Day 3 & 4

What an amazing Easter celebrating what the Lord has done and finished! Literally. Easter we went to church, then home to meet Oma and Opa. They all hugged and got easter baskets. Oma cooked amazing lamb chops and everybody loved them. Swimming with cousin Riley and cheesecake for dessert. After they left Steve took the boys and Heidi bike riding at the park, and Gabriella and I snuggled on the couch and watched a movie. Next day = structure. Need routine. With 4 boys playing ALL the time, it could get out of control. So we did our devotion and schooled a bit in the morning. Calendar, numbers, phonics. Just the essentials. Next a short word factory movie. Lunch - a loaf of bread and a pack of cheese for grilled cheese. haha - food will go quickly. Steve is fixing the sink so both sides of the double vanity can be used. 6 kids brushing their teeth one at a time takes too long. Next swimming and Costco, again. I may even sneak Target in. Towels hanging everywhere wont work. I'm too OCD for that. I'm not giving up my clean house just yet. Note to self, cook dinner at lunch. Thanks to Rori we will also implement quiet time with reading or books for 30 min. late in the day. Thats all for today. Hey! I got a chance to blog. Yipee.

Home Life

4/23/11 Day Two. But let me back up 2 days. Thursday I woke our bio 3 up at 11:30 and made a new record's time drive to MIA. They touchdown at 12:10. We park and run in to greet them. So exciting. We see them, they see us, we run arms outstretched to eachother. Kids to eachother, then Steve and I, then Steve and kids and me and kids. Great feeling. Luggage arrives, drive home, and see their excitement as they walk into their rooms. The boys were like , woah! And Gabriella has a huge smile on her face and says, soo big! Play till 2:30am, or should I say the boys all play till 2:30; then we crashed. Friday morning - breakfast - cereal and oj. They do not like their drinks too cold yet. Early swim time for the boys and Heidi. Then Gabriella, Heidi and I started things out right.. pedicures. A little girl time and we all chose blue colors for our paws. Then lunch of Mac and cheese. Okay, at this point it starts to dawn on me that food is going to go fast and in large quantities. Large quantities. Like 3 boxes of mac and cheese, without me and Steve eating. I was like Costco every 2 weeks, but it may be every week. Okay then - we'll cross that bridge when we need to. Afternoon swimming, shoe shopping at Rack Room, then baseball practice for Logan. The kids all played at the playground and Logan is hammering it in the field. Steve throws a bit to Nicolas, and he's a hitter. But not sure if he likes it yet. Probably have to spend alot of time at the fields torn between both baseball and soccer. (Football) Going back to shoes. Ukranians wear their shoes very small and tight so they have small feet. ? Well poor Marcus' toes are smooshed together so we will have to untrain him and get him to be a real Floridian... barefooted!  Working on that today. Nicolas is alittle sunburt and Marcus too, so we will spend most of our noon time inside playing games. Thankyou to my friends for understanding that we need to bond inward for awhile. We will have lifetimes together to grow all our kids God's way. Well, this is surely a very special Easter time. Resurrection Day. Amazing God that has placed this in our hearts, fueled it, and then sees it thru till the day we will be complete. Thank you God for your life and your heart.

Last Day

3/31 So it's my last day. Sad to say dasveydana for awhile. Don't know when or if I'll be back. I'll definitely miss the ark and it's beautiful inhabitants. Last nite we handed out all the shoes and clothes we collected for the kids back in America. Very fun. Everyone was very happy. I still need 3 pairs of shoes. Artur, Nastia and Ileana's shoes either didn't fit or they didn't get any. Let me know if anyone has it on their heart to supply them. I have their sizes and we can mail them. Also barbies and barbie clothes are wanted. The girls were all grateful and didn't want more than their share. There were extra clothes and I told them to keep them all. It was really sad to say goodbye to a few girls in particular. If anyone is remotely interested in adopting, please please come see me. It's now a count down till my family comes home. We all can't wait. 20 days. Logan is going to make a countdown calendar. The first thing my biological 3 said how much they are looking forward to April 21st.

It's Official

3/29 A new day in history! Today we gained 3 more beautiful children, all at the same time. Praise the Lord, for He is Awesome. Headed into Kiev at 12:00 and stopped at the mall for lunch with the kids. They tried sushi! Gabriella liked it, and the boys said so-so. Then while the guys were exchanging money, the girls did some serious bonding while window shoppping. Actually, we have alot of the same tastes. Good stuff. Then over to the court early. Once there, a tall attractive lady comes over to Gayla, and introduces herself. I tell Gayla to tell her she has a great jacket, and then Gayla turns to me with a smile and says she speaks very well English. ok then. Turns out she is the prosecuter. Good thing I really did like her jacket right? We are ushered immediately into the small court room. The prosecuter comes in, the secretary, the shloozba lady, the director at the Ark, Gayla, and the 5 of us. The kids are asked to wait outside and the judge, a very attractive young, underline young, lady enters with 2 jurors. One is a young female and the other, well lets just say he was an older gentleman with a not so happy look on his face. The judge goes thru all the formalities of our names, addresses, dob, jobs, etc. After 20 min. of this, she looks at Steve and wants to know how you met these kids and why do you want to adopt them. I stand with him and answer some questions. Now this whole time, the older gentleman is practically shaking his head at us. I think I may have heard him growl too. Then the question of homeschooling comes. I take this one, and explain how and why we do this in America. Then just to solidify it, I mention the public schools are not so good. The man then replies, in perfect English might I add, I send my son to public school in New York. great. So an hour more of questions like how can you afford it, manage 6, and do your kids want them, we begin to wrap things up by hearing from all the other people in the room. They each stand up and say it is in the best interest of the kids that they be adopted. All except the judge and jury at this point. Oh, the man also asked if we homeschool due to our religious beliefs, and what kind of church do we go to. Looks like he read the file too.  Anywho, they then bring in the kids and ask them each indivdually if they like us, like America, what kind of food did they eat, do they like the food better in Ukraine or America, what do they call us and much more then I can remember right now. They answered all respectfully and seemed to even make them smile at the same time. Then the judge and jurors leave to discuss their verdict. The prosecuter and I converse, and she has a few more questions for me, but compliments too. She mentioned how the kids already look like us. We speak easily now, and she tells me not to worry they are for sure yours. Enter the judge and gang, and they officially read the verdict. Yes, the court recognizes and grants you full and sole custody of Gabriella, Nicolas and Marcus. Congratulations!

Volleyball vs. Paner Ball

3/28/11 After our 2 square meals, homework and computer time, and 4 haircuts later, we went outside to play some ball. Very fun. The kids wanted to play paner ball (?) and a few of us volleyball, so we compromised and played both. Actually the paner ball game is very fun. Nicolas is some player. He rushed in almost every time to save the ball. Nice to see him in action. Then 8:00 and my suitcase arrives - yah! Rushed upstairs and brushed my teeth. Good feeling. More tomorrow...

They're Back

3/27/11 After 3 decent flights and a good sushi dinner in Detroit, we are greeted by our lovely daughter Gabriella and our close friend Barbara. Except for the sad fact that MY suitcase, carrying almost all the kids shoes and clothes bought for them by all the saints, was left in Amsterdam. It was not checked thru all the way to Kiev. Prayerfully, it will be delivered here tomorrow and the contents can be handed it. The weather is sunny and about 36. We arrived at 5:00pm and after a quick bite at McDonalds, we make it to the Ark. (Btw they even have good multigrain buns here.) Nicolas and Marcus had been waiting outside and came rushing to us as we pulled in.  So nice to back! After hugs and hello's, we had a heart to heart talk with Anya, their guardian and caregiver that has been here with them the longest. God totally used her to establish trust and an example of what family is supposed to look like. We are very thankful she has begun to fuse together some of their brokeness and rejections. It's the forerunners again Theo! I took notes on all her memories and will treasure it. It's neat how you can have a connection with an almost perfect stranger thousands of miles away from home. We are tied together forever in this process God calls us to.

Step Out

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What are we doing, Church? Maybe the questions we should be asking are what AREN’T we doing and WHY aren’t we doing it? I know we have heard the adoption speech so many times, but maybe that’s the problem. We’ve approached this topic with too much of a familiar attitude and we assume that someone else is taking care of it since we’ve heard it so many times.

In John 15:13-14, Jesus lays out a command to us:
“Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
I am beginning to think that we don’t have a grid for the reality of what will happen when abortion is made illegal in this nation. 4,000 babies are aborted every day in this nation. Where will they go when Roe v. Wade is overturned? The ending of abortion in the U.S. leaves 28,000 babies A WEEK who will need to be matched with families. We cannot pray the life prayer and not consider that God may be asking us to be the answer to our prayers. That day has to come to an end. RIGHT NOW. Seeing the end of abortion in this nation is going to take laying down our lives for the sake of another. It’s going to take us getting out of our comfort zones, giving of our finances, and trusting that God’s leadership is perfect even when taking a child into our home doesn’t make sense to our co-workers, friends, family, or fellow church members.
Lou Engle states in the opening scene of the documentary Justice Waiting:
“When you have set your face to go after God, He will disturb your peace. And if you’re willing to follow Him, the voice will come and the voice will mess up your materialistic dreams, the security of your home. He will send you on circuitous paths that you don’t understand; people will not understand you. You’ll have to make decisions to leave the familiar to go to a land that is totally unknown. But if you take the risk, you’ll find that God is on the other side of that still small voice telling you to step out into the world of crazy.”
Too many of us are relying on the wad of cash that we place in the offering plate passed around at church for the cause of adoption, thinking that we have fulfilled our duty of looking after orphans (James 1:27), and not enough of us are considering taking the road of “crazy” and filling out the paperwork for a home study. The cash is good, don’t get me wrong, but there is so much more that we can do!
In this nation, it is considered crazy to adopt a child when you already have four of your own. Who am I kidding? Having four kids will get you strange looks nowadays. Refusing to be given over to the idea of retirement and adopting or fostering a child (or children) at the age of 50 looks crazy. Taking in women that you don’t know into your home because they have no place to go since their family has rejected them due to their pregnancy looks noble, but still can be considered a little crazy since they’re a girl you met outside of a Planned Parenthood one day while doing side walk counseling.
It was never meant to be the responsibility of the homosexual community, the Muslim community, or the social justice community to save the orphan. It is the calling of the Church to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, even the smallest of them. 1 John 3:17-18 states this heavy truth:
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth.”
Clean out the spare bedroom that you really don’t use anyway and open up the doors to your home for one mother or one child. Cut off the cable TV and forfeit the daily purchase of a latte in order to save some money to feed an extra mouth at the dinner table. Squash the lie that says the wait for having a child placed in your home will be too long. The wait WILL be long if you’re waiting for that perfect child with the perfect hair, eye color and the gender you desire. In reality, if you’re really about embracing the Father’s heart for the orphan, you will welcome a child in regardless of those things. And for the men reading this, we need you. So many of you are willing to wait in the freezing cold for Super Bowl tickets that cost hundreds of dollars, paint your face and belly the color of your favorite team, and tell the whole world about your team winning the big game, but when challenged with speaking up for the ones in the womb, it’s too crazy and controversial. Stand up, men! We need you to be the protectors that God created you to be. Read Malachi 4:6 and go from there.
Let’s stop putting so much stock into temporal, materialistic things that, as we saw this week with the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, can be swept away in an instant. Store up treasures in heaven by putting aside what you think are the dreams and desires of your heart and cloth yourself with the dream of the Father’s heart. He longs to save these children, and He wants us to be the instrument in His hand to do so.