Adoption Birth Pains...

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."  

(Romans 8:18-25)

Today was one of those days I'm going to call an "International Adoption Birth Pain"... ha ha.  You may think me strange but Romans 8 came to mind this evening as we both attempt to unwind and process together.  As I type, Tony is in the other room checking flight schedules...  We are "groaning inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption" paperwork to be finalized enabling us to bring our children home...

Our first stop today was to visit the judge who presided over our adoption court.  Normally, families visit with the judge immediately following the court to thank them accordingly.  We had been unable to do so last week and since our court decree will be official tomorrow we wanted to plan our visit.  We enjoyed brief fellowship with the judge and gave him a couple children's games for his grandkids.  He welcomed us with warm hospitality, a very nice man who loved the fact that we seemed always to be smiling.  Evidently that is a rare thing for others to do... who knew?!.  :)  Usually, it's only the Americans who smile he said... ha ha. Following our visit with the judge we were dropped off at the orphanage.

We had three hours there today.  Our first hour we visited briefly with the orphanage director who insisted we eat lunch...      

So, we enjoyed a little 'extra' lunch of borsch, bread, vegetables, tea and coffee.  It was very good.  We sat in the half of the cafeteria that has been renovated recently.  They are currently working on the other side.  Our new friend, Larry, (who was mentioned earlier) is financing this and several other projects.  What a difference it has made to the physical environment there...

Before visiting with our children, Tony was able to gather church information from a local Baptist pastor who ministers in many ways at the orphanage there...

Following lunch, we connected with James and Angela first for a little play time outside.  They enjoyed the see-saw and some snails... 

Today we brought along a couple puzzles for the children to work on.  The store we bought them in only had two in stock, so James worked diligently on his while the girls teamed up to piece theirs together.  They love puzzles... this is good. 

Focusing hard...

Victoria was giving directions while snacking on gummy bears stored in her pant pocket...

Jana wanted me to show her where Mississippi was, so I drew her a map of Europe and the United States.  Then I pointed to where our state was.  She proceeded to draw a house and each family member...

Aside from some pleasurable time on the playground, eating gummy bears and putting a puzzle together all of us are showing signs of restlessness here as we wait.  It is challenging for us to all be together in this context.  Tony and I confessed to each other our fatigue of the orphanage smells, dirtiness, harsh teachers, foreign language and overall a context where we have little to no control.  

A 'down hill' moment for us today occurred when I took our youngest, Victoria, to the bathroom.  The two little girls have to return to their classroom to use the toilet and the two older ones have to go outside to the outhouse (the indoor toilets are locked during the day).  When I took Victoria downstairs and waited outside the classroom, evidently her teacher yelled at her and wouldn't let her use it.  So, Victoria broke down in tears in frustrated acceptance of her punishment of interrupting the rest of the class (I'm guessing at what really happened because it was all in Ukrainian... I just know she needed to use the toilet and wasn't allowed).  This is the second time she has "broken down" emotionally (my phrase to describe an emotional breakdown with no response to attempts of comfort).  Here was a moment where I would want to advocate for my child.  However, I myself needed an "advocate".  A moment of helplessness and lack of control...

So, as we continue to wait patiently we do so with great hope... hope of what tomorrow holds... set free from this place of waiting... these frustrations are nothing compared to what is ahead...

Praise the Lord for His boundless grace!  We are grateful that "the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." (vv. 26-30)

Pizza and Ice Cream...

This is a picture of where we are currently staying in Zapporizhia...

There are several roaming cats and dogs around.  They like to sleep in the sandbox on the playground.  Makes me miss our Titus...  :)

This morning our facilitator, Yana, took our kids to get some blood work done.  After they were finished we were able to treat them to pizza and ice cream.  Things are done a bit different here, to say the least (ha ha)... All six of us piled into the back seat of the taxi car!  Tony had Angela and Jana on his lap while I had Victoria on mine.  James sat in the middle of us all.  When we arrived at the "Pizza House" we ordered two large pizzas.  James and Angela ordered cokes.  James told Papa that he loved coke and had had it once before.  Victoria ordered apple juice and Jana ordered juice, as well as a hot chocolate.  They were in heaven...

After devouring our pizza and a run to the restroom, we enjoyed ice cream while Victoria had cake.  What a blast!  They were really well behaved and asked once again, "When do we get to go to Mississippi?"  Hopefully in two weeks!  

Please continue to pray for our paperwork processing...

A Full Day...

"God shall arise... Father of the fatherless and protector of widows, is God in his holy habitation..." Psalm 68:1, 5

Our first stop this morning was at a hospital that not only works in Obstetrics but receives abandoned babies.  Many babies have either been dropped off here or other hospitals or have been found in garbage bins on the street somewhere.  This is their first stop as neglected children and orphans.  They are then relocated to baby houses throughout the country...

This little boy was the first child we encountered.  He laid in a crib alone in a big room full of other cribs donated by our new friend, Larry.  Larry is a bit of a celebrity in the region due to his work with caring for orphans.  He created a foundation a handful of years ago dedicated to this cause.  His desire is that all orphans would be adopted and works toward that goal, as well as bettering their environments and opportunities while raised in orphanages. He and our in-region facilitator, Nina, introduced us to the medical staff who are very good at what they do.  While they talked about some ongoing projects at this hospital I looked at these precious children and wondered if we could perhaps add one or two of them to our four (ha ha)... 

Nina had brought a couple toys with her to give to the children.  Precious.  After loving on this little one for a few minutes it was difficult to return him to his crib in a vacant room.  We had to move quickly...

Here the doctor is demonstrating a heating lamp Larry's foundation provided for warming infants and helping them recover from jaundice...

This 3 month old little boy was evidently just registered for adoption... takes awhile for paperwork to process... infants become available to nationals first... then if still not adopted after a year the child becomes available for foreign adoption... please pray for these precious little ones and the staff of doctors who minister to their needs...

After our visit to the hospital, we enjoyed a nice lunch on the river...

Following lunch, we gathered with all the children for a concert.  Another orphanage in the region shared traditional songs and dance of Ukraine.  They did a wonderful job!  

We enjoyed fellowship and honored guest treatment as Larry's friend (ha ha)...

We waited for an hour with Angela and James before the concert began.  Jana and Victoria joined us just in time for the concert.  Despite being a wonderful performance, it was very long.  I was thankful for a purse full of "entertaining items" for our four to help keep their attention.  James, Angela, Jana and Victoria all did a good job staying attentive for the few hours we were in the hot gym.  Larry, Tony and I all felt the need for a chiropractor or masseuse after 3 hours of bleachers...

Some important ladies in leadership... Far right is the orphanage director where we're adopting from...

"Is it over yet?"

All in all, we had a wonderful and exhausting day!  Praise the Lord!  There are 3 more days before our adoption is official.  All seems to be going smoothly.  We should have our court decree in hand by the weekend.  The plan is to drive to the birthplace region of our older three on Sunday, which is 700 km or so from here (a long trip).  

We just learned today that our youngest was born in this region which means it will take longer now for us to get birth certificates and tax IDs.  It is no longer likely that we will be able to get passports done before May 9th (another holiday weekend) like we had hoped.  We are still hoping to get the paperwork started before the 9th.  So, please pray that that will be the case.  That is the next BIG thing (birth certificates then passports and tax IDs).  Once we have all of those we can travel back to Kiev for Medical evaluations and Visas which should take two days - Lord willing.   Thanks for your continued prayers!!!  

Four More Days Until it's Official...

More than one post for Monday...

     We were greeted early this morning by Yana and Oleg at the train station.  They took us and got us situated into our new flat for the week.  Each place we go to seems a little nicer than the previous one.  The variety helps break up the waiting period.  :)  After we got checked in we both went back to bed until 11:30 AM!  It was great.    

     We ate all the supplies we had left (microwaveable Macaroni & Cheese and Instant Mashed Potatoes - delicious lunch - ha ha!)  Then, Yana and Oleg picked us up again at 1:30 PM to visit our kids.  It was so good to get back to them after being away four days!  We were greeted by James and Angela at the playground with smiles... 

Angela loves to jump rope.  She is pretty good at it.  She also loves to hang upside down from the monkey bars.  She isn't the biggest fan, however, of getting her picture taken so we have to be quick...

James loves to explore and create and repair and take pictures.   Below are two pictures he took!  Quite impressive!  He still needs a lot of practice (I erased several crazy shots) but he has an eye for things...

After an hour outside with the older two, we headed upstairs for a crafts project.  Thank you, Mary Ellen, for the leftover hat crafts.  The kids loved them!  They thrive with projects...
When 4 o'clock rolled around I went downstairs to pick up Jana and Victoria from their nap.  When Victoria saw me coming she starting shouting, "Mommy came!  Mommy came!"  If that doesn't do your heart good, I don't know what would!.  :)  They were both excited to see us and ran upstairs to greet Papa.  Then, they focused hard on creating their own visors...

James brought a picture he had drawn in class.  I wish I remembered the exact translation, but it was something to the effect of, "When you do something good you feel good inside"...
After Jana and Victoria were finished decorating their visors they pleaded with us to take them outside.  It was our first time to have all four outside.  I don't think there was a moment, aside from walking back inside, that we were all in the same place.  They are fairly used to free reign outside making it difficult to gather them in to one location... ha ha.  We enjoyed a bit of organized chaos but all bore smiles and had a chance to release some energy!



Looking at the tulips in full bloom (that were planted when we first came to Zapporizhia) and the above picture Tony took, brought to mind the following passage:

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grown they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Matthew 6:25-34

Prayer Requests...

     * Pray that we will be able to get our court decree (as planned) at the end of this week

     * Pray for safe travel to and from another region (Sunday 5/3 - Tuesday 5/5) to pick up the kids' birth certificates (this could be a twelve hour trip)

     * PRAY that the passports can be put together BEFORE May 9th!!!  This would be FABULOUS!  Otherwise, we are looking at another week beyond then in Zapporizhia

     * Pray for continued wisdom and grace as we walk this journey

Thanks for your prayers, encouragement, ideas and support.  We are very blessed and ever grateful for the Body of Christ!  God is good.  He works all things together for our good and for His glory!  May you rest in His Providential ways...