We Got It!

We got the passport with the stamp and we are going home tomorrow!!!!

Thank you to all of you who have followed, prayed for us and cheered us on.  We surely couldn't have done it without you and God.

We are so excited!!

I will continue to post here although maybe not daily like I did while we were here in Ukraine.  If you want to know when I post,  just put your email in on the top right of my blog and it will send you a notice.

~Tina

Well, "Definitely" Not

So for this to be a positive post, I will say that I am positive we did not get the passport today. Although I was told "definitely" tomorrow ( meaning today) I guess definitely doesn't mean the same to everyone.  I am not sure why I believed "definitely"because this adoption has been no where near "definite" at all except for the fact that Anna has definitely been great!

Anna and our facilitator travelled to Zhytomyr this morning and arrived to the passport office around 10 am.  The passport had not arrived yet and so they waited.  The time came and went for the package to arrive from Kiev with the passports in it so the reply, sorry come back tomorrow.  They will have to stay the night in Zhytomyr and tomorrow the passport with the background clearance "should be" in.

I am cancelling my flights for tomorrow (Friday) and hope to get a flight home for Saturday or Sunday.  If we don't get the passport tomorrow, it will be Wednesday before we can fly home.  The US Embassy is closed on Monday for Memorial Day so it will be Tuesday before we can have our final appointment with them.

God's timing; perfect timing.  He "definitely" has a good reason for all of this and that is a definite I can believe.

~Tina

Enjoy this video and DO LIFE BIG.

Good News

Anna will travel out to Zhytomyr with our facilitator tomorrow.  She was supposed to go today but the passport is not in.  The facilitator said it will "definitely" be in tomorrow.  We will go to the embassy in the afternoon and you know what, WE ARE COMING HOME on Friday.  Oh my goodness that sounds so awesome!

I'm so glad that God is so faithful!  This has been such a hard trip for me. But God showed me He had it on a daily basis.  Not sure who followed our other blog when we adopted Peyton and Caleb but God revealed Himself to me through butterflies.  So many times I would doubt and second guess and there would be a butterfly in random places.  It would be on a picture in a restaurant, on a woman's skirt passing by, a waitresses' hair clip, or dangling from the mirror of the taxi we would get in. Too many odd places to be a coincidence.  I reminded Peyton of that story and she said you know mom I have been seeing butterflies around us now.  I said I know Peyton, it's God's way of showing us it's gonna be ok.  He's got this. I'm glad Peyton got to experience this and hope she will remember for the future.

Did I say Friday we are coming home?  Yes!  The boys back home are so excited.  Please pray for our travels.  It may be busy on Friday with it being a holiday weekend.  We are going home!

(It rained today so not many pictures.)

~Tina

Do you see these things?  They are flying
off the trees.  Some days they are so thick
we get them in our mouth.  If you have allergies
be glad you are not here.

Can you see them in the air in
this picture?

See the rain clouds.

Happy Birthday "James"

First I would like to say Happy 10th Birthday to our first foster child, "James".  We love him dearly and miss him every day.  Hope you have a great birthday buddy and many more!

Anna continues to do great and is watching us to see how we do things.  She's not afraid to try and copy us and I'm so glad.  Peyton brought a word search book and Anna is sounding out the words in that.  She's doing pretty good but some of the English letters look the same as the Ukrainian letters just with a different sound.  I am so thankful she is trying.  I don't think it will take her too long to learn English as desire is half the battle.  She sure LOVES sunflower seeds.  She can crack them faster than I have ever seen.  I think we are going to have to stock up on those.  : )

Enjoy today's pictures.  Believing we will get good news tomorrow.

~Tina

This tells about the above picture.

This is the same clock we took a
picture of earlier.  It now has flowers
planted around it.

This bun is black because they put
octopus ink in the dough.  There are
also pink buns.  Beet juice is used in
that dough.  

Day 14

Here are some pictures from today.  Can't believe we have been here 14 days this trip!  We have been Skyping every day, for a few days now, back home and that has helped a lot.  Not too many tears but oh those sad faces that break my heart.  If you are helping in anyway to take care of my family while I am gone, know that I so appreciate it!

~Tina

Anna finally caught one of the cats
by our apartment.  Peyton kindly told
her, you need to wash your hands when
we get inside.  Ha ha!  That girl takes
after her momma.

Just Another Day

Nothing new today.  We are on day 13 of this trip and Peyton and I are just so done.  Anna just smiles and goes with the flow.  I'm so thankful for that!  We try to walk around each morning and afternoon.

Today and yesterday, in fact until 11 pm last night, there is a large group of people gathered in the open area by St. Michael's church.  (The one with the angels on the wall)  There are people singing and others giving speeches.  I'm not really sure what is going on but we are staying clear of that area.

We are still believing that we are getting Anna's passport on Wednesday and going home on Friday. Anna will travel out to Zhytomyr on Wednesday with our facilitator to pick up her passport.  Peyton and I will stay in Kiev.  On Thursday morning we will head back to the US Embassy for our second appointment.  We will then get a sealed package from the embassy with all of Anna's paperwork in it that will allow her to enter the United States.  We are excited for that day!

~Tina

Peyton had to get a picture of this store
front.  Can you guess why?  If you guessed
lots of pink, you would be right.

  

This cat is made of forks.  We saw this
when we were here in 2010 and was
glad to find it again.  There are a few
less forks but still so cool!

Sunny Day

Today we were glad to wake up to sun.  We ate breakfast in and then went out for lunch.  After that we walked around, took some pictures and then headed back to the apartment to Skype with Gary and the boys.  Please say a little prayer for my guys.  It's hard with mom being gone.

Hope you are enjoying the pictures. 

~Tina

We got to hold this falcon but no
pictures or we had to pay.

This tells about the statue above.