WOW! Christmas is right around the weekend! Can you believe it? It's amazing how fast time passes. The boys are very excited and cannot wait for Santa to arrive. Hang in there boys - it won't be much longer.

Last night we worked on multiplication tables. Christian and Carson are doing so well and we are so proud of them. Their little brains are absorbing so much and everyday they come home with knowledge they are so proud of. Patrick is still growing - I think he grows an inch over night. Also doing well in school and now beginning to think about where he will go to college or if he will choose a service academy.

Have a great day! Merry Christmas!

On December 12, 2007, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine released the following adoption news:

On November 22, 2007 the Ministry for Family, Youth and Sports issued Decree #4137. This Decree approves the numbers of the new adoption dossiers from foreign countries that can be accepted by the Ukrainian State Department for Adoption and Protection of the Rights of the Child (SDAPRC) during calendar year 2008.

...460 dossier submissions have been allocated to parents from the U.S. for calendar year 2008. This number was arrived at using a special mathematical formula devised by the SDAPRC, based on the number of delinquent post adoption reports and the number of Ukrainian children who will be eligible for intercountry adoption in 2008. The total number of the dossier submissions is divided among five categories of children, so a specific number of dossiers can be submitted for each category:

children under six years old (with no siblings) - 32 dossiers
children from six to nine years old (with no siblings) - 83 dossiers
children ten years or older (with no siblings) - 115 dossiers
sibling groups (in which one of the children is younger than 6 years) - 92 dossiers
sibling groups (in which all siblings are 6 or more years old) - 138 dossiers
The U.S. again has the highest number of allocations for foreign countries adopting from Ukraine, followed by Italy (381 dossiers) and Spain (285 dossiers).

The SDAPRC will accept the new dossiers from foreign citizens beginning February 4, 2008.

Please keep praying for us and our daughter.

With love,
The Payne Family