Well...here we are in Mykolaiv. We officially petition the court tomorrow to adopt a precious little 3 year-old boy. This little boy, who I'll call "A" was shown to us at our first SDA appt., but we did not choose to visit him. I was drawn to him immediately, but due to a medical condition, we decided to visit the other little boy in Kharhiv. We arrived here on Monday and got to meet him Monday morning. We got to visit a little again on Monday afternoon. We ran around all day Monday getting the proper paperwork processed. This little boy has a 6 year-old brother who is in foster care, so we had to get that verified. He is not available for adoption since he is in foster care.
We doubt that our little one remembers his brother because he has been at the orphanage since he was 5 months old. The brother was never there.
We get to visit "A" each morning 10-11:30 and then again 4:00 - 6:30 each afternoon. We have had fun playing on the swings and slide. Like any little boy, he gets really dirty, but then doesn't like it when his hands are dirty.
This is a nice "family town" - especially the downtown area. We spent Sunday and Monday night in town. It has a "walking street" where the street is closed to motor traffic. There are many shops and restaurants on the street.
Speaking of restaurants - so far, we have had authentic Ukrainian food such as borscht, potato pancakes and a spread made of baconfat and garlic, spread on bread. We have had "Dixie" barbeque ribs and crackle jack. We have had pizza twice. We really miss fresh vegetables and eat salads every time we get a chance. But, there is little lettuce to be had. Salads consist of onions, bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. There may be a little bit of lettuce.
The orphanage that our little one is at is so much better than the one we visited is Kharkiv. We found out after we got here that the first one was an orphanage of special needs children. At the current orphanage, it is bright with murals and they have music lessons and they go outside twice a day. There are some precious little children here and we are getting to know "A's" group and there is one little girl in there who loves Tim. She had to give him a hug and kiss bye today and she was holding our hands begging us not to leave. It just broke my heart. The caregivers here are wonderful and you can tell that they love the children.
We are renting an apartment from one of the ladies who works at the orphanage. We think she actually moved out to rent to us. We are about a 10 minute walk to the orphanage and about a 2o minute walk to a good market.
Keep us in your prayers. Keep the people of Ukraine in your prayers. The way they have to live is so different from the USA. Most have to walk or use public transportation. The cities are not that bad, but when we went to Kharkiv, we saw people walking for miles in the snow just to get to the main road to catch the bus.
We will post photos of the apartment and such later. Haven't really taken any. I want to show the real way people have to live.
If you are looking for a charity to support, we suggest that you support a Ukrainian Christian Ministry or an orphanage.
We know that each and every step we have taken here has been God's way of telling us that we should support and participate in the ministries here. The people here have been wonderful, nice and helpful.
Keep praying,
Love,
R & T
10 comments:
Praise GOd you have found your little boy. We have been following your journey and going through the ups and downs with you. We were in Kharkov for 6 weeks back in September. Beautiful city but yes, the people have it really hard. Do you mind me asking if it was #3? If you can't say it's fine. SOOO glad you guys are able to move forward in your journey.
Yea!!!!!! Thank the Lord for all he has done! I have been praying for you guys. Such wonderful news.
Life in Ukraine is amazingly different and wonderful. My thoughts go to you and the people of Ukraine.
Congrats again. Now, start snappin' those pics of that precious little one! There's nothin' wrong with a little "glimps" of what's to come.
I have been following your blog for a while now but never commented until now.
Glad to hear that you guys have found a sweet little boy, but maybe you should consider getting 2 while you are there. Sounds like the little girl has already picked out her a Daddy. Just something to make you guys think. Just what you needed! LOL!!!
Have a good time and cannot wait to hear more about the little one(s). LOL!!
Sheila
So glad you're in a good place and that you've found your son! Blessings as you continue through the process!
so happy to hear things are going well and you are going ahead with the paperwork to adopt.
Congrats!!
Can't wait to see a picture of the little guy! Thankful that your second referral was successful.
To answer questions:
Not sure what orphanage it was in Kharkov.
The first thing I said last night as we left the group was: Can we get her too? We doubt that she is available. We have seen several mothers visiting their children, so maybe she does have some family contact. With A's health problem, we do not want to take on more than we can handle.
I have lots of photos, just not ready to publish yet. Maybe a little glimpse soon.
Thanks for all the support. We are really excited for all that God has done in our lives.
Thanks for keeping in touch! So excited for you! He will have four little buddies after meeting our boys!
Stefanie
God answers prayers. I am so happy for all three of you!
Blessings.
Curious if you would be willing to say what A's health issues are? He looks very healthy!
We are going to UA for a known girl, and are considering her best friend too, who has HIV, not sure if we can take that on, but we;re working on it :)
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