Feb. 20, 2013 Since we have been in the city where Jocie is we have been waiting for our court date. We were told yesterday that it is on Tuesday! Yay, after court Austen and I will be flying out to be with our kids back home! There is a mandatory 10 day wait but for us it will be about 13 since it ends on a Friday and they don't open back up until Tuesday. It will be nice to be able to be home with the kids for a week and a half. After the wait is up I(aubray) will be coming back to Ukraine with my parents. While we are here we will be getting her birth certificate, visa, passport and medically done. We should only be gone about a week and a half then we can bring her home!

Feb. 15, 2013 As we sat waiting to see Jocie my eyes and heart was opened to how truly we were in a room surrounded by angels. I believe that these children in her groupa ,all with special needs ,are heavens greatest blessing to us here on earth. They teach us the most on how to live our life. Not through words but through action. They love no matter what, they are accepting of those with differences. I believe if we yearn to be more Christ like we need to look at them as our example! This experience will forever change me for the better. I know that it may look like we are saving a child but really she is changing and helping us. I am so grateful that we have his opportunity to bring this special gift into our life's!

Feb 14,2013 I was able to feed her today! It was an interesting combination of like veg. Broth, rice cereal and formula. Not sure exactly what was in the bottle, but loved being able to feed her!

Feb. 13, 2013 We arrived in region this morning at 6:45am. Our facilitator and her husband picked us up and took us to our apartment. Luckily the person that I set up the apartment was there and took us to the grocery store. He showed us what was good and explained it all to us. We were then taken to run paper work around. After the paper work we were able to go to the orphanage. The orphanage was a very nice one. It has great medical care and care in general. Luckily our Jocie is very healthy and really hasn't needed any extra medical attention. When we saw her a lot of emotion ran through me and was overcome with joy. I couldn't believe that she was right here and I could hold her and touch her and kiss her. She is such a sweet little girl, very cuddly. She took to us and responded really well. We found out that her birth mother rejected her from birth. Never once visited. It makes me so sad that because of Down syndrome she missed out on this precious little girl, but I'm thankful at the same time because now she will be apart of our family. I have a feeling that she will be bringing a lot of joy into our home.

Feb 12, 2013 We had a great time today sight seeing. We also received our referral to go meet our little girl tomorrow. We go on an all night train to our region here in Ukraine. We get in tomorrow morning at 6:45. Can't wait to see her! This is a picture we got of her at our DAP appointment of when Jocie was younger! Ok, we are in Kiev Ukraine right now. We had our DAP appointment and was able to find out alittle more about our little one. Her real name is Sophia and was born to a single mother. Her birthdate is march 27th she will be 1. We have had a fun time meeting the other families. Always great to hear their stories. I will try to figure out how to upload a picture of our little one when she was a baby!

Our Story

I know many haven't heard why we are doing this or what encouraged us. So I will share our story with you. In September we got a flier on our door from a neighbors brother and sister-in law who were doing a fundraising garage sale. I got the flier and immediately put it away. About a week later, maybe 5 days ,my kids found it and wanted to show me a really cute little girl on the paper. I looked at it and saw a little girl with down syndrome on it. She was beautiful! Also on it was a website, Www.reecesrainbow.org, I was extremely intrigued that this family was adopting a sweet Down syndrome baby and wanted to find out more. So alittle background on me(aubray), My senior year of high school I became buddies with a girl with Down syndrome. We quickly formed a friendship and I looked at her as my best friend. She would call at all hours of the day and night. I learned from her about true friendship. I learned not to see those who may look different as that but to see them for who they truly are. Amazing gifts from god! I also grew up in a family were two of my siblings were adopted. Adoption was normal in my life, I new that it was giving a better life to those. I also new that I always wanted to adopt, I also would tell my mom while growing up that I would want a child with down syndrome. So with all of that being said I went to the website on the flier and instantly new why I was here. I felt that Heavenly Father put all these things in my life ultimately to make this decision to adopt. I looked at these amazing spirits but saw how many we're discarded, unwanted. Culturally they look at these children with differences and see that they can do nothing with there life. They aren't allowed in school, or to have a job. A lot of parents are told by doctors that it would be a better life for that child to go into an orphanage. We on the contrary have seen first hand how these children don't thrive in the orphanage, they aren't loved. Only in a family where the parents hold them, sing to them kiss them, that is how they can grow to be what god made them to be. It has been so hard for me to hear these children ages 1-4 cry for the entire time we are there only to have the door shut so it isn't as loud. To see little ones who are rail thin only skin and bones. To not be held, to be in there beds all day and night. If they are lucky they will go from bed to swing or bouncy chair. This is why we are here. We feel that god has put this into our lives to make us better, have amore fulfilling life. I know this little girl will bless our lives beyond measure. We will learn lessons in life we wouldn't have otherwise learned. We will feel pure love, and learn of Christ like attributes through her. Reece's Rainbow Adoption Ministry|Down Syndrome Adoption Ministry|Reece's Rainbow Adoption Ministry reecesrainbow.org

WE GOT OUR TRAVEL DATE!!!!

We have been waiting on pins and needles for our coveted email from Eastern Europe! We are going to have our DAP appt. Feb. 11, 2013. Yes that's alittle under 5 weeks away!! I am very excited but have never seen anyone have to wait that long before they travel. The average wait to travel after you recieve your dates is about 2 weeks. So from submitting it will be 10.5 weeks!! WOW, that's a long wait!! Don't get me wrong we are very excited but i don't like having to wait for things! I guess i need to learn patience!!! Until then we have alot of packing and learning the language. While we are in country we will be very limited on what we can say publically. So i will have a private facebook page if you would like to know more. A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED US GET TO THIS POINT!!! We have seriously had our prayers answered and been blessed beyond measure!! We are fully funded and feel honored to have recieved such blessings! A huge thank you to anyone and everyone who contributed, Austens work, 2 anonymous donors and many more generous people that can't be named now. I guess i can't complain anymore about the wait, the blessings outnumber the waiting! Keep you all updated on whats next!