For years I have wanted a family of my own.  Even when Josh and I were first married I wanted children right from the beginning.  Everyone always told me to just be patient and that I had plenty more years to come for that.  Shortly after we were married I found out I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and some other minor problems to go along with that.  I asked my doctor at the time what I could do to correct it because I wanted to have children ASAP!  I will never forget what that man told me.  He said that I was too young to have children (I think 21 almost 22 at the time).  He told me to wait a while and see if my marriage would work out.  I couldn't believe this man was telling me these things!!  Needless to say, I found another doctor!   A few months later I found Dr. Moore.   He was at the time an answer to my prayers.  Dr. Moore put me on fertility medicine right away and told me to try it out for six months.  So I did.  After the sixth month mark, we still werent pregnant.  I was devastated.  A woman I worked with was 35 years old....had the same disorder and took the same medicine and was pregnant with twins within the first month!  So I gave up on the medicine and continued to pray that God would give us a child. 

We then discussed other options such as adoption.  At the time I was completely against it!  I wanted my own children with our characteristics and of our own blood!  Josh on the other hand was totally for adoption from the beginning. 

In November 2003 (National Adoption Month), I was listening to a christian radio program about adoption and one couples story of being childless.  That's where it all began.  The thought of adoption started popping in and out from time to time.  At that time I was still uneasy about the thought.  The more it started popping in from Novemember 2003 to February 2004, I thought I had better ask God what His will for us was.  So, on February 1st 2004 I started a prayer journal.  From February 1st to February 9th (our 2 anniversary by the way!) a miracle happened.  God had completely softened my heart on adoption!  I knew He had done that for a reason.......we were suppose to adopt!  During this time and the time to follow, Josh was getting confirmations from the Lord as well.  One night while reading the bible and praying for God to show me the way and asking Him to help me understand why me?  Why adoption?  He showed me the following:

Right then and there I knew it was His will. I felt he was telling me, "Katie just trust in my lead.  I know you don't know for sure if you can have biological children and you are still very young but don't try and figure this out...simply trust and follow and I will open the doors for you and Josh."  

 There was another night I was in the bible and asking God to give me a word of comfort about the adoption.  He responded with this verse:

    When you welcome even a child because of Me, you welcome Me, and when you welcome Me, you welcome the One who sent Me

That was another HUGE confirmation!!  By welcoming an adopted child into our home, we were in turn welcoming Jesus and God the Father.  That was so comforting to Josh and I.

We then started to look into different types of adoptions such as domestic adoption and finding a birth mother.  The prices ranged from $25,000 to $35,000!!  We met a couple online who at the time were pushing $40,000 for their domestic infant adoption!  To say the least, we knew that was not the way for us. 

We found a christian agency here locally who Child Protective Services refers children to.  We started PRIDE training classes and were getting ready for our home study when we got some not so good news.  (In the end it turned out to be great news for us though!!)  We found out our agency had been audited by the State and they found something wrong so they were going to loose their license to place children and possible close down.  We didn't waste any time sitting around to see if things would clear up and see if they would get rolling again.  We immediately switched to scrambling mode praying and searching for another way to adopt that we could afford.  While searching the net on June 7th 2004, I came across a lady named Cathy Harris in Florida who has helped over 800 families independently adopt over 1,000 children from orphanages in Ukraine.  (Between Poland and Russia)  Here website is www.ukrainianangels.org.  I emailed her to get more information and she sent me a plethora of emails on adopting from Ukraine.  I found the average total cost was between $11,000 and $15,000 for one child.  After reading all the information, Cathy then got me in contact with about 20 families in the Texas area who used her.  I found they each had a good experience and successfully adopted their for ever children from Ukraine.  They whole heartedly recommended having Cathy assist us.  With in a week Josh and I both knew this was something our hearts were up for.  As of June 24th, 2004 we had our home study started and embarked on our Independent Ukrainian Adoption Journey!!

UPDATE!!!

On July 7 2004 Josh and I found out I was pregnant!!!!  This was a total shock!!  It is a complete miracle from God and we praise Him for it!!  I guess that's what happens when you get your mind off of things.  Our hearts are still for the children of Ukraine and want to adopt one day in the future.  We will see what is meant to be!