The overwhelming sense of relief, thankfulness, and joy I feel as I write this is much like I felt after giving birth to my four biological children. Getting this visa was the very last thing that we needed to complete our adoption of Alona. Yes, she has officially been ours for 10 days now, but we could not leave Ukraine and start her new life with our family without this little piece of paper. I guess you could liken it to getting your discharge papers at the hospital and being able to take your baby home for the first time. I plan to write a blog post about my overall feelings and thoughts on our adoption process when I am able to get home and process it all for a bit.
We woke up this morning to a bright, sunny day...the first time this has happened since arriving in Kiev last week-end! We headed straight to the medical exam to have Alona's chest x-ray taken. We sat in a crowded hallway for about 1 1/2 hours while waiting to get the final health report.
Thankfully, everything looked perfectly healthy and clear, so we decided to head to the embassy early in hopes of being seen sooner. We were admitted to the embassy, and were quickly seen. We had all of the necessary documents required for the visa application, and everything was submitted successfully! We waited for 45 minutes, and then they called us to the window to receive Alona's visa!! It took every ounce of self control not to break out into a happy dance right there in the lobby. I tried to take a picture of Alona with her new visa in front of the embassy, but was quickly told that was not aloud. So instead, I snapped a couple of pictures of the embassy from the car, and took a picture of Alona with her visa at lunch:) While eating, the rain returned, and we were caught without an umbrella. We ran home in the pouring rain, and I was worried that her documents were going to be drenched. Thankfully, they were dry and intact.
We are now holed up in our hotel room, drying out and resting. We have to leave the hotel at 3 am to head to the airport to fly home!!!! Please pray that we have safe travels. I cannot wait to see Alona meet her little sisters for the first time. Please continue to pray for Alona as she adjusts to her new life. Pray that she has peace and feels "at home" quickly. Pray that the Lord calms her fears and sadness about leaving Ukraine behind. Thank you all for following along with us throughout our adoption. We will continue to need your prayers and support as we navigate through the adjustment period, and I will continue to blog frequently to share the ups and downs of our family life.
"The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made"
Psalm 145:13
I am sure the four beautiful little girls I saw last night at church are going to be sooooo excited to see their Mommy and meet this new sister they have been hearing about!! Thank you for sharing this journey and allowing all of us to see how God has brought this whole thing together in His time!!
ReplyDeleteThe word perseverance just came to me so I looked it up.."continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure or opposition" so then I looked up some scripture that talked about perseverance..interesting that one of those is found in 1Corinthians 13:6-7 NIV Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes , always perseveres.
Hopefully this will help Alona know how much you wanted and loved her....You and Ryan persevered, no matter what happened. to bring her home.
Praying for safe travel and making connections,
Mary Bennett