T-38 hours and counting!

It's finally happening. I have a date, I have my airline tickets, my bags are packed and I'm down to the final details of situating the kids here.
In 38 hours I'll be boarding the plane to meet Kolina and bring home Maria.
As my state-side facilitator said "God must have some great things in store for Maria for satan to be fighting back so hard!!! " There has been delay after delay on this adoption and finally my daughter is coming home.
I'm also meeting little Kolina for the first time. I'm trying hard to get my head in the right place for this meeting. I just don't know what to expect with her. The latest pictures of her, after the hospital stay, make her look fairly good. But if the wretched place she in which she is living doesn't keep up with what she needs, then she could easily have back slid into the scrawny near death condition she was in last December. 19 lbs at 9 years old.
My friend Margaret's grandson born last Saturday weighed in at birth at over 9 pounds. It's unimaginable that Kolina weighs only 10 lbs more than a newborn. Most babies double their birth weight in a year.
I also dread seeing her and then leaving her there for another 6+ months. I'm a pretty tough old bird, but I'm not sure this old bird can walk away and ever be the same. The place she has been in for 9 years is hell on earth for kids with disabilities. How do you walk away and leave your starving baby in hell? I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength....did He really mean this too?

Maria

Thanksgiving

I asked today for a list of donors to Kolina and Maria's Reecce's Rainbow adoption fund. I am amazed that, other than three people on the list, I don't know any of you! I was lovingly told by an online adoptive mom that those of you who gave might want to remain annonymous, many of you will remain annonymous because I don't know how to contact you! I didn't think about that when I asked for the list. I had hoped to write grateful thank yous to the folks who donated. I thought about sending you updates about the girls and keep you personally informed when they come home, but without any way to reach you, all I can do is hope that you kept the link to this blog so you can see that I am so grateful for every penny that was donated to help bring the girls home.
As with most adopting families we are scrutinized down to our last dime and we are officially certified that we can financially support another child or two. But what most folks don't realize is how much the adoption costs. Adoption costs in Eastern Europe can run around $25,000 for one child. Most of us don't have that kind of money lying around.
Know that you are truly appreciated and that our Heavenly Father knows who you are and what you have done to bring the orphans that He loves so much that He gives us all a mandate to take care of them...know that you are not annonymous to Him! You have made Him smile today!