Planting Children

Looking Back; Looking Around; Looking Forward

2011-11-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I have updated. If you are looking for profound thoughts or well written anything, you should probably stop here. If you just want to know what we have been up to, keep reading.

The lack of posting is partly due to the lack of time, and partly because I have struggled with what I should write; about how open I should be about what life has been like over the last year. Should I be totally open and possibly scare off a family who is considering adoption or should I only post the "good" stuff and give that same family a candy-coated glimpse at what life after gotcha day is like?

This post could have had any of the following titles: "Love is an Action Word", " All in the Family", "Under-equipped", "In the Shadow", "It's Getting Better", "So is that how I treat my God?", or "Stacking Stones."

The current title seemed to be the most appropriate, though I could tell long stories about each of the above titles.

Looking Back

My wife and I took classes, read books and blogs, talked with families who had adopted, and thought we had an idea of what we were walking into. We knew it could be hard. We knew that children from hard places may have suffered trauma that we would not be able to relate to. We knew they could have problems bonding with us and trusting us. Our experiences with our oldest boys gave us only a hint of that.

Let me say right now, that I love my daughters (I love all of my children) and though there have been some very trying times, I would do this all over again, despite the challenges.

If you have adopted before, I am sure can relate to some of the things we have been dealing with. If you are looking at adopting, take note of what I write, but know, KNOW, that these children need families, and if the Lord is calling you to this, you can do it. Equip yourself well before bringing your new child(ren) home, and know that you are not alone.

Since we have been home, we have been swung at (with contact being made on several occasions), bit, kicked, screamed at, and kept awake until the wee hours of the next morning on many occasions. We have had to pull the van over to stop a child from climbing over the seats to beat up a sibling. We have had to call the authorties twice, and have had MANY conversations with translators. We have had broken doors, broken door knobs, and broken hearts. We have had to ignore a child who was pretending to run away only to stay outside the house yelling and banging on doors and windows, and refusing to come in when asked. We have had to pull our littlest one away from a child who was filling his head with lies about us. We have been called many names for hours on end, some silly, others very offensive. We have been tired, out of patience and ideas, and greatly lacking in time as a couple. We have been disrespected, ignored, and yelled at for not meeting someones needs (or perceived needs) even if there was nothing we could do or should do. We have dealt with huge misunderstandings. We have had to hold a child to keep that child from banging her head on the tile, and held that same child when uncontrollable tears started to pour. We have had to go back to the drawing board regarding discipline and consequences, and add a whole new set of tools to our parenting toolbox.

It would be easy to read all that, think through each event, and become bitter and angry; resentful or regretful for what the Lord led us into. We could be out trying to talk others out of adopting. But, that is not where we are at. We are tired, very tired at times, but we have grown, been stretched, and have had our vision for what the Lord has called our family to strengthened. We know without a doubt that we are right where the Lord would have us.

Personally, I have learned this perspective: am I not adopted? How have I treated my adoptive Father? As for me, I have kicked, hit, screamed, called names and been disrepectfull. I have broken things in my life and I have told lies (through my actions and choices) to another about my Father. I have ignored, complained about unmet "needs", caused my own pain, and cried uncontrollably. Yet through it all, I have been loved by my Father in heaven. I have been chastised, corrected, held, encouraged, and loved when I have been unlovable. That is the perspective I need to approach each day with; each minute really.

See, I have learned, or at least re-learned, in the last 12 months that love is an action word. It matters not if you have a fuzzy feeling toward someone, it is about choosing to love. Despite our child's behaviors, we are to love them. God chose to love us, can we not do the same for others?

Looking Around

As we near being home a full year, I look around and survey the landscape of my life. I see the hills and the valleys, the shadows and the light. I see how much each of my children have grown. I see how far my daughters have come, and I know I only partially understand how HARD the transition has been on my girls. I am very proud of all my children for how they each have adjusted. They all accept each other as siblings, including the standard sibling disagreements. It has been hard, but I would do it again. I would.

I see how the Lord orchestrated so many details over the last couple years to bring my family to this moment. I have been so very blessed. My blessings include (in no particular order): a job at which I have the privilege of being a small part of raising up the attorneys who desire to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ through service as advocates of truth, counselors of reconciliation, and ministers of justice in the fields of law and government policy; a beautiful wife who loves me despite all my failings (we just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary); 8 children who love me (but not always like); an abundance of food (my waist line proves it is in abundance); the home that is so much more that I thought we could buy; and most certainly the biggest one - I am blessed by my God who loves me, despite all my failings.

Indeed I am blessed.

The intense transition problems mentioned above are mostly gone now. There are still issues to be resolved, but it is getting better. If you are in the thick of it now I will tell you, just was we were told, it will get better. Stay consistent, keep on loving, and most importantly, stay on your knees in prayer.

Looking Forward

Sheri and I desire to have our family be pleasing to the Lord. We are willing to serve Him in any way He asks us too. We have continued to be moved by the plight of the orphan. My heart aches for them. I still think of and pray for the two we left behind, and watch in awe as the Lord calls, provides for, and equips others to empty an orphan's bed. We help as we can, as we are led, but there has still been a tug to do more.

I had been sharing posts on Facebook about the hosting events offered by God's Waiting Children and Viant International, and watched as groups came and went. Then the winter hosting information came out, and as Sheri and I talked, it seemed clear the Lord was prodding each of us that way. So we inquired. Lord willing, we will have an additional child in our home for a few weeks this winter.

Hosting of course brings up the question of adoption, which, believe it or not, we are praying about again. I know we are not perfect parents. I, specifically, make so many mistakes. Yet, knowing our failings, Sheri and I are in agreement that we should walk that path again until the Lord directs otherwise. If the Lord has another daughter for us, we will gladly bring her home. As with every adoption journey, there is a lot of work to be done, mountains to be moved, and funds to raise. We appreciate your prayers as we seek to follow the Lord's will.

Finally, an update

2010-12-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to write a blogpost for weeks now. I just could not seem to find the time. Sadly a lot of what I could have written is already fading from my memory, but I will do my best. I am sure I will ramble. Sorry.

Our adoption experience was overall very good. We did miss our children back home a lot, but overall it went well. We had some heartbreak with the first set of girls saying no, and I still pray for them and miss them, but the Lord led us to our daughters and I am very grateful for that.

The weather while we were in Ukraine was much better than I had expected. In fact, I had been expecting to be freezing almost the whole time we were there but the temperatures were nice enough that I could have walked around without a jacket on most days (partly because we were walking a lot, and fast most of the time). A few days before we left we did see some snow flakes out the window of our 15th floor apartment, but they did not reach the ground. We did not see really any snow until the morning we left, and at that it was very little and seemed to be concentrated around the area of the airport.

The flights were long but went very well. For having never been on an airplane before, both girls did extremely well. There was some lack of patience by the time we landed in Denver, and some crankyness as we were descending into Fresno, but overall I was pleasantly surprised out how well it all went. No luggage was lost. No flights were missed. We were blessed.

I must add that landing in Denver was a blessing. Going through immigration there did not take much time at all. Everyone was very helpful and friendly, and there were only a few people in the "secondary" area with us. One person who was being interviewed gave us some entertainment. The officer was questioning him on his recent trips to the US and such and asked where he worked. The man said something that was interpreted as "aeronautical engineer" so the officer stated what he thought the man said by saying something like "so you build Mig jets" to which the man replied "no." After some going back and forth the issue was cleared up. The officer stated something like "so you don't build fighter jets, you design machinery for a dairy operation." Just a bit different there, don't you think?

To back track a little, there are several things that we found out after the fact that showed God's hand in the adoption process.

We were concerned that during court we would be asked about the home are living in and about homeschooling. We are sort of renting the home we are in right now and were told right before the day of court that renting in frowned on in Ukraine and that the judge may decide against us adopting because of it. The thought is, as I understand it, that renting is one step above being homeless. Homeschooling is also looked down upon as we were told and that it could sway the judges decision against us. We prayed and the Lord protected. No questions on either count were ever asked during court.

We found that there were some minor errors in the court decree that could have stopped us from getting birth certificates, but it ended up not being a problem. I am glad our facilitator did not tell us about the problem until after we had the documents done. Rather than just being a bit bored while waiting for the certificates, we would have been stressed. I would rather be bored :)

We are all adjusting to being a family. Things are going very well and Sheri and I are so very blessed by our children. We are tired for sure and sometimes run out of ideas on how to handle this thing we call parenting, but we are blessed.

One of our girls is having a harder time adjusting to having parents who tell her what to do. I believe a lot can be attributed to expectations and thinking she is on a peer level with us. I am sure she had dreamed what her family would be like, probably with some unrealistic expectations and since we are not meeting those, we have seen some behavioral problems. Nothing extremely bad, but enough to make a person very tired at the end of the day. We continue to seek the Lord's wisdom on parenting and know that we will never be the perfect parents, but we will not keep trying.

Christmas went very well. I was able to take the whole week off between Christmas and New Years which was fortunate because I spent a good deal of time troubleshooting problems with our van. It seems to be running fine now and we pray it will continue to do so.

I found myself almost disgusted with how much stuff we have. After truly seeing how people in other countries live and how little they have, I am feeling very spoiled. I feel the need to get rid of a lot of things. I am sure there will be some serious clearing out sometime soon. I miss Ukraine already. It grew on me quite a bit in the 8 weeks we were there. Perhaps someday we will go back.

I have finally stopped trying to unlock and lock doors with three turns of the key. I think every door we had a key to in Ukraine required three turns to fully lock and unlock the door.

Our boys grew so much while we were gone, especially our oldest two. I am not kidding when I say that they each grew 3 inches (or more)!

We have continued to connect with the friends we met in Ukraine either in person or through the adoption community. Our girls have been able to Skype with friends that were adopted a few years ago and now live in Texas. It has been great for them to reconnect and we even have the benefit of some translation (thank you!)

I am sure that there is more to say, but I cannot think of it right now. I will post more if something comes to mind.

Before I push "publish" on this, I want to give praise and thanks to our Lord for His leading, provision, grace and mercy in not only this adoption, but in every thing. Thank you Jesus.

Coming home!

2010-11-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

Our facilitator took me to the embassy this morning just before they opened. He was not sure we would be able to get our visas as the embassy is not officially open on the last Friday of the month. I prayed and went in. Once I got to the immigration section I pushed the buzzer, not sure if anyone would be there. A man came to the window and I told him my name and why I was there. He said to take a seat, and that the visas were ready to print and the officer would call me up when done.

Honestly, I was amazed at the Lord for that. I had allowed myself to focus on our circumstances the previous day, which was Thanksgiving day, and had not felt very thankful. I fully expected to be chastised by the Lord for having such a bad attitude by finding out the visas were still not available. Instead, our compassionate and gracious God moved another mountain for us, and I was humbled. As I was waiting for the visas, I was reading scripture and was further convicted for my lacking faith in God's plan. Despite my failings, our never changing and forever faithful God chose to allow the visas to be handed to us today. Again, I am humbled and extremely grateful.

We met another adoptive family for lunch today at TGI Fridays. We very much enjoyed their company and fellowship, and will be praying for their adoption. There is something special about the adoption community, and we are very blessed to be a part of it.

I want to say something to prospective adoptive families. Keep in mind that I am not perfect (refer to second paragraph), but I feel I must say this. First, this process is not easy, but, if the Lord is calling you to it, you must set aside any of your fears and worries and follow His leading. Do not worry about finances. Do not worry about how to parent a child from hard places. Do not worry about what your friends and family may think. You must obey the calling and then watch the Lord move mountains for you. No, it will not be easy, but we are never promised an easy life. Yes, it could be a heart breaking experience, but He promises to be with us always. You may not be called to adopt from Ukraine. You may end up adopting from Ethiopia, Haiti, or domestically, but if your are called, you must answer that call. There are so very many children who need families. If I could have, I would have scooped everyone one of them up. Honestly. So many people struggle with what God's will is for their lives. Scripture is clear:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

We will be flying home tomorrow. We are very excited to be able to tightly hug each and every one of our boys and see our friends and family again. A special thanks to Sheri's Mom and Dad, and to our good friend Tonya, who have given so much by caring for our boys while we have been here. Thank you to those who have prayed for us, sometimes even in the middle of the night. Thank you all so very much. May God bless you for your service to Him.

To God be the glory. His name is worthy to be praised! Thank you Lord for who you are, for your love for us, and you patience with me when my faith fails and I started getting wet as I look at the troubled waters rather than focus on You. Thank you Lord for all of my children, my boys, and now my girls. Thank you.

Did I, or did I not?

2010-11-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

Did I, or did I not give my life to the Lord? Do I not tell Him to lead me, that I would do what He wanted and when He wanted? I did, but it is hard.

We did not get the visas today, but we did get the medical clearances. There was a worldwide computer problem that stopped the embassy from completing the process and printing the visas. As tomorrow is Thanksgiving, we cannot do it tomorrow. We are having to change our tickets to the weekend and pray that we get the visas on Friday.

It was hard to here the gentleman at the embassy tell me he could not give me the visas. I had one of those pity-parties for an instant and had to stop myself. I am not my own. If the Lord wants us to stay, then we stay until He says go.

In perspective, we have some internet friends who are here in Ukraine for adoption as well and were just told by the oldest of the sibling set they are feeling led to adopt that she not sure she wants to go. Their blog is http://thelibbyfamily.wordpress.com/ If you have an adopted child from Ukraine, live in States, and are willing to have your child call this girl to share about what it is like in the States, leave a comment with your contact information and I will forward it to the Libby's.

I know the pain they are going through. It is still very fresh in my mind. I am comforted by the two beautiful girls sitting next to me here and reminded that God's plans are always better than ours.

Things I am thankful for

2010-11-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

Now, of course my Savior, my husband and my family come first and Babuska and Tonya, but this is ranking pretty high right now.

and as soon as I find an ooey gooey chocolaty brownie, it will be next on the list!

(if anyone knows where to find one in Kiev, let me know...there could be a reward)

posted by Sheri

Church!

2010-11-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

Rich and Cheri Strahm

We were able to go to church this morning. We contacted Rich Strahm who was gracious enough to arrange to come to the Metro station nearest us and escort us and our friends the Albritton's to his church. The day went something like this:

1. Add at least 40 minutes to the get ready time to account for the girls needs.

2. Encourage the girls to get ready and actually get out of the apartment....discuss who will push the button on the elevator.

3. Try to explain to the Albritton's where the Metro station is- like the blind leading the blind since neither of really knows where we are going, or where we have been.

4. Walk the 3 blocks to the Metro station...UPHILL~ note to self (Sheri), begin exercise program.

5. Meet the Albritton's and wait for Rich (we were early, Yeah!)

6. We entered the Metro station and rode an incredibly long, fast escalator way down

underground. (The girls are still getting used to riding and getting on and off of escalators, and elevators make them dizzy)

Almost at the bottom

7. The Metro stations are beautiful (so are our girls)

8. We rode the metro, We all almost fell down in one big lump when the train started.

9. After the Metro we rode a bus, then walked again for about 3 blocks.

10. We arrived at the church about 30 minutes early which gave us all some time to dry off (did I mention it was misty and wet today?)

11. We were greeted warmly and felt very welcome.

12. There is just something about being around fellow Christians, you just feel like family.

13. The Worship music was great even though we could not understand it....that didn't matter.

14 Rich introduced us to the congregation and asked James to share a bit. He shared a short testimony and shared about our family and the adoption. He cried :)

15. The message was given by a American, and translated to Russian. Usually the other way around, but they had a guest today.

16. The girls were very good during the service, they even sang some of the songs. Seeds being planted :)

17. After the service we went to a buffet lunch. YUM!

This is the dessert that Natasha chose, I thought it was worthy of a picture.

18. The fellowship was Awesome, the day was great!

19. Rich took us on the bus back to the Metro station and put us on the train with instructions to get off on the 7th stop. We all spent the ride chatting, while carefully counting stops.

20. We were all relieved when we exited the train and saw the familiar station. Back up the long escalator and we said our goodbyes and walked to the market and then to our apartment.

Just a side note, all three women are named Sherrie, Cheri, and Sheri!

posted by Sheri

Shopping and food and wow, how did that happen

2010-11-20T05:29:00.000-08:00

We are taking the opportunity we now have because of the delay to get to know our daughters better without other family members around. It is much different being in a store with a child than just sitting around a classroom. They are showing more and more of who they are, and they are still very sweet. We are very humbled that God has chosen us to be their parents. We rely on Him for wisdom in parenting.

Since we did not leave today, we needed to buy the girls more clothes so that they can actually have a change of clothes. Yesterday we spent 6 hours out of the apartment shopping for clothes and food. We had already figured out that parents should add 10 minutes per child to how long any activity should take, but we now are coming to the conclusion that 10 minutes is not enough for the girls. I think we will add 35 minutes per girl :)

Yesterday, after walking to the underground mall (40 minutes uphill both ways-no kidding) at Independence Square and looking in most of the very overpriced shops, we found jackets for the girls at a store around the block from our apartment. They were right in our price range and the girls were happy. We were exhausted!

The girls in their new jackets. This market is just below where our first apartment was.

Today we went out again to an area near our apartment to look for a few more things. We found undergarments, a few extra shirts and sweaters, and are still looking for socks. Oh Target and Wall-mart, where are you? :) We also found a large supermarket that sells the Mibiha (mivina, it's like top ramen). The girls love this and it is cheap. We also bought potatoes and other healthy food :)

Sheri and Nastia cooked some potatoes and such for lunch/dinner. The girls ate enough this morning for 2 or 3 meals. We don't mind so much. They need the nutrition. They like bananas and apples a lot. They have also been eating bread with mayonaise (maybe not so good) and sandwiches made with the same, along with "solsiski" (hot dog like things that are cheap).

Nastia wanted to cook the potatoes so Sheri helped her in the kitchen. Nastia did very well and told Sheri she helped at the internat. She also said that she watched he mother make potatoes when she was little. She peeled the potatoes and cut the onion. Sheri helped her fry them up. Then she added cut up hot dogs. She spent a lot of time working on the presentation of the meal which turned out wonderful.

I was sitting next to Natasha who was busy happily coloring with her new markers, and it hit me. We are the parents of EIGHT children! How did that happen? It seems just yesterday we were newly married and "planning" how many children we would have. I am SO very glad the Lord has chosen to work His plan and not ours.

Introducing our daughters!

2010-11-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make sure I went back and posted a picture of our daughters, now that they are officially ours.

Please let me introduce to you our daughters, Natalia Rebekah Fontes and Anastasia Grace Fontes! Here is a picture of our beautiful daughters taken on the day of court.

They are both very sweet, we are so very blessed to be their parents. We know that once you meet them, you will love them. Will try to fill in more details when we can (I'll make Sheri post something - she is more likely to include more info). If you have ever adopted here before, I know you can imagine the normal drama that is aside from our particular set of circumstances.

Pray we can take them home SOON!

Not going home yet

2010-11-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

Nothing surprises God. He knew what would happen today including our 14+ hour bus ride to Kiev getting pulled over by the police 3 times with one stop being about an hour, making us late this morning to Kiev. So here is the details: one of our daughters show something "suspicious" on the x-ray today for the medical exam (req'd for visas). The doctor said we have to get a 3 day test. Can't start test till Monday, meaning results come in Wednesday afternoon. We have to then scramble to get visas from embassy before they close for the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend, leaving us here another week. The doctor was not a kind person, at all. She made my daughter cry, which made me not a happy papa! We have another route we (our facilitator) is going to ask about tomorrow. Pray. We would like to come home now, but trust in His timing.

Gotcha!

2010-11-17T00:56:00.000-08:00

Will post details later.

Closer to home

2010-11-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here is where things are at now. We have all the documents we need now except one saying that our oldest girl is not a criminal (required if the child is 14 or over and she is 14), the passports, and we need to sign documents stating that we are taking "delivery" of our new daughters from the orphanage. We pray that we do get the passports tomorrow. If so, we will working our way back to Kiev tomorrow afternoon or evening!

We will get the girls at 8 AM at the orphanage and do more paper chasing here, then drive to bigger city in this region to finish the passports. We will have to pay for two taxis to take us all, as an official from here has to hand deliver something for the passports and then needs a ride back. Also, the little Lada we are riding in is a bit small to carry the girls, Sheri and I, and our facilitator for a one-hour drive, so we can split up a bit and make the ride more comfortable. Please keep praying. We have been so blessed to know that many of you have given up sleep to pray for us. Thank you! I praise to our God for moving mountains today!

Quick update

2010-11-15T04:04:00.000-08:00

So it looks like we won't get the girls from the orphanage until Wednesday. This will actually (Lord willing) speed up our trip home by getting all the paperwork done in one day rather than spread out over two (because of the time it takes to pickup the girls). Pray we can get it all done in one day and be on our way to Kiev with the girls on Wednesday night, and then on our way home this weekend.

Happy Birthday Jacob and Elijah!

2010-11-14T22:33:00.000-08:00

I am praying that this will a very busy week. If we are able to get the older style passports, there is a small, very small chance we could head home this weekend. I am praying for that of course, but preparing for a longer wait.

If there are no appeals and no other issues, we should be getting our final documents from the court sometime tomorrow and be able to pickup the girls from the orphanage, and we cannot wait!

Because I foresee that this could be such a busy week, I am posting this happy birthday message to our sons Jacob and Elijah, who will both have birthdays in the coming week. Boys, we are so sorry we are not able to be there with you on your birthdays. We love you both so much! We will have another birthday party for you when we get home. I hope you like the gifts we got you before we left.

We are so blessed with each of our children and are very ready to be with them again.

Elijah, we love your creativeness with Legos, and how you always have a gun (toy) in hand ready to handle any enemies that show up :)

Jacob, we love how you can see completed projects in a pile of random items (like when you built a Wall-E robot out of scrap items), and how you love to tell us what you are thinking about :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!

Sardines

2010-11-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

No, we did not eat sardines. But yesterday we felt like them!

Around 2:00pm on Thursday we got a call from our friends the Weese's, (they are staying in a town near us and adopting a girl from the same orphanage that we are) they were in our town and wanted to stop by for a visit. Oh! How that made my (Sheri's) day. Well, we met them down near the market and were able to show them around the outdoor market area near us. It felt funny being the one's who were doing the "showing". I think we feel a bit more comfortable now, I do say just a bit. Well, after a while it was time to head to the orphanage for our visiting time and their facilitator was not back yet from his errands. We thought, "no problem," we would just ask (more like play charades with) our taxi driver to get the Weese family a taxi too. There are ALWAYS lots of taxi's waiting when we come down, except today! So after playing charades for a minute, we just motioned to the driver that we would all just try to fit into his little Lada. It looks like a little station wagon. So Brian sat in front and I got in back and scooted into the middle with James on one side and Sonya on the other, all was good, except we still had to get Brian and Sonya's 13 year-old son Harrison into the car. We thought of strapping him on top, but alas Sonya thought it would be better if he sat on her lap. He ended up kind of draped across the three of us, which worked well. We considered opening the windows so he could stretch his legs, but none of us could reach the window crank due to the sardine-like way we were packed in. The ride was very nice and full of laughter as we went over bumps and wondered aloud if the wheel wells were scraping, or was that the exhaust pipe? Our driver just kind of shook his head and did his best to avoid bumps. We arrived at the orphanage and as soon as we were able to locate the door handles we all fell out and righted ourselves.

We are thankful for this little bit of fun as well as the fellowship with like-minded believers we were given yesterday.

Earlier in the day (Thursday) we ventured out to try to buy some clothes for the girls to wear when we pick them up on Tuesday. We started at the outdoor market and were excited to find two very nice sweaters for 130 grivna each. We also found some warm tights for 25 grivna. We went into the market downstairs from our apartment to look at shoes. This market is like a little mall, there is a little grocery area as well as lots of other kiosk sort of things with different things for sale. Toys, cosmetics, pet food, flower/plants, office supplies, YARN :), knick knacks, lingerie, clothes, shoes, books and more. So we went to the shoe area and tried to explain that we wanted to try on a pair of shoes. The girls' feet are as big as Sheri's or bigger, so we figured Sheri could try on the shoes and we would have a good idea that they will fit. Well, they had some nice shoes, just not the right size. We are pretty sure the ladies at the lingerie counter were laughing at me as I tried on the little girls shoes. Oh well, we are getting used to being laughed at. So, we couldn't find shoes or jeans and we still needed undershirts, and undies as well as something for the girls to sleep in. We planned on going to a different shopping area Friday.

So today is Friday and we left at 2 pm and had our taxi driver take us to a shopping area near the court house. We arranged for him to pick us up at 3:15pm to take us to the orphanage. We started at the outdoor market there thinking we could find a better price that a big store. We were sad to see that most of the little shops were already closing up! We wish we would have started sooner. We did find two blouses and some undies there. So from there we went into a big building that we figured had clothes inside since we could see some from the windows. We were right, but we surprised to see that it again was like a mall, just with little tiny stores..and most of them were closed already. :(

James found a toilet and went in without paying!!!! He realized his error and paid when he came out (.75 grivna) it apparently is cheaper to use the toilet here rater than Kiev where I paid 2 grivna. I'm just glad the ladies didn't go in after him and drag him out for not paying :)

I found a store that sold jeans and cautiously went in on the just mopped floor (people here are always mopping and we always seem to walk in RIGHT after they mop!) The Lady didn't speak English (of course) and was NOT understanding that I wanted help figuring out how to find jeans in the right size!!! I noticed the price of the jeans and quickly exited. Wow! They must have been designer jeans. We left there and walked around the corner and saw a store with shoes so we went in. (it was open until 5:00pm yeah!) Again we were faced with trying to communicate and the lady just kind of stared at us for a minute. After explaining that we wanted girls shoes and realizing that we were in a mens shoe store. She finally was able to get us to understand that there was a store across the street that might have what we were looking for, but by this time we were a bit tired so we wandered back to wait for our taxi.

We visited with the girls this evening and had a good time. Our younger girl like to take Daddy's pen and have him chase her all over the room to get it back. Daddy likes this game too. We try hard not to break anything in the room full of desks as they race around at top speed. It usually ends with someone getting a minor injury and lots of hugs and such. We are planning a little party tomorrow for our anniversary. We will bring pizza and cake and hopefully share this time with our friends the Weeses

Posted by Sheri

No more Wednesdays

2010-11-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

Lord willing, the girls will never spend another Wednesday in the orphanage. Our facilitator confirmed with us yesterday that we will pick up the final court decree, if there are no problems, sometime on Tuesday the 16th. We cannot wait.

Yesterday our regular taxi dropped us off and told us another taxi would be picking us up. He said he would call another taxi. This has happened before and has never been a problem. After another great visit we came down to meet the taxi, but there was no taxi. After waiting for awhile in the wind, we called called our facilitator (not with us right now) who then talked with one of the girls and told her to call a taxi for us, which she did. The first guy said he was not working and gave her another number. As best as we can tell, the next taxi said no (wonder why - a young girl asking for a taxi to come to the orphanage). The facilitator ending up called the taxi that said no, and 10 minutes later the taxi showed up.

Tonight during our visit the power went out at the orphanage. We had been told about power outages here, but so far had not had a problem. It was only out for a short time.

Our younger girl had been complaining about her nose hurting yesterday and today it was worse. The tip of her nose was red and there was a little dried blood just on the inside of her nose. She felt to us to have a low grade fever, but she insisted she was fine. We called our facilitator to have him ask her about it and she told him it was no big deal and the nurse has put some cream in her nose. We want to help her, but we can't do much yet. Please pray for healing for whatever is causing her problems.

God is good and continues to carry us along. We trust He will give us our daily measure of grace as we wait to pickup the girls and wait for passports after that. We talked to our younger boys today. Our youngest sounded very sad. I wanted to reach through the phone and hug and kiss, but obviously could not. Hang in there little man (all my little/young men), Mommy and Daddy will be home soon.

We bought a rotisserie chicken at the little chicken hut today. It was 45 grivna and worth every coin. Very good. We'll be stopping by there again as we can get several meals out of one chicken, and it was good. Way better than our attempt at spaghetti the other day. Not so good.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Why we should...

2010-11-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

Please take the time to read the post at the below link. It shares what I wish I could say, but never seem to have the words.

http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2010/11/reckless-abandon.html

The start of week 6 and another great visit

2010-11-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

Today starts the sixth week here in Ukraine. We are ready to see our boys again (actually, we were ready right after we arrived).

We are so blessed to have been brought here to these two wonderful girls. We saw them again today for about 3 hours. They are both growing more and more comfortable with us. Sheri and I are both getting hugs when we first arrive and several throughout the visit. We even get a few kisses on the cheeks now. We just hung out today. It felt more natural and less like getting to know each other.

We found another family who is in this region right now adopting one of our girl's friends (and her brother who is in another orphanage) and we have been chatting with them. We hope to meet up this week. We just missed each other at the orphanage today.

The Lord has provided several new friends in the last day or so, just when we needed encouragement. We are both very grateful to the Lord for giving us another boost of His love through His children.

I am greatly looking forward, Lord willing, to post the girls names and pictures on the 16th when we should be getting our final court decree. We are praying still for no problems during this waiting period and for quick passports.

Sheri made a grilled cheese sandwich tonight. How did she do that in a kitchen that only has a sink and a fridge? With the iron and a foil wrapper from a chocolate bar of course! She enjoyed that sandwich almost as much as she would a burger from home :)

We have been listening to a lot of sermons (I brought 131 with us, I hope it is enough) and have truly felt and seen the Lord through all of this. This, along with staying in the Word, has helped us stay focused. As I look back on the last few weeks, I can tell you exactly when I felt closest to the Lord. It was when I woke up in tears the morning before the N and S first told us no. The Lord had woken me up, and I woke up praying. On my knees I gave it all to Him. I am not smart enough to write out how that felt. I can only say that while my heart was truly aching, He was there, holding me. I do not want that ache again, but that intimacy with my God I long for daily. When we are at our weakest is when He can truly show us who He is. Really, He shows us who He is all the time, we just aren't paying attention. We are so very grateful for the daughters He brought us to. When you meet them, you will love them I am sure.

We plan to go looking for a set of clothes for the girls tomorrow. We'll have to guess at their sizes, but I know Sheri can guess pretty accurately. It will be good to get out and go for a good long walk too. We'll probably take them out to buy a second set once we get the final court decree. I'm sure they will love that! I think we will take them out to pizza to celebrate too!

Here are a few pictures (not the girls yet, sorry):

Here is our kitchen. Notice there is nothing to cook on :)

This was a gift to Sheri from one of the girls.

A meal made in our non-cook kitchen :)

One of the bedrooms (the one with windows)

James washing the darks. We dry them on the folding drying rack that is in the bathroom.

The living room. Sheri is working away at chatting with someone on the computer.

The cats in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy...oh, sorry. Our oldest girl met us one day with a lump in her coat. Guess what that lump was? Yep, a kitty. The kitty spent the visit with us and spent some time in the cradle that is in the classroom.

The Adventures of Puddles

2010-11-06T00:37:00.000-07:00

When our son Elijah was born, he received a little stuffed dog by the name of Puddles. He grew very attached to that little dog, so we bought a backup dog just in case Puddles was ever misplaced. We decided to bring the backup Puddles along for our adoption trip and take random pictures of him. Perhaps we will continue this on family trips. Sounds fun :)

Here are some pictures of Puddles:

Puddles, waiting to get on the plane at FYI

Puddles is tucked in safe and sound for the flight to Portland

We are getting close to Amsterdam! "I can't wait to get off this plane!"

Those were Sheri's thoughts, Puddles was quite happy on the plane, but Sheri didn't sleep much and was VERY uncomfortable.

The last leg of our flight to Ukraine. The view from our plane in Amsterdam.

Our first apartment in Kiev. Puddles was happy to have made a friend.

The kitchen was very stylish, Retro I think?

Our first overnight train ride...again Sheri did not sleep...and don't EVEN ask about the bathroom!

Things got very busy for a few days and sadly Puddles didn't get out much. He was very happy when we bought these two guys to keep him company!

We were back in Kiev and ready to head to our new region and meet the girls.

Court went well - now in the waiting period

2010-11-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

"I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. Selah" Psalms 3:4.

Thank you all for joining us in prayer. We had court. It took about an hour and then the judge, two jurors, and prosecutor left the court room to make their decision. They came back about 20-25 minutes later. The judge read a document that pretty much summed up everything that was in our paperwork and what was said, and then said that the court agrees that it is in the best interest of the girls...for us to adopt them!!!!!! We praise the LORD for being our shield and our confidence. We still have the just over 10 day appeal period to go through, but if there are no appeals, we will be the proud parents of two daughters! Thank you Lord for the kindness you showered on us this day!

Court getting close

2010-11-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

We have court this Wednesday. We appreciate all of your prayers that it will be completed in one day, and that we will have no more delays during this adoption.

We did not visit the girls Sunday as it was election day here and the orphanage was a polling place. We saw them today. We are getting to know them a bit more each visit and are really enjoying our time with them.

I think not having anything to do yesterday was tough on us. It was a very long day. We miss our boys a lot (a lot). We have started week 5 now and had thought we would be almost going home by now. God is sovereign, and nothing that has happened, nor anything that will happen, surprises Him (right Renee?) and we take great comfort in that solid fact.

One of the girls (A) likes rap music and tried to get me to repeat a rhythm she was doing. So she has me thumping my chest, snapping and clapping. It was a comedy routine as a tried to learn what she was doing. She must have thought I was musically hopeless (I am, and I have the "Harmonica for the Musically Hopeless" book to prove it). She did it pretty well though. We'll have a challenge finding rap music that we will allow. We downloaded Toby Mac's Irene and they both seem to like that one, given that they will play it over and over again. We need to download another one so they have another option.

I hope to upload some pictures soon. Maybe it will add some color to this blog :)

Grace and peace to you.

Getting to know the girls

2010-10-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

As we wait for court, we visit the girls every day we can. They each are showing us more of their personalities each time we meet. They are truly great girls (not perfect, but we would love to have them as daughters if the Lord wills it.

Both girls draw, and are very good at it. The younger girl seems to like to be in motion a bit more. I have had to learn how to rough house with girls as they both seem to like to. I know how to rough around with my boys, but with girls? I think I have it mostly figured out right now (at least for now - I'm sure I have a lot more to learn). We have still been playing a lot of Go Fish and checkers, and the girls have taught us a new game using the checkers board that is a lot of fun. There is a ping-pong paddle and ball set in a local market that I think we will be buying and bring on the next visit. I don't think we can do to much damage with ping-pong balls, can we?

Both girls have been calling Sheri mama with an occasional Sheri mixed in. I have been called Hey, Dennis, James, Papa (only a few times), and we think Daddy (though it sounds like Dennis to me). I don't know where Dennis came from. I never thought of myself as a Dennis :) They are comfortable enough with us that we both get hugs at the beginning and end of the visit, and sometimes during the visit.

We are missing the boys a lot. We wish we had the ability to fly home during the waiting period, but the finances aren't there for that. We pray that court goes very well, that there are no appeals during the waiting period, and that the passports come quickly. We would love to be home by Thanksgiving.

I know that we have been comforted during this whole experience by our Father in heaven. This has been a great growing experience for both of us as we learn to trust Him fully (shouldn't we have already known that?). We want what He wants, and truly desire to bring Him glory.

We appreciate your prayers for favor with the court and all involved in the process. Pray for the documents to all be processed quickly, to include the passports. Please also pray for our boys while we are away from them. We do miss them so very much.

Court Date!!

2010-10-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

We received our court date today! It will be in just over a week!!! This is great news. We appreciate all your prayers!

She Happened to Come

2010-10-25T04:16:00.000-07:00

The Lord knows just what I need to read and when. As we wait on our court date, I allow the storm around us to drag me down now and then. But then:

http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/10/25/

Praise to our Lord, who cares so very much for us, though we are so undeserving.

Start of week four

2010-10-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

This marks the fourth Sunday that we have been here, the start of our fourth week. We continue to meet with the girls for a few hours every day (as much as we are allowed) and try to come up with creative things to play.

Yesterday we played baseball, which was very interesting considering the fact that we meet with the girls in a classroom. We made sure that the ball (a hacky sack that Sheri crotched and filled with beans) went away from the breakables :).

We tossed the hacky sacks into a trash can from across the room. Sheri had her hair braided in many different ways. Funny, no one tried to braid mine :) We played some more Go Fish and Left, Right, Center, but we needed to find something else, so we wondered through a local open air market and found a 3 in 1 game board with checkers, chess, and backgammon. I think that will add a bit of a change of pace for today's visit.

We had some very delicious cabbage rolls for lunch yesterday. Sheri was not to excited about them, but they reminded me of food my Grandma used to cook. We have really only be eating one meal a day, lunch, and snacking for the others (this morning I splurged and had a banana AND an orange along with my instant coffee, which I did not find out until after I purchased was decaff.) Sheri had some instant oatmeal and chocolate milk. Dinners are generally just some bread and cracker type items (look like round pretzels, but taste a little like animal cookies) and a drink - soda, tea, or water. When we are more hungry for dinner, we have something very similar to Top Ramon. The kitchen in the apartment isn't really a kitchen. It has a sink, a fridge, and a electric pot for hot water. Nothing to cook with. I think we might try to make a salad soon - don't need to cook that.

The Lord continues to carry us. We miss our boys (not necessarily homesick, but we are missing family). It gives me a greater appreciation for missionaries who go to far off lands for years at a time to serve the Lord.

We appreciate your continued prayers as we wait for our court date. We do pray it will be very soon. Please also pray for our communication with the girls and for bonding.

God bless you all.

Such a sweet voice He has

2010-10-21T02:20:00.000-07:00

I was very moved by this devotional today. I was greatly strengthened by the Lord when I read it. It is a reminder that His love for us, and His intimate knowledge of each and every one of us, goes beyond anything we can imagine. He knows our desires, for He put them there. As long as we focus on Him, seeking Him first, we shall not sink into the troubled water. When we do take our focus off of the Lord, and look at the trouble around us, we sink, only to be brought up by the strong, loving hand of our Saviour.

http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/10/21/

Day 18 (or so)

2010-10-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

We received the needed document for the referral this past Friday. We then traveled by overnight train to the region of the girls orphanage. We met them Monday and have since spent time with them everyday. We are able to see them for 2 hours a day during the week, and 3 hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

I must tell you that these girls are beautiful and very sweet. If the Lord will allow it, we would be very happy to have these girls be our daughters. They are quickly stealing our hearts. Their smiles are very warming, and the occasional hug keeps us going.

We will continue to visit them everyday that we are able, and wait as patiently as we can for word of when our court date might be. There are several mountains to move. I will tell you now, that if we end up with a court date soon, it is truly the hand of God, and He and He alone would be worthy of the praise. It is our prayer that the court date comes quickly, that we will have favor will all those involved in the decision, and that all the steps that come after receiving (Lord willing) the final court papers would move swiftly and smoothly.

We are missing our boys a lot. We talked on the phone last night with four of them. Our youngest was talking so well. He has grown up so much even in these short weeks. It is hard to miss his growth. I so much would like to play catch with my boys, or maybe just an impromptu wrestling match :) Though, as I get older, I'm not sure how well I will continue to withstand the onslaught of 6 boys! I hold my own so far, but the teenagers give me a run for my money. I think they hold back so as not to embarrass their Dad ;)

I love the food here. We have so far had no major problems with anything we have eaten, nor with any of the water. We do have some water bottles with built in filters, so that could be helping :) The area we are in the water is, well, lets just say when I make a cup of tea there is an extra "film" that quickly covers the top of the tea. Not sure what it is. We have been buying bottled water and maybe will try to look for something like a water pitcher with a filter (like a Brita).

Sheri has been crocheting all sorts of things. She made a camera case, face scrubber (works great), scarfs (2), hats (7), and several friendship bracelets for the girls. She is very talented and I am proud of her.

Sheri has managed to teach me Yahtzee. Let me tell you, that was no small task :) I am not to much a game player, though I love the family interaction that happens when we play games. We have been playing Go Fish and the dice game Left, Right, Center with the girls. It is lots of fun and maybe, just maybe, I will finally learn numbers in another language.

My heart goes out to N and S. We will always wonder how they are doing, and pray that they will come to know the Lord. They will always have places in our hearts.

We make our plans, but we know the Lord will direct our steps.

second appointment

2010-10-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

We got a call from our facilitator this morning as we were about to head out to a mall. We quickly changed clothes and went out to wait for the taxi to take us to the SDA. When we arrived we found out that it was nothing short of a miracle that we were able to have an appoinment today. Most other couples were getting their 2nd appointments scheduled for the 26th of October or even one month later. We thank you all for your prayers and we give all the glory to God who is sovereign over all things, even 2nd appointments at the SDA in Ukraine. We were shown two sibling sets of two girls. It was a very hard decision. One set had some errrors in the file that could cause some complications with paperwork. They also have siblings still here in Ukraine. We felt the Lord leading us to the other set of girls who have no siblings left here. They have younger siblings who have been adopted already. We hope to find where they went to. We are waitng in a coffee shop now. We have been blessed to meet another family from the Sacramento area and are chatting with them. Thank you God for fellow believers, and especially those who speak english!

We give praise to our Mighty God, the great I AM!

Waiting for the next referral

2010-10-11T06:03:00.001-07:00

After an overnight bus ride back to Kiev, and a trip to a notary, documents have been submitted explaining that that N and S rejected us for adoption, and requesting a new referral. Sheri and I still believe we were led to adopt two girls. We will have to wait and see what the Lord has for us. Please pray for a quick second referral and that the region we would be going to would not be a hard one to work with. Adoption is certainly a spiritual battle. The war is raging behind the scenes. Please also pray that we would remain strong in the Lord and be sensitive to His will.

We miss our boys.

Untitled

2010-10-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we saw the girls. They were not sure they want us to adopt them. Because of the expense of the drive and of the apartment rental, and the need to not be away from our boys and my work to long, we needed a for sure answer from them as soon as possible. They knew us, we knew them, and they just needed to decide.

On Friday morning we drove back over to the orphanage. Our facilitator went to speak with the girls. They said no, they did not want to be adopted by us. We were heart broken. We were sitting in the car waiting when our facilitator came back to tell us what they said. He also stated that we were to come back at 2:30pm to talk in person with the girls to make sure that they still did not want us to adopt them.

We went back at 2:30pm. After much talking, it came out that they were (or at least N was) worried about what their mother thought. They felt guilty for leaving her. They said if we spoke with their mom and she said it was ok for them to be adopted by us, they wanted to go with us. They answer yes enthusiastically three times in a row – it just depended on what their mother said.

Saturday morning we drove to the city were the girl’s mom lives. It took a long time to find the building she lives in. The car got stuck in a very large pothole (it is raining here right now and the driver could not see how deep the hole was – it was deep). I thought we were going to have to get out and push, but the card finally came lurching out of the hole and we drove on.

We found the building, got out of the car and met their mother outside the building. I could clearly see features from both N and S’s face. We also met one of their older sisters, and an older brother. Our facilitator talked at length with their mother. After many phones calls with N (she has a cell right now), the mother decided that she was going to leave it up to the girls. What ever they decided was ok with her. She wanted to make sure she would still be able to talk to them and get letters to them. She cried, and hugged us many times.

We drove off believing that we were adopting N and S, because the girls had told us if their mom is ok with it, then yes, they want to go with us. So we went to market to stock up a little on some food for the apartment thinking that we would be here for a few weeks.

But as we were driving back from the market, N called and said she did not want to go. She had called again and asked if we would come see her tomorrow. She wanted to see the picture of her mom we had taken. Our facilitator told her that we would probably not come (given their decision). N called again and told the facilitator that we are never to come back, and to get rid of her phone number and pictures. We love these girls, but as it stands now we will travel to Kiev for another referral, which will extend our stay here. Please keep praying for God's peace to fill us as we wait on Him.

My trust is in the Lord, not in men (or girls), or horses, or chariots, or anything else in this temporal world of ours. I trust that the Lord has called us to be here, and He has a plan only for our good. Perhaps what is good for us is to gain a new perspective on this life, to increase our love for our boys (we really, really miss them – we have never been away this long before and the journey has only begun), or maybe he has other children already picked out for us somewhere here in Eastern Europe.

Please do not think we are giving up on the girls, we love them so very very much. The only option is to leave them here. It breaks my heart to leave them here, but we will not bribe them, coerce them, or force them in any way. It is their decision to make. To be honest I am crying as I type this. It feels like I have just lost two children. But for God…He is the Great I AM! If He desires, for His own good pleasure for us to adopt a child(ren), then He will open the doors we are to go through, and close the ones we are not to walk through.

Praise to my God, for He alone is Holy. He alone is worthy of honor and praise, and He Alone can comfort this hurting heart.

Devotional http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/10/7/

Day 5ish

2010-10-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

We saw the girls Thursday, though only for a short time. We had a few minutes with N in the morning, saw her again out in the yard along with S prior to a 3pm meeting with them, and then only had about an hour. We could use all of your prayers. The are not sure they want us to adopt them. There's more to the story than that, but that is what I can share here for now.

We really need to know by tomorrow afternoon what they want so that we can decide how to proceed. God is in control, I know.

The Lord gave me a good nights sleep, and I woke up to His word, and then to worship music. This song played on my MP3 player:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g14QP6R1iAY

That is truly where I am at. I want all my plans to be broken, and to be fully obedient to His plans and will. I walked in the morning dew with my Lord while listening to that song.

I was then further reminded of who is in charge when I read this devotional that I received in my email: http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/10/7/

All I can say is that we serve a mighty and holy God, and that I want to serve Him for eternity.

We will return to the orphanage today. As I understand it, we will only be allowed one more hour. Please cover this situation in prayer. As I stated earlier, it has been strongly suggested that in the interest of time, the girls make a decision today.

For the first few days when we were in Kiev, we did not buy a lot of food as we did not think we could keep things cold that needed to stay cold on the trip to the region where we are now. We at out a few times, but other than that we ate our "emergency" food that we brought. Oatmeal, beef jerky, bread, almonds, and craisens. All in all we did not go hungry. Now that we are in region, we have started purchasing basic food items such as potatoes, onions, snickers bars :) , and oil to cook with. We will continue to buy little things here and there so that we can cook real meals in the apartment.

Whe did finally get to a little restaurant near the orphanage and had some real Ukrainian food. It was SO good. Our friends had made some Ukrainian dishes for us while the girls were at the house in April and I fell in love with it. We really need to learn how to cook like that.

Not to give you whiplash, but changing subjects here (sorry, this is my brain without coffee - actually, it is not much better with it ;) ). I was listening to a sermon the other day and the pastor was speaking about the Gospel (like he should have), and said something that turned on a light for me. He was talking about the criminal who hung on a cross next to Jesus, the one that Jesus told would be with Him in paradise. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like, when asked why that man should get in to heaven, he would answer, "That man, that was hanging on the middle cross, said I could." Oh my, does the Gospel get any simpler than that? We complicate things so much these days. We speak in our own Christian language, and expect the lost to understand what we are saying. Brothers and sisters the Gospel is a deep mystery, and yet it is so simple. We are allowed into our Father's holy presence, because His Son said we could. He called, we answered (only because He gave us the desire and ability to), and on Christ and His word we stand, welcomed into the presence of the Father. i am not sure though that I will do much standing.

Day 3

2010-10-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

We had several friends who had trouble getting in, so I decided to make the blog public again. We will just be less "flowery" with the posts.

We had our SDA appointment today. It went well and we will pick up the required paperwork tomorrow afternoon and then travel to the region where the orphanage is. We are very excited to see the girls, and are missing our boys a lot. We just spoke with the boys via Skype. Our 7 year old asked if we were done yet. No dear, not yet. Our 3 year old would not talk. He gets shy now and then so I pray that is all it is.

We have gone window shopping and been to the market a few times to get some basic food. What an adventure. Is it mayonnaise or some other white sort of spread? um, is that pudding, yogurt or cheese? We are really not buying much in the way of food right now as we don't have a way to keep it cold on the trip to region. I look forward to finding a restaurant with some good Ukrainian food that we can afford. I very much enjoyed the food that our friends made for us while the girls were visiting and would like to have more :) We also look forward to making some of the delicious meals that we have seen other families make while here.

I knew I had not learned enough Russian before we came, but now I wonder if I learned anything at all. When the cashier at the market asked if I wanted bad (without pointing at it) I had no clue. It was not until she grabbed one to show me that I finally understood what she was asking. Maybe someday I will learn enough to actually be able to communicate intelligently.

I am still amazed that the Lord has chosen us to do this for Him.

Please keep us in your prayers. Specifically, we would like prayer for favor with the inspector, judge, director, really for anyone we come in contact with :) Pray that we our wise with our food purchases and such so that we do not run out of money before we run out of month :)

God bless you all.

We made it.

2010-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting - it was a crazy last few weeks. We had a great trip here with only a few delays that were almost totally made up for in the air. I made sure to sleep on the long leg so I hope that will help to avoid any jet lag. Sheri did not really sleep at all, so I am sure she will sleep really well tonight.

By the way, I highly recommend the VIP service when you fly in. It is well worth the money to have someone meet you in customs with a sign that has your name and then take you by the hand to get everything done and get you out of the airport.

Leaving the boys was hard. Not as hard as when we put the girls on the plane in April, but it was still hard. I suppose that is because we know the boys are all in good hands, and that Lord willing, we will see them again very soon :)

There are so many interesting things to look at on the drive from the airport. So many buildings with so much history and character (the drivers have a lot of character too, but that is a post all by itself ;)

The Lord continues to show me He is in control, and I will really need to keep that in mind during this whole process. He has opened my eyes more to who He is - I wish I could get it all down in words. I will sum it up this way: He created it all, and He holds it all together, and what He calls me to do is for His glory, not for mine.

I so much look forward to seeing the girls soon. I have no idea how they will react when they see us. Will they run up and hug us. Will they shy away? Will they cry? We should be prepared for anything.

I wanted to bring glory to God for an amazing thing He did recently. A fundraiser was done for a precious little girl who desperately needs a loving family on a blog we follow (http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/). After the request for funds was posted, this little girls grant fund went from around $400 to $20,000 in five days! That puts me on my knees in worship right there.

Our SDA appointment Tuesday. We appreciate all your prayers. Pray for favor will all the people we come in contact with, and that we would be able to show them Christ's love.

We have a Date with the SDA!

2010-09-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Praise goes to our Lord for bringing us the news of our SDA appointment! We are so, so very excited. We also have a lot to accomplish between now and our departure date. Thank you for your continued prayer. We miss the girls a lot and cannot wait to bring them home. Our boys need to be covered in prayer while we are away from them. I pray for our littler ones as they may not fully understand the length of time we may need to be away.

In a day or so I will be making this blog private, so you will have to request to be added to the list of readers if you would like to read updates as we get closer to traveling and while we are overseas.

God has continued to show Himself mighty, and we have seen Him continue to lead our family. I have so many ideas for blog posts but can never seem to find the time to get them written.

Not Just Close...

2010-08-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Our dossier is not just close to being submitted, but it HAS been submitted! The Lord has brought us one step closer to bringing two wonderful girls that He loves home!

Close to being submitted?

2010-08-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

We were able to get the corrections/updates done on Monday and drove up with all the kids to sacramento on Tuesday to get the documents apostilled and dropped off for DHL. The package arrived on Thursday. Lord willing our dossier will be submitted early this next week. We are praying for the Lord's will and timing, We miss our girls.

Dossier update

2010-08-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Our dossier is in Ukraine. There are two problems with the paperwork that we need to get resolved first thing next week. Both the documents we need to do will have to be notarized and then we will drive them to Sacramento to get apostilled and the dropped of for DHL to Ukraine. God is in control. I won't lie, I am stressed. But I know for certain that the Lord will work it all out for His good and His glory.

On it's way

2010-08-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

Our dossier is on it's way to Ukraine! Please keep it, us and the girls in prayer. If you are praying for us, could you leave a comment? It would be great to know who our prayer partners are.

Moving forward another step

2010-08-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we received our I-171H form from immigration in the mail! Sheri scrambled into town with it and we had it notarized, added it to our dossier and sent the whole package via overnight service to Sacramento to be apostilled on Monday and prayerfully be on it's way via DHL to Ukraine Wednesday or Thursday to be translated. The facilitator in Ukraine will then get a dossier submission date which will again prayerfully be in that next week.

We are thanking and praising God for His provision through this entire process and know the He will continue to show us His love, His plan, and His strength.

I need to sit down and write up the timeline up to this point, but as I recall it was 3 months to the day from the time we sent our homestudy in to USCIS to when the I-171H came in the mail.

Thank you all for your continued prayers over this process to bring our daughters home, all to be in accordance with the Lord's will of course.

We had some good friends over for dinner last night and had some great fellowship. All the children had a great time too, best I could tell. They all ended up sitting on the grass in a circle and talking (they were just missing a guitar and a camp fire :) )

The Lord does continue to show His love toward us, and I am continually amazed that He loves a creature such as myself.

Still Waiting

2010-07-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Nothing to report. We are still waiting on a response from immigration. We appreciate and covet your prayers.

Family photos

2010-07-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken as part of a fundraiser for our adoption. Our generous friend Kimberly at http://kimberlyreneephotography.com did a wonderful job capturing our family. Believe me she had to work hard with these boys! I can't wait to bring the girls home and have new ones taken.

My Cow Family

2010-07-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today was "cow appreciation day" at Chick-fil-A. Sheri rounded up all our herd and took them in. Here is the result. Notice the large cow they rode in on :)

Still Waiting

2010-07-06T20:24:00.001-07:00

I suppose that can be said for almost every step of the way for an adoption. You would think I would be used to it by now :)

We are still waiting on immigration to approve us and send the paperwork needed for our dossier. It is the last piece of paperwork needed before we can send the dossier off.

We are having our Tag-a-thon on July 14 and our friend is having a Pampered Chef catalog show for us that will help us raise funds for the adoption. Email us (sheri@fontesonline.com) for more information on either event.

But let patience have her perfect result

2010-06-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

We were fingerprinted at immigration yesterday. It was a fairly smooth and easy process. If anyone at the Fresno immigration office reads this, thank you for the quick of professional service!

The little problem that the officer in charge of our case asked for us to resolve was simple and we overnighted the required document so that it was received the same day we were fingerprinted. Sheri called and left of voice mail for the officer today to see if what we sent was acceptable. We pray that it is and should receive our immigration form in 2-3 weeks (of course we are praying for sooner).

I thank the Lord for His protection and provision for this process and pray for His continued protection and provision.

We are praying that the Lord's hand will guide the paperwork and decisions of all involved.

"...the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD."

Laser Quest Tag-a-Thon Adoption Fundraiser

2010-06-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

Our next fundraiser is a Laser Quest Tag-a-Thon! Help us with our adoption expenses and have a blast doing it!

Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: Laser Quest Fresno

Description:

1 Game of Laser Tag Cost is $7.00

Contact Sheri at sheri@fontesonline.com for a pledge sheet. Collect pledges for every point scored, or a flat rate pledge.

Fingerprints

2010-06-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

We have our fingerprinting (biometrics) appointments this Tuesday. Tomorrow we are hoping to talk the the officer in charge of our case at immigration to help clear up a question they have. We were sent a letter with a very specific information request that we cannot answer the way they are asking. Please pray that we are able to resolve this tomorrow and that after the fingerprinting Tuesday, we receive our immigration approval very, very quickly. We are still praying for an August travel date, and that could happen, but the Lord knows what is best.

We are missing the girls we hosted a lot and are praying fervently for them. Above all though I pray that they would come to know, love, and follow the Lord.

I have been reading several different adoption blogs and have been blessed by each one. Sometimes it seems as though a blog post was meant just for me and either encourages me or pulls me out of the pity party I had found myself in. Links to a few of the blogs I follow are below. I'm certain you will be as blessed as I am when you read them.

Thank you for your prayers - don't stop! As the time draws nearer for us to travel I am certain that our need for prayer will increase.

http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com

http://reedadoptionblog.blogspot.com

http://littleboydove.blogspot.com

Frogs

2010-06-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

Get the frogs out of the pool boys.

No, you are squishing him, let him go.

Do not throw the tennis ball with frogs on it.

Do NOT put the frog in your mouth!

Leave the frog's bottom alone!

No dear, that frog is not "resting" in the water.

Waiting

2010-06-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Not much to post about this time. We have our biometrics appointments scheduled. They are not until June 22 and it does not seem we can do anything to speed that up. After the biometrics we will have to wait for the immigration approval, then off goes the dossier.

We still miss the girls. I do not have the mind of God and do not know what His plan is. I know it is perfect.

We still need financial support so if you have been reading this and are being led, please do send what you can. We have been blessed by some generous gifts recently which help a lot, but we still have a long way to go. I know the Lord will provide, maybe He will choose to provide through you?

That is really all there is to say right now. God bless.

Dossier ready to go - sorta

2010-06-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

We picked up our completed home study on Tuesday and sent in the required copy via overnight service to immigration to meet up with our already sent in form. We are praying that we get the letters notifying us to go get fingerprinted quickly and that we can get the immigration approval by the end of this month.

That is where the sorta comes in. We have, in hand, a completed, notarized, DHL enveloped (ya, I said that) dossier - minus the immigration approval. Once that comes in off it goes (with a short stop before it actually goes over seas) to Ukraine! That could be in 3 weeks or 5 months. Just whenever we get the immigration approval back. We are of course praying for the shorter time :) Please continue to pray that the paperwork is all moved along quickly with few snags so that we can travel in August (or sooner).

We still miss the girls. I don't think we actually stop missing them. We pray that they are safe and enjoying the summer camp they have gone to.

We are applying for grants now that we have the home study completed. We know the Lord will provide.

We did buy a van. The couple that sold it to us was very kind on the sales price. It had a small maintenance issue that needed dealt with so it is in the shop right now. It is an older Ford E350 15 passenger van. Lots of seats to go around :). While we could have made a 10-12 passenger van work, we can leave a bench out of this one and have plenty of cargo room and people room. When, Lord willing, the girls come home we won't have to take to cars everywhere we go as a family anymore (though I think we will be using the same amount of gas). We are praying about what to do with our current van.

We will continue to send weekly letters even though they may not get them. I am hoping that they will all be held for them and when they get back from camp they will have a big stack of mail to read through :)

That's all there really is to say right now. God is good. If He calls, He provides.

House vs. Home?

2010-05-29T21:25:00.001-07:00

House vs. Home

I was talking with a friend the other day. He mentioned that he was teaching his children the difference between a house and a home. There is a big difference, and the Lord continues to teach me more and more about that. A house is just a building. A roof and walls. But a home, a home is where God's design for a family exists. It is where the parents raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is where the family plays, learns, and grows. The home can be anything or anywhere. I suppose it could even be mobile -but the family is there. I did spend so much time away from my family while working toward a worthless goal, that my home was just a house. I have seen, as I allow the Lord to teach me and grow me as a father, that I do have a home. I have an incredible wife, six beautiful boys here with me, and two beautiful daughters waiting to come home.

Progress Update

We should be picking up our completed home study first thing this coming week. We'll get a copy overnighted to immigration and pray hard that the immigration paperwork happens smoothly and quickly. The dossier is printed and waiting to be notarized and will need the immigration paperwork with it in order to be complete. We are still praying for an August travel date (or sooner :) ). The sooner the better for me and I'm sure the girls, but always in the Lord's will and timing.

Once we have the home study in hand, we will also apply for grants to help with the adoption expenses. We are praying the the Lord will provide funds.

We did look at the van I had mentioned before and will be buying it. The family that is selling it is being very kind to us and Lord willing, we will transfer the title this coming week and then take it to the shop to have some needed repair work done on it.

If you have been praying for our family and our adoption process, please keep doing so. All your prayers are appreciated and needed. As always, you are welcome to donate to our adoption through the God's Waiting Children website (http://www.godswaitingchildren.com) or by sending a check to God's Waiting Children. In either case, put "Fontes adoption" in the memo/comment section. You can send us a check directly if you would like.

Fellowship and Progress

2010-05-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

We had a great time of fellowship last night with some friends (three families were represented last night) who hosted when we did and are pursuing adoption as well. Actually, we are all pursuing sibling sets! It was awesome to hear how our Almighty God has worked in each of our lives to protect, provide, direct, and to use us for His purposes. A big thanks to the Hughes family for having us over! It is so good for us as believers to look back at all of His handy work in our lives, sort of a modern day stacking up of stones. We have many, many stone piles to look back on.

I think the biggest reminder that Sheri and I took away from last night's fellowship was that NOTHING is a surprise to God. He knows exactly what is going to happen and nothing, nothing can stand in the way of His plans (notice I said His plans, not my plans). There is nothing I can do to mess up His plans either. I love our Lord!

I was also reminded that none of us can do this on our own. It is His calling, and His provision that will bring our children home, and the Lord has the ability and authority to choose any method He wants to provide for each of us. In our weakness, He is made strong.

We had the fourth home study interview/visit on Thursday and it went well. We should be done (if the Lord wills) in the first week in June and be able to send a copy in to meet up with our already sent I-600a to immigration! Pray that the I-600a will be processed very quickly. The Lord has moved things along very quickly so far! He is deserving of ALL the glory!

We are still praying for an August travel date. Not only would that bring the girls home soon, but it would really work the best for my employer. A fall or winter travel date will be tough to do, but the Lord knows how it will all work out.

We are looking for a van that we can all fit in once the girls come home. We looked at one at local used car lot but it had a few issues and we just could not afford the lowest price the sales person would take for the van. We have another option that we will check into today.

Interview(s)

2010-05-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

We had our first interview for the home study and believe it went well. In discussing the time line I was starting to get concerned that the rest of the interviews would be stretched out but as it turned out, the next two interviews were scheduled for the next day! We are praying that the home visit will be able to be scheduled sometime this coming week and Lord willing (I mean that) the report will be done in the first week of June. That is just awesome! Please keep praying.

I know it may not be realistic, but we have picked a week in August to start praying for as our travel time. Humanly speaking, I don't see it happening that quickly, but we will pray the Lord's will in it. He has made everything else move quickly for us so far. To God be the glory. We are anxious to travel and bring the girls home.

Our immigration paperwork was received and now it's just the wait game. The home study will have to be sent in to complete the immigration paperwork anyway, but we are praying by sending in the rest of it first it will speed things up.

I must say that we have been very blessed by so, so many people lately. You know who you are. We are blessed to be working with God's Waiting Children not only for the hosting, but for the adoption. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are certainly caring for us.

The girls we hosted have not received our letters yet, and we have not received the letter they said they sent. Takes a long time to get letters from here to there. We are trying to write one every week to let them know we love them and miss miss them.

First Interview Tomorrow

2010-05-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be our first home study interview. I bit nervous, but I know it is all in His hands. I pray that we are able to schedule the other home study interviews in short order and get that step completed. Our paperwork is coming along, despite the fact that we ordered the required marriage licenses from the wrong county, so we didn't get them yet. It was over 16 years ago, who remembered that we got the license in one county but were married in a different one?

I am still seeking the Lord's leading as far as mission trips go. I did hear an encouraging and convicting sermon on the radio today. The short of it is that when someone asks who you work for, you should have plenty of evidence to back up the answer "I am employed by the Lord Jesus Christ." I'm certain I fail that one frequently.

An example: there has been a homeless man that I see now and then at an intersection I pass through frequently. His sign reads "homeless family, please help" (or something similar). I have thought about stopping to talk to him but always seemed to be in a hurry, or at least that is what I have told myself. The times that I decided I would stop if I saw him, he was not there. Several weeks ago I was driving to church with N (one of the girls we hosted) in the car. She saw him and kind of asked what his deal was. I explained with the few Russian words I knew that he was homeless. Her expression changed quickly to one of sadness. She wanted me to stop, but we were already late for church. All this talk about being Christ followers and I blew the chance to back it up, to line up my actions with my faith. Can you believe that? On the WAY to church and I didn't stop. Well, that weighed heavy on me.

I saw that man yesterday. I stopped. His name is Dave and his wife died from cancer last year. He stated that he, his daughter, and his one year old granddaughter live in a tent by the freeway. He said he had a bad back and was not able to work. "Who is gonna hire a 50 year old man with a bad back?" He asked. Now I don't know his whole story, or if he made any of it up, but he genuinely cried when he spoke of his wife. He is lost and in pain. I prayed for him right there, and will still pray for him. I gave him what little cash I had with me at the time, and my heart goes out to him. If you think about it, pray for Dave and his family.

Still missing the girls and am praying for them.

Another inch closer

2010-05-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

Praise to my Lord for having our passports already arrive! It only took 11 days and we did not pay for expedited service! Now we have the passport numbers to put on the forms in the dossier that require it and we have our birth certificate copies that we need. God is awesome!

Waiting

2010-05-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

Paperwork wise, we are playing the waiting game as we need our passport numbers for most of the dossier and we don't expect those back for awhile. I pray we can complete the home study interviews quickly and get all that done and over with. Once the home study is completed we can apply for grants to help fund the adoption and maybe not have to use all the house fund.

Still waiting to see where the Lord will lead in regards to a missions trip. I'll keep looking around and see if He is pointing me in any specific direction and/or timing.

So tonight after dinner I asked the boys to tell me what the Gospel was. I was a bit surprised when I got a bunch of blank stares and "I don't know" answers. Our 7 year old did finally pipe up and give a pretty good answer, but I had been praying that we have taught them all well enough that they each could have provided some sort of an answer. I guess I have been failing in getting the message across to them. I'll be working each night this week on explaining the Gospel to our boys. I could use some prayer in speaking clearly and concisely, without it sounding like a lecture. I pray for the day when each of my children proclaims Christ as their Saviour and takes the step of obedience in baptism.

Spent almost all afternoon and evening working on my online flight instructor renewal course and then did some of the Rosetta Stone Russian course as well. Be glad when the renewal course is done so that I can spend more time with family and less time in front of the computer.

I am still praying for God's hand to move our adoption process along very quickly. His will over ours though. Since He can hold the universe together, I know He know's best how to direct our steps and the timing of it all.

Another bite down!

2010-05-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! We made some more progress today. Did yet another set of fingerprints, had another doctor appointment and had more blood work done, dropped off some more completed forms, picked up a completed form, and somewhere in there we breathed a bit.

We have our first home study interview scheduled for next Thursday. Please be praying for that. We are putting together our dossier (thus all the above mentioned errands) and have something important to tell anyone who is even kind of thinking about international adoption - GET YOUR PASSPORTS! Make sure that you have certified copies of your birth certificates and marriage licenses as well. You may need a certified copy of your marriage license that is no older than 6 months when the dossier is submitted.

We will have a booth at the Flatlander's Day Parade this Saturday in the Madera Ranchos to help advertise the good work that God's Waiting Children is doing, and to let people know what we are doing. I pray that the Lord will use us to get the word out about the need of orphans around the world.

Thank you again for your prayers.

Progress, Treasure and Pearls

2010-04-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

We turned in our home study paperwork today. We also applied for our passports. We should hear from a social worker sometime next week to schedule the first interview. Please pray that everything moves very quickly and smoothly, as the Lord wills.

Regarding treasure and pearls, I had a thought cross my mind that touched me deeply and in a way was disturbing. It relates to parables of the treasure in the field and of the merchant seeking fine pearls (Matthew 13:44-46). A man finds a great treasure in a field and because of his great joy over the treasure, he sells all that he has and purchases that field. When the merchant finds a "pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Sheri and I have found two great treasures, two perfect pearls, and we are willing to give all to bring them home. The desire is so strong that it has been hard to think of much else. It is almost all consuming.

Now before I get comments that I have taken those passages out of context, let me say that I know they are referring to Christ and His kingdom. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary states the following:

"1. That of the treasure hid in the field. Many slight the gospel, because they look only upon the surface of the field. But all who search the Scriptures, so as in them to find Christ and eternal life, John 5:39, will discover such treasure in this field as makes it unspeakably valuable; they make it their own upon any terms. Though nothing can be given as a price for this salvation, yet much must be given up for the sake of it. 2. All the children of men are busy; one would be rich, another would be honourable, another would be learned; but most are deceived, and take up with counterfeits for pearls. Jesus Christ is a Pearl of great price; in having him, we have enough to make us happy here and for ever. A man may buy gold too dear, but not this Pearl of great price. When the convinced sinner sees Christ as the gracious Saviour, all things else become worthless to his thoughts."

Sheri and I are willing to adopt two children using the entirety of our house fund in the process. We are willing to take the "risk" because we believe the Lord is calling us to this, and we believe these girls are our daughters. We are willing.

Here is the disturbing part: why have I not felt this strongly about the Gospel? I love the Lord. I desire to serve Him, but I have not been "on fire." We love our children and we love these two girls as if they already were ours and are willing to go to great lengths to bring them home, but what about Him? What are we, no, I, what am I willing to do for Him? The Lord has brought to my attention several times this year that I am too comfortable (scares me to wonder what will happen to get away from "comfort") and that I need to serve Him much more. I believe reaching out and bringing our daughters home is serving Him, but shouldn't there be more? Shouldn't every moment of every day be used for Him and His glory? Contrary to many popular teachings out there, God is not a magic genie, just sitting there waiting for us to give him permission to bless us with stuff. He is the Lord, the great I AM. King of Kings, God with us. It is supposed to be All about HIM. Everything we do should be for Him. Not for the favor or applause of men, but for His great glory! Comfort. Fear. Those two things stop me.

The Lord has laid two children on my heart. In fact, I believe He has given me a heart for the orphans in Ukraine in general. I have mentioned to Sheri several times now about being missionaries to the orphans in Ukraine. Perhaps that is where the Lord is leading us down the road. It is not a thought I can easily dismiss. It may start with a few short term trips - we can even use the time while we are there to adopt the girls (all Lord willing of course). But perhaps He is calling us to more. Stay tuned and please, please pray.

Another note, look at that last line in commentary excerpt above, "...all things else become worthless to his thoughts." To those who have thought us foolish to use our house fund for the adoption, know this: God will provide all that we need. We will do what He calls us to do, else we would not be His servants. All things else become worthless in our thoughts.

Harder than I thought

2010-04-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

We watched the girls disappear behind the security checkpoint at LAX. It was much, much harder than I thought it would be. Having to send them off to the orphanage, knowing the conditions they must live in and the dangers that are there for them, was heart breaking. Can you imagine sending one of your children off to a place where they do not get enough to eat; where they get one shower a week in cold water with no soap or shampoo; where they will get beat-up if someone wants something they have; where rape occurs; where little supervision leads to much trouble?

You can see a little of what I am talking about by watching this video:

Orphans of Ukraine from Erin Freel Best on Vimeo.

I cried. I cried a lot. Right near the end just before the last goodbye, I was hugging Nadya and I started to cry a bit. She looked and me and told me that I should not cry because she and Sveta were coming back to America. She tried to play tough I think. When the last goodbye came, when they were to far away to hug again, I cried anyway. Nadya cried too. In fact, we were all crying. I'm tearing up just writing this post. Seeing Nadya and Sveta walk away was hard for sure. As they cried and waved, I prayed that the Lord will move our adoption process along quickly. I miss them already.

We bonded well with them in the short time they were here. There were certainly challenging times, and I am certain there will be many challenges ahead, but Sheri and I love these girls.

We could certainly use your help bring them home. While we have committed to use our house fund for the adoption, we are praying that the Lord will provide in other ways. And the house fund will not cover airfare either. If you would like to help us bring our daughters home, you can donate online on the God's Waiting Children website (www.godswaitingchildren.com) and look for the "Donate" button. You can also send a check directly to God's Waiting Children (1865 Herndon Avenue, suite K125
Clovis, California 9361). In either case, put "Fontes Adoption" in the memo/comment area. Donations made to our adoption fund are tax deductible if made through God's Waiting Children. You may also send funds directly to us. Though not tax deductible, funds sent to us are more readily usable. You can send a check to James and Sheri Fontes, 7750 N Fresno St., Ste 104, Fresno, CA 93720.

Please feel free to pass on our request for prayer over this adoption and for the financial need.

Pictures of the girls

2010-04-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

An Answer?

2010-04-16T10:59:00.001-07:00

I received word today from our real estate agent that we did not get the house we offered on. While I am sad about that, it brings us back to the option of using the house fund for the adoption. Please pray for us as we come to a final decision on this. We will not move forward with that option unless we both fully agree that it is the direction we should go.

We took the family to the zoo yesterday. It was fun, but challenging to keep all 8 children in the group. No one was lost, but we did have some tantrums (mainly from me :) ). Hopefully sometime soon the computer, the camera, me, and some time will all line up and I will post some pictures.

The older of the two girls we are hosting, Nadya, told me about her father using mostly hand gestures. It seems that he had taken her at least once to an amusement park of sorts, which she very much enjoyed doing. She also explained that he passed away. It seemed pretty big to me that she would open up to me about that.

Please pray for God's direction to made clear for us. Thank you in advance.

Long overdue update

2010-04-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

I always seem to be busier than I think I really am. I thought I could make at least weekly posts to the blog, but that is not reality when you have six children and are looking to buy a new house and adopt.

Ya, a lot has happened since I've posted anything worth reading (not that this is either, but I'll post it anyway). We did sell our home and though it did not sell for as much as we initially thought we we could get, the Lord blessed us with a profit. Three weeks before we moved, we had not found a new house to purchase, or even to rent. It looked like we would be squeezing into relatives houses and putting our stuff into storage. But for God...

God moved on the hearts of an incredible family who then offered for us to stay in their vacant home that they had not been able to sell in this housing market. What a blessing from the Lord. It is an incredible home owned by some very generous and gracious people. We have been living in this house since just before Thanksgiving and had continued to look for other homes to include placing offers on two homes - neither of which we "won".

We had continued to wait for the hosting program to happen, but it was delayed repeatedly. We were going to be hosting a 10 year old girl, but she was adopted. Then a nine year old girl, but she was adopted. The the hosting program for this trip switched orphanages and we were presented with the opportunity to host TWO girls - sisters. We accepted the opportunity - but the hosting trip didn't happen.

So there we were, in an incredible house but not our own, no hosting program happening, and just waiting for the Lord's will and timing.

We had been praying since we signed up for the hosting program whether or not the Lord would have us pursue adoption as well. After much, much prayer, Sheri and I both felt that the Lord was directing us that way. We signed the paperwork, which started the paperwork :) and we became "paper pregnant".

We found out that the hosting program was going to really happen. Time went on and the group of children from Ukraine were on the plane coming to the US, all but the girls we were - paperwork issues as we understand it. They came 5 days after the rest of the group, but will have to go back with the group so they will have a shorter trip. They have certainly taken our hearts.

We prayed about using our house fund to complete the adoption. I had decided that unless the Lord moved differently, I was more than willing to use the house fund for the adoption. What's a house compared to two children's lives? It is not my money anyway, it is His. Now, I know it sounds foolish, and I was told that it was foolish, not in so many words, by a few people, but I truly believe that it would be better to bring two children into our family than to have the house of the "American dream". We will not be homeless. There are a lot of nice homes to rent in the area we like.

So, the Lord moved. The same day I had made up my mind to use the house fund, a house came on the market that seems to be what we were looking for and it was just within our price range. That threw a wrench in the works. What to do? Pray of course. We did sign an offer for the house but then had our agent hold it until we prayed more.

We came to the conclusion that the timing was not a coincidence and that we should submit the offer. We feel that if we do not get the house, we will know exactly what we need to do with the funds. If we do get the house, it will be the Lord's doing as most of the homes in the area we are looking are selling for more than list price, and we are not able to offer that. If we do get the house, then we believe that the Lord can, and will, provide for the adoption.

If any of you reading this blog feel led to donate to our adoption, please do so. You can donate through the God's Waiting Children Website (www.godswaitingchildren.com) and put "Fontes adoption" in the notes. You can send checks as well. Thank you in advance for doing so. We need about 27,000 more to complete the adoption, plus whatever our airfare would be. The Lord is more than capable to provide.

Christmas 2009 Family Picture

2010-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

What is a real man called to do?

2009-09-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with His plans.

2009-06-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

We received a call tonight God's Waiting Children. The little 10 year old girl will not be able to come this summer. She is being adopted!

This is a good thing for her. Rather than just visiting a family for a month, she is joining a family for life. Please pray for her and her new family.

We were informed that we will still be able to host. A nine year old girl will be coming (Lord willing) for the summer.

Please be praying for this little girl that she stays healthy and that her paperwork is completed quickly. We want to show her Christ's love.

Step by Step

2009-05-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Speaking of six little boys, the Lord put it on our hearts a few months ago to look into hosting an orphan from the Ukraine. I had met the pastor who helped put this together a year or so ago through flying. Then Sheri got connected to the group that arranges the hosting through her home school network. Funny how things work that way ;)

Anyway, we put in our application to host. If all works out, we will be hosting a 10 year old girl.

Please pray that our boys accept this girl as a sister for the summer and that we can share the love of Christ with her. The Lord has always provided what we have needed, and we continue to pray and look forward to His provision as we will be paying all the expenses to bring her over.

God has a perfect plan. What that is, I do not know. Sheri and I will just take each step in the direction that He calls us to go. Step by step.

2009-05-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

A sobering message. We in the US need to hear this.

Keeping our eyes on the goal

2009-03-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our house has not sold yet, but we are moving forward with learning how to garden. In order to be able to have the option to move our garden with us in the event out house sells, we planted most of the garden in containers.

We purchased some plastic barrel halfs (very cheap) and then bought some good planting soil from a local nursery (Sierra View nursery in Clovis). We do not have a truck, and do not yet have a trailer or hitch to pull with the van, so we got creative and put the barrell halfs in the back of the van and shoveled the dirt into the barrels. Getting them out was fun :).

We drilled drain holes in the bottom of each barrel and put weed fabric in the bottom to keep the dirt from falling through the holes. Not sure if this is the best way to do it. Guess we'll know soon.

We purchased some plants already started as we did not start from seed when we should have. We ended up planting tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, strawberries, peppers, and zuccini. We also did plant some seeds: carrots, radishes, parsley and cilantro.

The kids enjoyed playing with the dirt. Some of them "planted" themselves in the tree.

We'll keep learning all we can. I have already assisted a few salads from the leaf lettuce we planted (it grows fast). Whether we plant more here at our current house, or get to plant at a new house, really does not matter. We'll just keep doing what we feel called to do.

Why "Planting Children"?

2009-01-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

My wife and I have learned in our marriage that unless we are in agreement on a decision we are making, we should not move forward with it. If we do move forward while still in disagreement, whatever it may be, never works out for the best for our family.

There are clear times in our lives, specifically after we both accepted Christ as our Savior, that we can see how the Lord led us to be in agreement. One such time was when we agreed to take in and then adopt our two oldest boys (more on that elsewhere). Just before Thanksgiving 2008, we were both chewing on the thought of moving toward an agrarian lifestyle. We were not discussing this, just independentely working the idea over, seeking the Lord's guidance.

We purchased some videos from Franklin Springs Family Media (http://www.franklinsprings.com/) that included the videos "Inherit the Land: Adventures on the agrarian journey" and "A Journey Home". Both of these videos confirmed what we were individually feeling led to do. It was after we watched the videos that we discused the fact that we were both thinking and being led the same direction.

We are following the agrarian vision we have been given. We make our plans, but the final decision is the Lord's. Our house is on the market, and we are looking for an area to move to that will make a relatively short commute for my "factory" job, and allow for us to have the space required to become more self supportive with a large garden and animals. We are reading everything we can get our hands on. We are asking questions, and most importantly, we pray daily for the Lord's wisdom and direction.

As the vision has developed, my wife came up with the concept of "planting" our children. To raise them in an enviroment where they can connect so many scriptures directly to what they are seeing and doing. To "grow" them up knowing, loving, and following the Lord. Christ used agricultural examples in his teachings because it was something His audience could make a connection with - something they could understand. I desire to bring to life in the hearts of my children the words the Lord spoke.

I do not know for sure what the future holds for our family, only Who holds that future.

Ouch

2009-01-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

So, I was in the garage getting projects doneÂ (I was actually home), and was cutting the plastic insulation off of aÂ replacement power cord for a friends circular saw with an exacto knife (you see it coming, don’t you), when I slipped. Now, I was breaking my own rule of how to cut, whether it be an exacto knife or a pocket knife (always cut away from yourself, ALWAYS), and of course, when you break your own rules, you’re bound to get hurt. So anyway, I slipped. So there I was looking at my hand with an exacto blade sticking out of it saying to myself, oh, thats not good. I removed the knife and the blood started coming out. Not a tremendous amount, but more than a scratch. I went in and washed my hand off, grabbed a paper towel, and applied pressure (good ‘ol USMC training). I called Sheri who was just finishing dinner out with her Mom, and asked that they come home and tell me what they think of my wound. It was decided to goÂ see a friend from church who is a doctor (and loves to do stitches) and have him take a peek. As expected, it was no big deal, and he just put a tape type thing on the cut to hold it together, and told me to schedule a tetnis shot in the next week.

James

Sorry, no pics

Delivering a plane

2009-01-18T17:08:00.001-08:00

On July 8th I got a call from Kent Scott stating that he wanted me to fly a new turbo Cessna 182 to Henderson, TX. I would then drive from there to Independance, KS and pick up another turbo Cessna 182 to deliver it to the new owner in Scottdale, AZ, then fly the new owner (who is not a pilot) to Reno, NV for a business meeting, and then back to Fresno. All of this was to be accomplished in 3 days. As it turned out, another pilot (Jeff Kutsch) went with me (his experience was instrumental in completing this task).

We left Fresno at 5:30 AM on Tuesday, July 10. We stopped for fuel in Tucson, AZ and had some breakfast, then flew on to the next fuel stop, Odessa, TX. We got our fuel and got out of there as soon as we could as some storms were moving in. After we left Odessa, the airport got pounded by thunderstorms. We had to fly north for awhile to avoid the storms but were then finally able to head east towards Henderson. We landing in Henderson, TX at the Rusk County Airport at about 8:15 PM local time. Just about 11 hours had gone by since leaving Fresno. The new owner of that airplane drove us to another airport to pick up a rental car. We stopped for dinner and wereÂ on the road toward Kansas after 10PM local.

We had trouble with the mapquest directions and could seem to get across the river into Oklahoma. After several tries, we stopped and asked directions (navigating in the air is so much easier). We made into Oklahamo and onto the turnpike, and thats where we hit the fog. Lots of it. We tried finding a hotel, but we could not seem to find one that was not a dump.

Jeff had been driving and it was clear that he was tired. We pulled of the road and switched seats. We were lucky not to be eaten alive by the bugs that were hiding in the fog. I was now driving. I had taken a vitamin B12, had some coffee, and was still awake. We still could not find a hotel. After driving in the fog, and seeing the gas gauge get way to close to ‘E’ for me, I prayed that the Lord would lift the fog, and stretch our fuel until we could get to a gas station. There did not seem to be to many opportunities on the turnpike for services.

After a time of faith stretching, the fog lifted, and then we came up to a toll booth, and a gas station. Praise God! We fueled the car, got some more coffee, and headed back out. unfortunetly, the reststop/gas station we stopped at had a confusing layout and we ended up going the wrong way and ended up at the toll booth again. After describing our situation, the gal in toll booth allowed us through and we were able to cross back over the turnpike and ended up on the other side of the turnpike (going the right direction), where I again had to explain why I didn’t think I had toÂ pay the toll again. That galÂ finally allowed us through.

The new plan was to drive into Tulsa and get a hotel there. We arrived and found that the hotels wereÂ booked because of a
baseball/softball thing that was going on in town. So, we decided to keep driving. All the way. We found ourselves with the sun coming up in Coffeville, KS. The national guard was everywhere, and there were a lot of detours. Come to find out, this was one of the towns that had recently had bad flooding, and had the oil refineryÂ pump out about of oil into the flooded community. It was like a war zone.

We finally made it to Indepence where we looked for a hotel. Now, remember I just said we drove through the flooded areas. Many people lost their homes, and FEMA was in town to help out. Every hotel room was booked. We kept checking, and I finally suggested we go back to one that had a sign stating ”no vacancy”, but we did not go in to ask. So I went in and found that the sign was true. I stated to the gal behind the counter that we really only needed the room until noon (it was now past 7AM local), as we had to pick a new Cessna at the factory just after noon. She then said she could give us two rooms as long as we promised to be out by noon. We did, and we went to sleep. About 3 hours of sleep. I got up, showered, ironed some clothes, and checked out by noon. We then drove to the factory.

If you ever have the chance to go visit the Cessna factory, do it. It was incredible. I was able to see where the new Cessna Mustang was being produced. We were treated very well. They had lunch ready for us, and then explained how the delivery process would go. We were slated to have the airplane delivered by 3 or 3:30Pm, when we should have beenÂ in the air headed west, but we found several items we felt the new owner would want fixed prior to delivery.

Now, while Jeff was out on the test flight, it was my job to take the rental car back. About 4-5 miles south of the Cessna plant on highway 75, a northbound truck carrying a modular home lost a tire. I saw it coming, and tried my best to avoid it. The tire moved off to the right and seemed like it was going to leave me alone, but much like a bowling ball, it cut back in and WHAM, hit the car. I thought, “this just did not happen, no way”. I pulled over to look at the damage. Several people stopped to help, and I found out the the truck stopped about 3 miles up the road. A sherrif stopped and took a report, and the gal that was helping us at Cessna came and picked me up. Hertz said to leave the car there unlocked with the keys in the glovebox, and that they would send a truck to get it. Wasn’t that fun now. Honestly though, God was working in that too. Had I stayed in the center of my lane, the tire would have come through the window and I would have been in the hospital. Another praise. Â After the test flight, and after the items we mentioned were fixed, we ended up leaving the factoryÂ after 8Pm local.

We were then headed toward El Paso, TX, where we planned to fuel and sleep. The storms had another idea. We had to divert so much that we were pointed at and getting close to Amarillo, TX, so that is where we stopped. We stayed the night and headed out the next day towards Scottdale. Despite hitting a big bug at 12,500 feet, the flight was great. We landed in Scottsdale and were expecting to have the owner waiting for us, but he had gotten bumped from several flights out of Fresno and did not arrive until I think around 3 or 4PM local. We were then off towards Reno, with me in the back (the new owner insisted sitting up front). The trip there and back into Fresno were uneventful. We were blessed with an amazing sunset, and arrived back in Fresno around 10:15pm. I was tired.

Timmy and “tomorrow”

2009-01-18T17:06:00.002-08:00

Timmy (3 years old) was talking to Sheri and asking when Grammy was coming over, and when he was going to spend the night at her house. Sheri said tomorrow. Timmy said “no, tonight”. Sheri said “no, tomorrow”. Timmy started saying that there were two tomorrows (say that one fast). Sheri said that there weren’t. She told him that tomorrow comes after he goes to sleep. After much back and forth, Timmy finally said his whole thought “There are two tomorrows. Tomorrow morning and tomorrow night”. He was grinning with that look of “you just don’t get it, do you?” Of course, we finally got it. Two tomorrows, who would have thought

Oh, man, I can’t get this stuff off the wall!

2009-01-18T17:06:00.001-08:00

Said by Elijah after eating a pudding.

Don’t bring the worm in the house!

2009-01-18T17:05:00.002-08:00

I’m sorry, you can’t play with the flashlight because your brother dropped it in the toilet.

2009-01-18T17:05:00.001-08:00

Brother did state there was no pee in the toilet at the time, but…

If God is everywhere, how come we don’t bonk into Him?

2009-01-18T17:04:00.002-08:00

My mouth is not a garage.

2009-01-18T17:04:00.001-08:00

Stop using my spoon as an oar for your truck!

2009-01-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

…but mommy, it’s not an oar, it’s a brake!

Stop licking the cabinets!

2009-01-18T16:57:00.000-08:00