Back Home

We arrived safely back home today at about 1:30PM mountain time. We had to do two "OJs" in the airport to make both our connecting flights. Happy to be back home and hanging out with the Colorado kiddoes. Hoping and praying that the Kherson kiddoes are well.

Thanks for everyone's support and prayers over the last month. We'll pick things up again when I return to Ukraine in a couple of weeks to finish the process.

Bruce & Michele

Back in Kiev

The overnight train from Kherson to Kiev was uneventful. We actually did get some sleep and enjoyed seeing some of the countryside as we approached Kiev from the south.

After arriving, our facilitator took us right to the US Embassy where we signed the paperwork that required both our signatures. It took about an hour and then we were done!

Then we were off to meet Karen Springs at her office to retrieve the keys for her apartment, and then our driver dropped us off.

We walked around a bit and had a bite to eat, but it has turned really cold up here in Kiev. Yesterday in Kherson it was actually very summer-like. Today in Kiev it feels like winter is nearly here!

We met Karen for dinner at one of her favorite Italian restaurants near the center. It was a great meal and we've had a great time learning about the work Karen is doing here with CBN and also had some laughs about our experiences over the last several weeks.

Tomorrow is a free day. We leave Friday morning at 5:30 AM (!), so it will be an early morning.

Not a lot of news today. Just want to let everyone know we are safe and sound...hanging out at Karen's apartment the next coupe of days.

Thanks for reading.

Bruce

A Door Closed....A Window Opened....

We are heading to the train station in about 1/2 hour to catch an overnight train back to Kiev tonight. No one was able to reach the region and get ahold of the executive committe member, so we have a new plan. I'll be heading back to the states with Michele on Friday, and I (yep, just me...this is the "opened window") will return for the first several weeks of November to complete the adoption process for Pasha and Natasha.

Gotta go. We'll post more details tomorrow.

Pray for safe travels....

Thanks!

Bruce & Michele

Prayer Requests...

If you think about it today, please pray specifically for the following:

1. That the member of the executive committee in the region where Yana and Natasha were born is available tomorrow.
   
2. That he will sign the document which agrees with the court's earlier decision to allow the separation of Yana and Natasha.

If both of these happen, we will likely (at least as of today!) be able to have a court date on Friday or Monday. If things don't happen in our favor, then both Michele and I will likely come home this week and then come back sometime in November (after Yana's 18th birthday) to complete the process.

Thanks!

No News

Can you believe it........We still don't know if the separation papers are going to be accepted. Well we do know something. We won't make our Tuesday court date. We will tell you as soon as we know anything. The mantra is, Good news, Good news, Good news. Keep praying.

Pasha is sick. Please pray that he gets better soon. Thanks.

Still Waiting...

We had a good day yesterday (Sunday). Met the kids and about 20+ additional orphanage kids at the bus stop to go to church in the morning. Natasha stayed with us during the service instead of going with the youth. We learned last week that she didn't like the "craziness" of the youth service. Pasha did go with the youth and the rest of the orphanage kids did as well.

The service seemed extra long...probably because we didn't have an interpreter and it actually did go a bit over 2 hours! But, we both understand a few words (for example, we knew he was talking about Paul, which is "Pavil" in Russian...and Michele was sure she heard something about "by the blood of Christ"....)

Afterward....(Michele rip's computer out of Bruce's hands!)
Bruce is an absolute Bolg-Hog! I never get to say stuff. He says I type too slowly...which is true.
I would relay information differently. He is all about ALL the facts, I like a little more flavor and mystery as to what is really happening. Later when you and I speak in person we could have a real conversation about the events that have taken place. That is the way humans should communicate anyway ! Unlike Kip, I don't love technology.

Anyway..church was long.
We now wait for the call about separation papers for the girls. Today will help us decide if we stay now and finish things up or if we make plans for both of us to leave and come back when Jana is 18 on the 24th. ( she gives us smiles now when we see her at the orphanage).

I'm sure I have left a bunch of stuff out.....ON PURPOSE. Let's have coffee when we get back, or even talk on the phone.

Didn't my entry wet your appetite?

Bruce is taking the computer back.............

Nope...nothing else to say. Michele summed it up nicely. Oh, OK...one more factual tidbit. On the way home from church we saw a bunch of kids spray painting on a wall on our street. When Oksana came to the Bible House, she said it was "paint festival" or something like that. We all walked down to where they were painting and looked at their work. Pasha took some photos and when we got back to the Bible House did some of his own "artwork" on the art pad. There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Later,

Bruce & Michele

Another Miracle...Please?

We just got off the phone with Tanya. We hadn't head from her since our documents had been shipped up to the SDA in Kiev. I could overhear her talking to Michele and heard, "It's not good." I thought, "What now?"

So, here's the scoop. The SDA is not accepting Jana's separation papers. Tanya will go on Monday to the city where Jana and Natasha were born to see if the judge/court there will "OK" the separation. Apparently, the judge in the city where they were born has the power to do this. However, Tanya said it's very unlikely that this will happen, since the Kherson region is strongly against the separation of siblings.

So, we are asking everyone to pray that the judge will look at the situation and miraculously choose to "OK" the separation papers....even if everyone else is saying this is unlikely. We know this is all in God's hands, but our patience is wearing thin and we need to bring this process to conclusion as quickly as possible.

We will update everyone on Monday after we hear back from Tanya. Until then, pray to the God for whom nothing is impossible, that the impossible will happen here in Ukraine.

Thanks,

Bruce & Michele

Moving forward....

Sorry for not posting anything new yesterday. It was finally a day during which there were no "gotchas" and we're thankful for that.

I was able to work quite a while in the morning, then we headed on the #8 for lunch at Сафз Мояе (Cafe Monet). After lunch Tanya called and let us know that she had picked up all the court papers with the conclusion that was promised the day before. She was at the orphanage waiting for Nikolai to sign another paper and hanging out with Natasha and Pasha. So, we headed over there.

Since Michele will be leaving a week from today (all fingers and toes crossed), Tanya wanted to make sure we had the passport/Visa request papers signed and notarized. So we spent the afternoon waiting at the notary's office, then getting some food for Tanya, Natasha and Pasha, then waiting some more at the notary's office and then heading back to the orphanage.

There was a lot of hustle and bustle at the orphanage as today (Friday) is the big 50 year anniversary celebration. All the kids (it seemed) were outside cleaning up the grounds, or decorating rooms or hanging artwork that the kids had done. We greeted Nikolai who seemed to be in a particularly jovial mood. Then, after Nikolai had signed the final set of papers, Tanya and Roman double-checked everything, and packaged everything up for the overnight ride to Kiev. Then Tanya was off to the train station to put the package on the train.

We took the kids back to the Bible House where we tried on their new winter coats that Michele had bought at the market, had some snacks and just hung out. Pasha was strictly ordered to be back at the orphanage at 5:30 to help with cleaning the grounds...apparently he "missed out" on some of the work his group had been doing while we were all at the notary's office. So, we brought them back and said our goodnights.

Today (Friday) the package will be picked up at the train station and taken directly to the SDA. The plan is for them to do whatever they do and have the return package ready later today for the return trip to Kherson. Tanya will pick everything up over the weekend or on Monday in preparation for court on Tuesday.

So, we "put one foot in front of the other" (whoever can comment first on what Christmas special those words come from and who sings them...hint...hint...will get a special prize! OK, not really, I'm just trying to infuse a little bit of interest in this rather boring post...) and keep moving forward.

This morning (Friday) we will go to the celebration at the orphanage which starts at 10AM. We're looking forward to seeing Natasha, Zinna and Rimma in their singing/dancing performance. We keep kidding Pasha that he should be up there too, but he's not having any of it!

Thanks again for everyone's prayers. We greatly appreciate them.

Bruce & Michele

Good News!

Tanya called this morning while we were on the #1 bus headed out of town on an "adventure". She had been at the court this morning and had heard that the judge was going to conclude that the two different names referenced on the birth certificate and the relinquishment documents were, in fact, the same person, Pasha's Mom. The court will provide their "official" conclusion tomorrow (Thursday) and all the required papers will be whisked away to Kiev to the SDA.

We will not be able to keep our original court date, but it's only 1 day delay. Our official court date is now Tuesday, October 13 at 11:30 AM.

The only way to explain how a process that typically takes up to 2 weeks could be accomplished in 2 days is that God's hand was/is on the process. We were pretty blunt with Tanya yesterday when we told her that we needed to keep our Monday court date and that Michele needed to be in Kiev no later than Thursday to catch her flight home on Friday. And, we earnestly asked God to make it clear whether we were to take Pasha home or not. We believe He answered in a big way, and we are excited and comfortable with where things are at.

Please pray that the court papers are ready tomorrow (Thursday) as promised and that they get to the SDA in Kiev and back by Monday afternoon. Also, please pray that the judge at our court doesn't raise any stink about either the issue with Natasha's sister or with Pasha's mother.

Thanks again for praying! Now's not the time to stop! :)

Bruce & Michele

Hypochondriac or truly ill?

I know some of you are shocked that I (Michele) haven't posted anything regarding my health yet. Fear not, my self control has wained...let the drama begin!

I have already finished my antibiotics and an I'm eyeing Bruce's. Just before we left Bruce and I both had the swine flu. Now the doctor just said "flu", but I'm sure it was the "swine flu"!

After a few weeks of the "swine flu", I still had a fever. Just before getting on the plane to come to Ukraine, the doctor said it was a "virus". I was sure the "swine flu" was re-emerging so I started taking my antibiotics. I still had trouble breathing the first week we were in Ukraine. I'm sure it was the beginnings of pneumonia. Good thing I had those antibiotics!

We had lunch at a new friend Alys' house earlier and she told us that 30% of the Ukrainian population has TB. I'm sure they've all sneezed on me! So now everytime I have a cough, I think it must be TB!

Yesterday, I noticed a perfectly round red dot on my wrist. I asked Bruce what he thought, and he just shrugged it off. I'm sure I have a botfly burrowing in there. Fear not, I know what to do. I saw a show on PBS about a guy who got a botfly. He smothered the open wound with vaseline and waited for the suffocating botfly to poke it's head out for air and then he grabbed it with a tweezers! I'm prepared!!

I gotta go. Time to wash my hair with lice shampoo. My head itches all the time....

Untitled...

Rather than leave the title empty (i.e. the post "untitled") I decided to name the post "untitled". Why? Because I don't think I have a creative cell in my body right now in order to come up with a title that synopsizes the last couple of days.

We heard from Tanya yesterday (Monday) evening around 6 PM from the region where she and Roman had gone. They did, indeed, find Pasha's Mom. However, she did not have any paperwork that would corroborate the name differences on the birth certificate and the separation papers.

We had thought she could simply sign a new paper with an explanation, have it notarized, and we'd be good to go! Nope...that's not the way it works.

So, Tanya spent today at the inspector's office and then the afternoon at court. The issue is now before a judge to decide whether there is sufficient information to declare Pasha available for adoption or not. This process normally takes about 2 weeks. However, we were very clear with Tanya that we do not have 2 weeks. In fact, we need to have our court date no later than Tuesday/Wednesday of next week in order for Michele to make her flight home and for me to return a couple of weeks later. So, they are going to try to cram into 2 days a process that normally takes 2 weeks! I know what you're thinking...."this is not possible in Ukraine!"

The plan at this time is for Tanya to go back to court tomorrow and make sure that progress is being made, with a target of Thursday to render a conclusion. That conclusion will be either thumbs up or thumbs down on Pasha's availability to be adopted. We have been thinking and praying about this all weekend and are emotionally spent. We go back and forth between anticipating that Pasha will come with us to preparing to break the news to him that he will not be coming with us. I won't say we're quite at "peace" yet with either conclusion, but we strongly believe God is in the midst of this and the conclusion rendered will not be out of his will.

So, we wait...some more. We will have an update from Tanya tomorrow and hope to have more info on whether in fact the courts will be able to render a conclusion on Thursday. Please pray that it happens and pray that the conclusion is clear and that our hearts are prepared either way.

Thanks for reading.

Bruce and Michele

The beginning of the end...and beginning of the beginning...

We've been in Ukraine for 2 weeks now. I wouldn't say it has exactly "flown"by, but we told our Colorado kiddoes today that Mom would be home in a mere two weeks! That sounds a lot better than 4 weeks, doesn't it? So, this is the beginning of the end...in one sense.

In another sense, we are rapidly approaching the beginning of something entirely new...for our family...and for a couple of kids from Ukraine. So, in another sense, it's the beginning of the beginning.

I know, I know, how philosophical of me! Actually, I think it's just the apple streudel sitting weird in my stomach and we just watched the season 6 1st episode of House...which was really about new beginnings and transitions and healing. OK...off topic....can someone please explain why there are so many "House MD" t-shirts in Kiev. It was bizarre!

Anyway, we met Natasha and Pasha this morning for church and we weren't late so the caregiver did not have any reason to be angry with Pasha. Michele sat with Natasha and Rimma. We were so glad Rimma was there because we knew Natasha would not want to go to the youth service without some "encouragement". Here they are on the trolley bus:

Yes, that is a phone connected to Natasha's ear. Hmmm...going to go through some wthdrawal symptoms when we gуt to America, for sure! :)

Pasha stood with a group of girls including Zinna and Vikka. I tried taking a pic, but it was way too crowded and bouncy ыщ the pic was not clear.

At church, Natasha did not want to go with the youth group, but she had told us earlier that she would. We stuck to our guns, and she reluctantly went. I think she is hesitant to do new things and we were really glad to have Zinna there holding her hand!

We had contacted Sergey (friend of Jim and Kari Volf who is Ukrainian but speaks excellent english and who's family adopted two Ukrainian girls) the night before and he was planning on meeting us at the church. It turns out that the church we have gone to is where his uncle is a pastor. So, he showed up and was interpreting for us during the service. It was great....until they introduced an American Bible teacher who was in town for some teaching seminars and who was to deliver the message today! How funny was that! So, we heard an English message that they had to translate to Russian. This was fortunate for us since Sergey could only stay for about 20 minutes and had to go.

After the service, we went down to introduce our selves to the two American gentlemen who were there. The main person was Rick Deighton who is board member with the Nortwest Science Museum in Nampa, ID. Get this though....his home town is Longmont! We had a good chuckle about that. I didn't catch his colleague's name...but hey were both here for the week doing teaching. We also met another American from Kentucky who farms 17,000 acres of land here outside of Kherson with a Ukrainian partner. He comes to Ukraine 3-4 times a year to help manage the farming business. It was a really ineresting morning.

After church, we tried to get Rimma and Zinna to go to lunch with us, but they were sure that their caregiver would not allow it. So, we headed across the street to Oskar and ate at the Oskar Food cafeteria. We all ate our full for the sum of $10. You can bet we'll be going back to Oskar Food cafeteria again!

After Oskar we took the bus back to town and to the outdoor market where we were hoping to shop for pants for Pasha and a winter coat for Natasha. But, it was misty/raining and there were scads of people around, so it was a bust. After giving up on the outdoor market, we walked back to the Bible House where we had some snacks, tried to teach Pasha how to play Gin (I think he partially gets it) and used the English-Russian-English translator program a bit.

Since we had not asked permission from any one in particular to take the kids for the day, we wanted to get them back at a reasonable hour. So, we headed back to the orphanage around 4PM and said our good-byes for the day. We typically see them only in the afternoons after they are done with school during the week, so Saturdays and Sundays tend to be longer days.

After our rather large lunch at Oskar Food (ruining our diet plans, BTW...), we decided not to have a big dinner. So, we headed to our favorite restaurant by the walking mall (we call it the "Pearl Street of Kherson"). We still don't know what the name of this place is, but it was quite cosy inside after the couple of cold rainy days we have had. Here's a pic of the restaurant sign if anyone cares to translate it for us:

We split a really good pasta with chicken, mushrooms and peas smothered in a creamy mushroom sauce and then each had our own apple streudel. Yep, I thought streudel was a German institution, but this restaurant does streudel really well!

After dinner, we made our way back to the Bible House on Bus 8, and watched the season opener of House (streaming video on ninjavideo.net). Now it's time to hit the sack, and prepare for what we hope is an eventful week! We'll update the blog as soon as we find out anything tomorrow. Tanya and Roman are leaving in the morning for the city/town/region where Pasha's Mom is supposed to be living. Please pray they find her and we can carry on with the process. If they cannot find here, we will have some difficult decisions to make.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers. We certainly appreciate them.

B & M

I almost threw-up....

....This was Michele's sentiment while we were driving in a taxi with our facilitator Tanya. We were on our way to her apartment after having said a brief hello to Pasha and Natasha at the orphanage. While we were at the orphanage, Tanya told us that they would likely get the marriage license information necessary from the region where Pasha's Mom had surrendered him, in order to complete the documents necessary to send everything to the SDA in Kiev and get our final court date. She even gave us an estimate that we would have our court date on Monday, October 12th! We were ecstatic.

Then there were additional, somewhat heated, discussions with Roman (orphanage lawyer) and a determination that Tanya would, in fact, have to travel to the region to get the original copy of the document. "Not a problem", she said. "I will go there tomorrow (Saturday) since their offices are open." Great!

Then we got in the taxi to check out Tanya's apartment where we were thinking of staying after the Bible House. On the way there, she was on the phone with Oksana (the regional inspector). Again, there was some heated dialog, and finally she hang up and turned back to us and said, "I have some bad news."

This was the first time in the week that we have been here that she even hinted at anything being "bad news". So, we knew it was something significant.

Basically, after additional phone calls to the region where Pasha's Mom is living, the marriage certificate/document did not have the required information on it to clear up the problems with Pasha's paperwork! Basically, there is no document that anyone can find that will clear this up sufficiently for the courts to accept. She even uttered the dreaded words, "If we cannot figure this out, then Pasha is really not even available for adoption."

About this time, Michele opened her window and put a cold cloth against her forehead. When we stopped and got out of the car, she said, "I almost threw up... With the thought of telling a child that thought we were going to adopt and now we're not!" It was a miserable moment.

But, we will not despair. God is clear in that he calls us not to be anxious about anything but bring everything to him in prayer. So, that's what we're doing and that's what we are asking you to do, too.

After seeing Tanya's apartment, she was on the phone again and working her magic. She told us that she and Roman (orphanage lawyer) will be going on Monday to the region where Pasha's Mom is supposed to be living. Their goal? Find Pasha's Mom and have her sign something that "re-relinquishes" her rights to Pasha or somehow clears up the current name fiasco.

By now you're probably thinking to yourself, "That's got to be like finding a needle in a haystack." and you might be right. But that's the task at hand and we have learned in the week that we've been here that Tanya is a fighter and a go-getter. She even told us, "I can't imagine anything but a positive outcome for this." Also, Roman has presented himself as an ally and we are thankful that the two of them will be searching for this particular needle in the haystack on Monday and Tuesday.

After all this, Tanya assured us that if they have everything ready by Wednesday, that we will still make our court date of October 12th. This certainly was encouraging, and would allow Michele to be home right on time.

We really believe this is God's timing to bring Pasha into our home and be a family to him. We truly believe the same for Natasha, but the focus is on Pasha because of his paper mess.

So, please pray that Tanya and Roman will miraculously find Pasha's Mom on Monday and can get the paper trail nailed shut. Please pray also that we would all (including Pasha and Natasha) see God's hand in bringing us together as a family with our Colorado kiddoes, and that we would even have the opportunity to pray with them through this situation.

Thanks again for all your prayers. Keep them coming now more than ever.

Bruce & Michele

PS. On a lighter note, I have to say that in addition to all of the above, I have this huge zit on the tip of my nose! Aaargh! I think the kids are a little frightened of me at the moment. I remember when I was 18 thinking how great it was going to be to be done with acne when I was 20. Then I thought the same thing at 30....and 40.... Now, it's time for Acutane! No one approaching 50 should be dealing with acne! OK...rant off....I feel better now.

Waiting...Anticipating...

The saying goes, "No news is good news." I don't like that saying. Today we have "no news", but it is not "good news". I spoke briefly with Tanya this afternoon and she said they had no upates on the status of Pasha's papers. Bummer! We were hoping for some miraculous discovery of the specific piece of paper that would clear everything up so we could go to court.

Oh well. We walk the path. God knows the route.

We did spend some time with Natasha and Pasha today. We met them at the orphanage and asked their caregivers if we could take them back to the Bible House so we could talk with our kids back in Colorado. They were accomodating as long as we had them back by 5PM for studies.

We were able to chat briefly with the kiddoes in Colorado before they took off for school. There were only waves between the Colorado kids and the Ukraine kids, but we'll take the baby steps.

Then we called the Volfs and Natasha and Pasha had a chance to chat with Ashley. Ashley is an excellent translator. Her English is amazing after only 8 months in the states. They chatted for 1/2 hour so and then they too had to go off to school.

We had a few snacks and then it was time to take them back to the orphanage. Natasha asked me if we could delay and not go back until 5:10PM. She looked at me with those dark, puppy-dog eyes, and I thought to myself, "Oh boy, am I in for it!" But, I held my ground and said, "No, we have to be back on time so the caregivers continue to let us take you out!" It was a minor "I'm the Dad, and your the daughter" moment, but a good one.

That's it for today. Michele is bummed that she's going to finish her book soon. She only brought one and we haven't seen an English book in any bookstore that we've been in. If anyone knows of a bookstore with English books in Kherson, please do let us know! :)

Thanks for reading. Hopefully tomorrow we have "some news is good news".

Bruce & Michele