HELP NEEDED Hosting Program

THESE CHILDREN NEED YOUR HELP. IN AUGUST THESE UKRAINIAN ORPHANS WILL BE TRAVELING TO QUEST HAVEN LODGE IN TYRONE, PENNSYLVANIA FOR A HOSTING CAMP. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THEY WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND 5 DAYS AT A CHRISTIAN SUMMER CAMP THEN THEY WILL SPEND THE REMAINDER OF THEIR TWO WEEK STAY WITH FAMILIES WHO AGREE TO HOST THEM IN THEIR HOMES AND CONSIDER ADOPTING THEM. HOW CAN YOU HELP??? PRAY FOR THE PROGRAM, AGREE TO HOST A CHILD AS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GET TO KNOW THE CHILD AND SEEK GOD'S DIRECTION IN ADOPTING THE CHILD TO BE A PART OF YOUR FAMILY, PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT BY BEING A CHILD SPONSOR AND HELPING TO PAY THE CHILD'S HOSTING COSTS TO COME TO AMERICA TO FIND A FAMILY TO BELONG TO AND BE LOVED BY. Why assist a Ukrainian orphan? There are over 100,000 orphans waiting to be adopted and that many more children living in the streets of the Ukraine. Between the ages of 14 & 16 the children leave the orphanage with no family, home, job, minimal education to help them get established on there own. At age 16 they graduate from the orphanage and are on their own in the streets. While visiting the orphanage in Ukraine we met so many sweet children who are desperate to belong and be loved. A hosting program is the number one way these children find adoptive families, this is their hope. THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN A CHILD'S LIFE WITHOUT YOUR HELP IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DO THIS PROGRAM SUCCESSFULLY!!!!!These are needy children who you can help to make an eternal difference in their life! We are so very blessed, spoiled even, as American. Please pray for God's direction in which area you can help these children. We need your help, they need your help.

HOME

This is Ana with six of our seven granchildren, the evening we got home.
It feels so good to be home. When we went outside the airport Heather said, "Oh my fresh air I love it." Ana had her window down the whole drive home from Pittsburgh giggling as the fresh air blew in her face. I didn't realize how different air can be.
Ana loves her new bedroom and she loves to swing and swim. It is so amazingly precious watching her experience new things for the first time. Communication has not really been a problem, lots of body language and gestures to accompany what we say or she says gets the point across. She has no problem communicating with 10 month old Uriah, they speak a universal language he reponds to her the same as he does to everyone else. She really loves him, it is sweet it is the first baby she has ever been around (at least in the past five years her orphanage starts at age 4). We joked that his next words may be Russian.
It will be good for her though when she learns to speak English. We met a gentleman at the US Embassy in Kiev who was adopting three girls ages 9, 12 and 13 who were sisters. They spoke English beautifully. They had received three months of tutoring through their hosting program upon return to the Ukraine after spending last summer here in the US being hosted by another family. He said he was amazed at how much English they knew wheh he came to the Ukraine to adopt them. I hope Ana learns as easily.
Issac has a friend from the Ukraine who came up to talk to Ana yesterday. She is 16 and has lived in the US for less than a year and speaks English very well. Surprisingly Ana was very shy with her and did not want to speak, she gave yes, no answers and would not engage in conversation. She sat on my lap the whole time and even said she was sleepy. As soon as Aleena left she jumped up and ran over to Isaac and started teasing him and playing not a bit tired the rest of the evening. I am not sure why she responed as she did. Aleena was very sweet to her and Isaac thought she would enjoy speaking to someone in her own language. Perhaps she associated visiting with her with her past in the Ukraine and thought she was going back, we are not sure.
Ana is adjusting well to the big family atmosphere, one by one she is developing relationships with them. In a large group with everyone it can be overwelming, but given the opportunity to connect with them in a small group or one on one, she loves them dearly.
She is very content just being here at home, she never wants to leave to go anywhere. We have to tell her yes we are going, then she loves it once we get there. In the Ukraine we spent alot of time waiting on dicuments when we went places so she needs to learn that leaving home here is enjoyable.
She contents herslf easily and asks for little. She is well-behaved I only have to tell her something once and she does what she is asked.
I purchased Russian movies for her and she loves to watch them when she needs a break from all the English surrounding her, I think it really helps her. I know how refreshing it was for us to here English when we were in the Ukraine and she is totally surrounded by a foreign language here. The DVDs were a great purchase for us and are much less expensive than here in the US. She watches them on my laptop since regular DVD players do not support foreign regions.
Her appetite is not yet regulated. At first she ate everything in sight, now she is a picky eater and has not established a regular routine of eating at breakfsat, lunch and dinner times yet. She shys away from trying new foods, especially anything with milk or vegetables. She did not have vegetables in the Ukraine at the orphanage except beets. Milk in the Ukraine does not taste at all like our milk, I think it tatses like a cross between goats milk and the smell of manure. YUK! I can understand why she hesitates to try it here. She loves fruit and of course sweets.
All in all things are going wonderfully, much better than we expected.

TRAVEL

Traveling home was a LONG trip. We left Kiev and Saturady afternnon and flew to Amsterdam, Netherlands to catch a connecting flight. PARENTS TRAVELING AFTER US DO NOT FLY HOME THROUGH AMSTERDAM!!!! Long layovers are very common in Amsterdam. We had a twleve hour overnight lay over. We arrived in Amsterdam at 8:00 Pm Saturday and were not flying out until 8:00 AM Sunday, this was not a problem when Russ and I were traveling alone last trip. We stayed in a very nice hotel, Te Sheraton, which is connected to the airport by a tunnel so it is very easy and a nice place to stay. HOWEVER this trip homw even though we had reservations to stay there we were not permitted to stay there. When we arrived in Amsterdam we were told that Heather and I could stay at the hote, but not Ana. Ana's visa was for the US and even though we had her adoption paperwork and we do not even need visa as American citizens she was not permitted to go through (her American citrizenship did not com einto effect until the plane tires toich US soil). There was another lady with an infant who she adopted from Ethiopia who was told the same thing. So we got to spen d Twelve hours overnight sitting in an airport awhich made the trip much more tiring! There are two Yo tels at the airport that you can peay by the hour to sleep in (they are rooms similar to a cruise ship) problem is they are all booked and they always book up quickly. A direct flight from Kiev to NYC and then catching a connecting flight to wherever you are going is a much better option.. shorter, cheaper and not the hassle of other boarders. On our flight home there were 4 other coupkes flying home with children they adopted from Ethiopia and all had the same problem as we did. The airport was full of people attempting to sleep in chairs. The picture we are posting is Heather's attempt to sleep, it was 4:00 Am and I was laughing so hard I could hardly take the picture. She was so exhausted she didn't even know I was taking a picture. The black hood is a shirt from her carry on bag. I told her she looked like she was trying to meditate. LOL

GOOD-BYE

Today we say good-bye to Kiev and the Ukraine, but only for a season. I thought this picture of Ana though similar to the picture I posted yesterday would be most appropriate for today. Ana is pictured with the Kiev skyline behind her and the sun setting last night. This is her last night in the Ukraine, her old life will be behind her as a new life, a new day is dawning today. Tonight when she goes to sleep she will no longer be in the Ukraine, but in Amsterdam Netherlands. The start to a whole new adventure a whole new life, her first chapter of her new life will begin today as she boards the plane in Kiev to fly to America; her new life, where she will find a country full of hope and positive promises for tomorrow and her future. One thing I have really learned while being here is that unlike many other countries, in America there is always hope for a bright future, if we are willing to work, we can be successful in life, we have the opportunity to obtain those dreams. Please watch for future blogs about the hosting program and Ana's adjustments to America, they may not be daily but I will keep in touch as long as you are interested. So good-bye is not to all of you, but to Ukraine for this season.

Busy Day

Today is the day we have been planning for......we recieved Ana's passport, got her medical exam (can't get the medical exam without the passport), we went to the American Embassy and applied for and received her Visa. That means we can come home!!! We are so excited to bring Ana to the US she has been counting the days until we go to America. When I told her today that we would be leaving tomorrow to go to America she said "SUPER!!!" Gave me a huge hug and danced around. Tomorrow is the day she has been waiting for all her life, to go HOME, she finally has a home to go home to and she is so very excited. She can't wait to see her Papa again and give him a big hug and she is very excited to meet everyone in her family.
When we were at the embassy today there was a man from Texas there (his wife was not with him she was home preparing) he was there to recieve the visas for the THREE sibling girls he adopted ages 9, 12 & 13. WOW! He is so wonderful with them and said he is so happy and you could tell he truly was. He was playing games with the girls as they waited. He met the girls through a hosting program last summer. The girls were actually being hosted by a family in Florida that he was friends with and he ended uo pursuing adoption instead of the host family.
Anytime there are siblings they are not seperated they are hosted together and adopted together. At this time there are three sets of siblings and and 11 individual children on our hosting program rangin in age from 5 to 14. Children must be at least 5 to participate inthe hosting program, at age 5 their chances of being adopted drop to less than 20% and drop further as they get older.
When I see the beautiful sweet girl that Ana is I cannot understand why no one adopted her before. God surely has blessed us by allowing us to find her and making her a permanent part of our family. When I think we first saw her picture in November and she is coming home with us forever now. When I look at the pictures of her that Curtis gave me from the past three years at the orphanage my only regret is that we didn't find her sooner, that she wouldn't have had to spend almost five years of her life in an orphanage, but instead could have been being loved by us. She is truly precious and I thank God for her evrytime I look into her sparkling eyes, see her sweet smile, listen to her cute giggle, get a big hu and an "I love you Mama" for no apparent reason, ok basically I am thanking God pretty mush all the time for blessing us with this sweet little girl. And on top of all that, the thing that amazes me most is that we have an opportunity to change her destiny, her eternity by raising her to know and love her Savior,Jesus Christ.
AS I am doing my blog Ana was laying beside me on the bed watching Snow White and the SEven Dwarfs. It just ended and she looked over at me and said in her broken English, "Thank you very much Mama." Then she leaned over and hugged me and said, "Mama I love you very much." How precious is that!

Making Plans

We have airline tickets to start home Saturday and we will arrive home if all goes well on Sunday early evening. We are trying our est to teach Ana English we try to make games out of what ever we can to help her learn. Today was a rainy day so we spent it at the apartment. Ana loves to eat I think we have all gained weight trying things with her. There is little to do and to much to eat. Curtis, one of the missionaries from British Columbia, sent us many pictures of Ana from 2007 to 2009 they are priceless to us, as we have no pictures of her younger years. We already down loaded them into shutterfly to make a book for her, now that the internet is working again. We can't thank Curtis and his team enough they are doing wonderful work here bringing Jesus to these children and loving them daily! Papa the pictures on the blog today are for you, priceless pictures of times we will never have opportunity to share with ouir little girl. Once again my heart breaks for the other children in the photos that I recognize and realize they have all been waiting a long time for a family and still wait. In August the children who will be visiting Quest Haven Lodge will need families please contact us if you would consider one of these children for your family.

Excursions In Kiev

The weather was realy nice here today so we took Ana to the playground then walked to the market for fruit and ice cream treats. Then we finished up at the bank and headed to the zoo. Kiev has a really nice zoo, we all had a great time. Ana loved seing the animals. It thrills me to see how much she enjoys seeing and experiencing things she has never seen or experienced before. As usual she took lots of pictures. Anyone traveling after us I would highly recommend a visit to the zoo with your child we were all so glad we went. Great news today....we get Ana's passport tomorow which means we can finish our paperwork on Friday and fly home Saturday!!!! That means we will arrive home Sunday, 6 days early, we are excited! To those traveling after us, I would recommend purchasing a one way ticket on your second trip over we ended up buying a one way ticket home, it was cheeper than changing our existing reservations.It is really late here 5:00 AM I just got done changing our flight and am very tired, I will write more tomorrow.

Counting the Days

Now that our time at the orphanage is done, we are counting the days to ome home. Ana asks frequesntly, "America?" Everytime we get dressed, Syvette calls or we leave the apartment she is ready to go to America. We cannot wait to bring her home!!! We miss everone at home too. I talked to Haiden and Riley, two of my grandbabies to night and I cried when I hung up. I miss everyone so much. This is the first the Internet has worked in the past 12 hours so I hope it lasts. Today it is back to the bank, it seems when Ana's mother died there was some money left to her by the government that I need to sign paperwork for to have it released to the orphanage. If the weather is nice today we are planning a trip to the zoo here in Kiev. This blog is going to be short because I have been up most of the night sick and am still not feeling well. I am going to post a few more pictures of the children who will be coming on the hosting program hopefully in August. I posted some earlier under, boys of hope and the more boys and girls of hope. If any of the children catch your eye please pray about considering being a host family, these children desperately need homes and the hosting program is the number one way they find families.

Kiev

The pictures of the little guy are for Russ and Cheri, Gracie, Bubba, Laynie and Madie (I'll let them share the story for you of why theseare for them.The other two pictures of Inna are for the Findlay family, Inna is doing wonderful she is so full of joy, as she waits for them to come to the Ukraine next month to adopt her. Praise God! The green outfit is because we got her out of dance class to talk to her new mama on the phone, the picture is Inna talking to her. It was precious she is so very happy and a tremendously sweet and special girl!
Yesterday we said good-bye to everyone at the orphanage, mostly the adults, the children were kept busy as we packed Ana's things and got ready to leave the orphanage for one final time. My heart goes out to the many children we are leaving behind. I can't express enough how hard it is to see them being left behind. I need for now to refocus though and concentrate on Ana, she needs all of us to help her transition be smooth. Heather is amazing with her (they are watching the Russian version of Disney's The Princess and The Pea as I do our blog). She is so closely attached to Heather already. We traveled by train all night last night from Kyvi Rig to Kiev (Heather & Ana think the train ride is cool). Today being our first day in Kiev our first stop had to be the market (Ana loves to try new foods) it is precious seeing how much she enjoys tasting new things she can't seem to get enough. For example for breakfast she had: cereal with milk and bananas, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, lots of ham, toast, grapes and juice (that is typical of her). We had some paperwork to do at the bank, after a two hour wait we were told come back tomorrow to finish. We visited a mall and Ana picked out shoes (they look like sparkly princess shoes Papa), we went to an arcade, and bought some candy. When at the apartment we play games to learn English (we try everything since she is not eager to practice, her attention span is short for studying and long for taking pictures LOL). Heather was blessed today at the mall as she realized she had never been shopping for shoes before, had never stood in front of a candy counter and been able to select a bag full of treats, had never ridden an escalator or played an arcade game. Heather and her are both like two little kids together (Salena she truly is skipping around this time, not like on the Guatemala missions trip when she said she liked skipping around with the kids for her TV interview LOL). They tickle each other almost constantly and chase each other around. earlier when Heather was napping Ana crawled up on the bed beside her and very gently stroked Heathers face while she watched her sleep it was precious. Ana is very loving and sweet. She just walked into the kitchen where I am typing the blog and gave me a kiss and hug and then looked into my eyes and said, "Mama I love you, sister is sleepy, sister sleep." How precious I'll have to cut off the blog and go spend time with my new little sweetie! Her and Heather have been snuggling while watching the movie now sister is alseep.

Good Byes

Today we say good bye to Kyvi Rig, the orphanage and children. It is still early morning here (we are 7 hours ahead of you in PA). We await Syvette's call to give us the details and times for our day. She has been in Kiev since a few days ago. It is amazing how you learn to manage on your own when you cannot even speak the language. The visits to the orphanage are so much more beneficial going alone. The children learn to communicate with you and you with them. When someone is there to translate there is not the same interaction or closeness it is easier for them to just speak to the translator and her translate what she chooses to tell you. We get to know the children much better when we go alone, God provides ways to bridge the language barrior and we get to know the children better when we go alone. They are all so eager to communicate with us and we find ways. Heather and Ana have all kind of non verbal communication that allows them to express how they feel about things to each other. It has been a wonderful, humbling experience being here. I have learned so very much and realize more each day how much we daily take for granted as Americans.We cannot begin to realize how very blessed we are to have been born in America. We have so very much while others have so little. Some people say it is expensive to adopt, yet in America we will spend as much on a new vehicle as it takes to save a child, a soul.There are grants available in America to help with costs for adoption. When I get home I need to find out more about them, any of you who enjoy digging into finding answers please help me find out all there is to know about this subject.
Syvette said we must go to the bank with the orphanage director today to sign papers, it seems there was a small amount of money left by the government for Ana when her mother died this money will now belong to the orphanage so we have to sign papers to release it. Ana will not be attending school today with the other children and I just learned last night after returning from the orphanage that we will not be permitted to see the children again. I wish Syvette would have told us earlier, we told the children we would see them tomorrow (meaning today) when we left last night. If we are required to take Ana while the children are at school we will not be able to say good-bye and will never see the children again. I pray all works out to host the children at the hosting camp in America. The 20 children that we were given opportunity to perhaps host at Quest Haven we have had time to spend with all of them except 3 so we have good information, truths about many of the children. Syvette had told us we would be able to see the two sisters on Monday to give them gifts we brought, now I am not so sure we will get an opportunity. We had purchased cross necklaces in America and brought them along for Ana to give each of the girls in the group. We gave them to them at the celebration for Ana on Friday evening. I told the girls to wear them and each time they looked at them to rememeber that I am praying for them to find a family to belong to that will love them as much as we love Ana, but MOST OF ALL the cross necklace was to be a reminder that each of them have a heavenly Father, God, who loves them, watches over them and cares for them 24/7 and that He will never leave them or forsake them. Before we came here Isaac struggled to watch the utubes of the Ukrainian children living in the streets, he ask me why God allows these children to live as they have to, why He does not help them. I explained that He calls us as Christians to be His hands and feet, his lips, his arms of love and that it is our responsibility to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves and help them. All around us everyday there are people hurting, my prayer is that God will allow me to see with His eyes so that I am not blind to the needs of others around me and that I would respond with His love and compassion to those needs. That I would not be to busy or caught up in daily life to reach out. I pray I will look in the mirror and see in myself what God sees and that when I look into the eyes of those I meet I would see what He sees in them. I love you guys, today go love someone in the name of Jesus.

Busy Day

We left the apartment at 9:00 Am and didn't return until 7:30 this evening. We started the day at the orphanage connecting with children chosen to be hosted on the upcoming hosting programs in the US. Trying to get to know the children, find their stregthes and diagnose any potential problems. Then we met with the missionary team from Canada. They are doing a great work here, bringing Christ to a very needy area. We had lunch at their apartment, discussed missions work here in the Ukraine and possibilitites for missions teams. We also discussed the childrenand shared information to attempt to get a better understanding of thei personalities. It was a great time and we receved alot of beneficial information. WE so appreciated their willingness to help us and extend hospitality to us. It was great to have a conversation in English. LOL After meeting with the group we returned to the ophanage to spend a few more hours. Our time there is coming to a clsoe. We will be taking Ana from the orphanage tomorrow and will not be allowed to return after that. We have been told it is time to take her to Kiev. The only way we will ever be able to visit the orphanage again would be with a mission's team or another adoption. I wish we could take all the children home.

Yesterday (paper work and party) and Today (museums and orphanage)

By Heather...
Yesterday Ana and I got to really hang out for the first time. We went to the capital two hours away to do paper work. Waiting around for hours has never been so fun in all my life. On the way down Ana layed down on my lap and we both fell asleep. She wraps both her arms around mine, pulls my arm up close to her chest, then falls asleep. I love every second of it. She melts my heart constantly. I can just look at her from a distance and be filled with joy. She has my heart for sure. She's a gem. God is so so so good to me for everything he is doing in our family. I care about her so deep. When she laughs, it makes me laugh. When she cries, it makes me cry. I can already feel that when she gets hurt it's going to make my heart hurt too. She's so precious it's unreal. When they had the celebration party that Mom wrote about there were so many emotions. I was filled with joy to see her so so happy to have food to serve her friends, teacher, and orphanage director. She liked being able to serve. Then when her friends read their goodbye wishes and the director, teacher, and Mom gave a toast it was filled with emotion. Ana was crying because she was so happy to have a family, the kids were crying because they were so happy for her, and all of them were crying because they love her and will miss her. Mom cried for the other girls that are living in hope of finding a family. I was all tore up seeing Ana and her friends love for eachother and knowing how blessed we are to have the opportunity to love her. It was amazing to see how much time the children put into arranging the party for her. They put in a lot of time and effort to be able to give Ana something nice, but you can tell how much they would love to have it themselves. I feel a weight whenever I see the way the other kids watch Ana and I together. I want so badly for all of them to have the same opportunity. I'm so blessed to be her sister. I'm excited to teach her English, to swim, ski, and a million other things that she's never done.

Today Ana and I got to cuddle more while we drove to the museums and exhibits :) We share something in common, we both aren't real interested in History (I'm working on that, I'm pretty bad at it). We had a ton of fun just getting to hang out together though. The pictures Mom posted are of her at a huge blow up slide. She had a lot of fun with that. We all shared a popcorn (they pour powdered sugar over it) and it's pretty delicious. Then, we got to go to the orphanage and spend time with some of the other kids. I would like to see some of their personalities so that we can better help find them families.

Happy Day

Heather and Ana are getting along amazingly...no amazing isn't good enough to describe it. Heather is in LOVE!!!!!and so is Ana. They are inseperable! It is amazing how they have connected so deeply so quickly, but why should I be surprised God is so good. We have been praying for smooth transitions for Ana this is one step in many. They had a great time together today touring Kyvi Rig.

More Girls & Boys of Hope

I promised more pictures of the children who will be considered for the next hosting program in the USA.... Here they are. A few more precious souls waiting to belong and be loved! The first little boy with marker on his nose is alone, the second and third child are brother and sister, the last two are also a sibling pair. The brother and sister pairs are very sweet children, everyone here loves them. I have not had opportunity to spend time with the little guy with marker on his nose, but he sure is cute. The first sibling pair Heather & I both agree remind us of the Kilmartin children. The other sibling pair the first little girl is extremely artistic winning awards for her paintings, she also sings and dances. Her and her brother the last little boy are very polite and well mannered, eager to please. We are praying Quest Haven will be hosting a group of 20 children for a camp. I prayed about having a hosting camp for the orphans, God put the number 20 before me three days ago, but I told no one. Today when the children came for pictures 16 came I thought that is getting close to the number God told me, Syvette said we have two more children to wait on, they came she said we have another two children to wait on PRAISE GOD he sent exactly 20 children just as he revealed to me in prayer three days ago!

PRAYER NEEDED

The two girls with Ana are sisters age 11 and 13. They just came back from visiting America on the hosting program and loved it there. They are both VERY SWEET girls. If they do not find a family who is willing to say they are interested in adopting them before June 1, they will no longer be eligible for adoption. They very much want to find a family please PRAY that God will call a family to adopt these precious girls. Please forward the information to families you feel will join us in prayer or who may consider opening their heart and home to these girls before their fate becomes sealed on June 1.

Boys of Hope

Many people have ask about the boys at the orphanage. Most of our posts are girls because we spend the majority of our time with Ana's group of 16 girls and have very limited time with the other children. Today we had an opportunity to meet 20 children who are hoping to come to the USA on a hosting program. We are sharing some of the boy pictures so start praying if you would open your heart and home to one of these boys. They are all very good boys that is why they are being given an opportunity to come. I can only post a maximum number of pictures on each new post so I will continue to post pictures with each new post. Today we also had an opportunity to take Ana on an excursion to see some of the history of Kyvi Rig since this is were she was born and has lived all her life. Then we went to McDonalds for lunch for her favorite food McDonalds fries & ice cream. We are going to the store to buy balls and outdoor recreation equipment so we can play outside with the children when we return to the orphanage tonight and over the next few days. Our goal is to interact as much as possible with the 20 children who are possibilities for hosting. We are praying to host these children in PA. We pray it will give families on the east coast a better opportunity to adopt one of these children.