When God closes a door, He opens a window…..At least that’s what Mark and I keep trying to remember this week. Masha was scheduled to arrive in Denver last Saturday night, and then fly home to us for a two week visit on Sunday. Unfortunately, due to some communication challenges, Masha and two other children were left off the visa list and were unable to travel. We have learned that the kids knew much earlier than we did, and that they were told that their parents would be coming to Ukraine soon to bring them home…So the rug wasn’t pulled […]

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So we’re learning that the only sure thing in a Ukrainian adoption is that nothing is a sure thing! In the past couple of weeks, we have seen some major changes to our expectations. At the time of our last posting, we knew that our dossier was in the hands of our facilitator in Ukraine, but that there were some roadblocks at the SDA (the Ukrainian Adoption Ministry). We had no idea when our dossier would be submitted, and we feared that it might be summer before we would be invited to travel to Ukraine for the adoption. Given the […]

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Some of you may have heard the good news by now; a couple of weeks ago, we learned that Masha had an opportunity to come back to America for a couple of weeks in late March for another hosting program. Since we are still very uncertain about when we might be able to travel to Ukraine, we leapt at the opportunity to bring her here, even for a short time. The tentative date for her arrival is 17 March, and I’ve added a countdown clock at the top. We will be very busy planning her visit, and we’re getting crazy […]

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…A very good place to start. So many of you have asked how we got into this, and I think you all deserve an answer! The Discovery Last spring (March or April, 2006), we stumbled across a brief column in the local newspaper about a “culture camp” for orphans from Ukraine that would be coming to Fort Wayne in the summer. It explained a program that enabled children ages 6-12 to visit the United States for about three weeks, learn more about the US, and get the experience of living with a family. While the hope is to find “forever […]

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Well, it’s taken me close to a week to bring myself to write the entry for Thursday, the day we said Farewell to Masha. The day began early. Running on about 6 hours of sleep, we awoke to darkness for the first time since Masha arrived. She made some final preparations, checked her room for any final things she wanted to cram into her suitcase. The mood in the house was solemn, knowing that good-bye was near, and not wanting that to come. Masha ate her last American breakfast while Mark and I made last minute preparations. At about 7:15, […]

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