Showing me a keeska- a kitty

One of the things we look for in our children is compassion... because with all the children in our family with special needs they will have to have compassion- Watching them with the pets at the orphanage has always given us a small window into their hearts.. Tia and Rachel

At a park before we went to see Kungfu Panda

Caleb, Tia, Jonas, Rachel,Olivia, and Ben

This was the first day we met the boys

This was outside in front of their orphanage...

Sat. nite in Kiev

We have had 2 great days with the kids... nothing major with any behavior issues ...yet :) When adopting older children there usually are . Jonas was smoking at the orphanage and we knew of this. He is only 13 and has been a smoker since the age of 5... how very sad. He is doing very good while trying to overcome this addiction. He really wants to. We have to watch him all the time when we are out. He will find lighters and/or cigarette butts if we did not watch him. He has to be by momma or poppa all the time. I know he really is trying to do this and prayers that the Lord will remove the symptoms in his body and the desire for the nicotine would be appreciated. He is doing very well and we are proud of his efforts.

The dynamics of the group have been interesting to note. The kids are all from the same orphange and knew each other before. The girls are our first sibling group and they are close and will watch out for each other... the boys are more individual.. and had to watch out for themselves.... So the boys are more street sauvy I would say. We have been there done that before and so it is much easier for us this time around. We have to teach and show how a family works... you don't have to retaliate when you are wronged, you can share,momma and poppa are the Boss. Actually they are doing extemely well at this point. They are sharing any treats and making sure all have some, they are not grabbing just for themselves. No challenges to our Boss status either :)

We went to the zoo today in Kiev. We are an easy walk from it on the same street. It was a surprise and very positive outing. We have been to the zoo in Wash. DC and this one in Kiev we enjoyed more and saw more animals than we did last Sept. in DC. I recommend it to families here in Kiev. Sunday, our last day we are meeting with our translator, and friend - Roma. We will take a subway to the downtown- Independence Square. Our first apt was right off it but these kids were not with us. We want to show them that part.

I hope I can post tonite a picture. The computer has not let me so far :(

We are rejoicing tonite

We were able to get all the paperwork done and have tickets for Monday to fly home... yippie. Actually it has been an amazing journey as well as difficult. We were scrutinized all along the way as to why we want to adopt more and special needs ? It is so hard for others to understand but we know the love of the Lord and His desire for these orphans to be loved and to know and come to understanding of His salvation for them. We are compeled as I have shared and it is so rewarding to watch and see them change. However to be honest tonite we are wiped out.... It has been a long week of rush and wait. We had court as I shared and all day Tuesday we drove for 15 hours from 4 in the am to 10 pm at nite for Jonas's birth certificate in Zaporzhie and Berdyansk. After we had gone 12 hours and were getting it legalized they found that a letter was missing on my name--- which meant it was no good :( The lady there who made the mistake though redid it and drove all the way to Donetsk by Wed. 12... so we could get the kids passports... thank God we did fast- It took us 4 plus hours to get the kids money out of the bank to give to the orphanage... ( we could have bought 4 houses with all the papers we signed for their money)... then we had to get Olivia's police clearance ( needed for a 16 yr old) and then we just made it on the overnite train with the kids.... all nite again not much sleep and today at medicals and the embassy but PTL they were able to issue the kids visas in one day... and we are going home. More later on the details of our adoption and hopefully I can get a pic to post.... I am just too tired to write anymore....We are all clean, full bellied and relaxing in our apt. in Kiev... starting to feel normal :)

They are ours- Court is over PTL

After 3 plus years and the last 1 and a half year of wondering if this adoption would ever take place I can shout that it has.....Let me introduce-Olivia Jeane-16, Rachel Ann- 14,Tia Ruth- 11( but she looks like a 7 yr old), Jonas William-13( he is also small and is missing his left eye), and finally Caleb Daniel-9. We are in Donetsk city and we also are praising the Lord because we got the 10 days waived- an immediate decision. We will post pictures later but are rejoicing that we have been blessed by 5 more children. Thanks for praying and all the love and encouragement you all have shared to our family at home....

For such a time as this- Esther 4:14

On Friday when we were not able to get a signature and we had the wknd. looming before us I was down about the process... So my devotional that day from Our Daily Bread was about Esther. A story I love and have even done a woman's Bible study on. My devotional reads- The book of Esther tells another story of love, sacrifice and God's timing. It goes on to share the story of how she saves her people by being there at just the right time for ,"such a time as this" . Then it says when we are able to rescue others, we should do so at all costs. Ask God for His direction and act! He may have placed you here "for such a time as this."

Well that was very encouraging to me and my attitude changed.... the Lord is so good. He knew that on Friday, June 13 I would need to read that devotional as I did. That has happened so many times in my life and it always amazes me. Sometimes I buy books that are used. I bought a used devotional book and the whole year I used it every single day was just what I needed. It got so I would not ever look ahead because I did not want to see what maybe I could be dealing with. To some it sounds weird but I have lived it many times in my life and know how the Lord provides for me. I am grateful for his provision and providence.

We took all the kids - 5 and Ben to see Kung Fu Panda in Ukrainian, McDonalds for lunch and then we went clothes shopping--- We spent alot of money today but it was fun. Watching the older girls in a store choosing their own things was priceless. Since we were not sure of exactly who we were adopting we were not able to buy any clothes before hand... hence we outfitted for Kiev and flight home 5 kiddos. Oh how wonderful that sounds--- flight home!

Forgot one other thing

The director of the orphanage came into the room where we were and she was able to meet our family at home. This was a great opportunity to let her see the smiling faces and see our home some. She is a very caring and encouraging director. We have enjoyed meeting her and all she has done. So I am glad she got to see our family at home as well.

Skype is great

We had a really neat thing today. We have been able to skype our kids at home. We also have cameras on the computers so they can see us and we can see them at home. It has been wonderful to see their wonderful faces as we talk with them over the computer . So today we brought the computer to the orphanage when we visited the kids... You should have seen everyone's faces as each group watched each other.Cate did a super job of translating and connecting the 2 groups... really proud of her and how She handles these type of things. Anyway our family saw each other over the skype on the computer... It helps both groups to connect. The best part is that skype is free... other than the cost for the camera. We keep in touch with Jenn's family this way as well when we are home.... I call it long distance grandparenting but it works. Thank you Jesus for this technology... truly amazing.

an update still can't share much but will soon

We have had the best weather for this trip. I think that June is the best time to come Ukraine as far as weather. Sunny, warm but not to hot and low humidity. Kiev was the same. We are able to enjoy being outside and even riding in the cabs is not to hot.... Our paperwork is moving along...always to the adoptive parents not fast enough but it really has. We had a miracle actually a couple happen yesterday but I am not able to share just yet about them. We do praise the Lord because he has been so evident in this whole adoption. We are adopting 5 children and we know that requires lots of paperwork X 5 if you can imagine. Our team here has been wonderful and we are grateful for their hard work. We don't feel any other team could do this adoption. You can also imagine the questions we get as to why do you want to adopt more ? and why special needs ? It has made the process a little longer but so worth it in the end. We have been so encouraged by our family back home... MK and Molly are doing a great job. Mk especially has encouraged us tremendously with her new, fresh walk in the Lord. I had a feeling the Lord would move in her heart and He has and she has responded in such a Godly way. We feel very blessed by our kiddos at home and with our new ones as well. The girls here keep saying," We prayed for you." Already they are open to the Lord's working and seeing Him answer prayers... Keep praying for us... Specifically that things continue to move along.

We are are in our region and love it here.

We have been here since Wed. am.... We have met the kids and they are just who the Lord has chosen... We feel very blessed. Thngs are going along well. Our first nite was in an old... very old soviet era hotel. Paul blew a converter, 2 twin beds, old soviet furniture. There were no apts. available till Thursday. Well when we walked into our apt. this afternoon we could hardly believe it. It is wonderful ... the best place we have stayed at for any of our adoptions. We are downtown, have a modern kitchen , tv even with some english channels, internet, microwave, washing machine. beautiful , new wood cabinets and doors thru out. Honestly it looks and feels like we are in the US. We are close to many stores, food, restaurants, clean parks. It has been a real moral booster to be in this apt.... before we did not always have water, or electricity. It is a real gift. Also the owner is not charging us the full price because the one he promised will not be ready and so he is letting us have this one for that price... 75 a nite instead of 100 or so. Our awful hotel room was 40... the extra is worth it. The stove is like a jenn aire and the refrigerator is built into the wooden cabinets... The Lord has provided just what we needed.

I can't share much about the kids but we are thrilled with them and they with us... so things are progressing along. If we have to stay longer than we like at least we will be most comfortable this time.

Please keep praying.... the kids at home... in particular Jacob is throwing up today- He does usally with headaches (migrane) but not sure because he says he does not have one. Josiah is also testing his boundaries... Sounds like the girls at gdad's are having a blast.

Thanks to all who are supporting us and the family back home... We love you and miss you.

A Quick update

We had our sda appt. and things went well.... We are headed to our region Wed.... please pray for our travels and as we meet the new 5 kids.... It is in a diff. region than we thought and we so feel that the Lord is in control. Weather here is gorgeous.... the sda people were very nice to deal with- Amanda email me privately and I can share more about our time there. Our team here has been great....no complaints.... I have not been able to blog yet... it comes up in russian and has another user name.... so I will blog thru my daughter for now. Keep praying....