Big changes ahead

That's right - big, big changes!

First and foremost - we are moving. We have spent much of this fall driving this fall back and forth between Moscow, Idaho and Big Sky, Montana. The trip is almost 500 miles each direction - and takes a little over 8 hours! With 6 kids in the car - that can be a long day! Honestly though, the kids are all really good travelers, but we knew we couldn't constantly be driving back and forth, especially with the winter months with potentially poor road conditions ahead.

John has been working in Big Sky, Montana for his parents. They have a construction company there, and have offered him a job as Project Manager. While John really enjoyed selling real estate, we always said real estate is a great second-income. It is only commission based, and so months can go by with no paychecks. And, that is precisely what has happened this fall...

And so, we faced the difficult decision of does John travel back and forth, do we move, do we travel back and forth with him, do we relocate for a short time....???? So many questions and options, and it has taken all fall, and lots of prayers, to come to a decision. For the sake of the children, we didn't want to always be "on the go". It is important to us find a church family, although we will be hard-pressed to find something as wonderful as Christian Life Center here in Moscow! We want to get settled as soon as possible so the kids can start making friends and feeling comfortable again.

God has, of course, been faithful in leading us to this decision. He has in fact, shown us some exciting things about our new place of residence like the following:
* Very strong, active, supportive community of homeschoolers.
* A summer hosting program for Russian, Ukrainian and Kazahstanian children - many of which are adopted by their summer host families. This means there will be many international adoptive families with children from Eastern Europe who speak Russian, as well as community resources and events that will help us keep our children's heritage alive!

For the time being, we will be likely renting a 3-bedroom condo from John's parents in Big Sky itself. We would ask that you please join us in prayer as we look at houses, and make a decision about something to purchase. We actually have already found something, just today, that is "perfect". It has everything on our list of needs, as well as desires. Out in the country, yet only 10 minutes to town, it has room for animals, as well as places for children to play. The house is large enough for everyone in our family now, and any others that we may add at a later date (see below for more details!!). We would appreciate your prayers as we consider whether this is what God has in mind for our family, because that is what we ultimately desire.

The other big news (wow, can you handle anymore!) is the realization that John and I had this past weekend that our family isn't necessarily complete yet. We attended a wonderful adoption conference in Spokane, Washington on Saturday that was sponsored by Kingdom Kids (www.kkadoption.com). I have always had the sense that we might add to our family another two or so children, but I thought we were done adopting. This isn't because we had a bad experience - quite the opposite! Just with the finances, travel (who would take our 6 kids while we traveled overseas?!?!?!), etc, I thought we might conceive and give birth to another child. You want to know what is funny? I am constantly concerned that I have lost two children - I count to 6 and think, "oh no, where are the other 2?". And now, John does it too!

Anways, I'm off topic and just rambling (is anyone even out there reading this bumble jumble?!). The minute we walked into the opening session of the conference on Saturday, I began to tear up and I knew, we weren't done adopting. I looked over, and had to share my kleenex with John, and I could tell, God was speaking as loudly (if not more so) and clearly to him as He was me.

It's funny. For a long time, I was going to go to the conference by myself. We didn't have anyone to watch the children all day, so John was going to stay home with them, while I attended the conference. At the last minute, we talked to the coordinators of the conference, and they suggested we bring the kids. She assured us they could play in the nursery, and they would send their older children to make sure everything went smoothly. Honestly, we never considered our children might get something out of attending (in the nursery) the conference, and were we ever wrong! Isn't it cool how God uses everything to touch someone, somehow, in ways we don't even expect??

I can't tell you how touched our children were by spending all day with adopted children, and their siblings. For the first time, I think, the kids understood very clearly that they were here to stay. This wasn't a short term thing. It was so great to point out all the children and say "she was adopted", "he was adopted", "she was adopted", etc. And, many of the children had been adopted multiple years ago, and they began to see that adoption is lifelong!

During lunch at the conference, John was looking through a "waiting child" brochure from WACAP. He had attended an "Adopting an Older Child" workshop, and had found out about WACAP's Promise Children. WACAP designates certain waiting children, including ALL international sibling groups as Promise Children. A generous donor pays ALL the WACAP fees for the adoption of Promise Children. So - adopting a sibling group (which is what is near and dear to our hearts), would only cost our home study, INS and travel! Can you believe that?!? We couldn't either, and are so excited. Adopting another sibling group will be financially possible, when God directs us to proceed.

So, back to lunch. John is flipping through the Waiting children brochure, and he keeps showing me different sibling groups. Mariyana wanted to see the booklet and asked who the children were. We explained to her, and then she asked if there had been a picture of them. I explained, in a very simplistic way, the Ukrainian adoption procedures at the NAC, but excitedly told her that now - there were NO pictures of them because they were with their forever family. And then came the part that still shocks me. She told me that we should go back to the orphanage and bring her home some more brothers and sisters! ALL the other children excitedly agreed, and began discussing how many, ages, gender, etc. WOW!

So, God is not done with us. We still have room in our van for 7 - although I'm not thinking we'll fill it completely full! In God's timing, we will likely adopt a sibling group from Russia through WACAP's Promise Child program. If you are out there reading this, and thinking you would like to adopt siblings, but can't afford the fees, please consider this wonderful program. You would quite likely be able to adopt a group of 2 or more children for very little expense. If that is what is holding you back, please contact them. Please - we don't have any agreement with WACAP. Our hearts are drawn to sibling groups that are looked over because there are so many of them, and sometimes the oldest is older. But, I can assure you - our experience has been nothing short of WONDERFUL. We would do it again in an instant, and quite likely will (not in an instant, but I would guess within the next year). If you want more information, please email me. Again, I don't work for WACAP - I just am so excited about their amazing program, I want to share it with everyone I can!

So - that is enough for today. I look forward to some emails from those of you interested in sibling groups. There is one group in particular that is near to my heart, and if parents aren't found for them, we might be the ones...Won't you email me today? (marblefamily@idahovandals.com)

May God bless you richly!

Kristen