SO Close!

I can't believe I am writing this...I feel like we've waited for SO long, and we have. I can say though that we should be purchasing airlines tickets and be in Ukraine by April 21st!!!! I felt like I couldn't breath when I got the email. Butterflies, and excitement galore!

Sergey has been writing me with little love notes. "I love you mom" "I miss you so bad mom" "When you come to Ukraine and get me?". Lots of those! His little one liner messages keep me going, pressing forward. Don't know what I'd do without this boys love for his momma.

With that said, we are still in need of $8,800. It may seem like a lot to some, but when you start from needing 35k, needing 8k seems like we are in the homestretch! We know God is going to see us through, we know He does the impossible. If you feel touched by our story, please donate any amount with the link to the right. It is tax deductible! And lastly, please share! I know the body of Christ can move to get this boy home and save an orphan!!

Almost There!

I can't believe I am actually writing this, but we are DONE with paperwork and mailing our dossier!! It SHOULD make it to Ukraine on February 13th, which is our anniversary, and Sergey's birthday. God is good, isn't he? This still puts us at traveling the end of April. It seems so surreal.


I remember when we started this journey, we didn't know if this day would come. We didn't know if we'd ever be able to bring our boy home. When we were told we'd have to wait a year, it seemed like eternity. Telling me I had to live without a child for a year that I loved so deeply seemed like the end of the world. It was HARD. I can't believe April is only 2 months away. Momma's coming baby, just hold on!


To back up a little, I was asked to chaperone the host kids back to Ukraine in January. This was such a huge blessing and just another God-thing. We didn't host Sergey over Christmas because we did not have the money, we needed to save every penny we possibly could for this adoption. We knew it might be hard for him to not see us for 8 months(obviously, it'd be hard for us!), but we felt God was telling us we just could not spend the money on it. Sure enough, January comes around and the hosting organization needed a chaperone to bring the kids back to Ukraine just 2 weeks later. I arranged for Sergey to meet me at the airport and spend 2 days with me. God ended up letting us spend time together, not having to use our adoption money. He is good, all the time. I never imagined the roles would be reversed...him waiting for me at the airport. I saw him and his face lit up, he jumped up and hugged me, for a long time. Oh, it felt so good to have my boy in my arms. We got to see some of Kiev, a couple of absolutely beautiful malls that of course he had never been to either. We laughed, and chatted on the translator, shared meals, and just general bonding time. Me going to Ukraine just put a whole 'nother view on things. I wish I could describe it better. The best I can describe it is that this boy NEEDS us and it really confirmed to me he could not survive without us once he ages out. It was almost scary to see how delayed he is in almost every aspect. It is so sad that no one has ever spent the time to teach him, to let him learn to his potential. It broke my heart when he translated that girls don't want much to do with him because his grammar is so bad and they don't understand him. My poor, sweet boy. He said in English, "mom, I go to San Francisco with you, no stay Ukraine." Tears welled up in my eyes and I said soon, babe, soon. He nodded his head. When I left at the airport, he had big tears in his eyes, holding onto me so tight. It was only God that day that gave me the strength to turn and walk the other way. Because I couldn't do that alone. The other girl I traveled with agreed that Sergey was the sweetest boy with the softest heart. That's him. He is in desperate need of help in all aspects and we just can't wait to get him home to get everything he NEEDS. Home is where all of his needs will be met for the first time in his life. And forever more.


We have a little over 2 months until we go to get him, and a lot of money to still raise. Any size donation helps, it really does. Any size donation will get you a puzzle piece with your name on the back. When it's complete, we will frame and show Sergey just how many people cared enough to help bring him home. Please consider contributing to save this boy from the unthinkable future he faces if we can't get him home. All donations are tax deductible: https://www.adopttogether.org/bringsergeyhome


Thank you for your help and prayers, we know God can do this :)

Some pictures from a couple weeks ago in Ukraine. In the first one, he is super excited over a package of nuts. Oh, the simple pleasures! 

A Warm Jacket

I am so thankful to say we've had a few donations come in. $620 since we started our tax deductible website(praise God!) and $24,380 to go to be able to bring our boy home, for good. 

My husband and I started reading a prayer book and I really find myself in prayer a whole lot more. Would you join me? We know without a doubt this boy is the will of God. That He broke or hearts for him and set him in our family. With that being said, our prayers need to be bold and strong, without weakness, knowing that God is going to finish what He started. That this is impossible to us, but to Him, it's not. He already has it all planned and figured out. We are praying to be connected to the right people at the right time, for the hearts of those who come in contact with our grant applications, our website, our fundraisers, and our story. Praying all these hearts WILL be stirred in an incredible way. Knowing that the body of christ is going to rise up and redeem another life worth fighting for.   Praying that for even those of us who only have $1 to spare will know that it it counts and it helps and that dollar will be blessed. The more we give of what we don't have, the more God pours down blessing on ourselves. Pray for open hearts and open minds. Pray for Godspeed. We want this only to make sense to Him, so HE can receive all the glory. Pray, pray hard. We are desperate to get this boy home where he is loved and cherished. 

I asked Sergey what he needed, as I was going to mail him a Christmas package. He will never go another holiday or birthday again without knowing he's loved, wanted and cared about. He said "momma, a warm jacket would be good, headphones and some candy. Only if you can. I love you very, very much mom". He needs a jacket. A warm jacket. Tears roll down my cheeks as I read those words. First, I love his heart. Second, it's just killing me to think of this sweet boy freezing, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Kills me. He doesn't deserve this. He's a child of God and we need to get him out of there to make him one less, one less orphan. So I ran out, got him a warm coat, $4.99 headphones and a little bit of candy and off it went. He's already thanked me. A thankful heart...oh how I miss him.

Please pray hard for every aspect of this adoption. God hears every prayer. And if you feel your heart moved by this incredible boy, consider giving this holiday season to an amazing cause...freeing our boy.

Sweet Boy

Last night my husband and I were laying in bed, it's late and we needed to go to sleep. He thought he would check his VK one more time and I'm so glad he did. Alex had sent Sergey a car photo from an event the other week. Sergey loves cars just like dad. Instead of first saying Something about the the cars, he says "daddy I miss you so much. How are things?". I can read right between those words and know he's longing to be WITH his dad at the fun car stuff. I can read the desperation and sadness of him not being here. All my momma heart wants to do is catch the next flight out and go get him. If only things were that simple.

This boy is about to be 17. 17, aging out and with a heart condition. He's been institutionalized for SO long that this kid will just not survive the streets. He is a kind, sweet boy who deserves love and his family back.

His director told us he's only now doing better because he has hope in his heart again because he has a family and his family is coming to get him. I sit here and sometimes think...what on earth am I going to say to him if we can't come up with the money? I try to not let myself go there, but somedays it's hard thinking about the very large amount of money we still need. I see that number and it feels impossible. It IS impossible for us, but I constantly remind myself it IS possible for Him.

Please don't let this boy become another statistic on the street. Would you please find it in your heart to give? NO amount is too small. Every dollar helps write this boy's new future.

www.adopttogether.org/bringsergeyhome

Donation Site

We finally have our tax-deductible donation site set up! Get a year end deduction and please help us bring home our boy!!

Follow this Link:

https://www.adopttogether.org/bringsergeyhome

Please help bring our boy home!

My husband, Alex, and I, Danielle, never imagined 5 years ago this is where we would be today. But God has His own plans, and here we are. This is our story; it may be long but to see just how orchestrated this is by God, we wanted to include every detail.

It was February 13^th , the day Alex and I got married at the city hall in San Francisco. I had always wanted to get married on Valentines, but the year we wanted to get married, Valentines was a Saturday and we wanted to get married at city hall. So, Friday the 13^th in 2009 it was. It is odd explaining to people why we chose that day and it isn’t really what I had wanted. However, it just felt right and we went with it. God knew that this date would be of significant value almost 4 years later. This is just confirmation that God absolutely has our whole lives planned and goes before us. Because 4 years later, we met our son from Ukraine who just so happened to be born on February 13^th. That date in an instance made so much sense.

When we were first married we volunteered a lot with both middle school and high school youth groups. We loved working with teenagers and really felt like we were called to work with kids. Alex was in church one Sunday when he heard so clearly God tell him that he needed to help kids. That was it. He didn’t know what to do with it or what he was suppose to do with that calling. For me, it was more slow coming. I had this small seed planted in my heart for children. I’d read blogs of people adopting. I’d see pictures of the faces of orphans and I’d think how amazing that was. I still had a piece of me that really believed adopting was so wonderful, but it was for people who couldn’t have children. I couldn’t deny this small flame in me though that kept feeling like I needed to help children. I didn’t know if it was raising money for terminally ill children, or helping kids in need…I just didn’t know. Alex and I just kept praying, and praying much more specifically for God to use us as He wants, that we will go wherever He leads. One day out of the blue, clear as day, I read a blog post about a teenaged boy from Latvia who desperately needed a family to call his own. Although this particular boy wasn’t to be ours, I just knew right then and there, there was no denying my calling. That tiny seed, that small flame, was now this huge passion in me. It was orphans that God had been preparing our hearts for. Alex came home and I told him all about how I felt, how strongly I felt about this and he said “Let’s go for it!”. It was like a light bulb turned on, for both of us. And this is where our story really begins.

It was the summer of 2012 and we had decided, after much prayer, that Ukraine is where we were being called to help a child. We decided to host a child for Christmas with the intention of adopting so we looked through photo listing after photo listing, pondering their little bios and narrowed down our choices. We finally picked the boy we wanted to host and began preparing for his arrival. Hosting isn’t cheap; we had to pay for airfare, visas, etc and didn’t know where the money would come from. We prayed to God that if this is what He wanted us to do, He would have to provide. And provide He did. We were rear ended in an accident in the summer of 2011. We were so frustrated we hadn’t gotten our settlement yet, but God knew exactly when we would need that money. And it came in right when we needed it for hosting this boy, 18 months later. God is so good. We got a dreaded email that December saying that this child actually couldn’t come anymore for hosting. I was devastated, more so for the child because I knew that this was his only hope of a family. I was ready to give up, I thought I must be wrong about what God wanted us to do. Alex said no…we need to pray. Pray we did. That’s when GOD picked the child HE wanted us to have. We were given pictures and a bio of a 15 year old boy named Sergey who would be able to come last minute. We said okay and cautiously started to get excited. December 20^th, 2012 our lives changed forever. Not only did I go that morning to the doctors and be told I was having a miscarriage, but that night, I met my son at the airport. I knew in an instant this was our boy. I fell hard. We drove home with our fussy 2 year old from San Francisco airport and all he did was try to make her happy and quiet her. He succeeded and they both drifted off into sleep.

Hosting changed our lives. It broke our hearts for what breaks His. Our world vision changed. Our hearts were made softer. We experienced unexplainable joy. We watched a 15 year old boy experience Christmas for the first time. We did so many firsts for him; baking cookies and having a flour-throwing fight, driving to see all the magical Christmas lights, laughing with family, being loved unconditionally, finding a family, opening gifts just for him, ice skating, singing Christmas music, church, being able to eat until he was actually full, having plenty of clothes and shoes, a warm bed every night and so much more. We would always hug and kiss him and tuck him into bed every night and I’d say I loved him in both English and Russian. It took him about 2 weeks to learn his first phrase and say “I love you” at bedtime. He was calling us mom and dad and telling us he loved us in no time. I’d tell him to come to my bed when he woke up in the morning, where my daughter and I watched cartoons in the morning. At first he would just stand by the bed, but over those weeks it morphed into him running and jumping in our bed for cartoons, tickling our daughter, talking about our dreams, how we slept, requesting what he would love for breakfast. It was the perfect way to start our mornings. He helped with everything without being asked. He brought in the groceries, he got our daughter in and out of her carseat, he pushed the stroller, he would drop everything to play with our daughter whenever she wanted. He would snuggle her to sleep and tell her “I love you sister”. They adored eachother. Sergey was family to us. It just felt right, It felt like he belonged. It felt like he had always been there. He was this 15 year old kid who had the most sweet heart, that was so loving, caring, kind, respectful and helpful. In the short month we had him, he knew what it meant to be a part of a family. He learned that God wasn’t so bad afterall and a mustard seed of faith was planted in him. We expressed our want to adopt him with an agency and we put in information to see if he was available for adoption. We found out he was not available. It was the most horrible feeling. Here you have this child who you just know with everything in you that he is yours and your told that he can’t be adopted, atleast not now. We were told they would work on it after the kids got back to Ukraine. We prayed, and cried, and prayed some more on our knees. Our time had to end, sadly. We drove to the San Francisco airport on January 13^th and stayed at a hotel as we had to be at the airport at 4am on the 14^th. We all swam at the hotel and then got all ready for bed in our room. We had two queen beds side by side and our daughter crawled out of our bed and into Sergey’s. She snuggled in as close as she could get and he wrapped his arm around her and they were out. I couldn’t sleep at all that night. All I did was stare at my kids sleeping and thinking about how this was it, I had to say bye in just a few hours. I couldn’t stand it after awhile, the alarm was going to go off in 45 minutes and I was just a mess. I crawled in their bed with them, and put my arms around my kids. Sergey woke up and he heard me balling into my pillow. He sat up and opened his arms and held me as I sobbed into his chest, in the pitch dark room. He looked at me and said “don’t cry mom”. I said “I can’t help it, I love you, you are my son, and I don’t want you to go. I can’t live without you”. That’s when he lost it and I held him as he sobbed into my chest this time. We laid there and cried in each others arms until the alarm went off. We all got ready as quickly as possible, made sure he had everything, me blowing my nose and crying through it all. We all got in the elevator, Sergey and I looked in the mirror on the way down and laughed at our huge swollen, red, eyes. We rode to the airport, and we waited. All the kids had to check in. And then it was time. It was time to say goodbye, or see you soon. It sure felt like bye without knowing the outcome of being able to adopt him. It was the most gut wrenching thing I’ve ever done. I was sending a piece of my heart on a plane to a place where my sweet boy didn’t belong. I couldn’t breath. It was the ugly cry. Alex cried and I can count on one hand the times he has cried in the 10 years I had known him. Sergey was the only child crying, he was sobbing. He looked miserable. He did not want to go. That was probably the hardest day of my life. The grief, was just overwhelming.

Our only way of communication after he returned to Ukraine was over the internet on a site similar to facebook. I told him to write me as soon as he got home. He wrote me that he loved us and wanted to live here, that he wanted us to adopt him. He’d write me as the days passed that he would wake up and realize he wasn’t here and cry. My heart just continued to break. The facilitator who met him at the airport upon returning said that he had made an incredible transformation, that he was a changed kid. She promised she would do everything in her power to get him available. We prayed. We cried. We had people praying all over the place. Churches, friends, family, prayer networks, people we didn’t know. We’d beg on our knees for God to bring our son back home. This was an emergency, with his age, we just didn’t have time. We were told even if everything went right, our chances of him being able to be registered and available for adoption was about 5% . We needed a miracle. A lawyer was sent to his region to do all the paperwork and we waited. And waited some more. All we could do was wait and pray. We got the email that we had all prayed for! Sergey was registered and would be available for adoption in April 2014! We had a whole year to wait, but oh how we praised God. God did the impossible. Glory be to Him.

With a whole year to wait, we decided to host him again just this summer. This time, hosting was for 2 months. Twice the time with our son! We had generous donations and worked our tails off for the rest, selling everything we could think of, having garage sales, and selling premade dinners. God provided yet again and we had the hosting fees in full. June 29^th, we all gathered yet again at the airport. I had the biggest butterflies, we were all beyond excited. Even our daughter could hardly wait. The moment I saw him, we locked eyes and he ran into my arms. I hugged him for what seemed like forever, him crying into my shoulder, me tears rolling down my cheeks. Oh, happy day! Everything took off right where it left off. We got home, and all sat on the ground to talk and rough house. All our daughter wanted to do was sit in Sergey’s lap with her arms around his neck and her little face nuzzled right into his neck. It is an understatement to say that she missed her brother. Sergey still lit up every day when Alex would get home from work. This now, 16 year old kid would still shout “Daddy!” whenever he got home from work. He had two kids running to him for hugs and love. We talked very seriously about him living here, what we would expect of him, what would and would not be allowed. This boy would agree to anything just to be able to have his family forever…he didn’t mind anything, he just wants to be here so bad. He again experienced so many firsts: water park, roller coasters, tons of swimming, river rafting, boating, swimming in the ocean, fireworks, water fights, camping…it was a wonderful summer. It all just felt so comfortable, so right. I asked him why he wants to be adopted and he said “mom, I want a chance at a better life, a new life. I have no chance in Ukraine. You’re my family”. August 14^th came all too soon. We hugged and cried, but this time we all had hope that the next time we saw him, we would be in Ukraine in April to bring him home for good. It still wasn’t easy. Looking at my poor boys eyes swollen and puffy, crying as he hugged our daughter goodbye, watching him walk away, is just never easy. Sending a child you love with all your heart to a land unknown to you, to a place where he goes hungry, doesn’t get to bathe much, without a family, without someone watching over him, without heat and adequate clothing, is just hard. I sobbed into Alex’s chest after I couldn’t see him anymore. I kept telling myself he is coming back, we are going to have him for good.

So, here we are, in November with just a few months left until we can go get our son and bring him home forever. A place where all his needs will always be met, where he will experience love daily, a place to call home, a life that he would never otherwise get to have. He now has a chance at life, he was chosen.

To give a clearer picture of what Sergey would face, here are some statistics: Only 10% of orphans in Ukraine will have any kind of normal, meaningful life. 70% of orphan girls will fall victim into sex slavery, and 70+% of boys will end up criminals and in prison. 1 in 6 commit suicide because life is so bad. Between the ages of 15-16, orphans are put out on the streets to figure out life themselves, unprepared. Many commit crimes just so they can be in prison and have a warm place to sleep at night and food to eat. Few live to see their 23^rd birthday. In an index of “Best Places to Be Born” published this year, with 80 countries being listed, 1 being the best and 80 being the worst, Ukraine falls at number 78 with only Kenya and Nigeria being worse. He has no chance at going to college or having a career and making a life for himself as in Ukraine your labeled as an orphan for the rest of your life. You never get to escape your past.

Adoption is very expensive, it is something we didn’t have saved for. The whopping number is about $35,000 for us. We’ve slowly came up with about $10,000, some of which we’ve already used completing our home study and tons of other paperwork and legal fees. We are still in need of $25,000 to rescue our boy in April. I know so many think “Well, why should we pay for your kid? If you want this child, you need to figure it out!”. It is so hard to explain that it is SO much more than that. We all can’t adopt, but we all can help save a child. While the statistics of the number of orphans is staggering, saving just one makes a difference. It matters to him. He is a life worth saving. If the body of Christ could come together to redeem this boys life, there would be one less orphan in the world in April. You are just as important to this child’s life as we are. You can help write his story too. Please help us bring Sergey home for good, where he belongs. Where he has hope and a future, love and family. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world-James 1:27. With God, all things are possible-Matthew 19:26.

This and That

Just some tidbits I don't want to forget:

Sitting on the couch tonight, S and pumpkin are snuggling together and he pulls blanket over them and wraps his arms around her. They both close their eyes, her cheek on his cheek, he kisses her cheek and they fall asleep in eachothers arms.

Asking S what he wants to be when he grows up. I jokingly say a striper and he very seriously says yes. Oh goodness...what am I in for?

I talked to S seriously about living here. No sex, no alcohol, no smoking, going to school every day, obeying rules, etc. He says "no problem, I ask you mom". I know better than to believe that, but it just shows me that this kid is willing to agree to anything I say in order to just be here, forever. It melts my heart.

We had our first little "tiff". He has a gophone while here and the rules are mom and dad can look through his phone whenever we want, and he has to give phone back every night to us. He had been placing the phone on our bed every night voluntarily. Except last night. I went to get the phone, no problem. Plug it in in our room. He comes back in, and does something quickly on his phone. I quickly realize he signed out of an account. Hiding stuff! This morning he asked for phone and I said absolutely not, no phone today. I said our family is based on love, honesty, trust, respect, etc. I told him he now has parents who love him and care what he does. That we are will watch over him. That hiding things are not okay. By the end of conversation, he was fine...rest of the day has been great. I was pleased with how fast he got over it.

He keeps me going constantly. I tried to take a nap this afternoon with pumpkin, and he barges in first just to sit in our bed and wiggle his legs. Then he leaves and plays soccer inside. Then again, just as I was falling asleep, shakes me, "mom, mom, skateboard, outside? Keys machina, where?". I fall back asleep. Next thing I know "mom, mom, scarlett stink!" I say okay and close my eyes. He comes again, "get up! Mom, get up! Scarlett stink!". I get up...yes, scarlett pooped. S had sprayed Cologne in the entire house. I put the dog outside, doorbell rings. Neighborhood kid asks if we can go swimming. So off we went. No rest for the wicked.

We had two chaperones stay with us this week and I was so nervous he would gravitate towards them and forget we exist. He'd be able to speak to them, relate to them, etc. To my surprise, he didn't want much to do with them and only talked to them if they asked him questions. The chaperones said "s unequivocally wants to be adopted by you, he already considers you his parents, don't even worry about anything". Loved hearing that! It was fun trying Ukrainian food and showing them our area and crazy American life! I got big, long hugs goodbye, I think it was a success!

S is so excited for Cars & Coffee tomorrow with "daddy". Guy time!

I got tickled to death on the couch! He did not know how ticklish I was and held my legs in an underarm lock and tickled my feet to death. I told him to rub my feet and I'd give him his phone. I got tricked into being tortured. Then he said my hair stinks. I said I just washed it, but thanks. He said it smelled like pool. I said I always smell good...he said yes...true. Then said "me too". I said Umm...no, you don't always smell good hunny. He stared at me blankly like "huh?". Gotta love him!

4th of July was awesome! We had our dear friends come over and S really enjoyed hanging out with their family. The kids played basketball, S rode bikes, lit fireworks, water balloon fight...a night to remember. S was initially really scared of the fireworks and would grab my arm but by the end of the night he was helping Dad light them.

We went to my parents house last weekend and when it was time to go home he was NOT happy and pumpkin was crying. I had two unhappy kids. We had SO much fun. So many firsts for S. Water slides, tons of swimming, river rafting, boating/tubing...one of the best weekends ever!

We met up with another family that we met last hosting period and have grown to love so much. We took the kids to the beach, skate park, wharf, and beach again. S actually went swimming in the freezing cold water. I was shocked...he hates being cold. He was probably trying to impress the girl they are hosting ;). It was a great day!

Everything feels so comfortable, so right. It feels like he's always been in our life. He just fits. I love him something fierce.