We Have a Date!

Thank you all for your prayers!  We were told today by David (our adoption facilitator) that our appointment at the SDA is scheduled for February 2nd.  That means we will fly out of State College on Sunday, January 30th and will arrive in Kiev on Monday, the 31st.  We will then have our appointment on Wednesday, the 2nd and, Lord willing, be in Krivoy Rog (prounounced Krivi Rig) on Friday, the 4th.  After that, we're not sure what will happen . . . literally, only God knows!  Some recent families have only been in Ukraine for less than two weeks on their first trip, others will be there for almost three.  God is in control!  We're glad He is, because otherwise this would be really hard.  Please PRAY that we would continue to trust Him.  In addition to receiving our SDA appointment date today, we received the translation of a letter that Artyr wrote to us and sent home with Dusty and Tina Kunstbeck when they came home on their first trip.  We're inserting a picture of the letter (nice handwriting, huh?) and the translation, which was provided by Lily Valihun, the translator from our hosting camp. 

Here is the translation

Joe, Ginger, Grace, Jordyn,

Hello everyone! How is everybody doing? I have missed you all terribly. Thank you very much for the packages that you sent for me. I ask God every night to help us with the process of adoption. I cannot wait the moment when I see you. Thank you very much for praying for me. Thank you for the photos. I am happy to become part of your family. Every day I think about all you. I recall those happy and wonderful days that we spent together. I am waiting for a moment to teach girls some football tricks (he's talking about soccer, not football . . . we'll straighten him out soon enough, don't worry . . . haha).  Joe, I think, you are a very good coach of your team (Joe coached Jordyn's soccer team this year).  I would like to help you with that. I want to be a great brother for Grace and Jordyn. I want very much to be a good son of yours. English is very tough for me. You asked how many times per week we have English classes with Luba. We have English classes twice a week, on Fridays and Saturdays. It will be great when I learn English and will be able to communicate with you and to get to know you better. Thank you very much for the poems that you wrote for me in the letters (we think he was talking about the verses from the Bible we wrote in his letters). I read them every day. I want to take care of my favorite sisters. I go to school five times a week, Monday through Friday. Every day I have 6 classes. Every class is taught by different teacher. I miss you very badly. We are going to have winter holidays soon. Autumn holidays were lots of fun: we went to the cinema, ice ring, circus, and theatre. When we got first snow, and when Dusty and Tina came to visit Dima, we played snowballs. I really liked that picture that you sent Dusty. I liked it a lot.

I love you and miss you all very much.

It is amazing the love that Artyr (and all of these children) have to share.  Many people have told us how great it is for us to be doing this for Artyr.  WE are the ones who are blessed to be able to have him love us!  We're excited to be able to get over there and bring our son home.  Artyr will find out that we have a date soon, so please PRAY that this news will give him some added security that we are coming!  The next two months have the potential to be very hard for Artyr because his two best friends (Dima and Erik) are leaving very soon to come home with their new parents.  Please also PRAY as we begin the process of booking flights, preparing lessons for school (Ginger), and finding people to care for our beautiful litlte girls (that's a whole other blog entry in itself).  Please also PRAY for the families that are in Ukraine right now.  Cindy and Eric have their court date this Thursday, and Mick and Janelle are on their first trip, as well.  Russ and Lori and Tina are getting ready to bring Erik and Lena and Dima home soon, so please PRAY that everything goes smoothly.  Thank you all so much . . . Have a God day!

Patiently Waiting

Hi Everyone!  We haven't updated for awhile, so we wanted to update tonight and let you know what's going on . . .

First of all, please PRAY that we would find out our date that we have to be at the SDA (State Department of Adoption) SOON!  We are expecting to find out on Monday, but we have been expecting for almost two weeks now.  Each time we think we're going to hear, we're told that we should find out soon.  We are continually being reminded that we are not in control . . . but our Father is.  We know that we will travel when He knows is best! 

While we wait, we have had lots to do!  We have finished painting Artyr's room (pictures will be coming as soon as his bed is put together).  We have also spoken to Artyr face-to-face through Skype several times in the last couple weeks.  This has been awesome!  We've also been able to speak to Artyr's friends at the orphanage that are being adopted by our friends.  We have spoken with Erik and Lena (adopted by Russ and Lori), Dima (adopted by Dusty and Tina), Dema (being adopted by Eric and Cindy), Vika (being adopted by Mick and Janel), Anslee and Vika (being adopted by Russie and Cheri ), and other beautiful children that still need parents!  Please visit the websites we have listed on the right hand side of our blog, so that you can PRAY for them, too!

For those of you who have no clue who these people are or how our lives have been so uniquley intertwined or maybe even how on earth we got to the point of adopting a 15 year old Ukranian boy, let's back up a couple steps. 

We've been friends with Russ and Lori for several years and have partnered with them in ministry events numerous times, including annually at the Outdoorsman's Camps held at their Quest Haven Lodge in Tyrone, PA.  Joe sits on the board of Truth Quest ministries, which hosts the camps, and our ministry, Play by Faith, participates each summer.  It's through our ministry partnership that we also met and became friends with Russ Jr. (Russie) and Cheri.  Last Spring, Russ and Lori adopted a beautiful young girl name Anastasia from Ukraine.  God had so burdened Russ and Lori for the other oprhaned children while they were in Ukraine, that Lori brought an idea to the board of Truth Quest ministries.  She "proposed" the idea (not sure it was a proposal, more like "We're doing this" . . . hahaha) to bring 20 or so of the children from the orphanage to Quest Haven for a summer camp and hosting program.  The purpose of the camp and hosting program was to find adoptive homes for these children.  The plans were made and the children were scheduled to come to to PA in early August.  At first, we weren't even sure that we wanted to help out with the camp, feeling like we had already scheduled enough into our summer.  As the camp neared, God softened our hearts and we decided to help with the 5 day camp, but we were not interested in hosting a child for the 10 days that they would be here after the camp.  Well, God softened our heart, again, with camp only a week or so away.  We agreed to help with the camp AND host a child (an eight year old boy), BUT we were not interested in adopting . . . no way, nada, period, exclamation point . . . question mark!  When the camp started, guess what . . . God changed our hearts, AGAIN!  Within the first 24 hours of camp, God had begun to lead us to adopt Artyr.  We were pretty skeptical, at first, a common question in our minds was (and by common, we mean about every 30 seconds) . . . "Is God REALLY asking us to adopt a teenage boy when we have two young daughters?"  Well, throughout the next 3-4 days and the remainder of camp, God confirmed in our hearts that we indeed were to adopt Artyr.  Artyr then spent 10 days with us in our home.  At the end of the 10 days, Artyr had to return to Ukraine, and both he and we had to begin the hardest part . . . waiting . . . which is where we are now. 

Here are a couple of pictures and a video that several of those who have been over to Ukraine already (and are there now) have taken of Artyr and some of the other children.  We want to thank Dusty and Tina, Russ and Lori, and Eric and Cindy for taking these and for loving on Artyr while we're not able to.  Speaking with him on Skype and seeing his face (obscured by sunglasses in some of the photos, because of a black eye suffered in a ice sliding injury) has been great, but we wait to see him in person.  Please enjoy the pics and please PRAY for Artyr and the other children!

 Here's a picture of Artyr (left) with Dusty and Dima

Artyr teaching Russ to dance

speaking of dancing, here is a video of Artyr in the orphanage's Christmas program

(he is the boy on the right in the front) . . . just click on the video, and it will play

Artyr (in the back, smiling) and Erik, Dima, and Lena talking on Skype

 

Artryr (middle) with his best friends, Erik (left) and Dima

We sent this picture to Artyr, via Dusty and Tina, after we saw his photos with the sunglasses