Wednesday, December 28, 2011

BIG NEWS!!!!!



“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68:5-6a

First things first… WE GOT A COURT DATE!!!! In adoption world, this is huge, huge news.  Many times, getting a court date is miraculous.  We are one of those cases.  There is much that we have been unable to share for the last couple of weeks.  Keeping quiet is not my strong suit.  Keeping quiet for two weeks is sheer torture for me.  But, for many reasons, keeping quiet and just allowing God to do the miraculous was best for the kids.  So I did it.  When we first arrived in our region, we were told that there was less than a 10% chance of our adoption working out.  We were crushed.  No matter how many times you are warned that these things frequently happen, your heart is not prepared.  Looking back, I am now so grateful that God took us to a place of complete dependence on Him.  He took us to a place where we had absolutely no control whatsoever.  The odds were bleak, at best.  In God’s great wisdom and goodness and sweetness, He has now ushered us into a place that we know that we know that we know He has orchestrated our family exactly as He desires. 

****ON JANUARY 4 at 1:30 pm (UKRAINE TIME) WE WILL STAND BEFORE A JUDGE AND THE SMITHS WILL OFFICALLY GO FROM A FAMILY OF FIVE TO A FAMILY OF EIGHT!!!!****  Yep, you read that right.  EIGHT.  5+3=8.  There were 5 of us.  On January 4, there will be 8 of us.  Not exactly Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, but pretty darn big news for us. Some of you know me well enough that at this point, you are now thinking “Lisa Smith can’t organize her way out of a paper sack.  How in the world is she ever gonna do this????” Good question.  The way I figure it, if God can orchestrate this nearly “impossible” adoption, He can equip me to mother 3 more kids.  He has definitely overwhelmed our hearts with love for these precious gifts, so I’m quite sure He is more than able to orchestrate the rest.  RIGHT?????

Let me try to fill in a few blanks.  We came here to adopt Nicholas and Anya.  You know that part.  The first day we got to see them here was the sweetest reunion you can imagine.  Then we had the great privilege of meeting their older brother, Vanya.  We prayed like mad.  Our new friend, Jennifer, who is here from California and is adopting beautiful Rita, put it perfectly when she said that on our second day with Vanya she witnessed “nothing short of the miraculous”.  In my heart, he became our son that day.  You are seriously gonna love him.  All 3 of our new kids are siblings and have been in the orphanage for about 6 years.  God, in His utter goodness, is allowing us to become their forever family.  We know that we have a God-sized journey ahead of us.  Good thing His Word says He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20). 

So, here is who you will see when we FINALLY get to come home around the last week of January (we will post exacts when we know.):  Vanya is 16 and his new American name will be Evan Bailey Smith.  “Bailey” is Rod’s Dad’s middle name.  Evan is athletic and would very much like to join a gym when we get home.  He is also good at soccer (futbol).  He likes rap music.  Funniest thing he said today was when he asked Rod and me if we would take him to an Eminem concert.  Are you getting a visual of what that would look like????? We said no and decided to introduce him to Lecrae tomorrow.  Nicholas’ name in Ukraine is Mikolai.  His nickname here is Kolya.  He decided he wanted to be “Nicholas” in America when he was with us over the summer.  So his name will be Nicholas William Smith.  “William” is my Dad’s middle name.  “Nicholas” is Rod’s great-grandfather and is a special name to Rod’s Mom.  And Miss Anya made the quick decision that she would name her new stuffed lion “Anya” and take a new name for her new life in America.  We gave her a list of possible choices that would be similar.  Without hesitation, she chose Jarrod’s suggestion.  Her very Southern, very fru fru name will be AnnaBelle Kathryn Smith.  “Kathryn” is my Mom’s name.  She quickly corrects us if we accidentally call her Anya now.  Our little one is ready for a new life.

So there you have it.  Five sons and one daughter.  Nothing short of chaos, madness, and complete joy.  Nothing short of God setting the lonely in a family.  Nothing short of God speaking to the Smiths and then placing a holy passion in our hearts.  May His great Name be praised and may our newest angels allow themselves to be carried to the Savior by parents who are nuts over them.  Amen and amen.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

IKRAINE, UKRAINE, WE ALL KRAINE FOR ORPHANS


IKRAINE, UKRAINE, WE ALL KRAINE FOR ORPHANS

This is Parker speaking today.

The above title is what I wanted the blog to be called but my mom thought that was dumb.  So now that I have the reigns on this thing, I can call it what I want.  Welp, mother and father thought it would be a good idea for me to throw my thoughts on here today.  So hello world.  This may not be as long as it normally is.  I don’t have as much to say as my mom does. 

Logan and I got here two nights ago.  The trip itself was very long and sleepless but it is great to finally be here!  The trip over consisted of an 8 hour plane ride to Paris, then a 3 hour plane ride from there to Kiev, then a 6 hour van ride from Kiev to ZV on very bumpy roads with a driver who had to take very frequent smoke breaks.  From the time we left our house in Kennesaw until we got to ZV, it was 25 hours.  The thought of enduring that trip again to get back home makes me want to cry…so I will just not think about that and focus on being here for now.  I have been looking forward to coming to Ukraine for a while now.  I enjoy going to other countries, I like being away from school and having to work, I’ve always wanted to have a little brother and/or sister, white Christmases are cool, and I enjoy meeting new people.  This trip has all of that.  So I am having fun.  I also enjoy trying to learn some Russian.  My dad thinks he can speak Russian fluently now.  Not true.

The following is my thought about adoption.  My parents have talked about adoption for as long as I can remember.  They always talked about adopting a little Chinese girl for years and years and I kept saying “Why don’t you just do it?”  There were always valid reasons why we could not do it at that point.  I just wanted to have a little sibling. I’m tired of being the youngest.  So when they finally informed me this past spring that they were going to adopt, my response was “Well it’s about stinkin time!”  If I’m honest, my parents didn’t do all that bad raising me and my brothers, so I doubt they will do a bad job the second time around.  And when these new children get older and go to college, I’m sure my parents will just adopt again.  My parents were made to be parents until they die.  I guess that’s not a bad thing.  I’ll just have 18 siblings by the time I’m 45.  No big deal. 

I have learned a lot about life in the past 8 months or so while we have been going through this process.  I have learned that trying to teach a 6 year old Ukrainian girl the ABC’s is one of the most frustrating things ever.  I have learned that once a child knows that you have angry birds on your phone, you will never get it back.  I have definitely learned to appreciate people who can speak English.  I have also learned that (from watching my parents) that living an average life where you get married, raise a couple kids, send them off to college, then retire and sit on your butt watching TV until you die is in no way the life that we are called to live in Christ.  And I have learned that I am no more than a hopeless, fatherless, lifeless orphan without the gift of a hope and life through my adoption into Christ’s kingdom.  That’s a good thing to know. 

Anyway, Ukraine is fun.  There’s not much to do except visit the kids for 2 hours each day.  We can’t go see the kids tomorrow so who knows what we will do.   We can either eat at the pizza place or the “Sweet house” restaurant.  All I have to say is it is a good thing we brought two things of Louisiana hot sauce to spice up our meals.   Also, people drive crazy here.   Which makes me feel better about my sub-par driving skills.  Our friends’ driver hit a person with their van the other day.  I also almost got hit by a car today.  Drivers are out of control and there aren’t really any seat belts.  It’s an adventure. 

Well, those are my thoughts on life.  I’ll make sure my mom puts up another post in the next couple days so you can hear from a good writer.  Dosvidaniya!

-The favorite son

Saturday, December 17, 2011

ONE WEEK IN....

It’s been a whole week since we boarded the airplane in Atlanta for this great adventure.  It’s hard to believe it’s been a week.  It’s even harder to believe how many more weeks we have to go.  And in case you are wondering, we don’t know how many weeks we have to go.  Also, in case you are wondering, we are still cold.  The main thing is that we are with the kids now!!!  The reunion was precious.  Lots and lots of hugs and kisses and tears.  Nicholas kept saying “Thank you very much.”  They have not forgotten a word of their English.  We are such proud parentsJ  We get to visit with them two or three hours each day at the orphanage.  And today’s special treat was getting to have cake and coke together for Jarrod’s birthday.  We all sang Happy Birthday (yep, they knew the English words) and ate lots of sugar.  Also, our new friend, Jennifer, and her new daughter, Rita, joined us.  It was a party, for sure.  Jennifer has become such a sweet friend to us, as we are all in this journey together. 

Before we left Atlanta, we had read tons of adoption books.  I feel like I read every adoption blog out there.  We talked to all kinds of folks who have adopted, are in the process of adopting, and are thinking about adopting.  We felt loaded with information and understanding of the process and the journey.  Today, I realize just how little I knew.  Being here has changed everything.  When I read that the process is an emotional roller coaster, I had no idea.  When I read that anything can happen, I had no idea.  When I read that you have to take each day as it comes, I had no idea.  When I read about how tired and disoriented you are in-country, I had no idea.  A few days ago, when we got to the kids’ region and there was no suitable hotel room for us the first night, I just kept wishing there was some other way to get these children to our home.  I wished we could just “send for them” like we did with hosting.  Now, I am so grateful God didn’t allow such foolishness.  This process is necessary.  Like the pangs of childbirth.  It’s necessary because now I understand just a tiny little bit of what it is like to be in a strange land with only a handful of people who speak your language.  I am beginning to understand how unsettling it is to walk into a restaurant and feel like everyone is staring at you because you are different.  It’s frustrating at times to have to wait for a cab every time you want to eat or go to the grocery store or get a cup of coffee.  And it is downright surreal to be herded through the system at meetings and appointments and asked to sign things you can’t read and pay money to people you just met.  I miss my bed and Starbucks and my routine and buying stuff in American dollars instead of grivna.  There is so much thinking to do when you are in a foreign land with people you don’t know, going down streets you don’t know to eat something you may or may not recognize.  It makes me imagine what in the world it must be like for the kids.  We are asking them to come to a place they don’t know to live with people they don’t really know, to go to places that are so crowded with strange speaking people, to come to church, to sleep in a strange bed, to eat completely different food, and to behave in the midst of it all.  I’m beginning to understand.  And understanding is really, really important.  It’s important as we spend time with them each day while we are here.  And it will be ultra important when we get home.  Much is being asked of them.  And they are just children.  Orphaned children at that.  Perspective matters. 


This is Rod speaking now.  The above words were Lisa’s.  She is the sensitive one, recognizing feelings, emotions, perspectives.  I’m the logical one.  It’s my job to handle the rational items, to take care of the details, interface with the facilitator, get things done.  Isn’t it amazing how God puts 2 people together who complement each other so well?

This is my 4th trip to Ukraine in the last 4 years.  On the previous trips, most of my time was spent in Kiev.  Kiev is a very modern, cosmopolitan city.  It is roughly the size of Atlanta and has similar traffic joys.  You can pretty much find anything you want in Kiev, including shopping (lots of malls), restaurants of all varieties, entertainment, museums, sightseeing, a ton of history (the city is over 1000 years old), parks and a wide main street with lots of window shopping.  We spent 3 days there with friends Oleg and Lena before heading to the city where the kids live. 

We are now in the town of Zholti Vodi (sometimes spelled Zhovti Vodi and literally translated “Yellow Waters.”)  ZV is an industrial town of about 50,000 people.  It is not the booming metropolis of Kiev.  I would call it a quiet town.  We are in a small hotel (possibly the only one in town) where the staff has been very efficient and helpful to us.  There are 3 main restaurants in town and a couple of bakeries.  We have tried 2 of the restaurants and will visit the 3rd shortly.  I’m sure we will become very familiar with them by the end of our journey.  In case you are wondering, there are no Chick-fil-A’s or Starbucks.  Fortunately one is a pizza place.  It will see us often.

There is much English spoken in Kiev, very little in ZV.  In Kiev many restaurants have English menus.  Many of the signs and advertisements have English subtitles.  Not so in ZV.  The restaurant menus are only in Ukrainian and do not have pictures.  Ironically, at both ZV restaurants the overhead music is mostly American / English.  We rocked out to Beyonce, NSync and Dire Straits today while having pizza.  It is so surreal. 

Our hotel TV has many channels.  None are in English.  As I flip the channels, I recognize some American shows with Ukrainian voices dubbed in.  Today we saw the Ukrainian version of the show “The Biggest Loser.”  However, Jarrod and I are thankful for the internet and for Slingbox.  In case you are unfamiliar with Slingbox, it is a device that connects to your home TV controller / wi-fi router and allows you to watch your home channels over the internet.  The resolution is poor and the audio breaks up often but we are getting ESPN.  As we enter college football bowl season, it will be a lifesaver.

Later we will post more about the differences in culture, etc.  There are many hardships and much waiting.  Most days we will be able to see the kids for no more than 2 hours.  After that, there is little to do.  We miss our home, our own beds our cars, our church, the warmer climate of Kennesaw and our friends and family.  As Lisa mentioned, the momentary troubles are like the pangs of childbirth and when they are passed, we will have our children with us.  We are at such peace with this decision and the adventure that comes with it.  We know that God is faithful and we believe He has called us to this.  Therefore, we go, we sleep in strange beds, eat unfamiliar foods, walk in the cold, sit around and wait.  James 1:27 has become our mantra: 

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” 

Keep us in your prayers.  We appreciate it so much.

Ps.  A little known fact from Ukraine: 2% milk and buttermilk look the same in the package when you can’t read the label.  But, boy do you notice the difference in cereal.

Monday, December 12, 2011

WE ARE HERE!!!


WE ARE HERE!!!


May I just begin by saying something that has not been said by this girl in at least two years??  I AM COLD!!!!!  Today our precious friends, Oleg and Lena, took us sightseeing in Kiev.  Got to see the monasteries and the old town.  It was awesome and it was cold.  They said they are in a bit of a warm front this week.  Jarrod almost croaked.  He was wearing 2 shirts, 2 coats, gloves, and a toboggan and kept asking for the sightseeing tours INSIDE.  Still, it was a great day to get out and enjoy this country and spend time with friends.  Oleg and Lena have a passion for orphans and run a ministry called Radooga (you should totally google it).  Radooga is the Ukrainian version of the Student Life camps that we have taken our Burnt Hickory student ministry and children’s ministry to.  We had some time to sit at TGI Friday’s (yay!!!) and talk with them about their ministry and their vision and their desire for the church to love and care for orphans.  It was such an eye-opening time for us to begin to understand more and more about where our new children have come from, and the journey that lies ahead for all of us.  I was reminded again that, without a doubt, our family has been called by God to go to the hard places.  That we have been called to love and minister to and parent orphans.  That all of us, as believers, have been called to die to ourselves.  God did not call us to get our kids through high school and then spend the rest of our days chillin’ in our recliners.  We KNOW and serve the One Who is the Hope for a very lost world.  To do nothing is out of the question.  SO…. we keep on walking in obedience.  We are officially in Ukraine and tomorrow we will officially go to our first appointment and request permission to go to the orphanage and pursue the adoption of Nicholas and Anya.

Here’s what we know about the next few days:  Tuesday morning at 10:00  (we are 7 hours ahead of all y’all in Georgia) we will have that appointment.  Our adoption facilitator (who is our translator, praise the Lord) will go with us and we will confirm our wishes to adopt.  We will explain how we know them already and how much we love them and that we desire to be their forever family.  We have video and photos from their stay with us this summer to show.  PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS TIME.  We must have government approval at this meeting to go any further.  On Wednesday afternoon at 4:00, we will go back to the same office to get our official approval papers.  We will leave there with our luggage and make the 5 hour drive to the region where our kids live.  I should probably say that we are RIDING for 5 hours with our facilitator.  We will NOT be driving here.  Not a chance.  We will check in to our hotel and try to get some sleep.  On Thursday, if all has gone well to this point, WE WILL SEE OUR CHILDREN!!!!!  We will weep and rejoice and laugh and screech (that will be me) and do a happy danceJ (Rod).  After Thursday, we believe that we will begin to be allowed to go to the orphanage each day to visit while we wait for our court date in Dniepropetrovsk.  During the wait, Logan and Parker will come for Christmas!! The thought of all of us being together for Christmas is beyond thrilling.  More weeping.  More screeching.  More dancing.  We don’t know when the court date will be but we are asking God for a quick, smooth process.  I guess everyone who is adopting does that.  We will probably be in their region a couple of weeks before court.  All of us will go to court.  You ought to see the adorable dress and boots I bought for Anya to wear that day.  (I know that is digressing and completely unimportant in this process, but cute is cute and my daughter is going to look cute that day.  Oh, and Nick will be especially handsome in his khakis and sweater.  Didn’t mean to blow him off here, but buying little girl dresses is still a new thrill for me).

Anyway, that’s what’s happening here.  Rod, Jarrod and I are doing great.  Today we have had jet lag that makes us look like we have been run over by a truck.  But we have made ourselves get on Ukraine time immediately.  Caffeine has been our friend.  And speaking of friends, can I just give a shout out to Oleg and Lena and their 3 children??  We are staying in their home while we are in Kiev.  They cooked us breakfast this morning and had coffee waiting and a warm shower and beds and tours and advice and helped us exchange money and prayed with us, and everything else precious friends do.  Rod and Oleg crossed paths on one of Rod’s business mission trips here and we have had an awesome time getting to know them.  They have been such a gift to us on this journey. 

The guys have all gone out to a go-cart track for some guy time and the quiet in this wonderful home is fabulous.  Problem is, my eyes are starting to roll back in my head.  I know about a stash of M&M’s in the luggage…

Much, much loveJ

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

WE ARE GOING TO UKRAINE!!!!!



After weeks and weeks of thinking “we will hear any day now”, WE GOT THE PHONE CALL!!! It’s Ukraine or Bust for the Smiths!  Our precious adoption agent, Allison, called at 7:55 am on Wednesday, November 30.  She said  “I’ve got some sad news for you.  Sweetie, you aren’t going to get to host the kids for Christmas this year.”  My heart and stomach dropped.  Then she said “You aren’t hosting because you will be in Ukraine adopting.”  Friends, I nearly lost it!  I started thanking Jesus and screeching.  Then I screamed to Rod “We are going. We are going!!”  Then it hit me….  I was screeching and screaming into the phone.  Poor poor Allison.  Because of me, she will probably email or text good news from here on. 

Allison then went on to let me know that we needed to leave in 10 days.  10 DAYS.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????  Rod needed to get on to work (2 more mouths to feed) so we prayed together (he prayed and I shook) and then he dashed out the door with newfound purpose.  I was alone.  Still shaking.  You know those sitcom scenes when the woman goes into labor and all her best-laid plans go out the window and she starts running in circles and everything goes haywire??? That was me.  I was in international labor and I could not think.  The room was spinning and I was shaking and pacing the floor.  So I did the only thing that I could think of to do… I walked straight into my closet and straightened my necklaces and began choosing which ones I would take with me.  Oh my word, how I wish I was making this up.  As I type it, I feel like such a goober.  But it is the truth, and I promised myself that I would tell the truth on this blog thing.  After the necklaces were seen about, then I went to sit on my bed to spend some time with my sweet Savior.  The dogs and I snuggled down in the sheets.  I opened my Bible and closed my eyes.  And I laughed.  And laughed.  And laughed.  I felt like Abraham’s wife, Sarah, when she learned she was going to bear a son in her old age.  She laughed at the thought.  So did I.  And I laughed in amazement at the whole stinkin journey.  Psalm 126:2-3 says “Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy.  Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”  That’s it exactly.

So now it is Monday.  We leave Saturday.  The packing has begun.  Can I just give a shout out here to all the Burnt Hickory Student Ministry folks who I love so much??  These are the folks I have had the privilege to go with on umpteen camps and mission trips.  We’ve been all over the globe together to proclaim the name of Jesus.  These people are a treasure to me.  These people are also the ones laughing hysterically now at the thought of me packing for 5-6 weeks.  I’m known amongst these people as a heavy packer.  I always have to have help with my luggage.  One camp, I seemed to find the need to take 11 pair of flip flops.  The news got out and I got called out by name at the next camp meeting and was asked to please cut back.   Now, as we go to adopt, I have received several emails requesting that we pack very light.  So far, I have been unable to remove anything out of my luggage except for 2 scarves.  I had packed 12.  I wish I was making this up, too.  Anyway, we are packing and preparing documents to present to the embassy and shopping for presents for orphanage workers and Christmas shopping and doing a million last-minute other things.  It is not going to all get done.  But, whatever.  On Saturday, at 8:40pm, Rod, Jarrod, and I will be on a plane to go get our children.  Children that we love with all our hearts.  Children who have been in an orphanage for 6 years waiting to live in a home.  We are very very aware that we have been on a journey to get to the JOURNEY of raising and ministering to these wounded kids.  As much as we can at this point, we do get it.  We have been asked lots and lots of questions about this.  All really good questions, for sure.  And so we keep answering “yes” to questions like “Do you know this is going to be exhausting?” and “Weren’t you tired when you were hosting them?” and “Do you think they are wounded?” and “Have you lost your mind???”  And we answer “no” to stuff like “Do you know their whole background?” and “Do you know why their parents gave them up?” and “Do you know if they have learning issues?” and “Do you know how you are going to work it all out?”  THIS ONE THING WE DO KNOW:  We have been called by God to this.  And that is enough.  We are learning that having all the answers is not to be a prerequisite to obedience.  And we are learning that ease and comfort are rarely involved in obedience.  And we are learning to be ok with that.

Please pray for us as we prepare to go.  Much is yet to be done and many many responsibilities are being left behind. 

Please pray for Logan and Parker as they fly out to meet us for Christmas!

Please pray for Nicholas and Anya as they realize what is happening.  They have a huge decision to make.  Saying “yes” for them means leaving their country, their friends, their comfort zone (even if it is an orphanage) and go to a new country with a new language and new friends and a new family.  It takes a tremendous amount of courage to say “yes” to this and many children back out at the last minute out of fear.

Please pray that as we go, wherever we go, that His Name and His renown would be the desire of our hearts.  That we will carry His Name.  That we will make much of Him.

And if you read all the way through this, sweet blessings to you!!!