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