2nd child

Hello to you all,


We are often having difficulties finding reliable internet and the last two days have not been any different. We are glad to be back on-line to talk with you all again.


So I left off discussing our torn dilemma on whether to just continue with Vala's adoption or to see if there was another child God intended on us bringing home. This is a continuing of those thoughts.....


The day after we met Vala, we were once again running around with Sergiy, getting documents completed for submission. Just about as many documents are needed here in Ukraine as John and I had to prepare just to come over. And with Ukraine, there needs to be many, many approval stamps and signatures on each page. They are quite a sight when they are done! How can they read them anyway??? They look very "official".


When we are not needed by Sergiy, we spend the days at the orphanage where we can get to know Vala and the other children, but still be close by for when Sergiy needs us. We've been having a great time!


You all know how much we love kids. It doesn't matter that we don't speak the language, we're finding ways to communicate and have fun anyway. We've played many games of Uno and even Twister (once, yes, even us old folks played!)


There is one young man, aged 14, who speaks very good English. We use him as our interpreter (and so does everyone else when Sergiy is not around). We'll call him "Junior" since he's our other interpreter and we shouldn't use his real name. He is funny and quite a card player! He's unadoptable at this time or else Jenn would be getting our 2nd child changed to a boy! I've thought of sticking him in my suitcase and bringing him home. He's a riot and a sweet kid. He needs a Dad. Him and John already have a special handshake.


Several of these older children, like Junior, I recognize from Mark & Sally's photos and the stories their adopted daughters have told about their friends. As they walk around, I lean over to John and say, "Hey! There's so-and-so! She....." It's really neat, but also sad many of them are still here. There are a couple of girls who might fit our criteria, but we just don't know.


It took about a week to get Vala's paperwork done. Then we headed back up to Kiev to submit it to get the final Adoption Agreement. In short, this says all interested parties agree we should and could adopt Vala. Our next step will be getting a court appointment.


We were hopeful our submission for a second Invitation and Referral will allow us to have an appointment within the same time frame of Vala's paperwork. Since the SDA knew we were eventually coming back up for the 2nd Invitation, things went much faster. Their newest law says we can only do a second adoption, at the same time like we were, if it was from the same orphanage. We found out, unfortunately, none of the children were adoptable by us at this time. Either there was complications with the child's paperwork, they had a sibling, etc. We could only bring one more child home. (John and I were hoping to bend the rule and bring home about 5 or 6 more!) It was a depressing day.


The next day we were expecting to get the Adoption Agreement for Vala, but in light of not being able to help another child, it was hard to be really happy. There was one girl we have spent much time with and we were all hoping it would work out. Now, we head back down to the orphanage and will have to face this young lady with sad news. This last Thursday we were again on the overnight train, sweating to death. The next morning we hit the ground running again as we are push, push, pushing to get done as soon as we can.


I have a headache the day we arrive and feel nauseous all day. It's a common thing for John and I. We are having a hard time adjusting to the food, the polluted air, inadequate sleep, etc. We miss home, our beds, food and clean air. What a blessed life we live!


Although I can only be vague in many aspects of our travels and experiences, I will be on again tomorrow to bring you finally up to date with our adoption journey.


Until then, many blessings to you and your family.
We will pray for good health for you, please remember us in your prayers as well.
Much love to you all. We miss you and your friendship.
Jenn

P.S. Here is a picture of a high point, overlooking just a part of the city of Kiev. It has somewhere around 5-7 million people in it. We know we will not get the chance to see it all. It is an amazing old city with very tall buildings. Not what we're used to back home, that's for sure!