The Blessing of Adoption

These pictures are a beautiful witness to the blessing of adoption. Banner Christian School recently held a pep rally and I've never seen Anastasia smile so much. I had to fight back the tears because I couldn't help but thinking about her life in Ukraine, where there was little to smile about.

When you see pictures taken of her at the orphanage, it's almost as if she didn't even know how to smile. This is my favorite shot of her previous life. Everyone we talked to in Odessa told us that Nastia spent most of her free time in the art room, putting her heart and soul into creating beautiful works of art. Art remains her passion, but today she enjoys so much more.

Katrina is a vivacious young lady who has reached out to both of our daughters.

Mr. Tom Burkett is not only the headmaster, he's also the varsity volleyball coach and very much in the "old school" tradition. Banner Bearcat volleyball is not for the faint of heart as "Mr. B" runs a brutally tough practice. He's a demanding coach who prefers not to lose, but his off-court demeanor is gentle and soft-spoken. He got a kick out of posing here with Nastia. Afterwards he asked, "Did she smile?"

Nastia and her teammates should compete for the conference volleyball championship. They've been a bit inconsistent lately, but should be ready by tournament time to be a contender. This Christian volleyball is ferocious competition and we love the games. Go BearCats!!!

Galyna with her best friend Anna Winans. Anna is the youngest of three children in an extraordinary missionary family, who recently returned from a five year mission to Japan. Anna's mother grew up in Saigon during the Vietnam war. Their family's incredible story is told in the memoir of Anna's grandfather Sam James. They never left until the fall of Saigon. It is a miracle they didn't become martyrs for Christ. This is an example of how adoption has blessed our entire family as we've all become good friends with the Winans family.

"Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice."

The Ukrainian Famine

For those families adopting older children, please make a visit to this somber memorial a priority. A disappointingly high percentage of Russian speaking people in Ukraine remain in a state of shameful denial about the meaning of this monument in Kyiv. It is dedicated to the victims of the forced Ukrainian Famine, which took place between 1932-34, resulting in the starvation death of 5-to-7 million innocent Ukrainians. Some estimates go as high as ten million.

Thanks to the Ukrianian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Kyiv Patriarch, the truth is finally being told. The monument is located next to the beautiful St. Michael's Monastery. Make sure to take time to read the story about the famine on the wall behind. Shockingly, the Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarch still officially denies the famine. Just inside the entrance to the church, an excellent self-guided tour carefully documents how the communist regime attempted to wipe out Christianity in the Soviet Union.

It was all orchestrated by Stalin, which makes one wonder why you see this monster's image being peddled by Ukrainian street vendors today. Perhaps even more amazingly, tourists actually buy Stalin matrushka dolls! Imagine going to Berlin and seeing Hitler commercialized in this manner. But Russia, and many of the former Soviet states have not undergone the same kind of reckoning that Germany has. When we adopted our son five years ago in Moscow, a poll had just been conducted that revealed half of the Russian population still regards Stalin as a hero for prevailing in World War II. The truth is that the Russians courageously outfought the Germans despite Stalin's poor leadership.

Especially for those adopting in Odessa, or other regions in the East and Southern part of Ukraine, Soviet and Communist nostalgia lingers. My daughters had never been taught about the famine at the orphanage school, so I gave them an assignment to pay a visit to the famine monument. History records that the totalitarian regime that talked about creating a "classless society," butchered 20 million of its own citizens, making Soviet Communism the bloodiest ideology the world has ever known. It is painfully true that many Ukrainians are suffering even more in the post Soviet world, but it is not because free market economics has been tried and failed. It has never been tried. Ukraine is being strangled by corruption and none of the citizens I spoke to have any faith in the rule of law. So it's understandable that a percentage of the population would go back to totalitarian control of their lives in exchange for the suffering they're now facing. But the events of the 20th century makes clear that communist countries led the way in slaughtering and imprisoning its own people, and nowhere was the persecution more severe than in Ukraine. Perhaps that is why so much denial remains?

Not far from the Famine Monument is this ghastly example of "socialist realist" art. "The Friendship of the Nations" monument was constructed by the Soviets in the early 1950's to pay tribute to the "historic bond of the Russian and Ukrainian people."

Interestingly, the "Friendship of the Nations" monument doesn't mention the fact that millions of Ukrainians were slaughtered by their Soviet leaders in Moscow just two decades before it was built. This is a classic case of how the Soviets brainwashed their people, and did such a good job, that many pro-Russian Ukrainians still don't want to believe the truth.

I am now a father to a Russian born son and two Ukrainian born daughters. I want them to be proud of their culture, but I also want them to know how much pain and suffering that both Russians and Ukrainians have endured at the hands of their own rulers.

Ronald Reagan was right. The Soviet Union was an "Evil Empire" and I won't shield my children from that fact. They need to know the truth about their native countries, just as they need to know the truth about their adopted country.

I won't hide the ugly facts of America's history either, but few countries are as self-examining and self-critical as the United States, and our democratic institutions (such as the free press) don't allow too many things to remain hidden for very long. And if you don't like what our government is doing, you can march right to the gate of the White House and tell the President exactly what you think without fear of punishment (I've done it). Try doing that today at the Kremlin!

An excellent resource documenting the Great Famine is "Harvest of Sorrow" by Robert Conquest. I'm going to order a copy for all three of my children.

For Grandma Lela

This shot is an answered prayer for one special woman affectionately known in Odessa as Grandma Lela. Lela Steel has been a missionary to Odessa's orphans for ten years. For hundreds of these forgotten kids, the only time they've ever heard the words "I love you" came from Lela. She also never fails to let them know that they are loved by Jesus and indeed God has worked through Grandma Lela to convert dozens of orphans to faith in Christ. But our daughter Galyna never responded to Lela's attempts to reach out. Galyna was reportedly rude to her on many occasions. Of course that never stopped Grandma Lela from praying for her and I wanted her to see this picture of Galyna studying her Bible. She recently told me that "Bible" was her favorite class at school. The seeds that Grandma Lela planted years ago are beginning to take root.

We love you Grandma Lela, and thank God for your service in the name of Christ.