Saturday, December 21, 2013

Blessings Galore!!


     We are having so much fun with our newest gift from Ukraine!  Molly arrived with her dad on November 8th,  just two days before Jack's 17th birthday.  Dave left on the 19th of October to pick Molly up and thought two weeks would do it.  It should have.   A mistake was made on the passport which kept them there another whole week.  David spent that time bonding with our girl, feeding her and winning her heart.  She always preferred me on our trips there but she found out how FUN dad is and what a good cook too!
She just couldn't believe ALL that food was
 for her!!!
 
    
 
Molly has been home six weeks now and has learned many new words and signs.  One of her
favorite is EAT of course!  She has picked up the signs for STOP and BEAUTIFUL GIRL too!  She
doesn't respond to the name Molly but calls herself "Misha" which means "little mouse" in Russian.  She is a little mouse too so we call her Misha a lot.  She is so happy to be here and we are thrilled to have her home with us at last!!!
 
This was taken two days after she got home.  It was Jack's birthday and we were at a picnic for Special Olympics.  She did so well with all the people there.  She charmed them all!
 
Miss Molly was hanging onto my hand as she was very shy and apprehensive.  Those days are gone believe me!  She is still shy but busy exploring her new world.  She doesn't want to sleep at all! 

Molly loves to look out the front window when the kids leave for school.  I think she'd like to be with them but not yet.  We're working on getting her enrolled but love having her home with us.  We need time with our Misha. 

Today is very special because it is one year since Marina Joy has been home!  She has grown so much it's amazing!  She has gained 16 lbs and grown almost 4 inches in this short time!

                                                    



  Marina Joy and Molly were put in the same baby house and transferred at the same time to a Level Four in Znemenka.  Their birth names were both Marina and they slept in the same pod.  They are six months apart in age with MJ being the youngest although Molly looks like she is the younger one.  Molly is only 3 ft. 5 inches and weighs 45 pounds.  She has gained 4 pounds already!  What she needs to do is grow taller!!! 


Here they are sharing a room again but it has windows and it's pink and pretty for these two princesses!  They have their own dressers full of their own clothes and a closet full of pretty things that don't have numbers on the front of them.
 
 
Isn't she pretty in pink? 
 

Our Marina's in their forever family.  Sisters at last.....  We are so blessed, blessed, blessed!!!!


                                                          



                                       MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ALL THE DAULTON'S!!!!!
 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

What a day!!!


     The day finally arrived!  Our baby girl, our only birth daughter, getting married!  We had two weeks to prepare for the big day once we got home from Ukraine.  The alterations got done, the shoes were bought, matching ties for 5 guys....the list went on and on.  We took three helpers with us to get us through the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.  It was a job getting 8 kids clothes, shoes, toiletries, plus our clothes.  We almost left my dress!!!

     We arrived on Friday just minutes before the rehearsal at 4:30.  All the kids needed to come as most of them were in it.  Emily was a junior bridesmaid.  Jack and Philip had baskets of programs that they gave out at the door.  Anya had the guestbook for everyone to sign.  Tom and Ben walked me down the aisle.  They were all so proud to be a part of this wedding.


















    Dave had the best job of all, walking his baby girl down the aisle.  She was radiant and joyful as every bride should be.  I couldn't take my eyes off of her.  She only has eyes for Bryce and I hope someone took a picture of him seeing his bride. 
 
The program was absolutely wonderful.  The scripture reading was from Song of Solomon.  Dave and I had just bought a wedding picture with the scripture on it that was used in the wedding.  It was a God thing.  Liz picked the song, A Thousand Miles by Mark Schultz, one of our favorite artists.  We were so pleased!  Dave said a blessing over the couple.  There was not a dry eye in the house!
 
After the wedding the photographers took our pictures again because we missed some people on the first try.  Can't wait to see the one of all the Daulton children except Molly.  Dave goes to pick her up on the 19th.  One of the many thoughtful things they had at the reception was a memory table.
 

So Brian and Daniel and my parents photos were on display with others from Bryce's family.  It was a sweet touch.
 
It says, "We know you'd be here today, If heaven weren't so far away"
 
The reception was so fun!  They had a great DJ, a photo booth for the young and young at heart to have their pictures taken with silly props.  You got to keep a copy and they glued the other copy on a scrapbook page.  What a great idea!
 
I did not know where our table was but I figured it was the one with the coloring pages!  They had crayons on top of a page with a bride and groom riding off into the sunset.  One of the neat things they did was after the traditional bouquet toss and garter toss they did a teddy bear toss for the kids!  My great niece caught the teddy bear!
 
 
Dave and Liz danced to Butterfly Kisses and I don't know how he got through it.  I was a mess!  He said he and Liz talked the whole time and he didn't even hear the song.  That's how he did it!

 
 
One of the great things about a wedding is seeing relatives.  All four of my sisters made it there which made everything sweeter!  Three of my sisters and my niece Mandy were in an automobile accident on the way to the wedding on Friday night.  It was raining horribly and there were a lot of accidents.  They hydroplaned across three lanes of traffic, never hit anyone, and ended up facing traffic.  The guardrails stopped them and people were whizzing by.  A lady in an SUV stopped and called 911.  She told the girls she was going to pull her SUV out so traffic would have to go past her.  She waited for 911 and then left.  They never got her name.  She was an angel.
 
This is a picture of me and my sisters at brunch the morning after.  Such a good time was had by all!
 
 
Dave leaves this Saturday to pick up the last Daulton kid!  We are still short by a few thousand and could use your help.  Thanks for coming on this journey with us!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A Day to Remember

    
     We had been in country for 24 days waiting for court.  Time is not the same in Ukraine and I'm not talking about the time difference.  They move to the beat of a different drummer for sure.  They always seem puzzled by our fixation on schedules.  Time is unhurried there.  BUT we had changed tickets twice, our plane was leaving the next morning at O Dark Hundred and we needed to be on it!  Our Philip's much anticipated 17th birthday was in two days and we needed to be there!  This didn't seem to make much of an impression.

     We were told by our facilitator who knows a little English,  that court would be at 11:30 or 12:00.  That came and went and no word.  We went down to see Molly before she became officially ours. 

 
She calls us Mama and Papa but doesn't understand what that really means.  How could she?  She's never had a family.  The orphanage director came down with us to Molly's room and posed with us.
 
 
Tatiana is a wonderful woman and a great advocate for these kids.  We went back upstairs to her office to wait and wait.  She got busy signing papers so we were hopeful that court maybe would really happen after all.  We were looking through pictures and found a publication with Molly's picture on it.  She was just a baby!
 
 
 
At four thirty Tatiana motioned for us to come with her.  We have no translator so we mainly smile at each other and play charades.  She had a car and motioned for us to get in.  We went on the very bumpy roads to get to the courthouse and our facilitator wasn't there.  He is Tatiana's son however so we knew she was in contact with him.  They at least can talk to one another!  We were more than a little relieved when we saw Andre pull up with our translator and social worker.  Whew!!
 
When we were waiting in the hall our translator, who they used when we got Marina Joy, told us that it was a holiday in Ukraine.  Guess what it was?  Adoption day!  She told us it was an official day of Hope and Love in Ukraine.  How about that???  God did have a plan after all!!!
 
Court was in the same small room with the same nice judge.  He smiled as he went through the documents and saw all our children.  We amuse him.  He did say that Molly had never had a visitor, that no one cared for her at all.  I remember hearing those words nine months ago when we adopted Marina Joy.  Both girls are from the same baby house.  Molly was transferred there at the age of 3.  They've always known one another. 
 
We got the decision at six thirty.  Marina Joy and Molly are now sisters.  Fourteen children, two call heaven their home but 12 are left here with us.  Six boys, six girls.  Perfect!  We are so blessed!
 
Thank you all for going on this journey with us.  We aren't done yet!  David goes back for Molly on the 19th.  We had to get our fingerprints redone last week.  Hopefully they'll make their way to Ukraine next week.  Our daughter Liz is getting married this Saturday.  What a busy blessed life we have!  Thank you for your prayers and your support!  If you would like to donate to help us bring Molly home you can do so on this page.  God bless you all!!
 
 

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Because



     Because the internet connections are spotty, because the prompts are in Russian, because I have little to say, I haven't updated this blog in quite awhile.  We are 21 days in country now and I swore I'd be home by now.  I was determined not to have another stay like last time, 26 days, and here I sit.

     The good news is that court is on Monday!  We have hung in waiting for court because I cannot come back with David to pick up our little one.  I cannot leave the kids again for two weeks.  Last time our Ben was in the hospital most of the time we were here.  It was miserable, trying to be brave and praying for a good outcome.  This time our Ben has been a model child our caregivers tell us.  We are so happy to see signs of growth from Ben.  All our children seem to grow up when we are away.  It'll be so good to see them!

     We had to change our tickets again which cost a lot but what can you do?  The Lord went before us though and because we met a matching grant we had the money to change tickets two times.  He is so good!  Dave still needs the money to come back here in two weeks so we continue to pray for provision.  We will fly in the day before our Philip's 17th birthday!  He is so excited about this birthday and we cannot miss it!

     Our little Molly has bonded very nicely with us.  We are happy to spend time with her each day.  She is a precious one who deserves a chance at life.  Can't wait to watch her blossom and grow. 

 
 
God bless you all for praying for us supporting us.  Please share our story with your friends!  We are not done yet.  ALMOST! 
 

Monday, September 16, 2013

The Waiting Game

     We've been here a week now and the wheels do move slowly!  We had a few nice days last week that we got to visit with Heather/Molly and the other kids outside.  It was great to see the kids outside enjoying the fresh air!  The kids remember us from past visits and are quick to gather around and play.  They like our camera's very much and are constantly posing for pictures.  We have been impressed with the level of care the staff gives to these kids.  They are so well taken care of here.

     We built the first playground here back in 2005 courtesy of our friends from Play Mart.  Nathan Beach was a friend from church and heard about this orphanage and our mission to it.  We told him they had nothing but a couple of tires coming out of the ground to play on.  He took it to his parents, the owners of Play Mart ,and we met with them.  They told us they would love to fulfill the director, Tatiana's dream of a playset  for her children.  They graciously gave them a $19k playground which Dave and friends put up with the help of many workers.  Many years later there is a regular playground for the children as others have come alongside this orphanage to help them.

 
I have pictures of the other playground now but I have not been able to download them yet.  Sorry.  We are without internet access most of the time.  We come to our home away from home, The Food Gallery, for WiFi which sometimes works!  It is life in Ukraine!
 
We should hear very soon about when our day in court will be.  We are trying not to be anxious and to enjoy our time here.  It is hard, as any of you know who've done international adoptions, to be away from the children at home and all the things you should be doing!  We are now raising money on a $500.00 matching grant.  We still have about $350.00 to go!  Please read this and donate if possible.  Share our story with your friends please!  Here are some pictures of our girl who turned 12 on Friday!  She is the size of a four year old now.  God bless you !
 
 
 

 

    

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Six days and counting!

     We are blessed!  This Sunday the sermon was all about the blessings of God with a capital B!  Pastor Dan talked about how our Heavenly Father wants to bless us even more that we want to bless our own children.  For those who are parents, you know there is nothing that gives you more delight than hearing your children squeal with delight at Christmas when they open that "perfect" present.  It blesses us so much.  Maybe that's why God loves to bless us.  He wants to see our delight with His gifts. 
     My husband and I have been working hard on making our youngest biological child, our only "homegrown" girl, delight in the present we got for her bridal shower.  It wasn't another gadget from Bed, Bath and Beyond or a new couch or a big ticket item.  It was a gift from our heart.  When she opened the scrapbook we put together of her life she was delighted. She said she couldn't read the message her father wrote her on his page because her eyes were blurry.  Ah, that's what we wanted.  All those long nights finding pictures, scanning them, looking for just the right one.  It was worth it.  Our girl has a book filled with pictures of her with every sibling, all 13 of them. 
     Liz was with us for every adoption except marina joy.  She had been living on her own by that time for 10 years.  But she has pictures of her with every sibling, "homegrown" and " handpicked" in this album.  Family is so precious and we wanted her to have her old family with her as she enters into her new family.  We will always be family.
     
 
 
This picture is our First Family.   Our precious children.  Our gifts.   Brian, the blonde haired, blue eyed boy on the left now lives in Heaven.  He was our gift for 4 years but gave us gifts to last a lifetime.   When he died a part of us died too.  I suppose he is part of the reason we began adopting.  You see, when you lose a child you never quite see life the same way.  It becomes more precious, more urgent, more miraculous.
 
And this is our Second Family.  Our precious children.  Our gifts.  Tommy, the third boy in the back, hidden by his sister Anya, is one of the "homegrown." gifts. Our sweet boy born with Down Syndrome.  I suppose he's the other reason we began to adopt.  When you have a child with Down Syndrome you never look at life the same way.  After you get over the first shock you find life is sweeter, more magical, there are more reasons to celebrate.
 
And this is the darling we're going to get in just six days!  I love this picture of her.  I'm hugging her so hard she's cross eyed!  Heather/Molly is almost twelve, probably the size of a three year old.  She'll be 12 in September.  We've known her since she was nine.  When I first saw her in the institution we work with, I thought she was a mistake.  Surely they have to be five to come to a place like this.  This girl looked to be two.  She had a bonnet on.  They assured us she was nine.  Unreal!  We look forward to her coming home and blossoming just like all the others have.  Marina Joy has been with us for 8 months, grown over two inches and gained over ten pounds.  It's such an honor to be able to watch them grow and thrive.  
 
Please help us bring our sweet girl home.  She's a sweet girl who has captured our hearts.  Please give if you can, if you feel led.  We feel sure God will provide.  He gives such good gifts!!! 
 

Saturday, August 3, 2013

We have a date!!!!!

     We finally got an appointment date!  Well, two to be more specific.  The first date was 8/15/13.  I  was amazed and a bit concerned as Dave was still in Ukraine.  It would leave him a week to get rested and ready to go again but I was game.  Even got a confirmation.  One never knows though when your doing an international adoption.  Things change so quickly!
     Later that day I was on the Internet just checking things and saw someone had mentioned me.  When I checked , sure enough, the date had been changed!  The new date is 9/9/13.  We're sticking to that one!  One thing Dave and I have learned is to roll with the  punches.  David called me to tell me he was home at last and making his way from Washington.  I got to share with him our new news.  Always something.  That's going to be the name of my book.  When I get time to write it.
     So this month I get to make plans to leave and get the kids ready for school and do wedding shopping!  Liz's bridal shower is going to be on the 24th.  I had to change the date to the 7th of September and then change it back to August 24th.  Liz, having been with us on three adoptions just said, "Will you be home in time for the wedding?"   It's October 12th and I wouldn't miss that for the world.  Maybe we''ll all be together.  All fourteen of us, with our Brian and Daniel looking on from heaven.  They wouldn't miss their sister's wedding either!    It'll be a great day!



 
Soon to be Mrs. Liz Anderson!  Come to think of it we're getting two new kids, Molly and Bryce.  Welcome to our crazy family Bryce!
 

Monday, July 29, 2013

Adventures in Ukraine!

     It has been an interesting 9 days since David left for Ukraine.  He went to take part in the Third International Conference on the needs of children with disabilities presented in Kiev, Ukraine.  This is the first one I've missed and  Dave says the last.   He tells me he'll never do another one without me.  Nice to know I'm missed!!!
     The team from the states consisting of Johnny and Alesha Kelley, Cynthia Normandia and my husband David had quite a trip!  Dave tells me it was his worst flying experience and this was his 28th time!  Poor Johnny and Alesha, it was their first!  They were late flying out of Washington and missed their connecting flight in Frankfurt.  Johnny's power chair got damaged and they then missed 4 flights and had to stay the night in Frankfurt.  Now that part I'm glad I missed!
     After staying the night in Frankfurt they finally got to Kiev and were met by our dear friends Sasha and Olya Skripak.  Their first mission was to Znemenka to do some teaching there.      
I know the ladies there were grateful for the time the team made for them as most of them could not get to the conference in Kiev.  This picture is of Cindy Normandia teaching OT skills to these caregivers.

 

    

      The team then traveled back to Ukraine to prepare for the big day!
So many great translators who help us communicate and make us look good!    Not an easy job!  Almaz church does a great job in setting up the conferences every year.  Pastor Sasha and Olya work tirelessly to make these conferences a success.  This year we had 320 people attending including 80 volunteers!
 
These are people waiting in line to register for the conference.  They all get a schedule and check off the classes they want to attend.  At the end of the day they even get certificates of completion!
So many of our team this year were people living and working in Ukraine for the orphans!
The team is now in Zhytomyr where they gave a mini conference to the good folks from Mission to Ukraine.  Tomorrow they go to the lost boys of Romanov.  I found it a rough place to visit last year.  The boys there are from ages 5 to 25 all with some type of physical or mental disability.  Their lives are bleak but things are changing, little by little.  One of the things that promotes change are conferences like this.  We thank all of you who have prayed for us and given to our mission....To change the heart of a country.  God bless you!!!
 
 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Change Our Future!

That is the name of our third international conference...Change Our Future!
Last year it was entitled, We are People First.  Pastor Sasha called the first one, Hug and Do Not Let Go!  He continues to give every conference that title!
Since we had such a large team last year we thought it would continue in the same vein.  We planned on going to 4 different orphanages with 4 different teams, spending a few days and reconvening in Kiev for the conference.

We plan, God laughs.

We were astounded when one after the other from our previous team could not join us this year because of various reasons.  We had a keynote speaker from Virginia and his wife and our friend Cindy, who has been with us for all the conferences, but NO ONE ELSE.  My husband David said maybe there wouldn't be a conference this year.  I said," let's wait two weeks."

In two weeks we had a bigger and better conference taking shape that we hadn't envisioned.

But He had.

Our keynote speaker will be Mr. Johnny Kelley who we have heard twice.  He is a very powerful presenter and Ukraine won't know quite what to do with him.  Johnny has Cerebral Palsy and is a technological wizard.  He has a touch screen and writes his own power points that are delivered by a computerized voice.  Johnny says he can do anything if  he has a ramp.  Ukraine doesn't have ramps but we're bringing some along!

His wife, Alesha Kelley is going to accompany Johnny and be a presenter as well.  Alesha is an Occupational Therapist and this will be the first trip out of the country for them both.  We need your prayers, Ukraine will be rough to get around in for these folks.  We admire their spirit and pray it will be a great experience for them.

Dr. Cynthia Normandia, delights the people of Ukraine with her knowledge of how to work with the disabled.  She breaks things down step by step and they are always hungry to hear more.  Cindy is the head Occupational Therapist for the Chesapeake City Schools.  We are blessed to have her.

Cindy shared a documentary with us called NOT FORGOTTEN when we were in the planning stages.  It is about the children in Ukraine who are autistic.  Two doctors were featured in that documentary.  Guess what?  They're both speakers at our conference!

Dr. Irina Galina, lives in Odessa, Ukraine and opened a center for these kids 20 years ago.  She gets government support which is incredible, and she now has 200 young adults she serves.  She has written three books and wants to open another center.  Dr. Galina started the first one at the age of 60.  Don't you want to be that active at 80?

Dr. Jim Peipon is the other doctor who appears in the documentary.  He and his wife are American and have lived in Ukraine for 10 years setting up medical missions trips and ministering to the orphans of Ukraine.  We are so delighted he is joining us with his expertise!

Chris and Mary Malone are an American couple with 9 children who decided to move to Ukraine after adopting 4 boys with Down Syndrome from Ukraine.  We met Mary at last year's conference and knew she was a kindred spirit!  They have 5 birth children, one of whom has DS.  They're like us...but younger!!!  Delighted they can join us!

The Down Syndrome group in Kiev are sending two young men to tell us more about their wonderful group.  The more we read about it the more impressed we are!  The DS group have sent letters to 220 social workers in rehab centers across Ukraine asking them to come to the conference for training.  We are amazed!

My husband David will be presenting as well as helping to make sure everything runs smoothly.  I will REALLY  miss not being there this year but I cannot leave the children for 12 days and come back only to leave again in two weeks for our adoption appt.  I will be there in spirit.

Pastor Sasha Skripak and his lovely wife Olya are our partners in Ukraine who put this all together.  The young people from their church act as our interpreters, techno wizards, set up and break down team, promotional team, program printers, and all around amazing workers!  We could not do this without the months of work they put into it.  Pastor Sasha is a wonderful speaker and will close the conference.

I forgot, we have a Ukrainian mom and her daughter with DS who will be sharing with us.  We met them last year and were so impressed with them both.  They have gone against the flow and have accomplished amazing things!

We started out giving them Hope.  Americans showing Ukrainians what we do.  This year Ukrainians will be showing Ukrainians how to make a difference. 

Isn't that a better plan?  God is so good!

Blessings to you all,  Jane







Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Summertime and the living is easy?

At the Daulton house the living in the summertime is not exactly as the song says.  We are a full house here with 8 kids schedules to juggle... that means camps, doctor appointments, summer school......  I truly don't know how you homeschoolers do it. 
We travel soon we hope, maybe mid august.  We should be fundraising for our Molly but are caught up in fundraising for our 3rd annual conference in Kiev.  We only have 10 days until departure so all our efforts are going into meeting the budget for this conference.  We partner with Almaz Church in Kiev and they find the hall, do the promos, take reservations, arrange for our stay, do the printing, and send us the bill.  It has gotten so big.  Use to be a ma and pa thing but it's grown beyond us.  Thank God.
This conference sprung up from one presentation to the young adults at Almaz who wanted to work with special needs orphans but knew little about them.   We covered the basics.  One of the questions was, "What do kids with DS look like?"  All we had was a scrapbook which we shared.  It had all 7 of our kids with DS who are all different.  These kids are not seen on the street, if they are kept at home then they are kept at home.  Ukraine does not have any handicap accessibility to speak of so travel for these kids is hard.
Pastor Sasha asked us to please come back and do a conference in six months on the Needs for Children with Disabilities.  We said, "Right.  Come here in the winter in just six months.  I don't think so."  But God had a plan and we were back in six months presenting with our group of 5.  We took our Anya with us because she was the first child with DS to get out of Ukraine as far as we know and she is a charmer.  She was our photographer but she mostly took pictures of the ladies boots.  Many people got their picture taken with her.  There were even a few moms who were brave enough to come with their disabled child.  It was wonderful!
                                                                
 
Anya taking a picture of herself.  We get a lot of these!

The next year we had 15 presenters!  Such a great group who worked so hard!  Our keynote speaker was Jenny Jensen,  a young lady with DS who delivered a great message and brought the house down!
I will write about this upcoming conference very soon.  It's bus time!!!  God bless!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

It's a grand old name

     We are so very excited about adding to our family once again and have been "nesting" as we make room for one more.  We should be able to travel sometime in august and get this last girl home.  We've known Heather for three years.  When we were in the orphanage in November to get our Marina we spent a lot of time with Heather.  Well, she came running every time she saw us and demanded attention!  She adopted us then!
     This will be our fifth girl and we've not run out of names like I have for the boys.  There are eight of those boys!!!   We've decided to name her after my mom.  It will be mom's 27th grandchild, her thirteenth granddaughter.  She would love it that someone is finally going to use her name.  There was an old song she use to sing to us that went like this....
     For it was Mary, Mary, long before the fashions came,
     But in society, propriety they say Marie,
     For it was Mary, Mary, strong as any name can be,
     For there is something there, that sounds so square,
     It's a grand old name!

     It is fitting that Mary Monica gets a namesake.  We will call her Molly which was also mom's nickname.  I believe her dad called her Molly Mae.  It fits this little one to a tea.  Love you mom!                                                         

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A Giant Leap!!!!!

I stand amazed and humbled at the same time.  Just three days ago our total donations stood at $89.50 and I was feeling very alone.  The grant we applied for didn't come through our fund raising has been  for our conference entitled, Change Our Future,  on July 27th in Kiev, Ukraine.   It's easy to get discouraged in this adoption journey and feel the weight of it all on your shoulders. 
That's how I was feeling Monday night as I checked my FB account.  I decided to check my blog to see if the paypal had gone up.  I lost my breath when I saw the total......11,114.70!!!  In just one day!!  I showed it to david as tears of joy ran down my face.  My first thought was the incredible goodness of God and my next was how undeserving I am.   I've had so many doubts and tried to carry this myself and yet...... He is faithful.
This has given me the boost I needed to believe this will all work out.  We still have a ways to go but are so very encouraged.  Thanks to all of you who are being His hands and feet.  We are grateful.
God bless you all!!!!!!! 

Friday, June 14, 2013

Countdown has begun!

Our dossier was finally submitted last Wednesday and the countdown has begun!  We have an upcoming missions trip leaving on July 21st and we were hoping to get the first part of the adoption process over at that time.   We've just found out that we will probably travel in the second part of August.  Bummer.  One thing we've learned in this life with this group of kids is how to be flexible so onward and upward!
We are presenting our third annual conference on Children with Disabilities in Kiev, Ukraine on July 27th and it is shaping up to be an awesome conference!  Last summer we had 14 people present at our conference and we imagined it would be bigger this year.  God has shaped our conference into something entirely different and better!  We do have three presenters from the states, excluding us, and we are thrilled about their involvement but the rest of the presenters live and work in Ukraine to make life better for children with disabilities.   So instead of us telling our Ukrainian friends how things are in America for these special kids and showing them how things can be, we will have presenters who can show them how they are making changes in their own country.  It is so exciting and we are humbled that God is using us.  If you would like to make donations toward this conference you can send a tax deductible gift to: Father's Heart, 3808 Poplar Hill Rd, Suite D, Chesapeake, Va.  23321.  Make checks out to Father's Heart.
We will return from that trip at the beginning of August and most likely leave again in just two or three weeks.  We have to do this in stages this time rather than stay over there 26 days like we did with Marina.  I will go with David for the first two trips as I have to be there and he will go back and pick up Heather on the third trip.  We covet your prayers!  We have no idea how we are going to pull this all off but believe that God is able and we rest in that.  (most of the time!)  If you want to donate for the adoption we have a paypal on this site or you can mail it to Father's Heart.  We thank you in advance for your prayers and generosity.  Please share this with your friends!
Just a picture before I go.
Marina Joy enjoying her mom's sweet tea on the front porch.  Does life get any better than this?
God bless you all!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Strutting our Stuff!

It was a great night at the Royal Courtyard where 20 models got to go down the runway for the first time ever.  Some were in wheelchairs, some used walkers, some held onto their assistant for dear life (like my Emily) and some you could hardly get off the runway!!!  This was a promotional event for Endless Expectations LLC, a company dedicated to making amusement park rides accessible to the handicapped.  I wish I'd been able to get better pictures but I'll share what I was able to do.
Emily, Anya and Marina took part in the show and the whole family had a grand time! 
Miss Marina was blown away by the music and the people and when it came her time to go down the runway she ran like a pony and clapped her hands.  I was able to get a still shot.

The girls got their makeup and jewelry done by the girls there and looked so pretty.  I was worried they wouldn't make until their names were called but they did a great job!
 
Em had to hold up Justin Beiber's picture for the next shot.  I think she held it when she went down the runway!
Tom and Ben got into the act too!
Just a few more before we say goodnight
Lani wouldn't look at me but she was there with her new haircut!

 
Jack was trying to hide his second plate of food!
 
We sure enjoyed ourselves at our first ever modeling event.  Thanks Endless Expectations for including us!
Goodnight all!