Hellooo!!

Hi to everyone! We are no longer in Kyiv, we're now in Gorlovka, after spending time in a few other cities. :)

So here's the scoop. Our SDA appt did not go well (Mark says it went "okay" :)). We really only had one choice that didn't even completely match our profile. Because of a lack of options, we decided to take the referral for two brothers, ages 4 and 5 in the Donetsk region. We got their referral papers on Wednesday evening and took a night train to their city, arriving about 9am the next morning. We were not able to meet with the social worker so we went straight to the orphanage. It was quite the experience, to be detailed later. ;) The boys were brought individually into the director's office for us to see them and the director had them draw and do a few little activities. After seeing both of them, we requested being able to see them in their groupas, as we felt they were a little overwhelmed by the number of adults in the room (us, our translator, the director, the speech pathologist, the doctor, and a couple others all in a 10'x10' room).
We came back that evening after much praying as to what to do. The boys are both delayed, but other than that there was nothing that would have discouraged us from adopting them. We were praying for some indication as to what God's plan was for us and the boys. When we went back to visit, we visited each of their rooms individually. While both of the boys were quite shy in the initial meeting and did not interact much with either of us, it was a little different seeing us for the second time in the same day. The older one came over to us and hung out with us as we sat on the couch in his groupa's room. Although he's not quite sure what to do with us, he became pretty possessive in telling the other kids that we were not their parents, although he didn't claim us for himself. ;) When we went to the younger boy's room, as soon as we walked in the room and he saw us he ran over and threw his arms around my legs in a big hug. I sat with his groupa for awhile as they watched a cartoon and Mark and our facilitator talked with the caretakers. When we left, I said goodbye to all of the kids, and an individual goodbye to our boy. As we left, he had his head down and was trying to wipe away tears without anyone seeing.
We went to the orphanage doctor's office and got their full medical history, and decided to adopt them. :) :) :)
As unexpected and completely different than we thought this would be, these are most definitely our sons. I have never felt such peace about a decision--no qualms, no afterthoughts, just peace. We have already chosen their new names and applied for permission to adopt them. We will meet with the judge on Monday to set a court date, which we anticipate being the following week (around Dec 16). Both boys will probably need some therapy and a lot of good nutrition, and of course all the love we can give them. Although I can't give you their full names yet, you can be praying for Alexander and Timothy and our progression towards becoming a family. There is still much to be done, and I know they don't understand why we left yesterday without them (we didn't even tell them we were coming back because we hadn't officially decided). Please pray for their tender hearts and that God would continue to knit us together as a family.
Everything is going phenomenally well and we are in VERY good hands. The first few days were very stressful with a lot of decision-making. Now we are much more relaxed although there is still a lot to go before we come home. Thank you all for your prayers--you have no idea how many have been answered in ways you wouldn't believe. We will do our best to post again soon, or send word through my mom (the internet cafe we were at kept shutting down internet explorer when I tried to post on blogger).