Spending Time Together

This week has been much of what we expected. Visits each day with the children and their friends. A few quick runs for chasing down documents and dinner with Jenya twice. Once at McDonalds and this evening Jenya came to the apartment. Tonight we had a Southern dinner of oven baked chicken, green beans with potatoes, Ms. Adelaide's macaroni and cheese pie and brownies with ice cream. He had never tasted green beans before, but then, we had never had McShrimps before either. Instead of Chicken Nuggets they have Shrimp Nuggets here.


For guessing on some of the ingredients...like which cheese might be most like cheddar...it all turned out OK. At least good enough Jenya ate seconds and took some home for later! Then again, my mama always said, "It doesn't have to be real good there just has to be plenty of it." We made a second macaroni for the kids to have tomorrow.

The older children all left Camp Victoria today and went back to Internot #4. School will start on Tuesday with First Bell. We hope to be there for the event that morning.

Monday morning at 10 am (our time) we have to meet with the regional director of #4 for a final interview to obtain her stamp of approval on our documents. Afterward, everything will be forwarded to Kiev central SDA office again for their final approval (that should take 5 business days) and we will have court as soon as possible after that. We are hoping and praying it will take place the second week of September. We will let you know as soon as we find out.

The children are all doing well and are all excited to be coming home with us. The older ones are opening up more and we've been enjoying our "picnics" this week. Andrei learned the word "obey" today. He also learned to ask for permission before he starts digging through our bags. It says something though that he feels more freedom to try to push the limits.

FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS
ANDREI'S BEST BUD

PLAYING GO FISH
LYONYA CARD HOUSE IS THE BIGGEST
All in all, it's been a good week. Carol had a 24-hour something on Wednesday but, after prayer and an all afternoon nap, was fine the next day. There are several changes going on as far as residents in the apartment where we are staying. Pray we move to the next location at the right time.

Steve goes tomorrow for a haircut...we will see if they can do flat tops here or if he ends up with a new look. Pictures tomorrow, unless it needs to grow out first!

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. (28 years) We considered going to Moscow for our 25th, so glad we waited to come to Odessa for such a time as this!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.

Blessings,

ANDREI'S DRAWING OF THE THREE OF US

Catching Up

It’s been a few days and there is a lot to catch up.
Friday the 21st we visited with Andrei in the morning at #9. All his little friends gathered around.

They wanted us to watch their soccer game, they wanted to play games with us, teach us new words, they wanted attention. The workers at this orphanage seem to really care for the children, but they are still are one of a group. They still have no parents to tuck them in or kiss a hurt. Several times we saw an older child comfort a smaller one.


One interesting thing in this country and particularly in the orphanages are the animals. Stray dogs and cats are everywhere. In the orphanages however the dogs are extremely protective of the children. You have to be very careful. If someone comes to visit, the dogs will not let them near the children unless the children intervene. We saw one man get nipped. Several of the dogs at #9 let us know that we were not welcome. Andrei and his friends jumped up and popped the dogs on the head and the dogs backed down. Eventually though when we pulled out snacks, the dogs befriended us!








Later in the day we spent time with Lyonya, Pasha and Galia. They wanted to show us where they swim in the Black Sea. It’s beautiful. It’s also frightening to think of all the children out there with little to no supervision. (Just a parent’s point of view.) I’m sure to them it’s just life, not even an adventure.



The one striking difference to us is the litter at the sea side. There are broken bottles everywhere around the sea. When someone finishes with a drink they just toss it in the water or on the shore. I guess the 1970’s litter campaign in the US changed our way of thinking more than we realized.

Saturday the 22nd we had to go downtown at noon to have documents notarized and prepared for filing. Being right in the middle of the day it messed up our visitation with the children. Monday would be the Ukrainian Independence Day though so we were happy to get something accomplished on Saturday. We decided to shop for groceries and return to the apartment for a quiet evening. We listened to our church’s sermon from the week before. It was so nice to hear Pastor Stephen’s familiar voice.

Sunday the 23rd was a very busy day. We had 40 minute bus ride to #9 and a great visit with Andrei.Then a 40 minute bus ride back to the apartment by 1pm.

The older children had asked for specific food. Pasha wanted milk, Lyonya asked for juice, and Galia wanted meat. So we cooked a picnic to take back to them for the afternoon. We rode the bus back to the camp just in time to join them at the Black Sea for a swim. Their tutor, Anastasia, was there to visit also. She knows a little English so we had a nice time chatting. The older boys went for a swim while we visited with Galia and Igor at the shore.



Afterward we gave them each the chicken and potatoes we had brought along with juice, milk and Sprite. It is so amazing to watch as hungry children take the little they have and instead of hoarding it or devouring it they call to their friends and share. They want to make sure everyone has some.

We only stayed a few hours because we had a 40 minute bus ride back and then were to meet Jenya and his girlfriend Marianna. Our close friends in Columbia, Steven and Cameron, have been corresponding with Marianna and her brother Vladik for the last year. A few months passed before we realized that Marianna was dating Jenya, and that she is like a big sister to our four. How amazing is that!

We had about 30 minutes to freshen up grabbed a taxi and get downtown to meet Jenya and Marianna. It was an incredible evening with the two of them. Jenya was so happy for us to meet Marianna. She is such a special girl. She graduated from the orphanage last May and has just started to study to be a hair stylist. The two of them spent the evening showing us all the sights of Odessa we could see in 3 hours.

Marianna grabbed Carol by the hand and took off running through the city. Steve and Jenya just tried to keep up. In a society where all odds are against them, they are trying so hard to rise above their beginnings. It was so special that these two young people would give us their time. They are both so special and I know the Lord has an incredible plan for their lives. We have planned to meet several more times before we leave. Please pray for our time with them.







We finally made it home that night. Even had a call from our facilitator at 11pm as she was worried we might be lost. Nope, not yet. Our Ukrainian friends have taken real good care of us, and most importantly, God has gone before us each step of the way. It also helped that when we missed our bus stop that the driver had pity and turned around for us and took us back. (He got a good tip that night! :o)



Please continue to pray for our time here, and specifically for
1) A court date on the appointed day with a favorable judge,
2) Continued connections with locals and local missionaries for possible future projects, and
3) For finances to cover everything needed.

It is a beautiful country with lovely people, people who need Jesus and the hope only He can offer.

A FEW PHOTOS TO ENJOY

LYONYA AND PASHA AT THE "SWIMMING HOLE" THAT MAKES A MOTHER'S HEART STOP


GALIA BLOWING UP A BALLOON


ONE OF ANDREI'S FRIENDS CHRISTINA DOES NOT WANT TO LET GO



STEVE AND DENIS (ANDREI'S FRIEND)

STEVE AND CAROL WITH ROSCOE AND DENIS (ANDREI'S FRIENDS)

GALIA AT THE BLACK SEA


LYONYA AND PASHA SHIVERING AFTER A SWIM IN THE BLACK SEA


ANDREI ON OUR CELL PHONE TALKING WITH HIS BROTHERS AND SISTER
IT HAD BEEN MONTHS SINCE THEY HAD SPOKEN

Grandma

We packed a picnic lunch of cheese, bread and fruit and left for Internot 4 to meet the children and their Grandma. We were so thankful she wanted to meet with us. Honestly we didn't know what her response would be. She greeted us with hugs and kisses, thanking us for coming to get the children. Her main concerns were that we are healthy and love the Lord. I do not know what that means to her but she seems to have a faith of some substance. She did provide us some photos of the children's grandfather and mother. I am so thankful we have that for the children. She is a very gracious woman and we plan to get together more in the next few weeks.

We met Dr. Paul and his wife Tania also. They had arrived at the Internot to help prepare it for the new school year. They were doing wallpaper, painting and needed some electrical help. It didn't take long to get put to work. Here is a photo of Igor helping Steve. Some of you know I've been praying for Igor. Oh how I would like to bring this boy home too. He ages out of the system in January. Please pray for a miracle for him.

The children left to go back to Camp and we sent the picnic lunch with them. Dr. Paul had planned a birthday party for Lyonya at camp that afternoon and asked if we be there. We wouldn't miss it for the world. Lyonya had a nice party with friends, cake and candy. Galia took lots of photos. A few of the older boys try to be tough but they melt with the slightest kindness. By the end of the day they would hug us without reservation. How hard it must be to see others chosen while you wait. We were told one boy prays each night for a family or that if that is not God's will that God would have something better in store for him.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to make it to visit Andrei. That was our only regret. We found a ride back to the apartment and spent time with Lena's family. Her mother and brother are visiting this week.

More detail to come....

Just a Note

Will update more tomorrow but wanted to let you know that our dinner with Jenya went well. We had a nice time getting to know each other. We plan to get together more.
Tomorrow we meet with the Grandmother at 10:30 am Ukrainian time.

Blessings


The Black Sea across from Andrei's Internot

A Visit at #4

Once you meet with the director and visit with the children, the Director has 10 days to prepare the documents you will need to proceed with the adoption. After our somewhat rocky start we were unsure how things would go.

As we walked to Internot #4 this morning, the first of many miles today, we stopped at a kiosk and bought peaches and pears for a snack. We arrived to a big hug from Pasha and he ran off to get Lyonya and Galia. As we waited for the children, we were informed that the documents were already prepared for us as a big favor and there would be no 10 day wait. Thank you Father. We had asked that He grant us favor with all the officials. He is going before us each step of the way.

We went to the playground area to sit and talk. We had a fun visit. We were able to meet with a few of their teachers and took some photos of them. As we talked, we found out that they never received lunch yesterday because of the time of our visit and it would be the same today, so we left to walk back to the pizza place to buy them something to eat.

We will have to figure out the food situation as we go. Right now we are traveling all over town to obtain different documents so we never know where or when we will be with the children.

Tomorrow we will leave at 8:30 am to go to Internot #9 to see Andrei and hopefully pick up his documents. It will be good to see him again and feel his hug. We have also made arrangements to meet with Jenya, their older brother. We are so glad to be able to meet with him. He told Pasha today that he also is looking forward to meeting with us. We will be sure to get more photos.

Lots of thoughts on the country and the needs....will write more soon.