Thank you all for praying for us. As much as we would like for this process to move quickly, and as speedy and as hard as we know Alyona is working behind the scenes, this process is not going to go quickly. I thought it would be easier since he was out of the orphanage, but it’s been more difficult. There are problems with who is responsible for what in the “region’s” eyes and problems with proving that it’s ok for the school to give “permission” for all this. Alyona was able to get everything that was required and the city council approved everything. 

Thank you for praying about the judge because God answered that prayer as well. If we get to have our court case in that court in that region, then all is well.

HOWEVER....we now need prayer about something else that they are requiring. I can’t remember exactly how Alyona explained it but the city council approved the packet of papers but the “Region”, I guess, did not. They want some paper saying the school has authority to do this. There is no such paper. Like, they are saying there should be a paper from the  orphanage to the college, giving the college authority to sign him over. The miracle that is needed is that either this paper trail can be created or that someone will decide that “oh, since we know he’s an orphan, obviously because we have papers showing that the parental rights were taken away, then surely the school can be responsible to make this decision to sign these papers.” Or, better yet, God will have some other, even better plan. This is a big problem, as I told Pastor Oleg tonight, but God is bigger.

When we went to get Luke tonight, he wasn’t there and his phone was off. I was already a little emotional from the bad news from earlier so I immediately began to worry and think the worse. We didn’t know where he was or when he would be back. I just kept praying for God to protect him and bring him back but I couldn’t stop worrying about all the possibilities of where he might be. We made a decision to leave and come back to check a little later. As soon as we left, we got a phone call from him saying he was at church. Whew! What a relief! I couldn’t stop thanking God for answering our prayers!

Later in the evening, we went to Pastor Oleg’s house, where Luke was, and met a few couples from the church. We had a great fellowship time and God, once again, reminded us that He is with us. He is in control. He is not forgetting about us. HE’S GOT THIS! He’s taking care of our boy. He’s taking care of us. He’s so full of grace, constantly, gently reminding me how  much He loves us. He’s so patient and doesn’t get frustrated at His silly, slow learning children. Thank you God. You are so good.

Tonight, we filled Mama Luda, Tolik, and Papa in on the details about the paperwork. The tears came again. It’s not that I don’t trust God, I just get overwhelmed with the thought of something going wrong and us not getting to bring our boy home with us. As I’ve said (not on the blog, but out loud) everyday since we’ve started this process, “I’m not leaving here without him”. Mama and Papa assured us that everyone they know who has come here to adopt have run into road blocks and have had difficulties. We know this too, and we knew we would have problems. They were so encouraging, quoted Scripture, let us know they would be praying, reminded us that Alyona is the best (she’s their daughter-in-law), and gave us hugs and lots of support. 

We know God can do anything and we are asking Him to do a miracle with this paperwork mess and region mess. He is bigger than regions and He is bigger than any government or any regulations.

Job 42:1 Then Job replied to the Lord, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted.”

Oleg's babyboy riding on the back of a subwayOleg's houseVera

Can you see the ice in the sea????

It’s Sunday, early afternoon, February 5th, and we just got home from walking back from church. I don’t think the temperature is as low today but the wind makes it feel very cold. The pipes broke in the apartment building somewhere this morning so now there is no water. Not sure how long we’ll be without water but it is not an unusual thing to happen. The pipes outside are not insulated. My friend, Alyona, whom we visited last night, said they used to have water only 2 hours a day but now they have water most of the time. We have so much to be thankful for and we don’t even know it.

We had a very good time with my good friend “Tall Alyona” and her family last night. I may have already explained that Alyona is one of the translators on our mission team when our group comes from school to work with the orphans. She and I are always together when she is able to come with us. 

Bill and I (and my Ukrainian “son”) picked up Luke and went to her house where she had delicious snacks and tea waiting for us. It was an evening of fun and laughing. Alyona is a composer and a beautiful pianist. She is extremely talented. If I can figure out how to post videos, I’ll post some of her playing (even though I told her  I wouldn’t) :) . Alyona has 2 boys, Max,16 and Kostya, 10. Her husband, Sasha, was the life of the party by entertaining us with more singing and silly dancing. He even played his comb (you know-with wax paper) while Alyona played the piano. 

Luke found out they had a broken trumpet and jumped up to see it right away. He went right to work to try to fix it. Sasha and Luke ended up taking it into the kitchen to work on it. Proudly, Luke came back out with a fixed trumpet and played a few songs for us. He.is.adorable!!!! Have I mentioned that I love him to death? 

Thank you Sistrachik for a wonderful, wonderful evening! LOVE YOU!!!!!

We got home and texted back and forth to the kids and found out that the high school girls soccer team won their bi-district soccer game yesterday! YEA GIRLS!! Our daughter is the assistant coach. YEA DANA! Bill and Dana texted during the guys game and she kept us updated on how it was going. Trent plays on that team and our son, Mike, is one of the coaches for Trent’s high school soccer team. They won their bi-district game as well. YEA LIONS! YEA TRENT AND MIKE! We cheered from here!

Today my “Ukrainian son” is going to take us to the orphanage #4 to see the kids. We know several of them from the orphan camp, Camp Viktoria, that we go to in the summer. It will be awesome seeing them. We’ll stop and get candy and fruit for them before we go. We’ll then go pick up Luke from his school and spend the rest of the evening with him.

We’re not really sure what Monday will bring. Alyona will try to get papers moving and will try talking to all the right people the need to be spoken to about specific things. Of course we’ll let you know once we find things out.

Thank you for your prayers. We are feeling them. Love all of you!Alyona and me (I'm standing on my tippy toes)

beautiful table!

Kostya and his daddySasha playing the combMax video taping his dad singing

Our son, Brian, prayed a beautiful prayer for us yesterday  and sent it to us on Facebook and it encouraged us so much. It’s a prayer that I think we will go back and re-read several times during this trip. I thought I’d start this blog off with the prayer for you to read as well. Hopefully it won’t keep him from writing his prayers out in the future. :)  Thanks Bub! We love you!

18 hours ago

Brian DeFrees

God, 

You're wisdom is shown through Your plan for mom and dad. You're mighty hand and sovereignty is so evident during this process. Job 42:2 the will of the Lord cannot be thwarted. I pray and claim that truth today. Give faith and belief where mom and dad doubt and fail to trust. Let them be assured that You are caring for them. Thank you for showing your faithfulness and showing your strong love for my parents this trip. Let them cherish this special time they have together and that they have with old friends in Ukraine. Ukraine is such a special place for them and I pray that in the midst of all of the stressful process that they remember You and Your unfailing faithfulness. I am so excited to see how else You will come through strongly. We expect you to continue to do awesome things, Lord. We know and truly believe you care enough to take care for us. I pray that you continue to break through the walls of this adoption process. That you will continue to soften the hearts of those who have turned cold toward mom and dad adopting. Let papers be signed, taxis to be delivered, and hearts to be changed by the light you shine through my parents. Thank you for them and the passion they have for you and for those you have created. You are overwhelmingly amazing. Give them joy today. I love you God and I thank you for the amazing story you have for each of our lives. Let this story be one that changed not only my parents life, Luke’s life, but also those who my parents come into contact with. Use them!

Amen. 

SlobaBogo

Meredith, our daughter in law, sent us a perfect verse yesterday, Romans 8:31. Dana and the boys have been encouraging us on Skype and e-mail. My mom sent an e-mail with lots of encouragement and Scripture as well. We have loved receiving e-mails from our friends and family. Keep them coming! We love hearing from home. Even a "like" on a status update makes us smile and reminds us that you are praying for us. Thank you so much!

!We are staying with a wonderful Christian family while we are here in Odessa. Some of you may have met my other Ukrainian “son”, Tolik, when he was in San Antonio a few years ago. He is an awesome young man, who loves the Lord and loves people and is also extremely funny. I met Tolik on my first trip to Ukraine and loved him right away. He was on our mission team and was one of our translators. His passion for God and the kids shines through him. His whole family shines with God’s light and they all have a wonderful sense of humor. It amazes me that they would invite strangers into their home who don’t speak the same language and who would have a very different schedule than them. Tolik’s mom and dad do not speak a lot of English but it doesn’t keep them from allowing Americans to stay with them and it doesn’t keep them from communicating with us. We all talk and laugh and fellowship together. It’s adorable and such a blessing to see what a strong example of love Tolik’s parents’ marriage is. They adore each other. Mamma Luda (Tolik’s mom) gives God the glory for everything-the fact that they have heat, and so many in Odessa do not, the fact that they have jobs, food, and a home, and a strong Christian family-all the glory goes to God. Slava Bogo-Praise God. Mamma Luda’s mom is also staying here. She lives in a village that is a few hours away and she has no heat. She does not speak English but she is so fun to talk with. She LOVES Bill! So does Mamma Luda. “He good man.” :)  Yes, he is. Bill tells them “good morning” in Russian and gives them lots of hugs. We really appreciate them so much.

My other “son” has been wonderful about picking us up when ever he can and taking us to go get Luke. We have done that two times so far. It has done wonders with bonding. Luke is warming up to Bill, who he really hasn’t spent any time with before. We ate at a cafe style restaurant above a store two nights ago and Luke loaded his tray down with lots of food. Mamma Luda and Papa sent some apples with us from their farm so we could give them to Luke. They are so delicious. Luke checked out the computer with every button available and we looked at pictures on it as well. We wanted WiFi so we could see more things so we decided to go to McDonalds for WiFi and coffee. Luke ate both apples on the way there. McD’s WiFi wouldn’t work so we ate ice cream and drank coffee and played with apps on the phone and talked a lot. It snowed a little while we were inside.

Last night we went to pick him up and he said he was at the police station. That scared us all a little but he said it was ok, he was making a police report about a stollen phone. When he came to us he explained it all and also said he made one before on a stollen wallet. I asked if it was the wallet we gave him. Awww, you should have seen his cute little face. He barely, barely shook his head yes. It was ok, of course. It’s not his fault. I asked him if the pictures were in there and he said no. “My son” who is driving us explained that Luke is learning all about children’s rights in school and he read all about what his rights were with stealing from a child and he made his case to the police and they wrote everything down, including his 13 grivna, which is $1.62. Luke said the police liked him. I have no doubt. :)

We all went to a Pizza restaurant that had WiFi but....of course....it wouldn’t work on our phones or computer. Frustrating but oh well. We had a great time. Luke took a million pictures with my phone and joked a lot with Bill by taking his picture. Later in the evening, we called Pastor Oleg to join us. We had another great visit. My “son” then had to go run an errand for a friend so we left to go take Luke back. He has to be back by 10:00 anyway and we got him there just in time.

Today we will go get Luke but I don’t know exactly what we’ll do. We will meet my good friend Alyona (a different Alyona. Our mission team calls her Tall Aloyna) later in the day and probably go to her house. Alyona also translates for us and is part of our mission team when our group from SA Christian School goes to Ukraine. She and I love each other like sisters. So we call each other “sister”. 

Tomorrow we will go to Tolik’s family’s church. We have been there a few times before and are looking forward to it. Next Sunday we will go to Pastor Oleg’s church and can’t wait for that. Luke will be there too. Oleg already told Bill to have a small speech prepared. We hope to go to a church that is by Orphanage #5 some time as well. We have gone there a few times in the summer. It is the church that our mission team has been allowed to take many of the orphans to. 

Please pray for Tolik as he has had a constant pain in his neck and head. He had been unable to find out what is causing the pain and he is miserable. Also, pray for us to get a certain judge when we go to. I won’t go into detail here, but God will know what you’re talking about. Also, continue to pray for bonding and for peace in Luke’s spirit about his decision. 

Bill and I feel so blessed to have so many friends here and also so very blessed to have so many friends and family taking care of our family at home. Our kids have been telling us how well they are being taken care of. They are overwhelmed by the care and love people are  showing them. Thank you so much! We love all of you so much and appreciate everything you are doing! And thank you so much for your prayers and your encouragement. 

Soccer family.....GO LIONS GO!!!! We can’t believe we’re missing playoffs but we know you’ll cheer on the Lions extra loud for us!

One of the views outside the apartment

Leaving Kiev was not very fun. Our flight was at 8:00 so we got up extremely early so that we could have all our stuff together, make sure the apartment was nice and clean, make sure our bed was changed, and towels washed, and ready to walk out the door at 5:15. I got up at 3:30AM. Sorry...I realized later that I repeated some of this....I can't keep up with myself.

Our taxi driver took us to where Karen was staying, about 15 minutes away, so that we could give her back her keys to the apartment. What an awesome thing it was for her to allow us to stay there! What a blessing! Off to the airport we went. George, the taxi driver, dropped us off on the coldest morning of our lives. We took our 3 large bags, 2 carry ons and 2 back packs and made our way inside. We couldn’t find a flight to Odessa. Finally, we got in a line and found out that we were at the wrong terminal. No problem, they said. Outside is a sign for a shuttle bus. Outside we went and waited. And waited. And waited. I had to go inside because I couldn’t stand the could. I went back out to wait some more but we decided the shuttle wasn’t coming. I went in to ask again and a different lady told me that the shuttle buses do not start until 8:00AM. THAT would have been nice to know 20 minutes ago! It was seriously below zero out there. She said we can walk; it’s like 3-5 minutes. Normally, we could have but we were just so cold and we had all that luggage and really didn’t know where to walk to. There were taxis all around so we asked one to take us there. He was only too glad to since he charged us the same amount he would have charged to take us to a hotel or downtown. We were desperate and he knew it. 

All was well from that point on. Some how, all our luggage was right at or below the required weight. We have no idea how that happened except that we did give away some peanut butter gifts to Artem and a few other things. We also did some readjusting with carry ons. Not only that but she asked where we were flying from and didn’t charge us for the 3rd piece of luggage. God is good!!! Our plane left very late but it didn’t cause any problems with our friends picking us up; they were watching for the times in Odessa.

Our good friend, Viktor Migo, who used to drive for us on our first mission trips with Babushka Lela and who also picked me up when I was by myself last year and brought me home to a feast his wife made for me, picked us up from the airport along with one of his sons. My long time friend, Artyr, also met us at the airport. Artyr is about 21 or 22. I met him when he was about 15 and in the orphan camp at Camp Viktoria. He was my self proclaimed “personal translator” and we were instant friends who have stayed in touched through Facebook and Skype all these years. Viktor took us to where our facilitator, Alyona, was meeting us to start right to work. Alyona used to lead our mission trips when we first started going to Ukraine. She started a family and began to be more involved with helping with adoptions so no longer worked with the mission teams but we also have remained good friends and have kept in touch. It’s a wonderful feeling to be in such good hands and to be with family while we are going through such a difficult and intimate process. I would trust no one else to get us through this. They depend on God in every step they take and also pray for miracles all along the way.

In the other update I shared the details of “Luke” coming to the office and writing his letter. I’ll share more about that experience.

We went to the building where Luke’s dorm is. Old, cold, blah. He joined us in the hall before we went inside. He seem a little stand-offish but happy and polite and smiling. I was thinking maybe he just isn’t quite sure how to act or how to feel. We went inside and he talked away to the lady inside about his trip to Kiev. He wouldn’t make eye contact with us so I thought maybe he was nervous. I started worrying that maybe he was changing his mind or maybe he was just scared. I mean, who wouldn’t be scared of making this huge change in your life. Maybe he was feeling very overwhelmed. The ladies all talked-the social worker (children’s affairs lady), Alyona, and director of the lawyer department of the school talked back and forth for a long time and then the lady at the desk sent Luke out for some reason. When he was called back in, he was teary-eyed. Oh no. I didn’t know what that meant. I was really worried now. I really thought maybe he’s just overwhelmed. Bill told me later that he thought Luke was thinking, “this is finally happening!” Seeing Luke teary eyed made me cry. I just couldn’t help myself. I always cry when my kids cry. Even if they’re in trouble. When he was writing his letter of intent; stating that he wants to be adopted by us, I tried so hard not to cry or to watch him, but I couldn’t help it. 

On the way to the office, Alyona told us we may have to decide on his name today if “Luke” had to write his letter. I had been giving it a lot of thought and prayer but we had not had the opportunity to talk about it. I really wanted to discuss it with Luke a little before making decisions. Alyona said he could think about it and add the middle name later but we didn’t want to make changes and have to re-do any paperwork or signatures. We explained that William is Bill’s name and his grandfather’s name and we would love for him to have it as his middle name. We wanted him to be able to keep his first name if he wanted to. We would change it if there was a different name he wanted. He said it didn’t matter. We were trying to decide yes or no and then Alyona said the whole name together as one name and Luke smiled real big and said YES. So he now has a whole new name with William as his middle name and DeFrees as his last name. Well....it will be official in court.

When he was finished, he handed the paper to the director and sat and watched her and wouldn’t look around. I asked him in Russian, “good?” meaning, “are you ok?” (which I don’t know how to say) and he smiled real big and said yes. Then he started asking questions about me meeting his paster, Oleg, in Houston and things like that. He was feeling better.

When we all left, I called my Ukrainian “son” and told him all about the meeting and all that I just wrote, including my fears about how Luke was feeling. I was still concerned that he was feeling scared and overwhelmed. My “son” said he would call him and check on him right away. By the way....I am not saying who this man is because he could get in trouble from certain people but I can’t say why on the blog or it will be a hint to certain people. I just want to protect his relations. So, “son” calls me right back to tell me that Luke is very happy and very excited! I felt very relieved and happy for Luke that he was happy!

After going to the other office and having the director tell us that he didn’t feel comfortable doing the paperwork we were asking him to do, (which now he has done since then, praise the Lord and thank you for your prayers!! God softened his heart), Alyona had to do some work at the Notary’s office. Viktor Migo, Bill, and I went to McDonalds to get some coffee and food since no one had eaten all day. While we were there, Pastor Oleg called and said Luke was at his house and was very excited and happy! I was finally completely relieved to know for sure that he was not having second thoughts about being adopted. He was just feeling shy. And like Bill said, he must have been thinking, “this is finally happening.”

I’ll continue the story next time. We’re off to go see “Luke”!

Pam and AndriyAndriy and Bill by famous actor statue

God truly blessed our time in Kiev by surrounding us with family in a city we’ve never been to before. We were never alone from the time we stepped off the airplane to the last night we were in Kiev. 

After spending the first evening and next day with our friend, Artem, and now, new friend, Anya, we spent the next day with our friend, Andriy. I mentioned before how we first met Andriy in San Antonio. Craig Moyer, the head of Missions at CBC, called me to let me know two missionaries were in town.  Andriy wanted to meet people from SACS who minister in Ukraine and Craig knew I would love meet someone who is a Ukrainian missionary. It was so awesome meeting him in my home and then in Ukraine. Andriy is involved with an International Sports Mission organization. We met for lunch (pictures on Facebook and MAY get on here someday) and then walked around Kiev for 4 hours. We also rode the subway to get to different parts of the city. We saw the President’s house, the Parliament, statues of famous people, other important buildings, and lots and lots of snow! It was probably zero degrees. And who needs a treadmill or stair master when you’re in Kiev? Answer? NO ONE! We had great fellowship. 

Andriy kept trying to call our friend, Maxim to see if he could join us. We had plans to meet him at 6:00 but we were hoping to meet him while we were with Andriy so that we could have a translator. 

We never got a hold of him, so we got back to our apartment to meet as planned. Maxim is a 20 year old young man who I met on my first mission trip to Odessa at the orphan camp, Camp VIktoria. My son, Mike and his wife, Meredith, are very close to Maxim and his sister, Anya. They are like family. Anya was adopted several years ago and we all still keep in touch with each other with good ol’ Facebook (see it’s not all evil). Anya sent me a message to tell me that Maxim was in Kiev and wanted to know if I would contact him. OF COURSE I WOULD! So, we made plans to meet. Maxim came over and we looked at pictures on the computer of Mike and Mer’s wedding, of Maxim with Mike and Mer when they were all younger (6 and 7 years ago), family pictures, and pictures of some of his friends who now live in America. We had fun figuring out what the other was trying to say in our very limited Russian and his little English. His English wasn’t too bad and he could understand a lot of what he read if I typed it on google translate. Sometimes he knew what it said before I clicked “translate”. We found a virtual Russian keyboard for him to type on so that his words could also be translated. 

We decided to head out for some long awaited pizza. As we were walking there (in the freezing cold...don’t forget - I just want everyone to know it’s FREEZING! hahaha) my cellphone rang. It was my Ukrainian “son” who I’ve mentioned before. Not really my son but he’s like a son to me. So, he calls and says, “MOM! God must love you so much! You won’t believe this! ‘Luke’ is in Kiev!” Oh my goodness. He had to repeat himself about 3 times because it just wouldn’t sink in. He was at a conference or something for school. He got on the phone with Maxim so he could tell him to call “Luke” (remember, “Luke” is a fake name for those of you who may not know) to find out where he is. Kiev has 5 million people in it so it’s HUGE. It was such a God thing that Maxim couldn’t meet us earlier in the day because he might not have still been with us to speak in Russian to Luke. We just happened to have someone with us who spoke Russian. So, we went inside the Pizza place and set up the computer for Maxim to look at the map of Kiev. We just happened to have brought the computer, which we had not done any other time we were out. And we just happened to have someone with us who knew the city and could get us all the way across town (an hour away) on two subways to get to where Luke was staying. Off we went! When we arrived at the hotel, the doors were locked for the night. Maxim and Luke were on the phone as we all paced back and forth trying to figure out what to do. Walking around the building seemed impossible just because we were freezing. There was a store connected to the side of the hotel so we went inside. The doors from inside the store that went to the hotel were also locked. Strike two. Frustrated and cold, we kept pace and they kept talking. I kept looking up at the windows to see if he was looking down. All the sudden, I noticed him---walking out the store doors! OH MY GOSH!!! I was so excited to see him!!!! I gave him a hug and then everyone hugged. We walked as fast as we could to McDonalds and the boys ordered food for all of us and Bill paid for it. I even got a Big Mac, which I haven’t eaten in about 20 years. We were all starving. We smiled a lot and talked back and forth even though Luke seemed nervous and not quite sure how to act. This was different than being there in the summer. It was a completely different setting and a different reason. I was worried that maybe he wasn’t that excited after all. But he seemed happy so I tried to push my worry aside.

Maxim and Viktor typed on the Russian keyboard to explain what kind of conference he was at. He was at a Child Protective rights or something seminar. He wants to be a lawyer and this was a seminar from his class. He was loving it. He gave me a magnet that they passed out there. We had to rush back because Maxim had to be back by 10:00PM. 

Even though he probably got back late, Maxim took his chances and made sure Bill and I made it home safety. When we got off the second subway we told him we could make it back by ourselves and sent him home. Bill gave him his gloves since Maxim wasn’t wearing any and also gave him money because he would have to pay for transportation home and we know he had to pay for it to come and see us. He doesn’t have a job right now. He lost his passport and without that, he cannot get a job. It takes 3 months to get a new one. :(

We had lunch with Maxim the next day and had a great time hanging out with him. He has such a sweet, helpful spirit and I think he would do anything for anyone.

I’ll write about Odessa later. Right now we’re heading off to meet Alyona to sign papers. It’s Friday. 20-30 mph winds and 50% chance of snow. 12 degrees. Yes, please feel sorry for us. Just kidding. No I’m not. Yeah...I’m kidding. :)  It's 2-3-2012( I'm telling myself this because it's hard to keep track of what day and date it is). Thank you for your prayers!

Jan 30th. Our attempt at a self portrait with Maxim.Using Google translation and Russian keyboardBill and Maxim at the Italian restaurant Jan. 31thThis is the road we walked down every day to our apartment.

 Because I have a lot to tell, I'll break the writing up a little. After typing a super long update and losing it for the 2nd time (a warning saying "You must turn off your computer and turn it back on" popped up) right as I was finishing writing it, I decided not to try to re-write it that night. It was already past 2 in the morning. Last night, I was too exhausted to update anything except my Facebook status, which I always update as soon as I can so that everyone I know can be in prayer for what is going on.

In this blog, I'll just give the details of what has gone on adoption-wise and then on the other one, I can write about all the great ways God has been taking care of us. 

The same lady, Juliana, who took us to the SDA appointment, picked us up in a taxi on the 31st to take us for our referral. This was in the same building as the SDA appointment from yesterday but we stayed downstairs. The same lady that spoke to us the day before, came down with some papers. Juliana looked over all the names to make sure everything matched with the dossier and everything looked good. We signed the book and were on our way. The lady was very nice and full of smiles. We took a taxi home, walked to go get dinner, and then headed back home to pack to get ready for our trip to Odessa.

I got up at 3:30 on February 1st so that we could be all ready, with a clean apartment, and clean towels, etc, for our 5:15 AM taxi pick up. We stopped by where Karen was staying so we could drop off her keys to her and then off to the airport we went. Do I share airport details with you here or wait for the other blog? OK...I'll wait. This will be just appointment details. And I already got off that. :)

Our friend, Viktor Migo, picked us up from the airport and took us straight to a Government building where Alyona was waiting for us. My long time friend, who I met at the orphan camp when he was 15, Artyr, met us at the airport as well, and road with us in the van up until this point. Bill and I joined Alyona and waited to be seen by a woman who worked for the Children's Welfare Department. We signed a notary book and she joined us (as a witness) to go to Luke's school. We were going there to talk to the director of the department of the part of the school that he goes to, which is the lawyer department. There, we were to sign another book, stating that we were there. They brought Luke into the office before we all went in (YEA!!!!!) and he seemed a little shy. Smiling and polite, but not really making eye contact and not really talking to us. I knew he had to be scared and nervous. I mean, who wouldn't be. oh....off subject again. I'll talk about that later...in the other blog. So, we all went in and most of the talking was done in Russian, but Alyona let us know things as we needed to know them. Basically, they were explaining to the director that we were adopting Luke and that she needed to sign some documents. During this process, the child has to write a letter stating that he wants to be adopted by these people. Usually, this isn't done on the initial visit, however, since we had the witness from the Children Welfare Department with us, she wanted him to go ahead and write it. She told him what to write and he wrote it. A teacher was called in so that we could ask her questions about Luke. We didn't really have questions since we know him, so we said, "we know Luke is a good student and well behaved, is there anything else you can tell us about him?" She beamed. She loved that he was getting a family, she told us, and she said he is a very good student and very smart and kind. She said he has difficulty in English (she is an English teacher) and we said we would help him in that and told her we have great difficulty in Russian and we all laughed. That was about all, so we all left and had to go to the head director of the whole school at another building, which we drove to. By the way, I will mention here that it's about ZERO DEGREES!!!! I mean, it's dadgum freezing cold and windy!!! OK, so we get to the other building and we wait and wait and I started nodding off because I'm freezing and I'm sleepy. We go into an office and the girls start explaining to the man what we are there for. He has only been at the school 2 months and has never done an adoption. He was supposed to write a letter explaining that Luke is a good boy and that he would be in a good place by being adopted by us. He did not know if he had the legal right to write and sign such a paper and he didn't want the responsibility of writing such a paper when he didn't know Luke. They talked about this for quite a while and he wouldn't change his mind. He finally said that he could talk to the teachers and get a report ready but it would be no sooner than 2 weeks. UGH! SO, we are praying that he will change his mind or that they will find someone else who has authority to sign this document. They were going to try getting a print out of the law showing him that he has the authority. He signed and stamped several documents so Bill and I were all excited, thinking he finally decided to sign papers. He shook our hands and thanked us for adopting and wished us a fast process and good luck. When we left we found out those documents were just stating that we were there.

Finishing that, we went to a lawyer's office so that Alyona could get our things notarized. She said it would be 30-40 minutes and would not need us. Viktor M., Bill, and I went to McDonalds and ate, got some coffee, and chilled a bit.With Alyona’s to-go order,  we then went back and signed the papers that were ready. There is another problem with the regions of the school. No one knows yet who signs certain papers. The school and the dorm are in separate regions so there is a question of who signs what. They are figuring that out. It's a big deal that it is done correctly before it gets to court.

Today Alyona will be doing a bunch of behind the scenes work and will call us to join her to notarize papers later in the day.

Ok.....That's the legal stuff.....all caught up. :)

so, yeah, I just wrote an awesome, beautiful (not well written, but hey, it's not Lit class, right Mr. DeFrees?) wonderful story and I just deleted it. UGGGHHHHH It's almost 1:30 in the morning here so guess what? I'm not re-writing it tonight. But, I have really cool news. God is so good. That isn't the cool news, although, yes, that IS cool news! He IS GOOD!!! He is incredible! (Right Dana?) :)    I will tell you though, that the SDA appointment went perfect. No problems once they found his papers. :) Thank you all for your prayers. We have perfect peace. 

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We arrived in Kiev with absolutely no complications at all yesterday, at 1:05 PM. All our planes were on time and we made it to all our gates in time, without even running. We had time to sit and relax between flights, but didn't have to wait so long that it seemed endless. We were able to sit by each other on every flight and Bill always had an end seat, which was extra nice. We were especially glad on the long trip because there was very little room on that plane, size wise. I even had an empty seat on the other side of me. In front of us, were some very bratty, whiny kids. They must have tattled every 5 minutes and must have said, "that's not fair" the other 5 minutes. The dad answered in a tone that was almost as bad as theirs. As annoying as it was, it made me think of how I must sound to God sometimes. Annoying, and whining, and saying, "That's not fair". He puts up with it all and loves me anyway and gently tells me to get over myself and see the bigger picture, please. 

Our good friend, Artem, and his friend, Dima, picked us up from the airport in Kiev. We knew it was cold in Kiev. We knew it had been snowing. BUT OH MY GOSH IS IT COLD!!! We walked outside and felt that cold air and was shocked to feel just how cold it is! Dima somehow got all our luggage in his car and we made the long drive to our apartment. Bill and I are staying in an apartment owned by Karen Springs. I know two other adoptive parents who have stayed with her before so I connected with her from their blogs. Karen is babysitting her cousins and isn't here but we got to meet her yesterday and loved her. We hope we get to spend some time with her. She also works with orphans. www.orphanspromise.org   I think she and Dana need to talk once Dana gets here. :)

After Bill and I got settled in the apartment and unpacked and rested a bit, Artem and his girlfriend, Anya, came back to meet us and we walked around the area for awhile and looked at the sights. We went inside a church/mission and walked around, took the subway, which is very far down underground. We rode down on the fastest escalator we've ridden on, and then a second escalator and then caught the subway. It is the deepest subway in Ukraine and the 3rd deepest in Europe. We had a wonderful dinner, which was chicken with sour cream and cheese on top of slices of potatoes and a salad. It was delish!

The walk home (after ride the subway back) was even colder but it was also great to be out with our friends, just seeing a new place. Walking on the sidewalks reminded me of when I was a kid in Missouri. We used to "ice skate" with our snow boots on the icy sidewalks or in the ditches of ice. That is exactly how it felt walking on the sidewalks last night and again today. We had to take each step very carefully because you never knew which step was going to send you foot flying. Bill caught me a few times already and, thank goodness, neither one of us fell in the process!

This morning, Bill and I walked about 10 minutes to meet Artem and Anya for breakfast at a cafeteria style restaurant. I was surprised by Artem who brought me a box of Ukrainian chocolates for my birthday. :)  So sweet. Get it? Sweet? I had quiche with green peppers and other veggies and ham and Bill had a pasta stuffed with potato with a creamy sauce. I also had coffee of course (last night too). 

We walked another 10 minutes to church. Their church has two services and has about 1500 members. They are in a building that is used for a theater. We loved the service! We were earplugs to hear the sermon translated. We loved the music! They had a horn section, drums, keyboard, a praise team, and a choir that swayed back and forth to the music. For those of you who live in San Antonio, I can tell you it was like a mini CBC in Ukrainian. You would all have loved it! The worship was awesome. The church was very friendly. Bill and I received a CD for visiting. I can't wait to add it to my iTunes.

I'll be posting video of the service to the blog as long as I can figure out how to do it. I may add pictures tonight before I go to bed but I probably will not proof read this before I post it so no telling what mistakes you will find. I know you are forgiving people and won't hold them against me. ;)

After church we walked back to the same restaurant that we went to for breakfast. Two of Artem and Anya's friends joined us. One of the girls who was there was on the praise team that morning. For lunch, we had the same delicious chicken and Bill also had borsch (a kind of soup) and a kind of apple dumpling that we all helped him eat because we were all full.

We went to a WWII musuem for the afternoon. Anya arranged a private, professional translator to give us a tour. WOW.....so informative and interesting. We learned a lot about what Ukraine went through during that time. Hitler was one sick man. It reminded me a lot of what I read in the book Pastor Oleg gave me, "Goodbye is not Forever", which was written by a lady who grew up in Ukraine during that time period. It's a great book by the way! We rode the subway and a few buses today and then walked home. Even though it was early evening, we took a nap. I tried catching up on facebook and email and had a blast talking with some Ukrainian friends. Some, I just connected with on facebook for the first time. These are kids who I knew from the orphan camp and now young man lives here in Kiev and we will see him tomorrow. One we will see in Odessa when we get there. Tomorrow we will also see a young man named Andrei. I may have mentioned this in an earlier post; Andrei and Nick came to our home for dinner a few months ago. They are missionaries and they use sports to minister to kids all over the world. Andrei has soccer camps and Nick is from Moldova and has basketball camps. They teach kids about God's love and salvation during these camps. Andrei will be in Kiev tomorrow so we will get together with him.

We had a great skype time with our son, Mike and his wife, Mer. Then we skyped with Dana, TJ, Trent, and David. It was great seeing our kids!!!! We miss them so much already.

ok....it's 12:45 at night....our SDA appointment is 11:00 tomorrow. Luba (co-worker of Dima) is picking us up at 10:20. I'M GOING TO BED!!!!!!!!! Pictures will have to wait. I give up.

We have an appointment date!  We have been waiting on God's timing and trusting in Him, but it has been so hard. Knowing and believing that He is in control of the timing of the appointment date and believing He has everything in His hands, is easy to say, but is hard to rest in. Yet, we did rest in this because we did (do) know that God is capable of more than we can think or imagine. He constantly reminds us of this. He continues to show us how He takes care of our Ukrainian son for us. Still, we just want so badly to be with so it just makes it so hard to wait. Well, the waiting is almost over. We decided we will not blog his name until he's adopted. We've heard of reasons why we shouldn't plus we agreed to it on documents. We have never used his whole name or said where he's from exactly, but we are going to stop using his name for now. So....I'll call him "Luke" for now.

Our appointment is on January 30th at 11:00!!! Right around the corner. We need to be in Kiev on the 29th, which is my birthday!! What a great way to spend my birthday! I will NOT mention which number this is....it's quite an interesting way to spend this one. :)   We plan to be there on the 28th; we want nothing to go wrong with weather, flights, etc. Better to be there a day early, ya know? We will get our stamp of approval on the 30th. This gives us permission to come to Ukraine and travel to Odessa for the purpose of adoption. On the 31st, at 4:00 - 5:00PM we pick up our referral (our YES, you can adopt Luke) and then we can head to Odessa. At least, this is my understanding.

Odessa is 5 hours away and I know most people head there by train. By car or bus it is a 5 hour trip but by train it is 10 hours. We need to decide if we are going to show up at our friend's door in the middle of the night with all our luggage and excited voices or do we wait until morning. OR.... do we fly and get there than night or fly in the morning on Feb. 1. I have prices to check on when I'm done rambling here.I was thinking of going to the college to get Luke to play hookie when we got there, but we were adviced to encourage Luke to go to classes while we are there. This is the first adoption from the boarding school-from an orphan graduate in college- and we need to keep in "good relations" during the process so that everything goes smoothly. Plus, it will lay a good foundation for future adoptions. Dad-gum, I so wanted to be selfish.

While we are in Ukraine we will be asking God to open our eyes and give us wisdom on how He wants us to start His ministry in Ukraine. We feel He is calling us to minister to the orphans who have aged out and given up on college and have no where to go. We want to give them a place to live, a place of hope, a place to learn about the love of God, the love of family, and to learn how to thrive-not just survive. We have no idea how to do this but God is leading us to contacts to teach us.

Our daughter, Dana (who will be joining us in Ukraine after her soccer season is finished-she is an coach at SA Christian HS) and her best friend, Brooke, share this passion for the forgotten teenagers of Ukraine. These friends have always had a heart for teenage girls. The ministry they feel called to do in Ukraine focuses more specifically on the girls who are no longer in the orphanage. They have started a web page called https://isaiahoaks.wordpress.com/ and will be starting a non-profit organization to begin working on what God has called them to do.

God is preparing our family for something big-huge-bigger than big. We don't know what, but we are excited to be used by Him. We are anxious to see the next page of the story He has written.

Right now we are on the edge of our seats as He is teaching us and guiding us. God's grace and love overwhelms us.

We (when I say 'we' I mean all of us...you...me....us....) are adopted by the Father who loves us unconditionally. He sent His son to come and take us home and we are so unworthy.

We love Luke unconditionally. We know him from our previous years of going to Ukraine on our mission trips and we fell in love with him. For me, it was love at first sight. We are going to go get him to bring him home and we can't wait to get to know him more.

I might want to mention that it was love at first sight for all the kids. We all feel that way. When one goes to the orphanages, God's love just pours through you to these kids. The fatherless simply soak it up. They long for His love and acceptance. Their eyes look directly into yours and search them as if to ask, "Do you accept me? Do you love me?" And when you are willing to give love and acceptance, they cling to you and hang on you and drink it up. It's the best feeling in the world to give away God's love. There are several kids that sort of claim you as their own. There is an instant, special bond. Luke is one of those kids and so are others that I can not wait to see when I am back in my second home. I'll mention more of those teenagers while we are in Odessa, complete with pictures. Bill and Dana will want to see "their kids" as well so we will be visiting a few orphanages while we are there. We cannot contain our excitement!

Please keep us in prayer as we realize the enemy will be fighting us each step of the way. Orphans are very dear to God's heart. Fighting for orphans is something the enemy does not want believers to do.

Waiting.....

I'm not the most patient person in the world and I am really not that good at waiting. But.....I'm waiting. What choice do I have? It takes about 3 weeks to hear from the SDA office once the dossier is turned it. Our dossier was turned in on the Monday after Thanksgiving. That seems forever ago when you're waiting to hear your "due date". Dima thinks our court date may be in January; I just can't WAIT to find out!

The thing about waiting is, I know God doesn't expect me to sit around doing nothing while I wait. Remember the story in the Bible where the followers of God sort of get scolded for sitting around looking in the heavens for Jesus to return? Yes, we are supposed to anticipate His return, but we better not just be sitting around looking up at the sky while we wait. Hang in there...I'm not comparing Luke to the return of Christ.... I'm just talking about waiting and doing nothing while we wait.

While we wait for our court date, God is unveiling more of His plan for a ministry that we feel He has been calling us to do in Ukraine. We have a burden for the kids who have aged out of the orphanage. We have come to know and love so many of these teenagers over the years because of our many trips to Ukraine. We have seen them try to survive after they graduate from the orphanage. They go to "college" (like high school) and live in a dorm or they go to a trade school. They receive money from the government to buy food and clothes but there is not really any emotional, spiritual, or loving support. There are some local churches and ministries that help them but there they need more help.

God has been blowing our minds lately with all the people He has put in our paths. Over the last few months we have met so many people who have, or are, adopting and who also have this same passion. I have met several people who have adopted "my kids" over the past several years and we have kept in touch. They have been encouraging me while I've been going through this paperwork process and they've been sending me blogs to read, which have also led me to meet more people. I have had some awesome phone conversations with people that I know God put in our paths for a purpose. We even talk about how God is bringing a picture into focus or bringing pieces of a puzzle together. Our church is also encouraging us on what God is doing and where He is directing.

One person that we are very much looking forward to talking to is a pastor, Clay Peck, in Colorado. I think I posted his web page and sermon link on an earlier blog. After reading his blog and listening to his sermon, we know his passion. The church where he pastor's has a transition house in Ukraine and they are starting a 2nd one. The transition house is a home where orphans may live once they age out of the orphanage. 

In Odessa, where we are adopting, there is a home called House of Hope. It is a home for boys that was built by Harvest International. This was a dream of Babushka Lela's. If she were still alive, there would be a house for girls as well. The home is beautiful and has a Christian man and wife who help the boys live as a family and learn life skills. They go to school and then college and they will stay until they are finished with school. They learn about the Bible, the love of God, how to live as a family, and basic life skills. The home that the church in Colorado built does the same thing except that the kids move in after they graduate.

Everyone we are coming in contact with have this same desire......to minister to the teenagers who have no hope. The one's who have no family to run to for help with homework. The one's who have no one to go to when they have had a bad day. When the dorm is empty because the other kids go home to their families, these kids are still at the dorm with no one. They have no where to go do their laundry, and believe me, they do not have much in the way of laundry. I've actually seen kids leave summer camp because they have aged out and they leave with a small bag (like a Walmart bag). Not a full Walmart bag, mind you, but a small bag. That's all they have. Those who have adopted can attest to this as well. So imagine, if you will, if you were this 18 year old in college (my "college" Luke is 15) and you're in this dorm with other kids. There is no adult supervision. There is no one to motivate you or cheer you on. There is no one to guide you. No one to help you with your class work. No one to teach you how to cook or clean or sew. Oh, and did I mention, no one to keep your things from being stollen or to protect you?Maybe there is someone from church, and I pray there is, because I personally know people who are ministering to these kids, but imagine you are one that is missed by the church. You try to go to church but you only know about the Orthodox church and it leaves you empty and confused. You have never known unconditional love so you look for any kind of love. You do anything to keep from feeling the pain of loneliness and failure so you begin to drink and smoke. Drinking doesn't kill the pain any more so you move on to sniffing glue or doing drugs. Many of the teens end up dropping out of school and end up in prostitution or sex trafficking. They end up living on the streets and they do whatever one must do to survive the streets. Crime is a necessity. They end up in jail. Unfortunately, this is a cycle and is how many of their parents lived their lives, which is how these kids ended up in an orphanage in the first place. And, sadly, many of these precious children of God commit suicide. How sad. How sad is that. There are statistics but any one who knows me knows that I don't like numbers so I'm not giving the statistics, plus, they take away the faces and I know the faces. 

There are a few orphanage graduates that I keep up with across the world. I love them dearly and I feel like they are my own. One of them is a mess. I mean he is a real mess. He has been rejected, picked on, unloved, and abused and he is searching for love. Even though he knows God is love and he knows he should live for God and give his life to God, he just can't seem to. He accepted Jesus when he was younger but has had no dscipleship or leadership. He is surrounded by the wrong life styles and is having a hard time breaking through. But God is reaching him by our constant conversations and through my dear friend/son who lives in the same city. Neither of us have given up on him and he knows we're here for him. Another young man didn't like the idea of school very much and wanted a chance to get out. My dear friend/son helped him get a job on a ship as a sailor. This isn't an easy drive-a-boat sailor job, basking in the sun. It is a hard, hard life where he scrubs the decks and does physical labor. He gets to travel all over the world though, and he seems to love it. I pray God protects him because I know the men there are not the most godly men in the world and I pray he stays strong in the Lord. 

It's the kids, young men and women, like this that we want to be there for. We have no idea what our task is but this is what we are looking into while we're waiting. We will find out more while we are in Ukraine as well. There is a lot of "down time" while we are there. "Hurry up and wait" as my friend, Alyona, says (Alyona will be our facilitator in Odessa). 

 Bill and I  have wanted to do something for 6 or 7 years but didn't know what to do. We would even love to bring the older kids here on student visas and send them to college while they live with families and let them go back to Ukraine ready to thrive, not just survive. God is a big God and there is nothing too big for Him. He just needs willing servants. He equips those He calls.

As Clay Peck says, "God doesn't call the qualified, but He qualifies the called"

AMEN!

I hope you were able to follow my "all over the place" writing as I just put my thoughts down. I've had too many thoughts bouncing around in my brain to put them down on 'paper'. God has just been amazing us over and over again with every connection and we've been excited and overwhelmed to know He is working and leading. He loves these children more than we do and He will see to that they are not forgotten. I want to be used by Him however He wants to use me. AND I want to go get our LUKE!