Happy Birthday to us!

Today, May 25, is our family's birthday. 8 years ago we told "yes" to each other and became "one". I remember it like it was yesterday. We didn't have a big wedding because I didn't have any family here, only a few new friends I had met. I couldn't help financially and Bob had to buy both our rings. Of course I saved a lot of money by making my own wedding dress, we only spent about $30 on the fabric and the beads. I made it on Bob's old sewing machine and had to wash it in the washing machine the night before our wedding because the sewing machine was leaking oil. I don't remember being nervous or super excited. Maybe because i didn't believe it was happening, it was too good to be true. I thought somebody would slap me in the face and I would wake up in my apartment in Russia. I still sometimes can't believe I have such a wonderful husband - Bob. Today I gave him a card and it says "The Lord knew what He was doing when He put our hearts together..." Bob was always So good to me! He talks to me and he helps me, he encourages me and lifts me up, he teaches me English (still!!!) and how to deal with American people. We are SO different and SO the same! I thank God for every day I have with Bob. And I thank Bob for being the best husband for me and the great father for our daughter. And I thank him for being with me on this adoption journey.
We are waiting on our approval from USCIS. As soon as we get it, our dossier is going to Ukraine.

Happy Mother's Day

This was my third year celebrate Mother's Day as a mother. We had a good day. Anastasia made a card for me. She wrote "Dear Mom, you were always there for me when I am in trouble or sick. I love you so much!!!" That was so sweet! I love her very much! She makes my Mother's Days and all the days between them! Four years ago I didn't even want to go to church on that day because I wasn't a mother and I didn't have my mom any more ( she died from cancer in October 2004 ) and this holiday was giving me pain and tears. I still miss my mom very much. I would love to tell her about my daughter and ask her advise. I want to ask her about my childhood and i want to tell her how proud I am of my child. I just want to tell her that I love her... But I can't. I even don't know where her soul is right now. She was a Muslim and she wanted to die as a Muslim. When I came to the States I met Jesus here. I gave my life to Him and I got Him as my Lord, Savior, Heavenly Father, Friend... And I witnessed to my mother and shared Jesus with her. She didn't change her mind. Every time I think about it, my heart aches. I can only hope she thought about Jesus before she died. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me". You can look at His words under any angle but the meaning is plain and simple: only through Jesus you can come to the Father. Jesus is not a fairy-tale story. He is not one of the many ways. He is not dead. He is real and He is alive. I've seen His miracles in my life. And my daughter is His gift. Thank you, Jesus, for this precious child that makes my Mother's Day into HAPPY Mother's Day!

Our homestudy is done

We are done with our homestudy and now working on our dossier. This second adoption takes less time then the first one. I think we are more organized now and we know how important it is to finish everything fast after you start it. The first time we had to do our medical forms twice. Now we DON'T want to do it because our medical bill is twice as much! And we would like to travel some time in the summer: Anastasia will be off from school and our new daughter will start this year in American school. Anastasia is very excited about her new sister. She has been asking about adopting a baby-sister for her for the last year. When we told her about it, she started screaming and jumping around. And of course, she had a million questions: what is her name? is she from Balta? how old is she? will they live in the same room? will she go to the same school? will they wear the same clothes??????? A lot of those questions were answered,"we don't know" because we are going for an unknown girl 9-10 yo. But we trust that God will show us our child in His time - just like it happened with Anastasia. We found out about her one week before our travel to Ukraine and she fits in our family perfectly. She has come a long way and now she is almost like a normal American girl. I wonder if she will be happy having a sister after living with her for a year! Ha-ha!

How it all began

The idea of adoption came to me (Svetlana) when I was a little girl living in Russia. I heard that there were children in orphanages and nobody loved them. I asked my parents if we could adopt a little brother for me (I have an older sister). My parents didn't want to adopt any children; life in Russia was hard. My mom said, "when you grow up, you can adopt if you want to". Later when I was in high school we had one day a week to try some jobs to see if we wanted to choose that career for life. One year I chose to be a nurse. We were offered to work at the baby house. When I saw all the children there, my tears stuck in my throat. Some babies were pretty healthy, some babies were sick, some had very serious disabilities. No, I couldn't work there. I would cry every day. That day I decided: when I grow up and if I have a good marriage I will adopt a child.
In 2002 I came to the USA and married The man of my life, Bob. We decided to wait for children. Then one day my sister in Russia became a widow with three sons and pregnant with #4. She wanted to get an abortion but I talked her out of it. I said that we can adopt her child and raise him as our own. I started to learn about adoption from Russia. When the baby was born my sister decided to keep him. But I was already "pregnant" with this idea. I couldn't just stop. We decided to adopt a baby from my hometown Volgograd in Russia. It would take A LOT of money. Bob suggested to pray that God would show us the right direction. So I did. The very next day one of my coworkers told me about an American missionary from Ukraine who visited her Sunday scohool about a month ago and talked about older orphans in Ukraine. In my head I was thinking "I want to adopt a baby from Russia and I will let somebody else to adopt older children from Ukraine". That evening I was working at home at my sewing machine (I am a seamstress) and I got a bad headache that grew in 5 seconds. It was God hitting me on the head. "Hey, I gave you the answer and you ignore it!" I got it then! The process of adoption from Ukraine was a little easier, faster and much cheaper. So, in February 2008 we brought our 10 y.o. daughter Anastasia from Balta, Ukraine. Our trip took exactly one month. We all got sick with a cold, Anastasia and I had an ear infection. Have you ever flown with an ear infection? I did! Bob and I visited my family in Russia during 10 day waiting period. On the way back to Ukraine I thought I was dying. I had a VERY bad pain in my ears and head. I thought my head was going to blow up right there in the airplane. So, we all went to the doctor and got all kinds of prescriptions. Three times a day I had to give out pills, put nose drops or ear drops or all together to everybody. I was very tired! And I was VERY happy to come back home. I was thinking " NEVER AGAIN! Never again I will go to Ukraine to adopt!" Guess what? Never say "never"! We are doing it again! We are in the middle of our paperwork. We want to adopt another girl (or two), a little sister for Anastasia. We are praying that God would bring us to our new daughter, that He would provide all the necessary funds for adoption, that we don't have any big road blocks in our process. God, help us!