Thankful Thursday!

Today marks exactly four weeks since our dossier was submitted to the Ukrainian government and in the midst of the wait, we are THANKFUL.

Here is how God is caring for us while we wait to go get our daughter. (I love saying that!)

1) We've had the privilege of having a "mother's helper" this summer once a week who is a few years older then Irina. The boys love her and have welcomed her as part of our family. God has used this dear girl to continue to prepare the boys for their new sister. So cool to watch!

2) We were connected with a wonderful woman also waiting to bring home her adopted daughter. I'll call her Ashley for privacy purposes. Ashley is adopting Irina's friend and classmate from her orphanage. Ashley and her family are one step ahead of us and in Ukraine right NOW. She was so kind to spend an hour on the phone with me last week before she travelled and gave me so much helpful information.

3) Today, Ashley sent me three pictures and a video of Irina "talking" to us!!!! Can you believe how precious this is? Let me just say I got a bit choked up and I've watched the video at least 5 times. :) Wish I could share the photos, but I can't for privacy purposes. She looks thin, but healthy. Her hair is growing with blond highlights and it's wavy. They didn't shave it at camp! Praise the Lord. Ashley told me that Irina was so eager to talk to us and colored a picture for us, which she will mail when she returns to the states.

4) We also got word today that our dossier was APPROVED!!! This is huge because Ukraine is so picky about the formatting of the dossier. We know of other families that have had theirs rejected on technicalities. We also have an adoption reference number and are now just waiting for our travel dates. They expect we'll get those soon. Can you believe it?! This is an answer to prayer. Still not sure of when we'll travel, but I'm sure I'll blog about it. One step closer...

We have so much for which to be thankful. Thank you for praying. God is at work! He is teaching me a lot about control and trusting Him. It is not easy to learn and I'm humbled quite a bit. I had no idea what we were in for when we decided to "just host" last October, but God knew exactly what was going to happen. ;) I need to fasten my seatbelt, because I think this ride is just getting going.