From A Child's Perspective!

     I guess I should start by saying that this is Hannah writing this one. It has been 180 days since my family decided to adopt Vika and Sly.....and I can honestly say that every single day God has showed me how great He is. There have been days that I wandered if I could make it through the day without knowing if they were okay. But every day God has proved faithful to comfort me! I have wanted to write a blog for a while but did not want it to be a rambling session so I am going to try my hardest to stay on track! :)
     I titled this blow From A Child's Perspective. Granted, I am not a child but I am a child in my family. I often wander if not only my parents but our fellow adoptive parents truly know how their biological children feel about the adoptions. So I am choosing to explain a little of how we "children" feel.
     When me and my dad went to the hosting program, after a few short hours of meeting the kids I was filled with such jealousy. From the moment I met them I knew in my heart that I wanted one of them to be "ours." I didn't tell anyone including my dad but I began begging God that He would allow us to be a bigger part of this experience. I became over whelmed with peace that my family's journey was not over-that it was really just beginning. I knew in my heart that my God had a bigger plan! And oh was I so right!
     So many times people have said to me..."your life is going to change, are you worried your parents can't show you all the love they do now, your parents can't afford all of the things you have now, you won't be as important as you are now...aren't you jealous?" All I have to say to every one of those is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I have never one single moment in time thought any of these things about our adoption.
     We grew up with four kids in our family---we have MASTERED the art of sharing! My parents love and attention has been split equally between us all for our entire lives. The only difference now is it will be split six ways----PRAISE GOD! :) The way we see it we will have two more siblings to pick on, to love, to hunt with, to go to church with, to wrestle with, to call when we get down, to go on beach trips with, and to share our wonderful nieces and nephew with! I cannot wait for the day that the kids are home with us. God has given me such peace just like He did at camp. I know that He is comforting them now even when we can't from so far away. My family isn't naive enough to think that it will be all smiles and happiness when the kids are finally home, we know there will be tough times, but we have been through enough to know that He will be enough! :)
     My advice to any adoptive families or anyone considering adoption.....make your "new" children an everyday part of your life even when they aren't home with you yet. It is so comforting to see pictures of Vika and Sly every where. It touches my heart every time that I hear my dad pray and ask God to protect all of his children no matter where they are in the world. Don't be scared to miss them, don't be scared to cry for them.....I know that I do just about every day! God has proven time and time again that He can take care of my every need. As we wait for news of when my parents are to travel I am once again overwhelmed with peace that God has a bigger plan! :)
    To sum it all up....to those who have questions......never once have I resented my parents for taking on two more children. I can say with complete honesty that I have never loved or respected my parents more. It means the world to me that they are willing to open their hearts to two amazing, funny, goregous, sweet, hilarious, selfless kids who didn't have anyone. I will end by asking everyone to pray for our family as we continue to go through this journey God has chosen for us....and know that each of you are in our prayers every day! :)

Sly's room is ready!

Vika's room is ready!

Well or representive has taking care of his part today!!!!!!!!

Well jump hollar and scream for joy we have gotten our dossier filed with the Ukraine government.maybe it won't sit on someones desk and bE forgotten about.I can be ready to leave in about 24 hours from the time they call.I really believe this will be the fastest time that Leeann will pack also.we understand that we won't leave a minute earlier than the lord wants us to go and I am ready for these patience test to be done. I really can't wait to see how God is gonna use us in this situation.

catching up

Well, where to start :  Lets just start with We serve an awesome God!!!

We have received a date of February 8th that our dossier will be presented to the Ukraine government. YAY!
We are thinking that we should hear from them with a travel date within a few weeks after that.

  01/01/11  Parliament was to vote on the moratorium to stop all foreign adoption. (This vote has came up several times before and was pushed off the docket)  Today : the bill says "The last stage performance: consideration  postponed  01/11/11"  This is good news for now!  Please keep this in your prayers not only for our family but for all working on adoption processes.


We are so excited about what the Lord has in store for us. Still working on our patience for we know HIS plans are greater... 

Press Control Shift k for Backup Assistant accessibility

Press Control Shift k for Backup Assistant accessibility

Gods plan

    Well, yesterday we finally received what is called our golden ticket.  We were so excited . This was our last hoop to jump through here in the states. Under normal circumstances we would now be waiting to be invited to Ukraine.  Then last night we  spoke with David our facilitator and He confirmed that Yesterday the 30th was the deadline to have paperwork in before Christmas. So now we have to wait till their holidays are over before our paperwork can be processed there.  We seem to be looking at at least late February.now.
     We are disappointed about the wait. Then in my prayer time I remembered that this was not a "Gurley plan" to begin with.... God put this before us. He is big enough to bring these kids home whenever he sees fit.  We have so much to be thankful for and God has taken care of Vika and Sly this far and He loves them even more than we do.. So even though my timing doesn't seem to be his...His is perfect ,we only want his will, We are learning to trust him more every day as he is working his plan...  Please pray with us, We believe in the power of prayer!

God Growing Gurleys

     God has been growing the Gurleys in more ways than one.  I am sure most of you already know that our family has decided to adopt two children.  I am sure you were a little surprised when you heard the news. We were too!
     This journey started back in July when Mike received a letter and decided to serve at a hosting program at Quest Haven Lodge. Mike and Hannah went to help at the lodge in August and God pressed upon his heart to bring two children home for a ten day visit. Vika is a 14 year old girl and Slyvic is a 10 year old boy.We loved these children from the start and wanted nothing less than Gods best for them. They taught us so much while they were here. We realized how Blessed we all are! They were so happy in spite of their circumstances.  These children helped us to see what is really important in this life. 
   We put much prayer into this decision! You can bet I shared every fear I had with the Lord. I reminded him that our family was blended and every other imperfection I could think of. I told him of other picture perfect families that could suit these kids better. I shared all my fears.The more I prayed,the more I knew, God wanted me to trust him. He had put this on our plate!  This didn't make sense in my head but God had put it in our hearts.  Mike set out to be a good servant for those ten days but God had bigger plans...  One by one, each one of our children came to us, knowing that this is what God has called our family to do. We all know that our God is big enough! We believe God has called us to this adoption. We feel very blessed to have this opportunity to share all that God has given us.
     We are so excited!  We were able to talk to Vika and Slavic in September. We told them of our plans to adopt them.  Our paperwork is going  pretty much as planned and we are told that we maybe traveling in February.We spoke with them again this week to wish Sly a Happy 10th birthday. He ask "when is my Papa and Mama coming for me "  and Vika (our little chatter box)says she is praying for us . Imagine that!  and she said "don't cry Mama"
     It is unbelievable how natural it seems for them to be apart of our family. We can't wait for them to get home! Knowing Gods timing is perfect brings peace to this mama's heart!

(This mama hen can't wait to get all her chicks in the same nest :o)