6 More Days!

We will be leaving for Ukraine one week from today. Wow, it doesn't seem possible that the time is upon us! I am just about done with "the LIST"!! Just the kitchen cabinets to spring clean, and then some flowers to plant out side. Today I am going to run some random errands and finish up what I've wanted to get done here at home. We have some birthday parties this weekend, and beginning on Monday, I will start filling suitcases!! Usually on vacations we do forget something, and I've always said as we pull out of the driveway, "There's always a WalMart". But, in this case, I don't think I'll be able to say that! So, I've got a pretty extensive packing list that I'll begin on Monday. I'm getting more and more excited to meet our children---I can't wait to see who God puts into our family.

I'm looking forward to experiencing Ukraine. We would like to be able to do as much sight seeing as possible. On the days that we are waiting, we would like to explore as much as possible. We are looking forward to embracing this experience.

We are so thankful for the prayers and financial support. Thank you so much to all of you who are participating with us. We have seen God's hand as we prepare to go.
I would ask for prayer that I don't get all freaked out next week with the last minute preparation.

Enjoy your weekend!

Alex's 11th Birthday

Yesterday was the last day of school! We had Alex's belated birthday party with a combined Last Day of School party. Lots of Fun!! Here is a picture of the students in his 5th grade class from this year.

National Junior Honor Society

We are very excited! Elyse was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society last week. We are very proud of her, and wanted to share that with you.

Ukranian Trip Garage Sale

PRAISE THE LORD!! The Garage sale was beyond what I had imagined. We were able to bring in enough money for two plane tickets!! My heart is so overwhelmed at the amount of donations that came to my house. I have some really great friends who donated, made signs, helped price and organize, and fed us. Also, a big thank you to my mom who helped me at the sale both days. The rainy weather that was foredcast didn't come and the Lord heard our prayers for good weather. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for this weekend-- the skies were clear, the sun was shining, and the temperature was in the 70s. The weather was just perfect! We had people standing at the garage door looking in while we took all the items out to display them. I advertised for 7am on Fri. morning, and people came consistently from 6:30am-4:30pm and the Saturday began the same steady stream of people coming.

I displayed a BIG sign "Ukrainian Adoption Fundraiser" on the driveway. I was able to have a dozen or so conversations with people who have adopted internationally, from Ukraine, Russia, Korea, and China. The encouragement we received from people was great. With the unknown looming over us and only 17 days left, it was nice to be encouraged. Needless to say, both Sat. and Sun. were exhausting and I literally crashed those nights.

We still have some financial needs, so I continue to ask for prayers that all we need will be provided for in the next few weeks.

Thank You to my friends who helped here and to all of you who have prayed for us. We have truly been blessed by all of you.

Monique

Tickets

Today I purchased tickets for Zenon and myself. We will be flying from Chicago on June 6 to London. After a two hour lay-over in London, we will be off to Kiev, arriving around 3 in the afternoon on Saturday. I hope that we don't have any travel issues, so we will be able to get some sleep and spend Sunday doing a little sight-seeing in Kiev.

I have made some small progress on the LIST this week. My "big thing" is getting the spring cleaning/de-cluttering done in the next two weeks before the garage sale. The play room is just about done. I got the chalkboard painted on the wall, and we have the trim to frame the space. This should help to keep the chalk on the chalkboard space and not on the walls.

Thanks to Erin, I've added "weekly blog update" to the LIST.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• the LIST
• people to come to the Ukraine Trip Garage Sale---and spend moneyto not be stressed

Thank you for your prayers.