Submitted!!!

So much has happened since my last post.  We have been praying constantly about what to do.  We have no idea what is going to happen in Ukraine – if they will close or continue to issue appointments.  It changes from day to day.  When I wrote my last post we had decided to host these siblings for the summer – the 13 year old girl and the 6 year old boy.  At that time we thought that Ukraine adoptions would definitely be closed during the summer so why not?  Then we heard that they are likely to continue giving appointments and we might still be invited to travel this summer.  If we hosted, we would be postponing our adoption until the fall and who knows what could happen in Ukraine by then?  They could close completely or change the process and we would have to redo our paperwork.  During the process of praying about whether or not to host, we somehow fell in love with these kids!  On Monday, we decided that we should go ahead and host the kids with the plan to adopt them as long as everything worked out.  Monday afternoon a contact from the orphanage emailed us some new pictures of the kids.  They were precious and really touched our hearts!  Tuesday morning, Jody had to go out of town for work.  He called me on his way and said he had changed his mind and thought we should just go ahead and try to adopt them.   So we decided to go ahead and submit our paperwork.  I made this sound much easier than it was.  We prayed so much about his decision.  We have been seeking God’s will like never before.  We kept going back and forth, changing our minds over and over.  I have really never prayed about a decision this much before.  We were so torn.  Thank you to those of you who listened and provided Godly counsel during this struggle.  I am so thankful for my friends, I don’t deserve them!  We were submitted on Wednesday and our facilitator requested an appointment at the end of May or beginning of June.  Wow!  It would be so great to travel that soon to bring these kids home. Nothing is certain or the least bit predictable with this process and especially with this country so I am trying not to get my hopes up.  I’m trying, but it’s not working very good.  There are still many things that can happen.  TG (the girl) has said that she wants to be adopted but she could still change her mind.  TLB (the little boy) doesn’t have a chance to say yes or no, it will be whatever his sister decides.  I am going to be praying for her to feel at peace with her decision.  Can you imagine having to make a huge decision like this at 13?  She will be deciding to leave her 2 older brothers in Ukraine (who she is very close to) and come to live in a country where she doesn’t speak the same language and doesn’t know our family.  I can’t even imagine all of the fears that she must have.  It would be hard enough to make that decision for yourself, but she is also making it for her little brother.  That is so much pressure.  One thing that is a little comforting to her is that 3 of her really good friends have been adopted by 2 of my friends here.  My friends daughter, her BFF, is going to call her this weekend to tell her about our family.  The girls are sooooooooo excited that TG will be coming.  They are already planning slumber parties and all kinds of activities.  Ellie is so excited because she loves these girls and knows that she will love her new sister even more.  It is just amazing how God works.  We started out to adopt a girl – ages 6 to 9.  I have spent hours on the SDA website looking at pictures and I have never looked at a child over the age of 10 and I have never looked at boys because that wasn’t my plan.  God had a different plan though.  Psalm 37:4,5 says “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  He is faithful to fulfill his promises and He has given me a completely different desire. My desire is now for TG and TLB!  I want to give these kids a family and teach them about Jesus.  Oh, I just can’t wait to have them here so I can love on them!