I'm home from my whirlwind trip to Dallas and Austin to get the final pieces of the puzzle (a.k.a. our dossier).  We will mail it Monday and hopefully it will be submitted on Thursday of next week.  Then the wait begins.  

I drove to Dallas tonight to pick up some papers we could only get
from Dallas County Clerk. They were taking their sweet time so I
decidedto come pick them up. Then I will drive them to Austin to get
them apostilled (that's a state notary on the notary basically). Then
back to OKC tommorow night (that's Friday). Lot of trouble but she's
worth it. Obviously we haven't gone private with blog yet... But
soon. Frankly I haven't had the time to set it up yet. :-o

In all circumstances...blesses be the Name of the Lord!

I am holding our i171H. !!!!!!!!!

If you think about it...  please pray for us Thursday morning at 9:00 CST.  That's our appointment time with USCIS to get our final approval to adopt Ruslana.  We'll post as soon as we know how the meeting goes.  We are waiting for a piece of paper from Austin, Texas before we can submit, so please pray for expediency.  Thank you!

So it's okay to kill them but it's not okay to freeze them after they're dead. This makes absolutely no sense.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100224/D9E28RNO0.html

We have our last Dossier document in the mail.  We should have it tomorrow.  Then we'll have it all notarized, checked and Thursday it will all be apostilled and mailed off to Eastern Europe!  YEA!!  Then we'll be off to get our girl!

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We should have the rest of our paperwork for our dossier next Thursday afternoon. Then we'll mail it to Ukraine and they should get it by Monday...then we'll hopefully be heading to get our girl by the end of March!

Our little sweetie has no idea we are coming and no idea how much we love her, but we can’t wait to see her, to hold her, to sing to her, to snuggle with her, to rock her and tell her how much we love her. We have no idea what to expect when we meet her, of course, but we imagine it will be a sweet meeting.

Hannah and Micah are both going with us so that will make the trip even more an adventure! I’ll only be going for the first two weeks (until court is over) and then Mary and Hannah will stay for the final 4 weeks and make the journey home to the USA at the conclusion of the adoption. (Micah will come home with me).

Thankfully, my mom has volunteered to stay with the kids and then to stay on until Mary and Hannah come home to help with the kids. What a blessing!!

He has done great things and we are filled with JOY!

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

PS--we will be going private on our blog next Thursday. If you’d like a login, please email us at malonenine@gmail.com with BLOG in the subject line. If you signed up at “A Night for Ruslana” you don’t need to email us again.

The Adamson children are trying to help bring their precious sister home. Would you consider helping them? Check out their blog... Precious in His Sight: "Lacie's Braclets and Angels" Fundraiser

Don't forget to read the post below this one...

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

One year ago today, this precious little boy walked into our lives. We had been told how mentally delayed he was and that he couldn't learn, couldn't eat, couldn't.... He surprised us when all of a sudden there he was at the door.

This little boy has stolen our hearts, needless to say.

He is now eating like a normal kid. He hears and understands most of what we say. He responds to simple commands. He has started saying "papa" and "bye bye." He loves music. He locks eyes with us. He doesn't sit around and stare at his hands. He plays with toys appropriately. He is almost walking (he takes 4-10) steps by himself. He is our prince charming who has rescued us on his white horse.

Thank You God that You brought him into our lives. Here's the post from the day we first met him... CLICK HERE...

Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

I love this song. It is a reminder to me of what's really important. I used to work 60-80 hours a week and never thought twice about it. Several years ago the Lord did a great work in my life that re-prioritized my schedule. I'm very grateful to Him.

Say what you will about Sarah Palin’s politics, but the fact is unmistakable that she is an outspoken advocate for families with special needs children.

I’ve never seen Family Guy and probably never will, but when I see this scene it really amazes me that to try to hurt Sarah Palin, they would mock children with Down syndrome.  It infuriates me, it shocks me and it makes me want to be more of an advocate for my sons and daughter who have Down syndrome.

Take a look at this video if you want.  Below is the text of the facebook post she references…

“When you’re the son or daughter of a public figure, you have to develop thick skin. My siblings and I all have that, but insults directed at our youngest brother hurt too much for us to remain silent. People with special needs face challenges that many of us will never confront, and yet they are some of the kindest and most loving people you’ll ever meet. Their lives are difficult enough as it is, so why would anyone want to make their lives more difficult by mocking them? As a culture, shouldn’t we be more compassionate to innocent people – especially those who are less fortunate? Shouldn’t we be willing to say that some things just are not funny? Are there any limits to what some people will do or say in regards to my little brother or others in the special needs community? If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed. All they proved is that they’re heartless jerks. - Bristol Palin”

For a list of SPONSORS of the FAMILY GUY --  CLICK HERE

For a list of FOX AFFILIATE CONTACT INFO -– CLICK HERE

Still we wait for one person to move the paperwork along so we can get our homestudy back and submit everything to Ukraine.  I haven’t felt so frustrated ever in my life.  We were promised it yesterday.  Guess what?  STILL WAITING!  Our Social Worker has our homestudy completed and has for over a month and is waiting on this one paper to officially complete the homestudy.  Our fingerprints are done (although we don’t know that they have been approved because of Mary’s print problem), the lady who will process our i600a has been in contact with us and wants to hurry our process for us (that was almost 6 weeks ago that she said she wanted to move fast for us) and here we still sit waiting on one paper.

The only thing that saves me is that I know that God is sovereign and can move men’s hearts and will do what He wants to do.  So we know that He knows about it and will do it in His time.

Please continue to pray that this will work out QUICKLY!  Thanks.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

The beginning of the update post... more to come later tonight! -2/15/2010

We've been working since the end of 2009 to make "A Night for Ruslana" happen. We had MANY people who helped us and could not have done it without their assistance! When we were trying to decide whether or not it was something that God wanted us to do, we were facing a deadline to pay the deposit and the rental fee and didn't have enough money to do that. Two days before it was due or we couldn't rent the hall, someone gave us the money we needed to rent it and pay the deposit. The exact amount we were short. We took that as a Word from God that we were to go on with it! So we did.

Here is a short list of people who helped make it possible. There were MANY so if I leave your name off, THANK YOU!!!

• John & Tracie Loux - our dear friends (basically family) came from Kansas City to help us, support us, and to speak at the banquet.
• Beth Damphousse, Bonnie Smith & Dianna Royland - the wonderfully talented ladies who did the bulk of the cooking for the event. It was delicious (so I hear)!
• Raymond & Katherine Cox and the FBC Singles - served dinner, bussed table, cleaned dishes, cleaned the hall after the banquet.
• Beth LaFever - washed all the dishes!
• Steve Covey - gathered sound equipment, set it up, made sure the band and I sounded as good as possible.
• The Band - Deanna Olson, Chuck Johnson, Darren Stout, John English, Tony Hutchins, Wayne Dickinson, Beth Damphousse
• Decorators - Dianna Royland, Beth Damphousse, Megan Dickinson, Judy English, Denise Redman, Beth LaFever (there were a couple of more but names are escaping me right now).
• Mary Ann Brining & Alma Mangum - cake bakers extraordinaire.

Finally, throughout the whole process, Wayne & Meghan Dickinson (more family) have been right by our side encouraging us and helping us in LOTS of ways! We couldn't have done it without their love and support!!

The night began early Saturday morning (well actually way before that, but...). Throughout the day, things were moved over to the hall. Tables and chairs were set and decorated. Food was prepped for cooking and later cooked. Instruments were tuned, voices were warmed up, sound was tested and retested.

Judy English

Tracie Loux helps Hannah Malone organize the "Bracelet Store." We are so proud of Hannah! She has raise well over $600 toward the adoption with her bracelets!

John Loux sets up sound equipment.

Judy English helps decorate tables.

Mary and Meghan move chairs...

Denise Redman frosts an italian cream cake.

Beth LaFever sets up chairs (with Hannah)

Mary and Tracie

Steve Covey setting up sound equipment for the concert.

Everything ready? I wasn't positive, but couldn't think of anything else to do...

Bethany and Seth take tickets at the door.

Hannah's Bracelet "store" was a great success.

Bethany being silly...

John & Tracie start on the appetizers...

Yum! The appetizer. Brushetta and spinach artichoke dip.

The night began with excitement as people actually began to show up! You just never know what to expect and we had never hosted any kind of banquet, much less a fund-raising banquet. It was Valentine's weekend and it was a fund-raising banquet -- so we just didn't know what to expect. But the room filled up quickly and suddenly we were in the race to serve the appetizers and get drinks served and get the entree prepped to serve (all at one time!). The wonderful servers did it, though and we were off and running. As the appetizers were finished, the entree was served and our guests genuinely seemed to enjoy the meal. We served home-made lasagna, green beans, french bread with butter, garlic and parmesan cheese and a wonderful spinach salad with craisins, feta cheese, croutons, onions and a sweet vinaigrette dressing.

As the meal was topped off with Italian Cream Cake and coffee, I began the concert (let me interject here that I didn't do a concert as much as sang worship service type songs for the most part---this was not about me). About half way through the concert, John and Tracie Loux brought a stirring and challenging message of adoption. Hopefully the hearts of many of the guests were opened to THEIR part in the care for orphans. We are planning an adoption "symposium" in late Spring to further this all-important mission.

We're still totaling everything, but God definitely provided greatly financially through this event. As I said before, we had no idea what to expect and hoped to net $1,000 at least from the banquet. God did way more than that. Finally, we feel like we are in striking distance of what we need to rescue our daughter. We can, at last, see that this will really happen and that God will provide the rest of what we need.

To all those who helped -- THANK YOU! We could not have done it without you!!

To all those attended -- THANK YOU!!! Your support and your love hold us up and help us continue on!!!

We are truly blessed.

God has done great things and we are filled with joy! Blessed be the name of the Lord!

One year ago today (February 16), we were at the SDA in Kiev requesting referrals for our precious sons, Matthew & Micah.

I was re-reading my blog post this morning from that day (CLICK HERE TO READ IT) and am amazed all over again at all that God has done. Wow. It really gives me great encouragement as we prepare to go rescue our girl, Ruslana. Thursday the 18th will be a year since we got to see one of our boys in the flesh. We can't wait to hold our daughter.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord

Our hearts are full. We are exhausted at the moment, but can't wait to share all about it! I'll try really hard to post tomorrow.

It's tonight ya'll!! WOOOO! 6:00! ☺☺☺!