Pictures of Sergey

Another little one for us!!!

I know this is new news to many of you and that it has been a while since we have posted.  A lot has been going on and we wanted to wait until it was official.  We are going to adopt another child from the same orphanage that Julia is in.  His name is Sergey (not sure if this is his real name yet) and he is 5 years old with cerebral palsy.  God has placed it on our hearts to bring him home too.  With all the paperwork, travel and money, I asked Andrea from Reece's Rainbow how much it would cost to adopt another child from the same orphanage.  Less than $5000 is the ransom for this little boy!!!  One child is around $24K, so this was incredible to us.  Most of the paperwork is the same and already done....a few more to duplicate.  Anyways, before even asking Andrea this, I had searched her site to look at the children who are in this same place.  I found this little boy and his happy smile captured my heart.  He will be 6 this Feb. 12 and would be moved to a mental institution at this point.  An American PT who visited him wrote he is well-behaved, patient, bonded well with caregivers, has good potential to walk with assistance, and was joking with everyone.  This kid has potential!!!  I will post pictures of him soon.  He's adorable! Some of you may think Steve and I have completely lost our minds, but truly....the God we serve is way bigger than all of this.  This is His plan as He has placed this on our hearts.  He is another soul that will come to know Jesus.  We are only a little nervous, but faithful that God will provide us with all that we need to accomplish this adoption and love and care for both of these children as well as our first four ; )  Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.  Thanks so much!!

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Steven Curtis Chapman - When Love Takes You In (Concept...

Please Pray...

I can't describe what I am feeling right now. We learned this past weekend that the EE country we are trying to adopt from is attempting to put on hold all foreign adoptions. I can't understand how those in charge see this as helping those poor kids. It's already killing me inside that we can't get over there now to get Julia, that we will have to wait until February or March. If this law passes, it's completely up in the air as to when we would be able to get her, if we would be able to get her. Please, pray without ceasing on this one.

Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues

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November 3, 2010

The Ukrainian legislature is in the process of voting on a bill that would suspend all intercountry adoptions from countries without bilateral agreements with Ukraine, including adoptions from the United States. The bill passed a first reading and vote, but must still pass a second reading and be signed into law by the president. The second reading could take place in the next few weeks. If the bill passes the second reading, it may be signed into law as early as the end of 2010. The draft bill appears to include suspension of all adoptions in progress.

The Department is will post updates as information becomes available.

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Source: http://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html

Sunday Blessings

Sunday was amazing. We got the chance to introduce our church family to our new little girl, Julia. And, we got to meet the most amazing woman and her family. The woman who introduced us to sweet Julia, Adeye, brought her whole family from the Richmond area up to Fredericksburg. When the Salems walked into the church, I truly felt like family had just arrived. We exchanged hugs and were introduced to all the kids. What a good looking family! Kacey fell in love with Hailee and Harper the second she got her hands on them. She was a little upset because she only had about 10 minutes to love on them before she had to leave to go to Nutcracker practice. Hopefully, she will get to see them again this Saturday when we head over to a mutual friend's house in Richmond.

After the introductions, a light lunch was served. Once people sat back down, it was my turn. I hate speaking in front of people. I know, how unusual. I decided to introduce our church family to Julia the same way we had learned of her...by reading the amazing words put forth by Adeye. I figured enough time had passed since I first read those words that I could get through it without crying. Not so much. I lost it, there up in front of everyone. It took a good long time and a lot of tears before I finished. I think people got a good idea of how much we love Julia and how passionate we are to get her home. It didn't escape me that most of the gathering had tears in their eyes. I then explained the high costs involved in adoption and how Thrivent Financial for Lutherans had set up a matching fund to match up to $1600. What a blessing!

Our Thrivent representative, Wayne Sprick, then came up to say a few words. It was very touching to hear him verbalize how he saw our passion and our love. I am so appreciative of his words and what he has done for us. Once he was done, I asked if anyone had any questions. The pastor's wife asked if Adeye could come up and speak a little about the whole adoption process. Poor Adeye...I totally put her on the spot and asked her to come up. She was a champ. She speaks as well as she writes! She did a great job.

We ended by all joining hands in a big circle around the fellowship hall and one of our good friends Ruth led us all in a beautiful prayer for us and Julia.

I want to thank everyone who came out to the lunch and who shared God's blessings with us. After the free will offering and the matching, we raised $4400 towards bringing Julia home. Thank you, Lord. And, I want to especially thank all those who are praying for us and Julia. My heart aches to have that beautiful little girl in my arms.

The Schwenzer family is going to take a short break from the world as we are heading down to Pocahontas State Park for a quiet weekend of camping. I can't wait for the quiet serenity. It will be much appreciated.

We will hold you soon, Julia. Stay strong...we love you!