Perspective...

If there is one thing that this experience has given me, it is Perspective.

Look at our children:

I had this experience with Lake about a month ago in that one day I realized that he was growing into a young man.  I remember looking at him and thinking WOW..when did you get to be this young man sitting next to me.   Then, when you see your kids every day, you don't realize the changes as much I think but, I saw Vika for the first time in almost 3 years and WOW, she looks a lot different.  I remember this little girl that was kind of overweight but, now she is much taller and thinner.  Not that I would love her any differently but, what a change.  I will post more pics later of all of our adventures but, this is one of the things that sticks out to me.  It makes me appreciate the days that I have with my children and the future days to come with all of my children.  They are changing and growing so fast.  It is awesome to see them grow to become young men and women.

Look at our relationships:

When we began hosting exchange students a few years ago, we wanted to learn a little bit of the Russian language and culture while getting to know these kids from other countries.  I never expected that I would see them in their own homes and that their families would host us for a short period of time.  Daniel and Katya's family have shown us such hospitality that it is amazing to me.  This has been an amzaing experience of serendipity that God has blessed us with.  While these families are allowing us to stay with them we are literaly saving hundreds of dollars a day.  The drive from Zapporyzia was about 4-5 hours.  Katya's dad drove to get us and then turned around to take us back to his home.  While we can't do anything to further our process in adoption, we would have been sitting in an apartment in either Zap. or Kiev and paying about $100 / day for the apartment, let alone anything else we would have done like eat.
Today, we are in Katya's home and the boys are playing with her brother.  Her grandmother made us a wonderful breakfast and I am sure we will spend the entire weekend as if we are part of their family.  
What a blessing it has been to have these young people in our lives and in our homes.  As I said, I never expected such a return of hospitality.  This will be a reminder to me to keep my relationships close and give people the unexpected love and relationship that I am receiving from these families.

Look at our country:
Visiting Ukraine has given me a lot of perspective related to our country.  There are a lot of things that we can all think of to make better or that we think are wrong but, there is a lot right also.  Ukraine has some very rich history, and if you know me, I love history.  It also seems to be in the throws of a young democracy.  We have been taught that Communism is bad and socialism is bad but, there are several people here who believe they had a better life and that more people had a better life under communism and, if they had a choice, would go back to it.  Most people seem to live in apartment buildings here that I would call a flat I guess.  Single level dwelling with multiple rooms.  The amazing thing is that the outside of these buildings and the area around them is dirty and a little scary at night to the visitor.  There are two doors that go into the apartment.  First you have to go into the locked door to get into the building and then there is the outer door into the apartment.  Then, there is the inner door and it has multiple locks.  The inside can be whatever the family makes it to be.  The first apartment we were in wasn't s0 nice but, it was liveable.  The second one for just $10 more per night was much nicer.  Again, kind of scary on the outside but, pretty nice on the inside.  We have so many things that we take for granted.  I am sure that there are places in America that are like what I see here in the inner cities but, this seems to be everywhere and in every city that we have passed through.  There seems to be a lot of looking and funny faces at this huge American that people see but, everyone has been very nice to us.

Pics to come soon....

Mike

The Day After

Well, that was fun (not really, but I lack other words).  Our court time was supposed to be at 2:30pm, but we received a phone call at 8:30am and were told that our time had been moved up to 10am.  Now, let's just give you a picture of what this looked like: I was sitting and eating a warm breakfast and everyone else was sleeping in to be well rested for the day that was to come, the phone call comes and it turns my day from total peace and calm to "holy cow, how are we gonna accomplish everything that we need to do in only 1 1/2 hours".  I quickly woke everyone up.  We all threw on clothes and brushed out teeth and ran around the apartment like crazed people trying to get something to eat and look amazing for the judge.  Now, let me add to the that our translator, also named Natasha, was at the train station trying to obtain tickets for her trip back to Kiev later that day.  So, she was scrambling around tying to get a taxi and get back to the apartment so that she could change her clothes and pick up all of the paperwork that she need for the courts.  So, then we had to get to the orphanage and get all three girls ready.  Larissa, the orphanage director had to go to court with us.  This messed up her schedule too, so we had to wait on her for 20 minutes to be ready to leave....grrr...but all worked out fine and we were at the court at 9:59ish....time to spare ;)

Court was a unique experience that I will never forget (though I think that I would like to).  I'll let Mike talk more about that in another addition to the blog ;)  He was finding it interesting to get asked pressing questions from two people at once, oh yeah, in a foreign language.  Anyway, the short version of the stoy is this: WE WERE APPROVED!  YEAH!!!!  :)  :)  :)  Now there is a mandatory waiting period so that we can change our minds if we want to (yeah, right!) and the court can change their minds too....anyway, with all of that done, we traveled back to the orphange and ate lunch with the girls before we left for our next part of the journey.  

Last night we drove to Nikoliev, Ukraine for the weekend.  We are visiting with Katya (our exchange student from last year).  There is nothing we can do regarding the adoption till next week, so we decided to spend the weekend with her.  That should be a bit more relaxing than what we have done the past couple of weeks, huh!

So, next week it is back to Kiev.  We have to travel to the embassy to finish a bit more paperwork then the boys will all be returning home on the 6th of November (speaking as a wife and mom, I believe that will be a happy day for them...this country functions a lot differently than ours...and we have all grown to appreciate the motto "Keep America Beautiful" in a whole new way!)

Ok...two more pressing subjects.  I keep getting requests for two things: how to join and comment on the blog, and clothing sizes for the girls.

So, first off, the blog thing:
to comment on the blog, you must first join it.  You have to look on the right side panel for the link "join this blog".  It will ask for your email and a password (I think)...after you join, you can comment by clicking the link "comment on this blog".  I think that is all that it takes.  If that doesn't work for any of you, just let me know and I will find out more specifics.   (I am not a computer efficianato, so I will have to ask someone smarter than me at computers, hint to Mike, to give you all more detail)

And, the second matter of clothing:
The most pressing is shoes.  We purchased one pair of shoes for all of the girls to travel home in.  Their sizes are 29, 35, and 36 which convert to the following
Anya wears a girls size 11 1/2
Vika wears a ladies size 6
Natasha wears a girls size 3 or ladies 5 (same size)

Thank you so much to all of your for your support and prayers.  We are feeling them!  

Now, we are going to try and add pictures...wish me luck ;)

Love to all of you!!!!

The day before court

The last few days have been quite interesting. Today is the first day that I have been able to get to the internet. I hope to inform you of all of the important details and then I will give you more information in 2 days once we are at a better computer.

We have our official court date tomorrow. This was unbelievable fast! So, please pray for us at 2:30 this time. The kids will need your prayers too, as I have heard that it is quite an interesting affair in the courts for them...the judge can get a bit scary and mean :(

Well, the girls are doing great. I am sure that they are highly confused right now (much like their parents) about this adventure. It is hard to tell what they are feeling. I just know that I get REALLY big hugs each time I enter the orphanage. Anya was sitting on my lap two days ago in a taxi, when we returned to the orphanage, she refused to get off of my lap saying that she wanted to stay with her Mama....HOW CUTE!!!!! (P.S. today when I saw her, she had little pig tails in her hair...oh, that stole my heart!)

We will be leaving for Nikoliev tomorrow night for the weekend since business doesn't progress on the weekends. We are going to visit Katya's family and then be in Kiev EARLY on Tuesday morning to finalize all of the paperwork that Mike needs to complete at the embassy before he and the boys leave on the 6th.

P.S. I believe that our boys, Lake and Chase, are beginning to appreciate home ;) They have been wonderful and I am sure that they are glad that they got to experience this, but there is no place like home!

Again, please keep us in your prayers...tomorrow is the hardest day that we will have through all of this. We are thinking of you all often. We covet your prayers!!!!!

I will update the site with pictures in a couple of days...thank you for your patience!

Much love to you all.

GO GO GO FAST FAST FAST....

Hello to all. This is Mike with another installment of our journey. We arrived in Kiev and had a wonderful adventure in the airport. You can see me for details when I get home in a few weeks but, some souveniers should be mailed and NOT put in your checked bag. I am a very fortunate individual needless to say.

Other than that we have had some bad news. We had our appointment with the SDA yesterday and all went very quickly. Jenya, the 10 year old boy, isn't available for adoption until the end of January. We were told that he was immediatley available but, when they looked for his file, they discovered that he wasn't. We were given the wrong information concerning him and everyone was shocked that this was the case. We, of course, are trying to do everything we can but, there are rules to follow and speeding up his process, even for only a few months of waiting would be considered criminal to them. TRUST ME, I don't want to go anywhere near that issue.

Good news: We travelled by train thru the night last night to arrive in Zapporyzia (SP?) this morning at 6:30 am. We got to our flat and quickly went to the orphanage. It was awesome...as we were walking in Vika spotted us as we were walking thru the courtyard. I wish I would have had my camera on to see her runnning to Paula yelling "Ma Ma"...It was quite awesome. We were able to spend a little time with all 3 of the girls today and then off to get notaries and inspectors, and paperwork and ....HURRY...Fast...Fast....Drive REALLY FAST...(They park on sidewalks, drive the wrong way down streets, drive really fast, speak a totally different and strange language...) I hope to go back to the orphanage tomorrow and see the kids more and find Jenya to spend time with him.

We are really tired but, VERY EXCITED. We are off to get some rest. As always, we may not be able to check email very often but, look forward to sharing the next installment of our adventure.

The Journey Continues...

Hello to all,

We will be in Keiv tomorrow, Wednesday, at approximately 1:30 PM (Ukraine time) with our first meeting with the Ukrainian SDA on Thursday. Then, we will travel to see the girls on a very long train ride. How exciting...and tiring at the same time. I haven´t fully adjusted to the time difference but, all in good stride.

More later,

Mike

The Night Before we Leave

Tonight is the last night that I can get stuff done before I leave. Hmmmm...I think I've decided that it's just not all going to get done :( But, it's okay. These are the times when we figure out what is really important.

Our plane leave tomorrow morning around 11am, so please pray for our travel safety. We will be in Spain visiting Daniel (our exchange student from the year before last). We will try to add some pictures from that part of the trip too.

We will arrive in Ukraine on the 22nd of October and our first official meeting is on the 23rd. We will not actually get to see the girls until around Oct. 27th. Hopefully we can upload the video of when they actually see us for the first time.

We are so excited about this adventure and thank all of you for your ongoing support and prayers. We could not do this without your love and encouragement! Your the best :)

More later!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Well, we are T minus 3 days and counting...I can't believe it. After all of this time (over 2 1/2 years) we are finally getting ready to go get our daughters.

I will blog more as the time grows near...and as often as I can through all of the travels that we are about to undertake.

Please pray for our family's safety and that God travels before us with His infinite provisions.

Thanks for your support!

From our growing family,
Paula K Coleman