Going Back Soon

I cannot wait to get back to Ukraine.  I know that most of you reading this may think that I am insane (including my wife), but I find myself wanting to be there when I am here.  I have such a longing to be with those who are hopeless, as well as the friends we have made who have taught me so much.  I live with this tension constantly:  What would it be like to live there by choice, as opposed to being born there with no way out?  Some of my self-made paradigms are smashed, others are confirmed each time I visit.

There are 2 there that I care about the most.  Ashley is finally coming home in a couple of weeks (praise God).  Nina, who will always be my 6th child, will probably grow up there.  For three and a half years, I have lived between the now and the not yet while the adoption story was being written.  I am resolved that I will never have a reprieve from living in 2 places.  I want to somehow help the single mother who has volunteered for the burden of raising someone else's child in her apartment in Ukraine.  Lena is a hero.

I would appreciate prayers for Anderson and me.  I anticipate a great time to invest in our relationship.  I hope that he and Ashley can build a foundation.  Parenting a 14 year-old girl and ice skating....I have done neither.  Falling probably looks about the same and hurts just as much.  Have you ever seen that dork who, on his way down, swipes his arm out and takes 2 or 3 to the ice with him?  I pray for grace, wisdom....and really good balance.