1st Day in Poltava

Today is Wednesday. Yesterday, we traveled to Poltava by car. It was about a 6 hour drive. We were really tired, so we all napped a little on the way. The roads into Poltava are really bad. Reminded me of driving I-20 in Jackson, MS, but much worse! Beautiful countryside, however. Many fields and farm land. We saw individuals hoeing huge fields by hand. We arrived here and met a man who arranged for a flat here for us. It is a really spacious flat with 2 rooms, a living area and a nice size kitchen. The outside made me nervous, but it’s like that everywhere here. We got settled, went out to find a burger and to the market to get things for breakfast. The boys didn’t get into bed until after 11:00 and we were about 1:00 going to bed.

Today, we went to the inspector’s office to get permission to go to the orphanage and visit the kids. Well, it seems that this is the inspector’s day off. But, her assistant called her and she said she would come in around 4:00 and meet with us and go to the orphanage with us at that time. So, we went around and got internet set up, had lunch and went back to flat to rest. We went back to the inspector’s office at 4:00. She was there! A very nice lady. She called the orphanage and found that the director was absent today. So, she called her cell phone number and talked with her. The director said to come to orphanage in the morning at 9:00.

So, a frustrating day. But, I pray about what God is teaching us, know that He is going ahead of us and will be glorified through all of this hassle! His timing is perfect. The boys were really psyched up to see the children and it was a huge let down to them. And with all of the running around in circles and the car ride yesterday, they were very restless. But, they are doing really good and being troopers. I know it is hard for them to sit quietly and patiently so much. We are proud of their behavior and their self control.

We will have the meeting with the orphanage director in the morning and then visit with the kids. Please pray that the meeting with the director and with the children go well. We are confident that God is preparing the way, while we do not know what is in store, we trust in Him alone.

SDA appt

This morning we had our SDA appt at 10:00. We walked over with our facilitator. Side note-Got to quickly meet the Underwood's facilitator and David and I both looked at each other and said "The Jedi." We waited outside the hallway for just a little bit. Then we were sent upstairs. All 4 of us sat down and the lady at the SDA (very nice with pretty smile) asked us some questions about ourselves and our family. Asked some questions about our boys and then gave us some information on the children, A & N. Everything went very smoothly and we were out of there within 15 minutes or so. It was a very easy interview process and all went well. Thank God! We will head to Poltava tomorrow morning around 11:00!!!

Afterwards, we met a friend of Zhenia's who was going to take us sight seeing. David wanted to go back to the flat to rest. He did great through the appt, but started feeling like he needed rest. We all ate lunch together and parted ways. Lena is the young lady who escorted us around Kiev. For 4 hours we walked and saw the sights: World War II memorial, a new memorial to remember the time of starvation in Ukraine, St. Andrew's church (we were able to go inside and look around and it is really beautiful), and walked through many parks. We rode the metro a couple of times, took a bus, and rode the venicullar (sp??).

A little more info on the bus ride: we get on the bus and find some seats. Then Lena tells me how much the ride is going to cost. I give this to her and she passes the money up to the driver by way of the other passengers. Everyone pays this way and gets their change this way! I have no idea how he knows if everyone pays or if anyone actually gets their change back- interesting! The bus makes several more stops and so many more people get on the bus. I keep thinking "There is no way anyone else is going to fit in here." But they do! No personal space!! Lena calls to the driver to tell him to stop and he does. We are about midway on the bus. Everyone in front of us gets off the bus to let us out and then they all get back on when we are out. The whole thing makes me laugh!

Lena asked us if their metro is different than ours. I just laughed and told her we don't have a metro! Couldn't even imagine it. 280 is bad enough!

Later this evening, we met our friend, Hollie for dinner. She just left Poltava with her 3 new additions to her family. It was nice to chat with her. She gave us some info on where things are in Poltava and other points of view. It was good to see her and see her children again! Pray for them as they are on their last leg of the process. They hope to be out and on a plane headed to AL by the end of the week.

The driver is picking us up at 10:00 in the morning. We have about a 5 hour ride to look forward to. We can't wait to see A & N!! Please continue to pray for God to go ahead of us. This has been my prayer for awhile. A sweet friend gave me a card before I left. I read it last night. Inside it had some sticky notes with scripture on them. The first one I read was Deut 31:8: The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Awesome! God is faithful!

Sunday update

Can you imagine being cooped up in a 500 sq ft flat with 2 boys and a sick husband?? Well, I was and badly needed some way out. I checked email and there it was. A saving email from our friend, Ben. He said he could get us to his church for the 4:30 service if we wanted to come. So, I got the boys dressed and myself ready and we headed out. I was venturing out alone with some grievna and a cell phone. I have no idea where I am. Ben had to call our facilitator to find out where to send the taxi. We go outside and look for the taxi. Don't see one. David comes out and says that Ben says it's around the corner. We go around the corner-no taxi. We walk back toward the flat and see a taxi sitting in front of the flat. I look inside and sort of motion toward us three and getting into his taxi. He nods. We get it and I pantomine phone call. He says da. So, we get in and I pray that this guy is taking us to the church. We end up at a building with the #3 on it. Ben said to look for a #3. He asks me something in russian. I say da and give him some money. He gives me change and we go in. Thank you, Lord, this was the right place.

We find Tanya and Ben. We recognize some of the music. Tanya takes the boys outside to play in a little courtyard with some other children, including their Emma. Ben had introduced this man from MS that was there to adopt 4 children with his wife. This man, Tony, was going to preach. I thought I had missed it this morning and am thrilled to know I get to hear it. His wife sings a song and her voice is beautiful. Tony's sermon was on the parallels of adoption into God's family and families adopting orphans. Gal 4 was the scripture background. As he is talking, I started thinking "Wait a minute. His story sounds really familiar. I think I have heard of him through some friends who go to his church."

Afterwards, I go up and introduce myself and we start chatting. Not only does he know my friends from MS, but he knows our pastor and his wife and knows the Hall family. Incredible how in this foreign land, I cross paths with a man and his wife who are from MS, who have a common passion for orphans and who knows friends of ours. They also met our friends who are here in Poltava adopting. We ended up going out for pizza with them, Ben, Tanya and Emma. It was a very nice evening with old and new friends. I will put a link to Tony and Kimberly's adoption blog up on my blog. Please pray for their journey, as they are in the middle of their 10 day waiting period which follows court.

David says he is feeling better. He slept while we went out. As I said, tomorrow is our court date. We will let you know as soon as we can how it all went.

Sunday

Yesterday, we stayed in most of the day. David is really not feeling well. I tried to convince him to go to the doctor, but he will not go. I read up on bronchitis and there isn't really an antibiotic to treat it- just lots of rest and liquids. So, we watched a movie, played some games, and layed around. We went out to eat and to go to the market. Came home, showered the boys, played some Uno, read them a bit of Wizard of Oz, then put them in bed. David and I stayed up a bit then went on to sleep. It's exciting around here for us!!! (ha)

Today, Caleb and I are getting out. We are going to go explore the open market and just walk around. Jacob wants to stay in with David. From there, I don't know.

Our appt is tomorrow at 10:00 am- that's 2:00 am Bham time. We pray things will go smoothly and that we will receive our referral quickly. We must have this referral in order to visit the region of the orphanage. We appreciate your prayers.

During my bible study last night, I read this verse: I Cor 10:31 Because, whatever you do, eating or drinking or anything else, everything should be done to bring glory to God. That is my prayer. That no matter what I am doing, taking care of David, keeping the boys entertained in a very small flat without toys, walking or shopping around Kiev without any personal space, or sitting in our appt at the SDA, may it bring glory to God.

Saturday

Yesterday afternoon, our facilitator, Zhenia, took us around Kiev in the City Centre. Very busy area. We walked all over for about 5 hours. It was really nice. The weather was just cool enough for a light jacket. As we were going into a market, Zhenia received a phone call from a friend of his. He gave the phone to me and it was our friend, Vicky, who was across the street at TGIF. They spotted us through the window! So we walked over and sat with them for awhile. It was good to see her. She is leaving today to go home. He showed us many monuments and exhibition halls, a park area overlooking Kiev and we did a little shopping. We ate dinner at the Fat House. We did pretty well by pointing. Came home and settled in for the night.

We were able to Skype with some friends and David's parents. It's really nice to be able to do this and I highly recommend if for those of you coming over soon.

Before we left the states, David went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bronchitis. He got a steroid shot and an antibiotic shot and is feeling better than he did. But, he has a horrible cough that sounds really bad. Caleb also has a bit of a congested cough. So, today we are staying in and resting. Hoping David will get to feeling better with more rest. Our flat is very cold and we do not know how to turn on the heat. I hope we get this figured out today.

We are on our own for the weekend. So, we will likely not venture too far from our flat. With David not feeling great, I will be trying my best to be creative (hard for the creatively challenged!) in an attempt to keep the boys entertained.

Made it!

We are here! We had a really good trip, although no sleep. We didn't sleep. The boys didn't sleep. We were all awake roughly 30 hours or so. Got to Kiev and was met by our facilitator, Zhenia. We got through customs faster than you could blink your eyes! Amazing.

Zhenia brought us to our flat. A nice place in the middle of everything. Not far from the SDA I am told. He took us for a walk to show us where things are and to get us hooked up with phone and internet. The weather is nice. We had a light jacket on. Young people everywhere in Kiev. We took us to a market where we bought a few things for the flat. He left us.

The boys think everything is beautiful and cool. It is fun to see things through their eyes. They say they think Kiev is great, but don't like all the smoking and drinking of alcohol!

We went on our own to......McDonald's. David tried his best to order for us. We didn't get what we wanted, but it was good. We came back to the flat and showered and fell asleep.

This morning (or really it is almost noon), we are going to get with Zhenia again to go over details. I am not sure what else. But the boys want to go see things. Caleb brought a camera and he wants to take pictures.

God is sufficient for me! I am not anxious about anything and know that He is in control. Praise Him! Thank you for all of your prayers.

We leave

Well, we think we are ready. We are almost packed with only 7 bags and 4 carry-ons (ha), we have details worked out for the care of our home, our dogs are with the bestest brother and sister in the world :), and many of our family and friends are on Skype ready to play with it with us! We arrive in Kiev Thursday evening.

David and I are having some sinus troubles, but nothing some meds and sleep won't help, I'm sure. Over the past weekend, we had the opportunity to hang out with some of our friends and eat some great crawfish and at church our friends prayed over us (more than once) and we feel so confident knowing that they are going out on our behalf to the throne of our Lord! The boys are having mixed emotions about leaving, and frankly, so are we. We are about to leave our little life for the unknown for who knows how long. But we know that God goes before us and He is our rock and our shield. We are definitely excited about this adventure.

We will try to blog about the details as much as we can. We look forward to sharing our adoption with you.

6 days and counting....

Wow! We are extremely busy, but, oh so joyful. I realized last night that we have 6 days before we leave. In 6 days, we will embark on an adventure that will begin to grow our family more into what God has planned for us. I can't wait for this!

We have been shopping, cleaning, making lists, packing (well, I have plans to), organizing, making more lists, making arrangements for our 2 dogs (big thanks to Uncle Aaron and Aunt Sharron), calling family, figuring out how to care for our home while we are away (huge thanks to our friends), planning for school lessons while we are there, and praying.

We know of a number of families in Blogland that are going to be in Kiev around the same time as we are. Hoping to get to meet them. We have been invited to go to church with a friend who lives in Kiev on Sunday. They are actually going to have someone preaching who is from Mississippi and is in the process of adopting. Sounds great!

We are looking forward to this extended stay in Ukraine. At times it is sure to be long, lonely, isolating, and challenging. But, we pray that people will see Christ through our family and that they will see the hope we have and wonder why. We hope God will open doors of opportunity for us while we are there- opportunities to help, to love, to encourage, whatever He calls us to. We pray we will be sensitive to His voice.

"Trust in the power of God rather than human wisdom." 1 Cor 2:5

Stuffed animals

Today we bought 50 stuffed animals for the kids in the orphange we go to visit. It was joy watching my two sons carefully choose the animals: would a child like this one? this one is too beat up. is this one cute enough? They dug through many trying to find the right ones. Then we get them home, count them up, check them all to see if any need mending, decide if they are boy animals or girl animals. Then my sons go to their stuffed animal stash and donate some from there saying that their animals will enjoy the ride over and get lots of love in their new home.

I love that my sons are excited about their soon to be siblings, making plans for them all and counting down the days until we leave. I know it will be an adjustment for them, but to see that their heart is accepting to the situation helps me to know that it will all work out. They said this morning at breakfast, "Now you are going to have even more children from Ukraine!"

Yes, we are!

Adoption is amazing

Here is an excerpt from a blog I am reading. How my thoughts and heart mimic theirs:

For most people reading this, they just can't imagine how adopting can be such a memorable experience. Yet hopefully, other fellow adoptive parents can relate and testify that I am not crazy. Adoption is an amazing...... beautiful..... unforgettable...... close as you get to God experience this side of heaven.It is just as amazing as giving birth to your child........ it is exactly like giving birth to your child. Alexsey may not have been born of my flesh and blood, but he is very much a part of me, already. I know that I am not capable on my own of preparing my heart to feel the way it feels...... this is a miraculous thing that God does. Knowing this draws me all the closer to Him. It makes me think how I have been adopted by HIM..... how all of us that want to look to HIM as our Father have been adopted by HIM, and it gives me goosebumps to think that HE feels similar to how I feel about Alexsey. That is incredible to me!

David and I secured our plane tickets last night. We fly out on April 22. That is a bit early, but we did this to get the best value for our money (or SkyMiles). We plan to take the boys on a tour of the history of Ukraine and show them all they have been asking about. We are full of anticipation as we wait out the remaining 2 weeks we have left here. May God gain all the glory as we seek to bring home our children.

Boys' Birthday

Today we are celebrating Jacob and Caleb's 9th birthday about 5 weeks early. We will be in Ukraine on their actual birthday, so we wanted to be sure they were able to celebrate with friends. We are having a laser tag party and they both really excited about it.

We are finishing up last minute details. Time is passing by fast. With Easter next weekend and a crawfish boil the next, we will be on the plane headed to Ukraine before we know it. David has been working especially hard to prepare his office to function without him there for an extended time. Thankfully, we will have Skype and other technologies to keep him in touch with his office.

19 days and counting......