Saturday, February 2, 2008

GOD IS SO AMAZING






Pictures: Monument about Famine-Genocide of 1932; Details from St. Michaels; statues near St. Michaels, Monument at Independence Square
We just got back to our apartment from an evening on the town--seriously between walking and two different metro lines I think we surely must have covered most of Kiev. What a fantastic afternoon and evening. Meredith and Mike met us here at our apartment (brought us some LOVELY boys' clothes for Caleb. HUGE THANK YOU) and the 4 of us headed across the city to meet Charissa and John and lovely little Ava at their apartment. It boggles my mind how God could bring us all half way across the world and have us here at the same time to adopt some of his special little ones, to talk to wonderful people whose hearts share a common dream, and to pray together. And for good measure we even got to talk to Kelly on the phone while we were all together. So I have to repeat myself through teary eyes: GOD is so amazing!

So sorry about not blogging last night. I started but fell asleep mid-story. Our visit with Caleb yesterday was kind of rough again. His very sweet caregiver brought him to us all bundled up in heavy sweater, snow suit, coat, hat, scarf and boots to go outside. He seemed excited about going outside and let us each take one of his hands but once outside he was very quiet, didn't look at us, just kept watching his feet and walking. We made a couple laps around the building and play area and he seemed uncomfortable so we took him inside. The caregiver stripped off a few layers--down to shirt, knee-length cover-alls, tights and shoes--and showed us back into the charting room and motioned for us to sit at the table. One of the workers was charting on the opposite side of the table, and across the room a lady had beautiful blouses spread out for sale with various workers coming in and out to check out her wares. After the sales lady left a French couple, their translator and the little guy they're adopting (another Sasha) came into the room. Their translator started making a bunch of phone calls from another chair at the table and then the doctor came in and seemed to be getting on her case for tying up the phone. Suffice it to say that Caleb seemed quite overwhelmed with it all--at least I'm guessing that's why he didn't want to hardly play with anything that was offered to him, jabbered very little and just seemed sad. He mostly stood back in the corner and held on to my leg and slapped at the cupboard knob beside him. And to make matters worse he had a red,yucky nose and kept picking at it and did not appreciate our attempts to help him clean it out with a kleenex. He did giggle a little bit when he stuck his finger in my mouth and I was pretending to bite it. He finally came to life at the end when he got a cookie and then joined his little friend drawing (we actually think Caleb ate the tip off of his colored pencil because his face was orange.) It was cute to see Caleb copying the other boy, to see them touching each other happily and enjoying each other's company. We talked to our translator about the difficulty of visiting in this room with so much going on. He said he has talked to the orphanage personnel about it in the past but they let him know this is the main visiting room so I'd appreciate your prayers that God would help us all in this less-than-ideal situation. I'm not trying to sound whiny but maybe this will help someone else if they experience the same thing.

We had the driver drop us off along the street near the SDA where all the vendors are. We'd decided to ride the cable car up the hill and then shop going downhill. Well, when we got to the top we stopped at the beautiful church first. (It's a famous landmark but I don't know its name at this point) I am so glad we did. It was beautiful artistically, architecturally, and spiritually. The inside was covered with pictures of what looked to be biblical characters and various saints clear up to the angels in the domes high overhead. People were lighting candles and mouthing prayers in various places throughout the building. Even though I am not of that particular brand of Christianity, I am a follower and lover of Jesus and was moved to tears standing in front of the cross thanking Jesus for giving his life for me. Kevin and I also prayed together. It was an awe-inspiring experience.

Shopping was fun but we had to give it up when the day's money and warmth ran out. I was exhausted when we got home--fell asleep while blogging as already mentioned and then fell asleep again during the yummy supper that Kevin fixed.

TO MY CHILDREN: I love you so much. I hope you've had a good day and that basketball went OK. Please give Bob and Cookie our love. Daddy will let you know about cleaning the fish tank.

Roberta and Brandi, thanks so much for your continued willingness to help us out. I know that even after Kevin comes home, we will still need someone to stay with the kids until he gets home from work each night. He will of course be with them during the nights and thinks he can get them off to school each (or most) mornings. If there are any days where this will work out for you please let us know.

To all who have been bringing meals for our kids: thank you so much. I know this is a huge blessing to our children and our babysitter. I'm wondering if there may be some people who'd still be able to bring some meals even after he gets home. He's a great cook but sometimes doesn't get home until 8 or even 9 pm. I don't want anyone to feel pressured but if there are some who would LIKE to do this, can you please let us know.

To everyone: thanks for your prayers. Please pray that the remainder of this process will go as quickly and smoothly as possible so we can both be home with all of our kids. We have heard that sometimes a judge will actually allow paperwork like birth certificate, passport, etc to be started DURING the 10 day wait after court and know of someone who had this done. I don't know how often this is allowed but it sure won't hurt to ask both our Father and our translator.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We adopted 6 years ago this month and had the same situation with 6 or 7 families in 1 room. Our daughter had NO idea how to play - she had to be taught - we took a bag with the same few toys everyday and played with her with them (we we lucky we had our son with us who played with her patiently). She could not even push or pull a toy. We did take yoghurt and a banana everyday - food is a huge issue in building up an initial bond. We also bought the group diapers as the output was then increased - usually the kids are on a tight food/potty schedule and when you come and feed the child a lot you disrupt that. It took our Sasha almost a week to ease up and come running to meet us. Feel free to email me
lynnk@life2orphans.org

Anonymous said...

I love u vary much and I miss u
when are u coming back mommy and daddy?

love,
scheri

Anonymous said...

Dear Kevin and Joy,

"All y'all" have been in our thoughts and prayers. Unfortunately, Kathryn just found out we needed to sign up for "another" account (this one at Google Groups) before she could post something.

So anyway, now that my job is done here, you'll probably hear (or "see") from her shortly.

Cheers,

--Jay (who notices the capital letters disappearing in his username) =8-O