Excitement, relief, ton of things to do...

We finally have our new appointment date with the SDA!  I am thankful to finally know - the relief is a welcome feeling!!!!!!!  I had been praying that it would be on 11/23 and God answered that prayer!  We are excited to finally make the preparations to go and get our son!

With a Christmas miracle in mind - we could make it back by Christmas Eve!  If we do - Praise God!!! and if we don't - Praise God!!!  I am learning that He is in total control and that every day is His to do with what He sees fit.  It is not an easy lesson to learn and I still struggle - but it is getting a bit easier.  Feel free to remind me of this when I am whining because I miss my family after beeing overseas for 4 weeks! 

Now the flurry of activity begins!  Due to the holiday travel - we have to leave on Thursday of next week instead of Friday as we thought.  So we now have 6 days to get everything done!  We are in pretty good shape since we had started - but now I have to organize that sea of suitcases and do some last minute errand running! 

We decided to go ahead and get the H1N1 vaccine - our doctor suggested it due to us being overseas and the outbreak there, he felt it put us in a higher risk than if we stayed here.  One more thing to get done...but better safe than sorry.  I bought dayquil, nyquil, immunization boosting vitamins, and miscellaneous cold/flu meds to take over.  I also have a friend who is donating a box of masks to take over - we will give what we have left to the orphanage to use. 

All the families I am working with also got their travel dates - let's just put it this way - there will be alot of hoosiers in Ukraine over the holidays!  Everyone is so excited to begin their journey - the anticipation has been building and finally they can spring in to action!  It is funny how quickly the excitement wanes in light of so many things being out of their control....I just pray that God will give them (and me!) the strength we need to hold on and to walk the path He has already ordered.  It is one thing being able to "talk the talk" but a whole other situation in being able to "walk the walk".  Your faith is stretched beyond what you could ever imagine - but somehow you get through it and come out so much stronger on the other side. 

My prayer for each and every family is that God will be glorified in every way, every day.  That they will be an encouragement for each other, and hold each other up when needed, just like in the battle in Exodus: 
Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.  Exodus 17:12 

I will try to update as I can while I am gone!  I am excited to see all that God has planned and to share that with you!  Please pray for our health, our families health, our new son's health, and all of our safety.  I pray that this Thanksgiving - we will truly understand the meaning of thankfulness and from where our blessings come....God bless.