least it was familiar! The last couple of days we have been running around gathering marriage certificates and certified divorce papers from the courthouse. We have to have certified birth certificates, too, and eventually get them apostilled from the state! Copies and faxes and emails, oh my! ALOT of paperwork...but really it seems so easy compared to what our sweet little ones are going through -- living alone in an orphanage. Our first homestudy appointment is April 7th. Hopefully once our social worker gets going on that it will all get done quickly. We don't want our little girls to have to spend any more time away from us than necessary!

Did I forget to mention regular life? It is easy to forget about that when your mind is consumed with adoption and what all that is going to mean for your family! We had our oldest sons here for awhile...that was nice! The younger boys are busy with school and sports. There is practice for some sport almost every night. We just finished basketball, we're in the middle of wrestling, and baseball practice is starting, too. Our 2 year old is such a helper and tries to do my laundry for me! He is so sweet and smart! He takes the laundry from the washer and puts it in the dryer...and starts the dryer for me, too!! It has been a long winter and the little ones have been sick alot. Madalyn has been hospitalized twice in the last month - respiratory stuff hits her especially hard. It has been so busy, but we really don't know life any other way. We just move from one thing to the other! But it's usually always a happy busy!

Now I have to start figuring out how to fundraise for this adoption. It is going to be expensive for sure, but I know that God will provide for this! He has faithfully provided for our family through the years and we truly believe that He will continue! He has never let us down!!

Wow! We're totally new to this blog thing, and keeping up with it is going to be interesting! But totally a blast I think!! So anyway...on March 18, 2010, it became official! We got all the paperwork in to Reece's Rainbow to commit to little Magda and Arianna! We can hardly believe it but we will soon become the parents to 2 more precious little daughters! It really is sooo exciting....what fun it will be to dress up 3 little girls!!! :) (We have 6 boys and only 1 girl, and I have wanted some more little girls for a long time now!)

It really is hard to imagine that we are actually doing this! To think we have children in another part of the world is so unbelievable, so cool, but yet so hard because I am thinking of them as mine. Are they being held and loved? Are they getting enough to eat? Are they healthy? I want to have them here NOW. Why can't it be easier to be able to bring them home?

A year ago today we were still reeling from the news that our daughter, Madalyn, would be born with Down syndrome and would have to have surgery for duodenal atresia at birth, and possible heart surgery later. As a matter of fact, it was about the 17th or 18th of March 2009 that we were first told she might have Down syndrome. It was a lot to deal with. It is very hard when that is not the news you are expecting. But we cannot imagine our life any different now. Or any better. We cannot imagine our life without Madalyn just the way she is...and the fact that we would not be here on a journey to Eastern Europe to bring home these 2 precious ones if that had not happened! Talk about a total God thing! He is in control at all times, and loves us so much and totally has a plan for our lives! (I love it when He reminds me of that!) Most of the time we don't see it...or we just want to see our own plan! But we are so thankful for it and we know without a doubt that this IS His plan.

Well, we are finally getting to the point in this journey that it is starting to get "real". We have decided to commit to 2 beautiful little girls and bring them home. Wow we can hardly believe we are here! But yet we know this is something we are meant to be doing! Adoption is an amazing thing. I have always thought that... It is because it is God's idea!!! We, as Christians are adopted into God's family through the saving grace of Jesus, and so what a wonderful thing that we can adopt into our earthly families the orphan, the fatherless child, that our Father in Heaven so desperately loves and cares for. It is so awesome to be part of that Divine Plan!!!!

What about these names for our precious little girls?

Magda -- Alexandria Margaret Hope

Alexandria means helper and defender of humankind
Key verse - He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Psalm 91:4
Margaret means pearl
Key verse - You'll be a stunning crown in the palm of God's hand, a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God. Isaiah 62:3
Hope means expect with confidence
Key verse - May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22


Arianna -- Juliana Faith

Juliana means youthful
Key verse - You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth. Psalm 71:5
Faith means loyalty, belief
Key verse - The word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all He does. Psalm 33:4