And the story continues....

We have been through a roller coaster of emotions over the past year and a half when we started this journey of hosting / adoption.  It has not been easy but every step of the way, we feel that the Lord has grown us and strengthened our faith.  Sometimes I don't like how He strengthens my faith.  However, every time I come out the other end, I feel blessed that He even wants to strengthen my faith.  Of course, I rarely see that as I am going through it.

This was no exception.

If you have been following our journey with Lidiya and her brothers, then you know that we had our adoption agent have the translator in their region ask them if they want to be adopted.  We have been waiting on that answer since November 20th.  On December 16th, we received word that Lidiya and Vlad had been asked....Vlad said "yes, he wants a family" and Lidiya said that she would have to think about it but would give her answer in a week. We finally received the answer we had been waiting so long for.  On February 5th, our adoption agent notified us that the translator asked Lidiya and she said that she did not want to leave the Ukraine.

I prepared my heart for this answer because I knew that Lidiya was having a hard time wanting to leave her family.  I had a feeling deep inside, even though I would not have admitted it, that her answer would be no.  On February 3, I had a dear friend tell me that  she would never adopt children that had any family connection because of the potential repercussions surrounding that.  She also just shared from her heart about feeling that maybe we should stop pursuing these children because when children want something, they will most certainly let you know.  If Lidiya had to "think about it", that is a red flag.  Well....I knew all of this before she even spoke a word but sometimes hearing it from someone else makes you open your eyes.  So, that just helped me to come to the conclusion that these were not the children the Lord would have for us.  However, I still was not about to give up, the Lord would have to close that door.

And He did.

So, for the last 3 weeks, we have been mourning and praying about what the Lord would have for us.  It has taken me 3 weeks to blog because we were just not ready to put into writing what we had just lost.  Danny has been greatly affected by this, his heart is broken and he has needed some time to heal.

Well, on February 20th, one of my friend's (who is in Ukraine interviewing kids for hosting) sent me an email and said that if we would consider hosting this summer, she found a great brother and sister for us.  She personally interviewed them and she said that we were the first to come to her mind....her husband agreed.  After praying about it, we have decided to move forward with hosting them.

Danny is very excited about these two children.  Although he is still mourning over Lidiya and her brothers, he is anxiously moving forward with anticipation of having these two in our home for 5 weeks this summer.  Although I did not have to mourn quite as much over the loss, I am still not totally excited yet about these kids.  I think my heart and my mind go through a different process and it will take some time before I completely warm up to the idea.  To be 100% honest, having another teenage girl in our home scares the heebie jeebies out of me!!  I was scared to have Lidiya come and it ended up turning out OK but for some reason, I am feeling the same way again about this girl.  I don't know why - I guess it goes back to that whole "I don't feel adequate" feeling.  I realize that my adequacy will come from the Lord and I will eventually relent but for right now, I am just being stubborn, I suppose.  However, I do not feel that our family is complete.  I know with all of my being that the Lord has more children for us.  I, never in a million years, would have thought that this would include older children and I most certainly never would have thought it would have included a teenage girl!!!!!!  However, I know my ways are not His ways....

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  Isaiah 55:8

So, please follow us on this journey as we take steps of obedience in taking care of the orphans.  We are not capable of doing this alone.  Thank you for being there for us.

"A" and "L"

It will take an absolute Miracle

I am not saying this to be cliché or anything but it will take an absolute miracle for us to bring these children home. But then again, if it happens, we truly can and will give all the Glory to God. However, if it doesn't, then we will understand that it was not His will.

The reason it will take a miracle is that we really have everything going against us...we really one have one thing in our favor right now. One. More about that in a minute. Here are the things we have going against us and the things that our prayer warriors can pray about:

• All three kids have to say "yes" to being adopted.  This is a huge obstacle because this summer when we asked Lidiya about coming to America to go to school, her response was, "No way.  I couldn't leave my brothers and I have way too much family to leave".  Hopefully "adoption with her brothers and the chance at a permanent family" is different than leaving everyone to just come to school.  
• Then, Ukraine in itself is a challenging country to adopt from.  It is corrupt, there is bribery, the politics are just awful and so much more.  
• To top that off, the Kherson Region in Ukraine is very against adoptions right now because there have been too many American adoptions coming out of hosting programs.  So, they are investigating child trafficking.  This one just makes me sick because it is child trafficking that we are saving these children from!
• And to put icing on the cake, the orphanage director at their orphanage is in hot water because he has allowed international adoptions but not adoptions from Ukrainian families.  See....he gets more money for international adoptions, so now he is being investigated.

So, please pray that we will be able to discern the Lord's will for us and for these children.  Ultimately, they are His children, not ours and we just want what is best for them.  

Back to the one thing that we do have going for us....2 out of the 3 children were asked about adoption and Vlad (the oldest) said yes, he is ready to go!!  But they all have to say yes and Lidiya said she would have to think about it.  Andre has not been asked yet.

We are in the waiting mode right now....we are waiting on the Lord.  Waiting is the hardest part but He knows that and I believe through all of this He is trying to build my faith.  Hopefully it's working!  :)

Be still, and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

Here is a picture of Vlad and Andre playing Uno.  

You can sort of see their personalities in this picture.  

Vlad is very reserved and keeps to himself, while Andre is very giggly and goofy.  

So many thoughts...

We are blessed.  I know I keep saying it but it is worthy of being mentioned again.  I really hope that people can see my heart and know how truly honored we are to have so many people support what we are doing, cry with us, cry for us, pray for us, give and just love.  There are people that we have never met that have given and prayed for us.  There are people that we had never met before tonight (another one of our fundraisers) that were there with us, asking questions about what we are doing.  It truly amazes me.

We had a Parent's Night Out Fundraiser tonight and we had 41 children come.  There were several children that were unable to attend for various reasons, so we would have had even more!  I don't even know how much we raised all together because we have received money all throughout the past couple of weeks and quite a bit of that money was included in the count at the auction.  But I can tell you that tonight alone, we received a total of $410!!  So, thank you so much!  Many children were already paid up, so I was not expecting that much to come in!!!

On another note, I wanted to let everyone know where we stand in regards to the children.  Danny and I feel the Lord leading us in the way of adoption.  However, there are many questions that need to be answered first.  The most important - do the kids even want to be adopted?  How much all together is it going to cost?  Vlad turns 16 in August - is it even possible to finalize everything before then?  We are in touch with an adoption agency and are in the process of getting those questions answered.  She is going to ask the Ukrainian translator that lives in Kherson (the region where the kids live) to go to the orphanage and ask the children if they want to be adopted.  Also, we received a total cost of approximately $35,000 to adopt all three.  We currently have a little over $12,000, so we are officially more than 1/3 of the way there!  Regarding being able to get things finalized before Vlad turns 16...the answer was "Maybe.  We need to see if they want to be adopted first".  Yikes!  So, we will just continue to wait on the Lord. 

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

(Lyrics from Lincoln Brewster)

Lidiya as we arrived at the airport to send her back...



Sometimes the answer to prayer is "no"

So, here I sit at my computer with my heart in my lap.  I don't have any other way to describe how I am feeling. I have cried many tears over the past two days and I have had to sort through my feelings and emotions.  I have cried, prayed and cried out to the Lord!  Why are my precious children from Ukraine not coming home for Christmas?

We received a call on Monday that it wasn't looking good for the kids to come.  No explanation as to why but just that it doesn't look good, so we needed to pray.  I had many thoughts running through my head and I prayed...we all prayed.  I emailed those that I knew would pray, those that I consider my family and we all prayed.  Well, God answered our prayers.  I believe this was his answer: "The kids will not be coming for Christmas.  But I want you to trust me".  Sometimes people believe that if the answer is "no", then God must not have answered our prayers.  One day I was teaching Coby about answered prayers and I told him that God answers all prayers.  He told me that he did not believe God answered all prayers.  I asked him why not.  He said, "Well, what if I prayed right now that I want God to give me a million dollars?  He wouldn't answer that prayer".  I told him that I disagreed and he asked me how I could possibly disagree with that.  I told him that God's answer to that prayer would more than likely be "no" but nonetheless, he answered it.  "Ohhhh...now I get it", Coby said!!  So, I truly believe that God hears and answers all prayers.  His answer might be yes, it might be no, it might be maybe, it might be not now, it might be wait....who knows what his answer might be but I do believe he always has an answer.

The answer that we received was that the region in which the kids live (Kherson) is shutting down all hostings indefinitely.  The local regional authority in Kherson is upset about the number of adoptions that have resulted from hosting programs in the past year. New Horizon's For Children (NHFC) is not the only program that brings kids from this region. There were 7 in the last 12 months and 4 of them were NHFC related. They are viewing the host program as a “child trafficking program” and making accusations now and investigating each of the orphanages, directors and others involved in the region in adoptions. It comes down to someone, somewhere, doesn’t want the kids to be adopted, therefore, they have now closed this region to hosting.

I'm not really sure I understand this completely but what I do know is that God is ultimately in control and he loves those children more than I ever could.  He has opened way too many doors for us in this area of hosting/adoption that we can not come to the conclusion that this means we are finished.  Four weeks ago, we had $850 towards our hosting and today we have a total of approximately $11,800.  Danny and I both firmly believe that the Lord is asking us to completely trust in him and to go get our children.  We now have almost a third of the money that is needed to fund the adoption of these children.

We have had many people ask a lot of questions since we started talking about hosting/adopting children from Ukraine.  Questions like:  We have a lot of orphans in America...why not just adopt here?  Why not adopt from a country where it is easier?  Why would you spend $10,000 to host, why not just apply that money towards adoption?  Well...there really is one simple answer for all of the questions....we are doing what we believe the Lord has asked us to do.  An orphan is an orphan no matter where they live and if the Lord is asking us to go to the Ukraine, then that is where we will go.  He never said it would be easy.  Since he has shut down the hosting for this Christmas, we will now apply that money towards adoption.  :)

We will go to the Ukraine with the intent to bring these children home.  There is no guarantee that we will get to bring these children home...so many things can happen.  But I am going there with the thought that I am pregnant.  And just like in any pregnancy, even though you hear the baby's heartbeat and even though you see the baby on an ultrasound, there is still no guarantee that you will have that baby.  My pregnancy will begin when we start our homestudy.  So, I will share the news when we conceive!  And I will update everyone on the process of my pregnancy...up until the day of delivery.

Thank you all for your prayers and for following our journey.  I mean this with all of my heart - I am truly humbled at the outpouring of love and support that we have received...truly humbled.

Pictures of the children that you are reminded to pray for

What a precious story...well written by Jessica Highsmith!

http://theapexherald.com/bookmark/16440314/article-Auction+will+help+fund+adoption+proccess#.TsbvfDyLCK8.facebook

This was the story that was run in the Apex Herald about our story regarding these three orphans that we are trying to bring here for Christmas.  I believe it will run in the Fuquay Independant and the Holly Springs Sun next week.  I hope you will be touched by the story...it was beautifully written.  Thanks to Jessica Highsmith! 

Saying "goodbye" this summer was very hard!!!

VERY HARD!!!

Coby wasn't sure what to feel but he misses Lidiya and can't wait to see her again!

A few baskets....they are coming along and we have awesome stuff to offer!!!

Here are some baskets that are completed.  You can bid, even if you are not going to be able to attend the auction.  Just let me know what you want your min. and max. bid to be and I will proxy bid for you.  I will list more as we get them completed.  All values are approximate!!!

We have a total of about 35 baskets to be offered!!!!!

So please make sure you come out and fellowship!!!

STARBUCKS BASKET

Value:  $85

Four 1 lb packs of coffee

1 NC Coffee Mug

1 create your own tumbler

1 starbucks tumbler

GOLF BASKET

Value:  $340

12 Golf Balls

2 bags of Golf Tees

1 Golf Towel

4 Rounds of Golf at the Raleigh Golf Association

4 rounds of Golf at Knights Play

$50 Gift Card to Edwards Mill Bar & Grill

DENTAL BASKET

Value: $1200+

1 gift cert. for a whitening/bleaching

1 gift cert. for an exam, cleaning and x-rays

1 gift cert. for $250 towards needed dental work

1 FlexCare+ Sonicare Toothbrush

1 Sonicare Airfloss

1 At-home tooth whitening system

Misc. manual toothbrushes & toothpaste
All from Riccobene & Associates

COLONIAL SPORTS MINISTRY

Value: $50

1 gift cert. for a Spring 2012 Soccer or Baseball Registration

TWONGO / RESTAURANT.COM PACKAGE

Value: $350

$100 Twongo Credit
(worth $200 because Twongo deals are offered at half their value)
$50 gift cert. to Spinners Restaurant @ The Four Point Sheraton
$25 gift cert. to Amante Gourmet Pizza
$25 gift cert. to Thai Spices and Sushi
$25 gift cert. to Mambo Italiano
$25 gift cert. to Klara's Restaurant in downtown Cary
(Authentic Czech Cuisine)
We have personally eaten at all of these restaurants (except Spinners but heard great things about it) and we have thoroughly enjoyed all of them.  That is why I picked them for this package!!!

CREATIVE MEMORIES SCRAPBOOKING BASKET

All I have to say is...y'all are lucky I won't be bidding....cuz I'd fight ya for this one!!!

Value: $350++

Creative Memories - Memory Mate Bag

1 pack of multi-colored photo mounting paper
1 pack of die cut shapes
Hundreds of stickers
Photo mounting triangles
I pack short cuts pre-cut mounting paper
1 set bold-tip pens
1 set fine-tip pens
Photo labeling pencil
Corner rounder
3 pairs decorative scissors
Personal mini-trimmer
Custom cutting system
3 blade set and mat
12 inch pattern
Circle patterns
Oval Patterns
Photo scissors
Fast formulas layout book
Plastic storage sleeves for stickers and paper
Gift Certificate for a creative memories consultant class on making a calendar
Picfolio mini album

CAR CARE BASKET

Value: $200

TWO - $50 gift certificates from Discount Tires towards a new set of tires

(Can not be used together)

$25 Gift Certificate from Colony Tire

1 roll paper towels

1 Black Magic Tire Shine

1 Wheel and Tire Cleaner

1 can of window / glass cleaner

1 Turtle Wax Car Wash

1 auto sponge

1 wash bucket

TWO gift certificates for a full service car wash at Bunkey's

SOUTHERN LIVING / WILLOW HOUSE BASKET

Value: $125+

1 beautiful distressed decorative cross
Estate Trivet Trio
1 Busy Mom's Cookbook
1 Simple Suppers Cookbook
1 glass flower vase

LIA SOPHIA JEWELRY PACKAGE

I received additional Lia Sophia Jewelry, so I have taken a few of these pieces and combined it with the other pieces I received and now I have two Lia Sophia Jewelry Packages.  Both packages have 5 pieces of jewelry in them.

Value: $426

5 Necklaces
1 ring
1 bracelet
1 pendant

DESSERT BASKET

Value: $55

$10 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate to Coffee & Crepes

$10 Gift Certificate to Happy Hollys Ice Cream / Snow Balls

4 Free Jr Frosty's at Wendy's

4 Free Small Frozen Yogurt at Skinny Dip

2 Free Quarts of Italian Ice at Rita's

A batch of Homemade Cookies

(not pictured because then they wouldn't be fresh - would they?!?)

GOURMET CHOCOLATE BASKET

Value: $50

Godiva Milk Chocolate Tablet Bar
Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Caramel Premium Bar
Lindt White Chocolate Truffle
Harry & David Dark Chocolate Moose Munch Bar
Almond Roca Buttercrunch Candy
Chambury European Chocolate Truffles
Dolcetto Chocolate Filled Wafer Cookies
Primo Dolce Chocolate Truffle Cookies
Angelina's Sweet Butter Cookies
Beth's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Tapestry Chocolate Covered Graham Cracker
Fontazzi Butter Toffee Pretzels

This would be a perfect Christmas Gift to ship to a relative!!
I even have the box it came in and I'll give it to you, if you want.
YUMMY!!

TEEN GIRL BASKET

Value: $285

OK - this is the cutest "basket" e-v-e-r!!! 

Included is a fuzzy papasan chair from Justice for Girls

Inside is a ton of "girly" stuff including:

Mary Kay Make Up and Lotions

A Book:  "One Thousand Gifts"

A Worship Music CD:  Sara Groves

Candles

Girly Soaps

An Angry Bird

Coasters

Note paper

And so much more!

BLESSING BASKET BY JENNIFER FLEES
AND BASIL THE CAT

The basket doesn't look too nice in this picture but the stuff inside is awesome!

Value: $105

Gorgous Vintage Silver Plated 4 Picture Locket
Hand-made Ornament
A dozen blank cards with beautiful photos taken by Jennifer Flees
Beautiful Wall Art by Jennifer Flees

KIM SHARPHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGE

Value: $150

1 hour photo shoot with no sitting fee

All photos taken included on a CD at no charge

for you to take anywhere you wish to have any of the photos printed

(just the CD makes this package priceless!!!!)

This is a photo taken by Kim of our family with Lidiya

HEALTHSOURCE CHIROPRACTIC/MASSAGE PACKAGE

I have two of these packages to offer.  Plus, I have included one in the spa basket.

Value: $170 each

1 Consultation, Exam and X-Rays

1 - 30 minute massage

This package is probably the most special to me because I personally know Dr. Bob (the chiropractor) and he is a wonderful Godly man!!!  Not only does he have a huge heart but he is a great doctor.  When our family was seeing him, we had to stop due to finances.  Yet Dr. Bob wanted to continue to see us, despite our inability to pay at the time, because our health was more important to him than the money.  I can not say enough good things about Dr. Bob!!!  If you have ever been nervous about seeing chiropractors, please bid on this package and give Dr. Bob a chance.  I promise...you will not regret it!!!

WORSHIP PACKAGE

Value: $55

1 American Patriot Bible

1 Chris Tomlin Christmas Worship CD

HOUSEWARMING PACKAGE

Value: $65
Really - you can't place a value on this package because the three wall plaques
are hand-made and I can't even imagine what they are worth!!

1 Romans 8:28 Wall Plaque

1 Blessings Wall Plaque

1 Family Rules Wall Plaque

1 Decorative Cross

Set of 3 Hearts:  Family, Hope and Faith

I have listed just over half of the baskets, items and packages that we will have at the auction.  I will not be posting anymore baskets with complete descriptions and pictures but I will try and list as many of the baskets, items and packages that we will have at the auction so that you at least have an idea.

Another Creative Memories Scrapbooking Basket worth $350

A fast food basket with coupons for IHOP, McDonalds, Southern Roast Coffee and Chick-fil-a

Another photo package

Another golf package from Twelve Oaks in Holly Springs

A Monkey Joe's Birthday Party Package for 16 kids worth $199

State Fan Basket

Sherwin Williams Paint Package

We have a total of about 35 baskets to be offered!!!!! 

So please make sure you come out and fellowship!!!

We have a location!!!

Just in case you missed it....God has provided a location for our Silent Auction!!  It will be held at Hope Chapel in Apex.  The address is 6175 Old Jenks Road. 

I will be updating our evite and our Facebook Event.  Please RSVP so that we can plan accordingly with how many people will be coming.

Thanks!!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.   Romans 8:28 

A sneak peek....

I hope that you will consider attending our silent auction. It is for a great cause and you will be blessed. You will be blessed by the fellowship and you will be blessed by being able to take home a wonderful basket at a fraction of it's value! Please prayerfully consider attending!!

We have a wonderful bunch of baskets that my dear brother's and sister's in Christ are creating with an abundance of amazing donations from local vendors!!!  Right now, I just want to take a moment to thank and recognize the vendors we have so far sponsoring this Silent Auction.  I just hope I don't miss anyone!!  If I do, please forgive me.  Once we have several of these created into a basket, I will list those out and post pictures, if applicable!

• Edwards Mill Bar and Grill
• Chick-fil-a
• Riccobene & Assoc. Dental
• Twongo
• The Service Pros
• Healthsource Chiropractic - Dr. Milham
• ZPizza
• Outback Steakhouse
• Red Bowl Asian Bistro
• Tijuana Flats
• Five Guys
• Kara Seifert with Creative Memories
• Maribeth Priest with Pampered Chef
• Panda Express
• Kim Sharp Photography
• McDonald's
• Skinny Dip Frozen Yogurt
• Sarah Baker hair stylist
• Great Clips
• Carlykins Boutique
• Jennifer Flees Photography
• Susan Brown
• Harris Teeter
• Advanced Auto
• Goodyear Tire
• Colony Tire
• IHOP
• Trader Joe's
• Colonial Sports Ministry
• Maddie's Tutus
• Basilthecat Jewelry
• Monkey Joe's
• Starbucks
• Sherwin Williams
• Lia Sophia
• Southern Living @ Home
• Willow House
• The Club at 12 Oaks Golf
• Knight's Play Golf
• Doodlebuckets Baby Gifts

Now maybe you can get a glimpse into understanding how overwhelmed with joy that I am because the Lord is providing.  We were wondering how in the world we were going to come up with the money to bring these precious children here but we just knew that He was going to provide.

This was Lidiya's picture that was taken during

her interview at the beginning of this year.

God is in Control

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

As much a I try to take control of things, I am really trying to "Let Go and Let God".  It is so hard to do because that means I am having to fully rely on Him.  However, as we are learning in Church, we either trust God with a theological trust or we trust Him with practical trust.  I can theologically trust Him all day long....that's easy!!  But putting that trust into practice....that's HARD!!!

We have had a lot of discouragement with having to change the location of our Silent Auction and still not knowing where we are going to have it, to having to change the date....twice, to coming upon the deadline of when the money is due and still being so far behind, to many other obstacles that satan has tried to throw in our path.  However, I am trying to keep my head up and realize that God is in control.  Thankfully, He already knew we were going to have to change our location.  Thankfully, He already knows where we are going to hold it.  Thankfully He knows what we owe.  So, I am letting go and I am letting God take control.

With that being said, we have had so many positive things happen that I couldn't possibly take the time to list them all.  But we have had an amazing number of people donate money, items for the silent auction, things for us to sell to earn money and the list goes on and on.  Right now as it stands, we are in need of $4230 to send to New Horizon's just to get the children to Atlanta.  At a later date, we will need more funds to pay the connection flight to get them into RDU, to purchase clothing and shoes for them (as they come with what is on their back) and to buy some items for them for Christmas.  I am just guesstimating that to be approx. $1500 more.  These seem like big numbers for me...I can't even wrap my brain around it.  However, it is nothing to God.

Please prayerfully consider joining us for our Silent Auction on Nov 19th from 5-7pm.  The location is still TBD but we hope to have that secured this week.  It will be a great night of food, fun and fellowship plus a great opportunity for you to get your Christmas shopping started as most auction items end well below their value!  We are asking for a $5 donation for a hot dog plate ($20 max per family) and hope that you will walk away with some fabulous gifts.  Here is just a short list of items that will be available at the auction.  Once we have baskets put together, I will start posting pictures and/or descriptions.

• McDonald's free meals
• Panda Express free kids meals
• A car care package including merchandise from Advanced Auto Parts, a $50 GC to Discount Tire, a $25 GC to Colony Tire
• Five Guys GC for Four Free Meals ($55 value)
• ZPizza $10 GC
• Hair cuts to Great clips
• Two free meals at IHOP
• $10 GC to Tijuana Flats
• A pampered chef basket
• A pony ride birthday party package
• A starbucks basket
• Creative Memories Scrapbooking items
• Golf packages
• Chiropractic Care / Massage Package
• A dental package worth over $1100
• A beautiful, gourmet chocolate basket
• And so much more!

We are also raffling off a year's worth of Chick-fil-a Chicken sandwiches for $5 per ticket.  Thanks to a generous donation from the Chick-fil-a at Beaver Creek...Tony Holmes.

Here is a link to our Chip In Account, if you find it on your hearts to make a donation.  Or if you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, you may write a check out to New Horizon's for Children and send it to us. 

Thank you so much for following our story.
Blessings to you all!

This is why we are hosting / adopting!!

WRAL is actually doing an investigative reporting regarding Human Trafficking in NC! 


Details:  6 pm TONIGHT (Thurs, Nov 3) on WRAL TV 5.  


For those of you who are not local, you can watch the broadcast live at 6pm EST if you go to www.wral.com.


I am not sure exactly what they plan on covering but hopefully you will get a glimpse into why we are so passionate about orphans...especially in Eastern Europe where Human Trafficking is so prevalent!!!