We leave on the 16th!

It has been over a year now since we met a group of kids from Ukraine who came to the U.S. as part of a hosting program in November 2007. Here is a picture of some of them playing with our dogs at San Gregorio Beach. The program brings orphans from Ukraine to the U.S. for an American cultural experience. They stay with host families in the Bay Area. Many times the American families adopt these children after they return back to the Ukraine. We have been diligently working on the process to adopt a school-age girl that we met through the hosting program. It has been a long and difficult process, but we are finally ready to leave on Friday January 16th. We have started this blog to allow friends and family to follow us along the way. Perhaps we should have started this blog over a year ago. There has certainly been enough drama and other activity to fill volumes! We'll do our best in the coming posts to explain the process that got us to this point and where we are going from here. We had originally hoped to adopt the girl we met through the hosting program. However, nothing is ever certain and that is definitely the case is our particular situation. We are going to the Ukraine with an open heart and an open mind and hopefully will be led to the child who is meant to be part of our family