I thought I’d let everyone know about some people who are doing amazing things to help orphans right now. You can easily help one or more of these families & make an eternal impact. Please share their stories with others and ask people to pray for them. Pray & see if God would lead you to partner with them in their efforts to further His Kingdom!

The Dell Family:
Ryan and Autumn are dopting Anya’s friend, Nastya from Russia. They are an answer to so many prayers over the past 3 years – many of you have been praying with us for Nastya to have a forever family & God has answered! $15 for one of these cute necklaces will help bring her home to her forever family. Check out their blog for more info!

You can also purchase some really cute memo boards that are hand painted by Kim Reed to support Nastya’s adoption. In December, Kim donated the proceeds from her memo boards to two couples adopting from The Congo and this month, she is selling them to help bring Nastya home. Check out the memo boards!

The Helf Family: Headed to Latvia for another mission trip in February to minister to orphans and single mothers in need. You can donate to help buy shoes for children or cloth diapers for babies. They will put every dollar to great use – meeting physical needs & building relationships with those who need Christ. While donating, you can enter to win a chance to win one of many neat gifts, including an i-pod touch! Enter to win on their blog.

The Legg Family: John and Karen feel God’s call to Ethiopia. John’s family has been friends with our family for many years and in memory of his father’s recent passing, we will be donating toward their adoption. God is moving on the hearts of so many to reach out to the fatherless. Partner with this family as they travel to Ethiopia to bring home their child!

The Davis Family: Rob and Laura are adopting from The Congo. Along the way, God has lead them to be involved in the life of Liza, a 16 year old girl from Latvia. You can help them minister by donating to their adoption! Read about their journey to The Congo and about their ministry to a precious girl from Latvia!

The Long Family: Jono and Heather are also headed to The Congo. They have hosted many orphans in their home and were drawn to adopt from a country with great need for orphans to have families. Heather makes beautiful hairbows called Frica Blooms – my girls love them! Take a look at some beautiful hair accessories and learn more about their family and how you could help!

The Suttles Family: Cara & Gary have adopted one child from Russia and are now adopting a little girl through Reece’s Rainbow. Reece’s Rainbow is an amazing organization that advocates for children with special needs who are in desperate need of a family. The Suttles have answered the call and are working to bring home Ella. Read more about their story and how you can help!

Well, we’ve been home just over 6 weeks now and things really couldn’t have gone better! That doesn’t mean we don’t have struggles some days, because we do. We struggle with all the “normal” family stuff as well as a host of other issues that arise when blending a family of children who haven’t grown up together and who face their own personal challenges because of language difficulties, effects from institutionalization, and past traumas. We have just taken things day-by-day and prayed that God will give us wisdom as we begin the life-long journey with our children. Our prayer is that they will follow Christ and allow him to work in their hearts to help them deal with life’s difficulties. We don’t know what the future holds for any of us, but we do know that Jeremiah 29:11 is truth and God has a plan for each of them. Please continue to pray for us – that we will have wisdom in helping the girls heal, forgive, and grow into godly women. God is so good and has blessed us with 6 little people who are truly treasures. We want to be good stewards in guiding them!

Major accomplishments so far: Rosetta Stone English is going great, all 5 girls want to be together all the time, the girls are really bonding with Mom and Dad, we’ve had great talks about adoption, our faith & what it means to be in a safe home, the girls are trying new foods & finding that they enjoy many of them, the girls are so happy in our home and have not second-guessed their decision to be adopted (which wouldn’t be uncommon for kids this age!), all 6 children are really getting along amazingly, & they have a very teachable spirit and have made a lot of progress in just the past few weeks.

Prayer requests: more spoken English (they are understanding most of what we say, but speech is a harder part), that their hearts will continue to soften, that we can work on reading/writing this summer to get ready for school, for Zhenya’s confidence – she needs to believe in herself and know how smart she is (much work in Math needs to be done & she needs some self-esteem in that area), that Kristina will continue to speak more & develop emotionally (she is doing great, but obviously has been very stunted in her emotional growth due to trauma), and wisdom for Mom & Dad in knowing how to handle each and every situation.

Some of the girls’ favorite things: swimming, playing any kind of sports game with Dad, playing cards or board games together, cooking with Mom, reading books out loud before bed, going to the grocery store, staying at the table after dinner to tell funny stories, any kind of celebration (they loved celebrating Dad’s birthday!), playing with dolls, family movie time, school work, and going new places. They have been so much fun!

A quick update in pictures – can’t help but brag on these gorgeous smiling faces! We have all had a blast these past few weeks and the girls are so very happy!

The girls enjoyed goofing off after our picnic!

Kristina had a great time playing before the show!

We brought cotton candy & Caleb ate his before the show even started!

Dad teaching the girls to throw a frisbee - they loved it!

Trying to get everyone to look at the camera was a challenge - they were all laughing at each other! We had a great time at Stone Mountain... even if we had to sit through the rain during the laser show - we all got a little wet.

After such a hot day, the rain started moving in & really cooled us off!

Katya, Kristina, Anya & Faith are always being silly!

Faith and Kristina love partnering to do anything & especially enjoyed picking strawberries together!

Zhenya enjoyed eating strawberries while she picked!

Katya probably ate the most strawberries that day and was so proud of the beautiful berries she picked!

It was hot, but the kids had a great time!

Before Belle's pool was open, we pulled out the slip-n-slide... great fun!

All the kids would live in the pool if I let them - they are great swimmers!

Zhenya has loved the pool the most, I think!

Watching Zhenya's personality blossom has been a treat! She is so beautiful inside and out & really funny, too!

Ever wondered what 6 kids in a minivan looks like? Never a dull moment, that's for sure - Zhenya's face pretty much sums up the craziness!

Anya and Mom had the opportunity to be on a Savannah radio program to speak about older orphans and their need to find families. Anya did great! Check out www.p143.org

We were blessed with a 1 night mini-vacation on Tybee Island - wonderful house! Check out www.tybeebeachhouse.com

The Tybee Island Light House was a hike up 178 steps, but so much fun! Everyone enjoyed the view!

The beach was a blast! It was a beautiful day and almost no one else on the beach. The kids loved it!

Kristina was nervous at first, but really enjoyed the water!

Zhenya, Katya, Kristina, Faith, Anya & Caleb

This is my favorite picture of the crew! Aren't they adorable???!!!

]]> http://www.higginsadoptions.com/2010/06/18/since-weve-been-home/feed/ 3 http://www.higginsadoptions.com/2010/05/02/when-we-get-home/ http://www.higginsadoptions.com/2010/05/02/when-we-get-home/#comments Sun, 02 May 2010 07:59:46 +0000 admin http://www.higginsadoptions.com/?p=387

We know it’s going to take a while for our family to get into the swing of things and for all the kids to really jell. We are praying that God will work in the hearts of each family member to bring us all together. As with any blended family, we know there is potential for division amongst the troops, but we’re going to work through, with the Lord’s help, & encourage the kids to be family (they will need to learn what this even means).

Our top priority from an adoptive standpoint will be bonding and attachment with Zhenya, Katya & Kristina. This will not be an easy process for many reasons – they are older children, they have been in an institution for over 5 years, and they have each other (which is a good thing, but also can hinder their attachment to us since they can rely on one another). Hopefully, they developed the ability to bond as infants and toddlers. If so, this process will be much easier for us all. If you have parented an older adopted child, you probably understand what we’re talking about. If not, you might wonder why in the world would I make a big deal over this or you may even think we’re crazy (I know I might have a few years ago!). We are not asking that everyone agree with us or even understand the process we’re going through, but that as our friends and family you would trust our heart, respect our decisions and support our parenting. If you would like to understand more about this, please feel free to ask us questions or for some books that can help you understand what we’re embarking on.

So, what can you expect when we get home?

- The girls will be very tired (maybe for a while as they adjust to their new life). Please greet them warmly with a hug, but do not be offended if they do not respond. They might not hug you back or even speak to you. They will be overwhelmed with emotions and might not warm up to you easily. Please respect their boundaries.

- Keep in mind that our goal is for them to bond with us as Mama and Papa… it’s what life will be centered around for them.  Please let us do all of the care-giving (offering food, consoling, disciplining, offering choices, helping with tasks, etc)

- Please do not give them anything they ask for without first telling them to “ask Mom or Dad” – don’t ask for them. They need to ask! This applies to food, permission, help, anything! They are learning English and can do this themselves.

- Back us up.  If we direct one of the children to do/not do (or eat/not eat) something, please go along with us even if you would do things differently.  When they see you respecting our words to them, they will learn from that example.

- Please do not allow the girls to hang on you or cling to you.  They might want to sit in your lap, hold your hand, or just lean on you, but they must learn to cling first to Mama and Papa.

- Gifts: if you have something to share with them, please give to us first so that we can hand it to them for you… or ask them to “ask your Mom/Dad” if you can give them something.  It´s important that the permission always come from us.

- While the girls are learning to be a part of a family & follow rules and respect our authority, they will have days they are frustrated with us. We will be the ones saying “no, you can’t do that” or “I know you don’t want to go to the store, but we are all going as a family.” In times like these, they may turn to others outside our immediate family as a way of pushing us back. Please do not allow this. It might seem mean, but you need to push them back toward us! For their sake, they cannot bond with people outside of Mama and Papa right now.

- Bearing these things in mind, please do not ask the girls if they would like to go places, do things or attend events. You can ask us about these things, but do not be offended if for the next several months we don’t attend much – we will be staying home a lot! Also, the girls will not go anywhere without us… not until they have attached to us as their Mama and Papa. We do look forward to the day that they can attend parties and events just as other “normal” children can, but that will have to take a back-seat right now.

The girls are learning what it means to be part of a family, to trust and obey us as their parents, to rely on us for everything they need (emotionally & physically), and to bond with us as their mama and papa.

It is imperative that our children learn to seek all permission, affection, guidance, attention, provision (for every basic need), affirmation & acceptance from us first. Only after they have truly bonded with us as their parents will they ever be able to develop healthy relationships in the future. Right now, think of the girls as in the “infant” stage – they have just come home to our family. Only with them, they NEED to LEARN to rely completely on us just as an infant relies on his mother. This is not something that will be instinctual for them. Our desire is for them to come to know God’s love and to develop into healthy adults who have healthy relationships with their spouses, children, friends and family. Thank you for supporting us in this! It will help us all transition smoothly as we become a family.

We arrived in Kyiv on Saturday afternoon & checked into our first apartment. We didn’t have anything we needed to do until Monday. At that point, we had to go to the US Embassy to apply for visas and then take the girls to medical examinations in order to get the visas the following day. We had planned to leave Kyiv on Wednesday after receiving visas on Tuesday. Well, God had other plans. We’ve seen a lot more of Kyiv than we anticipated as we have been here for just over a week. We were very nervous about our US Embassy paperwork because Jack was the only one adopting. That went fine. We never expected to have a problem with the medicals, but when Zhenya’s chest x-ray came back “abnormal” and they took a second x-ray, we started getting nervous. When they told us the news that she would have to stay 3 more days to do a “spit test” (not the official word, I know), we were so disappointed and upset. We were at the point of tears and Zhenya just held her head down. She must have been thinking we were upset with her. After realizing there would be no way around this delay, I just prayed for peace. We have known God is in control through every situation and I knew there must be some reason He wanted us to stay a little longer. I’m not sure we’ll ever know why, exactly, but I do know these extra few days alone with the girls have been very good for us as a family.

We’ve spent a lot of time together doing things here in Kyiv and just hanging out in the apartment. The girls are very excited about going home and last night, Zhenya even returned my kiss when I kissed her good night. Every night I hug & kiss the girls and tell them that I love them. Last night was the first time that I heard three little voices say “me too”. God knows what’s best for us!

Enjoy the pictures… I’ll have more to post later, but we’re headed to the airport – can’t wait to be home! Thank you for your prayers!!!

While Jack was off on his paper chase with Sergei, the girls and I hung out together – they were no longer residents of the orphanage – they were really & truly ours (well, Jack’s… but what’s mine is his & what’s his is mine, right?). Jack and I went to the orphanage at 8am on Thursday morning to pick up the girls and then we had Thursday and Friday together. We spent our time at the hotel (they were very excited to take a shower and put on new clothes!), we went to “Jazz” to play video games and walk around the mall, and we went back to the orphanage each day to visit and say good-bye.

I was nervous about whether or not everyone Zhenya would be ready to leave the orphanage, but they all had their suitcases packed and ready to go. They had exchanged addresses (Katya had little slips of paper with her new name and address that she had copied and passed around), given away things (Zhenya didn’t come with a single photo we had sent with her and she had over 300, I think), and attended their last day of school there. They were very excited as we walked down the street rolling their suitcases toward the hotel Thursday morning.

We had taken Zhenya’s class to get pizza the day before our court hearing and planned to do something fun for Katya & Kristina’s classes as well. We arranged with the caregivers to have a going away party for both classes in the cafeteria on Friday afternoon just before 3pm. On Thursday night, the girls had a great time picking out cake & ice cream. We bought 5 cakes and 7 or 8 cartons of ice cream. Fortunately our hotel room had a full sized refrigerator! We had a taxi take us and all of our food to the orphanage Friday afternoon. Zhenya hung out with her friends while we partied in the cafeteria. The kids were so excited to get cake & ice cream. We fed about 50 kids cake and ice cream until they were about to bust. Some children had 3 pieces of cake! The also had Fanta and Coca-Cola to drink and a little goody bag we put together at the hotel. All of the kids were very grateful and told me thank you several times. It was such a Joy to get to know these little guys. I would have never considered adopting a 10 or 12 year old a few years ago, but there are so many wonderful kids this age – consider hosting one!

When it came time to say good-bye the final time (Friday night), all three girls were very somber. I know it hasn’t been easy on them – even Katya has admitted that she is very afraid to be adopted and come live with us. And, for the two days we stayed in Severodonetsk, the pull of the orphanage on Zhenya was great. She wanted to be there with her friends. Even after her friends followed us to the hotel on Friday night to say good-bye, she wanted to go back and say good-bye again – “just 15 minutes, Mama” she kept saying in Russian… “please, Mama”. I knew that as soon as we were out of the city and in the unfamiliar, she would do fine with us, but I didn’t want to risk her being pulled away while we were there. I told her that when Jack got back from getting the paperwork, he could go with her, but she couldn’t go alone. I assured her that she had said her good-byes and going back would only cause her friends to cry again. It was a nervous night for me… Jack had a separate room in the hotel because the rooms only accommodate 3 people (ours had 4) & I slept with the room key in my pocket for fear that Zhenya would try to leave in the night (the hotel doors cannot be opened without a key). She pouted at dinner & refused to eat, but she seemed to realize I wouldn’t give in. She refused to let Jack go with her to see her friends – she’d rather not go.

It was a quiet exit from Severodonetsk the following morning. We had a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Donetsk airport to catch our flight and aside from the motion sickness (Katya), it was pretty good. The flight to Kyiv was great – only an hour.

We were all tired and the girls had mixed emotions, I’m sure. I had mixed emotions… knowing that they may never come back – so much left behind. I cannot comprehend the loss. We usually only think about what a child gains when he/she is adopted, but there is a lot to mourn for most of the children. If you do not know your relatives, that must be sad… leaving without a chance to even say good-bye to people you don’t really know. If you know your siblings, grandmother, aunts, uncles (as in the case of our girls), and then you say good-bye… all while these people you know are okay with your leaving, it must make your heart ache. Would it not feel like rejection to be let go? I pray one day that the girls will open up and be able to talk about how they have felt the past few weeks.

Well, Stephanie asked me to write about The Paper Chase.  I don’t know that I can adequately explain such a process.

These events occurred between 8:30am and 6:00pm on Thursday, the 22nd. dum-dum-dum

The process started with going to the Orphange, getting the girls and signing a few documents to check the girls out of the Orphange.  After that Sergei (our facilitator) and I had to go to the Notary’s office to get a few documents notarized before we could go to the Vital Records office in Severodonetsk.  The vital records office is responsbile for creating new birth certificates and adoption certificates for the girls in their new name.  Yes, that would be the Higgins name.  Quick procedural note: the girls now live in the Serverodonetsk orphange but this is not where they are from.  We would eventually have to visit the vital records office in their town of birth, about one hour away (will discuss this distance later), but had to first start the process in Severodonetsk.  I know your asking yourself, how much more efficient can  this process be?  Upon arriving at the vital records office, Sergei asked me to wait in the hallway.  I quickly realized that I was not going to be needed much for the next 48 hours but to sign off on final documentation, but I had to tag along none the less.  Sergei moved quickly, going from room to room, getting his contacts started on our documentation.  While waiting in the hallway, I noticed that there was a wedding chapel in the next room.  Apparently, the vital records office is where the Justice of the Peace equivalent performs ceremonies.  A gentleman approaches me and starts speaking to me in Russian.  He quickly realized that I was not from the area.  Imagine that, Me, not from around here?  Well, not to be deterred by my lack of Russian skills he proceeds to show me pictures.  He is professional photographer.   Okay, now I understand, he takes the wedding photos.  What I didn’t understand was that he was trying to tell me something involving 30.  How does this relate to the paper chase you ask?  I guess he couldn’t tell by Sergei’s sharp movements from room to room or possibly his exasperated expression, that he was busy so the photographer entered the office Sergei was in asked him to come outside and explain to me that he had been a photographer for thirty years.  Yes, that was really top priority at the time.  With a smirk on his faced Sergei apologetically explained to the photographer that we were in a hurry and had to leave.  By this time Sergei and I had an unspoken communication.  When he would dart for the doors, I would quickly follow.  I knew we were on to something important and also, I wasn’t getting left without him.  Outside Sergei explained that he was told that we now needed a notarized power of attorney.  He was quite upset since he had just been to that office two weeks before and they didn’t tell him that he needed it.  One more complication to the power of attorney is that Sergei could not translate it to me because it was giving him, wait for it, power of attorney.  We had to get another translator to come and translate the document.

Our Caffiene Cafe

Well, we get the power of attorney done and returned to the vital records office.  They tell Sergei to stay close but come back in about thirty minutes.  So Sergei and I went for a quick caffeine intake.  I say that because for Segei, this is Coffee but for me that would be good old Coca-Cola.  We go to a nearby cafe that none of us had been to while in Severodonetsk.  Remember, Sergei has never been there before either, except to help with our adoption.  We enter the cafe and order a Coca-Cola and Coffee at the counter.  We proceed to a nearby empty table and take our seats.  After sitting down I glance around the room and notice a bright silver poll mounted on a tiny stage in the middle of the room.  I then notice disco balls and strobe lights in the ceiling.  I quickly told Sergei “I believe that this is a Strip Club”.  Thankfully there were no festivities going on at the time.  After enjoying our drinks, we returned to the vital records office to pickup our documentation.  We return at the appointed time (12:30pm) to discover that the building is locked up tight.  Everyone is at lunch.  Sergei calls our contact and she says “I just said be back around 12:30, we will open at 1:00″.  The doors finally open and our documents are ready.  We just need the office director to sign off so we can go.  The only problem is that she is not there.  We are told that she will return in thirty minutes.  About one hour later she shows up and signs the documents. We are now at about 2:15pm.  We need to drive the one hour distance and hopefully visit two more offices before the day is out.

Vital Records Office in Girls' Hometown

About 2:15 we begin our journey to the other town.  Sergei tells me it is about one hour away.  He didn’t explain that time was determined by driving at 140kph.  When we settle in the car Sergei quickly engages his Radar detector (Fuzz Buster) and turns on Ukrainian Techno music.  He says that this music helps him focus when driving fast.  You have to understand that we are also dealing with potholes bigger than basketballs.  Tony Stewart would never drive under these conditions.  As we are streaking down the road, Sergei says “The speed limit is 60kph, the law allows that we can go 20kph over so that would be 80kph, but we are doing 120kph”.  Needless to say it is a very intense hour but I know that we are in a hurry.  We finally arrive at the other town and Sergei drops off our documents to be processed.  While they are working on our birth and adoption certification we use the time to find the local tax ID office and request that they give us the new tax ID’s before closing.  They agree to try, but they need our new birth and adoption certificates to prove custody.  We get the call from the vital records office at 5:00 to come and pickup the records.  We have been at this for about 8 hours now and it is my time to shine.  I get to sign some documents!  While signing the documents, the ladies in the office are fascinated that I have a III at the end of my name.  This is not typically done in Ukraine.  Sergei, had to ask me more than once what it meant.  After explaining, the ladies then wondered why the girls didn’t have the III at the end of their names as well.  I then had to explain that III is part of my name, not the family name.  After receiving these certificates we go to the tax ID office to get the new tas ID’s for the girls.  We have accomplished our wish list for the day and now all we have to do on Friday is get passports.  We were right on schedule for heading to Kyiv on Saturday.  We are feeling pretty good at this point.  Now, back to the hotel for a nice dinner and good night’s sleep.  You would think that the drive back could be a little more leisurely.  Not so, 140kph, bouncing all the way.

These events occurred Friday, the 23rd between 8:00am and 3:45pm. dum-dum-dum

Sun’s up, quick shower, get dressed and a quick breakfast.  We have to be at the passport office with the Orphanage attorney at 8:30.  Note: by this point, I am referring to myself as Goose & to Sergei as Maverick.  When we arrive at the passport office Sergei just asks me to wait in the car.  I am okay with this. I am not needed at this juncture anyways.  I kicked back to catch up on some sleep that I missed the night before due to the Jet lag.  All the while Sergei is inside quickly getting stuff done.  Passports are a bit simpler that the birth & adoption certificates.  We have to visit two towns also about an hour apart at 140kph.  About an hour into my nap, I am requested to come inside to sign some documents.  I know you’re asking yourself, “How does he keep up with such a rigorous schedule?”.  Amazingly, it’s easier than it sounds.  After signing the documents we are asked to go pay some fees and then come back around 1:00.  We are told that we will drive the passport office director to Lugansk where we will get the actual passports.  There is still no guarantee that we will receive them today.  I asked Sergei if most of the actual work is completed at the Severodonetsk passport office.  He explained that it is and that once in Lugansk, he has seen the passports be made in about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. And Sergei drinks it fast!  He explained that they still like to make you wait awhile though.  It allows them to show their authority.  After picking up the passport office director, I’m wondering how Sergei will make the drive with a government official in the back seat.  My questions are put to rest when I see Sergei place the radar detector up in the window and turn on the Ukrainian Techo music.  Engage Afterburners!!  “Here we go again”.  Surprisingly, the passport office director handles the 140kph quite well – even answer a few cell phone calls while bumping through the potholes.  We arrive at the Lugansk passport office in forty-five minutes and the passport director tell us to wait in the car while she delivers our documents.  She will call us when they are ready, she says.  This time Sergei and I both kick back for a nap.  About one hour later we get the call.  “Come up stairs and sign for the passports”.

Mama, Papa, Zhenya, Kristina & Katya Passports!!!

Now with passports in hand we can leisurely drive back to Severodonetsk, but wait, the radar detector is once again in the window. Here we go yet again.  We arrive back in Severodonetsk with a severe headache (my head can’t take much more bumping around), deliver the passport director and have but one more task to complete.  Purchase plane tickets to Kyiv.  Mission Accomplished!!!

I want to add that Sergei was awesome!!!  He worked so hard and stayed on top of things while we were in the region.  Thank you very much, my friend!  God bless you!!  I hope our paths cross again someday.  Just hope that they cross in Atlanta.

Jack

In Ukraine there is a mandatory 10 day waiting period (in case someone comes forward to appeal the decision). For us, the 10th day fell on Friday, April 16th, so the court decree was not to be issued until Monday (the following business day). We had flights scheduled to leave the US on April 17th (to arrive in Ukraine on Sunday, the 18th) – we would hit the ground running with paperwork on Monday! Well, that was the plan until we started hearing news of volcanic ash shutting down some airports in Europe.

Sure enough… our flight was canceled. We rescheduled for the following Monday and on the way to the airport, Lufthansa finally updated their flight schedule to announce that all flights world-wide were canceled that day. On the way home from the airport, we called our travel agent (Golden Rule Travel – the best people!) and the earliest we could get tickets was Monday, April 26th. By the time we got home from the airport, Lufthansa had changed their plans and decided to operate some flights that day. Ours was one of them. So, off to the airport we went – not knowing what we could do because we had re-booked our flights for the following week. After pleading with the ticket agents, there was nothing more we could do. We weren’t able to get on a flight even though we had tickets earlier that day for the very flight that was operating.

We were extremely discouraged and went home. We were reminded, however, that God is in control and even though it may seem like a strange plan to us, His plans are better than ours!

Our three year old, Caleb, was confused! By the time we arrived home for the second time that day, he looked in the van and asked, “Where’s Zhenya, Katya & Kristina?”. We had to explain that we hadn’t been to Ukraine yet. I said “We just keep going to the airport.” Caleb turn to his sisters and said, “Ohhh… they just keep going to the airport.” – as if that explained everything! If only our faith was that simple! We don’t always accept a change of plans that easily.

I was able to get a cell phone number for one of Katya’s roommates so I could call and let the girls know why we were not in Ukraine to get them yet. Hopefully one day I’ll know what they were thinking – I’m not sure she completely understood why we weren’t there. She had heard about the volcano, but had no idea that meant we couldn’t get on an airplane. I told her to let Zhenya & Kristina know about the situation and that we were trying to get there as quickly as possible.

After the two trips to the airport and no success, we were resigned to the fact that we would have to wait a week. Because of the backlog of passengers due to the volcano, it didn’t look like there would be open seats in the near future. The next morning Jack went back to work and I had planned to get some things done that had been waiting for our return. Around 8:30am I decided to check online and see if seats had opened up on any flights prior to Monday. When I looked, the website showed open seats for the flights we needed that day. I called our travel agent (the emergency cell phone number) and told them what I saw. In about 2 minutes we had gone from waiting for a week to having tickets for that day… now to let everyone know, wake the kids up (they were all still asleep), call Jack home from work and head to the airport. We needed to leave in about 45 minutes in order to get there in time.

Fast forward… we made it! We went from Atlanta to Charlotte. In Charlotte, Lufthansa couldn’t tell us if our flight out of Germany would be operational… they said “you will be responsible for your own lodging and alternate transportation in order to get to Ukraine”. At that point, we knew God had opened a door for us to get there and we should just keep moving. Also, the only tickets that had been available for the flight from Germany to Ukraine was for the following day. We’d have a 28+ hour wait in the Munich airport. We kept praying that the flight would be operational and that we would be able to make it on the flight a day earlier! And that’s exactly what happened. We got to Munich and waited in the Lufthansa check-in counter to find out if we could get on the flight. We did – without even having to fly stand-by and wait at the gate for a seat. Just knowing we would be on our way the same day was such a relief. We knew we would soon see our girls!

After a 2 1/2 hour taxi drive from the airport, we arrived in Severodonetsk at about 7:00pm on Wednesday, April 21st. We were told that we would be allowed to pick up the girls from the orphanage the following morning at 8am. We were both excited and nervous – there was so much to be done. Would the girls be ready to leave (not just have their bags packed… emotionally ready)? Could we get all of their documents in order before the weekend so we could start the paper chase in Kyiv on Monday? When would we get home with the girls?

One thing we knew for certain… God brought us here & He will be faithful. It might not always look like what we imagine and no matter how hard we try, our plans are not concrete. He can even use a volcano to change our plans! For some reason, His plan was for us to arrive a little later than we anticipated. Wonder if we’ll ever know why!

Court Building in Severodonetsk

But, back to where we left off after our last post…

The girls waiting for our court hearing

COURT: The day following our last post, we had our court hearing in Severodonetsk. Everything went well (even though it was a much longer process than anticipated). Court started late, the judge read from EVERY page in our Dossier and then had a 20 minute recess that turned into nearly an hour! After coming back with his decision, he read every word of the court decree in a monotone voice. At this point, Jack was so stressed from the entire proceeding, he began to laugh… not just a little, but a lot (he has always dealt with stress by laughing). He was the only one of us who spoke in court because he adopted the girls by himself. If you know Jack, you know that this has been a stressful process for him & by the time it was over and he was listening to the droning of the court decree (which was then translated in a whisper in his ear), he had had enough – he just started giggling. I almost lost it – watching him try to contain the chuckles was too much. I had to look at something else and try to think of something sad or serious just to maintain my composure. It was so obvious (to everyone except maybe the judge because I don’t think he ever even looked at us), that one of the “jurors” asked us in the car later why Jack was laughing! Note: we gave the 2 jurors a ride back to town… very strange process!

The Witness Stand - Where Jack stood to speak

The Court Clerk

Courtroom

A Cell in the Courtroom

The girls did great in court. Fortunately they weren’t there to witness Jack’s near hysteria – they had already gone back to the orphanage. Each  of them had to stand and state their name, date of birth and then answer a couple of questions about being adopted. Kristina was addressed first and she is so shy that everyone in the room was trying to help her say her name and date of birth… she just giggled and smiled. She finally managed to get it all out and nod her head to the judge about her desire to be adopted. Katya was next & came running out of the gate! She stood up and in one breath loudly stated her full legal name & date of Birth as if she had been practicing. She very confidently answered questions & then sat back down. When the judge got to Zhenya, we got our only glimpse of some personality from him. She was very sure of herself and quick to answer his questions until he said “Do you have a fiance?” – she looked perplexed and said “No.” He then asked her if she was planning to look for one in America. To that, she didn’t know how to reply… she looked at us & didn’t say anything. He moved on to other questions and she just smiled.

During the judge’s recess, the girls were taken back to the orphanage. We had just a minute to say good-bye and then they were whisked away. We were able to manage a picture in front of the court building right before they left.

Zhenya Mercy, Kristina Joy & Katya Hope Higgins!

After court, we went back to the hotel to gather our suitcases and head to the airport in Donetsk (about 2.5 hours away).

Our luggage ready & waiting

We were cutting it close trying to make our flight since court ran much longer than anticipated. It’s a small airport, however, and the hour we had was plenty of time to check in, pay for an extra bag and then shuffle to re-pack (because ours were over the weight limit), and then have all the bags wrapped in plastic – not sure if it was necessary, but since we don’t speak a lot of Russian it seemed we didn’t have much choice but to pay the man 100 greevna and then watch him wrap up our bags. Not much to write home about at the Donetsk airport. We did photograph the most interesting things… I was shocked at the state of the ladies room in an international airport (although after all our travels now, I’m just thankful it wasn’t a squatty potty!) & Jack was amazed at the A/C vents in the ceiling (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!).

Our flights home were uneventful & we loved being in the care of Lufthansa! The most interesting part of the trip was probably our overnight layover in Munich… just think Tom Hanks in The Terminal – that’s how we felt! We weren’t sure if we could find a hotel and make it back to the airport and we weren’t willing to risk missing that flight home, so we slept on benches with our arms wrapped through our bags. The cleaning staff kept us company and did their best to wake us frequently by hitting the benches with brooms and mops. Maybe the longest 14 hours of our lives (well second to the 17 hour train ride, Jack says).

A/C vents in the ceiling of the terminal in Donetsk, Ukraine

I’ll try to catch up more tomorrow – starting with the Volcanic Ash that had us running back & forth to the airport… Right now, I’ve got to get some sleep. 6am comes early here… about when everyone at home is going to bed! I’ve got to take Zhenya to spit in a cup – more on that later!!!

31 people crammed into a van on our way to eat pizza… FREE (courtesy of the orphanage)

Enough pizza, salad, chicken nuggets, french fries, jello, Coke, Fanta, Sprite and ICE CREAM to stuff all the kids… 1,000 greevna ($125)

The smile on Zhenya’s face the entire time as she hung out with her friends for an unforgettable lunch… PRICELESS!

Maybe it’s because we know we’re headed to court in the morning and then we’ll be on our way home… whatever the reason, it seems like today has been the best day of our trip so far! We had such a great time with all the kids from Zhenya’s class. It is class 9-A. There are 3 ninth grade classes with a total of 65 kids who will “graduate” from the orphanage this year. As you look through the pictures, remember the faces of these young people – they really need a support system!

Katya & Kristina went with us today and had a good time as well. Seeing Zhenya just let loose for the first time this trip and really enjoy herself was wonderful. She sat with us at lunch, smiling the entire time, and taking tons of pictures. She even got other kids to take a bunch of pictures of her and her friends (something we’ve wanted to capture this entire trip!). I don’t think her smile ever left her face and by the time all 31 of us got back to the orphanage and unloaded from the van, I held out my arms and she wrapped hers around me a squeezed me tight. It made her day & in turn made ours! I don’t think we could have done anything better as a “farewell party” for her. Most of the kids in her class have most likely never been to a restaurant. Just getting to order whatever they wanted was so fascinating to watch! They couldn’t believe they could order more than one thing. And when it came time for ice cream, no one turned it down. We’ve never had so much fun watching teenagers eat ice cream! They had all dressed up for the occasion and given their lunches away at the orphanage to save room for their restaurant food. I don’t think there was any food left on the tables – they ate every bite!

We were taken up to Zhenya’s floor and shown around after lunch. By this time, we had quite a group of boys and girls following us around wanting to know all about “Vamerika”. They called them for snack time and they begged us to stay – they skipped snack to just sit and talk. We helped them with English and they helped us with Russian – they frequently laughed as I tried to repeat words. One of Zhenya’s friends asked me if I have 6 children, I said yes. She said “could you take 25 more?” (the number of kids in that class). She asked if she and her sisters could go back in our suitcases. I explained that I would if I could. There are so many kids that will “age-out” of the system here without any family supporting them… it’s something we really cannot imagine!

So many thoughts running through our minds, but for now we are packing! Can’t wait to be home! Court is at 9am tomorrow and then we will head to the airport in Donetsk. Will take about 35+ hours of travel and then we’ll be home! Keep praying for us and the girls… so much more we want to say, but it will have to wait until we are home.

We got up early this morning to go celebrate Pasca (Easter) with the kids at the orphanage. We knew the priest was coming at 8:30, so we were there a little after 8am to join the kids in the cafeteria. Each child had some Pasca Bread, a boiled egg and candy (in addition to the usual breakfast food that was served after the festivities). Before the priest arrived, all the children got up from the tables and lined the walkway and chanted something (a greeting maybe?). The priest along with a younger man and several older women arrived. He said a lot of things and at one point all of the children knew what to say in response. The kids then went back to their tables and he worked his way through the cafeteria sprinkling everyone and everything with holy water. Zhenya got soaked – she looked like she had been swimming!

We were invited by Zhenya’s caregiver to sit at Zhenya’s table (Zhenya was quite embarrassed, but she did sit with us). We have invited her entire group to go out to eat tomorrow afternoon. The caregiver announced that this morning while they were eating breakfast & they all started talking about going to a restaurant. Zhenya had never been to a restaurant before, so many of them might not have either. We are planning to take them to “Brava” – it’s a great little pizza place where teens would enjoy hanging out & eating (we like the food there too!). We walked down there today to let them know we would be bringing a big group tomorrow – they needed 20 greevna ($2.50) to hold our spot or something – not sure exactly? The orphanage bus will take us all there tomorrow at 2:30. The director seemed happy to help us do this. We are planning to have a party with Katya & Kristina’s groups when we come back to pick up the girls, but we don’t think Zhenya and her friends would enjoy what we have planned for the younger kids.

We are in for the night here at the hotel and plan to start packing up some things – hoping to consolidate! We will be leaving a suitcase here with Katya’s caregiver – full of clothes for the girls when we return. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and then to court Tuesday morning. Time will go by quickly and we’ll soon be on our way home!