We Have a Date!

Thank you all for your prayers!  We were told today by David (our adoption facilitator) that our appointment at the SDA is scheduled for February 2nd.  That means we will fly out of State College on Sunday, January 30th and will arrive in Kiev on Monday, the 31st.  We will then have our appointment on Wednesday, the 2nd and, Lord willing, be in Krivoy Rog (prounounced Krivi Rig) on Friday, the 4th.  After that, we're not sure what will happen . . . literally, only God knows!  Some recent families have only been in Ukraine for less than two weeks on their first trip, others will be there for almost three.  God is in control!  We're glad He is, because otherwise this would be really hard.  Please PRAY that we would continue to trust Him.  In addition to receiving our SDA appointment date today, we received the translation of a letter that Artyr wrote to us and sent home with Dusty and Tina Kunstbeck when they came home on their first trip.  We're inserting a picture of the letter (nice handwriting, huh?) and the translation, which was provided by Lily Valihun, the translator from our hosting camp. 

Here is the translation

Joe, Ginger, Grace, Jordyn,

Hello everyone! How is everybody doing? I have missed you all terribly. Thank you very much for the packages that you sent for me. I ask God every night to help us with the process of adoption. I cannot wait the moment when I see you. Thank you very much for praying for me. Thank you for the photos. I am happy to become part of your family. Every day I think about all you. I recall those happy and wonderful days that we spent together. I am waiting for a moment to teach girls some football tricks (he's talking about soccer, not football . . . we'll straighten him out soon enough, don't worry . . . haha).  Joe, I think, you are a very good coach of your team (Joe coached Jordyn's soccer team this year).  I would like to help you with that. I want to be a great brother for Grace and Jordyn. I want very much to be a good son of yours. English is very tough for me. You asked how many times per week we have English classes with Luba. We have English classes twice a week, on Fridays and Saturdays. It will be great when I learn English and will be able to communicate with you and to get to know you better. Thank you very much for the poems that you wrote for me in the letters (we think he was talking about the verses from the Bible we wrote in his letters). I read them every day. I want to take care of my favorite sisters. I go to school five times a week, Monday through Friday. Every day I have 6 classes. Every class is taught by different teacher. I miss you very badly. We are going to have winter holidays soon. Autumn holidays were lots of fun: we went to the cinema, ice ring, circus, and theatre. When we got first snow, and when Dusty and Tina came to visit Dima, we played snowballs. I really liked that picture that you sent Dusty. I liked it a lot.

I love you and miss you all very much.

It is amazing the love that Artyr (and all of these children) have to share.  Many people have told us how great it is for us to be doing this for Artyr.  WE are the ones who are blessed to be able to have him love us!  We're excited to be able to get over there and bring our son home.  Artyr will find out that we have a date soon, so please PRAY that this news will give him some added security that we are coming!  The next two months have the potential to be very hard for Artyr because his two best friends (Dima and Erik) are leaving very soon to come home with their new parents.  Please also PRAY as we begin the process of booking flights, preparing lessons for school (Ginger), and finding people to care for our beautiful litlte girls (that's a whole other blog entry in itself).  Please also PRAY for the families that are in Ukraine right now.  Cindy and Eric have their court date this Thursday, and Mick and Janelle are on their first trip, as well.  Russ and Lori and Tina are getting ready to bring Erik and Lena and Dima home soon, so please PRAY that everything goes smoothly.  Thank you all so much . . . Have a God day!