27 days and counting!

Most recently, we have had the privilege of hosting 3 gentlemen from the Mater's Commission Program from Orlando, Florida the past few days. It is truly refreshing to see young men who are living their lives for Christ and ministering to the middle and high school kids who need it desperately. Anthony, Gill, and Glenn have been great house guests and we wish them the best in whatever God has in store for them. Rob and I enjoy being able to open our home and host people. Everything we have has been given to us from God and we have been incredibly blessed and therefor enjoy being able to share that with others. I couldn't think of more thoughtful, talented and helpful young people than the 3 we got to share some time with. They will always be welcomed to come visit should they get the opportunity.

We only have 27 more days until SDA DAY on May 21st. We continue to prepare for our Ukraine trip and complete some desperately needed home improvements. We are also excited that we leave for Cancun next Thursday! Woohoo! Way to go Rob for winning this all expense paid vacation for us. We will be zip lining over the rain forest and speed boating through the jungle as well as enjoying some good food and company. Then it's back to reality and packing for Ukraine. We continue to pray daily for the 2 children waiting for us. Only God knows who they are but we have every confidence that they will be perfect for our family. I can hardly wait!! 27 days still seems like an eternity.

He is Risen!

Easter weekend was a great joy with both Mayra and Travis home for the weekend to celebrate. Two of Mayra friends came also and Laura enjoyed getting to be one the "girls" and go shopping with them and such. It was a nice relaxing weekend.
In case you were wondering, the title was not referring to Travis; although it is fairly normal to make such a comment mostly around 1-2 pm in the afternoon. They do love their sleep time at home.
We had a wonderful Easter service in celebration that Christ died for us and has risen and sits at the right hand of the Father. Our pastor always gives a unique perspective on how to apply the Word to our lives. The kids are able to relate to the message and enjoy going. Pastor Mark has nine children, as you can see, and they are all wonderful. Not a rotten one of the bunch! We thoroughly enjoy being neighbors and love watching the kids grow up and spoiling them a little from time to time. The littlest one will probably be thrilled when we have kids at our house for him to play with. Although, since he has gotten to have few sleep overs at our house, there might be a fight over who gets to sleep in the Elmo bed. We may have to get an additional one just in case.

Preparation are still taking place for our trips. Yes, I said trips plural. Rob been so blessed at work that he won a trip to Cancun, Mexico! Woohoo! It was nice of God to work that out so we could go there prior to our Ukraine trip to get our kids. It will be nice to spend some time together just the two of us with the added benefit of someone footing the bill! We are going to go on a 2 person speed boat tour through the jungle and we are also signed up to ride a zip line over the rain forest. If we don't die doing one of those two things then we will be home for a couple weeks and then off to Ukraine to get our new little children. God is so good and His mercies really do last forever! Happy Easter!!!

Mayra makes RA!

Mayra, our Mexican daughter, is a junior at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. She had applied to be an RA (resident assistant)in a dorm for next year. There were 400 kids who applied and not only did she make the cut from 400 to 200 but then she went on to interview and be tested and was then chosen to be an RA for next school year. Hooray! Congratulations! Way to go chili pepper (that's her nick name)! Becoming an RA gives her the benefit of having her room and board paid for by the school. What a tremendous blessing for her. God has really done a spectacular work in her. We have the awesome privilege of calling her our daughter.
Her roommate Becky also made RA as well and they will get to be RA's together in the same dorm next year. Good job, Becky :)

We have a date!!!

Yes, it is finally true. We have an appointment date at the SDA in Ukraine to adopt our 2 children. It's May 21st!!!! Although it is a little later than expected we are thrilled to just have something secured! The good thing is that Rob has done so well at work that he has won a trip to Cancun in early May (way to go hon!) so we will now get to go on that trip together. Sorry Crystal, another opportunity may present itself in the future. Crystal, Rob's daughter, was going to go with him if he were home during our 10 day wait period if our appointment had been in April when we had expected it to be.
It is fantastic timing as we will be launching an orphan ministry at our church (very overwhelming at this point) this Sunday. We will get to share our good news then. We were very concerned for quite some time and thought that we were never going to get a date. That's what we get for doubting God's timing yet again. We had been told everything from "your invitation letter has been lost", "you have an appointment but we don't know when it is", "you have a registration number but it hasn't been released", "no more news, maybe a week from Tuesday we will hear more", so needless to say we were getting very worried and frustrated. Others around us were all getting dates and here we sat; still waiting on some news, ANY news.
Well we finally got the word today so we will be calling ASAP to confirm our appointment and start making preparations for the trip. Of course, we have been preparing for this for over a year but it's hard to really start preparing until you have something secure to work with.
We have entered the world of the "crossover" van. Notice I didn't say "mini"van. We prefer to think of our new vehicle as a low riding SUV with sliding doors. It looks a lot like one of the fish in our aquarium (Bala Shark). We have also fenced in our yard and are getting ready to have the house trim repainted and power washed. In addition, we have remodeled the game room with some additional seating and storage. We are feeling rather poor monetarily but are so rich in spirit that it compensates well. At least we are telling ourselves that for the moment.
Everytime I walk by the room where the children will be, I try to picture what it will be like when there are actually little people in those beds. It even makes me teary eyed now just thinking about it. In due time, in due time.
The Lord's timing is always perfect. We will be here for the trip to Cancun for Rob's work (May 3-6) and for Mayra's 21st birthday (May 10th) and will be able to get the kids from school (May 12) all in time to get to Ukraine for our May 21st appointment, celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary on the 26th and Laura's 29th (ha ha) birthday on the 29th. Mom/June/Gram/Babuska (Laura's mother) will be joining Laura (me) for the ten day wait which might be around her birthday (June 5). We are also hoping (I know what all of you are thinking, no way, but we can still hope) to be back for Crystal's 21st birthday as well (June 22). Even though Mothers Day(May 13) will come and go again this year without the children, I know the next ones will be filled with additional joy.
For those of you who have been praying with and for us, don't stop now! The journey is just beginning and I'm sure we will need lots of prayer along the way.

Still Waiting

Well we submitted our dossier in January and should hear any day now what our appointment date is. People ahead of us and behind us have already gotten dates so we are a little anxious about it but we do know that we were not on the list of rejected dossiers so at least that is a plus. We were always told to expect the unexpected however we didn't know it would start on this side of the water!
Rob and Laura have begun to prepare a few things that can be prepared for ahead of time, given all the many unknowns at this point. We are getting a fence in the back yard, have replaced our glass coffe table with a more sturdy all wood one along with the end tables. Rob found a great bargin at a southside thrift place that came complete with crayon drawings on the underside as an added touch. We love them! Silly, I know, but those crayon drawings are something we are looking forward to putting on the frig soon. I don't think we would be as thrilled for them to adorn any more of the furniture though. We have been trying to avoid the "minivan brigade" but have found a great new vehicle that will fit our older kids (20,20,18) as well as the long awaited new little angels. They call it a crossover van so technically it isn't a minivan. We call it a low riding SUV with sliding doors! There are still many things to clean out and throw out and put higher up but all in good time.
Rob and Laura are enjoying their alone time for now and enjoy the thought of laughter and the pitter patter of little feet soon to come. Although Laura continues to invite all of the neighbor children in as often as possible, it will be nice to have ones to call our own. We try not to dwell on the crying, tantrum, middle of the night, attitude things although we know we will deal with that as well. We fully trust that God has a special purpose for us and that the children he has for us will be exactly right for us and we will be exactly right for them because we serve a great God! We look forward to experiencing all the ways God will move during this process and even if He sends us there to make a difference in the life of one child for one afternoon or presents us with more or older or different children than expected and He makes it clear that that was what He intended for us, then that will be good enough for us. Don't misunderstand, we would be disappointed and heartbroken to come home without any children and probably overwhelmed if more than 2, but we also know that God's plan is bigger and better than anything we can hope for or dream about so we are fully submitted to whatever and whomever He has for us.

Paperwork has been submitted to the SDA!

We received the news today that our adoption paperwork has been officially submitted to the SDA in Ukraine. We should hear within a few weeks what our registration number is and when we will travel for our appointment. Wow, it's getting closer. It is really nice to actually be making some progress after waiting for so long. Judging by the other appointments that have been scheduled for people whose paperwork went in before ours we should have a travel date sometime in April or beginning of May. I'm glad it will be a little warmer there than it is now. Trying to outfit little ones with snow suits and hats and gloves etc. would be a little cumbersome but I wouldn't mind a bit. As a matter of fact, I couldn't help buying one little outfit each after getting the news today. Obviously we have no idea how old our little ones will be so these outfits may never be used but I had fun picking them out anyway. I can't wait to actually meet them and hold them in my arms. I'm trying not to get too excited yet because you never know what the future holds but I remain hopeful that things will move along as planned.
Rob and I continue to pray nightly for our 2 new little angels. It seems everyone's experience is a little different in Ukraine so we are totally depending on God to lead the way and make our path straight. Or as straight as it can be Ukraine style.
We will continue to post updates as we receive them. Thanks for following along with us on this journey.

Happy New Year!

Rob and Laura spent New Years Eve this year cozy at home. Travis had a couple of friends over but overall a very calm and peaceful entrance into 2007. We look forward to the coming year with much anticipation. We hope to bring home our 2 children from Ukraine and enjoy all the activities of our older children as well. God's timing is always perfect and we look forward to the things He will do in and through us in the coming year. May you all have a prosperous and joyous New Year!!

Christmas in FL

Rob, Travis, and Laura went to FL 12/22 - 12/27 to celebrate Christmas with Ama and GramMoore in Sarasota. Bob and Carol Cape also joined us and Brian,Caitlin,and Siena came from 12/26 - 12/29. We had a great time visiting and enjoying the beach for a few days before it got cold in June's "paradise". We attended Ama's Chruch in Indian Rocks Beach for Christmas Eve since that is what she had requested this year. At 97 you can make any kind of requests you want to. We had a wonderful smoked turkey with all the trimmings and felt extremely blessed this Christmas season to be with many parts of our family.

Christmas in VA

We celebrated our Christmas early this year with the kids since Mayra was going to be in Mexico and Crystal back in northern Virginia on Christmas day. Travis, Rob and I will be in FL celebrating with Ama, Gram Moore, Uncle Brian, Caitlin and Siena.

Rob's Birthday 12-16

We celebrated Rob's 43rd Birthday with all 3 kids here. Crystal went to Lynchburg and picked up Travis and Mayra from school and they arrived on Friday night with much laundry and very tired eyes. Saturday we made Rob breakfast and then had cake and ice cream. He relaxed most of the day and then we went to Season's for Dinner and then to a Christmas concert that evening.

Christmas is coming

Rob and I went with our friends, the Cooks, to see hear the Community Choir at the Methodist church perform "The Messiah". THey do it every year and are just fantastic. The voices were spectacular and the orchestra very professional. It is comprised of people from all over the community who come together for 4 practices and this concert. You come away from it filled with a wonderful christmas spirit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving in PA with Rob's parents. As is the custom, we had ravioli along with all the other traditional Thanksgiving goodies. Jane made apple and pumpkin pie too! Mayra came with us and we did A LOT of shopping out with all the crazies trying to get some good bargains. (which we did!) We also got to shoot the pistol out in the woods. I was a pretty good shot and almost took down a tree branch with the 357magnum shells. Mayra hit the target a few times and Rob and Bob are old hands at it. We all enjoyed some nice rest and relaxation (and some good card playing) and then were back on the road to take Mayra back to school and us back home. We certainly had/have many things to be thankful for this year.

Here is an updated picture of Cadet Passanita! Travis sent us this one recently and we both had to take a second look. He looks so grown up! He won't be with us for Thanksgiving but he will be here for Christmas so we will get to see him in person. He's having a great time at Liberty and has made some good friends. We should be getting some grades at some point in the near future. I guess that will show us just how much fun he is REALLY having.

Just a quick (OK, maybe not so quick)update about a few things we have been doing. We went to Parent's Weekend at Liberty in late October and got to see Travis and Mayra and spend some time with them. We also attended the wedding of the daughter of a friend of ours. (I know, very comlicated to figure out)
Laura finished up her teaching stint at WCA this week and is now free to get back to fixing things up and cleaning things out at the house. Our game room has been repainted and we are in the process of adding a wetbar as well as setting up our 50gal fish tank again.
Crystal came for the weekend last week and we had a good time getting to spend some time with her and hearing about what was going on in her life up in Northern VA.
We are looking forward to a few goings on coming up. Laura will be going to a baby shower for her friend Carol who has just adopted a little boy from Guatamala and at the same time she will get to see her other friend Lisa and her 2 month old twin boys! (fun fun) Laura's grandmother will turn 97 on November 26th (she is truly amazing!)and we will be going to PA for Thanksgiving with Rob's parents. Mayra will be with us for the holiday as well. We will look forward to seeing her. Our church has just purchased a facility and we will be helping to get it ready for the first service some time in December.
We still pray daily about and for our new children who are in Ukraine waiting for us. We pray that the Lord will prepare us and them to be a family. Our paperwork is complete and will be sent over in January for approval. We hope that in the late spring or early summer we will be traveling to go pick them out. The Lord is truly in charge of this one! No preplanning for us as we don't know what age and gender we will end up with but we do know that God knows and will supply us with whatever we need at just the right time. We are blessed to have good friends and family to follow along with us on this journey.

Laura started teaching today at Williamsburg Christian Academy (where Travis and Mayra attended). She will be teaching 3rd and 6th period History to the 8th graders for the next month while the school finds a permanent teacher. Should be an exciting time but she will enjoy getting to know the kids. Two of them are from Ukraine so perhaps she will learn a little Russian on the side.

Travis came home for the first time since he left for Liberty University in mid August. We hadn't heard much him from so we knew he was having a great time and getting adjusted to his new independence at college. He brought 2 of his friends with him, David and Julie, and we enjoyed meeting them and making sure they had some good home cooked meals for which they were extremely grateful. We think the visit was actually to do some laundry however we just enjoyed being able to give him a hug and let him know we think about him often. Of course we would love to hear from him a little more often (hint hint, Travis) but understand the fun things at college are much more exciting than calling your parents. They attended church with us this morning and then they were off to see the womens national soccer team play in Richmond. We sent him off with some goodies so he is now stocked up until the next the time.

Fun with the Morrow children

Rob and I have been keeping the 3 youngest Morrow children (they have 9 all together) since Sunday and we have enjoyed the house full of laughter and giggles. They are great children and well behaved most of time. McKenzie is 8 and in the 2nd grade. We have done hair and picked out clothes to wear and read "Little House in the Big Woods" each night with great excitement. Ryland is 6 and in 1st grade. He gets his homework done in a flash and loves to do crafts and build things nad play with his action figures. Alexander is the youngest but will tell he is not"the baby"; He is a big boy. He loves to watch the Land Before Time movies and will talk to whomever he comes across on the playground. He is quite the chatter box but doesn't like to go to bed (what 4 year old does). Laura has enjoyed spoiling them to pieces and will look forward to thier visiting every once in a while after they go home (they live 3 doors down from us). Rob likes to make the boys laugh and talk with McKenzie but its back to a quite house after today. More fun will be on its way when we get our Ukranian kids so in the mean time we just borrow other peoples kids to spoil for a while.

Mayra came home this weekend with 8 of her friends from Liberty. As you can see they slept, ate, and had fun. Rob and I enjoyed hearing the laughter and seeing the wonderful spirit these girls exuded. Rob made a delicious beef brisket that everyone enjoyed. The girls went to Va Beach and Colonial Williamsburg and still had time to watch movies and eat snacks until all hours of the night. They also went with us to church and then we sent them off with some snacks and drinks back to Lynchburg and the daily grind of college life. We hope they will visit again for some more "home" cooking and great fellowship and fun.

Summer 2006

He we are just the two of us. Until mid August we were never just "the 2 of us". Now with Travis and Mayra off to college we get to actually be "just the 2 of us" for a short while. I say short while because we are about to blessed with 2 additional members to our family. We don't know them yet but God does and is preparing them to be part of the Passanita family. So far, with Rob's 2 children and our Mexican daughter and then our 2 new Ukranian children, that makes 5! We are truly blessed. We are going to enjoy our time alone remodeling, eating out, going on drives, and general relaxation while we wait to be invited to get our new children and hopefully hear from our other ones once in a while as well.

September 16, 2006

Here is Travis, currently the youngest, with Mayra, our Mexican daughter, on the day Travis turned 18! We went to an event at Bull Run park in Manasas, VA to see Jeremy Camp in concert with Barlow Girl, Mathew West, and several other Christian groups. It was a fun time and enjoyed by all. At least that what they told us. We stayed overnight and then went to sunday brunch at the Marriott at Dulles Airport with all 3 kids (Crystal, Travis, Mayra). Then we headed back to Lynchburg to drop Travis and Mayra back off at Liberty University where they both attend. Travis is a Freshman this year and Mayra is a junior. Neither one of them get enough sleep, eat enough vegatables, or call as often as we'd like but they are having a lot of fun and we are glad they are enjoying their college experience and hopefully the grades will be in line as well. We are very proud of them and will enjoy any visits home that they make.