3 steps away

We are getting closer and closer to having our girl home for good. These past two days have been tiring but extremely productive and getting us that much closer to taking her away from the orphanage forever. Luba had a fever and was feeling immensely sick so she sent her sister Lena who has worked with adoptions for the past 10 years. Lena arrived Tuesday morning and went to get our Court decree declaring that we were officially the legal parents of Ayla Marina, then went onto the the Certificate office to get her new name on her birth certificate. After that Lena called and came to pick me up at the orphanage and we chased the adoption rabbit all across Nikopol. We were able to get her Passport packet ready for Dnipropetrovsk, her birth certificate that has Ayla Marina Williams on it, her tax id number changed over, then signed off all the papers needed for the orphanage to release her.

Wednesday we woke up early and went to pick up Ayla Marina at the orphanage. They evidently did not inform her caregivers that we were coming early because she was sound asleep. So we went up to her room and woke her and every other girl in her groupa, she has the same "wide eyed/where am I" look that her mother has in the morning time. It should result in some fun mornings in the Williams house for years to come. She literally skipped around for a little while getting all of her things then we jumped in the taxi and headed to Dnipropetrovsk, about an hour and a half drive. When we arrived Lena went into the Regional certificate to get her Birth Certificate legalized, then went to the Passport office to submit all of her paperwork. After all the papers were submitted we went to grab something to eat at a Ukrainian Restaurant and had some conversations about Ayla's school, church, how her dad will beat up any boys that tries to talk to her. You know, normal father daughter lunch conversations. We are so ready to get her home and now that all these papers are done all we have left is pick up her Passport, Medical conclusion in Kiev, then interview for her visa.  Our Oct 16 flight looks like it will meet us at the perfect time to leave Ukraine and bring her home for the first and last time.

Thank you so much for the Prayers and Support we have received through the blog and in person. It is extremely refreshing to hear all of the comments and to know that God is using this journey for his glory, even when we are half a world away right now.  Ayla and I are ready to step off of that plane at 8:30 pm in the Monroe "Airport," and hug and kiss Kate and Chandler. This journey has truly drained us emotionally but we know that once we are home and starting to live life as a family, we will look back and just rejoice at how God carried us all through it. We pray for safe travel and that God will use the story of this little girl to share the gospel, to soften the hearts of the hardened, and to bring light to the darkness of the orphan epidemic in the world.

167 million orphans, minus one!
Soli Deo Gloria!