Update

Well, the last several months have been very busy.  As you all know, Tiffany was pregnant with our little girl the last time we posted.  For those of you who don't know, Madeline Grace Frost was born on 02-13-2013, 4lbs 13 oz, 4 weeks early.  We stayed at the hospital for seven days until Tiffany's fever broke and her blood pressure wen back to normal.  We came home for two days and then while at our first check up for Madeline, we were told she had RSV (a viral respiratory inspection) and she had to be put on oxygen and IV's for a week.  After over two weeks at the hospital, we finally got to come home.  So to say the least, we have been busy. 

Since our last post, we completed our dossier and got it authenticated in Raleigh.  There was a slight problem with Tiffany's employment letter, so one day after I returned, Tiffany headed back to Raleigh with the revised document.  The dossier then went over to Ukraine with another family.

Roman was scheduled to come over for hosting around Christmas, but due to some unforeseen trouble in Ukraine, he was not allowed to be hosted; he was crushed. 

We tried to focus our attention on the adoption again and continued the waiting game.  Yesterday, the adoption agent emailed me with our SDA appointment date.  The date is 03-13-2013, the same day my paternity leave ends at work, YIKES!  We are having some troubles with the adoption right now that need to be ironed out before I go buy plane tickets.  We are still gathering information right now, so I can't say much about the issues (don't want to misinform anyone), but as soon as I know, I will update everyone.  Seems like we are not the only family whose adoption is not going smoothly right now, but then, we all knew going into this that the road might get really bumpy and for some, may be a dead end, unfortunately.  I am praying that the Lord will continue to guide our paths and I am confident that everything happens for a reason and although I may not understand why things don't always work out, I know God doesn't make mistakes. 

On another note, we are still at least $15,000 short in funds and with an SDA appointment in one week, I must admit, I am starting to worry.  I have to give our in-country facilitator $9000 upon arrival in Ukraine and I still have to pay for travel expenses and other court costs and such.  I was very confident in the beginning that God would provide and I had no worries, even staring down the barrel of a $30,000 adoption cost that we did not have.  I was sure that since this was a path I was put on by God, that it would be easy and he would provide everything we needed.  Well, God doesn't necessarily work like that.  Like I said earlier, I believe in God and I know there is nothing he cannot do.  As a human, I am still a worrier.  God has never let me down before and has always provided for my family when I was faithful to him and I am hoping that this time will be no different.  After all, what's $15,000 to our God that knows no bounds.

For those of you wondering why I say $15,000 and not more, the range we were given for adoption costs was $25,000-$30,000.  So, we have $1000 in the adoption fund account + a little over $7500 we have received in donations.  I'm figuring $8500 + $15,000, being $23,000, may be enough to get us by.  I can live on next to nothing and I don't mind staying in very poor conditions to save a little money.  I would fly over with the luggage if they'd let me, kidding, no really, I would if I had to.

To all of you that have prayed for us, contributed your time or money or have helped in any way, we want to say from the bottom of hearts, thank you.