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