"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.
4 comments:
For some variety, check out Pizza Celantano (pronounced Chelantano). There are several in Kiev, I think. We went to the one off of Independence Square often. The pizza is alright, but the potato al forno is what kept us going back... that and the English menu!
Is Kostya your facilitator? Were the two boys that you said were healthy that ya"ll chose not to adopt brothers? Were they really healthy? Do u know what region they are from? Their age? Names?
Hello! We are enjoying reading your blog. We had our SDA appointment on July 14th, got a referral, and headed to Odessa. The child we met was not a match for our family. It was so emotional for us that rather than waiting for a second appt with the SDA we decided to head home and regroup. We are now in the process of figuring out if and when to come back. We can totally relate to everything we are reading and your writing is great. We will pray for you and ask God to continue leading the way. Blessings.
One option - If you have an orphanage in mind - insist to visit the orphanage. Choose a child from there yourself. I believe that is acceptable but you may have to insist.
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