Mother's Day

I (Laura) have had an awesome Mother's Day and am blessed everyday by the children (and adults) in my life and particularly by my husband whose cards always seem to say just the right thing. Usually they bring tears to my eyes as well with the handwritten portions. This year's was particularly touching because he wrote about his excitement over sharing the next phase of life and new children with me. Each of our older children, in their own unique ways, also made me feel special for Mother's Day.
Our lives will be forever changed with the addition of this next set of children. I can't wait to meet them! Good thing the Lord already knows them by name and has hand picked and created the right ones for us. Now the biggest and hardest part will be to make sure we follow His lead and have the discernment to know which ones He has chosen for us and accept them without question. Whew! I don't know how we would choose otherwise.
We also had the awesome privilege of being honored by our church family this morning at both services for our upcoming adoption journey. We are hoping to be able to greatly bless the orphanages we come in contact with in order to establish an ongoing relationship to help support all those children we will have to leave behind who also need mamas and papas.
Thank you Pastor Mark and our Crosswalk Family for your support, comments, and prayers.
They meant a great deal to both of us!

A big Happy Mother's Day to my mom, grandmother, and mother-in-law. You are all appreciated very much and we are fortunate to have you in our lives. We love you very much and we thank you for all you do :) XOXO

8 days to go!

Wow! It's hard to believe it is almost time to actually get packed up and go to Ukraine to get our children. It seemed like it would never get here and now we are scrambling to get everything done. It's like home improvement central right now. Rob has put up new shelves in the office, we had some cabinets made for the game room to be able to put the pool cues safely inside and away from sticky fingers, and currently we are having the ceiling in living room fixed and painted. It even gets better than that. We are having the new kitchen floor laid next Wednesday! In between those projects is, of course, getting our things ready to pack, paying the bills ahead, putting together the photo album and painting the children's room. Since we don't know the age or gender it makes it a little difficult to do too much.

Oh, and it's Mayra's 21st birthday tomorrow so on Saturday we will go to Liberty to celebrate with her and drop the car off for the kids to get home after finals (they get out the day we leave) and then on Sunday (yes, mothers day) we will be going to get together with Crystal since we might be gone for her 21st birthday June 22. Just a few things going on here at the Casa de' Passanita or should I say Дом Passanita. Pray really really hard for us that we don't totally wig out before we even get to Ukraine. We will be completely relying on God's strength by that time (which I guess we should be anyway but the point was that we probably won't have the energy to let the flesh take over at all) and thank goodness for that because we would mess it up for sure. Aaaaaahhhh!

Cacun was amazing!

We spent the past 4 days enjoying a wonderful trip to Cancun, Mexico that Rob won for being one of the top managers in a contest for work. Soooo, free vacation for us! It was amazing that it worked out this way because we had thought that we would be in Ukraine during the trip and would either have to forfeit it or Rob would go and take Crystal. Even thought she was bummed that she didn't get to go, we really needed to get away just the 2 of us before we embark on the next phase of life with the next set of kids. We got to relax and enjoy each other and the beautiful view.
HOTEL AND FOOD

We were treated like royalty and stayed in a wonderful hotel called the Fiesta Americana and fed some tremendous food. The breakfast buffet alone could have fed a small country and had everything you could imagine on it. Our room had a great view of the pool and beach. The first evenings reception was poolside and beach side with a buffet of local cuisine. We also ate at an Argentinian Steakhouse called Cambalache. They actually brought you a whole meat case to show you the cuts of meat. They were HUGE. We even had Crepe Suzettes for dessert. My mom used to make those so I really enjoyed having them. The last night they had a buffet of local cuisine in town and a show since it was Cinco de Mayo. It is not as big there as it is here in the states. Go figure!

ACTIVITIES
We got to pick 2 activities to do so we chose the zip line and the speedboat tour. Because we are adventurous we chose the Extreme Adventures. The zip line wasn't as high as the brochure indicated (only 100 feet above the ground instead of the 200-2000 feet as described)but we added some adventure to it by hanging upside down on one of the 11 lines we zipped across. What a rush. The 2 man speed boats really zipped along the water as well. It was like playing follow the leader since you were in a group of 5 boats and they lead you out to a reef where we snorkeled for a while before retuning to the marina. I (Laura) lost my hat since we were going so fast but luckily the boat behind us scooped it up and returned it to me at the snorkel spot. Got a little sun but we spent most of the snorkel time in the water.

SHOPPING
We would be remiss if we didn't mention the shopping. Laura and Kathy (friend who works in Rob's office who won as well) went to the market in the downtown area and bargained our way into to several souvenirs and we also did a little shopping a the hotel shops and after our dinner at the steakhouse which was on the "strip" where all the shows and touristy places are (Hard Rock, Senor Frogs, etc.) . After eating that much at the steakhouse we needed to walk it off anyway so what a better activity than shopping? Woohoo. We did some last minute shopping at the airport but Rob was a little shopped out by that time so not as much as I would have liked but enough to spend the rest of our pesos.

All in all it was a great trip and we enjoyed having the time to spend together before we go to Ukraine in a few weeks to adopt our children. I suspect the food will be as good but the experience, although I'm sure it will be Extreme as well, will be quite different. It will still hold same, well probably more, excitement though. We continue to pray for God to prepare our hearts and the hearts of the children He has for us. We know they will be perfect for our family and rely on His strength and wisdom to guide us. We look forward to our next journey and hope all who read our blog will continue to pray for us.
Thanks :)

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.