KARIS YULIYA is ours!!!

We are home, slightly jet-lagged, thrilled to be back with our kids, and waiting... waiting out the mandatory 10-day period before we can go back and pick up Karis.

Court was LONG -and thorough- but not bad.

Quick highlights of the trip...

1. Attending church with Karis on Easter... a 3-hour Russian Orthodox service in which all are required to stand. It was a beautiful experience. We'll never forget it.

2. Seeing the orphans' faces light up when we passed out Mrs. Shook's classes' (and my video classes') Easter goody bags. Thanks to Mrs. Shook and her students for coordinating this missions effort. We were thrilled to be the deliverers! And, who would have ever guessed... the children, in Russia, had never seen plastic Easter eggs!

3. Finally meeting Catherine who adopted her daughter (same orphanage) the same day we did! Looking forward to traveling with you again, friend!

4. Having Karis show up at our door, at 7 am, in her PJs to greet us! She waited up all night for us to arrive!

5. Coloring Easter Eggs with Karis and her friend, Masha.

6. Learning how to play "Lapta" (Russian baseball) in Karis' "physical training" class which happens to be her favorite class!

7. Finding a cafe in Bryansk that served PIZZA!

8. Meeting FOUR men named Sergey in one day! Three of the Sergeys were our drivers, and one of them shared our train cabin.

9. Receiving wonderfully long, informative emails from my mom about how our kids were doing. She made sure to include their activities and funny things they said... it helped us cope with missing them. (Thanks, Mom!) Also, receiving Bible verses from the Bergeron family that helped lift us up when we would become worried.

10. THE JUDGE GRANTING THE ADOPTION!!! And seeing Karis' BIG smile, as a result!

There's no doubt, God is good... and faithful. Thanks to ALL for your prayers during this trip!

~Kevin and Emily

Planting Seeds

Just as the farmers, in the fields, are planting their seeds right now... I have been surrounded by other "plantings" going on.

Last week, we had the amazing opportunity to host two boys, members of the Children of the World choir, brought by World Help and Kids Against Hunger www.achildshopeintl.org , to our church. Dan, 10-years-old, is from Uganda, and Ash, 9-years-old, is from Nepal. My prayer for the hosting was that we, as a family, could love, encourage, and provide a sense of "hope" for the boys. Not only that, I prayed that God would use the boys to "plant seeds" in my children to want to help orphans one day.

The Children of the World concert, alone, had my chilren in AWE! To see the sweet orphans on stage singing, dancing, and praising God was purely joyful. It touched both the kids and I very deeply. Those children have seen and experienced so much pain, in their short little lives, already. They have been on tour for nearly a year and will go back to their native countries in June. One of our little boys confided that he will return to a children's home (an orphanage). Although I praise God there is food and clean water at the home, I can't bare the thought of the young boy not having a family. It breaks my heart. Perhaps God was planting seeds in me, as well. (Smile.) We will never forget Dan and Ash. We will pray for them nightly. They are already mighty children of God, and we will continue to pray that they will grow up to be mighty men of God.

Last night before bed, my little warrior man, Evan, prayed and then told me that someday when he grows up, be wants to be a Marines missionary! He said that his two favorite things are spreading the word about Jesus and battling! Is he all boy or what?! As for Miss Karrigan, I knew she had listened closely at the concert, because she asked God for all of the children to be able, to have clean water. It really bothered her seeing photos of sick children and hearing that 30,000 children die every single day from contaminated water. I can't get over that statistic... I vow that I will never dismiss it or let it go in one ear and out the other - 30,000. We can do better as human beings to not let this happen. For all of the struggles we have in our country, we are so blessed. Through World Help, we can all assist by paying -pennies- TRULY... just pennies is all it takes to help struggling countries build a well for fresh, clean drinking water. That could drastically help the mortality rate of children in countries like Nepal and Uganda.

New topic...

Other seeds being planted:

Oh my goodness, I am just Over the Moon about this one! As most of you know, I am the video teacher at our school. God has allowed me to be surrounded by so many amazing people including Mrs. Shook, the Life Skills teacher. Mrs. Shook is such a kind lady whose heart for children is very apparent as she teaches her classes. She approached me about her classes participating in a project to help the orphanage where Yuliya is! Since the class is about to start a financial unit, one of the sections is about tithing. Helping the orphanage will be a perfect compliment to the course work. So... I had the amazing opportunity to speak to both Life Skills classes and share our testimony about adoption, including how God has adopted all of us as his sons and daughters in Christ. The kids became really excited about helping, and many hands went up in the air with ideas! I believe the details of the project are being worked out, but I did hear that each and every one of the 300 children at the orphanage will be receiving a personal card and a goody bag! I've said from the get-go, this adoption is not about us and our family... we are simply just a vessel -doing- and allowing others to do, His amazing work.

As I look out my window and see the pretty spring daffodils popped out of an empty flower garden, I'm reminded, it was their season to bloom. Other flowers are coming in their season. For my family, it's our season to both plant and receive a harvest, which I'm not sure we've ever done at the same time. -At least not knowingly.- That's the beauty of adoption, there's so much more going on within the workings of God, that we don't ever really get to see. In about one month, our garden will be full, blooming, and over-flowing with "flowers": Yuliya will be home with her forever family, orphans will be feeling love and hope (class project), and God will be perfoming even more beautiful, blooming miracles in his eternal garden, of the kingdom.

Late-April

We are expecting to travel for court in late-April. We just got word yesterday that our pre-court date is April 11th. We aren't required to be present for the pre-court, only the actual court date.

This trip will be a quick one. We'll fly into Moscow, do our medicals there, then hop a train down to Bryansk. It's about a 7 hour train ride, but it seemed to go fast during our December trip. I think it's, because we were in and out of sleep. We arranged for sleeping quarters on the train so we could stretch out and rest which is much needed with an 8 hour time difference. The train was actually pretty nice... warm and clean.

So, onto family happenings... Evan is doing well and eating us out of house and home!!! (growth spurt), Karrigan has started soccer and is enjoying it despite practices being cancelled due to spring rain, Kevin is about to start the Reds season, and I just completed my last show (publicist work) until the fall... Monster Jam up in Toledo. All and all, life is good.

Two prayer requests...
1. That we receive the grant we just applied for (Much, much needed)
2. That God will supernaturally provide the funds needed to complete the adoption

People, even Christians, get a little funny when money is talked about. I've even been guilty of getting a little cynical about it when it's brought up in church. I heard something really inspiring today while watching Joyce Meyer. She said... "Even God gives... For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only... you know the rest.". Yes, God is a giver. I'm seeking to be more of a giver, also.

If any of you have any quick turn-around fundraising ideas, to help us complete the adoption (we're in the home stretch!) please let me know! One friend loves my cakes, so she suggested I bake and sell Easter cakes or Spring cakes! Any thoughts, y'all? ANY ideas are welcome.

As always, THANK YOU for your love and support.

My devotional verse for today... (no joke!)

I John 3:17-18
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Blessings,

Emily

Ps. A new friend, also adopting from the same orphanage as Yuliya, was kind enough to take a package to Yuliya. As you can see from the photo, the Easter bunny came a little early to visit our girl! Chances are, we'll get to take her another chocolate bunny next month! Can't wait! xoxo

Feeling the Love!

Wow... last night, we felt the love. Truly.

Our dear friends, Tara and Cody, held a fundraiser, at their beautiful home, to help bring our Karis home. It was such a lovely evening! Truly... lovely. To be surrounded by many of our closest friends... nothing compares. (We did miss those friends who couldn't be with us! We know you were with us in spirit!)

Our friend, Christi, is doing something SO generous, I don't know how we could ever possibly re-pay her! Please see the link attached... especially if you are a parent or grand-parent. Amazing. http://www.snickerdoodlesphoto.com/blog/kahrs-family/

As always... THANK YOU for your love and support.

~Emily

One year knowing Julia!

February 21st marked our one year anniversary of finding our sweet girl! In many ways, it's hard to believe it has been a whole year... then, I think back to last summer which DRAGGED. I think about ALL of the emotional ups and downs... finding out we couldn't travel last August due to the Ministry of Education, in Russia, taking the month off for vacation! Then, we were told shortly after, we can't even pursue the adoption of our child for at least a year, because her father was found! Imagine that bomb and what it did to us... only to find out a couple of months later that, that information was for ANOTHER child... NOT OUR CHILD! Then... scramble... get paperwork together... we're going to Russia in November... no, no... December! AND THEN...................
......... WE WENT!!! We actually WENT the first week in December and met our daughter! The little girl we'd been dreaming about for 10 months! Was the wait, the emotional stress, the sleepless nights, the tears shed, the many talks with family and friends, the money, the paperwork... was it all worth it??? ABSOLUTELY.

And now... a year into the process... we do believe we're in the home stretch! We've had to re-do some paperwork that started expiring (didn't think the adoption would take this long)... BUT the end of the journey is now in sight.

What have we learned??? Faith. Trust. Patience. What else??? We live in the greatest country in the world... we are blessed... God uses children to bring us closer to Him.

Although we can't wait for the adoption to be finalized (and hope to never look at another piece of adoption-related paperwork) we hope the journey will go on for a very long time. It has bettered us... grown us... and brought us closer to Jesus. How honored we are that He chose us to grow... and parent this little girl.

Our 3 Artistic Children!

I love walking into our kitchen! It's a kitchen that certainly doesn't compare to those in designer magazines... but yet, it is ARTFUL. I love the quote by Oscar Wilde:

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.

All three of our kids have unique temperaments. Now granted, there are still many things about Karis we do not know, and interestingly, there are many things about herself that even she does not know... yet. Simply stated, children in orphanages do not have a lot of life experiences. They eat the same meals everyday... they wear the same clothes everyday, for a week. Children in orphanages have only one outlet... the television. That's how they "experience" life... that and through their art, should they be gifted. We are able to see that Karis is a perfectionist. We watched as her hand was very steady, her face very stern, as she drew people and animals. Also, the way she would organize her room at the orphanage and the sewing projects she showed us made it clear, detail is very important to her. Evan's temperament... he is focused, confident, and mellow. Stress does not touch Evan. Karrigan's temperament is one of... passion! She is passionate about everything she does. She is a good communicator, humorous, and always planning ahead!

It's neat to watch kids as they grow older... and you start to see who they will become. We love watching our two at home and can't wait until our third is here so that we can know her better. For now though... we turn to the art. Three very unique children we have... and three "styles" of art, that I love to admire each day, as I walk into my kitchen.

Spring be near!

It seems there is little time to relax these days. Our lives are full but blessed. Nightly, we have homework with the kids (both kids now that Karrigan is reading), Evan's basketball practices, Cub Scouts, and any other meetings that pop up. We are now having to re-do some adoption paperwork in preparation for a possible March court date. Our regional coordinator, in Russia, is hopeful she can have us ready to go then, and we'd likely get to bring Karis home in April.

Some new friends of ours, in a nearby town, just had their court date (same region in Russia) and will bring their little one home very soon! It's so good to talk with people going through the same process, who have been to the same places, and know some of the same people! It's also comforting to see that in the end, the process works! So far, I know of three families who have had success... and all from the same region.

We mailed a care package to Karis a week ago, hoping she would have it by Valentine's Day. I wish I would have remembered to take a photo of it, there were a lot of pink and red items inside, including a heart-shaped box of chocolates. I hope our sweet girl knows how much we love her and are trying our hardest to keep the process moving so that she can finally come home to a family!

I'm praying that the winter storms will die down by March, and travel will be easier than it was in December. March will not only be welcomed for warmer temperatures and sunshine, but it will certainly help alleviate the gloom we've been feeling missing our girl! Spring is known for bringing about new life and new beginnings... this family is ready to bloom!