WALKING ON WATER

Jesus Walks on the Water Matthew :22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance[a] from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
34When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

I must confess , that like Peter, there are those days when the thought of walking on water even to reach my beloved Savior seems to be an absurd and overwhelming thought. If Jesus would have been standing on the scorching sand in the desert, while I was weary from dehydration , I could just crawl to his feet and touch the hem of his garment and receive the living water that I need to survive. Well now, we know as his children God does not ask us to have faith and trust on our terms when concerns swirl about in our minds,. If we are to receive his full favor and graces that he longs to give us , we must surrender completely and without conditions, our fears into his hands.

Please pray with our family as we await God's financial provisions to bring home Artyom, Eugene and Igor. If you feel called to assist in bringing these orphans home, please e-mail us at t_wollschlager@yahoo.com to discuss the specific needs.

IT'S A GOOD NEWS DAY!!!!!!

Alleluia!!! We have just been notified by our coordinator in Ukraine that our dossiers were registered at the SDA (Ukraine Adoption Authority) a few days ago. Well, atleast 1 has been confirmed. Since the boys are in 2 different orphanages the other 2 dossiers , which are assigned to Eugene and Igor have probably been submitted separately. Our coordinator was out of town assisting another family with their adoption when the registration took place so she is investigating the details further. We will hopefully get confirmation on the other 2 very soon. Since there has not been a child adopted from the second orphanage before (because the special needs children are considered undesirable) we have expected God's hand will have to move mighty mountains during this process. Since we believe that He is the one who has anointed this process, we know it will be a glorious victory. Please continue to lift this up in prayer.

Now the SDA has up to 30 days to approve and issue our appointment. Our coordinator anticipates we will be travelling in September

or early October.

Above is a photo of Artyom holding a letter and outfit we sent him in April. Love that Georgia Bulldogs t-shirt! Charlie made sure Artyom took a very personal momento from his "little brother" back to Ukraine that would remind him of our family's collegiate team loyalties. Of course the Notre Dame baseball cap would have been a perfect addition, but Charlie could not part with it.

I promise to post photos of Eugene and Igor on the blog when we get to Ukraine. Posting photos of the children is highly discouraged before our appointment. Since we hosted Artyom and I had several (except this one that was sent to us from our coordinator) it is a bit different. I do have a few photos of the little boys for anyone that just cannot wait, send me an e-mail request and I will send them to you that way.

Be sure to check back often as I will post updates as soon as we hear something new regarding our travel dates.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. ~Author Unknown

Thank you Daddy for all of the things that you do for us. There are too many to count! Most of all thanks for showing that you love us so much by loving our Mommy sooooo good. Your the best Papa even when you are goofy and we act like we're annoyed.


Hugs, squeezes, wrestles but pleeeeze no wet , stubbly kisses on the cheek, Yuck!

Love, Charlie and Nick

The puppies have found their forever families.

Yeah!! The puppies have found their families. It was a bittersweet event as 5 of Chloe's pups left our home and their Momma. After doing puppy poopie duty for 6 puppies for the past few months, I have to admit that with the departure of each furry darling, my emotions bounced back and forth between a frenzy of joy that I had less mess to clean up and a real sense of loss for the sweet creatures of God that had become such important members of our family. We will miss you Mr. "Tater" Tot, General "Snoopy", Princess Blue "Belle", Princess Bindi "Mindi" and Princess Mango. General "Georgie" Patton is staying with his momma (Chloe) . He is pictured with his other human momma below.

Oh, how they grow! Do you see the family resemblance?

Chloe and her sextuplets at 1 day post c-section.

A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

Artyom was a real trooper. I would have been toast and not much for socializing after a 13-hour train ride, 15- hour plane ride from Ukraine , 5- hour layover in JFK and 2 1/2 hour flight home to Atlanta. Although he was quiet and tired in the car ride to the house, his smile told us that he felt comfortable with where he was. I could not stop thinking of how the previous weeks had brought us to this point, and silently thanked God for his hand in the plan.

Charlie gave Artyom a brief, informal tour of the necessary rooms for the night, the bathroom and his bedroom. We would cover the rest after a good nights sleep. The next morning we began to nurture a new friendship with our special guest. Although we never discussed amongst us what we anticipated, each one of us was truly grateful for the gift of Artyom. His presence in our home was as if the Christ child himself had come to visit our family this Christmas. We began trying to learn any Russian we could and teaching English in return. Artyom would get so tickled by the awkward attempts we made at pronouncing his native tongue , but he was kind and respectful and pleased that we cared enough to try. Artyom , Charlie and Nick amazed me with how much they could actually communicate with the grunt and point method. The three of them were developing a true brotherhood.

By the end of our first week together all of us were asking how we could possibly bring Artyom here to join us, as a permanent member of our family. By the end of the second week, we could not imagine our family any other way. The day before I had to return to JFK for his return flight to Ukraine and the orphanage where he lived, our social worker who had completed our homestudy months earlier approving us to adopt 2 children, came to our home and approved us to proceed and adopt 3 children.

Well, does everyone remember about that rule of the SDA regarding adopting "unrelated children?" This means we need to prepare a third dossier . Most of this process won't be too difficult, and certainly worth it. We will have to have our homestudy officially updated showing the approval of the third child, petition USCIS to also approve us to adopt another child have a ton of documents notarized and appostilled again.

We were approved by immigration to adopt a third child February 19th and had to have our medicals updated. By the end of March the third dossier was in Ukraine. Now, we would just wait, or so I thought. In early April we were notified by our coordinator in Ukraine that we had to update most of the documents in the first two dossiers. You see, the SDA had implemented another requirement recently that all dates on documents must not be older than 6 months at the time of registration. This is very challenging and frustrating at times since we have no knowledge as to when the dossiers will actually be submitted. Well, after a few days of tears, mumbling to myself and the very capable assistance of our adoption agency's administrative assistant, Kate I was prepared to tackle the task at hand. Since I was practically an expert in Ukraine dossier compilation, I insisted to Kate that we prepare 3 original dossiers even though our third had just been submitted in March. I wanted them all to have the same dates so that by the time the first two updates reached our coordinator, we weren't going to be told the 3rd was now too old. Mark and I have now each had 10 sets of various fingerprints taken and I think we are good now! Our updated dossiers reached our coordinator May 13th and it is anticipated that they will be registered sometime at the end of July or first of August. The SDA has up to 30 days to review and approve us and then will issue an appointment date. This date is usually within 30-60 days of approval and would bring us to travel in early fall.

AN UNEXPECTED BLESSING

Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.



Well, we are beginning preparations for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ashleigh and Neena will be coming home for both occasions. I can hardly wait! For those of you who have not heard, Ashleigh has been in Los Angeles since June 2006. Upon graduation from the University of Georgia with degrees in Communications and Psychology, cousin Kelly, producer extraordinaire, hooked her up with a dream interview at Touchstone Pictures. Ashleigh then closed the deal and landed a position in the Business Law department.



Momentary jump to the future....... (February 2007) Ashleigh was accepted to several Law Schools and has chosen to attend Emory University. Mom is thrilled, needless to say, that my social butterfly will be back in Georgia, for a few years anyway. Ashleigh will begin law school in August. Hollywood will not be the same!



Neena will be graduating from the University of Georgia with Honors in May 2007. Neena has also been accepted to the School of Dentistry at Louisville, KY , but because she loves her Dad, Adriana , Mom , Mark , brothers, sisters and family pets soooo much, she has made the more attractive choice of attending the Medical College of Georgia, School of Dentistry in Augusta where she will also be able to improve on her golf game for those long weekends she will be taking after becoming a Dentist. Smart Woman!



Jump back to November 2006............ I promise to be current soon.



Our adoption agency's sister non-profit provides a Hosting program for orphans in Ukraine. Hosting enables these children the opportunity to visit the United States and experience a different culture. This is a once in a lifetime chance for these children. Although the initial intention of hosting is not to have the child find an adoptive family, many of the children will find their Forever Families this way. So Mark and I received an invitation to host or help sponsor another family to host a child during the Christmas season. We read the brief biographies and viewed the photos of the children who were eligible to come to the U.S. . Again, most of us cannot help but be moved by their stories. So for the next few weeks we prayed and listened for a word or inspiration from God as to what He wanted us to do. Our primary concern in opposition to hosting was that WE did not wish to use funds that WE thought would interfere with our current process of adoption. Practical and prudent thinking? Yep, definitely! Wisdom and God's will, not so sure yet. OUR thoughts and OUR ways appeared too prevalent in the picture. So we continued praying, wrestling and resisting the obvious, there was a still loving whisper present that we both had been hearing all along, but were careful not to speak of it aloud just yet. Then, Theresa broke the silence with the suggestion she was certain would confirm that WE were right. "What would you think if we took an early distribution from our IRA to host a child?" I was certain that we may need to do this anyway at some point during our adoption, so was reluctant to do it now. Mark had the same thoughts. So we thought we must be doing the "right thing." That was that!



Over the next few days the two of us did not sleep well and when we compared notes at the end of the third day we decided to ask God again to help us know what HIS will was regarding the hosting and our financial pinch. After a wonderful, restful night both of us awoke with a renewed vision and great sense of peace. We must go forward with hosting a child. Abba Father, you are our provider!



We answered the invitation to be a Host family but found it difficult to choose which child we thought God wanted us to be part of our family for 3 weeks. They are all so precious. Although I would have had a great time entertaining a little girl and doing all of the girly kind of things I haven't gotten to indulge in since my 2 girls went off to university, we decided, a boy and Charlie and Nick would be a better match. Since the youngest boy was 8 years old and our Nick is 4 , I decided to choose a boy close to Charlie's age. Still, I agonized who to choose, as there were more children then host families. Some would be left behind, how could I know ? Would I make the right choice?



In the end we chose to host a 12 -year-old boy. He was physically very handsome and the single paragraph bio. described him as a "true orphan" whose birth parents had both died along with a list of many attributes anyone would be proud of. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, while I was out getting those last minute items I forgot to put on my grocery list, I got a call from the Director of the hosting program. " Theresa, there is a little problem." My heart skipped a beat and a rapid slide show of various scenarios whirled through my mind. "Yes", I hesitated, "What is it?" "Well, there is another family who wants to spend some time with Artyom (this was the young boy's name) so we would like to split his time between the two families." "He will spend the first half with you and the second half with them". He also told me we would now only be paying for 1/2 of the hosting fees and the other family would arrange to pick him up from Georgia as they lived in New Jersey. I asked if this other family was interested in adopting or if they were hosting to serve as an advocate family like we were. The director, Dan told me that the family was interested in possibly adopting Artyom but that they could not host him the entire time because of a prior commitment and conflict in their schedule. I was so happy that he may already have found his family, but I admit , a bit disappointed that we would not have him the whole time.



"My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9



We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and so much to be grateful for everyday! We learned this week that the dates we will be hosting Artyom have changed because the authorities in Ukraine would not allow the children's passports to be issued yet. So instead of the first of December they will be arriving at JFK on December 22nd. I will travel to New York to pick-up Artyom.



There has been something about me in the grocery store without a list this week. It is the day after learning of the date changes and I receive a call from the program director again. "Hi Theresa, I need to talk to you about another change." "Yes", I responded softly. "Since the dates that the children are coming have changed, the family that is sharing your hosting with Artyom wishes to host him the entire time" I did not realize how sensitive I had become with regards to these changes as I felt the warmth of my flushed face and tears begin to well. "o.k. ", a meek whimper squeaked out of my lips. Taking a deep breath I tried to respond in a grown-up 40-something way, whatever that is. In the moments that followed though my musings wandered on and I felt those special privileges and blessings a new parent receives had been stripped from me or worse yet, in the ugliness and weakness of my flesh, my birthright taken from me.



As I snapped back into my form and prayed for a Godly sensibility, I finally responded positively and inquired if there was another child that we could host that would not have been able to otherwise come. "Yes, of course," Dan replied. "Go onto the site and look at the kids again and let me know ASAP. " I cut my shopping trip short and rushed home to study their faces and hearts as if this mode of technology had a direct link to all of my questions. After commencing with my little online ritual, Mark and I chose to host the only other 12-year-old boy. We had been contemplating hosting him before we had chosen Artyom, so it made sense to us that this is what we would do. Believe me, this is not an easy decision, we wished we could have secured them all a home. When I phoned Dan and identified the boy we wanted to host and asked him what his name was, he informed me that it was also Artyom. God does have a sense of humor, doesn't he?



December 22nd, I can hardly believe I am here awaiting their smiling faces. All of the host families (some brought the whole crew) were in a huddle trying to inch our way to a better view, politely asking forgiveness from others also awaiting loved ones arriving from customs. We had to get into a proper position for this once in a lifetime photo opp.! Being of small stature can be either an advantage, you can squeeze into small spaces, or a curse, you cannot jump high enough. 2 hours passed as we waited, and waited, and waited..... (God is always making me wait these days, I do not recommend praying for patience unless you do not mind WAITING) "Here they come", the words skipped through the band of us. We were all waved over to a special holding area to eliminate confusion or the disappearance of a child. Now each family began the search through the group of excited and travel weary children for their special little one, and the cheerful and completely dedicated escorts made their rounds to each parent who were also anxious to get more details about their host child. The smiles and hugs were abundant at every glance around the room. Cameras flashing, paparazzi style. Then right there in front of me stood 2 young boys, smiling ear to ear and scanning the room for their family. One of them was a boy my friend was hosting and the other, well, he was mine. At that moment I can only use words that remain so minute to describe the feeling of overwhelming joy that filled my soul. A few weeks later when I tried to express to Mark what I'd felt when I laid my eyes on this child for the first time, I could only describe the same emotions that I had experienced at the birth of each of my children, as they were laid into my arms . Pure and from heaven alone, a rush of bliss like no other. This is what it means, I now know, to be "Born in our hearts."

Artyom and I fixed our eyes on one another and I called out his name. He gave me a darling boyish smile and approached me with a hug and a bag of handmade gifts for our family. In Ukraine artistic gifts are encouraged and nurtured. Artyom had created an elaborate image of a sparrow with an array of fine wooden pieces and mounted them on an old 45 record. I would have never known that until he turned it over and showed me. Wow! I was impressed. One of the escorts happens to also be our coordinator in Ukraine who is assisting us with our adoptions. We had not met in person, so I was anxious to introduce myself to her. After meeting with our coordinator we visited some with the other families and prepared to return to our homes either by car or flight. Before we left, I also met with the couple from New Jersey and their Artyom. We exchanged the story of how we both had chosen the same child to host. I've never had a doubt since that day, God's plan was what we were all experiencing.

Artyom and I returned home to Atlanta , on the last flight of the day on December 23rd (almost didn't get out of JFK for Christmas, a whole other Blog) a welcome committee of husband and children were there to receive us. As I have been composing this post for 4 hours now, or so I have just been informed by Charlie, I will continue tomorrow.

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?

1 Corinthians 3
3:10
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.



Since I just created this Blog, I will be updating everyone with our family news of the past year and bring you to date as we anticipate our travel to Ukraine. We hope to receive an appointment date by the end of the summer. Thank you all for your patience as I recollect these events.

To begin, we began with our Home study and it was completed at the end of July 2006, approving us to adopt 2 children. Simultaneously, during this process we gathered all of the other documents required by the Ukraine authorities. These were items such as our marriage certificate, comprehensive medical examinations, financial statements, photos of family and home, petition to adopt, commitment to complete post -placement reports, FBI fingerprints (our home study also included State fingerprints and clearance), Immigration approval to adopt (USCIS clearance also requires biometrics fingerprints which are hi-tech, just in case they missed something , I guess) , copy of deed to our home, passports, copy of first page of passport and a the list goes on a bit more. Next, of these documents must be certified, notarized, some require a True and Accurate form attached that we have to get notarized , stating that this is a real copy. Then after everything is notarized it must be apostilled (which Mark correctly identifies as "notarizing a notary"). This plethora of paperwork took us a few months. Then after we had it all done, we were informed that the new adoption authority in Kyiv, Ukraine the State Department for Adoptions and Protection of Rights of the Child , which I will refer to as SDA in future posts, is going to require that couples wanting to adopt unrelated children, must submit a complete dossier for each . In a nutshell we would need to send away for more copies etc... I felt like I was getting really good at this so I said, "Oh, well , just get it done."

Now it was October by the time our 2 dossiers arrived in Ukraine and were being translated to Russian. Since there had been significant changes with the adoption authority, they would not be accepting new dossiers from foreign , prospective adoptive parents (yep, we are foreigners!) until January 2007. So we began a new phase of waiting.

We used this time to begin to rearrange bedrooms since our home has stairs at every entrance, we researched our options of making the house wheelchair accessible. Since our home is too small to accommodate an elevator shaft the solution was a new deck and ramp to the main level. Mark and I moved our bedroom to the second level and decorated the master bedroom for our new boys.

THE SEEDS ARE PLANTED

Isaiah 61:11 (NIV)
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.


THE ANNOUNCEMENT
God is growing the Wollschlager family in a new and special way and we are delighted to share this news with all of you.
AT THE HEART OF IT
In early January 2006 Theresa received an e-mail from Rainbow Kids, a non-profit networking program that helps prospective adoptive families find a "Waiting Child" by making available a tri-monthly newsletter that features the faces and short biographies of special needs children. These children are from a variety of countries, most of which have no foster care system in place therefore leaving most of these children in a permanent state of disparity. As Mark and I have committed to a sacramental marriage covenant, we are open to our Father’s gift of life whether it is a child born of the womb or in the heart.
LORD, ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?
As I studied the faces of these precious little ones , my heart strings were plucked time and again. "Oh if only I could bring all of them home and love them", I moaned and sighed with an ache in my gut knowing this may have been a noble , however unrealistic expectation. So I will pray for each one , I resolved, that God, in His mercy would choose a family for each one and now I had done what little I could, so I thought.
I CHOOSE YOU!!!
It is March 15th, 2006. I received my first of three newsletters for the month and anticipating my usual mix of emotions, I anxiously opened it up. As I gazed into their still eyes, some dancing with hope, despite their peril, I wept inside and out once again. Then only with the grace of a mother’s love I saw for the first time a child that I just could not take my eyes off . "This seven year old boy has spina bifida and desperately needs surgery for his condition. He also has a hernia that needs repaired and club feet. This boy is in a very poor orphanage and needs out as soon as possible. He is not getting any medical care and he is not being educated. We need to find him a family quickly."
The little boy’s story read. "How Lord ?, I whispered so only He could hear. I didn’t wait to hear His answer but continued down the page to view more children. When I came to an angelic face and this bio:
"As of June of 2005, this little boy was 105 cm tall and weighed 13 kilograms. He has Cerebral Palsy and uses a wheelchair for mobility. Right now he is not able to walk and we aren’t sure what his potential will be with treatments that are available in the United States. He is a sweet and kind boy who is very gentle. We met him in September when we visited his orphanage. He is in desperate need of a loving family who can help him to reach his fullest potential."
I thought of my own nephew, Joshua, who is such a blessing to our family and struggles with the many of the challenges of CP. I thought about all of the medical resources that we have in our community, my personal experience of caring for children with these specific needs and therapies that could give this little one a fighting chance. A chance to express himself and show his true value as a child of a King. But most of all, I thought of all of this space in my heart, a space that I have affectionately named the" God room". No matter what I do I cannot make it feel complete , but whenever I allow God to come in and be the interior designer, the room has always felt more beautiful instead of smaller though, it grows larger as it is filled with a greater capacity for His love."
And so I whispered again, even softer so certainly only He could hear, "how Lord?"Then with some hesitancy I signed off and went about my daily business
WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER?
Over the next several nights I tossed and turned, my thoughts would awaken me in the early hours and I could not rest. images of these 2 little boys kept going through my mind. "Make your will my own and I will do it", I pleaded. I waited with great expectation hoping for my own large burning bush experience. Sorry to burst your bubble and I hope I do not lose your interest, but I confess, that didn’t happen. Instead, within my God room I heard Him whisper ever so softly but in His usual loving way, so just I could hear, " Trust Me". Now I do believe that God will ask us to do difficult things out of love for Him but not impossible things (that is His specialty). So I challenged Him, "Excuse me, Father, but there is a matter here, quite a large one in fact, no there are several items I can think of.... "Trust Me" . "Yes", I will , I replied.
NOT JUST A MOTHER’S HEART
By now some of you may be wondering, (especially you men) "Hey, what about Mark?", after all he is the other better half of this team. Well after several days of processing, so I could make a reasonable presentation, I went to Mark expecting one of those "Are you nuts" kind of looks. Of course if you know Mark , he is too kind to do that ,or worse say it, so I just got one of those blank, non-expressive, trying to hold back looks. After he absorbed what I was saying he gently responded with his concerns, the same that I had, the initial adoption expenses, our home has stairs everywhere (the boys will be in wheelchairs), What about our family vehicle?......You get the picture a few challenges. "Maybe God is just working on me, Mark lovingly responded, taking some ownership and trying to soften the blow. So being the optimist that I am, and already having researched most of these questions, I asked if he would give me a bit of time to find solutions to the rest of our questions. The next day I had every question answered and Mark expressed confidently that we must proceed . So it begins, the paper chase attached to International Adoption and the anticipation of the arrival of our two new sons, born in our hearts.