Svitlana's Adoption Update--Keep praying!

25 October 2007
Kiev Ukraine

Dearest Family and friends,
I am sorry that this must be so short, we would like to share so many things with you but the access is limited here. Anyway, above all thank you for your prayers! I was a bit nervous before our interview today, but it went fine, they accepted us and will give us our referral, thanks be to God! Joseph is a great trooper and did everything with us today so well, all day out in the city here and there, wow! And of course Louie is a sweetie.

Tomorrow (FRI) our papers will be ready at the office (4-5:00), these are the papers we must bring to the office in Lviv. Only, it is not Lviv now, but some little town called Yavoriv (sp?). We have NO IDEA where we will stay while we are there! Please pray for that. Now we are staying with the director of all pro-life work in Ukraine, she and her husband are very wonderful people!!!

We are 8 hours ahead of the States.

We will take a train at 5:00pm on Saturday and arrive in Lviv at 11:00pm. We hope we will have a place to stay for that night. Then on Sunday (Joseph's birthday) we will try and make our way to Yavoriv and find someplace to rent.
Whew!

There is so much to say, it is a crazy place. Anyway, we are well, thanks be to God!
Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray for the many steps yet to come, especially the people in Yavoriv, for so much will depend on their work.
Much love,
Mara and family

Bring out the sweaters!

The current temperature is....drumroll please...

47 degrees!!!

See ya--I'd better enjoy it while it's here :)

29 Week Checkup

29 weeks and counting down!

Today was my 1 hour glucose test--forced to drink orange pop :) My kind of force-feeding!

I have never brought Henry along to an prenatal appointment, and today wasn't going to be an exception, EXCEPT that factors out of our hands rendered my friend unable to watch him. Even then, I was on my way to drop Henry with Karl during his lunch break, when the Little Man fell asleep. I was running behind, so the prospect of shaving a few minutes off the trip by keeping the slumbering son with me won out over the possibility that he may wake up.

Well, sure enough he woke up as soon as we arrived at the office, and being Henry, wanted to run free. Ugh. We had to literally baracade the door to keep him from wandering through the building. Thankfully, the nurses were as eager to get us moving as Henry was, and we were in and out in little more than an hour--including the Glucose test.

Henry made friends with the birds and all the Hospital staff on their lunch breaks. And won a rubber bug and bubbles from the lab technician for being patiant while mommy had her blood drawn.

We'll get check-ups every two weeks now. Tick, Tock!

Mr Mischief!

Climbing Henry 004sml
Originally uploaded by The-Charbas

As I was pulling apart the computer to retrieve a cd that had been pushed BETWEEN two drives, I was missing the real fun in the bathroom! Henry, you make me laugh :)

A Trip to the Garden

Trying to beat the heat, Henry and I ventured out early to join friends on a garden adventure.

Upon arriving at the Bastrop Gardens, we were greeted by a large flock of guineas. Talk about an exciting welcome! The three boys were very curious of these new animals. But soon curiosity turned to pure fun as the three took turns chasing and herding their new pets. (Check out the accompanying video on youtube)

What a great time to visit a butterfly garden! Butterfly migration was in full swing. Our early arrival caught the butterflies sleeping or drowsy, so we were able to get up close and personal.

We knew it was time to head home when Henry decided to invade the hen house, and the mosquitoes got in the way of enjoying the scenery.

But what a pleasant morning we had!

Herding Guineas

Here is the video of Henry and the Guineas--Go Henry!

Your prayers...

Thank you all for the prayers you've offered for the intentions listed here. I received word today that the adoption of Svitlana is marching steadily along!! Yay!

Mara sends her happy thanks and an update:

+ACM

Dear Friends,
Thanks be to God we have wonderful news to share! We learned today that we will be leaving for [the] Ukraine in just 2 weeks! Our appointment with the Adoption Committee in Kiev is October 25th. Can you even believe it!?! We were very surprised, since the last we heard was that we would not have news until after the 16th or so. Thank you SO VERY much for your prayers and your joyful support. We can't wait for you to meet her!
It will still likely be complicated and possibly quite a long process. We only dream we could be home for Thanksgiving. However it might take more than a month. We are continuing to pray for it to go smoothly and efficiently.
Thank you again for your prayers!!! We'll fill you in on our plans as we have them.
With much love,
Andrew, Mara, Joseph, Aloysius (and Svitlana)

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So keep storming heaven--God is listening!