Pictures first!

Here are a few pix from today. Maks and Alona having their photos taken for documents (I took Natasha's but I guess one of the kids deleted it), kids playing at a park near where we were waiting, and Alona playing beauty parlor in my apartment.

In case you can't wait - the children's passport documents were finsihed today at 4:30 and we were told they would be sent electronically to Kiev for processing this afternoon. The full story is below.








First, let me again thank everyone for their prayers. I know God is hearing and answering them based on what He is doing. I continue to give Him all the praise and glory!

After a good night’s rest, I woke to the alarm at 7:00am and snoozed a few times finally getting out of bed around 7:20. I didn’t have too many things to do before meeting Anna and Kostya at 8:45. After getting my shower, I took a load of laundry that I had done late last night (remember the washing machine is in the room with the shower) upstairs to hang them on the line. Then I ate a bar for breakfast, and started to get my backpack in order for the day. I put a few snacks in there, a Coke Light for later, my “Experiencing God” bible study, and the book I started reading yesterday; Five Love Languages for Children. I also put my money belt in there (because I thought I may need some cash to expedite the passports and didn’t want to have to undress to get it) and checked to make sure I had my passport. I looked for it in all the usual places and then in the most unusual places. (I’ve had it in about place you could think of these past 4 weeks). “Don’t panic!” I told myself. “Give it over to God; He will remind me where it is”. After a short prayer, God revealed that I had it in my cargo shorts pocket when I was in the registrar’s office yesterday. “Good” I thought, then not so good. I washed them last night. “It’s going to be OK” I told myself and prayed “God please take care of this”. I went upstairs, reached in a pocket, nothing, reached in another, and there it was! It felt wet and all balled up. “God, please take care of this” I prayed. I got it out, looked at it, “not too bad”, opened it up and noticed that the inside front cover that has all my information was intact and looked ok. Then I started unsticking the pages one by one, until I got to the end. Houston, we have a problem, The Ukraine stamp is gone. It’s washed away. “God, I have a new prayer request – please fix this problem. Amen”. I went downstairs and did my best to blow-dry it dry and headed out the door to meet Anna and Kostya.

“Good morning” I said with a smile on my face and received a friendly greeting in return. I told them what had happened and they said it should be ok. I trusted that statement since I had given it over to God, I moved away from that and I began praying that the I.D. numbers would be ready at 9am as we had been told they would be. “One step at a time” I told myself and right now, it’s about getting these kids their passports. I’ll worry about my passport later. We arrived at the office to pick up the I.D. numbers and Anna got out of the car and went inside. Kostya got on the phone with someone and I prayed for the I.D. numbers. Not too long after she left, Anna came out and said we got them. “Thank you God!” Step one complete!

We then drove to the Notary’s office (they told me yesterday that would be next in the process). Anna get’s out and goes in, Kostya gets his PS2 out (that’s a clue to me we may be a while), and I start to pray that the Notary will show favor on our request. (When we were there three weeks ago today, she did!) Then my phone rang and it was Illona, one of the team leaders in Kiev. She told me she had spoken to Kostya earlier and he had told her about my passport going through the wash. She then told me that she didn’t think it would be a problem. I would have plenty of documentation with me showing when I had arrived, what I was doing, etc. She also gave me the phone number of the US embassy and suggested I go ahead and call them to let them know what happened and ask if there is anything I needed to do. Just as I hung up, Laurel (our US adoption facilitator) called to say she was about to go to bed (11:30pm California time) to say that she would be praying that everything go according to God’s plan. That was cool knowing that people are praying for this process as they are going to bed while I’m already an hour into it. ***Please pray for Laurel. She is undergoing some test s at 7am (California time) on Wednesday morning for her gall bladder.*** Just after I finished talking to Laurel, Anna comes out and gets in the car. She starts talking to Kostya and it is pretty apparent that we are waiting. I start praying again! After about 20 minutes, Anna is quickly getting out of the car! I look out the window and see the notary lady coming down the sidewalk and Anna is hurrying to meet her. They greet at the door and go in. A few minutes later, Anna comes out, gets in the car and says we got it. “Thank you Jesus!” Step two complete!
On the way to the orphanage to pick up the director to head to the passport office (at least that’s where I think we are going based on schedule of events I had been told yesterday) I called the embassy and spoke to a very nice lady who told just what Illona had said. It should be a problem, but if I wanted to get an avid davit describing what happened and have it notarized , they would be happy to prepare one when I am there processing the kids paperwork to leave Ukraine. That was really good news and again, I lifted up praise to God! When we got to the Orphanage, Anna got out and I asked her if she needed me. She said know so I started to pray. After a few minutes I got out my “Experiencing God” workbook and began to read today’s lesson; Encounters with God Are God-Sized. The main message was about how God shows the world who He is by working through people doing only things that He can do. Working through people like Moses, Joshua, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as well as Peter and John. You know, doing things like parting the Red Sea, leading the Israelites across the Jordon River at flood stage, delivering three men from a fiery furnace, and healing a crippled man in the name of Jesus. God doing things only He can do through ordinary people. The writers of the study say “The only way people will know what God is like is to see Him at work in their world”. Hold that thought –I’ll come back to it later! The study goes on to say “The reason much of the world is not being attracted to Christ and to His church is that God’s people lack the faith to attempt things only God can do. If you or your church is not responding to God and attempting God-sized tasks, you are not exercising faith. ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God’ (Heb. 11:6)” The topic of faith was the theme of yesterday’s study which also comes into play later in the day. The authors also say “Let the world watch God at work, and He will attract people to Himself. Let Christ be lifted up, not in words but in life. Let people see the difference the living Christ makes in a life, a family, or a church; that will affect how they respond to the gospel. When the world sees things happening through God’s people that cannot be explained except that God Himself has done them, the world will be drawn to such a God.”

Just as I finished the study, I looked up and here comes Alona, Natasha, Maks, Anna and Oksana, the orphanage director. It was great to see them all. The kids all looked great and before I know it, everyone is getting in the car. Anna told me that we were all going to take the kids to get their pictures taken and then to the passport office. Off we go! We get their pictured taken, developed, and off to the passport office. I’m trying my best to keep praying and praising God for all He is doing. Things are moving along without delay. We take a short drive and park in front of a bunch of building and Anna and Oksana get out and head down the street leaving Kostya and I with the three kids. They do great waiting in the car. They share my i-pod and i-phone to stay busy. After about 30 minutes, Natasha says “toilet”. I ask Kostya if there might be a place we could get a something to eat and drink and maybe use the restroom. He had got some coffee earlier from a little café so we went there. It was very nice. We got a carton of apple juice to share, some chips and three sandwiches for the kids. While we were eating, Kostya gets a call and then tells me that he is going to take Oksana back to the orphanage and will be back to meet us (myself and the kids) here at the café at 4pm. He said that Anna told him we were going to meet someone from the passport office at 4pm. I asked him if she said anything about getting the “old” form or if we were going to get the “new” form and he said he didn’t know. “OK God, you are in control and I trust you are working in all this”.

It was 12:30pm and I had 3.5 hours to kill with the kids so we walked to the park we played at on Saturday and had a great time. After the park, we walked to get ice cream and then to my apartment where they spoke to Jenny, Isabelle, and Keely and the phone. We all washed and scrubbed our hand really well while we were there and I took the old polish off the girls fingers telling them I would paint them later when we go to Kiev. All afternoon, Maks kept asking me if we were going to Kiev tonight. I kept telling him that “I’m praying for it but it’s up to God”. We walked back to the café and met Kostya and Anna around 3:45.

As soon as we got in the car, Maks starts talking to Anna and the only thing I can understand is “passports” and “Kiev”. When they finish, I ask Maks to try and tell me what they talked about in English. The only thing he could come up with was “I don’t know when.” I then asked Anna what was going on. She told me that earlier, she and Oksana met with a few people and a lady who was off work today was going to come in and meet with us to process the kid’s paperwork for their passports at 4pm. “That’s great news – praise God!” I said. Then I asked her if they were using the “old” forms (which remember takes only a day to process) or the “new” forms which we were told could get done in 3-4 days. She told me that she didn’t meet with the director of the passport office so she doesn’t know about the “old” forms yet. What we would be doing today would be for the “new” forms.

At 3:55pm we get out of the car and start walking. We go in one building to find out it’s the wrong one. Then we try another, and it’s wrong. Then Anna calls the lady and finds out where it is and tells me that it only a short walk and the lady is waiting for us. She also told me that the entire office that process requests for passports was closed today and that someone had called this lady to come in and open the office up to do this for us. She told me that the paperwork would be finished this afternoon and emailed to Kiev today! Praise! “God, how could I ask for more? Someone coming in to open up an office for us, how awesome is that”.

We found the building and her office. A very nice younger lady was sitting at a desk. Anna introduced everyone and one by one, the children had their pictures taken and pasted on an electronic document on her computer. I had to sign a few piece of paper, and in less than ½ hour we were out of there. On the way to the car, I was praising God for a great day. He provided so much to the process of getting these kids home.

As we are driving to the orphanage, (this is where the Bible study comes in) Anna turns around and says something like this…I believe in God, but not like you do. What I see God doing is a miracle. That entire office was closed and that lady came in to help you. There have been so many things like that. This whole adoption has been amazing. I was blown away to say the least. I prayed “OK God, help me here. What do I say?” I told her that indeed God has blessed us in so many ways. That He has heard the prayers of so many people and chosen to answer them to accomplish His plans. I also told her that when I think of miracles, I think of things that God has done through people like Moses parting the Red Sea, Joshua and the Israelites crossing the Jordan River, and Peter and John healing a crippled man in the name of Jesus. A minute or so passed in slience, and I told her that it’s my faith that allows me to believe that if God can do all those things, he can certainly take care of the little details involved in this adoption.

Wow, what a day! God, thanks again for being all You are and for taking care of all the little details, You are truly awesome and I praise You!

OK, here is what’s next. Anna will be meeting with the director of the passport office at 9am on Thursday morning to discuss the details of when the passports will be back to Khelm. She will also be asking if he might have any “old” forms since she has not gotten to meet with him yet and was told to not discuss on the phone with him. We will hopefully know a little bit more about when we are headed to Kiev then coming home around lunch tomorrow.

Prayer requests –
1. Laurel as she undergoes testing for her gall bladder.
2. That the director of the passport office has 3 “old” forms that we could have and get processed by close of business on Thursday.
3. That if the “new” forms are going to be used, that Kiev processes them and send them back to Khelm without delay.
4. That God’s will be done.
5. That God continue to open the door for me to have more conversations with Anna about having a personal relationship with Christ Jesus.

Oh yeah, one more thing. The passport, it’s still drying…”we’ll see”!

Blessings <><,
David