Home but there....

Greetings from Indiana,
We are adjusting to home. Most all of us have jet lag.
We are obviously torn. We are hoping some conversations over the next couple of days that will move our situation forward. Here are two pics we took before we left.
We traveled for 25 hours. There is so much grace in all that we have gone through
with travel, people, protection, and relationships. So blessed.
Thank you all for your prayers!
Mark (and Diane)

Spending time with our new family members!!

Greetings!
We are working into getting into a rhythm and spending about 2 hours a day with Katarina and Nathaniel. Today Katarina told each us "I love you" in English. She is very smart and independent. Nathaniel is just adorable, with his big brown eyes and smile. He adores his sister but he is truly warming up to his new brothers and sister.
We are enduring and God has brought His people into our life here to encourage us.
We are learning life on the Odessa metro system for 2 hours a day. But it is worth it.
The kids are picking up so much of the culture and language it is fun to watch and listen to them.
Tonight we ate varenyky--kinda like a ravioli without the sauce.

Blessings to all!
Mark

Meet our new children

Greetings all!
We have got to spend 2 days with our new children. They are calling us "poppa" and "momma". They are healthy, beautiful, and so bright. We hoping to see them tomorrow or Monday at the latest. What a joy to get to know them. Everything is moving ahead on the paperwork. We even filled our their official paperwork for their passport. It was strange seeing their name written out and then signing them.
We have settled into an apartment that is great for the kids and us to get some normalcy.

In Odessa,
Mark and Diane

Ukraine... 9 days and waiting.

Greetings!
Still waiting.... We had a glimmer of hope today but no word yet. Elton John got turned down from Ukraine today...We haven't yet. Maybe they spent all their time crafting their denial for him and now they can help us out with a girl :). We visited an Orthodox church complex today including a catacombs filled with dead Orthodox priests and icons...very interesting. And then went to the Russian/German war of 1941-1945 monuments (seems like someone is missing, wonder what Gen. Patton would think of that)
We saw up close the 'mother motherland' statue, very cool. The kids are doing so good and willing to try new things (there are lots of new things to experience). We tried the metro system by ourselves today which we did well. Nothing is in English here so it hard to decipher. Though I learned from my friend Robert that the language is based on Greek so now I look at it differently and i am now picking it up much quicker at least in written form like the metro. The kids are picking up words as well.
Waiting...waiting. We did some school today so it was good to have some normal time.
Hope all is well...
Mark

Waiting...sightseeing....

Greetings all!

The weather has been awesome here so we have been able to venture out a little each day. Usually to the market. Yesterday we went to see Saint Sophia Orthodox church, St. Andrews Orthodox, and an Orthodox monastery. We also got to climb a bell tower and ran into a couple from New Orleans (currently in Germany). So few people speak English is was good to converse in our own language. We went to a different Mcdonalds and also got ice cream (try ordering a Mcflurry to a Ukrainain). We have been a here a week and feels like we are burning time. We are learning patience unpatiently.
We are praying for good news on Monday.
mark

Ukraine for Katarina

Greetings!
We continue to be in wait mode. We ventured out some today and saw a couple of sights and then visited a friend who lives in Kiev. We had dinner, wonderful conversation, and the kids got to play. A big first for the kids, their first taxi ride (2X) and a Ukrainian taxi at that...driving here is more like the Indy 500 and demolition derby (with horns) mixed together. They have more than their quota of Lexus's, benz, and beemers. Thankful we have internet now and are able to feel more connected. Thanks Jason! We are hoping to hear soon.
Mark

Safely in Ukraine...waiting

Greetings all!

We made it safe in Ukraine. Most of you get our e-mail so I won't be redundant. We are anxious yet cautious. We probably have never felt more out of control in our life.
SDA, language, culture, and no child the first day....
It is very humbling...
I will try to upload a picture or two...
Mark

Chick-fil-a Results

We are excited to post that we received a check for $410.28 from Chick-fil-a toward
our adoption! Thank you to everyone who supported us in coming out or praying for us!
Every bit of money gets us closer to our goal! For bringing home 1 child, we have reached our goal!!! We are just a little short of our goal for bringing home 2 children! We take comfort in knowing that God knows how many children we will bring home, and will provide everything we need! He has provided every emotional and financial need to this point. We have no reason to doubt Him now!
May God bless all of you for your support and prayers for us as we are on this journey!
We are sooo close now! We are nervous and excited all at the same time. God is good and faithful!

The Coop was Full! Chick-fil-A Adoption night was a HUGE success!!

Greetings all!

What an moooooving night! There was a moment when I looked up from making balloons and all I saw was people, lots and lots of people. The parking lot was so full that people either went through drive thru or parked @ Chipotle. We are so appreciative and humbled by everyone's generosity. It was truly marvelous to see so many come along side our journey of adoption. We heard that in one hour they did $1,300.
Thank you to all who came and sent their well wishes. We feel truly blessed!
The Goins Gang

Chick-fil-a

Just wanted you all to know that if you needed a flyer for Chick-fil-a, just
email us and we'll send you one. We are having a hard time posting one on our blog!
Sorry!. . .back to packing!

Come Join us at Chick-fil-a

Please mark your calendars and join us this Tuesday, August 25th, 5:00-8:00pm. We will be having a celebration party at Chick-fil-a. Chick-fil-a will give us 20% of their profits for our adoption. All you have to do is present them with a card (which we will post as soon as we receive it) between 5pm & 8pm at the 86th Street Chick-fil-a.
We will have a person making animal balloons for the kids, and possibly a magician.
Look for the card to print out on our next post!

We Have a Date!!

We are so excited to tell you that we have an appointment date with The State Department of Adoption!! Our date is September 7th. We will leave September 4th, and plan to arrive in Kiev on the 5th! We sure weren't expecting things to go this quickly!
The kids are sooo excited! Mark had the kids doing more of our "Ukrainian training" tonight. "Ukrainian training" is walking with bricks in our backpacks for a minimum of 25 minutes! Ethan is quizzing us on our Russian; and with Johnna from America World Adoption Agency keeping us posted on all the paperwork we need to travel,we are good to go! We would appreciate your continued prayers as we seek God's wisdom and protection.
God has been so good to guide us every step so far, we know He will continue to go before us! If you are able to do so we are still accepting tax deductible donations @
http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html through paypal.

We are truly amazed at this journey God has us on! Thank you for sharing it with us!

Make a Donation through PayPal

Greetings all!

We have been so encouraged by the events of the previous week. Our information being formally submitted, getting a grant from "Show Hope", learning we may get a date to travel by the end of this month which would put us there around the end of Sept, we made over $1,700 at our garage sale. You can now donate on line at paypal. Here is the the web link:
http://www.lifesongfororphans.org
Click on "Make a donation" and in the description box, type "for Katarina Goins, account #726". There will be a fee taken out for the transition

We figure we need around $8,000.
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

Mark and Diane Goins

Garage Sale Report

Greetings!

We have had a successful weekend of our Garage Sale. I can't begin to count how many people and families have helped this week.thanks to all!!! We have raised almost 1600 in the past 2 days.
We have more items to sell on Craigs list and ebay that were donated as well. We are finished with our sales for the summer and now wait for notice for when we are to travel. Thank you for hearing our story, the Lord's story of Redemption.

Submission Day!

Well, today was the day that our dossier was submitted to the State Department of Adoption in Kiev. We received a phone call that we needed to change 1 document, and send an additional document (a copy of the first 2 pages of our 1040 tax form).
We made a rush to have the documents notarized, apostilled, and scanned. We also sent the originals to Ukraine. Not what we had planned for today (as we are getting ready for our garage sale this weekend), but this was fixable!
We continue to rely on God for His wisdom and provision!
He is faithful!
The Goins Gang

Fort Wilderness

The Goins Gang just returned from our family camp in Wisconsin.
We enjoyed a great time together and with our Church family.
Riding horses, playing and swimming in the lake, listening to Loons, campfires,and great conversations.

Adoption Update

We just wanted to update everyone since we have not posted in a while.
We are in the process of redoing documents as they have expired (Most documents expire after 6 months for Ukraine). We need to have all documents done this week so they can be in Ukraine and translated by August 3rd (when our dossier is officially submitted in Kiev). We are told that we can expect a travel date 2-3 months after our dossier is submitted. It could then be 1-2 months after that when we travel. So, we could be traveling anytime between November and January. The bottom line is. . .we don't know when we will travel!! We continue to trust that God's timing is perfect and He will continue to care for Katarina until we can go get her! In the meantime, we continue to read books on Ukraine and adoption, and learn the language.
We continue to apply for grants, and are preparing for our garage sale on August 7 & 8. If you have any items you wish to donate, please drop them off anytime after July 27th. As best as we can figure, we are still about $15,000 short of our goal. Due to Mark being a pastor, we do not anticipate receiving an adoption credit from the government. God has been so good to supply all our needs to this point! We will continue to trust Him for the rest!
Please pray that God will continue to prepare us for bringing Katarina or a sibling group home. The more we read, the more we realize we have a lot to learn! This is just another reminder of our dependence on God!!

Coe's Homemade Noodles

The friends I told you about that came to our garage sale on Saturday brought some of their homemade noodles. We sold out of the noodles that they brought, but you can order some by emailing Judy: judymcoe@comcast.net
or by writing her: Judy Coe P.O. Box 519 Lynn, IN 47355

Garage Sale & Thankful Thursday

We are excited to tell about our Garage Sale success! God was so good to give us great weather! We couldn't have asked for a better day! Our current total for the two days is $2,508.15!! And we still aren't done!! We have added some pictures to give you an idea of the sale. Also, I wanted to share how we were so blessed to have friends of ours, Judy and Sarah, from Lynn, Indiana surprise us on Saturday! They came with their famous noodles that they make, and with 2 large bags of coins. Judy got this idea of "changing lives" when their daughter, Sarah and husband were needing $6,500 in a week's time to adopt their little boy from China. God blessed them with twice the amount of money they needed!! The change they brought on Saturday added up to be $200.50!! Can you believe that?
Thanks to all who helped with our sale! (32 families donated items and 19 people helped). We cannot thank you enough! We felt so much love and support! How fun it will be to tell Katarina of how so many people loved her before they even met her!
We are thankful that God continues to show us that He will provide our every need.
Trust and obey. . .

Thankful Thursday

It is quiet now. We are hours away from the chaos of our mammoth garage sale. We have had so many people come and go this week. Some dropping off items others helping to organize, two angels brought our food for the next 2 days, others have already bought items. We have already made over $100. But tonight I am thankful. My beautiful, hard working, always gracious wife is amazing. She has worked tremendously hard the past week preparing for these two days. She is...as Wendell Berry says: "trying catch something she cannot see" (from What are people for? His chapter on fishing). She knows not the girl who will enter our home to be grafted into our family or what the outcome of the garage sale as we strive to raise money to redeem our daughter. But she works as if she knows...she works as if it is in her reach...she works (labors) for a child's life. To be married to such woman is more than a blessing....may her children rise a call her blessed!!!! My praise to the Father for my wife and companion!

Thankful Friday!

This morning I am feeling very rich! Does that mean I live in a mansion and have the finest of things? NO! But I am able to freely worship a God who is worthy of praise and does not need me, but who loves me anyway (Our morning devo time with the kids this week has involved singing "I am so glad that Jesus loves me"--the end of that song says "Jesus loves even me"--even when I don't trust Him, even when I am selfish. . .), my every need is provided for (that includes emotional and Spiritual if I just ask God),I have friends that go book shopping with me and help me with my crazy notions of having a HUGE garage sale, I have family (Mark's and mine) that spoil us rotten--thanks Mom and Barb(my sister) for a fun day of lunch and shopping :), and thanks Mom&Dad Goins for your encouragement and kindness, I am also surrounded by a lot of "stuff" that was given by generous and loving people who want to see orphans have a family. . .Can you tell my cup is overflowing? Trust me I have a lot more to say, but will leave it at that!

Thankful Thursday!

Today was the last day of Iowa testing for Ethan. This finishes up our school year with TMS--The Master's Study www.themastersstudy.org --a Classical,Monday-only school for home school students. We are very grateful for TMS. It has been a good fit for our family. Our children have benefited by learning from such wonderful teachers! We couldn't have asked for better! We are grateful for the vision that Lincoln & Linda Brill had for the school; and that the school continues to build on that vision. I feel like I have the best of both worlds--the opportunity to teach my children at home, and for them to glean from others!

A couple of days ago Ethan saw an owl in the tree. We enjoyed watching it but then Shasta (our dog) noticed something in the bushes and we found a baby owl. Here is the owl as I took it out of the bush to set it out to see if it was ok. Make sure your sound is on...

Thankful Friday!

Where did the time go this week?
Mark and I are both thankful for our Mothers!
Both of our Mothers are Christians. We are glad to have been raised to know God's Word and learn about Him. Both of our Mothers are hard workers!
Some of my best memories of my Mother are when she would fix me tea at 3a.m. when I was sick! What a servant! With each of our three children, she was here to help with laundry, dishes, reading to the kids, and fixing meals. As a kid, she spoiled me by using her hard-earned money to buy me surprises like banana flips after cheerleading practice, shoes, a boom-box, clothes out of JCPenney catalog, (The list is really too numerous to name everything--and the list continues to this day)! Thanks, Mom! Love ya, Diane
For my mom, my first thought is my mom praying...praying during her personal study, praying during communion, and praying when a child was out late. I also remember her listening to me as I paced and paced in the back room while she did laundry (funny I never offered to help :( ) And I am thankful she prayed to have a son who would be a pastor. I know she hasn't stopped...
Love ya, Mom! Mark

Just $25,000 to go!!!

We are getting to our $45,000 goal, slowly, but surely! We are in the process of applying for grants, and gathering garage sale items! We know that God ALWAYS provides what we need. Please pray for us to trust God and to listen to Him for direction in getting the $25,000 we still need! In buying our house, we were about $3,000 short before going into closing. We were given wise council to keep praying for more money! Within a few days, we "found some money hidden under a stone that we had not unturned"! Maybe there is a stone with $25,000 under it?!
Thank you to all of you who have been giving us garage sale items and encouraging us with your prayers! That means so much to us-that you would take time out of your busy schedules to pray for us in this process. We are also grateful that someone has been gracious enough to give us 20% of the profits from their new company toward our adoption! What's also nice about this is that you will receive a free $10 gift card! Of course, the hope for Mar-Lou Enterprises is that you will spend beyond your gift card! See the sidebar on the right for details!

Thankful Friday?

Today, I am thankful for homeschooling! I must admit that I am not thankful every day that we homeschool. (It is definitely not the easiest thing I have ever done!)
I like being able to use the curriculum that best fits each child, being able to go at each child's pace, being the one who teaches them to read, and having the flexibility to go to the children's museum when we want. I don't know that we will be doing this forever, but for now I am enjoying it! Also, I think it will be good for me to homeschool Katarina to get her caught up in the areas she will need help in!

Thankful Thursday!

(Ethan receiving his orange belt in Karate)
Well, this Saturday, our oldest child, Ethan will turn 10 YEARS OLD! Wow! It doesn't seem possible that we have had him for that long! What a blessing he has been to us! He is a true first born! He likes to be the captain of his own ship! He enjoys leading and teaching others! Our prayer for him has been that He will recognize that God is his leader, and to be willing to submit to HIS authority before ever leading someone else! His name sure fits him. Ethan in the Bible was a man who was a worship leader. Daniel, also Ethan's middle name, in the Bible, was a leader who followed after God and did not give in to cultural influences.
For the first 2 hours of Ethan's life, he was wide awake, looking around at everyone that was in the room. He didn't fuss or seem hungry. Ten years later, he is still that wide-eyed boy who gets his energy from being with others. He would even rather be with people than focus on eating. He is so full of life! We thank God for Ethan's life, and look forward to seeing how God will use him for His glory!

Thankful Thursday!

As I sit looking at bag upon bag of clothes, I am very grateful for those who pass on to us their "hand-me-downs"! It is like Christmas whenever we bring home bags of clothes. I couldn't ask for anything better. It's like the store comes to us. . .no standing in a dressing room for long periods of time trying outfits on. . .we get to do it in the comfort of our own home. . .what clothing budget?--we don't need one. . .and when our kids (and me) outgrow them, it's fun passing them on to someone else so they can have Christmas at their house! So many times, we have needed certain size shoes or pants, or Karis wanted a Ken doll that she didn't get for Christmas(guess what she found in a bag of clothes yesterday?), or I needed(wanted) mascara--thanks,Sis & Mom--We would find them like hidden treasures in a bag of "hand-me-downs"!
I am remembering how one is never too old to appreciate "hand-me-downs"--When my Grandmother died, my Mom passed on some of my Grandmother's things to Mark's Grandmother who commented more than once how she enjoyed wearing some of my Grandmother's things.

Thankful Thursday!

I have enjoyed reading "Vinegar Boy" to our boys! This book is an historical fiction about a boy who was abandoned by his parents and shunned by society. He is sure that he will be adopted once Jesus removes His ugly birthmark that scars his cheek. The day he goes to be healed by Jesus is when he sees Jesus being crucified. . .I won't give away the rest of the story, but it did cause me to put myself at the foot of the cross once again. How would I have reacted? angry? speechless? sad?
I can't help but state the obvious. . .
I am thankful for Jesus' death and resurrection!
Without Jesus' sacrifice for us, we would not be adopted into His family!
This really hits home now with me, of course, thinking about Katarina. . .
Going through this process has been a lot of work and emotionally trying at times, but nothing compared to dieing for someone. Will I ever fully grasp what that means for Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for my sins, so we can spend eternity together?
Oh, how I long to give Katarina love and a chance to have a family who loves her and cares for her, and to tell her about this man Jesus who died so that she could be a part of HIS family FOREVER!

Thankful Thursday!

What is foremost in our minds is that we are grateful to have a date in which our dossier will be submitted. That may not seem like much, but to have a little better idea of when we might travel helps us plan. We know we won't be traveling over the summer, so we can go ahead with our plans of going to Fort Wilderness family camp, having a garage sale or two, do some work on the house, etc.
In the end, the timing is up to God. We trust that He goes before us, preparing Katarina and us for when we will be her forever family.

Garage Sale to Raise Money to bring Katarina Home

We just wanted to let you all know that we will be having a garage sale June 5 & 6.
We would appreciate anything you would like to donate to the sale; or if you have time to help us set up either day of the sale that would be great!
Also, please feel free to come by and visit us! It will more than likely be one of the biggest garage sales you have ever been to!
Feel free to spread the word about our sale!
And of course, above all else, pray for God to be glorified!
Thank you!

Date for Dossier Submission

We just heard from Kristen, our adoption coordinator that our dossier has been translated and we were given an appointment of when our dossier can be submitted--August 3rd. This means that we now know we will not be traveling before August 3. We will possibly be given an invitation to Ukraine 2-3 months after August 3. We realize it could be as soon as September that we are traveling or as late as December. The average time though is 2-3 months after our dossier is submitted.
We realize that some of our paperwork will have to be done again, but not until June. We are just so excited to have another reminder that we are getting closer and closer to bringing Katarina home. We continue to ask you to pray for us as we are on this journey. . .for the funds needed, language to be learned, and for God to prepare us for what lies ahead. Thank you for your love and support!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for my husband, Mark!
In my wedding vows to Mark I read Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us". Mark is "immeasurably more" than I could have asked for in a spouse and friend. He is definitely a gift from God!
I am so glad we are on this journey of adoption together. He helps keep me focused on the truth of the situation when I get impatient, mad, hurt; and he shares in my joys! I take comfort in knowing that Katarina will have such a wonderful father to love her and exemplify Christ to her.
I love you, Mark!
Diane

Dossier Arrives in Ukraine

We got news today that our dossier arrived in Kiev and will start being translated tomorrow!!! What exciting news for us!!!
We'll let you know when we hear that our dossier has been submitted!
Thank you all for your continued prayers!
We are very grateful for your support and love as we continue on this journey of love and faith!

Thankful Thursday!

I thought I would get my children involved in writing "Thankful Thursday" today and this is what I got. . .
Daddy's day off (which happens to be Thursday)
Karate (which also happens to be on Thursday)
our dog Shasta (Karis said this--She is the main reason why we have him)
Swim lessons (at the YMCA)
skunks (o.k. I haven't figured that one out. . .)
computers (knowledgeable resource--can't you tell that was from our 1st born?)
diet Mt. Dew/Sierra Mist/Root Beer (and of course, a Root Beer float)
J-e-s-u-s, G-o-d, H-o-l-y S-p-i-r-i-t (Spelled by Caleb--He goes around spelling
just about every word)
TMS (The Master's Study--The Monday school our kiddos go to)
And me, being the Mom, am thankful for all those things and my wonderful hubby and kids!!!

Dossier Sent to Ukraine

Kristen from America World called today and said that she is sending our dossier to Ukraine to be translated! It was so good to hear that; and know that we did not have to redo any documents!!! Thank you, Kristen!!!!
Once our dossier is in Ukraine, the team there will translate it and submit it in Kiev.
Now begins the long wait that everyone warns us about! We anticipate waiting AT LEAST another 5 months. Please pray that we will make good use of this time--We still have books to read, Russian to learn, and garage sales to put together!
We are looking forward to learning about transracial/transcultural adoption at St.Elisabeth/Coleman this Saturday. After this seminar, we will have completed most, if not all, of our adoption training. Of course, we still have books to read--books about bonding, adopting a toddler, how to make the transition smoother for Katarina going from an orphanage in Ukraine to America, etc. So much to learn. . .

Thankful Saturday!

O.k., o.k., I am late again with my "Thankful Thursday"!
This is harder than I thought it would be. Not that we have few things to be thankful for, but we have far too many to choose from!
One thing that keeps coming to my mind is those who have loved us enough to ask the tough questions. . ."Why adoption? Why now? Why Ukraine? Why take your 3 kids with you?" We are so blessed to have godly men and women in our lives who dare to ask those questions. Those questions have been good for us. . .it helps reaffirm that this is where God is leading us, the development of our faith, and our total dependence on Him through every step of this process.
We pray that God will continue to bless us with godly men and women who dare to ask us the tough questions. . .not just about adoption, but every area of our lives!
"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" Psalm 27:17

Paperwork is finished!!!! (&Thankful Thursday-two days late)

Can you believe it? Our paperwork is finished! We took all the paperwork to the Secretary of State's office yesterday morning to be apostilled (notaries are verified and the state seal is put on the documents)! We then made copies of all of it, then to the post office to mail it to America World Adoption Agency where they will review all the documents. If we have all the documents and they look good, they will then be translated into Ukrainian, then our facilitator submits our dossier to Ukraine. We will be sending a total of 30 documents to Ukraine.
Wow! That sure feels good to have that done!
It will be a year by the end of this month that we officially started this paperwork process!
Sorry I forgot to write on "Thankful Thursday"! I realized it at midnight Thursday night! Today, we are thankful for people like Jessica & Alice (from St. Elizabeth/Coleman),Jarod(from the Assessor's office),Ka & Deb(from ZF notarizing our documents), Dr. Jeff Ferguson, and Jerry (one of our deacons @ZF)who went the extra mile to help us with paperwork! In this long, and sometimes frustrating, process, it is so refreshing to have folks like this who are "on our side"! Of course, as with any "good and perfect gift" we have to give God all the credit who created these wonderful people and went before us!

Thankful Thursday!

O.k., I have to confess that I stole this idea off of my friend Sarah! I like the idea of every Thursday writing about things of which we are thankful!
I have to start this Thursday by writing about how thankful we are to God for bringing people into our lives at just the right time to encourage us and sometimes to just make us laugh.
Chris and Sarah are friends of ours who just adopted an adorable boy from China, named Jaxson! They are also the parents of 2 beautiful girls Amaya and Paige! Mark has known Sarah and her family since 1986. Sarah was in Mark's youth group when he was a youth pastor in Lynn, Indiana. Ten years ago, Mark married Chris and Sarah! That's one of the best things he ever did!!! :)
Chris and Sarah have a contagious smile, and when Sarah laughs, you can't help but laugh too!
They have introduced me to the blog world and opened my eyes to all the beautiful special needs children that need forever families! Their passion for these children is evident and "of God"!

Immigration Approval!!!!!

We are so excited to write that we have Immigration Approval (Form I-171H)!!!
We would like to say that we are ready to go, but have not heard from our adoption agency about our other paperwork, so as soon as we know what changes need to be made, we can get the complete dossier sent in!!!
It will feel so good to have this completed!
We truly appreciate your prayers!! Thank you, all!
Diane

God's Provision

We received an email from Lifesong today updating us on how much money we have toward our adoption. With the matching grant, we have $12,425!!!! Wow! God is so good to provide for our every need! He goes before us. . .A small example of that was today. . .We went to have another state criminal check done. We needed $10/each for this. . .last week we received $20 for a donated gold crown! :) Also, we needed to pay for our bloodwork. . . a young lady handed us $40 of her own money for our adoption the Sunday before our bloodwork. God has gone before us each step of the way! That doesn't mean that everything is always smooth, but we do see that God is faithful and good!

Limit on Number of Dossiers Lifted!!!

I am excited to let you all know that we have been informed that Ukraine did away with the "100" limit of dossiers!!! This means that they could be accepting more than 100 dossiers for children 6 and under! When it comes to Ukraine, we know that this could change again tomorrow so we are working diligently to gather our paperwork. Ukraine will not accept a provisional dossier so our dossier must be submitted in full!! To give you an example of what we have had to do. . .We had to get our blood work redone(Our previous lab report will expire soon--Some documents are only good for 6 months), medical report redone--to show that we physically and mentally are able to care for a child/children, copy of our Dr.'s license, copy of social worker's license, state clearance report, letter from assessor's office stating the size of our house, W-2, employment letter to verify that Mark does work, power of attorney form (so people in Ukraine can handle our paperwork), formal application to Ukraine stating that we want to adopt, and copies of our marriage certificate(those will expire also--Thank God our MARRIAGE won't expire)!
We continue to wait on immigration approval. This Monday will be 2 weeks since we were fingerprinted. Our adoption agency told us yesterday that immigration rarely goes smoothly, so for ours to go this smoothly so far has been a real blessing!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for your prayers! It continually amazes us how people who don't even know us, pray for us---Mark's Mom called this week to tell us that a man from Focus on the Family is praying for our adoption! God is so good to give us encouragement just when we need it the most! :)

Fingerprinting Went Smoothly!

We couldn't have asked for our fingerprinting to go an smoother yesterday!
Our appointment was for 10:00a.m., and we were done by 10:15a.m.!!
They were even able to process Mark's fingerprints--which had traces of superglue on them from 2 days prior. They told us that we would not receive approval for another 2-3 weeks! We are praying that it will be done quicker than that! By Monday, we will have all the other paperwork completed!
We sooo appreciate your prayers! What an encouragement it is to us!
"Trust and Obey"--What a great hymn!!

Our Paperwork arrived!

Yeah!!! Our paperwork arrived in Kiev on Monday at 4:30! We couldn't have asked for it to get there any sooner! Now, we wait to see if they will accept what we have sent. . .in the meantime, we will gather our last bit of paperwork and send it in as soon as we get approval from UCIS.
On another note. . .Some of you have asked if we decided on a facilitator. Well, we decided to go with Dr. Dubrovsky. Dr. D is a native Russian who lives in New York. He oversees facilitators for 5 different countries. We decided to go with him because he is the one who informed us of the "100 dossier limit". We definitely want someone who is "on top of things"! Thank you to those who had been praying for us in making this decision.

First Set of Paperwork is in the mail!

We got it done! Thanks to some helpful people (like Ka Freeman)! We compiled, notarized, and apostilled all 6 documents that we needed to go to Ukraine. We are praying DHL can have the papers in Ukraine by Monday. Monday is when the provisional registration begins.
We appreciate living in the state of Indiana--Indiana is the only state that does not charge to have documents apostilled--that saved us $130 today!
We couldn't have asked for things to go much smoother than they did!--complete with a great parking spot at the State House! :) and we even had 10 minutes to spare at DHL.
Please pray for a family from Colorado just lost their house to a fire, their son went in the hospital, and their dog died--all in 3 days! To read their story, go to http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/. To help them, go to
http://lovebuildsahouse.blogspot.com/.

New Rules in Ukraine

We just received news that Ukraine is only accepting 100 dossiers from couples requesting a child under the age of 6. Yes, you read it right--100 dossiers from around the world for 2009!
We find it hard to believe that there are only 100 "healthy" children under the age of 6 in need of a home in Ukraine. Also, the deadline is Feb.1. There is no way that our dossier will be completed and in Ukraine by Feb.1, so our facilitator will have his staff stand in line for us on Monday to get our name on a provisional registration. We need to have 6 documents sent ASAP to Ukraine.
We have been praying that God would make it clear to us that Ukraine is the right country. Well, this could very well be our answer. If ours is one of the 100 dossiers that get accepted, we will take that as a clear sign that Ukraine is the right country. If not, we will continue to seek God's direction.
Please pray that we will get our documents to Ukraine in a timely manner, and that we will be one of the 100!
We appreciate your love and prayers!
Diane

USCIS date

We recieved our USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Appointment Notice. We go on the 26th of this month to get fingerprinted. After we get fingerprinted, we wait for USCIS to give us approval! This whole USCIS process is so that we can bring Katarina into the United States.
It's encouraging to get yet another sign that things are moving along! We were just recalling that it was 1 year ago on the 8th of this month that Mark came home with a video from Lifesong. . .thus began our adoption journey! It doesn't seem possible that a year has gone by! We are praying that it won't take another year for us to go get Katarina. . .we are learning that this is not in our timing!!! "Lead on O King Eternal"!
Diane

Happy New Year!

In looking back over 2008, the Goins Gang can be thankful for a lot of blessings from God! Yes, from God, because every good and perfect gift comes from above!! Though this process of adoption has not been easy, we are thankful that God reminded us of James 1:27. We know that adoption is not the only way to obey this verse, but this is how we believe God wants the Goins' to obey. This process is also a good reminder of how God has adopted us--just as we are!

For every bump in the road, God has given us people to encourage us along the way! I don't know what I would do without Sarah, my friend who has adopted a sweet boy named Jaxson. She has given me help and encouragement like only one who has "been there" can! In reading an old entry in Katarina's journal, I was reminded also of how we weren't going to have a third garage sale, but someone told us of a possibility of some furniture we could sell. Well, not much furniture came, but we ended up making $1,346.40 from that garage sale alone! Our every need has been provided for! :)

We are thankful to all of you who are praying for us! There is nothing better you can do for us! God knows the little girl we will adopt, and loves her far more than we ever will or can! It is God alone who knows what we need! He goes before us! As they say in Ukraine, "Slova Bog" (long o in "Bog")--Praise God! And, as Cathy Gurley says, there is no safer place to be than in God's will! We just want to trust and obey!

Another encouragement that we received was on Wednesday, when a letter from immigration came in the mail stating that they received our paperwork and everything is in order. We now wait for immigration (UCIS) to send us another letter stating the date/time for us to get fingerprinted. At this point, any reminder that this process is moving along is a great encouragement!

Please continue to pray for us and our family.
Happy New Year!
The Goins Gang