It has been over a year since I have posted an update on this blog, so I thought in honor of Alona's 18th birthday in 2 days, I would dust it off and give an update of how she is doing. During our adoption process, we were so blessed by the outpouring of support, love, and interest from every corner of the US and beyond, and it was never our intention to leave all of our devoted blog followers high and dry with no updates once we brought Alona home. Life kind of got in the way, however, and Ryan and I quickly discovered that bringing a foreign language speaking teen into our home full of preschoolers was something we weren't quite prepared for!!Trying to accurately put into words what our day to day life was like those first few weeks, months, and year proved impossible, and so this blog quickly got moved to the "not a priority" list.
A dear friend of mine and fellow adoptive Mom told me not long after Alona came home, that the 2 year mark was when things really started to feel "normal" after she brought her 2 adopted children home. I remember thinking, "2 years?!?!? I can't wait TWO YEARS for things to feel normal again!!!" But now that we are approaching the 2 year mark, I can say that it has been the same for us. We have been on this road to normalcy since she came home. And although it is hard to gauge progress when you are living it each day, I can honestly say that I believe we are arriving at the normal gate after a 2 year journey.
Since coming home 22 months ago, Alona has blossomed into a well adjusted, happy, outgoing, confident teen. She made a 3.5 cumulative GPA this past school year...amazing!! Alona has been on 2 mission trips with her youth group, the most recent one to NYC, where she was able to utilize her Russian. One day, her team was in Central Park, and Alona met a Russian woman and her 3 year old daughter. Alona was able to play with the 3 year old while other team members led the mother to Christ. How awesome is that?!? Alona was baptized by her Papa on Memorial Day week-end, along with her little sister Avalea. What a special day that was for our family! We have been to the mountains, beach, lake and countless other places. Our family recently moved states, and Alona is experiencing the way families stick together and support each other through good times and difficult ones. Alona's 4 little sisters ADORE her, and she is absolutely amazing with them. It really is hard to remember life before she joined our family!
Adoption is hard. No matter how prepared you think you are, or how easy the transition and adjustment period seems to those outside of your family, it is still super hard. You face challenges daily that you could never have prepared for. Not every adoption turns out to be the redemptive story that we all hope and believe it will be. I have witnessed first hand the immense struggles of dear friends of mine as they try to love and nurture their deeply wounded children. They give of themselves, and do all that they can, and yet it still does not seem to be enough to begin the healing process in their children. In light of that, I want to be sure that each of you reading know, that Ryan and I cannot take credit for how well Alona has done. There have been times during the last 22 months where I have thought, " I am such a monster! Why am I getting so frustrated about something this small?!?". We are human. We have failed at times. We have lost our temper, overreacted, thought what the heck have we done, and wondered if our home would ever feel like our "safe place" again. We have to give credit where it is due, and it is all due to our Heavenly Father. I know without a shadow of a doubt, that the Lord purposed Alona to be in our family since the beginning of time. That He had big plans for her to use her story, her talents, her sweet disposition for His glory. We are so extremely thankful that the Lord called us to be her parents.
Because of Alona, we have been able to minister to other Ukrainian orphans and form relationships with amazing Ukrainian men and women who devote their lives to the care of orphans. For Alona's 18th birthday present, we are gifting her with a plane ticket to join me on my next mission trip to Ukraine, this coming December. I am so excited for her to have the opportunity to return to Ukraine for the first time, and minister to children who are walking the path she once walked. The Lord is continuing to mold and shape our ministry efforts in Ukraine, as well as our hearts for what He might be calling us to do next. Stay tuned for more on that ;)
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" Ephesians 2: 10
