So many of you have asked for blog updates... so first I want to apologize for not shedding light on our progress before now. Once Marina arrived here over the summer all of our "free time" (time after the younger ones are in bed) was either spent with her, in the Bible, or getting council on how to best communicate and bond with Marina. Once she left in August, school started, we celebrated my birthday, Marbella's birthday, our anniversary, along with trying to catch up from being "out of pocket" for 2 months... and the more time that went by, the harder I knew it would be to effectively catch you up. So, here is the plan - let you know what is going on right now, give you our specific prayer requests that we need right now, and then catch you up on the past few months.
First - what is going on right now:
We got the email today that our appointment in Kiev is scheduled for October 17th and we are expected to be in country on the 15th. Yes, you read that right - we are expected to leave Texas and our little ones in 10 days!!! I guess they are not big on advance notice... But we know that God is in the details so His timing is perfect timing.
Today has been spent on the phone trying to figure out how to make the flights work. Grammy and Grandpa have given us a huge blessing of taking on the role of caring for Marbella and Milana while we are gone. They have had a trip planned with Andy's sister and her family to Disney World during the week of the 14th... the day we need to leave. This is actually a blessing in disguise - so instead of them coming straight here to take care of the girls we are trying to figure out how to get the girls to Orlando to spend it with their grandparents, cousins, and Aunt and Uncle at none other then Disney World. Talk about an amazing distraction from being without Mommy and Daddy!!! God is so good! We are having challenges with flights and how to make that work... taking the girls to Orlando then flying straight to Kiev... having the grandparents fly here to pick the girls up and get to Orlando... we are looking at all options but are having trouble with the dates and award tickets and expense! In my frustration I went upstairs to do my daily quiet time. I am in Mark 15:1 right now... one verse... how could that one verse speak to me in my current situation? At this point, I was going to continue in my quiet time for sheer obedience because I couldn't imagine hearing too much in that 1 verse. Boy, I was wrong. You may read that verse and wonder what in the world God could have said too - but He doesn't need much to speak loudly and clearly. Bottom line - God was telling me He is in the details... in the formalities of the process. He is in it all and I need to trust. So that is what we are doing! That may mean that one of you know someone high up at any airline that could help us... God works in crazy ways like that. If that is you, please don't hesitate to call!!! :)
I will also confess that today was spent with me in tears. Not because of Marina - I am ready to bring Marina home. I am ready for everything that comes with bringing Marina home. Let's get this going - let's begin showing her what it is like to have a family love her. The tears and heavy heart are only because I have to leave our girls for a long period of time. I am not afraid for God does NOT work in fear. I am not worried for I know God will take care better care of our girls then we do. It is just that God gave us those girls as a gift... one in which I adore and love being with. I love looking at them... smelling them... laughing with them... snuggling with them... talking with them... watching them dance... and on and on. It is strange to me that we have to leave our 2 gifts from Him to go get our 3rd gift. But it is part of the plan and He is in control. My prayer request to you right now - pray for God to be in every single detail... that the enemy will not be allowed to interfere with any part of the process. Pray for a speedy adoption process and getting home quickly. I have faith that God can get us home for the 1st part of the process in 3 weeks... not 4; not 5... but 3. At that time, we will come home without our 3rd daughter for a week and then one of us will have to return for another 1 to 2 weeks. When we told the girls tonight that we would be leaving soon, they were excited that we would be starting the process of bringing their big sister home. Marbella says to me "don't worry Mommy, we will be fine. We will do lots of fun things while you are gone." Thank you Lord that she doesn't really understand the time frame. And I wanted to tell her that I know she will be fine - it is me that will be crying every night! :) Pray for peace my dear friends!!!
I also want to update you on where we are in terms of raising funds! God has been so amazing!!! Through the generous giving of so many people... those that personally know us and those who don't know us at all... we have raised $19,000 to date! We are only $3,000 away from what we need!!! Praise God! We are sending out one last call for help if you feel so led. There are a few ways you can help -
1. Marina will be 16 on October 14th (the day we will begin travelling to the Ukraine)! If everyone we know sends us $16.00 to "celebrate" her birthday then we would make a HUGE dent. God gave her life 16 years ago... and soon she will get to experience the life God has ordained for her from the beginning of time. What an awesome way to celebrate!
2. We have set up a link to purchase some pretty awesome t-shirts. We will get $6.00 to $8.00 per shirt purchased depending on the style you choose. I will be ordering my Adoption Rocks shirt tonight. For those of you who know me... this shirt is right up my alley. Yes, I will probably wear it as much as I wear my Girlmom shirt!!! :) Just click on the link and see if you are interested... http://www.adoptionbug.com/marina
3. You can simply send a donation if you feel so led. You can mail it to 1817 Trail Ridge Lane, Flower Mound, TX 75028.
Thank you so much for supporting our adoption and helping us show Marina what it means to have a family!
Now, lets rewind to the summer. Once we figured out that Marina could speak broken English - once she trusted us enough to share that with us - we were able to start communicating. That was a huge blessing!!! And as the days passed, her English would continue to improve until we were able to have full on conversations... slow going with explaining various words... but conversations! This is when life started happening. Lots of amazing things happened - I got to watch Marbella reach out to Marina with a Jesus like love. Marina didn't initially give much back to the girls - she isn't around little ones at the orphanage so it isn't natural for her. But that didn't stop Marbella from trying. She didn't get discouraged, she didn't get impatient, she didn't take it personal... she just kept on trying. God had Marbella teach ME what loving unconditionally looked like. We also got to watch Marina begin to enjoy new foods. Thankfully she loves American pizza... whew! She also loves sushi... she has expensive tastes! :) She loves salt... yes, something for us to work on! And there were challenging things too - her expectations of America were very different then reality - we in America have to work for things and there are many rules and chores when you are in a family. Marina has also expressed her disinterest in attending a Christian school but has recognized through many hours of conversation that God gave her to us to parent her in a way that is pleasing to Him - and that is one of the things He is asking from us. By the end of the 7 weeks Marina told me that even though she doesn't want to be a Christian, she wants to marry one. Wow! Andy and his love of the Lord, his love of his children, and the love of his wife made a huge impact on her. The Lord is already working!!!
This is a journey for all of us. We have discovered that we need Marina as much as she needs us. Having her here over the summer brought us so much closer to our Lord and Savior. For that and many more reasons, we are so blessed. And isn't that really our purpose... to love the Lord with all of our heart... to draw closer to Him daily so that we can actually feel Him leading our lives. He created us to worship Him... not anything other then Him. Why is this so hard for us? Because of our time with Marina, we have been able to hear His sweet voice so much... which makes us that much more excited about getting Marina home. We can't wait to see Him work in her life. We can't wait for the day when we can update this blog to share with you that Marina has fallen in love with Jesus Christ. We pray for that to happen and hope that you can pray it with us.
Prayer requests -
1. FAST adoption process
2. Hedge of protection around us as we travel - around the girls as they live without us
3. For strength and endurance for Grammy and Grandpa as they care for 2 little ones
4. For peace for Andy and I as we deal with the pain of leaving our little ones
5. For Marina - protection and ready to move forward
6. For the Ukraine government and officials - smooth sailing
7. For our family to bond and come together as a new family of 5
8. And for whatever else you can think of! :)
We so dearly appreciate you all.
With love,
The Greens
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