All Are Precious In His Sight

Day 13—Hallelujah!

2012-01-28T13:52:00.001-06:00

Conner’s bed sores have been HEALED!!! Today is Day 13 of our stay in Kremenchuk, and in less than two weeks, sweet Conner has gone from this:

Conner on Day 4

To this:

Conner on Day 13

“For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord”, Jeremiah 30:17a

We’re praising God for His healing of Conner’s bed sores. Please join us in thanking our Jehovah Rapha!

Day 12 Adventures

2012-01-27T14:42:00.002-06:00

The sweet caregiver was gone when we got to the orphanage this morning. Our facilitator explained that the caregivers work 24 hour shifts. Needless to say, the caregiver today wasn’t so kind.

Conner vomited again shortly after our entry into the playroom. Even with video time, calm play, etc., when he’s rapidly force-fed prior to our arrival, it comes back up shortly thereafter.

We had a quiet morning with the boys, but it didn’t stop us from having lots of good bonding time. Holding, singing, rocking, and simply loving. Matt and I treasure these times greatly.

Here’s video from our morning visit:

I video’d Cooper’s transition from the playroom back to his groupa room. He was very tame in this video, the quietest walk we’ve had thus far. Here’s the video:

Then, when we entered the boys’ room, the “caregiver” asked if I wanted to feed Cooper. I reluctantly agreed, for fear that I’d be expected to force-feed him with the swiftness that the “caregivers'” do. Well, my attempt was an epic fail. The caregiver handed me a PIPING hot bowl of soup, which she had mashed just prior to handing it to me. I stuck my finger in the soup to test the temperature, and it was so hot it burned my finger. So, I tried to let it cool. The caregiver hollered at me, and I tried to explain it was too hot. She picked the bowl up off the table, put it in my hands, placed my hands and the bowl under Cooper’s chin, then took the ginormous serving spoon and placed it in my hand. I put a small amount of soup on the spoon, then blew on it, trying to cool it before letting it touch Cooper’s mouth, but in the process, Cooper grabbed the bowl and spilled some of it in his lap, burning him. I hopped up to try to get something to clean him up as he cried, but the caregiver planted herself in my chair and force-fed Cooper the very same bowl of steaming soup. Cooper ate it. Poor dear, he doesn’t even seem to mind. He’s been conditioned to this type of feeding, burning hot or not. Matt video’d it:

We kissed the boys goodbye and hurried out the door, our hearts once again burdened for the condition these children live in, day in, day out, while we have the freedom to walk out of that prison and eat what we want to eat, how we want to eat, when we want to eat.

We had made a lunch date with the American missionaries we were connected with in Kremenchuk. We ate at a lovely restaurant overlooking the beautiful frozen river. And we were able to eat what we wanted, when we wanted, as slowly as we wanted, surrounded by sunshine and joy. It just seemed ~~a little~~ a lot unfair, but we have the hope that one day soon, our boys will also have this freedom.

While at lunch, our facilitator called to notify us that the paperwork was NOT ready at the SDA, but she spoke with our judge here in Kremenchuk, and he agreed to hear our case Monday at 2PM, as long as the paperwork is ready Monday at the SDA. Our facilitator’s husband will travel from Kiev to Kremenchuk Monday morning, and our facilitator will go to the SDA Monday mid-day to check on our paperwork. (The SDA usually gives these papers out around 1PM on M/W/F.) If our facilitator is able to get the papers Monday, she will fax the papers to the judge in Kremenchuk. (It’s about a 4 hour drive from Kiev to Kremenchuk.) Our facilitator said it is very rare that a judge will agree to this, so we feel blessed that our judge is allowing this. Now, just pray that the paperwork really is ready on Monday or we won’t be able to have court!!!

After lunch, we went back to our new friends’ apartment, where they made fresh juice using their new juicer. We enjoyed visiting with them until it was time to head back to the orphanage for our afternoon orphanage visit.

We experienced a delightful surprise when walking the boys to the playroom. For the first time in our 12 days here, we saw a sweet caregiver of a different groupa who was utilizing the hall space by allowing her kids to ride bikes and scooters up and down it. Hallelujah! Here’s the video:

We had an uneventful evening visit, which seemed to go by in a flash. We played, sang, and captured some videos of the boys, then it was time to return them to their room. We’ll never get over seeing kids in their cribs, crying out for someone to help them, only to see the “caregiver” roll her eyes and walk away, throwing her arms up in despair. Oh how I wish these children would ALL have a family, or, at the very least, kind and loving caregivers who would meet their needs. If you ever have the opportunity to go on a mission trip to an Eastern European orphanage, particularly one that houses special needs kids, I highly encourage you to do so. It will change your life. And your heart.

PS. Happy 14th birthday, Mattie. We are so proud of you. Always have been, always will be. We love you!

Day 11, A Lesson in Trust

2012-01-26T12:10:00.001-06:00

Matt purchased some Muesli cereal mix at the grocery store, along with some milk, to try for breakfast. The container of milk has a cat on it. Leche de gato? Me, I’m sticking with Snickers.

We started the morning with 20 minutes of video time, with hopes that Conner wouldn’t vomit. He didn’t. Woohoo! Today was the first day that the really nice caregiver has been back since our very first visit, so she’s been gone for 10 days. I’m not sure why, but I was SOOOOOOOO happy to see her back today. She loves the children and does what is best for them, and I’m so grateful that God has placed this special caregivers in our boys’ lives. She even had one of the blind boys out of his crib, allowing him to walk around the room and play with toys on the floor. Kudos to this God-sent woman. We are so very grateful for her.

Today was the first day that both Conner and Cooper haven’t had a lot of gas, belches, burps, etc. I wonder if it’s associated with the sweet caregiver? Perhaps she feeds them more slowly than the other caregivers do? I’m not sure, but there was a definite difference, and now that I am thinking back, the very first day we met the boys, they didn’t have a lot of gas or reflux. In fact, I recall another American mom asking us on our second visit if we’d noticed a lot of reflux with our boys, and at that point we hadn’t, but perhaps that’s simply because the sweet caregiver feeds them slower. Hmmm, interesting to consider.

Cooper has really gotten to be a handful. He can be so very sweet and loving and kind and gentle, and he can have loads of fun with tons of giggles and laughter and joy. But when he decides to hit, Cooper SMACKS us HARD, without warning for the most part. It’s usually sporadic and unpredictable, but many times it’s while we’re playing with him. Other times he’ll crawl up behind me when I’m playing with Conner and whack me. (That I could understand if he’s jealous and doesn’t know how to express it.)

We’ve been diligently working with Cooper on trying to teach him not to hit, and there are many times he does very well. Then there are times that he just blindsides us and starts to laugh just before he knocks us upside the head. He never hits Conner. Just the two of us. I’m trying to figure it out. Any thoughts on this?

Conner is a sweetie, always. He never hits. He’s a snuggler. And he LOVES to laugh. He loves to horseplay and roughhouse, and he even giggles when he watches us play with Cooper. It’s such a delight to see him blossom before our very eyes.

This video (directly below) documents how much trust Conner has developed over the past 11 days. It’s quite miraculous. I laid him, face up, across a bouncy ball (hippety-hop), and he got so relaxed he almost fell asleep. The first time I ever tried to set him on a ball, he FREAKED out, terrified. Now he LOVES to lay on the ball on his tummy and be rolled back and forth, cracking up the whole time. This was his first time to be in this position on the ball. I didn’t think he’d like it. I really thought he’d be scared. I was shocked to see how much he trusted me and how relaxed his body got as I moved him in various ways on the ball. I was thinking it would be a good physical therapy position to stretch his spine (since he never gets to move about freely), but never did I think he would act as if I’d just given him a one hour massage! Wow!

Conner’s level of trust got me to thinking about really, I mean really, trusting our Father. If Conner can trust me so fully in only 11 days of relationship, how much more should we trust our heavenly Father? The One who cares about us so much that He knows the number of hairs on our heads. The One who promises to meet our needs more than those of the sparrow, whose needs are met daily. The One who has never forsaken us. The One who has never broken a promise. Why is it that we sometimes lack trust in our Father? I pray this video of Conner will remind me to ALWAYS trust my Father, even when the view seems upside down and out of focus, full of bumps and twists and turns. He always knows best, and in His hands, I am always safe, loved beyond measure, chosen and treasured, forever and always, no matter what. Thank you, Conner, for choosing to trust, and thank you, Jesus, for being the One to teach us that it’s safe to trust when we put our trust in You, for you are faithful and will never let us down.

OK, back to our visits, which seem so short now. The boys expect us. They reach for us. Conner has begun expressing his excitement vocally upon our arrival to his room each day. Cooper automatically crawls to Matt and puts his hands in the air to be picked up. Conner is usually in the playpen, and he stands up and reaches for me the minute Sasha announces our arrival. (BTW, Sasha appeared to be ill today. He was crying, first time I’ve seen him cry or be upset in any way. I still went over to him and held his little hand, which made him smile. He seemed to be feeling better for the evening visit.) We play in the playroom, basically doing the same types of things day in and day out, still rejoicing that the boys get to have freedom and love twice a day, but longing for the day we’ll be able to have them in our home where they can experience freedom and love forever.

Matt must carry Cooper on his shoulders when travel between the boys’ room and the playroom. When he tries to carry him in any other way, Cooper slaps Matt and makes all kinds of horrible noises that make it look like we’re hurting him.

This is the boys’ room. There are toys on the floor when the sweet caregiver is present. (Never are there toys with any of the other caregivers.) That’s Sasha sitting at the little table. He’s looking back over his shoulder at us, smiling. Love that boy!

Click HERE to watch the videos from today, or I’ve posted them below, whichever works for you.

Day 10, Not the News We Were Praying For

2012-01-25T12:29:00.001-06:00

Super sad face. Our facilitator notified us today that the person within the SDA who must prepare our paperwork for the head minister of social policy to sign has been ill and was not able to prepare our paperwork; therefore, it has not been signed. Which means we cannot have court until next week.

We were praying that we’d be able to have court this week so that we could be home this weekend. We’re missing our Texas kiddos tremendously. Mattie’s 14th birthday is Friday, and we were really hoping to make it back to Texas Saturday, but that’s not possible now.

We must still pray that the paperwork is ready by Friday so that we can have court Monday. The SDA has designated M/W/F as days for this type of paperwork, so the next available date for our facilitator to check on our paperwork is Friday. If it’s ready Friday, court will be Monday. If it’s not ready Friday, then we’ll have to wait until Monday to find out if it’s ready then.

It’s really hard to sit in Ukraine and wait on people to simply sign paperwork, but I trust God’s sovereignty in the timing of everything. Yes, He is sovereign even over paperwork in Ukraine. While we had really gotten our hopes up that we’d be home this weekend to love on our kiddos, we’ve chosen to boss our hearts through this disappointment and realize there could be much worse things happening. This is just a delay, a delay God is sovereign over, even when we can’t wrap our piddly brains around it. He’s carried us through much tougher things in this life, He’ll get us over this hump as well.

Our morning visit with the boys began with Conner vomiting all over Matt. Poor little Conner. Precious boy has some severe digestive issues with his being so rapidly force fed. I almost threw up five different times after Conner vomited. It was a MESS. This occurred within minutes of getting to the playroom. There was no horseplay or roughhousing going on. Matt had just sat down with Conner, and he was holding him face to face, gently cuddling. Next thing he knew, Matt was COVERED in vomit. I smelled it, then saw it, then started gagging and couldn’t stop. Praise God I didn’t vomit. Those who know me already know that I “don’t do” vomit. Seriously. That’s one of the only things I just seriously cannot handle. The sound, sight, and smell…oh, it makes me gag just typing about it.

Anyway, Matt had to wear his vomit-covered shirt for the entire morning. I was seriously thanking God for letting it be Matt and not me because we would have had to cut the visit short if I’d have had that on me. I couldn’t have done it. I barely made it through with it being all over Matt.

Needless to say, we had a very quiet, low-key, non-active, no-horseplay morning with Conner.

Cooper, on the other hand, was a live wire today! He’s really coming out of his shell, and he’s no longer drugged, praise God. He’s started teasing us and trying to “get” us. (I’m posting videos at the bottom of this update.) Cooper is STRONG, too, and he’s really smart. He figured out how to position his body to get the most strength and maneuvering when trying to yank me off the incline mat. Such a cutie!

After our morning visit, we went straight back to our apartment so Matt could shower and ~~wash~~ sanitize his vomit-covered shirt. We ate lunch at the pizza restaurant, then decided to take a nap. Sounds like the dream life, doesn’t it?!?! Not so much when you’ve eaten at the pizza place countless times and long to be home with your lovies more than napping.

After our nap, we heard the disappointing news regarding our paperwork and court, then we headed back to the orphanage for the evening visit. Cooper enjoyed various iPad apps (it was our first time to bring the iPad), and he absolutely LOVES watching kiddie videos on it. Conner really doesn’t care about videos or games. He just wants to play, which is great. After about 20 minutes of iPad time, we turned it off and fully engaged with both boys. Lots of fun, and no vomit, hooray!

Cooper, Conner, and Mommy playing together.

Cooper and Conner hanging out.

Day 9 Update

2012-01-24T13:04:00.000-06:00

Above are a couple of videos from today. Click HERE to view all of the videos from today.

There’s been lots of beautiful snow here in Kremenchuk over the last few days. Big, soft flakes without it being too unbearably cold. Well, looks like the beautiful weather is going to get a bit nippy within a few days (see forecast photo above). That’s a Fahrenheit forecast, too. Yikes!

We had two good visits with the boys today. They're progressing so much in such a short amount of time, it's absolutley amazing. Only Jesus. Oh, and we’ve added baby powder to our arsenal of odor maskers, along with a can of ladies’ spray perfume that is kept in the playroom at the orphanage, so the two of those, along with brushing teeth at the beginning of each visit, is really helping us to not gag when we play with the boys due to their orphanage stench.

We know it is NOT their fault that they smell so atrociously. We do not want their scent to make them feel like we don’t love them, so we persevere through it, and when we gag, we pray we don’t vomit. But today was different, with the help of the perfume and powder. MUCH better. SOOOOOO much better, to the point where I didn't have to change my clothes when I got back to our apartment. We’ve discovered it’s very common for special needs children in Ukraine to smell badly. It’s also very common for them to have a ton of gas. Burps, belches, reflux, vomit, and, yes, it all comes out the other end, too.

Speaking of, Conner pooped during our morning visit, and the smell was too much for Matt and I. We returned him to his groupa to have the ladies change him. He must have parasites, as it reminds me of how Kiefer’s stools stunk so badly (and he had Giardia). Since we didn’t have plastic gloves, we felt we shouldn’t touch Conner’s poop, seeing as how I just got rid of E Coli and have no more antibiotics. Anyway, the caregivers were kind and changed his diaper after Matt returned Conner with poop, but in the communication breakdown, Matt thought they told him to leave. He thought they were bringing Conner back to us. After about 15 minutes of no Conner, a caregiver came into the playroom and asked us a question in Russian, which, of course, we couldn't understand. So, I followed her back to the boys' room, where Conner was sitting in the big play crib. :-( They saw me, then told me they wanted to wipe his face. They took him into a back room for a while. He came out in new clothing and smelled delightful, so I grabbed him and headed back to the playroom to finish our morning play time.

Oh, I’ve added disposable gloves to my packing list for trip 2 (the trip where we’ll get to take the boys home).

It probably sounds really sad that I’m talking so plainly about the smell of the boys, but those who have adopted special needs children from Eastern European countries completely understand what I’m talking about. I’m not saying it to be mean, we absolutely know it’s not the boys’ fault, and we know they don’t want to smell that way. It’s just a fact, and I’m journaling our time spent with the boys, so I’d like to document that today we finally found a trick that is helping us cope with a smell we’re simply not used to, nor do we want to get used to. It’s a smell no one should ever have to smell, and we cannot WAIT to get these boys home where we can begin daily hygiene in all areas, from body to oral to laundry.

I’m just delighted that today’s visits excluded our gagging! I am constantly reminded at how putrid I must smell to our Father, with all of the sin in my life. I am grateful beyond measure that my Father has never turned His nose up at me. Ever. Thank you, Jesus.

We discovered today that Cooper LOVES to watch the Baby Einstein videos I have on my iPhone. I had downloaded those for Selah such a long time ago, then discovered them again today. Cooper will sit for as long as we’ll allow, staring at the screen. Conner could care less.

This made us think that Cooper might need glasses, which is common for people with Down syndrome. Cooper prefers to have his eyes about 5 inches from the screen. Of course that might just be because he’s never seen videos, but we’ll be getting both boys’ vision checked shortly after we get home.

Speaking of “iAnything” apps, if any of you reading this have young children with Down syndrome, what are your child’s favorite iPad apps? I’m starting to think about preparation for getting our boys home. I think it’s going to be quite a challenge to travel for 20+ hours with these two boys, so I’d LOVE to hear some pointers. Cooper is VERY vocal when transitioning. It sounds like we’re hurting him when we travel through the hallway at the orphanage. They say he’s non-verbal, but he is VERY vocal. Since he LOVED the Baby Einstein videos, I thought maybe he’d enjoy things on the iPad. Not sure though that I could get him to not turn the iPad off if it required him to touch the screen to interact with early learning apps, etc. Just not sure what he can handle yet, but I’d love to hear recommendations.

I've also been thinking about sleeping arrangements for trip 2. Our facilitator told us that in Kremenchuk, the 10-day waiting period is never waived, so, as of now, we are planning to return to Texas after court and be with our children during the mandatory 10-day waiting period following court in Kremenchuk. Then, Matt and I will return to Kremenchuk to finish the adoption process. That will most likely take about 10-12 days, and the boys will be with us for probably most of that time. Both boys are used to sleeping in cribs, and our apartment is a one bedroom with a full-sized bed. I was thinking about trying to get lightweight “pop-up” portable beds for the boys so that we don’t end up with miserable, sleepless nights. I saw THESE on Amazon, but wondered if anyone has ever used these or if anyone has any recommendations of a lightweight, easy to pack travel bed/crib.

I’m also thinking we’ll want to take a double umbrella stroller for airport use mainly. I doubt Matt and I will be able to carry the boys (even in a Moby carrier), along with all of our luggage. Any recommendations on inexpensive double umbrella strollers?

Also, for those who have adopted special needs kiddos internationally, if your kids were on a “mush” diet, what did you feed them while you were still in country and what about while traveling the 20+ hours back home? I’m considering trying to take those baby food pouches with us, thinking those would be perfect for the boys, but maybe it’s not worth it. Maybe I should just find food locally while in country to try to keep their diet the same?!?!

I’m going to have a lot to gather and prepare for once I’m home, but I’ll also have 9 kiddos to love on and be available for during my 10 days in Texas, so the more I can prepare for in advance, the better.

Any other tips, advice, recommendations from you veterans? I’d LOVE to hear them!!!

Oh, an update regarding court: We’re waiting on the head minister of social policy to sign our paperwork. After he signs, the SDA will be able to give our paperwork back to our facilitator, and then we can have court. The SDA only returns this type of paperwork on M/W/F. So, we’ll find out tomorrow (Wednesday) if our paperwork is ready. If it is, we can have court either Thursday or Friday of this week here in Kremenchuk. If the paperwork isn’t ready tomorrow, we’ll have to see if it arrives Friday, which would make court the following week.

Please join us in praying the paperwork will be ready Wednesday. We’re eager to get home to our lovies who’ve been without Mommy and Daddy for 16 days. Too long!

Day 8, A Call to Action

2012-01-23T11:41:00.001-06:00

Today I’m going to focus on something other than our visits to see the boys. Although, I do have to mention that Conner took his first steps, independently, today!!! We captured some of his steps on video, along with our usual daily videos, which you can view HERE.

Today I’m going to focus on how YOU can do something about the orphan crisis. How YOU can make a difference. How YOU can help bring a smile to a lonely, forgotten, neglected orphan.

Lots of people will say that we should just give up because we can’t save the world. That would be the easy way out. We CAN change the world, one life at a time. It’s not easy, but every single one of us can play a role in helping orphans, some way, some how.

Adopt. Help another family adopt. Sponsor an orphan. Sponsor an orphanage. Pray for orphans to find forever families and to be lovingly cared for and provided for until then. Start an orphan ministry at your church. Educate others about the orphan crisis. Become a foster parent. Volunteer with children in your community who are at shelters or have aged out of the foster system. Contact a Christian foster care agency and ask how you can help if you aren’t able to become a foster parent. Go on a mission trip to visit orphans and serve at an orphanage. Advocate for orphans. Support orphan care. Volunteer to help a family who has adopted. Spread the word. Ask God to open your eyes, to break your heart for what breaks His, to show you the role He wants you to take in living out James 1:27.

There are so many organizations out there that help orphans. Pray about which one you’d like to get involved with. Research. Ask for references. Check references. Make sure the agencies are accountable and have high integrity. Find the place where God wants to use you and dive in.

If you feel called to adopt, ask God to lead you to the agency and/or child He wants you to adopt. He will show you. He will lead you. He WILL provide. There are so many excuses for not adopting, but most of those are just that: excuses. Stop making excuses and start taking action. Little lives, precious treasures, are waiting for you.

In Texas, it is free to adopt via the Texas foster care system. They also provide free in-state college tuition, as well as Medicaid for all children adopted through the foster system. And, if the child has special needs or fits into a special category defined by the Texas foster care system, the state will pay you a monthly stipend, even after you’ve adopted from state care, as long as you negotiate this prior to the adoption finalization. (We’ve never adopted via the foster system, simply because God hasn’t arranged this for our family, but there are many successful adoptions from state foster systems.)

Foster parenting is an amazing way to live out James 1:27. Children in foster care desperately need loving, stable, Christian families to love on them, guide them, and train them up in their foster journey to a forever family. It takes a very special person to foster parent. Could this be you?

Many of you have asked about Sasha. From what I can find, he is not yet available for international adoption. I am going to make it a mission of mine to find him a forever family, but first, he must be available for international adoption. That’s something that must happen here in Ukraine, and it usually involves someone persevering through the paperwork. I’m praying for God to provide that someone who is willing and able to get Sasha listed for international adoption. Once he’s available, I will share more info about him. He has the longest eyelashes and the most bubbly personality of any child in our boys’ groupa. He’s a gem, that’s for sure.

On our blog, we have a link that lists a variety of ways you can help orphans. It’s under the tab “Adoption Resources”. Click HERE to access it. There are FAR more ways to help, this is just a collection of resources I can personally vouch for. I’m going to copy and paste that page here, so you don’t even have to click to view the contents of our resource page. I’m making it as easy as I can to help you find a place/way to plug in.

Don’t give up on saving the world. Just start one child at a time. Your investment of prayer, time, and resources will make a difference. I promise.

Here’s my cut/paste version of our adoption resources page, followed by some photos of today’s visit to the boys.

Adoption Resources

Here are a few of my favorite resources for adoption.

(Click on each title to visit the website for each resource.)

Please add your favorite resources in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Helpful Literature Before You Adopt:

(or once you're in it and need some help!)

The Connected Child (book by Dr. Karyn Purvis), a MUST-READ for ANY family wanting to adopt or for those who have already adopted and want/need some help! This is THE BEST adoption book out there!!!
Empowered to Connect (Dr. Karyn Purvis, Michael and Amy Monroe join forces to give parents a TON of resources and helpful info about adoption/fostering, attachment, what to expect, how to handle things, etc.). Extremely helpful info and support for adoptive families!
Institute of Child Development at TCU (Dr. Karyn Purvis), Lots of info for helping kids from hard places/adopted kiddos.

Click HERE to learn the rules and requirements to adopt from ANY country. This is an AWESOME site, sponsored by the US government, so the information found here is accurate.

Sites that Might Lead You to Your Kiddo(s):

Eli Project
Reece's Rainbow Home Page (Non-Profit Special Needs and Down Syndrome Adoption Advocacy)
Rainbow Kids (you can sign up to receive email updates, newsletters, and you can even specify which ages/types of kiddos you're willing to adopt and receive emails about kids who fit into your criteria)
CHASK (special needs adoption of babies in the US, plus disrupted adoption re-homing)
Hope for Orphans (Love the founders of HFO, lots of great info, particularly helpful for those wanting to start an adoption ministry in their church)
Together for Adoption (T4A) (lots of helpful all-around adoption info)
Domestic Adoption Info (info from a bloggy friend)

Adoption Gear/Fundraising:

147 Million Orphans (fun adoption gear; each purchase feeds a child)
Adoption Bug (lots of great fundraising t-shirts and gear!)

Adoption Grants/Funding:

Lifesong for Orphans (adoption grants and other helps)
Show Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman and family: adoption grants and other info)

Agencies/Foundations:

Lutheran Social Services (domestic and international adoption agency that we used and were pleased with)
Bethany Christian Services (domestic and international adoption agency that we used and were pleased with)
Family Link (Central Texas Christian foster care)
The Zoe Foundation (helping save babies from abortion and other domestic adoption opportunities)
Charis Orphan Care and Adoption Ministry (Central Texas mission to save babies from abortion and other adoption mission info)
Mother Goose Adoptions (domestic adoption agency working in all 50 states)

Help for Families Parenting Seriously RAD

(and other diagnoses) Kiddos:

Families by Design, Nancy Thomas with Attachment Parenting. Tons of helpful info for MAJORLY challenging kids (RAD, ODD, Bipolar, Tourette's, ADHD, etc.). Life-saving help and encouragement for those who are seriously considering disrupting an adoption!
Empowered to Connect (stay connected, don't lose heart, there's a community of support here for you!)
Institute of Child Development at TCU (Dr. Karyn Purvis), Lots of info for help with "challenging" kids
The Connected Child (book by Dr. Karyn Purvis), This is THE BEST adoption book out there and it will help you understand your child's actions. It's not the child; it's their history that they had no control over. They didn't choose to be abused, neglected, abandoned. Help them heal.

Other Ways to Help Orphans (without adopting):

Just click HERE to read a list compiled by another blogger
Back the Blocks, support a big adoptive family serving in Guatemala:

www.BigFamilyMinistry.org

And now, I’ll share a few photos from Day 8 in Kremenchuk:

BTW, Ukrainian hot chocolate is melted chocolate with an almond or two in it. Didn’t know that.

Day 7, Sweet Redemption

2012-01-22T12:26:00.002-06:00

Hallelujah, today we saw Cooper and Conner after not being able to visit them for two days due to our illnesses. Both boys remembered us and were excited to see us!

We were ~~a little~~ a lot disheartened upon our entry into the boys’ room. The weekend caregivers were not expecting us. We actually thought for a moment that they must have taken the entire groupa to another room, for it was dark and still and oh so quiet. Sasha wasn’t sitting at the table either, where he’s been each and every time we’ve visited. I wondered how we would find the groupa if they had taken a little field trip within the building.

I stepped into the room to find both caregivers sitting quietly in the corner, engulfed in the newspaper, holding it up so that they had no idea we were there. All of the children were in their cribs, silent. It was 10AM. My heart broke for the children.

When we said hello to the caregivers, Conner and Cooper perked up and both of them started making all kinds of excited noises. Prior to this visit, Conner hasn’t ever made any vocal noises in his orphanage room, only in the playroom. Even Conner was chirping and begging us to come rescue him.

Both Conner and Cooper were in the play crib, along with Sasha, but they weren’t playing, they were lying down, completely silent, in the dark, being ignored and surely told to make not one noise. Silent.

The caregivers must have thought we *might* come for the boys because I don’t think they would have put them in the play crib if not. The play crib is a square “crib” that has a hard wood “floor” to it. It’s basically to contain the kids in a small area, and keep them off the real floor. It’s not a comfortable place to lay. In fact, Sasha tried to sit up when we reached for our boys, and he had a large red wound to his head where he’d been lying on the flat, hard surface for so long. The red mark resembled a fresh burn or severe slap, about 5 inches long by 3 inches wide, on the side of his head, directly where he’d been lying on it. My stomach hurt seeing him. Oh how I wanted to take him with us. I reached to softly caress his face, and his eyes rapidly shuttered, fearful that my hand might be a slap instead of a caress. Shattered heart of mine, walk away, there’s nothing I can do.

The caregivers did not change our boys’ clothes, nor did they put them into “play” clothes (another sleeper on top of their other layers). They simply stuck jackets on the boys as we held them. (They don’t need jackets, we play indoors, but that’s the way things are done here.)

As I turned to exit the room, I got a whiff of vomit. I almost vomited. After being extremely sick (with E Coli) for 2 full days, it was only by the power of God that I did not barf all over that floor. The stench was horrendous. I quickly exited, clutching Conner closely to my side, desperate to escape.

We walked rapidly to the playroom, with both boys making all kinds of noises, shouts of joy, cries of freedom. Oh how it broke my heart that they missed this opportunity to escape for two full days.

I set Conner down in the playroom so I could take my boots off (a requirement to enter). When I went to pick him up, the same stench of vomit entered my nostrils. I gagged, but again, by the grace of God, didn’t vomit.

I noticed that Conner’s pajama sleeper (which he’d never been changed out of) was covered in vomit. Both boys have severe reflux, most likely due to being force fed mush so rapidly at each meal, so most likely that’s what was all over Conner’s pajamas. Reflux is worse when left lying flat, and it seems that’s all Conner’s done since we haven’t visited in two days, so there’s no telling how long he’s sat in vomit-saturated pajamas. The smell is atrocious.

Matt decides to remove the vomit pajamas, leaving Conner in his underlayers. Today, under his pajama sleeper, he only has on one pair of pajama pants and one shirt. The underlayers are also wet, but they don’t reek the way the pajama sleeper does.

Both boys’ breath is also atrocious. Really, their whole bodies reek, from head to toe. After being sick ourselves, the stench is nauseating. I pray for God to help us both get through this visit.

Then I’m reminded that I, too, am an atrocious, stinky, vomit-covered sinner who also must make my Father want to hold His nose and run the other way. Yet, He doesn’t. He stays close, no matter how rotten I smell, no matter how disgusting my breath is.

Jesus, give me the strength to do the same for these boys on my first day out. I am weak, but He is strong. Father, I need Your strength.

Then, sweet redemption. We praise our Father for blessing us with an hour of good play, great strides, and the scent of His sweet redemption.

Click HERE to view the videos from our morning session.

We went from gagging to laughter and love. Praise God for sweet redemption. Our boys don’t mean to smell badly. They don’t mean to have horrible breath. They don’t mean to be covered in vomit. Nor do they deserve to live a life like this. They are meant to blossom, to have warm baths with running water, to have oral hygiene, to have clean clothes, to have fresh diapers. They are meant to be chosen. They are meant to be loved. Thank you, Jesus, for showing us the need, and for choosing us, lowly sinners, to meet the need. We are blessed to have the privilege to love these boys, to choose them, to adopt them as our own, just as He has done for us, regardless of our stench. Oh how we praise Him!

Cooper crawled across the floor and positioned himself between Conner and me.

After our glorious morning visit with the boys, radiant with His redemption (watch the videos…the boys had regressed since we didn’t come for two days, but by the end of the morning visit, things were back to “normal”), we had to return the boys to their room for lunch. Sasha was still lying in the hard play crib, in the same position, and, yes, he still had the mark on his head. We had to say goodbye to our boys and Sasha, then head out to meet our driver.

We were exhausted. This was our first trip out after being ill, and our strength and energy was sapped. Completely gone. We stopped by McDonald’s for some “safe” food (believing it won’t make us sick), then headed back to the apartment where we took a 2 hour nap!

It was time for our afternoon visit before we knew it, so we headed back out to visit the boys. We were pleasantly surprised to find that both boys had been changed into different clothes, and it appeared that Cooper had been given a sponge bath. Praise God, the smell of sweet redemption. Oh, there’s nothing like it. Thank you, Jesus!

After a morning filled with vomit vapors that Jesus graciously masked for us, He blessed us with an evening visit of clean boys who no longer smelled atrocious, even their breath smelled better. Sweet redemption.

Both boys were outgoing and active during the evening visit. We took both boys into the ball pit to play, and Cooper was much more active and outgoing than he’s ever been. He was not drugged, his eyes were not closing, he was not groggy. Redemption! Sweet redemption!

Cooper crawled across the ball pit many times to switch laps between Matt and I. Whoever wasn’t holding/playing with Cooper would have Conner. Then Cooper would decide to make his way across the pit to toss Conner aside and crawl into the other person’s lap for some lovin’. It became apparent (after many times of doing this) that Conner was being bullied by Cooper. One time, Cooper took Conner by his head and face and yanked him out of my lap, with no warning. We realized then that we need to be vigilant about protecting Conner and teaching Cooper soft touches. We’ll have a lot of character training to focus on for a while. But, it was good to see Cooper becoming alive, active, alert. Sweet redemption.

We took video of both Conner and Cooper at the night visit, but somehow Conner’s video must have gotten deleted from my iPhone. Anyone ever had that happen? It’s not showing up under my photos where it would normally be. It was a sweet video, showing Conner ~~giggling~~ cracking up with Matt, followed by his vomiting on Matt’s arm. Maybe it was meant to be deleted. The vomit was caused by all of the roughhousing that Conner loves so much.

I know this photo is blurry, but I had to use it because it’s the only still-shot I got of Conner (because Cooper kept attacking the iPhone!). And, because the video of Conner got deleted, I wanted to include this photo of him.

The evening visit was up in a flash, and when we returned the boys to their room, an additional caregiver was present. She was very kind. Sasha was sitting at the table, so happy. Every single child was in the play crib. Every.Single.One. Not one child in a crib. The lights were on, the atmosphere was happy. Sasha was laughing and giggling and chattering up a storm. Sweet redemption.

Thank you, Jesus.

Day 6 Update

2012-01-21T12:18:00.001-06:00

We still didn't get to visit the boys today (Saturday). :-(

Matt and I are both still not feeling well, but we are improving. We hope to be well enough to visit the boys tomorrow (Sunday).

We wonder if they'll remember us. We only visited them 4 days before we got sick, so it'll be interesting to see their reactions upon our next visit.

We have a major praise to share: Selah slept through the night last night!!! Hallelujah!!!

Thank you all for praying, and please keep the prayers coming for all of us to be fully healed and be reunited as a family SOON!

Day 5 Update

2012-01-20T14:17:00.001-06:00

We didn't get to visit the boys today. :-(

Matt and I were both sick, sick, sick. We're both on Z-packs, and by the end of Friday night here, we are finally improving. Praise Jehovah Rapha for healing.

Mattie was up with Selah most of the night last night. Selah was inconsolable and had 101 fever. She saw our pediatrician Thursday, and he couldn't find anything wrong with Selah besides a red throat. He did a throat culture and it was negative, so he suspected she just has a virus.

After Selah's sleepless and inconsolable night (the inconsolable is out of the ordinary), plus several middle of the night phone calls from Mattie, we decided to call Selah's neurosurgeon at 8am to see if they wanted to do a CT scan to check her shunt for any type of malfunction, including overdrainage.

With a shunt baby, you don't get to sit around and wait when it comes to fever and inconsolability. The neurosurgeon's nurse advised us to take Selah to the ER and she called in orders for a CT scan and shunt x-ray series.

My amazing friend Carrie (Rowan's mom) rearranged her day so she could take Selah to the ER. Out of all my friends, she's the one with the most wide array of hospital experience. Rowan has a shunt, too, and he's spent more days in the hospital than not, so it was a great comfort to me that Carrie was taking Selah to the ER. Mattie went as well, so Selah was in great hands with that team!

After about 5 hours at the ER, it was determined that Selah's shunt is fine. Praise God! The neurosurgeon's nurse said shunted kids will have higher pressures in their heads when they have fever, making them more uncomfortable. We're not exactly sure what the cause of Selah's sleepless and inconsolable night was, but we're praying for a better night tonight!!!

It's hard to be on the other side of the world, period, but with a sick kiddo at home, it's even harder. Plus, being sick ourselves adds another challenge.

There's nothing too hard for our Father. The suffering Jesus endured for us means even more when we think we might have it bad. Our "suffering" is incomparable.

Praying all of us will be well soon, and that we'll be able to visit our boys SOON! I pray their caregivers give them extra lovin' when we're not able to visit. I thank God for the team of caregivers God has organized in Texas who are surrounding our family with His love by being His hands and feet. Thank you to all who have generously and abundantly provided meals, thank you, Carrie, for taking Selah to the ER, thank you, Stephanie, for holding down the fort, and thank you to our kids for doing an amazing job in the absence of Mom and Dad.

Day 4, The Perspective of Gratefulness

2012-01-19T12:19:00.000-06:00

{Note: There are 2 updates today. I was able to get Day 4’s update done on Day 4. Usually, I don’t get to post the updates until the following day, so today you’ll see Day 4 and Day 3.}

Here's a video from this morning's visit. Click HERE to view more videos.

Sometimes life is just hard. Plain ole hard, no matter how you look at it. We have to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, as He is the Way and the Truth and the Life. He brings us hope, He supplies our joy, in all circumstances.

Last night, my daughter, Mattie, called in the middle of the night (her day, my night) to ask me about Selah. She’s not been sleeping well or feeling well. I took her to our pediatrician before we left the states because she really hasn’t slept well since August 2010, when she had her skull reconstructed, but December 2010 was by far the worst month of all. She has slept worse since the beginning of December than she has the entire time she’s been with us. She had an ear infection, then teething, which I thought accounted for her sleepless nights, but we haven’t gotten over this pattern of not sleeping.

I am not one to let my kids cry it out, particularly an attachment-at-risk baby. (I didn’t even let my securely attached bio babies cry it out…ever.) That’s just me. I can’t stand to see a baby cry. That’s their only voice, so when they use it, I always try to respond by figuring out what they’re trying to communicate.

I still haven’t been able to figure out what Selah is trying to communicate to us in the middle of the night. She’s not hungry, she’s not in pain (that we can find…Tylenol and Ibuprofen don’t seem to make any difference), and she’s not hot/cold/wet/dirty, etc. She sleeps in her crib in her room (alone, she doesn’t share a room), and we’ve tried a nightlight as well as no nightlight, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference regarding whether or not she wakes in the night.

We’ve also tried to put her in bed with us, as well as sleeping in a full-size bed with her in her room. Nothing matters. Selah seems content to be held/rocked in the night when she wakes crying, but many times, she doesn’t go back to sleep for sometimes up to 4-5 hours after she wakes!!!

Dr. Pruitt (our pediatrician) hasn’t been able to find anything “wrong” with Selah that would be making her wake. We thought perhaps it was her reflux, so we added a night-time dosage of Prevacid, in addition to her morning dosage. Hasn’t made a bit of difference.

Dr. Pruitt suggested we try using Melatonin to help Selah sleep, and that hasn’t made a bit of difference either. Before I left, on desperate nights when I was in major need of sleep, I tried combining Benadryl with Ibuprofen and Tylenol, with much prayer that Selah would sleep through the night, but even that heavy combination of meds didn’t make a bit of difference in her night waking.

We thought it might possibly be separation anxiety, since that hits around 12-18 months (Selah is 15 months old), but staying in her room all night doesn’t seem to make a bit of difference either. When Selah wakes in the night, we go to her and try to get her back to sleep by patting her in her bed. We don’t turn on the lights at all, keeping the night-time, sleep environment. If she won’t go back to sleep, we rock her in her room with the same dark environment. Sometimes she will go back to sleep, but most of the time, she remains awake in our arms, while rocking, for up to 5 hours!!! It’s exhausting to say the least.

However, my exhaustion is worth it when I consider the “cry it out” method. I just can’t do it. Selah used to sleep very well through the night without waking at all up until she had her skull reconstructed. I just can’t figure it out.

So, anyway, back to Mattie’s phone call in the night. Selah’s been fussy during the day as well lately. Mattie and Meribeth are getting very little sleep at night since Selah has been awake for 4 hours almost every night. They can’t let her cry it out either. It just hurts their emotions to hear Selah bawling. Mattie believes something is causing her pain/fussiness, but no one can figure out what it is. I advised Mattie to call first thing this morning (Thursday) to try to get her in to see our pediatrician again to check her ears. I told her to have him examine Selah from head to toe, naked, to see if he can possibly find any reason for her to be so fussy and wake so much in the night. We’ll see what the report is later.

So, my day started out hard today because I can’t stand being away from my hurting baby (Selah). I’ve never left her for more than a day, and it’s very rare that I would ever leave her overnight. (Only when I’ve spoken at churches out of town have I left her overnight.) This is just killing me to be so far away and not be able to hold her and love on her and try to help her feel better.

And then, of course, I always think about her shunt. Could it be malfunctioning? Could it be shrinking her brain into a raisin like it did spring of 2011? What if something happens to her while I’m 22 hours away?!?! This is when I must take all thoughts captive and rely upon the strength of my Jesus. He is my all in all. He loves Selah more than I do. I must trust Him.

So, I take thoughts captive, gather myself and head out the door with Matt for our morning orphanage visit, reminding myself of all the things I am grateful for. I’m grateful to have a loving, selfless, caring, kind, compassionate husband who travels the world on behalf of orphans. I’m grateful to have 12 kids, many of whom are left behind in Texas to take care of the other kiddos, the home, the ranch, and life while their mommy and daddy are away. Grateful for children who choose to joyfully do hard things.

I snapped this photo of the front of our apartment building while we wait outside in the 10 degree fahrenheit temps. I’m grateful for our warm, luxurious apartment. There’s a little sled out front, which brings me joy. It reminds me of my children, even though we don’t even own a sled in Texas! The Ukrainian toddlers ride in sleds pulled/pushed by their parents in the snow, instead of using a stroller. It’s so cute to watch these little snow babes toddling around in snow suits, hats, snow boots, all warm and cozy. Especially the hot pink ones, simply because I love hot pink. Children bring me joy, thank you, Jesus, for the blessing of children.

Some men are working on the awning outside the front door to our apartment. I’m grateful on this morning for God’s abundant provision. I am warm in my borrowed snow boots (thanks, Trisha) and my borrowed snow coat (thanks, Mrs. Hudspeth), and we are cozy and warm in our apartment (thanks to everyone who played a role in this!).

This is the small market directly across the street from our apartment. I’m grateful on this morning for this market, which has a great selection of items, including Snickers. (The billboard on the left is advertising Milky Way.) I’m grateful for the finances to purchase our needs and our wants (such as Snickers!) while in Ukraine. Grateful the food prices are inexpensive.

I’m grateful for our warm taxi that takes us to the orphanage. Grateful for our facilitator and translator who arrange our transportation.

On our outdoor walk to our boys’ orphanage room, I see this little outhouse. I’m grateful for indoor plumbing and warm water. I’m grateful our boys do not have to use this outhouse. Grateful for diapers and the indoor potty chairs that they line the kids up in after meals.

We pick up Conner and Cooper, and I’m oh-so-grateful that God chose us to be the parents of these two precious treasures. They’re excited to see us this morning! Sasha (the other boy who always wants to come with us to play, but cannot because we’re not adopting him) welcomes us with his huge smile and sweet disposition. Why didn’t we choose to adopt him, too? He is such a sweet boy. It’s so hard to walk away from him, day in and day out. It’s hard to walk away from them ALL, day in and day out. Sasha is the only one out of his crib on this morning. He is sitting at the little table, where he always sits, day in and day out. I’ve never seen him anywhere else. I’m grateful that he’s out of his crib though.

When I pick Conner up, I notice his pajama/play sleeper is wet. Matt and I sit down with the boys in the playroom. It’s just us today. Conner reeks of urine. I wonder if the wetness on the outside of his sleeper is urine. I decide to check his diaper. He has a total of 5 layers of clothing on. I unzip the sleeper to discover that yes, the inside layers of clothing are saturated with urine. His diaper is soaked and leaking. I’m grateful that on this very morning, we brought diapers with us. God knew we would need them.

We see, for the first time, just how tiny Conner is. This breaks our heart. I try to smile for the photo, because that is what I’m used to doing, but inside, my heart is breaking. I’m grateful on this morning that soon, Conner will be ours and will never sit in urine saturated clothing.

Conner plays with the light wand without a care in the world. My world is shattering. So much heartbreak. So much suffering. I’m grateful on this morning for the suffering Jesus endured for our sakes.

Then I pick Conner up, and Matt sees the bedsores on his back. I smile before I notice. Then my stomach is sick. I am reminded of Chrissie’s bed sores after lying in a hospital bed for 31 days. Conner is in a very good orphanage, and yet he still has bed sores. He must lie on his back in his crib for almost 24 hours/day, and he is in a good orphanage. What must the others look like? I’m grateful this morning for our twice daily visits so that Conner can be up, playing, crawling, standing, jumping for 4 hours/day. He is loved. Treasured. Chosen. So grateful God led us to this sweet boy.

I decide to tell the orphanage director, using Google Translate on my phone, that I changed Conner’s diaper and his clothes were soaked with urine. He needed new clothing. I asked her to come see. I gave her the soaked diaper and the 5 layers of wet clothing. She leaves and someone else shows up with dry clothes for Conner within 5 minutes. I’m grateful this morning that Conner is now in dry clothing with a dry diaper.

We brought children’s toothpaste and toothbrush to brush both boys’ teeth. Their breath is horrendous (every single visit). Even the other visitors notice the smell of their breath. Why is this? Is it simply because of no dental hygiene? We brush their teeth, which both boys tolerate fairly well. I’m grateful this morning for the ability to begin caring for the boys’ teeth.

We rub some cream into Cooper’s cheeks, where he suffers from large eczema patches. I’m grateful this morning to try to soothe those red, dry, rough spots.

I hold Conner in the ball pit, and Cooper crawls across the ball pit into my lap. He is jealous that I’m holding Conner, and he wants to be closest to me. I’m grateful this morning that Cooper cares.

Cooper looks me eye-to-eye, as if to say, “Ha, I’ll make sure you love me best.” I’m grateful this morning for his eye contact and perseverance. It’s not easy to crawl across the ball pit and into Mommy’s arms!

I give Cooper kisses. I’m grateful for love on this morning.

Matt takes Conner out of the ball pit so Cooper can have alone time with Mommy. Conner stands on the edge of the ball pit. I’m grateful on this morning that Conner is able to stand. They said he couldn’t. God is good.

Cooper cracks up while he sits in my lap. I’m grateful this morning for laughter. Grateful for Cooper’s laughter, even if I have to work very hard to get it.

It’s time to head back to the boys’ room so they can eat lunch. Cooper was flying like a bird, flapping his wings. I’m grateful for our 2-hour visit, grateful for a husband who loves unconditionally, grateful for a husband who will carry his new son like a froggie because he likes to flap his wings and fly!

We stand outside to wait for our cab. I notice they must have cleaned some of the rugs and laid them out to dry, in the snow. Grateful I don’t have to do this!

I see little ride-on toys stuck in the snow, abandoned at the curb. Grateful kids have these riding toys, grateful to see they were obviously ridden to this stopping point, then buried in snow overnight.

I’m grateful for the variety of decorations around the orphanage grounds. This is a great orphanage, even if it breaks my heart. Grateful that God has broken my heart for what breaks His.

Grateful for the play shelters that allow children to play outside, regardless of the elements.

Grateful for brightly painted murals.

Grateful for play equipment.

Grateful for this snow-covered bridge, just because I think it’s a beautiful.

Grateful for more shelters and more play equipment.

Grateful for outdoor play cribs (turned on its side), with hopes that the non-mobile children get to enjoy sunshine and fresh air.

Grateful for wooden play structures that develop gross motor skills.

Grateful for McDonald’s. Never thought I’d write that. After leaving the orphanage, our stomachs still felt sick from the sight of Conner’s bed sores and bones. The ~~best~~ only comfort food we could think of in Kremenchuk was something familiar. McDonald’s. And it was good! And the lady who took our order spoke English!

Grateful for the warmth and familiarity of McDonald’s.

Grateful for Coca-Cola.

Grateful for greasy French fries.

Grateful for a clean restaurant that wasn’t busy when we were there. (Matt said McDonald’s in Kiev was crazy busy.)

We successfully took the local bus system from McDonald’s to our apartment. Without a map and no knowledge of which busses stop where, nor which busses go where, this was quite an accomplishment! Grateful today for the inexpensive Kremenchuk bus system and our success in navigating it for once!

When we got back to our apartment, Matt was feeling under the weather. He felt like he had a low-grade fever last night, and he continued to fight feeling lousy today, so he took a big nap, and woke feeling better, but not yet 100%. Grateful for our comfy bed, a warm and quiet apartment, plus the time for Matt to take a good, long, much-needed slumber.

I’ve been fighting some battle going on inside my stomach. It comes and goes, but it’s progressively getting worse. Not fun. Matt thinks I’ve gotten some type of bacteria from foods I don’t normally eat. I tend to have a weak stomach anyway, so Matt encouraged me to go ahead and start a Z-pack that we brought with us. After googling what bacteria a Z-pack will treat, I learned that it is often prescribed for the most common traveler’s stomach issue: E Coli. Lovely. So I started the Z-pack tonight (Thursday) and hopefully my stomach issues will dissipate. Grateful for my Z-pack, hoping it works quickly.

We went back to the orphanage for our afternoon/evening visit, to find Cooper dressed in “real” clothes while Conner was dressed in Cooper’s “play” sleeper. Because they had on different clothes, we know they at least got out of their cribs to be changed. And their diapers were less wet. Grateful for a caregiver who paid attention to our boys today while we were away.

OK, the photo of Matt and Conner above cracks me up. Conner is making faces for the camera while Matt is making faces for Cooper. Grateful for my boys who keep me laughing.

And laughing.

And laughing.

Grateful for this little crawler, the one who supposedly didn’t know how to crawl.

And grateful for this little sitter, the one who supposedly barely knows how to sit.

And grateful for this little stander, who is now standing up all by himself. Grateful he’s out of his crib and able to move around for a total of 4 hours a day! Go Conner! Go God!

Sometimes I have to be reminded to focus on things from God’s perspective, which is impossible in my own strength, but with God’s glasses upon our eyes, I’m able to focus my perspective to one of gratefulness when I’d really rather just sit and cry. I couldn’t survive without Him. Grateful tonight (and ALWAYS) for my Savior and His perspective of gratefulness.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving us. Thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for guiding us and giving us Your perspective, Your strength, Your hope, Your joy. Please allow us to get Conner and Cooper home quickly. Heal Conner’s bed sores. Heal Selah and/or allow us to figure out her needs so she is happy and comfortable and sleeps well through the night. Heal Matt’s bout with not feeling 100%, heal my stomach issues. You are able to do all things, nothing is impossible with you, Jehovah Rapha. Sustain our children at home with Your strength, Your peace, Your presence. Reunite us quickly, as a family of 14. Move our judge to waive the 10-day waiting period. Help Matt and I to persevere in Your strength, for Your glory. Thank you for choosing as as Yours. We are but dirty, unlovable sinners, and yet You still chose us. You still love us. You still cherish us. We love because You first loved us. Thank you, Jesus.

Day 3, Kremenchuk

2012-01-19T06:30:00.001-06:00

Day 3’s morning visit to the orphanage was a fun one, filled with lots of laughter. Summer (another mom adopting via Reece’s Rainbow) was there to visit her 3-year-old son. They’ve already had court, and she gets to take him permanently January 19. Woohoo! Her little guy is very active, alert, and SMART. Such a cutie!

The other American family (adopting an autistic boy) was also present for the morning visit, so there were lots of boys in the room. Conner and Cooper had lots of fun, with lots of laughter. You’ve GOT to watch the videos from today. Click HERE and be sure to watch the one entitled “Conner and Cooper Day 3, lots of laughs”. It’s priceless.

Cooper seemed groggy this morning, but Conner was totally alert and exploring the entire room. He was crawling everywhere, and even standing up on his own a few times! He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to sit in my lap. He will crawl across the entire room to me, turn himself around (so his back is toward me), then crawl into my lap and plop himself down. Oh my gracious, it’s absolutely precious. Conner is definitely getting comfortable with us. He is a little love bug who loves cuddling and sweet hugs. When we pick him up, he immediately lays his head on our shoulder, very gently. He also LOVES to laugh. He loves to jump and be tossed in the air. Lots of laughter and hugs from this sweet boy.

Although Cooper was groggy for his morning visit, he was so excited when we arrived in his room to pick him up. He started squealing, and he immediately slapped Matt. That’s something we’re going to have to work on. He’s not doing it to be mean, he just got such a big reaction from Matt the first few times he whopped him in the face, that he now thinks it’s what he should do. Cooper is definitely more reserved than Conner, at least in the playroom environment. He prefers to observe everything, and not take an outgoing, explorative approach like his brother. He’s content to sit and watch, but some of that might just be the sedation/grogginess. It’s hard to tell for sure.

I didn’t take photos today of the boys, just videos, so I apologize if you don’t have access to the YouTube videos.

After our morning visit to the orphanage, we had our cab driver drop us off at an American missionary’s apartment in Kremenchuk. Jennifer (the American missionary who played a role in obtaining our apartment here in Kremenchuk) took Matt to buy some better snow shoes. Matt only brought his cowboy boots, and he slipped and fell a few times. So, he got a pair of Ecco hiking boots that were less than $40 (probably fake Ecco), but they’re perfect for snow and ice.

After we got Matt into his safe shoes, Jennifer showed us around town. We walked a good ways, seeing the sights of Kremenchuk, then we treated Jennifer to lunch at a local coffee/Internet café with an African theme. The food was good, all except for an interesting drink the waitress talked me into. I asked for Coca-Cola Light (Diet Coke), and she said this other drink was BETTER than Coca-Cola Light.

Well, unfortunately, this drink was NOT better than Diet Coke. We think the waitress thought I said Coca-Cola LIME. This drink was some kind of iced coffee (black) mixed with limes, lemons, oranges, and pineapple. I like my coffee with cream and lots of sugar, not citrus. The straw was way cool though. It had a strainer on the end of it, made of brass, to prevent the pulp from being sucked up the straw. No worries, one sip and I was done.

Here’s the Kremenchuk Christmas tree, taken while standing still this time.

I wish the glare wasn’t so bad off these windows so you could see the fabulous art inside. This is the window of a children’s library. The artwork is all done by children.

They create art by folding paper to create designs and sculptures. It’s pretty amazing stuff.

This is beaded artwork. Teeny tiny stranded beads formed into flowers and other artwork. Again, pretty amazing.

These are bowls, vases, and other containers, all made of folded paper. Incredible.

This is a park with a statue of Lenin. They call it Lenin Square.

After our excursion with Jennifer, she showed us how to take a city bus back to our apartment. We made it successfully, then decided we would take the bus to the orphanage. That didn’t work out so well. We couldn’t find the right bus (there are lots of different busses with different routes, and not all busses stop at all of the bus stops). I asked a young man using Google Translate on my phone where Bus 18 picks passengers up, and bless his heart, he spoke English, but he had no idea about bus routes. I think he was “better than” the bus!

So, our translator called us a cab instead, and we made it to our evening visit. Below is a picture of the boys’ building. The upstairs room that is illuminated is our boys’ room.

These are a couple of old strollers that are kept on the porch by the entrance to this building. They have nicer strollers inside the building.

The boys were both much more alert for our afternoon visit. I took some video, then put the phone away and we fully concentrated on being with the boys, no cameras, no people besides us. This was our first visit to the playroom when it was completely empty.

After we dropped the boys off so they could eat dinner, we headed down the stairs and out the door to their building. We noticed a kitten lying on the carpet. (No, it’s not dead, even though it looks like it in the photo above.) We wondered if it sneaked inside. Regardless, we snapped a photo, then left it inside. Hope that was OK!

We decided to purchase a rotisserie chicken from the little grocery mart that is across from our apartment. We ate dinner in our apartment, and the chicken was good, to my surprise. We’re totally bored in the evenings, after our evening visit with the boys, after dinner, and after “down time”. We’ve decided to rent movies on the iPad. I asked on Facebook for movie suggestions, unfortunately, we’ve already seen most of the movies suggested. So, if you have a movie suggestion, let us know. It’s hard to pass time in a foreign country in the evenings, and since we rarely watch TV/movies, we decided to take advantage of this time.

Looking forward to seeing the boys in the morning. Missing our kiddos at home. Thanking God for His abundant provision.

Day 2, Kremenchuk

2012-01-18T07:32:00.001-06:00

I brought my good camera to the orphanage for our second day visiting. It takes such better photos than the iPhone, but it’s much more cumbersome. I posted the “good” photos below, but we didn’t leave the camera out for long because Conner wanted to throw it. (Remember, he loves to throw things and laugh.)

Conner crawled today!!! (Remember, Conner isn’t supposed to know how to crawl.) And, Conner stood up by hanging onto a chair!!! He was able to bear weight on his legs, and we discovered he LOVES to jump and bounce!

Cooper was reserved today, but still as sweet as can be. He rode on Matt’s belly like a horsie, and he giggled the sweetest giggle. He also rode on Matt’s shoulders, which he giggled about as well.

One thing Cooper did on Day 1 that I forgot to mention is that he likes to hit/slap Matt. He thinks it’s hilarious. Matt laughs, which just encourages Cooper to do it more. I’m trying to nip this in the bud because I have a feeling no one else is going to like being blindsided! Well, immediately upon Day 2’s visit, Cooper welcomed Matt with a big slap!!! He doesn’t do this to me, only to Matt, so he remembered from Day 1’s visit that Matt thought the slapping was funny. I was quite surprised to see Cooper remember this so quickly!

Both boys seemed to be less drugged on Day 2’s visit. They were still in their sleeping PJ’s upon our arrival. Conner was in a walker while Cooper was at the table eating a bar that looked similar to a NutriGrain, only harder. They had a different caregiver than we met on Day 1, and she was not as kind to us. She seemed unprepared for our visit, and she hurriedly changed the boys into their “play” clothes (different sleeper PJ’s…the same ones they wore on Day 1) and shooed us away.

Here are the “good” pics from our morning visit:

I caught Conner crawling on camera! Watch his progression in the photos. He’s good!

He crawled right over to me and sat in my lap! He LOVES to sit in laps. He will crawl to either mine or Matt’s lap and make his way into it and just sit contentedly. Precious.

Could Conner be any cuter?!?! Look at that darling smile!!!

And before we knew it, we were out of time. A caregiver notified us that we had to return the boys to their room for lunch, so off we went. (Remember, we took lots of videos, and you can view them HERE, if you haven’t already.)

Back to the room on Daddy’s shoulders.

Tuesday was filled with all kinds of required adoption paperwork. Our translator did an awesome job of getting everything approved and accomplished. We spent the day running around the town of Kremenchuk chasing papers, getting everything notarized, etc. We visited the big grocery store between notary appointments and stocked up on grocery items.

Mattie (one of our daughters) is begging to know more about the town of Kremenchuk, so I took photos from our car window as we drove about town.

This is the town’s big Christmas tree. They keep Christmas decorations up through January in Ukraine.

Matt at the notary (our first visit of the day).

The town is very pretty. It’s much different than Kiev because it’s not a big city. It’s still bigger than our little towns, but it doesn’t have as many options as the big city of Kiev. But we like it and think it’s a lovely little city of its own.

The prettiest place in Kremenchuk (that we’ve seen) is the orphanage. The following photos are all taken in the yard of the orphanage.

By the end of the day, our translator had all of the necessary documents to proceed with filing a court date and submitting the next set of documents to the SDA. If the SDA is able to get the documents approved in time, we will have court January 26 or 27. (BTW, Mattie’s 14th birthday is January 27.) Matt and I will remain in Kremenchuk until the day after court. Then there’s the mandatory 10-day waiting period (which we’re told is not waived in this region), so we will fly back to Texas during the 10-day wait. It will be a bittersweet time as we will have to leave Conner and Cooper at the orphanage, but we miss our kiddos at home greatly, so we’ll be grateful to love on them for 10 days. Then we’ll return to Kremenchuk, following the 10-day wait, to pick up the boys and finish the process of getting them to America. (The second trip, last part of the process, takes about 5-7 days.) So, looks like, if all goes according to plan (ha, what plan?!?!), the boys will be able to come to Texas the middle of February. Oh, the time seems too long, doesn’t it?!?! We so wish we could bring them home NOW. Waiting is hard. Praise God that His grace is sufficient. Couldn’t do this without Him.

And then back to our apartment where this guard dog statue sits at the front doors to scare people away. He even has bones in his dog bowl. Hilarious.

We’re still praying that God will do a miracle and allow us to take these boys home on this trip, if it be His will.

Thanks for praying!

Orphanage Visit, Day 1

2012-01-17T10:01:00.001-06:00

Here’s a photo story of our first day visiting the orphanage, January 16, 2012.

Matt sitting in the car, just as we pulled in to the orphanage driveway, which was secured with a green iron fence/gate.

The orphanage fence, as viewed from our seats in the car.

Lorraine sitting in the car, waiting for permission to enter the orphanage for the very first time.

The walk-thru gate of the fence for pedestrians.

The other end of the fence.

Looking through the gate at one of the buildings.

Matt eagerly anticipating meeting his newest sons.

Matt wishing I’d stop asking him to pose for photos!

This is the playground that we walked past as we walked through the gate, along the sidewalk to the main entrance of the orphanage.

A mural on the side of one of the orphanage buildings.

Matt and Lorraine at the main entrance to the orphanage, before entering for the very first time. We were led to the main director’s office, where we were interrogated by the director regarding our motivation for adopting these boys.

We felt a little tense as we were not exactly prepared to have to convince the director of our motivations for choosing Conner and Cooper. We showed her a photo album of our family (that we had brought for the boys), and the director was very intrigued by our family, asking where our black children are from.

I was getting a little bit concerned that the director might not approve. She wanted to know why Matt was adopting as a married individual, yet I was present. We had to explain that I was supposed to stay home with our baby, Selah, due to her expected skull surgery in November/December, but that was postponed. All of our paperwork was filed with Matt adopting a married individual (so I could stay home to take care of Selah), but now that I was available to travel, we felt it was best for me to travel to Ukraine to meet the boys in person. We requested for the SDA to change our dossier to adopting as a married couple, but they said we’d have to start all over and reapply, so we stayed with the current arrangement of Matt adopting as a married individual. Whew.

Then the director wanted to know why we would choose children with Down syndrome. She didn’t see any children in our family photos (from the album I showed her) who have Down syndrome, so why would we choose to adopt these two boys? We explained how much we love children, ALL children, and how we believe every child should have a family, regardless of ability. We explained that these boys will have many opportunities for learning and development in our family, and they will be loved deeply. Whew.

Then the director tried to offer us different children, healthier ones, whose minds work “better”. She gave us many opportunities to select different children. We told her our decision was final, no matter what.

Then the director asked the orphanage doctor to review both boys’ medical files with us. We were told that Cooper has club feet and will need surgery to fix this. We agreed to this. We were then told that Conner has a heart condition where there’s an extra “wall” in the lower left ventricle of his heart. He may or may not need surgery. We agreed to this. Whew.

We were told that Cooper is higher functioning than Conner. Perhaps we would just want to take Cooper. Nope. We want both, regardless. We were told that Cooper is able to sit, crawl a little bit, and pull up on his crib, but due to his club feet, he cannot walk. He cannot talk or communicate. Fine with us. Do we still want him? Yes. Whew.

We were told that Conner is very low functioning, lowest of the low in their orphanage. He cannot talk. He cannot crawl. He cannot eat well. He will not drink a bottle. He cannot stand. He sits with support. Fine with us. Do we still want him? Of course. Whew.

They brought the boys into the meeting with the orphanage director. Matt and I immediately dismissed ourselves from the table where we were meeting. We each held a boy. I took Cooper (he came in first), Matt took Conner. Both boys hung onto us as we held them. We sang songs, patty-cake games, and rocked back and forth on the couch. When I stopped singing and rocking, Cooper began to rock me! So I started up again. While we played and sang, the director looked through our photo album again and asked our translator many questions.

Then the director asked our translator to show us the playroom (which is a FABULOUS playroom, BTW), where the played with the boys for an hour or so. The boys were drugged. It is common in orphanages to give the severely “handicapped” children heavy drugs to keep them quiet. The children in our boys’ groupa are all special needs, most have Down syndrome. There are probably 7-8 kids in that groupa. Most remain in cribs 24/7. That’s why drugs come in handy. Drugged children are much quieter and easier to pacify than alert, eager to play kiddos. Conner and Cooper were very sleepy. Their eyelids were closing with heavy blinks throughout our visit. They were not very alert, but they were very sweet boys. They both enjoyed physical contact. They were content to sit in our laps, facing us (or not). We were able to sing to them, hug them, hold them, rock them, and simply love on them. Precious lovies.

Mommy with Cooper in the ball pit.

Daddy and Conner.

This was so cute. Cooper was curious about Matt’s goatee.

He slowly and cautiously touched his face to Matt’s goatee.

Apparently it didn’t feel the way he thought it might!

So then he stopped and studied it. LOVE it! Such a sweet picture of Cooper studying Matt’s face. Oh how I love this boy!

Conner played patty-cake and was interactive in the ball pit.

Then the visit was over, and they allowed us to take the boys back to their room to eat lunch with their groupa.

There are beautiful stained glass windows in the orphanage.

And beautifully painted murals. This stairwell leads to the boys’ room.

And this stained glass window is just outside their room. We dropped the boys off in their room. We sat them in little plastic chairs at a small round table so they could be fed their meal. We gave hugs, kisses, waved goodbye, then walked back to the playroom to meet our translator.

This is the hallway that connects the boys’ room to the playroom.

Another beautiful mural along the route.

Another stairwell that we take to get from the boys’ room to the playroom.

And back to the playroom where our translator was waiting.

See, it’s a great room isn’t it?

Our translator told us that the orphanage director told us that if we’d like to change our minds, she has many other children we can select from. We expressed, again, that our decision is final. He said that the director wanted to meet with us.

We went into the director’s office, again, and she thanked us for choosing the boys. She was SOOOOOOOOOO sweet. She explained that she wishes she could have had Cooper’s club feet repaired, but in Ukraine, he was not eligible for surgery because of his Down syndrome diagnosis. She was sad that she couldn’t do more to help both boys. She held them at her orphanage for as long as possible, two years past the date they should have been transferred to the adult mental institution! (They should have been transferred at age 4.) She was so excited that a family was coming for them. They were supposed to transfer by Jan. 1, 2012, but when she heard we were coming, she held them at the orphanage so they wouldn’t have to endure one single day at the adult mental institution. She said she was thankful that there are people in the world like us. We told her that we are thankful there are people in the world like her!!! She truly loves the children, and she is trying to do the best for them with the little she has. It is a very good orphanage that is clean and well-run. The caregivers we saw were very kind and loving.

We gave the director our orphanage donation of $1,500, customary for two children at this orphanage. The director hugged us and told us that the money will help her to buy many things for the remaining children that she otherwise would not be able to afford for them. We saw much proof that this director DOES spend the money on the children. The orphans are well-cared for, fed nutritious meals, and there are many toys and happy caregivers. It is a happy place, and we are so grateful God has provided for our boys so abundantly.

We said our goodbyes, then exited the building through this stairway.

We rode with our translator and taxi driver to find our apartment. We were so blessed with what God provided. Amazing.

We ate some of the feast provided by this precious, sweet Ukrainian woman, then headed back to the orphanage to visit the boys.

We walked directly to the boys’ room to pick them up to tote them to the playroom for the afternoon. (We are allowed to visit twice/day, from 10AM-12Noon, then again from 4-6PM). When we entered the boys’ room, another little boy (who is being adopted right now) reached up for us and climbed into our arms! His mommy and daddy already had court, and are returning tomorrow to pick him up. Then all of the other children wanted us to hold them, too. We sat on the couch in the room and held as many children as the caregivers would allow. We gave them toys and played with them. It broke our hearts to see so many children longing for a mommy and daddy to come visit them.

The caregivers asked us to take our boys to the playroom, as it was time to vacuum the room. We had to return the other children to the floor or crib, and many started to cry. It completely broke our hearts. So sad. So very sad. There are several children in this groupa who appear to have nothing wrong with them, but they lay in their cribs day in, day out. Then there was a little boy who interacted with us, begging for us to take him, too. So sad. So very sad. We asked if we could take more children with us to the playroom, but they said it’s not allowed because we are only adopting Cooper and Conner.

So, we left behind many crying children and headed to the playroom with Cooper and Conner. Cooper was squealing with delight, as he remembered that pathway. He knew where we were headed. Conner hung onto me and quietly cuddled on the walk. So sweet.

The boys were a little more alert for their first afternoon visit. Perhaps the drugs had worn off and more were not given with the anticipation of our visit?!? Cooper and Conner were a little more inquisitive and interactive. They both enjoyed playing with a variety of toys we brought. They especially like this light up, spinning, vibrating wand. MUCH sensory input!

Conner likes to throw the light-up, spinning toy, then he laughs with this deep, grunting laugh. It’s precious.

Cooper likes to study things. He watches us, his environment, and the other American family who takes their boy to play in the same playroom at the same time.

We took MANY videos of the boys. Click HERE to view those. I have uploaded all of our videos (from Day 1 and Day 2), and I’ll continue to upload videos to our YouTube channel as time/Internet allows.

I will try to update about Day 2’s visit and happenings later. Thank you for praying! We are in love with our two new treasures, and we can’t wait to get them HOME!!!

Provision

2012-01-17T06:53:00.001-06:00

I composed this draft about God’s provision yesterday, but didn’t have Internet to post it. I’m posting it now, and hopefully I’ll have some photo updates later, provided we’ll have Internet to post.

God’s provision has been over-the-top abundant with this adoption. He continues to awe me with how much He cares about these boys. The entire story and every detail He has orchestrated to bring this all together overwhelms me, but the provision He has abundantly blessed us with throughout this adoption is truly mind-boggling for me. God surprised us with another one of His abundant provisions our first day in Kremenchuk.

I still don’t really know all of the details, but God orchestrated His plan to have us stay in a 5-star luxury apartment in Kremenchuk for FREE. Seriously. This is exactly what He did for us for our stay in Kiev as well (twice). Tara Airhart has now twice opened her 5-star luxury apartment in Kiev to us (absolutely free), which has been key in our adjustment to this new culture. (Matt says staying at Tara’s isn’t really like being in Ukraine because it’s so luxurious with so many American amenities that we normally take for granted but suddenly feel shocked when we enter a new country and the toilet paper is like bark…and has to be tossed in the trash can. :-)

Anyway, upon leaving the Airhart’s fantabulous Kiev apartment, Matt warned me that I’d need to start thinking more like a Ukrainian than an American as we drove to the small town of Kremenchuk (where the boys are). Several other families who have adopted from this same region have shared stories of how their apartments were teeny tiny (like the size of my closet), filled with smoke, bugs, grime, not safe, etc. I was trying to prepare my brain for this transition, so I wouldn’t be completely disappointed and shocked at the vast difference between our accommodations.

Well, as God would have it, He “hooked us up”!!! I’m sure there’s more details that I’m unaware of, but basically, one of the Reece’s Rainbow moms (hi Jenny), who previously adopted from the same orphanage that Conner and Cooper are in, put me in contact with several Christians in Kremenchuk. I became “friends” with these contacts via Facebook shortly before we left the USA.

Next thing I know, one of my new Kremenchuk Facebook friends sends me a message that her landlady offered an apartment to us for FREE. Seriously. The woman who owns the apartment is Ukrainian and lives in Kremenchuk. She has a mild special needs daughter and grandson (if I understand correctly). She apparently heard about our family, and she wanted to offer us a place to stay while here in Kremenchuk. Amazing, right?!?!

After coming from the Airhart’s fine accommodations, I needed to be careful to adjust my expectations appropriately and be grateful for whatever provision God blessed us with. After all, it would be free, and that is HUGE. We found the apartment Monday afternoon after our morning visit with the boys, and, let me just say, NEVER underestimate God.

He has POURED out His abundant blessings on us, more than I ever could have fathomed. Never did I ever expect God to surprise us with another 5-star luxury apartment that is completely FREE to us. WOW. WOW. WOW.

The owner of the apartment is the sweetest woman. She has showered us with grandmotherly love. She prepared a feast upon our arrival. Our tummies were so full, and so ~~were~~ are our hearts. WOW.

This precious woman doesn’t speak a word of English, but she talks to us in Ukrainian without hesitation. We have no clue what she’s saying, but she talks and talks and talks. So sweet. She reminds me of my Nana. God is so good.

The landlady had our translator ask us what religion we are. We told her that we are Protestant Christians. She said she is BAPTIST. (Rare for Ukraine.) Matt was wearing one of the John 14:18 shirts with a cross on the back, and she just LOVED it.

She introduced us to her special needs grandson, who speaks a few words of English. He was so proud to show us his high school diploma. This sweet and generous woman lives in the apartment next door to the one we’re staying in…the doors are adjacent to one another. Her daughter normally lives in this apartment, but she is giving it up so that we can stay here.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

We felt God welcome us to Kremenchuk. We could not be more grateful for His provision, the generosity of this sweet Ukrainian woman, the sacrifice her daughter is making, and all of the earthly people involved in helping to coordinate this for us.

We are blown away.

Thank you!

Introducing...

2012-01-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

Our soon-to-be Patterson boys: Cooper (in Lorraine's arms) and Conner (in Matt's arms). We don't have Internet (yet, hopefully we can get it soon), so I'm just sending this short intro via email via my phone.

We're in love with these precious boys. Keep praying for a quick, miraculous process. We were told this region doesn't ever waive the 10-day mandatory waiting period after court. :-(

We have lots of official paperwork to accomplish tomorrow (Tuesday), so we should know a little more regarding timing by the end of Tuesday.

Looking forward to sharing more photos once we get Internet.

A Picture Perfect Weekend

2012-01-15T10:02:00.001-06:00

This was our first weekend in Ukraine, which turned out to be a picture perfect weekend in Kiev! Snow started falling Saturday afternoon, at the exact time that Matt decided to take me on an outdoor stroll. Snow is so beautiful, especially for a Texas gal who rarely gets to experience the beauty of white wonder. (I prefer visiting snow instead of living in it! :-)

The view of brand new snowflakes drifting onto the window’s ledge of the Airhart’s apartment.

Snow just beginning to accumulate on the little playground by the Airhart’s apartment.

Lorraine posing by the pretty pink hair salon. I had a little snowflake on my hat that we were so proud of!

The “underground city”, an open-air market that runs under the streets of Ukraine. Love it! (pic above and below) You can get everything from magazines to coats to food to undergarments! Wal-mart under the city. Sort of. OK, not really, but the variety and the prices are close.

Matt was so cute, making me pose on the street, in the middle of the city’s bus tracks (that operate by rails). He really cared about the snow. He promised He’d keep an eye out for an oncoming bus!

Matt took me to the cutest (and yummiest) little French bakery where we spent almost 2 hours, just the two of us, hanging out, catching up, enjoying the scenery, people watching, oh, and eating delectable French treats. Matt continues to call this my European vacation.

Isn’t the wallpaper cute? Oh, and how ‘bout Matt?

Eiffel tower of treats.

Lovely window display.

LOVED the bathroom mirrors. Precious.

We were there so long that the waitress took our photo in front of the heavenly baked goods. If I had to choose anywhere to spend my time in Ukraine, it would be here. I actually ordered several pastries to go (I LOVE pastries), but the guy didn’t understand what I meant about “to go”. He starting setting multiple treats onto plates, thinking I was going to eat it all right there! I used the universal pantomime language to act out taking the food out the door and waving “bye-bye”. Then he was able to comprehend my request for my treats “to go”. He promptly smiled and said, “Oh, take-out!”

Roshen is THE Willy Wonka of Ukraine. Their window displays are magnificent. The photo above shows chocolate cars with white chocolate pedestrians. I think that’s a white chocolate Santa climbing onto the rooftop using a rope.

Chocolate 18-wheeler with white chocolate excited kids!

White chocolate “ROSHEN” letters, snowfalkes, and a white and dark chocolate Santa, sleigh, and reindeer.

Then Matt took me to the closed-air market. What a cultural experience that was! The shot above was entering the market. Oh how pretty, I thought.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I was overcome with the stinch of dead fish. Lovely.

And sausages.

But the real treat was the HUGE “locker” (open-air, inside of this huge enclosed market) of fresh carcasses. Lovely. Not sure one could get fresher meat, but I’ll take mine enclosed in plastic wrap with glass between me and the ~~blood~~ butcher.

Fresh rabbit. With a foot still on, just in case you’d like to make a key-chain. (Actually, I noticed that both rabbits still have their right foot, so there’s probably some significance to leaving the right foot intact and unskinned.)

Duck, duck, goose.

There’s an axe on the block above that is GIGANTIC. Eek!

Lots of pickled veggies. And fresh fruits and vegetables, too. That part was nice, and I’d gotten used to the smell by then, too.

There’s an upstairs to this market, but they don’t allow cameras up there. (Have no clue why, maybe they don’t allow them downstairs either, but I didn’t see that sign. Oh well.) The upstairs has vendors selling mostly clothes, coats, shoes, textiles. We walked it all. I actually really liked it, but we didn’t buy anything. Matt says we have no space in the two suitcases I was allowed to bring.

We walked back to the Airhart’s apartment Saturday around 5PMish (left around 2PMish), then took Tara out to dinner since her hubby (and her father-in-law) had been gone all day and weren’t expected home until late.

We were only in her apartment for maybe 15 minutes, but when we walked back outside, the snow covered the land! It was so beautiful. It was falling rapidly, hence the white streaks in the photo above.

This shows how much snow had fallen in about 15 minutes. Beautiful.

Tara chose a different French restaurant that was beautiful. Matt ordered sea bass (pictured above), which he thought was delicious. Too many ~~eyeballs~~ bones for me.

I went out on a limb and ordered some kind of seafood pasta dish. That little creature above was some kind of rubbery squid, which I chose to let Matt sample first. He advised me to enjoy the delicacy via photos, so I obliged, like a good submissive wife would.

And then there were these creatures (above). Anyone have any idea what those are? Matt and I both chose to enjoy these with our eyes and not our mouths.

The chandelier and décor were beautiful. Loved the freshly baked rolls with butter. The sea creatures, not so much.

We went to bed around midnight, excited to attend church with the Airharts Sunday morning. We woke at 6AM since Tara’s husband plays drums in the worship band and has to be there by 7:30AM for practice. They have 2 worship services (at 9 and 11), in English.

Jonathon Airhart’s dad, Melvin, is visiting right now, so he and Jonathon played together in the worship band. Melvin plays the banjo (and guitar). They played “I’ll Fly Away” and “I Saw the Light”, good ole southern bluegrass worship in Ukraine!

The photo above was taken from the window of the church building. Beautiful snow everywhere.

After church, we ate at a restaurant called Aroma, which serves delicious sandwiches on homemade bread, plus a lovely selection of pastries and baked goods. Yummy.

Then we drove back to the apartment. I took lots of photos (from the car window) on our drive home, since we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning early (Monday). Plus the snow was so beautiful, I couldn’t resist. Here’s a sample of what one might see when traveling the main streets of Ukraine:

Cars park on the sidewalks here. I’ve been really impressed with the driving though. The safest, most conservative we’ve experienced in our international adoption travels.

Parliament.

The Barbie posters are on the side of a dog shop.

And then back to our temporary home-sweet-home, the Airhart’s apartment.

We’ll leave at 6AM Monday to take a car (with driver, along with our facilitator’s husband) to Kremenchuk, the city where the boys are. The local inspector, who must supervise the first visit, is apparently out of town right now, but expected to return sometime Monday. Please pray the inspector will arrive in time to supervise our first visit, or that someone will be able to supervise in her absence so that we can love on our new sons.

It’ll be hard to pack up and leave the luxury of the Airhart’s place (and their hospitality), but we’re so eager to meet our new little guys.

If you don’t hear from us right away, it’s probably because of Internet issues. I’ve heard it’s much harder to get Internet in other cities of Ukraine, so we’ll see.

Looking forward to our next update including PHOTOS of our newest sons. My heart feels so full of love for them, I just can’t wait to hold them, to whisper our love in their ears, to shower them with attention, and let them know they are not forgotten. Chosen. Cherished. Treasured. Thank you, Jesus!

Week 1 Chronicles

2012-01-13T13:55:00.001-06:00

Whew, today is the second time I’ve opened my laptop since we’ve been here (5 days)! We’ve been busy, adjusting from jet lag (which is actually going well), and adjusting to a new temporary life in Ukraine.

I can guarantee you that our adjustment to Ukraine has gone extremely well thanks to the gracious hospitality of Tara and Jonathon Airhart in Kiev. Tara is a blog reader who lives in Kiev with her hubby and new baby. She offered her home and help to us, and it has been key in our adjustment. If every family could be blessed with American hospitality, local knowledge, and personal tour guides, as well as home-cooked breakfasts and wonderful restaurant experiences, well, international adoption travels would be delightful!!!

I’m not much of a traveler. I love my family, my home, our ranch. That’s my idea of paradise. But, when God tells me to GO, I obey, and pray for His blessings. Most of our travel experiences are C-R-A-Z-Y. Truly, I’m not exaggerating. We usually have lost luggage (and I usually pack at least 2 checked bags (BIG bags) per person, plus carry-ons, driving everyone in our party crazy!), we usually deal with flight delays and cancellations, sicknesses, and almost everything that could go wrong usually does.

This trip has been much different, praise God!!! All of our luggage arrived (Matt made me pack lightly, with only one checked bag per person and one carry-on per person…yep, I did it, I know, amazing, huh?!?), and we didn’t have any delays (other than sitting on the runway at Washington Dulles for an hour), and we didn’t have any flight cancellations or changes either! This is not normal for us, but it sure does make travel more bearable! Oh, I even had an empty seat next to me on our long flight from Washington Dulles to Frankfurt (8-9 hours). I’ve never had that!

My Selah baby withdrawals have been pacified by this cute thing:

Baby “E” (Tara and Jonathon’s new daughter) is a doll, and she’s helping to fill my empty arms. I’m not used to having empty arms. What a blessing to have this sweet girl to welcome me to Ukraine. If you look closely, there’s a rainbow in the upper right-hand corner of this photo. And, of course, Miss “E” has on her Boss Your Heart shirt. Love it!

We’ve gone out to eat every night since we arrived. The food here is really good, and so very inexpensive. Matt and I rarely eat out, so it’s been fun to go to dinner each night with the Airharts. We haven’t much exploring or sight-seeing, just taking it easy and enjoying some slower-paced time with the Airharts, hanging out during the day (with a few trips to the SDA), and eating out at night.

We ate Georgian food the first night (fabulous), Serbian pizza the second night (yummy), Turkish the next night (salmon was delicious!), and pizza again (different restaurant, across from the SDA office) the 4th night. Everything’s been wonderful and we haven’t gotten sick, thank you, Jesus!!!

The picture below shows the most fabulous restroom in all of Ukraine!!! It’s in the Turkish restaurant in Kiev. It is CLEAN and beautiful and smells luscious. Yes, luscious. In a restroom. I wish I knew how they made it smell so yummy. I can’t even describe the scent. Simply luscious. They even had real washcloths to dry hands on after washing. This is NOT typical. At all.

Matt is shown in the photo below sitting in the pizza restaurant that is located directly across from the SDA building. That’s our hang-out spot when waiting for SDA business. There’s a sweet waitress there who speaks a little English, too.

Here’s Matt (below) standing against the wall in the SDA building. Very plain building, nothing special.

Here’s Matt and I together inside the SDA building Thursday, January 12.

There’s beautiful architecture here, but I haven’t gone out walking to take photos. We’ve taken cabs to the SDA buildings (my ankle is somewhat sprained/strained), and our dinners are after dark, so I haven’t taken photos at night. I snapped the shot below from the dirty window of our cab today, on our way to the SDA building.

We took the shot below of ourselves standing in front of a beautiful cathedral that is adjacent to the SDA building, but the only thing that showed up was the dirt in the renovation!

This is the cathedral that I wanted to get in the background of our last self portrait! Isn’t it gorgeous?

Matt made me get in the photo, but we really just cared about the architecture. The landscaping is under construction, and everything is barricaded, but it’s still breathtaking.

Another angle of the same building, with Matt posing, like a good husband/tourist would.

Matt saw this sign (below) at one of the market vendor shops. Super Nana. My mom was Super Nana. I would have bought it if she weren’t in heaven. It’s been tear-jerking to be here and not be able to share everything with her. She checked our blog continuously for updates when she lived on earth. I wonder if God is allowing her to join the cloud of witnesses when He desires. I wonder if she can see this Super Nana sign? I wonder if she can see our blog. I wonder. There are no specific answers found in scripture to many of my specific questions regarding heaven, but if you’re able to see this, Mom, I love you and miss you and wish you were here. Can’t wait to join Super Nana in Paradise someday.

Another street vendor sold these beautiful mounted butterflies, under glass, which reminded me of my mom (she LOVED butterflies). I almost bought one, but wasn’t sure I could keep the glass from breaking in our travels. Then I saw this lovely creature (below). Hoping one of these beauties doesn’t join me in bed one night. BLECH!

Matt and I spent about 4 hours in the pizza restaurant Friday, Jan. 13, the day we got to pick up the official referral for BOTH boys. Hallelujah! Our sweet slightly-English-speaking waitress took our photo in front of their Christmas tree. (Oh, Matt bought himself a warm hat, and our facilitator says he looks German, not Ukrainian. )

This is our facilitator’s husband, Denis, with Matt at the SDA office. Waiting for our referrals.

There are photos of children on the walls of the SDA building. Precious children. Yes, the boys with the baseball bat has a black eye.

YES!!! Matt just signed to accept the official referrals for BOTH boys. Hang in there, boys, Daddy and Mommy will be there SOON! Since we didn’t get the referrals until almost 6PM Ukrainian time on Friday, Jan. 13, we have to wait until Monday, January 16, to go to the boys’ orphanage to meet them, where our visit will be supervised by the local inspector.

From what I understand, after we meet the boys, our facilitator can begin the necessary paperwork to get us a court date. The last American family who adopted from this orphanage had to wait 15 days until court, which is typical. After court, there is a mandatory 10-day waiting period where no one can do anything but wait for the 10 days to pass. Many families return home during the wait(we probably will, too). After the 10-day wait, Matt and I will return to Ukraine to complete the process, which usually takes another week or so.

We can all pray that the judge will decide to waive the 10-day waiting period, but it’s not likely, as this normally doesn’t happen in the region where the boys are. But, of course, with God, all things are possible. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we could bring our boys home on this trip?!?!

We can’t wait to hold them. Please pray for the boys to KNOW us and TRUST us and LOVE us BEFORE we even get to them. That their hearts would already be intertwined with ours, and that they would KNOW we are their Daddy and Mommy from the moment we lay eyes on them.

Counting the minutes until Monday.

Thank you for praying!

Got 'Em!

2012-01-13T10:01:00.000-06:00

Praise God, we knew He had this! It's almost 6pm here, and we just got the official SDA referrals for BOTH boys!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!

We'll go to the boys' region Monday to meet them. So excited! I wish we could meet them this weekend, but the first visit must be supervised by the local inspector, who works during weekdays. We're so anxious to give these boys some good ole Texas lovin'!

Happy 7th Birthday, Ella!

2012-01-12T16:51:00.000-06:00

Today, January 12, is Ella's 7th birthday. Mattie made her this special birthday cake, and Grammie and Grandaddy came over to celebrate. Ella had invited some of her friends over, but I'm not sure if they had their little party or not. We talked to Ella on the phone today, sang her happy birthday, and sent lots of love. I wish we could have given birthday hugs, but she'll get plenty of those upon our return.

Happy 7th birthday, sweet Ella! We love you and miss you and we're looking forward to seeing you soon!

Well...

2012-01-12T09:07:00.000-06:00

We received the referrals for both "Oleg" and "Shane", but, and there's always a but in Ukraine, Shane's paperwork is not in order.

Both boys are listed as being available for international adoption, but "Shane" is missing one pertinent document and he cannot be adopted without it. It's his relinquishment paper, which must be signed and notarized by his birth mother, who hasn't seen or visited him in 6 years.

So, the SDA will work tomorrow (Friday) on obtaining that vital piece of paper. In the meantime, we cannot receive the official referrals until that document is received by the SDA.

We know God's got this. Just pray for Godspeed!

The SDA appointment was very relaxed and friendly. They said that we are the first couple who has ever changed our petition from wanting to adopt healthy children to severe special needs. They were intrigued by that. :-)

Thank you for praying!

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

SDA appt at 4pm!

2012-01-12T06:53:00.001-06:00

Our SDA appt is at 4pm Ukraine time. Texans you are 8 hours behind us. Please pray we are able to get the referral for "Shane" and "Oleg". Thanks!

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

Answered prayers!

2012-01-11T11:28:00.000-06:00

Hooray for answered prayers! Our paperwork arrived today (Wednesday) afternoon. We don't have our appointment set yet, but our facilitator has requested Thursday since we're here and waiting. Praying for this, too! We can't wait to meet our boys!!!

The photo below was taken at the Washington Dulles airport. We were welcomed by HUGE snowflakes. Like 1" snowflakes. Beautiful. We had to walk down the ladder from the plane to deboard, so we got covered in the magnificent flakes, which was a lovely welcome for us Texas folks.

We're in Ukraine

2012-01-10T15:24:00.001-06:00

Just a quick note to report that Matt and I are in Ukraine. Our paperwork wasn't returned to the SDA yet (it's still in need of the signature of the head minister of Ukrainian social policy), so please be praying the paperwork will arrive SOON!!! It was expected to arrive last Friday, but it's still not ready. :-(

It's 11:17PM Tuesday here, and I haven't slept much since we left our house Monday morning at 8am. I'm exhausted and very much looking forward to sleeping tonight!

Please also pray for Selah (our baby), as she hasn't been sleeping well AT ALL. She's home with our family, but Mattie and Meribeth are taking turns getting up with her each night. That's exhausting, too.

Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. We truly are most grateful!

Changes and Blessings

2012-01-07T10:00:00.001-06:00

The only thing constant is change! This Ukrainian adoption has been, by far, our most unpredictable adoption. The plan, as of now, is that we will leave Monday morning for Ukraine. Please pray for the head minister to return our paperwork to the SDA (Ukrainian department of adoption) so that we will be able to sign the required documents Wednesday, January 11.

Jan. 11th is the first day for the SDA to re-open for adoption appointments, but our facilitator was working on getting us in earlier to sign a necessary document that she expected would be ready last Friday. It’s still not ready, but it’s out of anyone’s control, except God’s. Just waiting on the head minister to return our paperwork to the SDA, but God knows when that will be, and His timing is always perfect, even when it might not feel that way.

January is filled with holidays in Ukraine. New Year’s Eve/Day is their big celebration. The orthodox Christmas is January 7, and the governmental offices shut down for a big chunk of time to celebrate the holidays. Our facilitator said that many people are working on days they normally would not, but no one can do anything without the required paperwork that is now with the head minister.

Didn’t I just write that God’s timing is always perfect, even when it might not feel that way? Yes, this we know. He is even sovereign over the head minister’s vacation days, and every detail of this adoption has been ordained by God. Praise Him!

As we wait, God has provided for our family so abundantly. With my mom’s recent and unexpected passing, I wasn’t sure what God would do to meet the needs of our family while Matt and I are in Ukraine, but I was sure He had a plan. My mom wouldn’t be here to watch our kids, she wouldn’t be able to cook our meals, she wouldn’t be here to drive our kids to appointments and church and activities, she wouldn’t be here, period.

But, guess what? Our meal calendar is almost full! God has provided people to oversee the kids, as well as our home and ranch. He has provided drivers, He has provided meals, He has provided for our children’s education, He has provided for our finances, He has provided for every single need. He is our Jehovah Jireh, our provider.

But, guess what? God didn’t stop with fulfilling just the needs. He went over the top to also abundantly provide for our wants. Because our home wasn’t stocked for two more little ones, we were in ~~need~~ want of 2 more of everything “baby/toddler”! The director of the Down Syndrome Association of San Antonio contacted me to let me know that she has prayed for our family and read our blog since Chrissie was in the hospital in April/May 2010! She offered to help our family in any way, and she asked members of the DSASA to donate items to bless our family and welcome our two newest sons!

God and the DSASA went over the top, didn’t they?!?! The director took these snapshots of the items that were donated to our family. She collected all of the items at the DSASA office, and Matt went and picked them up yesterday. There are some of the coolest toys in this collection that we’ve ever seen! (Keifer and Ella have been entertained all morning!) Incredible! Thank you to everyone who donated items, our family is deeply touched by your generosity!

God has moved even more people to donate, in addition to what’s already been donated (in the photos above)! God already has everything lined up, just as He always does. It’s incredible to watch His plan unfold. Just incredible. We feel over-the-top blessed. Thank you ALL for supporting our family with your prayers, gifts, and service. We love you and are so grateful for you all!!! We seriously could not do this without you.

I’ve been completely blown away as I’ve watched God arrange for a variety of people to meet our family’s needs, as well as our wants. Jehovah Jireh has provided abundantly. Thank you for being His hands and feet. Words cannot express our gratitude adequately. You have blessed us beyond measure.

Thank you!

Catching up on Life

2012-01-03T15:18:00.002-06:00

Well, life’s been a little sad around here since my mom went to heaven unexpectedly Dec. 23. This has been the most unpredictable Christmas ever, which began when Matt and Mattie went to Ukraine. We didn’t expect them to be home in time to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, so we mentally prepared that we would celebrate it on whatever day God would allow once our family was all together again.

We decided not to do anything “Christmasy”, like look at all of the beautiful lights in the Texas hill country, while Matt and Mattie were gone to Ukraine. We would save all Christmas traditions and activities until we could be together as a family. Matt and Mattie arrived home December 22, with family excitement that we would all be together again. We began making Christmas plans, which began with attending the local Christmas Eve-Eve service, which is such a lovely time of worshipping our Lord of lords.

Immediately following the church service Dec. 23, we went to look at the lights at our local outdoor light festival, which is our family tradition. It was around 8:30PM (just minutes after after our arrival to the outdoor light park) when I pulled out my phone to take a photo of the kids together at the Trail of Lights.

When I pulled my phone out, I saw that I’d missed several calls and texts. My older brother’s text immediately caught my eye, as it read, “Call me ASAP, ASAP, ASAP, ASAP, ASAP.” My heart immediately started racing, knowing something was wrong.

I listened to my brother’s voice mail, before making any calls, because it was such a loud environment that I didn’t think I would be able to hear anyone. My brother’s message was simply asking me if I had talked to Mom that day. (He didn’t realize what had happened when he left that message, he was simply inquiring because my mom hadn’t made it out to our ranch, like she had planned, so he was wondering if she’d stopped by my house or if I’d talked to her.) Then I listened to my dad’s voice mail, which was S-H-O-C-K-I-N-G. In his panic-stricken, shocked voice, he notified me that my little brother had found my mom dead in her recliner at our childhood home in Boerne, where she spent much of her time. My dad was being driven to the house by a friend.

SHOCK. Trembling. Tears. Bawling. I frantically called each of my siblings and my dad. We were all call-waiting with one another, each of us in a state of instant grief and utter shock, not even realizing what all was being said, not knowing what to do, or how to do it. We all felt so horrible for my little brother because he was the one who found her, called 911, tried to administer CPR, then waited and completed the process with EMT’s, police, the funeral home representatives, etc. Horrible, just horrible.

Ann Rolling, co-founder of Emily Ann Theatre, saw me as our family rushed away from the Trail of Lights just moments after our arrival. Ann stopped to pray with me. Her mother passed away Dec. 23 several years ago, and she lost her daughter in December several years ago as well (the Emily Ann Theater was founded in memory of her daughter, Emily Ann). Ann said, “Lorraine, the phrase, ‘Home for the holidays’, has a whole new meaning when you lose a loved one during this season. Your mom is truly HOME for the holidays.” Ann prayed over Matt and I, then we loaded into the van and drove away, never completing our mission to look at the lights.

Life went into whatever that season is called when one is tossed into sudden grief and shock. We were *supposed* to have our annual Immel Christmas Eve celebration at our house at 11:30AM, but instead we spent Dec. 24 at the funeral home, picking out burial plots, selecting a casket, and taking care of urgent tasks that one must address the day after a loved one dies.

We went to church Christmas day, then spent the afternoon at Matt’s parent’s house. We didn’t do Christmas at our home, as we had decided we would have our family Christmas Dec. 31. Mattie mentioned to me that while she thought this would be her worst Christmas ever, she was surprised to discover this was one of her best Christmases ever because there was nothing to take the focus off of Jesus. Worshiping Jesus on Christmas Day was wonderful.

My sister and I, along with my dad and brothers, spent Dec. 26 taking care of the rest of the funeral details. There’s so much to do when planning a funeral, from purchasing the burial plot, casket, burial dress/outfit for my mom, picking out hymns, order of service, casket spray, writing the obituary, putting together the bulletin for the service…gosh, there’s just lots to do in a very short amount of time.

Dec. 27 was the visitation, and Dec. 28 was the funeral. Sad times for everyone. I was able to visit with my mom’s cardiologist, as well as the nurse for her pacemaker doctor, and they did an interrogation of the pacemaker, which gives a detailed report of all heart activity. It was determined that my mom died of ventricular tachycardia, a condition where the heart races, which is the opposite of what my mom’s previous heart issues had been. She died a very quick and peaceful death at the age of 67. While we all wish she had been granted many more years on this earth, we know she is now worshipping Jesus face to face, with her brown-eyed granddaughter by her side. Joy. Pure joy, for them.

I want to thank everyone who attended my mom’s funeral and/or visitation. So many of you went out of your way to support our family, and we are grateful. Here are a couple of photos taken the day of my mom’s funeral, at the cemetery:

Selah trying to play peek-a-boo.

Adoption reality set in Dec. 29, my first day to be home since my mom went to heaven. Our Ukrainian adoption facilitator reminded me of all of the adoption paperwork that I needed to get done, changed, updated, etc. in order to adopt our two newest sons, who have Down syndrome. It was a whirlwind of a day, getting tons of paperwork taken care of. It almost felt like starting the adoption paper chase over again, but the hard work is so very worth it.

I spent Dec. 30 getting all of the new paperwork notarized and apostilled, then sent via FedEx overnight to Ukraine. Everything was supposed to arrive in Ukraine Jan. 5 (more time required due to the holidays), but I received word this morning that our paperwork arrived today, Jan. 3! Only God!

With that news came the news that we need to be in Kiev, Ukraine by this Monday, January 9!!! I will be traveling with my husband on this trip. We’re both so excited to meet the boys, in fact, our entire family is waiting with eager anticipation of their arrival. Meanwhile, we’re trying to transform our home into a safe and fun place for two new little boys (both age 6, but the size of infants), who most likely don’t know how to sit, crawl, walk, or eat solid foods yet due to spending 6 years in an orphanage. We’re gathering toys, climbers, high chairs, car seats, etc., trying to prepare for their arrival. The Lord is blessing us abundantly with His provisions.

There’s much to gather and much work to be done, but our God is so very faithful. He is meeting all our needs, and beyond, and I know He will continue to equip us. While I thought my mom would be helping us with the boys (as well as while Matt and I are in Ukraine), I know He has a plan to provide help and support, according to His good and perfect will. We praise Him for all He has done and continues to do.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Betty Jean Denton Immel

2011-12-28T11:00:00.001-06:00

In loving memory of my mom:

Betty Jean Denton Immel passed away peacefully in her home in Boerne, Texas, on December 23, 2011, of suspected heart failure. She was born on October 15, 1944 in New Braunfels, Texas, to the late Viola and Alton Denton, Sr.

Although New Braunfels was her first home, she grew up on various Air Force bases around the United States and Guam. She graduated from Lee High School in San Antonio, Texas in 1962. She met her husband, Larry, while working at USAA, and they married May 23, 1964.

Betty was a devoted, stay-at-home mom to four children: Trisha, John, Lorraine, and David. Once her youngest child reached preschool age, she became a preschool teacher and earned her Associate’s Degree in Montessori Education. She dedicated the remainder of her life to what she did best, loving and teaching children.

Later in her life, Betty developed an interest in genealogy and worked tirelessly to research her family roots. Her extensive research earned her a prestigious award from the Genealogical Society of Kendall County.

Betty always enjoyed being outdoors, gardening and planting flowers, but most of all she loved children. She taught preschool through May 2011. Instead of teaching this fall, she focused fully on her 16 grandchildren, 11 of whom were adopted from around the world. She had the capacity to make each child feel uniquely special and unconditionally loved. What a blessing it was for each of her grandchildren to have Nana’s undivided attention in the months before God took her Home.

Not only did Nana love her own children and grandchildren passionately but she had a heart for orphans around the world, giving generously to support orphan care.

Betty is survived by her husband of 47 years, Larry K. Immel; children Trisha and husband, Chris Huddleston, John, Lorraine and husband Matt Patterson, David and wife Bonnie; grandchildren Nate and Nicholas Huddleston, Naomi, Parker, Meribeth, Mattie, Sawyer, Asher, Ella, Conner, Cooper, Kiefer, and Selah Patterson, Henley and Mia Immel; sister Shirley and husband Kenneth Booth; sister-in-law Karen and husband George Foster; various nieces, nephews, and cousins, including one very special cousin, Mary Louise Wunderlich.

The family would like to thank you for your prayers, love, and support and ask that memorial contributions be made to Eagle’s Nest International (Guatemalan orphan ministry), PO Box 3213, Wichita, Kansas 67202, designate in memo: In Memory of Betty Immel, or give online at www.EaglesNestInt.org.

Betty Jean Denton Immel

10/15/1944 – 12/23/2011

Dear Mom,

You were the best mom and Nana a child could ever ask for, always thinking about others before yourself, giving tirelessly and loving generously. Thanks for all the sacrifices you made in your life to make ours better. As your children, we have truly been blessed. Your legacy of love will carry on for generations to come.

With Much Love,
Your children and grandchildren

“…if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” -1 John 4:12b

A Joyous Message

2011-12-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

Today is the day of visitation for those who want to pay respects to my mom, Betty Immel. Here is info for all interested on her services:

Visitation Dec. 27 from 6-8PM at Vaughan's Funeral Home, 319 East San Antonio Avenue Boerne, TX 78006. Phone (830) 249-9128. Funeral Dec. 28 at 11AM at St. John's Lutheran Church, 315 E. Rosewood, Boerne, TX 78006. Phone (830) 249-3651.

Amidst our sorrow, God continues to speckle my day with joy. Joy of the children He has blessed me with, joy of the memories of my mom loving my children unconditionally and passionately, joy of the encouragement my mom sent me regularly, joy in knowing how supportive and helpful she would have been with our two newest lovies, who happen to have Down syndrome.

ABC World News with Diane Sawyer featured a Utah family who adopted a child with Down syndrome from Ukraine, found through Reece’s Rainbow. Click H ERE to read that article and view the video ABC viewed last night. It brought joy to my heart to see God’s highlight on one family who are like so many other “hidden angels” (as Diane Sawyer refers to them) who have adopted or are in the process of adopting children with Down syndrome. I feel so very blessed that God has chosen this path for our family, and, quite frankly, we are all very excited and eager to get our newest boys home.

This morning, a friend forwarded a message to me that deeply touched my heart regarding children with Down syndrome. We cannot wait to get these boys home. I have a feeling my mom’s legacy of love will continue to live through our newest treasures. In fact, I’m quite sure of it.

Here’s the article my friend sent me. I encourage you to read it in its entirety, as it is such a joyous message that I pray will bless and educate you in the same way it did me.

Children with Down Syndrome Bring Joy

by Barbara Curtis

“Wouldn’t the world be a better place if every family had a kid with Down syndrome?”

I’ll never forget my 9-year-old son Matt saying this one day – really less a question than a statement of how our family had changed since Jonny, our #8, was born with Down syndrome in 1992. We were all surrounding Jonny on the floor that day, alternating tickling and tummy-kisses with stretches, compression and massage to build his muscle tone, working to prepare him to walk independently.

As I looked around at my children, my heart swelled. There was no denying that we were different – individually and collectively. Yes, indeed, the world was a better place since Jonny was born, and we were better people – more compassionate, tender, patient, sensitive, giving – with a truer perspective on what mattered most in life.

I thought of this recently when the news broke of the latest test for Down syndrome – a simple blood draw at 10 weeks – hailed as a vast improvement over amniocentesis, which involves a long needle into the belly at 15-20 weeks and carries a risk of miscarriage. While over 90% of prenatally-diagnosed cases of Down syndrome currently result in abortion, since only 2% of pregnant women opt for this risky procedure, many babies with Down syndrome have continued to make it out of the womb alive.

But now a simple blood test could change everything. While it’s one thing to receive a diagnosis while holding a sweet and cuddly baby, it’s another to get a phone call when you’re barely into maternity clothes. Fear and compromise creep in, especially with pressure from doctors and geneticists insisting that the birth of a child with Down syndrome will bring suffering to all concerned – to the parents, the baby, and especially the siblings, whose quality of life will suffer from having a brother or sister who is somehow “less than.”

But are they truly “less than”? On November 14, USA Today carried a column by Brian Skotko, a physician at Children's Hospital Boston, titled Will America cull people with Down syndrome?in which he cited a study concluding:

99% of parents say they truly love their son or daughter with Down syndrome; 88% of brothers and sisters say they are better people because of their sibling with Down syndrome. People with Down syndrome themselves spoke up, too: 99% are happy with their lives, and 97% like who they are. My sister with Down syndrome certainly does. (I often wonder: How many Americans can say the same?)

Some may wonder how a child considered “less than” by most of society could have that kind of impact. All I can do is share our family’s experience.

Yes, meeting Jonny’s early needs refined our character, built a stronger unity and gave us a sense of purpose. But through the years it became obvious that God had a purpose for Jonny’s life as well. After all, he was the one who brought out the good in everyone – simply by being himself. His public school kindergarten teacher, after 30-plus years of teaching, said she’d never seen children as loving and caring as Jonny’s classmates. The secret, she said, was Jonny. When he graduated from her class, she wrote us: “As the Bible says, ‘The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ Jonny certainly taught the children and me to look at the heart; for he has a very big heart!”

Fast forward to his senior year of high school, when Jonny was voted Homecoming King by his peers. Shocking? Only if you haven’t seen it already in your community or on the nightly news. It’s a growing trend across the country – individuals with Down syndrome elected as Homecoming Kings and Queens noted by USA Today.

A giant step forward for humanity – especially when you consider that babies with Down syndrome were routinely institutionalized (on the advice of doctors who used the same arguments used today to push abortion), and just 20 years ago their school experience was limited typically to separate trailers and buses.

While the theory of inclusion was that kids of lesser ability could benefit from side-by-side education with their “normal” peers, what no one realized was that the “normal” kids would benefit from rubbing elbows with those who’d been stigmatized for generations before. Nowadays, it’s smiles and high-fives for people like Jonny. And voting for special classmates for Homecoming King or Queen isn’t really a stretch at all for kids who’ve grown up as Ms. Bessie described – more loving and caring because they were introduced to people who were just a little different too early to develop the fears their parents had.

And yet fear abounds among the current baby-bearing generation. Most did not grow up with inclusion and are vulnerable to the doom and gloom offered by those medical professionals who preach heartache rather than hope: Your life will be complicated, they have medical problems, they will drain your finances, they will ruin the quality of life for your other children. Better just to end this pregnancy and try again – as though life were just a roulette wheel.

But life is not a roulette wheel and people expecting a baby with Down syndrome are not losers.

Ask Lisa about how her brother Stephen has affected her life:

My sister Julie and I are only 17 months apart in age. We were 10 and 11 ½ years old when our brother Stephen was born (with Down syndrome). Once my sister and I were grown and married, we both went on to adopt children who have Down syndrome because of Stephen’s amazing impact on our lives.

Stephen is sweet, kind, compassionate, helpful, encouraging, loving, sensitive and fun. The person most likely to put others’ needs first. He brings joy to everyone he meets and he is my favorite person.

Stephen has always given me a different window or perspective into seeing what God is like and how He knows more about what is important than the world. IF the world thinks that people who have Down syndrome are “handicapped,” then surely God sees the rest of us as “handicapped” in a way that people with Down syndrome are free from. I believe that people who have Down syndrome are freed from much of the worldliness and selfishness that typical people become entangled with.

If my brother had never been born, I am sure my family would lack the sense of warmth and connection that Stephen brings. We love each other and I know we would still be close, but Stephen is like the extra glue that brings more joy to our relationships and times together.
I believe the gift that God gave my family by giving us a child/ brother with Down syndrome was one of the most amazing gifts we could ever have received. I only wish more people could experience this overwhelming gift, and see it as just that.
Down syndrome has brought only blessings to my life!

If only people like Lisa could deliver the results of the new blood test! If only parents could be given hope instead of heartache with the news that their child will be a little different than they might have planned! If only all parents could trust this mysterious part of God’s plan!

Barbara Curtis and her husband Tripp have 12 children - including three sons with Down syndrome adopted after Jonny's younger sister Maddy was born. Barbara is author of 9 books, including Lord, Please Meet Me in the Laundry Room: Heavenly Help for Earthly Moms, and she blogs daily at MommyLife.net.

Hand in Hand

2011-12-25T06:47:00.001-06:00

A friend made this video of Chrissie about a week ago, out of the blue, as a gift to me and my family. In this video, the second photo is of Chrissie and my mom, holding hands. The words say, "took my hand". The photo is of Chrissie and my mom walking together, hand in hand. I cannot help but imagine this image of our princess Chrissie and her Nana walking together, hand in hand, in Paradise.

Happy birthday, Jesus. This year you've got not only one, but two of earth's greatest treasures with you to celebrate your special day. While we wish they were both still here on earth with us, we know from experience what blessings Nana and Chrissie are. Can't wait for the day that ALL of us are in heaven together, rejoicing with Jesus.

Thank you, Anastasia, for making this video. We will forever treasure it!

My Mom’s with Jesus

2011-12-24T00:57:00.001-06:00

I truly cannot believe that I’m writing this post. My mom is now in heaven, most likely playing with Chrissie. She passed away Dec. 23 unexpectedly at the age of 67. We don’t know the cause of death yet, but we’re suspecting her heart. She had a heart attack 9 years ago, had open-heart surgery, had a pace-maker installed, and was doing great, as far as we knew.

My mom is the sweet grandma pictured above with all of her grandkids on her 67th birthday, October 15, 2011. She was the best Nana any grandkid could ask for, so giving, loving, selfless, always putting others before herself. Always. My mom always LOVED kids, and she loved them well. My children were so blessed to have her as their Nana, even if it was for a shorter time than we would have all liked. I wish she could have met her newest grandsons, as she would have made them feel like the most treasured children on the planet. I’m sure of it. She would have helped me love on them, teach them, encourage them, and cherish them. She was good at that.

This is what my brother, John, wrote on my mom’s Facebook wall on her birthday:

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday once again today. To the best mom a son or daughter could ever ask for, always thinking about others before yourself. Thanks for all the the sacrifices you have made in your life to make ours better. As your children, we have truly been blessed. I hope you enjoyed your day. Happy Birthday.

That pretty much sums up how we all feel/felt about my mom. I cannot believe she’s in heaven now. As my dear friend, Ann Rolling said, “HOME for the holidays” has a whole new meaning.

We are so very grateful for your prayers. My little brother is the one who found my mom, so lift him up, as I truly cannot imagine. We were supposed to have our annual Immel Christmas Eve celebration in our home today. Instead, we are meeting with the funeral home.

Urgent prayers needed

2011-12-23T20:42:00.001-06:00

My mom just died. Please pray.

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

Rainbow Miracles

2011-12-22T06:27:00.001-06:00

Matt and Mattie will arrive home this afternoon from Ukraine. They won’t have any children with them, but they will have a richer heart than when they left Dec. 12.

God has us on a wild journey, but His faithfulness and sovereignty prevails. He is good all the time, and all the time, He is good.

Vlad and Dima’s bio aunt is not changing her mind. She isn’t filing for custody of the boys due to fear of the boys coming to America, she is filing for custody because she loves them. She wants them to be her sons. She has been actively involved in their lives for much longer than we have, and she truly loves them, just as we do.

The bio aunt shared her address and phone number with us, and she welcomes us to stay involved in the lives of Vlad and Dima. We are welcome to call her, and even visit if we would like to. And, if things don’t work out, the boys would like to come live with us. We all feel a peace about this decision. A peace that passes all understanding.

As hard as it is to let go of our “sons”, boys who we felt were meant to be a part of our family, we know this is God’s will, and His will is always better than we can fathom. Vlad and Dima will always be sons in our hearts, even if they’re not in our home.

Vlad and Dima will have a forever family, just not our family.

God is good.

As you know, Matt met two other boys, ages 11 and 13, on Monday, Dec. 19. Through much prayer and discussion, we felt God was not leading us to adopt these two boys. It was really sad to feel like we were rejecting them, as we’ve never been in this position before, but God had a plan for these boys as well.

When Matt was at the orphanage in Mariupol visiting these boys, a Ukrainian foster family who had formerly expressed interest in these boys just happened to stop by to see the boys. They saw that an American family was visiting with the boys. The very next day, this Ukrainian family petitioned to foster these boys in their family, in their culture, in their community. They were not rejected, they were chosen, just by a different family.

These two boys will have a forever family, just not our family.

God is good.

So that left us with the question of WHO does God want us to adopt?!?! We had been praying for 10 days for God to show us specifically who He wanted us to adopt, if it wasn’t supposed to be Vlad and Dima. Countless emails came in from people who were advocating for specific orphans in Ukraine. We looked at countless faces, countless stories, countless orphans, all deserving of a forever family, yet none of them seemed like “the ones” God wanted us to adopt.

God reminded us of our calendar’s scripture, quote, and photo for December 15, the day of our original SDA appointment, the day we were SHOCKED to find out that our host sons were not adoptable. They were the reason my husband was in Ukraine. They were the reason we even had an SDA appointment. We were NOT prepared to discover the news that the SDA officials shared on that day.

Once we finally came to peace with the decision that Vlad and Dima were to live with their aunt, believing this is God’s will for them at this time, we recalled the calendar message from December 15, along with the significance of the photo. If you’ll recall, God spoke to us often using rainbows with our Serbian princess, Chrissie. The calendar quote was significant in itself, but to be accompanied by a rainbow photo, well that just put Chrissie all over it. (We now associate rainbows not only with God’s covenant, but with Chrissie as well.)

When one door closes on us, another usually opens. The trouble is that we often look with so much regret and longing upon the closed door that we do not see the one which is open for us.

Well, we could not see the open door because we were looking in all the wrong places. We were looking for typical children, a mere substitute for Vlad and Dima. Perhaps a couple of healthy children, maybe even 4 children, but they’d be healthy, for sure. Just like Vlad and Dima. God began to show us that His best was not a mere substitute for Vlad and Dima. His best was something we had not even been considering.

God spoke through our calendar quote, scripture, and photo for December 20, the day we found out that Vlad and Dima would for sure be going with their aunt. What do you know? Another rainbow. (This is NOT a calendar filled with rainbow photos, I promise!)

Your best bet is to stake everything you’ve got on God, and you’ll come out a winner—that’s a 100% guarantee!
“I will put my trust in Him” –Hebrews 2:13

God had been asking us to stop looking at typical kids and open our eyes to something much bigger. Something much more grand than what we ever fathomed. Something that would give God more glory than we ever could.

God told my husband he was in Ukraine to rescue a child (or two). Those rainbows in the calendar photos not only reminded us of Chrissie, and how God told us He would be using Chrissie to “hunt” in heaven (for orphans and lost souls, uniting orphans with their forever families), but it also reminded us of the organization God used to bring Chrissie into our family: Reece’s Rainbow.

We hadn’t looked on Reece’s Rainbow’s site for our possible children, mainly because we’d spent so much time focused on a mere substitute for Vlad and Dima, typical, healthy, “normal” kids.

Well, lo and behold, God showed us our children, the very children He had chosen all along, He just had to align things in such a way that would get us to these precious children. Children in desperate need of rescue. Children who would be transferred to an adult mental institution in a matter of days, a place no child should have to spend one minute in, much less the rest of their lives. Children that were being prayed for by others, that God would make a miracle happen for these precious children, yet we had no idea anyone was praying for these boys. We didn’t even realize at the time the magnitude of all the intricate details God had so miraculously woven together to get us to our sons.

God is good!

We are so very excited to announce to you today that God has chosen us to be the forever family to two precious boys found via Reece’s Rainbow:

OLEG and SHANE for the Patterson family — Wimberley, TX

These precious boys are God’s best for our family, something far better than we ever fathomed. Both boys are six-years-old, both boys live in the same orphanage in Ukraine, and both boys have Down syndrome. Both boys are TINY, both boys were within days of being transferred to an adult mental institution, and both boys were in desperate need of an immediate forever family. Both boys are now chosen and cherished.

God is good!

The SDA is closing for the holidays, so Matt and Mattie are on their way home!!! They’ll be home for Christmas! On January 2, 2012, our facilitator will submit our request for a new SDA appointment, to specifically request the official referral of these boys. Matt and I will return to Ukraine together in January 2012 to go get our newest sons!!!

And, guess what? There’s another family in Ukraine right now, adopting a boy from the exact same groupa as our sons, and this is what she emailed me:

I got to hold your boys today!!! Oh Lorraine!!! What a BLESSING these boys will be to your FAMILY!!!! Both boys held right on - they didn't want me to let them go. Shane weighs more than Oleg for sure. Shane is solid - Oleg is teeny tiny! Oleg laughs - Oh my it is a beautiful laugh. Shane smiles and my heart lit right up. Shane is strong, I could feel his strength. Oleg has very low muscle tone I imagine but his eyes light up like you wouldn't believe. I am absolutely in LOVE with your boys!

I wanted you to know that the caregivers told us today that they were about to be transferred to institution but the Director put a stop to it today!!! Isn't that just so amazing!!!! Oh My Gosh!!!!! So the Director is holding these beautiful boys for you!!! Oh My!!! I can't even believe this Miracle!!!! Witnessing it is something I will always cherish!!!!!

Yep, GOD IS GOOD!!!!

A Testimony Worth Watching

2011-12-21T06:33:00.000-06:00

This is what can happen in America when an unborn baby is diagnosed with Down syndrome.
*****

This is what can happen in Eastern European countries when a child is diagnosed with Down syndrome (video above).

*****

And this is what can happen when a child with Down syndrome grows up in a loving Christian family (video above).

Hallelujah!

Beauty from Ashes

2011-12-20T17:16:00.001-06:00

Thank you all for praying for our family and Vlad and Dima. God is in the process of creating more beauty from ashes, but nothing is finalized yet, so I’m not at liberty to share.

Vlad and Dima will not become Pattersons at this time. God has a plan.

He’s slowly and oh-so-graciously revealing it.

I promise to share more just as soon as I’m able.

Keep praying for more beauty from ashes.

Trusting our loving and sovereign Savior.

Prayer for Mountains to be Moved

2011-12-19T06:47:00.000-06:00

OK, I think God might be up to something here, and I need your prayers. Please read through this post and join me in praying, if God leads you to do so.

We know that Vlad and Dima’s bio aunt has filed for custody of the boys. While I once thought that was a good thing, I have come to believe it might not be God’s plan for them. Apparently both the director of the orphanage, as well as the local inspector (similar to a social worker) who is in charge of the boys, are concerned about Vlad and Dima going to live with their aunt. That made me feel even more unsettled and conflicted than I was already feeling.

Then I read the email that I’m posting below. The email was written to Matt by one of my children Sunday night:

I am so glad you got to see Vlad and Dima! I really really miss them. I just wanted to let you know that I think that the reason you are in Ukraine right now is to get VLAD and DIMA!! I really really feel that they ARE part of our family and that it IS Gods will for them to be in our family. I want to tell you that about 3 or 4 months ago I had a dream and it was the most vivid real dream I have ever had. I woke up crying from my sleep because I was so happy that Vlad and Dima were home. In the dream I walked down the stairs and into the round room and Vlad and Dima walked through the door with you (also this is before I even knew that you would go to Ukraine trying to get them) and they ran and hugged me and never let me go and Vlad said "I love you brother" over and over as I bawled my eyes out. I feel like if God has ever told me anything in a dream it was this because a few nights earlier I told God I wanted to love something so much that I could cry with Joy over it. I had realized that I had never cried for joy before so I asked God for the ability to love someone so much that I could cry with joy over them. So a few nights later I had that dream and it was like God woke me up and told me "you want to love someone with such compassion that you cry for joy when you hold them, then remember Vlad and Dima...'' I feel very strongly that it is God’s will for Vlad and Dima to live in our house, so I think you should do everything in your power to find and talk to Vlad's aunt before you go to look at other children. I'm not saying these other kids don’t deserve to be adopted because I feel very certain that they do need to be adopted but I strongly feel that our role in this should be to advocate for and help these other kids be adopted. Just remember that we love you and are praying for you and that God is fighting for these boys to come home.

OK, so go ahead and rip my heart out of my chest. I did NOT know about this story that was shared via email with my husband. A copy of it was sent to my inbox where my jaw hit the floor as I read it.

Then, a few minutes after reading this email, my friend Stephanee called to encourage me to have Matt visit with the aunt in person before he makes any other decisions. OK, I get the message, God, I’ll try to relay that message to Matt.

I emailed Matt my opinion about things, and I also texted him several times (with the 8 hour time difference, it’s a little challenging to communicate), but I never heard back from him. I figured he was in church and he would call me when it was over. But I didn’t hear from him at that time either, so I tried to call him. But his phone wouldn’t ring and the call wouldn’t go through. So I texted Tara to ask where he was and she said he was fixing to board the train with Mattie to head to Mariupol. UGH! I was hoping he’d be able to head to the Sumy region to hunt down the aunt before he went anywhere else.

I finally got a hold of Matt, but they were already traveling on the train, heading to Mariupol. Go figure, his cell phone worked while traveling on a train, yet not when standing still! Ugh! I read the email aloud that one of my children sent to Matt so he could know what it said since he didn’t have internet access. Then our phone call got cut off.

Then about 15 hours later, my phone rang (at 12:30PM CST), and it was Matt! His phone was working again and they were fixing to get off the train. We wished each other a happy anniversary, then quickly discussed the situation.

I had received an email message shortly before I talked to Matt that I felt was significant, so I read it to him:

I just started following your blog. I have a pretty good idea what you are feeling. We had serious issues with birth family...but it all worked out. Not knowing God's will for sure is the worst part of it. Is it a test or is it God telling you to change directions? Ugh! I will tell you that I think our hurdles were all about ultimately ending up with not only our two adopted daughters but also an extended family including biomom. In less than a year's time, our daughter's half sister has come to know Jesus and we were blessed with the opportunity to save the life of biomom and her unborn child. I could go on but I am travelling and typing on my phone. No one can decipher God's will for you but you but I would do everything I could to find the aunt and talk to her. Our girls Grandma (who worked at their orphanage) and biomom (who saw them weekly) were terrified and ready to stop the adoption at all cost. Once they understood who we were and that we weren't going to hurt the girls things quickly changed. We now call Ukraine weekly and love them all! Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on but felt the need to share.
By the way, we met the Airharts in Kiev along with the first Tara. They are wonderful and they know our story.

Matt only had a few minutes to visit before he had to get off the train, but he decided he would most likely go meet the 2 boys in Mariupol he received the referral for since he and the translator are now in Mariupol, but then he wants to find a way to get to the Sumy region to try to find the aunt. Right now, we don’t have any information on the aunt, but we are going to pray that if God wants Matt to find the aunt, He will guide Matt to her.

There is apparently going to be a trial to decide if the aunt gets custody. We don’t know the date of her trial, but it could be this week. (Someone at the SDA office apparently mentioned her trial is this week.) Would you please join me in praying that if God wants Matt to visit with the bio aunt, that He would move mountains to make this happen?!?! And if God does NOT want the boys to stay with their aunt, that He would reveal His will to the aunt and change her heart to embrace His will? Pray that the aunt would have her eyes opened to the truth about our family. We love Vlad and Dima and want God’s best for them. If it is God’s will for the boys to stay with their aunt, we want to embrace that and support them. If it His will for the boys to become Pattersons, we would like to keep the aunt updated and stay in communication with her. Ultimately, we just want God’s will to be done, but we feel we must do everything we can to meet with the aunt before her court date so we know we did everything we humanly could to try to adopt Vlad and Dima. If the aunt doesn’t change her mind before court, and the judge rules in favor of the aunt having custody, that will be a permanent decision. If the aunt is stable, competent, kind, caring and able to properly care for the boys, we need to support her in that, but if that is not God’s plan, well, we just pray He will move mountains to make His will be done. His will be done. Period.

Please join us in prayer. Thank you!!!

19 Years

2011-12-19T01:03:00.001-06:00

On this day 19 years ago, I married my very best friend. I never dreamt back then that in 2011, my husband would be in Ukraine without me on our anniversary, living out James 1:27. I had never even read the verse about caring for orphans back then, nor would I have even cared about it, frankly.

In fact, when we got married, I wanted to have 4 kids and Matt wanted to have 2. We settled on 3. But God had other plans, and there is no “settling” with God. There’s obedience and there’s disobedience. Period.

How grateful I am that God had other plans for us. I would have missed out on many of His abundant blessings had I stuck with the compromise my husband and I made of having 3 children. He had SO MUCH MORE planned for us than I ever could have fathomed, and the same holds true for our future. He has SO MUCH MORE planned for us in the days to come, more than we can possibly fathom. How great is our God!

Before I met Matt, I seriously thought I would never find the man of my dreams. I had a list in my mind of everything my husband would be. You know what the very top thing on the list was? He would have to LOVE children. Yep. That was #1. (It should have been that my husband would adore Jesus, but somehow that didn’t make it in the #1 spot. Sigh. Praise God that He delivered me a man who adores Jesus, even though I hadn’t put that in the #1 slot.)

The summer of 1990, I learned about Matt when I was working as a camp counselor in San Marcos, Texas. Matt’s sister, Pam, was my campus director, and she talked so highly of her brother, Matt. When I learned that Matt was spending his summer as a camp counselor in Pennsylvania, I was mesmerized. Could it possibly be that this guy was REAL?!?! He seemed to have every single quality from that list I’d created in my mind since childhood. This guy seemed too good to be true.

Well, Matt came knocking on my apartment door in August 1990, the day after he arrived home from his job as a camp counselor in Pennsylvania, and the rest is history. He really IS the man of my dreams! He met every single criteria on my mental list, but, what I never ever imagined is that he would be SO MUCH MORE than that silly little list I’d concocted. I am so undeserving of this man who loves kids, loves Jesus, loves me, and loves others wholeheartedly. I never feel worthy of this gift I treasure so deeply, but, deserving or not, I thank God regularly for giving me Matt as my husband. I did nothing to deserve this man, yet God chose to unite us as one anyway. So undeserving, just like Jesus’ gift of salvation. So undeserving, yet He freely gives us His gift of eternal life, regardless. God is so good. So, so good.

On this day, I praise God for the gift of my husband of 19 years. I praise Him for all He has done in our lives. I praise Him for growing us into people we once were not. I praise Him for His continuous work in our lives. I praise Him for joining Matt and I as one, until death do us part.

Happy 19th anniversary, Matt! I love you and I miss you and I thank you for traveling halfway around the world as you live out caring for orphans in a way many husbands would never choose to do. You are my hero, and I love you more today than yesterday. Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving kids. Thank you for loving Jesus. You ROCK, Big Daddy! So proud to call you my husband.

The Much Anticipated Visit with Vlad and Dima

2011-12-17T17:45:00.001-06:00

First, I want to thank all of your praying. I feel so overwhelmed by His love with the sheer number of people He has used to bring us His peace. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who has contacted us to let us know you’re praying. Man, a lot of you have come out of “lurking” and stepped into real life!!! It’s been quite amazing to hear from so many of you who are telling me you’ve never left a comment and never emailed, etc., but you’ve been following our journey since Chrissie…some of you even before that. WOW! Thanks for hanging in there through our crazy journeys!

I apologize that I’m not able to keep up with all of your messages, but please know that I am reading each and every message I receive, I just don’t have time to respond. Oh how I wish I could reply to each of you and thank you for praying for us, but please know that even if I never get time to reply to you personally, I am truly grateful for your prayers and support, beyond what my mere words could ever express.

Matt and Mattie’s journey to Ukraine was supposed to start at 4AM, Kiev time, so I started praying (and texting Matt) just about that same time. I never heard back from Matt until a short while ago, about 20 hours from when their journey began!!!

Whew, the anticipation. Waiting to hear from Matt. Not knowing what was happening. Did they get to see Vlad and Dima? Were they safe? What was the outcome? Oh, the suspense was killing me! I finally texted Tara in Kiev to ask if she had heard from Matt. (Matt’s cell phone wouldn’t ring or let me leave a message, and he wasn’t responding to texts, so I wasn’t sure if he was even receiving my texts.)

Tara had talked to Matt for a very short while with a bad cell phone connection, but she promised to have Matt call me the minute he walked into her apartment. Tara shared with me that our sweet friend, Alla (the one who escorted Vlad and Dima to Texas this past summer), had hired a driver to take Matt, Mattie, and Alla to Sumy. (Alla would be the translator and emotional support, prayer warrior, etc. for Matt and Mattie.) Well, the driver was late to pick up Alla, which made them late getting to Matt and Mattie, so the trip started about an hour later than planned.

The original plan was to leave Kiev at 4AM and arrive in Sumy by 9AM. The orphanage kids were supposed to leave at 11AM to see a play, so Matt and Mattie would have from 9-11AM with Vlad and Dima. Matt and Mattie stood outside of the Kiev apartment for about 30 minutes (in the freezing temps!) while waiting on the driver and Alla to arrive, then they saw some “shady” activity, and decided it would be safer to wait indoors. Only the concierge didn’t hear them ringing to get back into the locked apartment building. So they called Tara and woke her up so Tara could let them back in. Around 4:45AM, Alla and the driver arrived and they headed off to Sumy.

About 2 hours into the commute, the driver decided he needed to turn back to Kiev because something was wrong with the wheels on his car and it wasn’t safe to continue the journey. So, they drove another 2 hours back to Kiev, and by this time, it was already close to 9AM, when they SHOULD have already been in Sumy!

So, Alla called the orphanage director to let her know that they would be late…a lot late. The orphanage director decided to keep Vlad and Dima home from the play so they could visit with Matt and Mattie. Praise God! Matt, Mattie, and Alla took a bus/van/shuttle to Sumy and arrived around 2PMish. (Matt said it was NOT a comfortable ride, to put it nicely.)

When they arrived at the orphanage, Vlad and Dima were napping. The orphanage director wanted to visit with Matt before she woke the boys. She explained that she has concerns about the aunt being able to take proper care of Vlad and Dima. She explained that the aunt is only 22-years-old and she has 3 girls, ages 1-5. The aunt stays home and her husband works. The orphanage director assured Matt (with Alla translating everything) that she was in favor of Vlad and Dima being adopted into our family. She does not want to see them go with the aunt, and she said the timing of the aunt stepping forward is purely coincidental, although Vlad most likely told the aunt (upon his return to Ukraine from Texas in August) that we were planning to adopt them. The orphanage director explained that Vlad and Dima have no voice in whether or not they want to live with the aunt. In Ukraine, if a relative petitions for custody, the children do not have any say so.

Then Vlad woke up and came in to the office. Matt said he seemed very conflicted and solemn. Apparently, Vlad felt some responsibility because he signed an agreement to live with the aunt. Vlad didn’t realize that it really didn’t matter whether or not he signed that agreement because his desires don’t matter in this case because it’s a relative wanting custody. After about 20 minutes, Vlad opened up and then became himself again.

Compassionate Vlad

At which time Dima comes into the room, RUNS into Matt’s arms, and embraced him for 20 minutes, never leaving Matt’s arms. Not kidding. Matt said he bawled (Matt bawled). Dima was SOOOOOOOOOO excited to see his daddy. He wanted to leave with Matt at that very moment. He didn’t understand that he couldn’t and wouldn’t be going with Matt. So sad. Dima never left Matt’s lap during the entire visit, except to take photos.

Sweet Dima

Vlad still looks groggy in these pics. Or conflicted. Or both.

Both boys asked about all of their Texas family members. Dima asked if “his” 4-wheeler was fixed. They looked through the photo album we made for them, played with the toys we brought for them, and had a wonderful visit with lots of hugs, laughter, and tears.

They all made an “agreement” (including the orphanage director) that if Vlad and Dima are abused and/or neglected with their aunt, that they will get in touch with the orphanage director. She will step in to help them if that ever happens, and the director has our contact info in case she ever needs it. The boys don’t get to choose where they want to go; they must go with the aunt.

They tried to say goodbye and give goodbye hugs something like five different times before they actually departed with heavy, yet satisfied, hearts. Vlad and Dima will ALWAYS be our children in our hearts, even if they’re not in our home.

Oh how I love these boys. LOVE.

Apparently, there’s a trial sometime this upcoming week to officially put the boys in the custody of the aunt. I’m still praying that if it be God’s will for Vlad and Dima to be with our family, that He will intervene. He is able, but what is His will?!?! Who am I to decide? God’s will be done.

PS Matt wanted to try to visit with the aunt, but apparently no one had her address or phone number. Apparently she doesn’t live within close proximity of the orphanage, and the director was needing to leave for her own birthday celebration. (The director’s husband came to the orphanage and was waiting on her, so there was no time to investigate further.) The orphanage director said she would try to locate the aunt’s contact info for Matt to have, as we always want to stay in touch with Vlad and Dima if at all possible. The boys and the director have our contact information. The boys also said they want to come again this summer to see us, but I have no idea if that’s even possible due to orphan hosting rules/regulations/requirements. No clue. I think I feel conflicted, too. No, I DEFINITELY feel conflicted. God is in control. I am not. I am here for a reason. I cannot do anything but pray. Grateful for God’s leadership, sovereignty, love, and mercy. His grace is sufficient.

Friday’s Latest

2011-12-16T10:39:00.001-06:00

Matt will go back to the SDA today at 4PM (Kiev time, of course), which happens to be right now CST. He will pick up the official letter of permission to visit the 2 boys at the orphanage in Mariupol, then Matt and Mattie will take a 16-hour overnight ride on a train that leaves Sunday afternoon from Kiev to Mariupol.

In the meantime, Matt and Mattie will be going to Sumy at 4AM Saturday to visit with Vlad and Dima!!! We all feel like there needs to be closure for them and us, so our facilitator spoke with their orphanage director and arranged for Matt and Mattie to get to meet with Vlad and Dima for two hours Saturday morning. They will get to give them their gifts from our family, love on them, and say goodbye. The most important thing is that Vlad and Dima will get to witness with their own eyes that Matt upheld his promise to come for them. The scripture God used over and over with this adoption is John 14:18 (hence the adoption fundraiser gear!), “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”

Please pray that if there is any corruption/darkness with the aunt, that it will be revealed, hearts will be changed, and God’s will be done. We’ve heard of stories where an orphanage director did NOT want a child to be adopted, so he/she contacted a relative and told the relative lies about the prospective adoptive family. Then the orphanage director persuades the relative to file a petition for custody in an effort to simply protect the child from the harm of the awful American family. Nice, huh? We don’t know at all if this is the case with Vlad and Dima, but we feel we need to at least meet with the boys and see what God does.

Thank you all for praying. We don’t know what God’s plan is in all of this, but we KNOW He has a plan, a much better plan than anything we can fathom.

Well, that was wild!

2011-12-15T10:37:00.001-06:00

So, here I sit, 6 hours after being awakened in the middle of the night, still not really fully processing what just occurred, nor fully grasping what God has in store, yet fully trusting in His sovereignty.

What we know that we know that we know that we know is that God called us to adopt from Ukraine. Period. He's made that abundantly clear, no questions, if's, and's, or but's.

What we don't know is WHO He wants us to adopt. While we absolutely believed it was Vlad and Dima, apparently God had other plans.

God brought two boys into our family this summer at a time when we weren't expecting it, we fell in love with them, they said they were in love with us, and we thought the rest was history. Ha! Love stories are never that easy, are they?

Vlad and Dima look like us and act like us. They like the things we like, they laugh at the things we laugh at, and they have the most precious, tender, compassionate hearts ever. Oh how I love those boys. They LOVED working alongside Matt, particularly Dima. He was always tinkering with stuff, and he still has a stash of tools and half-disassembled treasures in his fort at our ranch. Vlad loved everyone in our family passionately. He was so tender with Selah and Kiefer. He got along well with everyone, and was truly just a rare gem. There were so many things that confirmed they were Pattersons.

But God had other plans. God most likely knew that we wouldn't just jump into another adoption for any ole kids. He knew our hearts needed to follow in love with Vlad and Dima in order to pursue the paper chase, fundraising, home arranging, and heart preparations necessary for adopting more lovies. During this season of our lives, it took our love for Vlad and Dima to get us to commit to all of the exhausting requirements of international adoption.

In my heart, I'm secretly hoping (and may or may not be praying!) that somehow, some way, Vlad and Dima will become available. Not that I don't want them with their aunt, I just feel a motherly ~~fierceness~~ protection over those boys. They were my sons. I love them. I want to make sure their aunt is stable and will take good care of them.

Our two biological sons feel the same way!!! When I broke the news to them a little while ago, Parker (our 15yo) was angry/upset/sad. He didn't take this lightly. He still believes Vlad and Dima are his brothers. He loves them and wants the best for them.

Sawyer (our 11yo) immediately went into protection mode. He asked all kinds of questions about the aunt. Is she a drunk (common in Ukraine)? Does she love them? Will she meet their needs? How do we know she's OK? Who will verify this? Can Dad go see them and ask Vlad and Dima what they want? Can Dad go make sure they're OK? Sawyer then went on to explain how Vlad had shared with Sawyer some disturbing things about Vlad's bio grandma in Ukraine. Typical Ukrainian stuff, and what he shared with me is probably why Vlad and Dima were removed from their mother's care. Grandma would NOT be a good placement for Vlad and Dima, so then I wonder if this aunt is the daughter of Grandma. Probably. Is she in a better place than Mom and Grandma? I sure hope so. I feel protective, too, but I have to choose to trust in God's sovereignty. He knows what is best for Vlad and Dima. I do not. I can only feel what I feel, and I know not to trust my feelings, but to trust God above all.

So, where do we go from here?

Good question.

With my being in Texas and Matt being in Ukraine, this is a little difficult, but we know God orchestrated it this way for a reason. Matt said the SDA was VERY accommodating and easy to work with. They gave him a HUGE stack of files of children who are available for international adoption. Our facilitator, translator, and Matt went through the files. Matt said there's definitely no shortage of children available. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of waiting children in Ukraine, all available for international adoption.

An internet friend had been advocating for our family to adopt 2 boys whom she hosted in the past. So, those two boys were the first files my husband requested. He truly thought we would adopt them, but the SDA said that their orphanage director recently declared that he is no longer cooperating with any international adoptions. In fact, he posted a sign outside his orphanage that says, "NO MORE FOREIGNERS!"

So, that door closed.

My husband prayed for God to show him who to pursue. Hundreds of possibilities, everything written in Ukrainian. The translator recalled two boys in the Mariupol region of Ukraine who were begging for a family to come for them. She found their files. Matt called me to discuss things. I told him I trust whatever decision God leads him to. Then he discussed a few more files with me, but I had NO sense of direction whatsoever.

Oh, backtrack for a minute with me. I didn't mention that I had woken up at 3:30AM to pray. Then Selah woke at 3:45AM (she's sick right now). Then my cell phone rang at 3:55AM. It was Mattie, using Tara's phone, calling from the pizza joint across from the SDA office, frantically asking me to find the names of the two boys that the American family was wanting us to adopt.

Meanwhile, it is the middle of the night here, so everyone is asleep but Selah and me. Selah wasn't happy. I have very little voice (I'm sick, too), so I'm trying to talk on the phone, get my laptop open to search for the boys' full names, and keep Selah happy. All while still half asleep. Then the internet was out. Not kidding. Couldn't access the links to the two boys because of no internet. Meanwhile, Selah was getting into all kinds of paperwork, tossing it about the room, so I start giving her all kinds of novelties to try to divert her. Things like medicine bottles, dirty shoes, fingernail polish bottles. Yep, all of the things she's not allowed to play with, I start tossing onto the floor to try to keep her occupied!

Then the internet comes back up, so I get to the page with the two boys, only to find it's all in Ukrainian. Somehow the "translate this page" icon was no longer on the page, so I have NO CLUE what the info says. Tara gets on the phone and asks me to describe the Ukrainian characters for her so she can transcribe things and translate as best as possible. So, here I am with a baby playing with all kinds of no-nos, my having very little voice, in a panic to get this info. So, I start describing to Tara what the Ukrainian characters look like. It's comical now. Things like, "OK, this looks like an upside down capital L. Followed by something that looks like a cursive lowercase r." Then Tara says, "Oh, is is a swoop with a straight line over the top and another straight line coming down from that on the right?" Yep, that was it! Only there were at least 50 different characters to translate. Ugh. Then we realize the last names aren't even listed. So we start looking at the region. Back to things like, "OK, this character looks like a capital N with a squiggly line above it. Then a lowercase b character. B as in Boy. H as in Hog. C as in Cat." You know, stuff like that! We finally realize there's an identifying case number, and the numerals are normal numerals. Ahhhh, that would have been so much easier!!!

Then we find out those are the boys whose orphanage director refuses to cooperate.

OK, so who do you want us to adopt, Lord?

So this is when Matt calls me. Did I mention he forgot to take his cell phone, so he's borrowing Tara's cell phone?!?! Thank God for Tara!!! So we discuss several options, and, ultimately, I just leave it all in God's hands. I truly had NO idea who God wanted us to pursue. I thought it was Vlad and Dima!!!

Matt and I hung up, I prayed, got Selah back to sleep at 6AM, prayed some more, and some more, and some more. Broke the news to the kids. Sadness. Then Matt called to tell me that he and Mattie will be taking a 16 hour overnight train ride Sunday afternoon to the region of Mariupol to visit an orphanage there. It's the orphanage where the boys are that our translator recalled during the SDA meeting. Matt just felt that was the best option. He doesn't "have" to adopt these boys (there are two of them, half-brothers, ages 11 and 13), but he wants to go visit with them. Then he can decide if this is what he believes God wants. If he feels it's not what God is asking, He can go back to the SDA to ask for another referral. He can go back to the SDA two more times before our dossier would get kicked out.

That's all I know for now. I'm just praying for God's will to be done. And for our hearts to be soothed as we learn to let go of Vlad and Dima. (And I might just throw in extra prayers that if God does still want us to adopt Vlad and Dima, that He would make a way and make His way known.) Oh goodness, this is just too much. I can't imagine being in Matt's shoes, making these decisions with Mattie instead of with me. But Matt and I both agreed that God orchestrated it this way for a purpose. Matt is LOVING having Mattie with him, and he's comfortable making these decisions. Meanwhile, the rest of us simply wait and pray. And pray some more.

Thank you for joining us in prayer. God has a plan. He always does. Faith is built during trials. It remains stagnant without mountains to climb, hurdles to cross, challenges to face. He's building our faith through this, and the good thing is that we're not in control. At all. We can rest in His peace that passes all understanding, in His sovereignty that is unlike anything we can fathom.

PS Many of you have emailed me about the 15-year-old Ukrainian boy who ages out Dec. 31. We were approved to adopt up to 4 children between the ages of 6-14, so we're not approved for a 15-year-old. :-(

Here's the Deal

2011-12-15T07:11:00.000-06:00

I talked to Matt around 5:30AM CST (1:30PM Kiev time). He said that when he went to the SDA to receive their referral, he was told that Vlad and Dima's aunt filed for custody. There's a hearing in a week to determine if the Ukrainian court will approve her, but there's no reason for her to not be approved. God's hand is all over this, even with curve balls being thrown. Vlad and Dima love their aunt, and she loves them, too, so it appears that God used our pursuit of Vlad and Dima to bring about a positive outcome for their futures by being adopted by their Ukrainian aunt. Being in a family is God's best for each of us, so we're praising God that He is in the process of delivering Vlad and Dima to His chosen forever family, even though that's a different family than ours. God is sovereign and loves Vlad and Dima more than we do, so we trust His will and embrace it as His best for Vlad and Dima.

Apparently the SDA gave Matt a bunch of files of other adoptable children to review. At this time, to my knowledge, Matt has not made a decision about which children he would like to pursue. We're all praying for God to reveal exactly who He has already chosen for our family. We're approved by USCIS (US immigration) to adopt up to 4 kids, ages 6-14.

Please join us in praying for God to reveal His chosen children for our family. We KNOW that God called us to Ukraine; there's too many God details and provision in this for it to not be from God. He's already got some kids picked out for us, we just need to figure out who they are! :-)

Curve Ball

2011-12-15T04:45:00.000-06:00

It's 4:45AM CST. I've been up for over an hour now. The curve ball was thrown a little while ago, so I'm praying for God's will to be done. The SDA did NOT give us the referral for Vlad and Dima. Let me repeat what I know. THE SDA DID NOT GIVE US THE REFERRAL FOR VLAD AND DIMA. Not kidding.

Now we're praying for God to give us His chosen children. I don't know anything else right now. I wasn't even able to talk to Matt, as he's still in the meeting with the SDA. Tara, bless her heart, has been on the phone with me. Crazy story. My voice is gone, our internet is out, the baby is up...it's crazy.

Please pray for God to give us His chosen children. We KNOW He led us on this path. He has lined way too much up for it to not be His will. He just has something different in mind than what we thought!!!

SDA Appointment TODAY, Plus Kiev Pics!

2011-12-15T00:33:00.001-06:00

{Note: Mattie has updates and pics at the bottom of this post, so be sure to read all the way to the end!}

At 12Noon (Kiev time, which is 4AM CST) today (Thursday, Dec. 15), Matt and Mattie will be meeting with the adoption officials of the government of Ukraine, what is known as the SDA. The SDA will be giving Matt their official referral. There have been cases where the SDA has chosen different children than the ones an adoptive family has requested, so we’re praying first that the SDA gives Matt the referral for Vlad and Dima. (By the way, their little brother is NOT available for adoption. I can’t recall if I ever updated everyone on that news.)

The SDA will tell Matt which children they’ve selected for him to adopt, then they will give the files of those children to Matt for his review. (Again, we’re praying the SDA chooses to select Vlad and Dima as their referral for our family; we requested them since we hosted them, but this is not a guarantee.)

After Matt reviews the kids’ files, the SDA will ask Matt if he still wants to adopt them. Matt’s answer will be yes, of course. Then the SDA will tell him to come back Friday, Dec. 16, to pick up the SDA’s official letter of permission to visit the boys.

The SDA office is in Kiev, Ukraine. The boys are in an orphanage in Sumy, Ukraine, about 4-5 hours from Kiev. Because the SDA’s letter of permission to visit the boys won’t be ready until Friday afternoon, Matt and Mattie won’t be able to visit the boys until Monday, December 19. The boys still have NO IDEA that Matt and Mattie are even in Ukraine, nor do they know that we’re still pursuing their adoption!

I want to do a big ole update on all the ways God has provided for us in this adoption. He continues to amaze me. It would be overwhelming to try to record everything in one blog post, and since this post is already going to be long and my time is still very limited, I will stay focused on Matt and Mattie in Kiev for now.

One of the ways God provided for our family came shortly after we announced that we’d be adopting Vlad and Dima. I received an unexpected email from a sweet young mom, Tara, whom I had never met. She explained that she lives in Kiev, Ukraine, and that she would be happy to help our family in any way possible, including offering her home to us in Kiev! (If any of you are still following us from our very first adoption in November 2008, we had the same thing happen with our Colombian adoption. Our psychologist (required testing for Colombian adoptions) just happened to own a home in Bogota, Colombia, and he invited us to stay there for free. I just love the way God works!)

Anyway, Tara went on to explain that she started following our blog back when she was praying for Chrissie, only I had no idea because she had never left a comment or emailed me, so I had no clue that Tara even existed. Tara and her husband and their infant daughter are Americans living in Kiev, Ukraine, and this week, they have become Matt and Mattie’s new best friends!

I cannot even express my gratitude for God’s amazing and abundant provision. His love for us is expressed in so many ways, and right now, His love is being heaped on us through the provision of Team Airhart. This precious family has gone above and beyond to host Matt and Mattie. They picked M&M up from the airport (after some confusion about their arrival time, which was our fault!), fed them lunch, let them snooze the afternoon away on their couch, set them up with wi-fi, and taken them on tours of Ukraine, helping them to experience the culture of Ukraine in an amazing way. There’s nothing better than having sweet, generous, selfless, English-speaking hosts to help clueless Americans transition to a foreign country!!!

On Day 1 of Matt and Mattie’s arrival into Kiev, I must have emailed Tara 10 times!!! I probably appeared to be a “helicopter” mom/wife! I had gotten concerned because Matt texted me at 5:30AM (my time) to let me know they had arrived in Kiev. That meant they arrived there at 1:30PM Kiev time, but we *thought* they weren’t supposed to arrive until 10:50PM!!! I was thoroughly confused, so I texted Matt back to try to get details, but I never heard back from him. So then I got a little concerned because he wasn’t answering texts and I didn’t hear from him again for about 6 hours!!!

I didn’t even think to email Tara to inquire, but, praise God, she emailed me to fill me in! We had misread their arrival time into Kiev. It was 1:05PM, not 10:50PM!!! Tara, being a young and wise woman, figured this out before we did and had already made arrangements to be at the airport so Matt and Mattie wouldn’t be stranded there for 9 hours! Whew, God knew we needed Team Airhart to keep us straight!

Matt and Mattie made themselves at home at the Airhart’s place. They ate tacos for lunch, then fell asleep on the Airhart’s couch. For about 4 or 5 hours!!! Nothin’ like jet lag after 20+ hours of restless travel! Tara was so cute when she said she didn’t want to wake them up, but she wasn’t sure that they’d be able to sleep that night after napping the day away.

I had been texting Matt throughout the day, with no response, so, I finally broke down and called Matt on his cell phone around 7:30PM (Kiev time). He and Mattie had woken up from their slumber, and they were ready to go explore Kiev with the Airharts.

Here’s the email update I received from Mattie that night (December 13):

We're about to leave for a light dinner and some exploring. I have time to send a few pics from our journey and I'll take more tonight and send them to you.

We got Starbucks!!

This is us waiting for our DC to Frankfurt flight to take off.

Waiting for our flight to Kiev.

Frankfurt airport, haha:-).

That's it for now! I did not sleep at all until the flight from Frankfurt to Kiev which was 3 hours. I just watched movies for almost 9 hours on the DC to Frankfurt flight:-). I am loving this place<3.

************************************************************************

Then I didn’t hear from Matt or Mattie again. I think they were exhausted. I did receive some emails from both of them the following day, Wednesday, Dec. 14. Here are Mattie’s Wednesday updates (with pics):

Mattie’s Kiev Update, Dec. 14 at 9:02AM CST

(5PM Kiev time)

I'm feeling great! The jet lag was nothin :-)! Seriously, I feel normal. I slept until noon and then went and had lunch with the family that stayed with the Airharts before us, the Mooneys. They are the ones with the non profit called 99 Balloons. Their first baby boy had a "not compatible with life" disease and died after 99 days. They are awesome! I love them. Anyways, I decided to try something new to eat, and it was pretty gross:-). I got to ride on the metro, which is just like a subway in NYC, no concept of personal space!! I really love this city, I think it's beautiful. Tara, Baby E, and I went to go get the cell phone working and we just got back. She went in and I stayed with the baby and the dog. It's not snowing, and it's not freezing either. It's like 38 outside right now. It feels great with a coat on. We don't see much of Jonathan, because its finals week for him. Tara is like my new best friend:-). Ellie is such a good baby. We're gonna go see that soccer game, I'm stoked!
Yes, we met with Nina and her husband. She is all business:-). She so has us taken care of. She has a new breast feeding baby, so she can't come to the SDA app. tomorrow, her husband will. We're going to take a car early Monday morning to Sumy. She keeps saying our case is "sensitive". She's very glad I came, she said I could be a key point in getting the boys home. I showed her videos and that boosted her confidence that the boys will be able to come home. She said the chances are slim of getting a court date before new years, which stinks. So our travel stuff is still up in the air. She was pleased with her boots, and her husband was ecstatic about his hat! Dad showed him some roping magazines and he loved it:-).

Tell everyone I miss them and love them!! Tell the boys that I'm going to a real European futbol game! I don't know why I'm so excited:). I miss say say {Selah} so much:-(. Anyways, LOVE YOU!!

Mattie’s Ukrainian Update, Dec. 14 at 3:15PM CST

(11:15PM Kiev time)

The game was AWESOME! Full on fan fights, people getting thrown out, crazy stuff. It was very exciting, we tied against Tel Aviv. Here's some pics:

This is Tara and I on the mile long escalator in the metro station.

I asked two Ukrainian girls to take our photo using the word in perfect Ukrainian "foto":-). Then I said, "diaku" which means thank you.

Me enjoying the game:-).

The game.

I took this going down the mile long escalator.

******************************************************************

So, now all of us are up to date on M&M’s Ukrainian adventures. I’ll be sure to let y’all know what happens at the SDA appointment today. If anyone is awake at 4AM CST, we’d appreciate your prayers for a smooth appointment and a referral for Vlad and Dima. Thanks!

And back on the Texas home front, we’re all hanging in there. We’ve got a few sick kids, and I’m battling whatever virus this is as well. We’ve got coughs, congestion, sore throat, lethargy, etc. Selah and Ella are on antibiotics for ear infections/sinus infections. Other than this cold crud, everyone is pitching in and stepping up to fill in the gaps with M&M gone. We all miss them terribly. I’m so grateful for how selfless and helpful our kiddos are. Only God could orchestrate things so beautifully.

Safe in Kiev

2011-12-13T10:29:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to let you all know that Matt and Mattie arrived safely into Kiev, Ukraine, and they're now resting at their host home. (I have a story to share later about that.)

Kiev is 8 hours ahead of Texas time, so jet lag will be a challenge. Tara, the sweet mom who is hosting Matt and Mattie, emailed to let me know that they fell asleep on the couch after she fed them tacos. :-)

They've been "napping" since they arrived in Kiev, so pray Matt and Mattie still be able to sleep tonight. Jet lag is one of the hardest things to overcome. After 20 hours of non-restful travel, all Matt and Mattie could focus on was sleep. Unfortunately, their sleep is happening late afternoon/evening in Kiev. I think they've been sleeping since around 2PMish (Kiev time) and they're still asleep! It's about 6:30PM right now in Kiev. Ugh!

Thank you, Tara, for mommying my lovies. I'm praying they'll wake up and join you for dinner!!! And that they'll sleep tonight, too!

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

Monday's Meditation: A Boss Your Heart Message

2011-12-12T16:56:00.001-06:00

At this very moment, my husband and 13-year-old daughter are flying across the world to Ukraine. Stop reading here for a minute and go down a little further to read the devo that Kirsten Walkup wrote for the blog today (posted below). I'll continue my thoughts below, just after the devo by Kirsten.

The Nobodies

by Kirsten Walkup

Last week a major news organization ran an article titled “The Nobodies”. The Nobodies referred to 1,639 individuals in Los Angeles County whose unclaimed bodies were disposed of by mass-cremation. These people were individuals who had no other person in their lives who would claim their bodies to give them a proper burial. The Nobodies' lives were of such little consequence to society, that many of their birthplaces, ages, and even names, will forever remain unknown. They will not be missed by anyone, their memories will not live on through their loved ones, and had it not been for the (very short) article written about them, very few would have even known that they ever existed. They are the lone and forgotten of society; the homeless, the invalids, the elderly, the lonely. While the vast majority of The Nobodies were homeless people off the streets, there were more than a few who died at home alone, or in car wrecks, with no family or friends to speak for them.

After reading this article I sat and thought for awhile, and I wondered just how many “Nobodies” I passed by everyday without giving them the slightest thought. I started to question things. How many neighbors do I have that might fit this description? Even though the company I work for is small, there are people who come and go every day with whom I’ve never even spoken. Do any of these people live in an utterly desolate world surrounded by a mute sea of humanity? Do I even care enough to find out? Have I constructed my white, upper middle-class, suburbia lifestyle in such a fashion that I come in contact with as few of these types of Nobodies as possible?

As I sat and thought about each of these questions, I realized that there were no easy answers to them. I’m a Christian, and it’s my job to care about everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from. I am to demonstrate God’s love with all those I come into contact with, and be ready to show the Nobodies that they are someone to Jesus Christ. Sadly, I feel that my efforts in that regard often fall woefully short of what they should be. While I do care about people and would never intentionally give someone the impression that they are less than important to God, the pace at which my life runs, my career, and my own insecurities regarding my ability to communicate likely override any concern I may have for the person standing right next to me. I’m perfectly comfortable serving in various ministry capacities as long as it’s on my own terms and in the timing I choose. But I wonder how many I pass by on a daily basis who desperately need a relationship with Jesus Christ, yet don’t quite fit into my neatly compartmentalized world.

In Luke 15:1-7, Jesus sat around with a group of outcasts and shared a story, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

This story tells me that heaven rejoices more over one Nobody coming to Christ more than it does over an entire church congregation coming together on Sunday morning to bless the blessed. I know that the thing I must do is to train my heart to remove the blinders and focus on things that do not necessarily have direct correlation to my set schedule. The people who are important and matter to God are the very same who have slipped through society’s cracks, they are the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, the Nobodies. This season as we celebrate the incomprehensible gift that God gave the world when He sent His Son to live among us, let us remember that this same Son would later give His life so that these Nobodies could have salvation.

Boss Your Heart!

J330

***********************************************************

OK, so I'm back now. Thank you for reading Kirsten's devo. When I first read it, I couldn't help but think about all of the Nobodies who are orphans around the world. 147+ million orphans, Nobodies. That's why I'm OK with Matt and Mattie flying around the world without me or the rest of my kiddos. They are going to let many Nobodies know that they matter to Jesus. They are going to bring two Nobodies into our family to change their lives, and our lives, forever. No longer will Vlad and Dima be Nobodies. They will be Pattersons. Praise God for redemption. Jesus sets the Nobodies, the lonely, in families. (Psalm 68)

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come for you." John 14:18.

Adios

2011-12-12T09:35:00.000-06:00

I can't remember the Ukrainian word for goodbye, so adios Mattie and Daddy. We'll miss y'all sooooooo much!!! Love you both!

Oops

2011-12-12T07:45:00.000-06:00

That last post accidentally sent before I intended.

Anyway, we're leaving for the airport soon and the kids are saying goodbye to their daddy and sister (temporarily), a well as their dog (forever, or at least in this earthly lifetime) .

We adopted Sweetie Pie 15 years ago. She was a severely abused 2-year-old dog until a local pet advocacy rescued her. We were very blessed to have been her forever family.

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

Our Sweetie Pie

2011-12-12T07:39:00.001-06:00

Matt just discovered that our very old and very sweet dog, Sweetie Pie, died in the night. She went to sleep on her dog bed in our game room, as she always does, and this morning she never woke up. :-(

Our kids don't know yet. Please keep them in your prayers. I'll be leaving in about 20 minutes to take Matt and Mattie to the airport.

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

Winner of the Thanksgiving Blitz

2011-12-09T07:17:00.000-06:00

I totally forgot to announce (publicly) the winner of the John 14:18 giveaway.

Wrightfamilyusa 1 comment

Hello- bought a red shirt- LOVE YOUR SHIRTS!!! :)

Dawn of Are These Kids All Yours? was the winner. I already contacted her via email, but I forgot to announce the winner here on the blog. Sorry to those who were wondering who won or if I still hadn't drawn the winner.

I have an awesome story to share about Dawn.

Dawn's an awesome and supportive bloggy friend. She faithfully leaves comments on our blog, and after Chrissie went to heaven, Dawn invited us to stay at their family camp (for free!). We weren't able to go to their camp, but Dawn has been a faithful friend by reaching out to our family in multiple ways over the past year and a half. Dawn's a huge adoption advocate (she even works as an adoption consultant) , she and her hubby have 8 kids (all adopted), and they're currently in the process of adopting a special needs child domestically.

Dawn held a giveaway on her blog not too long ago. I happened to be the winner of her giveaway. I asked her to keep the money she would have spent on the shirt I won so that she wouldn't have to take any money away from their adoption funding. Dawn was grateful.

Then, not too much longer after that, Dawn and her husband blessed our family with $500 to help bring Vlad and Dima home. Yep, $500, and, I did mention that they're currently fundraising for their own adoption, right? Selfless. Supportive. Gotta love Dawn's example.

Dawn said their large monetary donation to our adoption was a God thing. I asked for details (because I always love God stories). This is what Dawn said:

We had a sermon this past weekend that really convicted me of our giving (not tithing that is a given), but well let's just say that since we took a huge paycut....we have been using that as an excuse to not really do much giving.

During the service I heard the Lord tell me that we were to give away money- a larger amount.....and I reluctantly said ok- well this is yours anyway. And HE dealt with me in my heart. I then told God - in order to do this the right way HE needed to convict my husband as well.

Without me saying a word- my husband said to me last night- I have been thinking what would you think about giving money away. I said- how much? He said $500. I said (ok God you got it- I will obey) ok honey. To what? He said isn't the blog you are on right now doing a fundraiser ? Yep they are......so I reminded him of who you are because I am the one who reads up on everyone ;) He said - let's do it.

SO CRAZY- YEP! But you know God will provide for us when our little one comes a long. OUR JOB is to be obedient in the mean time.

So there is the whole story! :) And your check is on the way!!! SOO STINKING EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WILL BE GLAD TO SEE THEM WHEN THEY GET HOME!!!!!! :)

Yep, that's Dawn for you. Didn't I say she's an awesome and supportive bloggy friend? I'm still in awe of Dawn's generosity during a time when families usually put every cent into their own adoption funds. They are fundraising for their own adoption, for goodness sakes! Please go check out Dawn's blog and purchase some of her fundraising items to help them raise the ransom for their newest addition. I'd love to pour some blessings back into Dawn's adoption fundraising efforts.

Thank you, Dawn, for your friendship. Thank you for blessing us immeasurably. We are grateful!!!

John 14:18 Fulfillment Center

2011-12-08T16:03:00.001-06:00

Our master bedroom has been converted to the John 14:18 fulfillment center, and we’re working hard to get your John 14:18 orders packed and shipped. So grateful for my friend Carrie’s help today. Keep on keepin’ on. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

Court Update

2011-12-07T16:48:00.001-06:00

Thank you all for praying for the custody case today. We traveled to Houston for the case, then it was determined due to the number of unsettled morning cases that there was not going to be enough time for the judge to try the case (need 3-5 hours), so the case got rescheduled. Again.

The new date is March 26. My friend will continue to care for her foster son without any chances of the child being removed prior to the next trial. Praise God!

Sent from Lorraine's iPhone

www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com

www.BossYourHeart.com

Changes

2011-12-07T07:16:00.001-06:00

Mattie now has glasses and braces. She looks so different now. Selah just stares at her, trying to make sure that’s the same Mattie she knew yesterday. Mattie chose silver braces with red and green bands for Christmas. She also chose red frames for her new glasses. Isn’t she beautiful?

Speaking of changes, Selah is changing so much these days. She's no longer our little infant girl. She’s no longer choosing crawling as her preferred method of transportation. She's now walking. Everywhere. In and out of doors, all over the place. She turned 14 months old December 1, and now Selah’s officially a toddler. For the past month, Selah had been taking lots of steps, but she’s finally transitioned to choosing to walk as her number one mode of transportation. It’s so fun to see so many changes. Before we know it, Selah will have braces, just like Mattie! For now, enjoy the videos of Selah posted below that she her walking…and barking.

Oh, I have a couple of prayer requests to add to this post. Please pray for Selah’s raging ear infection to clear up. She was diagnosed with it yesterday and is taking 10 days of antibiotics. Selah needs to feel well so we can all get some good sleep and make this crazy week just a little easier.

The other prayer request is for my friend’s foster son. I am testifying in the trial today. Please pray my thoughts would be adequately and clearly expressed, and that nothing I say would be twisted negatively. Pray for the judge’s eyes to be open to the truth, and that the judge would truly put the foster boy’s best interest first. I can’t give many details, but God knows exactly who you’re praying for. Thank you!

Now, here are the videos of Selah:

The above video was taken Dec. 6.

The above video was taken Dec. 3.

The above video (of Selah barking like a dog) was taken Nov. 26.

Hope Ethiopia: 100. Are you in?

2011-12-07T00:03:00.000-06:00

Hope Ethiopia from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

Children at the Lifesong Ethiopia school are fed 2 nutritious meals per day, provided with a quality education, and taught the message of Jesus Christ. This gives kids like Beza the hope they need in order to break free from gripping poverty.

We currently have a need to build a 12-room expansion to our existing school, in order to reach more children like Beza. We have been blessed, by the generosity of a donor, to be able to MATCH all donations to the Ziway and Adami Tulu Schools between now and December 31st... up to $130,000!!!

This week, the 5^th through the 9^th, we invite you to join Hope Ethiopia:100. We are looking for 100 people to give a one-time $100 donation!

Joining this team will not only give hope to kids like Beza, but your dollars will be matched AND you'll be entered into a drawing for a FABULOUS gift basket (details below).

*Gift basket includes: $100 itunes or amazon gift card, Lifesong t-shirt, Lifesong cookbook,Journey On CD, handmade necklaces & note cards by orphans in Zambia, handmade ornament from a child in Ukraine, 5 bags of Gobena coffee, Gobena coffee mug, Gobena t-shirt, andGobena tote bag. This basket is worth over $250!

*To commit via check, please send an email to info@lifesongfororphans.org. Make check payable to Lifesong for Orphans, indicate 'preference Hope Ethiopia: 100' in the memo.