Day Two in Ukraine

Ryan and I had a wonderful second day in Ukraine. After a much needed,great night of sleep, we were ready to sight see today! Eugene, our tour guide, met us at our apartment at 9 am to show us around the city.

 Eugene

We started out the morning by going to the Museum of History and St. Andrews church, but they were both closed. St. Andrews is a beautiful church, and it is a popular wedding spot, especially in the fall.

St. Andrews Church

Ukrainian humor..this depicts a wedding scene and is in the middle of a side walk right outside of St. Andrews Church.You can't see it in the picture, but there is a beetle on the man's behind, which he is supposedly going to put on his brides wife for good luck.

We learned a ton about the history of Kiev from Eugene, and learned that  Great Duchess Olga and Great Paul Reedemer are patron saints of Ukraine. We visited St. Sophia's Cathedral. It was built in the 11th century under the reign of Yuroslav the Wise's father Vladimir the Great.

 Tower into St. Sophia's with St. Sophia in the background

 St. Sophia's

Ryan and me in front of the tower

Right outside of the cathedral, we came across a musician. The music and singing was beautiful

Statue of Yuroslav the Wise in front of St. Sophia's

After St. Sophia's cathedral, we ate lunch at a lovely restaurant that is adjacent to a park near the Museum of History. Ryan ordered meat dumplings, potato pancakes, and green Borsch. I ordered Chicken Kiev...not really a traditional Ukrainian dish, but it does have Kiev in the name:)

After lunch, Ryan and I headed back to the apartment to rest. We decided to venture out for a walk through the park before dinner. The park had all of these very interesting sculptures.

 Sitting inside a cat's mouth!

 Silly frog!

 Ryan in another cat's mouth

 They had a bunch of these towers of pillows with strange little children perched on top

 Boys will be boys:)

View from the park of the Museum of History and St. Andrew's 

We met up with Eugene who was with a sweet couple adopting from Louisiana, and new friends from North Carolina who are here adopting as well for dinner. I failed to get a group shot, but did get a picture of my food.

I ordered rice soup and blitzes with chicken and mushrooms. I was worried about the food, but everything has been delicious so far!

As you go to sleep tonight, please say a prayer for us. We have our SDA appointment at 10 am local time, which is 2 am CST. This is where we will be presented with A's file. We pray that this appointment goes well, and that the SDA does not see any reason we should not be given her file. If all goes well, we should be done by 11 am, and free to pick up her file officially on Wednesday. Thank you in advance for your prayers!!!

We Made It!!

It is a very surreal feeling to be sitting here in Kiev writing this post! This is what we have been looking forward to for what seems like forever, and here we are!!

We departed Little Rock yesterday afternoon at 1 pm. I was a complete basket case all morning knowing that I would soon be saying goodbye to my 4 baby girls for who knows how long. With the Lord's help, I managed to get out the door and drive away before letting the tears start coming down. I would be lying if I said that I did not ball my eyes out the entire way to the airport. By the time we touched down in Atlanta, I was still crying. I finally pulled it together for our long flight to Amsterdam. 

Ryan and I ready for take off!

We are so thankful that all of our flights were one time. We only had 30 minutes to make our connecting flight in Amsterdam to Kiev, but we made it...and all of our luggage did too! We did not sleep a wink, but the flights went by fairly quickly. I read an entire book, and we watched Sherlock and HGTV Design Star on the kindle to pass our time:) 

Our facilitator her in Kiev met us at the airport and drove us to our apartment. I wasn't sure what to expect, as he made our lodging arrangements for us. Ryan and I were pleasantly surprised by our little apartment. It is right in the heart of downtown, and super clean! 

Apartment Living Room 

 Bathroom

 Bedroom

Kitchen

After getting settled and taking a cat nap, Ryan and I ventured out on our own to explore a little bit. We visited St. Michael's Cathedral, which is right next to our apartment building. It is a beautiful cathedral that was rebuilt in 2000. It was originally built in 1108, but was destroyed in the 1930's by the Soviet Regime because they believed to hold no significant historic value.

  Behind St. Michael's Cathedral was a little park that my girls would have gotten a kick out of. It was a regular playground, but also featured a bouncy slide, trampoline, and a Shetland pony to ride. Quite a mix of interesting things to occupy children:)

 Park behind St. Michael's Cathedral

After walking through an underground mall, we decided to try our first Ukrainian meal. We found a restaurant that had a menu written in Russian and English, and sat outside. The weather is fabulous here...70's and no humidity!! As we were sitting outside, we saw a man run down the street in an Arkansas Razorbacks t shirt...crazy!!! We tried to snap a picture, but he jumped into a car before we could get one. At dinner we ordered Borsch, Chebureka with meat and cheese, and Togerek-Yantik with meat, cheese, and tomatoes. The food was AMAZING!! I could have eaten a ton of the Chebureka. Our feast only cost $16 USD!!

Ryan trying the Borsch

After dinner, we walked around a bit and saw street performers, Scratch from Ice Age, a big carousel, and lots of other interesting things.

 Hard to see, but that is Scratch from Ice Age peering around the pole while a child is performing a rap song

Carousel

Tomorrow, our facilitator will be busy welcoming another American family that is coming over to adopt, so he has hired another man, Eugene, to show us around the city.

Tuesday morning at 10 am, we have our SDA appointment, where we officially accept A's file to proceed with the adoption process. Wednesday at 4 pm, we will be able to pick up her file, and will then hop on a LONG train ride to her city to finally meet her!!

Thank you to all who are praying for us. We can feel your prayers, and they truly helped us have a smooth day of travel. Now, we are off to bed! It is 9:30 pm our time on Sunday, and we have not slept more than an hour in the last 48 hours!!

One week....

It is SO hard to believe that this time next week Ryan and I will be over the Atlantic Ocean, flying to Ukraine to meet our precious daughter. At one week out, I can't possibly write down the millions of things I have to do, or the thoughts going through my mind. Instead, I thought I would simply ask for prayer. 

When we made the decision to say "yes" to start down this life changing road of adoption, it was our hope and prayer that at least one other family would be touched by our story. Not because of our own actions, or for our own gratification, but so that others might see that if we can open our hearts and homes to a 15 year old girl, that maybe they could possibly find a place in their lives for an orphan also. I can humbly thank the Lord for seeing that hope and prayer of ours through. Ryan and I have been beyond amazed at seeing so many of our friends and family stepping out in faith and saying yes to the Lord's stirring in their own lives for the cause of the orphan. Each of these people are starting down their own unique paths, but it has blessed us beyond measure. 

We humbly ask that you would continue to share our story and blog with your friends. As we enter into this next phase of our adoption, and travel overseas to deal with many unknowns, we will need as many prayer warriors out there covering us in prayer as possible. We have seen over and over again the power of prayer through this process.

I will try very hard to give daily updates while we are in Ukraine. I will include in those updates, specific prayer requests. For the time being, please prayer for the health of Ryan and me, as well as our 4 baby girls while we are gone. Please pray for safe travels for us as well. 

I would love to leave you with some pictures of A's room that she will come home to.  We still have a few things to add to the bookshelves, but other than that, it is finished. We love it, and hope she loves it too!

Until next week....

Privilege

A friend of mine posted the above picture on facebook this past week. Quite a profound statement, isn't it? It perfectly sums up the feelings that have been mulling around in my brain and heart these past few months.

When I think about this journey that we are on, I have such a jumbled up mess of emotions that I cannot explain to anyone should they ask. "The depth of the tragedy" is something that I cannot comprehend. I have found myself wondering a lot lately about all the sadness our daughter has had to face in her lifetime. As I sit rocking my sweet baby to sleep, and as I tuck my "big" girls in after giving them countless hugs and kisses, I have had an underlying sadness for our daughter half a world away. She has had to go without hugs and kisses from her mother day after day, year after year. How incredibly tragic. Can you imagine your precious child going without? I have thanked the Lord over and over again for placing my 4 precious biological children in our care, so that they will know love. I am overwhelmed by the thought of trying to undo the years our teenage daughter has gone without the love of a family.

At the same time, I completely feel "the magnitude of the privilege. It still seems surreal to me that the Lord has found Ryan and me fit to be this sweet girls parents. I mean, really!!! What a HUGE blessing and honor to get to shower her with love. While the thoughts of trying to erase...or at least dull... the hurts of her past are mind boggling, I am eternally grateful to be the one that she calls Mama. How lucky am I, that I get to show her how a "real" Mommy loves her babies??

I cannot begin to tell you how in awe I am of how the Lord is working in the hearts of so many dear families around me. Since starting down this adoption path, we have been so encouraged by seeing other families step up and say yes to the Lord's call to care for orphans. I cannot imagine all of the blessings we would have missed out on had we simply walked away and said no to adopting our daughter. Just in these few short months, our eyes have been opened and hearts connected to so many families that have sacrificed so much to welcome children into their families. It makes what we are doing seem so small! I saw this quote on facebook today (who knew facebook was such a good thing!:))

Pretty great quote! Adoption is a calling, without question. And I don't believe that every single family out there is called to adopt. However, I strongly believe that everyone is called to do something. We have been beyond blessed by all of the prayers and support we have received. I would encourage you to stop, think, and pray about what the Lord is calling YOU to do for the cause of the orphan!

*A quick update....we are 2 1/2 weeks out from leaving for Ukraine!! Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to travel for an unspecified length of time, and for our 4 precious treasures that we are leaving behind!!

SDA Appointment...Finally!!

It has been quite a while since I last posted. We have been busy with end of year activities, week-end trips, and swim lessons. We are trying to enjoy each moment with our 4 girls before leaving for Ukraine for who knows how long. We waited 7 long weeks from turning in our dossier to FINALLY receive our SDA appointment date!! We found out this past Wednesday that our appointment is scheduled for July 16th. We are so excited to finally have our date set and know when we will get to start our adoption process in country! 

Our SDA date is only the beginning. For those who might not understand the process for Ukraine adoptions, I will try to explain. This initial appointment is where we will officially receive A's file and "accept" it...meaning she is the child that we want to pursue for adoption. This will take place in Ukraine's capitol city Kiev, or Kyiv. Once we receive this file, we will then travel to her region to hunt down paperwork and do all kinds of other stuff. Once all of that is in order, we will receive our court date. Once we have court, Ryan and I will travel home for a 10 day mandatory wait period. After that, I will travel back to Ukraine to finish up some things and bring Alona home!!

So, back to our initial appointment. We were SO hoping to travel earlier than mid July. There are many reasons for this. Obviously, one being we are so ready to meet our sweet daughter, and would like for her to stay in the orphanage for as short a time as possible. Another reason being, this trip will fall during my baby girl's 1st birthday. Now, I know that she won't know it's her birthday, but as a Mommy, this breaks my heart!! So please pray for me that I will get through July 22 without having a huge Mommy meltdown! The good news for our appointment being scheduled at this time is that it will fall during Alona's 16th birthday, and we will get to give her a little party with her friends and teachers! Turning sweet 16 is such a big deal to us Americans, and I am so thankful that we will get to be there for this special day. 

If you would join me in praying for us as we prepare to travel, we would greatly appreciate it. Please pray for my girls that we are leaving behind to stay healthy, and to not miss their Mommy and Daddy too much! Please pray for my parents as they keep my girls. Pray that they will also stay healthy, and that they will have enough energy to handle these 4 babies! Pray for us that we will handle all of the stresses of this process well. Pray for A, that her heart will be prepared to meet us and accept us as her parents. Pray for safe travels with few delays. And please pray for our facilitators, drivers, and government officials that will be handling our case. We thank you all!!

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" John 14:18

Commencement

Commence-

v: to enter upon: begin

synonyms: begin, embark (on or upon), enter (into or upon), fall (to), get off, kick off, launch, lead off, open, start

When I was younger, I thought it was so strange that graduations are often called Commencement Ceremonies. I would think, " these students are graduating from high school or college, ending their school career". It's an ending, not a beginning! Ha! Now that I am older, and {hopefully} a little bit wiser, I understand that ending a certain era of your life is the start of a new one. 

This week, we are celebrating two of our daughters' commencements. Our sweet Aislynn is graduating from pre-k this Thursday. If you knew how emotional I was about this, you would think I needed to be sent to a mental hospital. I cannot believe that my precious baby girl is going to be starting kindergarten in a couple of short months. To think that she will be in school each and every day while the rest of us are at home carrying on our normal routine, is almost too much for this Mama to handle! My only consolation is that she is SO excited about going to her new school. In fact, she drew a picture of her waiving to me as she leaves for her new kindergarten school on my Mother's Day card...that didn't bring tears to my eyes or anything!! Aislynn is my eager learner and soaks up new information like a sponge. She can't get enough, and I love that about her. I know she is going to excel and adjust perfectly to being in school full time ....I just hope it comes easy for me as well:)

The other commencement we are celebrating, is that of our sweet Ukrainian daughter. She will be celebrating her 9th grade graduation this week. What does this mean for Ukrainian orphans? Graduation day for Ukrainian orphans is typically their last day in the orphanage, if they have already turned 16. On the surface, this sounds like a good thing, right? These kids get to start fresh, get a new take on life, leave the sadness and despair of orphanage life, etc.  Unfortunately, this is not the case. An overwhelming amount of orphans face graduation with fear. You see, when these orphans leave the orphanage, they have maybe a tiny bag of belongings  (if they're lucky), no money, no family, no connections, no one looking out for them to mentor them, or help them find their way into adulthood. These are CHILDREN....sent out onto the streets to figure things out on their own. Can you imagine sending out your own children at age 16 into this big world and telling them to just figure things out? I sure can't!

It is no wonder that so many of these orphans end up in a life of crime, prostitution, and suicide. They have NO hope. This is the very future that our precious, precious child faced a few short months ago. She thought she was going to be out on the streets. She thought all of her hopes and dreams for this life would remain just that.... dreams. Dreams without ever having a chance to fulfill them. I know many people thought we were nuts when we announced we were adopting a 15 year old when we have 4 little ones at home. But can you see now how turning our backs on her and letting her walk into this dark, unknown world alone simply was not an option? Can you see how we feel BEYOND humbled that the Lord has chosen US to parent His daughter? To help her find her way in this world? And to help her realize her dreams? 

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10

Every child that was born on this earth is God's creation. He loves each of us the same, and He created each of us with a specific purpose in mind. He made no mistakes. Orphans have the same desires that we all do. To be somebody. To be loved. To have a family. To simply have a CHANCE.  I know without a doubt, that He has big plans for our daughter. That He is going to use her in mighty ways. 

While it makes my heart happy to know that she can have her commencement ceremony without this bleak future facing her on the other side, I am fully aware that there are thousands of other orphans, in Ukraine alone, that will be commencing a life of utter darkness, hopelessness, and despair. Oh, how I wish there was a family for each and every one of them!! To these precious children of God, I would love to say, " Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9. Even though they might not have an earthly family, if they could just know the love of the Lord, and know that their Heavenly Father is with them, then they could commence their new "adult" life with courage!!

I want to leave you with a couple of pictures of our girl from this past week. She is working so hard to prepare for her new life in a new country. We could not be more proud of her hard work and dedication. If you feel a stirring in your heart for orphans, please do not ignore it! You too could give hope for a new future to a sweet child that so desperately deserves it. 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."Jeremiah 29:11

Mothers

With Mother’s Day coming up and my wife reminding me it is time for my obligatory blog update, I thought I would spend some time talking about Moms.

 First, adoption update: Still waiting.  I am a person that really dislikes being in in-between states.  I walk fast, don’t like to start and not finish something, I’m impatient, and impulsive.  This is all funny because it usually acts in direct conflict with my analytical side that wants to look at all the details of any decision.  All of this to say, I am in a constant in-between state these days and feel like a schizophrenic cat.  I don’t know when we are going to get the email to drop everything and travel to Ukraine and it is a bit unraveling.  Prayers needed as we are waiting.  Also, I didn't know that nesting wasn't confined to biological children.  Wendy is a doer. Add a bit of nesting to that, and we have done  a lot.(she continues to remind me there is still some doing yet to be done)  I won’t go into much detail here, but we have gotten a lot of projects completed or well on their way.  Wendy happens to be a mother, so that was the segue…

What can I say about mothers?  Without them we would be lost.  Constant running noses with no one to wipe them, food all over the sides of our faces, mismatched clothes on, booboo’s unkissed, hair in a constant lumpy pony tail (if it even makes it that far), teeth left unbrushed, one shoe on the wrong foot, no coats on to keep warm, no veggies in diet… And that’s just me (I had long enough hair in college for the pony tail at one point if anyone needed to know).  Don’t get me started on my kids. (Thanks  Mom!)

I went to find some inspiration for this blog in some quotes about mothers.  I found some that were sweet:

·         “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”

-George Washington

    

   “Men are what their mothers made them.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

  “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.”

Abraham Lincoln

     “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”

Jewish Proverb

Some Funny:

       “The greatest love is a mother's; then a dog's; then a sweetheart's.”

Polish proverb

      “Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.”

Aristotle

         “Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.”

Ambrose Bierce

        "The worst feature of a new baby is its mother's singing."

Kin Hubbard

        "There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it."

Chinese Proverbs

Some Biblical:

         “A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.”

Proverbs 15:20

      "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many woman do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Proverbs 31:26-31

 Ok, stop right there… I don’t know about you, but I am glad there is nothing written (to my knowledge) in the Bible that puts fathers up to that type of standard.  I am a “put expectations low and outperform” type of guy.  I started my first date off with Wendy by telling her “I am going to apologize in advance for the bad meal, dull movie, and awkward silence” (Ok, no I didn't,   but in retrospect it could have helped out).  It is obvious that God expects a lot out of mothers and those types of expectations frighten me.  You carry a child for 9 months. You have an innate ability to know when your child needs attention or a hug.  You are the driving force behind any well put together household. You show love unconditionally to your children. And usually you receive no appreciation. (Sorry Mom, Wendy)

It is my personal opinion that we all need to show our mother’s (and wives) more appreciation.  I believe Billy Graham would agree with me:

·         “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.”

Billy Graham

Here is a challenge to everyone that has a mother in their life, be it their own or their wives.  Check your motivation for your actions, remember the small things, and return the unconditional love.  If you need a reminder of what love is....not the emotional, not the sensual, not the heart flutter, not the “you gave me something” love...refer to the greatest source of wisdom:

        “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

If you do not give your mom or wife anything else for Mother’s Day, give them the promise that you will try and recognize all the special things they do for you and your children, and you will work on showing them the type of love outlined above.