The Kirkland Family

Gotcha Day and Many Blessings!!!

2011-12-27T07:59:00.001-08:00

Well today is December 27th, Asher and Emma's Gotcha Day!!!!! This has been the most amazing year of our life. We have learned so much of what it means to give yourself away to others. We have become mini- experts on Down Syndrome, where even Hunter is educating the public on DS! Speaking of Hunter, God really knew what he was doing when He made Hunter. That kid has more love and compassion than I could ever wish to have. I am being honest here, he has NEVER once been jealous of Asher and Emma! It doesn't bother him that people always come up to us and ask about the babies. In fact he chimes in and tells them all about the babies!! And he is the most amazing big brother! He loves playing with them and you can't get Asher to do anything if Hunter is in the room because he just lives to watch his big brother.

Ok I am going to humble myself here. It is hard having 3 kids! Haha! I know what you are thinking.... How is she going to handle 5??? Well I said it is hard, not impossible. Impossible if it was only my strength I leaned on!! With the Lords strength we are able to get school done each day, go to Ot, PT and speech therapy and have 2 EI appointments a week. And God even helps me to somehow try and manage to keep our house somewhat clean ( this is not always the case)!! This year has shown me that keeping your house straight isn't a sign if you are a good wife and mom, although it is something I try and do each day. But when you have 3 kids(or kuds for that matter) and you home school and there is all those therapy appointments each week, you just can't get it all done, and that is ok!!! Remind me that I said this next week! Children are a blessing from the lord!! All of them, the typical ones ( if there are any), the ones with extra chromosomes, the ones with missing chromosomes, all of them are worth the extra effort and work! And for those of you who keep saying how is she going to manage 5 well..... I can't.. alone. But I am never alone and I am strong, not from my own strength but from the one who made me! What blessings and lessons we have had this year!

This last week was Christmas and we really saw the ministry of Christo lived out through friends of ours. These friends of ours were one of the two couples that were our adoption mentors and heroes! The prayed for us and supported us and encouraged us with Asher and Emma's adoption!!! And they are doing the same things again this adoption for Gideon and Zechariah!!! God is so Good to bless us with the people he gas put in our life. Our friends were happy for us and rejoiced on this new adoption journey when many didn't and still don't. They have continued to pray for us and our 2 boys who are sitting in an orphanage waiting for their Daddy and Mommy to come get them!!! They have financially blessed us with our last adoption and this one! As well as asking others to help in the cause for our boys! Thank you dear friends!!!! We are so blessed by you!!! Thank you for your heart for the orphan, the unloved, the people without a voice!! God has blessed us more than we could ever ask with friends such as these. And the amazing part is this is just one of the families who have done this for us, but we have many friends that are our biggest supporters!

And the last blessing I want to share is the most recent one. Last Thursday I took Emma to the doctors office because I though she had an ear infection. As we were waiting in the exam room the lady from the front desk came and brought me a card with our name on it. At the time I didn't think much of it, thinking it was a Christmas card they gave to all their patients. As we were going to bed that night we opened the card to hang on our stairs with all our other cards and there was a gift card in it!!! We were shocked and overwhelmed with the generous gift they had blessed us with! I am not sure why we were blessed with this gift. I know that businesses adopt needy families but I don't think that is the case with this as they know we have military insurance that pats 100%, and there are so many that come in and have to pay out of pocket. There are many more people in need than us. But for whatever reason God blessed us with this gift and we are thankful, hoping for the opportunity to pass on the blessings.

Ok I know I said the last thing was the last blessing but I forgot to mention a wonderful blessing. Tomorrow is Tyler and I's 6th anniversary!! Without that wonderful man there would be no gotcha day, or adoptions for that matter. There would not be all the wonderful friends we met in Italy who will be our greatest friends for eternity. And without Emma there would be no doctors visit. I don't know many men who would want to take on 3 children or 5 children for that matter who don't share his blood, but he does! And God his made him into an amazing husband, leader of our family, father, provider and best friend. And God is the only reason our marriage is as strong as it is and will never break down. God is the reason Tyler has a heart for the fatherless, God is the reason Tyler's heart is turned towards his children. And without God our lives would mean nothing! Thank you God for this day and tomorrow, for all your blessings!! And for the heart you have given us for the orphans! May we share it with everyone we know!!!

More paperwork!

2011-12-06T09:20:00.001-08:00

Well this week has been and will be a big week for the adoption. Saturday we had our fingerprints done for our FBI background check. Last night I went to the doctors for my bronchitis and they filled out my physical form for our dossier. We have our first home study visit on Thursday and hopefully the second will be soon. We will have to wait for all of our state background checks to come back for the home study to be complete. Friday Tyler has his physical for the HS and our dossier. So we are making alot of progress!!

It is crazy that we can already start compiling our dossier paperwork! It seems like the process is so different than the process for Ukraine. We are still praising God for all of His provision. We have been able to pay for the home study and our initial agency fees.

We are still trying to think of fundraiser ideas to raise the couple more thousand dollars we need to complete the adoption. Let us know if you have any ideas!!!!!

Our Family Pics

2011-11-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

Last month we had friends take pictures of our family for Asher and Emma's post placement reports. We really need to get professional pictures taken, but I have to admit I am the worst at getting that done! We were so blessed to have Jeff and Kira with sweet Lily over for Asher's 2nd birthday and since time was running out, we just decided to take the pictures on our front steps. Here are a few!!

The Joys of Paperwork

2011-11-12T10:53:00.001-08:00

This week while Tyler has been overseas I have been working on Adoption paperwork. The last adoption I really dreaded the paperwork, but now that I see what we get in the end, it is exciting!! We have sent our service agreement to our agency. We also are set up on the Reece's Rainbow site!!!!!! We also have submitted all of our initial paperwork to our home study agency. So hopefully as soon as Tyler gets back we can have our first home study appointment! There is a lot more involved on the clearance side of this adoption. Since Gideon and Zechariah's country is a Hague country, they require clearances from every state I have lived in since I was 18!!! So they need all of the addresses and dates! I can't think back that far! So I did the best I could and hoping that works. It is going to be difficult getting our clearance from Italy since we are not there now. Another blessing that we learned from our last adoption is that God will provide what we need and when we need it!

We also have a praise report!! After only 24 hours there was $200 in our adoption fund!!! When this happens it just is reassuring that God is behind this!! We are so thankful to Him for His provision of Gideon and Zechariah and our family!

We just started therapy at Palmetto Richland Rehab Center with Asher and Emma. They have been great about showing me what to do with them and I have been able to start preparing for the boys. We plan on homeschooling them right along with Hunter. I am learning there is still so much I do not know about Down Syndrome! I have been blessed to find some websites that have lots of great info on the subject! I was actually surprised how many people Homeschool their DS kiddos. I also found out they will still be able to get therapy through the school system but at home. I have also found some great info on Celiac Disease and just got my first batch of coconut flour to begin practicing!! I will let you know how it goes.

Please keep our family including Gideon and Zechariah in your prayers. We pray every day for God to protect these boys and provide for all of their physical and emotional and spiritual needs!

Here are some new pics of the kids!

Look At How They Have Grown!!

2011-11-07T03:58:00.001-08:00

Since has been since February since I last updated the blog, I am so excited to show you the kids!

Hunter is 7 and has become a book worm! He is the most amazing young man! And most importantly he has submitted his life to the Lord!! We have been praying for this since Tyler and I were saved and praise God for Him moving on Hunter's heart! He has done so well with Asher and Emma! He lives them dearly and they are his best friends... well Asher is any way!

Asher is now cruising slowly around furniture and he can sign 15 signs!! He has the cutest little faces and he is soo ornery! He

Ms. Emma is our princess!! She is a prissy little thing who can be the happiest little thing one minute and screaming her head of the next! She sat up for 50 whole seconds on Friday!! She has alit of sensory issues but she is making such progress! She also can see now that she had her cataract removal surgery in March!

Adoption Number 2!!!

2011-11-06T16:38:00.001-08:00

So I am just going to go ahead and admit that I am the worst blogger EVER!!! But I really would love to journal our life and be able to share our experiences with others, especially our adoptions!

Let me start like I did with our first adoption. So many people, including members of our family think we are crazy for wanting to adopt again! Our only answer is that God has burdened our heart for the orphan. At the end of our last adoption we found out about the forgotten children with disabilities, specifically Down syndrome. Our burden was immediate and overwhelming. When God leads you so clearly how can you say no? We couldn't and we now have our 2 beautiful children from Ukraine. Asher is 2 and Emma is 21 months old and to us they are perfect! We love that they have an extra chromosome and that they are "different". Honestly they are not "different" to us, but to the world they are. They notice their beautiful almond eyes, and their cute little noses. They notice that Asher is 2 and can't walk or talk. They notice that Emma is just starting to get head control and can put her legs in places impossible to anyone else. To us we treasure these things! We see their progress and rejoice!

Soon after we were reunited in May, we started praying about our next adoption. Tyler and I agreed we couldn't start the process until we moved into our house, which was in July. We first thought we would adopt from Foster Care. We even took the classes and started compiling the paperwork for the home study. At the same time I would check the Reece's Rainbow site!! October 2nd we celebrated our first Buddy walk in Charleston, SC. We were so blessed to represent Reece's Rainbow and share with everyone the blessings of adopting a child with Down syndrome! When we left Tyler looked over at me and said "We need to adopt another child with Down syndrome!" Of course I said " OKAY!" The praying began! It didn't take us long and we were back in front of the computer just like we were almost 1 year ago when God led us to Asher and Emma. We wanted to get older children this time since 2 babies not walking can get quite heavy! Hunter wanted us to look at boys because he wanted someone to play cowboys with him out side! And I am a momma who loves her boys! I had seen Juris and Vilis many times on Facebook. We were shocked and amazed to see how many people were advocating for these boys! And they were both 5 which is a great age for our family! Well we now know that Vilis is 7!!! I was surprised that Hunter was even more excited to have a brother the same age! We prayed over these boys and knew that God wanted us to commit to them.

We don't expect this to be easy, but we will not be going through this alone! God is with us and we have faith that when we are tired and weak and overwhelmed, He will carry us! We are fully aware of the boys medical issues, and it doesn't scare us. We know that these boys have not had the love of a family or therapies and that them being older usually makes for a harder transition. Does that mean we leave them there? Do we not even pursue them because it will be difficult? Tyler and I take such comfort in the stories of the Bible on how to look at hard times. Name one person in the bible who had no strife or hardship?? Can you think of any?? Nope!! Life is not easy, and if it were we wouldn't appreciate it. We would not depend on God for our daily bread, our next breath or anything. Tyler and I look forward to the good and bad that come from these boys and any other children we have or may have one day! We rejoice for adopting and being adopted by our Heavenly Father!

So let us introduce to you our new sons:
Gideon Josiah Kirkland ( Vilis, age 7) and
Zechariah Victor Kirkland (Juris, age 5)

It has been a long time

2011-02-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

So....today is February 15th. It has been a long time since my last real post. The babies are taking a nap and Hunter is doing his math work...so I will give you what I got.

Hunter will be 7 years old tomorrow!!!! He is so excited. He saved up his money and was able to buy himself a pair of roller blades. He has caught on fast too! We are struggling alittle bit with his attitude and it is obvious more time apart from Daddy is getting to him. Again as God has been doing for the last year and a half he is teaching not just me, but my family as well, patience. PATIENCE!!! We submitted our EFMP paperwork on the 10th of February. This paperwork is what is needed to get Tyler reassigned. Now we need to get the approval which we will get..and than the orders. What we want is Charleston AFB. But we want mostly Gods will for us!! We just want to be together!!

As for Asher and Emma, they are growing and getting stronger!! Asher and Emma have recovered from their ear infections and Asher's URI. Thursday we had Asher's Down Syndrome Clinic appointment at MUSC. It was a long one!!! Almost 4 hours. I will admit that "I did have my hands full" on this day!! Asher was ok for the first part and played with each of the specialists that came in. But Emma had missed her nap and boy was she FUSSY!!! Than I got her calmed down and Asher had a melt down. And the entire apt Hunter whined and complained. But here is how the day went:
1. Asher had a hearing test. He scored moderate hearing loss, but really he just wanted to look at the bright lights and not look to the side where the silly sound was coming from. He will need to have a sedated hearing test as well as have his ears cleaned. Next we went to "His room" where the rest of the specialists came to us. First ENT who agreed with audiologist about his ears. Next was Dr. Larossa who is the co head of the down syndrome clinic as well as the International Adoption Clinic at MUSC!!! (This was AWESOME!!!). She did a complete eval of them and at the same time the occupational therapist came in and played with him and did her eval. And while she was in the room, the urologist came in to look at Asher. Than the speech therapist came in and did her thing. So we they gave us flonase to deal with Ashers URI, to clear his nasal passages. And when we go back for Emma's apt they will give him Zantac for his reflux.

Tomorrow they will have their apts. at the International Adoption Clinic where they will have all their vaccine levels checked, parasite check...and I am not sure what else. Next week we have Ophthalmology for both kids, Emma has her DS clinic appointment, and they have their initial therapy evaluation apt to set up their different therapies. I will let you know how that all goes.

We got a VAN!!! Praise GOD!! He really does provide for our needs...when we need it. It was becoming impossible to take my mom to work in the morning and wake up the babies at 5:45 am. They were missing their naps because of apts. and than having to go pick up my mom from work. It is such a blessing and I have never been so thankful for a material thing in my life.

Here is something God has been really laying on my heart. The orphan. I have just been so burdened by their need. I have been finding more RR families either adopting or have just adopted!! I have also just learned that some of these kids have died while they were waiting. DIED!!!! How can this be. Now I know all things happen according to God's plan. But how many Christians are there in the world...or even the US alone. God called us numerous times in the bible to care for the fatherless!!! Now I know that GOD has not placed this on everyones heart to adopt. But what about supporting a family. Do you know that our adoption of Emma and Asher would have been IMPOSSIBLE if people had not obeyed Gods command to care for these children. IMPOSSIBLE!!!! There are families who would love to adopt, but just need help with the financial part. Please help these families. They need the support of the body of Christ. WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST!! So I am putting a challenge to you as well as myself and Tyler. How much are we willing to give to help these children, and obey the command of God to care for the orphans. Are we going to sit in our comfortable houses, and drive our comfy cars and enjoy our wonderful tax returns. Or are we going to go out and give of the blessings of God that he has bestowed upon us to share with others.

We are home!!!

2011-01-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

So this is way late. But....on Dec 30th we landed in AMERICA!!! I have been so busy learning how to be a mom of 3 kids....I have not had a chance to blog. Please forgive me. And even though I have so much to share, I don't have the time at the moment. So for those of you that follow us, Thank you for all of your love and your prayers and I promise when things get a little more normal (not sure if it ever will), I will post again more!!! Also I am making the blog open again!!

Christmas Eve- The most wonderful blessing!

2010-12-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we arrived at the orphanage like any other day. But this time instead of taking us to "our room" they took us to the head nurse's office. She was sweet as always and asked Hunter if He wanted to play with any of the toys she had in her office. So we waited there for about 10 minutes and than they took us to the Director of the orphanages office. So as usual they start talking to us in Ukranian and all we can think to say is "No capisco", which is in Italian. HAHA. So than the director calls someone on her cell phone and than she handed us the phone. On the other side of the phone was a sweet woman who was a translator from another city. She said that the director had some things to discuss with us, and she would translate. So she began to tell us about Emma's mom. She said that she was "well known in the community", that is why we were discussing this with a translator from a different city and not our normal translator." She told us Emma's mom visited her in the orphanage and cared vary much for her. She than asked if we would agree to keep in contact through email or regular mail. Tyler and I looked at each other and agreed. Then she asked us if we would be willing to meet the mom before we left. We again looked at each other and agreed. So the plans were discussed alittle more that we would meet Emma's mom tomorrow after our afternoon visit with the babies. This is the beginning of the story and it continues on into tomorrow(Christmas Eve).....

So now it is today, Christmas Eve. To be honest it didn't feel special or different, just a normal day of visiting the babies. Like I said earlier, we were going to meet Emma's mom after 4 pm, after our visit with the babies. So after the nurses came and got Asher and Emma, we headed down stairs. The nurse told us to wait and keep our shoe covers on. About 2 minutes later the head nurse came out and behind her was a woman, older than I expected for Emma's mom, though not old! She looked like her heart was as heavy as a MAC truck. So we all walked up stairs to meet her and as the door closed, she introduced herself...in ENGLISH. She was not Emma's mom but Emma's grandmother. She was coming to see if we would agree to meet in a cafe since Emma's mother was not able to leave work at this time, it is also at this time when we found out what Emma's family does for a living. We are going to keep this private out of care for them. So we said yes and we had them bring Emma in so Emma's grandma could see her, this was her first time I think ever or since she was born. She just kept saying her name, Elizaveta and looking at her. My heart broke as I thought of my mom having to do this. I can not imagine what she was feeling.

So we got our driver to take us to this restaurant in the center of Kirovograd, a place that has a menu in English!!! After waiting for a table for about 5 minutes we sat down and Emma's grandma said that her daughter would come soon. So right away I asked how she spoke such wonderful english, and she almost ashamedly said "I am a teacher, an English teacher." She was worried that she wouldn't understand us!! She spoke beautifully and had no trouble. She is used to a British accent so it was different listening to us, but she was wonderful. We talked as if we had known each other forever. Soon Emma's mom walked up to the table. Again, she was not what I imagined. She was over 35, beautiful blonde hair, tall, and you could look at her and see she was accomplished (I mean this in a good way!). She sat down, we could tell she was so nervous. We went back and forth for 2 hours with questions for each other. They explained to us that when she had Emma the doctor said " If I had known this child had down syndrome, I would have done everything in my power to make it come out DEAD!!" I was shocked. This is how this country views these angels. They act as if they are brain dead. We than went on to talk about the down syndrome clinics in America, and how people with down syndrome can work, go to school and even get married. Did you know that children with down syndrome don't even get to go to school, and when they are 4 they are sent to a mental institution where they are no longer adoptable but also laid in a bed to waste away and die? They were so happy to know that Emma would have these opportunities but I think at the same time they were so sad that where they live this is not a reality. We showed them pictures of us, and our family and friends back in Italy. We showed them the videos and pictures of Asher and Emma playing. They had such hope! Emma's grandmother told me that the whole family had just been devestated, not that Emma had down syndrome , but that this was their only option. Even though Emmas parents are both super successful, it is not possible for them to keep their baby. There is no health care for them, no services like we have in the states for people with disabilities. They are seen as already dead here. Emma's mom is my hero and I hope that one day Emma will feel the same. I hope she sees that her mom loved her so much that she gave her a chance at life. That family could have kept their rights..that maybe one day things would change and they could get her back. But they knew that was not reality and instead of thinking of their own comfort, they put their beautiful daughter first. That is a HERO!!

We enjoyed being with them so much, but our driver was waiting so we had to go. We were so excited to receive a dinner invitation for Sunday with Emma's whole family!!!! Of course we said yes. I can see now that all this waiting and delays were for this day. God's timing is perfect. I am also glad that we do not have the children and will not get them until Monday. And the reason is because that would bring to much pain to Emma's family, it is still to new, to fresh, and to painful. As time goes by, Tyler and I hope that we can reunite them, so they can see their beautiful daughter and how far she has come, to see she is ALIVE and NOT DEAD!!! Please pray for this family, I can never even pretend I know what it feels like to have to give up a child. Thank God that he has placed you in a place where you have options, support, services, health care, knowledge and most of all HOPE!!

URGENT!! Please Help us if you can!!

2010-12-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well as most of you know we are now officially the proud parents of two beautiful Ukrainian angels. The plan the entire adoption was for us to return to Italy so we could travel to the U.S. on a military flight. We planned this to cut down on costs. I first contacted the Italian Embassy 2 months ago and to make a long story short,they did not respond to my many emails after the initial response. Our agency even had Niko go and speak with the Visa man. He never would give a clear answer and would say basically...domani..or tomorrow. So as we were planning to leave for Kiev on Monday I emailed and tried to call again. This time he responded but said that there is alot involved and that it would take 10 business days to make a decision to approve the visa application. With the Italian, and Ukrainian holidays and the embassy being closed every Friday, finding out their decision would be on January 18TH!!! Not only do we NOT have any money to pay for food and apartment, but we also will not have healthcare for our kids which they desperately need!!! We know it is Christmas, and many of you already helped us pay for this adoption, but we are here and all we can do is ask. Every cent will help us, even if you only have $10.00. We have called as well as looked online for tickets and the cost tonight is $2,900.00 for all of us to get to the states with the babies on our laps. I am hoping the ticket does not go up, but this is all in God's hands. We are just asking.

We set up a PAYPAL account so we can raise the funds to purchase our plane tickets. If you can give please go to paypal and our account is under Tylers email which is 2turb0gt@gmail.com. That should be all you need to add funds to our account. If you do not have a paypal account you will need to set one up. If you have USAA it is free and you can call to wire the money.Thank you in advance if you are able to help us!! Friends in Italy please know this is not what we planned or wanted...we were so excited to show you our beautiful family that God used you to help build. We pray there is some way the kids and I can come see you. To family and friends in the states, we are excited to see you, even if it is sooner than planned. Thank you all again and please keep praying for us!!

p.s. we have contacted paypal to be able to have a fundraiser button on our facebook page and blog!

Its Official- They are Kirklands....but we still don't have them

2010-12-21T22:00:00.000-08:00

Today we had court!! It was with a different judge than planned and it ended up being in his office instead of the normal court room. That was fine with us because it was not as formal and shorter than normal. It was amazing to hear the testimony of the child services lady who had to see us on our first visit with the kids and the head nurse of the orphanage. They testified that we love these children and that their best interest would for them to be with us. The nurse even said in Ukrainian..."I don't know how someone could not love these children." The judge asked us why we wanted these kids...especially since they kept referring to them as "invalids", which are not deemed wanted in their society. We both said that God put it on our hearts to adopt these 2 children...and that for that reason we love them. After some more time going over the documents there was a 5 minute wait and than they called us back in to give us the conclusion. Which was " THEY ARE OURS!!!" The judge agreed to give us custody immediately instead of the normal 10 day wait....THANK YOU $1,500 PAYMENT FOR THIS!! We had been told that we were going to get the children today or tomorrow before the court and as we left the translator said that since there is a "flu" we will have to wait until Monday. I was so upset...everyday they tell us we can have them...and than we can't...and than we can. We asked the translator again if we could get them before Christmas and she said she thought we could. Later in the day we asked her again and she said that our lawyer had discussed it with someone else and they thought it best no. Again I was upset, so this time I called Ludmilla our caseworker in the states. I let her know what was going on. She thought that this was a legal requirement and I assured her that if it is, that is fine and we will wait, but everyone is mentioning..."more convenient for us..and there is a flu". In the end...we were told by our translator that we would most likely get them before the weekend. We are praying for a miracle!!

Day 12- God's Provision!!

2010-12-18T01:27:00.000-08:00

We have been blessed again by God!! Even after I lost my faith that this would all work out, He still provided for us. We only had enough money to pay for the rest of our fees i.e immigration, drive back to Kiev, and apartment in Kiev until December 24th. We did not have ANY money for food, our daily drive to the orphanage or store, apartment rent, drive to the airport to leave or anything else to last us until December 31st. To be honest we were even $200 short in our immigration money. We were just not prepared for all of these "FEES" that came up, and really there was no way of knowing. We came with every cent we had. This is the reason why I was so upset about the extra week here. As a wife and mother, I didn't know how I was going to be able to feed my family. And we were not going to have enough money to stay in Ukraine or leave with the children. I felt desperate and absolutely 100% NOT in control. But I am seeing that this is a never-ending lesson God is teaching me. I am NEVER in control any way. If we had had the money, would we have depended on Him?? We know that every cent we have for this adoption came from God, but deep down, did we truly depend on Him? Tyler has been the one this whole trip who has said, "Babe, we can't worry, God is in Control, we need to have faith that he didn't bring us here just to forget about us!" I was the one with the spirit of "little faith". We have been so blessed by some of our friends who have been emailing and asking "Are you guys ok, financially?" and our family have asked every day, What can we do, we can help you, we will give you everything we have to get you home!! I even stayed up until 12:30 last night with my mom on the phone, trying to figure out how to deposit a check into our account. She just wants to make sure we will be ok. These friends and family are being used by God to provide for this adoption, just like He has done for the last year and a half ago when we started this process. Last night I went to bed, wondering how we would get through this, and this morning when we got back from seeing Asher and Emma, there was an email and money in our account. All I could do was drop to my knees and thank God! We are going to make it! We are so thankful for love and support of our family and friends!!

Today we visited again with Asher and Emma. Hunter pointed out that this was the 10th time we got to spend time with them. We can see such a huge difference in them!! Asher is getting stronger and stronger and loves to laugh!! And Emma, she is also getting stronger. She loves her daddy, especially when he throws her in the air and swings her around (being supported of course)! Today I figured out how to put on the moby wrap our friends Jerry and Kelly let us borrow. I put Emma in it and the only time she would smile or laugh was when I was doing squats. I can tell I am going to lose alot of weight with these kids!! She is a dare-devil where Hunter and Asher like to stay planted on the ground. Her little smile is so beautiful! Hunter just loves being a big brother, and I would have to say that it comes naturally to him. He thinks it's funny how Asher laughs at him when he plays with his feet. He has been so wonderful on this trip, and I can't imagine it with out him.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers. Please pray that court on Tuesday goes quickly and they will let us take Emma and Asher after the hearing. Also please pray that their birth certificates come super quickly!!

Day 11- We will not be leaving for awhile

2010-12-17T03:00:00.000-08:00

Well,
As we have learned on this trip, no one knows what they are talking about, and you only get answers if you ask. Today is friday and we have been asking every day when our court date will be. So again I called and our translator called the lawyer. They said it will be on Tuesday at 10am. The facilitator had said that it would be today or monday. He also told us that we should be out of here December 21st or 22nd. Well its more like December 31st. It seems people just make up answers they think you want to hear. That does not help us. We need real answers. First off we are not rich Americans which I think many of these people think we are, we do not have thousands of dollars to throw at them every time they ask, and we don't have the money to stay here for ever. Second we count on these people for answers and guidance. We don't know how things work here, or the system. This is so frustrating to me. Poor Tyler had to watch me crumble for the 3rd time this week. I am to tired to take any more "unknowns". I want to get my babies and leave. period. Please forgive my negativity and please just pray for us. Please pray that the Lord will give me the strength to get it together and for him to keep Tyler strong as he has been. I am so thankful for the man he gave me to be my husband. Hunter has been so sweet and understanding and just going with the flow.

Last night I googled, eye conditions with kids with down syndrome and I am pretty sure Emma has alot of eye problems. But it explains why her eyes do the things they do. I think with surgery and glasses and the other eye treatments, she will be wonderful. This was really encouraging to me, I was worried that it was severe mental retardation...which it still may be, and thats ok. But I think it is not her mental status but eye problems. She was so happy today and didn't whimper much. She giggled and loved being put in different positions. Asher was the one today who was getting upset every time he tried to cough. Our little boy needs medical help, but that will have to wait another 2 weeks now. Please pray that the Lord will protect them and sustain them!!

I know I ask this in every post but please just keep praying for us, that God would sustain us spiritually, financially and in our health. That Emma and Asher will be ok until they can see a doctor. And that we can get them out of here on the December 31st flight!!! Thank you all!!

Day 8,9,10- Time with the babies

2010-12-16T10:18:00.001-08:00

Sorry guys for not posting. The internet is not the greatest. And basically the same thing happens every day. We wake up and eat our bread and nutella. Than we head out side where our taxi driver picks us up at 8:45 am. He than drives us the 10 minutes to the baby house. We walk in the door and go to the nurses station. Tyler always hands them the permission paper that says we are allowed to visit Asher and Emma. Than we are handed these shoe covers so we keep the floors free of dirt. Hunter thinks they are cool and he says we look like elves! Than up the pink stairs to the room that is "our room". It has a couch and and a little closet to hang our coats. Next to that is a cabinet with some toys. There is alittle table with 3 chairs and a big super uncomfortable couch for us to sit on. There are also these cute mini couch and chairs for toddlers. We sit and wait for them to bring the babies in. The babies always dressed in 2 outfits, a hat and 2 pairs of socks. These poor kids are sweating they are in so many layers of clothes. We get to have them for one hour and it seems they always come early to get Emma. At 10:00 am we say good-bye and head home for a couple hours until we do this all again at 2:00 pm, but this time we have 2 hours with them.

The second day we found out that Asher is a tickle bug...he laughs and his whole body is behind his huge smile and giggle. On Tuesday and Wednesday Asher would be happy and giggly in the morning, but when we came in the afternoon he wouldn't crack a smile. Today he laughed and giggled both times, and we even got some videos of his beautiful smile. I will add them when we have better internet service. I tried to upload them earlier but it was going to take over 200 minutes to upload a 2 minute video. Emma was the opposite then Asher and would be happier in the afternoons. We have noticed that she gets uncomfortable unless we are really supporting her body, and she wimpers and makes angry faces to let us know. I am not sure if she is in pain or if this is just who she is, but I can tell our little girl needs lots of holding, love and attention. We were beginning to think Emma could not laugh until Tyler threw her up in the air, SHE LOVED IT!!! It is the only time she will laugh or smile. We also have a cute video of Emma laughing as Tyler is swinging her around. When he would stop she would go back to being sad. I will be honest we are really concerned about Emma. She will do this thing where her eyes roll back in her head and and she will suck her tongue back into her mouth. At first it is alittle scary. I am not sure what this is, we emailed the Peds doctors back in Aviano to see if they might know what this could be. I don't think it is a symptom of down syndrome, but she could have other stuff going on besides that. But it doesn't matter because we would not change her, God picked this little girl for her family. Other than that they are both getting to know us and I think they can tell we are their family. As for the big brother, Hunter is fighting us to hold the kids. He want's to be holding one of them all the time. This is not always possible so he has invented the job of toy maker. He sits at this toy and pretends it's a toy making machine, and than he hands us a toy for the babies. It has occupied him alittle while we bond with the babies too!! He is super excited about them, but he has been asking when can we bring them home. I think we are all already tired of the orphanage and just want to bring our babies home!

We were told our Interpol Clearance has arrived from Italy, PRAISE GOD!! We were told that out court date will be either Monday or Tuesday. We are praying for Monday so we can head back and get the U.S. Embassy stuff done in time to get on our flight we booked. Our flight is planned to leave here on Friday the 24th, and we are praying we will be on it. We can't afford to spend another minute in Ukraine if we can't get on it, and we are trying not to worry. This trip has had so many unplanned expenses, and none that we could have planned for. We are earnestly praying for God's provision over us, please pray with us for this! Thank you to all of our friends and family who have been offering to help us. Also please pray for Asher, he seems to be having some respiratory thing going on, and when I asked about it the DR. said it was normal. I did not have to go to nursing school to see something is wrong. We just want to get these kids home, where they can get the medical care, love and attention they need.
Thank you again for everyone's prayers, we can tell that people are praying because God has been working miracles!!!

Day 7- The day we met our babies!!

2010-12-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Boy today was a long day. Tyler and I didn't end up going to sleep until about 3:00am and woke up at 4:00am. Serge got to the apartment at about 4:45am, and we were on our way. So I am not sure if you have ever done this but when you spend an entire 3 and a half hour car ride praying for your life, it's scary. We had heard Serge drove alittle fast, but it made Italian drivers look like drivers our in the country. At one point we stopped for gas, and Tyler and I each said we loved eachother since we didn't know if we were going to make it alive. I felt sick for the first hour and poor Hunter threw up. (Again mom close your ears)...So of course we had Hunter lay down in my lap without a seatbelt so he could feel better, as we drove on the roughest roads I have ever felt at about 150 KM/ hour. But Praise God we made it! And I mean that is a miracle from God!

We made it into Kirovograd and the first stop was our lawyers office. It was beautiful, not like anything I have ever seen. Than she gave us a cup of tea and some cookies. If you ever decide to adopt from Ukraine there is something you should know. Don't get too comfortable or take your coat off, because you can be sitting there having a conversation and than all of a sudden they get up and say its time to go!! So after she looked at our paperwork we all got in the car headed for the baby house(orphanage).

When we pulled up, I was relieved to see the orphanage. It looked really good for an orphanage and that probably means they take good care of the kids. Than we had to put these little show covers on to protect the kids. After that we headed up to the orphanage directors office. She was sweet and kind and greeted us so warmly. This is another huge blessing because I know it doesn't always go like that. Of course Hunter stole the show while we were waiting. He was such a ham today which is understandable. We are trying to be understanding about this and at the same time encourage him to not be so obnoxious. Finally Kate our translator came and we were off to another room.

When we walk in the big room that must be a multi-purpose room for the kids, there they were sitting on a couch. They picked up Emma and handed her to Tyler and than they handed Asher to me. It was love at first sight. He is bigger than I expected and I was so happy to see he can hold his head up and he looks so strong and his hair has been cut! But I will be honest here...it was difficult at the same time. When someone hands you a baby...a child you have been praying for for years, it is overwhelming. All of these thoughts went through my head like...how can I love this kid and can I care for them like they need? All day I have thought about this and I know that the reason why we adopted these 2 specific kids was because God told us to. And if He told us to, than he will help me to love them and care for them the way they need. Tyler and I switched babies and I got to hold Emma. She looks really different than in her picture. She is not as strong as Asher and to be honest again I can tell she has more mental retardation than Asher. We were given their medical reports by the orphanage doctor, and were pleased to hear Emma has had one of her eyes operated on!!! And she can see, when you put something in front of her, she sticks her hand out to grab it. She makes the most beautiful sounds....dadadadaddaa. I was so excited to hear how vocal she was. She also just got her first tooth!! and she loves eating her hand. Sometimes her eyes roll back in her head but I am not sure what this is from. I think God showed me today that Emma is extra- special and I pray He will give us the strength and compassion to care for her. Hunter was so excited to play with his brother and sister. Asher really loved Hunter and any time he would make a noise, Asher would look at Hunter. He liked to play with Hunters hair too. In the end, for the 45 minutes we got to spend with them, we are so excited and overjoyed to finally have met them.

We have praises which I am hesitant to post. I say hesitant because it seems there is always some sort of miscommunication. But today Serge said that we only needed to pay $1,500 for both children for the 10 day wait waiver, and whatever over they were going to cover. Also he said the expedited passports would only be $300 each. So we were able to pay for all of these costs, as well as our travel here, and our apartment in Kiev. Also we were happy to know that our taxi to and from the orphanage is only 100 grivna or $12 a day!! These are all huge blessings!!

Another Prayer request is that Serge can get our Italian Interpol Report. The USA sent theirs but Italy has not sent theirs yet and without that we can't get a court date. Please pray that Serge can get that today or tomorrow!! We are still hoping for a court date of Friday of this week or Monday of next week. Our plan is to leave for Italy the 24th of December, but we will not buy our plane ticket until we get our court date. If we can get home on this date than we will be heading to Baltimore on the 29th. We would love it if people could meet us at both airports!!! We will stay in West Virginia with my dad for a night or 2 and than head south to South Carolina so we can start their medical stuff stat!!!

Thank you everyone so much for all your love and prayers!! We can tell that people are praying!!

Day 6- Sunday

2010-12-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Today we stayed in the apartment most of the day. Today is our last day in Kiev without the babies!! I have been updating our blog alot of the day. Hunter gave us a wonderful lesson on the 6 days of God's Creation. I am happy to report he remembered almost everything he learned in the beginning of the school year. Tyler and I took notes. He than pretended that he was a waiter and made menu's for us. He is so imaginative and cute, the best part was that he used his leapster as the little computer restaurants use now for putting in orders. He than made plates with his legos and gave us them with our order on them. Than we sat together on our bed and watched a sermon by Russell Moore. We had read his book "Adopted for Life" and that week we decided to commit to adopting. Tyler got to hear him preach at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD when he went to the states with our best friend Chris Soares. The Moores adopted 2 little boys from Russia, the sermon was about how we are all adopted by God, and with that called to care for the widows and the orphans. Not every person is called to adopt or do foster care, but we are called to care for them in some way. We can support those financially who are adopting, if we don't have the financial ability to help, we can watch their children, or bring them meals and most importantly pray for them. The one thing he said that stuck out the most was that we need to stop asking "Should we help the orphans" but "How can I help the orphans"!!! Wonderfully said!! It was a great Sabbath rest as a family, our last as a family of 3, Praise God!

We ventured out of our apartment to get lunch/dinner. We decided to go to a food court we found since it was cheap. We have seen a ton of sushi places but to be honest scared to try it. We decided to get a pizza with salami and Tyler and I each got sushi rolls, him with the smoked salmon, mine without. Well when we got our food, the pizza not only had salami but also tomatoes and black olives. If you know me than you know I picked all that off, but it did taste good. As for the sushi both came WITH the smoked salmon but my wonderful husband picked it out for me!! It tasted wonderful although I at both Tyler and I's wasabi so my sinus are wide open!! And the best part was that we will never find Sushi that cheap!! Another praise!!

Ok well now that we are all updated, I am going to go. We all need showers and pack for our journey to Kirovograd tomorrow. Please pray for us, we have been warned that the driver drives really REALLY fast!!!! Also here is a specific prayer request Tyler and I are praying: That we will have out court date on Friday and that they will charge us only $1500 for the waiver of the 10 day waiting period instead of $3,000.00 (since we didn't plan for this). That we will not have to pay the $800 per child to expedite their Ukrainian passport. That we will travel back to Kiev with the babies over the weekend. That we can get our 2 day appointment at the U.S. Embassy to get their visas next Monday and Tuesday. That the Italian Embassy will stop playing around and give us the paper we need. And that we can order our flight far enough in advance to get a good price. We have alot of uncertainty with everything here. When we ask a question, they say don't worry about it and than ask for thousands of dollars we didn't know we needed. We are definitely not in control of ANYTHING and are at their mercy. Please pray for this!! I know it's alot!!

Day 5- Saturday

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

Today Nico took us to the World War II Museum in Kiev. Its is amazing the prices, 4 people plus one camera= 45 Grivna or $5.75!! It has been a blessing from God for us to be able to see all of these amazing sights in Kiev, and for so little money. Otherwise we would sit in our apartment the whole time.

So about the WW II Museum, it is situated right on the Dnieper River. The museum is under a huge statue of a man holding a sword and a shield. Through the trees you can see an ancient monastery with it's roof which is covered in gold. Inside on the first floor it goes in chronological order. There are lots of weapons, both soviet and German as well as wreckage of Nazi aircraft. There were pictures everywhere next to things like pocket watches and pipes. Everything was in Cyrillic but luckily Nico knew alot about the war. I think he thought since Tyler was in the military he would love to know about all the guns...and by all I mean all. How many guns could there possibly be. So needles to say, most of our pictures of the museum are of guns. I had no idea about some of the cruelties that the Germans imposed on people. There were a pair of gloves that were made of human skin as well as a bar of soap rendered from the fat of humans. This made me want to vomit. There was a real guillotine there as well as a machine they would use to grind up the peoples bones with to make fertilizer for the soil. There were pictures of the mounds of dead bodies as well as the incinerator they would use to burn the bodies since there was so many of them. It really hit home seeing these things in person. There was so much more here than I ever learned in school. Tyler and I both agree it was the best thing to being Hunter to Ukraine. I am so thankful for the experience he is having of learning history where it happened!! He asked why all these people had to die. I thought for a second and the only thing I could think of is "This is what happens when there is hatred." Thats what this all came down to. And I told him that when we don't love ALL people, regardless of what they look like, where they are from, and how much money they make than hatred breeds and causes things like this. I am not sure if he fully understands, and at times I thought about not explaining the things that we saw. But he deserves to know the truth, to know History and hopefully see what happens when we depart from God.

Here is a couple pictures:

Day 4- Friday

2010-12-12T07:57:00.000-08:00

Today we went to go pick up our referrals and permission letters to go visit Asher and Emma at their orphanage. Everything was uneventful besides the fact that we picked up our full dossier as well it Ukrainian translation. It was weird seeing that thing again, and I actually laughed out loud when I saw it, all that work!!!

When we left Nico drove us and another family to the part of Kiev we call home. As we were driving in the most crazy traffic I have ever seen,(close your ears here mom!!) with Hunter in my lap, without a seatbelt we got to know another American couple. They had been here since last Thursday and had went to another part of Ukraine to meet their first referral. The boy had severe Autism to the point that he had to be held down by 3 care givers and smashed anything he could get in his possession. They knew this little boy was not their son, and even if they could have handled him, they would not have been able to adopt him because they had not been approved on their homestudy for a child with special needs. I sat there feeling terrible for them. Like us they have gathered all their resources to come here and get their child. Usually if you turn down a referral, you get 2 more before you have to leave Ukraine. But as I have shared earlier, there are not any AVAILABLE children. There are thousands of children in orphanages here, but for one reason or another they are not "available". So they were told that unless a miracle happens on Monday, they will have to go home to their 5 year old son, empty handed. The SDA said they can return in February but to be honest Ukraine will be closed for adoptions until they are done "Reshaping their adoption program". This family also lost their little daughter to a genetic disease. After hearing all of this I felt so sadden for them, and for all the children that would love to call them Mom and Dad. They best part is that this family knows the love of Jesus, and have faith that He is in control of their situation. Please pray for this family, that the Lord would do a miracle for this family, and that they go to the SDA and are shown the file of their son or daughter.

Eric Ludy - Depraved Indifference

2010-12-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

We saw this on other Reece's Rainbow adoptive families website and we had to share.

Day 3- SDA Appointment day

2010-12-10T04:06:00.000-08:00

Well today we woke up in our apartment in Kiev, excited for our apartment at 12 noon. Hunter had a cough during the night, and he must be fighting a little something because we had to wake him up in the morning. Tyler filled our hot pot full of water for our morning cup of coffee(him) and tea(me). The time is about 9:30. I had read on other peoples blogs that the person was late to pick them up for their appointment, and I figured it would be the same for us. Well at 10:00 am we get a call from Nico, saying Yulia was waiting downstairs in her car for us!!! WHAT, 2 HOURS EARLY!!! So we rushed around and got ready, and headed down stairs. We drove through the crazy Kiev streets, most of it familiar since we have explored this part of Kiev a couple times. Than we headed past where we had explored, passing the Kiev Opera House (hint-hint Tyler) and St. Sophias cathedral as well as The big blue and white cathedral of St. Michaels. This looked more to me to be off greek origin than Ukrainian..but what do I know. And we made our way to St. Andrews descent....where we had planned on exploring on one of our expeditions...and there it was the SDA. As soon as we get there we are told to RUN...and followed Yulia as she is running into a side door. We get in there and see 2 American couples and than Serge comes up to us..first time we meet him and asks us if we have the exact names of our children. UHH....Not of the top of my head do I know their first and last RUSSIAN name!! But I had a document for the Italian Embassy with their full names on it, so we were good to go. We walk into to an office, with lots of bookshelves with binders on them. We can tell Serge is well known and liked just by the way the ladies responded to him. They laughed and giggled and we sat there, not knowing what to think. At first the lady could not find their files, but as she was searching one of the binders, I recognized a couple of the kids from the Reece's Rainbow website!!! I think this is the binder that most people dread...yet when I saw it....I was full of hope and love for these children!! She went into another room and finally came in with them. Than there was some sort of problem when they looked at them and Serge went off with his phone and the paper and made a phone call. We have no idea what any of this is about but we just sat there and smiled, no one telling us anything. Finally again he returns, with the papers in hand, opens to a certain page, points to something and they both start laughing again. I have no idea really but what I think happened was that they couldn't find something in the file, but it had been there all along. Than they show us the pictures of Asher and Emma...on paper Igor and Elizaveta. The pictures were different from the ones we got from Reece's Rainbow. I think they are older pics, but Tyler thinks Asher looks bigger. They were beautiful!! We were not allowed to keep them..or trade them as I know others were able to do. But we were allowed to take a picture of them. So we did. Than they asked us to sign something in this little note book, saying that we were declining to be seen any more children. For a brief moment I though " You mean we can get more of them!!!!!???". But we both signed it and they said that was it. I said "That's it?" And Serge responded.."Well what were you hoping for". I figured since everything else has been so difficult, and this is the thing we have been waiting for for so long, this 5 minute appointment is it?? This is not a complaint....but a Praise!!

So then we all walk outside and Serge explains to the other couple how much money they need to pay..and they walk away with Yulia. Then he turns to us and says " You need to pay $8,600 plus $2,000 for the second child for a total of $10,600. WHAT!!!!! We were told by our agency to bring $8,800. He explained to us that these are the costs...period. He than also told us that we should be out of here quickly because we are adopting from 1 of the 2 regions that will waive the 10 day waiting period after the court date. We had already know this and have been praying for this!! But there is a big thing we didn't know...you have to pay $1,500 per child for this waiver!!!!! No one had told us this part, and we were shocked. He also mentioned we would have to pay to expedite their passport, an expense I know to cost $800.00 per child. So we came here thinking we might actually come home with alittle money....to having a good portion of our money for our expenses here gone and adding $4,600 on top of that. I will not lie and say I was not devastated. In fact I panicked!! But when I am weak, God always makes Tyler strong, and he looked at me...and without any sympathy told me to stop freaking out and that God would provided. For a moment I felt like he just didn't understand...but than I realized he is going through the exact same thing I am. This isn't Valeries adoption, but the Kirkland Families adoption. And most importantly God's adoption. It has nothing to do with me!!! I am not sure at what point I will understand this fully, or when this will be the first thought that comes into my head instead of woe is me.

So we waited until our agency opened...they are on the east coast in the states, to talk to them about this problem. I emailed Ludmilla and let her know what was going on. She Skype messaged me back and said to call the financial person. So I did, and she said that Ludmilla was on the phone right now with Serge and we will get this all straighted out. So finally Ludmilla emailed me back. She basically explained that they had already paid that part to Serge including many other things, since our adoption became a special case. When I read the email the first time, I was so irritated and mad that we came all the way here and are being told we need thousands of more dollars that we do not have, and completely mis interpreted the email. Than posted on facebook that agency basically "Didn't care...sucks to be you". Than my sister called and asked what they said and when I read the email again, I saw I had completely misunderstood what she was saying. So to everyone I am sorry for Jumping the gun. I was definitely not quick to listen, slow to anger and slow to respond.

Last night I felt like God was leading me to His word, so I went into the bedroom grabbed my journal and my bible. I felt like God was asking me "What are you thankful for", so I wrote all the things I was thankful for. And than I journaled my anxieties and fear. And than it dawned on me: GOD DOES NOT WANT ME TO FEAR OR BE ANXIOUS...AND ANXIETY IS NOT FROM HIM!!! ....

I will add more...we just got a call the taxi is coming to pick us up to take us to the SDA to get out referrals!! More on our adventure on the next post. Pleas keep praying for us...as the money situation is still as it was, although we do have the support and love from our agency!!

Day 2- Wednesday

2010-12-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well today we must have been tired because we all slept in until about 11 am Ukraine time. We woke up and ate some day old bread and nutella. We had bought some instant coffee and tea bags so we felt right at home.

I decided to wash our essentials (i.e. socks and underwear) in our micro washer in case by chance we could travel to our children's birth city after our SDA appointment. So I had bought a small package of laundry soup, just enough for 3 loads. I added it into the soap dispenser, just like the directions said (well what I can read from pictures). When I came to check the laundry I noticed water on the floor and the front was full of soap suds!! I should also mention that the washer was an Italian washer, so I could read the settings. So I set it to rinse and spin. And every time, the water would drain and the soap suds would start to go down, it would fill up with water and than it would click to end. I went through this 2 times until I decided to just get a bucket and empty out the washer, clothes, suds and water into the bucket. So I did, and I rinsed all the suds in the bath tube. Than with my super human muscles I squeezed out the water like all the babushkas before me (older Ukrainian grandma). And we dried them like anyone else would do...on the radiator.

Than after all that fun we headed into Kiev. I think this is one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. The buildings are so different from american architecture. Everything looks old and historic but at the same time, new. We went to lunch at our favorite place..T.G.I. Fridays. The waiter, Sasha, was wonderful and spoke english. They even had their menus in english, which we are finding somewhat common here in Kiev. We had googled cheap things to do in Kiev and found out that there is "The Chernobyl Museum" in Kiev and the map said it was between us and T.G.I. Fridays. Well we couldn't find it. When we got to T.G.I Fridays, we asked Sasha and he was so nice to go and print us out a map, as well as write out all the info for us. It ended up being in a completely different part of the city, google led us astray again!!). So he said we needed to take the metro. Easy enough right????

So the metro in Kiev is like nothing I have ever seen before. There are a million people going all about in different directions. I would say the D.C. Metro times a 1000. I am not exaggerating here! And if you didn't know..cyrillic looks nothing like english..nothing. So we find the place we need to go..Kontractovia Square. It is only 3 stops away. But we don't know where we are, and we don't have a pen or paper to write the name. Tyler looked worried and kept asking me "What are we doing, do you even know where we are going" and I sweetly replied, Tyler where is your sense of adventure!!" Well when I realized that I could get us there, but maybe not home, I began to worry. And that is when he sweetly replied " Valerie, where is YOUR sense of adventure??" I guess that is what I get. In the end, being a woman, I asked every single person that went by if the spoke english and asked for directions, and we eventually made it to Kontractovia Square (this is spelled wrong but how it sounds in english).

When we got of the metro, I again asked for directions until we landed out side the old fire house that now holds the Chernobyl Museum. It was really neat. When you walk in you see all of these signs of towns. These are the towns that were close to Chernobyl and impacted the most by the radiation. When you look at the back of the sign is the same name but with a red line through it, signifying it is no more. You pay 50 grivna per person to listen to a hand held radio thing that gave the tour in english. The first part had a replica of the nuclear reactors, and showed how it all worked together. Than as you walked through it had many photographs and belongings of the people who worked at the plant that fateful night. Wedding pictures, clothes trinkets. In the middle there was a replica of Cherobyl, that showed what the facility looked like, before, during and after the explosion. You really got a good idea what it would have looked like if you were there. Than the rest of the museum is about the after affects, which you can tell has really impacted the Ukrainian people. There are pictures of thousands of children, who were impacted. There are reports of the medical damage done to the people of Ukraine, and all over Europe, from all the different stages in life. Tyler and I agree that we are glad we risked the scary trip
of the metro to come here. It was probably the most we have learned about the Ukrainian culture, and we will have many pictures to share with Asher and Emma.

After we left there, we cam back on the metro. We walked around more of Kiev and Hunter got to have his picture taken with 3 doves. Hunter thought it was so cool, but it ended up being really scary. We told one man we would pay 20 grivna to have his birds sit in Hunters hand for a picture. So we set Hunter up and I get the camera and as thats happening another guys comes and puts his dove on Hunter's head. I take the picture and the men take their birds. Well the second guy demanded 10 grivna for his bird. I flat out said NO! We had not asked him for his services, and he came and put the bird on Hunter's head just as I was taking the picture. So we started walking away and the man proceeded to demand the money and even got in my face and tried to get in my way. So I kept telling him that we were not going to pay him anything because we did not ask for his bird. Tyler told me to keep walking and so I did. The guys followed us for alittle bit, but than went back. Afterwards I told Tyler "I wonder if that boy was an orphan". So many of these kids age out of the system and end up on the streets. I saw this angry guy, and I see what happens to these kids, if no one loves them. But in the end, we have a cool picture and we have learned of more people to pray for...the angry man with the dove.

Thats it for tonight..but there will be more tomorrow!!

Our Apartment in Kiev

2010-12-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

Well after our flight, Niko took us to our apartment. It was midnight and sleeting, so nothing really looked beautiful when we pulled up. Our apartment is on the 4th floor (really the 5th since there is a zero floor). Tyler was wishing we had packed less!! At first it did look really rundown, but on closer inspection it is really clean. I am thankful for that!! When you walk in there is a little hallway that has a bathroom and a kitchen, stove and all. After the hallway you enter the living room that has a couch and 2 chairs, a tv and most importantly, the internet!! This is where Hunter's bed is. Then off that is our bedroom, and a small storage room. For $60.00 a night we will take it. Last night Niko took me to a 24 hour store where I bought some Milk, cheese, salami, bread and of course, Ukrainian Chocolate!(Didn't know Ukraine was known for their chocolate, but Niko told me to get some) And most importantly a big bottle of water. We are going to play it safe and only drink things from bottles!!! We got all this for 104 girvna, about $12. And than we all passed out for the night!! Here are some pictures:

We made it!!!

2010-12-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

Well the day we have been waiting for..feels like foever..has finally arrived. Our flight left from Aeroporto Di Trevisio at 7:30pm. Our friends and neighbors took us to the airport, and are even watching our dog and cat!! The airport is tiny, but everything went smoothly.

Our 2 hour flight landed smoothly, and everyone even clapped. That kinda scared me, where they expecting us not to land ok?? Than we got of the plane and waited for our luggage to come out. We ended up bringing one 30 kilo suitcase with all three of our clothes and a 15 kilo suitcase with Asher and Emma's clothes. Our awesome diaper bag which is also full of baby stuff had to be stowed as well since their carry on bage limits are about the size of a ziplock bag. But everything made it!!! As we were waiting for our luggage we checked to make sure we didn't have to declare anything with the Ukrainian Customs. We were good, bottle of Crown Royal and Carton of Marlboro lights and all..(those are gifts, all apart of our Ukrainian adoption!!). We were good, but I was still nervous about going through customs. At first it seemed they were just passing everyone through, and than all of a sudden they stopped everyone and made them form a line. They were going to x-ray everyones luggage. This is fine...but since we are also carrying CASH, I didn't want to be asked any questions. So just as I was lifting my bag to put it on the machine, a customs officer tells me to go, that we are ok. At first I didn't understand, they were making everyone else go, but he told me, Tyler and Hunter that we were OK. I immediately thanked God, since that was obviously Him who removed the could-be burden.

When we walked out into to the airport Foyer, Nikola was waiting right there for us with a simple sign that said "KIRKLAND". We were so relieved to see him. He is a sweet man, who gave us a warm smile right away. The car ride home was interesting. (Mom, if you are reading this, skip to the next part, it is for your own good!!)First we get in, Tyler and Niko in the front, Hunter and I in the back. The front has seatbelts, but there was none in the back. So like any American, I assume they must be stuck in the seat or something. So I ask Nico, and he says, "No, there is no seatbelts." So I look at Tyler and told Hunter to sit back and Hold on!! The next things was the funny part. I think Niko thinks we are Italian because he put in a CD with Italian music on it. Tyler and I both cracked up and were actually thankful for the familiar words. Tyler and I have continued to accidently speak to people in Italian. It seems like it comes more natural to us to speak Italian in a foreign country than English. Both of us laugh every time one of us does this...which is alot.

So Thats enough for Night one, and the next post will be Day 2 with more pics!!

Notice our Countdown Clock!!!

2010-12-02T12:37:00.001-08:00

We have added a count down clock to our blog. The time it is set for is our flight from Italy to Kiev!!! We are so excited!!

Our blog is Private!!

2010-11-30T05:17:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,
If you are reading this than you received an invitation from us. We will be keeping our blog private until we return from Ukraine. So if you want updates from us, this is the place to check!!
Tyler and Val

The After Pics Continued

2010-11-26T15:15:00.001-08:00

Here is the rest of the pictures. So this is Asher and Emmas nursery...all put together with all the blessings!! Now we just need Asher and Emma!!!

The After Pictures!!

2010-11-26T15:05:00.001-08:00

So I can only post 5 pictures at a time, so this will take a couple posts. This is Asher and Emmas nursery.

The blessing of Provision and Before Pics!!

2010-11-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

We have been so blessed through out this whole adoption. When we first started this adoption God used unexpected and for the most part new relationships to provide for our adoption. Friends that had just adopted jump started us with money they had provided for our Church Adoption Fund. There was a time when I found a couple THOUSAND dollars rolled up in my purse. Another time we invited over for a small party and afterwards were blessed with $3,000.00. Another time friends hired me to clean there house and paid me 1000% more than I had earned. Another time friends blessed us sitting around there kitchen table. Another friend blessed us with $500.00. Our church passed a can around called "Change for Change" which really added up!! While in Maryland this last September we found out that $4,500.00 was put into our adoption fund, for a full 3 months before we found out. We also recieved a $3,100 grant from Show Hope, Steven Curtis Chapmans Orphan Ministry. Even this past weekend we found money rolled up in a note on our windshield after church saying " For your Family, Love Your friend". As you can tell we have been blessed beyond measure. I am sure I am missing some blessings too. I share all of these amounts with you because they are all miracles.... We don't deserve any of it, yet God still provided for it.

These pictures of all the blessings that God provided....within only a couple days of finding out that Asher and Emma would become our children. Our good friends who also adopted,(the cutest kid who always smells of coconut!!!!) called friends and asked for help for our family. They blessed us with so much!! We were given a stroller, 2 infant car seats, bedding, 2 boppies, bottles, enough clothes to fill up 12 bins, enough baby blankets to fill up 2 plastic bins. Enough bibs and burp clothes for 10 kiddos. We recieved the coolest winter bunting for each kiddo as well as a safe warm sleeper for each. Our other good friends who have 3 little boys blessed us with most of the boy clothes and blankets and mobiles and anything you could think of. My sister got us the best diaper bag ever, which is wonderful for the babies, will hold all their stuff and be perfect for Ukraine. Other friends let me come over and go through all of their baby stuff and proceeded to fill my car! Another wonderful friend blessed us with a portacrib for Asher and a beautiful changing table!! We have friends who are throwing us a baby shower before we go to Ukraine!! Again, I know I am leaving so many things out. We really are just overcome with all the blessings. Thanks to all of these blessings our little nursery is all set up...even if only temporary.

So the next post will have the after pics....All the blessings put neatly together!!

We have our SDA Appointment Date!!!

2010-11-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

So we received an email today from Ukraine. Our appointment date with the SDA is on December 9th at 12:00. I will be honest that at first I did not share Tyler or Hunters excitement. In fact...I burst into tears. This was just so much further than we had expected, and with the instability of the adoption system in Ukraine, this was terrible news to me. But what is the first thing my wonderful husband does, he got down on his knees, grabbed my hand and Hunters and began to prayer of Thanks and Joy. Tyler forbid my to be sad and encouraged me to keep faith the God would work this all out...FOR HIS GLORY!

So we booked 3 one way plane tickets to Kyiv Ukraine for December 6th. We can't wait to meet our children!!

PLEASE OUR ADOPTION IS AT RISK OF ENDING!!!!!! PLEASE READ THIS

2010-11-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

** This has been taken by other blogs with permission!!! Please copy the letter and email it to your state senator and congressman. Please know that any day the Ukraine Parliament is going to have a second vote and if it passes and the president signs off, ALL ADOPTIONS STOP, INCLUDING THE ONES IN PROGRESS, MEANING EMMA AND ASHER WILL NOT BECOME OUR CHILDREN!!

I am pleading with you to first pray to the God that He would not let this pass, and that He would allow us and the others who are so close to getting their kids to finish our adoptions. Second Please do this. It will only take 5 minutes and you could possible save thousands of Ukrainian Orphans lives. Please, Please, Please!!!!!

Please take a moment to write your congressmen/women, the state dept, whoever will listen and then encourage your friends and family to do the same! Thank you!

Below you'll find a letter that you can use or by all means, write your own.
To send a letter to your congressmen/women:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

To send a letter to your senators just click on the state and follow the link:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Dear (name),

On November 2, 2010, the Ukrainian parliament voted to proceed with voting on legislation that would halt all international adoptions until inter-country adoption agreements are in place (see the State Dept. announcement at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html) . At this point, all that is needed for this to become law is one more vote in Ukrainian parliament and a signature by the Ukrainian president. This could happen any day.

If it does, many families and innocent children will be greatly affected. Many of these families are adopting older children who have a very short time-frame before no longer being eligible for adoption. American families adopting these children in the NEXT MONTHS offer them what may be their only opportunity at a normal and productive life free of crime, prostitution, or institutionalization due to illnesses that are treatable in the United States. I personally know one of these families.

I am writing to you to URGE you to act quickly on this matter by completing two actions. First, contact your Ukrainian counterparts and request a consideration of revision of the law to allow adoptions to proceed while the agreement is being drafted (as was done in Russia). Secondly, work with your colleagues in congress to begin drafting this agreement so that it is ready to go in the event the law passes.

Waiting patiently.....well trying to!!

2010-11-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

Here we are November 7 2010, interestingly enough it is Orphan Sunday!!!!! Tyler and I really thought we would have had a travel date by now. As Tyler and I are learning, God always has a different plan. He is really showing us that we keep trying to take the reigns and we need to just sit back and enjoy the ride. So that's what we are trying to do. It is so hard after 5 years of praying we now know what are 2 children look like, but can't hold them yet. We know their names, we have 1 picture of their cute little faces. We can see Ashers beautiful hair and handsome face and we can see Emma's beautiful eyes and lack of hair!! It is amazing how with only one picture and only one sentence about them, that we feel like they have always been ours. These kids need to be in their nice warm houses that are full of love from their Dad, Mom and most importantly their big brother!! But God will allow us to bring them home in His time.

Please pray for Emma. We had an appointment with the EDIS doctor and they are concerned that Emma may be blind. She has congenital cataracts and they should have been removed soon after birth. The cataract blocks the light from entering the eye and as the baby grows and there is no stimulation, eventually the growth mechanism will shut down. So a new lens may not even help her sight. But even if this is the case, we are rejoicing!!! We don't care what their problems are because these kids are already our kids. Most likely our kids are not going to get command sponsorship here in Italy. So we may have to move back to the states a couple months after we bring them home. We love Italy so much but we will go where ever our kids can get the best care. We have no idea where or when, but God does so we are trying to Rest in Him and let him handle it.

As for the lack of posts the last week, I have been running around in a crazy dash to get paperwork down that Ukraine is now asking for!! And we thought we were done with the paperwork. We also had to get a new home study amendment since our old home study said that we were only approved for 14 months through 5 years old healthy children. Emma and Asher do not fit in either of those categories so we had to do an update. But God has provided and we were able to pay for another unexpected expense.

Emma and Asher are not even here yet, but they are already so loved!!! We are no longer wondering how we are going to cloth our children, praise God!!! We have had wonderful friends provide us boy's and girl's clothes galore. I even had to go out and buy 16...YES 16!!! large Rubbermaid containers. We had so many clothes we had to organize them some way, and we don't have a dresser yet so Rubbermaid was a necessity. As I write this I have just gone through all of Asher's clothes and am getting ready to go through Emma's.

This weekend was "All about Hunter Weekend". We have played Legos, watched Toy Story 3 while eating movie candy. We went out to a cool restaurant where we threw peanuts on the floor. Daddy and Hunter have built fortresses out of the Legos and are playing war. Hunter has been such a trooper these last couple months. The adoption and all its paperwork has definitely taken center stage in our lives and since this may be the last weekend Hunter will be the Only Child we wanted to make him feel special. I can tell he has really enjoyed it, but he is also supper excited 2 little babies are going to need him. The cool thing about Hunter and all his energy is that he will be the best stimulation for Asher and Emma. He sings and dances and they will love it!! We are all so excited for these babies to finally be in our arms. I am thinking all 3 of us are going to fight over them. But for now we are just praying to get a travel date.

So that's all the news, I know it is all over the place. As soon as we learn more or get our travel date we will update our blog and of course Facebook!!!

Please help save this little boy!!!

2010-11-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

Simon is our Christmas Angel. He has down syndrome and needs to find a forever family. Even if your are not called to adopt you can help save this little boys life. Any money you can donate goes directly into HIS adoption fund. This fund will help his forever family finance the enormous adoption costs!!!Even if you can only give $5.00 it will help him!!!! And if you donate $35.00 or more you will get a beautiful ornament with this little guys picture on it. It will look like the button on the side of our blog!!!! Please pray for Simon, that God will put it on a families heart to bring him home!!!

I had to look at their pics again!!

2010-10-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

Mr. Hunter Colby- The Best Big Brother Ever!!!

Ms. Emma Elizaveta- Our sweet little girl!!

Mr.Asher Caleb- Our handsome man...with lots of hair!!

Photos of our new baby stuff!!! Well new to us!!!

2010-10-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

As soon as we realized we were basically getting twin babies (Asher and Emma are only 3 months apart) we realized we had absolutely nothing for babies. But God is great and he has been providing so much. Here are some pics of what we have!!

Tyler carrying Hunter in the ERGO!! Now we need 2 of these!!

Me carrying Hunter in the ERGO.

All my cloth diapers. So I only have 20 not nearly enough for 2 babies!! I did just order 20 more but really need to get some more. We would prefer not to use the disposable diapers.

Some have asked what we need....so here is a registry...myregistry.com. It is under my name and Tylers name. We have already been blessed with so much. It has been amazing to see God's provision for our family!!

More info about How this all came about!!

2010-10-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well I know many of you are asking how this all came about so here goes. This post has been on going since Thursday of last week!!

As we have posted before God had opened our eyes to all the waiting children that have down syndrome. The Lord put it on our hearts to learn more about down syndrome and our love for these children grew every day. Tyler would call me from work and say " What are you doing?" and I would replay..."Looking at Reece's Rainbow". Than he would tell me about the new children on there or that he loved this about this one. We both just fell in love with these kids.

Like I posted in one of the earlier posts, we knew that God was putting it on our hearts to adopt a child with down syndrome, but since our paperwork was already in Ukraine it would be to late to change it. Well on Tuesday night we got an email from Ludmilla saying that our travel to Ukraine was most likely going to be delayed because they wanted to make sure we received a referral on our first trip. We were alittle disappointed but at this point seeing God is in control of all this, we were at peace. That night I prayed that if this delay meant we had a chance at adopting a child with down syndrome to please show me. The next morning, Wednesday, during my daily Reece's Rainbow check in I saw there starring at me a 2 month old baby girl who was named Marlena. She need a family really quickly because she had a whole in heart that need to be prepared quickly!! So I emailed Andrea Roberts at Reece's Rainbow and she said that little Marlena already had a little family who wanted her!!!! So again, alittle disappointed but still knowing that God was going to guide us, we called CWA and spoke with Ludmilla. She said that she was familiar with Reece's Rainbow and that they were a wonderful organization. I also told her that we have always been praying for 2 and we would like to try and adopt 2 children. I think she was alittle surprised, but God wasn't. She than said that it could be possible!!!! but she would have to talk with Serge in Ukraine to see and that it might take 24 hours for her to get back with me. So after 10 minutes Ludmilla called me and said "Yes"!!! Serge said this was absolutely possible. He also happens to be the facilitator for Reece's Rainbow!! So CWA and Reece's Rainbow and Serge in Ukraine were all on board in a matter of 4 hours. Later that night Tyler and I called Andrea from Reece's Rainbow and she said everything is great "now you just have to pick your kids". When we looked through all the children we listed 11 that we just knew could be ours. ELEVEN!!! But we knew we couldn't get eleven...but we could pick just 2. To be honest it was the easiest and best decision we have ever made. It was hard because we are picking our forever children from looking at 1 picture and getting one sentence about their medical diagnoses. That's it!! It was easy because, after Marlena, we knew that God would make our children known to us and that they would be available....FOR US!! So right there in Tylers office we chose Caleb and Beth from Orphanage 41. We had no idea where Orphanage 41 even was. We picked 2 little babies that are blessed with down syndrome, that have little issues in their hearts, that have issues with their eyes. One has no hair, the other has enough hair for a great comb over!! They are 3 months apart and are not even aware that the kid in the crib next to them is their new twin brother or sister. At the end of the call Andrea said the most precious words I have ever heard " They are yours!!!!" God had given us the 2 children we had always prayed for!!! He had given them to us as little gifts to watch over and care for until He brings them home as their Most High Father.

Here were are not even 24 hours and I have realized by Christmas we are going to be blessed with 3 children!!! God has been so amazing!

Since our dossier is already in Ukraine, we only needed to get a home study amendment stating we are approved for children with down syndrome as well as a CSP, or child specific petition. This would involve more documents needing to be notarized and than sent to Washington, DC for apostille and than off to Ukraine. Fast forward Thursday night. In a matter of 10 minutes we received amazing news...I know how could there be more!!! Well I received an email from Ukraine stating "you do not need to make CSP. We have talked to the SDA and they confirmed that they'll give you referrals for these children without new CSP. All you need to do is to have your home study addendum stating that you are approved for adoption of special needs children (gender, age) including DS." YAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! That is so wonderful!!! Then I skyped Ludmilla about the CSP and she informs me that CWA and serge came to an agreement about our fees. We were going to get both children for the cost of one international fee!!! And they were taking off some of the other fees!!! When Tyler and I asked for 2, it was purely faith because we did not have the money for 2. But again, God in all His glory showed us that He is the great provider and that this is His adoption. Take a look at all the stuff we have gotten in just 5 days!!! This doesn't include the high chair and double stroller and 2 infant car seats as well as a crib!!

You know Tyler and I have heard from many people since this all happened that we " Are great people, or amazing people". Please know that without God, we would have never picked these kids. God is the one that is great and He is the one who is awesome. All Tyler and I did was a simple act of obedience. Another thing we keep hearing is how hard this is going to be for us. Well my question back is "Where do we get life is supposed to be easy". God says "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18, and "'Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.' Then all the people shall say, Amen!'" Deuteronomy 27:19 and "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor." 1 Samuel 2:8 and "because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him." Job 29:12 and "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay." Psalm 40:17 and "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5 and "He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor." Psalm 72:4 and "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4 and "But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks." Psalm 107:41 and " So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty." Malachi 3:5. These are but a few of the verses in Gods word about the the orphan, the fatherless God calls us to protect.

Thanks for all of the prayers and we please ask that you continue praying for us. But most importantly please pray for these beautiful children who need families, these are God's children!!!! And He will protect them and care for them, why don't you be apart of it some how. Also November 1st kicks off our Reece's Rainbow Christmas warrior project, and we are sponsoring Simon, the cute little guy whose picture is a couple posts back!! Please help us raise funds to help his forever family be able to bring him home!!! Maybe his forever family is you!!!!!

Simon is our Christmas Angel!!!

2010-10-15T03:18:00.001-07:00

We heard back today that Simon will be our Christmas Angel!!! He is so cute. He was born February 19, 2010. Here is what Recee's Rainbow says about him:

This darling prince is only 4 months old. FULL MEDICAL RECORDS available. He was born with a small open oval window, but is doing well. Very alert, responds to his environment, learning to play, holding his head up.

If you go to the link there he is about 3/4 of the way down the page. The Christmas Warrior Project does not start until November 1st but you can go and take a look at him. Once the project starts I will have a button on facebook and our blog about how you can donate to this little guy and help him get his forever family!!!

October 14th is here!!

2010-10-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

So today our Dossier should have been reviewed by SDA, basically the Ukraine Child and Social Services. This will be when they say yes, everything is great or no we need you to redo this or fix that. We are praying for the yes!! It has been such a blessing for Tyler and I to see how God is in control and providing for all of our needs. There have been a couple of problems that came up and God resolved them..each time proving that I had no reason to doubt him in the first place. So now the waiting begins....when will our travel date to Ukraine be? We are still planning on the middle of November and will update as soon as we know. We received our ergo carrier today!!! We will use that to carry our new kiddo all over Ukraine. We are also waiting to get in our cloth diapers!! I know you are thinking...what does she need cloth diapers for. Well we have been in touch with many families who have adopted in Ukraine in 2010 and almost all of them were still in diapers. And the diapers we got go for 8lbs to 35 lbs so we are covered...literally. And so we are planning to use them for at least a little while. As for the planning of our trip we are trying to figure out a way to get crisp $100's. Tyler and I were caught off guard when we found out that we need a lot of crisp $$$$$. But in Italy those are hard to come by, well at least real $100 bills. We were really excited to find out that all 3 of us could fly to Ukraine for $148.00 including taxes and everything (this of course does not include any luggage that will probably cost as much as the tickets) but in the end it is so much cheaper than we had planned!!!

As many of you know, since we started this adoption we have felt led to pray for 2 children. Well here we are a month before we are supposed to go to Ukraine and God has clearly shown us we will only be getting one child on this trip. But awhile back He showed us a wonderful vision. We (or I, Valerie) was searching the internet about adoptions. And everywhere I looked I kept hearing about this agency called Reece's Rainbow . It was an agency that found homes for children with down syndrome. Did you know that 90% of fetuses with down syndrome are aborted. All over the world there are the ones blessed enough to live, laying in an orphanage waiting to be taken in and loved by their forever family. We haven't been able to stop thinking about these children.

Reece's Rainbow offers a wonderful way you can help save a child's life. Starting November 1st they will begin their Orphans Christmas Warrior Project. Tyler and I will post info on our little angel as soon as we know which one we are sponsoring. There is a way that each of us can help these children. Some of us will be called to adopt. Some of us will be called to invest financially in those who were called to adopt. The money that gets put into the angels account will go to help cover the costs of an international adoption.

Tyler and I have been praying and searching and to us adoption just seems to be what the gospel is all about. To love one another!!!!! God has given us the desire for 5 years to grow our family. And for many of those years I felt like it was a curse. I prayed for God to take away this desire but instead it just got stronger. One day our pastor, Pastor Rob, counseled me and told me that God may give me a family in a way I had not planned or dreamed of. Tyler and I are starting to see that vision now. God has given us a little peak into this great plan He has for our life. So in saying all that we are starting to plan our next adoption. We would like to adopt 1 or 2 children or however many children God will give us that have down syndrome. We have been researching and educating ourselves on down syndrome and are aware of the health problems and developmental problems. Some of you may ask...what about Hunter, or this child we will soon be going to Ukraine to get. And here is what we have to say. We have enough love for all of them. Hunter will be a big brother. He will learn grace, compassion, love, patience, kindness, gentleness and all the other glorious things that God does to our hearts when we care for another person. He will learn to serve others which is exactly what Christ did while He was here on this earth. But most importantly he will feel the love of a brother or sister that he has been waiting 5 years to have. And that goes with any other child that is apart of our family. So if you ask us our reason the answer is simply...love. Tyler and I are not great and wonderful people, just 2 people who want to live our life for the Glory of God. He does not put adoption on every persons heart, but he put it on ours.

On the few blog posts that I have actually done I have asked you to pray for us. And I will do so again. Please pray for all the orphans in the world, the lonely and the poor. Some of these children actually have parents that love them and would love to care for them but they can't. We ask that you would pray for the SDA as they review our Dossier. We pray for an uneventful trip...but if it is hard and grueling and nothing goes right we pray for patience and trust in the Lord who is above all things. I pray for God to show us what child or children He wants us to seek. I ask that you would look into your heart and see if God is asking you to help these children in some way. I pray for our Christmas angel that we are trying to raise money for (will post as soon as we know which one).

The end is near......and there is so much to do!!

2010-08-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well here we are. It has been a while since I have posted.I will catch you up. With the help of great friends we have moved into our new house. It is beautiful!!! We have 3 bedrooms,3 bathrooms, a play room, a school room and best of all...the best view of these beautiful mountains right out our window. We are so blessed and to be honest this is so much more than we ever dreamed of or expected.

Tyler arrived home after 6 and a half months of being in Afghanistan!! He came home exactly one week after we moved in and at first he didn't know what to think. He also came back looking so different!! He lost about 40 lbs while he was gone!! We will see what happens after some homecookin...haha. I don't know who was more happy to see him, me or Hunter. It is so great having him home. As a wife it is wonderful to have my leader and best friend home and as a mother to see our son have his father. As of this writing he has been back to work for 2 days and we miss him so much!!

Now the doosie (if thats even how you spell it). This month has been so full of change, and yet with the adoption I feel as if it is never going to happen. The never ending paperwork cycle has begun. It is alittle overwhelming and it seems as if we keep hitting stumbling blocks. A wise lady told me that satan does this because he doesn't want us to get these children. He doesn't want the Gospel being shared with more people. We praise God for his strength and encouragement, because He always wins over satan. We are waiting on Tyler's passport that is somewhere in Afghanistan. We had to get an amendment for our homestudy because we moved to a new address and that seems to be running smoothly. The agency is going to get it notorized and apostilled for us which is a huge relief. As for the 24 other documents, we will be overnighting them to the states and having them sent to my sisters house. Being in Italy has made this process alot harder. Tyler and I are even thinking of writing a book!! So we have basically 30 days from today to get all the documents, notorized, apostilled, scanned, and copied and sent to CWA. That doesn't sound like much does it? I know it sounds like I am overwhelmed, and maybe I am alittle scared. We have given this to God, therefore I have no control...NONE!!! And if you know me, thats hard. But the most awesome part is that we absolutly know this is what God is telling us to do...we don't know what it looks like, we don't know what is going to happen. Maybe there will be a delay, only God knows and all He has called us to do is obey and wait. So thats where the Kirkland Family is right now...we are obeying and wating for God to do a miracle in our lives and in the lives of our precious unknown children in Ukraine!!!

Where we are in our adoption

2010-06-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well here we are in the last days of June. July is going to be such a busy month with Tyler returning from a 6-month deployment to Afghanistan and moving into a bigger house to hold our future blessings. I am actually attempting to move us here in Italy to another town about 20 minutes away before Tyler comes home!!! I know I am crazy, but it would be such a blessing for him to just come home and relax and not have to move us. We are blessed with great friends who are going to help so I won't be doing it alone.

As for our adoption we are still in the waiting mode. Our dossier is due to CWA , our agency, around September 1, 2010 so they can translate it and than off to Ukraine it goes. Our program adviser said the last four families left within 5 weeks of that time. This puts us going to Ukraine around November 18th!!!

I found out on Sunday that Show Hope http://www.showhope.org/ is giving us a $3100 grant. We applied for this back in February and just heard the news on June 27th!! We feel so blessed by generous people and God who has orchestrated all of this!! We are still are in need of funds to bring home our second child. Here is the breakdown:
The second international fee: $14,000
Estimated lodging, meals and travel in Ukraine: $6,200
Relief Donation: $1,000
GRAND TOTAL $21,200.00

So already we have blessed with $14,500 from grants, our Church Adoption Fund, and wonderful gifts from wonderful friends!!! We are so excited to see what else God has in store for us!! We are still waiting to hear back from Life song Ministries http://www.lifesongfororphans.org on more financial help. Please pray for this!!! We are asking that you would pray and see how God can show you how you can help us!!! If you are able to give financially you can send funds directly to our agency (fully tax-deductible) here https://www.cwa.org/DonationForm.aspx (At the bottom where it says optional you can put in this information:
CWA Family
Kirkland
Tyler and Valerie
PSC 103 Box 4256
APO, AE 09603

On behalf of Tyler, Hunter and myself I would like to thank all of those who have been praying for us and for those of you who have blessed us richly with financial support!!!
ie, Hunter and our 2 future blessings!!!

Air 1 - Sanctus Real "Lead Me" LIVE

2010-05-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this video on Heavenly Homemakers site. This song was what I feel we as woman feel so greatly in our lives. We want our husbands to Lead us, and protect us. We as children want our fathers to chose us over all the other outside pleasures. We all get caught up in our own dreams but what are the dreams God has for us? He wants Fathers to turn their hearts to their wives and their children. He wants mothers to turn from their own ambitions and turn their hearts to her husband and her children. God has this amazing plan for marriages and families, if only we would listen and ask Him to lead us!! Lord I ask you to help us give the best of our lives to our husbands, wives and children!!

If You Say Go

2010-04-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

We are PRE-REGISTERED and our Dossier date is Oct 14th 2010!!!!

2010-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well just received an email from Ludmilla, our Ukraine case manager!!! We are officially on the list to adopt in Ukraine. Basically our name is on the list for adoption in Ukraine, and we know the exact date our Full Dossier is due which is October 14th 2010. The last 5 families have traveled 5 weeks after this date so it looks like we will travel to Ukraine November 18th 2010. This is a far cry from our original expected date of travel in early August 2010, but I guess this is just how International Adoptions work, especially when the adoptive parents are in 2 different countries, and neither of them is the U.S!!! But we have to stay encouraged and know that the Lord is not at all surprised by this date and that our children will be there when we get there, the children he has created for us to be their family. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Home School Curriculum for Next year

2010-03-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

So some friends have been asking what curriculum we use or will be using for next year. Honestly we spent a lot of money this year on a full out of the box curriculum. And while it has a lot of great books and resources, it was way to much for Hunter( who turned 6 in Feb). So we basically just use the New England Primer www.visionforum.com for phonics lessons as well as handwriting lessons. We also do handwriting lessons straight from our favorite source, The Bible. As for math we love the Singapore math books and Hunter really enjoys using them.

Next year we are considering using the Wisdom Books from ATI (Advanced Training Institute International). We are still praying about this but it looks promising. Here is a link to their page if you want to take a look : http://ati.iblp.org/ati/about/curriculum/wisdombooklets/ .

Hope this helps those of you with questions!!

New and Improved living room

2010-03-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

So after a couple weeks of being convicted about Hunters obsession with video games we decided that the best thing for our family would be to get rid of the TV and video game systems!!AHH OOHH WHY WHAT?????? I know these may be some of your reactions. And honestly it was alittle hard when I first started thinking about it, but than I realized that we need to protect our son. So with that gone and some friends giving us some new furniture we have a whole new living room and dining room!!! Here are some pics of what it looks like now:

Hunter and his fort!!!

2010-03-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hunter and I built a fort in the front yard. This is him pretending he is asleep!!

He is so sweet!!! We have been trying to occupy our time with anything besides video games and I can see his imagination finally coming back!!! Daddy's comments about these pictures were " What have you done to my yard!!"

We recieved our approved Immigration paperwork today!!

2010-03-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well we can now check off another box for our adoption. We received in the mail today our "Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition" Today!!!!! WOOOWWW That is a really long title for a piece of paper. So this means that the U.S. Immigration has approved us to be able to adopt children and bring them back to the states. (I think) It has been forwarded to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine so when we get our kids we fill out another form that goes with it. All just another part of the big adoption puzzle.

I fell like this is just not even a reality. It keeps getting further and further away. When you are pregnant you may not feel pregnant right away, but than slowly your body changes and you can feel that "baby" growing inside you. With adoption, or with at least ours,we have no idea what our children look like or how old they are. Its bitter sweet in that it is hard now, but will be so amazing when we see them for the first time. The paperwork keeps coming and there always seems to be some degree of difficulty with everything. It also is hard because Tyler is in Afghanistan and I am here taking care of all the paperwork. I love doing it and don't mind at all. It is alittle hard though because he doesn't really see all that goes into it!!! But the Lord is sustaining us during this time apart. We are both growing in the Lord and are thankful for all of his provisions and love for our family!!!

Mysterious dirty floor fairies???!!

2010-03-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

So I am wondering if anyone else has this happen. You dust everything and sweep the floors and you turn around and your floor is already dirty!!!! My friend Jen said it well "It's just not fair". How does this happen?

Celestial Seasonings Wellness Kit Giveaway!

2010-03-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Celestial Seasonings Wellness Kit Giveaway!

I love this blog!!! And it's one of the few that I follow!!

Looks like November!!

2010-03-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well as with all adoptions ours has taken some longer than expected turns. In the beginning it looked like late July to early August would be when we would be traveling to Ukraine to get our kids. But with Tyler being in Afghanistan and me being in Italy everything has taken a lot longer. We sent in our Pre-registration finally to CWA on Tuesday!!

I didn't hear anything from Ludmilla (the Ukraine case worker) if she had received it yet but hopefully they get it Monday. It looks like we will be leaving around November 1st to go to Ukraine, but we will know more in about 3 weeks when they get our date our dossier is due. The last 5 families traveled 5 weeks after that date so that is how I got the November 1st date. Sadly Tylers brother is getting married November 13th and we will most likely be in Ukraine!!! We are praying for a miracle on this because it means absolutely the world to Tyler that he be at his brothers wedding!! But if we can't be there, there is a reason that we are not. All of these delays happened for a reason and only God can see the big picture!!! But it is a blessing as well. This gives us about 6 more months to gather about $24,000 more. The Lord has blessed us with so much already and we have faith He will provide.

We feel so blessed to be doing this adoption. It has been the biggest test of faith for us as a couple and I think for our whole lives. Its amazing how you can love children that you don't even know: don't know their age, their gender, what they look like, but still have a place for them in your heart. Please keep our family in your prayers. We also have friends, the Shoup family is hoping to get their son soon through domestic adoption and our great friends the Montgomery family are right now in China with their new son Luke!!! The lord is a family building God and we feel so blessed to be apart of it. Please pray for these families as well.

Our time in the states

2010-02-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from our time in the states. Hunter turned 6 on February 16th and was able to have his birthday at Chuck E Cheeses again!!

It was such a blessing to spend time with my sister Vicki and her husband Ron. This was the first time that we stayed with them and it was great, I am glad we had that time together. We also went to my dads in West Virginia and saw my grandparents and cousins. We are so thankful that Pop Pop Sonny, aka Capt. Sonny as Hunter calls him, is out of the rehab and is doing better!!! We were really worried about him and that the main reason we came home was to see him. We were also able to get some of our paperwork Appostiled our-self in Washington DC!!! What an adventure that was, but Hunter was my partner and helped protect me!! This trip had so many adventures but the snow was the coolest part. Hunter had not seen that much snow (almost 4 feet) since the week he was born in Utah, but of course he doesn't remember that. We wish Tyler could have been there but we did eat Mexican food and Chick-Fil-A in honor of him!!

Hunter had fun playing in the snow!! That is all he wanted to do the whole trip!!! When we left Doo Da house Hunter said "Mommy, I sure an going to miss that tractor"!!! He had so much fun helping Doo Da work in his shop and he even got to use a saw and a hammer. He would have made his daddy so proud if he had been there. The last picture is of Hunter "Snowboarding" down the hill on a sled. The other kids had all come in but Hunter would have stayed out there the whole time if we didn't make him come in. My dad even said at one point Hunter was walking in the snow and his boot came off and the determined fellow put that snow filled boot right back on his foot and kept going!!

We recieved our completed Home Study!!

2010-02-05T05:03:00.000-08:00

Well as you know we have been waiting to receive back our completed and notorized home study. We we finally got it!!!!! So from here, it has to be apostilled. So since I am going back to the states next week I am going to hand carry it and apostile it myself (How cool is that!!). From there, it gets sent to CWA, our agency. Than its sent to Ukraine for translation and we are pre-registered. We are now looking at August or September for traveling. We can now also apply for grants!!!!Please keep praying for our kids and this whole process!!

Hunter and his ski day!!!

2010-02-05T04:05:00.000-08:00

Right before Tyler left for Afghanistan we took a family trip to Piancavallo for a day of skying. Hunter and Tyler had never been before but were pro's by the end. Hunter does have one problem. HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO STOP!!! It was so funny watching him put his skis together instead of point inwards to slow down at the bottom of the hill. Hunters method for stopping is this: Go as fast as you can go until you run out of snow. This did not work for him every time. So his Doo Dah blessed him with a great christmas present, Ski Lessons!!!!! Hunter is so excited to get to ski for 5 weeks in a row and I am excited for him to learn how to stop so we can go on the big slopes together!!! Check out the pics

Ok I will stay on facebook but......

2010-02-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

So due to everyones comments, I will stay on facebook. But I am going to dedicate my time to this blog. Please keep checking!!

Getting rid of facebook and moving to blogging!!!

2010-02-05T00:58:00.000-08:00

Ok as with every post, I am recommitting myself to The Kirkland Family Blog. I figure that right now I update facebook frequently but never make it over here to the blog. So here is my solution. I am going to get rid of the face book and devote all of my attentions here!!! Some of you may like this, others may not. Please subscribe to our blog so you can be updated when I add anything new, which should be often.(wink- wink). Our adoption is really moving so keep posted!!!

Our little Artist

2009-12-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

This is Hunters interpretation of Tyler and I's wedding day. Notice me with the vail, Tyler in a suit and tie. The little guy on the left is a mini- Hunter. He is such a sweet kid, and an amazing artist as you can see!!

According to Gods Plan

2009-12-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

Well again these last couple of weeks I have been humbled by our Almighty Father. Just when I think I know His plan or His thoughts, he brings me to my knees. But as always he is faithful. I don't know if anyone even reads this blog. If you do that means you probably know me and you probably know me well. You know that I need signs, signs for everything. I never interpret anything correctly so when I ask God to show me or speak to me I ask for big SIGNS. For instance a Big banner with bold print that had the message I was supposed to receive as well as my name, date of birth and social security number!!! In this adoption God has been giving us those signs. Every week God shows us that he is in control of this adoption and that he is providing for it. To fill you in on where we are at....God has been AMAZING!!! He has moved on peoples hearts in away Tyler and I could never have imagined. Servants of God have donated just about $9,000.00 to bringing our children home. We are humbled and in awe and are not deserving of such love being poured out on us.

We are waiting to receive our completed home study and immigration paperwork back. As soon as we get this back we can compile and submit our dossier( our paperwork to Ukraine). To be able to complete that package we need to send a check for our international fees for the children which is $14,000.00 ($24,000 total) as well as some other fees from the agency. We have most of the money for those fees and will be using the money Tyler makes on this deployment for the fees for while we are in the Ukraine. Also we will use whatever God provides for us with our tax return. We know that we can not do this alone. But God has shown us that he will provide the funds at the right time, HIS TIME.

Please, Please pray for us. Please pray for us to remain humble in the sight of the Lord. That we will be excellent stewards of all the provisions he has given us. please pray that our hearts stay amazed and in awe of these provisions, that we don't come to just expect them or think we are owed them. Please pray that we stay at peace and submit to Gods control and power over every detail of this adoption. Please pray for Tyler, Hunter and I's hearts, for God to prepare them for these children. And most of all please pray for our beautiful children that we have never laid eyes on, but whom God has always had planned for us. Pray for their safety, for their development, for love from their care givers and for all their friends that live with them who also have no parents!!!

We love and miss everyone. Thanks for being along on this journey with us!!!
Tyler and Valerie

Please help us with our adoption!!!

2009-12-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

God is so faithfull!!!!

2009-12-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

Well,
We have just had our homestudy and are so excited!!!! We have been approved for siblings which is exactly what we had hoped for. We have also sent off our paperwork to USCIS, or immigration. These are all things that are needed to go on any further in our adoption journey. It has been amazing how God has moved on peoples hearts to aid us in our adoption. Up to today we have had a little over $8,000.00 donated to us!!!!!! We are both humbled and amazed at how God is providing for this adoption. As I said in earlier posts the total cost should be around $43,000.00 so this is a huge blessing to us.

Hunter is so excited to be a big brother!! He keeps telling Tyler, "Daddy I wish you were already deployed!!". Of course we asked him why?? He sweetly answered that the sooner daddy deploys the sooner he will get home so we can than go get "our kids"!!

Please continue to pray for us and our children that are unknown to us but whom God has always know!!

We are moving forward!!!

2009-08-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well it was so exciting last night when Tyler and I realized this is just like being pregnant!!! God has created 2 wonderful children out there for us, just born of a different mother. I recieved the first set of forms to fill out today by email from CWA our adoption agency. This is the first of many, only 24!!! And already the financial burden has found us and this is just the second day. But we know God is faithful and somehow all the financial means will come together. Please keep praying for us, for patience, for love , for the financial means to pay for this adoption and for continual faith in God's plan!!!

Check out this site.....its beautiful
http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/index.htm

Our Adoption Journey has begun!!

2009-08-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well it has been so long since I have wrote on here. So many things have happened and changed. The biggest thing is the start of a vary long journey. We have just submitted our application to Christian World Adoption for sibling children under 6 years of age in Ukraine. It feels so good to have hope again. We know that the process may not be easy but in the end we will have our children and Hunter will get to be the big brother he has always wanted to be. Please pray for us and this journey. We will keep everyone posted. I plan on making this our adoption/ homeschooling blog.

The blessings in our lives

2009-01-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Its easy to think of all the things that you want in your life or the things you want God to do in your life. But I wanted to think about the things i am blessed with for a moment.

1. I am blessed with a beautiful Husband who is my best friend, a great man, a great father and a great provider.

2. I am blessed with a beautiful son who is growing into a wonderful boy right in front of my eyes.

3. I am blessed to have a mother who gave up her whole life for me, and has loved me unconditionally even times when I may have not deserved it.

4. I am blessed to have a sister who was always there when I needed her even if she didn't understand me.

5. I am blessed to have a father who loves me with all of his heart.

6. I am blessed to have a brother whom I wish I knew better.

7. I am blessed that I belong to a church that is filled with people who exemplify the word christian, who have been here from the moment we stepped onto Italian soil, literally. The have made this deployment easier by keeping us occupied, by being friends and by always having a shoulder to cry on.

8. And most importantly I am blessed to have a merciful God who loves me, who wants me to mature in his word and his desires. I am blessed because I know I am never alone, and that he is always listening to my prayers.

The beginning

2009-01-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

Well where to begin.

Here we are in beautiful Northern Italy. We are surrounded by spectacular snow covered mountains and located near some of the coolest places in the world. We are so happy to be here. We feel God sent us to Italy so we could find our church, Serenissima Bible Church. We have so many friends here and it has been the biggest blessing to be surrounded by wonderful christians.

Tyler has just deployed for the next 4 months. We miss him so much, but with the help of Skype we have been able to see him. Hunter is turning 5 years old in Feb and I am amazed how much my little boy has grown. He is such a good artist like his daddy, and he loves cars like his daddy too.

For the last 3 years Tyler and I have been trying to get pregnant and have been unable to. Recently I was diagnosed with PCOS which I was certain I had for a long time. Since being in Italy I have undergone fertility treatment with Femara to induce me to ovulate, but to no avail. We have seriously been considering adoption and are certain we want to adopt, but we aren't sure we are ready to let go of trying for a baby. We pray everyday for guidance and wisdom, but we can't seem to let go of the need for a baby. Please pray for us.