Rahn's Journey

Home Sweet Home

2010-11-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

WE ARE ON OUR WAY HOME!!! The only thing that is standing between Rita and I being in America on Thursday is a U.S. Holiday. I have not run into one Ukrainian Holiday and now I sit waiting for an American holiday to pass. I am not all that sure that things would be different if the holiday were not there. I think we would still get out papers too late on Thursday to get the flight home. We left Berdyansk on Tuesday morning around 10:20. That was a very sad good-bye. Lots of tears were shed. Saying good bye to her friend, roommate, for 10 plus years was the hardest thing to do. I was very proud of Rita. For many teenagers the opportunity opens to leave and they can’t do it. I understand why. Everything you know and trust is left behind.
We arrived in Zaporizhya are 12:30. The birth certificate was changed in record time. We drove over to the passport office and within 2 hours we picked up the passport and were headed for the train. We arrived in Kiev in the early morning. We got an apartment, a pretty nice one at that. We arrived at the Embassy by 9:40, by 10:20 we were leaving the office and headed out for the physical. Backwards from the norm, but the embassy accepted that since it was a holiday on Thursday. We took off from there for the Medical Building for Rita’s physical. The last two days we did all the hurry up and waiting that my patients can take. All I wanted to do is fall a sleep this afternoon in the Medical Building.
Rita and I both agreed to hang-out in the apartment tonight. We are watching TV (all blah, blah, blah to me, but a nice picture and I don’t have to move). Tomorrow we will walk around Kiev and pick up a few last minute things. Then Friday we are off and ready to see America. I hope it is as beautiful weather wise as it has been the last few days in Ukraine. A big bonus for the last minute details that take place during an adoption.
See America soon. I am ready to prepare for the Holidays!

2010-11-02T03:06:00.000-07:00

Rick and Koyla have left and MaMa is soooo sad. It was hard enough missing Yana, but now I have 3 to miss. I am not alone though. Heather and Dave are staying at the apartment, as well as Victor, who is facilitator for everyone’s adoption. Since the ruling is so strict about children leaving the orphanage , there is little to do while I sit and wait. A week from today Rita will leave the orphanage for good. In the mean time, I have to be creative with my time. I have gotten to know the markets pretty well. I have ventured into new parts of the city I have never seen. I make up lessons in English for Rita, so that when I visit we can study a little. Then I go visit and spend time with my new daughter.
Rita was ready for my visit with 4 of her friends. I brought her a suitcase for her trip to America. I had gone to the market and purchased a sweater for her, so that the suitcase wasn’t completely empty. I am not sure what kind of clothes she will take with her, or any other belongings. I am hoping on Saturday we will be able to venture to the market together to purchase some clothes. The 10 day waiting period will not be over so I am not sure that I will be able to. Rita’s friends were witness to me preparing for Rita’s exit. Rita is sensitive and down plays all of it. Her friend Yulia asked if she could come to America for a visit. I asked her how long the two girls shared the same room. I wrote 2010, 2009, 2008, down to 2005. Rita took the pen and wrote 2001. For 9 years these girls have traveled their orphan journey of life together. Rita has been at the orphanage better than 10 years and Yulia moved in with her when she came 9 years ago! Oh no, my heart…..I have to fight the tears. The girls are so strong, they are rejoicing for Rita. I cannot ask the question, “What can I do?”, I have to ask the question, “Lord, what can You do, even if it is through me?”. I pretended to be ironing and packing the suitcase. I pointed at Natasha and pretended to be folding her and ironing her and put her in the suitcase. Then I did the same for Yulia, Tanya, and Aliona. Once I had them all packed I shut the suitcase and pretended to leave for America with all of them in it. We laughed and the girls agreed it would be good. Then I told the girls that my heart takes them home. I have their pictures. I made a picture of my prayer board that is in my bedroom and I put their pictures on it. I pray for them every day. Aliona asked why. I told them I am asking God to give you a good life. A life that includes knowing God loves them and has a plan for them. It sounds like an easy conversation, but with the language difference we had to play act, draw pictures, look in the dictionary and books for the right pictures. In the end I believe they got it. I told them how much I loved them all and they were so important to me and Rick. Yulia is the only girl that has not aged out. She is the only one who has a glimmer of hope to be adopted. She will turn 16 in March and then that hope will be gone. She has witnessed Rita’s adoption though. Rita has witnessed many friends be adopted in the last 10 years. Some have gone to Italy, Germany, Spain and of course America. She is 3 months away from aging out and God sent her a family. Yulia has that glimmer of hope to hang on to as she sees her best friend (sister) walk out the door.
I have to say I hate this part of the adoptions. Walking away, it is so hard. I pray that God will give me the strength to be a comfort to Rita as she makes that exit next Tuesday. Pray for the girls and especially for Yulia. Pray that her glimmer of hope will become a dream come true!

A New Daughter

2010-10-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

It has taken a little bit longer then natural childbirth, but after 10 months of paperwork we have a new daughter, Rita Rose Rahn. We went to court today at 10:30 a.m. and in 50 minutes we were done. The judge remembered us from adopting Koyla. The judge asked Koyla to sit in on the court hearing. He was thrilled until he realized how bored he was going to be and couldn't escape. They asked Koyla to stand and give his feelings about another sister. He loves the idea and wants the adoption. The judge asked how we liked being parents and how our children were doing. Rick had everyones eyes watering. We are so proud of our children, especially right now. Both of them have really "stepped-up" to make this happen.

Rita has been orphaned a long time. She is quite, but not withdrawn. She loves to be with people and is very sweet, and sensitive. I thought she would be a little timid today, but she was not. She seemed very happy over the whole situation. This day was not as exciting as the other two. The orphanage is very strict about the children. As soon as the court let out, even before the judge gave her decision, Rita was taken back to the orphanage. For the others we went out to eat and celebrated. We presented her a gift after court then off they went. Rick, Koyla and I went back into the court room and the judge gave us her approval for the adoption.

We dropped Koyla off at the orphanage and Rick and I went home. Later we bought 10 roses and brought them to Rita, with a note of how greatful we were to have her as our daughter. I can't wait to get her out of the orphanage, and back to our home in Williamsburg. I am ready to start the adjustment right now! I don't want to get too excited because we still have a little problem to face with her birth certificate. Fortunately the judge didn't stop the adoption, which she could have. Hopefully Victor can get it all taken care of in the 10 day waiting period or....(we won't go there). My plan is to be home by November 17th. Rick and Koyla leave tomorrow. Dave and Heather move into my apartment at the church. I am greatful to have them. They are a real special couple, that God has blessed me with.

Koyla is so excited to be going home, he is so ready. Him and I will really miss each other. Who is going to bug me when he is gone? I sure do love my children.

Smooth Sailing--So Far!!!

2010-10-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday and in 3 days so much has happened. Rick and Dave (our friends that are from Virginia, who happen to also be adopting in Berdyansk) had to go to Kiev to sign papers at the U.S. Embassy so that they can leave right after court, IF we get to have court on our scheduled date, Friday, October 29th. That was a big if when the guys left. Even if our interpol (a new strange paper that is required by the Ukrainian law for adoption) comes in this week, what are the changes that the director of the SDA will sign off on it that fast. Rick and I had not made any plans for IF court didn't happen. We could not think about it----too much stress.
Monday and Tuesday evening, Dave's wife Heather spent the night with Koyla and I. Our plans are for her to move into the church apartment with me when the guys leave for the states. Both of us were given a court appointment for Friday, but both of us have to have our papers signed by the SDA. Just part of the joys in knowing that God knows!!!!Rick and Dave make it to Kiev on Tuesday, go to the Embassy, turn in the papers and turn right around and head back to Berdyansk on Tuesday evening train. Wow--now that is one big nightmare. Not much sleep for those two nights. Victor was going to go to the SDA office on Wednesday and stay there from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to see if he couldn't get the papers for all of us signed. He wasn't too hopeful. If he got them he would hop on the train Wednesday evening and be in Berdyansk on Thursday ready for court on Friday. If he didn't get them he would go to the SDA on Thursday and try again. If he got them he would hop a bus and take a bus to Berdyansk. That is what he had to do for us when we adopted Koyla. The bus ride is nothing short of torture.

Rick and Dave make it back from Kiev, on Wednesday about 10:30 a.m. At 12:30 we receive the call--Papers are ready for court!!! AMEN...THANK YOU LORD. Heather and Dave go in at 8:30 a.m. and we follow at 10:30. Rita knows the process and is ready to go. If things go this smooth for all of us, we will be going through the rest of the adoption together. Heather and I will be able to room together, ride together on the train and fly home together. What a miracle that would be.

Please pray for the court hearing, that all goes smooth. The judge does remember us and hopefully that is a good thing. After the court we still are restricted in taking the children from the orphanage until the 10 days is up. I think Galina will allow us on day 8 to take them for clothes. If all goes well, I may be home on November 17th....Yeah.

Puppy Eyes

2010-10-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 23, 2010
We see the girls today @ 3pm. They somehow appear, knowing exactly where we’re at. Rita & Natasha are together, both spending their Saturday free time w/us. It is such a joy to be with these two together.
We spend the next hour and 30 minutes playing ping pong with our new paddles we bought last night. We’re waiting for 4pm., when Yana will call us thru our home computer on skype. Rita seemed delighted Yana wanted to talk to her.
Ping pong degenerated into a weird “free for all” causing the hall monitor woman to sit in the room with us till closing. Mom finally used our cell phone to call Yana, it was well past 4pm., this call was going to cost us…
Rita had slipped out for just a moment so Natasha took the call. In a few minutes our phone had given up all the time it had and we were cut off. Just as well, we’ll try again tomorrow. Natasha relayed to Rita something Yana had said. Rita responds with a beautiful smile.
The restrictions to bond with Rita are much more difficult than ever before. Galina is not budging an inch on relaxing restrictions. Seems she got in hot water this summer over this and was reprimanded.
No longer are we able to take a child off the grounds. We are not to be seen with any orphan children outside the orphanage. You will not be able to have overnights with Rita after the court awards her to you. You will wait the 10 days after before you are allowed to leave with her, then you will leave for good.
There is a new 7 day waiting period. Passports used to be made on location in Zap. Now they are shipped to Kiev & processed there. Then they are shipped back to Zap. However, for $500.00 U.S. we’ll look around for some of the “old” passport material that may still be hanging around, allowing you to leave the next day…
I grow weary of the process. Rita needs more time w/us than a couple hours a day. She also needs to get out of her familiarity & experience who we are outside the orphanage. The quality of bonding time could be much richer, and quantity of time would reduce the certain, “cultural shock” of life outside the Berdyansk orphanage.
Our friends Dave & Heather share the same restrictions. They’re adopting 2 kids, 11 & 8yrs. old. Those children are like playful puppies, soaking up the attention, living for the moment, seeking love & acceptance, hugging & kissing, looking for their return every day.
When I look into the faces of Natasha, Rita, & Vika I see the eyes of puppies.
Each one is expert @ living for the moment. Each one longing for acceptance & love. They can live a long time on the smallest of affection. I delight in giving them a hug & a kiss, not because I get a kiss & a hug back. It is a kiss & embrace. It is in the embrace where real work is being done.

To hold a teenager who is melting in your arms is a rare privilege. I am convinced GOD is using us. For it’s not me who is loving up this young adult in my arms, kissing her & holding her tightly, but GOD through me. He is using me in this very moment to love his child, imparting into her love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, goodness, patience, and self control.
We break up for the day, lock the ping pong room up & leave. We’ll see each other tomorrow. It’s then that I realize I’m melting too….
Pop

Rita Rose Rahn

2010-10-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Where are you?” The most common asked question on our e-mails lately. I am sorry that I have not blogged more, I am standing in awe of our God who is doing a work that I am just standing back and watching. I am having a hard time blogging all that I see going on and how it is all coming about. We started this adoption to adopt two of Yana’s friends. God motivated us to go through the motions to adopt, but had a different plan for who our daughter would be. We were not sure that the girl we had petitioned for would want to be our daughter, now we are delighting in her acceptance of being our daughter. We have named our daughter, a fun process that took much longer then Yana or Koyla. We wanted her to pick her new name and middle name, so we typed a bunch of names on the computer to find the one she wanted. Her choice is “Rita Rose Rahn”. A beautiful rose she is.
Rita is shy, tender, sweet, gentle, tall, kind, pretty, and soft spoken, just to name a few of her beautiful attributes. There are many others that we discover as the days go on. I don’t think Rita was over excited to get adopted, but everyone who she trust is telling her it is the best thing for her. We have approached the situation very slowly with Rita. Our plan was to get her from going because it is the best thing for her, to going with us because she desires to. We are seeing the transformation day by day. Yesterday Rita has to write a petition to be adopted by the Rahn Family and sign it. Today she goes for a physical. She is taking all the steps that will lead to her adoption. Victor brought the judge some papers for another couple that are adopting here also. He mentioned to the judge that he would be bring papers by for the Rahn Family who is adopting. The judge asked if it was the same couple that adopted a boy last year. She was pleased to hear we were back. I really hope that gives us favor and a short time in court, for our sake and Rita.
Our days are speeding by. We have a lot of school work for Koyla to get done. Our apartment is really beautiful, but it does not have the internet. We will be moving on Wednesday into the church apartment, that will give us internet. Hotel Berdyansk is less than a block away from us, so right now the internet café is available to us. It still will be easier to do studies at the church. This apartment has a tv in every room, except the basement. Yep, a basement!! It is a huge place and is very convenient.
On Sunday we took the bus to Tokmak to visit Koyla’s grandpa. We showed up unannounced because his phone number wasn’t in our phone. It was pretty overwhelming for the old man and for Koyla. After Rick and I visited a little we left the two of them to themselves for the day. We went into town and bought minutes for the phone that we bought grandpa last year, we grabbed a bit to eat and then returned to Grandpa’s to get Koyla. Grandpa is poor. There was no desire to live until he opened that door and saw Koyla. We left him some money to buy some clothes for the winter and new shoes. What an incredible sight of poverty. Koyla wants to spend the night with Grandpa, we have decided to let him. Those two really love each other and have such a respect for each other. Interesting enough, on the way back to the bus, Koyla was full of joy. He talked and laughed while he walked arm in arm with his dad. Koyla feels really good that we care for his grandfather and it is genuine. On the way back to town we stopped and saw grandma’s grave. On the stone is her picture, the date of birth, and the day she died. She died when she was 2 years older than I am now, in 2003, the date that turn my children’s lives around and grandpa’s life too. Grandpa told me he hasn’t cared much about life since she left. It didn’t matter that he spoke Russian, I understood every word he said, with tears dripping down his face.
It is no wonder that I am having such a hard time blogging. I am so blessed. When I see a young beautiful girl like Rita, that have been in an orphanage for over 10 years and has no one in her life but one cousin ( only on paper, she has never met her), and a grandpa who lives in despair, I am humbled at my life that I am so blessed with.
Today is a down day. I have been sick for the last 2 days. Today, I am improving. It sure does fill good to start feeling better. I have to start preparing for a birthday party. Rick is about to celebrate his ____ birthday!!! We move to the church apartment on Wednesday and have a dinner party on Thursday night. Turning the afternoon I will bring a cake to the orphanage to celebrate with Rita and her friends. We are not allowed to take her off campus. Galina got into some trouble this summer for letting the children leave with their adopting families. She is very strict now and won’t break any of the rules. We have to wait until the 10 day waiting period is over after court to have Rita stay with us. I am sure glad our friends Heather and Dave, our friends from Virginia are the other couple here adopting. Hopefully when the boys go home Heather and I can wait it out together. Pray for the perfect timing!

Back Again-Adoption 3

2010-10-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here we are sitting in a wonderful apartment in the heart of Kiev, Victory Square is across the street, sipping tea (or coffee) watching "Ironman 2". I wish I could say that we are full of peace, but every once in a while the flesh catches us and we go into panic. "Trust the Lord with all your heart", then we go back to peace.

Our first night we enjoyed the company of Dave and Heather, friends from back home. We will see a lot of them since we are both going to Berdyansk to adopt. Heather and I will stay together when the boys all go home. Koyla loves their company and is sooo pleased they will be in Berdyansk. The next day we headed straight for McDonalds for breakfast, but it was past 10:00 a.m. so just as it was our turn to order the signs were changed and breakfast was over, with no exceptions. Koyla settled for a fish sandwich and chocolate milkshake and thought he was in paradise. That didn't last long, as soon as we went back to the apartment we started school work and he knew this wasn't going to be paradise. Koyla has been a trooper on this trip. Today he say at breakfast, "You know I really do love you guys". I guess he doesn't want to stay in Ukraine!

We had our SDA appointment today at 9:00 a.m. The electric went off so we had to leave, but the facilator could take over from there and we left. We are struggling between 2 girls. Our prayer request is that God's will is completed. The SDA is such a friendly place now. It is so different then 3 years ago and even from last summer. There is a sense of happiness and kindness there. It seems like a more genuine care for the children.

Tomorrow we take the train to Berdyansk. We leave at 7 p.m. Friday morning we will meet up with Victor in Berdyansk. We are taking a bus from the train station to Berdyansk. That should be interesting. Since Victor is already in Berdyansk with the Robertson's we will meet him there. Our hopes for the church apartment fell through, it is already taken, we will be on the hunt for our home for the next few weeks. We probably won't get to see the inspectors until Monday, so we are going to have a long weekend.

Time to watch the movie. Paka

First Day of School

2009-09-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

Mama is filling pretty free today, both the kids are in school, the house is quiet, and all is well. What a summer! I have been a new mother, a teacher, and a best friend to Koyla. I can't even begin to count how many times I rode the roller coasters at Busch Gardens, all I know it was far to many times. I have a policy not to blog much when the children come home because I want to give them a personal life, but I will share some highlights of the summer.

We have been home for 10 weeks as of tomorrow. We spent our summer adjusting to our new lives in America. Koyla talked to Grandpa every Saturday with a great deal of excitement. Grandpa has been extremely supportive of our raising of Koyla. He even told Koyla, you don't eat good, you are not to call me that week. That has fixed most of the struggle with eating. One day when Koyla and I were having breakfast he asked if he, papa, Yana and myself could go back to visit Ukraine...tomorrow. His face was red and I could see he was holding back tears, but took it well when I told him that it wouldn't be that soon.

Koyla spent 2 to 3 hours a day home schooling to learn English. He did extremely well and I felt that he went to school today with a pretty good base for English. It didn't help take the fear away from him on his first day of school. He told me he was awake all night thinking about the first day of school. You would have never known that Koyla had come from another country if you had seen him in the school, he took control of the situation and was as independant as he could be. When I left, he looked pretty scared. The nice part is it is over, there is not another first day of school in America, he did it!!!

Koyla loves having a mama and papa and is thrilled about being with Yana. Maybe too thrilled at times. He bugs her a lot. That will level off when he makes friends and gets his own life in America. He likes having a dog too. He and our dog Ginny have hit it off real well.

Everything was new and exciting and challenging this summer. Meeting people was the most difficult for him, he is extremely shy and the language barrier made it much worse. He is getting better and better. Of course when you are told that when you meet someone you are to say "hello, it is nice to meet you" or your Busch Gardens pass will be taken away, that will punch through the language barrier real fast. He is really good at saying that now with all the practice he has had. Papa loves to parade his children around and introduce them to everyone. Yana has gotten used to it and seems to enjoy it. Koyla is at the level of painfully putting up with it. It doesn't stop him from searching out Papa though, he loves being with Papa, even if he has to meet people. At the end of the summer Koyla traveled to New York to meet my side of the family. We attended my niece's wedding. He did really well, but by 8:30 on the night of the wedding he was begging to go back to our room so he could sleep. We took him back and he was in bed and a sleep in minutes. The blah, blah, blah of all the people wore him out!

Koyla is on a soceer team this fall and Yana is the assistant coach. That is a real win win situation. Yana can use this experience, and it helped Koyla feel more comfortable in this new environment. Yana will only speak English to Koyla unless the coach asks for interpretation. She has done that at home too. I am very proud of her for helping us in that way. She has been awesome this summer.

Enough boasting about the children that God so graciously let Rick and I stewart. I am not saying it has been easy, but it is full of joy, His joy. When I say my children, I picture all 4 of us sitting in God's hand being held like minatures. We are all His children, He just put Rick and I in the drivers seat of life to help Yana and Koyla develop the skills to have a healthy world and spiritual journey. That is probably why we had to wait to be in our 50's to have children. We had to learn it for ourselves before we could help them! In all honesty, we don't know it, we are dependant on Him daily to teach us.

The Rahn journey continues, where will it go and will there be unexpected turns? I assume so.
Each day is it's own journey, tomorrow has it own excitement.

The Amazing Pan

2009-06-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Koyla and Mama are home with Papa and today our daughter, Yana, will join us after her own weeks vacation in Florida. We will be a family of four on our own turf, for the first time. We are praying the adjustment will go as well as the adoption. Koyla has adjusted well to having a mama and papa, now for the time to adjust to having a older, wiser, sister. Yana on the other hand needs to adjust to sharing what was all hers! Sounds like a real family to me.

I was going through our trip pictures to put a group of pictures together for Koyla's bedroom and came across this picture, which is one of several that I had taken at Grandpa's house. What a great picture to express adoption. Grandpa had a dog that had 2 puppies and a cat that had 2 kittens. The dog wanted no part of mothering her puppies ( in all fairness, the dog was tiny and her puppies are big). The puppies were hungry and they went over to the cat and she very lovingly rolled to her side and fed the puppies her milk. The puppy at one time got a little rough with her and she gave him a good hard bite on the head and the puppy settled down and the feeding continued. This picture captures how God planned for our adoption into the kingdom of heaven. We are not by rights part of His royal family, yet through the sacrifice of Jesus, He took us in as royal blood. If we accept Him, He no longer sees our difference. These little puppies accepted this cat and the cat no longer saw them as different. What a great example to raise our family that has been blended together by God. We are all coming together with differences and uniting to be one family. I pray that the unity that existed at Grandpa's house will exist in this family as well. The base root will be the acceptance. It did go well in Berdyansk, so I think we are on a good path.

We have not yet been home a week and a lot has been accomplished. To bring Koyla in to the house we had to add a bedroom, literally putting up walls. We had hoped to accomplish this before we left, but with a nine day notice for the adoption we didn't get it done. To make the extra bedroom, the whole house has to change. The whole house has been uprooted this week. The first couple of days, mama didn't do to well with the confusion and mess. I have to say that I was overwhelmed by jetlag, messes, new child, and the transition back to America. On top of that I had to start the process of registering Koyla for school immediately so that he could take advantage of summer ESL classes. I wasn't going to put him into summer ESL, but the situation is perfect for him to get introduced to school in a very non-threating situation. Yana will be on the same bus as he will be and there are 6 children in the class total. When I took Koyla to the school on Thursday of last week, he was so sad. Later he communicated that he thought I was leaving him there. When he discovered that I went there to just blah, blah, blah with the people and that he got to go back home, he gave me the biggest hug a mama could get! The routine will be great for Koyla and mama needs some time to get the house in order. Summer school is out at the end of July and I will be more organized by then, I hope.

Everyday has been an incredible adventure for Koyla and for us. Everything is new. Everyday Koyla is getting younger, he has totally shed any toughness that comes from orphanage living. He is experiencing childhood and all the excitement that goes with it. It is so refreshing to see him laugh and have such a carefree spirit about him. He was so serious in Ukraine, forced to grow up beyond his years. He is so free to be Koyla. Koyla is a precious free spirit. He loves the outdoors, especially bicycling. He is experiencing life to the fullest. The plan to have Yana on vacation worked very well. Koyla has attached to mama and papa, giving Yana the freedom to be a sister and not the mother to Koyla. I want Yana to have her time and space also. She is quickly approaching 17 years old, I don't want to cut her teen years short, she has thrived since she has been here.

At the end of every blog writing, I have to sit back and praise God for the work He has done in me. The first adoption was hard and brought me closer to Him, right where I should have been in the first place. It taught me lessons in obedience inspite of circumstances. It demonstrated that He is God, not my servant that answers my plan, but I am to follow His plan, for it is the best plan. My second adoption strengthened my faith. This will be a pivital point in my faith walk. He did have a better plan, one that brought together a brother and sister. He knew what was good for us and was watching out for us through the journey. I thank you God for forcing your hand when I was trying to push yours. It reminds me of Koyla, when he thinks he knows what is the right thing to do, but I have the advantage of reading English and know the right thing to do. He tries to force me in his direction and I have to force him in my direction. I often get a sad looking face as I am forcing him my way, but when he sees the end is the right way he gets so excited, he says "tank goo" in his sweet broken English. The more often this happens the less he is resisting me because he is trusting me more and more. The lessons of faith taught by an innocent child.

Amazing grace how sweet God is to put me on this journey. Is it over????? Who knows, when I am in the mist of the adoptions, I think this body is getting old, when things settle down, it feels good to be young. God has a plan and I am on a ride. I trust the journey more then I ever have. Where He takes me (us) from here I do not know, but look forward to the following chapters as they unfold.

Fran

I Am Coming Home

2009-06-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Friday morning, we take a walk to the market to have Koyla's new jeans shortened (good deal, $2.50 to shorten jeans). I knew this boy needed a boy adventure, so we took a short cut home. This was what I would call a Rahn short cut, not my type of short cut, I am too caution for this type of short cut. I knew that I had to do a "Rahn" short cut to keep Koyla from bordem. We walk up this old set of stars, until there are no stairs and then we climb to the top of a hill on rock/dirt then climb over a wall to make it to a normal sidewalk. Koyla loved it. I really made points on that one!

We get to our apartment and I start cleaning and slowly packing, sorting what I will take and what to leave for the apartment, when the call comes in, be ready in 20 minutes we got the passport and we have to be at the passport office before they close at 5:00. Koyla and I start throwing things into bags including a powdered cremer container whose lid was not on right. The powder came pouring out into my suitcase and on to the floor. We quickly get the vacuum cleaner to clean our mess when our friend Don comes to say good bye and Betsy and Jim to get the key and Victor. Koyla thought this excitement was great. He was ready to move on. We got into the car and I discover that I don't have the phone. Victor calls my number and we discover the phone is in the trunk. That is what happens when all of the sudden you have to throw things into your bags, they make it into the wrong bag. We grab the phone and off we go to Tokmak to say our final good bye.

Grandpa and Koyla both did really well. Grandpa asked if he could be alone with Koyla in the house for 5 minutes. He must of given Koyla some encouragement because he came out pretty happy. I had Koyla run around the house taking pictures and I used the time to talk with Grandpa. He did express that he was happy for Koyla and that he was happy with Rick and I. He said his heart hurt. The good byes were full of hugs and kisses and off we went. I gave Koyla some space and he just stared out the window. After about 10 minutes I gave him the "thumbs up" and he smiled and moved next to me in the car. He is ready for this new step in his life. We arrived at the passport office at 4:35 and were ready to grab a bite to eat by 4:45. After our meal we went to the train station to get our tickets. We waited a little over 90 minutes for the train, but that gave Koyla time to climb and jump so when he got in the train, he was ready to sit. This is the first time he has ever traveled so the train was exciting. He spent most of his night watching out the window and I spent most of my night watching him. He is one little independant boy in a tiny little body.

We arrived in Kiev on Saturday at 6:00 a.m. and we were in our apartment by 6:30 a.m. We were down the hill and in Victory Square by 6:45 a.m. Koyla was too excited to rest. We ran around taking pictures until MacDonalds opened at 8:00 a.m. and ate the first of our 3 MacDonalds meals for Saturday. He has never been to MacDonalds but he has seen them on TV.
The rest of the day was low key and rest. On Sunday I got up early and outlined our day, in Russian and in English. When Koyla got up at 10:00 we followed the plan, it went well. We started with church in the apartment. We watched a DVD about Jesus on my laptop. We studied our English, money is the best part of our English study for Koyla, then we went for lunch, and he got a couple hours to play video games on the laptop. After game time we headed to the maket place and spent a couple hours at the outdoor market, our final stop a grocery store and then back to the apartment. After that, the structure was over, so we had a pillow fight, played tic tac toe, tarts, wrestled, and ate our evening meal (Koyla's meal continued for the rest of the night). I knew that Monday would be busy so I gave him a little more game time and we went to bed.

Today was the busy day, we got his physical, and went to the Embassy to get his Visa. From there we had to get tickets to fly home on Tuesday, June 23rd, exactly one month from the day we arrived in Kiev.

Thank you God for your grace. You have given me such peace during this time, a very sweet time in my life. Thank you all for the prayers and the contacts, what a great encouragement for the family to have people lifting us up. We do have one more possible obstical, Koyla's visa. It has to be ready by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning so that we can leave on our flight home at 1:00. Victor and our driver pick us up at 8:00 a.m. and that will be the start of one longggggg day. When we arrive in Virginia, Yana will be in Florida. This will be Koyla's week with mama and papa. When she comes home, we hope Koyla will be ready to be a brother to Yana and not lean too much on her.

What a Journey!
Fran

Good-bye Luda

2009-06-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

I thought Monday was hard, saying our good-byes to all the children. We had to go back to the orphanage today and sign the release papers. It was really perfect none of the children were around. We had to wait for the director, she was busy. About 5 minutes into the wait, here comes Luda, she is the sweetest young girl. Since I had to spend my past weekend at the orphanage with Koyla, I got to spend lots of time with Luda. On Monday both Luda and I held back tears when we said good-bye, but today neither of us held back tears. As we were leaving Galina, the director said Luda, maybe Fran will find you a family in America. Luda said "No one will want me". I was thankful that Victor never translated that conversation to me until we were walking to down town Berdyansk. I would have really lost it.

As the day progressed I became a professional at saying "NET". Like most orphans that get adopted, the new idea of money to spend, overwhelms them. It is difficult not to spend money on them when they leave with nothing. You need a few toys so they are not bored, clothes so they smell and look good and we need to entertain ourselves while we wait, therefore like all children, Koyla wants everything we walk by. There are many more nets (no), then dahs(yes). and after every net there is a sad looking face like this child is deprived of everything. Many of the things that Koyla wants he will get when he is in America, but I am not going to carry it home. With the language barrier he thinks he will never own anything. I just rattle away in English that you will have one of those in America and he gives me those sad eyes, he has no clue to what I am saying. By the time Victor joined us, he had stopped asking. The big one today was a life jacket. He wanted me to buy him a life jacket. When we got home Rick had written me an e-mail saying he bought new fishing poles and is getting new canoe racks for the van, now all we need is life jackets and he and Koyla are set to go fishing when he gets home. That is Koyla's number one hobby. He told Victor today that fishing is more important then games!

Today we were to call to find out what day we get Koyla's passport, Saturday or next Tuesday. Another twist in plans, it is probably going to be Friday of this week? There is still a question mark at the end of that sentence though, we have to call Friday morning to find out for sure. Planning is just not something that comes easy when your in Ukraine. Flexibility is always the best policy, even when it cost you lots of money. My vote is still for Saturday. I like Berdyansk arrangements and there is plenty for us to do. Staying at the church apartment is luxury and inexpensive. If we get the passport we will go right to Kiev on the train Friday night instead of Saturday. It is a long trip and the price of the taxi is more then 2 nights in Kiev. I can't even imagine how many times I will have to say "Net" in Kiev. The less time we are there the less nets. Koyla does know the word no, net makes no more firm to me. I like to be firm when I say no.

Koyla's movie is over, so blogging is over too. It's time to play tarts, having a boy is going to be as much fun as having as having our sweet Yana. Thank you God for such a blessing.

Things Keep Getting Better!

2009-06-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Big day today, lots got done, even another trip to Grandpa's house. We were in the taxi at 7:00 a.m. on our way to Tokmak for the birth certificate. Once all the papers were filled out we had a 2 hour wait to get the certificate. That is when we went to Grandpa's house. We all enjoyed the visit to see Grandpa, even our driver seemed pretty relaxed in conversation with grandpa. Things are hard at grandpa's house ,but things seem in harmony there too. The homes in the outter part of Tokmak have city water, but it doesn't go to the house, it goes to a central location for a group of homes and the people have to walk to that location and get water. They have a holding tank on property that can be filled with water, it looks like a well. The central location for the water is right in front of Grandpa's house. That means everyday people have to come in front of his house to get water. It is great company for grandpa. Grandpa is a peaceful man. He has a cat and a dog and they are very peaceful too. Both of the animals just had babies. There are 2 little puppies and 2 little kittens. All of them seem to be about 3 or 4 weeks old. Today the puppies were nursing off the mother cat. She was easy going about it, she just laid back and let them nurse. The mother dog was fine with that arrangement. She came over and licked the mother cat as she nursed her puppies. We all thought that this was funny, Grandpa acting like everything was normal.

Once we got Koyla's birth certificate we drove to a little city Orehov. A pretty little place, less run down than most of Ukraine that I have seen. It was clean and bright. The people seemed more up beat and friendly. In Orehov we got Koyla's social security information changed. Then off to Zaphoryza to get the passport started. The passport officier took us in right away and within no time we were out of there going to the next couple steps it takes to get the passport. We were heading back to Berdyansk by 4:00 and by 7:00, exactly 12 hours from the time we left , we were all very happy to be home. On Wednesday at 3:00 we can call to find out when Koyla's our passport will be done, and we will have a good idea when we will return to the United States! We are hoping to hear that we can return on Saturday to get the passport and continue on to Kiev that night. We will be in Kiev for 3 nights and fly out on Wednesday. If we have to wait then we will return for the passport on Tuesday, since the office is closed on Mondays, and go to Kiev that night. We will probably fly out on Friday if that is the case.

My vote is that the passport be done by Saturday. I still love to get my vote in, but I am very aware that it is all God's timing. After being at Grandpa's house today and seeing how sweet harmony is I can be patient and live in God's harmony. There is no better place to be.

Orphanage Living is Over for Koyla

2009-06-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

These are the kids and the caregiver that we said our good-byes to today. They each have had a years worth of impact on Koyla's life some in good ways and some in not such a good way. They all came down from their rooms to send Koyla off on his new journey. Next to the caregiver in the back row is Luda, a young girl that is as sweet as can be. She was busy in the activity room today covering the windows with newspapers and tape so that the windows can be painted. Luda is strong, physically and emotionally. Koyla asked Luda to be in his picture, he respects Luda, she is kind to him. The caregiver made Koyla's leaving exciting and special. She gathered all his belongings and fussed over him, and then she gathered the boys so they would have a picture together. This all happened to Koyla without warning, no time to prepare for this moment. Mom shows up at the door and says, come on Koyla, this is it, the day you leave. I didn't mean for it to happen this way. Victor and I arrived at the orphanage to meet with the director. After talking for about an hour in her office, she said "Take Koyla with you today". This is the same person that told me I could not have Koyla until all his papers were complete and that does not happen until Tuesday and this is Monday. Why the change? Circumstances have changed. The inspectors had told the director on Friday that the children were not to leave the grounds for the weekend. She tried to explain that it was not me, that something was going on. Today she told Victor the whole story. There was a couple from Russian that took a child from one of the orphanages. All orphanages were on alert and the inspectors were to check on the orphanages. They caught the couple in Berdyansk this weekend and they are in jail! Now they are in jail the alert is over. That is why Koyla had to wait until the paper work was complete. Now these people are in jail, the paperwork doesn't have to be so complete. It works for me!

Our 10 day wait after the court hearing is over, and it is time to get Koyla's birth certificate changed. We are going to try to get his passport on the same day and hopefully get us home faster. We will have a long day tomorrow, it will introduce Koyla to traveling.

While talking to the director today I asked questions about Koyla. All her answers were so positive, she thinks very highly of Koyla. My last question, I asked her was for her to tell me something that was not so positive about Koyla, we all have some, what is his. She quickly answered, he is not brave. I wasn't surprised at her answer, I have been watching Koyla at the orphanage all weekend. Koyla will not fight or get aggressive towards others, even when they wrong him. He doesn't like conflict, he avoids it. The director called it not being brave. That is not true about Koyla, he is very brave. He is full of adventure, emotionally he is strong, he is one little brave guy. Walking away from the orphanage today was another brave step. Koyla is a peace maker, not a fighter, I call that brave.

There are over 30,000 children in Ukraine that are eligible for international adoption, there are over 100,000 children living in orphanages in Ukraine. My heart hurts every time I walk out of these orphanages, but Berdyansk Orphanage is especially hard to leave. Some of the children are no longer just faces to me. Tonight I am full of joy to have Koyla laying on the coach watching a video and struggling with the pain of those we said good bye to. Those kids are right in the center of my heart, I know they are cause that is where the pain is. It is going to take a long time for prayer tonight, I better get started.

Saying Good-Bye

2009-06-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week. Papa is getting as much of Koyla as he can before he leave and Yana is saying her good byes to friends. Mama is preparing for Rick and Yana's departure. This is also the time that I prepare to leave this apartment we are living in and enter into phase two by moving into the church apartment on the other side of town. This has all gone by so fast, until Rick and Yana left, then time stopped.

Monday and Tuesday night Koyla spent the night at our apartment. Wednesday morning we prepared for the departure of Rick and Yana. Our plan was to get up early to finish Yana's studies and then take a taxi to Yana's grandma's house to say good-bye. The two women, grandma and great-grandma are such happy people. They encouraged Yana and were so positive. They shared such love with Yana and Koyla and for Rick and myself. They shared how grateful they were that we adopted Yana and blessed us with God's blessings. They made the departure easy and cheerful. What a honor God has given me to have met these two humble ladies that we are now waving good-bye to as we drive away from their humble dwelling that is hidden from the main road by a dirt path that a car can barely drive on.

Next stop is our journey to Tokmak. We are all taking the bus to Tokmak and then Yana and Rick will continue from there to catch the train in Zaporyzha. Granda has been calling Yana and making sure that we stop to visit before she leaves so he can say good-bye. The bus ride is hot and bumpy and the only air comes from the vent opened on the roof of the bus. The air blast you right in the face. It is not a comfort ride, but no one complains, this is life in Ukraine. We arrive in Tokmak and take a taxi to Grandpa's house. There he is waiting at the door for us along with a life long family friend. This is a woman that was close to grandma before she past away. Grandpa apologized for the condition of the house, he said when his wife died he gave up caring for the house and now it needs so much. Yana found a drawer full of pictures. She spent time going through them gathering ones that had meaning to her. All the pictures that we had set to Koyla of Yana decorated grandpa's living room. The pictures Yana took home with her we will scan and send back to grandpa. There are treasures in the pictures. I got to see Yana's mom in her prime. She was a beautiful lady. Grandpa told Yana that her mother was dead. Yana was disturbed by the news and wanted to know if it was really true. She thought maybe grandpa would say something like that so that she would put mom behind her and not wonder about her. I told her I would try to find out when I go for Koyla birth certificate.

The departure was hard for both Yana and grandpa. Grandpa is very emotional, the departure had lots of tears. He too showed Rick and myself such love and warmth. He holds such a special place in our hearts for who he is in these children's lives. Yana doesn't shed tears too often, this one brought out the tears. Koyla will see grandpa on our way to the train station next week, that will be really difficult for him.

We take the taxi to the bus station. What I invisioned as a sweet good-bye to Yana and Papa turned out to be anxiety and confusion because the buses in both directions were ready to take off. The taxi has to be paid, the tickets need to be bought, Papa and mama don't know what anyone is saying which always makes the confusion more intense. We hurry, kiss, rush, trip on to the buses and then we sit there for 10 minutes on this hot, smelly bus waiting to depart. Koyla body language says it all. He stares out the window, sunk in, just full of sorrow. He was perfectly happy living with grandpa in Tokmak even if there was no food and no water, and life was dirty, and hard. Grandpa was real sick when he gave up his legal rights to Koyla. He would have lost those right anyway if he hadn't turned them over when he did. Koyla's standard of living was pretty bad.

Koyla and I returned to Berdyansk and walked to the orphanage. Galina gave us permission to have him for 2 nights and then he had to go home. He hated going back, I hated taking him back. I could have used the company that night myself. We said our good-byes and I walked home. The apartment was too quite. I got a phone call from some friends asking me if I wanted to walk the boardwalk with them. I jumped at the chance to be with people. By the time I got home I was exhausted and emotionally spent.

Thursday I spent time with Koyla at the beach, we went out to eat, bought a new i-pod for the plane trip home, and went back to the orphanage. The plan that we last had with the director of the orphanage was Koyla could spend 2 nights with me and one at the orphanage, then 2 nights with me. I planned to take him on Friday night again. When I went to get him, again, the plans had changed. The orphanage was having a government inspection. All rules are being followed, with no execption. Legally Koyla is not allowed to spent time off campus with me until Monday, the end of the 10 day waiting period. Therefore, I have to visit him at the orphanage for the weekend and I can take him on Monday for the night. I was really looking forward to this weekend in the new apartment with Koyla. So much for my plan.

The adoption of both of our children have been a journey, not an event. God has made me so dependant on him in both adoptions that I know this is His plan and not my own. He has put people in my path that are treasures I would have never experienced if I did it my way. He has shown me that His will is far more important then my comfort and His glory will be revealed in His plan, not mine. I am sitting in my big apartment by myself still amazed at His grace, He is an awesome God.

Reviewing the Journey

2009-06-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

It is so like our God to take us back to the beginnings of our journey and review how and why we started the journey in the first place. Yesterday was my day of review. Friday was our day in court, the completion of son, Koyla. On Saturday, our faclitator left for Kiev, so we had Koyla stay with us overnight. On Saturday we picked up Koyla for the long weekend, as well as Inna, Yana's friend and we walked to the beach. On our way to the beach Yana and Koyla are holding hands, what a sight to see. It is fun seeing the relationship between Inna and Koyla also, since Inna has been the go between Yana and Koyla. See too is very close to Koyla.

Rick, Yana, Koyla and Inna are in the water, and I am guarding all our possessions on the beach, when my eyes meet Marina! The day after our court date there is the person that started this whole thing. She is sweet, and very pretty. I can't show her picture though, there is not enough bathingsuit to cover her. She gave me a huge hug and kiss and asked if I were mad at her. Of course I am not mad at her. I got a chance to meet her boyfriend also. I think now we will see her often. She has returned to Berdyansk, the trade school transferred her to a school here in town. We also saw her Saturday evening. When I left her at the beach on Saturday she said, "Mama, I love you so much". She is all grown up. She looks much older then Yana, even though Yana is the older of the two.

There was no sadness in our meeting, just appreciation. As we walked home from the beach I thanked God for the work He has done and the work that is in front of us. For today though, Papa and Mama are going to take a rest. Yana, Inna, and Koyla are at the beach down by Grandma's house. It is nice having a big sister!

Time to prepare for the week ahead. Things are going to happen fast. Rick and Yana leave for Kiev on Wednesday so that Rick can sign the papers at the embassy before he returns to the states. I will move to the church apartment on Friday. We will all be home in no time!

Parents for the Second Time

2009-06-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Victor did it! He got us to court on June 5th, what a whirlwind this has been, especially for Victor. The judge agreed to give us this day so that we would not have to wait until June 12 which would mean Rick and Yana would miss their flight. Victor wasn't a 100% sure when he left on Saturday of the previous week that the SDA would give their signature of approval this quick. On Wednesday, he still didn't have it but they called Victor Wednesday evening saying they would have it on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. That would give Victor enough time to go home and get his bags and get to the train station before the train left. Thursday, Victor waits and waits and waits. Last minute he gets our papers, no time to return home. He gets on the train and heads to Berdyansk. We have to be at the courthouse by 10:30 a.m. Victor calls close to 8:30 a.m. and says he is in Tokmoc, an hour and a half away. He still needs to make copies of everything before court. He walks into the courthouse at 10:25 a.m. and 2 pages of the SDA papers are missing. They will fax them right down.

There is real peace in all this as we wait to see if this is really going to happen. Grandpa, Koyla, Yana, Rick and I have been waiting together since 8:15 a.m. Grandpa is doing good. He really enjoys our company. We presented him with his first cell phone. The kids spend most of the morning teaching him how to use it. Then we get word that everything is ready and just Rick and I enter the court. We are in there for an hour and 20 minutes. The judge is very thorough, she asked lots of questions from both of us. She called Koyla in and he stood face to face with her. At that point, she was so gentle and sweet to Koyla. The little guy had determination, he wants to be in our family. The judge leaves to make her decision and the family comes in. It takes a while and Grandpa has to go to get back to Tokmac for a doctor's appointment. When the judge comes back and announces that Koyla is our son the room turns festive. Papa, Mama, Yana and Koyla with others that are involved with the process. We are family!!!!

We have our 10 day waiting period, then the final steps. Victor is predicting that Koyla and I will be going home on the 25th of June, a one month process, unbelievable. We will live at the apartment we are in for 1 more week, then Koyla and I will move to an apartment at the church.
This happens when Rick and Yana leave.

Thank you God for your grace and mercy on this adoption. Your hand is all over it.
Mama (with 2 children)

Papa's Perspectives on the Journey

2009-06-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

I’m FINE, really….
Just poppin’ in to insure the curious I really came w/family to berdyansk.
Oh, the memories of this place! Soo different from the deep freeze of winter.
I’m thinking of weaving through the daily notes to offer my own observations, highlighting snippets of the days we experienced.
First off- WHO IN THEIR WISDOM PUT THE DRUNK DIRECTLY BEHIND US IN THAT 11HR. PLANE RIDE TO KIEV? I barely tolerated his breath,(which smelled like we were sitting next to spilt diesel). I finally blew when he reached over the seats & grabbed both of our hair. Now I know why the windows don’t have cranks on them, he would have discovered what “open air coach” means to me….
You have to make snap decisions once you’re on the ground in this adoption adventure. You’ll be shopping for a temporary apt. while you wait for your appointment with the S.D.A. Victor our guide will lead us thru this process & has already selected a few for us to tour. We accept the first one.
You unload all your belongings into the apartment & unpack-sort of. We’ll be leaving soon after our S.D.A. appointment, therefore most everything stay’s where it is. We haven’t had much to eat so it’s off to a place we remember from before.
This is the real game-no practice runs anymore. You should now have your money belt on, your passport in another secure place, your wallet in another secure place, your Russian cell phone w/all the important people in it along w/emergency numbers (U.S. Embassy, etc.). Where is the code to enter the entrance door to your apartment? Do you have the keys for the place? Do you remember how to get back to it? Where do you buy groceries, snacks, drinks, & yes, that dreaded stink of a food called dried fish?
This is also where you learn fast you pay for everything. Fran has planned out a schedule of places & events w/ estimated budget in mind. She is wonderfully adept @ visualizing. Still can’t figure out why she married me….
This is soo different from the deep freeze of winter. Spring is here, it’s warm & people are everywhere. Fast pace, fancy cars, & fashion. A young woman clutching her infant approaches the tourist wearing white socks, shorts that show off skinny leper looking white legs (it’s me) & begs for money. She looks beat, & her face reveals long bouts of struggle. Her child fusses as I reach in my pocket. This is no time to pull out your wallet, & I hand her some coins. Yana approaches me w/her voice cracking, “Pop, I have some money you gave me to spend. Can I please give her this $10.00, please?” She saw something in her personal past that moved her w/compassion. May GOD touch her & her child.
The S.D.A. appointment, overnight train ride, the busch garden like taxi drive to berdyansk, apartment shopping, then our appointment w/Koyla is a whirl. The poor kid is so wound up tight w/emotion he’s sweaty & starts to hyperventilate. He doesn’t hug Yana-he embraces her, never looking directly@ her eyes.
Koyla does what he is told. He does not initiate at all. He never looks up, but focuses on the ground or off to the side. Kids that make it here don’t talk much about how they arrived. I try not to imagine the road he traveled to arrive here.
Soon we’re outside sharing a soccer game w/a gym class. Yana drifts off w/old friends, Victor chases endless paperwork, the inspectors are delivered back to their offices, & Fran & I are alone w/Koyla.
This is SO different from our last adoption. Quiet does not describe Koyla. Silent w/o looking @ you gets closer.
I recognize many of these kids. There is 1 girl, perhaps 11yrs., on top of the worn out slide fascinated by a feather tied w/cassette tape to a stick. The feather floats effortlessly w/grace & poise in the smallest of breezes. She is the one who snuggled into Fran’s lap that winter of 07/08 & in broken English begged, “I want a momma & papa”. She is darling, her eyes & smile perfectly expressing childhood innocence. I too become lost in the feathers flight. Our last experience w/adoption suddenly races to the forefront . The introduction to the girls, the smiles, laughter, balloon chasing, raw fish, wrestling, tears-many tears. Our eyes meet each other’s, she smiles as if she remembers, then continues to entertain herself loitering close by.
Fran uses our laptop to show Koyla pictures, but it’s difficult in the bright sun. We move to find shade. I look around to find my feather friend has gone.
We’ll have many more visits w/Koyla. Tomorrow is a brand new day.
Wednesday is a pleasure. Koyla is so innocent-like. He wants to come boldly forward, but this is overwhelming to him. Yana reconnects w/friends. She has come back to what she knew as her security, this time bringing her new security w/her.
Thursday is more time w/Koyla. He seems best to handle short amounts of time, 2-3hrs.This allows him time to absorb.
Friday is odd. It’s their graduation/step-up day. School graduation includes dress-up parades, music & pomp. The outdoor mall square/strip is active all day.
A word about Ukraine. 80years of communism has left it’s mark (scars) on the people. Without God, beauty is defined as how daring you can expose yourself. These women are daring. It filters down to the kids. So I’m looking @ a high school graduating class where the boys are marching with cigarettes & open beers, & the girls have outfits that somehow resemble a blend of a traditional Ukrainian molly maid outfit & something from Fredericks of Hollywood catalog. Fran suggests I take pictures of the event. “No way” is my reply. “The last thing I want happen is for me to try to enter the U.S. w/ a 16 yr.old I’m claiming is my daughter and a bunch of photos of underage girls wearing their underwear on the outside”….
Yana is allowed to bring 3 of her close friends here for a overnight. They range between 15-17 years old.
These kids are precious. They are bubbly, chatty young ladies. They’re clean cut kids, & they are pro @ making the most of a moment. A little clowning around goes a long way here.
Yana is kissing her pop @ every opportunity. She has her friends & her security both in the same place tonight. I am still in awe of the position a daughter places for her father, & the longing a girl has to have one. I sense there will be serious snacking going on. I place the stinky dried fish on the dining table, then open the 4th story window. “If they don’t finish this !#!?# perhaps I’ll get lucky & a seagull will”…
Blessings,
Papa

Hardship and Love

2009-06-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

Our walk through the adoption of Koyla is giving me a new look at orphans, especially the children that are social orphans. Koyla has a grandpa that loves him and Yana a lot. He was unable to care for 2 children after his wife died so the children were separated. He gets very emotion when he sees Yana. They hug and kiss and he sheds tears. Koyla has been a huge part of his life, but because of illness and poverty, Grandpa had to put Koyla in an orphanage where he has better care. He had to give up his rights to Koyla to do this. This is why Koyla is up for adoption. This is not easy for grandpa, even though it was his decision. It is not easy for Koyla , grandpa has been his security all his life. This is a big factor in this adoption, even though legally it has no barren in the adoption. We want Koyla to walk away from Ukraine still secure that his grandpa is still his grandpa and always will be his grandpa.
On Tuesday morning we got up ready to go to Tokmac for the day. We were going to meet grandpa. At 8:00 in the morning the orphanage called and said grandpa was there and wanted to meet us. I think Galina made contact with him letting him know we were coming. He has no phone, but maybe there is a contact person. When we arrived at the orphanage he and Yana embraced. It was another emotional time for Yana and grandpa. Yana introduced us to him and she talked to him about the adoption. He asked her many questions. He told her that he would be bored without Koyla. Koyla is all grandpa has. His son is not a good man and left Koyla for the pleasures of his own life. Yana did an excellent job at encouraging grandpa and he knew that this was best for Koyla. Koyla has 2 choices right now, be adopted or live the rest of his teenage years in an orphanage, age out and be on his own. Adoption is appealing to him and being with Yana is more appealing.
When children are taken from their parents they go to a 1st stage orphanage where they spend 90 days be evaluated. Any relative that might be in the area is contacted. They are asked if they would like to raise the child, if not then they decide the orphanage best suited for the child. Many times relatives want to help the child, but can’t afford to. They visit the child or they will have the child come to the house for dinner or overnights, etc. If no one wants the parental rights to these children, then they can be adopted. That is why some of the children that leave have people they have had meaningful relationships with. When we adopted Yana the judge made a statement that I will never forget. She said that since no one in Ukraine wants you, these American people can adopt you. That statement is simply not true. Yana and Koyla have people here that care and love them, they just cannot care and love FOR them. The average income is less than $100.00 a month. The people that care about the children are old and poor and struggling with day to day life. The people that care for Yana and Koyla get up every morning to sustain themselves, and they have health issues on top of that. They are the people that have been greatly affected by the wars, communism, socialism and the collapsed economy. This economic downturn that is occurring in our country is far worse here. From Saturday until Tuesday we could not find a bank that had money. This is most difficult on the old people. Yana and Koyla will always be encouraged to care about these people. Their pictures will be part of our home décor, so they have them on the forefront of their minds. I want them to pray, write, and communicate with these people who have sacrificed to give them relationship and when the sacrifice became too great they were forced to let go. I have seen amazing love on this trip. I pray that I can love the two of them and care for them with the same depth and even more. I pray that neither of them will get caught up in materialism and will always treasure relationship over riches. I pray that the glory of God will be revealed in their lives and the path He takes them on will reveal God’s amazing love.
What more could you ask for in any adoption of two really special people that God had in his plans to be in our family.
Yana has had a great time, but this morning she looked at me and said mom, I am ready to go home. That is an answer to prayer. I am so happy that getting on with life is now in America, this is a vacation place. She can’t wait to go to Florida, were she gets to go after she returns home.

Another Day Filled with Blessings

2009-06-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a very special day, not only because it was Sunday and we get to go to the Bethel Church, but we are going to Grandma’s house after church. Rick and I still have no idea who Grandma is so we are looking to put together pieces of Yana’s past. We are greeted with such warmth and love when we walk in the church. How good it is to see old friends both English and Ukrainian. What a sweet group of people. After church our friends Don and Inna join us for lunch at a café in town. Don, in his little red hot rod car drives us to Grandma’s house. We discover that Grandma is Yana’s great aunt on her mother’s side of the family. This lady took Yana under her wing as an orphan. Yana used to go there for dinner and sometimes spend nights there. She is very fond of her Grandmother and GREAT GRANDMOTHER. We have heard a lot about both of these women, but there is nothing in the records about them, so we had no idea how they were really related. I always thought it was Koyla’s grandpa’s sister. It is easy to see where Yana gets so many of her great values from. These two ladies are jewels that we are privileged to meet.
We show up unannounced and grandma comes to the door. When she saw Yana she lit up with happiness. “Yana, Yana, Yana”, kiss, hug, kiss, hug, kiss. This goes on and on and on. Great grandma then has her turn. Once again Mama and Papa are fighting back tears. The two women received us as if we were their own. We got hugs and kisses too. The two women are pioneers in the true sense of the word. They live together in a house with a little land surrounding it. The house is small with an outhouse, an indoor winter kitchen and an outdoor summer kitchen. There is a bathhouse outside that you have to heat water on the coal stove to get warm water. There are 17 chickens and 24 chicks. The rest of the property is gardens that go all the way around the house. The effective use of this little bit of land provides them with all the fruit and vegetables they need. The summer kitchen is where they do their canning and hidden under a hug rug is their food basement where they store their food. The great grandma who is 91 years old still works the gardens. Yana’s great aunt and her mother have a little competition of who grows the best vegetables. There were different gardens growing some of the same foods, like tomatoes, at different stages of growth.
Both women were so hospitable. We accepted a cup of coffee and tea in the summer kitchen. It was such a treat to sit in this little building as we tried to have conversation. They wanted so much to tell us things and I wanted to understand and pick their brains as well. Yana did a great job of interpreting but after awhile her brain got tired. Great grandma did manage to explain that her and her husband had built this place and that she lost him 18 years ago as well as 3 of her 4 children. The daughter that lives with her is her oldest of her children. I can’t express how I wanted to find out the details about her life. She was rich with history.
As we were visiting we heard a little cry in the bedroom. Yana’s cousin who lived with this grandma is now 25 and has a 4 year old little girl. Yana has talked about her a lot too. What a beautiful little girl. Unfortunately her cousin was working and was not going to be there any time soon. Hopefully we will have a chance to meet her before Yana and Rick leave. We promised to come back and bring Koyla with us. When Yana found out that we were going to adopt her she went out to visit them for advice. They told her to go and not miss the opportunity for a better life. Yana has so much respect for these two women that she listened to what they told her. Even on Sunday, they were giving Yana their blessing, they are so happy for her.
Then a taxi showed up. It was another cousin. The grandmother and grandfather to the little girl (the parents to the 25 year old cousin that was working), who live in Moscow now. They were here on vacation. They moved to Moscow when their daughter was young and left the daughter to be raised by her mother. The economy was so bad that they left to make money. What hardship these people have seen.
We said our farewells to the family, with lots of hugs and kisses, and went to the orphanage to see Koyla. We spent a couple of hours with him and left Yana and Koyla at the orphanage to play with friends. Rick and I walked into town. We are both going to need new shoes when we get home, we are putting the miles on them. Down time is not really down time. We have to get food, wash clothes by hand, buy water and a few other basics before we send the taxi to go get Yana. By the time we go to bed we fall asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow.
Monday we headed back to the orphanage to see Koyla. It is a God thing how our lives are knitting together. We now come to the orphanage and Koyla will run to us. He is trying to learn some English words and is very proud of himself if he answers in English. Yana is spending a lot of time with her 3 friends. We know that they will now be scattered, Inna is the only one that stays at the orphanage. Yana has stayed in touch with the 3 girls by e-mail and phone (thanks to skype). I am hoping that they can continue to have this relationship forever.
The last few days we have had a chance to see the sacrifice that Yana made emotionally when she made the decision to be adopted. Relationships are important to Yana, she left special people behind. They all encouraged her to go, even her 3 friends. I believe that God has picked Yana out of her situation in Ukraine to make a difference. I pray that she will receive the opportunity that God has given her and follow his will for her, whatever that looks like.

2009-06-01T03:35:00.000-07:00

If you going to adopt in Ukraine I don’t think there is an easier time to adopt then this. This trip is a vacation for all of us (except for maybe Koyla). The weather is beautiful, warm but not too hot and the nights are jacket temperature. Since the church apartment that we were hoping to get wasn’t available until June 12th, we are living in an apartment about two blocks from the beach, two blocks from the outside mall, with small markets everywhere. The apartment we live in is in a housing project that looks old from the outside, but the inside is new. The inside is a simple Ukrainian home that is extremely comfortable. Many things about this area are appealing to me, especially the simplicity of lifestyle of day to day living. Notice I did not say the simplicity of women’s fashion that is far from simple. There is so much emphasis on beauty, sexiness, youth, worldliness, for the women, yet the men dress so plain and simple. Every time we go out we view a fashion show. The clothes don’t interest me as much as the shoes. Most of the women wear heals, the younger women where high, high, heals in their daily living. The lifestyle here is walking, and public transportation, the high heal shoe doesn’t fit the picture. Even the little girls and old women walk around in heals, just not so high. The outdoor mall has a smooth sidewalk, it was just redone last year, but the rest of the town is not smooth at all. Navigating the sidewalks in town is difficult with gym shoes on.
The days in the summer are long, the sun is up by 4:00 a.m. and about 9:00 p.m. it is dark. In July, August and September the streets are crowded with people. We are getting the benefits of the summer activities without the crowds. This is the Berdyansk that Yana misses. You spend all your time walking and there is something going on all the time to capture your interest. The beach is right here walking distance from the orphanage. As you walk to the beach there is dry fish everywhere along the way. It is so sad that life is so difficult here. I see in Yana how she loves this place, but she is mature enough to know that her life here would be hard. She has many friends here, but there are 3 that are real close to her. They spent the weekend at our apartment. The last day of school ceremonies were Friday, then the 4 girls came over to drop off their belongings and went on a marathon of playing and catching up. By the time the 3 went back to the orphanage they were exhausted. Yana asked Rick and I last night if there was any way to adopt the 3 girls. Two of the girls will leave the orphanage this year, the other one will stay. Only one of the 3 is eligible for adoption and she has a beautiful sister at the orphanage also. Knowing the tough life these kids have in front of them, it is difficult to leave them behind. Yana is willing to get a job to come back for them. My prayer is Yana will always have a heart for these children.
Yesterday we took Koyla to the waterfront, where there are games and rides. It doesn’t take too much communication to have fun. He had a really good time. This is his first time seeing the waterfront in Berdyansk or going on rides. He is in for a shock when he gets home. Can’t even imagine what Busch Gardens is going to look like to this little guy. Every day our relationship is growing. It is pretty uncomfortable for both him and us. Little by little we are getting to know how to break the silence and communicate our thoughts to him. He is doing the same. We are spending a lot of time with him without Yana. The nice part is if we get stuck we can call Yana and she will translate.
I have been up since 4:30 a.m., washed some clothes (by hand) and have to wait until Yana is a wake to hang them (outside). Fortunately our landlord and his wife came over yesterday, a very sweet couple, and she insisted that she wash the difficult clothes in her machine at home. When we came home from the orphanage, I looked out the window to find our clothes were hanging outside on the balcony.
Sunday, we will go to church and hopefully we will be able to visit a woman that Yana calls Grandma. She is not Yana’s grandma, but she is a sister to her real grandpa. The women used to have Yana come for dinner when she lived in the orphanage. Yana has very fond memories of the woman. Yana is touching bases with her past, lots of emotions. It is a privilege to walk this journey with these children, even when it is difficult.

The one picture of Rick and Koyla gives you an idea of the size of Koyla to his papa. The class picture is taken on step up day, this happens on the last day of school in all Ukrainian schools. The dress is traditional. This is Yana class they will all leave the orphanage. They all look like children to me, not ready to be on their own. Yana got to share the festivities, even the hair piece.

Six Years Apart- Joined Together

2009-05-30T02:16:00.001-07:00

I am going to do a fast post so that this picture makes it on the blog. I have tried 6 times and each time something happens. Here is the first reunion of brother and sister. Yana was caught totally off guard. They called Koyla down and we did not know it. The director was asking Yana questions when Koyla walked in the door. This is too precious of a time, it brings tears to the eyes, at least to Mama's eyes.

I will share other pictures later. We are off to the beach for a day with Koyla. Yana is with her friends for a special weekend. This weekend is graduation for Yana's class. She is here for the celebration. She is having a ball. I will fill in the details later.
Fran

Give Us Strength to Match the Speed

2009-05-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

I prayed for speed and received it, but I never added to please give me the strength to endure the speed. So far things are moving along at an amazing speed, so much grace by everyone in the process. We arrived in Zaporizyhya at 6:30 a.m. by train. Victor, our facilitator slept in the same compartment as us since there is 4 to each compartment. Therefore we slept in our clothes. I had on sweatpants and a tee shirt. In the morning we real quickly fixed ourselves up, I put on a little make-up on in the dark because I looked soooo exhausted. I am sure that I didn’t get more than 2 hours of sleep. I know that Yana didn’t either. At 2:00 a.m. Yana is calling down to me from the bunk above, “ Mom, I am hungry”. I gave her an orange, at 3:00 a.m. she is climbing down to go to the bathroom. When she returns, she says, “Mom is there anything else to eat?”. I sent her up with cookies that we had brought with us to have with coffee and tea. At 4:00 a.m. I am wide awake and preparing to get off the train.
Our good friend, driver Roma, is waiting for us to rush us off to Berdyansk. Unforturnately Roma got pulled over for speeding and not wearing seatbelts in the front seat. I have never seen anyone where a seatbelt in Ukraine. I had no idea it was law. Yana had just got done telling them that in America you get a fine for not wearing your seatbelt in the front seat. Both Roma and Victor laughed at such a notion. Roma was totally embarrassed by the whole thing.
We arrive in Berdyansk around 10:00 a.m. Roma has 4 apartments that he knows are available. I have to stop at the church that we stayed at before, so Rick and Yana are sent out to get an apartment. Our game plan is to find the apartment, drop off the bags, come and get me and stop for food so we can eat something before we go visit Koyla. About an hour later they come to get me and everyone is in a hurry. We have to be at the orphanage in 5 minutes , the inspectors are waiting for us. No time to change, clean ourselves up or get our presents that we brought for Galina or buy the flowers that we wanted to present her. We arrive, smelly, dressed like slobs, hair a mess, and only a small amount of caffine in our system from the 4oz of coffee/tea they serve on the train in the morning at 5:30 a.m. For me that is not too bad, for Rick, he is a true coffee man in the morning, a minimum of 4 cups (mugs) just to get the morning started. You can imagine how Yana felt seeing her friends for the first time looking like she did. She handled it better then all of us.
What a beautiful welcome Yana got from teachers, children, and the director. There was a mix of laughing and tears. The teachers kissed and hugged her and me. Such a joy filled the air. Then we met the inspectors and Galina. They were all so beautifully dressed with their hair perfect, smelling of beautiful perfume and well rested. That turned out to be a great occasion also. They were so happy with Yana. All were amazed at her English and ability to translate and how healthy she looked. Yana’s face was glowing, she was like a radiate star sitting at that table.
After 10 minutes of questioning Yana and discovering how she was doing in America, they asked us if we were ready to see Koyla. My first thought was no, I didn’t want to meet Koyla the way we looked, but I knew that was the wrong answer. By this time Rick and I are numb with being tired. Yana is on an adrenaline high, she is as alert and awake as if she slept all night. Koyla comes in shaking, sweating, scared, and excited. It was a touching time to see him and Yana embrace for the first time. The whole room was filled with emotion. Yana introduces Koyla to mama and papa. Poor little guy was sweating with anxiety. As soon as our interview was over the doctor at the orphanage and Koyla jumped in our car and we ran around finishing the medical. Everyone at the orphanage is so excited about this adoption, including the inspectors, that they are approving things out of order. The medical was supposed to be done before we had the inspector’s interview. Yana stayed at the orphanage and went to classes with her friends while we were running around. The goal of everyone is to try to get our court appointment on June 5th. The courts are only seeing adoption cases on Friday here in Berdyansk.
Koyla is a sweet, tiny, young 13 year old. When walking out of the orphanage we held his hand. When Rick took his hand, he looked up at Rick and then down at his hand. Ricks hand has to be 10 times the size of Koyla’s. It shocked him to see the size of his papa. Even Yana was shocked by the size of her brother. One thing Rick and I talked about is Koyla’s size does not match his thinking. He is a teenager and we have to respond to him in that way. It would be easy to treat him as a little boy. After we got back to the orphanage Koyla jumped out of the car ready to return to what is familiar to him. Rick and I were ready for sleep and Yana….still on a high. We went to our new apartment where our bags were dropped off and all of us fell asleep, except for Victor. He was on a run to get the papers done. Victor has a double incentive to get out of Berdyansk. On the train he got a call that his son fell and broke his arm. The little guy that was with us the day before, so full of energy was in the hospital full of pain. When we got to Berdyansk he got another call from his wife that while examining Anton, they discovered that he has some stomach problems too. Victor and his wife were on the phone constantly. It was obvious that he wanted to be with his family during this time of difficulty.
Things are moving at a speed that far exceeded my expectations, the body is not keeping up. My prayers include praising the Lord for His powerful speed, it is easy to see that His hand is on all of this, and please Lord give me the strength to keep up. Between no sleep, no food, and meeting our son for the first time, I could have been an emotional basket case. Fortunately Yana was on such a high that I didn’t breakdown she kept everyone in good spirits. After a few hours of sleep, and a good dinner that night we all felt better and ready for the days ahead.
Now it is time to build relationship with our new son. Yana and he haven’t missed a beat, they are already bonded as if never apart. It is sweet to see them together. They do look alike, that was one of the first things Yana said when he walked into the director’s office. This is different than the first adoption. Yana trusted us immediately because of her American experience and she knew that we were friends with people she knew in America. Koyla, this is all new. He is also leaving a good grandpa behind. Grandpa is old and can no longer care for him. We told him that Grandpa is still his grandpa we don’t want to take that away. We want him to have relationship with him. We want to have grandpa’s blessing on the adoption. He has told the director and Koyla that he is very much in favor of the adoption. The poor old man loves his grandson. He not only verbalizes it he shows it by his visits to the orphanage. He will have to sign papers stating that he gives his blessing on this adoption. That will happen next week. I am glad I brought a lot of Kleenex with me!
Today, May 28th, Victor hopefully gets our court date and then he goes to tend his own family back in Kiev for the weekend. We will spend our weekend getting to know our son, Nicholy Marcus Rahn (Koyla). The story of the name is a book in itself. The last chapter of the book is, Nicholy is his name. Marcus is Yana’s pick. Marcus is a famous soccer player. I am not sure who picked Nicholy, but I know it was a huge issue at a time that I couldn’t think of my own name that alone the name of a boy that is leaving the orphanage, his country and his grandpa. I think he went to some teachers and asked for help while mama and papa slept. That night we got a call saying this is Koyla’s name.
Amazing love how can it be that I should experience such precious moments as these!
Fran

A New Smiling Face at the SDA

2009-05-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

Off to Berdyansk we go tonight. That was a wonderful, friendly, happy, SDA appointment. Unbelievable, we can say it was a joyous occassion. The child psychologist that met us had a beautiful smile on her face the whole time. She was so excited that Yana and Koyla were re-uniting. She is a new face at the SDA and a very pleasant person.

We were invited in with Victor and Yana. She had Koyla's files ready and she said "Where did you meet Koyla" and both Rick and I responded, "We never have". That is the only time her smile fell. I put my arm around Yana and said "He is Yana's brother". Her face lit up and her and Yana did most of the talking from that point on. Totally unexpected, she told us we could leave for Berdyansk tonight. All of us thought it was going to be tomorrow. Victor couldn't believe it. I think she was excited that Yana was so excited. We are all getting bored in Kiev. Everyone is excited about leaving.

Our Train leaves at 8:35 tonight. We will be visiting Koyla on Tuesday afternoon for the first time. Lookout Berdyansk, Yana is beside herself with excitement. She loves her hometown and friends. We share the excitement with her. She has been so mature on this trip. She knows that she is a lucky child to have her home in America, but she still has a heart in Ukraine. The judge asked her which one she preferred. She told her, both. She liked America better because of her family and she has lots of opportunity there, but she liked Ukraine because that is where she was raised. The judge laughed and told her she was so right.

Thank you God for this happy day!
Fran

We Made It!!!

2009-05-24T04:47:00.000-07:00

We arrived, on time and exhausted. That was a long flight. We had a new plane, but the seats were so uncomfortable that no one got much sleep. We arrived on Saturday at our apartment by 1:00 p.m. The apartment is right in the heart of Kiev in Victory Square. The place is very simple and very Ukrainian. Victor handled the details of this trip beautifully, it went extremely smooth. We were ushered through customs with VIP service so fast that we beat Victor's arrival time at the airport. Victor's driver got us to our apartment without making us fear for our lives with his good driving. We reviewed our plans with Victor, then off to lunch we went. As soon as we were done eating, we went to the market and bought Yana a huge treat...dried fish. Was she ever in heaven.

After a couple hours out, we returned to the apartment and all 3 of us fell sound asleep for about 2 hours. We got up long enough to get ready for bed and for the rest of the day we relaxed. The rest felt good, but I think we all need one more day of it to really recuperate. We will have time today, Sunday, to get more rest later in the day. We spent 4 hours with Victor on Sunday, sightseeing around Kiev. He brought his son, Anton, with him. The English threw Anton off a bit. He would try to talk to us, but never got the right answer. That was a treat sharing part of our day with them. After internet time we will eat, go to market, and return to the apartment. That will be more time for rest.

Rick did bring company from Virginia with us that gave us some concern. As he was showering he discovered a tick on him. It looked pretty serious. He pulled it out and left the head in, so I finished the job and treated it. We were both thinking the same thing but never spoke it until the next morning, "What do we do if this is a bulls eye?" In the morning we checked it and it was getting much better. Thank you God for your hand of protection. This is my 5th trip to the Ukraine. I can say that this is where I am closest to God's power. I am week and I know that through his strength, I am strong. I am thankful for all that He has done and all that He is going to do.

Tomorrow, Memorial Day in America, SDA appointment in the Ukraine. We have our appointment at 12:00 noon. The process of bring Koyla home now begins.
Fran

Off We Go!!

2009-05-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

The day has come, May 22nd, one month later then I thought, but God's perfect timing. We have about 20 extra pounds in our luggage, the school work that Yana has to complete before she gets home. Everything is packed, and I mean everything. I can't wait for our facilitator to see our luggage. One bag is gifts for the orphanage and the group home that "Heart for Orphans" has established. The rest is ours and Yana's is the heaviest. Our friend Dale will be here at 11:30 a.m. to drive us to Richmond airport. Our flight to New York is at 2:00 p.m and we leave New York at 630 p.m. We arrive in Kiev at 11:10 in the morning (with the 7 hour time change).

We have said our good byes, we have been prayed over, and all the bills have been paid, now the dog gets walked for the last time and off we go.

God Bless this portion of your journey. I pray that we bring Koyla home and we will be in your perfect will.
Fran

The Guess is Over

2009-05-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning, everyone is off doing their thing, school and work. I get some quiet time before I have to run off to work. I am doing a study by Priscilla Shires, "He Speaks to Me". Our very last assignment at the end of this fantastic study is to write a letter. I write mine to God. I submit to His timing, His direction and allow Him to take control over the adoption. As soon as I write "Amen" the phone rings. "Hi Fran, this is Victor. We have the appointment".

We have 10 days to get ready, today is 9 and tomorrow is 8. We leave the Richmond airport on May 22nd and arrive in Kiev on the 23rd. Our appointment is on May 25th, Memorial Day. I didn't tell Victor that it is an American Holiday in fear they would all take the day off!

The first week of my study Priscilla talked about being still. After 6 weeks of being still, I am filled with the stength to move on with the journey. There is such power in being still.

Part 2 of the journey is now officially beginning,!
Fran

Your Guess is as Good as Mine!

2009-04-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

The most often questions asked me these days is; "When are you going to get Koyla". Your guess is as good as mine, only God knows the plan. We are doing all we can do, our facilatator, Victor, is doing all he can do, so now we just keep the faith that it will come soon.

The lastest update story is a tale of United States Law and Ukrainian Law and the Rahns are in the middle. On April 16th Victor went to the SDA office with the final 3 pieces of paper. The dossier was now complete, accepted and ready for the date. They told him to come back on the 23rd to get the date. On the 23rd they told him they could not give him the date yet because there are two major holidays coming up in May that will affect when people can have appointments. They had not decided how much time they were going to take off for the holidays. They asked him to call on Monday and they would let him know. On Monday he was told that the office had been so business that they did not have time to schedule appointments, but if he came in on Wednesday, the 29th, they would have the appointment scheduled. On Wednesday he was told that they found fault with the I-171H form, which is our American form for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. They said the dates were wrong and that they had never heard of an extension before. Victor explained that we were granted an extension and that this paper was still valid. Victor has to go to the U.S. Embassy to get a letter that stated that this form has been approved and the extension is a new law that was passed in July 2008. Victor called the SDA who said that the letter would be accepted but that he would have to come back on May 7th because the deputy director of booking appointments has gone home and is now on vacation and then there will be the holiday (Labor Day is May 1st), so therefore we can not book the appointment, but we promise that it will be booked on May 7th and we will get them in at the end of May. Victor wants me to get a new form that has dates changed and our government agency can't change the dates on the form because it make the form illegal. Who will win the battle? Who knows? God does!!! In the mean time I lay awake at night repeating,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Be still I am God, I am the vine you are the branches, Be angry and do not sin, and Don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation. It did work. I finally got the peace that I was needing to fall asleep.

In the mean time, Koyla will turn 13 on May 7th, and Yana will be done with soccer by the time we leave, and Rick will wrap up work that needs to get done, and I can think about all the things I want to do in the Ukraine for the summer, since more and more of my summer will be there. I am still hopeful that we will have an appointment somewhere around the 20th or 21st. I am praying that I am in God's will on that. I would love to be back in the United States before the July 4th holiday. We do know that God's timing is perfect, even if we think he is looking at the wrong datebook.
Fran

Hold the Flight!!

2009-04-11T06:10:00.000-07:00

We are not making our flight plans yet, we are still waiting. On March 26th our facilitator had his appointment with the SDA. They gave him 3 papers to return to us and have us do over. The facilitators can't keep up with all the changes that are taking place, but this time they are splitting hairs. We got them back in record time, but not perfect time. Our papers arrived in Kiev on Monday, April 6th. They made it by FedEx in 3 days!!! They had to be translated and notorized and then run over to the SDA office. All done in record time. The SDA office is closed to dossier work for 15 days April 1st to the 15th to do quarterly reports! Oh no.......another red light. Hurry up and wait, Hurry up and wait, Hurry up and wait. I did learn this as a child. We played the game hurry up and wait all the time, Red light-Green light. Why is it as an adult it is not as much fun? Maybe my problem is fun, I should make this more fun. Turn it into a game, a guessing contest, create a game similar to monopoly or .... Am I missing an opportunity here?
Now I think I am going nuts. I think I do better at hurry up and wait.

God did not leave me without seeing His Glory. In this period of hold, God showed me that He is sitting on the throne. I love to see this, it gets me so excited. In 2005 a group of children came to United States with the "Old Russin Shoe Maker" performance. The children were from Berdyansk Orphanage, Yana was one of these children. During the performance at the Williamsburg Community Chapel, I spotted a young girl that looked just like one of my nieces. I welted up with tears. The thought that these children didn't have family overwhelmed me. The sight of this young girl made me stop and think about the importance of having someone helping you direct you path as you get older. It is easy to see the lack of nurturing that a young child would miss living in an orphanage, but the older child missing the guidance and security that comes from a family unit. I have thought about that young girls over and over. I never got her name or found out anything else about her, but her face and the feeling that I got when I saw her has never left me.

Last summer one of Yana's friends came to visit Williamsburg from North Carolina, she was also adopted from Ukraine. This year she returned to visit with her sister. This young sister is the young girl that stirred up my emotions in 2005. It is so exciting to know that she has a family and the couple adopted her whole family at that. How is that for God's Glory. It makes hurry up and wait well with my soul.

We are still praying for a fast appointment, hopefully in May, maybe even the first or second week. I have been hearing that they are setting fast appointments.

For now we are going to change our focus. We are celebrate our Risen Savior. He has Risen indeed and His grace is given to me daily. Happy Easter
Fran

Waiting for "The" Meeting

2009-03-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

Hurry up and wait, sound familar? So much of life is like that. Your hurry to get here and there to find yourself waiting at the red light. I don't do red lights real well, but I practice trying to be a good red light person. We are at a red light waiting for the green. Our facilitar has received the last of our changed paper work and is now waiting to return to the SDA office at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 26th. There is good chance that our appointment will be at the end of
April, so I am trying to prepare for that scenario. I also realize that the papers could be returned again, many changes are taking place in Ukraine for adoptions, especially paper work. I realize that after being told Koyla, our son to be, is registered, there is always chance the papers are lost, we have been down that road before. Have you ever been at a red light and it didn't change? You look around to see if others have noticed, you wait a little longer and start wondering what to do. It is really hard when you are the first person at the light and others are looking to you to make the decision. That is how I feel with this adoption. I am so ready to get on with life, yet we are at a red light, waiting. I look forward to our trip to Ukraine and having Koyla as my son, but there are so many things that are on hold until this is over. There is nothing on hold that is more important then adopting a child. There is nothing on hold that has any eternal value, just things.

When I get real anxious I look at Koyla 's picture and that has a calming effect on me. I look at Yana and I realize that this little guy is worth the wait. This picture of Koyla was taken by friends who recently visited Berdyansk Orphanage and met Koyla. They brought a gift to him from our family. We got a real good report about Koyla. The director says he is a good boy!!! I guess there could be other motives for saying he is a good boy, like she wants him to be with his sister, but I will choose to believe he is a good boy.

Hopefully on March 26th when I get out of bed and run to the computer, the light will turn green. We will have our appointment and the official packing can begin. Until then, I am sitting at the red light, waiting.

Fran

Part 2 of the Rahn Journey Begins

2009-02-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

Yes, she is beautiful! The inner women in Yana is as beautiful as the outter Yana. She and her papa went to a father/daughter diner. They are such good buddies.

I don't blog about Yana much, because I want her to enjoy her privacy, but now that she is part of the Part 2 Journey, you will hear more about her as it applies to the journey.

Our papers are in Ukraine, most of them have been translated already. Some of them came back the first time they went out due to the changes in the laws in December 2008. Our facilitator says that once we are approved we will be able to go for our appointment as soon as Yana's brother is available. From the information we received from the facilitator, Koyla should be available at the end of April. It once seemed so far away, now it seem right on top of us. So much to do, so much money yet to save!!! I could throw myself into a panic. I do realize that nothing is for certain on this part of the journey either. I am well equipped for that too. I know that the SDA could come back and tell us that they were only joking when they told Victor that Koyla was available. Fortunately, I am ready for anything this year. I told Rick that it felt good to know that this would be our last trip to Ukraine to adopt. He looked at me and said, "Who said it was". Oh my!!!! If God has a plan for more adoptions, He must increase the size of our home, increase the amount of our savings, and slow down my aging process. I know that He has the ability to do all three, so who am I to question. We hope to be getting word about our appointment in a couple of weeks. We are praying for timing to be in our favor, late April, early May. That God would help us prepare for this journey mentally, physically and spiritually.

Yana will be traveling with us to Ukraine. She and Rick will stay until the court date and then return to the U.S. so that Rick can work and Yana finish the school year. Rick will return to sign the final papers and travel home wth us. This is the plan as of today, and are open if God's plan differs.

Part 2 of the Rahn journey is officially started, May God Bless it,

Fran

Yana's First American Dance

2008-10-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

October 25th, marks the date that I am sure our headaches will begin. We send our beautiful daughter off to her first dance here in America. I begged her to buy a raw fish and bring it with her and eat it with the head on. Now way, that kind of stuff happens at home, not in front of her American friends.

We are hosting a student from France for the week. She arrives in time for the Jamestown High School homecoming dance. Anne-Laure is here for a cross cultural experience. I told her she is getting more then one cultural experience. We have taken Yana out of the Ukraine, but the Ukrainian will never leave Yana. That is what gives Yana so much of her charm, she loves who she is. We love who she is too, our little Ukrainian daughter.

The picture is Anne-Laure, Yana, Ella, and Erica. Yana's dress is from the Ukraine. When Marina was here for the summer, she and Yana did a dress exchange. This is the dress that Marina bought for her birthday with the money we gave her for a present. Yana was so excited that no one would have a dress like hers. The day of the dance, the girls got together at Ella's house to do make-up, hair, and have dinner. Erica pulls out her dress to show everyone and Yana announces that Ella has the exact same dress!!! That is not acceptable to happen, so off to J.C. Penny's they go to buy Ella a new dress, just hours before the dance. I am so proud of the girls, they were so sweet to Anne-Laure. Ella and Yana are friends from Berdyansk and Erica is one of their closest friends. It was so wonderful that they could open their hearts up so easily to Anne-Laure. Beautiful girls and a wonderful night, that is a success story.

Fran

Back to School--Fall 2008

2008-09-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

What is missing from this picture? Fear, there is no fear.

The past 8 months have flown by, and Yana is adjusting so fast to her new life. She will be the first to admit that it is not

an easy adjustment, but she knows that it is all worth the

effort. The beginning of this school season was nothing like the first day of school in January. Yana was up early, excited, and ready to go. She knows that the challenges will be greater this year and that she has to work very hard.

Yana had a full summer. Many trips to Busch Gardens, Water Country and visits to Kingsmill. Many friends came to visit, many sleep overs and girl parties. Lots and lots of movies (since we have no hook-up for television). She did find time to take summer school and prepare a little for the school year ahead. She shopped, rearranged her room (more then once or twice), and kept close contact with the friends she left behind in Berdyansk. We brought the summer to a close with a family trip to Lancaster, PA. to visit Amish country and most of all see the production of "In the Beginning" at the Sight and Sounds Theater in Strasburg, PA. It put a perfect closer on the summer. It gave us time to catch our breath and remember all of our blessings. We were hoping this trip would draw us closer together and that it did. Rick and I knew that Yana was at peace being in a family. She is looking forward to include her own brother in on the love of family.

The only news about Marina is that camp is over and she is now in trade school. We have not heard from her, and may never hear from her again. We all have moved forward and let the past just be the past. There are times that we find ourselves pondering, but we don't stay there for long. We have accepted that the story was written this way for a purpose. I am grateful for our time we all shared together and pray that God will father her into His hands of protection. We pray as a family nightly that Marina will see God's hands. May this all have a glorious finish.

Time to prepare for Hurricane Hanah that is coming past to visit this weekend. Lets pray that she is not as mean as she looks right now!

Fran

Goodbye, God Bless Marina

2008-07-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. Though one goes along weeping carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves. Psalms 126:5-6

What a powerful promise that God gives us that grieve over our harvest that feels so lost. Where is the return on our investment? So much labor, love, sacrifice, and now pain. Where is the fruit to this. It is in the promise, there will be shouts of joy. What does the whole picture look like, I have no idea. All I know is God's promises are yes and amen, even when the harvest looks dead.

Marina is gone, she left as scheduled on Monday, July 14th. She left her summer vacation early and her adoption behind. She left with a smile on her face, a hug and kiss for Mama, and a hug and a kiss for Papa. Mama cried, Papa's eyes full of tears, and Marina with sparkles in her eyes and a sweet smile on her face. I don't get it, but I am sure that my parents didn't get me either. When I grew up, I didn't get myself when I was a teenager. I do have some theories, but who knows if I will ever find out if my hypothesis is correct. This may be one of those questions I have to put on my list of questions that can be answered on the other side of heaven. I just hope that instead of asking God the question, I will meet Marina there and I can ask her what happened. If that is the case we will be laughing hysterically, because Psalms 126 says so. I will accept the harvest on either side of heaven and be shouting with joy.

The one question most people ask is will we hear from her again? We never talked about it. We are leaving it up to her. She will have to write the first e-mail and we will respond. As long as she writes, we will respond. We have times that we want to know what happens to her and then times when we think it would be too painful. We will take whatever comes our way and use it for God's glory, because the bottom line is His glory. We left on good terms, she knows the depths of our love for her. Marina never missed being a part of our prayer time. When we got into the car to leave for the airport, at 5:00a.m., Marina was in the back seat with her pillow and a blanket over her head. I thought she was asleep. Rick and I prayed for the journey. As we started to pray I felt Marina's hand grab on to mine and her head lean against my shoulder. I am amazed at her desire to pray. I pray that she keeps on praying, even through the circumstances that will be ahead of her in the days to come. She knows that mama and papa will always pray for her.

The adoption process is started, the homestudy is underway. The direction has changed to Yana's brother, Koyla. Who ever dreamed the journey would include a 12 year old boy. I have come to know one thing is for sure, nothing in this journey is for sure. We are praying for God to open the doors for Yana and her brother to live together again, it is His picture. We have a frame that was given to us when we came home with Yana. It says "The Rahn Family". We never put a picture in there because we felt one person was missing. Marina will always be missing from the picture, but now I decided to wait to see if Koyla will complete the picture.

As much as I am in pain, I am fascinated by the story. There is a sense of mystery that gives me spark. All I know is in the end there is a promise of shouts for joy!
Fran

Reflections of the Past

2008-07-09T05:44:00.000-07:00

After a very difficult afternoon with Marina, and a translator, Marina is booked to return to Ukraine on July 14th. Pain always creates a season of reflections in me and I am reflecting. I see so much of me in Marina when I was 15 years old. At that time I didn't know God in a personal way. Having popular children like me was so important. I was easily steered into the wrong path just to be accepted. Most of all rejecting the people that loved me the most and wanted the best for me. When the family took a vacation I didn't want to go because I would miss what my friends were doing. The moment in time was the most precious moment, there was no future, it was all about now and all about me. I see all of that in Marina. Maybe that is why God put her on my heart. Maybe that is why he chose me to pour His love into my heart and I was to pour it out to her.

My mother had two sayings, that she said to me in my rebellious years. One was, "What goes around, comes around", and "You will get back what you dish out". Those two sayings have stuck in my head all these years, I can still picture my mother saying them. Since I never had biological children, I thought that I got off the hook. There are times when I would reflect about my mother and think, with a grin, I didn't have to pay that aweful price. On July 8th I got alittle taste of the horrible rejection that would come around some day. It came from a person I love and invested in to give a future to. Is she running from me, no she running from us, no, she is running back to what is familiar. Did she stop loving us, no, she continues to tell us how much she loves us. The window of opportunity closed to adopting Marina in January when we left her behind. Her frame of mind changed and her friends changed. She joined up with the children that could not be adopted and bad mouthed America and moving away from the Ukraine. She bought into the lies that life in Ukraine was better then life in America. It even goes one step beyond, family is restricting and is no fun. That is what life is all about to most 15 year olds, especially if they have spent 10 years in an orphanage.

The translator was an angel sent from above. She was 19 years old, beautiful and full of compassion. She was gentle with both sides. She was from the Ukraine and was studing in University out there. She seemed to be full of hope and focused on the future. She had lived in America at one time of her life and was hopeful that the door of opportunity would again open for her to come back and study here. After translating to Marina she asked me permission to speak with her about her experience. I granted permission, but since it was in Russian I had no idea what was said.

Later that afternoon I got a call from the person that this young lady was staying with. I found out her story. She was brought up in an orphanage, a social orphan. Her mother worked on a cruise ship and left her children to be cared for in an orphanage. She has a brother that is still in the orphanage. This young lady was brought over on a host program. She studied in America for 3 years, 6,7, and 8th grade. She wanted to return to Ukraine. The family that hosted her tried to talk her into staying, willing to pay for the private school education. They told her that life would be hard in Ukraine and opportunity limited. She could accomplish so much more in America and the family would help her. She even told Marina that the family wanted to adopt her and would go talk to her mother to ask permission. She said no and went back to the Ukraine. The family was right, she has had it very hard. She is extremely intellegent, she is the second top grade person in the university. She has to earn her own money while she is schooling. She is on her own, there is no family behind her. Her desire in life is to be in America where there is so much more opportunity. The young lady did bring something back from America at a young age and that was her personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It has been the focus of her life and the faith that moves her forward. There is a family that is trying to bring her back to America to study. A very difficult task for a young women that is 19 and has no family ties, an life long orphan.

In times of reflecting Rick has pointed out that he sees how disappointed God must feel in us when we turn from Him and follow our own path. When His will is not followed but we make things happen our own way. I know that if Marina calls out to the Father in Heaven He will be there for her. I am hoping that the time that Marina has spent with Rick and I will be the foundation for her to reach out to God when in need of a friend, a family, a comforter. Marina's life is going to get hard, I believe as soon as she gets back. I believe that she will go to a trade school immediately. The comfort and security of the orphanage will be gone. Her friend that she thinks is so important is staying at the orphanage. I highly doubt that she will be there for Marina when she gets home anyway. Her goal to block the adoption was accomplished, Marina is emotionally too immature for her liking. Her friends own hurt from a failed adoption will be the influence that Marina has choosen to follow. Ooh that hurts, even though God knows all this and He knew that this adoption would not happen.

We have 4 days to go before we bring Marina back to the airport. Our goal is for her to see Jesus more in us then ever before. To see Him with His arms stretched out wide with the love that He had for us that put nails into His hands. I remember asking my mother when I was in my late 30's why she put up with me when I was so rebellious. My parents had such unconditional love that revealed their faith as I grew older. My mother responded without a skip in the beat, "What, and give up my harvest?" I don't know that I will see my harvest on earth, but either did the major patriarchs in the bible. I pray that some day I will see my harvest in heaven and she will be dancing among the saints and we will be able to dance with her. The sadness will be gone and we can rejoice that we are a family.

Is the journey over? No, there is more to come. For now I will take time to heal. God is doing a great work in me and when it is over I hope that the sadness I feel will turn to be a "Glorious wounding" for the orphans that are all over this world that God cares about. I pray that the fire that was burning in me before the hurt will return to give my energy to help other orphans find the Christ that is their true hope.

Fran

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

2008-07-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

The same rollercoaster ride, just a new turn and a fast twist, and at times your upside down. That sounds like the "Griffin" at Busch Gardens, but it is not, it is the adoption (or not adoption) of Marina or is it Maryna? It sounds like turmoil, confusion, upset, and defeat. It is not, it is peace, comfort, submission, and faith. Is life a path without curves? Either is this journey that I agreed to take. Can the curves throw you off balance? Yes, if they are taken too fast, or if your eyes are not fixed on the right place.

We are on our 21st day with Maryna (or is it Mara). It started out with turbulance which we attributed to insecurity, jetlag, confusion, language barriers, etc. The guardian and friend returned to Berdyansk and after a brief dip in mood, a swing that started the assent uphill. That is when we took a car trip to Jamestown New York to see my family. A planned time of celebrations. Chris is graduating from High School, Ethan is getting baptised, Teresa got engaged, and Rick and Fran have their 2 girls! Unfortunately, Gina and Rob are left behind in California because their baby is due any time and she can't fly (we still celebrated our new addition to come). The trip to Jamestown took 10 hours, we stopped a lot, ate a lot, laughed, watched DVDs, listen to music, slept, talked, and finally arrived safe and sound on Thursday afternoon on June 27th. Lots of people, lots of confusion for a young girl that doesn't speak the language. We start to see mood changes. Is it hormones, age, confusion, insecurity, or the boyfriend back in Berdyansk? Yes it is.....all of them. The weekend has lots of fun; swimming, motorcycle ride, horseback ride, games, graduation party, and dance. Alittle taste of everything in a short period of time. Then the rain cames over Jamestown and the Rahn family. The weather keeps us inside, and the confusion level increases. I see Marina going down hill. By Saturday evening we recognize we have a real problem. Marina has turned on her defense mode and she is going to be as mean and ugly to Mama and Papa as she can be. She is going to go back to what is familiar, to her orphanage, to her boyfriend, to what she knows and her way of doing this is going to be by making Mama and Papa hate her and send her home. We make it through Sunday (barely) and Monday morning we are on our way home. The first half of the trip is aweful. She won't even talk to Yana. Nothing was pulling her out of it. What a long trip this is going to be with an iceberg in our back seat. Rick and I traded off with Yana so that she could enjoy the view of the front seat, instead of the storm in the back seat. I asked Marina to relax. Nothing could be done until we got home, as far as sending her home, so just enjoy the trip. She did and the "Son" entered the back seat. We were all grateful for the break.

We get home, there is no move on making plans for her to leave and she feels out of control--the storm returns. There is no acting out, just crying, isolation, ignoring Mama and Papa, anything that would make us turn away from her.

Where is Yana in all this? She is an angel sent from above. Yana was a shinning light. She felt sorry for Mama and Papa, so she gave us extra love and still is. She realized the fullness of having family. She is grateful for all she has and is ready to move forward and not backwards. Praise God that such good can come out of this. We know that Yana needs a break from this. She has been in the middle of this for 5 days, 24-7. She asks to have her friend over that is also from Berdyansk. The 2 girls are best friends and haven't seen each other in 10 days. Mama takes Yana, Ella, and Marina to Busch Gardens. Ella sees what is going on and she also feels bad for me so she tries to help Marina open her eyes to what she is doing. The 2 girls are given an assignment, help Marina have fun. They accomplished their goal and we return home. Marina is still on a mission to make Mama and Papa miserable. By now I know that Marina has two dates that she can return to Berdyansk, July 14th or August 28th. That is the only time that a guardian will be traveling and since the guardian that I paid for, so that Marina could come, went home, that is just how it has to be. Wednesday evening the girls have had it with her behavior toward us. They see the disrespect, the lack of caring about the sacrifices that we made, the hurt that she has caused us and the pain of the whole situation. The girls are more taken back by it then we were. I hear arguing in the bedroom, the two girls leave the room and Marina is left to cry herself to sleep. I go in and sit with her, and pray for her, leaving her to deal with her emotions and her God. Thursday morning, we plan to go to the Ukrainian market, and swimming, topping the evening off with a trip to Busch Gardens for fireworks. The iceberg is thicker then ever as I serve breakfast to the girls. I wrote Marina a letter that gave her the two days that she could fly home. I also told her that our love for her was not like a love that is person to person. Our love was from God that flowed through us and out to her. Therefore it doesn't change because of behavior, it is unconditional. Since she couldn't change it could she please just enjoy herself while she was here with us and let us enjoy her. We also communicated that we have done everything she has asked for, so if she is mad at anyone she is mad at herself for asking.

Off to the Ukrainian market, the "Son" started to appear. By evening the "Son" was shinning bright. Mama and Papa were allowed to have the love that God has put in her heart for us. I must say that Rick and I could hardly keep our eyes open that night. This emotional stuff is exhausting. Things have been better for the last couple of days. We have no idea what the next few days will hold. She is telling people that she is going back on July 14th. As of right now, we are not moving forward on the adoption. We are seeking God's wisdom. She seems to really be enjoying her freedom to love and be a part of the family. We have had a few minor mood swings, nothing abnormal for a 15 year old girl. None of this behavior is abnormal for children that do get adopted and know that life has changed. The only difference is that Marina goes back and her life does not have to change.

We have been fact collecting about Marina in Berdyansk. She did graduate from the nineth grade. She is not a great student, so the director can send her off to trade school. The director told us that she would keep her until the adoption. Since Marina is talking about going back, it is looking like she will be sent off to trade school. This will be a life changing situation for her. That is the heartbreak for Mama and Papa. She is choosing a path that is full of sorrow. I fear that another name change is going to happen. This time it is a name from the book of Esther in the Bible, Mara, it means bitter. Marina's life will become bitter over time.

We are praying for God to intervene in all this. In the depth of her dispair with us, she has never stopped being a part of the family prayer time. Even when she wouldn't speak to us she wanted to pray with us. She knows the light, she has seen it and she knows the darkness, she has felt it.
We do believe in God, the Father Almighty, and know that He is in control, even if Marina goes back to what she thinks is home.
Fran

Three-two=Marina

2008-06-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

My definition of journey is constantly changing. I used to think of "Alice and Wonderland", or "Wizard of Oz" as a journey. When I came to Christ I started a journey of walking by faith. The first part of the journey I was introduced to miracles, healings, love, surrendering. Along part of the journey was a path of growth and building of valuable knowledge. I am not too sure what to label the Adoption Journey, the only thing that comes to mind is...."The Griffin", Busch Garden's newest, fastest, steepest, rollercoaster. The beginning of the Griffin ride is a steep up hill, followed by seconds of beauty looking at the James River from this incredible height. Then the cars come to the edge of a hill, where you can no longer see the tracks, and you tangle there for maybe 5 seconds (which seems like minutes) and then the release, you fall straight down. Before you know it your spinning, going up, dropping down, a few more spins and then in 90 seconds it's over. The ride is over but the head is still spinning, and trying to absorp all that just happened.

What has happened in the last couple of days is still making my head spin, and my mind is trying to absorp what happened. I am not sure that I will ever know the whole story, but God's hand is written all over it and He knew the players that had the maturity to reveal His glory through the whole thing. His hand of protection was on the people that are emotionally too wrapped up in the "Griffin" to stay on the track and possibly would have spun off.

I will give an appreviated version of the story, so that it is journaled for life. It is one of the pivital points in my faith walk that I will always go back to. When I requested Maryna to come on the host program with Frontier Horizon, the director of the orphanage would only allow her to travel if there was a guardian from Berdyansk that would be with her. I felt like this was a way of discouraging me from having Maryna for the summer. I approved and with the help of Frontier Horizon, it was financially going to work. Then another couple dicided to host a child from the same orphanage. The guardian became the Berdyansk guardian. The other family was so gracious to host the guardian for the first 2 weeks because we were going to visit my family and wanted it to be the 4 of us. On the way home from the airport the girls announce that the guardian is the director's daughter. At first the hair on my head stood straight up, but within minutes I realized the blessing that was available to us through this. The guardian seemed very nice and the girls were very comfortable with her. The guardian left with the other couple and we left the airport as a family of 4. For the next 3 days my family was adjusting to another person in the house. Little did I know that for those same 3 days the other family faced a storm, a very painful one at that. At the end of the 3rd day I receive a call that the guardian and the other child are returning to Ukraine the very next day. Wow...they unfolded the story of events, I could see God's hand of protection over my family. The host family, the agency, Frontier Horizon, and God were working together to prevent my family from being hit by the storm. The night that I received the call. Rick had taken the girls out and I was home alone. That was unusual, but I needed some space, so I thought. That night I found out that the guardian and child would be returning to the Ukraine the next day. I wasn't sure at that point what that meant for Maryna. I didn't want to say anything to Rick until we were alone. Wouldn't you know they came home with movies to watch. I sat and watched the worst movie while my head was spinning from the information that I had received about..."The Griffin". When I told Rick the story and that the guardian was leaving, you could tell by his eyes that he was on the same spinning part of the journey. A little overload of information at bedtime.

A day has gone by, no new new. The host family, we thank them and pray blessings will shower them. For the agency, a first for them, never had the problem before, they did a great job. For us, we couldn't be happier. We are so thankful for the players that God has used to protect us and are sorry at the same time. We pray that this is the confirmation that God is giving us that Maryna will be adopted by us this February. I think this summer we will spend alot of time at Busch Gardens. The Griffin Rollercoaster is my favorite ride. I think I will ride it often this summer to remind me of the journey that God's hand is directing us on and we are not to fear the drops and the spins, just hang on because there is a jerk at the end of the ride and He is in control of that too.

Welcome to America, Maryna!!!

2008-06-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

June 19th took forever and ever to get here, the date of Maryna's arrival to America. I remember sitting in the apartment in Berdyansk, and Maryna, with tears rolling down her face, said that she will do anything to go to America. Today is the day that she will come to America, awesome. We arrive at the airport in Washington, D.C. one hour before the flight arrives. Rick, Yana and I have dinner, play a few games of Crazy-8 and then proceed to the gate where international travel comes through customs. We get to the gate right on time, 6:55 p.m. and wait and wait and wait. It took about a hour for them to go through customs. Then I look over and Rick is just hugging on this beautiful young lady, and Mama starts crying from joy.

The journey to America is hard and long. For the two children coming from Berdyansk, it starts with a drive to Zaporizha, which is about 2.5 hour trip. Then an overnight train ride to Kiev. The train stops and starts all night long. A very difficult place to get a good sleep. At 5:00 a.m. you get up so that when the train stops in Kiev at 6:00 a.m. you are ready to get off. A trip to the Kiev International Airport, a 5 hour wait for the plane and then a 2 hour flight to Paris and finally the last big push, an 11 hour flight to America. Once you made this difficult trip you stand waiting to get through customs. The girls from Berdyansk were exhausted. Maryna was overwhelmed with everything. Emotionally she shut down. On the way home she informed us that she was unable to eat or sleep on the plane or the train.

Yana was a superstar, what a blessing she is. She helped with translation at the airport, not only with Maryna, but the guardians and the other children. She was tender towards Maryna, helping her through this very difficult situation. Yana is definately a special young lady. She knows when to step up to the task and she proved herself again at the airport.

Shortly after we left the airport we stopped at McDonalds so Maryna could eat and the caffine that was needed to get home could be aquired. Shortly after the food was eaten, the car went quit, Maryna feel asleep, and Yana went into i-pod mode. What a dream to have these two girls with us. God has a plan, this is only a small piece of the plan. This moment in time there is spiritual peace, thankfulness and praise. God has done a great work in all of us, I am not sure the girls recognize it right now, but that is okay, Mama and Papa can see it.

The drive home is a breeze until we get close to 295, the pass around Richmond. The road narrows and if there is going to be an accident that is the spot. Unfortunately, that was the case.
The traffic is backed up, a slow crawl. An hour to think about how fast life can change, how blessed we are, how important to ask God to protect not only us, but all those around us. For over an hour the mood changes, it becomes somber, knowing that at 70 miles an hour accidents are bad and people get hurt. Anyone that comes out of these accidents with minor injuries have just experienced a miracle, I pray that on this night there were miracles.

We get home, we have to wake Maryna up from a deep slumber to walk into a house that has had a dog inside for the last 10 hours! Our dog, Ginny, is almost 9 years old and hyper as a puppy when she is happy. Poor Maryna crawled into Papa's arms to hid from the monster dog.
Ginny is very aware that there is new smells that she has never met walking into the door. Maryna goes from peaceful slumber to confusion, Welcome Home!

Yana takes them into their bedroom, Maryna's face lights up. There is a brief burst of energy. This is the moment in time that you wish that you could speak Russian, to communicate emotions. Yana's side of the room looks well lived in, Maryna's side looks ready for her to move in. The contrast overwhelmed me, I have to remind myself this is God's plan and I know that His way is the only way. My plan was for this to all happen at once, His plan, one at a time. The very first thing Maryna does is open her bag and give Yana a picture of her brother Koyla. Is God's plan more then my plan? The picture creates a bond between Yana and Maryna. Yana is grateful. Koyla, a young brother left behind, what will be his story?

Time for bed; prayers, lights out, mama and papa crawl into bed, and wake up. Too much caffine, too much excitement, and the dog has been in the house for too long, she is ready to play.
This is going to be one huge adventure this summer, I just pray that God's glory is written all it and that he gives the strength to this couple to enjoy every single moment of it.

Fran

Berdyansk Reunion 2008

2008-06-15T17:48:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful picture, Ukrainian children that once lived in an orphanage, now have families that love them. The Berdyansk Reunion was a wonderful occassion for the adults and the children. All the children in this picture are from Berdyansk except for a handful of 4 or 5. Most of them knew each other in Ukraine, and all of them have roots to the Ukraine. There are two boys that lived in another orphanage in Ukraine, what a surprise they had when they came face to face.

The reunion started off on Friday, June 13th, with a dinner-simple one of course. Then at 8:00 it turned into a Disco Dance. The children had a blast. The lights dim, the disco ball spinning, shoes off, the Russian music blasting and the dancing began. The next two and half hours was filled with energy.

The following day we are out the door and at Busch Gardens around 10:00 a.m. An exhausting day of rides, walking, eating, and good fun. Even some of us adults took the challenge and jumped on the "Griffon", Wow! You would think by 9:00 everyone would be exhausted. Only the grow-ups, the children could have used up the last hour and continued to ride for the last hour.

The final day included church at the Williamsburg Community Chapel thanking and praising God. We followed church with a picnic, soccer game, and more fellowship. We said good-bye to people from Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia Beach, and of course Williamsburg at the end of the day, Father's Day at that.

We get home exhausted, Yana crashed. She played very hard all weekend, even had a friend that was adopted at the same time she was, stay for 2 nights. It will take a couple of days to recover from this weekend. Just in time for Maryna!

We are prepared to pick up Maryna on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C. As I write my heart is just racing, excitement, nervous, thrilled, scared, emotional, trusting, and most of all thankful that God has paved this path for Maryna and for us.
Fran

Preparing for Maryna

2008-06-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Yes we are preparing for Maryna and not Marina. For over a year I have written Marina and when I got the list of children coming for the summer, Marina's name was Maryna. That is a very appropriate to make a name change at a time when life is going to change for her. It is biblical too, a change in life, a change in name.

We are busy getting as many as our projects done before Maryna arrives so that our summer is the girls. We are busy painting, fixing, weeding, shoveling gravel, building, etc. We are doing everything with a great deal of excitement. We called Maryna on thursday and she was standing in line at the U.S. Embassy, Kiev, waiting to get her visa. She was scared, we were surprised. I never thought of her getting scared over this exciting adventure. I can't help wish that it were different and we were holding her hand through this. After I hung up the phone I thought about her being scared in Kiev Embassy, wait until she hits New York City Airport. Now that is a cultural shock!

I am not sure that Yana is all that ready to have Maryna. We have been talking about it and praying for her visit, but I think she is fine having her own room. The best indication of it happened by accident. I want to build a second floor on our house. Now we are starting to need one. Before the second floor happens, Rick has to build his workshop so that he can expand. Before Rick builds his workshop we have to get approval from the county. Before the county approves anything we have to get closer on a land swap that our neighbor kind of forced us into doing. This land swap has already taken a 16 months, because there is a creek on it that runs into the Chesapeak Bay which is some 60 miles away. So you see the upstairs of our home is the future. One night I was teasing Rick about the second floor, could we build it this summer, we would have plenty of help. Yana was in full agreement. Rick encouraged her to draw the plans for her bedroom. The next day she gave us her plans, the luxury suite, with 3 windows, a study area, huge closet, double bed. That is what happens after being in America for 5 months! It doesn't take us humans long to want a lot. I said, where is the bathroom? Her eyes got huge and she said, "Oh yeah, I forgot". I will hang on to the plans though, it was pretty good looking for the master bedroom, after all you always have to think about resale value and that bedroom would have a great value. When I asked her about Maryna's room she said, "You won't have to build Maryna a room, she can have mine room that I have now!" Am I in for an exciting life with 2 teenage girls. I have experience though, I was a teenager once and I had 2 sisters, I know what I am in for.

We are getting ready to call Maryna now, that you God for skpe and e-mail. It has kept us connected. Our prayers are that all goes well with the travel and that Marina will like her future home and family. I know that God is in the center of all this, so His will, will be done.
Fran

An Oath to America!

2008-05-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 9, 2008, Yana is sworn in as an American citizen. She makes a pledge to honor her country, stand by her country, and even bear arms for her country. No, she doesn't know what that all means, but I did and I was brought to tears by the pledge that this young Ukrainian girl had to make standing in front of the American flag, with her right hand up. As she is repeating the words of the oath, I am checking myself, am I worthy of this oath? Would I repeat these words in this oath? She pledged to give up allegence to any foreign country and defend only America. She looked like a little girl standing there repeating such important words. When she got out she told Rick her tongue hurt from repeating such big words. She did an excellent job, we are very proud of her.

I wanted Yana to know that this day was special to her, even if she didn't understand all of it. I wanted her to know that we were proud of her. We celebrated with a party and my family sent her cards in honor of her special day. She knows that it is special and she is proud of it, but she doesn't understand the importance of citizenship. In time, I believe she will. Wouldn't it be awesome if she could explain to Marina the importance of that day, when it comes around for Marina?

The event itself does not offer itself to be a memorable occassion. We had to go to Norfolk, in the pouring rain, find the tiny office in an off beat street, and then leave our camera in the car because of security. We go into a room with a table at the back wall, with a few chairs facing the front wall and the American Flag. Yana signs her name in several places and then goes to the front of the room. In front of the flag, she repeats the words that the man who is standing infront of her asks her to repeat. The man is very friendly, patient, and dressed very casual for the occassion. Rick and I sit in the front row, like the proud parents that we are, and witness Yana repeating her oath to America. Yana is given a tiny flag for her efforts and we march out of the room.

I need to get a copy of the oath, it is worth reading every once in a while. It gave me a reality check of what it means to have the honor to live in a free country. The price that many have to pay for our freedom and the responsibility of having that freedom. Rick and I walked out of there grateful for America, and for our freedom to be able to walk out with our daughter that we were so freely allowed to adopt and bring home to our country. America has opened her arms to my daughter, and for that I am so grateful.

I think I should have the job of swearing people in as citizens to America. I would get all dressed up, serve cake, clap and shout, take pictures, and then send them out of the building playing the National Anthem. Now that is a day worth remembering.

God Bless America!!!

Quiet and Trust is My Strength

2008-04-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

Quiet--I have been. It has given me strength and trust in the Lord. I have needed some time to renew my strength. I read some books that helped me put all of my journey into perspective and my relationship with the Lord into perspective. I am not ashamed to say that I was defeated, angry, and hurt by all that has happened. There are many times I have raised my voice in anger to God and told Him, "If He had done things my way..." I know, I am no different then the Isrealites in the old testament whinning and complaining. I was disappointed in God for making the adoption so hard. I have listed all the reasons that things should have gone my way: our finances, my age, for Yana to have a sister, etc. etc. etc. Then I read the book that is so appropriately named, "Disappointment with God". That book has been in my home for the longest time. It moved from New York State to our apartment in Virginia, 13 years ago. Then it moved to our first home in Virginia, and then it moved to our home that we live in now. The book never interested me before, so I have never read it. It came free one time with the order I had made from a Christian Book Club. It is so out of my character to keep books, or for that matter anything that hasn't been read or used. I am the ultimate de-clutter person. I don't like stuff, I like space. The book was perfect for the message that God would have for me. It is the same message that is in the book of Job. When I stepped aside and viewed God apart from my hurt, I got the message! God is God, He made the universe, do I have any of these abilities? Am I God? I thank God that I am not God, the position is way over my head. I don't even want to be president over one country, that alone reign over All the universe and everything in it. Wow, what a task! With this type of thinking, God is returning laughter, joy, hope and pleasure, back into my life. I can't say that laughter comes as often as I would like it to, but at least my laugh muscles are starting to work again and the laugh lines are starting to appear on my face again. I have even had to get the "Fine Line Creams" out and use them again on crows feet that surround my eyes. That is a good sign.

Yana is doing great. Her English is improving rapidly, even though she points to her head and says it hurts from all that she is learning. She is a joy to have in our lives. She has been able to share some of her past with us, which has brought us closer together. Life in the orphanage was good for Yana, a save place to be. She is missing her friends, especially her friend Inna. She tells me often that she loves Inna. When I hear the stories about Inna I understand why she loves Inna so much, Inna cared about her alot. When she first came to the orphanage Yana would walk and stand with her shoulders rounded forward, her self-image was low. Inna would make her stand up straight and poke her finger into her back and tell her to stand tall. Yana would stand up against the wall for 15 minutes everyday, because Inna watched her and made her do it until she stood tall. Thank you Lord for Inna, that helped to make Yana the young, beautiful lady that she is today. I know from the stories I have heard that Inna is one of Yana's angels. My heart breaks for Inna and her sister Natasha, they have no chance of adoption. How sad is that. Both the girls are fun, loving, caring people. They would make great daughters.

We are allowing ourselves to get excited about Marina coming to visit this summer. It is looking more positive every day. I am still guarding my heart from disappointment. I am fearful that something will stop her. I just got word that the paperwork is done, that was enough to break down some of my defensive walls and allow a little excitement to enter into my life. I also get anxious, I still have fears of the future, the "what if"... When my mind goes to the what if thoughts, I run to scriptures. Everyday I read Psalms 32:7, Eph.3:16, Ps.68:19, Is.50:10, Ps.40:11 and Jeremiah 29:11--I know the plans I have for Marina...plans to prosper her and not to harm her, plans to give her hope and a future.

One new little twist in our journey. Before we left Berdyansk, Yana asked to visit her grandfather and brother. That was news to us that there was a brother in her life. There is no mention of the brother anywhere in her records. He is 11 years old, soon to be 12. She was brought up with this brother. She carried her brother away from harm many times and even took a beating for her brother so that he would stop being beat. Yana knows that her sister is safe and has a good family. Her brother was not so lucky. We stopped by the grandfather's house so that she could see her brother. They have not seen each other in 5 years. Her brother was not there, he hadn't come home from the night before. Her grandfather said he was going to put him in an orphanage, that he was too old to handle him. This past week Yana got an e-mail from Inna that her brother is in Berdyansk orphanage. We called Marina and Yana was able to talk to her brother. He is sad that Yana is gone. Many emotions are flooding Yana. She has the biggest heart for her brother. They went through a lot together before they were seperated.
What a burden she is carrying. The orphanage for Yana gave her a chance to be a child, for that I am grateful. We have new prayers at night with Yana, now they include Kola's present and future. The good news is the same orphanage that gave her back her childhood, now has a chance to give Kola, her brother, a chance to have more childhood also. We are praying that Kola is willing to receive it.

Easter is Real

2008-03-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

I am having a great Easter experience in my beyond mid-life. I laid my burdens on the cross thanks to scripture, prayers of family, friends, and believers I have never met, but I know their heart. The results rest and trust which equals strength, according to Isaiah 30:15. God's promises are yes and amen and I can say amen to the peace that I have receive. Easter was such a joyful celebration for our family. Yana has been in America for 2 full months and is blossoming along with the spring. She is such a happy child, really loves her life. She and Papa really became buddies while mama was back in the Ukraine. I think Yana has papa wrapped around her finger. She can get him to do most anything, even ride the rollercoaster at Busch Gardens so many times that he turns green. Poor Rick ended up Easter Sunday night in bed spinning. It had no effect on Yana at all, she could have kept on going.

Both Rick and I found ourselves rejoicing over our adoption of Yana. We told Yana that God is able to change hearts and He changed our last year and put her on our heart. What a change in life we have taken. In February of 2007, when I met Marina, I thought I knew the course that God was moving us into. I thought I was filling out paper work to adopt Marina. The river of life flows and the unexpected turns are there to keep me close to God. On Easter Sunday, again I thought that I knew the way the river was flowing, the next time that I would see Marina would be next February. Monday...a turn. We received an e-mail from Frontier Horizons. The director of the Berdyansk Orphanage has approved Marina's visit for the summer!!!!!!!!!!
How cool is that? When there was nothing more that I could do, that is when God could do His work and He did it in deed.

God has alot of work to do in all 4 of us this summer. I am so appreciative that we can join hands and walk with Him together. We will be blending as a family, preparing for a future together. We will be nurturing and encouraging two young girls to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. We will be preparing for an adoption, doing a homestudy, and getting the dossiers ready for February. We will have to maintain courage and not let fear, doubt, and anxiety, try to steal the victory of the moment.

When I look at the whole picture, I am overwhelmed. Marina will come, then she will go. We will be returning to the Ukraine for another adoption, and that will take another 5 weeks of living in the Ukraine. I have to admit that I have told God that the river that I mapped out didn't have so many turns and much less rough water. It was safe and financially more realistic. It was an overwhelming picture, especially when we decided to adopt Yana along with Marina, but it wasn't anywhere near the size of His ocean that He has placed in front of me. It is bigger then life to me. I can see God up in Heaven smiling and nodding His head. He is looking down on me saying, "That's right Fran, if I was going to have control, I had to create an ocean, one that was too big for you to see the whole thing." That's where faith comes from, when the circumstances are so big that I look so small. It is not up to me to know what God has in store for this journey. The miracle that I have been asking for could be right around the corner. All I know is that God is holding my hand and we are walking in harmony, because I surrendered to His ocean and found my river was filled with currents that couldn't be seen from above the water, but almost took my life when I was in the water. I am blessed to have such a personal walk with my Lord and Savor. I have always wanted to see God. I do, I see Him.
Fran

He Has Risen

2008-03-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

It is Easter, He has Risen, and we no longer need to live under the circumstances, we can rise above them. Nothing much has changed, mountain tops one day and valley experiences the next. The mountains are not so high and the valley experiences are not so deep. I am finding peace in the prayers, the cards, and most of all God's Word. It is comforting to know that God loves Marina more then I do and that He cares for her more then I do. That is the burden that Jesus took to the cross. The experience of death on the cross was painful, so were the burdens that went on the cross with Him. I have given Marina's adoption and freedom to Christ many times and taken it back as many. I have worried myself to the point of total fatique, then recharged myself by lifting the burden off of me and back on to His shoulders, where it belongs. I am just another Isrealite that just can't accept a good thing. When I read about them in the Bible I think to myself, those fools, why can't they accept a good thing. I know that I am also a fool, I have the good thing, yet I deny it and the burden becomes so heavy. In the Bible a fool is one that doesn't know the things of God, one who denies them. I guess it is easier to be a fool then I thought, I never thought that I would deny the truth that Jesus cares for Marina more then me.
Today, I am no fool. I have given Him the burden and feel His joy and peace in me. Today I feel like I am one personality, Fran, under Christ. Today, I am enjoying Yana and the joy continues even as she sleeps. I am not running to the bathroom or hiding in my bed crying, I am rejoicing. I thought Easter was going to be painful, it is not, it is the celebration that Christ so deserves to have.

Yesterday, Good Friday, Rick, Yana, and I went to service at the Chapel. A quiet, sobber service. A reminder of the night that Jesus took our sins to the cross, and felt the pain of our sins. Yana sat between Rick and myself, watching, listening, and I am sure wondering, what is this all about. We left the church holding each other, heads high, and smiling. We were suppose to be somber and quiet. We honored the quiet, but the somber was a tough one. We are happy and it was hard to hid. I told Yana that I am thankful that God put a love in our heart for her, even before we met her. That is how God works, the love comes before and it just keeps growing.

Praise God, for He alone is worthy to be praised. Happy Easter!
Fran

An Aha Moment

2008-03-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Marina, sweet, beautiful and loving. God has really embedded her in our hearts. The devil is working overtime to keep us apart. While I was out in the Ukraine, I had two recurring thoughts. I once had a conversation with someone that said she did not want the Holy Spirit in her life because she was scared of what He would ask her to do. What if He asked her to quit her job and be a missionary in Africa. The other thought was a phrase I have heard the pastor at the church that I attend say. Life is an adventure when you follow God. The definition of adventure changes as we get older. The two thoughts together became my aha moment. I am in a place in my life that I really don't want to be, but God does. It is an adventure, but it is so painful. When this adventure started I was in Berdyansk on a fact finding mission trip one year ago. I called Rick and said that I had fallen in love with a young girl, Marina. I would either have to move to the Ukraine or she would have to be adopted by us. Little did I know that moving to the Ukraine was the easier path to walk. The path has so many hills and always followed by a valley. Yana's adoption was just a level path. Every door that has opened has closed again. The good news is that time is passing and soon we will be adopting Marina.

We had another door open. I learned about it when I was in Ukraine. An organization that host children from Ukraine. All I have to do is ask the organization to invite Marina for 3 weeks. and she can come to visit us during the summer. That is an okay plan. At least she would see her home, meet her dog, sleep in her bed. and know that this is here for her. I came home and called Frontier Horizon to find out the facts and we were elated when they told us that since we have a relationship with Marina, she can stay the whole summer, 9 weeks. I know the good bye at the end of 9 weeks would be hard, but it would put us closer to her adoption date. The organization has their representative in Ukraine contact the director and her answer is; she can only come for the summer if there is a guardian with her. In other words we would have to have a teacher here with her. She can come for 3 weeks, but she was worried that we would keep her. Our decision, bring on the teacher! The organization is contacting the director of our decision so we will see if there is sincerity there or not. Pray that there is please.

This morning in my prayer time, I felt stress and darkness. I really struggled with it and asked God why I saw Him so clear in my life and just could not see the same in Marina's. I have been praying scripture and injecting Marina's name into it. This morning the scripture that jumped out at me was Jeremiah 29:11
I know the plans that I have for Marina, declares the Lord, plans to prosper her and not to harm her, plans to give her hope and a future.
Hebrews 13:5
God has said, Never will I leave Marina, never will I forsake her.

The promises that God has Marina in his hands and He is only giving me a piece of the love that He has for her, that is where my peace comes from. I do pray that He will allow us her presence for the summer. Oh this journey has it moments when I ask God, if this adventure has to have so many painful moments, can't it just have a happy ending now. I will wait upon the Lord, He knows and that's the best mountain top experience anyone can have, to recognize that God is in control and I am just a small servant in His great plan.
Fran

On My Way Home

2008-03-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

Here I am at the airport in Kyiv, with a 6 hour wait for my flight. I got off the train at 6:00 a.m., then off to the airport, with no where to go until 12:55 p.m. I have breakfast--as a passtime--and see the computers. It is a great time to review my thoughts. I haven't thought too much about what I have missed until now. I am headed back to the land of plenty. What did I miss the most;
my husband, my lovely daughter, Yana, my good dog, Ginny, and my pillow. I also miss my family and friends, but they have all been there for me throughout this journey. I have gotten to know them in a deeper, more intimate way.

On Friday, the doors to the student visa possibility closed. Not the director's fault. She just lives in the land of "Law", where everything has official papers, stamps, documents, ink, etc. There was nothing officially written on Student Visa. There is nothing illegal about an orphan going on a student visa, there is nothing legal either. The bottom line... nothing. The biggest disappointment was the U.S. embassy, they were not prepared to help out, even though they said it was the way to go. They were giving me Ukrainian mindset answers, not American. There is a fact in Ukraine, the orphan children are Ukrainian citizens and have all the rights of a citizen. There is a fiction in the Ukraine, the orphan children have the same rights as other citizens of the Ukraine. There is nothing legal in an orphan getting a student visa, there is nothing illegal for an orphan child to get a student visa. My head is spinning with Ukrainian Law. Where do I go from here, I know where to go, home to America and pray. I am dealing with a child's life, no guareentees, hopes that I will adopt her with out obsticales in February 2009. I could take her case to the judge and let them decide if her 1999 registration should be honored. The chances are they won't honor it and the people that made mistakes would get punished. I am not here to punish, I am here for grace and mercy. Besides that the punishment would fall on the director who made a mistake. I make mistakes everyday, I don't want to punish. Besides, the sweet, loving director reminded me that Marina is completing the 9th grade and could go to a dirty, tradeschool and live in a run down dormitory! Power is powerful.

I take Marina back to Hotel Berdyansk for our last night together for ? long. We do not say a word during the taxi ride, we don't say more then 5 sentences the whole evening. She is in a shell and I have nothing to help her get out. We watch 3 hours of Animal Planet and cuddle up to each other on the bed. At 9:00 p.m. I look over and she is sound to sleep. I pray and watch her for most of the night. She has a pretty face. During the night she takes my hand and puts it on her cheek and holds it there the remainder of the night. How can I help but love this girl. In the morning I am taking her back to the orphanage at 10:00 a.m., she has a friend coming from another town that she has known since she was a child. I am thankful for the distraction. In the morning we have a talk. I told her I was disappointed, but not defeated. I know that by this time next year, 11 months from now, she will be an American citizen. She will have more opportunity then she could understand. She will be a part of our lives forever. We will see her before the 11 months is up. Then I bought her a cell phone, so that we could call her easily. We were having difficulty calling her. The phone is my phone, she is using it for 11 months. We have already talked several times. We were walking down the streets of Berdyansk talking to each other on the phone.

I left Marina upbeat and happy. She has been down many times in her life, but thank God she doesn't stay there. When I called her from the train station, she told me she had had a great day with her friend and shouted out, "I love you Mama".

I haven't stopped praying for a miracle, I see Him in all this. I wish I could see the whole picture, but I know that while walking through the darkness of circumstances, I see God's light.
God is glorious and deserves the praises of the universe, even in my dark moments. God is working in the lives of many Ukrainians too. They are learning to trust in Him instead of their government. That is very difficult for them, they were forced to trust the government for years and they were persecuted for trusting God. God never left Ukraine, He loves His people and is helping them grow out of the darkness.

Ukrainian Darkness

2008-03-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Ukrainian darkness, may I help you?
No papers were signed today. The director refuses. Marina was present when the director said Marina may not be the "same" kid when you come back for her in 11 months. All her same age friends were adopted- except for herself. Now the kids left are the "hardened" ones. these are the ones families have abandoned/abused. They're the kids no family relative thought they were worth keeping/helping. Ukraines get first option to select kids for adoption when they become available for a period of 1 year. After the 1 year wait, Ukraine opens they're availability for adoption to international families (us). The hardened ones are kids NOBODY in the world wants. Don't think for a minute that won't twist a kid's value/self esteem 180 degrees.
The 12yr old we got to know during our stay there, that sweet pretty kid smokes. There is no supervision outside the buildings. I can't imagine what the 16 yr olds have seen/done.
These are the very ones Marina will hang with. How long can she last in the mist of their behaviors, attitudes, habits, and lusts?
Fran is purchasing a flight to come home.
Welcome to Ukrainian darkness, may I help you?

Pappa

Amazing Journey

2008-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

My plan was to leave Berdyansk at 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon and head out to Zaporizhia, (I still haven't got the spelling to that one yet so I will call it Zap). I am tired of putting out the money and have been in this country long enough that it is time to do what Ukrainians do when they want to go to Zap, they hop on the Masuka(big 18 passenger van). I have been looking at these vehicles for 2 months, I even know how to act when I get on them, look out the window and don't smile. I can do this! We take off, and I have no idea what will take place on the other end. I don't know how to speak Russian, so what do I do when I get off the bus? I have a dual purpose in going to Zap, one is to have a paper signed that the lawyer typed up for Marina and the other is to meet Nancy to visit and plan a mission trip that is in the makings for this summer in Orphanage #3 in Zap. Everytime Nancy and I talk on the phone, we have no clear picture of how we are going to get together or what is going to happen on the other end. We only know that she has spent 2 amazing days in Kherson with the Agape team and they have set us up with a pastor in Zap to spend Wednesday night. Who, how and when are all good questions, but we have no answers until...it happens. I get off the bus and call Nancy. Her driver doesn't even know if they are in Zap or not. He is not familiar with Zap. They are to pick up a person, Olea, that will guide them to the pastor's house and hopefully to me. He has no clue where the bus station is and how long it will be before they can get to me. It is not like a bus station in America, it is dark and uncomfortable. I am not going to hang out there so I have to make a plan fast. I got it... There is one thing I know about Zap that will put Nancy and I together because everyone in Zap knows the same thing. Zap. has MacDonalds and only one MacDonalds!!! Everyone loves Zap MacDonalds and at this moment in my life, I do too. I jump into an Ukrainian taxi and tell the driver, MacDonald palshoota(please) and 10 minutes later, I am at the golden arches in Zap for the first time in my life. Pretty nice place, it looks very American. Nancy and I have planned to meet there, I arrive at 7:15 and she arrives at 8:45. It seem like hours and hours and hours. She ran out of minutes on her phone, so I lost contact with her. The only communication we have now is our Heavenly Father, prayer and more prayer. I had a chi (tea) inside, then decided to wait outside due to the extremely loud music inside. Watching what was going on outside was similar to watching an x rated movie. It was hard to believe the immorality that was going on in public. My heart was grieving for these people, how terribly sad. I did make a friend, out of the blue this black mix lab comes over and sits by me. Is this an angel? He stayed there for at least a half hour and 5 minutes after it leaves I hear, Fran, Fran is that you? Yeah...Nancy!

We do end up at the pastor's house, an wonderful family in a beautiful home. The pastor and his wife rolled out the red carpet for us. Nancy speaks little Russian, the 14 year old boy spoke little English and we would able to have a nice evening together. There were 4 children, one a tiny baby. What a breath of fresh air for me.

In the morning we were feed, showered, and off to meet our goals. We visited the orphanage and had lunch there and then set out to get this document signed. No easy task, I should have figured. We were sent all over the place looking for one lady. This was all done by cell phones, text messages, translators, and Olea, a person that gets the job done. Amazing! The paper is signed. We have just done what I call the Ukrainian blast. It just spins my head around to see the speed and confusion that happens when a document in Ukraine has to get signed.

Time to regroup. Nancy is getting on a train to start her journey home to the states. I am catching a Masuka to return to Berdyansk. We have met a some new friends. Olea (part of Agape in Zap), and Karla (a translator), both are true servants of the Lord. Before we part Olea announces we are going to MacDonalds! Isn't that the perfect ending to this day, I just love the Lord.

How have I seen the Lord in the last 24 hours? At 1:00 Wed. afternoon, my lawyer and I are talking. I walk out to buy a phone card and return to find another man has joined us. This man personally know the Minister of Sports, Family, and Youth. The very person that we need to talk to. When I left for the phone card we were discussing how we could ever get this person to talk to us! At 4:00 I am on the bus to Zap. Up until this moment, I wasn't sure if this is what God would have me to do. I was back and forth with Nancy, not knowing if I would be there or in Berdyansk. The answer came, I had to have this paper signed. I had angels all around me the whole time, I could tell by the peace I was feeling. All the dots connected at the end of the day, Nancy and I got together. We met an incredible servant, Olea, who spends her young life of 23 years old, teaching orphan children about God and giving them self worth by knowing how much God loves them and how special they are in the eyes of God. I returned to Hotel Berdyansk by the end of the evening on Thursday with enough time and energy to blog my journey and review how great God is.

Friday we meet Galina, the orphanage director. I do not expect her to say yes, but it is in God's hands. I know that I have done all that I can do, Rick and I have battled because our love for Marina is so deep. That is the most obvious place to see God, is the love He gave us for this precious young girl, how honored I am that God choice us to give that love to.
It is 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night and I am sitting at the internet cafe with tears streaming down my face, bathing in God's love. That is how I have seen God working in my life the last 24 hours.

New breath of life

2008-03-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

It’s not an easy thing to do- put your wife on a plane and send her out on a mission alone. The objective is to rescue a 14 yr old girl we have bonded with 5000 miles away, in a land where populations were mass murdered to force conformity to communist ways. The plan is there, and people say they’re with you. Promises, assurances, schedules are organized, categorized, and agonized. Green lights "appear" from the fogginess of uncertainty- then she’s gone.
Fran’s "lifelines" are phone cards and e-mail. We communicate every day. There is no guarantee the plan will work, only the hope that we are being led to complete the good works that is in store for Marina. HE knows, and we know it.
Personally, I’m whipped. I have been in a state of grieving since jan.16, when we left Marina. I tend to shy away from crowds, seek solitude, and run on 1/3 the energy. Work is somewhat of a escape- I’m present- but I’m not there, really.
When I was asked to consider adoption, the question did not originate from my wife. Yes it came through her, but not from her. The question came from above. And the focus was NOT adoption. HE was asking Rick Rahn if I could trust HIM.with my most treasured pocession- my heart. If I could trust HIM, I was to lay it upon the alter and walk away. He would own it from here on.
I must say there were "conditions". 1- GOD, that your will always be my will ( so I’ll never be disappointed) and 2- YOU never leave me.( I’m coward)
So it goes. Now we are here, at this point. Fran has given her all, now she waits for the attorney.
Here’s the update...
They meet downstairs for tea. Fran orders our attorney lunch while he reviews the info/game plan concerning the orphanage director. During this conversation our attorney recognizes a person there also. They greet each other and quickly discover this man KNOWS officials who can help us! Seems he knows them SO WELL that connections can be made immediately to move Marina on her way. New plans are formed right on the spot, and their appointment w/orphanage director is put off for today..
Fran jumps at the new found opportunity, and now she is in another part of Ukraine. If this works, (pray!) we have a very good chance @ Marina coming home. This may be all that is needed for Marina’s release from the orphanage. We expect to have that appointment w/ the director by friday.
As it now stands, Fran is expecting to come home this Sunday. Marina, if approved will come in 3-4wks. I’ll have to go out there to pick her up and bring her home.
Today someone asked me how it’s going. After a brief answer, their response was, "You sure must have strong desires to nurture and raise kids!"
No, we don’t. Actually, I was drafting up a 12year "exit strategy" when these two kids surfaced. Never had that nurturing sensation. So I hope the next time you see us w/these kids that you see HIM who is in us. He’s easy to discover- look for the spring in my step, smile cracks on my face, the sparkle in my eyes.
"He’s here", my soul testifies. And he’s been here the whole time....
Blessings,
Pappa

Can't Connect the Dots

2008-03-05T01:06:00.000-08:00

I have been in Berdyansk for 7 days and I have gotten no where. I came here, as many of you know, to take Marina home as a foreign exchange student. When we left Berdyansk in January with Yana and left Marina in the arms of the orphanage director crying, the director asked us to look at taking Marina as a foreign exchange student. After a 2 hour battle with the director of the SDA, with Lawyer in hand, the director says, why don't you take her as a foreign exchange student. We get to the U.S. Embassy and they tell us to take her as a foreign exchange student. They assured us that it has been done, rarely, but there were cases that orphan children went as foreign exchange students. The embassy gives us a list of what to do and what we need. We venture home with hope of having Marina home with us within 2 months. Everything we need falls into place perfectly. We use our contacts in Berdyansk to help us with the passport to make this all happen and we get resistance from the director of the orphanage. We continue on thinking that we can overcome this by being here personally and talking to her. That is why I am here. A simple task has turned into another Ukrainian nightmare.

First, I arrive at the orphanage with less then an hour sleep in 2 days. My lawyer announces that she is only staying in Berdyansk for the day and is leaving that night. Our agreement was that she would stay for 2 days. That put me at the orphanage a day before I was prepared to go. The Lawyer shows up totally unprepared to present a case. We arrive at the orphanage, un-
known to us, 1 hour after the police and the inspectors had been there, because someone filed an abuse charge against the orphanage. We did not find this out until the next day. I am sitting infront of the director who is stressed, and upset. She is saying things that totally catch me off guard. I went back to the motel so upset, defeated, angry, hurt, and needless to say tired. I went to bed at 6:30 p.m., woke up at 2:00 a.m. and prayed and petitioned God. I went back to sleep and woke up fresh the next day. I decided to pick up Marina for the weekend and deal with everything on Monday. When I went to ask permission to have Marina, the director was as sweet as can be and says that she wants me to take Marina home on a student visa, I just have to show her how it is done.

I start making calls. On Monday the answers start to come in. I hire a new local lawyer here in Berdyansk, he is sharp and knows his people. We put all the pieces together. The SDA says, they are not in business of student exchange, they are in business of adoption, call the ministry of education. We call them, we call the embassy. The embassy says the privacy act prevents them from giving out information. After two days of chancing a dream there are lots of dots, but they do not connect. There is no law that says an orphan child can not be adopted. In fact the law says that an orphan child is a citizen of Ukraine and has the same rights as any other citizen. There is nothing in writting that an orphan child can go. There is in writting that an orphan child can get a visa for medical reasons and the orphan child can have a travel visa, but nothing written about student visa. No one is saying no, no one is willing to take responsibility. That puts all responsibility on the director of the orphanage. Her fear is the government coming in and removing her from her job. Wow.

I have spent hours with the Lord, praying, reading scripture, and crying. I don't see what He is seeing. I look at God and I have peace, I look out my window on the 11th floor of the Berdyansk Hotel and I become over whelmed with fear. Marina is old enough now to have alot of liberties at the orphanage. She has watched all her friends be adopted, her friends now are hardened girls. I won't go into detail on what I see that is influencing her, because I fill up with fear. I know that God sees all of this and more. I know that His love for Marina is far greater then I could ever love her. I reviewed scripture that ease fear, worry, grace, mercy, love. orphans, care, miracles, mountains, valleys, and praise. I am numb. In one hour I go back to the orphanage with the lawyer and he will try to convince the director to let Marina go to the United States with me for 11 months. I am hopeless.

I heard God say one thing, I heard two things;
you, O God, are strong
you, O Lord, are loving.

Thank you for your prayers. I never have needed them more then right now.

21/2 Wonderful Days!!!!

2008-03-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

What is the best medicine for frustration?.......Marina. Maybe someday Marina will be my frustration, but for now, she is the best cure for the blues that Mama can have. We have had the best time just being together. The longer we are together the better it is getting. It has been good for her too. We have spent most of our time hugging each other, talking, walking, laughing, and doing word puzzles.

When I arrived on Thursday, I knew that Marina needed time away from the orphanage. She was angry, hurt, and put a wall between her and God. If I even mentioned God, she would just turn her head. As time went on, the girl we left here returned. She went to church today and seems to enjoy the service. Up to today, when we would pray, I would get a limp hand. Today, I got a firm grip. She told me today if she ever gets out of Ukraine she is never coming back. Of course she would have to so that I can adopt her, but I am not going to tell her that right now. She is very guarded about the student visa program. She understands, but is not getting too excited about it.

Nancy and I will go seperate ways tomorrow. She will go on to Kherson and I will stay in Berdyansk. I am waiting on the Lord to help me with the next step. Marina say, Mama, you pick me up after school tomorrow? My answer, I don't know. She doesn't understand the whole picture and there is a language barrier. I will do what ever I can to make this happen, so I will travel whenever I need to and try to explain everything to her later.

I miss Rick and Yana, and so often we sit at the same tables as when there were the 4 of us. We always point to where Rick would sit and where Yana would sit and wish they were with us. Next year, February 2009, we will all do this again. I only wish that this would happen just once in the summer. Maybe winter is better. People where clothes in the winter. Last summer a lady from Italy was asked to wear clothes in the open market, she had nothing on. They had to pass an ordinance that you must wear clothes in the downtown area. I know that will never happen in this cold weather!

I appreciate the comments and prayers. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom for the next move. I am not sure if anything can be done on this end or if it is time to go to Kiev. I just pray that I will know what to do when I wake up in the morning. Marina will go back to school at 7:45 a.m. I have one week to make a difference. I feel pretty small and powerless right now. I know that is the best place to be. When I am weak, I step aside and let the power of God do the work. I know I can't but he can. Tomorrow is a good day to find out what He can do, because I have no plan.

Back in Paradise

2008-02-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

A quick e-mail to let you all know that life is better after sleep and food. The circumstances haven't really changed too much, but the attitude is better. I am back in Berdyansk and the sun is shinning. It was in the low 40's, a heat wave compared to December and January. Everyone is doing a double take at me, they remember me but they aren't sure it is me without Rick at my side. We are staying at hotel Berdyansk on the 11th floor! For any of you that have been here, I think you understand, I love the view but the elevator ride is alittle hairy. How often does the elevators get inspected? We even have a bath tub! The toilet doesn't flush, but the bathtub has a hand shower that reaches the toilet so we can fill the tank with that water and flush the toilet. This is probably a God thing. I have Marina with me for the weekend and she thinks Mama can fix anything since she fixed the toilet.

I picked Marina up at 1:00 to spent the weekend with me. We will be together until Monday morning before school. This does make Berdyansk paradise to me. When I saw her yesterday, she was angry, full of hate and feeling rejected. This weekend is a ministry retreat. We are going to talk alot, pray alot, and build self-esteem. The last couple of days, Marina has been hit hard with feelings of rejection. Her younger sister by one year who has been adopted came to the orphanage. Her mama works there. She makes it very well known that she has her freedom. Today we ran into the guardian she had a few years ago, and this women is the reason Marina can't come home with me now. The guardian is a long story, but she never met up to her roll as a guardian. The director said everything bad to Marina that could be said in front of her yesterday. Marina was beside herself. Things are improving fast. She and I are laughing again.

Please pray that doors open for us. Thank you

Berdyansk Blues

2008-02-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Fran, Nancy Hathaway, and our attorney Alina arrived in Berdyansk and picked up Marina for the day. Franny is fatigued- no sleep to speak of in 40+ hours. I thought by veiwing her e-mail to me you would pick up the urgency in specific prayer. We are dealing with a dark country with years of fear and suspicion. Please remember them in your prayers.

Rick

Hi Rick and Yana,How are you doing. Are there spit balls all over the house. Are you eating more then hot dogs. I have not visited Yana's friends yet, I will tomorrow. I love you Papa and Yana.Things are not looking good for Marina. Galina has denied ever telling us to do a student visa. She said she made a contact with the minister of education and he said absolutely not. I haven't been able to get through to the embassy. Marina is very sad, she doesn't like Galina. She has a give up attitude. Galina stated a case that Marina is a bad girl and would be to much to handle. This was in front of Marina. Yesterday Marina's adopted sister came to the internet. just another reminder of what a bad rap she is getting. Galina also said in front of Marina, that Marina is not a good student, she does not do good. We had a come back for everything, so she said she was going to call the minister of education, go away while I have lunch and I will let you know what they say. Of course you know what she was going to say he said and she did. I have to figure out how to find the truth. I e-mail Mike at the embassy, I can't get through by phone. Alina said she might have time to see the ministry of education. I am tired and feeling hopeless. I feel defeated. Do you have any encouragement? I look forward to your e-mail. Good to talk today.I love you,Fran

Burning the Bridges

2008-02-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

When I started this journey, I thought that I would go to the Ukraine and get 2 daughters, then return to life in America. I knew that it was going to be a change, after all 2 teenage girls with a different language living in my home that was definately going to be a change. I was mentally ready for that. I thought 2 months leave of absense was plenty of time to make the changes, adjustments, and then move on. I never dreamed that my life would change this much. I have one wonderful daughter, Yana and I am battling another country for my other daughter. My leave of absense became 3 months, but the battle continued on. My 3 months leave is over and I am on my way back to the Ukraine. Major change, I had to leave my job! That was never part of my plan and today when I walked out of Chambrel, leaving behind the last 10 years of my life, I was once again broken. Chambrel is a senior living community filled with some of the best people in the whole world. They have become some of my best friends and certainly the people I have the most respect for. I know that I have grown in so many ways because of the great people that live at Chambrel. I will also have to say that I think I have become an expert on growing old too. Who ever thought that I would be going back to the Ukraine one month and 6 days after I left the Ukraine. This is a journey and it is God's journey. This summer I am going to get on all the roller coasters at Busch Garden to see if any of them come close to the highs and lows that I have had these last 3 months. I am an emotional roller coaster. I left Chambrel and drive home to find an e-mail from Marina. " Mama, I am okay, I don't have time to write I have an English test and have to study. I love you, Marina. " The low becomes a high and my feet hit the ground running to prepare for the next leg of my journey. God never leaves me in the lows too long. I can't stay in the lows too long, Yana is an absolute clown. She never fails to give us at least one good belly laugh a day, most of the time it is two or three.

One week from today I will set out to the Ukraine. I look forward to seeing the people we left behind, the orphan children (especially Yana's friends) and especially Marina, the wonderful people at the church and many others. I don't think I am looking forward to the cold. It is getting pretty nice here in Virginia. The cold weather in Berdyansk is a small price to pay to go back and see Marina. I can't wait to see the turns and twist that this leg of the journey are going to take. Whatever they are I know that this is all God's plan, I am just the instrument that He is using to accomplish His will. He is writting the story.
Fran

Good News Arrives

2008-02-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

I could have written this at 2:30 a.m. because I was sitting at the computer rejoicing and wanted to tell someone, but I decided to go back to bed and wake Rick up and tell him instead. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and could not go back to sleep (alot of those night lately). I was really beginning to believe that we would have to have Marina go to court to fight for her registration rights. Everyday that slips by is vital in our eyes and in hers too. I was beginning to see a child behind bars imprisioned for other people's mistakes and not being able to get out. Everyday for months we have prayed for her to be registered, it all started in September 2007. This of course is the re-registration, the one that gets recorded at the SDA office. Rick and I began to grieve this. It was taking every ounce of energy to make it through this last week. Is it possible that the system will totally fail her and she will not get registered? It is nothing for the SDA to say they lost the records and the process would start all over.

Today, by e-mail we got word from Alina, the lawyer in Kyiv, that Marina is registered!!!!!!
That is so much pressure off of us, even though it is not the miracle we are looking for, it is a victory that was worth fighting for. I think of the many times that people told us to just move on, get another child, don't worry, and many other little slogans that reduced this child down to one of the stray dogs that live on the streets of Berdyansk. Just choose another one. When God puts a child on your heart to adopt, He makes it personal. He has given us a love for Yana and Marina that is so special. I marvel at this love, because it is not natural to have towards children that are not biologically your especially in such a short time. It is God's love and it can only come from Him and Him alone.

Today we rejoice in this victory, but we are still on our knees asking for a miracle. The ultimate would be to get an appointment with the SDA office to adopt Marina before March 5th. That is when our homestudy expires and we would have to get a new one with updates. Our daughter would be with us forever, and the adoption would be behind us. This is God's journey and the miracle is His. We will pray and know that He is God. He answered a very important prayer for us immediately last night, He showed us that we are in His will and obeying His directions. That was a great affirmation at a time of extreme weakness. He reveals Himself personally just at the right time. Wow, what a journey, who would have guessed that our journey would be so bumpy. I know one person that did, it was no surprise to Him that it would be. One year ago in February I met Marina and knew that I loved her enough to adopt her. One year ago, God introduced me to Marina, gave me a heart for her, and knew that my life was about to change, it would go through some of the darkest spiritual times I have ever had and yet I would draw closer to Him because there was no where else to go. I look forward to the end of the journey, when Marina is home and I can say, this was worth the ride. Right now, I just thank God that He does care and He is traveling the journey with me.
Fran

Headed Back

2008-02-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

Today I will be booking a flight back to Ukraine, this time Rick will play mama, papa and friend to Yana, while I am in the Ukraine. Things will never move along for Marina, unless there are forces helping them to move. God is using this trip for more then one purpose. Nancy Hathaway, president of "Heart for Orphans" will travel with me. The organization wants to open group homes in Ukraine for aging out orphans. Nancy has adopted 3 children from the Berdyansk orphanage. It is amazing what God is doing. More and more players get into this heart that God has for the orphans. God moves the players at just the right time and unfolds His plans right at the time that He gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. Nothing in life is for not...there is purpose for everything. As painful as it is for me to not have Marina in our home, I know that God has a plan and it includes her.

We will leave to the Ukraine on Feb. 26th, arrive in Kyiv on the 27th, before noon. We will take the evening train to Berdyansk. We will be in Berdyansk at 10:00 on Thursday morning. We will get to Berdyansk with our feet running. For me, the first and most important issue of course is Marina. I hope you have never stopped praying for a miracle, I still do every day, and night. I know that the plan did not work out according to my perfect will, but my will has never been too perfect anyway. It is His will that I am seeking. I don't want to misdirect you, I have gone through my anger about all this, but at the end of my anger, I truely want God's perfect will in this adoption of Marina. He sees the whole picture, I see what is in front of my eyes.

Marina writes by e-mail almost everyday. Yesterday she said she really wants us as her mama and papa. I think she actually said papa first. What she can't see is that we are her Mama and Papa, God gave us the heart to be that. We think of Marina as our daughter, we have adopted two, we are just not allowed to bring the other one home yet. It sure has helped me understand the pain that God had when He gave his only Son to die for us, even though He knew that He would bring His son home.

Please pray for this trip, for a miracle for Marina, for the "Heart for Orphans" to see God's perfect will, and that the people behind the organization will have the courage and strength to carry out His will in unity. I can't even begin to imagine the spiritual battle field that is infront of opening up group homes and helping large numbers of children be victorious. I can just hear it now, "This is law, this is not the right form, and you need the blue stamp". When we have the ribbon cutting ceremony and pray a blessing on the first Group Home that Heart for Orphans opens up, I will personally invite you to the celebration. I promise you there will be dancing in the streets, to the joyous song, "Our God Reigns".
Fran

No News is Bad News

2008-02-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

We talked to the Lawyer in Kyiv this past Saturday, Marina is still not registered. Maybe this is good, maybe they will find a way to let her be adopted now. Please don't stop praying for a miracle, this little girls wants to come home so bad. We are trying to call her weekly, we e-mail her everyday. Yana is such a joy, I can't wait to experience our full joy in both children. We have had some very low valleys in the last couple of days. There is nothing that would please satin more then to divide Rick and I. The last 2 days he has tried hard. This morning we were set free from it. The flesh is always trying control the situation, I know that God is in control and it is His journey. There are miracles taking place daily. Yana's love for Marina has grown. Her bedroom door is covered with pictures of Marina. Her room is prepared for Marina. Her heart has soften towards Marina, she tells her she loves her when they talk. One day our family will be complete. Thank you all for the prayers, please don't stop, I do believe our miracle will happen!

Fran

Yana is Adjusting

2008-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

TGIF-thank God it is Friday-
I am sure that is how Yana feels after one week of school. I don't say that because of the stress of going to school, it is because getting up at 6 a.m. is not her lifestyle. She is adjusting to the "Big School" environment very well. The first day of school was not the hardest, the second day of school, when all the girls in her art class wanted to include her and be friendly to her, then it really was hard. She was o.k. being ignored, then no one knows she hasn't a clue what you are saying. That day she wanted to pull out of art class. I found out that the girls were trying to include her and it was too awkward for her. The third day, it didn't seem too bad, she started pointing out people she met and those in her class. The fourth day was great. She came bouncing out of school with a big smile on her face. I asked her if she was still in art class, the answer, yes. Do you like it, the answer is --yes. She told me that things are getting easier and she still liked the big school. I admire her strength, wow what courage. She said she can understand English alittle better. The icing on the cake was the e-mail from Marina. She wrote that she doesn't think she will ever learn English. Marina speaks and reads English a little better then Yana, but to structure a sentence...that is hard for Americans. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement to Yana, she is getting there.

Marina is doing good. She is strong also. She is starting to trust that we will be back for her. We e-mail her daily and call her once a week. She is a part of the family. Yana is anxiously waiting for Marina too. That is a God thing, He has worked on hearts that is for sure.

Don't call Yana too early on Saturday morning, she is going to crawl under the blankets and sleep, sleep and sleep.
Fran

1st Day at School

2008-01-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

January 28th, a day that Yana will never forget, the first day of school in America. She is enrolled in Lafayettel High School in Williamsburg. This is Yana's pick of schools. We visited 4 school, one ended up not in our district. She had a choice between private or public. Yana being 15 years old and so far a very level headed child that has shown good discernment, we wanted her to have say in the school. She really wanted this big (huge in my eyes) with lots of students to be her school. As you can see she looks like a cute American teenager. Sunday evening Yana was all silly, full of nervous laughing. She ended the evening curled up by my side, waiting for mama and papa to pray for her and her first day at school. The next morning fear was written all over her, but she was strong and couragious as we ventured out. We got to the school driveway and all she could say is "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh" The next sentence, "Mama, no school, please no school". We walked into the school with the same courage that she had left the security of her own home. I was so proud of her and so scared for her. The first thing she said when she got into the car after school, "No school tomorrow, mama".

Marina is being tutored in English, and doing very well. She will have less trauma then Yana has had. I wish I had known about my angels in Berdyansk before we arrived for Yana. It would have really helped her. There is no new news with Marina, but please don't stop praying for a miracle. We have gone through every emotion possible, but in the end we are asking God to give us peace about His will, there is no peace. We are struggling, we really want harmony with His will and His peace. The peace has not come. We are believing for a miracle until that peace comes in whatever why He wants to deliver it. In the mean time the family that is together is blending well and longs for the other member to join us. Yana can't wait till Marina comes. In our eyes it seems like the perfect time to go get her!

Blessings to all,

Fran

A Little Rest-Then Move Forward

2008-01-22T04:09:00.000-08:00

So what happen to the Rahns? We are home, save and full of new hope. To step back from everything and renew our strength ( especially our spiritual) has done us good. We are just loving having Yana in our home. She is getting ajusted and seems very happy. Our bond is growing daily and our love for each other is increasing. I am so impressed how God has taken strangers and knit their hearts together to be a family. Yana has had some opportunity to express fears, and the biggest is school. Today we start the journey of finding the right school. I keep reassuring her that it is not going to be that bad. We will introduce her to American schools very easily. Yana is very strong emotionally and physically. She will do very well. We have had lots of great company since we have been back. That has been a blessing for all of us. The more company we have the more I can prograstinate putting things back in order. I am normally a very ordered type of person, but right now I really don't want to get comfortable until we have Marina at home.

Marina--she is not left behind for long. When we got on the plane in Kyiv, it was looked at as a time to regroup and get alittle rest. We had a lot of hope, feeling of joy, and a sense of renewed strength. Was there weeping, yes. We refuse to weep in front of Yana, this was our rejoicing time with her. We had time to draw closer to Yana, that was a good thing. If we became overwhelmed about Marina, we would find a quite spot to weep and pray and renew our emotions. That has not ended. We both have our moments. When I was in church on Sunday, I could feel Marina's hug, smell her scent, and see her face. I saw a rerun of our good-bye at the orphanage, it played over and over and over. I wept most of the time I was at church. That was a good thing, because in my weekness, Christ renewed my strength. I still don't know the whole picture and how it is going to turn out, He does. Remember this is God's journey, He wrote the script. This very morning we woke up to an e-mail from Marina. It said, "Urgent, please get a hold of Galina, she has some new information that is good". Marina's e-mail was a good sign that she has renewed hope.

I can not go into all the details, and I know this sound vague, sorry. We are expecting to bring Marina home in 5 to 6 weeks. Please pray that the doors will all open. We have a plan and God may have a different one, but we are praying that all plans lead to Marina coming home soon. Rick and I have lived almost 25 years as a married couple, no children. There has always been peace about that. All of a sudden, we are missing one of our children and the family feel incomplete. How does that happen. We serve a great God. Two years ago we asked Him, what our purpose was and why would He draw us together. We prayed for Him to reveal this to us. The battle we have fought for with Marina, I could not have done alone, either could Rick. We are a team. He gave each of us a strength that was necessary just at the right time and He made us week at the right time too. Many times during this journey Rick would speak with such discernment that I would be stunned. Many times God gave me information that would open new ideas and doors. We asked for a God journey that would draw us close to Him and He gave it to us. With all the heart breaks and tears, would I ask Him to do this to me again. Yes! There is nothing greater in life then to let God work through you and to be so week that He can work through you.

Please, pray for Marina and her home coming. Pray for Yana and her settling into a new life.
We appreciate you all for following the journey, remember it is not over, we are praying for a miracle.
Fran

We are on Our Way Home

2008-01-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your prayers. We visited the director of the SDA office today with a lawyer. We spent 2 hours pleading our case. The paper trail for Marina was all revealed, mistakes were made and the door is shut.

We are trying to book tickets home. Marina stays.

We praise the Lord of using us as her instrument to get her papers right. We are exhausted and sad, excited and joyful. Yana is sad today too. She was hoping on behave of Marina.

Please continue to pray for Marina, we are hopeful that some laws will change soon to allow us to take her home.

Thank you all again, I am writting from the U.S. embassy and don't want to stay on the computer for long.
Fran

Preparing to Leave

2008-01-14T01:41:00.000-08:00

We have had a great weekend together as our 2 daughters have been with us since Friday. Rick is already talking about when the girls grow up and leave home and how aweful it will be to be an empty nester. I have to keep reminding him that for the last 25 (almost) years we have been empty nesters, it will be how we have known it. He has decided to put a fence around the property so the boys won't see his girls.

I must share with you that God has been really good through all this. Our time at the Berdyansk Oraphanage has been sweet. We are there so much that even the teachers are hunging us. The orphanage goes the extra mile to make the children feel special and build self-esteem. Yana and Marina tell me that they have teachers they love. I am so grateful for that. I see my 2 girls and how well behaved they are. They have good manors and are sweet. We went over to Ernie and Anna's house for dinner yesterday. The girls just melted them. They both wanted to help Anna with dinner and with the clean up. Of course, Ernie and Anna are wonderful people that melt hearts too. They had the girls laughing and having so much fun with in minutes of walking in the door. What a great time. When we got home 5 of the kids from the neighborhood came over. They watched movies, played Uno, laughed and sang to the music. Yana was in her glories. She has grown close to these children. In the mean time Marina gets to spend quality time with Mama and Papa. She needs alot of attention and assurance right now. While we were in church sunday ( the sermon is in Russian) our souls were being touched. Rick was all teary eyed from how God was moving in his heart and God gave me a peak at Marina's past life. We sat down with Marina and talked to her about the knowledge I gained in church. God gave me a pretty clear picture of Marina's upbring and what happen to her family. It is very touching. Since we didn't have a translator in church we didn't know what was said. Today, monday, I found out it was a sermon about the woman that Jesus met at the well. Jesus said to her, I know all about you and your past too. The pastor took it to Jesus feeds our soul, He speaks to us. Isn't that just like our God.

That is going to take me to this statement. Rick and I are on a journey that was brought on by God. We were not out to adopt 2 children. The journey has had highs and lows that have brought both of us to the darkest moments of our lives, not exaggerating. I have never in my life been to this horrible dark place. We were able to hang in there because we would force ourselves to review the character of our God, and all of you reading our journey continually remind us of scripture and verses that reveal the character of God. We have not come in with any false hope or thoughts that our God is up there to make us happy. His joy is there in the good and bad times even the unhapppy times. There were days that we couldn't feel His joy, but we knew that He would reveal it to us, we just had to be open to it. Before I left Williamsburg, in writting, I asked God to give me a journey that would draw me closer to Him. He has answered my prayers. Today we are in His joy. Tonight we say good bye to Marina, for now. I packed a bag for her with the pajamas, the night bag with her personal care products, things that she wants to bring her cousin in Florida, Dakota, and the radio that we bought that gave us pleasure of having music. This bag is not to be used until we get back and bring her home. She is to hide it for that moment in time. We will cry, but we are leaving with her knowing that we adore her and love her and that she is our daughter as much as Yana is.

We will be on the train, we hope by Tuesday evening and in Kyiv Wednesday morning. I am not sure when we will be home, it will be soon. This is not the end of our journey, and we can't give the date it will end. We are still believing in a miracle.

Your continued prayers are appreciated. If I could have a big party when this was over and all of you come, that would be day of rejoicing. Many of the bloggers are strangers in the world, but not in Christ. You are all special to us.
Fran

Yana Pam Rahn

2008-01-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

As of Friday, January 11th Yana left the orphage the last time as an orphan. It was difficult for her friends, but Yana is such a strong person. With a great deal of resolve she hugged and kissed everyone and walked out. Lots of emotions, but she is filled with joy. We walked to the apartment hand in hand. Papa walked with Marina with her chin hanging on the ground and her tears freezing to her face. It is so difficult to see the system work against her. We have her for the weekend and we are having a good time. We are all trying not to think about Tuesday when we leave with out her. The last time we see Marina is Monday night.

It is unbelievable that we are at peace. We still are praying for a miracle, and there are miracles in the works. Please continue to pray for miracles to continue.

Today Yana and I went shopping. We went to the mall---the outdoor market. It was freezing outside and I thought my hands would fall off. The best jeans are at the market. To try on clothes you go behind a sheet and drop your pants. Bare skin at zero degree weather. My daughter did it as if it was 80 degrees outside. I could hardly pay for the pants my hands were soooooo cold. I let her buy jeans I would have never let her spend the money on just to get inside a warm building. There were a few other things to get as well. I thought she would like to go to an indoor shopping area, she says no mama they have them here as she marches me off to another part of the market. This market has dogs and cats wondering in and out of the area you shop. It breaks my heart to see the animals in this cold weather. If you know me you know that I have a soft spot for animals. I am feeding the animals all over the place. I even carry cheese in my pocket and toss it to them. It is so cold for these poor animals to be living on the streets. The dogs that guard the Church eat pretty good off the Rahn family. We are all feeding them.

We will be leaving Berdyansk on Tuesday evening via the train. We don't have our tickets home yet, but will know by thursday the day we will leave. Please don't stop praying for a miracle.
Farewell for today,
Fran

2008-01-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

The last two days have been busy getting Yana ready to come home. We had to drive 2.5 hours to go to get a paper that gave permission for the birth certificate to be changed then 2.5 hours home. We didn't do the driving Sveda did. Today Sveda picks us up at 7:00 a.m. to drive to Tomeka, Yana's birth place and get the birth certificate changed. Then it is an 1.5 hours back to Berdyansk to do more stuff, pick up Yana and back to the same place we were the day before. Ride, hurry, wait, ride, hurry, wait. That is what our life style is right now. With Yana in the car we pass where she was raised, grandma's house. She points to the villiage and then to the house. Tears roll down her face as she stares at the place. On the way home, it is dark, but she scrapes the frost off the window and places her hand against the glass and stares at her place of memories. I am not even sure what the memories are. I think her and grandma were close. She places her hands on her lap and sits quiet for a few minutes. Then she moved on to listening to her music. She is a strong young lady. Mama has to turn away because she is crying. I pray that Yana's life will be successful and she will be blessed with lots of happy memories.

Then there is Marina, mama is always crying because of Marina. Time is running out. We got word today that she is still not registered. No one in the Ukraine cares, except for Rick, Marina, and myself. It is starting to take a toll. We are in the mist of possibly hiring a lawyer, she is looking at the case. We are going to start looking for flights home, so the end is coming. I have to say that we are weak in pain. We love Marina so much. Our daughter once lived in an orphanage, but now it is a prison. The door is not opening.

Thank you all for your prayers, but I would like to ask a favor. Pray that we hold it together right now. Thank you,
Fran

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2008

2008-01-08T01:09:00.000-08:00

Today is the day after Christmas and finally all the Government offices are open! Today we may have information on when we can come home. We would told we were going to be real busy today, so we got up early, said good-bye to Jenny who is leaving for home today and walked the girls to the orphanage. We hurry, hurry, hurry and then we wait. That is what we are doing now is waiting.

This is a good time to fill you in on our holidays. The eve before our 2008 Christmas was cold but sunny. We called our driver Sveda and asked her to take us for a ride to the end of the pennisula. The pennisula is a resort area. In the past couple of years some beautiful resorts have been built out there. There is a water park with some slides, and lots of old homes as well. At the end is an old fishing village, with a lighthouse. Sveda kept driving, even when the road ended and there was only a dirt path, through wheat fields. Rick thought Sveda misunderstood him and was trying to tell her to turn around, but she just kept driving until we came to the end of the pennisula and could see Berdyansk. It was a sight to see. The water was frozen, like my hands are right now. If I come back to Berdyansk any time soon, I would like to stay there and have it be a hot summer day. If there is one thing I miss is time outside and not being cold.

Christmas day was also my birthday. My two girls got up early with the assistance of their papa and surprised me while I was still in bed. They brought me little presents and lots of hugs and kisses. They quickly went back to bed for a brief snooze before the day started. Christmas service at the church was a series of plays and skits, fun but alittle long, especially the church was sooo cold. After we had a lunch and went up to our apartment. A group of children and some of the young adults followed us up there. They watched videos all afternoon, except for Marina, who really doesn't like to watch one video after another. In the evening we had dinner and sat around and talked. That was the turning point of the day....

The last part of our day was a blow out. Yana basically told Marina that she hated her and didn't want any part of her. We have had several blow outs but this was bad. We spent the next couple hours dealing with this and got things resolved. There was nothing that led up to this. It crushed Marina. She was once again rejected and then the whole thing with the paper work came up. It was a ugly evenikng, but I am sure that it will show it's face again. I didn't expect this until I got home. Rick and I had to review all that we are doing and pray for discernment. I think we handled it well and by the end of the evening Yana was again friendly to Marina. Fortunately, Enna was there to interpret everything. That was a Christmas/birthday present I could have done without. The papa handled it very well and was very firm.

This morning is another day and everyone is smiling. Marina was quit on the way to the orphanage, she knows that we sign Yana's birth certificate today. Oh Lord, what are you doing, I know your path is the right one. If only our miracle would happen, life would be so much easier. He is on the Throne and we praise Him who is faithful.
Fran

Pretty Ladies and Raw Fish

2008-01-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas 2008 from the Ukraine. We are very busy with company and preparing for the celebration that accompanies Christmas. It is such a blessing how we have integrated into the lives of the church family here. Tomorrow morning the girls will sleep in and I will go help prepare the food for the dinner that the church will have. We are expecting 150 people to show from this church and 2 sister churches. The girls have met some of the teenagers from the church so it will be fun for them as well. Later in the day we will give them presents. Presents is not the big part of Christmas here. I am trying to buy things that they can come home in. So far I am pretty lucky they seem to love what I pick out. I am sure that won't last, but it is a good thing for now.

Now the fish story----The fish that the girls bought the other day was nothing compared to the dry fish and raw fish they bought last night. They are so sad when we don't like their foods. I tried a piece of the raw fish just to be nice, I can't do it. I think about my favorite food and sharing it with the girls and them saying no thank you I don't like it. Oh no!! It is going to happen. I have to say our girls have a high protein diet. After we eat they have so much energy. They are both supper strong. We call Marina, Bam Bam. She carries me around.

May you all enjoy your day today, we are celebrating the birth of Our King, Jesus.
Fran

Getting Ready for Christmas 2008

2008-01-04T05:51:00.000-08:00

While everyone in the states is preparing for the year and settling into their normal routines, the church is preparing for the birth of Jesus. We will be celebrating Christmas 2008 on January 7th. We picked up Yana on thursday to keep until Christmas night. She will go back to the orphanage one more time and then stay with us, I hope. Since there is no school until January 14th, I am sure that she will be with us. Maria is in the orphanage hospital with a sore throat. When she was told she could not go with us she cried. We promised to come and get her on Friday. Today is Friday, she was not allowed to come with us yet. The director of the orphanage is really wonderful to us. She has let us have as much time with Marina as Yana and felt very bad about her having to tell Marina, no not today. But Maybe! tomorrow. Again. Marina cried. We went back to the orphanage hospital and got her laughing again. She has had 5 shots in the hind end and has one more to go tonight. I would never tell anyone that I had a sore throat if I knew that I had to get 6 shots! Hopefully Saturday we can get her until Christmas also.

The weather is brutal. I thought I was well prepared for cold weather. I thought being raised south of Buffalo, N.Y. I qualified as being tough as far as weather goes. There is no comparison to what cold is out here. Those fur hats that we often think of when we think of Russia are not a fashion statement, they are necessity. We try to walk but it is getting too intense for me. Every day I hope for some relief and everyday is getting colder. In spite of the cold, I had an awesome day. Yana and Papa let me go on a short term mission trip. There is a young missionary named Jennie, from Chicago, here for the week. She is teaching Yana English. Wonderful person, Yana just loves her. She is a teacher. Her school sent cards and beannie babies to the orphan children. Ernie and Anna's, as part of their outreach for the city, have helped to get this little orphanage going for children that normally would be on the streets. The parents can drop them off there if they can't raise them, or if the children are taken from the parents. This is a holding orphanage until more permanent things happen, like return to family or the child goes into a more permanent orphanage. Sad? yes! I was asked to go with them to bring presents from the church and to give out the beannie babies. The children would melt your hearts just like they did mine. We walked in and the little ones just surrounded us. I know little Russian, but I was able to ask their names and how old they were. That just drew them closer. There were 2 teenage girls that looked pretty tough. They were covering their hurt, I am sure. At the end I decided to give them a hug and a kiss. Those 2 girls turned into babies. It is such a pleasure when the Lord allows you to be the Jesus in the flesh and give love to those that need it the most. As I looked into the eyes of those children, I asked myself what that kind of experience and rejection must feel like. I had to just pray for God to comfort them and bless their earthly journey. Ernie and Anna are doing great work here in the Ukraine. The stories they share make me realize the sacrifice it has taken them to change the lives of so many others. After the orphanage we went to a warehouse to pick up candy, cookies and other things for the Christmas celebration at the church. After returning home (it is that comfortable to be called home) Rick and I went to see Marina and Yanna had lessons with Genny. I forgot to mention, Thursday night we had our first dinner party at our home. We all had a great time and.....Yana jumped up and insisted on doing all the dishes. Will this last? Yana does like being an only child, she is very comfortable with us. Now for the down side of adoption of teenagers in the Ukraine. My sweet beautiful daughter was at the grocery store with papa and he let her pick out food she likes. She picked out a package of tiny fish (smelt) that are to be salted and dried and eaten like beef jerky. What am I going to do with this? Jennie had lunch with us today, she made me promise not to invite her when we were going to eat the fish, thanks Jennie.
Thank you all as always for lifting us up. New names show up and we get excited, the old names that have been so faithful show up and we are blessed beyond what I could ever imagine. You are all so precious in our sight, can't even imagine what you look like in God's sight.
Pray for a miracle,
Fran

We are Living in Paradise!!!

2008-01-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

Today is the end of our 20 day stay at the Hotel Berdyansk. The 4 walls were closing in. The girls love to come over, but the room just seemed to get smaller every time they came. Today we moved. We are living in an apartment in a church that was founded by Ernie and Anna Smith. We have a living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom that has a washer in it, a real long wide hall way, and a storage room (big enough to be another bedroom). We are living 1st class and I am loving it. Today we used the day to move and get settled in. We had lunch with our friends which included workers from the church. It was awesome, half spoke English, half spoke Russian and there was no one who spoke both to interpret. We all seemed to understand each other and we were all laughing. I can't wait to bring the girls over on Thursday. We can now cook and have projects to do instead of watching DVD. There is also space outside, we are in the outskirts of the city. Paradise!!!

We had a real encouraging phone conversation with the embassy today. The man who is on our case was willing to work with us and see where we can go with our case. He spoke real clear English which was helpful. Up to this point the people that we have spoken to have been Ukrainian and have the mindset of their country. This man is American and has our mindset. There can be grace in the Law. If there is one thing that I pray for this culture, is not to fear the law, but use the law as a tool and not a weapon. The embassy was also encouraging about the change in government. It is a younger administration, we are all hoping it will benefit orphans and the adoption process.

Once again I thank you all for your prayer, comments and support of our journey. We are so blessed to have such good partners in our journey. We know that there is prayers out there for us, because we see, feel, and are comforted by them. Continue to pray for our Marina to come home with us, both of the children are miracles to us.

You are probably all settling in after the New Year getting back to old routines. I just offered to help out with the Christmas get together at the church. We are right in the middle of holiday season out here. One part of me says it over and the other part says, there is more to come. Interesting concept.

Remember to pray for a miracle, thanks,
Fran

Up His alley- Papa's view

2008-01-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

WARNING!
BLOG CONTAINS ADULT SPIRITUAL CONTENT. SPIRITUAL NUDITY AND LANGUAGE INVOLVED. PARENTAL CONSENT STRONGLY ADVISED...
Saturday, 29th of dec. 2007. We pick up the kids today @ 12:00 and keep them till 6:30. We walk the whole day. We start by leaving the orphanage the "back way". They're full of giddiness and are as friskie as kids can be w/excitement. This is the kickoff of the holiday's, and they're sharing this one w/their parents.
As they bundle up and head out the double steel doors of this place, Marina clings to mom and Yana reaches for my hand. My memory suddenly recalls- "If you only knew girls, that just a short while ago Fran and I had no idea you existed, and we were in the process of exercising a 12 year "exit" stategy".
They guide us out of the orphanage grounds and we pass between 2 small steel building containers. So narrow is the gap that I turn sideways to avoid rubbing against the rust. I'm reminded about my summer, and how dirty those jobs were. I also remember how determined I was to earn this trip/expense on my own so as not to interupt our financial plans. How odd were all the events causing failure- the breakdowns, back-ups and loss.
No sooner do we clear the steel buildings when Yana reaches for me again. Our pace picks up w/excitement only a teenage girl can explain as we pass a small apple tree grove in it's winter dormancy. We're on our way to town, the way orphans know.
It was the end of august when I faced the unthinkable- I can not do this in my own strength. This isn't going to work, not going to happen. I'm WAY too far behind, and though I've had my "spiritual ear " to the ground the whole time, based upon current events I can't see this working.
All 4 of us are now hand in hand skirting the bluff of burdyansk. Fran asks where the light house is, because from our vantage point of the town below we should be able to see it. "The hurricane took it", she replys. Then she goes on to describe how the kids stood in front of their windows holding them out so they wouldn't blow in. (A few did)
At one jobsite I am near filled w/despair- I'm cornered, can't see a dignified way of orchestrating this thru- how are we going to do what has to be done- a mountain of preparation and and effort is still needed and I'm exhausted...
It's then I am struck w/a declaration - "This is not Rick's story, it's HIS story! He's the one who put these two specific kids on our hearts, and He's the one who will provide the means to do it-" All year long I've been trying to do this on my own strength, but this is HIS story and he get's all the credit, not me. "Relax Rick, and put on my yoke- you'll find my burden light."
This is all I needed. I lift my "spiritual ear" from the ground and stand. "He's here," my soul testify's, and He's been here the whole time.
We turn now down a steep rutted out foot path that's froze solid. Slippin' and sliding w/squeals of adolescent delight the 4 of us cascade down it's length to the base. These kids amaze me, they truly enjoy us being w/them. I look hard @ Marina, who can't stand still. "By law your a orphan." "But by love you're our daughter."
Yanna reaches out for me, we're about to cross the main arterial that feeds traffic to downtown. A traffic cop is positioned there as we pass within a few feet of him. He eyes us and seems to be curious why 2 brightly colored adults would be hangin' out w/2 orphans scurrying through traffic. Only locals and orphans cross the street here. But before he can complete the thought process of demanding us to halt and show him our passports and perhaps $$$, the girls are true to orphan reputation and have slipped thru traffic w/us and are fast dissappearing into the grayness of concrete and overcast winter cloudiness. We'll take a taxi back.
It's november and we're leaving in 4 weeks to Ukraine. I've got 6 weeks of contracts to fill. Plus we haven't finished remodeling our house to accomodate these 2. "This is not my story, but HIStory." There is peace, and I thank Him for it. The anxiety is gone. There are bumps, glitches and blips along this adoption road, but in the end I find myself standing and operational. "Thank you LORD for the peace."
We stop @ a cafeteria, a store, then it's off to our room. During the whole time they never let us go. We are a family of four. And I can't imagine coming this far to start thinking less.
Jesus's own family @ one point called him "nuts". So adopting 2 teenage girls that are 5,000 miles away, don't know our language, and cost us everything would be something, "right up HIS alley." And those circumstances preventing Marina from us taking her home has also caused our OWN allies to"shrug" their shoulders and accept the enemies lies.
We know who sits on the throne. We recognize his voice. He knows ours. And all who are reading this blog- Jesus knows your voice.
When Fran and I cry out to HIM who knows us, He responds. How fitting it is that this spiritual struggle for a tangable result would come @ Christmas, a time when heaven bankrupted itself and gave all it had to us in the form of a baby. Jesus's birth is celebrated here in Ukraine jan. 7th.
Could it be, is it possible, that somehow, somewhere, someone becomes the conduit for another miracle from above and our Christmas gift from Ukraine will be in the form of Marina? That also would be right up HIS alley.
Time has a wonderful way of wrapping things up, and soon we'll be leaving Ukraine. Here's what I "see":
On one side I see an assembly of faithful believers- a people who are righteous and blameless in HIS sight. They are covered in the blood, praying to the FATHER through JESUS the Christ. They are praying on our behalf for Marina's rescue from bureaucratic red tape. They are praying w/power. They are praying in the HOLY SPIRIT.
I see people in place to recieve this miracle. Fran and I are still here. Our facilitators are here. Ukrainian offoicals know us and our case. Paper work is in motion. We are waiting. We're in the right place @ the right time for the right reason.
As I look @ the other side, where are THEIR faithful believers? What do they even believe in, the "old" way? Exactly what is their motive for keeping Marina deadlocked, and who will join them for help in keeping her from us?
Yes there are discouraging moments, and yes it get's tiring. But after tallying it all up, I still believe in the ONE who IS. This is something, "right up his alley."

Happy New Year!
Rick

Life isn't all that Bad!!!

2007-12-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all your support, you have successfully lifted us up and we are again running to win the race! We have had two wonderful days. Saturday we picked up the girls and walked into town. They love to walk and they love to take us on adventures. We walked a new way into town, straight down a bluff, and I mean straight down. The girls love to run. Papa is a great runner, Marina and Yana have won medals for running and then there is Mama. Marina will never leave Mama behind, but she will not be in last place either, so Marina holds Mama's hand real tight and runs as fast as she can and Mama just has to keep up. Some times I come up with good short cuts that put us ahead of Papa and Yana with less effort. Adopting two teenage girls might end up being a weight watchers program, we will run everywhere.

Our day was spent having lunch, shopping for a few DVD's and going back to the Hotel and watching movies and just being silly. Yana was alittle under the weather so she even fell asleep. It is difficult to do much outside because of the cold and wind. The girls enjoy being with us, they don't even mind the 4 walls as much as I do.

Today is sunday, December 30. Our 10 day waiting period is over for Yana, but the 7 day holiday just began. Last week Victor, our facilitator, called the court offices and asked if they would be open between New Years and Christmas (Jan.7th) and they said yes they would be open on the 3,4, and 5. He called yesterday to make sure since he is in Kyiv and didn't want to make the trip for nothing. They have decided to close for the week. Wonderful flexibility on their behave, oh well cultural difference. We did not see the girls today, we spent the day going to church and having dinner with the founder of the church, Ernie and Anna Smith. This is the 2nd sunday that we were with them. Last week we had an translator and this week the service was in English and a translater for Russian. The service was written just for us and our situation. God is good! There was no magic to give us, but there was a whole lot of Jesus in the flesh. The people in this church have showered us with love. They asked for pictures of the girls today and prayed for them. We get as many hugs and kisses as we get at home on sunday. It is such a sweet experience to be there. The church has 2 finished apartments, they have offered us to stay in one. There is someone coming at the end of January, but hopefully we will be home by then. We will be at Hotel Berdyansk until January 2nd. The apartment is really nice, and it has a washer! It also has a kitchen. It will save us alot of money. After church we went to Erinie and Anna's home for lunch and enjoyed the visit. Their daughter was there for the holidays. She is a teacher in Chicago. We stayed with them most of the afternoon and returned to our 4 walls for a day of rest.

As you see, God has not left us in the wilderness longer then we could handle. We both are seeing His hand everyday, He is not quite. We are still praying for a miracle and want to bring Marina home now. We just adore her. I know that all things are God's will and we know we don't see the big picture. We do trust our God and no matter what we will continue to always praise Him.

We are picking the girls up Monday afternoon and keeping them until Tuesday evening. We plan to usher 2008 in together. Marina promises to stay awake, as long as we can eat at midnight. I am sure that the fireworks will keep us awake most of the night.

Rick and I would like to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thank you all again for being there for us.
Fran

Not a Happy Day

2007-12-28T02:45:00.000-08:00

We are beside ourselves today. The doors are slamming in our faces. No one hears or cares that Marina has not been re-registered. We have been waiting for 11 days for an official report from the SDA on Marina's re-registration. On the day we went to court on Yana, our facilitator told us that an offical request was filled on our behalf and they have 11 days to get it to us, plus 2 days to write it up. Today was the day it was to be picked up. Today, there is no report, our facilitator is on the way to Arizonia with orphan children, she was to hand it over to some one else but never called her. There is not any evidence that an official anything has ever been done. The SDA will not give us information because the US embassy have contacted them, therefore they will no longer speak to us. The embassy is shutting the doors on us with their beauracratic formalities of we don't get involved in private matters. Is there anybody out there?, Does anybody hear, see or care? What an unmerciful system of dealing with children. The responds that everyone gives us is "There are worse cases out there? Are they proud of this? Thank you all for your prayers. We have not reached the end of our rope. We will fight for Marina, our daughter, until she comes home. When all human doors close, only miracles can happen. Thank you for continuing to pray for the miracle. Your comments is giving me the strength to fight.

Our new friends that were here had their day in court, and are on their way home. They were great support. I will miss them and their morning hugs. Now I am here with Rick who is out walking the river beds.

We are on our way to the orphanage. We both love going there. That is the happiest place in all Berdyansk. The sound of children laughing is so uplifting. Hope you all are enjoying your holiday week.
Fran

Goliath shows up

2007-12-26T02:51:00.000-08:00

Man, what a morning-
This is the day we had planned to make some headway. Today we "pull the lever" and use our "ace" card to gain favor w/SDA and find some MERCY and GRACE! Geez, the mindset out here is the pits...
We've had some encouragement from another source who agreed to help us w/ a higher-up @ the U.S. embassy here in Ukraine. We get our case, and have a person assigned to it. The ambassordor himself is involved (a little) w/our cause and all concerned know (or should) Fran and I do not want Ukrainian laws broken, but simply want Marina's registration RE-INSTATED! They misplaced her papers in 2006 after being registered since 1999. Now they've had 3-4 attempts to re-register her and as yet can't overcome their own ineptitude. Their response? It's Marina's problem- please go away-
The U.S. embassy is of NO use. The case worker assigned to us is out for the week, then out for most of next week, then a few days after that. They got it down pat here, combining U.S. holidays w/ukrainian ones. Must be nice living off of other peoples sweat..
Person on the other end of the phone is professional @ being polite while blowin' you off. There is ZERO concern for your behalf and I got the distinct sensation she was lookin' @ the clock to see if her break is coming up. I'm doing everything to stay resonable while my blood starts to boil. Fran signals to pass the phone to her, which I do. Asking for help woman to woman, the phone lady REALLY pours on the callusness- she's seemed to find her rythum and goes for it- how to blow the minds of someone seeking help on behalf of a orphaned child-
To this person's credit, she did say she is familiar w/our case, her supervisor is fully aware of it, and she does know our case worker e-mailed a request of our status- and then REALLY exerted himself and made a phone call. WOW! I'd need to take time off from that kind of stess too, I guess.
We just need ONE person w/a backbone out here. This is sooo easy to fix. One person who can show some class, be a proffessional- get it done. The attitude out here is "Gee, I'm sorry you're in such a bad way, but would you mind getting out of mine?"
The "Goliath" is taunting our GOD. Wagging his massive head back and forth, he snickers @ our position- in a foreingn land, can't talk their language. We don't know their rules, customs, laws, time's running out- and even our own "camp" succumbs to the "frozen mindset" of ukrainian beaucracy.
"LORD, would you please hand me a sling and point me to a riverbed?"
Marina's Papa

American Christmas in Ukraine

2007-12-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Our human Christmas Tree is the perfect representation of what this season is all about. The beautiful faces of a small segment of orphans in one little country on the other side of our world. Each and everyone of the children is becoming embedded into our brains so that we can pray for them and never get so comfortable in our life that we forget them. Jesus has not and will not ever forget these precious children.

As many of you already know we Americans are running around getting ready for Christmas 2007 that is celebrated on December 25th. In Ukraine we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas 2008 on January 7th. Rick and I are going to celebrate all of it. In fact we are starting a new tradition this year. We will celebrate Christmas as normal in the states and keep our tree up and celebrate the Ukraine Christmas as a celebration of receiving our daughters, Yana and Marina. What a gift from God. How I which we had a huge house, there are so many children I would love to take home. We are here with another couple adopting 3 beautiful boys, full of talent and life. They already have adopted 2 girls and 1 other boy from Berdyansk orphanage. What wonderful people they are. We have had many wonderful people cross our path. There is another couple that is adopting 3 beautiful sisters from the orphanage. What a Christmas! I couldn't ask for a better present then to be here witnessing all this. My heart leaps with Joy and yet I still have the sense of a heavy heart if I think of the day we leave and leave the others behind. I encourage all of you to pray for the orphans around the world, all 143 million. Speaking of which, I do not have the e-mail for you Lyn, but I got your blog. You are getting you baby from China, did I ever break down crying when I read your comment to me on my blog. We are so happy for you and can not wait to give you a hug. You got your miracle that you were praying for Addie in 2007. Praise God, Praise God.

Today we went Christmas shopping, a gift for each girl, decorations for our human tree, flowers for teachers, all in the open markets behind the hotel. This is a very foreign way of shopping for us. I am so fascinated with the markets. We started out by going to the bank to get money exchanged, on the way to the bank an older women comes up and gives me a hug and a kiss. I met her yesterday at church. This is cool, I am feeling more and more like a local. Even some of the homeless dogs follow us as we walk by. Some of the merchants that used to be so forceful, now know that I am just looking and never buy very much. It is so much fun being a local.

Before I sign off for the evening, I would like to ask our God, who gave us His precious son, Jesus, to deliver us from sin, so that we could have a personal relationship with Him, to bless you all in a real personal way on this Christmas day. My personal encounter with Him this year is beyond what I ever could be worthy of receiving. He is a fantastic God. Before you open your presents, eat your good food. and enjoy this holiday, take time to reflect on all that He has done for you and give Him all the glory.

Merry Christmas from all of us,

Papa, Mama, Yana and Marina

Peace be with you.

Yana's Birthday

2007-12-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of our two, Yana w/her "do" and Marina (in a rare moment of stillness). We had Yana's b/day party @ the orphanage, there were 10 girls and 1 teacher who loved to be included.
After the party we load up some of their friends into 2 taxis and "speed" off to our hotel room. It's night (4:30) the streets are loaded w/people going home from their work, and I'm in the front seat of Ramon's rice burner wearing out his floor pad as we plunge down Berdyansk hill.
We have our first girl party, 5 teenagers and us in a 4 walled room (confinement). The girls love the change up. What do you feed ukrainian girls @ this get together? Kielbasa, string cheese, pickles, russian white cheese chunks and tomato juice. We are a instant hit. They loosen up and soon the room is full of- cooties- (male observation from someone beginning to miss his tablesaw). These kids are our delight- they are so well behaved- yet they truly are enjoying themselves. We bought a dvd player and they watch a movie picked out earlier. There's games after that and both Fran and I notice one of the children quieter than most, Rita. This is where you have to be made of cold stone not to experience heart ache for these kids. Rita has very little emotion. She's 12, tall for her age, and very pretty. She has no brothers, no sisters, or parents. Yana is her friend which is why she was invited. Yana now has 2 parents who love her very much and she soon will "disappear". How else is she supposed to respond? How often has this happened to her? And why isn't anyone asking for her?
We wrap it up, and prepare to leave. Without a word the kids pick up after themselves(I like this). Bundled up we're soon in the narrow elevator for the last joy ride of the night. Just for kicks, I pretend to lose my balance when the elevator starts it's drop, open my arms and back into everybody, squishing them all together- much to their delight. They respond by pushing against me just when the ole' girl stops and opens. We all sort of ooze out @ same time- just innocent fun and only a few seconds worth @ that. But there was a belly laugh unlike one heard before- it was Rita. As we said our goodbyes for the night it was Rita who came to Fran and kissed her. Then she came to me w/ a hug and a kiss goodnight. Right there I done did it again and melted. I am simply NO match to a child who wants to belong, or one who just needs to feel what it's like to be hugged back by a papa.
This is the season of gift giving, a tradition handed down to reflect the ultimate gift given to us from heaven above. Would you remember to hug your loved one, and do it for Rita's sake?
Merry Christmas
Rick

Prepping for B/day

2007-12-22T00:27:00.000-08:00

Saturday, our "sleep in" morning. It's 9:30 before we DROP (ukrainian elevator) from our 4th floor level to the lobby floor. It's better than it's sister elevator,"the Chernobol". That one has lost it's shocks so when it hits lobby level, it hits lobby level. For all you tourists out there here's a tip: When entering a ukrainian elevator first look @ it's general condition- walls, ceiling tile , etc. Chernobol's walls are laminate- stuff we make kitchen counters and flooring out of- and the walls are missing large chunks- small wonder....
They are still serving breakfast and I take them up on their special. It's delicious. Rabbit and mashed potatoes w/a carrot salad. I'm happy even if the bride gawks. I'm wondering what was the slow seller left from friday night...
We're still high from yesterday's meeting w/the inspectors. Boldness and resolve have galvanized together. What was once faith is now faith w/sight. The glimmer of hope is now STEAMING LIGHT from above. The curtain is moving and we're glimpsing what's behind it. We're so excited we fight the desire to lag behind and "bathe" in it longer. His spirit in us is LEAPING w/delight and it's everything I can do to control myself from smothering Marina w/ hugs and kisses when we meet. This kid is so full of life! We can't wait to show her to everyone- especially you who have given of yourselves for her. I know @ some point our jobs are going to get their due, but all I want to do is show these 2 off to everyone as a testimony of what CHRIST did w/us.
Please don't stop in your prayers for us. They're flowing upward, pressing the kingdom forward, pounding on the very gates of hell- Let my child Marina GO!
Papa

Success in Court

2007-12-21T04:41:00.000-08:00

It went well, Everyone in court treated us very well. We were suppose to go in at 4:30p.m. but there was an adoption in front of ours, the people came out crying at 4:40. I thought the worst. We went in and by 5:10 we had Yana. Of course we have the 10 day appeal and the rest of the stuff to go through, court is over. The good news is that we don't have to wait for the whole holiday season to be over, the public buildings are opening on January 2nd for business and Christmas is January 7th. Poor Victor, our facilitator and blessing. I am sorry he has to make that long trip again. Yana was quite, I think the reality is setting in. The language barrier is affecting her the most. She loved having Victor back. She will be disappointed that he has again left for the holidays. Tommorow, December 22nd is Yana's birthday. If you would like to send her an e-card use my address and I will bring her to the internet cafe to see them. We are having a party for her on Saturday at the orphanage. She has asked us if she could have 4 of her friends come to our room after. Maybe we will do a spa day together. One of the 4 friends does not include Marina. Back to the court time, I was impressed on how happy everyone was. The judge shock our hand and seemed very pleased. The inspectors both gave me a hug, and the representative of the orphanage smiled (the first time since that I have seen).
By 5:30 we were in the car and the phone rings. It is Yulia, congratulating us and then we dive right into Marina. Please-----let Yana have the stage tonight! Something is going on at the SDA office. There was a bit of a shake up finally. Marina's paperwork is moving. Everyone is fully aware of Marina's full name. We go out to dinner, after we take Yana back and we get a late call from Yuri. Congratulations....then right into Marina. It is very obvious that something is happening.

Friday morning, Victor is going to help us go see the inspectors at Priovorsky, Marina's birthplace. We have been advised not to go. Romas the driver is ready to leave at 9:00 a.m. Off we go. We are expecting the worse. They tell us go away, they won't talk with us, they lie, the have no compassion. You get the picture. Once again everyone is saying "the law says".
We get to Priovorsky, it is old, and dirty. The federal building is small, the rooms are like closets. We wait and wait. Victor goes up, he doesn't come down. Rick and I pray and claim that the people will help us out and praise God for the heart He has given us for Marina. Victor comes down. We go up to the office with Victor. The halls are so narrow that 2 people can't pass each other. I just know that the door is going to open and some old military type person is going to snap at us. I am nervous. We are invited in...there are two young, very sweet, compassionate women waiting to speak with us. Another man is in the room. All of them are listening eagerly and willing to help us. (We both had to slap our faces a couple of times are we dreaming, are we in the Ukraine, are we hear discussing Marina?) What joy, people who care. She got out Marina's file, talked to us and listened to our plea. She got on the phone and gave us all the answers we needed.....even that the SDA has the ability to waive the one year waiting period. She was willing to do anything she could to have this happen. The three of the people spoke openly without referring to the law. They agreed with us that Marina has been shorted by the system and it should be made right. They even offered assistance in anyway they could.
Even Victor was numb with shock, he never expected that. We left there with hope. Marina has to be registered by January 13th at the very latest! She said everyone is aware of Marina's case from the SDA down. Praise God, the noise is helping, people are finally listening. Don't stop praying for a miracle. We want to bring Marina home. All of this is zapping my energy. That is good. I will never believe this was from my strength that this happened today. I am feeling so week.

We are on our way out the door tonight to see our girls. I think we are going out for dinner and then we will pick up a few things for Yana's birthday.

If anyone wants a homeless puppy they are everywhere out here. I don't think anyone will care if you take them away, they are free, and there is no laws that say you have to wait a year.
Blessings to all,
Fran

Happy St. Nicolas Day

2007-12-19T07:41:00.000-08:00

Today we walked up the hill to the orphanage. It really is a short walk. If it wasn't so icy we could make it in 20 minutes. The stray dogs (which are everywhere) are getting to know us. When we get to the road that is behind the church we have a couple that follow us. Even some of the older ladies are starting to crack a smile as we pass by. I figured out why everyone looks down in the Berdyansk. They have to do it in the winter in order not to fall. Every time Rick or I look up we slide. Now, I look down too. We have mentioned our drivers several times. There are two, a husband and wife team. They are great people, Romas and Streta. Their driving is not bad, it is Ukrainian. I keep telling Rick to stop looking out the front window. When your in the car look to the left or right but not straight ahead. Everything in the Ukraine is "the law says". Does the law give the cars the right away? Does the law give the walkers the right away? The answer to my questions is yes. You just compete for the right away. I don't care how young or old you are, the cars come soooo close to the people crossing the streets. I try my hardest to keep Rick out of the front seat, he is just too practical. He thinks the driver should slow down if there is a person in the road or a car that we are about to hit. I am less practical and pray the whole time I am in the front seat.

Today, the girls had a fun day at school. It is St. Nicolas Day. This is the day that St Nickolas and his side kicks that ride motorcycles to deliver a sweet treat gift under all the less fortunate people's pillow. The school had a concert today. It included Yana and Marina. I think it was all about St. Nicolas. It was beautiful. The younger children and the older children performed. Singing, ballet, dancing. Very festive. Tomorrow is another one. I hope we can make it. The teacher kept saying Marina. Tomorrow Marina is having her concert. I don't really get it she was in the concert today too. Today was Yana's and tomorrow is Marina's. I am sure that there is a Law in there somewhere. Everytime I don't understand, it is because of the law!!!!!

Tomorrow is Yana's day for the court. Marina is fully aware of this and is very happy for Yana. She is praying for the day as we are. I have been blessed with two very sweet girls. That doesn't mean they can' t be moody. We have seen moody.
Happy St. Nicholas Day to all of you,
Fran

Ice skating to the orphanage

2007-12-19T00:16:00.000-08:00

The streets and sidewalks are ice covered. Would someone tell the people who drive? Geewhiz- We decide to walk,(no brainer) and set out to the orphanage. It's not far- maybe 45minutes- but our boots are not nonskid, so we do...

There is a short cut up the hill behind this big beautiful church and we take it. It turns out to skirt the crest of the bluff of Berdyansk. Awesome is the first picture word that comes to mind. It's a rare day today and for awhile the sun comes out and stays the afternoon. The ocean is smooth and placid, the town is in full view, and our girls are just a few steps away from greeting us w/their smiles and presence. My pulled muscle ache seems to fade as I take this all in.

After we round them up we head out in the prearranged taxi for a "busch gardens" drive back to the hotel. I've done wore out the pad on this guy's floor braking for him.(actually braking for me) Let' review- When you need to brake, don't- that's a sign for someone to overtake you. Instead you exercise your options, swerve or hit the gas. Well, we swerve and hit the gas all the way down the hill to town. It's 24* f. outside and I'm dripping wet. I keep turning my head, looking to see who's chasing us w/ ak47. I'm not completely helpless, I have an option too. I put Fran in the front seat and crunch in the back w/girls.

At the hotel we spend 4 hours w/girls, and discover more about them every visit. We prepare dinner in the room, picnic style, and the girls love it. Yana cannot possibly eat that much food w/o repercussions- This tiny kid eats like a horse. She's into the pickle jar like she's never seen one before. I stop her after she tips the jar and drinks down a few gulps of the pickle juice.

After dinner and clean up, it's time for Yana to "engage" papa. She is having SO much fun wrestling w/me that she temporarily loses "body control". (Did I mention she eat's like a horse?) This causes more laughfter than ever before. Yep- she truly is a Rahn...

We go downstairs to the internet and Fran links on , "interpretor.com". This is fantastic, and we get streams of questions - one after another-

It's cut off too short because of time. Their precious little hearts are just POUNDING to belong. Please do not EVER think that older kids grow out of being wanted, or somehow they only are looking for a "sugar daddy".

Tomorrow is our court date for Yana. We rejoice in her! It will be the day Heaven itself intervenes w/the works of man here on earth and blesses our hearts w/a (HIS) child.

God bless.

Rick

Differences in Our Daughters

2007-12-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is a great contrast in our daughters. Yana is fun and love affection from both of us. And Marina....well you just never know where she will show up and when she does what configuration you will find her in. She loves to twist, bend, flip, stretch, roll, etc. She hates sitting still. Yana can sit still and relax her body, Marina is always making her body do something. The differences in the two girls is like day and night. They are both outstanding in our eyes. Papa loves his girls and the feeling towards Papa is the same. Is this a God thing or what? Papa will never make these girls mow the lawn, he is going to be wrapped around their fingers. There are many more beautiful children where these two came from. Today we went to an outstanding performance at the orphanage that emphasized family and unity. Two teams made up of siblings competing for best acts. It was really fun and well done. In between the family skits, individuals performed. For those who know Vika, she sang and it was beautiful. She was so pretty in her national outfit, high heel shoes, such a lady she is. The performance was anhour and 15 minutes. This little 7 year old sat next to me. Soon she is holding my hand and leaning her head on my arm. She got up to participate in an activity and another little girl rushed over to sit with me. She looks at me and says in English, I want a mama and a papa. Everyday is a crusher.

Our focus is still on getting things lined up for Marina. We have some new hopes, but no new news. Thank you all for praying, your keeping us going.

Fran

A Family Picture

2007-12-16T02:00:00.000-08:00

Finally, the pictures have come. I am sorry, the way I would normally download at home wasn't working and I was trying to read Russian instructions to get it. I now know how to get pictures to you. Here is our first family picture. It is a happy and said one. The inspectors just came to the orphanage and Yana has been told offically that she is being pursued for adoption. We have just been told that Yana has never had a home that she was taken from birth to orphanage. How blessed we are that God has directed her to us. The sad part is Marina was just told she is not registered for the 4th time and the system has failed her again. It does get better. I will send more pictures tonight. We have a day planned ahead of us.

Pray for a miracle,

Fran

What a Day!

2007-12-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 14th, it was 2 weeks ago tonight (plus 7 hours later) that we were being entertained by the Russian Shoemaker and the beautiful children from the Kherson orphanage. That night I knew that I was on a journey, but I didn't know what it was going to be like. Today, I discovered the answer to any questions I might have about adding 2 young people to our lives. Today Yana and Marina spent the day with us. We picked them up at 11:00 a.m. We stopped at our hotel and dropped off a few things and went shopping for boots for Yana and gloves for both girls. Marina received new boots yesterday at the orphanage, but Yana didn't have any. It is icy, cold, slippery, snowy and wet out here and no sun at all. Anyone jealous of our weather?
We bought what we were looking for and were going to just shop some more and both girls said no mama and papa, hotel. They just wanted to spend time together. Papa was happy, he could put his wallet away. We had so much fun together. We played games, Yana braided Marina's hair, we laughed and were silly together. It was a dream day. Marina got a pen and paper and wrote mama, papa, Yana Pam Rahn. I looked at her and said no...she wrote Marina. Yana asked her what her mildde name will be, she wrote Christine and looked at me. I asked her if she wanted more, she wrote Rahn. She wrote in big letters in english "Family". WOW that made my day. Marina got quite after awhile. I reassured her that we pray for a miracle and so must she. She has told us many times that she is religious. She is praying for a miracle.

By the way we are no longer by the sea, but in the middle of town at Hotel Berdyansk. The place that we were at turned out to be not a nice place as far as customers go. Drunks, women of the night and lots of noise during the night. We also went to the internet cafe one night and it was pretty hairy walking home on those dark lonely streets. We decided that we would move before Victor left. He was very happy about our decision, he wasn't comfortable leaving us at the other place. Rick told Victor that he was worried the police would come, he said no you don't have to worry about that I am sure they have paid off the police. We out of there.......Henry's you were at that Motel at the right time of year, winter is not the time to be there unless you fill the place up with your own group, like CBN did. That billard room is alot more then a billard room, I know, our room was right next to it!!!!

After the girls left, Rick and I were so overwhelmed we couldn't do anything, but pray. How God has given us a sense of family. It feels so family when we are together. What a great feeling. Oh, speaking of family, We are the proud great aunt and uncle to Ethan, my niece and nephews baby in Florida. He is a beautiful baby. It will be wonderful to go to Florida and visit Ethan, his brother Dakota, mom and dad, and grandma. The side benefit to the visit, the sun.
God Bless you all and remember-----
Pray for a Miracle!
Fran

2007-12-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

Today is friday, our 11th day and we're on our own till next thursday. Victor our interpretor left yesterday and will come back for our court date. This seaport city is cold , wet(rainy), and33* f. The winds were hard enough that it prevented us from going forward @ one point. Many plaques and statutes here. One says that @ this spot in 1879 the wind quit blowing and 487 people fell over. (just kidding)
Got a ride in the taxi today. Got her to pick us up @ 3pm in front of our hotel and drop us off @ the orphanage with the promise to pick us up @ 5pm and return us back to our hotel. " How do you do this thing , Oh international one?" Simply put, I discovered her son knows english- so I got his phone # and I call him our itenerary and tell him to call his mama and relay the message. Ride to and from orphanage is $4.00 U.S.
Marina was snoozin' when we got there. Yana was out "shopping". Everthing is locked up, so we go to Marina's dorm. There we meet Natasha, her roomate. We invite her to stay, please don't feel you have to leave because of us. She stays and plays "jenko". She seems so sweet. Yana arrives and is all of her smiley self- How can a grin get bigger?
We're just killin' time, being together. Ultimately "jenko" degenerates to pound on papa time where there are no rules. We stop short of "waterboarding"- @ least for the day...
I can't keep my attention off of Natasha. She seems too quiet. We change gears and break out the Christmas cards. We have the girls write to their friends and sign their names to the others. Natasha knows one of the williamsburg kids, so I give her a card and encourage her to write. Her handwriting is impeccable. But she has nothing to say. Marina hands me a watch that needs a battery. Says her older brother gave it to her some time ago. I ask Natasha if she has a brother. "No". Marina tells me she has no brothers, no sisters, papa, mama, nobody. I ask her of her age. "I'm 15".
Three days ago a cople we'd met here to adopt a 3yr. old left empty handed. All the work, effort, committment, $$$- all of it -gone.
This is very real stuff we're working against here. It's not a given, nor any quarantee any or all will take place. I may make light of our time together, but know WE'RE FULLY AWARE we're up against a "goliath" of obstacles.
Just want you all to know their are times we have our lows. But being "low" is not being "lost".
This is not our fight. It's His. We're only doing what He's asks us to do.
Christ himself say's that what GOD requires of us in the form of work is simply to believe in the one who sent Jesus to us ( John6:29).
We're asking for our girls sakes all who are reading this blog, "go to work" and pray on our behalf. Pray to the GOD who healed my eye 24 years ago. (It's still 20/15) He's the one who put these kids on our hearts. He's the one who moved all those who gave of themselves financially for us to do this.
This is His battle.
Thank you all for following along and being our support. You are witnesses to all that's about to happen in the next 6 days.
Spiritually speaking, you in front row seats of His theater. The stage is set. Sit back, and get ready- the curtain is moving...
Papa Rick

Time for Pictures--I Hope

2007-12-13T08:22:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,
We have our papers in for Yana as of today. We rejoice in that. We go to court next Thursday, for Yana. We had a great break through about Marina last night. We know most of the story, and now we know that it will take a miracle. Marina was registered with the NAC, pray that they find those papers. Ukrainian people fear the law, the law is not serving them, they serve the law. Our American blood is going crazy with this philosophy. With every word we get about Marina, we are told, you can't say anything cause it is against the law. What does all this mean,
Rick's hair is getting whiter. Papa wants to bring his little girls home. He doesn't want to hear, "the law says" or "it is against our laws". Then they say...."We have laws to protect our Children".

Today we spent time with Yana and learning English. She is getting more bold in saying the words. She isn't as shy about mistakes. When she got tired of studing, she beat on Rick. She loves to beat on Rick. It has become her favorite pastime.

I Hurt all Over

2007-12-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

So one week in Ukraine and my whole body hurts. I have played soccer in the mud, arm wrestled, tried to do a back bend, been dropped on my head, and hugged and kissed more then I ever have. This is motherhood? I did discover what to do when you are at an orphanage and the girls want to play soccer. You invite any child that comes to watch to join the game. That's less work and less pain for my part. It works.

We would like to thank everyone for all the encouragement. We still feel hope during a hopeless time. We love both Marina and Yana and look forward to being home with them. Your prayers are powerful, and they are so appreciated. I keep reminding myself everyday that Rick views the world through a blind eye that was miraculously healed, it is a breeze for Him to work out the details of our adoption. Pray for a Miracle!
Fran

As we're leaving the orphanage, Marina is cartwheeling and backflipping when she's not holding my hand down the hall. Her way of escorting us out today. She is such a precious kid.
I just got off the phone w/our main advocate, Yuri. He's calling from the SDA office and I believe he might be on speaker phone w/Julia, his in-source of information. She gets on the phone and diatribes how good SDA has been in our case and we haven't been ignored and we're wrong to assume anything less. Before I can respond I let go of marina and Yuri gets on the phone and proceeds to tell me I can file a complaint if I wish if that would make things better.
INTERPRETATION:
Yuri is siding up to his ONLY source @ the SDA and we're just a temporary problem that needs to go away. Julia needs to switch departments here to a area better suited to her compassion for the clients she represents, like cattle or maybe chickens.
Last words Yuri had w/me is to suggest I meet w/the president of Ukraine. I thanked him for his effort and hung up. I look @ Marina as she cartwheels down the hall, escorting us out for the day. I can meet someone higher up than your president, and we have an appoitment w/him tonight, on our knees.
Rick

Great Day Filled with Hugs & Kisses

2007-12-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

-Just a "snippet" before the bride shows up, validating who's on the, "Most Highly Favored" status today-
Fran is suspended mid-air in Yanna's room today and lets all in the immediate dorm area know she just recieved papa's clearence to get off my back from horsen' around and land, head first. The girls are frightened and rush to her aid- it was quite a bang (cheap floors} When they realize all parts are still working and a friend of theirs is mad I did that they both rush to me to protect my, "dignity". They won't let me go, even when I insist (sort of).
Fran gets the bruisin'- I get the hugs- I think I'm gonna like papa status...
Rick

If you can't understand the above post, I will interpet, We have been in the Ukraine for one week and can't talk to anyone with out a translation, Rick is getting used to it. Here is the translation:
Rick threw me off his back and I landed on my head. The girls were so scared that I got hurt, but I got up laughing and they ran to Rick and hugged him, one on each side. What is wrong with this picture?
The girls really love Rick. He makes them laugh (that doesn't surprize anyone does it) and he gives them alot of hugs and kisses. He will make a good papa. We had alot of fun in Yana room today. There was Marina, Yana, and Vika. We had to communicate without an interpreter. Vika is doing well with English and Marina understands a lot of English. We made necklaces with beads today. Many laughs. Marina is a clown. If Marina is around there is no silence. A language difference doesn't matter. She just keeps on talking and laughing. Yana and Marina are so different, they are day and night. By the way, Marina is was born in 1993 not 1994 like Galina had told us. She is only a few months younger then Yana. They both look like they are 12. They are so tiny.
About Marina, Galina was not an advocate for Marina infront of the inspectors. The doors were closed there. The inspectors didn't really care and the doors keep closing. Miracles happen when all human ability is exhausted. Please keep praying. The little girls is sooooooo precious.
Charlsey and Neil please send us an e-mail, we need to write to you.

On a happier note, tonight while walking on a dark street going to dinner the police walked up to us and made us pull out our passports. After we showed them we asked Victor what was that about, he responded, "if you didn't have your passports they would have made you pay money or take you to the center". YEAKS!!!!

We love you all keep praying for us,
Fran

The Inspectors are coming

2007-12-10T00:23:00.001-08:00

Today is our day w/the district inspectors. He/them (we don't know) will "officially" introduce us to Yanna and if all paperwk is in order allow us to visit her in orphanage. This is where we get our info background on Yanna (and hopefully) including Marina (unoffically of course) . The director is wonderful to us and we've seen the girls every day. I stand amazed! These two are precious- to see Yanna for the first time flush, out of breath, and shaking w/anticipation nearly did me in. She's such a tiny kid from what I expected for a 15 year old . Beautiful dark eyes w/a healthy glow about her- Wow! I was still doing good until after she greeted Fran then came to me w/a hug, a kiss, then sat near me and held my hand . Now I'm well aware it's winter here and these buildings are far from our U.S. standards of temperature expectations, but if you were a fly on the wall you would have seen one guy melting in that cold room!
Marina is also my surprise! What a joyful kid. She radiates life itself, so full of energy (can't wait to tapp into that energy w/ a lawnmower). And beautiful! As we're sitting in the director's room going over important preliminary information, my attention spans kicks into a familiar mode and starts to "drift". My first thought is - "these two are gonna REALLY cost me- I'm gonna have to build a perimeter fence around our place w/ a steel gate to monitor "boy" traffic. Wonder what the up charge is to electricfy it? Hmmm..
The more we visit the more we're won over. These two want to be included. They so desire a mamma and pappa. And they LOVE to be held! I have prayed for this very thing concerning these two, plus that God would put into them the same desire we have towards them. From the looks of things here, the Lord got that one months earlier....
I have 2 requests.
1. Would someone call the chapel and have us put on the prayer request e-mail? Marina's paperwork is a mess and we're not getting breakthrough yet. there has been 3 attempts to register her into the orphan data base and as yet none are being honored. After her registration is recieved there is a 1 year wait before she is eligible for us (international family). She's technically been registered since 1999, but the SDA (social adoption agency) doesn't have it (can't find it). We need prayers....
2. Would someone go to my house, unlock the workshop and pet my table saw? It's never gone this long w/o attention, and probably by now feels orphaned. Might want to set a hot coffee on it, spill a little on it's top, curse, then reach down and grab a handful of sawdust (it's everywhere) and rub it out. It needs to feel belonged. If your adventurous you could turn it on. Careful of the blade- it's a lot like Star Trek- if the nut wasn't tightened before I left that blade will go where no blades have gone before...

We love you all!
Rick

The Inspectors are coming

2007-12-10T00:23:00.000-08:00

We meet our Girls

2007-12-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

We have the best two daughters to be that a person can ask for. When we walked in the orpanage today we heard a voice calling out and there comes Marina running down the hall. What a greeting. Hugs and kisses for both of us. Yana was brought into the directors office with a smile from one ear to the other. She was so nervous she was out of breath. More hugs and kisses. Yana is overwhelmed that we want to adopt her. She is so excited that she is coming to America and coming home. We visited with Gelina, the director for about an hour then off the 3 of us went (no Marina) into a room. Then they sent for Marina. She came in crying. She had been told that she is not registered. We spent time talking to her, but nothing was going to change the situation. We told her we loved her and she is our daughter. We will get her. Then the good old game "UNO" saved the day. We laughed, Rick cheated, Marina followed Rick's footsteps (definately his daughter) and we all laughed. Victor our facilitator is great. He has a great sense of humor, really loves the children, and gave peace to everyone. We spent a great afternoon together. When we left we got more hugs, more kisses. We will see them tomorrow, Saturday.

About Marina. She has a file at the SDA, they would not review it with us. She was registed in 1999 and has a file number and a letter verifying the records were sent to the SDA, the SDA claims they don't have it. The SDA says they have checked and rechecked but says they can't find her file. The file that has been misplaced is preventing us from taking her home. We are praying that a higher authority will intervene and hear our plea. We are looking for her 1999 status to be reinstated, to allow us to take her home. Pray for a miracle.
Thank you all for your prayers, we feel your presence in our calmness.

Ice cold and freezing,
Rick and Fran

Thanks all!

2007-12-05T05:47:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for helping us. Fran is commenting online because they charge here @ the internet cafe by the hour- she's fast by the hour- I'm in the, "he'll finish posting hopefully before CHRIST'S return" category.... (why aren't these keypads thumb size?)
I'll do better as time goes on- as for now I'm headed back to the lobby!

Blessings
Rick

No Thrill at the SDA

2007-12-05T05:28:00.000-08:00

Another day in the grey skies of Kyiv, we did see the sun for about 30 seconds, that was the highlight of the day so far. The visit to the SDA office happened today. That was not a good experience. They claimed that they never knew that we were interested in specific children, yet they had Yana's file ready for us. The claim they never knew about Marina. It was very ovious that the truth was not coming out. We don't know the facts about Marina, but they want us to forget it and move on. We are not going to. We want to know about where her papers are. It seems that there is some problems between two inspectors. Yuri has been great, he is a great advocate for us and Marina. I think Victor will be too. We will leave for Berdyansk Thursday night, we couldn't get the papers today. Both Rick and I are at peace, we know the prayers are out there because after all that didn't happen for us at the SDA office, we came out encouraged. Maybe that is jet lag, but I don't think so. Thank you all for your comments, it really does help. The comment from Jane was a great confirmation that everything is okay, even when they are not okay.
Love you all,
Fran

We have Arrived!!

2007-12-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

The day is here, we can hardly believe it, we are Kyiv and we are here to adopt 2 daughters. The trip was long, but uneventful. I did get a wonderful reminder from God, that He is with us and will protect us. We were in Regan National waiting for our plane. We checked in with alittle bit of a hassle, American Airlines doesn't accept one way international flights unless you have a medical passport. So why did they book us, (for those that have been to Ukraine, does this sound like we are in Ukraine rather then America?). We had to classify as a domestic flight to JFK and when we get there reclaim our luggage. That did not bother us, then we know that our luggage will arrive in Kyiv, since it is a non stop flight. When we get to JFK we hope for the best. I told Rick Aerosvit isn't going to care and of course they did not. We had every kind of religious person that can be imaged. In the a.m. people walking around the plane praying to the different directions of the plane, wearing all kinds of interesting garp. I said to Rick, I hope they don't do anything else for their gods. At the end of the flight we found out I was sitting next to security. Back to my God story. While in JFK, we bought hot drinks. I told Rick to go have a seat. He told me where he would be sitting. I went to where he was suppose to be and stood there looking at every person, no Rick. I went to the other side of the wall and I heard Rick call to me, "Franny, over here". I turned around expecting to see him standing there and he was no where in sight. I went back to where I first was and in plain sight, there is Rick looking out the window. He had no idea that I was looking for him. So who called my name? The same God that promised to be with us throughout this journey. What a great reminder that was.

The rough road will start for us tomorrow. We have been told Marina can not be registered. Please pray for the miracle that we are seeking and God's will. Pray for Marina.
Fran

Farewell

2007-12-02T04:16:00.000-08:00

Good Bye all my family and friends and friends I have never had a chance to meet. We wish you all a safe Christmas Season, don't do too much shopping. Our morning is full of STRESS, but now our friend Dale is here to drive us so off we go to a day of rest, I hope.
We love you all,
Rick and Fran

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T04:39:00.000-08:00

We have so much to be thankful for, especially this year. We are preparing our path to take our journey to the Ukraine to adopt our daughters. It is a busy time, but our time for rest is coming. The girls room is almost done. We have been expanding the size of the room, added a closet and now we are doing the finishing touches. I am thankful that I have a husband that can do all that and more. He is a very talented carpenter. There is alot to get ready in the last 9 days before travel, it is becoming a reality. The clothes we bring is the easiest of all.

To take our mind off of our own journey, we have be helping prepare the way for the Old Russian Shoemaker team and 17 orphan children from Kherson, Ukraine, to come to Williamsburg. On Tuesday, November 20th they all arrived, 19 children and 11 adults. Since the arrival was late we all stayed at our church for the night. The following morning we had breakfast and fellowship time with these precious people. The children are beautiful, each and every one of them. Some of them knew alittle English and others were trying hard to speak our language. I extend an invitation for anyone to come to Williamsburg to see the performance of the "Old Russian Shoemaker" and the children will do a performance after that. The children sing, play bells and do a puppet show. All are done very well. For more information look at the website for Hearts for Orphans: www.heartsfororphans.com . There are performances in Williamsburg on November 30th at Crosswalks Church at 7:00p.m. and on December 1st at Williamsburg Community Chapel at 7:00. No tickets needed, it is free. A love offering is taken.

Rick just walked by to give me the signal, it is time to go to work. Wallpapering has to get done before we eat turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving and Blessings to all,
Fran

Getting Ready

2007-10-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

We are putting things in order to leave for Kiev to adopt our two beautiful daughters, Yana and Marina. We have booked our flight, our one way flight, to Kiev, Ukraine. Since this process of adoption has alot of question marks, coming home and when, is one big question. When we started this whole process of adoption we figured that we would be celebrating Rick's birthday, Octiober, in the Ukraine. Wrong, it turns out that we will probably celebrate mine, January, there. I mention this because most of the blogs I read someone is celebrating a birthday along the path of their adoption journey. It looks like Christmas and New Years will be a part of our journey. That will be fun (I hope). We are booked to leave on December 2nd, a Sunday, at 1:00 p.m. from Washington Dulles. Today we received our final list of things to bring . #1 Money and #2 more money because stays are longer and gas is more expensive. Those are things you pray about and move to the next items on the list.

We are getting very excited. People keep telling us our lives are going to change, we are looking forward to the whole adventure. We have a lot of work to do before we leave. Our lives are very busy right now. Pray for strength for us and endurance. We need both. Rick keeps reminding me that rest is coming.

We are only51 days away from leaving, but who is counting?
Fran

Marina, Marina, Marina!!

2007-10-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

All I think about day and night is the 2 beautiful girls I am bring home from the Ukraine. Yes, I said two. I am believing that Marina is coming home too. We are praying and have lots of friends praying for the SDA to let us take her home. I believe and God has healed me of the disbelief. We are fixing up the bedroom to have 2 queens instead of one. This is going to be a great Christmas.

Now starts the packing. Anyone have any suggestions of what to bring to make your stay in the Ukraine alittle better? I do look forward to seeing our friends out there and meeting new friends.

Please keep on praying. I am asking for a miracle and believing for it based on all the miracles in our life. List all your miracles and see how great God is and then pray for Marina.
Thanks,
Fran

Someone should be Fired

2007-09-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

We have been going back and forth with Yulia at Sense in Kiev, she is a doll and has been working hard to get me answers. It all boils down to someone didn't do their job. The Berdyansk Inspector had made a file for Marina's name in 1999, when she was 5 years old. It was sent to the former NAC (National Adoption Center) to be put into the database. It never made it, it was lost. Berdyansk Inspector made up a new package in March of 2007 and sent it to her town of birth and in April sent her medical records, it was ignored and is still sitting on the person's desk. We need to get her in the database registered and wait one year for her.

I still believe in miracles and God's timing. We are receiving one miracle and her name is Yana. I will make contact with Yana and Marina. Yana gets news we want to adopt her and Marina gets the news that we will be back to get her.

Pray for a miracle to happen for Marina's sake and for mine. I try to picture leaving the orphanage without her.

All things are in God's hands,
Fran

Some Days are Up Others are Down

2007-09-22T03:12:00.000-07:00

We got our appointment this week, December 5th, that is the good news. We were flying around all day on Friday with excitement. That gives us plenty of time to prepare for our 2 teenage girls. I met the girls when I was in the Ukraine in February of this year. It started out that we were going to adopt Marina. Another couple was adopting Yana. The small still voice that many of us recognize told us to also pursue Yana. The other couple pulled out. To call the girls daughters is an honor beyond my wildest dream. We are so looking forward to them coming home. Praying for the girls over the last 7 months has given us a love for them that only comes from heaven above. When we came home on September 20th and saw our date, we were lifted up right off our feet. You might say we danced through the evening and into the next day. I forgot all caution, we're dealing with the Ukraine.

Friday afternoon we came home to good news and bad news. Our joy is only half complete. Yana is available, Marina is not registered. How can this be, Marina told us she was registered!
Looking for a miracle. We want to bring our girls home. For all those believing in miracles, please pray with us for the miracle. When we come home in January, we are believing that Marina and Yana will be with us.

The Spiritual Labor Begins

2007-09-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

My first post, testing things out. I am ready to go, but they are not ready to invite us yet. God's timing is perfect, so we will be patient.