Changes in Our Plans

There are some changes that have taken place with our adoption plans. We found out that Nadia was adopted by her family and taken home two weeks ago. This has been confirmed by two separate sources directly from the director at her orphanage. While we are sad to lose her, we are also glad that she will not be facing institutionalization.

Roma has been a very special little guy to us for a very long time. After we had committed to Nadia and Zhenya I began second guessing our decision. I just couldn't get Roma out of my mind. But at the same time we felt like taking to four year olds on at the same time may be a little too much on us. We were uncertain of the condition that we would find them in and were just not comfortable with committing to two older children. Our Chloe was only two years old and she was our main parenting experience. So it was always a matter of choosing between Roma and Nadia. I felt like Roma would have a better chance of being adopted because Nadia didn't have a very good picture available. If you remember in the original picture she was sleeping and it was taken from the side of her face. Plus she was older than Roma and needed to be gotten out ASAP! I kept thinking about Roma and asking God if I had made the right decision.

Then Roma had a wonderful family commit to him. It was a huge answered prayer for me and I felt like God had given us our answer. So we proceeded full steam ahead with our adoption plans of Nadia. Then when we were on our trip in Ukraine the first day that I met Roma we found out that Ukraine had passed a law that made it impossible for his committed family to adopt him. I was very sad and hurt for both Roma and his family. Then I began second guessing my decision again. I felt like he was truly meant to be ours, but at the same time I could not and was not going to leave Nadia there. I was in turmoil over it. Finally I prayed and told God that if He planned for Roma to be ours that He would have to intervene and make that plan clear to us. I prayed this often and had just finished praying that same prayer about ten minutes before I found out about Nadia. While we were sad to lose Nadia, I was also happy that she went home and would not live out her days in the institution. And I was amazed that God had made His plan completely clear to us.

Then we inquired about Roma and the orphanage director said that he was unknown at the orphanage. How could this be when we clearly feel so led to him? We decided to commit to him and were praying for a miracle that he would be found. We feared that he had already been transferred. Well, today we found out for sure that Roma IS still in the baby orphanage.

We are hoping and praying that they will hold him there until we travel. We are also trying to find out Dasha's exact date of availability. We should know more about her in the next couple of days. They are wanting to submit our dossier within the next couple of days, with the hope that the SDA will let us choose our travel date, when Dasha is available. The SDA has said that she will be available at the end of the year. The orphanage said that she has waited out 11 months of the 14 month wait. If that is true then she should be available in Sept. That would be AWESOME!! But, the end of the year isn't September to me. Please pray that she will be available soon or else something can be done to waive the wait. We need a miracle here.

We are hoping to get them both in one trip, soon! It's very concerning to us because Roma is at the age of institutionalization and that's just scary! And Dasha is underfed and caged up in a crib all day. Her little arms and legs are so bony. They only fed her about 3 ounces of liquid for lunch when we were there and then took the bottle from her. There was still plenty more in it and she was still drinking. I do not know why they took it from her, unless it was to give the other children time to eat as well. I just don't know, but I am worried about her. I know God is watching over her, but I just want to be there for her the minute she becomes available. I don't want her to have to wait any longer. She has waited long enough. It is not feasible for me to adopt Roma and then go back for Dasha next year. I can't see that the institution can be that much worse than where she is right now. Both are bad situations for both children and I hope to be able to get them both home soon. Roma has certainly waited long enough as well and I am so scared to think of him having to spend even one minute in an institution. I just want both of them in my arms and keep them safe.

So please pray that we can get them both in one trip and that God will give us a miracle with Dasha's availability. And also, please pray that they will hold Roma in the baby orphanage!!! I'm praying so hard that they will keep him in the baby orphanage until Dasha is available. If they won't then we may have to travel for him first. But it will absolutely break my heart to leave Dasha there until next year! She doesn't deserve having to wait extended months, maybe even next spring, for us to start this entire process over again and get a travel date for her. It's not right when she is so close to being available. Pray that God will intervene for her so that we can get both of them out at the same time. And of course that God will keep all of the orphans safe and send angels to comfort them and bring them peace and joy.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers!!