How it all started
February 27th 2006
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to our BLOG! This is our very first post. I've been having alittle bit of trouble getting this started. I'm not much of a computer wiz! Next thing I would really like to do is know the easiest way to post pictures and maybe personalize it a bit. We are planning on using this so it makes it easier to communicate with our kids, family & friends when we are in Ukraine.
How it all started.........I think back and can't believe all the things we had to do to reach this point! Right now we have an appointment on March 28th at the NAC in Ukraine. We received the wonderful call from Elena at our adoption agency on Feb. 8th 2006. I still can't believe we received the call! We have been waiting for a year. I just got so used to handling the stress of waiting!! We will be leaving on Mar. 26th on a direct flight in business class with Aerosvit Airlines.
We are all so anxious to bring our little Sara home. Our three children are looking forward to finally meeting their new sister. I pray that God will give us the signs to make us see who he has chosen for our daughter. In saying that, I truly believe that this is a call from God...............
Adoption has always been a childhood dream of mine but I thought I was just not capable or emotionally strong enough to do it. As I grew up adoption always seemed to come up in my life....almost like a reminder, so I wouldn't forget about dreaming of actually doing it. Eventually I met Philip, we married and after 3 years of marriage I got pregnant with our first child. We had 2 more children which are all about 3 years apart. For some reason the topic of adoption in general would always "sneak" into our conversations. We both felt very positive about adoption. We simply think it is just another wonderful way of receiving the gift of a child. We've had the privilege to see first hand at how successful adoption can be. My good friend, who is God-mother to our 1st son had adopted a wonderful baby-girl years ago. We treat her just like she is our very own niece because this is how we truly feel. Apparently she is very excited about our adoption journey and we are so happy that she feels this way. We can't wait for her and little Sara to meet!
One day, back in January, 2005, Philip and I were talking about the horrible disaster (the Tsunami) in India. We were very saddened about the many orphans . Out of the blue Philip turns towards me with a serious look on his face and says, " You know, I wouldn't mind bringing one of those kids here and raising them as our own." Right after he said that the most strangest feeling came over me and I simply said,"You know, I would seriously do the same thing!" Thats all it took to get the ball rolling! Before this we had talked about getting pregnant with another child. Although I secretly wanted another daughter, I refused to get pregnant. I was afraid of past complications due to being pregnant, would return again. We never actually talked about us adopting until that January day in 2005. We spoke with our children right away and they were excited and curious about the whole process. They asked all kinds of questions and still do. We encourage them to do so. We basically got our blessing from the children which was all we needed!
Before I knew it I was emersed in information-galore with my computer and then the dreaded paperwork began and never seemed to end. The worst part of all has been the never ending wait! I can honestly say that adoption for me, so far has been more difficult then having children biologically. Adoption is NOT the easy way out. Reading many books on international adoption and reading the many informatve posts on FRUA chatline has made it alittle easier.
Today I spoke with Elena at the adoption agency and she said that by this Thursday our updated documents (that they were notarizing) should be ready for pick-up with our plane tickets. She also said that she spoke to our facilitator today and mentioned that we wanted to stay at hotels instead of apartments. This is mostly to do with safety because Philip is alittle concerned about this. Our facilitator advised that this could become very expensive. He suggested putting us in a high-end apartment with a security-guard on each floor which would be alot less in price. We decided to go with the apartment. I can't wait to see what it is like!!
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to our BLOG! This is our very first post. I've been having alittle bit of trouble getting this started. I'm not much of a computer wiz! Next thing I would really like to do is know the easiest way to post pictures and maybe personalize it a bit. We are planning on using this so it makes it easier to communicate with our kids, family & friends when we are in Ukraine.
How it all started.........I think back and can't believe all the things we had to do to reach this point! Right now we have an appointment on March 28th at the NAC in Ukraine. We received the wonderful call from Elena at our adoption agency on Feb. 8th 2006. I still can't believe we received the call! We have been waiting for a year. I just got so used to handling the stress of waiting!! We will be leaving on Mar. 26th on a direct flight in business class with Aerosvit Airlines.
We are all so anxious to bring our little Sara home. Our three children are looking forward to finally meeting their new sister. I pray that God will give us the signs to make us see who he has chosen for our daughter. In saying that, I truly believe that this is a call from God...............
Adoption has always been a childhood dream of mine but I thought I was just not capable or emotionally strong enough to do it. As I grew up adoption always seemed to come up in my life....almost like a reminder, so I wouldn't forget about dreaming of actually doing it. Eventually I met Philip, we married and after 3 years of marriage I got pregnant with our first child. We had 2 more children which are all about 3 years apart. For some reason the topic of adoption in general would always "sneak" into our conversations. We both felt very positive about adoption. We simply think it is just another wonderful way of receiving the gift of a child. We've had the privilege to see first hand at how successful adoption can be. My good friend, who is God-mother to our 1st son had adopted a wonderful baby-girl years ago. We treat her just like she is our very own niece because this is how we truly feel. Apparently she is very excited about our adoption journey and we are so happy that she feels this way. We can't wait for her and little Sara to meet!
One day, back in January, 2005, Philip and I were talking about the horrible disaster (the Tsunami) in India. We were very saddened about the many orphans . Out of the blue Philip turns towards me with a serious look on his face and says, " You know, I wouldn't mind bringing one of those kids here and raising them as our own." Right after he said that the most strangest feeling came over me and I simply said,"You know, I would seriously do the same thing!" Thats all it took to get the ball rolling! Before this we had talked about getting pregnant with another child. Although I secretly wanted another daughter, I refused to get pregnant. I was afraid of past complications due to being pregnant, would return again. We never actually talked about us adopting until that January day in 2005. We spoke with our children right away and they were excited and curious about the whole process. They asked all kinds of questions and still do. We encourage them to do so. We basically got our blessing from the children which was all we needed!
Before I knew it I was emersed in information-galore with my computer and then the dreaded paperwork began and never seemed to end. The worst part of all has been the never ending wait! I can honestly say that adoption for me, so far has been more difficult then having children biologically. Adoption is NOT the easy way out. Reading many books on international adoption and reading the many informatve posts on FRUA chatline has made it alittle easier.
Today I spoke with Elena at the adoption agency and she said that by this Thursday our updated documents (that they were notarizing) should be ready for pick-up with our plane tickets. She also said that she spoke to our facilitator today and mentioned that we wanted to stay at hotels instead of apartments. This is mostly to do with safety because Philip is alittle concerned about this. Our facilitator advised that this could become very expensive. He suggested putting us in a high-end apartment with a security-guard on each floor which would be alot less in price. We decided to go with the apartment. I can't wait to see what it is like!!
posted by Gina Fortini @ 10:53 p.m.
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