So we got AMAZING news on Monday night! We are officially registered as adopting parents in Ukraine!! Hooray! (spirit fingers) We don't have an appointment date yet - but that's OK because at least now we know our seemingly endless paperwork (and paperwork correction) is over and we can wait in peace for the appointment date that will absolutely come some day soon. So that's our amazing news (keeping it short and sweet tonight, kids!).
We've had so many people ask us "ok, what's next?". Here's how it works......we will receive an appointment at the SDA in Ukraine. When we arrive at the appointment, we will be given an undisclosed number of medical records (could be 1, could be 10) of children that match our requested criteria. We said any boy or girl, or sibling set of 2, age 7 or under. We will have, along with our translator, approximately 30-45 minutes to go through the medical records and select the child/children that we would like to meet. Then we file for a "referral". The referral can usually be picked up the next day. Once we have the referral we travel to the region that the childrens' orphanage is in. For regions think of it like counties.We will meet the child/children and determine whether or not these are in fact "our kids". If we have any concerns, or if for any reason we have to deny the first children we select to meet, we go back to the SDA and start again with medical records, etc. You are only allowed to do this 3 times. HOWEVER, we have faith that God will reveal our children to us immediately. Once we decide to proceed with adopting certain children, the paperwork starts, a court date is requested. Once a judge determines that we are fit to adopt the child/children, there is a mandatory 10 day wait period before we are allowed to sign the kids out of the orphanage (cause you know, they haven't been there long enough). After the 10 day wait, we check the kids out and head back to Kyiv for Visas, Passports, medical exit exams, etc. The total trip will probably be about 5 weeks.
In March, we went to a prayer night for the adoption ministry at our church. One of our incredible prayer warriors was praying for us and prayed for Jake to receive a sign about our children....if it's one or two, gender, a face, even a shirt color so that when we see the pictures, we are 100% sure that those are the children God chose for us. That was on a Monday night. The next day Jake completely surprised me with a new mini van. It came with two sets of headphones as part of the package. He went out to the van to grab the headphones and he came back inside laughing and shaking his head. When he went out to get the headphones, there weren't two sets, there were 4. We don't believe that there is such a thing as a "coincidence" with God. There is direct purpose in everything, we just have to be looking for it. We wholeheartedly believe that we are coming home with two children. Please pray with us during this time that God will reveal the file to us that He intends for us choose, clearly, without question. 45 mins. is NOT a lot of time to choose children.....we are trusting that He will use the time wisely and direct our eyes to the correct one.
Having said all of that, I need to say a little more.......
I took Cole to the doctor today for a check up and was talking to the doctor just about how I am a little concerned about how the emotional changes will effect Cole after the adoption. She isn't the pediatrician that we normally see so she wasn't aware that we are adopting. She's a mother and she's a pediatrician so I guess I just wasn't expecting her reaction. She asked a few questions and I explained the process just as I did above.......and her response "but even with the medical records, there are so many psychiatric issues that you might not know about it. I don't know, that's just a big risk to take." You can insert a lot of things right here that you might think went through my head.....none of your ideas are probably strong enough for what actually ran through my brain. But my response was this "it's just like having a baby. There is no promise of perfect health. But that's your child, so you just do what you have to do and you make it work." That's all I had to offer her in that moment....but its what I TRULY believe. Is it going to be hard? Yup. Does every single little tiny part of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome suck? Absolutely. Is there a gigantic risk that our children will have FAS or detachment disorders? There sure is. Does that change anything? Not a chance.
Yes. It is a huge risk. If it was easy, I wouldn't need God. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it and there wouldn't be an orphan crisis. If it wasn't a risk, I wouldn't be terrified of what I'm walking into, and I wouldn't be 100% reliant on God for the strength to walk it out. We aren't patting ourselves on the back here. There are days when Jake and I look at each other and say "we are surely crazy". Jake said it best the other night when he said "I'm just a guy that's following instructions." And that's it. We're just a family that said "yes". When we first started talking about adoption Cole said, "let's bring an orphan to our house. They can sleep in my bed." ITS THAT SIMPLE. Give them what they don't have. Where is the risk in that? Where's the risk in obedience? Where's the risk in looking at a child with no self worth and telling them, "you are a gift from the Lord! You are a heritage! A reward!" In this house, the risk is big, but the reward is a million times bigger.
So for everyone that looks at the risk, before you look at the yield and the gains, you have it all wrong. It took us years and years and to see it like this but the risk, no matter how big, is always on the smaller side of the equation.
We don't have any idea what God is about to give us. If you think we're crazy, its ok. Cause we think we are too! But we know, and we trust, that through this journey God has been equipping us, because we are called. So bring it on, Kubnick Kiddos! Daddy and Mama have a Bible (and a Ukrainian translation app) and a whole army of prayer warriors standing behind us, there isn't anything we can't make it through.
The next time I post, we'll be making travel plans.....ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!
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