Thursday, January 31, 2008

Feeling brave





Pictures: First three taken near McDonalds; 4th from top of the funicular
Thanks again for all the comments. It helps so much to hear from our kids and friends. Billy, Scheri, Teresa and James: You are often in our thoughts and prayers; we regularly do the math to try to figure out what you are doing at a particular time--like now you have just recently finished lunch and are back in school for the afternoon. Lord, please be with my kids today. Give them incredible peace and security and a sense of your very real presence with them constantly. Thanks to ALL who are helping care for our children--babysitting, laundry, morning routine, basketball games, meals, hugs, kisses and prayers.

We didn't have a set schedule today so definitely stayed up late and slept in. Last night Meredith and her husband showed us how to use the underground Metro system so we got up our courage and tried it ourselves. It turned out to be quite easy and very cheap--the equivalent of 10 cents one way. The trickiest part is figuring out at which stop to get off--I'm slowly catching on to the pronunciation of some of the letters but today I was mostly relying on how the word looked so I could recognize it at the proper station. Of course, we also counted how many stops were between us and our destination, too. When we got to our stop we found a McDonalds and had Big Macs, fries and soda--I wish I could figure out how to enable the cyrillic alphabet on this keyboard because I'd like you to see what the word Big Mac looks like even though it's pronounced pretty much the same. The 'B' looks like a lower case b with a tail, the 'g' is like an upside down capital L. 'Mac' is just Mak but pronounced something like mock. How is it that Burger Kings and McDonalds look so comforting when in a foreign country? [On the subject of how words look, the town where Caleb lives is called Vorzel and is spelled BOP3e(then a letter that looks kind of like a cursive r)and a tiny b]

We met up with Meredith and Mike and had fun visiting many of the roadside stands along the cobblestoned street up towards the SDA building and saw lots of pretty souvenirs. (For those not familiar with Ukraine adoptions, the SDA is the government agency that gives the official referral of a particular child. I think the SDA is actually the ministry that oversees adoptions on the national level. Someone who knows more can certainly correct me if I'm wrong on that.) We rode down the hill on this tram thing that again only cost 10 cents and saved A LOT of steps. We ended up at one of Mike and Meredith's haunts-a pizza place with English menus. I enjoyed the stuffed raviolis in creamy cheese sauce and Kevin tried the 4-cheese pizza with tomatoes cooked under the sauce.

Then we bravely got back on the Metro and made it back home without even getting lost. For those who don't know me personally, I am from a town with population 970 so the closest thing we have to a subway is the crawl space under our house or the mole holes out in the back yard. The last time I remember riding a subway was in Washington, D.C. the summer after I graduated high school and since I am an elderly member of RR that was right about the time of Adam and Eve.

We are scheduled to visit Caleb again tomorrow morning. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to measure him so I can buy this pumpkinseed some clothes. I think the little hiker boots we have at home may fit him about right. We'll see.

To all those hinting ever so politely for pictures of one certain young man, I am taking them but as always I don't know how to get them on the computer. (But Meredith saw them and can verify that he does exist) I got a thingamajig for Christmas that's supposed to solve this little dilemna but of course forgot to drop it into the suitcase.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Our paperwork is done for now






To everyone: Thanks again for the comments.

To my kids: I love you so much and miss you a lot. Please know I am praying for you that you will have a good day at school today, that basketball practice will go OK, even all the fun stuff like math and spelling!! And have fun tonight at cooking class and Bible study. You guys will have to tell me what your hardest spelling word is this week. As far as staying overnight with friends, Mommy and Daddy would prefer that you not do that until after we get home. Give each other a big hug and kiss and give Grandma and Grandpa a big hug, too.

We got to visit with Caleb/Sasha again for about 1 1/2 hours. We were actually visiting in the orphanage doctor's office today and Caleb seemed much more comfortable in there. He scooched up on the couch beside me, seemed very happy to see the bunnies again, got a big kick out of me copying his sounds and movements, was laughing and waving at people walking out of the room, played with the car that Kevin brought that winds up and flashes light with Kevin sitting beside him. It was very interesting to me to see a child his age so contented to just sit in one place and play and jabber. (He seems to be a bit conjested and has a yucky nose but didn't fight having his nose wiped too much.) A little later Kevin was on the floor with the car and crawled over toward Sasha to hand it to him and all of a sudden absolutely out of the blue Sasha got the saddest look on his face and these big tears sneaking out of his eyes. I felt bad for Sasha because it seemed so traumatic to him and I felt bad for Kevin because he is such a good Daddy and trying so hard. Maybe nobody here plays on the floor? He did let me hold him and comfort him and wipe his eyes. We took him back to the caregivers. Anyway it was pretty much time to go

GOTTA GO We're meeting with Meredith and her husband.

Joy

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A little tougher today






Thank you so much for ALL the comments. We received most of them before we headed out the door this morning. I guess that's one good thing about the time difference--you guys are reading and writing while we are sleeping.

Today we had to stop back by the inspector's office in Irpin and on out to the orphanage. Apparently there had been some change in plans because they put us in a room and brought Sasha to us rather than allowing us to play with his group. I'm wondering if this room is a break-room or charting room or something but it is definitely not set up as a play room. I had to feel a little sorry for Sasha (it's hard for me to call him Caleb) left alone with us strangers in there. I had brought some poseable bunnies from the dollar store so we played with them in as many different ways as we could think of-got a few grins and even a chuckle when Sasha was being silly and putting a bunny in his mouth. Kevin got a stacking toy off of a tall cabinet and Sasha played with it quite a bit though I think his favorite part was the center peg which he enjoyed banging things with. He enjoys the camera phone and got hold of it a couple times pushing buttons as fast as his chubby little fingers could go. He didn't want one of the cookies we brought (they're round and taste kind of like animal cookies) And he did not want Kevin's hat on his head. Workers stopped by from time to time to check on him and thankfully brought us a couple more toys to play with (a ball and a train) At one point Kevin got down on his knees and was playfully crawling toward Sasha and it kind of freaked him out. He got scared and was moving away, making scared sounds. He did let me pat him and comfort him and tolerated me holding him on my lap. He is heavy! Thankfully the visit didn't end there -- he and Kevin ended up playing together again at the end. But when Dima got there we told him Sasha was tired so a worker came, had him wave bye-bye, pat Kevin's head and give me a hug. He came and laid against my legs and let me hug him. I'd say we were in there at least an hour and a half which is a long stretch for any 3 yr old.

Actually we know it's a good sign that he is hesitant around us. I would be much more concerned if he just came running in and plopped himself on our laps since that is how we have seen unattached children behave. But it is still hard.

Our court date is set for February 5 at 9:30 a.m. and Dima says we'll get physical custody about Feb 16th. After that we still have birth certificate, passport and American embassy stuff which looks like another 2 1/2 weeks at least. Please PRAY for us as we try to re-figure out our travel plans. (We are scheduled to leave on Feb 12 but now have to return by Feb 16) Right now it looks like Kevin will go home as planned, if not earlier and I will just stay for the duration. This involves a lot of people so please pray for all involved. I will miss seeing my kids for such a long time and I'm bummed about missing Jessica's (my niece) wedding. Also we didn't even bring the stroller or the clothes items I'd bought because I figured I'd get them when I was home.

I know things will look better tomorrow. I just so appreciate everyone's prayers and this lets you know what our specific needs are.

Monday, January 28, 2008

I am in love!!!!






First of all to my wonderful children--thank you so much for writing to tell me about Tippy and Champion and the basketball game and wagon. I'm glad your game went well, Scheri, even if you didn't quite win. Sorry about the scratch on the arm and about the smoke. I so appreciate Bob and Cookie taking care of you this weekend.

Mom and Dad, sorry I wrote such a short reply to your newsy email. I will try to do better.

Linda, thanks for the update and for your support.

And to all my RR friends--many thanks for all the prayers and support.

We met our driver and Dima (translator) at 7:30 am and began the longer-than-I-thought, snowy, slushy journey out of the city to a much smaller town called Irpin. There Dima got permission from the Inspector for us to visit the orphanage. Next stop was in the tiny town of Vorzel at the administrative office of the orphanage where we tried to get the Director's permission to visit. He was out but the Deputy Director gave permission in his absence. Then down the road and across the street to Sasha's building where we were escorted to the Doctor's office.

And now to the news you've all been waiting for--after being told his medical history, we met Sasha and he is absolutely wonderful. Billy, Scheri, Teresa and James--you guys are going to LOVE him. He is a bit chunky, has real light brown hair (kind of long) and blue eyes, chubby little fingers and has the cutest personality. Very curious, social, friendly but not overly-so, very attentive to sounds like the telephone ringing, hammers banging, saws buzzing (they are doing some renovation in his building.) Tries to mimic words. Points to his 'nose', 'mouth', 'sweater' on request. Does part of the motions to some children's rhymes the care-giver was reciting with him. Is partially potty-trained (I'm not sure exactly what that means) He loved the little bear that says 'I love you' and lights up when you squeeze it. (they called the bear a meesha) Kevin put the bear in Sasha's pocket in his overalls and Sasha thought it was great. I also took bubbles (though we didn't do too many per the dr's request because they are messy on the vinyl floor.) The first time we handed Sasha the wand he tried to blow and then stuck the wand in his mouth :) He also liked it when Kevin took pictures of him with the cell phone and then showed him the picture--he recognized who that was. There are 7 kids in his group and tomorrow morning I guess we get to play in a room with all of them. He is way cuter and way more developed than I'd imagined.

I was impressed with the medical chart which the Dr. of the building gave info out of. She said the kids go to Kiev twice a year for checkups and talked about reports from psychiatrist, ENT, cardiologist, surgeon, neurologist, eye doctor and also mentioned speech therapy and some kind of pool therapy (swimming) The hallway had photos of kids, the office had several bright, colorful toys. The caregiver obviously had a loving relationship with Sasha.

Near the end of the visit, the doctor asked what we thought. We both said he is wonderful. We were told we had as long as we needed to make up our minds about adopting him but ,of course, paperwork could not start until that decision was made. That was a no-brainer.

We went back to the orphanage administrative office again to try to get the director's approval but he still was not in. So we went down to a store where you pay for everything at once and which was equipped with shopping baskets and scanner type check stands. We were buying snacks for us plus some diapers (it has been years since I've purchased that little item) and some snacks for our visit tomorrow.

We sat in the car quite awhile before we got the message that the director was available so we went in and shook his hand and then he and Dima spoke back and forth in Ukrainian. Kevin and I were excused to the car while the paperwork proceeded. I don't know what all he did in there but we did have to supply the name we chose: (drum roll please . . . ) ****Caleb Alexander*** and state that we wanted to retain his actual birthdate of June 14 (you are allowed to move it up to 6 months forward or backward. )

After obtaining that approval it was back to Irpin for us where the Inspector's approval was added.

Finally our driver took all of us back to Kiev, drove right up on the sidewalk and parked outside an office of some kind (notary?) for quite awhile while our feet got icier and Dima's feet apparently ran around. Eventually Dima called us inside where we sat on a wooden bench for quite some time. He showed us Sasha's original birth certificate (boy, I'd like a copy of that) and a form showing our names and address in Cyrillic (?sp) Pretty cool looking! Finally we went in and signed that form in front of a notary. and then we called it a day. We got home at 3:30

Love to all, Joy

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Quiet Day

Picture: Kevin and milk in a bag
It is so weird to think that it is 8pm here but my children are still in Sunday morning church service at home! Hopefully by next week we can find a church to go to. There is a tiny little church-looking building across the street with the beautiful gold-colored rounded roofs that rise to a tall peak with ornate crosses on top that make me think it's an orthodox church of some sort but it looks like 8 people would hardly fit in it. My body still has not adjusted to the time change either, I guess. After sleeping 14 hours yesterday I wasn't sleepy at bedtime and stayed up for hours reading this archeological fiction book I brought with me, then slept several hours, then read more, then slept more and got up at 2:00 pm again. It gets dark about 5 pm so my weird sleeping schedule makes for very few hours of daylight.

BUT we found out that we need to meet our driver at 7 am in the morning for an 8 am appt, I guess with the orphanage director. So it looks like we finally will get to meet our son! I'm told that after this our fees include two trips per week to the orphanage and that we are responsible to hire a driver ourselves for other visits.

I have been trying to get caught up on reading all my emails. I got majorly behind in the last week or so before travel trying to get so many loose ends tied up. So please, I hope no one thought I was rude for not replying to any comments or well-wishes concerning our trip--I am just now seeing them. (I had 5 PAGES of emails including RR digests when I got here!) I know I was so glued to my computer when other people were traveling--and it touches me deeply to read how you guys are following the journeys of all of us here in Ukraine.

Interesting-to-me Tidbits of information:

We bought milk that says it is 2.5% but it is so creamy it reminds me of the milk we used to get from my grandpa's farm.

I have not seen ANY bugs, spiders -- only animal I've seen so far was a cat outside our apartment. And I've only seen about 3 children (though, maybe children here don't enjoy shopping any more than my own kiddos :)

I was noticing last night I hadn't heard anyone swearing--then remembered I wouldn't know the difference! However there was sufficient bad language on the English channel tonight to more than make up for it--stuff that would have either not been allowed or would have at least been 'bleeped' at home. Kevin was snoring through it so I just turned it off.

Someone actually stopped us on the street this evening and asked us a question--of course, we didn't know what she was saying but it made me think that maybe the fact we are Americans wasn't as outwardly obvious as I thought.

Should have a lot more to report tomorrow. Thanks for all your love and prayers.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Housewife at large





Pictures: controls on washing machine; Kevin with phrase book trying to figure out what the cycles are; Kevin grinding pepper with a knife handle
Thanks to everyone for your comments. You cannot know what a blessing it is to keep in touch this way and to know that people we love are following our adventure and praying with us. Thanks Linda for sharing with my parents. Maybe someone can help them and our kiddos post messages, too. (HINT) :) I know the kids do not have computer access this weekend.

Special thanks to Brandi for keeping our kids during the week and Bob and Cookie for keeping them now. Also to Mrs. Ratto for helping out in the mornings.

As to life here in the big city, exhaustion finally struck me and I slept for 14 hours--until 2 pm! My sweet husband was up and had cooked us a yummy lunch of pork steak and fried potatoes using scrunched up sunflower seeds from his trail mix for salt and some kind of seasoning powder we found in the cupboard for pepper. We also had more sliced bread with the apricot/peach? flavored cream cheese.

The only thing unusual about washing dishes was that their are drying racks for the plates and cups right in the cupboards with clear plastic drip pans under them. Pretty handy, actually.

The biggest adventure of the day was trying to figure out the washing machine. It is a cute little automatic front-load job with lots of buttons and choices, all of course written in Russian. We did find some of the words in our phrase book. Between that and the pictures on the back of the Tide soap box, we made our best guess and turned it on. I now have the first load hanging out on the balcony on a wire rack. The towels are drying on a heated rack in the bathroom.

Kevin took a break from his Old Testament Survey study and TV watching to head back over to 'Walmart' and the market for more Coke Light, some very tasty lemon-flavored carbonated drinks, mayo, seasoning salt, bread knife, salt and pepper shakers and pepper which he then tried to grind by pounding it with the handle of the knife in the bottom of a cup (he was unable to find a pepper mill at the market)

It's been a very quiet day.

Friday, January 25, 2008

What an exciting, interesting, but scary time



Pictures: Kevin with our breakfast before our SDA appointment; the market across the street from our apartment
Last night I thought I was so exhausted I would sleep like a rock. And I did when I sat down on the couch--so did Kevin. But then when we woke up knowing that we didn't have any water to drink or use to rinse our toothbrushes, we talked about going down to exchange money and then going over to the market but I was nervous about going after dark. The aggravating thing was that while we were in the Chicago airport we'd purchased bottles of water and Coke Light and just took it all in our carry-ons all the way to Germany with no trouble at all--we didn't go through any more security checks and figured it was OK since we'd purchased it in the airport. BUT to board the plane to Ukraine it was different. And we watched them dump our sealed, unopened bottles in the garbage can.

Anyway I was so nervous about our SDA appointment today that I really had trouble staying asleep once I was in bed. One interesting thing was that there is just a flat sheet on top of the mattress approximately the same size as the top of the mattress so you can't tuck it in and it definitely does not stay in place. Then on top was a very warm comforter plus an extra smaller comforter and part of the night I was actually too hot. Anyway I tried to use my awake time quoting Bible verses and singing praise songs in my head.

We are using my cell phone for camera and for alarm clock because obviously it doesn't have service. Unfortunately we don't seem to be able to reset the time so we just set it for 8 or so hours after the time it is stuck at (Chicago time) So we got up, showered in lovely hot water and headed out to find a money exchange booth. At first we didn't know what we were looking for though it was obvious once we found it. Then we headed for breakfast and found a stand that was selling these round flat bread things that had some slightly sweetened cream cheese filling in it and some carbonated fruit drinks. Very yummy and satisfying. It is a disconcerting feeling not to be able to speak the language though pointing and lifting fingers for how many you want works. But I felt like we'd been out in the wild foraging for food.

Our SDA appointment was at 11:00 and our driver was right on time. I love looking at buildings and architecture and statues and everything. Then at the SDA building we were met by Oleg and Dima and discussed what was going to happen. I was so scared. We walked in the door and waited on the stairway for 5-10 minutes. The big question was whether we were going to ask for 1 or 2 children. Since we had originally petitioned for 2 we decided to go ahead and view some files for a second child. As so many people have said the actual appointment was quite painless. There was a social worker who explained the cases and another who translated for us. We were both uncomfortable with the other files presented so we are going along with Sasha only. His pictures were so cute but I wasn't brave enough to ask for them. The plan is to go meet him on Monday since the director has tomorrow off. The whole thing was less than 15 minutes.

Our driver took us past some very beautiful buildings and a big square.

Once we got home, it was time to forage for food again. We decided to go to a restaurant this time. One problem was that we didn't know how to identify a restaurant. As you all know the sounds of many letters of the alphabet here are totally different and the alphabet has many extra letters besides. Well, we found a building with a chef out front and guessed it to be a restaurant. We were met at the door by a man and at first I thought he was trying to keep us out. As it turned out, he was the doorman. He took our coats and hung them in a closet and then motioned us up the stairs. I still wasn't sure it was an eating place because I couldn't smell food but when we got upstairs there was a beautifully set room complete with tables, chairs and plates. At that time we were the only ones there. I was hoping for a menu with pictures but no such luck. Just page after page of meaningless-to-me symbols. Finally I got out my phrase book and pointed at the word beef. Our server was a good sport and pointed out potatoes and vegetables which I agreed to. Then she took me up front and pointed at various alcoholic beverages and finally to Coca Cola, coffee and tea.

The meal was delicious. First we were served Coke in beautiful goblets. Then a salad with tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers, small chunks of a white cheese and an oil dressing. MMMM! Next a broth soup with potatoes, mushrooms. Then meat which Kevin said was sirloin and potatoes cut kind of like french fries (except didn't look like finger food) and both flavored so well. To top it off Kevin had two cute little cups of coffee and I had tea. Of course then came the bill which proved we could definitely not repeat this again any time soon.

So off to the market. There are several rows of stalls under long roofs (Kevin said it reminds him of storage units where each person has his own storage unit and opens it up and sells his wares) Different ones sell coats, boots, jackets, ties, scarves, sheets, household goods (laundry soap, toothbrushes, room freshener)--you get the picture. You end up buying a couple things here, a couple things there and of course paying at each shop. We had brought a couple bags but most of the places did give bags that we finally put into our bigger bag. Then we came to this store that Kevin called Walmart. It was all groceries but the interesting thing is each counter or part of counter is run by different people and you pay each one separately. One sight amusing to me was the row of plucked, gutted, raw chickens with their heads hanging down and their feet sticking up in the air. The whole meat area was pretty different with chunks of meat out on the counter. One thing we wanted sliced so the lady behind the counter handed the chunk of meat to this guy with a big meat cleaver who took it to another counter, cut off the 4 slices we wanted, carried them back and the lady bagged them for us. At one point we had to pull out the phrase book again because we couldn't find milk or remember the word for it. Come to find out we had passed it a few times: it was in a bag, not a jug. It was an interesting outing, part of it was a kick, part of it was scary because it just felt so foreign. And of course you already guessed there were no shopping carts. I was glad to get back 'home' to our apartment and get everything put away.

To my kiddos: I miss you guys so much. I love you lots. It is so weird to think you are still in school as I'm typing this. I am praying for you, that God will give you a feeling of peace and security that comes only from Him, that He will help you with your teachers and schoolwork and friends and with any aches or pains or worries. Mom, I hope you are feeling much better. Daddy, try not to worry but definitely do pray. Church family, I love you and I'm hoping we will find somewhere to go to church on Sunday. To all my RR friends especially those coming here--keep up the good work.

Plan to post more tomorrow.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

To my kids and other people not familiar with Blogger






Pictures: Our apartment
One more thing: If you press on the comments button after a post, you can leave us a message.

Thanks to my friends who have already done so--thanks for following. I honestly cannot believe it is our turn!

We are here!





Pictures: Kevin at the airport; Joy brushing teeth with Kevin's mouthwash because I couldn't pack the large toothpaste in my carry-on; trash can in the Frankfurt, Germany airport--I was trying to figure out which hole was appropriate for my apple juice can; Kevin stretched out on our couch in our apartment in Ukraine
As the plane was beginning its descent I didn't know whether to cry or be just plain terrified. It was over-whelming to realize that all my hopes and dreams and all the months of work were actually coming to fruition. On the other hand, I felt scared to death of the unknown--worries about whether someone would actually be here to meet us, wondering if I'd make it with a strange language, unknowns about the adoption process, etc. I was holding my husband's hand so tightly--I'm sure glad we are here together.

And to my children: I love you so much. Please give each other 5 kisses and hugs from Daddy and I. By the time we got to our apartment about 5 p.m. here, you guys were just due to be getting out of the house for school. We are nine hours ahead of you which is pretty mind-boggling. That can be one of your math projects for the time we are gone--trying to figure out what time it is here. (Just like I have to keep figuring what time it is there.) You guys will be sound asleep when we have our appointment tomorrow at 11 AM. That is when we hope to get our official referral and find out when we can actually meet Stephen or Caleb or . . . we still haven't settled on a name. And thanks to all who are helping and hugging our kids.

Our apartment looks just like the pictures we'd seen and is right across the street from a big market. We have an enclosed balcony, fridge, a cute clothes washer, TV, phone, computer and several extras like plates, cups, pots, ironing board, hair dryer. Since we came in January we were offered a great deal on this place. It is only 6:56 p.m. but I am SOOO tired.

Before I close here are some things I've learned so far: put a small travel sized toothpaste in purse or travel bag. (I only brought a big tube and it had to go in the checked luggage so I got to brush my teeth with Kevin's Scope in the airports) It drove me crazy on the journey between Chicago and Frankfurt not to know what time it was or where we were. (I usually use my cell phone for time but it had to be turned off until we landed and I've decided that all countries should be required to spell out their name across their land in huge lights so travelers flying overhead can read them :) And yes, do bring snacks so you can eat them if you're too tired to go shopping or to a restaurant when you get here. Kevin bought about 4 boxes of granola bars and left them home because he thought I wanted them for the kids!

To all my RR friends who've been wanting me to post more often, you are probably going to be sick of all my posting by the time we leave here.

THANKS to all for your prayers and encouragement.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Here we go!

Well we are at America Inn in Boise waiting for the shuttle to the airport. We got up at 3:50 am after going to bed around 11 p.m.

And to my kiddos, family and friends: I love you, I'm praying for you . . . and Sasha here we come!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

About one hour and 15 minutes





Pictures: Sorry, I have 2 pictures of all the stuff that was on our bed awaiting the suitcase and accidently posted the same one twice; Kevin in the car ready to head to Boise Inn America for the night before our trip to Ukraine
That's how long until we're scheduled to leave our house. We'll drive to Boise tonight and then get up bright and early to go to the airport and head to Ukraine. Honestly, I've been so busy trying to deal with all the paperwork that goes along with making sure our kids are OK while we're gone: temporary guardianship, list of medications, calendar that shows the day-by-day schedule plus who is taking care of various assignments for that day (like who is providing supper and who has basketball practice, etc) that it's easy to almost forget why we're doing all this stuff: We are going to meet our son! That fact started to somewhat dawn on me as I was packing toys for him. Well got to go. I will appreciate all your prayers.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

I love adoption

I love adoption. My wonderful husband of 13.9 years would probably say I am obsessed with adoption. I have spent multiple hours of many days over several years poring over waiting child lists and reading adoption or orphan-related books and more lately reading other people's adoption blogs. I have loved adoption at least since I was a young teenager and read books like The Family Nobody Wanted by Helen Doss. My dream was to work in an orphanage and hug babies--before I had a clue how vital affection is to human development. I loved adoption before I got married, before I experienced the horrible emotional roller-coaster ride of difficulty conceiving, before I knew the gut-wrenching pain of miscarriage and before I had a medically-necessary surgery that ended the chances of pregnancy altogether. And by then I had four children whom we'd adopted wanting to see my surgical incision. God knew all along how important adoption was going to become to our family.
We are now just 2 weeks away from flying to an Eastern European country for the first of two trips to adopt a little guy with Down syndrome. I hope to write more about that in future posts. Let me warn my readers (if there are any of you out there in cyber-world) that I've never attempted a blog before, so please be patient with me. I plan to write about the loves of my life: Jesus Christ, my family, sanctity of life and adoption, of course. If I could influence just one person to consider the adoption option, I will consider this blog a success.