The Second Appointment

During our second appointment, we weren't shown any new files of children. Our translator/agent pressed the issue with the office, and they eventually called nearly every region in the country, only to report that there are no children under the age of 6 without severe disabilities. We're not sure if this is true, but that's what they told us. We are allowed to schedule a 3rd appointment, but it seemed pointless to do if they aren't going to show us any more children.

We weren't sure what to do. We didn't feel any clear leading from God. Mostly, I (April) just felt really guilty that we weren't open to adopting a severely disabled child. I know they deserve love and a family as much as any other child, but I don't think we're in a position at this time to choose to take that on. After caring for a special needs foster child (see our posts on Helen from a year ago), we have a better idea what it means to care for a special-needs child in a foreign country.

So, we chose to look into the file of one girl who we saw a picture of during our first visit. We have been told 3 vastly different accounts of her situation. We're going to visit her in a few days and make a decision then. That visit involves two 13 hour train rides to/from the other side of the Carpathian mountains. Normally, I would be excited about such an adventure. But - it's freezing outside, I'm tired, I'm sad and I'm very pregnant. I'm not sure how my pregnant body is going to do sleeping (or not sleeping) on that overnight train.

More details later- we're pretty wiped out right now. All we want to do is drink something warm, eat something sweet, and gather our thoughts!

Sigh...More News

Well, as if there hasn't been enough drama concerning our adoption, just yesterday we were made aware of this bit of news. Basically, it says that the Ukraine Parliament is voting next week on a bill that would stop all adoptions coming from the US (and a few other countries). How quickly it would take effect and exactly who it would affect is not clear yet. If we've already chosen a child and gone before a judge once it is passed, then we MIGHT be OK. At this point, nobody seems to know anything for sure.

So if we are matched with a child on Thursday, we would get the papers on Friday and be able to visit her on Monday. If we proceed with adopting that child, then we would get a court date for a few days later, which would be right about the same time the bill goes up for debate. Yikes.

But you can bet that for the first time in my life, I will be closely following the actions of the Ukrainian parliament...

In other news, we are staying warm and experiencing a bit of the culture. So far, our fingers have been too cold to pull out the cameras, but we plan to hit the scenic areas tomorrow morning. And there are pierogies everywhere. Yum!

baby #2, proof that it's a boy!

This is my (April's) favorite picture of baby #2. It's a view from the bottom up. His legs are bent, so I think they look like "teddy bear" legs. And - you can see proof that he's a boy, right between those teddy bear legs. This is from about 3 weeks ago.

Kiev (or Kyiv)

Here's a short video to give you an idea of what it's like in Kiev (in December)! This is the view from the apartment building where we're staying. It's a bit cold & dreary looking, with a dusting of snow.

After the Big Day

They told us this would probably happen, but we hoped that we would be an exception. During prospective parents' first visit with adoption services in Ukraine, they are usually shown case files of the children with the most severe disabilities. The idea is that they want to see if anyone has a heart to take on the hardest cases. Living overseas, and with baby #2 already on the way, we don't believe it would be wise of us to take on such a challenge. So we had to say no to all of the files shown to us today :(

One small piece of good news is that our next appointment is Thursday afternoon (rather than sometime next week), and hopefully they will show us a different batch of files. It's getting harder to trust that God has our daughter ready for us here.

We appreciate your prayers for Thursday!

Big Day

Monday morning, 10 a.m. Kiev time (3 a.m. EST) is the big moment. We've heard stories of first appointments that go well and some that go very poorly. In some ways, it all depends on "luck"- which children who meet our criteria are available at that moment. It's hard to see how God is in control sometimes. The journey here has been long and challenging, and when so much rides on the decisions and moods of a mid-level bureaucrat, doubt is a familiar companion. I know that the heart of a king is like water in the Lord's hand (Prov 21:1), but the Bible says nothing about red tape :-/
Seriously, though, I don't think I ever doubt God's power and sovereignty in this situation (or any situation, for that matter). Where I stumble is in trusting that his purposes are the best for us and will ultimately be for our greatest joy. In talking with a couple who has been repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to adopt here, I'm amazed by their trust that God is working out a good and perfect plan in the midst of their circumstances. I guess I pray that we could have that same faith.

Arrival

Yes, faithful followers, we have arrived in Kiev. It is 1:30 a.m. here, and I am wide awake after 3 hours of sleep. It probably helps that I finally got our internet connection working- that always wakes me up. So a few random things:

-We're staying with some wonderfully generous people that we just met- friends of friends who are opening their home to us.

-We may not have regular internet access while here, if today is any example of that.

-We're looking forward to getting out and seeing the city tomorrow.

-One of our flights here was canceled, but we managed (at 430am in the airport) to get rescheduled so that we were only an hour late- pretty impressive!

-Monday, 10am Kiev time (3am, E.S.T.) is the big moment. We will go into the State Adoption Agency and look at files of available children. We really need prayer for this time. Our main prayer is that God will comfort our hearts during a potentially very stressful meeting and that he will prepare us for whatever awaits us. We're praying and hoping that they will show us a little girl that is perfectly suited to our situation, though everyone who has been through this says that it is highly unlikely to have that happen during the first appointment. If none of the children are suited to us, we have to wait another week before we can try again!

-Either way, here begins at least a month of unpredictability. Lord help us!

Mid-travel Update

Well, we're almost there. That's all I have to say- we're on a layover in Europe, and we'll be in Kiev tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon. Then on Monday morning we look through the files of available children and pray that one of them is our new daughter!

Flashback

I finally finished another video. This one dates back to fall of 2007- a memorable trip to the Wild Animal Park, where you can get real up close and personal with the animals! We're not sure yet if we'd ever take our kids here...

The whole video runs about 15 minutes. And be warned: this was only a couple months after we bought our video camera, and we hadn't yet learned to hold the camera still...

A Week Away from Traveling

We had a long phone conversation with our agency- the "pre-travel briefing" to discuss all the details of what the next few weeks in Ukraine will entail. What makes us the most nervous right now is the possibility that no suitable children will be available on the day we have our appointment, and that we will have to wait an extra week...
Other than that, it's exciting to be so close to going!