Catching Up

I have been absolutely exhausted since we got home!  We had something at church Saturday night and I even fell asleep in the middle of that.  The flights home were ok.  Overall Thomas was good as gold on the entire trip.  The only rough patches were the two long flights - the one from here to Amsterdam going and the home from Paris home Friday.  Thankfully...we are almost over our jet lag!

When we got home I had a huge pile of mail to go through.  I was awake at 3am Saturday am so I started sorting through it.  I ran across a letter from a charter school that is opening in our county this fall.  It is the first one here and is taking over an existing private school's property.  The company that is running the school has a very good track record in other counties so I applied for Vika a spot before we left.  I completely forgot I had done so.  Anyway, the letter stated there were too many applications so there would be a lottery later that day.  I was glad we were home so I could go because we had not found any satisfactory options for school for Vika up to this point.  We already knew that private school would not be an option this fall because these schools do not have the resources to allow her to learn English in a specialized program.  The only options we seemed to have were the county immersion program (housed in the alternative school in the county - that was OUT!) and the local middle school.  I spoke with the principal at the middle school a few weeks before we left for Ukraine and wasn't thrilled with that option because she seemed very inflexible regarding our desire to hold Vika back a grade.

So at my designated time Meagan and I left to go to the lottery.  We got there and it was packed.  My hopes were certainly not high at all!  We sat there as they called number after number.  I finally said to Meagan to get ready to go because it didn't look good.  I pulled my keys out of my purse, and then...they called her number!!!!!!!!!  I was shocked, however I also knew this was step #1 because I needed their support to hold her back and I also needed resources for her to learn English as a second language.  We left the auditorium and found someone to help us.  It was incredible...this woman had adopted a child from Romania and COMPLETELY understood our situation and basically said if we will be an active participant and partner with the school they would help us in any way possible!  So...we accepted her spot to attend this school!  I don't know if this will be the long-term solution of not, but it seems to be the best option for her at this time!  Praise God!!!

I posted a couple of pics from Court Day last Thursday.  We are still so honored by the graciousness of the Judge and the entire process!  I am leaving to fly back Thursday night, the 25th.  A dear friend is going with me...I can never thank her enough for that!  We will hit the ground running to bring Vika home but also to love on the kids at Chernigivka a little bit more.  We are trying to collect toys and other small items to take back to them so if you have any used actions figures (for the boys) or small dolls, beanies babies, etc please leave a message and I will contact you about how to get them to GA in time for our trip.  The trip SHOULD be 7-10 days...we are praying for the short end of that, so please add this to your prayer list! The passport is the variable.  We are praying to be able to get an 'old' passport (no waiting time) as opposed to a 'new' one (3-6 day waiting period). 

We have friends in Ukraine now working to bring their children home and others desperately waiting for appointments, travel dates, or other approvals.  Please remember this group and pray for them as well!