Praise God from Whom ALL Blessings Flow!!!

I seriously cannot believe it. If you had told me 2 1/2 months ago that I would be sitting on a couch in a little apartment in Odessa, Ukraine telling you about the amazing day we had I would have wanted to believe you, but I probably wouldn't have.  To think about all of the ways that God has led us, blessed us, shown Himself to us, and worked through YOU is almost too much to take in.  Based on the emails, texts, notes, calls and conversations we've had/gotten, I can't even begin to imagine how many prayers have been lifted up on account of our sweet Sergey.  We are overwhelmed with gratitude for your faithfulness and friendship, and don't even know how to begin to say thank you. The only way I can think of (besides saying "Thank you!!!" - THANK YOU!!!) is to invite you to live today with us - I wish that each of you actually could have been there with us :-).  Plus, this way I can look back and remember every single thing about today :-).

The cute cafe below our apartment - our door is above the roof, to the right in the corner - #21 :-)

We went down to breakfast at the little cafe that is part of our sweet apartment here (breakfast is included and it was super delicous!!), and then met Aloyna at 10:00.  This is our first time meeting her, and we had heard how wonderful she is, but she even exceeded our expectations.  She is just absolutely wonderful.  And speaking of expectations, she is 9 months pregnant!!!  When I asked her "when are you due?" she said "Today"!!!!! I couldn't believe it - we would be traveling all the way to Sergey's orphanage (a few hours) on an INCREDIBLY bumpy road with this adorable woman who is due today!!!  She was amazing - never complained and always said she was fine whenever we asked. I think I was more worried about her than she was about herself - and I think Clint was super nervous that we were going to be part of delivering a baby on the side of the road :-). Fortunately, that did not happen - if it had, I am sure I would be leading with that story :-).

We walked from our apartment about 10 minutes to the notary office to get a few papers notarized, and then we met a driver who drove us part of the way to Sergey's orphanage.  The ladies who worked at the notary office were so kind and super funny - apparently there are many folks who won't be a part of adoption notaries (I have several theories on why this is true), so it was great to have someone who was so supportive and kind.  After about 30 minutes of driving, we met Svetlana at a gas station (the NICEST, cleanest, most modern gas station I have EVER seen - right there on the side of the road from Odessa to Kyiv with NOTHING else in sight in any direction - so funny).  We hopped into her car (and both breathed a sigh of relief - she is a very calm and safe driver in a country where most drivers make me look like a slow and cautious driver) and she took us the rest of the way.  The road between Kyiv and Odessa looks pretty much like this the whole way, on both sides:

Like I said in my last post, you have never seen such lush land, but there is a LOT of it!!!  There are very few towns, and the ones that are there are far off of the road and very small.  The road is fairly smooth most of the way, but there are some pretty major potholes and dips as well.  When we finally got to the turn-off for Sergey's village/orphanage, I finally found out what our friends who have been there before have been talking about.  Potholes would be offended by calling these things potholes.  Imagine it more like this - all over the place, there are just pieces of the road completely missing.  You cannot even imagine it - I've never seen anything like it before. Needless to say, it took us QUITE some time to get to Sergey :-).

In the village

Almost there!!!

The sign for the school!!

When we finally arrived, we went into the school, up to the office of the school's social worker (got to peek in on some kids in the  middle of class, working hard).  The town's social worker showed up a little later - we were originally supposed to pick her up, but since she lived an HOUR past the school on that road, Svetlana asked if she could take a cab and meet us there, since Aloyna was about to have a baby :-).  Thankfully, she said yes :-).  So it was Svetlana, Aloyna, the two social workers, and us in the little office. This office was right off of the office of the director, so he soon came out and joined us as well.  We had all started chatting when the door opened and Sergey walked in.  My heart almost stopped :-).  We each gave him a big hug and then we all sat down again.  Aloyna and Sveta chatted with him for a while - it was so sweet to see how kind they were to him - teasing him and asking him questions trying to get him to talk :-).  He was obviously fairly nervous and uncomfortable being the center of attention, but he looked them in the eye and answered their questions in his sweet way.  It was all I could do to keep from jumping up and hugging the stuffing out of him.  Don't worry - I didn't.

One of the things I was most nervous about with this visit was that this was the time that he needed to say for good whether or not he wanted to be adopted by us or not.  He needed to write it all out, so his social worker took him into the director's office so that he could do so.  He did not hesitate at all, and the director told us after Sergey left the room that they had been asking him every day if he wanted to be adopted and he continued to say yes.  They reassured us that he was the one who changed his mind back, that they were encouraging him to come to live with us, but no one forced him and that it was what he really wanted.  I can't wait to get to read what he wrote one day!!!

After a bit, they told him that he should go to lunch so that he didn't miss it, and then he could come back and see us again.  He must have scarfed down his lunch because he was back within about 10 minutes.  Oh, I almost forgot - when he first came in and I hugged him and then turned around to face all the ladies, they were all smiling and chatting like crazy and then Aloyna said "We think he looks just like you" :-).  I don't know if he does or if he doesn't, but the looks on their faces and hearing them say that made me so proud :-).  Maybe it wasn't that he looks like me, but that he looks like he belongs with us :-).  Anyway, there were lots of papers, and questions, and stuff like that, and at one point the director told him to go back with his friends for a while and that we would call him when we were done talking.  Once he left, we were able to talk to the director more directly about Sergey, which is why he sent him away.  I think this is the part where my expectations and reality VASTLY diverged.

We talked out in the main office for a while, and then went into his office and talked even more.  Aloyna translated for us.  I can't remember the order of everything that was said, but I will try to remember everything I can :-).  Sveta and Aloyna told us on our way up the stairs that the director was a good man, and we found out that they were definitely right once we started talking to him.  It was so evident that he really cares about the children and knows them very well.  He started out by asking us a bunch of questions that showed that he truly cared about Sergey's welfare and future.  He wanted to know lots of things about our plans for him - for the future, about his education, job future, etc.  He had some great advice for us on how best to help Sergey, and what kind of a learner he is.  It was so touching how many things he told us, over the whole course of our time with him, about parenting him. He told us how much Sergey wants to please, what a good listener he is and how much he always does his best.  He and the social worker were laughing as they told a story about a field trip they went on when he was little, where they told Sergey "stay here", meaning just for a minute while they were getting things ready.  They were doing other things and then looked back and he was still standing there, all by himself :-).  I can just picture his blond little head just standing there where he was told :-).  It was so obvious as he talked that he had so much fondness for him.  As he kept telling us different things about helping him (don't expect him to be too independent since here he is told everything he needs to do, help him along the way until he really grasps how to do something, make sure to praise and encourage him, etc.), I thought how much he sounded like I do when I am giving someone instructions on how to take care of my own kids :-).  And that warmed my heart :-).

Another few wonderful things - there has been a caretaker at the orphanage who has been there since he first came who loves him so much and calls him "son."  He said that he has always been the kind of kid who is easy to love because he is so sweet and listens so well, but this one particular caretaker really bonded with him in a special way.  She wasn't going to be at the orphanage until after 5 pm today so we couldn't meet her, but we are hoping to do whatever it takes to meet her on our next visit.  We also asked the director if he could find out what she might like as a gift that we could bring for Sergey to give her as a good-bye present, and he promised that he would try to do it in a way such that she wouldn't know why he was asking :-).  I. CAN. NOT. WAIT. to hug that sweet woman.

Another warm and fuzzy - we found out that Sergey used to live with his grandmother before he came to the school, and that even when she was very old and hobbling along on her little cane she would come by every day at the first bell and the last bell.  We don't know all of the details about what happened with his mother, and probably never will. We know some things which we will keep private, but what seems very obvious to me is that God has provided several women in Sergey's life who have loved him and cherished him, and stepped in to fill a void that he had, to allow him to grow up to be the amazing young man that he is.  I am not implying that there will not be hardship and pain from not having his biological mother for most of his life, but I think that he has been shown deep love in a way that many children in his shoes never have, and for that I am truly beyond-words grateful.

And then the final clincher from the director (at which point all of the waterfalls of tears behind my eyes threatened to come pouring out) was this:  Apparently he has adopted one child.  He didn't give specifics about that child, but he said this, that if it weren't for the need to provide for Sergey's further education, career, etc, he himself would have adopted Sergey.  Looking in this man's kind eyes as Aloyna translated that to us was a moment I will never forget.  He said that he could tell just from being with us that we were good people and that we were going to provide a good home for Sergey. He told us right at the beginning that he was so very happy that Sergey was getting adopted, because he was the kind of kid who really should be in a family (I know, I know, OBVIOUSLY every kid should be in a family, and I agree, but I think I understood the sentiment behind what he was saying) - he said that he was a "good family child".  We laughed so hard together as we talked about how Sergey is NOT a big talker. I was so happy to know that my intuition was correct, that even in Russian Sergey does not like to talk very much.  The director said he really wanted us to know that, so that we wouldn't worry if he didn't talk much - that it is just the way he is. He imitated a conversation between Sergey and his girlfriend, "blah-blah-blah-blah ... " and on and on and then "Da," and then again "blah-blah-blah-blah ..." and then "nyet."  It was so funny - I knew exactly what he was saying even before Aloyna translated :-).  And it was kind of him to think of that - it gives us the freedom to allow him to be a man of few words. And in our home that is probably a good kind of man to be, because we already have several talkers (not naming any names).

We tried SO hard to get the director to give us some ideas of some things that we could bring as presents for him, for the orphanage, for the kids, for the caretakers.  He said that our donation that we give at the end of the process would be plenty, that he would use that to get what they need. I kept pushing (of course because I LOOOVE giving gifts!!!!), and finally he gave in and said we could bring laundry detergent :-).  He said with it getting warm the kids will be outside getting dirty more and they could use some detergent.  So he will be getting a LOT of detergent when we come back :-).  Those kids will be smelling good for months :-).  As we left his office, I was just so overwhelmed by thankfulness for the way that God has cared for our boy through this man and all of the other folks in this orphanage.  It was definitely not a place full of wealth, but it seemed to me a place where people were happy and well-cared for - which is a gift to my heart.

Sergey then took Aloyna, Clint and me on a tour around the school, while Svetlana (she is the lawyer and Aloyna is the translator) finished up with the business side of things.  On our way out of the building he showed us two pictures on the bulletin board that had him in them - when he was younger.  They are below :-).  Between 3 and 4 the kids have "rest time" where they are supposed to either sleep or rest, so it was very quiet.  He took us to his dorm and we walked in on about a dozen teen-aged boys in the lobby piled in together watching TV.  They all looked up at us and smiled and called out to Sergey.  He gave them that little sideways smile and showed us his room. There were bunkbeds in his room - a total of 5 beds - that were all perfectly neatly made up with matching quilted navy blue comforters.  I wanted to get better pictures, but I figured he was painfully aware of all of the boys staring in at us, so I just clicked a quick one of him and Clint :-).  I'll take more next time when all the boys aren't right there.  He had his own set of shelves at the foot of his bed (he sleeps on the bottom), and all of his things were neatly set up.  The director told us that Sergey was usually a very neat child who took good care of things, but that sometimes he could be a little messy (we have seen both of these things in our house when he has been with us :-).

We walked back through the lobby and walked down the stairs in front, when we heard someone call out to us and turned around. There was the cutest boy ever running out of the building towards us.  He came up and introduced himself and then said "Nice to meet you" in perfect English :-).  His name was Sasha, and he told us that he had been hosted in Colorado.  We asked him if he was friends with Sergey and he said "Yes!! Good friends!!"  He seriously could not have been any cuter or more earnest - my heart ACHED when I heard that he was already 16 (which means he can no longer be adopted).  However, I found out this evening though our New Horizons Facebook page that he was indeed hosted and offered the chance at a family, but didn't want to leave the siblings he had there.  That lessened my pain, knowing that he had been given that opportunity, but when I think of all the kids there who have not been offered that chance, it is hard to handle.  We saw the boy Igor who had been answering Sergey's phone (not the Igor who just got adopted), and we are going to keep trying to get him hosted.

Sergey and Sasha :-)

Sergey walked us back to our car where Svetlana was waiting for us.  We had brought a bunch of presents and had given him his already (he loved it :-), and had given the director his.  However, we still had 4 bags full of things for the kids and the caretakers.  Sergey said he would take them to the director for us, so that he could hand them out as he wished.  We talked a bit about the fact that we would see him again soon - hopefully just a matter of weeks until we have our official court date.  Aloyna told him that he would need to wear something nice, so he asked us if we would bring him some black pants and some shoes.  He has hardly EVER EVER EVER asked us for anything, so I know that he must be taking this seriously.  Nothing will be more fun that going to buy those shoes and pants :-).

We each hugged him goodbye and got in the car.  He walked away with the four bags in hand, off towards the director's house.  He walked for a while as we got settled in the car, and then turned around one more time to see us.  I had to seriously swallow some sobs, and could have cried for hours, but instead I tried to focus on the fact that we will see him again in just WEEKS!!!!!  And then soon after that, he will be in our house for good - so we don't need to cry!! Right???

Our view as he walked away - he had just turned the corner when we snapped this

After a LONG drive back to Odessa (we had to take a 2 hour detour to pick up another set of papers), we finally got home about 7:30 pm.  We had not eaten since that French Toast, so we went out and celebrated at our favorite restaurant, called The Steakhouse :-).  I had the best salmon I have EVER eaten, and Clint had another steak :-).  To give you some idea of how inexpensive it is - the salmon only cost twice as much as the ice cream you can get for dessert :-).  And Clint might have had one or two of those $1 beers again :-).  We had another adorable waitress who chatted with us quite a bit and let us practice our few words of Russian on her :-).  And now here we are - listening to Zac Brown, Facetiming our kids, and writing up this blog.  God is so good.