SDA Day

Today was a good day. We went to the SDA to identify Lena and Eddick as the children we are here to adopt. Syvette accompanied us. We were ask how many children we had, what we did for a living, and how we met the children and decided to adopt them (right answer hosting program).
It was great to see Syvette again and we really enjoyed the day with her. I was greeted with a huge hug and a beautiful rose as a gift. She explained all the details surounding the turmoil in Krivoy Rig and assured us things have settled as long as everyone does what they are suppose to do and follows the rules. I ask if we would get to see all the children her response was, "Of course Lori you may visit all children. It would be good to visit the different groups." Praise God for that answer to prayer. She was glad that Ana sent letters for her teacher and the children. She gave us updates about the orphanage and the children and all that has happened since we were here in May. She said the orphanage director is anxious to see me and to show us the things the orphanage purchased for the children with the money we left when we were here before. Syvete also said the lady who is in charge of the orphanages in the Krivoy Rig region wants to meet me to thank us for the hosting program we did. She said the children had so many great things to tell about their trip when they returned. These are all good things to build trusting relationships.
Our goal is to do all we can while we are here to create the best relationships possible with everyone involved to help everyone who comes after us. Russ and Cheri they are already talking about , "when your son comes,,,," they are looking forward to you coming.
To Joe and Ginger, Syvette told us that the orphanage director told her that Artur comes in to her office everyday to ask when his family is coming. She ask Syvette if you were here yet she was hoping you were with us, she said, "We need to get Artur's family here." He is such a great young man!
To the McCraken's Syvette will make sure you have opportunity to meet Olya and her siblings and some other children also. If all goes well we should be here with you also for part of your trip.
TO EVERYONE WE NEED TO PRAY!!!! ON DEC. 20TH THE 2ND VOTE WILL BE TAKEN TO STOP INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS. The preliminary vote already passed. If this passes all adoptions except those already complete with court proceedings will be haulted until certain conditions and negotiations are completed between Ukraine and countries desiring to continue adopting from them. Only those who have already had their court date will be permitted to proceed. You can do an Internet search to read more details about this. We are praying it will be tabled until we can all get our kids home then resolved quickly afterwards. The small business tax protests are demanding alot of attention, we are praying they would generate enough attention that the adoptions rulings are tabled. PLEASE PRAY!!!!
It is cold and snowy here we are posting a picture of the 4 of us outside a very good Ukrainian restaurant where we took Syvette for dinner. It was good to get out of the apartment for awhile, Russ is stir crazy missing the first days of buck season. I feel like celebrating Christmas with the snowy weather.
Dusty and Tina leave by overnight train tonight with Syvette to travel to the Krivoy Rig region where the orphanage is located. We will go back to the SDA tomorrow to get our referals and then take the train tomorrow night. Since we have done this before, the driver will drop us off at the SDA and we will get our referal paperwork ourselves then meet Syvette in Krivoy Rig.We will take lots of pictures and videos of the kids to share with you. Please email us if you hosted a child so we have your email address to respond with info about your child. Natalya and Boyers please email us I don't have your adress with me and we have updates on your children.
I am struggling to keep my eyes open, Russ and I have fallen asleep at sunrise the last two days. So I will close for now.
WHEN YOU READ OUR BLOG PLEASE POST A COMMENT WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU AND IT HELPS US FEEL CONNECTED TO HOME!

Quick Post

We got an email and video this morning from Russ and Cheri, Russ and I got a great laugh!!! Ana had her first basketball game while we were here in the Ukraine. She never played basketball before coming to America and has eagerly and excitedly joined a team with one of her good friends from school, Maqquel. I attached the video clip Cheri sent us of her game. This is one she will never forget... her first game, her first basket, after a great rebound she shoots and gets a basket, problem is it was in the other teams basket. Score ended up 8-2 with Ana making the only basket for the other team. Ana is number 13 in the orange.
This video is one happy little girl who just six months ago was here in the Ukraine dreaming of a mama and papa and a family to belong to and be loved by, my how she has blossomed she is truly one happy little girl!

We have to go for now we are heading to our SDA appointment and will post again later.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiQpKP5izcA

Shut Ins

Today we are shut ins, the weather was snowy and cold this morning and now Rainy. Sasha informed us that due to poor road conditions the only place the driver would be going was to Tina and Dusty's SDA appointmnet. Since our light packing did not include an umbrella we are at the apartment for the day. We had planned to walk to McDonalds with Dusty and Tina but that was canceled since it was raining and we had no raingear and no way to dry wet clothes. (Our laundry is being freeze dried on the closed in porch). So we played games all day, Russ and I practiced Skip O, Bungo, Tap It, Scrabble Slam, Jenko etc etc so we can teach the children these various games at the orphanage. Russ must be played out right now he is snoring on the sofa, either that or very bored, seeing it is only 8:00 PM and last night we went to bed at 5:30 AM (Still haven't adjusted to the Ukraine schedule).
Dusty and Tina's SDA appointment went well today, they will get their referral tomorrow and take the train tomorrow night to Krivoy Rig. We have our SDA appointment tomorrow, so unless Syvette can convince the SDA to give us our referral tomorrow also, she will travel with the Kunsbecks and we will come Wed. night by train. So we will see the kids Wed. or Thurs. !!
The kids still do not know we are here, Syvette said tomorrow after our SDA Appointment she will call the orphanage to let them know.
I spoke to Adam tonight he said the older children told Luba at English lessons that Eric and Cindy are coming soon for Dema, no one seems to know how they got that info. and the children don't know about us or Dusty and Tina. All the children are attending English lessons again except Eddick. Nostya D. has caught up on her lessons and her studying and is attending again. Denis and Anastasiya have been asking to join the lessons so they will be included this week since they are now being adopted by the Kings. Denis asks Luba everytime she comes for Dema and Andre why he isn't going because he wants to learn English too.
It will be great to see all the kids again, I hope we have opportunity to see them all.

Arrival

WE ARE HERE IN KIEV!!!!! We are excited to arrive in Kiev for our adoption of Lena and Eddick! We arrived last evening at 5:40. Dusty and Tina were on the same flights as we were even though we had different flight numbers and we were listed as KLM and they were listed as Delta, so we had the pleasure of traveling together. Sasha and our driver picked us up at the airport. He took us to exchange money and buy groceries at the market then to our apartment. Dusty and Tina are staying just acrossed the highway within walking distance of our apartment. There is an underground tunnel that goes under the highway and opens up into a circular outdoor marketplace. There are underground tunnels around the entire market. Dusty and Tina's tunnel is directly acros from ours so we met them there today. Eric and Cindy you will enjoy the market. We are posting some pictures, but can't reveal what kind of meat is being sold, Dusty has a challenge on his blog for whoever can guess what type of meat is being sold. The metro also connects to the circular walled in market place on 4 sides. Catherine thanks for suggesting we get in contact with Larissa. She was wonderful and a joy to meet and spend time with. We toured the downtown center city of Kiev with her followed by dinner together. The city center was beautiful we saw many sites including: the president's quarters where he and Parliament meet, a protest taking place over new tax laws, the town's oldest theatre, the opera house, etc. It was a great time and we were able to experience some of the beautiful places in Kiev. On our last trip we were not able to see these places, we mostly experienced the poverty. We took pictures for Ana, Lena and Eddick to remember Kiev. Dinner was at TJI Fridays, Larissa loves American food and said it is her favorite restaurant. Walking the streets of the city center was enjoyable and a learning experience in many ways.
Tomorrow Dusty and Tina have their appointment at the SDA to get permission to travel to the region to visit the orphanage. Our appointment is Tuesday. We should be traveling by train Wenesday night to Krivoy Rig, so we will see the kids on Thursday. We have been told that they do notknow yet that we are here or coming. Syvette has accepted an invitation from us to take her, her daughter and her husband to dinner tomorrow at a Ukrainian restaurant of her choice. We are looking forward to meeting her family and getting to spend sometime with them.
Everything is good here: everyone seems very happy to see us, the apartment is very nice the best we have stayed in here in the Ukraine, and we are friends with those who are assisting us, it is very nice and thus far more relaxed than our other trips. Things seem to be going well all around so far.Please keep our journey in prayer, I am sure the prayer cover is why everything is going so well.
To my family, we love you all so very much! We cannot call because our phone is not working and neither is our mike on skype. We can hear you, but you cannot hear us. Please know we are thinking of you and love you so very, very much!

Departure

It seems so very long since we have blogged and so VERY much has happened. I wish now as I reflect on all God has done since May that I would have blogged all the details of the journey God has taken us on with the hosting program and helping to find homes for 23 children (possibly 28). God has so abundantly blessed and provided beyond measure for the hosting program tarvel costs, camp costs, raising money to help with adoptions, and our most recent project... raising money to purchase 100 coats for the Krivoy Rig orphanage. The bisiness of all that we have been doing has not allowed for time to blog.

Tomorrow morning we will leave once again to travel to the Ukraine. This time to adopt Lena age 14 and her brother Eddick age 13. It is with mixed emotions that I prepare to go. I am anxious and excited to bring Lena and Eddick home. However I deeply regret leaving my family over the holidays. Our life has been so very busy lately and our family has taken a back seat far to often and now here we go again leaving them for the holidyas. The house is decorated for Christmas, the shopping is complete, the gifts are wrapped, we just need to be able to be together to celebrate at some point. Lena and Eddick's clothes are waiting, there bedrooms are ready and one room in the house has been remodeled to serve as an art studio to encourage Lena's passion to paint. Now finally the day has arrived taht we have all been waiting for, departure to the Ukraine for our SDA appointment.

We invite you to follow our journey with our blog site.

Orphan Awareness

Last night Ana spoke at length with Inna on Skype they were so full of excitement and joy to see and speak to each other it was precious and contagious.

When the girls were talking, Inna asked what happened to Lena and Eddick when they were in America. She said ever since they came back they get along now and they are actually friends. She said when they got the gifts we sent the first thing Eddick did was run over to then girl's dorm to show Lena and he would never do that before. She said Lena is so excited to come to America and cannot wait. She also told me it was a secret, but Lena has been working on a painting of a deer for Russ to surprise him. It is so amazing how eager these kids are to please before they left we told them that while we were busy working on paperwork they needed to do two things practice their English and learn to like one another and get along. Russ also ask Lena to paint something for him. I think he has forgotten about that so he will be very surprised. She is such a loving girl warm girl. Inna also said that all of the kids who came to America are different than before they came, they are closer now and they take care of each other. That is precious. Those kids met God while they were here and they now have a hope and a purpose and a future. It is good to know, I can picture the joy in their eyes and the contentment as they wait, I saw that in Inna when we were there bringing Ana home. Inna was so differant after finding a family to belong to, just as she describes in these kids. That gives me a peace and I know they are ok. You should have seen and heard the excitement in Inna and Ana as they spoke to each other yesterday and when they were on Skype it was even more, Ana was so giddy she could hardly speak at times. They both kept touching the computer screen as if they could touch each other. Their joy was beyond expression, they have both made it to a better life and they are so excited for each other.
In school Ana wrote a paper in Ukrainian that was to be titled All About Me, I sent it to Lillian so she could read it to me. It was so precious every other sentence would say I Love My Family. She told about the big family she had, her Mama, Her Papa, her brother Isaac, her sister Heather. She said that the happiest day of her life was in the orphanage when we came to get her. When she wrote about her future she said that she loved her family so much and that she knew we would never leave her. Such simple and yet powerful words from a child showing how very much. Many people are giving an greater gift, Ana was waiting 5 years some children have been Waiting for you all his life. I look at pictures of the children when they were younger at the orphanage and it hurts to know I didn't have the opportunity to rescue them sooner and then I realize God has a prefect time and a perfect plan and these kids are who they are because of the path they have walked. I think of the abuse Ana went through as a child she says her biological mama and papa were always mean and never wanted her in their house. When she shares details of her past I look at her and cannot understand how someone could treat her that way let alone her own parents and then I thank God that He left me find her so things could be different in her life. There are children here in our country and around the world who desperately need a family to belong to. God calls us to care for the fatherless. Some people say there are 143 million orphans in the world how can you make a difference? Guess what...IF JUST 7% OF THE CHRISTIANS WOULD CARE FOR 1 ORPHAN THERE WOULD BE NO ORPHANS!! Sadly only 3% of adoptions are by born again Christians. The purpose of life is to glorify God. God calls us to love one another. Love is choosing to serve putting others or a need or cause higher than yourself and serving. Serving is doing something you do not want to do. So basically love is choosing to do what you do not necessarily want to do. My prayer daily is:
Lord help me to be who you want me to be, help me to love others as you love them. Help me to see others with your eyes God. This past Sunday was Orphan Awareness Sunday I hope all of us had an opportunity to become more aware of the plight of orphans.

ADOPTION 2 & 3

It has been a long while since we have blogged. We have been busy with the Ukrainian Orphan Hosting Program and helping adoptive parents through the adoption process of those children as well as preparing for our next trip to the Ukraine to adopt two more children. This time a sibling pair Lena, age 14 and Eddick, age 13 whom we met while in the Ukraine to bring Ana home. Both children traveled with the other 19 children who visited the US in August and attended the camp at Quest Haven Lodge in Tyrone, PA then they spent the remainder of the stay with us in our home. We are anxious to return to the Ukraine to bring Lena and Eddick back to the US to be a permanent part of our family this time. All of our paperwork for our dossier is complete and was submitted in the Ukraine last week. We are to hear next week what our travel dates will be, we are praying for the end of November. There are two other families who hosted children and are adopting that had their dossiers submitted with ours last week also and who hope to travel with us, Eric & Cindy Noel who are adopting 8 year old Dema and Dusty & Tina Kunsbeck who are adopting 13 year old Dema. There are many other family not far behind us in the adoption process and only thre of the 21 children who traveled who still need an adoptive home.