Tuesday, June 12, 2012

How Things Are Going

Here's Rachel painting my toes while I read my birthday wishes from our kids back home.   I'm still lovin' my toes!
On Saturday night we went out to the market a few blocks from our apartment.  On the walk back we saw this band of teenage boys playing on the street.  A girl was walking around with a hat collecting donations.  For a few grivna we got to enjoy some great entertainment.
As we walked home we passed a young man playing his guitar singing Radio Head's "Creep."  Then he sang Rhianna's "Umbrella."  His buddy was steering a remote control car with a hat strapped to the top.  We also threw in a few grivna to encourage them.  Rachel asked the singer if he knew any Christian songs.  "Just one.  Joan Osborn's What if God was one of us?" :) (Just a slob like one of us.) It was fun hanging out for a few minutes before going back to our apartment.
When we visited our Big Boy yesterday we noticed that his hair was shorter.  He got a haircut!
It has been very hot here the past few days so we decided to do a morning visitb to beat the heat in the afternoon.  When we got to the baby house we were surprised to see tons of the kids out and about.  Now it looked like 121 kids lived here.  As soon as our Little One saw us his face lit up.  For the first time I took out my camera and asked to take a picture.  One caretaker asked another and they said yes! 
After this picture, John went off with our Big Boy to play with his groupa in the sandbox.  Rachel and I hung out with the babies.  With Rachel holding another little boy, I set down our Little One to take out my camera.  He must have thought I was returning him because he started to get very sad faced and had tears coming out.  My heart melted, and I quickly picked him back up.  It was just precious.
After an hour it was time to take the babies back upstairs to eat and nap.  They allowed Rachel and I to help with this task.  I decided to stick around and took the initiative to remove Little One's outside clothes and put him in a t-shirt and little underwear. 
Let me say--
The babies here are so chunky!
I then asked if I could feed him his kasha.
They said yes!
This was the highlight of my day!
But it made me kind of sad too.  After about 2 minutes into feeding Little One another baby began to be fed by a caretaker.  That baby was done before Little One was half way done because the food was shoveled so fast.  And here I thought I was feeding Little One fast-- apparently not fast enough.
All around us was crying babies-- all wanting to be fed at the same time. 
I wonder why they feed just one baby at a time while 3 or 4 others watch and cry.  I am no expert, but I wonder why they wouldn't make meal time more enjoyable by feeding three at once and having them take turns.
One bite for you.  And one bite for you.  And one bite for you.

After Little One was finished, I got to tuck him into bed for his nap.  Such a sweet treat for the both of us.

Once we were finished with Little One, we went back outside.
I was able to get a few pictures of the kids playing outside.  They all have to wear hats.
Unlike Dennis and Alex's baby house where they had not one single bucket or shovel to play with and when I brought them they were taken or stolen, this baby house has tons of things for the children to play with.
It was so hot that the sand was very dry so a nice caretaker brought out a bucket of water to wet the sand so the kids could actually build little castles with it.
Love this picture.  Like daddy, like son.
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Now to update you where we are in the process.
To our big disappointment, we did not have court today.  The document we needed to be signed by someone back in the capital was not, thus delaying court. . . again. 
As you can imagine, this has brought a lot of stress to John and I. . . a second time.  Such high hopes followed by disappointment.
How many more days before our boys are free?  How many days until we are united as a family?  
We have had to cancel train and plane tickets with an added cost but with things completely out of our control, there is nothing else to be done.
It is what it is.
We miss our kids back home so much.  We miss our family, our friends, our church.  We miss each day that our whole family can't be together.
 We trust everything will work out for the good of the Lord, but personally my faith is weak right now.  Lord give me strength.  We are away from our kids right now.  And it is so hard to be away.  But we trust that the Lord will provide beautiful, gracious hearted people to step up in our absence.  This is so very hard to do.  But we have seen it happen again and again and we are in awe that though things are completely out of our control, our Heavenly Father still has a perfect plan-- even when we don't.  We need to remember this when things don't go as planned.  I especially need to remember this as we wait for this document.
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Ring Ring.
Just in.  We got the document!  It will be on a train tonight.  However the judge is working on a murder case right now and has no room in his schedule.  He is going to work us into his schedule for this Friday-- we hope.
Please pray for mountains to be moved.

15 comments:

  1. Prayers that those mountains move!!! And prayers for your continued strength to move forward each day there! Go God!

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  2. Lord if it is in Your will, in Your name we ask that you move this judge's schedule to fit in the these boy's and their forever family. Lord they are missing their family back home but you already know that. Thank you Jesus for all You do, for all You have done, and for all You will do. Amen

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  3. Just as I was mentally composing a note to you about all the stress, and that God will take care of the whole situation, I read to the end of the post, and, finally, the document was signed! I know you are still under stress, but it is no longer worrying about the unknown. You have the signature. Now we pray for the judge's schedule.

    I see God's work in this. There is a reason for the wait. We don't know why, but He does. Please don't worry about the children at home (other than missing them!). He will see to it that they are cared for. I'm going to concentrate more prayer on them and those who are caring for them. They are safe, and your boys in Ukraine will get extra bonding time before having to share you!

    I know that you know all that I've said, but sometimes it really helps to hear it from someone else, also. I know that it works for me. Love to you all!!

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  4. I am so sorry to hear the delay in getting the last document. I know it has to be incredibly stressful. Praying the judge keeps an open mind and schedule for court Friday!

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  5. Hello. I think, that You shouldn't be disappointed. Sometimes we are sad because things didn't go our way. But remember that God is watching over You. Maybe that plane or train wasn't for You. Maybe You would crash. Maybe You would meet bad people. Maybe You would lost Your bag etc...
    At that times I see it as a good thing. Thank You God for protecting me.

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  6. How frustrating it has to be, stuck there and waiting! How long after the court date can you go home?
    Your little guys are just sooooo sweet! It really makes me sad though, to think of these kids enjoying playing in a sand box, running around outside, having the party and such and then ending up in an institution where they barely get out of bed. :(

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  7. You guys look so cute with the kids!!! I miss you and am oraying for you guys!!
    love,
    Annalyn

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  8. oh man...praying that case gets resolved out of court and you get your court date asap!

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  9. I love seeing pictures of the boys!
    I know how hard it is to have your family separated. Our family was split in half for 14 months for leukemia treatment for our son, 3 hours from home.
    But, I am so happy that you are separated right now because you are moving forward with their adoptions. (not happy you're apart, but happy it's for a good cause)

    You can do this! And those boys are going to LOVE meeting the whole family and knowing they have a forever family. :)

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  10. Kids are so cute! and i hope that some day we can all meet up and I can hold this little sweet boys :)

    I am so sorry about your court and all this situation. Just remember God is in control.
    When we went to Ukraine in January and found out that our boys were not ready for adoption, we were wondering why it did happened to us. But now I know why, and I am so thankful that it did happened that way, even we did lost a lot of money.

    Praying for you, and for your family. It this very hard to be away, and not together as a family.

    Blessings to you

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  11. Praying God will move a mountain and court will be sooner.

    Btw, the reason the have to feed one baby at a time is for infection control reasons. Otherwise, the might have a massive outbreak of something nasty!

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  12. Well, I am sure you miss everyone at home, but seeing that special time you are spending with Rachel (and her opportunity to be in her home country) and the opportunity to learn more all the time about your new boys and their background and experiences....it sll looks so good to me.

    I relished every moment in Russia, as I've probably said before. Sometimes I think it is because it is the only vacation/down time I've ever gotten away from work....that is close to true...but I felt that every breath brought me closer to understanding my Russian children, too.

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  13. The children are darling! I look forward to the day when you all can be reunited. Praying that it all works out for a Friday court date. Blessings to you and your family in CA!

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  14. The lack of paperwork and delays are a decidedly inauspicious omen. Perhaps these are not meant to be your boys afterall??

    It is so very, very important to remain attuned to the Lord's will, even if (or, rather, especially if) it is leaning in not-your-preferred direction!!

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  15. Hi! Care in the orphanage is not what a child would receive if they were in a family.Thank God your boys have a wonderful mom and dad who have the resources to provide for them. Blessings, Pat

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! Blessings!