It's FINALLY time!

I can hardly believe it!  Actually, I really can't believe it!  Tomorrow morning, 8:30 AM, we will leave here and head for Tampa Intl. Airport.  We will fly from Tampa to Newark, NJ, then on to Frankfurt, Germany then to Kiev, Ukraine! 

It's incredible to think that "before the foundations of the world," God knew that our daughter Sasha would be born in a country on the other side of the world.  He knew all the circumstances of her birth and why it would work out that way.  I would never have chosen that for her.  I would much rather have carried her in my tummy and given her a warm, safe, loving home from the very beginning.  I can only trust that He will be faithful in her life to turn those events into His glory and for her good.  I believe that God has amazing plans for Sasha.  We just feel so privileged to be part of that plan -- as with all of our children.

Some of you have asked about our 3 kids here at home.  They are all looking forward to Sasha coming home.  It's almost unbelievable (well, it's just a God thing) how much they feel that she is a part of our family.  I anticipated having to talk through how "Daddy and Mommy believe that God is calling us to bring Sasha home . . ." but, honestly, it's just been accepted from Day One with them.  They've NEVER questioned or expressed worry about what she will be like or how things would change.  In fact, I've TRIED to get them to think through all the changes that are coming.  Well, with my two boys, you might as well hang that up.  They don't think through anything! LOL!  With Carolyn, I kept assuring her that it would be OK to be worried about how Sasha might act or whatever . . . and she seems to only care about two things -- 1. How is she going to be able to be a good big sister and help her if she can't speak Russian (I feel the same way about being her Mommy!) and 2. She really doesn't want Sasha to think that her American Girl doll is "shareable."  LOL!  Well, we took care of #2 by buying Sasha her own doll (but much cheaper, from Sam's Club).

Don't get me wrong.  We KNOW that the dynamics of our family will change -- and there will most certainly be times when the transition from one family dynamic to another will not be easy!  BUT, underneath it all, there is a peace that we are truly going to Ukraine to bring our daughter home.

We would LOVE any and all prayers -- as the Lord lays us on your hearts!  We will be gone for about 3 weeks on the first trip -- then home for about a week, and then my dad and I will return to Ukraine to pick up Sasha.  We will be updating this blog and Facebook as much as possible while we are over there!

THANK you to all who have given and prayed and followed our journey so far!  You have blessed us beyond words.  Sasha will eventually learn how much she is loved by so many!