Здрастуйте Україна, Про розрахунки America! / Hello Ukraine, Goodbye America!

After spending two weeks here, we were so ready to get home to Chandler. We got some much needed loving from her and then all I (Kate) wanted was to be back in Ukraine to meet our newest member. I can honestly say that we knew the risk of adopting from Ukraine when we started this process, however were thinking that the problems would come after picking a referral. This process, which should have broken us, has just given us more of a heart towards Ukraine and their orphaned/boarding school children. I can't imagine being a child whose parents don't want them, they put them in the orphanage but because they visit them once a year, or the director doesn't fill out the paperwork, the child will never have an opportunity to have a stable living condition. 

Well on a lighter note, the flight was long with a special bumpy landing. We waited for an hour for Kostya to meet us in the airport. o glad he came because otherwise we would have had to make phone calls ourselves about renting an apartment, and that would have been "interesting". We drove to our apartment, only for Kostya to realize it was too far to make an emergency dash to the SDA department. He made some phone calls and now are back in the same building as we were the first trip. The apartment is great, it has a unique decor style but that only adds to our experience. After a quick glance at the apartment Kostya, Casey and I were off for some Ukrianian food. Borshch is a hit or miss soup in Ukraine, but it's worth the risk. We love Ukrainian food! Other news from Ukraine is that it's cold! The first trip to Ukraine, I packed for 70-degree weather and it was 99 degrees. This trip I packed for 90-degree weather and it's a rainy 56 degrees. I need to learn to check the weather page. 


Wednesday, our SDA appointment will be at 2pm, that's 6am CST. We will have a meeting with our lawyer and translator at 1pm, 5am CST. Not sure what the meeting will be about, but we shall see. We are eager, excited and nervous all rolled in one. Like the other two visits, we also have a tremendous amount of peace. God is God and God is Faithful, no matter what the outcome is. This process has made our faith and marriage even stronger. At the end of the day, there isn't a better way to spend your money or your time then chasing after God's will for your family!

Ukraine.Yes please!

Getting ready to head Ukraine….again… We are truly thankful that the Lord allowed for us to come back home for a few weeks to refresh and rejuvenate. Though these two weeks have flown by, we were so blessed to be able to spend them with our friends and community of faith. Kate and I have been able to spend some much-needed time with our daughter and at work. It was such a blessing to get to help our men’s ministry with leading worship at their annual Ironman Retreat, plus I was able to fill in on the 22^nd with leading our contemporary service again.  For the last two weeks I was able to preach two sermons on Trust in Tough Times, this is a message I felt God laid on my heart on the way home from Ukraine but truly landed at a time that some of our students desperately needed it.

We are rested and as prepared, as we will ever be to face the final SDA appointment. We fly out tomorrow and will arrive in Ukraine Tuesday just in time to have our big appointment Wednesday 2pm (6 am Central Standard). We are nervous and excited. Please be praying for us. The best outcome is that we will chose a referral, however that still means that we will have to turn down children. We still have very clear imagines, names and sad stories of the other children that we turned down but know that the Lord is guiding us through this entire process. We can’t wait to be back in Ukraine and look forward to the journey he will lead us on. No matter the outcome we truly trust our Lord and know that it is his will above ours.

A new day and new hope!

First off, thank you so much for all of your prayers and constant support through this whole process.  According to one of my friends, "Adoption care is spiritual warfare." I never knew how true that statement was until I found myself in a poorly ventilated and immensely hot second story office in Kiev, Ukraine.

This morning Kate and I woke up around 10:30 am, ate some brunch with what we had left in our fridge, cleaned up the apartment, then began to get ready for our 2nd SDA appointment. Around 1:04 pm we prayed then began to walk to the SDA, and sat outside under a shade tree until Luba and Kostya showed up for our 2 pm appointment. We were able to go inside the office around 2:10 and met with Maria.  After some short time of showing new pictures of Chandler and dialoguing with Luba, we were shown two files. The first being a child with cleft pallet and clubbed hands, the second being a file we had already seen of a girl with severe Fetal alcohol syndrome. After looking through our updated addendum to our home study she showed us a file of a boy named Yuri. Kate and I both felt comfortable with his file, he had two older siblings that were about to time out of other orphanages, we inquired but found out that he had already been adopted by a Ukrainian couple. Crazy part is he looked a lot like me, stocky build, and though my heart sunk to my stomach, he was not the child God had planned for us. After seeing a pair of sibling boys we were both stressing, I began to pray as Maria walked out of the room that the Lord would show her the file we needed to see. She showed us a file of a child that we inquired about, Luba found out was in Spain on a hosting program until September 1st. Maria informed us that there were many other files that she had but couldn't show since they were all abroad or at camp. Though exhausted yet still hopeful, Luba and Maria suggested we come back for a 3rd visit around the beginning of September. To be honest, I felt more at peace with this decision for the sheer fact that a child's face was on my mind, and though this is not the process I would have willed for myself, our Lord is mighty to save, and however He choses to do this, I will trust.

So around 7:00 am on Friday we will be flying back home to be with our Chandler, go heal with our community of faith, and serve the church I so love. Our prayer is that on September 1st we will be walking back into that SDA office for the last time, to see the file we were unable to visit, go see this child the Lord has for us, and come home with the newest member to the Williams family. We really do not want to tell you anymore information about this child until they are legally ours. I know how frustrating this is but please respect our decision to hold off on introducing you to the newest Williams child.

Please continue to pray for us, for this process is not even close to over. Most of all pray that God may receive all the glory, honor, and praise. I can't wait to be back in the states to hold my child, hug my amazing youth group, and order some Taco Bell. Ha. See you guys soon.

It all comes down to this!

Today is the day that Kate and I either see our child and begin to climb this mountain or come home to Ruston and wait for our facilitator to find us a child. It has been a long and treacherous week but we know God is in control. In about 3 hours we will begin to head to the SDA, stand in front of the infamous sign, and anxiously await our names to be called. We will sit with Luba on that L shaped tan couch that thousands have sat on, and pray that Maria (the psychologist) will hand us a file that has our child's picture on it. This whole week we have read that couple after couple have found their children and we believe that God will continue the blessing to us. All last night I was having dreams about our child over and over, I believe that God may have been trying to show me that this journey is worth the cost. I think about Joshua and Moses standing at the edge of the promised land, how God had led them for years and though it would require a fight they knew the reward was worth the cost. I believe whole heartedly that God has led us this far and that the reward is completely worth the anxiety, the money, the heartache, and the pain. So please pray that in 3 hours as we stand on those steps at the SDA we are only moments away from our child's file that before the foundations of the earth God knew we would have to come and get.

On a lighter note, Kate and I had a wonderful day yesterday visiting some more sights. We started our day off at our favorite restaurant, we call the door, with some traditional borsch. We went to see the Chornobyl museum which pays homage to one of the largest accidental nuclear disasters ever, located on the north side of Kiev. The museum was very well done and even had little radioactive gauges that would explain the exhibit to us in english. We hopped on the metro and headed to Independent Square, then walked to the park that gave a beautiful view of Kiev. Walked through the park and played a little while there, then got back on the metro and went to see Volodomyrs Cathedral and a park near by. We went back to the fountain to soak our feet after a long day of walking, and I decided "When in kiev...". Enjoy some of the pictures by clicking on them and we hope to give you some great news this afternoon. We love you all and keep praying.

Hopes the Call thats ringing in my Soul!

"I'll sing until You're here, Though I'm lost and afraid I can't give up"

These are the words that ring in my head over this whole process. This is from Robbie Seay's song "Stay" which you can watch by clicking here if you want. The truth is that no matter how hard this process may be we trust that our God has yet to leave or forsake us.

So let me fill all of you in on how the Ukrainian life is treating us. One of the positive aspects for us through this excruciating process is that it has allotted us some free time to roam the grandeur that Kiev has to offer. Yesterday, we relaxed along the Dnieper River at Hydropark which is not the French Rivera but is very relaxing and family friendly beach. We payed about 80 grivinas (about $10) to be on a private beach, which had a diving pier, restaurant, and showers. It was very relaxing for us as we stretched out and soaked up some sun and some Ukrainian river water. One of the best parts about Hydropark was the rough/red-neck industrial style workout area which was compiled of metal, chains, and Ukrainian Guidos. When we got back we went to the mediocre and overpriced TGIFridays, to be honest the cheeseburger was good but there is a much better selection of food in Kiev that will run you way less. Then came back to the apartment and saw our little rugrat via skype, she is so cute and lights up when we see her.

Today we decided to be very adventurous and go to Pirogovo aka the Ukraine Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. Though the trip out there only caused us to ride down the metro, jump two buses, then walk about a mile to the entrance, it was well worth the trip there. Next time we know to ride bus 172 after getting off at the Lybidska Metro station. Pirogovo is an open air museum, very similar to Cade's Cove, and shows the rustic side of life around the 17th to 18th century in Ukraine. It is full of old houses, wooden churches, and windmills. Oh yeah a sick mustached man who played a dulcimer like instrument for the kids, who just by chance learned the Chicken Song (Good times). Now the trip back, was interesting to say the least. We got on a trolly, paid our money, and were about 1 mile from the stop we needed to get off when an already shady looking guy walked up and asked us for our tickets flashing his badge. We showed him our tickets and he asked us to step off the trolly, then began to tell us we did not have a stamp from that trolly therefore we were going to get a ticket. I couldn't understand him so I called Kostya and let him to talk to this "cop." He got back on the phone with me and told me the cop said we could pay him 30 grivna or get a ticket (crooked) so I started to go legalist preacher on him. I told him we just wanted to get to the metro, he barked at me in russian for a little bit, I yelled at him saying, "Ne gavaryu pa rooske, I dont speak russian so stop talking to me in russian, give me my ticket, I'll stamp it then we can go on to the metro like we planned." Hindsight, probably not the smartest approach to a foreign cop but I knew he was crooked and trying to take money from me, so I pulled out 2 grivina out of my left pocket told him I don't have any money to give him, which wasn't a lie because the money in my other pocket wasn't for a crooked cop, so then he finally let us go. By this time I just wanted to walk to the Metro and never step foot on a trolly again, problem, we were in a side of Kiev where nobody spoke english and were at least 2 miles from the metro station. I painfully used the little bit of russian I could and pointed to a map we had a ton and guided us to Lybidska. Glad all of that is over.

We met up with the Bollingers, a texan couple who are here for adoption also, at Independence Square and went to a Ukrainian restaurant for some grub. Jason and Holly serve at the River Stone Church, in San Marcos, and go tomorrow for their 3rd SDA appointment with their 7 year old son Jacob. Please pray for them, that God will open the door for them to adopt the children he has for them. We truly enjoyed our time with them, talking the struggles of adoption, the heart for these orphans, the gospel calling for our families, and the provision of our Sovereign God. We look forward to what God has in store for them and are excited to partner with them in fighting for the fatherless for many years to come.

Sorry there isn't any adoption news in this long blog but I did want to keep you in the loop. Kate and I are very hopeful for our SDA appointment Thursday at 2 pm (6 am CST). Kostya was told there are some new files and he felt hopeful we could see some new files, and we are truly hopeful that we will see our child. We do want to give a huge Thank You to Patti and Richard for helping us change some paperwork, get it notarized, apostilled, and fedexed to Ukraine in record time. We are so grateful for you both and thank God for your willingness to help. Please don't stop praying and Love you all.

Enjoying the Sabbath

This past week has been filled with highs and lows and ultimately has drawn us even closer to our dependency on the guidance of our Savior. So this morning we were in desperate need of some fellowship, worship, and rejuvenation in our souls. We decided to go to Hillsong Kiev, which if you are wondering is nowhere near the position google gives you. You need to get on the blue line of the metro then get off at Petrivka, go northwest and Hillsong meets behind the big green Comfy shopping center in a long yellow building. Here is a map if you want to go.

First of all, I was so impressed at how welcoming the church was to us. As soon as we walked in, which was about 15 minutes late, Sergei opened the door for us wearing his red Hillsong shirt with the hillsong heart all written in Russian, which I wanted. He immediately greeted us, Sdraztvootey, I said hello back  and asked if there were any english interpreters. He lit up and said, "Ah yes you speak english, we are so glad you are here follow me and I will get you to your seat." He sat us near the back while the church was worshiping through song, he introduced us to Zura and she interpreted for us the rest of the service. The energy in the room was amazing, after the singing Zhenya Kasevich, the lead pastor got up to share something God laid on his heart, they took up their offering, then encouraged all the children to follow the Cartoon characters (AWESOME!) in the back of the room to their children's service. He preached on Hebrews 11-12, about how we cannot place our trust in "what" but in the "who." He was very passionate, very funny, and very solid. I think God laid that message on his heart knowing that we would be in there desperately needing to be encouraged in our own faith but also our faith in God for this whole adoption. We walked out but wanted to go back and hear more of the worship so we caught the next service, about 30 minutes later, and were extremely blessed to worship with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. All in all, I was so impressed with the way they approached church and left encouraged to see Temple approach each service with the same passion and excitement.


Yesterday we were able to meet up with Rick Morton, a former NOBTS prof and friend, he gave us some much needed encouragement and prayed for us on the sidewalk off the main street running through Kiev, Kreshaticks. Then we went to the Rodina Mat, the Park of Glory and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Holdomor Memorial remembering the millions of people who died due to the famine caused by the Soviets in 1931-32.

Here are some pics from the day. Keep praying only three and a half more days until our 2nd SDA visit.

Kievan Observations

Since our SDA appointment has been rescheduled to next Thursday we are choosing to occupy our time taking in the sights in Kiev. I read a blog a while ago by Rick Morton (who we are hoping to link up with tonight) regarding a cultural craze that is very prevalent in Ukraine, the mullet! That's right, the mullet is very popular in Ukraine for those of you who do not know what a mullet is it is also referred to as: Mississippi Mud Flap, Kentucky Waterfall, Ape-Drape, Neck Warmer, Camaro cut, Hockey Hair, and Business in the Front party in the back. There are numerous other fashion faux-pauxs that just wouldn't fly in the states, but you know what they say, "When in Ukraine..."



We have decided to go and see one major sight per day for the next 6 days, the Rodina Mat tomorrow, Hillsong Church sunday, and who knows next week. We pushed ourselves Wednesday and walked over 22k steps trying to cram it all in, but since our first SDA appointment was not successful  we are going to retrace some of our steps. Today we went to, Бабин Яр (Babi Yar), this might be one of the most heart wrenching sights in all of Ukraine. In two days in 1941 over 33,771 Kievan Jews were massacred then shoved into a ravine. This is the single largest mass murder by the Nazi party in all of history. It is said that over 100,000 Jews, Gypsies, and Roma people were killed at this sight.



In independence square there are numerous fountains, one of them is a set of steps that the water just flows over and kids play in them and young girls practice their modeling poses, VERY FUNNY! There is another fountain that makes a ball with cold water and sprays everywhere, so we went and did our favorite thing, stick our feet in the cold fountain and people watch. We got to talk with a babushka, an old grandmother, she introduced us to her friend who was an ear doctor in Kazakhstan. She informed us that she was 72 years old and had one child, two grand children, and two great grand children. She asked us why we were in Ukraine, and we told her to adopt, in which she responded in amazement. She asked me what I did and I told her I was a christian pastor then she blessed me by making a cross on my head. Oh, did I mention she didn't speak a lick of English, we were able to find out all this information through charades and writing down numbers. She was a sweet old lady and we enjoyed trying to communicate with her.

Kate is taking a nap right now with our Ukrainian AC, a fan, and I am watching BBC and catching you guys up on what is going on. We know God is still at work and we trust that whatever his will is we continue to trust him. Our calling is to take care of these orphans so no matter the outcome our mission is to glorify Him. We firmly believe that the psychologist knows what we are looking for now and our second SDA appointment will introduce us to our child. No matter the outcome I will be flying home with Kate when she comes home, which prayerfully is during the 10 waiting period and I will return for our child if that is what God has in store for us. So be blessed and may God's mercy and peace move you today.

We trust! 1st SDA visit.

Seeing all those faces and yet still knowing that our Childs picture wasn't there might be one of the hardest parts to this process. After sitting in the office for almost an hour we know that God is still in control and that he has a greater plan. We pray that through all of this God may be glorified more than our story. We pray desperately for the children we saw and that they to may know the love of the ABBA Father. 

With all that said, we were shown close to 30 files all being severely developmentally or physically deformed. Their diagnosis ranged from Down Syndrome, Cerebal Palsey, HIV, and much more. Most of these children had numerous rejection stamps on their paperwork. There was a pair of boys both healthy that were presented to us first, one a precious 4 year old brown headed boy and his younger brother a blond hair blue eyed boy about to turn 3 next week. Though these two boys were precious we knew that they were someone else's children and they were not ours. Though many people opt to visit a child at even the slightest interest we felt that it was unfair to the children and ourselves when we knew they were not who we were here for. 

The hardest part to all of this, is that we know that in this country there is a child that we are supposed to adopt but we have to trust that no matter how this process plays out we will never give up trying to bring that child home. We encourage you all to pray for our second SDA appointment, that God will show the psychologist the child we need to be with, and that when that picture inside a plastic paper cover is handed to us we know that is our child.

We desperately miss our daughter and wished we could just hold her but for now we trust that this process is where God desires us to be. We are so thankful to Kate's sister and enjoyed seeing our little rugrat smile at us last night while we were on skype. Enjoy.

Welcome to Ukraine

We want to the thank you all so much for your prayers and support in this process. After some much needed Chandler holding time we headed off to New Orleans to begin this long but worthwhile process. As I let go of that little girl all I could think about was I won't be able to see her for at least a month and what memories will I miss out on, I truly think she will begin crawling by the time I get home, she is already so close. As we pulled up to the New Orleans airport and bid a farewell to the In-Laws, we checked in and spent an hour with some friends who we haven't seen since they got back from China two months ago.

All that said the flight went well, no problems as far as layovers and had numerous opportunities to share the gospel while on the trip. We made it to Kiev around 4:50 Ukraine time and our facilitator Kostya picked us up at the airport. He was very nice and has a great sense of humor so we were able to hit it off well with him. He brought us to our apartment which is a 1 bed/1 bath with a kitchen and a spectacular view (see pic below). We sat down and he walked us through the whole process, what to expect, what to wear, ask questions, just be ourselves, and most of all trust that our child has already been decided for us all we have to do is trust God. He took us to independence square so we could get some money changed over then we went to the grocery store to pick up food for breakfast: brown eggs, butter, 5 pieces of ham, apple juice, a bag of chips, and a family sized water. We said our farewells for the night and planned to meet him Thursday morning in front of our apartment at 9:30 am then we would walk from there to the appointment. We went to the mall below Independence Square and ate dinner sat on the steps and looked at the beautiful fountains and hundreds of people with their families playing in the water steps or just looking at the lit up square.

While on the plane I finished off   Russel Moore's  book  

Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches

  and found myself tearing up in the end.  Because the only thing that continued to play through my mind was that this time next year I won't be sitting on a plane to go and find my child, wondering what they look like, or where they are, but will be listening to them play in their bedroom while I reminisce on just how Huge our God truly is that he would bless me with MY children. I am not naive enough to think that when we walk into the orphanage I will see a halo over that child's head, and I fully anticipate fighting through all of the demons that have haunted them for so many years, but the truth is that my child might be within a 400 mile radius of me right now, and if came this far to bring them home you better believe we will go through the fire to help them and to show them our love.

I don't see it as Chandler is my real child, and this one is just secondary. I am a father of multiple children, and there are more children that God may have for us to adopt that have been sitting in an orphanage for years or maybe their mother just found out she is pregnant from her teenage boyfriend. But no matter the cost, the pain, the hurdles, the red tape, the trips domestically to our local hospital or flights over seas nothing will ever stop me from being with my children. Thank you ABBA:FATHER for loving us even more than this that you were willing to give your Son for us as a pleasing sacrifice, because we were your children and didn't even know it yet.

Today is the Day

It is truly hard to believe that this day has finally came. For so many years we have been trudging through this process whether it was prayer, saving money, or a mountain of paperwork. I am beyond myself to think that in 7 hours we will be boarding our plane to Kiev, Ukraine. We are so thankful for the overflow of support that has surrounded us and are so blessed to have a community of people around us that are genuinely excited and anxiously awaiting to see the hope in our child's face.

Though many people still do not understand why we are adopting period but also internationally, I want you to know this is what God has called us to do. My prayer is that instead of criticism you would place compassion on the forefront of your heart behind your patriotism, and know that a child who has no family will no longer have that problem. I also pray that those who question international adoption over domestic will not be the gong but lead the charge to take those US orphans into their own homes. An orphan is an orphan no matter what part of the world you are in.

My prayer beyond all of this process is that You will not miss out on the Gospel that we so desperately want this child and you to hear. Though this child did not know us we loved them so much that we did everything we could to make them our child. But more than that God loves YOU so much that though you did not know him He loved you more than you could ever imagine and sent His son to pay the price for your sins. We are not trying to be an inspiration we are only responding to the one who truly is our inspiration.

Huge thanks to The News Star in Monroe and Stacy Temple for putting our story on the front page of the Sunday Paper! Amazing! Please email her and thank her for sharing this story of the gospel to thousands. Here is the link

Click here to read The News Star Article