Monday, March 24, 2008

More Big News!!


Kelly's brother Charlie got engaged!!! Charlie is now happily engaged to Brandi Flynn. We are so excited to have her join our family. They are looking forward to a Summer 2009 wedding.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Karlens' Big News!

We prayed for many months for God's direction in what He would desire for us to do in regards to expanding our family. As time went by, God answered our prayers in a very direct way - time and again showing us that we should adopt a child (or children) from the Ukraine. Through church we were introduced to the Hopeful Hearts Foundation which works with orphanages in Simferopol, Ukraine. Their website contains a wealth of information about their work there, conditions, etc.


We have been processing the mountains of paperwork since December and are quickly coming to the conclusion of our first step. Once all of the INS paperwork and Agency paperwork is completed, we will have our home study. We are hoping that everything will go smoothly and that we will finish the adoption process by yearend.

We ask our friends and family to pray for the following:

1) That our child(ren) are well-cared-for between now and when he/she officially becomes a Karlen
2) That we are given wisdom as we proceed down this (sometimes scary) path
3) That we will rely on God to choose the child(ren) meant for us
4) That the caregivers working in the orphanages are blessed
5) That the natural parents of the child(ren) are given peace
6) That God continues to bless us (He has been SO good to us!) and provide the financial means to pay for the adoption

Thanks to everyone for their support as we enter this exciting stage of our lives.