Our Adoption Journal

They Are Finally Ours

2005-03-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

Boy, today was a crazy day! We started early this morning at court. We were told we are now the proud parents of Sophi Nadya and Sydni Vira Durm. Yipee! We then went all over town getting documents copied and signed. Then made a mad dash for their birthplace, 80 miles, to get their birth certificates. Then over to the passport place for documents. All this took all day! we and Dima are tired, but pleased. This is the last time our girls will ever sleep in an orphanage. Tomorrow we get to pick them up and then we will be going to the regions capital to get their passports and make our way back to Kiev., 330 miles. They will have a first time experience and so will we. (they have never ridden in cars nor have they ever been outside the orphange, and we have never taken two 18 months old for a very long ride in the back seat of a very small car) we have been so blessed! I just hope God blesses the driver too! (too much noise from the back seat while driving 80 miles an hour may be too much for him).
We feel very confident that we will be finished by Fri, but are unable to leave until Sunday. We are glad. We will have the girls all to ourselves for 3 days to just get to know each other. This will be good before we get home and everyone wants to see them.
Oh by the way, while we were in the village of their birthplace, I had to use an outside toilet. There were none inside the buildings where we were. It was definitely a smelly and unforgetable experience. Those of you from my adoption group may have experienced the same thing, but this is a small price to pay for two little angels!
Once again, goodnight from the Ukraine, may God bless.

prayerfully yours

2005-03-21T00:47:00.000-08:00

I pray dear lord for our families, that they are safe, happy, and healthy while we are away. I pray for our little girls that they maintain their health as we wait to finalize their rebirth. I pray for Mark and Myself to maintain our patience and peace. Please be with the people that are making this all possible. Please, Please be withthe NAC director that she is in good favor today to grant us what we hope to have. I thank you for the opportunity to have all that we have for with out you, Lord this would not have been possible. I pray for all these children for they are in dire need of love and nurturing. I know only you can ensure them all of that. Thank you for our church family, friends, and loved ones gathering supplies, praying and preparing for the arrival of these precious angels. In Jesus name, Amen
Thanks to all of you who have left messages. We feel closer to home when you do. We are very proud to have friends and family as you. It means alot. Hope to see you soon. We will keep you posted on when we will have court.

Please Pray

2005-03-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

All is well here. We are just sleeping, eating and visiting the girls.
They are beautiful, full of life, and now cry when we leave. It is hard to get on the internet to write. It is usually very busy and we have to wait. Please pray on Monday that the NAC director signs the piece of paper allow us to go to court. If she does not then we are stuck here until she signs it on Thurs. If this occurs it will delay us another 4-5 days and we are so ready to bring our girls home!! Dima has been wonderful! I certaily would not want to be without him! Write again as soon as we can.

Were Here!

2005-03-15T08:39:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I don't even know where to start. We had a long journey, but everything is going extremely well. We are having Twins!! We have 2 little 18 month old girls! they are Sophia Nadya and Sydni Vira and they are sweet and beautiful! We have had a pretty smooth sailing so far. Please pray it continues. Dima is our translator and has been fantastic! We have had fun. The weather started out cold, but now is mild and sunny. We are in a region (Poltava) not too far from Kiev. We hope to have court sometime early next week. I will try to keep you updated, although we have to come to the internet cafe to do so. Until next time, we will just be hanging out here playing with our new daughters!!!

WE'RE OUT OF HERE!

2005-03-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the day! We leave at 105pm today. Our kiddo leaves at 1000am with our friend. He will be going to Chucky Cheese and possibly the movies. He will not miss us today, but we will cry because we will be missing him!! Grandma is here and armed with all kinds of information, probably so much she is overwhelmed! She is excited. Since she lives 11 hours away, we only get to visit maybe twice a year for 1 week. This is truley a treat for both! For surely they will be fine. Please pray that our travel goes smoothly and we make all of our appointed times and arrive safely and on time. Pray for Spencer to make the adjustment okay and that memaw doesn't get worn out! Pray our appointment goes well on Monday!!!!

GETTING EXCITED!

2005-03-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

It is only 5 days away from our departure and we are soooo ready! We are having mixed feelings about going. It goes from excitement to sadness. We want to go and get our little girl, but we don't want to leave our little boy. We know he is in good hands with his memaw, but it is still hard. Everything looks good so far. Spencer is excited that while we are gone he will be visiting Chucky Cheese and starting soccer practice. We have been packing and preparing for our flight. There is still a few things left to do. One big thing is our last documents returning from Montgomery on time. We had to get our expired documents updated and appostilled. They had them for over 2 weeks! The lady was extremely nice and assured me they would be place in the mail today and be here by Wednesday, I hope so. So for now, we are trying to pack 3 suitcases worth into one and 2 carry-ons, writing instruction and phone numbers for grandma, and kissing Spencer more. Please continue to pray that our paperwork arrives on time, that we continue to have peace in this process, and that our little angel is waiting on us to arrive and bring her home.
My next post will have travel information.

2005-03-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

My little man

2005-02-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

proud parents

2005-02-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Karate Kid

ABOUT US

2005-02-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

We are Mark, Tracy, and Spencer Durm. We are about to enbark on one of the best adventures of our lives. We are going to the Ukraine. Not for a well needed and deserved vacation, but to find the child of our dreams. The little girl with piggy tails that likes to get in the mud with her brother, that is always crying innocently so that her brother gets blamed for everything and not her, and the one that steals your heart by giving the best "I am the sweetest thing ever" looks. Life brought us to the need for adoption, God brings us to the Ukraine.
We had hoped for many years that we would be blessed with a family, this was not to become a reality so easily. After many long years of wanting, and several infertility treatments, God blessed us with Spencer, our now 5 year old son. He was a true blessing from the first day we laid eyes on him! He has changed us forever, for the better. His sweet disposition, sensitivity, and humor only made us want a larger family. We opted for the fertility treatments again only to be crushed with miscarriages again and again. After much consideration we then chose adoption as an option. Boy, did everything seem to fall into place. The right poeple, time, and place soon became apparent. It has been 9 long months of paperwork, communications, and worry to get us to this point. I believe with the grace of God and the support of our friends and family we will come back from the Ukraine with our dream family. Please pray that this will be so. Our departure date is March 12. Our appointment date is March the 14th. We will keep you posted.