Begging for prayers

Do you watch the news? Do you get on Facebook? If you answered yes you probably have seen the coverage of Crimea in southern Ukraine. For everyone who isn't a history and/or geography buff I'll recap real quick. Basically Russia sent military personnel to Crimea last month but wouldn't admit they were Russian. They came armed and started by raiding the government buildings and having a new regional parliament voted in, with armed military presence there btw and then took over the airports stopping incoming flights and most outgoing as well. They also set up armed check points on roads leading to military bases and at the borders and outside bigger cities. Eventually they started taking over Ukrainian military bases. Last week the government in Crimea which is like a state held a vote again remember they're occupied by armed troops. The ballot had 2 options either become a sovereign state or become a sovereign state and then join the Russian federation. Now remember they were part of Ukraine, they didn't even have a choice to stay in their own country. Well obviously the vote was decided to join Russia (like they had a choice) anyway that brings it to now. They're still occupied and more troops arrive daily, they've begun making preparations to officially join Russia on the 30th. 

Here is how this affects us....our boys are from Simferopol the capital of Crimea. Remember Crimea is like a state so in comparison it's like Texas and Austin. One of the girls we wanted to adopt desperately is also there. Crimea becoming Russisn means there will be no adoptions from there as they banned Americans adopting from Russia. We are heartbroken and trying to fight even though we have been told it's impossible. Please pray for a miracle for our girl and for the many others stuck there because of this. They didn't choose this and have no say so over their own lives. It's a nightmare come true. 

This was in Simferopol right after the troops showed up, this tank is a monument in the city centre. 

This was protesting right after the troops arrived there. 

This was at the Simferopol airport

These are the kids that were listed on Reece's Rainbow but are no longer available to be adopted because of this....2 of those kids had families trying to adopt them. I have met 2 of those kids and there are several more older kids who had families coming for them. Most of the older kids have met their families. 

Faith

Now is one of those times when your faith is tested, it's pushed to it's limit. I'm not afraid to admit I struggle with just giving everything to God and not worrying. Right now I'm praying for miracles and trying to keep my hope alive that I can bring both girls home. The events going on in their country is heartbreaking and scary. Please pray for their country.....

March madness

Things are moving along with our paperwork. We had our fingerprints updated yesterday with USCIS so as soon as they come back I can get them and a few other things apostilled then ship then overseas for translation. We should be submitting our dossier in about 2 weeks depending how long the update takes and how long translation takes. We then just wait for travel dates. More than likely it will be at least a month before we get dates and those dates will probably be for about 3-4 weeks later. There is no way to really know.

So for now we press on and keep making preparations to the girls room and saving money for the trip and trying to fundraise. We still are needing about $9500-$11,000 depending on when we travel. As it gets closer to summer airplane ticket prices go up and train tickets in country as well. We are so close and I'm excited. The girls room is empty except for their dresser so we are going to paint soon and move 2 twin size beds in there for them. I bought a comforter to match one we already have and I'm excited to decorate their room. Ashlyn will need a new bed since we are taking the bunk beds she has now and separating them for the girls. So I'm looking for a nice used twin size bed for her room now. 

All the other kids are doing good, it's spring break right now but we can't reay do anything. We still have construction workers here during the day working on the handicap bathroom and new laundry room. Don't even ask how it's been being without a washer and dryer for 3 weeks with a family of our size. Let's just say I hate the laundromat. Anyway my 3 wild boys are downstairs yelling and screaming at each other over a toy AGAIN so I better go intervene. 

Happy Birthday from across the ocean...

It's Mashas birthday tomorrow, she's turning 15. I don't know what else to say right now, I'm to emotional over everything. I hate not being able to see her on her birthday, I hate her not being here for her birthday. That's all I've got today. 

Happy birthday we love you so much Masha. I pray you're safe and we are reunited very soon. 

This is part of a gift I sent her last year.

USCIS approved!!!

Yup you read that correctly!!! We are USCIS approved!!! Just awaiting a letter to go renew our fingerprints so it can be official!!! Once those are done and they mail us the results we should be ready to ship the last remaining documents to the girls country to complete our dossier!!! 

Only things missing now is the USCIS approval, Jared's letter from a DR ( the one he went to a few weeks ago did the forms wrong) and a document from our mortgage co showing we are the owners of our home.

Getting so close!!!!! Hopefully it will all be there by mid March and then we start the countdown of waiting for travel dates. Which could be anywhere from the end of March (highly unlikely) to sometime in May. I'm praying for fast travel but we'll have to see. Please pray for the girls country as it's experiencing political unrest and turmoil right now. 

Results from the shoe/clothing fundraiser

We found out our total today from the shoe and clothing fundraiser we did with 3 other local families. It was pretty disappointing, yes there are positives in it. We talked to a lot of people about adoption and hopefully increased awareness but it would have been nice to  have made a big chunk of money to use for our adoptions. 

We spent months collecting and sorting through clothing and shoes, lots of hours rubber banding pairs of shoes together and bagging clothing. Driving all around to get donations and begging our friends and family to do the same. 

Yes I'm disappointed but I'm trying to see the good in it.......the other 3 families feel the same. We tried and now we know that this type of fundraiser is super hard. 

So here's the breakdown of our total that we collected, what they charged us for freight and our "profit" that's split between all 4 families......

Soo.....back to the drawing board on fundraising ideas......huge, huge thank you to everyone who helped us during this. I know it was a lot of work. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Wordless Wednesday