Thankfully the past few days have been "busy."
Yesterday, Wednesday, we walked up the road a bit to the cafe to eat a late breakfast/lunch. Cavin fell asleep on the walk home, so after Matt got a bit of work done, we all laid down and were able to take a short nap! Then we went to the "city" center to take R's prescription to the place where you buy glasses. We found out they had everything in stock, and then we ventured to walk to a bank to exchange some more money. It was really cold outside, with a bitter cold wind.
After exchanging money we got a taxi and went to the orphanage to visit R. He is starting to remember the English we are teaching him, which is exciting for us! He knows a lot of the colors, a few animals, and a few pleasantries such as hello, thank you, please, and bye.
Last night we also got to see a bit more of the orphanage. We got to see the room where they play, do lessons, and spend all of their time indoor. Its not a very big room, especially for 9 kids to play in. We had asked to meet R's group, which is the group of kids (all 5 and 6 years old) he spends all of his time with. They were all hanging out in the room when we went up to get the "tour." Some were watching television while others were reading books. They are precious kiddos, and they were not shy! They played with us right away!
Matt jokes that "human jungle gym" must be written on him in every language! In no time at all they had flocked around Matt and were having a grand ole time. It was so sweet to get to play with all of them just a bit, and to see R interact with other kids his age. We wish we could play with them more, but we are not allowed to, as they don't want them to get attached to us, or be jealous of R.
The entire time we were with them, which wasn't but 20 minutes or so, we were both fighting back tears. Yes, some of them had some health issues, but they were all so precious and eager for attention. We wish we could take them all.
We came home to eat dinner at the cafe in the hotel, to find they were hosting a company new year's party. Unlike us, New Year's in their holiday they celebrate the most. It was interesting to observe their party as we ate our dinner. It was not so fun to hear their loud discotech music until 4 in the morning! It didn't seem to bother Matt or Cavin, but I didn't get much sleep.
So far today....
We walked down the street to the cafe for brunch. Then we took a taxi to the orphanage to pick up the orphanage director and R. We went to the city center where our translator and the orphanage director dropped off a bunch of paperwork with the social worker. We left the orphanage director there and we were able to take R by ourselves to pick out glasses!! They didn't have much of a selection, so we will have to get some nicer ones once we get back to the States, but the pair we got today were about $15.00. Not too bad! We needed to get them now as they are part of his therapy to help his lazy eye.
We were thrilled to find out we could take R to get some tea and a snack after picking out his glasses. It was so fun to spend time with him outside of the orphanage. You could tell he has not been outside of the orphanage much at all, as everything was new and exciting! We had some strawberry green tea and a banana for each of the boys for a snack. I think R had the most fun playing on the ice outside. They do not clear their sidewalks or roads very well here, and so all of the snow has been compressed into ice. Makes me nervous to walk anywhere, but it was fun for R!
We are so ready for the day when we don't have to drop R back off at the orphanage, when he is truly ours!
We will rest for a while here at the hotel, and then probably walk back down the street to the cafe for an early dinner.
Please continue to pray for the adoption process to go as smoothly and quickly as possible, even with the holiday delays!
Please also pray for Matt and I as decisions are made!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Holidays
We really missed being home for the holidays this year. It was hard being here, it didn't even feel like Christmas. I think we've decided to do Christmas on a small scale once we get home. Regardless we missed out on the family Christmas', and missed seeing all of our family.
Now we are running into Ukrainian holiday's. We were hoping to have already had our court date at this point so our 10 day waiting period would fall over their holiday week. However, things haven't gone as planned, and now we're really needing to get things going, and we can't due to people taking vacation time for the holiday's.
Right now everything has been put on hold. The guy we need to sign off on the separation is on vacation and will not return until January 2 or 3. One guy, one signature, and now nothing can be done. So extremely frustrating.
Their biggest holiday over here is New Year's. They do it up big. Then on January 7/8 is their Christmas celebration.
So now we wait more, with nothing happening. We are trying not to get down, but we have been over here for almost a month, and we are exhausted and just ready to be home, and now we face even more delays.
We are now hoping for a January 9 or 10 court date.
So now we will continue to battle our boredom, and spend the few hours we can with -R- each day.
The snow here had just melted, and it started snowing again last night. It snowed almost all day here. I would say we have almost 6 inches. It is beautiful and has provided a small consolation to a rather down day.
Cavin now says snow!
Now we are running into Ukrainian holiday's. We were hoping to have already had our court date at this point so our 10 day waiting period would fall over their holiday week. However, things haven't gone as planned, and now we're really needing to get things going, and we can't due to people taking vacation time for the holiday's.
Right now everything has been put on hold. The guy we need to sign off on the separation is on vacation and will not return until January 2 or 3. One guy, one signature, and now nothing can be done. So extremely frustrating.
Their biggest holiday over here is New Year's. They do it up big. Then on January 7/8 is their Christmas celebration.
So now we wait more, with nothing happening. We are trying not to get down, but we have been over here for almost a month, and we are exhausted and just ready to be home, and now we face even more delays.
We are now hoping for a January 9 or 10 court date.
So now we will continue to battle our boredom, and spend the few hours we can with -R- each day.
The snow here had just melted, and it started snowing again last night. It snowed almost all day here. I would say we have almost 6 inches. It is beautiful and has provided a small consolation to a rather down day.
Cavin now says snow!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Updates!
First of all...Cavin.
He is growing and changing so much. He has been a teething fool since arriving here. He has cut two molars, one lower incisor and the other one is working on coming through. His top gums are swollen as well in a few different places. He is really changing from a baby into a little boy, which is so bittersweet for his mama! He continues to fill our hours with joy, entertaining us, keeping us on our toes and providing strobe lighting on occasion.
He has been amazing, with no schedule, naps on the go, changes in food and everything else. We are so thankful!
-R-
We are falling in love with this sweet little boy! We get to spend two hours with him everyday during the visiting hours at the orphanage. We play ball, play with cars, and color and draw. We are working on teaching him English. He does really well repeating after us and is eager to learn. We can't wait until you get to meet him!
On Saturday the orphanage worker told R why we were there, and that we wanted to be his family. Since then he has been calling us Mama, and Papa (we're working on Dad, as not to be confused with Papa being used in our family for Grandpa), and Cavin as his brother. Not only are we falling in love with R, but so is Cavin. When R came into the room today Cavin's face lit up and he began talking excitedly. They play together really well. Today they played peek-a-book for quite a while. It was so fun to hear both of their laughter and excitement!
-Adoption Process-
Today we went into town to the notary to sign two applications to adopt R. One will go to the SDA in Kiev, asking them for their approval to adopt R. The other will go to the social worker, asking her to write a conclusion of our time spent with R and approving the adoption. These applications will result in letters of approval to adopt which we need in order to get a court date.
In the meantime, Olig and Yuri have also been at work, working on getting all of the paperwork we need to get a court date. We are hoping and praying to get a court date one of the first few days the courts are reopened after the holidays, January 4 or 5.
R is part of a sibling group, so Olig has been working on getting the separation approved. As of right now, we think the social worker has signed off on the separation, so we will not have to go before a consult. Still not 100% on this, but praying we don't have to mess with the additional step of a consult!
If we get a court date on Jan 4 or 5, then we will have the 10 day waiting period (very slight chance of it being waived), and then another 7-10 days to get all of R's paperwork in order to enter the U.S. This would put us back Stateside, estimated of course, on January 21. We're really hoping no longer as we are so ready to be home!
We will continue to keep you updated as things progress. Please continue to pray for things to go smoothly and quickly, and for God to continue to move on our behalf. Please also pray as we continue to get to know and bond with R. Lots of change and adjustment ahead for all of us!
He is growing and changing so much. He has been a teething fool since arriving here. He has cut two molars, one lower incisor and the other one is working on coming through. His top gums are swollen as well in a few different places. He is really changing from a baby into a little boy, which is so bittersweet for his mama! He continues to fill our hours with joy, entertaining us, keeping us on our toes and providing strobe lighting on occasion.
He has been amazing, with no schedule, naps on the go, changes in food and everything else. We are so thankful!
-R-
We are falling in love with this sweet little boy! We get to spend two hours with him everyday during the visiting hours at the orphanage. We play ball, play with cars, and color and draw. We are working on teaching him English. He does really well repeating after us and is eager to learn. We can't wait until you get to meet him!
On Saturday the orphanage worker told R why we were there, and that we wanted to be his family. Since then he has been calling us Mama, and Papa (we're working on Dad, as not to be confused with Papa being used in our family for Grandpa), and Cavin as his brother. Not only are we falling in love with R, but so is Cavin. When R came into the room today Cavin's face lit up and he began talking excitedly. They play together really well. Today they played peek-a-book for quite a while. It was so fun to hear both of their laughter and excitement!
-Adoption Process-
Today we went into town to the notary to sign two applications to adopt R. One will go to the SDA in Kiev, asking them for their approval to adopt R. The other will go to the social worker, asking her to write a conclusion of our time spent with R and approving the adoption. These applications will result in letters of approval to adopt which we need in order to get a court date.
In the meantime, Olig and Yuri have also been at work, working on getting all of the paperwork we need to get a court date. We are hoping and praying to get a court date one of the first few days the courts are reopened after the holidays, January 4 or 5.
R is part of a sibling group, so Olig has been working on getting the separation approved. As of right now, we think the social worker has signed off on the separation, so we will not have to go before a consult. Still not 100% on this, but praying we don't have to mess with the additional step of a consult!
If we get a court date on Jan 4 or 5, then we will have the 10 day waiting period (very slight chance of it being waived), and then another 7-10 days to get all of R's paperwork in order to enter the U.S. This would put us back Stateside, estimated of course, on January 21. We're really hoping no longer as we are so ready to be home!
We will continue to keep you updated as things progress. Please continue to pray for things to go smoothly and quickly, and for God to continue to move on our behalf. Please also pray as we continue to get to know and bond with R. Lots of change and adjustment ahead for all of us!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
God's Heart
It has been a very long and emotional two days. Warning: this is going to be a very long post.
Just to let you know, what I write next, is totally my (Stephanie) journey, Matt's is slightly different.
Preface: The boy we had been referred to was perfectly healthy, except he had been born cross eyed. He has had two operations, and is no longer cross eyed, but his weaker eye is still lazy. To be completely honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about this.
We picked up our official referral letter on Thursday afternoon, around 4:15. We met our translator, Yulia, and then we headed out. It took us right about 4 hours to arrive in our town, literally in the middle of no where. We were tired and quickly got to sleep, feeling a mixture of emotions about the upcoming day.
We left the hotel at 9, I was feeling very tired with a heavy heart. We traveled into the town so Olig could speak with the social worker. We waited in the car for what felt like forever, but was probably just over an hour. Then the social worker came with us and we drove about 20 minutes to the orphanage.
Normally the orphanage director speaks with us (interviews) first, however she was not there when we arrived. So we sat down with a few of the ladies from the orphanage. It was weird that no questions were asked. Not long after we sat down one of the ladies said "We like you, although you look really young." After finding out how old we were, she said "you look much younger than that!" Then another lady brought the little boy we came to see in (we will call him R for short). He was very shy and timid, and kept his eyes down. I did notice though that his eye was either not fixed, or was still very lazy.
I immediately closed my heart, and said no, this isn't the one for us. We played for a bit in the office, then went to a room to play some more. Matt played with the boys while I asked a bunch of questions.
There really is no way for me to express the gamut of emotions I was feeling. The entire time we were there I was on the verge of a breakdown, constantly holding back tears. I couldn't think or feel anything. I just wanted to say no and leave. We were only at the orphanage about an hour when it was time for R to go eat lunch, and we decided to leave. We talked with Olig, our facilitator here, and we called and talked with Yuri who is still in Kiev, trying to explain our hesitations, my main one being his eye problems.
We came back to our hotel and I had my mom call me, and I was able to attempt to express what I was feeling and what was going on in my head and heart. Matt was starving, so we went downstairs to the cafe and he ate some lunch and I drank some coffee. While we were eating, I asked Matt if he would be willing to take 3 kids. He said sure, why not. So I had a conversation with Olig about what it would look like to adopt Slava (the little boy we met on our first referral) and his two older siblings. He said it might be possible, although he would be worried the judge would question our financial ability to care for a family of 6.
So we went back up to our hotel room and got Cavin down for a nap. We were exhausted, but couldn't sleep. We began to pray and talk about our options. If we said no to this referral, we would have to go back to the States and come back in the middle of January when the SDA opens again for referral appointments. When we came back, we would only have our third and final referral appointment left, which could be risky. We talked again about trying to adopt Slava and his siblings, and realized we were not in a place where we could take on three kids, especially older ones.
Matt, knowing me the way he does, had been quiet and allowed me to talk through my emotions, basically agreeing with everything I said. However, with that decision, Matt made a much needed and very valid point. In my heart, I had not let go of Slava. Because of that, I was not able to even consider, or really look at R, this child we had just visited. In a lot of ways, I felt the same as I did after losing the triplets. I could not think of getting pregnant again, of having another child because in my heart, I couldn't let go of them.
After realizing this, I asked Matt what he really thought and was feeling in regards to R. He said he wanted to say yes to him, but knew he couldn't if I also didn't feel it in my heart to say yes. So we prayed, begging God to heal our hearts from the loss of Slava in a way that would free us to really consider another child, and to guide us in the making the right decision for our family and for R.
After praying, I felt a lightness in my heart that had not previously been there. Honestly, for the first time, I could think about meeting (for the second time) R and was actually excited about it.
Olig had said we could go back to the orphanage and see R again at 4pm, and we said definitely. The whole way there I prayed. I begged God to work in my heart, as I knew only He could open my heart to another child so quickly after losing one.
We got to the orphanage, and I saw R, I mean really saw R, for the first time. He is beautiful. He is shy. He is sweet. He is loving. He is precious. Yes, his weak eye is still lazy, but after really looking at him, after opening my heart to him, I no longer even noticed it. Within 20 minutes of being there, I looked at Matt, and with tears in my eyes, I shook my head yes, knowing in my heart this was the child God has for us.
My fears, and my perceptions were preventing me from seeing the heart of God.
I think the reason I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown the entire first meeting is because God and Satan were battling for my heart. It wasn't until I fully surrendered my heart, my fears, and my perceptions, that I saw God's heart, and what He clearly had given us in R.
Now I think about saying no to this boy and my heart breaks. And to think I could have missed out on this, on R, because of silly fears and misguided perceptions...
Just to let you know, what I write next, is totally my (Stephanie) journey, Matt's is slightly different.
Preface: The boy we had been referred to was perfectly healthy, except he had been born cross eyed. He has had two operations, and is no longer cross eyed, but his weaker eye is still lazy. To be completely honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about this.
We picked up our official referral letter on Thursday afternoon, around 4:15. We met our translator, Yulia, and then we headed out. It took us right about 4 hours to arrive in our town, literally in the middle of no where. We were tired and quickly got to sleep, feeling a mixture of emotions about the upcoming day.
We left the hotel at 9, I was feeling very tired with a heavy heart. We traveled into the town so Olig could speak with the social worker. We waited in the car for what felt like forever, but was probably just over an hour. Then the social worker came with us and we drove about 20 minutes to the orphanage.
Normally the orphanage director speaks with us (interviews) first, however she was not there when we arrived. So we sat down with a few of the ladies from the orphanage. It was weird that no questions were asked. Not long after we sat down one of the ladies said "We like you, although you look really young." After finding out how old we were, she said "you look much younger than that!" Then another lady brought the little boy we came to see in (we will call him R for short). He was very shy and timid, and kept his eyes down. I did notice though that his eye was either not fixed, or was still very lazy.
I immediately closed my heart, and said no, this isn't the one for us. We played for a bit in the office, then went to a room to play some more. Matt played with the boys while I asked a bunch of questions.
There really is no way for me to express the gamut of emotions I was feeling. The entire time we were there I was on the verge of a breakdown, constantly holding back tears. I couldn't think or feel anything. I just wanted to say no and leave. We were only at the orphanage about an hour when it was time for R to go eat lunch, and we decided to leave. We talked with Olig, our facilitator here, and we called and talked with Yuri who is still in Kiev, trying to explain our hesitations, my main one being his eye problems.
We came back to our hotel and I had my mom call me, and I was able to attempt to express what I was feeling and what was going on in my head and heart. Matt was starving, so we went downstairs to the cafe and he ate some lunch and I drank some coffee. While we were eating, I asked Matt if he would be willing to take 3 kids. He said sure, why not. So I had a conversation with Olig about what it would look like to adopt Slava (the little boy we met on our first referral) and his two older siblings. He said it might be possible, although he would be worried the judge would question our financial ability to care for a family of 6.
So we went back up to our hotel room and got Cavin down for a nap. We were exhausted, but couldn't sleep. We began to pray and talk about our options. If we said no to this referral, we would have to go back to the States and come back in the middle of January when the SDA opens again for referral appointments. When we came back, we would only have our third and final referral appointment left, which could be risky. We talked again about trying to adopt Slava and his siblings, and realized we were not in a place where we could take on three kids, especially older ones.
Matt, knowing me the way he does, had been quiet and allowed me to talk through my emotions, basically agreeing with everything I said. However, with that decision, Matt made a much needed and very valid point. In my heart, I had not let go of Slava. Because of that, I was not able to even consider, or really look at R, this child we had just visited. In a lot of ways, I felt the same as I did after losing the triplets. I could not think of getting pregnant again, of having another child because in my heart, I couldn't let go of them.
After realizing this, I asked Matt what he really thought and was feeling in regards to R. He said he wanted to say yes to him, but knew he couldn't if I also didn't feel it in my heart to say yes. So we prayed, begging God to heal our hearts from the loss of Slava in a way that would free us to really consider another child, and to guide us in the making the right decision for our family and for R.
After praying, I felt a lightness in my heart that had not previously been there. Honestly, for the first time, I could think about meeting (for the second time) R and was actually excited about it.
Olig had said we could go back to the orphanage and see R again at 4pm, and we said definitely. The whole way there I prayed. I begged God to work in my heart, as I knew only He could open my heart to another child so quickly after losing one.
We got to the orphanage, and I saw R, I mean really saw R, for the first time. He is beautiful. He is shy. He is sweet. He is loving. He is precious. Yes, his weak eye is still lazy, but after really looking at him, after opening my heart to him, I no longer even noticed it. Within 20 minutes of being there, I looked at Matt, and with tears in my eyes, I shook my head yes, knowing in my heart this was the child God has for us.
My fears, and my perceptions were preventing me from seeing the heart of God.
I think the reason I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown the entire first meeting is because God and Satan were battling for my heart. It wasn't until I fully surrendered my heart, my fears, and my perceptions, that I saw God's heart, and what He clearly had given us in R.
Now I think about saying no to this boy and my heart breaks. And to think I could have missed out on this, on R, because of silly fears and misguided perceptions...
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Travel Day!
Olig is picking us up from our apartment at 3, to load up all of our stuff and take us to the SDA. We are picking up our official referral papers today between 4 and 5. As soon as we have our official referral we will be heading out to the town where the orphanage is, which is about a 4 hour drive. We will get settled in tonight so first thing tomorrow morning we can meet with the social worker. After that we will be able to go to the orphanage, be interviewed by the orphanage director, and then meet this little boy!
Please pray for God to continue to prepare our hearts, and this little boy's heart for our meeting!
We are not sure if we will have internet or not until we get there. If we don't have internet access it may take us a day or two to find a place with free internet to update the blog. We will update the blog as soon as we can!
Please pray for God to continue to prepare our hearts, and this little boy's heart for our meeting!
We are not sure if we will have internet or not until we get there. If we don't have internet access it may take us a day or two to find a place with free internet to update the blog. We will update the blog as soon as we can!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Referral!!
What a day it has been! Our appointment was supposed to be at 11, we got there at 10:30 to find they were running almost an hour behind. More waiting!
We finally got to our appointment and began looking through files. Yuri had one child he had found out about, so they were also looking for his file while we were looking through others. After a lot of thought and prayer we chose the file of a little boy!! He is a healthy and cute little boy!
Funny that I wrote the post I did last night, if you haven't read it, you should. Its funny because our little boy is again, 5. I am thankful God had prepared my heart in this way, that I am not hesitant or disappointed that we could not get a younger child, but that I can just be excited to meet the child God has placed before us!
Tomorrow, Thursday, at 6pm we will be able to pick up our official referral letter. Olig, who will be taking us again, wants to leave right after we get our letter to travel to the town where the boy is. This means we will be able to meet this little boy Friday morning!
Please pray for things to go smoothly and quickly! We will keep you updated as things progress!
We finally got to our appointment and began looking through files. Yuri had one child he had found out about, so they were also looking for his file while we were looking through others. After a lot of thought and prayer we chose the file of a little boy!! He is a healthy and cute little boy!
Funny that I wrote the post I did last night, if you haven't read it, you should. Its funny because our little boy is again, 5. I am thankful God had prepared my heart in this way, that I am not hesitant or disappointed that we could not get a younger child, but that I can just be excited to meet the child God has placed before us!
Tomorrow, Thursday, at 6pm we will be able to pick up our official referral letter. Olig, who will be taking us again, wants to leave right after we get our letter to travel to the town where the boy is. This means we will be able to meet this little boy Friday morning!
Please pray for things to go smoothly and quickly! We will keep you updated as things progress!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tomorrow!!
Because of the holidays and the government shutting everything down for them, not many kids are registered as orphans within the Ukrainian government this time of year. Because not many are registered as orphans, not many are becoming available for adoption. In Ukraine, it takes a few months to get a child registered as an orphan, and then for the first year, they are only available for Ukrainians to adopt. After their first year as an orphan is up, they become available for international adoption.
This is a big part of the reason why we have not found a child yet. Yuri has been calling all of his contacts to try to find a healthy child for us. He even has Olig literally travelling all over Ukraine to different orphanages looking for a little boy for us. Because there are thousands of orphans, the SDA cannot present us all of the files. Typically they only show us the files of those who have most recently become available for international adoption. So Yuri and Olig have been scouring Ukraine, looking for a little boy who has fell through the cracks.
Yuri says they have found a few options for us, although he hasn't told us any details, not wanting to get our hopes up. What he has shared with us, has made us think he is finding older kids, as in 5-6.
This has been something we have been wrestling with since being here. We really want all of our kiddos to be close in age, so they can grow up playing together and form close relationships to one another. This is one of the main reasons why we are really wanting a 2-3 year old. We also want a younger child because we as much of our son's life to be spent with us as possible. The more time we have with him, the more time we have to mold, teach and shape him into the man we want him to be. Also the younger he is, the less time he has spent in an orphanage, without the love of a family. In our minds, these are all really good reasons to want a younger child.
However, since being here in Kiev and after having many candid conversations with Yuri, we have come the realization that the child we are given will most likely be older than we were hoping and wanting. This was really hard for me to be okay with, really until today.
We are adopting because God has called us to adopt, to take one of his children to be our own. To raise this child with the love of family, and more importantly, to train this child in the ways of the Lord, so he may have a servants heart for Him.
It finally dawned on me today. This isn't about the child we want, or our preferences in a child, or what we think is best for our family. This is about the child God has for us, and that child may look very different than our personal preferences. This is typical I feel of God's plan for our lives. If we truly allow God to be in control, and if we really follow his plan, our journey ends up looking completely different than what we had planned. Although it may be hard to accept initially, in hindsight, His journey is always so much better than what we in our imperfectness had originally planned.
With this realization, all worry and anxiety in my heart ceased. I have always been excited, but now I am estatic! I cannot wait to see the child God has for us!
We have our second appointment with the SDA tomorrow at 11am.
Prayer Requests:
-That Cavin will sleep well tonight. There has only been one night since being over here that he has slept through the night, all night, in his own bed. Also that he will be cooperative during our appointment tomorrow!
-That we will know the child God has for us.
-In order to travel to visit the child we choose, we have to have official referral papers from the SDA. Normally we would get these the next evening after our appointment. We are going to ask to get the official referral papers tomorrow night, just one more way to speed things up! Praying!
This is a big part of the reason why we have not found a child yet. Yuri has been calling all of his contacts to try to find a healthy child for us. He even has Olig literally travelling all over Ukraine to different orphanages looking for a little boy for us. Because there are thousands of orphans, the SDA cannot present us all of the files. Typically they only show us the files of those who have most recently become available for international adoption. So Yuri and Olig have been scouring Ukraine, looking for a little boy who has fell through the cracks.
Yuri says they have found a few options for us, although he hasn't told us any details, not wanting to get our hopes up. What he has shared with us, has made us think he is finding older kids, as in 5-6.
This has been something we have been wrestling with since being here. We really want all of our kiddos to be close in age, so they can grow up playing together and form close relationships to one another. This is one of the main reasons why we are really wanting a 2-3 year old. We also want a younger child because we as much of our son's life to be spent with us as possible. The more time we have with him, the more time we have to mold, teach and shape him into the man we want him to be. Also the younger he is, the less time he has spent in an orphanage, without the love of a family. In our minds, these are all really good reasons to want a younger child.
However, since being here in Kiev and after having many candid conversations with Yuri, we have come the realization that the child we are given will most likely be older than we were hoping and wanting. This was really hard for me to be okay with, really until today.
We are adopting because God has called us to adopt, to take one of his children to be our own. To raise this child with the love of family, and more importantly, to train this child in the ways of the Lord, so he may have a servants heart for Him.
It finally dawned on me today. This isn't about the child we want, or our preferences in a child, or what we think is best for our family. This is about the child God has for us, and that child may look very different than our personal preferences. This is typical I feel of God's plan for our lives. If we truly allow God to be in control, and if we really follow his plan, our journey ends up looking completely different than what we had planned. Although it may be hard to accept initially, in hindsight, His journey is always so much better than what we in our imperfectness had originally planned.
With this realization, all worry and anxiety in my heart ceased. I have always been excited, but now I am estatic! I cannot wait to see the child God has for us!
We have our second appointment with the SDA tomorrow at 11am.
Prayer Requests:
-That Cavin will sleep well tonight. There has only been one night since being over here that he has slept through the night, all night, in his own bed. Also that he will be cooperative during our appointment tomorrow!
-That we will know the child God has for us.
-In order to travel to visit the child we choose, we have to have official referral papers from the SDA. Normally we would get these the next evening after our appointment. We are going to ask to get the official referral papers tomorrow night, just one more way to speed things up! Praying!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Wife Hunting
Although we have a kitchen, the cooking utensils are lacking, and well, the groceries are completely different, not to mention the Ukrainian alphabet has symbols so reading what things are is difficult. Yet we can't afford to eat out every meal, every day. So we have compromised. We aren't doing any cooking, but we are able to buy stuff to make sandwiches. Unfortunately they do not have precut meats and cheeses, so you have to order them from the "deli" but I have done really well with pointing, hand motions, and using my fingers. So far we've basically got what we've wanted! Lol. For breakfast we have been buying cereal and muffins. Then we allow ourselves to eat out once a day. Typically we eat a late lunch out, to help get us through the day of munching otherwise.
Saturday, with a hankering for pizza, we found an Italian restaurant. Shortly after sitting down Matt says to me, "I am not meaning to eavesdrop, but have you paid any attention to the conversation of the table behind you?" I hadn't, so I was like, what's the big deal? Matt said, "It sounds like the guy is trying to convince the woman to come and live with him..." So even though I shouldn't have, I was dying with curiosity and I began to listen in on the conversation. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!
At the table behind us sat a middle aged man, probably in his 50's, seemingly a well to do business man from the States, a Ukrainian woman probably in her 30's, and another woman who was the translator. The man was telling the Ukrainian woman all about his life in the States, even showing her pictures of his home. I heard him say a few times, "I don't need a cook, although it would be nice, and I don't need anyone to clean my house or do my laundry as I hire someone to do so." He basically told her about every detail of his life, his work history, his likes and dislikes and the such. He also talked about his view on relationships and life, which was interesting, and in my opinion, distorted, just a bit.
We were telling Yuri about this on Sunday while he was giving us a tour via car, and he was like, "oh yah, wife hunting." We were like "WHAT???" and Yuri told us about it like it was no big deal. Apparently its a very normal and frequent occurrence here in Ukraine.
Either way, it provided us with very interesting lunch conversation.
Saturday, with a hankering for pizza, we found an Italian restaurant. Shortly after sitting down Matt says to me, "I am not meaning to eavesdrop, but have you paid any attention to the conversation of the table behind you?" I hadn't, so I was like, what's the big deal? Matt said, "It sounds like the guy is trying to convince the woman to come and live with him..." So even though I shouldn't have, I was dying with curiosity and I began to listen in on the conversation. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!
At the table behind us sat a middle aged man, probably in his 50's, seemingly a well to do business man from the States, a Ukrainian woman probably in her 30's, and another woman who was the translator. The man was telling the Ukrainian woman all about his life in the States, even showing her pictures of his home. I heard him say a few times, "I don't need a cook, although it would be nice, and I don't need anyone to clean my house or do my laundry as I hire someone to do so." He basically told her about every detail of his life, his work history, his likes and dislikes and the such. He also talked about his view on relationships and life, which was interesting, and in my opinion, distorted, just a bit.
We were telling Yuri about this on Sunday while he was giving us a tour via car, and he was like, "oh yah, wife hunting." We were like "WHAT???" and Yuri told us about it like it was no big deal. Apparently its a very normal and frequent occurrence here in Ukraine.
Either way, it provided us with very interesting lunch conversation.
Second SDA Appointment
Our second SDA appointment will be sometime on Wednesday. Tomorrow we will go to the SDA to sign for an appointment time. We were hoping to have our appointment on Tuesday, but Yuri says more kids become available on Wednesday, so we will take Wednesday!
Please pray that God has a healthy little boy for us on Wednesday!
Please pray that God has a healthy little boy for us on Wednesday!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sights of Kiev
This is the street our apartment is on.
Walking to eat lunch and go to the grocery store. Yes, this is the sidewalk, they park all over the sidewalks here, they even have people whose job it is to assist you in parking on them!
This is indoors, but is a pretty large fresh market. You can get all kinds of fruits and vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, seafood, and flowers.
It also has a section of butchers where you can get cuts of meat.
The Motherland Statue and The Museum to the Great Patriotic War (World War II)
The statue was erected to celebrate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany and to honor the Ukrainian soldiers who fought. The Museum is in the bottom part of the statue, and is the museum we went to today. It was really interesting. I was surprised to find out that Ukraine was so involved in WWII and was so heavily affected by it. It is estimated that 27 to 28 million Soviets died as a result of the war on The Eastern Front, through combat, starvation, being imprisoned, and killed in cold blood and other factors. That is almost half of the estimated total deaths of 60 million for WWII.
This was my "favorite" part of the museum, it was the memorial room, full of pictures of those lost in the war, personal notes and memorabilia.
This is Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Kyiv Cave Monastary. It was founded in 1051 with the original caves and is where Orthodoxy first started in Kiev. I really wanted to tour the monastary, but Yuri said no sound is allowed, and he didn't think that was possible for us having Cavin with us.
This is the national bank building.
This is St. Michael's Cathedral. The original church was built in 1108, with the main parts of it beginning construction in 1710. However parts of it were destroyed during WWII and have since been rebuilt and restored.
This is St. Andrew's Church and was built between 1747 and 1754.
This is the SDA building, where we go for our SDA appointments. It is right across the street from St. Andrews.
This is Saint Sophia's Cathedral, it is right across the street from St. Michael's. Building began on the cathedral in 1037, with the cathedral being finished in 1707 and bell tower being completed in 1752.
This is the Golden Gate, built in 1017-1024 and served as a main entrance into the old city of Kiev. The ruins of the gate are enclosed by the structure in the picture.
Just a building on one of our walks.
Just another building.
This is the Ukraine Independence Monument, which includes the statute of a woman in Ukrainian national costume on a 40 meter column, symbolizing the independence of Ukraine.
This is the Kiev Opera House
This is another street view, not far from our apartment.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Pure Cuteness
Even though it has been a rough couple of weeks, with the heartbreak of losing the sweet little boy we met, and now being bored out of our minds as we wait, we have at least had this cute little guy to entertain us!
Cavin has really started to talk. Here are some of the new words and phrases he says.
Touchdown (He says this anytime any sport comes on tv, daddy is working on goal, since soccer is whats always on over here!)
-Dog and Woof
-Cow and Moo (Lots of four legged animals say moo as well! We're working on learning the others!)
-Cat and Meow
-Night, Night
-Cheese (Not in relation to food, but in grinning for the camera!)
-One, Two, Three, GO! He says this all the time, before he does stuff. Like this morning he was saying it and then falling onto his air mattress bed. He also likes to say this before he throws things.
-Snack. This is one of the words we hear most often, and is almost always accompanied by please in sign language. Its just one more thing that makes him just like his daddy! This afternoon he fell asleep on my lap and Matt picked him up to go lay him down, and he stirred in his sleep, mumbled snack and kept on sleeping. Loved it. His favorite snack at the moment is pretzel sticks. He eats them constantly, and just like Bugs Bunny eats his carrots. Too cute.
Here are some priceless pictures of his facial expressions and mischievous things he's been up to lately....
Thanks to these stairs in our apartment that go up to the loft, Cavin can climb the stairs and then climb onto the kitchen cabinets. He loves to play in the sink. Thankfully there is a door to the kitchen we can keep closed!
"Mischief is my business, and business is GOOD!"
This is one of Matt and I's favorite shirts that Cavin has. I found it at Old Navy, read it, showed it to Matt and told him we HAVE to buy this. It was even more perfect with it was on clearance for a few bucks!! It describes Cavin perfectly!Cavin has really started to talk. Here are some of the new words and phrases he says.
Touchdown (He says this anytime any sport comes on tv, daddy is working on goal, since soccer is whats always on over here!)
-Dog and Woof
-Cow and Moo (Lots of four legged animals say moo as well! We're working on learning the others!)
-Cat and Meow
-Night, Night
-Cheese (Not in relation to food, but in grinning for the camera!)
-One, Two, Three, GO! He says this all the time, before he does stuff. Like this morning he was saying it and then falling onto his air mattress bed. He also likes to say this before he throws things.
-Snack. This is one of the words we hear most often, and is almost always accompanied by please in sign language. Its just one more thing that makes him just like his daddy! This afternoon he fell asleep on my lap and Matt picked him up to go lay him down, and he stirred in his sleep, mumbled snack and kept on sleeping. Loved it. His favorite snack at the moment is pretzel sticks. He eats them constantly, and just like Bugs Bunny eats his carrots. Too cute.
Here are some priceless pictures of his facial expressions and mischievous things he's been up to lately....
This is currently one of my favorites, I love it when he wrinkles his nose!
Changing his diaper normally involves a wrestling match. I don't think this boy knows how to hold still!
Upstairs in the loft in our apartment, jumping on the bed. He thinks he's big stuff when he goes up there by himself!
We frequently enjoy strobe lighting thanks to Cavin. We'd move the suit case, but he can still reach the switches!
Cavin, all bundled up and fast asleep in the stroller while we were walking to lunch!
No cabinet locks here...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
More Waiting...
We found out a bit ago that our second SDA appointment will be on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
We are disappointed, to say the least. Were we Stateside, we wouldn't mind waiting, but being here and having to wait so long is so hard, mainly because we are so bored.
Here is what we do everyday. Get up, eat breakfast and feed Cavin breakfast. I normally play on the computer and we watch a bit of tv. Then we get showered and get ready to go out. We typically eat lunch out and go for a brief walk. Most days we need a little something so we stop by the small grocery store to get a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk or something of the sort. It is really cold so we feel bad keeping Cavin out any longer than we have too. Our walk and lunch normally takes an hour or two. Then we come back to the apartment where we sit around and basically do nothing the rest of the night until its time to go to bed.
We are literally bored out of our minds, which makes waiting so much harder. It is also really hard on Matt knowing he is away from work when nothing is happening, and that this is taking so much longer than we had hoped.
We were so hoping and praying for the adoption to take the shortest time frame possible, when we're looking at being lucky at having it completed in the longest time frame we were considering.
So, we're now looking at at least 5 more days of nothingness. We could use your prayers, to say the least. If you have any suggestions of something we could to to pass the time, that would be welcome as well.
We are disappointed, to say the least. Were we Stateside, we wouldn't mind waiting, but being here and having to wait so long is so hard, mainly because we are so bored.
Here is what we do everyday. Get up, eat breakfast and feed Cavin breakfast. I normally play on the computer and we watch a bit of tv. Then we get showered and get ready to go out. We typically eat lunch out and go for a brief walk. Most days we need a little something so we stop by the small grocery store to get a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk or something of the sort. It is really cold so we feel bad keeping Cavin out any longer than we have too. Our walk and lunch normally takes an hour or two. Then we come back to the apartment where we sit around and basically do nothing the rest of the night until its time to go to bed.
We are literally bored out of our minds, which makes waiting so much harder. It is also really hard on Matt knowing he is away from work when nothing is happening, and that this is taking so much longer than we had hoped.
We were so hoping and praying for the adoption to take the shortest time frame possible, when we're looking at being lucky at having it completed in the longest time frame we were considering.
So, we're now looking at at least 5 more days of nothingness. We could use your prayers, to say the least. If you have any suggestions of something we could to to pass the time, that would be welcome as well.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
News...
We, well Yuri, has exhausted every resource he has to try and get us the little boy we met, but God must have other plans for this sweet boy as we are not going to be allowed to adopt him due to a Ukrainian law. The last contact we were working with was to call today if the judge decided she could help us, and she never called. =(
Although our hearts are grieving, God has given us peace. This little boy will forever be in our hearts. I will try to introduce him in a post sometime soon. Once you see his picture you will be able to understand how we fell in love so easily with this child. His sweet personality is evident in his face.
Yesterday as we were with Yuri getting our petition notarized he was talking to us about a other child options, and my heart just wasn't into it. All I could think about was the child we had already met. Yet today, when Yuri called, this peace filled my heart, and I surprised myself at being excited about a child he was telling us about. I am so thankful for God working in my heart, helping me to trust His perfect plan when I am not able to on my own.
We were hoping to hear news of our second SDA appointment today, but we are going to bed still not knowing when our appointment will be. Frustrating to say the least.
We continue to pray that our appointment will be this week, which means it would have to be on Thursday as they do not take appointments on Friday. We hope and pray we don't have to go another weekend not knowing, and another weekend of doing nothing.
I think I will eat some of my delicious dark chocolate (that you can get for cheap here, which makes it even better) and try and get some sleep.
We thank you for your continued prayers.
Although our hearts are grieving, God has given us peace. This little boy will forever be in our hearts. I will try to introduce him in a post sometime soon. Once you see his picture you will be able to understand how we fell in love so easily with this child. His sweet personality is evident in his face.
Yesterday as we were with Yuri getting our petition notarized he was talking to us about a other child options, and my heart just wasn't into it. All I could think about was the child we had already met. Yet today, when Yuri called, this peace filled my heart, and I surprised myself at being excited about a child he was telling us about. I am so thankful for God working in my heart, helping me to trust His perfect plan when I am not able to on my own.
We were hoping to hear news of our second SDA appointment today, but we are going to bed still not knowing when our appointment will be. Frustrating to say the least.
We continue to pray that our appointment will be this week, which means it would have to be on Thursday as they do not take appointments on Friday. We hope and pray we don't have to go another weekend not knowing, and another weekend of doing nothing.
I think I will eat some of my delicious dark chocolate (that you can get for cheap here, which makes it even better) and try and get some sleep.
We thank you for your continued prayers.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Restless
Today my heart is restless.
Deep in my heart, I cannot let the little boy we have already met go. I am praying for God to work a miracle and allow us to have this little boy.
If not, then I am praying God will work in my heart, to help me come to peace with His will, and to prepare my heart for finding another child.
Deep in my heart, I cannot let the little boy we have already met go. I am praying for God to work a miracle and allow us to have this little boy.
If not, then I am praying God will work in my heart, to help me come to peace with His will, and to prepare my heart for finding another child.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Waiting...And Moving Again...
Today has been a long, but good day! When we got back to Kiev yesterday we were put in a different apartment than the first time we were here. We like this one better, but it is already reserved for tomorrow afternoon for someone else. So we find ourselves packing up and moving back to the apartment we had the first time around, tomorrow at 1pm. This will be our fourth move in since arriving in Kiev!
We are definitely wishing we would have packed less, and a bit differently. Its been a pain moving all of our stuff around. We are debating trying to downsize and looking into getting a suit case sent back to the States. When we were packing we debated until the time we left about bringing a stroller and/or a carseat. I couldn't decide so Matt decided to just bring the carseat, which does pop up into a stroller, hoping we could use it on the long flights and could use it as a stroller here. Well, we got to use it on the first flight of three, and it most definitely doesn't work as a stroller here. So today we bought the cheapest umbrella stroller we could find and we are hoping to be able to just donate to the orphanage when we leave.
We are already glad we bought it! We do lots of walking here, which we love, but lugging Cavin around was getting tiring. Not long after we rolled it out of the store and put Cavin in it, he fell asleep! It was nice to eat some lunch in peace and get some groceries all while he was asleep.
We've been relaxing the rest of the day, trying not to go crazy while we wait. We are still grieving over the loss of our little boy, but we are thankful God allowed us to meet him, and will continue to lift him up in prayer. We pray he will find a family soon, and whatever family gets him, will be tremendously blessed, for sure!
We also continue to pray for the child God has for us. That we will have the ability to know who he is, that he is healthy, and that we will not be timid in meeting him after our first experience.
It is always hard to trust God when you don't understand his plan, but we will continue to have faith, because we know His will is far better than our earthly choices, wants, or desires.
We are hoping, now that we have adjusted to the time change and have a stroller to get around more with, to get out and see more of Kiev while we are waiting. Anything to help pass the time!
We are definitely wishing we would have packed less, and a bit differently. Its been a pain moving all of our stuff around. We are debating trying to downsize and looking into getting a suit case sent back to the States. When we were packing we debated until the time we left about bringing a stroller and/or a carseat. I couldn't decide so Matt decided to just bring the carseat, which does pop up into a stroller, hoping we could use it on the long flights and could use it as a stroller here. Well, we got to use it on the first flight of three, and it most definitely doesn't work as a stroller here. So today we bought the cheapest umbrella stroller we could find and we are hoping to be able to just donate to the orphanage when we leave.
We are already glad we bought it! We do lots of walking here, which we love, but lugging Cavin around was getting tiring. Not long after we rolled it out of the store and put Cavin in it, he fell asleep! It was nice to eat some lunch in peace and get some groceries all while he was asleep.
We've been relaxing the rest of the day, trying not to go crazy while we wait. We are still grieving over the loss of our little boy, but we are thankful God allowed us to meet him, and will continue to lift him up in prayer. We pray he will find a family soon, and whatever family gets him, will be tremendously blessed, for sure!
We also continue to pray for the child God has for us. That we will have the ability to know who he is, that he is healthy, and that we will not be timid in meeting him after our first experience.
It is always hard to trust God when you don't understand his plan, but we will continue to have faith, because we know His will is far better than our earthly choices, wants, or desires.
We are hoping, now that we have adjusted to the time change and have a stroller to get around more with, to get out and see more of Kiev while we are waiting. Anything to help pass the time!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Broken Hearts
The consult did not want to take responsibility for the decision, thinking the judge would rule in our favor. However, the last time the judge made a similar decision he got into trouble, so he also said no.
There really are no other options for us. We technically could appeal to their supreme court, but that takes a long time and a lot of money, and there are still no guarantees.
We are heartbroken, for ourselves yes, but our hearts are so broken for this little boy. We are just praying that God will comfort him and help him to understand why we were not able to take him.
During our seven hour drive back to Kiev this afternoon I went back and forth between a mixture of emotions. Throughout this process we have been praying for what is best for this little boy, and then selfishly begging God to let us have him.
Although we do not understand exactly why God is not allowing us to have this little boy, we can only pray he has something better planned for him down the road, hopefully soon!
In the meantime we will continue to look at the oranges we bought for him, but never got to give him and the pictures we took, and grieve for this sweet little boy we wanted so badly to be ours. As we cry over our loss, we will pray for God to wrap his arms around this boy, and to let him know he will always be loved by us, but more importantly he is loved by Jesus.
What's next? More waiting. We will have to start over again. Monday we will go get paperwork filled out to once again, petition the SDA for an appointment to look for another child. Then we will wait for them to accept our paperwork and invite us for a second appointment. Then we will start round two.
Please pray for Matt and I. Honestly, right now our broken hearts just want to go home. It is hard to think about trying to pick another child when all we want is the one we already met. Not to mention, so far all of the other children available have somewhat serious medical conditions we will have to deal with.
When we chose the Ukraine program we were told there were plenty of 2 and 3 year old, mostly healthy boys to adopt. So far, we have seen none. The options we do have are 5 and 6 year olds, with some conditions that may or may not be fixable.
I find myself struggling to trust that God has a child for us, when we found a perfect one and he did not allow us to have him. In my mind, I know God has a perfect plan including a perfect child, but right now my broken heart is just that, broken and grieving.
Thanks to all of you for your constant prayers on our behalf, it has been a tremendous blessing to us. We will keep you posted.
There really are no other options for us. We technically could appeal to their supreme court, but that takes a long time and a lot of money, and there are still no guarantees.
We are heartbroken, for ourselves yes, but our hearts are so broken for this little boy. We are just praying that God will comfort him and help him to understand why we were not able to take him.
During our seven hour drive back to Kiev this afternoon I went back and forth between a mixture of emotions. Throughout this process we have been praying for what is best for this little boy, and then selfishly begging God to let us have him.
Although we do not understand exactly why God is not allowing us to have this little boy, we can only pray he has something better planned for him down the road, hopefully soon!
In the meantime we will continue to look at the oranges we bought for him, but never got to give him and the pictures we took, and grieve for this sweet little boy we wanted so badly to be ours. As we cry over our loss, we will pray for God to wrap his arms around this boy, and to let him know he will always be loved by us, but more importantly he is loved by Jesus.
What's next? More waiting. We will have to start over again. Monday we will go get paperwork filled out to once again, petition the SDA for an appointment to look for another child. Then we will wait for them to accept our paperwork and invite us for a second appointment. Then we will start round two.
Please pray for Matt and I. Honestly, right now our broken hearts just want to go home. It is hard to think about trying to pick another child when all we want is the one we already met. Not to mention, so far all of the other children available have somewhat serious medical conditions we will have to deal with.
When we chose the Ukraine program we were told there were plenty of 2 and 3 year old, mostly healthy boys to adopt. So far, we have seen none. The options we do have are 5 and 6 year olds, with some conditions that may or may not be fixable.
I find myself struggling to trust that God has a child for us, when we found a perfect one and he did not allow us to have him. In my mind, I know God has a perfect plan including a perfect child, but right now my broken heart is just that, broken and grieving.
Thanks to all of you for your constant prayers on our behalf, it has been a tremendous blessing to us. We will keep you posted.
Consult Decision
We are at an internet cafe while Olig is picking up our paperwork from the consult meeting.
The consult said no almost as soon as we walked in the door. We were expecting to be interviewed, but they only asked one question, why we wanted to adopt.
Our translator believes they were scared to make the decision because they didn't want to get in trouble with higher authorities, even though they have the power to make the decision.
We can appeal their decision, which the consult told us to do. The consult also told us not to be disappointed, that they think the higher court will be on our side.
Olig will be making some phone calls to see if in fact the court would be in our favor and it will be worth our time to appeal their decision.
Right now our hearts our quavering, but we are yet to give up on this little boy until they make us.
That's all we know right now.
The consult said no almost as soon as we walked in the door. We were expecting to be interviewed, but they only asked one question, why we wanted to adopt.
Our translator believes they were scared to make the decision because they didn't want to get in trouble with higher authorities, even though they have the power to make the decision.
We can appeal their decision, which the consult told us to do. The consult also told us not to be disappointed, that they think the higher court will be on our side.
Olig will be making some phone calls to see if in fact the court would be in our favor and it will be worth our time to appeal their decision.
Right now our hearts our quavering, but we are yet to give up on this little boy until they make us.
That's all we know right now.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Brief Update
As you have probably figured out, we are in the middle of no where with no internet. After trying a few other places we finally found an internet cafe thanks to a very nice taxi driver!
Wednesday: We left Kiev at 6am after only a few hours of sleep, partly due to Cavin, partly due to all of the emotions we were feeling facing the day. It was a long drive, crammed into a Euro car with all of our luggage! We were thankful Cavin slept most of the way (until he wouldn't sleep Wednesday night!).
Once we got to the town where the orphanage is located we had to wait for our facilitator Olig to go over our paper work with the social worker in charge of our little boy. It felt like it took forever! While we waited Cavin played in the grass for a while, which was nice for him as it was the first time he got to play outside since arriving in Ukraine.
We then finally travelled to the orphanage where we were interviewed by the orphanage director and the social worker. At the start of the interview the orphanage director was not smiling at all, so it was hard to get a read on her. Then after our interview we were able to ask more questions about the child, such as why he is at the orphanage and how long he has been there, his health history and so forth.
As we were concluding, I saw a little boy walk across the hallway, and then come walking towards us. My heart lept into my throat. This was the moment we had been waiting for, for so long. He walked in holding the hand of the lady who works with him the most, with a timid smile on his face. Then he walked straight over to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. As tears streamed down my face I fought for control of my emotions. My heart immediately fell in love with this precious boy, and I felt many of the same emotions I felt when I held Cavin for the first time.
We were able to spend a few minutes getting to know him before Olig brought Cavin back in. We were both nervous on how the boys would react to each other. Cavin did not fuss with jealousy at another little boy being cuddled up beside me and our little boy instantly took to Cavin, smiling, touching his face and hair, and giving him hugs. It melted our hearts, and I found myself again with tears coursing down my cheeks, fighting back a wave of emotions.
We were able to stay and play with our child for over an hour. It was so fun to watch him play, to play with him, and to see how he interacted with Cavin. He called Cavin his poopiska (I have no idea how to spell this), our translator was unsure how to translate the term, but she said it is like a chubby baby doll.
We were teaching the little boy to call us by our first names, but while playing hide and seek, the little boy told his papa to close his eyes and not peak or he would tell everyone! This one for sure brought Matt to tears, and of course, I was still crying!
After leaving we ate some dinner and got checked into our hotel, which surpised us with how nice it is considering the area we are in. Thankful, to be sure.
Thursday: Visiting hours are from 10-12 in the morning, so we walked to the orphange, which is about a 20 minute walk, to visit with our little boy again. He was ready to meet us, giving us both hugs, calling us mama and papi. Today Cavin was his baby! Some other little boys came by the room we were playing in and ours excitedly told them "this is my parents, and this is my baby!" When they tried touching Cavin he told them not to touch his baby. He is already protective of Cavin, and Cavin is of course already trying to keep up and do everything he does! Too cute.
This little boy is very smart, very talkative and loving, and just precious! Definitely all boy as well, with lots of energy!
Update on Permission to Adopt:
Today while we visited with this little boy Olig traveled to speak with the officials about them granting us permission to adopt this little boy. They didn't say no, but again, didn't say yes yet. Tomorrow morning, Friday, we leave here at 6 to travel for a consult meeting with a group of regional officials at 8am. They will drill us with questions and will then be making the decision on if we can adopt this boy or not. They could make a decision tomorrow while at the consult, or they could take time to think about it.
**Typically when you receive a referral, you are receiving permission to adopt the child you have been referred to. However, the child we picked is in a special situation, so we are having to seek permission to adopt him.
This little boy is ours, whether they give us permission to adopt him or not. If they say no, our hearts will be broken, as I am sure this little boy's will be as well.
HUGE PRAYER REQUEST:
The decision on whether or not we will be able to adopt this boy will be made tomorrow. This is the last step of the process of asking for permission.
The meeting begins at 8am here, which is midnight for you all, since we are 8 hours ahead of you.
If there is any time we would ask to be covered in prayers, this would be the time.
Please pray for God to move in the hearts of the officials who will be gathered for the consult, that they may realize that this little boy needs a family, and we are already love him to pieces.
Please pray for Matt and I to have wisdom in answering the questions, and that they may clearly see our hearts in this.
Please pray for Cavin. Pray that he sleeps tonight so he can be in a good mood during the meeting.
We thank you all in advance for covering us with prayer. We are so blessed to have friends and family like all of you in our lives, who we know will read this and begin covering us and the officials of this consult with prayer.
Wednesday: We left Kiev at 6am after only a few hours of sleep, partly due to Cavin, partly due to all of the emotions we were feeling facing the day. It was a long drive, crammed into a Euro car with all of our luggage! We were thankful Cavin slept most of the way (until he wouldn't sleep Wednesday night!).
Once we got to the town where the orphanage is located we had to wait for our facilitator Olig to go over our paper work with the social worker in charge of our little boy. It felt like it took forever! While we waited Cavin played in the grass for a while, which was nice for him as it was the first time he got to play outside since arriving in Ukraine.
We then finally travelled to the orphanage where we were interviewed by the orphanage director and the social worker. At the start of the interview the orphanage director was not smiling at all, so it was hard to get a read on her. Then after our interview we were able to ask more questions about the child, such as why he is at the orphanage and how long he has been there, his health history and so forth.
As we were concluding, I saw a little boy walk across the hallway, and then come walking towards us. My heart lept into my throat. This was the moment we had been waiting for, for so long. He walked in holding the hand of the lady who works with him the most, with a timid smile on his face. Then he walked straight over to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. As tears streamed down my face I fought for control of my emotions. My heart immediately fell in love with this precious boy, and I felt many of the same emotions I felt when I held Cavin for the first time.
We were able to spend a few minutes getting to know him before Olig brought Cavin back in. We were both nervous on how the boys would react to each other. Cavin did not fuss with jealousy at another little boy being cuddled up beside me and our little boy instantly took to Cavin, smiling, touching his face and hair, and giving him hugs. It melted our hearts, and I found myself again with tears coursing down my cheeks, fighting back a wave of emotions.
We were able to stay and play with our child for over an hour. It was so fun to watch him play, to play with him, and to see how he interacted with Cavin. He called Cavin his poopiska (I have no idea how to spell this), our translator was unsure how to translate the term, but she said it is like a chubby baby doll.
We were teaching the little boy to call us by our first names, but while playing hide and seek, the little boy told his papa to close his eyes and not peak or he would tell everyone! This one for sure brought Matt to tears, and of course, I was still crying!
After leaving we ate some dinner and got checked into our hotel, which surpised us with how nice it is considering the area we are in. Thankful, to be sure.
Thursday: Visiting hours are from 10-12 in the morning, so we walked to the orphange, which is about a 20 minute walk, to visit with our little boy again. He was ready to meet us, giving us both hugs, calling us mama and papi. Today Cavin was his baby! Some other little boys came by the room we were playing in and ours excitedly told them "this is my parents, and this is my baby!" When they tried touching Cavin he told them not to touch his baby. He is already protective of Cavin, and Cavin is of course already trying to keep up and do everything he does! Too cute.
This little boy is very smart, very talkative and loving, and just precious! Definitely all boy as well, with lots of energy!
Update on Permission to Adopt:
Today while we visited with this little boy Olig traveled to speak with the officials about them granting us permission to adopt this little boy. They didn't say no, but again, didn't say yes yet. Tomorrow morning, Friday, we leave here at 6 to travel for a consult meeting with a group of regional officials at 8am. They will drill us with questions and will then be making the decision on if we can adopt this boy or not. They could make a decision tomorrow while at the consult, or they could take time to think about it.
**Typically when you receive a referral, you are receiving permission to adopt the child you have been referred to. However, the child we picked is in a special situation, so we are having to seek permission to adopt him.
This little boy is ours, whether they give us permission to adopt him or not. If they say no, our hearts will be broken, as I am sure this little boy's will be as well.
HUGE PRAYER REQUEST:
The decision on whether or not we will be able to adopt this boy will be made tomorrow. This is the last step of the process of asking for permission.
The meeting begins at 8am here, which is midnight for you all, since we are 8 hours ahead of you.
If there is any time we would ask to be covered in prayers, this would be the time.
Please pray for God to move in the hearts of the officials who will be gathered for the consult, that they may realize that this little boy needs a family, and we are already love him to pieces.
Please pray for Matt and I to have wisdom in answering the questions, and that they may clearly see our hearts in this.
Please pray for Cavin. Pray that he sleeps tonight so he can be in a good mood during the meeting.
We thank you all in advance for covering us with prayer. We are so blessed to have friends and family like all of you in our lives, who we know will read this and begin covering us and the officials of this consult with prayer.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Official Referral!
We went this evening to pick up our official referral paper! Tomorrow morning our translator will pick us up at 6am and we will drive to the orphanage to meet our child! After meeting the child, we will accept or not accept the referral. If we accept the referral, then they will begin the process of deciding if they will allow us to adopt this child or not. We asked our facilitator here, realistically, what are the chances of them giving us permission to adopt this child, and he said we have a 50/50 chance. It could take them anywhere from a day to a week to make this decision.
Once they give us permission to adopt this child, then we will begin the process of getting the paperwork together to get a court date.
Prayer Requests:
-Pray for safety as we travel to the orphanage.
-Pray for us and the little boy as we meet. Pray that our hearts would be opened to each other!
-Pray for the officials who are in charge of making the decision on whether or not we are allowed to adopt this child. Pray that that God would move in their hearts to allow us to give this family a home and the love of a very large family! And pray that they would make this decision quickly!
Some thoughts on my heart, and that Matt and I have been discussing while here:
We had this verse made to hang in Cavin's room, as it means so much to Matt and I. We feel we have been in so many situations, the triplets, my difficult pregnancy with Cavin, and now this adoption, where this verse is the truth of our hearts.
"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14
Moses speaks this verse in the book of Exodus, right after the 10 plagues, Pharaoh demands for Israel to leave his country. Israel, with rejoicing walks out of Egypt as free men. After the Israelites were gone, Pharaoah changes his mind and decides he doesn't want to let them go free. So Pharaoh gathers his army and goes after them. As Pharaoh and his army approached, Israel saw them and became terrified and began crying out to the Lord. They begin asking the Lord why he had brought them this far only to be taken back. Moses then tells the Israelite people, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."
We are once again in a place where we can do nothing but pray and beseech God to move on our behalf. It may sound strange, but I love being in this place, where I can do nothing, and God can do anything and everything. Although it is a place we should be everyday in our lives, for most of us, we only truly rely on God in the big situations or when we have no other choice because we can literally do nothing.
Yet at the same time we wonder why God doesn't move and work as he did in the Bible. We wonder why he no longer performs miracles and no longer speaks to his people. But in reality, God continues to do those things, WHEN WE LET HIM. But most people never give God enough control to LET him work in mighty ways in their life, or to hear him speak.
The truth is, if you do not see God working in your life, it is because you are not allowing Him to work by giving him control to do so. You are not taking steps of faith beyond your control, or your ability to do things. If you want to see God work, then you need to take steps of faith beyond your control, steps that are impossible without God intervening and working on your behalf.
For some, this may be scary, but for me, I love the adventure, the thrill of the ride. Like I said earlier, it may be strange, but I love being in a place beyond my control, because in that place not only can I see the might of God as he works and moves, but I am closest to him when I am most dependent on him.
So Begins the Climb!!
As we were looking through files yesterday we were literally heartbroken over the number of files there were. They literally had binders full of them, and that wasn't even all of the orphans, just the most "healthy" ones. We only found two children who met our health criteria (mostly healthy), maybe three. They were all older than we wanted, we wanted 2 or 3, these children were 4 and 5. But all of the two and three year olds had major health issues or deformities, or were HIV positive. There was really only one little boy who we felt really met what we were looking for, and who's picture we "clicked" with. He is a completely healthy, adorable 5 year old boy, blond hair, a sweet smile and freckles. =)
However, as I stated in our blog yesterday, there was, and still is, a mountain standing between us and permission to adopt this little boy. We prayed, and we asked God to move in our favor, and He has! This mountain has not been removed, but we have been given permission to start the climb, which is definitely answered prayer!
So we will go today to sign papers at the SDA to receive our official referral for this little boy. Then tomorrow morning we will travel to the orphange to meet him!!
We are so thankful for you all and we are honored that you have sacrificed your time to pray on our behalf. We pray that God will use our journey to encourage and inspire you, and help you grow closer in your own walk with Him.
Please continue to lift us up in prayer! Please pray that we will be liked by those at the orphanage, especially this little boy, and that we will be given permission to adopt him!
However, as I stated in our blog yesterday, there was, and still is, a mountain standing between us and permission to adopt this little boy. We prayed, and we asked God to move in our favor, and He has! This mountain has not been removed, but we have been given permission to start the climb, which is definitely answered prayer!
So we will go today to sign papers at the SDA to receive our official referral for this little boy. Then tomorrow morning we will travel to the orphange to meet him!!
We are so thankful for you all and we are honored that you have sacrificed your time to pray on our behalf. We pray that God will use our journey to encourage and inspire you, and help you grow closer in your own walk with Him.
Please continue to lift us up in prayer! Please pray that we will be liked by those at the orphanage, especially this little boy, and that we will be given permission to adopt him!
Monday, December 6, 2010
First SDA Appointment
Well, we are still without an official referral. I am unable to give many details, but we have a little boy we are wanting, but there is a major mountain standing in the way. Not impossible to get over, but very rare. So if you could be praying specifically for Ukrainian officials who are making decisions on behalf of our case, we would definitely appreciate it.
Prayer is powerful, and we ask that you all join with us in asking God to move in our favor on this matter.
We are praying to hear their decision today. We will keep you posted as we know more.
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective..." James 5:16
Prayer is powerful, and we ask that you all join with us in asking God to move in our favor on this matter.
We are praying to hear their decision today. We will keep you posted as we know more.
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective..." James 5:16
Appointment Day!!
Neither Matt nor I slept well last night. I couldn't get to sleep, and Matt was up at 4, unable to go back to sleep. I woke up at 6 and we have been wide awake since.
We brought a blow up bed (air mattress with sides) for Cavin to sleep in, but the only place in our room to put it is next to a window, which produces a very cold draft, which makes it too cold for Cavin to sleep. So he slept with us most of the night. We are going to have to come up with a better solution for tonight!
We are feeling a mix of emotions this morning, but we are mostly excited to finally pick a referral. We have been waiting months, even years for this moment and we can hardly believe it is finally here!
If you are up this early, please be praying for us as we go to our appointment (4-5am Saint Louis time)!! We will update with news as soon as we can!
We brought a blow up bed (air mattress with sides) for Cavin to sleep in, but the only place in our room to put it is next to a window, which produces a very cold draft, which makes it too cold for Cavin to sleep. So he slept with us most of the night. We are going to have to come up with a better solution for tonight!
We are feeling a mix of emotions this morning, but we are mostly excited to finally pick a referral. We have been waiting months, even years for this moment and we can hardly believe it is finally here!
If you are up this early, please be praying for us as we go to our appointment (4-5am Saint Louis time)!! We will update with news as soon as we can!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
A Blah Kinda Day!
We were up at 3am this morning with a wide awake baby! Gotta love jet lag! We finally got Cavin back to sleep around 9am and we all slept until 1! It was much needed sleep! We decided to bundle up and go for a walk, to help us stay awake, so we walked around downtown Kiev for about an hour or so. We didn't really bring a stroller, so it is hard to do much, not to mention its freezing cold here, so we felt bad keeping Cavin out in the cold for too long, even if he was all bundled up.
Once we got back to our apartment we lounged around some more until we were ready to go eat some dinner. We went to a restaurant across the street that Yuri recommended. We both had a pizza and I had some delicious coffee. I don't know what they do differently in Europe, but their coffee is so much better!! For me to drink coffee in the States I have to add a lot of creamer, sugar or some kind of flavoring. But here, I can drink a plain cappuccino and love it!
There isn't much to look at in Kiev, you can definitely tell they were part of Russia and a communist country. The wierdest thing to me was that they have malls underground. They don't have many cross walks across the street, you cross under the street, and the underground crosswalk will also be lined with stores. Very interesting!
We are so excited for tomorrow! It has been even harder to be in Kiev and still be waiting! We have been praying continually for God's hand to be evident in our appointment with the SDA tomorrow. What we are dreading the most is seeing the thousands of files of these children who need homes, and only being able to choose one. We thought they would give us a small selection of files to look through, but Yuri said they will show us all of the files of orphans in Ukraine who are under the age of 6. So we will literally see thousands of files of orphans tomorrow. It will be heartbreaking for sure. We are a little nervous and scared, but we completely trust that God has the perfect child for us!
Again, our appointment is at 12 noon tomorrow, which is 4am Saint Louis time. We covet your prayers and ask that you continue to intercede on our behalf, for God to reveal to us the child He has for us, and for God to move in mighty ways through our adoption process. We thank you in advance for praying with us.
Now to try and get some sleep...
Once we got back to our apartment we lounged around some more until we were ready to go eat some dinner. We went to a restaurant across the street that Yuri recommended. We both had a pizza and I had some delicious coffee. I don't know what they do differently in Europe, but their coffee is so much better!! For me to drink coffee in the States I have to add a lot of creamer, sugar or some kind of flavoring. But here, I can drink a plain cappuccino and love it!
There isn't much to look at in Kiev, you can definitely tell they were part of Russia and a communist country. The wierdest thing to me was that they have malls underground. They don't have many cross walks across the street, you cross under the street, and the underground crosswalk will also be lined with stores. Very interesting!
We are so excited for tomorrow! It has been even harder to be in Kiev and still be waiting! We have been praying continually for God's hand to be evident in our appointment with the SDA tomorrow. What we are dreading the most is seeing the thousands of files of these children who need homes, and only being able to choose one. We thought they would give us a small selection of files to look through, but Yuri said they will show us all of the files of orphans in Ukraine who are under the age of 6. So we will literally see thousands of files of orphans tomorrow. It will be heartbreaking for sure. We are a little nervous and scared, but we completely trust that God has the perfect child for us!
Again, our appointment is at 12 noon tomorrow, which is 4am Saint Louis time. We covet your prayers and ask that you continue to intercede on our behalf, for God to reveal to us the child He has for us, and for God to move in mighty ways through our adoption process. We thank you in advance for praying with us.
Now to try and get some sleep...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
We Made It!!
We made it safe and sound to Kiev!
The 8.5 hour flight from Charlotte to Munich was rough. We were stuck in the middle aisle of three seats, with a super tall guy in the third seat, which left us little room to move! Cavin did amazing, especially considering that he was on one of our laps almost the entire time! We were hoping he would sleep most of the flight, but he only slept the last two hours of the flight, meaning we didn't get much sleep either!
Our layover in Munich was long. Much too long. We did finally get Cavin to go back to sleep in his stroller so w were able to stretch out on the benches and get an hour or so nap as well. I loved hearing German everywhere, it made me miss Vienna all the more! It was fun to try and understand what they were saying and remember the little we had learned while living in Vienna. To top it off, we got some yummy German food for dinner! It totally made our day, well at least mine! Did I mention Munich had almost a foot of snow on the ground?
The flight from Munich to Kiev was pretty uneventful. We did have an extra seat which made it nice for Cavin to be able to move around more. I think both Matt and I dozed off and on throughout the flight. In typical Cavin fashion, he fell asleep as we were descending to land. A highlight of this flight was the views we had of the Alps, they were snow capped and beautiful!
We made it through customs just fine, no one even stopped us and it was really nice not to have to deal with that hassle and just be able to walk on through. Thankful for God's blessing there for sure! Yuri, our facilitator here in Ukraine met us and drove us to the apartment he had found for us. The apartment is fully furnished and is nice enough. We dropped our stuff off and ventured to exchange some money and get some groceries.
Once we got back we sat down with Yuri to discuss what we are wanting in our referral. We began talking about some of the medical conditions kids have, and how hard it is to find a healthy child without a serious medical condition under the age of 6. I loved how Yuri said, "I'm not trying to scare you..." when that is just what he did!
We know God is going to provide the perfect child for us, but the idea of sorting through THOUSANDS of files Monday afternoon, trying to sort through and decipher medical conditions, is most definitely scary. We are nervous for sure, but are so thankful God provided Yuri, a Christian man with over 10 years of experience in Ukrainian adoptions, to be our facilitator! We are totally going to be relying on him to help us sort through the files and find us a referral that meets our needs.
Yuri said most times a family will not find their child with their first SDA appointment, but that it takes most families two appointments (we are allowed 3 total) with the SDA to receive the referral to their child. To get a second appointment is easy, it would just add up to another week onto our stay here.
HUGE PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray that there will be a healthy little boy (3ish) for us to be referred to on Monday!! We really don't want the time delay of a second SDA appointment and all that would entail.
Our appointment with the SDA is on Monday, December 6 at Noon, which would be 4am Saint Louis time..
In the meantime, please pray that we can adjust well to the 8 hour time change and get a good nights rest tonight!!
The 8.5 hour flight from Charlotte to Munich was rough. We were stuck in the middle aisle of three seats, with a super tall guy in the third seat, which left us little room to move! Cavin did amazing, especially considering that he was on one of our laps almost the entire time! We were hoping he would sleep most of the flight, but he only slept the last two hours of the flight, meaning we didn't get much sleep either!
Our layover in Munich was long. Much too long. We did finally get Cavin to go back to sleep in his stroller so w were able to stretch out on the benches and get an hour or so nap as well. I loved hearing German everywhere, it made me miss Vienna all the more! It was fun to try and understand what they were saying and remember the little we had learned while living in Vienna. To top it off, we got some yummy German food for dinner! It totally made our day, well at least mine! Did I mention Munich had almost a foot of snow on the ground?
The flight from Munich to Kiev was pretty uneventful. We did have an extra seat which made it nice for Cavin to be able to move around more. I think both Matt and I dozed off and on throughout the flight. In typical Cavin fashion, he fell asleep as we were descending to land. A highlight of this flight was the views we had of the Alps, they were snow capped and beautiful!
We made it through customs just fine, no one even stopped us and it was really nice not to have to deal with that hassle and just be able to walk on through. Thankful for God's blessing there for sure! Yuri, our facilitator here in Ukraine met us and drove us to the apartment he had found for us. The apartment is fully furnished and is nice enough. We dropped our stuff off and ventured to exchange some money and get some groceries.
Once we got back we sat down with Yuri to discuss what we are wanting in our referral. We began talking about some of the medical conditions kids have, and how hard it is to find a healthy child without a serious medical condition under the age of 6. I loved how Yuri said, "I'm not trying to scare you..." when that is just what he did!
We know God is going to provide the perfect child for us, but the idea of sorting through THOUSANDS of files Monday afternoon, trying to sort through and decipher medical conditions, is most definitely scary. We are nervous for sure, but are so thankful God provided Yuri, a Christian man with over 10 years of experience in Ukrainian adoptions, to be our facilitator! We are totally going to be relying on him to help us sort through the files and find us a referral that meets our needs.
Yuri said most times a family will not find their child with their first SDA appointment, but that it takes most families two appointments (we are allowed 3 total) with the SDA to receive the referral to their child. To get a second appointment is easy, it would just add up to another week onto our stay here.
HUGE PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray that there will be a healthy little boy (3ish) for us to be referred to on Monday!! We really don't want the time delay of a second SDA appointment and all that would entail.
Our appointment with the SDA is on Monday, December 6 at Noon, which would be 4am Saint Louis time..
In the meantime, please pray that we can adjust well to the 8 hour time change and get a good nights rest tonight!!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Charlotte, North Carolina
We are sitting in Charlotte, waiting to board the plane to Munich, Germany. Cavin did great on our flight from Saint Louis to here! We were hoping he would nap, which he did, but he didn't fall asleep until the captain made the "we're beginning our descent into Charlotte" announcement. Typical of Cavin, always falling asleep just as we're almost at our destination!
We were hoping there would be an extra seat somewhere that we could snag, since the bassinet was already reserved, but its a full flight. So we will be holding Cavin all 8 hours of the flight. We are just praying he sleeps so we can get some rest.
"Pray continually..." 2 Thessalonians 5:17
We were hoping there would be an extra seat somewhere that we could snag, since the bassinet was already reserved, but its a full flight. So we will be holding Cavin all 8 hours of the flight. We are just praying he sleeps so we can get some rest.
"Pray continually..." 2 Thessalonians 5:17
1:16
As I begin to type this it is 1:16am, and we are just getting to bed, yet I find myself wide awake with anticipation and excitement. I have not finished the busy books, I have 8 pages finished for each book, plus front and back covers, but I have not stitched the pages together yet. I was planning on using the sewing machine to put the pages together, but my bobbin turned into a huge knot, and in the process of trying to fix it, I believe I made it worse. Where is my Grandma Grubb when I need her sewing expertise? She is the one who taught me how to sew, and I have really enjoyed doing this project, with the little bit of sewing I remember from my childhood! After checking what TSA allows, I decided to call it a night and stitch Cavin's book together as we fly and sit and wait in airports. I can finish Rance's once we're in Ukraine in our downtime.
This evening amongst our packing chaos we rearranged Cavin's room to add the toddler bed we are borrowing from friends. It may sound wierd, but seeing that little bed set up and ready to be used brought tears of joy to my eyes and flooded my heart with love. We are finally going to get our son!! We are so close to being able to tuck this little boy into bed, probably for the first time in his life, give him hugs and kisses, pray with him, and tell him how unperfectly loved he is by his family, and how perfectly loved he is by his Savior!
We fly out of Saint Louis today at 12:50 and have our first layover in Charlotte. We only have an hour and a half layover, which will be cutting it close with our next flight being an international flight. We will for sure have to switch terminals, we are just praying we won't have to go through security again. Next up is our transatlantic flight to Munich, Germany, which is an 8 hour flight. As most of this flight will be overnight, we are praying Cavin sleeps and we can also get some sleep! We have a 5 hour layover in Munich, which will be tough beings we will be jet lagging, but thankful for the extra time in case our previous flights met any delays. Finally we arrive in Kiev Saturday afternoon at 4:20pm, which would be 8:20am Saint Louis time.
We have a long journey ahead of us, but we are so excited!!!! We covet your prayers, and will do our best to keep you updated as often as possible!
Now to attempt to get some sleep amidst our excitement!
This evening amongst our packing chaos we rearranged Cavin's room to add the toddler bed we are borrowing from friends. It may sound wierd, but seeing that little bed set up and ready to be used brought tears of joy to my eyes and flooded my heart with love. We are finally going to get our son!! We are so close to being able to tuck this little boy into bed, probably for the first time in his life, give him hugs and kisses, pray with him, and tell him how unperfectly loved he is by his family, and how perfectly loved he is by his Savior!
We fly out of Saint Louis today at 12:50 and have our first layover in Charlotte. We only have an hour and a half layover, which will be cutting it close with our next flight being an international flight. We will for sure have to switch terminals, we are just praying we won't have to go through security again. Next up is our transatlantic flight to Munich, Germany, which is an 8 hour flight. As most of this flight will be overnight, we are praying Cavin sleeps and we can also get some sleep! We have a 5 hour layover in Munich, which will be tough beings we will be jet lagging, but thankful for the extra time in case our previous flights met any delays. Finally we arrive in Kiev Saturday afternoon at 4:20pm, which would be 8:20am Saint Louis time.
We have a long journey ahead of us, but we are so excited!!!! We covet your prayers, and will do our best to keep you updated as often as possible!
Now to attempt to get some sleep amidst our excitement!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Faith Like a Child
We were blessed to have family at our home for Thanksgiving this year. My 6 year old niece, Grace, arrived with a very loose tooth. She played with it all afternoon, and finally, Thursday evening she pulled it! It was so fun to share in her excitement in losing her first tooth! We put it in a baggie and her mom wrote a note to the tooth fairy to ask her to leave, in Grace's words, "my awesome tooth" for her to keep.
My mom, one sister and my brother and I were crazy enough to brave the Black Friday sales through the night. We had a lot of fun, got some great steals, but were exhausted at the end! When we came home Grace was telling us all about the tooth fairy coming, leaving Grace 50 cents under her pillow.
The best part, with a big smile Gracie told me she wanted to give it to us to help us bring Rance home. As I teared up, I told her thanks and how special it was for her to help bring her cousin home.
I feel like so many times when we as Christians hear the phrase "faith like a child" we often equate it to believing, we must have faith, and believe like a child does. But thinking upon Gracie's heart to give, not even thinking about saving her money or what she could buy with it, but giving, made me realize Jesus meant so much more than believing when he said we are to have faith like a child. When God speaks to a child's heart, as he did to Grace's, she did it. Having faith doesn't just mean believing, it means doing.
So many times when God tells us to do something, we question, we doubt, we think about the sacrifice we would have to make, be it our time, money, or other things, and many times, we end up not doing in the end. When we see a touching video about people in the world starving, without clean water, or orphans, we may tear up, we may feel sorry for them, we may think about doing something, but we don't. We make an excuse. I am not talented in that area, I don't have any extra money, I don't have time, I don't want other people to think I am different, or someone else will do it anyways.
Oh to have faith like a child, a pure and innocent heart, uncluttered by the world, selfishness and greed, that we could hear God speak and simply believe and do.
My mom, one sister and my brother and I were crazy enough to brave the Black Friday sales through the night. We had a lot of fun, got some great steals, but were exhausted at the end! When we came home Grace was telling us all about the tooth fairy coming, leaving Grace 50 cents under her pillow.
The best part, with a big smile Gracie told me she wanted to give it to us to help us bring Rance home. As I teared up, I told her thanks and how special it was for her to help bring her cousin home.
I feel like so many times when we as Christians hear the phrase "faith like a child" we often equate it to believing, we must have faith, and believe like a child does. But thinking upon Gracie's heart to give, not even thinking about saving her money or what she could buy with it, but giving, made me realize Jesus meant so much more than believing when he said we are to have faith like a child. When God speaks to a child's heart, as he did to Grace's, she did it. Having faith doesn't just mean believing, it means doing.
So many times when God tells us to do something, we question, we doubt, we think about the sacrifice we would have to make, be it our time, money, or other things, and many times, we end up not doing in the end. When we see a touching video about people in the world starving, without clean water, or orphans, we may tear up, we may feel sorry for them, we may think about doing something, but we don't. We make an excuse. I am not talented in that area, I don't have any extra money, I don't have time, I don't want other people to think I am different, or someone else will do it anyways.
Oh to have faith like a child, a pure and innocent heart, uncluttered by the world, selfishness and greed, that we could hear God speak and simply believe and do.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Crazy!
That has what our life has been! Pure chaos!!
On top of keeping busy with the normal things we have been busy trying to figure out the rest of the finances we need for the adoption. It has been stressful to say the least!
We have also been busy gathering the items we need to take with us to Ukraine. We still have a lot to do before we are ready to leave, as I am sure I will discover as we begin to pack next week!
I have also, Matt too, been working on some deep cleaning around the house. This has included cleaning out Cavin's closet to make room for Rance! We still have to get a bed and get the room rearranged before we leave.
Matt has been busy trying to get two months of work done in advance on top of keeping up with what needs to be done while we are still here. And helping me out at home as he can.
We've both been busy keeping up with Cavin. He is busy and into everything. His favorite toy: anything that isn't a toy! He definitely keeps us on our toes with his mischief!
We cannot believe we will be in Ukraine in only 11 days! Then meeting Rance shortly thereafter!
We will have some internet access at least, and will update as we can on our blog. However, a lot of information about Rance, such as pictures, we will not be able to post publicly until the adoption is finalized and we are home.
Some General Prayer Requests:
-For Cavin, for him to do well on our transatlantic flight. We leave Philadelphia at 6 in the evening and arrive in Germany at 8 in the morning. Pray that he will adjust well to the time changes, a new place, and the flexibility he will need to have in his schedule. Mostly, pray that God will begin to prepare his heart for his big brother.
-For Rance: Please pray for him as he meets total strangers, who speak a different language, who will be his family. Pray that God will open his heart to us, that he will be able to accept our love, hugs and kisses and will be able to bond with all of us. Pray that his basic needs are met as much as possible, such as food, being held and loved on, and played with.
-For Matt and I: Pray for calm in the storm. Pray that Matt can have all of his work done for while we are gone, and for it to be organized and easy for those who are filling in to understand. Pray that we can accomplish our to do list (it is almost done!) around the house, and prepare Cavin's room to share with Rance. Pray for us to continue to trust in God to provide the finances we need before travelling. Pray for God to continue to prepare our hearts to meet Rance, to be able to love him fully and equally to Cavin. Pray for us to have strength to be in orphanages amongst hundreds of orphans, and have the strength to walk away with just one (or maybe two!).
I am sure I will update, or at least I will try to, before we leave on December 3, and I will update as often as I can from Ukraine with whats going on and more specific prayer needs.
Thanks for taking this journey with us, we pray you will be blessed.
On top of keeping busy with the normal things we have been busy trying to figure out the rest of the finances we need for the adoption. It has been stressful to say the least!
We have also been busy gathering the items we need to take with us to Ukraine. We still have a lot to do before we are ready to leave, as I am sure I will discover as we begin to pack next week!
I have also, Matt too, been working on some deep cleaning around the house. This has included cleaning out Cavin's closet to make room for Rance! We still have to get a bed and get the room rearranged before we leave.
Matt has been busy trying to get two months of work done in advance on top of keeping up with what needs to be done while we are still here. And helping me out at home as he can.
We've both been busy keeping up with Cavin. He is busy and into everything. His favorite toy: anything that isn't a toy! He definitely keeps us on our toes with his mischief!
We cannot believe we will be in Ukraine in only 11 days! Then meeting Rance shortly thereafter!
We will have some internet access at least, and will update as we can on our blog. However, a lot of information about Rance, such as pictures, we will not be able to post publicly until the adoption is finalized and we are home.
Some General Prayer Requests:
-For Cavin, for him to do well on our transatlantic flight. We leave Philadelphia at 6 in the evening and arrive in Germany at 8 in the morning. Pray that he will adjust well to the time changes, a new place, and the flexibility he will need to have in his schedule. Mostly, pray that God will begin to prepare his heart for his big brother.
-For Rance: Please pray for him as he meets total strangers, who speak a different language, who will be his family. Pray that God will open his heart to us, that he will be able to accept our love, hugs and kisses and will be able to bond with all of us. Pray that his basic needs are met as much as possible, such as food, being held and loved on, and played with.
-For Matt and I: Pray for calm in the storm. Pray that Matt can have all of his work done for while we are gone, and for it to be organized and easy for those who are filling in to understand. Pray that we can accomplish our to do list (it is almost done!) around the house, and prepare Cavin's room to share with Rance. Pray for us to continue to trust in God to provide the finances we need before travelling. Pray for God to continue to prepare our hearts to meet Rance, to be able to love him fully and equally to Cavin. Pray for us to have strength to be in orphanages amongst hundreds of orphans, and have the strength to walk away with just one (or maybe two!).
I am sure I will update, or at least I will try to, before we leave on December 3, and I will update as often as I can from Ukraine with whats going on and more specific prayer needs.
Thanks for taking this journey with us, we pray you will be blessed.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Travel Date!!!!
We got our travel date today!!!! We will be leaving on Friday, December 3rd to fly to Ukraine!! Our appointment with the SDA is on Monday, December 6th! At that appointment we will look through referrals, and hopefully be able to accept one!
I cannot believe we are so close to meeting our son. I have felt so "pregnant" emotionally lately. I have been brought to tears multiple times a day just thinking about Rance being out there, in some orphanage in Ukraine.
Not much longer son, and you will be surrounded by love, a home and a family. Not much longer and we will be able to tell you how much we love you, but more importantly, how much more your Savior loves you. Even though your birth parents abandoned you, He will never abandon you, and no matter how imperfectly you have been loved, His love is always perfect. No matter how broken your heart may be, He is the ultimate healer. We cannot wait to tell you of His unwavering love, overwhelming grace and unconditional mercy, and of the great plan he has for your life.
Not much longer and I can memorize every line of your face, the perfect color of your eyes, the sound of your laugh, and see the beauty in the unique personality God gave you. Not much longer and we can tuck you in every night, feed you when you are hungry, hold you when you are scared, play with you and make you laugh, and tell you how loved you are everyday. You may be alone now, feeling scared, hungry, rejected and unloved, but not much longer son, not much longer.
There really are no words to express the excitement Matt and I are feeling today, finally having a date! Oh to finally know our son!
Please continue praying for us and for Rance!
*Please pray for God to provide the rest of the finances we need, $25,000 to pay for the adoption. We continue to trust and know that God will provide.
*Please pray for Cavin as his world is about to be turned upside down.
*Please pray for Matt. He has to have all of his work at the church for the time we will be gone finished in the next two weeks, as well as lesson plans laid out for the Bible class he teaches at the local Christian school. On top of that I know I will keep him busy with my to do list of things to get done around the home, packing, and life will continue to be busy for us.
I cannot believe we are so close to meeting our son. I have felt so "pregnant" emotionally lately. I have been brought to tears multiple times a day just thinking about Rance being out there, in some orphanage in Ukraine.
Not much longer son, and you will be surrounded by love, a home and a family. Not much longer and we will be able to tell you how much we love you, but more importantly, how much more your Savior loves you. Even though your birth parents abandoned you, He will never abandon you, and no matter how imperfectly you have been loved, His love is always perfect. No matter how broken your heart may be, He is the ultimate healer. We cannot wait to tell you of His unwavering love, overwhelming grace and unconditional mercy, and of the great plan he has for your life.
Not much longer and I can memorize every line of your face, the perfect color of your eyes, the sound of your laugh, and see the beauty in the unique personality God gave you. Not much longer and we can tuck you in every night, feed you when you are hungry, hold you when you are scared, play with you and make you laugh, and tell you how loved you are everyday. You may be alone now, feeling scared, hungry, rejected and unloved, but not much longer son, not much longer.
There really are no words to express the excitement Matt and I are feeling today, finally having a date! Oh to finally know our son!
Please continue praying for us and for Rance!
*Please pray for God to provide the rest of the finances we need, $25,000 to pay for the adoption. We continue to trust and know that God will provide.
*Please pray for Cavin as his world is about to be turned upside down.
*Please pray for Matt. He has to have all of his work at the church for the time we will be gone finished in the next two weeks, as well as lesson plans laid out for the Bible class he teaches at the local Christian school. On top of that I know I will keep him busy with my to do list of things to get done around the home, packing, and life will continue to be busy for us.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Still Waiting...
We are still waiting to hear news on our dossier, if it has been accepted, not accepted or if additional paperwork needs to be submitted. We are trying to be patient, but it is so hard! Once our dossier is accepted we will receive our invitation to travel.
We are so ready and excited to meet our son!!
In the meantime, our to do list is a mile long! I have a lot of deep cleaning things I want to get done before we leave, not to mention we need to clean out the other half of Cavin's closet, get his bedroom rearranged and add another bed for Rance!
This week we have been working on getting our carpets shampooed. When I have a chance, I have been working on the boys busy books. They are coming along nicely, I have really enjoyed doing them, but they are a lot of work! I will be glad to get them done!
Speaking of, I need to get back to work! As soon as we hear news, I will be sure to post it here!
Please be praying for us to hear news of our dossier's acceptance soon and to receive an expedited travel date!
Also be praying for Cavin, he will dealing with a lot of changes with this trip, not to mention the addition of an older brother!
We are so ready and excited to meet our son!!
In the meantime, our to do list is a mile long! I have a lot of deep cleaning things I want to get done before we leave, not to mention we need to clean out the other half of Cavin's closet, get his bedroom rearranged and add another bed for Rance!
This week we have been working on getting our carpets shampooed. When I have a chance, I have been working on the boys busy books. They are coming along nicely, I have really enjoyed doing them, but they are a lot of work! I will be glad to get them done!
Speaking of, I need to get back to work! As soon as we hear news, I will be sure to post it here!
Please be praying for us to hear news of our dossier's acceptance soon and to receive an expedited travel date!
Also be praying for Cavin, he will dealing with a lot of changes with this trip, not to mention the addition of an older brother!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Successful!!
Yesterday we heard that our dossier was successfully filed with the SDA in Kiev! It has been taking the SDA 2-3 weeks to review files and accept them -or not, or request additional paperwork. Once our dossier has been approved we will receive notice of that approval along with an invitation to travel. We are praying it takes no longer than 3 weeks--2 weeks or sooner would be great!
Please be praying with us! We will keep you posted as soon as we hear something!
In the meantime we are finishing up some adoption training our agency requires us to take. We have been learning so much from this training and are even more convinced of God's call to adopt. I will share more thoughts on this later.
We have also been looking over our adoption budget and made the realization that we need $25,000. We have raised just at $10,000 in funds, leaving us with the $25,000 balance. This doesn't include the slue of medical bills we will have once we get Rance home. Ugh. This has been and most definitely still is a major stress for us. So this week will find us finishing up 2 loan applications specifically for adoptions and also looking into a home equity loan. So please be praying for us to make wise decisions in regards to this.
And, if you haven't given yet and would like to help us bring Rance home, you can still send in your check to Lifesong for Orphans no later than November 5! Just please follow the directions below.
Please be praying with us! We will keep you posted as soon as we hear something!
In the meantime we are finishing up some adoption training our agency requires us to take. We have been learning so much from this training and are even more convinced of God's call to adopt. I will share more thoughts on this later.
We have also been looking over our adoption budget and made the realization that we need $25,000. We have raised just at $10,000 in funds, leaving us with the $25,000 balance. This doesn't include the slue of medical bills we will have once we get Rance home. Ugh. This has been and most definitely still is a major stress for us. So this week will find us finishing up 2 loan applications specifically for adoptions and also looking into a home equity loan. So please be praying for us to make wise decisions in regards to this.
And, if you haven't given yet and would like to help us bring Rance home, you can still send in your check to Lifesong for Orphans no later than November 5! Just please follow the directions below.
1. 1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Richards # 1448 Adoption” on the memo line of your check. (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)
2.
2 2. Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744
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