We’re leaving for the airport soon. This is the day we have been praying about for a year. We cannot believe that we are leaving as a family of three and prayerfully coming back as a family of four. Last night I searched some Scriptures to find what God might be saying in the midst of my prayers. He took me back to some verses I have memorized and have used through many circumstances of life. I read Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” I cannot tell you how many times those verses have encouraged and instructed my heart. Now, we will lean on them more than ever. Through travel plans, terror alerts, meeting new people in whom we will entrust our lives, and most importantly, meeting our new child for the first time, we know we can trust in our Lord! You can too!
We may not be able to put another blog on for a few days, but I wanted to give you our plans for the week (as far as we know them). We will arrive in Kiev, Ukraine at 2:20 pm (that’s 7:30 am EST) on Tuesday. Wednesday, we hope to tour Kiev and take in the culture of Eastern Europe. The weather is a bit colder there, in fact, we heard they may get a little snow mixed with rain today! Thursday is our BIG day! Our appointment at the State Department of Adoption (SDA) is 11 am (4 am EST). At the SDA we will see pictures of a few children and have about 30 minutes to choose who we will see. If we accept one of the referrals, we will travel the next day to the region of the orphanage. We hope to meet the child on Saturday. From that point, we will need to make a final decision if this is the child we want to adopt. A court hearing will follow 7 to 10 days later. If the hearing is successful we will stay in that region for the mandatory 10 day waiting period. This process is what our agency has outlined but said may or may not happen. Ukraine works on their own schedule, not ours. We have to be flexible and use the spiritual fruit of patience!.
Thank you all for your prayers! We hope to be back in contact with you by Wednesday. God bless you all!
Hamlin Adoption Journey Blog 