Tomorrow!!

Because of the holidays and the government shutting everything down for them, not many kids are registered as orphans within the Ukrainian government this time of year. Because not many are registered as orphans, not many are becoming available for adoption. In Ukraine, it takes a few months to get a child registered as an orphan, and then for the first year, they are only available for Ukrainians to adopt. After their first year as an orphan is up, they become available for international adoption.

This is a big part of the reason why we have not found a child yet. Yuri has been calling all of his contacts to try to find a healthy child for us. He even has Olig literally travelling all over Ukraine to different orphanages looking for a little boy for us. Because there are thousands of orphans, the SDA cannot present us all of the files. Typically they only show us the files of those who have most recently become available for international adoption. So Yuri and Olig have been scouring Ukraine, looking for a little boy who has fell through the cracks.

Yuri says they have found a few options for us, although he hasn't told us any details, not wanting to get our hopes up. What he has shared with us, has made us think he is finding older kids, as in 5-6.

This has been something we have been wrestling with since being here. We really want all of our kiddos to be close in age, so they can grow up playing together and form close relationships to one another. This is one of the main reasons why we are really wanting a 2-3 year old. We also want a younger child because we as much of our son's life to be spent with us as possible. The more time we have with him, the more time we have to mold, teach and shape him into the man we want him to be. Also the younger he is, the less time he has spent in an orphanage, without the love of a family. In our minds, these are all really good reasons to want a younger child.

However, since being here in Kiev and after having many candid conversations with Yuri, we have come the realization that the child we are given will most likely be older than we were hoping and wanting. This was really hard for me to be okay with, really until today.

We are adopting because God has called us to adopt, to take one of his children to be our own. To raise this child with the love of family, and more importantly, to train this child in the ways of the Lord, so he may have a servants heart for Him.

It finally dawned on me today. This isn't about the child we want, or our preferences in a child, or what we think is best for our family. This is about the child God has for us, and that child may look very different than our personal preferences. This is typical I feel of God's plan for our lives. If we truly allow God to be in control, and if we really follow his plan, our journey ends up looking completely different than what we had planned. Although it may be hard to accept initially, in hindsight, His journey is always so much better than what we in our imperfectness had originally planned.

With this realization, all worry and anxiety in my heart ceased. I have always been excited, but now I am estatic! I cannot wait to see the child God has for us!

We have our second appointment with the SDA tomorrow at 11am.

Prayer Requests:

-That Cavin will sleep well tonight. There  has only been one night since being over here that he has slept through the night, all night, in his own bed. Also that he will be cooperative during our appointment tomorrow!

-That we will know the child God has for us.

-In order to travel to visit the child we choose, we have to have official referral papers from the SDA. Normally we would get these the next evening after our appointment. We are going to ask to get the official referral papers tomorrow night, just one more way to speed things up! Praying!