It is hard to believe that Jim and I leave five weeks from tomorrow! God was definitely in the details this week as we had a complex airline ticketing situation with us flying out earlier than the kids, finding a chaperone to fly with our kids to Ukraine and coordinating five flights with differing departure and arrival dates. God amazingly provided us contact with a Christian lady in Texas, Yuliya, who is from Ukraine and hasn't had the opportunity to visit her family there in a couple years. She will be flying with the kids. Thank you to Lillya who helped us find Yuliya.
Throughout this whole process I must admit to having a rollercoaster of emotions. Now that we have an appointment date, everyone is so excited for us. I have felt this same anticipatory joy for everyone I know who has adopted before. Your excitement carries us, but underlying it are the fears: Who are we going to adopt? How will the SDA appointment go? Will we be able to handle all of the challenges? Will we love our adopted kids the same as our bio kids? How will adding a new family member or members affect us? How will we provide everything for our new addition? Will we survive December/January in Ukraine?
Two families we know from Longmont have come home from Ukraine within the past two weeks, John & Twyla and Matt & Amy. It is a privilege to see them come off the plane with their Ukraine kids and see them reunite with their bio kids, a new family. Their faces are filled with exhaustion from the difficult process of adopting from Ukraine, yet the joy of being home with all of their children radiates from them.
I am thankful for all of the ups and downs of adoption, how we have to completely rely on God and trust Him to carry us through this. I dream of our airport homecoming and our new family.
Grieving and Healing
8 years ago
8 comments:
What a blessing! It won't be long now. I can't believe its been almost a year since we returned home with Maddie. So much has happened in that time, but it still seems like yesterday. We'll be 're-living' our experience through you, and I can't wait! :)
Wow! It's getting real, huh? As you know, our family has a combination of bio, domestically adopted and internationally adopted kiddos. I know you "know" this, but I also remember well those fears that creep in, so I'll remind you: You will love your kiddos so much! Your new family will be even more beautiful than your current family, and you will find it impossible to imagine life without the new additions. And God will take care of the rest. Many blessings as you prepare to travel--May God bless you for your faithfulness to answer this special call over your family! In Christ, Lory
You'll be fine! Only in hind-sight will you be able to smile and wonder what you were so worried about. Approach thee entire situation with understanding that God will do things during the process that you least expected-He does have a sense of humor in this process. Everything that will happen, will occurr to better prepare you as parents-and you guys are great parents! The emotional roller coaster will be more fun if you ride it with your hands up, loosen the grip, and, isn't that the position for offering up praise to the Lord? Don't hang on so tight, I didn't. If I can pull this off, anyone can!!
We are very excited for you and know how overwhelming it all seems right now. But trust that once you arrive in Ukraine you will adapt, moment by moment, to the unique processes and culture. (And be sure try the dumplings, they are delicious.)
Everyone thinks all the same things. Everything should work out fine. Your 'homegrown' kids know why you are going and more than likely share the same sentiment. All the Ukrainian children we know who have been adopted just fit right in. Children are very flexible.
You live in Colorado, you shouldn't be worried about the cold!:) Now if you lived in Houston, where we do, you could worry:0 lol BTW - what part of TX is your new friend from?
Did I mention before to pack some bungee cords? We took four with us for other reasons, but ended up using them for a clothesline in the bathroom.
June
adopting2@gmail.com
How exciting, congratulations and God bless. We found your blog through a person who visited our blog. It is awesome to hear stories from around the US about other families adopting from Ukraine! We are waiting to hear if our dossier was submitted today or if it will be submitted tomorrow! Also, we are from CO, we lived in Englewood before we moved out of state. Now we are in the Southeast. What a small world! It will be fun to see how God moves in your family and who you will bring home.
Kari and Jim,
How wonderful that Lillya found Yuliya to help chaperone the kids over - and how wonderful the kids get to come and see where their new siblings are coming from! Everything went smoothly at the SDA for the Roges - a good sign!
You will love your adopted kids the same as your bio kids - it may take a little time or it may be immediate ... be easy on yourselves and think back to when you first started dating and how many months it took for you to love each other! You are great parents and your children are wonderful and patient. Your entire family has so much to offer the little ones that Heavenly Father has planned for your family!
As for December/January - cuddle duds and two pair of winter boots/shoes each so that one can be drying (a tip from the soggy, rainy Fall over there)! Also don't ever step on the man-hole covers - sometimes they fall in!
Keep the "Airport Homecoming" dream in your heart! The day will be here before you know it!
Hugs,
The Barretts
Skoochnyia! zzzzz....
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