Having a Nice Time

We had 3 days with our daughter in our flat. She went back to the orphanage this afternoon. While communication was difficult, I must admit that I was very sad for her to go. Thankfully, we were able to go around the corner for just the right thing...espresso and tiramisu! There is a new, modern, swanky coffeehouse (called Coffee Life, of course) nearby with free wifi. It is fantastic.

We spent part of the day with Masha, Avraam, Dasha, and Yana the translator. We had a great time at McDonald's and back at our flat watching a movie. Thankfully, we have some movies in Russian. It is so amazing to be here with these children and the history we have had with them. (Paula writing now) Terri, we got Avraam a new Sim card-I'll email the number to you. He is so great. Always smiles. Masha is such a sweetie, too. She always hangs on to my arm or my hand. I absolutely love it. It was great for our daughter to have some friends over with her. She told Yana that things have been good and she is enjoying our time together. Praise God we have not bored her to death! We are having to learn to give her some space. She is so shy, and I just want to love on her all the time. But she is 14, so I will try to contain myself. She is not real big on having her picture taken, but she'll get used to it.

I do have a prayer request. BTW, M-17, we really miss you today! Paula is having chest pains again. This happened the last time we were here, and she saw a cardiologist last spring. They thought it was mitrovalve prolapse, but decided it's just an irregular heartbeat. It hasn't been troublesome for the last several months. But, as they say it is more stress-related, Paula is having a lot of pain now. Please pray for it to go away and for there not to be any complications. Also, we hope to get our date tomorrow or Tuesday for court.

Thanks so much for all of you that have posted. You cannot imagine how excited we are to check the blog each day! Jenn, thanks for all the tips.

Blessings,

Ande & Paula

Getting Settled in Zap

Well, we had a whirlwind of a start down here in the southern part of Ukraine.  After many meetings, cab rides, a notary visit (the vocation of choice here, where one could become rich), we finally have our daughter in the flat with us.

We visited 2 dumps, er, apartments before settling on the posh European digs.  Oxymoron does not begin to describe apartment life here.  All of the buildings look like something out of Westside Story on the outside and the stairwells.  Once inside our place, it is totally modern.  It is funny, however, that we have no oven (forget the chocolate chip cookies) or microwave.  For the alumni who have adopted here, we are near the McDonald's.  

Our daughter seems a bit overwhelmed by the inability to communicate.  I know enough Russian to get by, but there are certainly no meaningful conversations.  Boredom seems to be setting in, so we will do the best we can for now.  Please pray that she will open up and not be so afraid.  It is so frustrating to have had something of a relationship for so long, but not be able to get very far.  We knew it would be this way, but there is no substitute for personal experience.  Any suggestions by you alumni would be most appreciated.

We will likely go out with a few children from the orphanage tomorrow.  I think mainly Avraam and Masha.  I think it will be fun.  Terri, Avraam and Masha said thanks for the gifts. We have pictures and will upload whenever possible.  

Well, we will go for now.  We love and miss you all.  Thanks for the posts, keep em' coming.  Thanks M-17!

Blessings,

Ande

Reason to be Thankful

We took the overnight train to Zaporizhzya.  This time we requested to be upgraded to a sleeping car that we did not have to share with 2 other people.  The hope was to get better sleep, but that did not happen.  We finally arrived at 6:40 am and we went to unload our bags, get a shower, and then off to start the process.  They hit the ground running here.

We got to the Inspector's office.  The director promised to be there at 9:00, but that is Ukrainian speak for "I ain't coming."  Fortunately, the chief of our particular area was there and agreed to accompany us to the orphanage.  When we arrived, we saw that the roof had been blown off by a storm that struck 3 nights ago.  The place was a mess. 

Once inside, we saw Tolya and Yulia, who visited us in 2005.  He is 6'1" and she is strikingly beautiful.  We went into the director's office and took our seats.  The climate was obviously of official nature.  Moments later, our girl came in and it was so great.  Big smiles, big hugs.  The rep from the inspector's office did not need to observe long before she decided to leave.  We went through all of the formalities and she signed the paperwork which said she wanted to be part of our family!  3 1/2 years later, here we go!

Last year, I had to go home for the funeral of my father, so I missed this time with Chris.  I am grateful for this time.  

After we finished all the official stuff, we saw Avraam and Masha.  They looked so great.  I believe we will take them out on the town tomorrow.  

All of our paperwork is well on it's way and we should have things ready to petition the court at the first of the week.  This is a far cry from the process we experienced in Kiev.  Keep praying for the court date to be granted soon.  Thanks for all the kind words on the blog.  Please eat some turkey for us.

Blessings,

Ande

A Little More

Hey everyone! Ande usually does the blogging, but I wanted to enter a quick post today. I thought this would be a blessing to many of you, especially those who go to Brook Hills and have heard David Platt's Radical series.

Our youngest son, Noah, has been saving for quite some time for an Ipod Touch. But as I was leaving for Ukraine he came and gave me $30 US. He asked me to give it to some poor babushka's in Ukraine. We prayed that God would show me who to share the money with. Babushkas are these poor grandmothers that receive less than $100 dollars a month pension (many receive much less). I saw a little lady near the metro yesterday who was sitting out in the freezing cold selling something worthless to make a little extra money. I continued to think about her last night, and I was so excited to see her this morning again. I walked over and placed $10 in her shriveled hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek. I hoped to quietly slip away, but she started yelling to everyone around in Russian. I have no idea what she said, but she was very excited. I did the same thing later today with another babushka. I told her that God loves her, and again slipped her the money. Her reaction was quiet but she could not stop thanking us. I have to tell you that there have been few times when giving felt so good. I know that God moved me to give the money to these 2 ladies. I don't know their stories. I'll never see them again. But a little boy in America has done his part today in caring for widows. I know that his Father in heaven is smiling. And so are his mom and dad. May we all have hearts like our children this coming holiday season and throughout the year.

Blessings,
Paula

6 Hours and Counting

I am not sure when we will have internet access again for a while, so I decided to grab a quick post before we leave. Our train leaves @ 8:30. So far, today has been pretty relaxed.

We got up this morning and found that "strange Latvian man" has left the building. Last night I had to get into his apartment to get clothes out of the washing machine and some other guy answered the door. I began to wonder if this man, who was not supposed to be here, was subletting the space.

Our facilitator , George the Jedi, called the church representative in Zap who is affiliated with the group in Kiev. He inquired about the apartment there in Zap, and the lady said it was not available (she said someting about a Latvian man). She insisted that we stay with her. George, of course was delighted. We say NO WAY, Andrey! So we will move into our own place when we get there and leave George to talk the paint off this woman's walls.

Last night, Paula gave the door guard who was here in January about 12 of the U.S. state quarters he was collecting. He freaked out for about 2 seconds and then pulled out a list of the quarters that he did not have and asked that we bring those to him next time. This kind of gratitude was eerily familiar, but kinda funny too.

We had lunch with Nastya, the translator who came over in 2005. She is having a tough time, just pray for her. Things are tough all over Ukraine; much worse than at home.

Well, I will go for now. Thanks so much for all the prayers....keep them coming.

Ande

We Got the Referral!!

Praise the Lord, the appointment today with the SDA was a success. We had a relatively short wait in the hall. We were greeted by a young lady who was very pleaseant. We went into the meeting and had no problems whatsoever. She was very kind and she granted us all that we needed to proceed. As I write this, our facilitator is off making the necessary copies they requested.

For those of you who don't speak adoption, this means that we can proceed to go get our daughter. The next step is to take the train tomorrow night and then have the official visit at the orphanage. To my children, I can only imagine the envy they feel right now about riding the train, especially Anderson! We have asked to be upgradedso that Paula and I will ride alone in a sleeping car.

I am nearly pinching myself as I am right down the street from our meeting. It has taken 3 1/2 years to get to this point. God is good and He is faithful. Every good and perfect gift is from above, as James reminds us. I see spiritual parallels in this journey. I can only imagine what our Heavenly Father thought each time we delayed saying "yes" to Him. Some people go their entire lives as spirtual orphans, which is so sad. We still face the meeting where our daughter has to say "yes" to US for real. Please pray for this time. I know it will be tough for her to leave all she has ever know, be it not so good.

Shortly, we will meet Linda and part of the rest of the orphan graduate gang for dinner at McDonald's. I am sure they will have many stories for us about the last 9 months. By the way, McDonald's now serves breakfast! Now you can clog your arteries and have a McHeart Attack in English or Russian any time of day.

We will go for now. Thanks for praying.

Ande

Appointment Tomorrow

Well, we settled back in here as if we never left. We have had a number of surreal experiences....it's like deja-vu all over again! It is so funny how we know our way around here without the assistance of anyone. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon as tour guides for our friends Letha and Rocco. They are here adopting as well. It felt a bit like hosting Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels. We took them to The Fat House to eat. While there, an American couple from North Carolina sat beside us. Guess what they were here for.

It snowed here yesterday like I have never seen. The wind would blow so hard that it was blinding at times. Today, it is just ice.

We just visited the orphange where Chris was adopted from. Everyone was so glad to see us. George the Jedi accompanied us, and we were glad to have him, for we could not otherwise have communicated with anyone. All the ladies from the orphanage were so proud of Chris and how well we reported about him. Heck, we were proud too. We are thankful that God delivered him out of that environment to us. The director treated us like long lost friends. She brought out all of the hospitable treats. 2 1/2 hours later, we left.

We have our appointment at the SDA tomorrow. Please pray with us. There should be no problems, BUT, this is Ukraine. We are scheduled to leave Wed. night. We will let you all know how it turns out.

Blessings,
Ande & Paula

P.S.,
Kids, we have funny stories about George!

We Made it

We arrived in Ukraine at 9:15am local time. We were greeted by the hall family, our friend Katia Voropaieva, Zhenya Rudnitsky, and others. I am amazed at how we can be among friends across the globe. Due to sleep deprivation, I cannot tell you much of what happened up until the point we got to the flat. It is snowing, kids!

When we arrived at the place where we were supposed to stay, we were told that there was a guy who came in and was occupying our space. This is at the top floor of a church, where some friends we made last trip are serving as missionaries. They did not expect the visitor either. On top of that, there is a group of other missionaries on their way to a retreat in Turkey staying in the other room. Sleep Over!!!!!!! We all had pizza, got acquainted, and then guys and girls divided up into respective rooms to sleep. As ticked off as I was in the beginning, I found that these people are really great and we would have otherwise not met. Not much coming from the mystery guest from Latvia, however.

Tomorrow we will venture over to the Plaia's flat. They are here to adopt 2 girls from another region. Since we are practically indigenous to these parts from our last adoption, we will show them the ways of Kiev.

Continue to pray for us. We are excited about what the week ahead holds.

Blessings to All,

Ande

We're Off

The day started early for me. I was up at 2:50, and without an alarm! Paula and I arrived at the airport at about 7:40. Thanks to Chris Grace for dropping us off. All of our suitcases are EXACTLY 50 pounds each. That is, of course, after we laid bare everything in all of them to shift weight around from 2 that were over the limit. Few things in life bring as much dignity as opening all your personal belongings for all of the world to see. At least they did not see my guitar-themed boxers.

We will go Atlanta, JFK, then to arrive in Kiev tomorrow morning. We will be greeted by George the Jedi (see other blog) at the airport.

We found out yesterday that our daughter was told by the orphanage director that we were only coming for a visit. I don't know why they do that. She knows the real reason we are coming (because our translator translated), but was told to act surprised when the "veil is lifted." Hey, it's all about pageantry in Ukraine.

Paula already misses the kids. We ask that you pray for Chris and Lily, who both have sinus infections.

Well, the plane just arrived, so I will sign off for now. We will post again whenever something happens.

Ande

We Really are Going Back!

After MANY dossier updates, we are headed back to Ukraine again. God willing, we will soon have as many children (5) as we had members of the family when this whole thing started. Paula and I will go alone this time. It ain't Hawaii, but we will enjoy the time together. Why is it that I always go to Ukraine in WINTER?

Our date to visit the central office in Kiev is November 25. We should arrive in Zaporizhzhya on Thanksgiving Day for our official orphanage visit. This will be our second consecutive Thanksgiving over there.

It is miraculous how this has worked out. After our dossier was rejected twice, we had to update our homestudy in 3 days and FedEx it over in order to meet our resubmittal deadline. Part of the update was to get 2 forms from our state capital. Our social worker predicted that they would probably not be willing to give these updates to us because it had been so long since I was last fingerprinted. But Paula and I (like Jake and Elwood) were on a mission from God. We drove down, visited both offices and were given the forms immediately! Obviously, we met the deadline as God worked us through what is a normally 4-6 week process.

Our plan is to visit court and, since there is a mandatory 10 day waiting period, come back home for the Holidays. I will go back in January to bring our new daughter home. Please pray with us that this process will go smoother than the last one did. Specifically, please pray for a fast court date.

I will post more in a week or so.

Blessings,

Ande
Ephesians 2:10