Six days to go!

Well, it's Sunday night and we leave in six days!!! I feel I have so much more to do and no time to do it! It's my last weeek at school and I have to plan a Graduation Ceremony for my preschoolers who will be going off to a kindergarten program for next school year! I got hit with a sinus infection and lost most of the weekend to sleep...but my body needed to rest up for what lies ahead once I arrive in the Ukraine!
We will leaving on Saturday, June 12 and arriving in the Ukraine on Sunday morning. We willl be picked up at the airport by Ivanna's parents, Ana and Yurig. I hope our suitcases fit in their car! Last year, while visiting with Masha in Groupa House 3 , Jo Ann and I met Ivanna's parents who visit with her as often as possible. They are a beautiful young couple who represent so many of the birth parents over there. They were encouraged to sign over their baby Iva within weeks of giving birth to her, never taking her home from the hospital out of fear and the lack of support to raise a special needs child in their country! This is where more efforts need to be made, in order to support these families by encouraging Early Intervention services to be available for families and children!!! And this is where I'd also like to focus my work!! Ana begged us to find a home for Ivanna in America. Her fears were that once transferred to the institution she 'would disappear because she had a goood heart.' Indeed that night on TV we saw a news report about an arrest of an 'organ ring' in which orphans were snatched and shipped to other countries for their organs!! This was real!! Could you believe it?!How frightful for a parent who loves their child! It's bad enough that they were unable to get her back once they placed Ivanna but to have to sleep every night with that hanging over your head!!! Once I got home, I circulated Ivanna's story and begged people to pray for a family for her. I sent Andrea updates for ReecesRainbow and one night two very special people in Mississippi fell in love with little Ivanna after seeing her face on Reeces Rainbow! Now hopefully, their story has a happy ending. God had BIG plans for little Ivanna and her parents. Darlena and Andy Stratton are 'this' close' to being on a plane to picking up their new daughter, Ivanna. And they are open to sharing Ivanna's life with her biological parents. Now isn't that a story made in Heaven and a Hallmark special!!! I feel so blessed to have been a part of this. I am hoping to encourage Ana to be an advocate for new mother's to keep their babies once she sees the progress Ivanna can make! Part of it is the bleak message and prognosis they are given at birth, And the belief that these children are victims from Chernobyl!!!