Keep On Keeping On

We had another bad day with Sergei. Although the day wasn't as emotional as Saturday, he still refuses to say he wants to be adopted even though deep down we think he does. We were ready to give up on him but our facilitator here talked us into trying a few more things. We got permission from Anja's orphanage to take her to see her brother tomorrow. They haven't been together for over a year. He is so worth the fight and we have till Friday to make a connection with him so we will use as much of that time as we need to. Continue to pray and believe that this can work. Casey

More fight still in us

Janelle and I woke up this morning knowing that we must continue to fight for Sergei. Legally we still have a week to convince him to come with us. Although yesterday he was very determined he was not coming to America, we believe he needs to know that his family here has abandoned him. Another common misconception he may have is that people that adopt do so because they bring them to america to harvest their organs. Some people here believe these lies. The assistant director at his school/orphanage is really helping us try to convince him otherwise. Monday we will sit down with him and the assistant director, tell him the truth about his family and america, and ask him again if he wants to be in a family. If we feel it might help we have next week to completely convince him. We really feel like he wants to say yes but he is so scared about something and he won't tell us what exactly it is. Our heart is really broken for him because as determined he may seem we know that his hurt goes deep and when that is the case it is hard for that wall to come down. Please continue to pray that we may say the right things and that his heart may be softened.

A few weeks ago our pastor did another message on orphans and what anybody could do to help them. We just listened to it this morning and were reminded that we must fight for the vulnerable, especially Sergei.

Follow this link to listen: http://cccgreeley.org/321339.ihtml

Click: "Hope for the Orphan" on 11/8/09

Tough Day

Today was really hard and very emotional for us.  After a nice visit with Anja, we went to go see Sergei.  Because it wasn't a school day, we went to his residence hall for our visit.  It was explained to us when we got there that he has told them, "he doesn't want to go."  Our translator, Andrew, told us that we should have the talk with him and lay it all out there for him.  He sat quietly and listened, he teared up at times, but fought them back, and all he would say for answers was "I'm not going."  He believes that his mom or grandmother are coming back for him someday, because no one has told him otherwise.  What child would leave thinking he might miss the chance to see his mom again?  It's not our place to tell him the hard truth, nor would it really help our cause.   He's eight, and according to Ukraine law, he's able to make the decision whether he wants to be adopted or not.  We tried our hardest to show love, told him about other kids just like him, who have been adopted from Ukraine and live in Colorado and are happy.  But, that's not enough.  We're not sure if there's anything we could say to change his mind.  We are giving him a day off from us, so he hopefully has time to think about everything that went on today.  And, monday, we will go there again, to see if he's had a change of heart.   If not, we have been told that we can try to adopt only Anja.   Please pray over the next couple days that Sergei has a change of heart.  We know this would be a miracle, but we know if this is God's will for us, that it can be done.

Short Update about 3rd day visit

Yesterday with Sergei was definitely an improvement.  He gets really shy when I pull out the camera, so I put it away and just enjoyed watching Casey and him play with the soccer ball.   We were so relieved that after the first few minutes, he started to smile and let down his guard, a little.  We spent the whole hour in this room, and moved chairs to be the goals.  Sergei did a lot of tricks with ball, he was good!  You can tell they must play that a lot at his school.  But, we got we came for, some real smiles and maybe even a few little laughs.  We've still got a ways to go, before we can even talk to him about everything, he's just not ready.  But, we are so happy and thankful that each day has been an improvement so far, and pray that it will continually be that way!

Anja's visit went really well too.  I got a big hug when we got there, and she held on real tight to me.  It felt so good!  She even gave me some kisses too, without anyone else around to tell her too.  I said "I love you" the best I could in Russian and she said it back.  Oh, melt my heart!!!  : )  She's warming up to Casey too.  She'll sit on his lap, but she's pretty shy when it comes to hugging to say goodbye.  The shy look on her face is still so cute for Casey to see.  She's not really used to any men at this point, but I'm sure she'll continue to warm up.

Today we'll get to go see Anja at 10:30AM and the Sergei at 12:30 (they are about an hour apart from each other).  Then at 3PM we're heading off to a SHAKHTAR soccer game with Ryan and Tabitha.  We're ready to experience some true Ukrainian culture, it should be fun.  Donestk has a new covered stadium and it seems like everyone here is really into their team.  Here's a few pictures (sorry - no new ones of the kiddos -yet!)

Us at dinner with Ryan and Tabitha in Kiev before we headed off to catch the train to Donestk

The kitchen at our current apartment, it's small, we have a dishwasher, but no oven.  

What We're Thankful For this Thanksgiving

Here are the long-awaited pictures of the newest members of the family! (THE LORD WILLING-keep praying, we have a ways to go before it's official!!)  Our future son's given name is Sergei, he was born on April 18, 2001.  Our future daughter's name is Anja and her birthday is September 10, 2005.  (Same day as her Auntie Lindsay!)   We plan to name them both, officially, before court for their new birth certificates, but for now, there's still a little suspense for you all out there.

Here's Sergei:

Here's Anja:

Please pray for Sergei because he is really having a hard time trusting us and until we can get him to say he wants to come live with us in America, we can't proceed with requesting a court date.  He says he likes us visiting him, and has said "dah" (yes) when he's asked if we can come back tomorrow.  We've played with a remote control car,  legos, let him take pictures, videos, and finally "photo booth" on the mac got him to smile a little bigger than we'd seen before.  We are hopeful that each day will be an improvement but he very skeptical, and we really can't blame him.  What he has in front of him is all he's ever known.  Please pray for him, and for us, that we can find a way to win his heart over, and that he will trust us, even though we can't verbally communicate. : )

And, as you can tell, Anja has our hearts in her hands. :) Today was great with Anja!  She started off being very similar to yesterday, and we were a little worried.  But, I told Casey we just have to start being silly.  So, he grabbed this funny stuffed animal monster thing, and started creeping across the room to her.  Well, we got a smirk, then a smile, and then finally, laughter!  She was so funny after that!  We had a great time, got a few great pictures, and really feel like we made head way.  The other "mama's" in the orphanage ask her if she loves her mama and papa, and she says, "dah".  We colored a little, and played with a little tea set, and of course the stuffed cow.  It was so great when, she looked through our picture book, and said mama and papa, pointing to us, saw the picture of our house, and said "dome" (home).  And, she's a true encouragement for us, after the tougher visit with the boy.  We love her so much already!  She's definitely bonding a little more to me so far, as I'm sure, Sergei will bond with Casey faster.  And, that's the way we were told to expect it to go.  We're very thankful that this thanksgiving we got a smile and laughter from our daughter, and we only expect it to get better!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you all have a great time today, I'm sure you will.  We're going to make dinner here, with our roomies, Ryan and Tabitha.  We love spending our down time them.  And, we're also thankful we finally got our internet in the apartment working today!  Yeah!!   But, mostly, we are thankful, that this Thanksgiving we know who our children are, and we can't wait to bring them home to meet all their new friends and family.  Thanks for the comments and encouragements.

Casey & Janelle

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14

Hurry Up and Wait...

That's what Andrew, our translator, told us this part could be like.  We arrived in Donetsk at 7am, and had to wait until 9am to meet with the "inspector".  Well, she was in court all morning, so we started to look for an apartment with internet and washing machine.  That can be a little tough!  But, we got a call from Ryan (and Tabitha...check out their blog on betzadoption.blogspot.com) and they had already met their boy, and were also looking for an apartment.  We found a two bedroom, that will have internet tomorrow, and it's pretty cute, new and modern.   It's great, we're saving money and we have friends to do things with during our downtime between visits with the kids.   We're already figuring our "thanksgiving" menu, and how to do it without oven.  That was not on our list for the apartment, and I don't think we've had one apartment with an oven actually.  Anyways, on with the children!  We had some complications today, but we are now set up to meet the boy at 1pm and the girl at 4pm tomorrow.  They are in two different areas, so we have two inspectors, two orphanages, etc.  A little more complicated but it will be worth it! The little girl, is closer to our apartment and the boy is about 45 minutes away in another city.  The boy is living in a boarding school that is not only under the swine flu quarantine, but I guess there's a chicken pox quarantine as well.  But, the steps have been taken, so that we can get in there tomorrow.  We can't wait!  Today was such a roller coaster, just waiting, then getting excited because we thought we were almost "in", and then disappointment because it wasn't happening as quick as it could.  But, we did go to toy shop with Andrew, and got a remote control car for the boy, because he said that's what we should bring. : )  And we also bought 5 boxes of chocolates for the right people at the boy's school.  We are hoping to share a wealth of good news tomorrow, and in the meantime, thanks for thinking and praying for us!

Kiev Church

This is Transformation Church - where we went on Sunday with the Kuvshinikov's.  It was all in Rusisian and Ukrainian (which is much different than Russian) language, so of course, we didn't understand anything.  We did enjoy the music, they had both a praise team sing and choir sing.  The language is really beautiful to listen to, especially in songs.  This is a new building for this church, and they have two services.  This church, in its location surrounded by apartment buildings, is a miracle in itself. It was great to see what God is doing in Ukraine and His people here.

Casey with Michael, Diane, and Lindey

After church, they took us to a great Chinese food place, that some missionaries from Asia have told them about and has become a favorite.  We ate so much, it was the best Chinese food we've ever had!  They also helped us find our friends from Colorado, who are also adopting, Ryan and Tabitha.  We were able to drop off our heavy bags, so today we can head into Kiev on the subway w/out all our luggage.  We are travelling to Donetsk together, in the same train compartment, after we go to the SDA to pick up our referrals.  We're really looking forward to spending time with them on our journey to meet both of our future children.  We were in training together back in May '08, so it's been a long road for both of us.  Please keep them in your prayers too!  That's all for now, I guess.   Gotta go back and get ready to leave the comforts of this home.  The Kuvshinikov's have been so wonderful to us and we are so grateful for this time we've had to get to know them and see what God has called them to do with their lives.  They are amazing!

Kiev Sweet Home

This morning we got on our flight back to Kiev.  We were offered a place to stay with Michael and Diane, missionaries who have been here 8 1/2 years.  They have two daughters, one is at college, and one is a Jr. at an English speaking high school.  We're looking forward to going to church with them tomorrow, even though it will be in Ukrainian/Russian, it will be great to be in a church, that we're not sight-seeing through. 

We had an amazing time in Italy.  We saw some beautiful small towns throughout Tuscany, and we'll post some pictures in the near future, but we're not on our computer right now.  We had a wonderful time with Claudia, Matteo, and Gregorio.  It was great to experience such wonderful hospitality, a little piece of home a way from hom.  We really enjoyed our Parmesan cheese tour, and the free cheese wedges they gave us at the end.  Then, we just had to buy some more...to share with people here, and maybe even bring some home, eventually.  We didn't really think about how it would effect our luggage weight.  So, this morning, our bag was 6 kilograms over what we prepaid for.  And, the airport charges 15 euro for each kg over.  OOPS!  Now, our free cheese is real expensive cheese.  But, it sure is good, we'll definitely savor it now.  Good thing we didn't try to take any wine with us!  When we toured a winery with Claudia, they gave us 6 bottles of wine, too.  She sure knows the right people around there! :) 

It was all wonderful, but it's great to be back here.  We're anxiously awaiting meeting these kids, and it's almost time!  It looks like everything is on schedule for monday, so we'll write more when we have details.  Thanks you for your prayers. It's "GO time" again, and we definitely will need strength that only comes God.  We're feeling so blessed, to be in this home for now, it's wonderful.  And, we're so thankful for everything that has been provided for us on this journey.  We feel confident if these two are meant to be in our family, God will open the doors for us to connect with the little boy and girl and bring them both home, please keep them in your prayers! We'll be in touch soon! 

Bologna and Beyond

Hello Everyone!  We wanted to let you know how things are going in beautiful Bologna.  We have truly enjoyed the wonderful hospitality provided by Claudia.  She's shown us all around the city and we've also eaten very well.   We both had lost a little weight while in Ukraine, and I'm kinda sad to say that we caught back up and then some, since the cruise and now Italy.  But, we are schedule to be fly back to Ukraine on Saturday.  And, all seems well so far, that the referrals will be ready for us on Monday and we can take an overnight train out to Donetsk.  We're very excited and hopeful, knowing that it will be here before we know it.   We're still enjoying our detour though.  Last night, we slept out at Claudia's country home, about 15-20 minutes outside of the city.  We got a rental car, and she encouraged us to go see Florence, and some other cities south of us, and to stay at a bed & breakfast in Tuscany.  This morning, we're off to do some exploring, on our own.  We'll see how far we get.  But, we plan to be back on Wednesday night.  Thursday we're going to get a tour of a parmesan cheese factory and go see a dairy.  Then, we'll have dinner with Claudia and her husband Mateo, and her son Gregorio.  They are all so great!  I'll put up a few pictures of what we've seen so far.  And, I'll try to find those towers that you asked about Amanda, I don't know if we saw those or not, but I can ask Claudia! : )  Love to all!  And, thanks again for your prayers!  We are getting very ready for to meet those two darling kids very soon!

This is from the Palazzo Maggiore, we think it's called the Basilica di S. Petronio, Claudia explained to us that it was originally built for the Vatican, but it was then decided to be moved to Rome, so the detailed exterior is only to that portion.  But, it was still amazing on the inside and the outside.

  The "Due Torre" that we climbed to the top of, currently being renovated.  The towers were a symbol of a families wealth, and if they went bankrupt, the tower had to be cut off.  So, there are a lot of towers all sizes around Bologna.

The interior of the tower, there were a lot of little steps, and people going both directions.  When a group of boy scouts came tromping through as we were going down, we got a little nervous, just how much these little stairs could hold?!  But, it was fine, no problem!

View towards the church from the top.

A street in Bologna, all the buildings are very color coordinated, reds and golds. It's very pretty.

Casey, Claudia, and Gregorio in front of another church, that is composed of 7 different different churches in one.

Enjoying Italy for now...

We got off the cruise this morning, but wanted to share a few pictures of our adventure and the amazing cities we got to see.   The travel restriction has not been lifted in Ukraine, so we decided to take the train to Bologna, Italy, until the end of the week.  On the 23rd, we should be able to pick up our referral to go to Donetsk and meet the kids!  We're getting really excited about that, but it's been great to have the distraction of travelling and seeing new sites, until it's time to go!

Here's a few pictures from the cruise.  We know at least our mom's are interested!  :)

This is the "Library of Celcius" in Ephesus, Turkey.  It was built around 100A.D.   Touring the ruins of the city of Ephesus was one of our highlights from the cruise.

This is a picture of "the Grand Theater" and it can hold 24, 000 people.  Paul preached from there.  We also saw the house of Virgin Mary.  But, we didn't get to see the the area where John, the apostle was buried...now we just have to come back someday! : )

Casey drinking his "turkish coffee".  Not a fan...

Next day, was Santorini, Greece.  The port was way below the city.  The only way up was to walk, or take tram, or ride a donkey...Casey thought we just had to take the donkeys!

They sure stunk!  But, riding them, was better than watching our step walking up.  We laughed the whole way to the top.

Posing by the donkeys, once we made it to the top.  They had a mind of their own, brought a whole new meaning, to "stubborn as a donkey".

Our self portrait from the top, with the city behind us.  It was beautiful!

The next day, from Corfu, Greece.  This island was completely different, but also beautiful.
Thanks for checking in with us!  We hope that we can share with you within a week how things are going back in Ukraine.

Bon Voyage!

We are enjoying this cruise so much!  We’ll be on the cruise from November 7 – 14, our ports are in Croatia, Turkey, and Greece.  We boarded Saturday, after walking around Venice, which was amazing.   It’s unbelievable to us that we are here, after being Ukraine for almost 2 weeks, and all the differences.   We love enjoying food we recognize, besides McDonalds, and speaking English with more people than just our translator.  So, we’re going not going to blog for a while, until we have some news about the SDA travel restrictions.  And, we’ll catch up then. 

In the meantime, we’re just relaxing, enjoying our vacation, and enjoying the sights of places we’ve never been.  We saw Dubrovnik, Croatia, yesterday, and today we are enjoying a relaxing day at sea.  Tomorrow we booked a short tour out of the port city of Kusadasi, Turkey to see Ephesus. I’m very excited about this, because the book that I’m reading (thanks Jessica!) is about Roman Empire and Christianity in this area set back in 117AD.  And, I just reached the part about Ephesus.  Our tour is going to take us to the see the Virgin Mary’s house and see the ruins of ancient Ephesus.   We’re excited about it, and really enjoying this vacation!  Thanks for checking in with us! 

 We found the place that had the best view with cold drinks! :) 

Some Pics from Sevastopol (last weekend)

 Here's a few pictures we had that we thought we could share.  This is out on the bay area, it translates, "Glory to Russia".

This is a pic of one of the hotels on the water, it looked pretty nice.

One of the monuments that we "hiked" up to, for this picture.

We just thought this was kinda cool, with the soviet symbol and the wheat.  This was the lights in a park in the main part of the city.

Some sort of Russian memorial we thought looked interesting.

A Russian building, but of course, we're not sure what any of the signs say, but a lot of the buildings in Sevastopol had Russian flags flying above it.   And, others had the Ukraine flag.  It was interesting.  Casey's read more about it in our Ukraine travel book, but for now those are the pictures we thought would be interesting to share.

We could take pics of everyone around here (Kiev) wearing masks, but I figured I probably shouldn't.  We had a successful day, found everything we were looking for.  And, Casey and I both found bathing suits and flip flops.  And, no, it's not a speedo, we found a suit at the Adidas store.  YAH!  And, we even took a bus back to our apartment.  We're kinda proud of ourselves.  Good Night!
So, we're heading home for the night,

An Atypical Adoption Adventure/Our Amazing Ride's Detour

Well it is nice to have the support we have been getting. Our fear is that we may lose some of our support after this blog.  Being that we have maybe 2 plus weeks to wait till we can meet these kiddos, we had a dilemma on what we should do. It is possible but unlikely that they reduce the amount of time they keep people out of the orphanages but it is also possible that they extend that time. We are counting on them opening them back up on the 23^rd so for now we are taking a detour. After talking to our wonderful travel agent (my mom), we were convinced that the best option right now would be to go on a Mediterranean cruise around Greece. Saturday morning we fly into Venice from Kiev and hop on a Royal Caribbean ship. Last minute deals are great plus there is a discount airline in Europe called WizzAir (slogan is “for when you really got to go”JK) that offered cheap fares. After taking into account all of our options such as flying home for two weeks, staying in Kiev and having to pay for an apartment and food, or going on a little vacation, the vacation idea made a lot of sense for equal to or less money. Thanks to my family for helping us out with this one – I suspect my dad and brother think the dairy runs better without me there and don’t want me home for a while. If by chance Ukraine lifts its restrictions on traveling to the orphanages we will get on the next flight out of whatever port we are in. They will hold that referral for a little while for us as long as they know we are coming back. When we get back to Venice, if the restriction has not been lifted we are considering staying in Italy for a while until we know that we can travel to the orphanage.

Believe us when we say we would be rather traveling to Donestk, Ukraine’s coal mining capital, but for now we will do our next best option. Casey

**********************

This morning, we’re going to try to figure out the subways and head to the central area of Kiev.  The apartment we’re staying in is a little further away from all the action, but cheaper, than last time.  So, hopefully we’ll get there…people don’t speak English as easily as you can find someone in other parts of Europe, or at least they pretend not to?  I know this may sound funny, but we’re heading down there to do some hopefully somewhat inexpensive shopping for our new little unexpected trip.  Casey brought some nice button down shirts, and polos, and I have all long-sleeve t-shirts, and old sweaters…but at least I got my hair done before we left!  We hope that we can find a few “cruising essentials.” And, we both are hoping to see swimsuits somewhere, so we can enjoy the hot tub on the ship. I don’t know if Casey will be able to find board shorts, let’s hope he doesn’t have to do the European swimsuit of choice… J 

I know I thank everyone for their comments and prayers practically every time I write, but I can’t explain HOW MUCH it makes us feel better.  It’s the first thing I want to check when I get online at the café’s.  You all truly are helping us get through all of this - I don’t know where we’d be mentally and emotionally without it.

Currently, I’m very nervous about the prospect of an 8-year old boy coming home with us (the Lord willing), all this time, we’ve been preparing for younger children, and this boy will be school age.  There will be so many adjustments for him, and the language barrier, will make it seem so hard at first.  I don’t know what to expect and how to help him feel at ease.  Please pray about this for us, as we are, because we know that if these are the children God has planned for us, we’ll do whatever it takes to provide for this child’s every need.  God will place them in our care and help us through the rest.  I’m nervous about the 4 year old girl too, but not as much, although, she will already be talking too.  I think her adjustment will be a little easier, and my heart is already so softened for her, she’s precious.  I woke up this morning, and told Casey, I was concerned about the 8-year old.  He said to me, “you just let me worry about my son, and you worry about your daughter, and we’ll be fine.”  He always tries his best to not let me worry so much, and I’m so thankful for that. 

Thanks for checking in with us!  I doubt we’ll have much more exciting news for a little while, but I might still post some pictures and things from our “detour”, because at least my Mom will want to see them! J Janelle

Second SDA Appointment

Today our SDA appointment went well. We were showed a few of the profiles from last time plus a few new ones. There were two sibling groups that we felt would be a good fit, that we hadn't seen before.  When the SDA personnel called on a group of two brothers, it was said that one of the boys was “missing", he was moved to another orphanage and the paper trail is wrong.  We took it as a clear sign and an easy decision to make on the other sibling group. We accepted the profile, of a 8 yr old boy and a 4 yr girl. They are in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the girl at an orphanage and the boy at a boarding school. Donetsk is near the eastern border with Russia. We cannot see them or travel to the region until this flu issue is resolved in Ukraine, which is scheduled for Nov 23. It could be shorter but they say it also could be longer.  So we are trying to figure out would we should do for the next 2 weeks plus. We can come home, travel to some family or friends in Europe, or just stay put for a while. Really this is a small issue in the scheme of things. It does extend though the anticipated date that we would be bring our children home. A good thing is that Donetsk is known though for being a fast region and an easy court system to get adoptions completed.  But, we should still expect it to take up to a month once we get to the region to meet the children.

The only foreseeable problem that was mentioned to us, is that the boy is old enough to tell the courts whether he wants to be adopted or not.  He also may not have as much support from the school encouraging him to be adopted to foreigners.  So, we have our work cut out for us!  We will have to do a good job of connecting with that boy and getting him excited of coming to the US to have a family. If anyone has any ideas of things/toys/etc that 7-8 yr old boys are interested in we are listening.  We feel like this is true sign of something that we can overcome by a lot of prayer, so keep praying!  Thank you!  

An Answered Prayer – A Miracle to Us

Valentin called Casey briefly (I’m sure he’s quite busy with the new 3 week travel closure news) and said our appointment IS tomorrow at noon!!  This is beyond unbelievable for us, and really unexpected, considering it’s supposed to take 7-10 business days before we get our 2^nd appointment.  This swine flu epidemic might work in our favor, after all!  We’ll go to our appointment, and prayerfully and hopefully view the profiles of the child/ren, and then knowing we can’t travel until 3 weeks have passed to meet them, we’ll come home.  Unless, there is a chance that the 3-week travel suspension is lifted by the SDA, then we’ll wait here.  So, we’ll have to see.  These profiles will most likely be different than the ones we were shown in our 1^st appointment, so we’ll have to see where the Lord leads us.  And, we will trust that He will lead us in the direction He wants us to go.  And, that in our heart of hearts, we will know when we see the profiles of our future child or children.  If we are not shown any profiles of sibling groups that call to us, we will ask to see the “single” profiles as well.   We’re prepared to work hard for this, and we’re prepared to give this our all, as this is our best chance.  Just a few hours ago, I thought we’d be heading home, empty-handed, broken-hearted, but now we may just be coming home empty-handed, for just a little while…Praise God!  Here we go…have we mentioned we had know idea our “ride” would only begin when we got here, and I thought it was intense for the last 2 years when we first started the process!?!  I know I might sound dramatic, but it has truly been an up and down roller coaster ride of emotions for both Casey and myself.  But, we’re hanging on, and enjoying ourselves at the same time.

Also an add you will likely never see at a McDonald's in the US.

Are You Kidding Me?

We left Sevastopol on a train at 1pm.  We were really pleased and thankful that all our paperwork we needed to do, we were able to be done Monday morning, it was a good sign.  Our 18-hour train ride was quite interesting again, we couldn’t buy all 4 seats. So we bought 3 and used one for our oversized luggage.  We still had to share with another person, but it least it was a woman that didn’t snore, like the last guy. J

We arrived in Kiev at 7AM.   At 9AM, the SDA opened, and we brought in our paperwork to request a 2^nd appointment.  Only to find out, that they are not allowing anyone to travel for at least 3 weeks to the orphanages, because of the quarantine.  It appears the swine flu epidemic now has everyone in Ukraine really worried and a lot of people are wearing masks.  We were hoping to have our paperwork turned in and get a second appointment date.  But, it seems they won’t even be issuing those appointments until after this epidemic is over.  Or, this is all lost in translation…

We’ll soon find out, we’re waiting for our translator to call.  His helper (who doesn’t speak much English) said that we had an appointment tomorrow at 12 to see children(!?!).  Which would be even more awesome, because then we wouldn’t have to wait the 7-10 days, that we expected to.  But, we wouldn’t get to travel to the orphanage until this flu thing is over.   We would then, come home, and then come back to meet them.  This is best case scenario, but we’re not going to get to ahead of ourselves until we hear from Valentin and get the true translation of what happened this morning at the SDA.  We were there, but we didn’t understand a thing that was said.  I just cried a little, (well maybe a lot), then found that we had some hope again…we’re holding on!  Hopefully we’ll know everything before anyone wakes up and even reads this!!  

Now, that we’re back in Kiev, it’s snowing, not raining anymore.  We’re heading back to our apartment now (we don’t have internet there).  But, we’ll be in touch once we know more.  

A Heart-Wrenching Decision / Moving Forward

Last night we came to the conclusion that we needed to decline this referral and get a second one. This does happen often with Ukraine adoptions because they often either don’t represent the children well or they actually try to have foreigners adopt the most unhealthy. This was something that we were told about long before we came here and so we knew beforehand how to deal with this situation.

One might ask how we can say no to children that need a loving home in the worst way. Months ago Janelle and I had conversations about what we could handle and what we couldn’t. Both of these children have Fetal Alcohol Effects as most orphans in this area do. We are prepared to deal with and are willing to take a child with some of these symptoms, however the oldest child of the two had obvious and severe effects such that we feel that he is a case of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. After talking to a doctor in the States, our instinct was confirmed, and it was also advised that first time parents should not adopt children with these kinds of conditions, especially if this was not what we intended to adopt before we came. Our paperwork said that we would adopt children with minor or correctable conditions. There are people that are called to adopt kids that have FAS or other special needs, just not us at this time. We feel God has definitely called us to adopt and he has definitely not called us to adopt kids with these extreme conditions such as these. We don’t know exactly why we were led to come here but we did and now we feel led to go back to Kiev.  These kids will forever remain in our thoughts and prayers.

It truly was a heart-breaking week since we have been here. In Kiev sitting on the side of the street was a teenage girl, pregnant in her 3^rd term, begging for money.  You want to be able to do something but what? This trip we must focus on what we feel we are called to do. It is our heart felt call to adopt a child or children that we can offer hope to with a good family.  Casey

Moving Forward

We spoke to Valentin (our facilator is Kiev) today and let him know our decision.  He said we made a good decision, and he knows we weren’t here to adopt a kid with FAS.   He said we will decline this referral, and he will make arrangements for us to stay in Kiev until we can get our second appointment.   It was a relief to hear that he understood, and that this is not a problem, but probably common.  There is a reason why we can have up to three appointments.  We also will be more prepared in the next appointment because we know a little more now what to expect.  We also know to trust our gut, and not necessarily what they are telling us about “who would be a good fit for us.”  During our appointment, they called the orphanage director of these kids, and she said they were healthy, he just needed cosmetic surgery, and we were persuaded to go.  And, we chose to go, praying their case would be better than we feared.  Looking back, we’ve learned a lot and grown a lot.   I’m sure that through this experience, God has taught us something valuable, even if we don’t see all the “why’s” yet.  We saw our first real orphanage, our first case of FAS, and we felt a roller coaster of emotions, that will never go away.

Tomorrow we will go with Ed (our translator) to the orphanage director to decline.  We want to show her respect, but we are a little annoyed how we were misled, but she’s just doing her job.  We’d love to ask about some of the other children in the home, but it’s probably best we just stick to the rules.   So then, we’ll hopefully get all that done in one day and be on the Monday night train back to Kiev.  Then, Valentin will submit our request for a second referral.  And we’ll have to be patient, and pray expectantly that God will lead us in the direction we need to go.  We will have even more discernment, and really trust our instincts.  Looking back, we allowed some pressure to make our decision, and their ages to sway us even more.   We’ll be open to more, and ready for more.  We thank God for the peace we feel in this decision and the hope that there will be more joy than tears in our next referral.

Today we were supposed to move to another apartment that would have internet.  We were packed and ready to go at 12:45pm, and 1:30pm the landlady came and said “internet problem”, and we got through her daughter who spoke English on the phone, that at 3:30, there was another apt we could get w/internet.  Well, at 3:30pm, she came, said still problem, but we moved anyway, because this one is nicer, even if it’s just for one night.  And, it was the same price,  250 grivnah (like $31).  These budget apartments, sure beat a hotel rate! J  We’re going to head off to the internet café so we can post these, and see what else is happening. 

Thanks again for your comments, support, and prayers.  I'd love to respond back to everyone, but it's so hard, especially since we don't have internet in our apartment right now.   So, for now, thanks so much!  Please keep praying, as we are, for safe travel, a second appointment date-and during it, that we will know, know what to do, and know by the profile-who to choose to go visit, and that we will trust our instinct, even if they are persuasive another way.  We've been taught a lot in a little time, respectively.  All our training, all our, "oh, that won't happen to us, so we don't need to worry about it", has come to teach us it all in a week.  We have each other, we have our trust in God perfect Will in our lives, and we have an amazing support system back home!  Thank you! Janelle.