the desire of our hearts; a happy pappy!

I have waited to write this for 2+ years now. To summerize a long journey: We went to visit my 21 year old son back in 03 as he was serving as a missionary in Poltava Ukraine with Calvary Chapel, twice a week he'd visit the boarding school and work (play with) the kids. On our visit we went along with him, and a 7 year old girl jumped in his arms, she was his friend whom he often spent time with, reading to each other. My son turned to his mom and said "mom I'm too young to adopt, would you and dad consider adopting this girl?". I layed in bed that night and asked my God if we could (and if He would provide), and I couldn't help to weep (I know it's a sappy story, but read it and weep with me). When we returned home we got busy with paperwork, we have been involved in Ukraine, knew our way around some, and knew two other couples who had adopted without an agency (but under the old system), so we proceeded "indepentantly". Our appointment date took quite a while from when we began our paperwork, so we had some doc's expire before we departed for Kiev, and had to renew and send them before we left towards our appointment date, but when we sat down with our 1st interview at the NAC, the gentleman pointed out to our translator that there was paperwork missing (the same doc's that we had sent in, they said that they weren't recieved, though our lawyer had delivered them 4 days prior). We had our other son here in the states re-renew the doc's and then we spent the next 6 weeks there in Ukraine trying to get another appointment at which time the girl that we fell and love with and prayed daily for, went with her class to Italy where an Italian couple decided to adopt her. We came home broken, hopeless and heartbroken (truly!!) We decided to forget this foolishness and move on when my wife thought that we should continue with this adoption, 10 minutes later a man we go to church with said that he had a thought that we should continue (perservere). 2 days later we recieved an email from our friends in this Poltava stating that the Italian couple failed to proceed, so we took courage and went ahead again with a letter of intent to adopt this girl (accepted in Ukraine for an older child). Miricles still happen, though I could write 5 pages on all that happened though this proceedure, this second try. There was at least 8 things that could have stopped us from getting this girl, they all, one by one turned out to go through. We must have gone to every officials office in that oblast, recieving signatures and stamps and sending them back to Kiev with ur translator (there was no official "abandonment" judgement made even though there had'nt been any contact with the parents for 7 years) also she has 2 older brothers that we needed thier permission to adopt, and a sister that we would have also taken as we were approved for 2, but she had just returned from a Ukraininan "guardianship", which made her ineligible for another year. We were there for 11 days with only permission to "inquire" about adopting this girl, after which we then recieved permission from Kiev to proceed with the adoption. Well she is now ours, and what a joy she is, we love her already, and she seems ok with us, called me papa on the second day. With great joy, thanksgiving and contentment I share this with all, Vanya Tribulation produces perserverance, and perserverance charactor, and charactor hope, and hope does not disappoint-Thus Zina (her name) Hope Miller