It wasn't looking good a few hours ago, but after some fine work by Dima and Alexey of our adoption team, I have visas and passports in hand and I am flying home tomorrow with my soon-to-be new AMERICAN daughters!
When I told them the news, Galyna screamed and Nastia hasn't stopped smiling. After our English lessons of late, I think they were ready to kill me, but in the past couple of hours I've never seen them happier. We are overjoyed.
Thanks for all your prayers and the awesome love and support you've sent our way in the past seven weeks. For all your parents in process and those in the process of parenting their newly adopted kids, I hope we can continue to share our experience, strength and hope together.
We're coming home. Thanks be to God.
Showing posts with label Kyiv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kyiv. Show all posts
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Despair and Hope
As of Thursday morning, two of the three "problems" have been resolved. If the other issue is taken care of by the end of the day, we're outta here tomorrow! But it wouldn't be Ukraine it the drama didn't come down to the wire, so it will be several hours before I know what will happen.
Wednesday in Kyiv was definitely a rock bottom experience as none of the "problems" had been resolved be the end of the day, and I discovered that if we can't leave Friday, the next available flight is not until Tuesday!
Adding to the frustration of all this is the very difficult behavior of the girls, who have decided to resist all my attempts to engage them or teach them anything. I find myself doing alot of projecting about how much worse it will get and wondering if I have the energy and grace to weather the gathering storm.
I went for a long walk last night, stopping along the way to attend an Orthodox Vespers service at St. Mikhail's Monastery. I have no idea what they are chanting or singing, but this is an amazing place to go and pray. Once you enter the stunningly beautiful cathedral, all outside noise and motion come to a halt. The choir sings from a concealed loft and sounds as if the voices come right from heaven. Of course the real trick is to turn off all the clutter in your mind, and after attending these services daily, I'm getting much better at it.
Afterwards, I walked down to Independence Square. This is one of the most beautiful public squares I've ever seen, and thousands of people come out in the evening to socialize. But what struck me was how many of them were just standing around apparently getting drunk. Everywhere I turned were groups of teenagers and young adults hanging out drinking beer or wine coolers and chain smoking. I felt as if I had descended into the valley of dry bones and it was terribly depresssing to take it all in, as I desperately wanted someone to talk to and confide my own troubles in.
I even began to get angry as I wondered about how many of these youngsters will soon become the biological parents of orphan children. Alcholism contributes to a large percentage of the apalling number of orphans (our girls' mother died of alcoholism) in Ukraine and if you talk to locals, everyone acknowledges the problem. Yet it's hard to find anyone walking around after five o'clock who doesn't have a bottle of beer in their hand. This country has the worse negative population growth in all of Europe and after you've been here a while, the reason is evident.
As I've discovered in the wreckage of my own life, the only hope is through surrender to God. Sunday night in Kyiv's Olympic Stadium, I sat stunned as I saw thousands of Ukrainains confess their sin and surrender to the cross of Christ. Franklin Graham's "Festival of Hope" crusade could not come at a better time as this nation stands at a crossroads.
I had seen these kind of events growing up watching Billy Graham, and it was incredible to actually be present at one. You might say Franklin is more hard core than his father. But in the introductory video, he makes clear that he once lived a life of self indulgence, abusing drugs and alcohol. So Franklin's conviction of sin comes through loud and clear. In a brief message, he directly addressed the social ills that plague this country: alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual immorality leading to an epidemic of HIV/AIDS and other skyrocketing STD's. He spoke about guilt and shame as a man who knew it all too well. This is the insanity of addiction when one has to keep going back to the drug to be relieved from all the guilt and shame. Indeed, the drug of choice becomes God. This is what G.K. Chesterton meant when he said, "Every man knocking on the door of a brothel is looking for God."
But of course the gospel is "good news" and Graham made clear that no matter what kind of lifestyle you've led, the offer of full and free forgiveness is there to those willing to do a U-turn. The scope of that promise is universal and none are exluded. Yes, we are much more sinful and guilty than we are willing to admit, but we are also much more forgiven and affirmed in our salvation than we could ever know! It is amazing what happens when people hear a simple, sincere explanation of the gospel. As Jesus said, "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations."
The Ukrainians in that stadium responded by the thousands. I don't know how many came forward, but it was astonishing, and Graham did not have to ask more than once if they wanted to be forgiven.
Graham made a special appeal to the members of the Ukranian Army and they came en masse. As I saw them pouring down the aisles I was overcome with emotion. I've been in this country for nearly two months and have come to love these people.
What an incredible thing for our girls to have the opportunity to hear the gospel in their own language, presented in such a beautiful, sincere and powerful way. I've been critical and often sneering of the kind of revival events, but as I watched my 16 year old daughter reading a one-page summary of the plan of salvation, all I could think was how miraculous the timing of this was for our family. Thank God for Franklin Graham and all those who brought great Glory to God for bringing the Festival of Hope to Ukraine.
Wednesday in Kyiv was definitely a rock bottom experience as none of the "problems" had been resolved be the end of the day, and I discovered that if we can't leave Friday, the next available flight is not until Tuesday!
Adding to the frustration of all this is the very difficult behavior of the girls, who have decided to resist all my attempts to engage them or teach them anything. I find myself doing alot of projecting about how much worse it will get and wondering if I have the energy and grace to weather the gathering storm.
I went for a long walk last night, stopping along the way to attend an Orthodox Vespers service at St. Mikhail's Monastery. I have no idea what they are chanting or singing, but this is an amazing place to go and pray. Once you enter the stunningly beautiful cathedral, all outside noise and motion come to a halt. The choir sings from a concealed loft and sounds as if the voices come right from heaven. Of course the real trick is to turn off all the clutter in your mind, and after attending these services daily, I'm getting much better at it.
Afterwards, I walked down to Independence Square. This is one of the most beautiful public squares I've ever seen, and thousands of people come out in the evening to socialize. But what struck me was how many of them were just standing around apparently getting drunk. Everywhere I turned were groups of teenagers and young adults hanging out drinking beer or wine coolers and chain smoking. I felt as if I had descended into the valley of dry bones and it was terribly depresssing to take it all in, as I desperately wanted someone to talk to and confide my own troubles in.
I even began to get angry as I wondered about how many of these youngsters will soon become the biological parents of orphan children. Alcholism contributes to a large percentage of the apalling number of orphans (our girls' mother died of alcoholism) in Ukraine and if you talk to locals, everyone acknowledges the problem. Yet it's hard to find anyone walking around after five o'clock who doesn't have a bottle of beer in their hand. This country has the worse negative population growth in all of Europe and after you've been here a while, the reason is evident.
As I've discovered in the wreckage of my own life, the only hope is through surrender to God. Sunday night in Kyiv's Olympic Stadium, I sat stunned as I saw thousands of Ukrainains confess their sin and surrender to the cross of Christ. Franklin Graham's "Festival of Hope" crusade could not come at a better time as this nation stands at a crossroads. I had seen these kind of events growing up watching Billy Graham, and it was incredible to actually be present at one. You might say Franklin is more hard core than his father. But in the introductory video, he makes clear that he once lived a life of self indulgence, abusing drugs and alcohol. So Franklin's conviction of sin comes through loud and clear. In a brief message, he directly addressed the social ills that plague this country: alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual immorality leading to an epidemic of HIV/AIDS and other skyrocketing STD's. He spoke about guilt and shame as a man who knew it all too well. This is the insanity of addiction when one has to keep going back to the drug to be relieved from all the guilt and shame. Indeed, the drug of choice becomes God. This is what G.K. Chesterton meant when he said, "Every man knocking on the door of a brothel is looking for God." But of course the gospel is "good news" and Graham made clear that no matter what kind of lifestyle you've led, the offer of full and free forgiveness is there to those willing to do a U-turn. The scope of that promise is universal and none are exluded. Yes, we are much more sinful and guilty than we are willing to admit, but we are also much more forgiven and affirmed in our salvation than we could ever know! It is amazing what happens when people hear a simple, sincere explanation of the gospel. As Jesus said, "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations." The Ukrainians in that stadium responded by the thousands. I don't know how many came forward, but it was astonishing, and Graham did not have to ask more than once if they wanted to be forgiven.Does this not blow you away? Witnessing elderly Babushkas walking down to that field is one of the most inspirational things I've ever seen.
Graham made a special appeal to the members of the Ukranian Army and they came en masse. As I saw them pouring down the aisles I was overcome with emotion. I've been in this country for nearly two months and have come to love these people. What an incredible thing for our girls to have the opportunity to hear the gospel in their own language, presented in such a beautiful, sincere and powerful way. I've been critical and often sneering of the kind of revival events, but as I watched my 16 year old daughter reading a one-page summary of the plan of salvation, all I could think was how miraculous the timing of this was for our family. Thank God for Franklin Graham and all those who brought great Glory to God for bringing the Festival of Hope to Ukraine. My prayer is that a day will soon come when Ukrainians will be able to take care of their own children. Please pray for all of us who have been led here to adopt these hurting children, and for healing for this beautiful and stricken nation.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Small Blessings in Kyiv
Hooray! I found a hotel with a "business center" so I can blog again!!!
Today marks the beginning of week 7 in Ukraine. The girls and I have been in Kyiv since last Wednesday, awaiting FBI fingerprint results for Dana and me. But, it turns out that we would still be here anyway as I learned at the US Embassy that Nastia can not be granted a visa until she clears a criminal background check in Ukraine because she is 16! Those results are supposed to clear tomorrow, so the wait continues for these three outstanding elements to be resolved.
Ever since learning that we would be stranded in Kyiv, totally at the mercy of those responsible for processing fingerprints, I've gone through a cycle of emotions: anger at myself for not having taken care of the fingerprint problem before it became a problem; frustration at not being able to do anything about it; loneliness from being away from Dana and Christian for so long, and frustration and anger at the girls for their disrespectful and sometimes defiant behavior.
Yet it has become all too clear to me that this is also an opportunity that the Lord has given me and the girls. I have seen things and learned many things about them that I had never really observed during their hosting visits with us, or during the earlier part of our stay in Odessa.
They have absolutely no boundaries when it comes to sexual morality. I finally cut them off from watching the Russian version of MTV. Some of the videos are close to pornographic, and their favorite ones are the very worst of American gangster rap and hip hop. Their favorite movies are what they call "dance" movies, which glorify the hip hop lifestyle. This is a particular problem for the kids in Odessa, which has got to be the most sexualized place on the planet. I'm not kidding, it makes South Beach Miami look like Omaha! I had a lengthy discussion with the girls and their friends about sex and the reality of what having no sexual boundaries results in. I pointed out that Ukraine has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS, syphillis and other STD's in all of
Europe. Ukraine's HIV rate is on par with some African countries.
Of course they don't get it. One of their friends even told me that "this bunny you have in America (meaning the Playboy bunny)" is not a problem in Ukraine! This was a 15 year old girl! But these situations also present excellent opportunities to talk to them about what the Bible says about sex and I am pleased that we've broken the ice on this topic.
God is also using this time for me to learn many things about myself, as their glaring character defects and unrepentant bad behavior is a mirror for my own sin and daily shortcomings. They have no discipline whatsover, but the truth is, neither do I much of the time. I am much better at hiding my sin. They don't care about what others think, and of course, I spend alot of energy in putting on airs to mask my lame spiritual condition.
What I am learning is that I must confess my sin daily, and ask for God's help in teaching our girls how to live in a family, and live in this world. So, I am happy to report that I am seeing some progress in executing this. I have established a routine where we have an "English lesson" daily, before doing anything else. I wrote down the pledge of allegiance and a proverb on a sheet of paper, and (much to their chagrin) have them read it aloud, several times if necessary.
Anastasia flatly refused on the first day, and I proceeded to put my 16 year old daughter in timeout! She was shocked, but she sat in a chair in the corner for a good thirty minutes. I banned her from watching TV the rest of the day, and a few hours later, she grudgingly complied and read the Pledge, cracking a smile at the end.
Being "tough" on them is the conventional wisdom, but this is much easier to say than do. These kids do not like being asked to do anything, and if you ask them, they will simply say no. So, I have learned to TELL them what we are doing and give them a choice of doing two things.
Today, I gave them an assignment to go out and take pictures of five different historical sites, and to return at 6:30 PM and give me a report on the historical significance of each site. They shook their heads no at this, but when I told them that their choice was either that, or spend the day with me touring churches, Nastia grabbed the camera and smiled!
These are the kind of victories I am savoring. Before they left, I sat down with them, held hands and said a short prayer, asking God to give us His mercy and provide a way for us to return this week. It will be interesting to see how they do on their photographic history report.
Tonight I hope to put up some pictures of the amazing Franklin Graham "Festival of Hope" crusade that came to Kyiv this weekend. For more than two hours, the girls heard great testimonies, music, and a riveting explanation of the gospel in their own language. Do you know what it's like to hear "Just As I Am" sung in Ukrainian by a choir of 5-thousand?
I reckon there's a reason why we're stuck inside of Kyiv, with the Goochland blues again!!!
Today marks the beginning of week 7 in Ukraine. The girls and I have been in Kyiv since last Wednesday, awaiting FBI fingerprint results for Dana and me. But, it turns out that we would still be here anyway as I learned at the US Embassy that Nastia can not be granted a visa until she clears a criminal background check in Ukraine because she is 16! Those results are supposed to clear tomorrow, so the wait continues for these three outstanding elements to be resolved.
Ever since learning that we would be stranded in Kyiv, totally at the mercy of those responsible for processing fingerprints, I've gone through a cycle of emotions: anger at myself for not having taken care of the fingerprint problem before it became a problem; frustration at not being able to do anything about it; loneliness from being away from Dana and Christian for so long, and frustration and anger at the girls for their disrespectful and sometimes defiant behavior.
Yet it has become all too clear to me that this is also an opportunity that the Lord has given me and the girls. I have seen things and learned many things about them that I had never really observed during their hosting visits with us, or during the earlier part of our stay in Odessa.
They have absolutely no boundaries when it comes to sexual morality. I finally cut them off from watching the Russian version of MTV. Some of the videos are close to pornographic, and their favorite ones are the very worst of American gangster rap and hip hop. Their favorite movies are what they call "dance" movies, which glorify the hip hop lifestyle. This is a particular problem for the kids in Odessa, which has got to be the most sexualized place on the planet. I'm not kidding, it makes South Beach Miami look like Omaha! I had a lengthy discussion with the girls and their friends about sex and the reality of what having no sexual boundaries results in. I pointed out that Ukraine has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS, syphillis and other STD's in all of
Europe. Ukraine's HIV rate is on par with some African countries.
Of course they don't get it. One of their friends even told me that "this bunny you have in America (meaning the Playboy bunny)" is not a problem in Ukraine! This was a 15 year old girl! But these situations also present excellent opportunities to talk to them about what the Bible says about sex and I am pleased that we've broken the ice on this topic.
God is also using this time for me to learn many things about myself, as their glaring character defects and unrepentant bad behavior is a mirror for my own sin and daily shortcomings. They have no discipline whatsover, but the truth is, neither do I much of the time. I am much better at hiding my sin. They don't care about what others think, and of course, I spend alot of energy in putting on airs to mask my lame spiritual condition.
What I am learning is that I must confess my sin daily, and ask for God's help in teaching our girls how to live in a family, and live in this world. So, I am happy to report that I am seeing some progress in executing this. I have established a routine where we have an "English lesson" daily, before doing anything else. I wrote down the pledge of allegiance and a proverb on a sheet of paper, and (much to their chagrin) have them read it aloud, several times if necessary.
Anastasia flatly refused on the first day, and I proceeded to put my 16 year old daughter in timeout! She was shocked, but she sat in a chair in the corner for a good thirty minutes. I banned her from watching TV the rest of the day, and a few hours later, she grudgingly complied and read the Pledge, cracking a smile at the end.
Being "tough" on them is the conventional wisdom, but this is much easier to say than do. These kids do not like being asked to do anything, and if you ask them, they will simply say no. So, I have learned to TELL them what we are doing and give them a choice of doing two things.
Today, I gave them an assignment to go out and take pictures of five different historical sites, and to return at 6:30 PM and give me a report on the historical significance of each site. They shook their heads no at this, but when I told them that their choice was either that, or spend the day with me touring churches, Nastia grabbed the camera and smiled!
These are the kind of victories I am savoring. Before they left, I sat down with them, held hands and said a short prayer, asking God to give us His mercy and provide a way for us to return this week. It will be interesting to see how they do on their photographic history report.
Tonight I hope to put up some pictures of the amazing Franklin Graham "Festival of Hope" crusade that came to Kyiv this weekend. For more than two hours, the girls heard great testimonies, music, and a riveting explanation of the gospel in their own language. Do you know what it's like to hear "Just As I Am" sung in Ukrainian by a choir of 5-thousand?
I reckon there's a reason why we're stuck inside of Kyiv, with the Goochland blues again!!!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Arrival in Beautiful Kyiv
We made it! I am writing on Thursday morning from Odessa, where we just arrived after taking the overnight train from Kiev. Our reunion with the girls will happen soon. Meanwhile, here are some glimpses of the ancient, stunningly beautiful city of Kiev.
St. Mikhayil's Monastery of the Golden Domes looms over one end of Kiev's main street. 
Christian cools off in the fountains at Independence Square!
At St. Andrei's Church, Dana lights a candle in blessed memory of sister Carla, as I did for my nephew Chad. Entering these ancient Orthodox Churches is a profoundly humbling experience. Ukrainians worship God with great reverence and awe (note the woman bowing). These people have endured much pain and suffering throughout the centuries, but their faith is alive and well.
Dana and Christian at St. Andrei's.
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