Our boys...

We are home for a brief holiday and the chance to prepare the home a little more specifically for our three new sons. Sons! That's right! December 26th made us the official parents of Max, Misha and Vitali, our little Ukrainian Angels. Once they were orphans; now they have joined our family! Praise God!

If you haven't been watching our adoption site then this is your first opportunity to meet our little guys! Let me give you a proper introduction to the newest Eimers':

Max, whose full name is Maximus Stephen Eimers, is eight years old. He is only about two weeks younger than our oldest girl, Hannah. He loves to draw and paint and play cars and kick around a soccer ball. I am sure he has many more interests too; we still have much to discover!

This picture was taken the day we had court. He was freshly "ours" but we couldn't tell him! As far as he knows, he's been ours right along anyway.

Misha. His full name is Mikhail James Eimers. Misha is 6 years old and quite a little ham. He loves to have his picture taken. He is also most likely to sit on our laps and color and is always very excited to see us and disappointed when we leave! He is happy, happy, happy and my bet is that he will make friends very quickly here in America.

He loved sledding and playing outdoors. I am glad that we have a big yard for all these boys! He also likes trains and cars--especially trains.
Vitali Luke Eimers. Ahhhh...Vitali! So much personality. He is a very busy little three-year-old who is constantly on the move. Consequently, I have taken many pictures of him but most are blurry or he isn't looking at the camera! He is very possessive of new toys and especially likes to have a bag to put them in. He loves things like purses for this reason. Ha ha! I surely hope he outgrows the purse thing! I am hoping we get to hold him more as we get settled as a family. For now, we have to be content with lifting him over our heads and catching him when he jumps. I am becoming well-acquainted with the Russian for "Pick me up to the ceiling!", "I'll do it myself!" and "I want to get down!"

I can't begin to tell you all the ways this whole experience has affected us. Beginning last November when we made the decision to pursue our plans to adopt till now when we are so overjoyed to have finally met the objects of our pursuit! The work of preparation, the waiting, the anxiety of financial pressures, the stress of the final decisions and the overwhelming joy when we saw the boys that first day and knew they would be ours. All this has been a package deal. Can't have the final prize without the work to attain it. And the story isn't over!

We praise God for His mighty hand all the way so far, and we pray that He will continue to make our paths straight. He has not only answered our prayers but also the unspoken prayers (we call them 'dreams') of three little boys on the other side of the ocean. And we will get the opportunity of introducing them to the One who has made their dreams come true. A blessing and an honor.

We will be leaving again for the final leg of this journey on January 7th. When we come home, amid the craziness of adjusting to family life, you can bet I'll be posting our new family picture!
Even if we aren't all smiling! Oh, boy, this is going to be an adventure!

What's Next?

Morning Glories growing up the front porch railings.
I love these! I planted them from cuttings I got from across the street in the ditch!

"Now that you're submitted; what's next?"
I'm so glad you asked!

First of all, to be submitted means that our facilitator/translator was able to get the SDA (social services in Ukraine) to accept our dossier (paperwork). This is HUGE. To get this far is a matter of many weeks of trying and failing. The problem mot being with our facilitator or with our dossier but due to the fact that the SDA does not feel much motivation to accept these. They have set limits and quotas and it is very hard to even get them to honor those. At any rate, we're in! Phew!

Now, it does not by any means guarantee smooth sailing from here on out (until we get 'in country') but it has been characteristically so for most others lately. This is very encouraging to us.

So, here is what happens now --probably :

• 20 business days after submittal we are to get our notice of our appointment date.
  For others, this has so far been very exact. 20 business days is about one month.
  This means mid-September for us.
  

• We get an appointment.
  This means an exact date and time to be at their office in Kyiv, Ukraine to view files of children and choose who we would like to meet.
  This is generally exactly three months from the submittal date. In our case, November 20th or so.
  

• In country, we will choose the file of siblings that we both agree on. Then will travel in a few days to the orphanage/s to meet the children and at that point accept or reject this referral.
  

• If we accept (let's hope we do!), then, most likely, our court date will be 20 days from then.
  

• After that we will wait 'in country' for another 10 days manditory waiting period in which anyone interested can appeal the court's decision.
  

• Once the children are ours (can't wait!), we will begin getting visas and passports for them. (The passport thing looks like it is working itself out as you will appreciate if you have been following our other blog.)

• Somewhere in there, Steve's mom will arrive as well as his oldest sister Laurie to help us escort the children home. This will be very helpful as we navigate customs and airports with 3 children who don't speak the same language as their parents!

• Home! (really can't wait for this!!!)
  This will be a very important and, I expect, crazy time where we all get to "bond" as a family. Just like with a new baby, we will want to just be with them and convey love and security. This is where reality will set in! LOL!
  

Hand-Painted Greeting Cards

As most of you know we are well into our process of adopting three children from the country of Ukraine. We are all at the same time so excited and scared and filled with the anticipation of meeting these children that we have never met yet love so deeply!

The adoption process itself is very costly and we have a whole lot of money to raise. One thing we are doing to make a bit on the side is to sell these greeting cards that I have hand-painted.

We are selling them in groups of six (assorted or all one design). If you are interested, please follow this link to our website that we have set up to chronicle our adoption process. The pricing lists are on our fundraising page and you can purchase them right there with a credit card.

The cards are blank inside and I have posted a few more designs on the website there.