We got our new digital video camera yesterday. It is a really pretty, shiny dark blue color. It is small, lightweight, and really user-friendly. Nothing really fancy, we just wanted something to take home movies of the kids with. The one we got is just perfect for us. It will be great to take to Ukraine. Within an hour I had taken a few minutes of footage of the dog (Kevin wasn't feeling well and made me promise not to video him), loaded it up on the computer, and added a title and some music. It is definitely nothing fancy, but it is my first try. I already feel pretty comfortable with iMovie. It could not be any easier to us.
Please don't mind our backyard. The lawn was mowed today and we are still recovering from winter and the drought! :)
Also, I had no idea how easy it would be to upload the video to Youtube and link it to the blog. Easy Peasy! I tried Photobucket first but I couldn't upload the video for some reason. The file wasn't compatible. iMovie is connected with Youtube so I used them, even though their quality is not very good.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Grandpa Carl
I haven't blogged in a while because we have been very busy around here. We had family in town for Easter, I got a long term sub job, we have been doing yard work (it is still cold about half the time here, but there are flowers and blossoms all over the place!), I had my test for my teaching credential, all kinds of busy!
Some sad news for our family is that Kevin's paternal grandpa (Carl) passed away the week of Easter. He was not doing well and we were not surprised to hear it, but it is still very sad. Carl lived a very long life though, he turned 90 last December! He was married to the love of his life for nearly 70 years! Please keep Grandma Libby in your prayers as she is mentally very fragile and has a hard time remembering what is happening. By the grace of God she is doing pretty well though. The whole family is getting together next weekend for Carl's memorial in Southern California, so we are flying out there on Thursday. It will be neat to have that side of the family all in one place because we are spread out in several different parts of the country, but it is too bad that it is for Carl's memorial.
No adoption news yet, but we should hear something very soon!
Here are a few pictures from Carl's life that I scanned to give you a glimpse of who he was:
In 1922, with his older brother Paul.
Goofing around "in the doghouse!"
With his firstborn child, Kevin's dad Bill.
With his lovely bride and Bill.
In 2000, dancing at our wedding. :) I love this picture. They were so cute and had some great moves!
Some sad news for our family is that Kevin's paternal grandpa (Carl) passed away the week of Easter. He was not doing well and we were not surprised to hear it, but it is still very sad. Carl lived a very long life though, he turned 90 last December! He was married to the love of his life for nearly 70 years! Please keep Grandma Libby in your prayers as she is mentally very fragile and has a hard time remembering what is happening. By the grace of God she is doing pretty well though. The whole family is getting together next weekend for Carl's memorial in Southern California, so we are flying out there on Thursday. It will be neat to have that side of the family all in one place because we are spread out in several different parts of the country, but it is too bad that it is for Carl's memorial.
No adoption news yet, but we should hear something very soon!
Here are a few pictures from Carl's life that I scanned to give you a glimpse of who he was:
In 1922, with his older brother Paul.
Goofing around "in the doghouse!"
With his firstborn child, Kevin's dad Bill.
With his lovely bride and Bill.
In 2000, dancing at our wedding. :) I love this picture. They were so cute and had some great moves!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Nothing to Say
Nothing to report. We are doing well. Probably about 1/2 way through the wait for to hear about our appointment date. Please continue to pray that the SDA sees us fit to come over and adopt a couple of orphans from their country. It is totally out of our hands.
Lately we have just been trying to do some of the things that we won't hopefully will not have time for soon. Today I am cleaning the garage. Fun stuff.
Have a wonderful Easter week! Kevin's parents are arriving on Friday to spend the holiday with us and meet with the architect who is drawing up the plan for their house. Their house in California is for sale. If anyone wants a really nice Spanish style house on about 20 acres in central California wine country, let me know! We will miss "the ranch" but we are looking forward to having them close by at the lake! :)
Lately we have just been trying to do some of the things that we won't hopefully will not have time for soon. Today I am cleaning the garage. Fun stuff.
Have a wonderful Easter week! Kevin's parents are arriving on Friday to spend the holiday with us and meet with the architect who is drawing up the plan for their house. Their house in California is for sale. If anyone wants a really nice Spanish style house on about 20 acres in central California wine country, let me know! We will miss "the ranch" but we are looking forward to having them close by at the lake! :)
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
And Now We Wait
We received official word yesterday that our dossier was submitted as it was supposed to be. So what happens now? Well, we wait. Here is what we know:
- Today is Day 3 of what typically takes about 30 days (sometimes more). Sometime in the next month the SDA will look over our paperwork to verify that we are who we say that we are and that we are able to adopt the children that we are requesting. That is my take on it anyway.
- If all goes well with the paperwork then we will get an appointment date! In the past (for other families who have adopted) this date has been about 3 and a half to four months from when they turned their dossier in. However as far as I can tell we are one of the first families to have their dossier submitted since the SDA reopened for submission this year so I am not sure if their is a big backlog of families waiting to travel or something else that would make our appointment date pushed out a little further.
- Once we get a travel date we will start planning and preparing for our trip. There are all kinds of things we will need to take care of in order to be out of the country for at least a month, often times longer.
- The week of our appointment date we will probably plan to arrive in Kiev a couple days before our appointment just in case we have any travel delays.
- At our appointment we will likely be shown a few referrals that meet the criteria that we are requesting. (2 children, either sex, ages 6 and under, with minor correctable health problems. This is the typical language used to describe children who have minor health issues and delays that are typical of children who have been living in an orphanage.) We are actually approved for up to three children, so you never know. ;)
- After we accept a referral we will travel to wherever those children live in Ukraine to meet them and to hopefully pursue the adoption of the children.
- From there we would do all the legal paperwork and process to adopt the children. It usually takes a week or two for this and then there is almost always a ten day waiting period. Sometimes people come home during this ten day wait and sometimes they stay. It will depend on the situation, how long we have been there, etc. I may stay and Kevin may come home for the wait and then fly back. This will be something we won't decide on until we are there.
Feel free to ask any questions you have about the process. I will answer them as best I can. There is so much more to it than what I wrote, but I am trying to keep from boring you or confusing you. So that is it in a nutshell.
- Today is Day 3 of what typically takes about 30 days (sometimes more). Sometime in the next month the SDA will look over our paperwork to verify that we are who we say that we are and that we are able to adopt the children that we are requesting. That is my take on it anyway.
- If all goes well with the paperwork then we will get an appointment date! In the past (for other families who have adopted) this date has been about 3 and a half to four months from when they turned their dossier in. However as far as I can tell we are one of the first families to have their dossier submitted since the SDA reopened for submission this year so I am not sure if their is a big backlog of families waiting to travel or something else that would make our appointment date pushed out a little further.
- Once we get a travel date we will start planning and preparing for our trip. There are all kinds of things we will need to take care of in order to be out of the country for at least a month, often times longer.
- The week of our appointment date we will probably plan to arrive in Kiev a couple days before our appointment just in case we have any travel delays.
- At our appointment we will likely be shown a few referrals that meet the criteria that we are requesting. (2 children, either sex, ages 6 and under, with minor correctable health problems. This is the typical language used to describe children who have minor health issues and delays that are typical of children who have been living in an orphanage.) We are actually approved for up to three children, so you never know. ;)
- After we accept a referral we will travel to wherever those children live in Ukraine to meet them and to hopefully pursue the adoption of the children.
- From there we would do all the legal paperwork and process to adopt the children. It usually takes a week or two for this and then there is almost always a ten day waiting period. Sometimes people come home during this ten day wait and sometimes they stay. It will depend on the situation, how long we have been there, etc. I may stay and Kevin may come home for the wait and then fly back. This will be something we won't decide on until we are there.
Feel free to ask any questions you have about the process. I will answer them as best I can. There is so much more to it than what I wrote, but I am trying to keep from boring you or confusing you. So that is it in a nutshell.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Countdown to Dossier Submission
Tomorrow is the day of our dossier submission appointment. Actually, since they are 7 hours ahead of the east coast in Ukraine it is pretty much already tomorrow there. Pray that all goes well and that our paperwork meets their expectations. Our facilitator said that everything is on track to submit it so I will let you know as soon as I hear that the eagle has landed. :)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sweet Tatiana
We got some wonderful news yesterday. We have been sponsoring two children through Life2Orphans for a few years now. The boy and girl that we sponsor are both teenagers now and they live at an orphanage/boarding school called Mykolaivka Internat in Ukraine. The orphanage where they live is the only home they know, they rarely ever even leave the orphanage grounds and the other orphans, teachers, and caretakers are the only family they have.
Over the past few years Tatiana (now 13 years old) and I have become pretty close. We send her school supplies, toiletries, clothes, and toys a few times a year and write many letters back and forth. We exchange pictures as well. Tatiana is a very sweet girl and I often worried about her for what her future would bring. When orphans age out of the adoption system (sometime between ages 16 and 18) they generally have to place to go and often times with a poor education and no adult support they end up in lives of drugs, prostitution, and a large percentage of them even choose to end their lives. Through our communication and support we hoped and prayed that we would be able to give Mihailo (the boy) and Tatiana the encouragement they would need to face the tough road ahead of them.
Tatiana, or Tonya, as she liked to be called is a very special kid. She and about 15 others were chosen from her orphanage of about 200 hundred kids to go on a special trip last year as a special privilege. We got to pay $40 for her and she was able to go to Kiev and sightsee, go to the zoo, ride on a train, eat in a real restaurant, and go to McDonald's! We were so excited for her. She had a great time. She was also recently baptized and we were so proud of her as we were both baptized at about the same age that she is.
Well yesterday I received a letter from Tatiana that said that she had been adopted and that her new parents were going to be taking her home to Greece where she will live with her new family! This is such a blessing and a huge answer to prayer. I think the statistics are really poor, probably less than 1% of teenage orphans in Ukraine get adopted. Tatiana now has parents who will love her! I just know that she will thrive in a family. Of course I cried for an hour because I am so happy for her but it will be bittersweet for me as I am not sure we will be able to stay in touch. But Tatiana has a future now! She told me that she is already starting to learn some Greek and that it is very hard! She can't wait to see the sea for the first time and swim in it. She said that where she is moving it is even warm in the winter. Of course she thanked us for all we have done for her and said her goodbyes to us. We are hoping that we can still write to her, but even if we never hear from her again we are so happy for her. She has been a blessing to us and we will never forget our little sweetie. My favorite Tatiana memory is when I wrote her a letter and said something like, "Hi Sweetie!" She wrote back and I guess it didn't translate exactly because she said that no one had ever called her "their candy sweetheart" before and that now everyone at the orpahange was calling her that. She loved it. How cute is that?
So goodbye sweet Tatiana! I hope that you have a wonderful life in Greece. Every child deserves to live in family who loves them and takes care of them!
I would encourage anyone who wants to be part of an awesome charity to look into Life2Orphans. We have been so lucky to be part of these two special lives because of them.
Over the past few years Tatiana (now 13 years old) and I have become pretty close. We send her school supplies, toiletries, clothes, and toys a few times a year and write many letters back and forth. We exchange pictures as well. Tatiana is a very sweet girl and I often worried about her for what her future would bring. When orphans age out of the adoption system (sometime between ages 16 and 18) they generally have to place to go and often times with a poor education and no adult support they end up in lives of drugs, prostitution, and a large percentage of them even choose to end their lives. Through our communication and support we hoped and prayed that we would be able to give Mihailo (the boy) and Tatiana the encouragement they would need to face the tough road ahead of them.
Tatiana, or Tonya, as she liked to be called is a very special kid. She and about 15 others were chosen from her orphanage of about 200 hundred kids to go on a special trip last year as a special privilege. We got to pay $40 for her and she was able to go to Kiev and sightsee, go to the zoo, ride on a train, eat in a real restaurant, and go to McDonald's! We were so excited for her. She had a great time. She was also recently baptized and we were so proud of her as we were both baptized at about the same age that she is.
Well yesterday I received a letter from Tatiana that said that she had been adopted and that her new parents were going to be taking her home to Greece where she will live with her new family! This is such a blessing and a huge answer to prayer. I think the statistics are really poor, probably less than 1% of teenage orphans in Ukraine get adopted. Tatiana now has parents who will love her! I just know that she will thrive in a family. Of course I cried for an hour because I am so happy for her but it will be bittersweet for me as I am not sure we will be able to stay in touch. But Tatiana has a future now! She told me that she is already starting to learn some Greek and that it is very hard! She can't wait to see the sea for the first time and swim in it. She said that where she is moving it is even warm in the winter. Of course she thanked us for all we have done for her and said her goodbyes to us. We are hoping that we can still write to her, but even if we never hear from her again we are so happy for her. She has been a blessing to us and we will never forget our little sweetie. My favorite Tatiana memory is when I wrote her a letter and said something like, "Hi Sweetie!" She wrote back and I guess it didn't translate exactly because she said that no one had ever called her "their candy sweetheart" before and that now everyone at the orpahange was calling her that. She loved it. How cute is that?
So goodbye sweet Tatiana! I hope that you have a wonderful life in Greece. Every child deserves to live in family who loves them and takes care of them!
I would encourage anyone who wants to be part of an awesome charity to look into Life2Orphans. We have been so lucky to be part of these two special lives because of them.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Happy Birthday Noah!
Happy birthday to my big brother! In honor of your birthday I am posting my favorite circle graph ever:
Also, one week from today we should have our dossier submitted to the SDA in Kiev! Prayers and good thoughts are welcome. :)
Also, one week from today we should have our dossier submitted to the SDA in Kiev! Prayers and good thoughts are welcome. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
