Immigration -- that is where we are now and in a holding pattern at this point. BUT we found out that Roman will be here for Christmas! He has been approved to be here through New Horizons hosting program. Roman will be here from December 18 - January 15 :). Since our plan to have him permanently home at Christmas has been pushed back, words can't describe how excited we are to get to see and spend time with him for the little bit of time we will have at Christmas!
Another great accomplishment! For a couple months now, we have been calling and talking to Roman once a week to keep him updated and just to see how he is doing. We always tell him that we love and miss him before we get off the phone. Last week is the first time that he told us he loved us back!!! That just melted our hearts.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!
Its been a while... I wanted to post a THANK YOU to everyone who has donated their time, money and efforts to make it possible to bring our son home. It is great to know that there are so many people out there praying and supporting us along the way.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Update
Sorry! It has been a while since we posted. Life has been very busy lately. We had our last home study teleconference with our social worker. We have some paper work to finish and she is going to work on our report. We almost have another item we can mark off of our to do list. Once we have everything to our social worker we can start immigration paperwork.
To prepare for Roman to come home, Kenneth and I have been working very hard to prepare a room. His room is what we used to call the "workout room/storage room" Everything that was previously in that room is now in every other room in the house... Most of it needs to go into a building that we do not have or in our yard sale pile! I guess we will figure that out sooner than later - I hope ;)!
Kenneth went to IKEA and purchased a bed and a night stand. One day after I got off work, we headed to Lowe's to purchase a few things. We ended up finding a rug that goes very nice with the room. I mentioned chalkboard paint to Kenneth and he got pretty excited. Sooo needless to say one wall is painted in chalkboard paint which I have to admit it is pretty awesome. The other walls we just repainted white. We decided we would let Roman decide if he wanted to paint them a different color when he gets home. Thanks to my brother Andrew who helped me paint while Kenneth was helping clean a park in Mooresville.
The next purchase we will have to make is blinds. Man, the blinds currently hanging in the room were there when Kenneth bought this house almost 8 years ago. So they are old and need to be replaced. I am hoping to start with Roman's room and purchase the faux wood blinds.
Kenneth has the photos of the room on his phone, as soon as I get them we will post before and after photos.
To prepare for Roman to come home, Kenneth and I have been working very hard to prepare a room. His room is what we used to call the "workout room/storage room" Everything that was previously in that room is now in every other room in the house... Most of it needs to go into a building that we do not have or in our yard sale pile! I guess we will figure that out sooner than later - I hope ;)!
The next purchase we will have to make is blinds. Man, the blinds currently hanging in the room were there when Kenneth bought this house almost 8 years ago. So they are old and need to be replaced. I am hoping to start with Roman's room and purchase the faux wood blinds.
Kenneth has the photos of the room on his phone, as soon as I get them we will post before and after photos.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
A Much Better Day
I received an email from the social worker conducting our home study on Monday night! It was much more encouraging!
She has requested that we read a book called The Connected Child by Kayrn Purvis. So I immediately downloaded the book tonight from Books a Million when I got home from work. I read the first chapter so far. She also requested that we take a few online courses. She also asked for our plans for schooling, doctors, therapy, etc. We just found out that a friend of the family has graciously offered her services to tutor Roman!
I am hoping that all though we had to clear a few road blocks our efforts to complete all the tasks that have been given to us will show that we are willing to do what ever it takes to bring Roman, our son, home!
I had a nice long chat with our adoption coordinator tonight as well. She is such a sweet lady. She answered a lot of questions that I had and eased my mind.
Please remember that we are planning a yard sale around September. Please search your garages, attics and bedrooms for items you no longer need that you would be willing to part with :)
Also don't forget our other fundraisers that are to your left in the sidebar.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions for fundraising please comment and let us know. We are open to all suggestions.
~Tiffany
She has requested that we read a book called The Connected Child by Kayrn Purvis. So I immediately downloaded the book tonight from Books a Million when I got home from work. I read the first chapter so far. She also requested that we take a few online courses. She also asked for our plans for schooling, doctors, therapy, etc. We just found out that a friend of the family has graciously offered her services to tutor Roman!
I am hoping that all though we had to clear a few road blocks our efforts to complete all the tasks that have been given to us will show that we are willing to do what ever it takes to bring Roman, our son, home!
I had a nice long chat with our adoption coordinator tonight as well. She is such a sweet lady. She answered a lot of questions that I had and eased my mind.
Please remember that we are planning a yard sale around September. Please search your garages, attics and bedrooms for items you no longer need that you would be willing to part with :)
Also don't forget our other fundraisers that are to your left in the sidebar.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions for fundraising please comment and let us know. We are open to all suggestions.
~Tiffany
Sunday, August 5, 2012
TODAY WAS A LITTLE TOUGH
Today after church we received a call from the adoption coordinator.
Tiffany and I both felt like the home study we had on Friday went very well. We felt like we were prepared for any questions the social worker may have and afterwards we thought it well and we had answered her questions with well researched and thought out answers.
Back to the phone call today; Tiffany was speaking to the coordinator while I drove us home from church. Two things stood out in the conversation. One, Tiffany is not old enough to be on Roman's birth certificate in the Ukraine (the age difference must be 15 years). This little piece of information was devastating to Tiffany and so ensued the tears. We have already been afraid Roman would feel like the baby was Tiffany's child and Roman was mine because of the timing, so this just made Tiffany feel that much more out of the adoption loop. Then we found out we will get a new birth certificate in the US and she will be on that one.
The second thing and admittedly much more damaging for both us of, is that the social worker told the coordinator she didn't think we were old enough to adopt a 15 year old boy. We did not have a good reaction to this. We have struggled with our own fears about diving into parenthood and this was less than reassuring. What we do have to assure of this being the right thing to do is the fact that this a calling from God, for us to bring our son home. Some people I have spoken to are having trouble with that concept. I will try to explain it the best I can. My own personal experience is this; I know I was commanded to go to the Ukraine to get my son and bring him home. The understanding I have to full fill this command is as natural as eating when I am hungry or sleeping when I am tired, it is just one of those things you don't have to be reminded to do, you just do it because you know you have to. Until it happens to you, it is very hard to understand coming from someone else. I have never in my life had a feeling like this. I am so positive that this is God's will that I promise you I will stake everything on it, I have never had this kind of faith in God before. I thought giving the tithe when I was flat broke and didn't get paid for another week was living in faith, but let me tell you, this is a whole new level for me. For those of you who know me, you know I am very methodical, practical and I will not do anything without a great deal of planning, preparation and research.
Now, I just pray and listen to God and try my best to do what he commands.
All we can do now is pray that God will speak to the hearts of the people that make the decisions in this adoption process and hope they listen.
-Ken
Tiffany and I both felt like the home study we had on Friday went very well. We felt like we were prepared for any questions the social worker may have and afterwards we thought it well and we had answered her questions with well researched and thought out answers.
Back to the phone call today; Tiffany was speaking to the coordinator while I drove us home from church. Two things stood out in the conversation. One, Tiffany is not old enough to be on Roman's birth certificate in the Ukraine (the age difference must be 15 years). This little piece of information was devastating to Tiffany and so ensued the tears. We have already been afraid Roman would feel like the baby was Tiffany's child and Roman was mine because of the timing, so this just made Tiffany feel that much more out of the adoption loop. Then we found out we will get a new birth certificate in the US and she will be on that one.
The second thing and admittedly much more damaging for both us of, is that the social worker told the coordinator she didn't think we were old enough to adopt a 15 year old boy. We did not have a good reaction to this. We have struggled with our own fears about diving into parenthood and this was less than reassuring. What we do have to assure of this being the right thing to do is the fact that this a calling from God, for us to bring our son home. Some people I have spoken to are having trouble with that concept. I will try to explain it the best I can. My own personal experience is this; I know I was commanded to go to the Ukraine to get my son and bring him home. The understanding I have to full fill this command is as natural as eating when I am hungry or sleeping when I am tired, it is just one of those things you don't have to be reminded to do, you just do it because you know you have to. Until it happens to you, it is very hard to understand coming from someone else. I have never in my life had a feeling like this. I am so positive that this is God's will that I promise you I will stake everything on it, I have never had this kind of faith in God before. I thought giving the tithe when I was flat broke and didn't get paid for another week was living in faith, but let me tell you, this is a whole new level for me. For those of you who know me, you know I am very methodical, practical and I will not do anything without a great deal of planning, preparation and research.
Now, I just pray and listen to God and try my best to do what he commands.
All we can do now is pray that God will speak to the hearts of the people that make the decisions in this adoption process and hope they listen.
-Ken
Saturday, August 4, 2012
New Ways to Help
Over in the sidebar there are some new ways to help. Our friend, Lisa Morgan, is a Scentsy consultant and brought this opportunity to us as a way to help. Scentsy offers so many great options, I'm sure you'll find something you like. Just follow the link and start shopping! Orders need to be in by the end of the month.
And for those of you out there like me, who can not start your day until coffee has crossed your lips, we have Just Love Coffee. This company was started by an adoptive family seeking news ways to raise funds for their adoption and now they are helping others do the same.
The web links for both are dedicated links for our fundraisers, so feel free to share them.
And last but not least, we plan to hold a yard sale in September. So, if you have things you'd like to donate just let us know. We'll be collecting the entire month of August. Once we set a date in September, I'll let you know.
Ready, set, go!
And for those of you out there like me, who can not start your day until coffee has crossed your lips, we have Just Love Coffee. This company was started by an adoptive family seeking news ways to raise funds for their adoption and now they are helping others do the same.
The web links for both are dedicated links for our fundraisers, so feel free to share them.
And last but not least, we plan to hold a yard sale in September. So, if you have things you'd like to donate just let us know. We'll be collecting the entire month of August. Once we set a date in September, I'll let you know.
Ready, set, go!
Sending Him Back :(
So Thursday morning Roman was put back on a plane headed to Ukraine. It was inevitable, but devastating nonetheless. You can read that story here. But now, we move forward. Every day matters, more paperwork to be done, more money to raise, more prayers to be prayed. Thank you for continuing to share in this journey with us!
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