If you know me at all, you will know that I am not the blogger type...if there is such a thing. I love to read other people's blogs, but have never had a desire to have one of my own. As I come to find out, if you take one step out in faith there is another step to follow that one and soon you are down a path that you could never foresee yourself on. So here I sit, creating a blog that I never thought I would; to tell you about the journey that I have found myself on, and to document it....so I don't forget it.
Around Easter time, I was blog hopping and found one which brought me face to face with the realities that orphans from other countries are faced with. I was particularly drawn to the Ukraine that has over 100,000 orphans! If that wasn't enough, my heart completely broke when I saw many faces of children with Down Syndrome (D.S.) that at age 4 would be sent to adult mental institutions for the rest on their lives. Most will not survive their first year there. I saw a picture of a boy that looked very much like my son, who has D.S., and thought of what his life would have been like if he had been born in the Ukraine.
I wrestled with my emotions, my selfishness of my time and my comfort. In the end, all I could feel God saying was "you can save one, it's just one more". He had already planted the seed of love in my heart for her and the tears I cried at the computer watered it, and it took root. So, I told my husband (thinking that he would bring clarity and tell me I was crazy, then I could feel like I had given it a good try and get back to my already full life) but instead he said, "Let's do it!" God had given us both a heart for one more.
We had no idea about the process of adoption, looking back now that was probably a good thing! We have just completed our last paper in a long list of papers that will now all need to be notarized locally, then authenticated with the county, and THEN take a trip down to the capitol building to get yet another seal of approval: the apostille. All will be boxed up pretty and sent to the Ukraine and then after they are satisfied with all of the papers, will invite us to visit their country.
Now it has come to the time when we are not focusing so much on the paper work, but realizing that we need to raise enough money to finish this adoption! We needed to create a place to share our information, as we know others have a desire to help save a little girl from the fate she was born into. Thanks for taking this journey with us!
