Sunday, October 9, 2011

Another day with the children

We spent some time outside today with Masha and the other children.  It looks like our nice weather will soon be coming to an end though.  David, Jack, Ray, Viktor and I played soccer with some of the boys today.  We had a good time.  Viktor spent most of the day taking pictures of the children who are going to be available to be hosted in December.  We will be posting these as soon as we receive them.  There are 17 children in all.  Please pray that all 17 will get hosted.  Please also pray for our children (and us)...we miss them and miss watching them play soccer and being there when they need us.
Anya translating a letter for Misha
Zhenya & Sasha

Yenakiyevo(from our apartment)

Yenakiyevo(from our apartment)

Yenakiyevo

Yenakiyevo


Yenakiyevo


On the way to the orphanage

Entering Orphanage grounds

Sasha

Orphanage

Me, Masha, Sasha & Zhenya

Orphanage

Entrance to Orphanage

Sasha, Sasha, David & Zhenya

Zhenya, John(Vanya) & Me

Masha, Anya & Emily(Ana)

Brothers (Names to come later) age 7 & 10

Ruslan & Vova

Toly...Just received word he is going to be adopted!

Holly & Misha

Vova, David & Sasha

Ruslan & Holly

Friday, October 7, 2011

Court

We received word today that our court date will be Thursday October 13th.  After our court date we will wait 10 calender days before we can move on to finish the adoption.  Patience is a trait that you need a lot of when adopting from Ukraine, but it is worth it.

I Need a Mom and Dad too...

Since we highlighted Ola in one of our posts we have received numerous questions about her and about hosting/adopting in general.  I want to highlight some of the other children we have had the opportunity to spend time with since we have arrived here.  All of them would be a beautiful addition to any family.


When we arrived at Uglegorsk with Jack & Laura Mertes our daughters (Masha & Anna), who are close friends, came to us to ask that we find a home in America for their friend Rada.  We have had a chance to meet Rada and spend some time with her recently.  She is a beautiful, bright girl.  She would love to come to America to be a part of a family.  Most of the pictures I have of her include Masha and Anna....they are very close friends.  Please consider bringing her to your home.


Emily(Anna), Rada, Masha

Rada & Masha


Emily (Anna), Rada & Masha

Vladik is a boy we were able to spend a lot of time with while we went on our walk a couple of days ago.  He is bright, polite and helpful young guy.  He spent much of our walk trying to teach me Russian words, like for tree, colors, grass, flowers, etc.  He also had a conversation with Ingrid that tells of the desire and need he has for a forever home with real parents and a real mom and dad.  He wanted to know how a family chooses a child to adopt, like Ingrid would give the secret instructions that attract a mom and dad to him.  Read more about Vladik at their blog http://mission815.com/   Please consider Vladik he needs a forever family...could his future be with you?


Vladik

Slavik  & Vladik

Vladik

Vladik & Emily

Oksana is an older girl, 15 yrs old, we has been hosted twice.  The family that hosted her the second time did so with the hope that a family would see and get to know her and then would decide to adopt her.  Unfortunately that has not happened and she is getting close to the age where she will need to leave the orphanage.  Her life outside the orphanage could be much worse that I even would like to think about.  While she was hosted she accepted Jesus, our Saviour, into her heart and she always has her Bible with her and she is reading Knowing God (Russian Version of course)by J.I.Packer.  She really needs a home now, she likes to read and seems like she is very bright.  She is a little shy, but knowing that someone in America might choose her gave her the confidence to let us take her picture.  Don't let her age affect your thinking concerning  hosting/adopting her(but especially adopting)  Her time is running out...please save her from this lonely life as an orphan.




Another Beautiful Day

Yesterday a fourth couple arrived at Uglegorsk to adopt Inna(a 15 yr old) and to choose a second girl(younger than 15), so today, because our group is so big, we were moved to a larger room to spend time with the children.  I was able to get a weak connection with our 3G internet card so we could Skype our children with Masha.  I was nice for the kids to see each other again and Masha had a big smile on her face.  We had problems with the connection though so it was a short chat.
We brought some jugs of bubbles so we went outside to do that because the weather is really nice here now.  I'm attaching a video Masha took while we were outside.  It gives an glimpse of the outside of the orphanage and the playground and a bunch of the orphans are in it.  When we are at the orphanage with Masha and the other children time flies by, but the wait for those 3 hours is long and we wish we could just take home with us now and be with all our children.  God has been using our time here to open the hearts of others towards adoption, so that makes our time here worth it.





Masha & Oksana








Tanya & Anna


Dima



Oksana (15yr old needs parents time is running out)