Successful SDA Submission!!

Praise the Lord!!  Our dossier was successfully submitted today!!  I was getting a little nervous when I had not heard from our facilitator and it was almost noon here -- that makes it 8:00p.m. in Ukraine!!  But early afternoon I got a text saying it was submitted with no problem.  I am trying to get use to the fact that Ukrainians seem to be very laid back about things; especially, when it comes to communication and time.

Now we wait for our SDA appointment date.  I have been watching other blogs trying to figure out a time frame; but the only thing I figured out is.., it varies!!  We could be notified of our invitation in 2 weeks or it could be a month from now.  We are trusting God and His perfect timing!!

 Today, we will just celebrate that we are FINALLY submitted!!

Dossier Submission Tomorrow!

Well tomorrow is the day our dossier gets submitted to the SDA!!  Please pray that everything goes smoothly and it is submitted successfully.  I feel like I checked & re-checked & re-checked everything before sending it to Ukraine. Our facilitator has submitted a lot of dossiers and feels like we will not have a problem.  But the one thing I have learned through this process is to expect the unexpected.  Believe it or not, I actually have felt a sense of peace these last few days and for that I give God the glory!

Another DHL commercial

If you need to send anything to Ukraine, I would strongly recommend DHL shipping. We had sent our Power of Attorney by FedEx and it took almost 4 days.  Both times we have shipped with DHL it has taken 41 hours from Texas to the doorstep of our facilitator in Kiev!!  Thanks for all of your prayers!!  Counting down to submission date on Wednesday, March 30th!!

Our little dossier drama

We have had our own little dossier drama this week.  Late Tuesday, I got a text message from our facilitator telling me she was reviewing our dossier and noticed one of our documents needed a date changed.  I panicked because our submission date is next Wednesday, March 30th!!  We had scanned everything before we had the documents apostilled and I guess she missed it.  I wasn't angry, I was just having a mild panic attack!!  So after I calmed down, I decided to look at the positives.  If she had not found the mistake now  and submitted it next Wednesday, the SDA could have rejected our dossier & we would have to get back in line for a new submission date.  The mistake also was caught 7 days before submission, not the night before, so we had time to correct it.  So yesterday, Mike got the document redone & notarized, then I drove to Austin & got it apostilled and sent it DHL around 3:30p.m.  Of course today I have checked the DHL tracking about 10 times!!  When we used DHL for sending our dossier it took 41 hours to get to Ukraine; but I thought watch this take forever or even worse it gets lost. (I read a lot of other blogs:)  Even though it is not there yet, I am happy to write that as of 10 minutes ago it is in Leipzig, Germany!!  Pray that it makes it to Kiev tomorrow and that everything goes smoothly with our SDA submission next Wednesday!!

Pulling weeds, thinking..,

I have spent today pulling weeds & cutting back dead plants; and so I have had a lot of time to think.  Of course, I started with worrying about what could go wrong in the next few weeks..., laws changing, SDA temporarily closing, her changing her mind, etc.  But then God brought to mind all these other families blogs and stories.  Each one of them different but yet the same.  How when God calls you to adopt, there is no answer but "yes".  You can try saying "no" but it won't work.  God has already changed your heart & it isn't going back to the way it was before.  You will never get the faces of these children (even the ones you have never seen) out of your head. You are willing to go to the other side of the world, sell your home, do whatever it takes to bring that child(ren) home forever.  It sounds crazy to most people, but I don't think it is.  Yes, it is a roller coaster of emotions and it definitely takes you out of your comfort zone.  But I thank God that my life will never be the same.
I will never forget the audible gasp of delight that our girl had when she saw all the tomatoes at the grocery store..., "Mama, please!!".  How her eyes lit up when she saw her double bed (in a small bedroom) and realized it was hers!  How she drug people she had never met to her bedroom to show them her underwear drawer.  How on the night before she left, she washed her hair 9 times because she loved the shampoo (no brand name) & knew she wouldn't have it when she returned to the orphanage.  All things I had taken for granted before.  So whatever happens over the next few weeks, the one thing I am sure of is, I am so glad my life will never be the same.

We meees her!!

Talked to our girl today and she was much better than last week!!  We surprised her by having my mom and niece come to our house when we called.  At first the nurse said that Alona could not talk because she was practicing for a program.  Our translator explained that family had come from other places just to talk to her today.  So the nurse went & got her!!  Alona was very surprised and got a little emotional.., I mees you, I luv youuu!! But she did rebound pretty quickly.  She ask if my niece could come to Ukraine with us, we told her no but that she would be waiting for us at the airport when we come home.  She also wanted to know if we could bring her roller skates with us to Ukraine.  Do not think they will fit in our limited luggage and I can not imagine Ukraine having any smooth surfaces to skate on.  From what I remember from our previous visit, the roads were bumpy, sidewalks uneven; not to mention the cars driving on the sidewalks.  Ohhh.., I meees Ukraine & our girl!!

SDA Submission Date!!

We got notified this morning that we have a SDA submission date for March 30th!!  About two weeks after that we should be notified of when our SDA appointment will be and can then begin making our travel plans to go get our girl!!  We are still hoping and praying this will be in early May!!  I have two specific prayer requests -- first that our dossier submission goes smoothly and it is accepted.
The second one has to do with our girl.  Today, we were talking to her and the nurse at the orphanage came in the room and asked her who she was talking to.  When she told her that it was her parents in America, the nurse said to her  if you are not good they will not come get you".  A couple of more things were said by this woman and then we could hear our girl crying.  Okay, let me tell you that our girl does not cry easily.  She is feisty and always tries to act like nothing bothers her.  Needless to say, the mother bear in me wanted to jump through those telephone lines and take down that nurse.  I mean why not pick on someone your own size.  But our translator just calmly reassured our girl, that we loved her and we were going to come and get her. (at least do everything we can to make that happen).  So please pray for our girl, her name is Alona.