Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy 15th Birthday, Sarah!  How did my first baby get so old all of a sudden?  Guess that makes me pretty old.  But Pat and I are SO very proud of Sarah and love her very, very much. She is a pretty special young lady.

Sarah is a very hard person to buy gifts for. She is NOT your typical teen and really doesn't "want" anything that I can buy her.  (Her birthday list included being healed from Lyme disease and a family for "Jacob" - if I remember right.)

(Bunny trail here.) This is Jacob. (No, they don't make bumpo seats bigger in Asia. When Jonathan came home at the age of 12 months, he was TOO BIG for a bumpo seat. He got stuck in it. Jacob is 3. He needs out. Like yesterday.)

Ok, so I can't heal her (although I pray everyday for that) and I can't bring Jacob home (no, I really can't), but I will share her birthday wish with you. Stolen Borrowed right from her blog: 

++++++ Sarah's birthday wish ++++++

I put out a plea on facebook today.

It's my birthday today, and can I ask you a favor? This is Sutter. Like me, he is also turning 15 this year, he has cerebral palsy, and he is waiting for a family in EE.

I was at his orphanage, I was at the institution he will end up at (when he ages out next year), and no person should ever have to live in either of those places. I'm also pretty sure I met him. He needs out ASAP before he runs out of time!

Would you be willing to donate just $15 to his grant? As a present to me, and as an effort to save his life.

And if you donate today, let me know and I'll enter you in a drawing to win a free custom hat of your choice (see here). Email me at forhisgloryhandiwork(at)gmail(dot)com or comment here.

The link to donate is: SUTTER and THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

+++++++++++++++++++++

Thank you so much for your consideration! (Sarah will leave the drawing open through Monday since I'm so late in blogging this.)

I am WAAAY behind on blogging our family events of the past few months.  ALL 10 of us have our birthdays between April and October, so lots of parties and not much time to blog about it.

Here are a few quick pics from Sarah's little party tonight. Sarah's traditional cake for her birthday is "Dirt Cake".  Except we forgot to get more Oreos when we ran to town to get the fair projects. Oops!  It still tasted great though.

30 candles
15 for Sarah
15 for Sutter

Yarn is always a safe gift for Sarah.
These colors were handpicked by her two little sisters.

Pat and Isaac were extremely privileged to go to the Packer pre-season game Friday night. Isaac's jersey (birthday gift a couple years ago) was still out so Elijah put it on himself and was dancing around.  

Yes, we were watching "Star of Christmas" in August...

Isaac's hair before the Packer game on Friday night. Summer buzz cut! 

BRINGING GRACE HOME: Well, we have news...

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated.  Well, we have news.  Unfortunately, it is bad news. We found out a few days ago our dossier had been rejected due to a tiny date error. I may have mentioned a hundred times once or twice how picky the adoption authority is over in Ukraine. So, I spent the day in Madison yesterday getting the new documents apostilled. The documents are already in Paris as of 12:30 this afternoon on their way to Ukraine via FedEx. I think it may have helped a bit sending them from Madison instead of here, but I'm not sure. They should be there in time for my facilitator to get them notarized and submitted on Thursday, the 15th. (Yes, Rochelle, I know UPS would have them there in plenty of time. :-))

So, what does this all mean??? This is the very hard part.  Once our dossier is resubmitted, we go back in line with everyone else that was submitted that day.  Right now, submission to travel time is almost 3 months. (Families submitted same day as us in June got dates for 2nd week in Sept.)  The thought of Grace having to wait 3 more months is something I can't even think about. She has waited SOO long. I feel so bad for her. My heart is breaking. After we got the news, all day I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Plus, if you do the quick math, 3 months puts us at mid-November. Add a possible 6 week process. Ya...I swore I would never do Christmas in Ukraine again, but I may not have a choice. For those of you that are newer here, I spent the whole month of December in Ukraine to bring Elijah home. We knew from the beginning that it most likely happen and we were prepared (or I thought I was). It was very, very difficult. BUT, having said all that, we, as a family, will do whatever it takes to get her home.  We can always celebrate Christmas when the Ukrainians do on January 7th. :-)

I know none of this is a surprise to the Lord. I am finding peace in this, as difficult as it is. We would appreciate prayers for quick approval of our dossier this time and a speedy travel date.  Also, please pray for smooth "travels" for our documents and smooth submission on the 15th.   (Ugh...when we started this process, "I" was hoping for court on August 15th. sigh...it would have been my grandma's 100th birthday.)

I have to go cut/freeze some beans, but if I get time in the next few days, I'll share a bit more about my day in Madison yesterday with some tips for families coming behind us.  Some interesting things too...never a dull moment around WI's capitol.

I'll leave you with the verse the Lord gave me shortly after we got the news. (Couldn't help but smile about the word "submit" in the verse.)

Proverbs 3:5-6:

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

BRINGING GRACE HOME: No news

Well, I have no news to share about Grace's adoption process. We are waiting. When we were submitted in mid-June, travel dates were running about 8-9 weeks out. Now...well...they are at least 11 weeks!  Good grief.  That timeline puts us in the last week of August. UGH!  But, the only thing I can do is pray for the Lord's perfect timing.  We want Grace home as soon as we possibly can, but are trusting in the Lord.  Hopefully we will hear something in the next few weeks about our travel date as they are issuing them at least a month ahead of time. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for praying!

TWO YEARS HOME!!!

 Jonathan two years ago...

Two years ago today, I took this scared, floppy, and actually quite mellow little boy with chronically red eyes out of the orphanage FOREVER!!!

Jonathan, my dear son, I can't believe it has been two whole years already. What fun we had trouncing around Kyiv!  And mommy was so blessed by the "angels" God sent her on the way home.

You have grown and changed SO much in just two years.
You have transitioned from size 12 mo to 2T/3T clothes

- from not putting any weight at all on your legs to now climbing onto the table AND the high stools

- from no communication at all to the many speech sounds, words, expressions and signs you have now

- from having no opinion about life whatsoever to having an opinion about everything

- from having seemingly no interest in your surroundings or toys to being "curious" about everything

- from drinking out of the bottle to the straw cup

- from stage 1 baby foods to thick and chunky purees (ya, we're still working on that one)

(You have no idea what a miracle this is!)

- from having zero interest in books to sitting for 30+ minutes looking at books all by yourself

- from not knowing the love of a family to eating up every hug, kiss and snuggle you can get.

You have become one of us.  You have melted our hearts. We all love you SO much!!!  I can't imagine life without you!

Sarah made this video last year for Jonathan.  I thought I would share it again. Enjoy!

BRINGING HOME GRACE: SUBMITTED!

WOOHOO!!! Our dossier (all of our adoption paperwork) was submitted today to the Ukrainian adoption authority!  (I guess it's called the DAP now, but in my head it's still the SDA. What can I say, old habits die hard.)

So, what does this mean exactly?  It means all of our paperwork will be gone over with a fine tooth comb reviewed at some point hopefully in the next month or so. Right now, the SDA is running about nine weeks from submission to SDA appointment. UGH!  I'm not sure why they are running so long now. (Jonathan's dossier was submitted on May 12th and our appointment was June 6th.) But, I am trusting in the Lord's perfect timing. I really do want to get our little girl home ASAP though! So, we are looking at traveling about mid-August. I'm still praying for sooner. We'll keep you posted!

BRINGING GRACE HOME: Last call for t-shirts

Our benefit last night was a BLAST!  I'm eternally grateful for all who served and gave.  I'll post photos and updates very soon, I promise.

Just a quick reminder that today is the LAST DAY to order t-shirts. Please go HERE if you would like to order one. So very grateful to all of those who have already ordered. I'm so very blessed. Thank you!

Thanks to all of you, Grace will be home soon!

For all you local folks - Adoption Benefit Saturday night!

We are very humbled that once again our awesome church fellowship is sponsoring an adoption benefit for us to help bring Grace home. When we first started the adoption process, Pastor Dan asked us about having another benefit. (Our church family held an unbelievable benefit for us for Elijah's adoption.) We were hesitant at first.  They have already done so much for us. Plus (me of little faith), I honestly didn't think we would get much support this time around. The first adoption is pretty cool (and kinda crazy), but the third??? VERY crazy!!! Well, all I can say that was a lie from the pit of hell. Anyway, I "requested" a SIMPLE benefit.  You know, just like a spaghetti dinner and a bucket for donations. Simple, right?  Well, I was ousted from the planning :-), and it is now far from "simple".  Packer prints valued at almost $1000, Packer tickets, t-shirts for sale, themed basket raffles, a motorcycle ride preceding the benefit...OH MY...and oh ya...spaghetti too. It sounds like lots of fun! We are incredibly, incredibly blessed. I just don't know what to say but thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Details below.  We'd be honored if you can join us. If you are local, I hope to see you there!


Promo Video:  Dare you to watch this with a straight face!  It's Carter's Daddy...ummm...Drew Carey...ummm... it's the "famous" Tony Calzoni who made time out of his (and his wife's) busy schedule to make this fun promo video for our adoption benefit Saturday night! Thanks Tony!

Love Makes a Family T-shirts!!!

We are sooo very grateful to Ashley (she rocks!) for designing these awesome "Love Makes a Family" t-shirts in conjunction with our benefit this weekend (more on that in a bit)!  The proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go towards bringing our sweet Grace home to her forever family.

If you are interested, please click HERE to go to the ordering page.  Or click on the link at the top of the page.  But don't delay, we need your order by June 9th. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks so much!  We appreciate your love and support, but especially your prayers.

Lyme Disease

Changing pace here for a bit.  Yes, Lyme disease. One of the running "jokes" among adopting families is "You know you are adopting when...." and fill in the blank.  Well, Sarah getting diagnosed with Lyme disease would be right at the top of the list!  She was diagnosed literally w/in day or two of our commitment to Grace.  Yes, this even tops the two spots of skin cancer Pat had removed shortly after we committed to Jonathan. But as always, we KNOW who wins and we KNOW who is going to when this battle. The Lord Jesus Christ!

Sarah has done an awesome job blogging about her Lyme disease journey so far. Sadly, it's not over yet. I beg you to pray for complete healing for her. She just started her second round of three-month treatment. (How in the world she managed to pass two CLEP tests while battling this, I have NO idea. She's amazing!)

I also encourage you to read her posts. Lyme disease can mimic SO many other diseases.  Get educated. Be careful and seek treatment immediately.

Here is a list of Sarah's posts: (if you only have time for one, please read the last one)

A New Special Need

My Lyme Story

What is Lyme Disease: Basics and the Bite

What is Lyme: Later Stage and Treatment

What is Lyme: The Controversy

The other night, Sarah had me watch a documentary called Under Our Skin and I can't tell you how much I learned.

Here's the trailer.

BRINGING HOME GRACE: Golden Ticket, The Beast, and Shipping

Last Thursday, I posted how I had talked to our USCIS officer and he thought he would be approving us that day. And that it would take a week for us to get the hard copy (no emailing or faxing approvals anymore I guess - I did ask.).  So, when Anna got the mail yesterday, she started signing the "I've got a golden ticket" song. ("Golden Ticket" is the nickname for the immigration approval - the I-171H form - that is the last piece of paperwork needed for the dossier.)  "No way!" I exclaimed. She showed me the envelope and it was just extra copies of our home study from our social worker for our future reference. I didn't look at the rest of the mail because NO WAY was the "Golden Ticket" going to be here already. After all, Monday was a holiday (no mail) and the approvals come from Missouri...NO WAY.

About three hours later, I quickly glance through the mail. We were cleaning for company last night and thought it would be best to at least look at the mail before stashing it.  And then - I saw it. In blue letters. Department of Homeland Security - USCIS. (This is my utterances and conversation to myself - only half of it out loud while Sarah and Anna are staring at me.)  "No way - that can't be it. It's only Tuesday." I rip it open. "It looks different than last time. It's two pages instead of one. Is that it? I don't know.  Where are those letters?  "I-171H" Yep, that's what it says. It can't be. It says it is. Really? I guess it is! No way. I still don't believe it."

I am still in disbelief, Anna calls Pat and sings the song. (Yes, I'm sorry you will have the song stuck in your head the rest of the day. hee hee)


(As a kid, did anyone ever wonder how those 4 people in bed went to the bathroom? Or was that just me?)

Once I start coming out of my shock to think a little bit, Pat and I make a plan to meet at the bank to get the cover sheet notarized. Whew. Done.  Once we are home and back to cleaning, we formulate the plan. Well, Pat is the formulator, not me. I can't formulate anything these days. He'll leave early in the AM (this morning), drive to Madison, get it apostilled using the one-day service, and we'll mail it out from Madison if he can't make it back here in time. (I'm SO thankful he has flexible hours. I would have gone except I had Jonathan's first IEP meeting at 11am. Can't really skip that!)


The Secretary of State office took about 3 hrs to complete the document.  Meanwhile, Pat took his traveling buddies (Anna and Isaac) on a guided tour of the State Capitol. I guess history is done for the day!

The not-so-good part of the day...evidently FedEx doesn't offer the same speedy-quick service they used to (at least not from the store we shipped from).   You know, the one that costs $200+?  The quickest they could get it there was June 5th. Most likely, that will be too late to be submitted on the 6th (special needs dossiers are only submitted on Thursdays). I'm REALLY bummed about that. Really bummed. But, I'm just trusting the Lord's Perfect timing. I just want our little girl HOME asap!

So, the "Beast" is on it's way. Actually, this time around the dossier was much more like a "kitten" than a beast. Experience helps with that. A lot.

I am so thankful to the Lord for moving our process along quickly and smoothly. Praise His Name!  Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Love to you all!

The customary photo
The "Beast" with all of the pretty, shiny gold stars from the apostilling process

(Just one more rambling thing to share with you.  I haven't had the privilege of being at the FedEx store to mail any of our dossiers over to Ukraine. For Elijah's dossier, Pat shipped it from Indianpolis. What a story. Jonathan's dossier was hand-carried over to Ukraine by Max. Providence of God's timing. And then Grace's was shipped today by Pat. I guess God is showing that it is ok to not have "control" over every.single.thing. That's OK! :-))