What a year

A year ago today, Doug and I "sprung" Hannah from the baby house in Odessa, Ukraine. And today, Doug and I spent the morning running from one county to another compiling the necessary paperwork in hopes to be able to celebrate another "gotcha/sprung" day. (The rest of the day was spent with Hannah!) I have been after Doug to blog for a while, and just today he mentioned to me "Today is a good day for blogging". And so I encouraged him that the computer is here, all he has to do is type. And so, here we are....Doug's prospective on today, the last year of our lives, and a year ago today!

What a wonderful day!! A day of looking back and cherishing all the wonderful memories God has bestowed upon us. Fitting, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful for, most of which has happened primarily in the last year and the last three to be exact. Who would have thought, that God would take two brokenhearted people from America, ones who heart they thought he had just torn out and stomped on, and then brought them to a little girl with a broken heart in Odessa, Ukraine. To think of the magnitude of this brings tears to my eyes. What a wonderful God we serve!!!! This was the day a year a ago I thought we had finally reached our destination. When we started the whole adoption process the first time we where scared, financially strapped and didn't know where to go or whom to go to. So we prayed and both decided to take the step. Oh, the first step, its always the hardest. I always use to think Peter in the bible received a bad wrap because when he was walking on water toward Jesus he started to sink. On really looking at it, at least he had enough faith to step out of the boat. It's that first step again. Last year had me thinking a lot about Peter and that first step. He did take his eyes off Jesus and he did start to sink. I know Cara and I did the same a time or two, but just like Jesus reached down and saved Peter from drowning he did the exact same for us. Praise the Lord, our God saves!!!! It was exactly one year ago today as we carried our little Hannah out of an orphanage I thought We finally made it. We walked across water to Jesus himself, we stepped out of the boat completely on faith not knowing if we would sink of walk. Sure we took our eyes off and started to fall, but because we took that first step, with our faith 100% toward Jesus he never once wasn't right there with us. I say all this only because We as a family have taken that exact same step again, and I can't wait to have that same overwhelming feeling of doing God's work saving his children again when we take another little girl from Serbia. I know there will be times when we start to sink and things go wrong, but I also know who we put our faith in!!! God is still on his throne today and he is still in control.

I(Cara) couldn't have said it better. Amazing where a year can and will take you with God's love. We are thankful that God told us to go to Ukraine, broken hearts and all. We were faithful foo lowers, and God blessed us with an AMAZING gift. Hannah is the highlight of our days. I am thankful to each and every one who reads this blog, for every person who prays for us along our journey, and for those who have given us support financially. Lastly, I urge you to take a look at www.reecesrainbow.com and click on the angel tree header. There are so many children who need our love and support and prayers!

All our love on this Thanksgiving eve,
Cara, Doug, & (a sleeping Hannah!)