The Journey Begins

In an effort to always have a house full of noise, laughter, chaos and love we have decided to grow our family to include child #4. We have been so blessed to have Noah, Caleb and Meg and want to add another personality to the mix. After a lot of prayer, talk, prayer, research, prayer, more talk and prayer we have decided that God wants us to open our hearts and family to another child with special needs. Since we are so familiar with Down Syndrome, and would love for Meg to have a sister, we have decided to focus on a adding a little girl around Meg's age (she'll be 2 on July 5th) who also has DS. We figure it will not only be the perfect sister, but a life long best friend for both of them.

After some research and the help of the wonderful Executive Director of reecesrainbow.com we have identified a little girl in Ukraine who appears to be a perfect match for our family. She was 2 in Feb and looks quite a bit like our Meg... we already love her.

Last week we were watching a video of the orphanage in Ukraine where we are hoping to adopt. Noah saw the video and proceded to ask several questions about the kids in the video and their school. We talked about how those kids never leave and how they don't have families. He said "who keeps an eye on them?" and I said their teachers. He then asked several more questions. Then he said that since they don't have families we need to keep an eye on them. I questioned it for a bit saying things like "Where will they sleep?" (he pointed out we have extra beds) "Where will they sit in the van?" (he pointed out we have a whole back seat that isn't being used) I then said that sometimes I am too busy with Meg and Caleb to read to him or do puzzles as often as he'd like, his response was "Mom, I will be in kindergarden soon, I am learning to read, and I'll help. Mom, we have to keep an eye on them." So now Noah believes this whole thing is his idea (which is great) and at prayer he'll say "And God, keep an eye on my new sister until she is here for us to keep an eye on her." What an amazing little guy.

Things are beginning to get underway. We have been approved by an adoption agency out of Iowa who have experience in Ukraine adoption. We also have contacted a local agency to complete our homestudy. The first of our 5 home study meetings begins on July 2nd. We are hopeful to have the home study and required parent training sessions completed by Aug 20th and then we will go from there.

We are very excited that God has lead us in this direction and are anxious to have our new addition home as soon as possible. It will be a long journey, but we are grateful to have such wonderful friends and family members to share the walk with us.