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| Drinking our flaming coffee with Jill and Kevin |
“Ya ne rozumiyu” or “Ya ne ponimayu”? “Dyakuyu” or “Spacibo”? Who knows, so we usually cover our bases and say both.
We completed all the paperwork to
decline our first referral, and after spending hours sitting in various
offices, we were finally able to turn in said paperwork to the Ministry of
Social Policies and settle into our new apartment in Kiev on Monday. It seemed like a lot of "red tape" just to say, No thank you. But it was comforting to get
back to the city, where everything is walking distance and we can fend for
ourselves without the help of a translator.
We’re here for the whole week (we were told it could be about a week
until our 2nd SDA appointment), so Neil has been able to get quite a
lot of work done. We’re so blessed that
his employer is letting him work a little from here, so he won’t have to use so
much vacation time during this unexpected delay.
This time has actually been a blessing
in disguise. It has given us pause to
reflect on everything that has happened in our first week of Ukraine. Where at first we saw heartache and
disappointment, now we can see purpose.
Where at first we saw missed opportunities, now we see new
opportunities. In the absence of
everyone we love and all familiar things that might comfort us, we were blessed
to meet another couple from Florida who were able to witness to us and provide
biblical encouragement. We will forever
be grateful to them for helping us to lift our chins and refocus. Because of their guidance and company, this
week had new purpose!
We were pleasantly surprised to find out
yesterday that our SDA appointment was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. this morning! Now that we knew what to expect, we arrived
with our game faces on, ready to play.
We were told that there were no new sibling referrals that met the criteria
in our home study, which was disheartening but we were prepared for this. So we got down to business, starting with 9
& 10 year old girls.
After choosing a few to review, we were still not feeling great about our choices. We prayed for God to give us clarity - the heavens opening and a choir singing when we happened upon the profiles we're meant to choose, perhaps? Of course we wanted it to feel that right, that obvious, to us! Suddenly
the siblings binder appears on the table again.
Behold, there was just one sibling group to show us that we had not seen
before! Whether it was truly new, or
perhaps withheld at our first SDA meeting because these were healthier
children, we’re not sure. It doesn’t
matter – either way, His timing is perfect and worthy of our trust.
After a few phone calls to make sure these children were in fact still in the orphanage with no known obstacles, we officially chose them. It is a 7 year old boy and 8 (almost 9) year old girl. Very first thing we did after walking out of the SDA office? Neil bought a soccer ball in Ukrainian colors for the boy. :) Tomorrow we will pick up the referral papers, and on Sunday we will make the looooong journey south to the town of Berdyans'k, on the coast of the Black Sea. Hopefully by Monday, we will be meeting the children meant to come home with us!
Ukrainian, Russian, English.... won't really matter. Hopefully we won't need words to express the things we really need to tell them.
There is no shortage of parks for kids in Kiev, but this one?
It's exactly what it looks like. Seriously???
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| Oh happy day! |
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