Family FUN Run/Walk 5km!

Our family is in the process of adopting our daughter Olena from an orphanage in Ukraine. She is 13 years old and we had the privilege of meeting her this summer. We felt very strongly that she was meant to be a part of our family so set out on this very expensive journey. We are hosting this 5km with the hope that we might be able to raise some money to help us pay the fees required to bring her home. We hope that you all might be able to help us with that. Please feel free to look through our blog, read our story and look at pictures of Olena. We truly appreciate everyone that is willing to help us out. Please note that while I am a runner, I have never organized a race before. This is meant to just be a fun family event for a good cause.  Thanks
Here is the information about our upcoming Family fun run/walk 5km. 

When: November 17th @11am
Where: LDS Church
1167 South 1700 East  Spanish Fork, UT 84660
Who: Everyone! This is a family event. Tell all your friends to come and join us.
How much: $10 per person or $25 per family
Course: Click this link to see map of course.

Registration will be on the day of event starting at 10am. Please come early so the race can start on time.   All donations are gladly accepted.

We look forward to seeing you all there. Thanks in advance for your support of our family.

A Little Scripture Studying Goes A Long Way!

While doing some much needed scripture study this morning I came across some insight into Nephi's broken bow experience, that I can very easily apply to me and our family.

Elder Richard G Scott taught that adversity can help stimulate necessary growth in our lives:
"May i share with you some suggestions with you who face the testing that a wise Heavenly Father determines is needed even when you are living a worthy, righteous life and are obedient to his commandments.
Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where HE wants you to be, requires a lot of stretching and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

Elder Robert D Hales continues on with this:
"I have come to understand how useless it is to dwell on the whys, what ifs and if onlys for which there likely will be given no answers in mortality. To receive the Lords comfort, we must exercise faith. The questions Why me? Why our family? Why now? are usually unanswerable questions. These questions detract from our spirituality and can destroy our faith. We need to spend our time and energy building our faith by turning to the Lord and asking for strength to overcome the pains and trials of this world and to endure to the end for greater understanding."

I think I already understood that when we are sent trials the Lord is trying to hep us grow from them. He understands better then we do what we need to make us stronger.
I am however, someone that mummers and asks those unanswerable questions frequently, while going through a trial, and sadly sometimes they aren't even terrible trials! I need to better focus on the Lord and better understand, that these small things will pass and I will be stronger because of them, thanks to a loving Heavenly Father who wants to make more of me then I could alone!
So I will continue to push on. I will pray more fervently for strength and I will try my best to not be someone that complains about the trials I am given, because I really do know that they are for my good.
I love the Scriptures :)

We Are Submitted

So that is pretty much the only news I have. Our dossier was officially submitted to the SDA (the state department) in the Ukraine today. So now begins the 5-7 week waiting period where we will hear nothing at all until they officially "INVITE" us over to meet with them. We are praying that the wait will not be that long. We are hoping that they will want to rush through some stuff before their holiday period and hopefully we will be one they rush. We would love to have them send their invite in about 3-4 weeks instead of 5. But that might be pushing our luck. :)
Keep praying for us. If we can get into see the judge over there before the end of the year, it will significantly help us out financially, since we should be able to apply for the tax credit next year! So that is our new goal.

Also, my photographer friend had some family stuff going on so we decided to postpone our fundraiser until a later date. BUT, we are having another one at My Sisters Closet in Spanish Fork, November 10th between 6-8pm. Anything sold between those hours, we will get a portion of! So please come and support us and buy some really cute clothes!!

Also the following week,we will be having our fundraiser 5km. $10 per person it is a run/walk. We would love as many people as possible to be there! November 17th 11am at the church on 1700 east in Spanish Fork! Spread the word. Bring your friends. We need all the support we can get!
Thanks

Update

Update for those that are interested:
I received our final document on Friday afternoon, so I will be mailing all of the 32 documents this afternoon, after having this last one notarized and apostilled. I checked with our facilitator today, whether there was anyway to expedite the process once it was in the Ukraine. He told me not really. We are really pushing the limits with our timing, but that we should continue and keep praying that the SDA will not use the full allotment of time.
This means that after our dossier gets submitted there is usually a 5 week waiting period before we hear word, then they give us about 2 weeks to get over there for our first appointment. We are hoping that they wont take 4 weeks to review our documents and a week to invite us over, instead they take 2-3 weeks to review and about 3 days to invite, cutting down the time a little. Then instead of the full 10 day wait in between the SDA appointment and our court appearance, we are hoping they will only take 5 or 6 days. They used to only take 3-4 days, but lately they have been taking the full 10 days. Each little difference in time, will allow for us to get things accomplished a little quicker and hopefully, her home sooner. Also we are trying really hard to be able to get done to at least the court appearance, this calendar year. If we can get at least that far we can claim stuff on our taxes, which will help us be able to afford our expenses. That would be a huge blessing!

So PLEASE pray for our family. We need all the prayers we can get and we know that the Lord is listening.
And as always, please pass our story on to anyone that might feel willing to help us out. We are struggling to find money for everything, and every little bit helps. :)
Thanks

On a completely different note,
My beautiful neighbor Maren Dille just published her first book. It is a small chapter book that is geared towards 8-12 year olds. It is a cute little story about a group of boys their favorite baseball and a girl they like named Molly Martin. My kids LOVE it and were so excited to have the author sign their copy of it! You can buy your own copy of the book on Amazon.com Your kids will love it!!
Here is a link to Marens blog
http://marendille.blogspot.com/2012/10/elephants-arrival.html

Support a good friend and a great writer :)

What Will Be, Will Be

Well, The letter we have been waiting for has still not arrived. I think I might have to call our case worker again and give her a talking too! I was hoping to have mailed the documents to Ukraine already but it would seem that the Lord has other things planned! I guess I can't argue with his plan. He does know what is best for us and I am trying really hard to go with that and not try to control everything. I have done all I can and now it isn't up to me anymore.
It was suggested to me by a good friend that maybe we are supposed to have one last Christmas together as our little family before our family changes forever. And, if we had received the document in time, we may have been out of the country for Christmas. I believe that may just be the reason for it, and if it's not that's OK, I am going to enjoy Christmas with my four children this year anyway! I am sure that it will all make sense in the end :)

So, we continue to push on because we have done all we can. It is what it is, and what will be, will be!

Please continue to share our story with friends. We are still trying to raise money for our latest payment of $5000 that is due when we mail the documents. If you know anyone that could help us out, please tell them about us. We greatly appreciate all your prayers and support.

Our Little Chat

We were able to again call and speak with O on Saturday night. This time we allowed the kids to stay up very late to have a chance to talk with her. It was a great night. Everyone was very excited to hear her and ask her questions and tell her how much we missed her and loved her. We practiced a few Russian phrases, to say to her but, as we thought we weren't saying them super well. There was a lot of laughing, at us and with us :) But I think she appreciated us trying at least.
We tried to explain to O that M had recently got her braces on. This was something that didn't translate very well and she really had no idea what we were talking about. I am guessing that isn't something that happens over there! I was laughing about it because O will definitely have to get some braces after she arrives here, so that might be a bit of a shock to her. We told her about C's new glasses and told her we would send pictures, of which she is looking forward too. She seemed to have been practicing her English a little, and could understand us and speak to us a little better then last time. She was excited to tell The Mr that she had bee writing in her Journal that he had bought for her.

It was a really fun experience to speak with her again and reinforced to me that the struggles I have been having, are in fact worth while. We are doing this for the right reasons. Our Heavenly Father knows us and knows that we were meant to meet her and love her. She is waiting patiently for us to come and get her. We hope that the letter that we are waiting for will arrive in the next day or two, but if it doesn't I understand that it is all in the Lords time. He knows whats best for us and her and we will see her soon.

Olena Her best friend Svetlana and another of the orphans that came to America this summer. This was taken this weekend at the orphanage.

This is some of the group of 9 kids that came from Olena's orphanage this summer. They need families. If you know someone that might be interested, let me know. They are all WONDERFUL kids. We had the privilege of meeting them all. 

This was sent to us this week also. She seems a little embarrassed to be having her photo taken. M was excited to see her wearing the boots we got for her!

A Little Bit of Hope Restored.

Latest update on our journey;
I decided to call this morning to again check on our immigration papers and was told that we had been assigned to an officer. I was able to speak with that officer and she said that she hadn't looked at our application because she wasn't expecting our fingerprints to be done yet. But, since they were done she could now finalize our papers. The good news is that she said she should have them done by the end of the week!!!!   That is the best news! If she can get us our paper by the start of next week, it is cutting it close but, we might get all the papers in in time! I am still hesitant but now definitely more hopeful and a little excited.
So PLEASE keep praying for us. I know that your prayers on our families behalf are being heard and we greatly appreciate all of you.

I received another letter from O's orphanage director this morning. She is such a wonderful woman. She not only allows us to keep contact with O but greatly encourages us. She has organized for us to call her again this weekend and we are all really excited to speak with her, especially the kids. C is so funny about the adoption. He is constantly telling the Mr and I to "do your best on the adoption!" and he always makes sure that he remembers to prayer for her every night. When I ask him about if he is still okay with us adopting her, he responds with "Of course it's okay! I love her." I am so grateful that it was our whole family that felt like she was meant to be with us and not just us as parents. That will make transitioning her a little easier, I hope.

We are still trying to raise money. We have a couple of big payments due pretty soon and then we will also have to find the money for airfares. If you know anyone that might be able to help us out, please direct them to our blog. I am still uncomfortable asking people for money, but without the help of so many of you already, we wouldn't have been able to make it this far. Your continued support is wonderful.  Thank you.

I Am So Grateful

I felt like I needed to share this beautiful story that I found on a friends Facebook page with you.

There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending Seminary in Utah. In this Seminary classes are held during school hours. Brother Christianson taught Seminary at this particular school. He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by his rules. Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other teacher wanted him, so he went into Brother Christianson’s Seminary class.
Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room. He would also be the first to leave after the class was over.
One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. After class, Bro.
Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, ‘You think you’re pretty tough, don’t you?’
Steve’s answer was, ‘Yeah, I do.’
Then Brother Christianson asked, ‘How many push-ups can you do?’
Steve said, ‘I do about 200 every night.’
’200? That’s pretty good, Steve,’ Brother Christianson said. ‘Do you think you could do 300?’
Steve replied, ‘I don’t know… I’ve never done 300 at a time.’
’Do you think you could?’ Again asked Brother Christianson.
’Well, I can try,’ said Steve.
’Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it,’ Brother Christianson said. Steve said, ‘Well… I think I can… yeah, I can do it.’
Brother Christianson said, ‘Good! I need you to do this on Friday.’
Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the ro om. When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts. Now these weren’t the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited-it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend.
Bro. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, ‘Cynthia, do you want a donut?’
Cynthia said, ‘Yes.’
Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, ‘Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?’
Steve said, ‘Sure,’ and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Bro. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia’s desk.
Bro. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, ‘Joe do you want a donut?’
Joe said, ‘Yes.’ Bro. Christianson asked, ‘Steve would you do ten push- ups so Joe can have a donut?’ Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.
And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten pushups for every person before they got their donut. And down the second aisle, till Bro. Christianson came to Scott.
Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship. Then Bro. Christianson asked, ‘Scott do you want a donut?’
Scott’s reply was, ‘Well, can I do my own pushups?’
Bro. Christianson said, ‘No, Steve has to do them.’
Then Scott said, ‘Well, I don’t want one then.’
Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, ‘Steve, would you do ten pushups so Scott can have a donut he doesn’t want?’
Steve started to do ten pushups. Scott said, ‘HEY! I said I didn’t want one!’
Bro. Christianson said, ‘Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don’t want it.’ And he put a donut on Scott’s desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow. Bro. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.
Bro. Christianson asked Jenny, ‘Jenny, do you want a donut?’
Jenny said, ‘No.’
Then Bro. Christianson asked Steve, ‘Steve, would you do ten pushups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn’t want?’ Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.
By now, the students were beginning to say ‘No’ and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of eff ort to get these pushups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
Bro. Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he did ten pushups in a set because he couldn’t bear to watch all of Steve’s work for all of those uneaten donuts. So Robert began to watch Steve closely. Bro. Christianson started down the fourth row.
During his class, however, some students had wandered in and sat along the heaters along the sides of the room. When Bro. Christianson realized this; he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
Bro. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
Steve asked Bro. Christianson, ‘Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?’
Bro. Christianson thought for a moment, ‘Well, they’re your pushups. You can do them any way that you want.’ And Bro. Christianson went on.
A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled, ‘NO! Don’t come in! Stay out!’
Jason didn’t know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, ‘No, let him come.’
Bro. Christianson said, ‘You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten pushups for him.’
Steve said, ‘Yes, let him come in.’
Bro. Christianson said, ‘Okay, I’ll let you get Jason’s out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?’
'Yes.’
’Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason can have a donut?’ Steve did ten pushups very slowly an d with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Bro. Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those seated on the heaters. Steve’s arms were now shaking with each pushup in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. Sweat was dropping off of his face and, by this time, there was not a dry eye in the room.
The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very popular. Bro. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, ‘Linda, do you want a doughnut?
Linda said, very sadly, ‘No, thank you.’
Bro. Christianson asked Steve, ‘Steve, would you do ten pushups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn’t want?’
Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow pushups for Linda. Then Bro. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. ‘Susan, do you want a donut?’
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked , ‘Bro. Christianson , can I help him?’
Bro. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, ‘No, he has to do it alone, Steve, would you do ten pushups so Susan can have a donut?’
As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 pushups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Brother Christianson turned to the room and said. ‘And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, plead to the Father, ‘Into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, he collapsed on the cross and died. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten.’ .

Jesus Christ lives. He is truly our Savior, he suffered for every sin, imperfection, trial, hardship, fear, and sadness we come in contact with. He did this, for us. He suffered so that we may taste the donuts of eternal life, and live with our Heavenly Father again. He did it because of his eternal love for all of us. And how amazing that is. He truly is our redeemer.

 I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing his son Jesus Christ to come and do this for me. I feel very unworthy of his sacrifice for me, but I know that he did it because he loves me and all of us. Jesus Christ knows me intimately. He has felt my sorrows and pains. Because of this intimate knowledge, he knows how to help me, if only I will ask.   I will strive everyday to live, and to teach my children to live, in a way that shows our gratitude to him, for this unimaginable sacrifice for us.

Joy In The Journey

I wanted to put some thoughts down, while they were fresh in my mind. I LOVED President Uchtdorf's talk this morning about finding joy in the journey. I need to be better at that very thing. Life is meant to be enjoyed not endured, right? Well Sometimes I feel like all I do is endure life. I know that sounds terrible, and I really am a happy person. But, especially lately, life just gets on top of me and I find myself feeling not good enough in any aspect of my life, but especially as a parent and wife. This isn't how I or any of us should view our lives. As stated so beautifully by Pres. Uchtdorf this morning, "We are human. None of us is perfect." It shouldn't be a surprise to us, but if I am being honest, sometimes it is. I expect myself to be perfect and when I fall short, which is all the time, I am upset. Why do we let ourselves do that? Why do we expect so much?
The Mr and I and our friend were out running the canyon this morning (it was really cold BTW) and I remember thinking about how beautiful it was. I love running down Provo canyon because no matter how many times I go up there I am always in awe of the beauty that I am surrounded by. It makes running so much easier when I have that beauty around me to admire and enjoy. It really makes the journey joyful no matter how tired or cold I am. I could run all day up there. I need to think like that about every day life. We have so much around us that is beautiful and that should be enjoyed. Our families and friends and the beautiful place we live are just a couple of those things. I really am grateful to have the Gospel in my life. I am grateful to have been led to our daughter and to have the opportunity to work hard to bring her here. The hard work we have to do now will only make the reunion with her that much sweeter. This journey we are on really is a sweet one and I will work harder to remember that, as I know things will only get harder. 

A Small Disappoitment

Today M left for Shakespeare competition. It is always hard for me to see her leave, and know that I don't have any control over what will happen with her. I am hopeful that this weekend will be a wonderful experience for her and that she will not get upset at anything!

I was planning to get the majority of our documents apostatized today. It is a process that takes 3-5 days  to finish if I only want to pay $15 per document. With 31 documents to get done, it works out to be a lot of money. Then when our immigrations form finally arrives I have to take that and have it done same day costing $65. This is just one of the many things that the Ukraine government make us do that I don't fully understand the need for. But you do what you have to!!

Speaking of our immigration document.... I called to check on the status today. On Friday, the Mr and I were able to get our fingerprints done. This was earlier then was scheduled. Our adoption facilitator told us that we didn't have to wait for the scheduled appointment time, that they would allow us to just walk in as long as we had an appointment letter. Fabulous information, because our appointment wasn't until the end of October. This has hopefully cut a significant amount of time off the processing of the paperwork. At least that is what I am hoping. Like I said I called today to check how it was moving along, and was told it  has not yet been assigned to an officer. They also told me that it usually takes 75-90 days to process the paperwork from the date of the receipt.  GRRRRRRR. Our receipt is dated September 14th. 75 days after that is November 28th! That is way too late to try and get her home this year :(
I am trying my best not to cry about what I just heard, and hope and pray that it wont be that long, since we cut weeks off it doing early fingerprinting. I am still hoping that we have a chance. But, in reality, I think i just realized that this isn't going to go as quickly as I had hoped and that our daughter will not be home with us this year :(
Please keep praying for us and for her!