We are OK!

Dear family and friends,
I cannot tell you how much all of your posts have meant to us during this time. We feel your prayers and love, and we feel immeasurably blessed. We long to see all of you again, and tell you personally how much you mean to us. Ande has made it back home safely, and the funeral is at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. We are fairing well here now that I have a working phone. Ande tried to leave me so prepared, but forgot to tell me the password to our cell phone. So I was without any communication or phone numbers for a day- I know that we didn't have any of these modern conveniences when I was growing up, but I can't imagine what people did (and I lived it!). It was a helpless and anxious feeling for several hours, but all is good now. I think I'm the only woman who has ever taken three kids all over Kiev on the Metro, at least that's what all the stares are communicating. And at every official visit we make for documents, I am told that it is impossible for such a small woman to have three children- and want more. As our facilitator, George, would say, "It is unreasonable!" But I just smile, and say "spaceba" (thank you). By the way, I do have a new phone number- 380 678726947.

Please continue to pray for my sweet husband and our family. Anderson informed me today that he does not like being the man of the family, and is ready for dad to get back! Ande will fly out on Sunday and get back here Monday morning.

Andrey is doing great. We had our official visit with the director (more to come later), a whole 3 1/2 hours, and the kids were wonderful. She told everyone at the orphanage what angels they were! At least for a few hours! Andrey is really warming up to our family, opening up, and we're really seeing his precious personality. He is very smart, is #1 in his English class, and his English is improving everyday.

Blessed beyond measure,
Paula and the kids

Sad Day

Dear Friends and Family,
I am sorry to say that we got a call about an hour ago to let us know that Ande's dad has passed away. We are all grieving the loss of this wonderful father and grandfather, but we rejoice that he is now at home with our Savior and Lord. Please pray especially for our children as this is the first loss they have experienced. Also, please pray that Ande can quickly get a flight back home. We have a lot of official stuff to do today so that he can leave. Please pray that it all goes smoothly. We love you and miss you all,
Paula

One Step Closer

Well, we had an opportunity to get the inspector past us and now we will go tomorrow for the "official visit" to the orphanage. Our facilitator came by today to make sure the paperwork was in order from our perspective.

Andrey/Vitalik spent the day with us and we took them to eat at the Fat House, a good Ukrainan restaurant. Andrey chose this, as he had never been there. They loaded up and ate it all. Andrey wanted to buy his teacher some perfume, so the boys and I went and took care of that. After going to the underground mall to play video games and eating ice cream, they enjoyed sitting around the flat playing games and hanging out. Andrey asked George, our facilitator, if we would be in America before his birthday on Dec. 15. George could not be optimistic about this, but I told him there would be a late celebration. He told me that he enjoys riding the Ripstick and bikes.

No change with my Dad. My brother said that the CAT scan shows severe hemorrhaging in the brain and it does not look good. Please continue to pray.


Blessings,
Ande

Please Pray

As I (Ande) write this, my father is in a hospital in Dothan, AL. He had surgery on Tuesday to remove a cyst on his brain, a somewhat routine procedure. 72 hours later, he is in a coma. I spoke to my mom tonight and she is preparing for the worst case. Please pray wisdom for my mom and brother, who is there with them.

Right now I am staying the course on which we were brought and praying without ceasing. If The Father does call my dad home, mom and I are at peace. Our relationship has been good and I am grateful for the influence he has had on my life. I am so glad that I drove 3 hours to visit him the Sunday before I left. On that visit, he told me how excited he was to meet Andrey and that he was ready to love Andrey just like he did our other 3 children. It was a very good time.

Maybe someone reading this needs to get in the car to go see a parent.

On the adoption front, everything seems to be going well. Our facilitator got the referral yesterday and we went today to get the inspector to sign the paper that allows us to make the official visit to the orphanage on Monday. From there, we hope for the court date to be assigned by the end of the week. From what our facilitator says, Andrey is regarded as one of the best boys in the orphanage. It is nice to hear people brag on your kid, even when he is not yours yet.

I will go for now. We are on to our first weekend in Kiev. Hopefully we will move to another flat.

Thanks for cheering in the stands for us.

AU

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, today is Thanksgiving. We just left from having a wonderful, and familiar, lunch at TGI Fridays. The kids were so thankful for food that they recognized!! We miss all of our family back in the US, but honestly there is no place we'd rather be today. We are getting ready to go to the orphanage after we finish posting. We went around the table at lunch and all said what we were thankful for. It was so sweet to hear all the kids say how thankful they were to be here and for the opportunity to be with the orphans. It is so good to know that this is a journey that God has called our whole family to- not just Ande and I.
Yesterday, we sat around the apartment half the day waiting to move to a bigger flat (apartment). After repacking everything, we got a call that we were not moving. They were afraid of renting to a family with three kids- go figure- and they didn't even know that we had one more coming in a few weeks. So we are still at our one-room flat. And our toilet continues to overflow- last night about 1/2 inch of standing water. And the water won't turn off in the kitchen. But we're really not complaining- it just makes us thankful for our house in America. Please pray that we can move soon. We've called in help from our friend, Oleg V.
Anyway, we went to the orphanage and were so excited to see Sonya from 2 summers ago. I had called her and asked to meet her. She was so excited, and there were hugs all around. Her English is amazing, but I was most taken with her sweet disposition. For those of you who don't know Sonya, she was probably one of the more difficult orphans we've met in the summer program. Brilliant, but angry. Beautiful, but cold. But we all loved on her, stayed in contact with her during the year, and she became a Christian this summer at Radooga camp. To see a girl like her literally transformed by the love of Christ, that is what I am most thankful for today. To get to see it close up, and to know that only God can save these children. But He allows us the joy and privelege of coming alongside. What an amazing Father we have! So have a wonderful Thanksgiving and please say a prayer of thanks on behalf of children like Sonya.

We got the referral!!!

Well, we had the appointment at the SDA and we will have our referral for Andrey tomorrow between 5-6. It was so nerve-rachetting to sit there while they went to look for his file!! It took about 10 minutes, but it seemed like half an hour.

The representatives at the SDA were very nice. It is helpful to at least attempt a few Russian words, as it seemed to break the ice with us. They really did not ask us many questions, and the 2 ladies were very warm towards Paula and I.

Thanks for praying!!!!

By the way, in case you did not catch it, our cell phone number is 011 38 067 4991384. Remember to make sure you have international calling. With ATT, it is very inexpensive to call on a cell phone.

SDA Appointment Today

We leave in about an hour for our SDA appointment. It will be good to actually get something going in the process, now that we have mastered public transportation and all. We visited again with Andrey yesterday. Let me tell you, he is deadly accurate with a snowball. We had a great time.

Zhenya, from last summer, is 15 today. He is such a great boy. He always has a smile on his face and a positive attitude despite his circumstances. When I saw him, he recalled every detail of the time we had together at lake day. The thought came crashing down again that he has never had anyone ever invest a moment in his life. To be honest, I had difficulty being happy for him because I know that the clock is ticking for this young man. About a year from now he will be given a blessing and a shove from the orphanange and sent into a proven system for failure. No life skills, no parents, no money, no job. I layed awake half of the night thinking about him and praying for his future.

I hope today will be a step in the right direction for Andrey. Blessings to all of you.

The Full Monty

Today we really began the experience of living life in Ukraine. I began by coming to post on the blog followed by a trip to the market, where speaking a little bit of Russian can only do you a little bit of good. Nonetheless, the caveman here was able to drag home the daily rations.

I later went to buy a cell phone from the Kievstar store. Being in sales, I am still entertained by people in the stores here who seem generally bothered when you come in to buy something. We got out of there now able to communicate with someone- the phone in our flat was not working.

We called Stacy Hennesy and arranged to meet her at the orphanage. Yes, we had no permission from anyone official at the orphanage and yes, we decided to take our chances (I am trying to sound like Zhenya here). On the way to the metro, we hit the local McDonald's, where I was recognized as Superdad.

We got out at the Nivky station to catch the 719 bus to the orphanage. It was here the our family thought we would freeze to death. Lily kept her blood flowing by picking up snow every 4 steps. When we finally followed the right crowd standing underneath the right sign with 719 on it, we boarded the 719. I wish someone had told me that Guiness would be on hand to capture our attempt to break the world record for most people on a bus, I would have worn a different shirt. I looked at the sign on the front of the bus and saw that it was 1.25 grivna per person. I gave the driver 6.25 and he handed me 1.25 back and said nothing. I thought that I was getting the Guiness participant discount so I went back to, you guessed it, the VERY back of the bus. As soon as I sat down, the driver began screaming "molodoy chilavek" and what sounded like @#%$*& in Russian. I knew that he was talking to me, but had no idea what he was saying, so I decided to blend in with the environment by sitting like a bump on a log. Unphased, he kept on. Finally, a lady said "pyat grivna." So I sent him 5 more grivnas and the lashing stopped.

When we finally did get to the orphanage, about 6:15, Andrey was there waiting in the lobby. He was so glad to see us all and we exchanged the usual pleasantries. All of the boys from last summer came in and we hung out for about 2 hours. We took crazy pictures and watched little Yuri (from 2 summers ago) do amazing gymnastics in foyer hallway. We had a great time seeing what the boys do when the director is on vacation. Andrey's caretaker came out and told us what a good boy he was and that she really would miss him. She told us we could take him out tomorrow.

We finally left and made it home from our first real day in Ukraine. Scarred but smarter, we had a great time and vowed to do it again the next day. Thanks so much for all the prayers. It is amazing to be a part of all of this and we feel so privileged to be a part of "religion that God sees as pure and faultless."

I will get the phone number posted once I reload minutes and can get it off of the phone.

I Almost Forgot!!

We spent a day in New York on the way here. Here is a little footage from the subway. The kids did not know what to think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLtF_PxbYw

Privyet!! (Hi!)

We made it! About 2:00am CST we landed in Kiev. It is cold here, about 27 degrees and snow on the ground. The kids are absolutely thrilled, since they have maybe seen snow once in their recollection.

We got through New York fine. When we got to the airport, we unloaded 9 checked bags. At the ticket counter, the agent only counted 8. We had no idea where the other one was, what was in it, or where it could have gone in 100 yards from the street to the inside. We did know that we had all of OUR clothes. What we were not sure about was if the missing bag had Andrey's clothes we bought him or all the gifts for everyone in the entire country of Ukraine. (Can I get an ugh! from all the ones who have adopted?)

When we got to Kiev, 9 bags appeared. We were so grateful that our prayers were answered in this way. We are hunkering down in a flat next door to TGI Fridays. I will have a cell phone number in the next day or 2.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Story developing...........

Leaving Soon!

Unlike most families, we have had a month's notice of when we would be leaving. In these final hours, we are ready to leave so that we can stop wondering what else we have to buy, or pack, or remember for that matter.

We are excited that so many people we know are, or will be, in Ukraine with us. I know of no other situation where so many friends have been together to accomplish the same thing at the same time. It is as if God were "parting the Red Sea" of the orphanages in Ukraine.

As for the details, we will get on a plane headed for New York at 10:35am this Friday. We will stay overnight and fly to Kiev at 5:45pm on Saturday. From there, I have no idea.

Pursuing the dream......