More Beautiful Faces

Today was another great day!  We picked Artyr up around 11:15 AM, and we didn’t have to take him back to the orphanage until 6:00 PM!  We went ice skating at a wonderful place called Ice Age.  Many of those who have adopted previously have visited there with their children.  In the same building, there is also a bowling alley, movie theatre, and fitness center.  Unfortunately, we do not have any pictures of ice skating, because we left our camera with Artyr last night at his request.  He took many pictures of himself, his friends, and his group room, as you can see (the food picture was Artyr's breakfast this morning). . .

 

After ice skating, we went to a pizzeria named Napoli. They had a menu in English and a waitress who thought we were very funny, because we said “Thank You” every time she visited our table.  When we had finished eating two pizzas and drinks for all of us (approximately $11 total . . . oh yeah), we headed to the super market (inside a mall) and then “home”.  It was nice for Artyr to just come and relax at our apartment with us for several hours.  We made dinner (bacon and eggs) and Artyr was very helpful.  At 5:45 PM our driver, Andre, came to pick us up and we headed back to the orphanage.  We stayed there until 7:00 PM playing Uno and hanging out with a handful of children.  Andre made his daily appearance (we posted a picture this time, Doug and Lindy) and several new girls that were not with us last night visited with us.  We have so much on our minds regarding these beautiful young children and how we can best show God’s Love to them; but for tonight, we will just post some pictures (we can’t have two nights of long blog postings in a row).  We will continue to ask you, though, to seek God and see how He might use you in the lives of these precious children!  Speaking of precious children . . . Grace and Jordyn are doing very well.  They went to the Build-a-Bear workshop near Harrisburg today, compliments of the Monasmith family.  We Skyped with them, again, today.  We miss them terribly but trust that they are being cared for very well!  Please PRAY for them, as well, as they travel back to our home in Pleasant Gap with Grandma and Grandpa Rose for the Super Bowl and for the upcoming week!  Thank you for your prayers!  Please enjoy the pictures!

 

 

A Long and Wonderful Day (and post)!

After receiving our referral yesterday, we packed up our apartment in Kiev and got ready to head to Krivoy Rog.  Our driver, Sergei, picked us up and Sveta (from adoption agency) was with him.  We headed for the train station (see picture at left), which was much larger than we expected and was very modern.  Sveta explained that the section of Kiev where the train station is more of the shopping and business side of Kiev, and therefore is much brighter and more colorful.  It was nice to finally be on our way to Krivoy Rog, and we were looking forward to a nice night of sleep on the train.  Others that had gone before us had recommended that we spend the extra 400 hryvnia (pronounced grivna) to go in first class, which simply meant that we would be alone in our own sleeper cabin.  This sounded good to us, and after spending some time with Sveta, we settled in for a nice night of sleep on the 9 hour train ride.  The problem is, IT WAS 150 DEGREES ON THE TRAIN!!!  Between the anticipation of seeing Artyr, again, and the hot train, we barely slept 2 hours combined.  The picture at left is what we both felt like when our train pulled into the second Krivoy Rog station at 6:15 AM this morning.  All in all, heat and lack of sleep aside, we were grateful for the train ride as opposed to having to drive by car, which we are told takes much longer.  The excitement of going to see Artyr kept us from being grumpy as we met our driver in Krivoy, Andre.  He took us to our new apartment (we'll try to post pictures tomorrow), where we met up with Mick and Janel, who were packing up there things in preparation for going back to Kiev tonight.  Mick and Janel graciously provided a lovely breakfast for us (thanks, again, Mick and Janel!) and then we headed to the orphanage around 9:15 AM.  We arrived at the orphanage and were ushered into the Assistant Director's office.  As we sat there quietly, we heard Artyr being brought into the neighboring room.  He was told to sit down out there.  So, here we were . . . we had traveled halfway around the world and our future son now sat less than fifteen feet away, and we couldn't see him or talk to him . . . yet.  But we knew he was there, and he knew we were there.  When everyone was ready, they asked us to follow them into the Director's office.  It was at this time that we saw Artyr face-to-face for the first time in 6 months.  It was great to see him!  After being told it was okay, he came over and gave us each a big hug.  During the meeting with the Director, Asst. Director, Inspector, and Doctor, we answered questions regarding our family, our employment, about bringing a teenage boy into our home, and other general questions regarding the adoption.  Artyr was then asked several questions and he answered them in a very reserved manner.  We could tell he was nervous, but he did a great job answering all the questions they asked him.  We showed the ladies in the room a photo album with pictures of Grace, Jordyn , and our family.  They were very interested to see these pictures.  Overall, the meeting went very well, and we were all dismissed.  After the meeting, Artyr gave us several more hugs, but was still quite reserved (you can tell the children know exactly how they are to behave in this atmosphere).  Andre took us back to our apartment and then, Mick and Janel walked with us down to the Market and the Pizza Shop.  What a blessing it was to have them show us where everything is and how to get there.  We had some lunch, picked up some needed items from the market, activated our internet stick, and headed back to the apartment.  After a trip to the notary to sign a couple of documents, we went back to the orphanage this afternoon.  When we arrived, Artyr was standing outside waiting for us.  He was grinning from ear to ear and was now more like the Artyr that we met in August.  We were able to spend some time with just Artyr as he showed us his group room and where he sleeps.  He then led us to the art room where we played cards and just goofed around with each other.  It didn't take long for some of the young boys to find us in the art room, with Andre being the first to poke his head in the door (Doug and Lindy, He is just as cute and sweet as he was in August . . .what a treasure!).  He came right over and gave us big hugs before politely taking only one piece of candy out of the very full bag that we had brought.  Another little boy, Dan, came in and grabbed up several pieces, so Andre followed suit, and they both soon had pockets full of goodies.  They quickly left, because their group was going ice skating for the evening.  The room then became alive as Anslee and Vika (being adopted by Russie and Cheri) came into the room along with several other young ladies.  Vika (Mick and Janel's daughter - pictured above right with Mick, Janel, and the Director) then followed and suddenly the room was alive.  The bananas that we brought quickly disappeared and the very full bag of candy suddenly became very empty.  It was a great time of playing cards and beginning to get to know some of the children with whom Artyr has grown up.  At the same time, though, it is heart breaking to realize that these beautiful children do not have a family to love them.  We are grateful, however, that they DO have a Heavenly Father that does Love them very much.  And we are grateful that He has placed us in their path to show them His Love while we have the chance.  We are also grateful that God has so blessed our family by giving us the opportunity to adopt this wonderful young man pictured at left (with us and Vika).  Please PRAY and ask God to show you how He might use you to show His Love to these children.  There are so many that need a family.  Please PRAY that God would find them a family (perhaps it is you!).  We should really get some sleep.  We are allowed to visit with Artyr from 11 AM to 6 PM tomorrow.  We will likely go ice skating or bowling or something fun like that.  We will also have more pictures from tonight's visit.  Artyr kept our camera for the night, so he has all our pictures.  Please PRAY for our day tomorrow and also for Mick and Janel as they are on that wonderful train, as we write this!  Thank you so much!  God Bless!

SDA Appointment . . . check!

Our SDA appointment is officially checked off the list of things to do!  It is almost funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it).  After our dossier was submitted in late November, we waited and waited to be notified of the date of this appointment.  Once we found out the date, everything was officially set into motion.  Plane tickets were purchased, plans for childcare were made, etc . . . With all the build up, we figured that we would go to some big government building and everything would be very formal.  Instead we went in the side door of a fairly normal looking building, and we were at the appointment for a total of 3 minutes.  So much for the build up, huh?  It is one of the steps that we needed to complete, however; and Praise God that it is done!  They told us that we would receive our referral between 4-5 PM today.  We were able to do a little shopping at some street vendors after our appointment.  We bought  "matryoshka" for the girls.  They are the Russian nesting dolls . . . These are dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing, though.  The one set has a mama, papa, sister, brother, little sister, little brother, baby, dog, cat, and a little baby chick (see picture). We found lots of other nice things, but we only bought the dolls.  The SDA building is right beside St. Andrews Church, which is a pretty historical sight, from what we found on the internet.  There are some serious problems with the foundation of the church, so they are doing repairs to try to fix them.  Our driver, Sergei, was kind enough to take a picture of us standing in front of the church.  We just arrived back from our second trip to the SDA, where we received our referral; which is, basically, a permission letter that allows us to visit the orphanage in Krivoy Rog.  We are going to be picked up by our driver at 8:00 tonight for the overnight train ride down to Krivoy.  From what we understand, we will then meet up with Mick and Janel tomorrow, so they can show us around a little before they leave tomorrow night.  We will also go the orphanage tomorrow to "meet" Artyr!  We have heard that he has been counting down the hours until we arrive.  We're so excited to get to see him, again!  Please PRAY for our journey on the train tonight, that we would get internet hooked up tomorrow quickly, and that all would go well as we visit the orphanage for the first time.  Thank you so much!  We covet your prayers so greatly!  You are a blessing to us!

Our Apartment in Kiev

Hello Everyone, it is 10:00 PM in Kiev, and it's really hard to believe it's only 3:00 PM back home.  Our flights to Ukraine were pretty uneventful, for the most part.  On the way to Detroit from State College, the University of Iowa wrestling team flew with us, shortly after they finished defeating the #1 team in the nation, Penn State.  Although, we weren't too excited about the defeat, we congratulated the wrestlers and explained that we were both Penn State grads.  They were very gracious and seemed appreciative of the kind words (we didn't tell them that we hoped they lose the rest of the year, though . . . haha).  While in the airport in Detroit, we had the opportunity to watch some of the NFL Pro-Bowl before we boarded our plane.  The plane we boarded was an AirBus that held approximately 280 people.  There were only 50 or so people on the plane, though!  This made that overnight flight a little more enjoyable, because we could spread out and relax.  We landed in Paris almost an hour ahead of schedule, which was nice (but still didn't have time to go visit the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre).  We did still get to enjoy some heavenly croissants, at the airport, though).  On the way from Paris was opposite in almost every way.  From the start, we were delayed about a half hour.  Then, on a plane that held about 50, approximately 280 people crowded on (we didn't know standing room only was allowed on flights . . . okay, we are exaggerating, but it sure seemed like that many were on the plane . . . it was crowded).  When we arrived late in Kiev, we called Sasha (from the adoption agency, STORK) and he and Sergei (our driver) came to pick us up.  They drove us in to the city of Kiev and took us right to the market (grocery store) so that we could get some food and supplies for our three day stay in Kiev.  We Skyped with Grace and Jordyn last night at about 10:45 our time, and that was really nice.  They are with very good friends of ours (Hello, Foltz family) in Hershey, so they informed us that they had gone to Chocolate World on that day.  They are always excited about visiting Chocolate World and visiting with the Foltzes and their dogs, Cody and Poncho.  After the call, it was time for bed.  We had been awake for quite a long time, intentionally, so that we would be tired when it was nighttime here.  It worked.  We fell asleep pretty easily last night.  Our day then started early this morning with the alarm going off at 6:00 AM.  Russie and Cheri were coming back to Kiev from Krivoy Rog (pronounced Krivy Rig) on their way back to the U.S.  They had their court date yesterday and are now officially the parents of Anslee and Vika (that makes 6 children total, including their 4 lovely kids that are at home waiting for them to return).  Please PRAY that Russie and Cheri would not be delayed in their journey home because of the snowy weather.  Speaking of the weather, in case you all are not happy with the snow and such, please know that we prayed for A LOT of snow days while on our trip.  Outside of her 4 personal days, Ginger will not be paid while we are gone, so we've been praying for a lot of snow and a lot of school days off.  2 days off per week, would work pretty well for us . . . :).  We have been enjoying our time in Kiev so far.  We've included some pictures of the outside of the apartment buildings here in Kiev and also of the inside. This is pretty much what all the apartment buildings look like from the outside.  We understand that this is as nice an apartment as there is in Kiev on the inside.  So, we feel really blessed.  Tomorrow is our appointment with the SDA (State Department of Adoption) here in Kiev.  It is at noon.  Please pray that all goes well and that we are granted permission to visit Krivoy Rog.  Lord willing, we will receive permission on Thursday, and we will then travel overnight by train to Krivoy Rog.  We will then visit the children's home and see Artyr on Friday, if everything goes according to plan.  Thank you so much for all of the kind words and for the prayers.  We are truly blessed to have you in our lives to walk this journey with us.  We are excited to have each of you meet Artyr when we arrive home.  Please keep the prayers for us coming and for all of those who will follow.  One more prayer request before we go, though.  Please PRAY for Mick and Janel, as they prepare to leave Krivoy Rog with their daughter Vika on Friday.  They have been here for awhile, and we are sure they are ready to go home.  Lord willing, we will see them on Friday when we arrive in Krivoy Rog.  Thank you, again, for your prayers for our family, as well as all of the other families!  God Bless!

We are here!

Hi Everyone!  We left on Sunday afternoon from State College airport with a warm send-off from our friends and Church Family from Nittany Bible Church.  After stops in Detroit and Paris, we landed at 5 PM Monday (Ukraine time . . . that's 10 AM Pennsylvania  time) here in Kiev.  We will update on Tuesday with some pictures of our apartment and the city.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!  We love you!

LEAVING!!!

We are flying out of State College in about 1.5 hours (4:40 PM) and will arrive in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday at 4:40 PM  . . . We'll try to update when we get there and get our internet connection working!  THANK YOU so much for your prayers!

Questions Answered

 

Here is an excerpt from our latest Play by Faith newsletter that we thought would be useful to post here, as well!

We have received many questions and requests for updates concerning our adoption of Artyr.  For those that do not know much about why we are adopting a 15 year old boy from Ukraine, we will take a few moments to explain before giving an update.  When the idea was first presented to us to help our good friends from Truth Quest ministries with a camp for 21 orphans from Ukraine last summer, we reluctantly agreed to help with the camp.  We, however, were not open to hosting one of the children for the 10 days they would be in America after the camp.  As the weeks leading up to the camp passed, God stirred our hearts to be willing to host a young child from the camp (but we were not interested in adopting a child).  Well, within the first 24 hours of camp, God was already changing our heart, AGAIN!  As we proceeded through camp and through the 10 days of hosting Artyr, it became clear to us that we believed God was intending for us to adopt Artyr.  We’ve had many people question why we have chosen to adopt Artyr.  Answers such as, “Because every child deserves a family, and God has introduced us to Artyr” have become commonplace.  Each time, though, it has forced us to pray and seek God to make sure we are doing what we believe His will is.  We have also had people question whether spending the amount of money we are spending on the adoption of a 15 year old boy that we will only have in our house for several years is wise.  A statement that we found on an online adoption forum recently captured our thoughts on that topic, “I can't imagine that when I die the Lord will ever say to me, "I wish you had kept more for yourself, kept yourself happy and comfortable and indifferent to the plight of millions of people around the world in dire need of the love of Christ. I wish you hadn't adopted (Artyr) - (he) really wasn’t worth all the trouble and money you spent on (him)."   Sometimes, we as people make God’s will out to be some mystical thing out there that we are always searching for but can never understand.  Our verse of the month tells us that when we stop believing the lies that this world system tells us (this adoption is too expensive; you can’t adopt a teenage boy, you have two young girls;  this child is going to ruin your family; etc ...) and we renew our mind in God’s Word (daily); we see that God tells us to take care of orphans (do a word search of orphan in the Bible . . . WOW).   When our mind has been renewed, God transforms our fears, worries, doubts, and our lives; and we realize what we believe is His will for us.  It’s right there in His Word.

Here is a video we sent over with one of the other families (http://www.noeladoptionadventure.blogspot.com/) for Artyr to watch (the Ukrainian text in the beginning says "Hello, Artyr;" and at the end it says, "We Love you and miss you and will see you as soon as God allows.  We can't wait for you to come home!") . . .

and here's a picture of Artyr watching the video (3 times in a row, from what we understand)

Our good friends Russ Jr. and Cheri (http://www.walkinghispathcherr73.blogspot.com/) just left yesterday on their first trip.  They are adopting Anslee (blowing bubble in picture above) and Vika (blonde hair, immediately to Anslee's left).  Please PRAY for them as they travel and for their four children at home.  Please also PRAY for Mick and Janel (http://www.bringingvikahome.blogpsot.com/) who are adopting Vika (immediately to Artyr's right) who are in the orphanage right now.  Also, please PRAY for Eric and Cindy (blog mentioned above) as Eric is bringing Dema (immediately to Artyr's left) home very soon.  Please also PRAY for all of the families that are still preparing to travel or who have already brought children home.  Please visit the blogs listed in the right hand column so you can know exactly how to PRAY for each family!  Thank you so much and thank you for continuing to uphold us in your prayers, too! 

Only two weeks left until we leave!!!