Here are 2 great blogs that tells exactly what is going on in Ukraine: http://ourukrainianjourney.blogspot.com/

http://doctordavid.wordpress.com/

My niece Katie turned 9--How can that be?

How does he do that with his eye?

Nice Hair!

Emma lost her first teeth when she spent the night at our house. You can see the permanent

teeth were already half grown before the baby teeth fell out. She knocked the first one out playing with Matthew and I pulled the second one out five minutes later. Actually Katie's first two teeth that she lost were at our house also, but it was a "little" more dramatic with her.

I made these heart (thanks Jennifer for sending us the molds) shaped pancakes with bananas for breakfast for Matthew and Emma. Notice the peanut butter on this one---Matthew doesn't like syrup because his hands get sticky--actually peanut butter is probably healthier anyway.

It was a little windy!

SAD, SAD NEWS

Last Friday we were told that a family from Virginia showed up in Odessa to Adopt "our boys" Matthew's brothers. We did file a petition in February to keep all the brothers together--officially letting the SDA (State Department for Adoption in Kiev) know that we wanted to adopt them to keep them together, we had actually told them last fall too. The family who is adopting them hosted Alex last summer. We are very sad about all of this, actually crushed would be a better word for it. We asked our facilitator what we could do, he said we could fight the government and maybe have a 50% chance of getting there adoption stopped. But if the boys agreed to the adoption there wasn't anything we could do about it. Alex spent time with this family in VA so he would definitely say yes. Vasya was surprised that it wasn't us who showed up at the orphanage, but in the end said yes also. I don't blame him. The Ukrainian Government has received a large sum of money from UNICEF to stop international adoptions. So Vasya probably saw this as his last chance to get out of the orphanage system, soon he will age out or be thrown out. Apparently Unicef thinks it is better for these kids to rot in orphanages than face the "trauma" of adapting to a new culture. I have talked to several adults who were internationally adopted as children and they said it was one of the best things to happen to them. PLEASE DON"T GIVE MONEY TO UNICEF! So do you think that the orphans of Ukraine are actually seeing any of this money? I DON'T.

We have asked the missionaries to give this family our address, e-mail and phone number so we can maintain contact with the boys and so hopefully in the future Matthew can meet his brothers. But we haven't heard anything from them yet, so either the missionaries haven't gotten around to doing it or the family doesn't want to establish contact. If anyone reading this knows the family please talk to them about us.

So now what????? Do we just sit around and feel sorry for ourselves? Do we continue with an Ukrainian adoption, we can change our dossier and pray that Ukraine continues to allow International Adoptions? We have heard that things are very difficult there right now, the SDA is giving people a very hard time... Not showing them healthy kids, not showing younger kids, not giving out appointments, not showing people what they are requesting. Do we switch to another country? Do we just give up and raise Matthew as an only child? The family adopting Matthew's brothers already has three children, that makes it hurt even more. And what makes it even sadder is that Matthew won't get to grow up with his biological brothers. How do you explain that to a 4 year old who every night prays "God Bless Vasya and Alex and all the orphans"?

I read this on a blog of a family who is going through a tough time also:


I said, "God, I hurt."
And God said, "I know."
I said, "God, I cry a lot."
And God said, "That is why I gave you tears."
I said, "God, I am so depressed."
And God said, "That is why I gave you Sunshine."
I said, "God, life is so hard."
And God said, "That is why I gave you loved ones."
I said, "God, my son died."
And God said, "So did mine."
I said, "God, it is such a loss."
And God said, "I saw my son nailed to a cross."
I said, "God, but your son lives."
And God said, "So does yours."
I said, "God, where are they now?"
And God said, "Mine is on My right and Yours is in the Light."
I said, "God, it hurts."
And God said, "I know."
~Authors K. C. and Myke Kuzmic~

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy."- Psalm 126:5

I really don't want to talk about it right now, but feel free to e-mail us or post on the blog.