Open Arms

Open Arms
...caring for orphans and adoptive families...

Friday, March 6, 2009

We have our home study scheduled for next Thursday, March 12th. We are actually looking forward to it, as this puts us another step closer to our goal! We also received notice that we go to Charleston on the 27th for fingerprinting. Again another step. I know our days are in His hands.

Our real praise is that they waived my mom having to be fingerprinted. We are all so thankful and relieved. It was just going to be hard to ask my 87 year old mother to go be fingerprinted! So we are praising the Lord for that answer to prayer.

I (Carol) am headed out of town for a ladies retreat this weekend, leaving Steve and the guys to clean up for the home study. Please pray for them. :o)

Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Beginning

Hi Everyone. Wanted to give you all a little update on our progress. For those who don't know, we are pursuing an international adoption of a sibling group! I'm including some comments from the original letter we sent out in January below. We are making progress. It seems painfully slow, but the Lord has been teaching us about His timing and how perfect it is! Pray that we will remember that lesson in the next days when we need it.

We have sent all requested documents to our social worker and are awaiting our home study. Once that is completed we can finalize our dossier and send it to Ukraine for translation. Thanks so much to everyone for all the prayers and support! We really appreciate all the cards and emails more that you will ever know. We have started a scrapbook with them to show the children when they come home!
Blessings!

Wow, 2008 was an incredible year! The Lord was busy in our lives and in the lives of our children. Last year He challenged us in our willingness to be obedient and humble. It’s been a sweet special time of training with the Father. We (Steve and Carol) are doing well, very busy with work and a busy household. We celebrated our 27th anniversary in August. We’ve had a wonderful interesting journey along the way. Let see now….quick family updates: Tim, Emily and Aaron (4) are still living in Winston Salem, NC. Tim is looking for new job right now and they are expecting their second child this summer. Tracy, Ja’ and Marc Anthony (20 months) welcomed Connor to the family in September. Rebekah and Carol had the joy of being there also! is teaching at a private school in Orangeburg and Ja’ is on staff at their church. Matthew is working as a legal assistant at a law office and doing private investigation work. His girlfriend Becky is a special joy to our family. Rebekah, Tim, and Samuel (2 1/2) welcomed Josiah on April 1. Tim is in landscaping and is the worship leader at Joy Church in Blythewood. JD is finishing his last two semesters at the USC School of Business and is planning to join the Marines upon graduating next December. He stays busy with church and school. My Mom is 87 and still living with us. She remains in good health and her motto is to move at least one piece of furniture each day!

Just recently though, the Lord has given us a new direction. It seems we are in for a lot more instruction. We are working toward adopting the four younger children from a sibling children in Ukraine. It all began when we were given a prayer card last August. As we began to pray for the children, and began to correspond, the Lord made it very clear that these children are to be blessings in our family.

The oldest boys just recently left the orphanage. They are no longer eligible for adoption. They still try to look out for their little brothers and sister and care deeply about them. Lyonya and Pasha just finished 6th grade in the orphanage. They are in the same grade level even though they are a year apart in age. Galia is their younger sister. We have been corresponding with them all the last couple months. Here is an excerpt from one of their letters.

Hi my dearest Ms. Carol,I am okay. How are you? What have you been doing the last few days? Sorry that I didn't write you a letter in the last few days. Now I will tell you a little about me. I study well. I really love to draw, sew and knit. I have played basketball a few times.My brothers say hi to you. With love from Galia

The youngest child lives in another orphanage.We don’t know much about him other than he misses his sister.

The Lord has assured us that this is His plan and His responsibility. Please pray for us as we walk down this road. Thank you all so much for your friendship through the years. We so appreciate you all. Carol and Steve