2 days

Is it really time? NOOOOOO! I feel like a little kid and wanting to stomp my feet to demand my way. Only 2 more days with us. This past week V has gotten closer and closer to us. He has opened his heart up more and we have had many great memories. I feel like 4 weeks is not enough time!!! We spent the first 2 weeks getting him used to American culture and our family. Now that we are EXTREMELY attached and love him like he is our own child, how in the world are we going to send him back? I'm not sure, but we are trusting that the Lord will get us through Saturday because we HAVE to send him back by law :( We have to be at the airport at 5:45 am because it takes almost all day for him to travel back to his orphanage. He will have a 2 hour flight to New York, 7 1/2 hour flight to Amsterdam, 2 hour fight to Kiev, Ukraine and a 6 hour train ride from the capitol of Ukraine to his school. Wow. Long day. All of this of course with his other classmates and the chaperones from his school. I will be praying non-stop for his safe return. We have started the beginnings of the adoption process. We have got in contact with the facilitator (Ukraine adoption agency) and will be starting our home study soon. We received all the beginning paper work for Ukraine as of yesterday and when I was glancing through I realized we have come across our first bump. By Ukrainian law the age difference between the parent and adopted child can NOT be less than 15 years age difference. Well folks,........ V and I are 13. ugh. He is 14 and I'm 27. Luckily my husband is 35 and he qualifies. So Jerry will be the only adoptive parent. I will have to be a part of the process and still do a lot of paperwork because we are married. They told us as soon as the adoption is final in Ukraine we "re-adopt" him in the U.S for both of us to be his legal guardians. The facilitator assured us it was ok and it happens all the time. oh-well. I'm sure this is just one of many "paperwork/laws" that we will not be happy with. I still don't understand why it's so difficult to adopt a child that doesn't have parents and it is so easy for a parent to have a child that doesn't want one. It's just how the system works I suppose. These next two days we will be spending every waking moment with him. When he returns to his school, we will only have contact with him maybe 3-4 days a week. It depends on his school load and when he gets "permission" to go the computer lab. This week we met with some other host parents and the particular host dad has been to V's school in Ukraine before. He is a volunteer with Project One Forty Three. When I say school, I mean orphanage. Anyways, he told me it's a nicer place for him to be, considering that there are far worst places he could be over there. The place is clean, they get fed 5 times a day and their computer lab at his school is VERY nice. V's orphanage is dedicated to academics and it is one of the best. We set him up a Facebook and Skype account as some additional ways for our communication. The time difference is going to be killer because when he is allowed computer time it's between 2-5 am here. Oh well, I’ll be glad to wake up to talk to him! We will be starting a lot of fundraising projects soon. I'll be posting a site today where you can log on to donate money if you can. Anything will be appreciated! We are taking this huge leap of faith and trusting that God will lead us in the right direction. We have a long road ahead but HE will be with us every step of the way. We WILL save this orphan's life! Until next time, Kendall