Snowy Spring Break

Moab was just as we thought it would be full of adventure and unpredictable weather.

The vote is to break tradition and go somewhere else next year.

Natasha was a trooper. She even tried riding at the BMX type park.

I'll post the pictures of us trying to leave on Wednesday during a ridiculous snow storm only to find the trailer in a ditch and us back home a few hours later. We successfully left the next morning. Ab Bradley and Benj kept asking Natasha if she was having fun yet. They then explained that this is what Spring Break vacations are like each year. ( It is kind of true! )

Ready for spring

My prayer is that Spring will bring some fresh ideas , attitudes , motivations and general outlook on life. (It is snowing really hard right now so it is hard to use the Spring metaphor.)

Winter was a good time to hunker down , cozy up and bond but now we are all ready to run around, stub our toes and get a bee sting and a sunburn.

I'm aching to take a family picture, but we are so pasty! I'm trying to have the self control to wait.

Many blessings to all of you for praying for our family. What an amazing feeling to be lifted up in prayer!

I'll try to find some pictures of us to put on here.... I can't find any of the boys.

Pictures

Here she is...

Natasha

Natasha is quite a girl...If we are honeymooning let it not stop.

Her English is really taking off. She is easy to be around and has a good sense of humor as long as we don't push it too far. I joke with her and Benjamin that they are twins. I'm not sure how she feels about this joke but I have always said Benjamin needed a twin. The only real similarity is their height.

I love to talk to her about her life before coming here and her life now. She doesn't tell me too many secrets, but sometimes I get a tid bit or two.

She misses Ukraine and her sister and brother. She talks to them on the phone on Sundays and is sometimes sad afterwards. We aren't sure how to help her stay connected and still try to embrace life here.

We all love her so much and excited to share more family time and traditions together.

We plan to torture her by making her go to Moab and ride bikes for a week...when it will probably snow...Again.

" You need to post! "

Natasha said we need to post. She really knows her way around the computer so I need to remember she will read all we write :-).

So many changes have happened.

Pasha really wasn't getting what he needed from us. The stress level had to change and we just didn't know how to bond with him. We prayed on our face many times for God to change our hearts and help us be what he needed and help him fit in better. God instead sent us Pasha's new and forever family. We don't fully get it but we absolutely know this is what is best for him and us.

I know that is way too quick of a version of that but God is still writting that story....

Michele's Mom

Hi All,

I just received a call from Michele that her Mom passed away shortly after 5:30 PM Pacific time. Please continue to pray for Michele, her sister Lisa, brother-in-law Jim and step-dad Berl and extended family and friends. I know they are hurting and could use great comfort and strength from God right now.

Thanks,

Bruce

Update & Prayer Request

Hi All,

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has offered support and prayers over the last couple of weeks. It has been a tough couple of weeks, but we seem to be settling in and turning a corner on understanding how to integrate Natasha and Pasha into our home and care for and love them. Please continue to pray that N and P feel welcomed and loved.

On a side note, we received a call this morning from Michele's sister. Michele's Mom had a choking accident last night while attending a dinner. They were not able to revive her fully and she was admitted to the hospital and is on life support. Needless to say Michele is quite devistated at this unexpected event, especially on top of the adoption/integration process we're working through.

I was able to get her a flight today and she is in Santa Barbara right now and will be meeting with her sister and step-dad to determine next steps. Please pray that she has strength and comfort during this difficult time. Pray that her faith would be strong and that she would be a mighty witness for Christ. To our knowledge, her Mom is not a believer, nor are her sister or step-dad. So, while this is devistating to us, it must be utterly hopeless to them. Please pray that they would be comforted and strengthened as well.

Thanks again,

Bruce

Final Public Update

Hi All,

Many have asked about further blog entries from the DeYoung clan. We have decided that we will continue to blog, but the blog will become private. So, this is the final public post. We welcome everyone to follow the happenings in the DeYoung household now that our extended family is all together. I'm not sure how turning the blog to "private" works, but if you'd like to participate, please let us know.

Thanks,

Bruce

Home

Bruce, Natasha and Pasha were greeted by a loving group of sweet friends and Leah (she is also sweet and loving but family :-) ). Wow it was exhausting waiting for them I can only imagine how they felt.



Natasha and Pasha were overwhelmed but did just fine with the big group of people all staring at them. Bruce just started walking to the car. I'm kind of serious. He was ready to get on out of there.



They are all tucked in and I can hear someone snoring upstairs...glad they aren't in my room.



People say we should have some honeymoon time before we face the hard stuff. I'm all for that honeymoon stuff to last as long as possible.



Abigail, Bradley and Benjamin are glad they are finally here.



Wow we need a bigger house.



Thank all of you for your prayers for these sweet kids. You can't know how much of a difference you lifting us up to the Lord has meant. Keep it up we will need it.



I'm sure Bruce will give you more info once the jet lag wears off.



Blessings,



Michele

In Frankfurt....waiting

Our trip through KBP (Kiev Airport) was fairly uneventful. Our driver showed up promptly at 2:45 and we were at the airport by 3:30 (yes, AM). We waited until the ticket counter opened and then checked in without problems. Security went fine.

The customs lady asked to see our court documents, which thankfully Nadia had told me to keep handy. She left for a few minutes to go to a back office with our passports and boarding passes, which made me a little nervous. But, by this time Mrs. Campbell (family from Indiana who adopted a 6-7 year old boy) was in line right behind us. She said her facilitator told her to expect some of these types of shenanigans from customs just as a ploy to freak you out. I don't know what she did behind closed doors, but she came back and allowed us through, and that's what was most important.

Now we're sitting in the Frankfurt airport at our gate waiting for our flight. We have about 5 hours to wait, so I'm sure we'll get up and walk around a bit eventually.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Denver.

Thanks,

Bruce

Here are a few pics from the last few days.

First, one of N, P and our facilitator in Kherson, Tanya:

Here we are having lunch with the Houghton's, Julia and Karen Springs:

Here's the group after taking the fernicular up the hill and walking across the church square (can't remember which church):

And Richard insisted that he take a picture with me actually in it.

And, finally, here's a pic of the kids with our translator in Kiev, Nadia.:

Home Tomorrow!

Wow..I think I left too many thing until the end. Right now that doesn't matter because they are coming ready or not.

The flight into Denver is schedueled to arrive at 3:45pm. They do have to go through customs so who know when they will emerge from the glass doors. The flight is Luftansa 446 if you are wanting to help with the grand welcome at the airport and want to check on the flight status.



Can't wait to see Natasha Grace and Pasha Timothy...and of course Bruce Alvin :-).

Tix Changed For Tuesday

Coming home Tuesday. See some of you at the airport. Time for bed. Have to get us all up at 2:15 am for a 2:45 am pick up.

Bruce

Have Visas!

Hi All,

This has been a long day, but the net result is good! We have Visas and can now come home. I am trying to get our Wednesday tickets changed to Tuesday and if the change fees aren't too high, we'll come home tomorrow. If they are exorbitant, we will come home on Wednesday.

Our day started with a 6:45 wake-up call and then Oleg picked us up around 7:30. First stop was the US Embassy where we submitted our documents and completed the Immigration Visa request forms. That took about an hour and when we submitted them, the assistant said our Visas would be ready tomorrow at 2PM. I asked if there was any possibility of having them done today. She said she wasn't sure if we could get everything done, but they'd try. So, she said come back at 2PM.

From the embassy we went to the medical clinic where we waited for about an hour before our doctor arrived and was able to see us. The exams went fine and by about 12:30 we were finished there with our medical docs and headed back to the embassy. However, we had about an hour to kill and we had not eaten since a light breakfast at around 7am. So, we stopped and got a bite with our translator Nadia.

Then at 2PM we were back at the embassy where we met 2 other families waiting to get their newly adopted kids' Visas. One family was from Indiana and the other from Texas. We were happy when we were called up by the consolate representative who said they would probably be able to get the Visas today, but it would take another hour. In that hour we chatted with the other families and they received their Visas. Then we received ours too (!) at around 3PM.

So, we are officially done and will be heading home soon. We are awaiting confirmation of seat availability for flights tomorrow (Tuesday) instead of Wednesday. We're hoping to travel tomorrow and be home a day early.

I'll do a final update once we have seats confirmed.

Thanks!

Bruce

In Kiev Again!

Thanks to Michele's stealth (and brief) post, you know at the very least that we received our passports yesterday (Friday). Tanya called me at 3-ish and said that the passports were ready. So, we all headed over to the passport office with smiles on our faces as we anticipated a simple "pick-up". Well, you'll recall "it's Ukraine" so it was a little more involved than that.

When we arrived, Tanya went into the passport office and came back out moments later looking frustrated. Apparently, we were missing a stamp from the director and the director had stepped out. They did not know if or when he might come back. It was now about 4-ish so we just sat and waited outside. Finally, around 5PM we were ready to leave when he showed up!

Again, we thought, this will only take a few minutes....but, you got it, "it's Ukraine"! over an hour later they finally called us into the office where I double-checked and signed for the passports.

We had hoped that we could catch a night train back up to Kiev on Friday night. Unfortunately, Tanya had found out that, since the quarantine at the universities had been lifted and school was supposed to start again on Monday, there were no seats whatsoever to be purchased beforehand.

So, Tanya went to the train station around 8PM to be "first in line" to get any tickets that became available due to "no shows" or "special" availability. We waited at the Bible House for a call from Tanya. She called at 8:05 and said, "I have tickets for you and the taxi is on its way to pick you up." We met Tanya at the front of the train station and then made our way to the train car where our cabin was.

It turns out that our "special" tickets were for the cabin normally occupied by the ladies who "manage" this particular car...kind of like the train car "attendants". We didn't have "real" tickets, as these were obtained "under the table" and actually illegally. But hey, "it's Ukraine", so I was fine with it. Once we got on and took off, I sealed the transaction with the train attendant (i.e. I gave her the cash!) and we settled in for the night.

I don't think any of us slept too well, but we all knew that in a matter of 13 hours we'd be in Kiev on the next and final step of our journey.

Oleg met us at the train station and took us to our apartment. It is a very nice apartment, newly appointment with everything. It was a little more expensive than I had anticipated, but they dropped the price by $30 a night when I asked if they had anything cheaper. Sometimes, it pays to be a Dutchman! The apartment is about a 10 minute walk from the main Independence Square.

We just returned from a very much needed lunch at Cenentano's down by the square and Natasha and Pasha are watching TV while I check email and post to the blog.

We're hoping to go to church with Pasha's friend Julia tomorrow and then hope to meet up with Karen Springs in the afternoon. Monday we will go in the morning to complete medical exams and then to the US Consulate to get immigration Visas. If we're done with everything on Monday, I may just try to get us tickets home for Tuesday. We'll see how it goes.

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to head out and get some groceries. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers. The last couple of days I've especially appreciated them.

More later,

Bruce

Spoiler Stealth Post

They have passports! he he

No Passports Yet...

I just spoke with Tanya. She was at the passport office to find out if our passports had arrived. Unfortunately, no passports arrived today from Kiev. So, now we will wait another day.

This means that we will not be able to come home early, as we had hoped. Please pray that the passports arrive tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday. This way we can get to Kiev in time to complete medical exams and US Visas and fly home on our scheduled return flight on Wednesday, November 25th.

We are all well, though all ready to take the next steps toward home. I had a bit of a "freak out" day today as it really set in that Michele and I now are parenting 5 kids, two of whom speak very little English! Yikes. Pray for patience, peace and endurance as I get us through the process in Ukraine, and then for the same as we arrive home to begin our new lives together as a family.

That's it for now.

Later,

Bruce

Have Kids....Will Travel...

Well, even if I don't know when we'll travel, I can certainly say "I have the kids!" Tanya and I stopped by the market this afternoon and picked up a bunch of cookies and candy and juice for Natasha and Pasha's roomies. We also brought a bagful of things for each caregiver. They were all very thankful. I took as many pictures as I could and I will post some later when I have a chance to breathe.

I don't think there were any tears in Pasha's group of friends. You know, they're all boys after all.

Natasha's roomies were a different story. All of them were very teary eyed and sad to see her go. We will be able to go back to the orphanage before we actually leave from Kherson, so they were happy about that. Nevertheless, I had to fight back my own tears watching them say good-bye. These are kids who have known each other for many years and are like sisters, no doubt.

One of Pasha's caregivers (whose name I can't recall) told me through her broken English that she was at the orphanage when Pasha showed up at the age of 3. She's known him and been part of his care ever since. I definitely got a pic of her with Pasha.

We also had a short sit-down meeting with Roman and Nikolai. Nikolai had some very nice things to say about Michele and me. Through Tanya, he said that he feels he is a pretty good judge of character when first meeting someone, and he told Natasha and Pasha that he believes they have very good parents now. He also told them to "be nice, work hard and do well in school."

Tanya will find out tomorrow the definitive answer about passports. Pray that they will be done tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. I'm itchin' to get home and get everyone together.

Thanks for your prayers.

Bruce

Here are a couple of pics from dinner tonight. Pasha was sitting on the other side of the table from Natasha and me.

T minus ? and counting....

Well, I was hoping to deliver good news today about the readiness of the passports, but alas, it is not to be. I just spoke with Tanya who had just visited the passport office here in Kherson. We are waiting to receive the confirmation of Natasha and Pasha's new ID numbers from Kiev. Once that is done, the passports can actually be scanned and sent up to Kiev to be printed. Had the IDs been confirmed today, we would have had a high probability of getting passports on Wednesday. Now, it will be at least Thursday or possibly Friday. So, we wait, and hope and pray that tomorrow brings better news.

The weekend overall was quite fun. I spent time with N and P both Saturday and Sunday. I learned that they really like to play UNO. It was quite fun just to hang out and talk about various things like foods they like and don't like, things to expect in our home when we get to Colorado, etc., etc., etc.

I brought their suitcases over on Sunday and then immediately left with a load of Pasha's wash. I was thinking that if we were going to leave on Wednesday, I needed to get his wash done so it has time to dry. Now we have plenty of time. When I returned from the Bible House, I brought a huge suitcase that Michele and I brought out with us on our initial trip in September/October. We knew we did not want to bring it back with us, so I brought it to Natasha and asked her if she thought Jana might like it. Since Jana will be leaving the orphanage next summer, I figured she'd have the most need for it. And, indeed, she was happy to take it.

The funny thing about returning from the Bible House was that Pasha had pretty much already packed all his things in his suitcase and Natasha had her cupboard cleared out and packed already too. I think they're ready to get out of Dodge! :)

Today I learned that I will be able to sign final papers and take them out of the orphanage tomorrow (Tuesday). So, that is the plan. Tonight I told them to enjoy their last night in the orphanage, because tomorrow they would be staying with me. I hope they have a good night. Tomorrow, Tanya and I will go get some cakes, pies, cookies, candy, and fun stuff and we will have a sort of celebration after classes are done. Then we will say our good-byes and head back to the Bible House.

Since we will now need to stay in Kherson for a couple more days, Tanya and I will look for a short-stay apartment tomorrow. The Bible House has been great, but it will be much more convenient to have a kitchen to cook in and more of a "home" to hang out in. The kids won't go back to school...we'll just hang out, watch movies, learn English, go shopping, etc.

Please pray that the ID's are confirmed and ready for tomorrow and that we can get passports on Thursday. If we can get to Kiev on Friday, there's still an outside chance that we could fly home on Sunday. It's a stretch, but I'll give it my best. Otherwise, we will likely just stay until Wednesday and fly home on our scheduled flight. Also, please pray that we find an apartment that is convenient and available starting tomorrow. I have several folks looking on my behalf.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Bruce

A Long Day...But A Good Day

My day started at 5:30 this morning as I awoke to meet Tanya at 6:00AM for the trip to Genechisk. This is a town about 2 1/2 hours drive south and east of Kherson, pretty much on the Black Sea.

While Tanya sawed logs in the front seat, I could bearly fit my lanky legs in the back-seat of the Tercel-sized vehicle, so I was pretty much stretched across the whole back seat. I spent my time listening to Toby (Mac), Audio A., and several other albums that are on Bradley's IPOD (thanks bud!).

We arrived right on time...8:30AM. Genechisk is the city where both Natasha and Pasha's births are registered and where we needed to have the two new birth certificates issued. We weren't sure if everything would go well, but thankfully the "not-so-nice" administrator lady was out sick and her "much-nicer" assistant was there to help today. So, by 10:00 AM, we had two new birth certificates with us listed as the parents of Natasha and Pasha, and we headed back on the road for another 2 1/2 hour drive back.

We got back to Kherson around 1PM and then spent the next 2 hours getting new IDs filed and getting the new birth certificates "notarized" by at least three different offices. Even Tanya was flabergasted at the number of people with their hands in this pot.

Around 3:00 we picked up Natasha and Pasha to try and tackle passport scanning today as well. Tanya had been told that we would be able to be seen shortly after 3:00, so we arrived at the passport office about 3:20. There we waited...and waited...and waited. The kids are not entirely healthy, so they both had masks lazily fitted over their noses and mouths. We played games on my cell phone and on the IPOD. Finally, at 5:00PM, they were ready to see us. We got pics taken and I signed the papers for the passports. They are supposed to be ready by Wednesday! Yay!

I got home a little before 6 after dropping the kids off. I hadn't eaten much all day, so I jumped a bus down to Bourgeous and had some of the best salad and borsch with pampuschkas. I'm now back at the Bible House trying to do a little bit of work before I fall over asleep.

Please pray for Natasha and Pasha's health. They seem to be getting better but I'd like them to be feeling completely well when we leave next week. Also pray for Natasha as she was quite serious tonight and Tanya said she is a bit anxious about everything. I'm not sure if she is anxious about the process completing successfully, or just about the impending move to a completely new culture. In either case, pray that she (and Pasha too) experience God's peace over the next several days.

Thanks for reading!

Bruce