The Red Thread

The red bow represents the day when the both ends of the red thread are finally together forever

Other families feel the same way

This video clip was on the NY Times website and I thought it was worthy of sharing. Goes to show you that the feelings towards these kids is amazingly strong wherever they end up. Click here:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=1fcc42aae5ab087230037caf93af61dd10109a93

Our angel is 11 years old today!

HAPPY BIRTHAY YULIYA!! 11 YEARS OLD!!

Our wonderful friend Elena, who is here from Ukraine with her husband while he attends BYU, helped us call Yuliya today to wish her a Happy Birthday. (Thank you Elena!!) We hadn't spoken to Yuliya since Dec. 22, so it was so nice to hear her voice again. The first thing that Yuliya asked was when we are coming for her. Nothing was harder than telling her that because of stupid paperwork and waiting periods, we would probably be there for her next birthday. She was thinking that we would be there in the next few months, but that was before we realized we had to start from scratch. However, we reassured her that the time is coming and we are doing everything possible to hurry it up. The emotions come flooding back as we talked. Hearing her voice was wonderful and heart-wrenching.

We have a few presents we were going to send, but decided to wait until we spoke to her. Good thing, because she told us she wants a Bratz doll with blonde hair. (yup, she's 11 alright!) Her friend Nadia also got on the phone and thanked us for sending her a gift in the last package and told us to write her letters too. And of course, we promised her a Bratz doll too.

Yuliya mentioned that her dad had stopped by and given her a gift. We're not yet exactly sure how will play out long-term. Should this be a concern?

We love you, Yuliya, and miss you so much. We are still coming for you! Not a minute goes by where we don't think about you. Love, Mama and Papa.

New website

We've got our new website up: www.OurLittleAngel.org. This site is for the sole purpose of raising money for our little angel. Check it out...and if you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Friends

This is one of Yuliya's best friends. Her name is Alona. She was a charming little girl who bloomed with joy whenever Yuliya was around. Yuliya had a way with her like nobody else did. We found out recently that Alona has been adopted by a family in Spain.

Reflection

Last night, we were talking about how excited we are that the papers are in hand and now it is just a matter of time before we get our little girl. Carrie went silent for a few moments. I asked her was was wrong. She told me in a somber tone how although she is so excited about getting Yuliya, she can't help be feel sorrow for her birth mother. She reflected on how hard it must have been to have a baby at 14, do whatever you could to raise her for 6 years, and then suddenly have to give her to an orphange in hopes she will have a better life. Despite the mother's circumstances, it was probably excruciatingly painful to give up her baby.

After an adoption in Ukraine, all records from the previous family are sealed and a new birth certificate will be issued. We may never know who her mother is or what the whole story is. But we will know that this was not easy. We'll be forever grateful to her.

A major milestone!

We got a call from Yuri and Ellie this morning. They got a text message from Ukraine: 'Papers have been signed and notarized. It was very difficult!'. That's all of the information that we have. They have not spoken with the facilitator over there yet. Right now, all that matters is that after 3 months of hard work, we NOW HAVE THE PAPERWORK!!! Thank you Vladimir!

To all who prayed for this to happen...thank you!! Someone even put our name in the Provo temple yesterday afternoon. Yuri told us that it would take a small miracle, and that's just what happened.

A letter from Yuliya...perfect timing!

We got our second letter from Yuliya today. Perfect timing! To see the letter, CLICK HERE. We'll post the translation when we get it.

Your prayers for 24 hours, please?

Good news! We spoke to Yuri today and he told us Yuliya's mother was found. Finally!! However, she lives on the streets with other people (we are not sure exactly what this means), and has nothing to gain by helping us. Regardless, someone is going up to her location tomorrow where they will meet her and the father, then drive them to Sumy to get all of the paperwork signed. We are nervous that she won't sign, they will be hostile with each other for the ride, etc. The facilitator is a little nervous about it all too. It is imperative that she signs. We are praying hard and ask that you think about Yuliya in your prayers and that everything goes smoothly. Will update tomorrow...

Video of our little angel...

Vladimir went at the orphanage . While there, he found out that Yuliya was in the hospital with some sort of bug. He reassured us that this was standard practice for the orphans, even if they get a cold. He brought Yuliya some medicine and was able to capture some video on his cell phone. I had to rotate the video 90 degrees and this stretched her out a little bit. She is also a little pekid, as you can see. In the video, Vladimir asks her who she is, where she is from, and if she wants to say hello to us. After a few seconds, you can clearly hear her say 'mama and papa'. Carrie cried through it all the first time she saw it, even though 'mama and papa' were the only words she understood. (I turned off the background music so you can see this...)

A setback

We've been informed that 50% of the gov't paperwork on Yuliya's side is not in place as everyone thought it was. Before we go any further, this has to be taken care of. This means that we are at least 1 year out from when we can adopt her! So, we are going to try to time everything so that we are in Ukraine at the 1 year mark. Even though this is a significant setback, we worry about Yuliya. She's gone so long with nothing to hope for, and now that she knows we are coming for her, each day might as well be a thousand years for her. We pray she does not loose hope.

We're all in this together.

We've gotten so many sweet emails from wonderful families that are going through this too! Thank you for your kind emails and comments.

We are now under contract!

Today we are officially under contract with our facilitators, http://www.adoptionway.com/! There are a lot of complexities involved when adopting from Ukraine. Yuri and his staff are familiar with them all. He's already been working closely with us, making sure everything is in place.

Hello Nadya

In Yuliya's letter, she included a picture of her friend 'Nadya'. Yuliya tells us that she 'loves dogs, cats and toys' and 'wants a family'. Isn't she a doll? All of the Ukrainian kids are beautiful. We are not ruling out bringing back more than just Yuliya, especially when we get pictures like this. If we had the means, we'd bring the whole orphanage back with us.

Letter from our little girl

We finally got a letter from Yuliya a few days ago. Talk about joy! It came at just the right time. I was wondering what was going on in her mind. We had given her stationery and money for stamps, but alas, she is in a 10-year old orphan and writing and sending a letter from is no simple task for a 10-year old! We found some wonderful friends, 1 of which is from Ukraine herself, to help translate (A huge THANK YOU for your help). This is a picture that she drew at the end of her letter.

Hello,
How are you? I'm fine. When are you going to come to Ukraine? I want to go to America very much. I don't like to be here, they beat me and hurt me. Yura Sumiga wants to go back to America and he asks why no one wants him there. There is a girl in Ukraine, she wants to go to America, to a family, her name is Nadya. I'm attaching a photo of Nadya with this letter. She likes cats and dogs, and toys. I want to go to America very much. Our tutors say I shouldn't go there, but I say that will go in any case. Pasha (Pavel) and Dima say hi to their parents and to you too.

I love you.
Merry Christmas

Well, I'm finishing this letter.

There was another small, handwritten letter included with Yuliya's. It was from Yura, one of the boys that came over with the group. Evidently, he is the only child out of 6 from the group that is not going to be adopted. From the comments that Yuliya made in her letter, he knows this and want to know why. He writes :

"Mommy, please, send me a package. I love you, mommy. Please, send me a letter. I want you to take me to America forever. I will come sometimes to America, but I don't know...

Bye, I love you.
Yura "