Video of Karina Taken Today!

A family went to Karina's orphanage today to bring their two new daughters home. While there, they saw Karina and made a short video of her. We are so thankful for this family. Thank you for taking the time to video and send it to us! What a joy it is to be able to see Karina's face, hear her voice and to know that she is ok. Thank you Wolff family!! May God bless your return to the States with your new daughters.

Karina is in the pink stripes and the girl in black with dark hair has just been adopted and is leaving the orphanage. Her name is Anya. When Anya went to say goodbye to her friends, the family recognized Karina from our blog and made this short video.

You can follow the Wolff family blog at DoctorDavid.wordpress.com

Our Dossier is on a Tour of Paris-Sheila

Just an update to let you know what our dossier is up to. I think it has taken a mind of it's own and decided to see the sights in Paris- I don't blame it. I am just a tad jealous that it is in Paris I must say. The Fed Ex traking device that we are wearing out says that it has departed different locations in Paris 4 times. Maybe he stopped at the Louvre or at the Eiffel Tower, may be he had a yummy French pastry, who knows!!! Anyway, enough of my silly humor. Please keep praying.
Today Matthew met with the team that he is taking to run the next camp in Peru. He said they had a great meeting and he is looking forward to working with this group. Grace Bateman came out and helped give everyone the vision of Peru Mission...thanks for coming Grace. It was good to see some of the team that went last year return again. I can't wait to see how God will use this year's team to His glory.

Where In The World is Our Dossier?

Keeping up with the dossier...it left Paris, France about four hours ago...headed to...?

My First Blog Post -Sheila

Up until now, Matthew has been keeping you posted on our progress. I am not very technologically literate. But I have really enjoyed reading the blogs of other adopting families, so I thought I would try my hand at blogging. This journey has been, need less to say an exciting ride. Through all the ups and downs I would not have it any other way. Karina is so worth whatever we have to do to adopt her. It is hard to express how she has grown in our hearts over the last 4 months. Even as I write that I realize that it has been a very short period of time. This dossier process has seemed like a life time!! Now, we have time to relax a bit and reflect on what all God has done. How he has grown us and how he has strengthened us. He has used many things to do both. I must say that he has used the Body of Christ in an amazing way. Just when we needed a word of encouragement someone was there to offer it. Specifically the ladies in my Thursday morning Bible Study have been a sip of cool water on many a dry morning. These ladies have prayed for and asked about the adoption so many times, more than I can count. Thanks ladies! Our discipleship group has also been a great encouragement as well. These folks are a great group!!! It is a privilege to be able to pray and learn with them on Wednesday nights. There are so many people from our church who are praying it is often overwhelming. I must say that in several worship services I have been amazed at how God has used the preached word to comfort and encourage me. Thanks Ligon and Derek. I know Matthew has already blogged about Anderson, but I must also say that his mom Erin has also been such a blessing. She has been so supportive and encouraging. She is a dear and longtime friend.

Many people have asked what my parents have thought about Karina. They love her. She spent a long time talking to my dad on her visit to Picayune and he really enjoyed getting to know her. They can't wait for her to come home. They look forward to having another granddaughter.



So you may be asking what are we doing now that the dossier is out of our hands? Well, we are not just sitting around. We are actually playing a little catch up on all the things that had to be postponed because of the dossier. I have been given the opportunity to give a devotion at our church on Monday night. If you remember I would greatly appreciate your prayers. The title of the devo is "Made to serve...no time to do it!" How appropriate a title. I am definitely going to be drawing on all of the things the Lord has been teaching me over the last few months. They asked me to speak in April or May. Only God could have known how much my life would have changed by October. I am also getting ready for a bake sale for Karina in French Camp. The radio station there is having an arts and crafts fair and they invited us to have a booth to sell Karina Cookies and other baked goods. I am making jar mixes to sell. It is fun. I have never made them before, so this is also a new experience. Please pray for us on November 8th. I am sure we will have a great time seeing many friends in French Camp. You can also pray for Matthew on November 4th as he will be speaking, at French Camp Academy during their chapel. It is exciting and humbling to see God's hand at work in all of this, thanks for joining us on this adventure. May God be glorified in all!!! Thanks for reading my first attempt at blogging. I hope it wasn't too long.

Money Needed for Adoption

Many people have asked how much money we need to pay for this adoption. The remaining amount we need is $17,000. This includes all the remaining adoption fees and travel to and from Ukraine. We are so grateful for those who have already given and we continue to be amazed at the precious four year old, Anderson, that sells "Karina Cookies" to help bring Karina home.
When we started this adoption process we knew that God wanted us to adopt. We did not have the money but we knew that if this was from God then he would provide. He has provided every step of the way so far and we know he will provide the rest.
We appreciate your prayers that God would bring this money in.

Our Dossier is Headed to Ukraine!!

All we can do is fall to our knees and thank our gracious heavenly Father for allowing us to complete everything needed for the Ukraine dossier in three months. We started the adoption paperwork near the end of July and today we sent all of it to Ukraine! We thank God for his incredible provision.
So what have we been working on for the past three months? Here is a partial list: Home Study, interviews, family history, childhood history, education history, parenting skills, parent education class, adoption education studies, view of discipline, reference checks, local criminal clearance, state criminal clearance, FBI clearance, fingerprints, various applications, home inspection, waste water inspection, employment verification, income verification, mental evaluation, physical evaluation, emotional evaluation, children's medical evaluation, various medical tests, bloodwork, birth certificates, marriage certificates, work with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, social worker license, agency license, social worker employment status, passports, petition to adopt, letter of obligation, Power of Attorney, rejection of dossier letter, appointment letter, statement of home agreement, notaries and apostille's.
Thank you to all involved along the way. Our social worker from Catholic Charities is amazing. She is one of the reasons why everything was completed in three months. We highly recommend Catholic Charities as the home study agency to anyone considering adoption. Thank you to our local and state police departments, notaries, the Secretary of State Department of MS, our doctor, Twin Lakes, and everyone else involved in helping get our paperwork done.
A huge thank you to Amy. Amy is our dossier examiner to make sure that all the paperwork is to SDA specifications. SDA is the governement agency in Ukraine that oversees adoption. Amy, thanks for all your time, quick responses and your patience as we had dozens upon dozens of questions. Thanks for catching things that needed to be changed or corrected.
Thank you to other parents that have adopted or are in the process of adopting. Thanks for your stories, your encouragement, your advice, your visits, your help, your prayers and your blogs. You have been a tremendous help and encouragement.
Thank you to everyone that is praying. This is not possible without your prayers and God working because of your prayers.
When we realized that our dossier could be sent in soon, we did not have the financial fee that was due with the dossier. However, when the time came to send it off, God had provided the money. To those who have given, thank you!
Our dossier is gone, we are tired, we are thankful. It has been an amazing journey so far and one that we would not have wanted to miss for all the riches the world could provide. It has been a journey of trusting God with each step and learning what it means to lean on him. And we still have a long way to go...

Two Pieces of Paper

We are waiting on just two documents and our dossier is complete and we can send it to Ukraine. Please join us in prayer that this last bit of paperwork will be finished soon.
Thanks!