official meeting

We had our official meeting yesterday, 5/19/11, at the orphanage.  Things went well, but not exactly as planned.  We were supposed to meet all four children with the director but the director did not make it in because of back pain.  Instead, we had our official meeting with the 3 siblings.  Alona is currently in a sanatorium about a 15 minute beautiful walk on a road through the surrounding forest.  I know it is 15 minutes because we walked it today.  The visit with the siblings went very well.  All 3 were excited about us being there.  The staff was also very pleasant.  ALL the people that we have interacted with thus far have been exceptionally pleasant and kind, all with smiles. Even the lawyer at a government office down town Zhytomyr where we had to get some official forms signed was kind.

All 3 children had to write a short letter stating that they desired to be adopted by us.  Then they signed it in front of the orphanage lawyer.  That was neat.  Oksana read Kolia's letter to us.

The children are still having classes, so they had to leave.  We then went off to have lunch and get some official forms signed to begin the separation process for these kids.  They have twin 16 year old brothers at a different orphanage in a town about an hour drive from Zhytomyr.  The government official will send them and email with the request for separation, then she will call the social worker responsible for the brothers to see if there will be any issues with the separation.  Obviously our prayer is that there will not and the signatures will be but a formality.  Otherwise we may have to go down there to make a personal request.  As you can imagine, that adds time to the process.

Vika came with us yesterday afternoon, so we were able to interact one on one with her.  Though we have known Vika since summer 2009, we have not spent much time visiting with her and certainly not working on developing an intimate relationship.  We were able to talk a lot as we waited on several occasions for forms to be printed and signed.  We could feel Vika becoming more comfortable with us through the afternoon.  Later yesterday evening Alla sent me an email to tell us that she had spoken with Vika and Vika was extremely upbeat about having spent the afternoon with us.  Certainly we were please.

Today we went up to the orphanage at about 10 am and the director had made it in, bad back and all.  He was still in a good mood and smiled throughout the visit.  He asked the typical questions, why adopt Ukrainian children and can you afford them.  When he described the children, he made nice comments about all 3, but with Vika, he could not say enough nice things.  He went on and on about how excellent of a person and student she is.  He said that she was not just a child; she was a "treasure."  At that point my wife could not hold it any longer and tears started flowing.  The director noticed and commented that he knew that those were tears of joy.

Having had a bad back myself, I brought some prescription medications on the trip with me.  I shared some with him.  Hopefully it will make him feel better.

We spent quite a bit of time with the kids today.  Maya had us come to one of her classes and sit in.  We tried to keep the class going, but that did not go very well.  The children were just interested in interaction with us.  The teacher was fine with it and so we visited and took picture.

The director signed a letter giving us permission to visit Alona at the sanatorium.  We went with the 3 siblings and Oksana.  We were just entering through the gate at the grounds when Alona spotted us.  She quickly came running straight to Leticia.  She gave her a long, tight hug.  She then came over to me and did the same.  She did all she could not to cry.  We hugged again, then she grabbed Leticia's hand and we walked to a shaded area.  Though I was thrilled beyond words to finally see Alona after visiting with her through Skype and phone for over 18 months, the situation was a bit stressful because of the other 3 siblings.  We have been working towards this meeting with Alona for all this time, but we have only been working on our new relationship with Vika, Maya and Kolia for about a month now.  We are worried about each child’s feels, trying not to make one feel less loved, or one favored above another.  We do feel like we are walking a tight rope when interacting with Alona and siblings.  But we knew this would be the case.  I know that this will resolve itself as each child develops their confidence about being a part of the family, but for right now, their emotions are fragile and we are being very careful to spread the hugs and attention.

Late this afternoon the sibling’s 18 year old brother came to visit us.  We talked for about 2 hours.  He is very nice and soft spoken.  He asked us if we went to church.  Great question and we had lots to say about that.  I asked about his church life and he said that this is new for him.  A cousin of their spoke to him about Jesus, and he has been attending a local Baptist church for about a year.  He is working with young teens at that church.  He gave us his blessing and said that he felt very good about us and he was happy that we were adopting his siblings.  He has invited us to go with him to see the country side of Ukraine which he says we would be very impressed with it.  We may take him up on that later.

The paper work has been submitted for our second SDA visit.  Natalia says it could be Monday afternoon or Tuesday.  She will tell us Monday morning.  Oksana is off to the children’s birth town to correct a legal document for Kolia tomorrow morning.  We will go to the orphanage late morning tomorrow as not to interrupt their classes.  And yes, we want to sleep in!!

Prayer request: 1) that the separation of the siblings from their twin brothers is simple and quick, 2) that we are granted the second SDA appointment early next week, 3) wisdom in interaction with the 4 children.

Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Isaiah 50:7