About Our Family

El Paso, Texas, United States
We are James, Lisa, Patrick, Christian, Carson, and Ella Payne a military family serving our country via service in the U.S. Army. Jim and I have been married for 18 years and have 3 wonderful home grown sons -Patrick, Christian and Carson. We recently adopted our beautiful daughter Ella Grace Ana from Donets'k, Ukraine in September. Jim and I began our Army life together at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas and every assignment thus far has extended unique opportunities and challenges for our family to grow and learn; to become a stronger, committed, and a prepared Army family. Having recently lived abroad for six amazing years, we cannot express how thankful we are for the opportunity to have represented our great country and to discover the cultures and customs of other countries; to become close to the people and learn from them; to open our hearts and minds to the unfamiliar languages and way of life in other countries. Having now moved back to the United States, we are looking forward to discovering what new adventures await our family. Rest assured, wherever the Army sends us we will continue to serve you and our country proudly. Army life, we wouldn’t trade it!

June 10, 2008

And The Date Is...

The Payne's dossier has been approved and the date of their interview is August 18, 2008.

We won't have time for the passports too cool off before it is time to travel again!

We will plan to fly to Ukraine a day or two prior this date to preclude any transportation issues, adjust to the time difference, and meet with our facilitator and translator. On the day of our appointment we will meet with the officials at the SDA to review files of children who meet our request. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to bring Ella home.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yipee!
It won't be long now...
:-)

LeeAnn

junglemama said...

Wow! This is awesome news! COngrats!

Zack, Jenn and William said...

Congrats - great news!!!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats !! Your appoitment is on my birthday... must be good luck
:-)
I'm so excited for you.

Petra

ArtworkByRuth said...

Oh wow! Tears of joy are flowing on your behalf! Enjoy the HOT summer of Ukraine (Take a fold up chinese type fan with you to fan yourself while waiting...) May your waiting to travel go by quickly! God Bless!

Anonymous said...

Hooray, I'm so happy for you guys. I know Ella is well-loved going into the Payne's house, because you guys have showed my son (Dmitri) so much love that he was oops I meant to say he is part of your family as well.

Anonymous said...

What great news! Congratulations on this wonderful step in your life.

Un abrazo,
Nancy

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!
Happy for you!

Hugs and kisses
Natalia

Anonymous said...

It's HERE!!!! You have come so far and I'm so so so excited for all of you. I so look forward to meeting Ella and welcoming her to her extended family as well.

Rachel & Family

Heather Smith & Nina said...

Congratulations! That's great news. My best to you, Heather

Julie said...

That is the greatest news I've heard all day! Yippee!!! You're so close to finding little Ella now - I can't wait! And what a feeling it is to be ON THE CALENDAR at the SDA. Congrats, sweet friend!
Love, Julie

Vince , Shelly and Maddie said...

Great news! Hope we are right behind you!

junglemama said...

Thanks for inviting me to your blog.

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I hope you stop by in August if you decide to come through Spain.

Karen

This is our "spot" we began at the beginning of our journey in May 2007, to adopt a child from Ukraine. In August 2008, we traveled to Ukraine to bring our daughter/sister Ella Grace Ana home; and on September 12, 2008 we did just that.

While our journey to bring her home is complete, our journey together is just beginning. We will continue to keep our spot here, posting as frequently as we can; and keeping you updated on our next journey in life...maybe a second adoption is in our future.

Please join us by following us by clicking on the "Follow" link to the left and posting your notes at the bottom of any post we have made.

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