The Most Important Step; Is The Next One

March 25, 2013

I was concerned that I wouldn't sleep well last night because of the drastic time difference from home (7 hours), but I had nothing to fear. We were in bed by 11:30pm, and I slept like a rock until about 10am. We had a scheduled appointment with Ukraine’s child protective services (SDA) for 11am today, but it was cancelled on account of the weather. The city of Kiev had declared a state of emergency, and all the government offices were closed. I can’t say I was disappointed though. We were still exhausted and the Lord was good in providing rest for us. Brett had previously arranged to meet with another new friend named Mikhail, who Brett’s co-worker knows. So after a leisurely morning, we met up with Mikhail and his son Philip, at a pizza café. We were on the other side of the underground mall that stretched the entire lengthe of the center city square, and the view from our seat was impressive: 

Michelle was able to meet us there too.

I love how God orchestrates the details of our lives so beautifully. Philip's English was very good, but I could tell he was happy to be relieved of the position of translator when Michelle showed up and entered the conversation. We were all happy to have her there, but I could tell that she was equally thankful to be with us, and glad to have our unexpected company to begin the type of business trip that had been painfully lonely for her in the past. It was fascinating to hear Mikhail’s account of what it was like to be in Ukraine when they broke free of Russia in the early 90’s, and Philips view of growing up in Ukraine as the first generation of a newly-freed nation.

I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t met Michelle at the airport! Up to this point, we had not been able to meet with our adoption facilitator because of the road conditions and were pretty much on our own for the first day and a half. Her guidance was irreplaceable! We finally were able to meet up and have dinner with our facilitator and two other families that were at the same point in their adoptive process as we are. Neat, neat people, all of them! Around a table full of Georgain food, we all asked the million or so questions that were on our minds about appointments and schedules, and protocol. Our very patient facilitator told us that our CPS appointments had been moved to the next day (Tuesday), where we would all meet with a government official, one family after the next, to have a short interview about how we met the children we were wanting to adopt, and why we wanted to adopt them.

Fast forward to today (3/26/13): We were within walking distance to the CPS office, so we took a short city tour on our way to the appointment 

and saw some incredible cathedrals! The 'Sophia' cathedral:

And 'The Alexander' Cathedral (which stood directly next to the CPS offices):

We were the last of our group to be seen for our CPS appointment, and spent our time waiting and praying for the other two families. They assured us they were praying for us as well! All of our appointments were successful, praise the Lord! We are all scheduled to get our official letter of referral from CPS, and have been OK’d to go to our children’s various orphanages, where we will spend about a week visiting with our children (under supervision). This way, the powers that be can see that there is a real and true connection with us and the child we’re wanting to adopt. Not having gone through this process before, I have no idea when or where we will be able to meet up with Rachel’s sister, since she is not in the orphanage any more.

SO. Tomorrow at about 5:00 Ukrainian time, we will get our letter of referral, then at 11pm we will board an overnight train to Rachel’s orphanage – a 7 or 8 hour trip.

Here’s the next very-cool way the Lord seems to be providing for us. Mikhail (whom we had lunch with yesterday), has arranged for our pick-up from the train station, and knows a pastor who lives in our daughter’s village. This pastor has actually adopted two children from her orphanage! We will probably stay with the pastor and his family at some point - All details that Mikhail had previously arranged for our time in Rachel’s region (Kharkov). Again – Thank you Jesus, and thank you Mikhail!

End of days 2 & 3: Still truckin'!