Darn, I missed a few days....

But here goes... we finally did meet Vika - before she came into the room, I was apprehensive and worried... what would she thing... and truthfully... then I wasn't thinking it, but I should have... her opinion truly didn't matter... however, she came in the room - and no words were needed... first we grasped hands and smiled at each other and then we hugged each other... it was done... I knew from the bottom of my heart that this woman was now family and we were blessed to know her and have her in our lives... and we would - we wouldn't let her go.. that wasn't an option.

We visited through our translator and Vika encouraged us to get the children out of Kharkov asap. She would do all she could to help us and she did... She got our court date set... and while we had to "pay" to have it set so quickly, to us it was a very small price to pay to move forward. We had been running into road blocks along the way... and when Vika came into the picture, she knew all the right people within the city government to move things along smoothly. Our date was set. We would go to court on April 13, 2001 ------ Friday April 13 2001. Now while this may spook others... it didn't spook us. This adoption trip turned out to be a Lenten and Easter Journey... Generally the Christian and Orthodox Calendars don't meet dates when it comes to Easter, with the Orthodox Church celebrating it later than the Christian Church. Not in 2001. April 13 was Good Friday on both Church Calendars. We would be given our adoption decree on Good Friday. AMAZING.

I have to mention that prior to leaving for Ukraine, I can honestly say that I had never truly felt what I had considered the power of prayer and being in the hands of Jesus. Even when my Mom passed away - I knew there was a comforting force, but I didn't identify that with with totally be held up in the hands of Christ and being carried through on prayer. But I can say that the moment we arrived in Ukraine I had the wonderfully calming sense of peace come over me. I knew that all would be well. While our translator worried every step of the way... both Paul and I were very calm throughout the process. All would be taken care of. We knew this. God was with us, holding us close and the power of prayer was lifting us up. I was euphoric in this knowledge. I still am.

Today, April 11, is also Pauls Birthday - we knew we would be adopting our children 2 days after his birthday... what a present for him....

The paper work was filed and

We went to visit the children when our translator was called into the Directors office. Turns out that while Anya's birth family wanted nothing to do with her... she did have a very special lady in her life. We refer to this wonderful lady as Anya's Fairy Godmother - since she had to be sent by God to give this girl the opportunity at life. Her name is Viktorjya Davydova - we call her Aunt Vika.

It was this woman who made sure that Anya got all the care and support she needed once she stumbled upon her sad existance. It was Vika who made sure that Anya was placed where she would have an opportunity to become adopted. It was Vika who was Anya's driving force. It was also Vika who wanted to meet the family who wanted to make Anya a part of their family and move her half way around the globe.

Now - one of the reasons I felt so strongly about international adoption was because you don't have to deal with the birth family so very often. But here we were, faced with meeting the closest thing to a caring family member that Anya had. There was no question, yes we would meet her. Still I was nervous. What would this person think of us. Would she want to challenge the adoption since we would be taking her to America? I was worried - not just about these things, but what would I say to her. It would be a the next day before we would meet her, so I had some time to ponder on these thoughts. In the meantime we got to gather our babies as we now called them and take and play with them. We played hard, read books, played quietly, played tag, and just experienced all this through their eyes. It was amazing.

Our sweet Benjamin didn't walk unassisted yet - but you could tell when his face would light up and his steps got more confident tha it would be a matter of time... His grip was very strong - and he loved cookies - we had brought Animal crackers with us for the trip and had they forbade us from feeding them to him while he was still in the care of the orphanage - then he would have doubled his weight in animal crackers.

Anya wasn't real sure about another child in the picture, but she quickly learned to enjoy his company... her big thing was she learned she could walk... errr... I mean RUN the corridors and we would just follow her... it made her giggle so much, that we'd laugh until our bellies hurt... Such a funny little imp.... and she looked like us.... Got had known for all those years of infertility and trying to have children of our own, that we had two special angels waiting for us. Mama just needed to get past the need to be pregnant. Parenthood is way more fun! :)

SO - Seven years ago, April 5 .....

There we were in Kharkov Ukraine, waiting for the children to be brought in the Directors office, and they were... seven of them.... about 3 kids into it, they brought in a precious little (and I mean LITTLE) girl who had dark brown hair full of curls, and she was just precious... so we asked if we could hold her and they let us. I knew instantly that this was my daughter. She was mine, there was no denying it. Yes, she looked like my mother at this age, and yes, she felt right. But when the translator told us her name was Anya... we were both floored... this was the name we had chosen should we be blessed with a daughter. There would be no further discussion about this child, if the good Lord would allow it, we would take her home with us. They took her back, and then brougnt in a more children. Eventually bringing in this beautiful little blue eyed boy with wild and untamed blonde hair. He wouldn't hold eye contact and was easily distracted by all that surrounded him. They allowed us to hold him as well and again. I think we knew that this was our son. With some discussion, we told the Orphanage director that we would like to adopt these two children - Anya and Vanya - she did encourage us to meet with the children one more time before we started paper work - so after their nap time, we did. It was obvious to both of us. These were our children.

The following day - we went and had the papers drawn up to start the process. It would be 7 more days and they would be ours. We didn't know it would be so quick... but God works in great ways.... you just need to let him.

Seven Years a Family

Greetings. This is our first entry in our new Family blog.

See, I got to thinking the other day, I don't always have time to update the kids website, but I do have time to jot down thoughts and comments as I go, so hey, a Blog could be perfect for us....

Then.... with it being our 7 year gotcha day anniversary just around the corner.... it just isn't a better time to put these things out there. I plan to update over the next week everyday... little things I can remember as we went through our adoption process 7 (starting 8) years ago. I is just so hard to believe that this time has flown by so very fast. God has been good and very gracious, and while we have our challenges, we also have some pretty special moments too... So please join us as we walk this journey and continue to grow our family.

This blog will contain things about the challenges we face. From Reactive Attachment Disorder, ADD, Sensory Issues, Post Tramatic Stress Disorder to Oppositional Defiance Disorder. One of the things I have decided was part of the deal is that it is my job as "Mom" to not only defend my children, but also to educate (not just explain the issues) those people who give me that "Your the worst Mom in the world look." So please be prepared for those moments of hardship that will be peppered throughout our joys as well.

Thank you for joining us. I hope you enjoy our blog!