I'm Proud to Be an American!!!

Andre and I met a year after our oldest child was born. He may not have come from our bodies, but he (Nikita) shares our heart. Many of you know the story in detail, some of you lived parts of it with us, however, I wanted to tell the story of how God wove the first 3 members of our family together.

It started on May 4th, 2002 when Nikita was born in Dubno, Ukraine, just 30 minutes from Rivne. He was born from Andre's sister Aljona, but even from the beginning Andre was involved. Andre was the one to name him, Nikita (Mykyta in Ukrainian). He liked the name because it could be shortened to Nike (like the shoes :). Nikita began to live with Andre and Valya (Andre's grandma) when he was only one month old. Very quickly he began to occupy a space in their hearts. Aljona was in and out of the house, living with them off and on. Then in May of 2003, Aljona passed away. Nikita was now an official orphan, according to the world.

In July, 2003, I met Nikita. Here's a picture of all the girls from our team and me. Nikita was 1 year old at the time.

People might think, wow if she only knew that she would one day be his mom. Well, it may seem kind of weird, but I sort of did know. I'm not a big kid person, but I was with Nikita. We had a bond, fueled later by my bond with Andre, but beginning with just us. What a blessing from our Father!

In 2004, Andre and I started dating. I remember talking on the phone with Andre (he in Ukraine and me in the States) and Nikita got on the line and said, "Mama. " Andre quickly came on and said that was only word he knew, which helped me regain my breath. :)

This is a picture of Nikita and me around the time that Andre and I started dating.

Andre and I were married on September 30, 2005 (almost 4 years ago).

Here are the 3 of us at the courthouse the day we got married.

Here we are at the party after the legalized marriage ceremony!

Nikita soon after moved to Spain to live with Andre's mom. Why did he move there, you might ask? Well, it was a decision that had been made before Andre and I were even really dating, but soon after we were married, we realized that it shouldn't be a permanent situation. In January, a month after our weddings, we approached Andre's mom with the desire to adopt Nikita. She was stunned at first but soon agreed that it was the best thing for him.

In early March, 2007, Nikita moved to Ukraine to be with us! The triangle that started so long ago was completed! Nine months later, in November, the triangle became a square when Noah was born.

This is the first night at home with Nikita. He was pretty comfortable with Andre right away.

He wasn't quite as sure what to think about me, but we bonded quickly.

Here's the first time Nikita got to see Noah! He was already a proud big brother!

Although we have been a family at heart for more than 2 and a half years, today we received a monumental piece of mail. Nikita has received his US passport!!!!! For many of you, you've been praying for this moment with us for a long time! Thank you! As he opened the mail, addressed to him, I couldn't help but shed tears of joy that my little boy was now my little American boy. He can travel wherever we go. We don't have to stand in line for visas for him anymore. We are the same. We get the same insurance, the same line at customs, we are a family in the eyes of all governments all over the world. That's a sweet moment right there. :)

Thank you all for praying for both our boys! We are so very blessed to have them both!

Praise God for family!

Cousins!!!

I grew up with what I would consider a big extended family. We always got together and enjoyed being with cousins and aunts and uncles. Well, now I'm one of the aunts and one of the moms of this hilarious group of cuties. This is a picture taken last month when we were together. I'm so thankful that God has given us a family that loves to be together. There was chaos, oh my, there was chaos, but the smiles and memories are so worth it all. So, the order goes like this (L to R) Nikita 7, Merek 4.5, Keira 3, Ani (Annika) 3, Noah 21 months, Norah 14 months, and Leah 9 months. I hope that as these kids grow, that they will appreciate and love the time they have together as much as I did when I was a kid. Praise God for cousins!!!