Pishana

Yesterday, after 10 months of separation we finally saw our boy again.  He did not know we were coming with the team from Nasledie.  As the children streamed out of the school to greet the team, Jim and I hid behind a van and Laura grabbed Igor (and my phone) and led him over for a surprise...

(I'm so sorry!  It's sideways and I don't know how to fix it!)

 

Igor was so giddy with excitement!  He grabbed my hand and drug me over to the other children to introduce, "Kimmie, My Mama!"  He kept hugging us, as if to convince himself that this was not a dream.  A few minutes later we were ushered into the director's office for her to greet us and ask us a few questions.  We were thrilled to be able to deliver 120 hats and gloves for the children.  She was very grateful for them and we decided together that it would be best for the teachers to deliver them later in an orderly fashion.  If we tried to hand them out it would have been mass chaos...so I'm afraid we have no pictures of them receiving these.  But for all who donated, please know that the school was so grateful for your gift.  We had been a little uneasy, anticipating the director's reception, but she was very welcoming and gracious.  She gave us freedom to interact with Igor and the other children as much as we wanted.  When we finished with our meeting with the director, Igor immediately began asking us if we were taking him to America.  I was evasive in my answers, until we could grab Laura (to interpret) and find a quiet corner.  Then we had the very difficult job of telling an excited little boy that this was just a visit.  Igor did not react well.  As Laura tried to lovingly and patiently explain our situation, he began to withdraw and was very upset.  It was so painful to watch...How do you explain to a child the frustrating circumstances of not being able to get a referral simply because there are no hard copies of the paperwork???  Finally, I think he understood enough to know that we loved him and we were still fighting for him and we came because we wanted to see him even if we couldn't take him home right now.  We did not breath a word about the possibility of returning on Wednesday with a referral because we did not want to give him false hope. 
The team from Nasledie then did a two hour program with the children in the auditorium. 

 

After the team left we had about an hour alone with Igor to visit and share with him the gifts and clothing we brought.  Too soon the taxi arrived to take us to Balta, the nearest town with a hotel.  We assured Igor that we would return the next day for another visit and climbed into the taxi for a 30 minute jostling, stomach shaking ride to Balta.  You've never experienced a road with potholes until you drive on the backroads in Ukraine!  We were a little apprehensive of staying in a foreign city, where we didn't even know the alphabet, without an interpreter.  But God has been our amazing Provider continuously!!  When we arrived at the hotel, there was another tenant who spoke English and interpreted for the landlady.  When we walked next door to dinner, the waiter spoke very good English and has actually served with our facilitators as an interpreter for adoptions.  He was able to tell us about a restaurant in town that would be open for breakfast the next morning, and even drew us a map and gave us his cell number.  Although the bed in the hotel room is not much larger than twin size, there was a fan!  And for a couple who has gotten addicted to falling asleep with the sound of a fan, we were elated!

 

The next morning we set out with our little scrawled map to try and find breakfast.  We soon realized that two Americans, trying to find a restaurant in a strange Ukrainian town (even with our simple map) would be like finding a needle in a haystack!  I'll save you the long story and suffice it to say that by God's grace alone we finally found the restaurant he was referring to and enjoyed a delicious breakfast.  We then walked through a little market place and picked up a few things for lunch that day.

 

 

Soon it was time to head back to Pishana.  Our friendly (non-English speaking) taxi driver (Boris) showed up and we climbed back into his car for another roller coaster ride to the orphanage.  When we arrived we were greeted by lots of friendly children, but no Igor.  The children told us Igor was in school (on Saturday?) and took us up to his classroom. 

 

 Igor's classmates

 

Igor's teacher graciously dismissed him for the afternoon and we had a fabulous afternoon playing with him and the other children!

 

 

We even had a chance to see Igor's room:

 

 

And here is what happens when you let your camera loving boy get ahold of your Iphone...

 

 

All too soon it was time to say goodbye...I can't begin to describe how hard that was for all of us...but especially for Igor.  We held each other and prayed together, each of us beseeching our Father in our own language to please reunite us together soon.  Then we climbed back in the car with Boris, leaving our hearts and our boy at Pishana.  We were so very grateful that as we were leaving, Vanya, an older boy walked up and we were able to use the translator on the phone to ask him to help Igor as we left. 

 

Thank you for praying with us continuously through this journey.  We have felt so carried by the prayers of so many.  We are overwhelmed to tears every time we think of how many of you are praying with us and sharing this burden with us.

 







Hope amidst delays

As I type we are on a very bumpy 6 hour bus ride to Odessa.  We will arrive sometime after midnight tonight at the apartment of our friend Laura from the Nasledie Heritage Foundation.  We knew it was imperative for us to get word out to family and friends of the day’s events, but contact has been challenging as we rarely have wifi to send out messages.  So while I’m more alert I’ll type out this blog and hope to post it at Laura’s apartment. 

Jim and I had a good night’s sleep and woke up refreshed with time to pray and spend time reading promises from God’s Word.  We felt a peace and were surrendered to whatever God had for us that morning.  We were picked up at 9:30 by one of our facilitators, Alex.  We then drove to the apartment of Wes and Janet Moore who are also here trying to adopt a Lugansk child.  Wes and Janet had an appointment for 10am and ours was set for 11am.  Jim and I were actually thankful to be second because we had recently read the story of Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho.  We had been hoping that God might give us the opportunity before our appointment to walk around the SDA building and pray and sing praise songs, asking God to work a wonder and tear down this “wall” that stood in our way.  God in his goodness gave us 30 minutes to do just that.  When Alex came back out with Wes and Janet we thought it was our turn to head in to face the SDA officer.  But he told Nastya (our other facilitator who had arrived to help us) and us that the officer had referred him to speak to the Deputy Minister of the SDA (2^nd in charge) and we needed to wait for her to get out of a meeting.  So we all went across the street to a café to have lunch and wait.  About an hour later Alex got a phone call to come back, so we all headed back to the SDA…Wes, Janet and Alex to return upstairs and try to complete their appointment (now with the Deputy Minister) and Nastya, Jim and I into a waiting room.  Waiting room is a generous word, as it’s more like a narrow hallway with one couch.  For two hours we waited as Alex argued with the Deputy Minister.  We were told by Nastya that the argument was quite heated as Alex fought to get a referral for our children.  Jim and I sat on that couch and prayed, and read scripture, and prayed scripture…we truly felt a battle raging in the spiritual realm for these children.  If granted, these referrals will be the first two for children of the Lugansk region (one was granted about a month ago, but that was for a child of a trade school, so that’s a different scenario), and could break open the gates for these waiting families.  I don’t understand exactly what Alex and Nastya are trying to do in setting a new precedent, but we were in awe and overwhelmed with gratitude for these two and how hard they fight for the orphans of Ukraine.  I’m having Jim insert a few paragraphs here to try and explain what we are requesting.

During today’s meeting the officials were able to see that Igor’s birth certificate and the court order relinquishing any of his birth parent’s parental rights was recorded in the Ukraine computerized court records.  This is a real item of praise and celebration because we do not believe we will be able to recover the original documents.  We understand from a Ukrainian judge that these documents are reliable for legal proceedings however this is not usual protocol and creates a Catch-22.  If we have a referral we can request a replacement birth certificate.  Without the referral we have no authority to request the document.  Without the official birth certificate the SDA finds it difficult to grant the referral.  So where do we stand?  We were not granted our referral for Igor’s adoption today.  Instead a request is being sent to Igor’s new orphanage to submit the request for his original documentation.  We do not believe there are any of these original documents at his new orphanage but the Deputy Minister thought it necessary to submit a request in writing for these documents.  We have been granted another appointment with the Deputy Minister on Monday afternoon and if the DM will be willing to set a new precedent we could be granted a referral on Tuesday.  Lastly, we understand the officials considering our cause have to evaluate their own job security and safety.  In establishing new policy they do not want to put their position at risk.  In granting approval they do not wish to stir up potential personal retaliation from those sympathetic to the separatists in Eastern Ukraine who wish these kids only to remain in Eastern Ukraine.  Therefore, we pray God strengthens their courage and allows them to provide a way for Igor and for several other kids in the same position to find their forever families.  

When Alex came out of the Moore’s appointment and we all signed a petition requesting another appointment on Monday we had some quick decisions to make about what to do with these 3 days ahead of us.  If we are not granted favor on Monday and do not receive a referral we would not have time to head to Pishana to visit Igor before our flight on Wed.  Laura and a team from Nasledie are heading to Pishana tomorrow morning to do a program with the children.  We called Laura to see what we should do.  She said we needed to come tonight to her apartment in Odessa and travel with the team to Pishana tomorrow.  Alex assisted us in purchasing bus tickets online and told us we had purchased the last two tickets available.  He also told us that we would have to pay extra at the bus station for all 7 bags we were taking.  We rushed back to our apartment in Kiev to repack our bags and Alex and Alexsya (Nastya’s husband) drove us to the bus station.  God’s goodness to us continues as the check-in clerk did not charge us anything for our bags and there are two women on this bus who speak English and have been able to assist us. 

We will leave early tomorrow morning (around 7:30) with the team to head to Pishana.  Odessa is about 3 hours from Pishana.  We are unsure at this point if we will be able to stay near Pishana for the weekend and continue visiting with Igor after the team leaves or if we will need to head back with Laura and stay at her apartment again on Friday night.  Pishana is a very small village and there are no lodging houses there.  Balta is the closest town, 20 minutes away, but we will not have anyone with us who could translate for us or drive us back and forth.  We are taking one day at a time at this point.  For now, we are so thankful that Alex and Alexsya went out of their way to help us arrange this trip to Odessa. Thankful also that Laura has invited us to stay with her tonight and arranged for us to visit Igor tomorrow.   We are filled with anticipation and excitement as we think about hugging our sweet boy!

We need an army of prayer warriors to go to battle with us over the next few days.  We are asking for many of you to continue to pray fervently that God will move the heart of the Deputy Minister to grant this referral.  If we are given a referral on Tuesday, we will then travel back to Odessa on Wednesday to meet with Igor’s director and have Igor sign a paper that he wants to be adopted.  That means our flight plans will need to change.  Right now we are scheduled to fly home on Wed. morning. 

We have seen God’s hand of protection and provision in so many ways on this trip!  We continue to look with expectation for a display of His wonders.  As we were praying and reading through Psalms at the SDA this afternoon, this passage stood out to us:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations.  Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you!”  Psalm 67:1-3

Tired, Thankful, and Nervous

Well, after 17 hours of travel we finally arrived in Ukraine around 5:30 (Ukrainian time).  It's now 10:30pm here and we've been up for 33 hours with a cat nap here or there, so this post will be brief.  (It just took my fatigued brain 5 minutes to calculate how many hours I've been awake)  We didn't want to go to bed tonight without leaving a post to let everyone know we are here safe and sound.  We have much to praise God for as we head to bed. 

1.  First of all, God waived the $285 baggage fee the airline was going to charge us for our extra bag!  We didn't think it was going to happen as the check-in agent didn't think he could do it with out a waiver code and after a long phone call with customer service, they said they couldn't give us one.  But the clerk asked a manager on duty and she gave him one, so we were cleared!  When we arrived in Paris, we had to go through security again and get our tickets issued for Kiev.  The agent couldn't understand why we had 7 bags and how it was possible that there was a waiver code on the charge, but allowed us to continue on with no fee.   

2.  When we arrived at JFK somehow we got directed to the wrong gate for our flight to Paris.  As we sat there for over an hour we wondered why the plane hadn't started boarding yet.  We figured the plane was late.  Just then we heard our names announced overhead telling us this was our final boarding call.  We sprinted through the airport with our carry-ons...and unbeknownst to me, mine was half open and stuff was flying out!  We made it to the gate by the skin of our teeth and some kind person ran after me to return my fleece that had fallen out.  It was several minutes before my heart settled down to a regular beat again!  Praise God we made it in time!

3.  At breakfast (or was that lunch??  my internal clock said 6am and the clock at the airport said noon)  the cashier almost overcharged us.  We would never have known, but he rerang the order for the correct price.

4.  Our flight to Kiev was not full so Jim and I had a row to ourselves and room to stretch out a little. 

5.  We are happily settled in a little apartment here, finally got some dinner at a quaint café around the corner  and we're headed to bed soon.

Tomorrow morning we have our appointment at 11am.  We have not spoken to our facilitators at all since we arrived.  We were picked up at the airport by one facilitator's wife.  As we look at the mountain we face tomorrow, humanly it seems insurmountable.  There is not a lot of hope at this point that anything can be done to grant us a referral.  Our hope is in God alone.  He can move this mountain if He chooses.  We continue to ask Him to do that, but also to help us trust Him to work out His perfect plan. 

As my heart fluctuates between fear and trust I am reminded of Isaiah 41:10, "Fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Good night everyone!  Tomorrow is the big day!

Ukraine! November 4th!!

I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to type those words…but it's true!  Today I purchased two airline tickets for Jim and I to fly to Kiev, Ukraine on November 4th!!  We have requested, and were granted, a second SDA appointment for November 6th.  While we are elated and ecstatic about seeing Igor in two short weeks, there is still much up in the air regarding our adoption.  Today we want to share with you praises for ways God has provided, urgent requests for prayer, and a way you can partner with us to provide for the children of the Pishana orphanage.

First, Thank you so much to those of you who were able to donate money to the Nasledie Heritage Foundation.  Through our combined efforts, $2500 was donated to purchase supplies for Igor's orphanage!!  Here is a link for you to see a picture of some of the items we purchased:  nasledie blog  You will need to scroll down that page to the posting from Friday, 10/17 to see an update on all the Nasledie ministry was able to purchase with your donations.  School supplies, cleaning products, hygiene items, pajamas, socks, sweatshirts….The director at Pishana was very grateful!   There is an ongoing need for supplies for these children so if you didn't get a chance to donate and still have a desire to do so you can go to this link:  donate to Pishana.  You will need to write "Slavik and Alyona Puzanov, supplies for Pishana orphanage" in the Program line in order for the money to be directed to the orphanage.

Because there are so many shortages in Ukraine right now due to the war, the Pishana orphanage will have very little heating oil this winter to run the heat.  Last Christmas, the junior class from our youth group made no-sew fleece blankets for Jim and I to take with us and give to Igor's orphanage.  Those blankets have been sitting in our attic as we waited on God's timing for our travel.  Now it seems those blankets are the perfect gift for the children of Pishana.  However, 12 blankets is not nearly enough to provide a blanket for all 110 children in the orphanage.  Laura, from the Nasledie Foundation, connected me with a woman in Iowa who has set about to collect enough fleece blankets for all 110 children.  Together, she and I are trying to recruit volunteers to make a fleece blanket so we can take these when we travel on November 4th.  The airline we are flying with allows us to take 3 (50lb.) bags each, so Jim and I would like to fill up those extra bags with these blankets and other supplies for Pishana.  I am asking you all to prayerfully consider making one of these blankets this next week.  They are SO easy to make and it would be a fun family project.  I would need to receive the blanket no later than November 3rd in order to take it with me.  Here is a link with directions on making the "no-sew fleece blanket".  You can also google "no-sew fleece blanket" and watch YouTube videos on how to make one.  All the directions give different sizes and measurements, so for our blankets you should purchase 1 1/2 yards (60in. wide) of a generic print fleece (to be used for a boy or girl) and 1 1/2 yards of a coordinating plain fleece.  Cut the corners at 4" squares and make the strips 4" by 1".   JoAnn Fabric in Cary is having a sale on fleece through tomorrow if you live local.   Please, please consider making one of these for the children!  We need as much help as we can get on this project.  If you work as a family, it will probably take an hour or less to tie together one of these blankets.

Most of all, we covet your prayers for us.  As I said, much is still up in the air regarding our adoption.  We do not have confirmation that Igor's paperwork has been moved.  If we arrive for our appointment on November 6th and his paperwork has not been moved, the SDA officer will not present Igor's file to us.  The director of his old orphanage in Irmino must transfer his paperwork for Igor to be eligible for adoption.  However, our facilitator in Ukraine has not been able to get in touch with this director.  Please pray that they will be able to make a connection in this next week.  You may wonder why we would request a second SDA appointment if Igor's paperwork was not moved.  Well, the documents in our dossier (large packet of documents we sent to Ukraine) begin to expire on December 20th.  When that happens, we will need to redo the entire dossier with a different adoption agency.  Because Ukraine recently adopted the Hague agreement, all adoptions from this point on will have to be done under a certified adoption agency.  We have been using a private consultant.  We have been grandfathered in, as long as the adoption is finished in December 2014.  So our adoption coordinator suggested we request a date in November that would allow us to finish the adoption before our documents begin to expire, with the hopes that the paperwork would get transferred in time.  So we are asking God to move this mountain.  To do a miracle.  If He doesn't, we are still grateful that we have this opportunity to visit our boy for a few days.

There are many logistics we need to take care of in the next week and a half.  Here are more specifics on how you can pray:

 - Praise God for all the supplies purchased for Pishana
- Praise God we are going to Ukraine!!!!!!!!  And will soon be able to hug our sweet boy!!! (I'm crying already at the thought of that)
- Praise God for very reasonable flight costs which include 3 checked bags each.
- Praise God we were granted an SDA appointment for November 6th
- Pray for coverage for Jim's practice.  It's very difficult to leave his practice during flu season.  Pray for his staff to be able to handle all the issues that will arise in Jim's absence.
- Pray that God will move Igor's paperwork and that we would be given a referral for Igor on November 6th
- Pray that we would be an encouragement to the children at Pishana orphanage
- Pray that enough blankets would be donated for Pishana
-Pray for Nick and Joyce Rundlett who will be staying with Ashley and Daniel and for Mat and Jenni Taft who will take care of Josiah while we are gone.
- Pray for safety for us as we travel.  Americans are not well liked in Ukraine.  Please pray for our protection.
-Pray that we will accept God's plan, however it unfolds.  Pray that we will know when to act….and when to wait and trust.

Our travel dates are Nov. 4-12.  We do not get to bring Igor home on this trip.  If we receive a referral for him, we will be assigned a court date 3-6 weeks later and we will travel back to Ukraine with the hopes of returning with our son.

May God get the glory, no matter what the "Glorious Unfolding" of His story may be….

A way to help Igor!

Thank you to all of you who have joined us in prayer over the last two weeks.  After I posted last Tuesday, I wanted several times to go back and delete that posting.  I felt like I had been a little too "real" in expressing my emotions.  But I would be lying if all I expressed in this blog were statements of faith and assurance.  In reality, this journey has been full of ups and downs.  There are days when I am confident and peaceful and willing to accept whatever God's plan is in this story He's writing.  And there are days when I cry and beg and plead with God to please hurry up and bring Igor home because it just hurts too much.  It's those days that I cling to God and His promises and remind myself that this is all about God and His glory.  He is Sovereign.  He knows Igor's needs better than I do.  He is doing things I can't begin to understand.  So last week when I asked friends to join us in fasting and praying, I think God knew that request was for my sake.  As I fasted and prayed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a sense of peace and trust returned to my heart.  I came to the point on Thursday where I was ready to hear whatever our facilitator in Ukraine told me in regards to Igor.  I held my palms upward to God and once again released my grip on Igor and my desire for God to bring him home.  I got to the point where I could pray the prayer that never fails..."Father, your will be done...not my will but yours be done."  When I got to that point,  I ended my fast and I wrote to Nastya to see if she could tell me if Igor was indeed permanently transferred and if she had been able to track down his paperwork.  Here is her reply:

Hello Kimmie, we don't know where their paperwork is but SDA is telling us that no adoptions can be completed before they make a decision considering these changes. Odessa regional authorities are telling us adoption could be completed but SDA is still not giving appointments for these children. We will continue to follow this situation and let you know when it clears. 


So that's where we are right now.  Continuing to watch and wait.  But, God has laid in our lap a way to help Igor and the Pishana orphanage where he's living.  And we want to recruit as many of you as we can to help as well!!  I wrote to my contact from the Nasledie Heritage Foundation (the ministry that posted a picture of Igor) to see if there was a need for supplies and if there was a way for us to give money to them so they could purchase supplies for Pishana Orphanage.  I will copy her reply, as it's easier than trying to summarize it:

 Thank you for your generous offer to help with providing things for the orphanage. Slavik Puzanov, the director of Nasledie Heritage Foundation, recently asked all of the directors of the orphanages we work in what their needs were now. He also contacted other organizations and people that he knew were helping because of the refugee situation. He has found that of the orphanages in our region that accepted the new children all have some additional support at this time except for the Pishana orphanage and the orphanage in Kilia. So we decided today that we would direct our funds towards these two orphanages.

She went on to say that Pishana now has 107 children.  They received 48 refugees at the end of August.  They need toiletries, clothing and school supplies for all these refugees as they have not been given any additional money to care for them.  To purchase all the supplies they need would cost several thousand dollars.  The Nasledie Foundation will be able to help with some of their needs but not all of them.  I know there are many of you who love Igor and pray for him daily.  Please pray over this opportunity to donate money to help take care of him and the other refugees at Pishana.  Your donation would be tax deductible and you would actually be participating in the fast that God desires in Isaiah 58...giving to the poor and needy.  The Nasledie Foundation plans to take these supplies to Pishana on October 18th.  So please take time to make your donations in the next week so they will receive the money before they begin to purchase supplies.

Here is information on how you can donate:

Any donation from you will be used to purchase these supplies. You can donate online https://npo.justgive.org/nonprofits/donate.jsp?ein=41-1652782 by following the link. Or you can send a check to International Messengers PO Box 618 Clear Lake, IA 50428.  Please send a note with your check noting that the funds should be used for Pishana orphanage supplies. Also, note that the funds should go to Slavik and Alyona Puzanov. If you donate online, you will need to make these notes in the program section.  If you do not make these notes your donation will not go to the Pishana Orphanage but will go in the ministry's general fund.  

If the above link does not work, go to http://nasledieukraine.blogspot.com/p/donate.html and follow the prompts to donate.  Don't forget to note Pishana and the directors names when you make your donation.  Let's work together to raise enough money to purchase all the supplies this orphanage needs as they care for these sweet orphans.  Because we will not see when you donate online we would love for you to drop us a quick note to let us know you are joining with us to help Pishana.  You don't need to tell us how much you donate.  We'd just love to know who is partnering with us in this.  Thank you!!

Fasting and Prayer

I have known for a couple days that I needed to update our blog to let our friends and family know of the latest developments with our adoption.  We have some things we are rejoicing over and other things we are continuing to agonize in prayer over.  So let me first share some good news with you.  Last Thursday our adoption coordinator called us to report that Igor had been permanently transferred to a new orphanage in the Odessa region.  At the end of the summer, all the children who had been moved from Lugansk to camps in the Odessa region were to be moved to new orphanages to start school.  We knew this was to be at the end of August sometime, but we weren't sure when.  For a couple weeks we tried to find out where Igor would be transferred to.  Finally, last Thursday, Tonya called to tell us the location of his new orphanage.  She said that he was legally under the guardianship of this new director.  When I asked if his paperwork had moved with him, she said that some of it has, but that the director was too busy with absorbing 70-80 new children into their orphanage and school was getting ready to start so she didn't have time to look through it.  Tonya told me to check back in a week and see if they knew anything else.  I was ecstatic at receiving this news!  This was the "impossible" that we had been praying for since the beginning of the summer.  At that time we were told that the only way our adoption could continue was if Igor was permanently transferred to another region and orphanage. That had never happened before as far as our facilitator in Ukraine knew and she held no hope for that to happen for us.  Praise God!  He had done the impossible!  As we were rejoicing over this news, the very next day we received another gift from God.  The friend I have referred to as Ashley, who also has a Lugansk child that is stuck in Ukraine, called me to tell me that a friend of hers discovered a ministry that was helping to move the children from the camps to their new orphanages.  When this friend of hers was scrolling through their website she came across a picture of Igor!!  Ashley referred me to the website which I immediately looked up and sure enough…there was his sweet smiling face!!
You can read about the ministry here.  If you go to the website and click on the blog button and scroll down you will find the picture of Igor!  This was such a God orchestrated find!  For this friend to "happen" to come across this ministry's website, and "happen" to peruse through the whole website, and "happen" to be friends with Ashley and be aware of Igor, and "happen" to tell her about this….There are no such things as coincidences!  So God, in a matter of two days, gave us assurance of Igor's location and safety.  He even let us "see" that he looked good and was in a good place.   So I sent an email off to this ministry right away to let them know that one of the children on their website was our child and to ask if they could assist us in any way with completing our adoption.  I did not hear back for a couple days and finally yesterday received a reply.  What I heard broke my heart even as I rejoiced at what God had done for Igor and for us in connecting us with this ministry.  Here is an excerpt from her letter:

     On August 29th, I was in Sergeevka and watched as the kids loaded the buses. I talked with many that loaded the Pishana bus, since I knew I would be seeing them the next day. Saturday, August 30th, I was with the team that went to the orphanage in Pishana and I met Igor. He asked me many times to find you and told me to search for you on Facebook. He said that he had been hosted and that you were coming to adopt him and that your name was Kimmie. He did not give a last name, so I wasn't sure it would ever be possible to find you. I was so happy when I got your email because I knew that he really was longing to hear from you.

What these kids are experiencing is really sad. They were taken from their orphanage and brought to a new place and are now being transferred again. I can't imagine being moved around like this as a child. Please pray for all the children in this situation.

Knowing that Igor was so anxious to find someone who could get word to us of his new location brought an agony I cannot describe to you.  Our child is half way around the world from us and he DESPERATELY wants his parents to know where he is so they can come and rescue him!  I praised God for allowing me to connect with this ministry while at the same time I felt completely powerless and hopeless, especially as I read her next paragraph:

Concerning the paperwork situation, it is our understanding that all paperwork for these kids is still in their original orphanages. The SDA will not grant appointments for these kids because they are still "located" in these eastern regions where it is not safe to travel. There was not a plan to transfer the documents because they were only to be here for the summer. As summer ended, they were sent to orphanages in the Odessa region because it is still not safe to send them back. The plan is still to take them back to their original orphanages and the places they are now are only temporary homes for them. But they say if the conflict continues the children could be permanently transferred. I cannot predict when the conflict will cease or when these areas would be safe enough to bring the kids back, but I can't imagine that it would be any time soon. Also, the amount of destruction of these areas is great and it may take time for things to be repaired and for the infrastructure to be restored.

What?  So he wasn't permanently transferred???  This is just another temporary location??  I can't tell you the frustration that welled up inside of me after reading this.  Fortunately, about that time I left to go grocery shopping so the car felt the full force of my anger, agony, sorrow, and frustration as I poured out my heart to God.  "Oh God!  Why don't you MOVE!!  Why can't you just rescue this little boy??  He needs us!!  We need him!!  What are you waiting for??"

Every different scenario and possible rescue began to flash across my mind…my cousin flies helicopters for the Navy…I'll just get him to take me over there to Lugansk and we'll march into that orphanage and get that paperwork ourselves.  If the authorities in Ukraine are going to keep dragging their feet then I'm just going to have to do this myself.  When I shared my intentions with Jim (I think he may have partially believed I was being serious) and he of course helped me to see what a ridiculous idea that was, I began to think of what I possibly could do.  And I felt God impressing on me…."Pray"…."Pray"…."Pray…and this time get serious about it."  I felt God laying on my heart to begin a fast on Tuesday that would last for the remainder of this week.  And so that's what I did.

Some of you know that we brought Josiah home this year and are once again homeschooling.  So today, in between my times of teaching him, I spent the day praying and studying scriptures on fasting.  I won't share all that I read on fasting because I really want to publish this blog today and ask you to join us in a fasting and prayer time for Igor.  When you have time check out Isaiah 58…it's a wonderful passage on fasting and what God considers an acceptable fast.  However, I want to share something from II Chronicles 20, because it correlates very closely to our situation.   Jehoshaphat was facing a great multitude…a huge army coming up against him and he was scared stiff.  So what did he do?  "he turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast though out all Judah.  So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord."  That's what we need!  Counsel and help from the Lord.  

Jehoshaphat cries out, 

     "O Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens?  And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations?  Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You….For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You."

And what happens?  As the King and his people humble themselves and fast and pray and admit their need and utter dependence on God alone, God steps in and does all the fighting for them.  He alone wins the battle.  The people begin to sing praises to God, and as they do, their enemies are ambushed by God and defeated.  Moab destroys the other armies that came up against Israel, and when they're done doing that, they destroy themselves.  What an Awesome God!!  And I was reminded of God's words in Matthew 19:26 once again…"With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  

So I want to ask if some of you would prayerfully consider joining us on either Wednesday, September 10th or Thursday, September 11th to fast and pray for Igor.  I say "prayerfully" because you need to ask God if this is something He wants you to do and if He says, "yes", then ask Him what that should look like in your life.  A complete fast for a day, a liquid diet, skipping one meal, skipping sweets…God will direct you.  Here are some things I am praying for that can help you as you pray over this situation:

1.  God himself, started this story in our lives.  He's the one who led Jim to begin this process last fall.  He's the one who chose Igor for us.  Pray that God would finish what He started.

2.  God in His sovereignty allowed this war to begin right in the middle of our adoption process.  Pray that God will continue to protect Igor.

3. Pray that God will move the mountains in such a way that brings Him all the glory.

4.  Pray that our family, Igor and many others would come to know God more intimately than we ever have before through this process.

5.  Pray for protection from spiritual attacks for our family…for they have been numerous lately, especially in the lives of my children.

6.  Pray that Igor has indeed been permanently transferred to a new orphanage.

7.  Pray that his paperwork has been or will be moved….SOON!

8.  Pray that our "eyes would stay on God" and that we would wait for Him to work out His plan.

9.  Pray for peace in the waiting time.

10.  Pray that God would be a father to Igor and comfort his hurting heart.

We would love to hear from you if you choose to join us this week.  Some day I hope we will be able to show Igor the names of all the people who "battled" for him in prayer.  

Waiting….waiting….waiting

"My soul wait in silence for God only; 

From Him is my salvation.  He

only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken."

Psalm 62:1-2

Waiting.  Something I've NEVER been good at.  I'm always looking for the quickest way to get something done.  The fastest check-out line, the shortest route to my destination.  I think there should be tickets given for driving under the speed limit.  I absolutely hate stoplights.  I think they should all be converted to traffic circles so we could keep moving and not have to sit still.  So now that I find myself in a waiting period in my life, with an indefinite end, I have struggled to continue trusting my Good Father.  

In the last week we have had numerous people ask us for news about our adoption and I realized it had been over a month since we updated our blog.  There is news to report…some discouraging…some that gives a ray of hope…and some that speaks to the refining God is doing in my heart.  

When last I wrote we asked you to pray about the possibility of hosting Igor through a different hosting organization.  Well, a couple weeks later we found out that because Igor's paperwork is stuck in Lugansk, it was impossible for us to host him with any organization.  

Shortly after that, I heard from a family who is also trying to adopt a child from the Lugansk region.  We met them at the airport at the winter hosting with NHFC.  They were the last ones to receive their referral before Ukraine shut down adoptions in our region.  They are also stuck waiting for the unrest to settle down so they can go to their court appointment.  Well, Ashley contacted me the last weekend of June and told me that she had gotten permission to visit her hopeful child at camp.  She wanted to know if I knew what camp Igor was in.  We had been trying to find out exactly where Igor was, but hadn't been able to obtain that information from our facilitator in Ukraine.  She told me to send her a picture of Igor and maybe she'd see him at camp.  When she found out what orphanage he is from, she didn't think it would be likely for him to be at the same camp as her child.  Well, after her first day of visiting, she was being escorted to the gate by a security guard and she passed a boy who looked like Igor.  She said his name and he looked at her and smiled.  Then she said my name and he got all excited!  She sent me a picture of him that she had quickly snapped with the caption, "He's here!!!"  When I saw the picture I began to weep, crying, "Oh thank you Jesus!  Thank you Thank you Jesus!"  To see his precious, smiling face and to know that he was safe and happy relieved such a burden from my heart.  Throughout the week of Ashley's visit, she would send us pictures of Igor and the camp grounds.  We were able to send emails to her, translated into Russian, for Igor to read.  We were able to communicate to him that we had been ready to travel when Ukraine put a hold on adoptions.  We were able to tell him how much we love him and that we have not given up.  It relieved so many of our worries to find out that the camp was a wonderful facility.  There are lots of activities.  They go to the Black Sea twice a week.  They are well fed and well cared for.  Igor seemed very happy.  We are praising God for this gift of assurance that He's got Igor in His hand.  

While Ashley was there we finally heard back from the facilitator in Ukraine.  She shared the name and location of the camp with us.  We asked her if it would be possible for me to visit for a week.  It looked like this could be arranged so Nastya and her team began to work on getting the paperwork needed for me and another mom to visit our children.  We were hoping that this could be arranged for early August.  About a week and a half ago we received disappointing news from Nastya.  There had been another family visiting the camp who had permission and the official paperwork needed for their visit.  Without telling anyone, they took another family with them.  This made the camp director very angry.  She had a meeting with many of the officials in her area and it has been decided that no more Americans will be allowed to visit camp, for any reason.   And so, another door felt like it was being slammed in our face.  No adopting…no hosting…no visiting.  On the day I heard this news I took it well, knowing it had been a bit of a long shot.  But last week I could feel some of my old doubts and questions festering in my heart.  I know God is my Good Father, but this didn't seem like a way a Good Father should treat His child.  I reminded God that last fall I had come to the point where I had completely surrendered this dream of adoption to Him.  I had laid it at His feet, believing that He had said no and that I needed to focus on the work before me that He had called me to.  I had given it up.  HE was the one that brought all of this back into my life.  HE was the one who moved Jim's heart for adoption.  HE was the one who began this process all back up again when I had laid it at His feet.  And now what was He doing?  Nothing!  (as far as my finite eyes could see)  

Ahh…but that is so far from the truth.  He has been working all throughout the last 3 years.  Perhaps we don't have the child we long to have, the one who already feels like ours.  But some greater things are occurring as we Wait on God.  I came to realize this summer that without this trial I would not have come to know God in the way I know Him now.  This struggle has refined my faith.  It has revealed to me more of the depths of God.  It has taught me more about His faithfulness, His sovereignty, and yes, His goodness.  It has reminded me that a Good father disciplines his children.  A Good father wants to see His children grow and mature and He will use pain in our lives to build that maturity and endurance.  I have been reading "Knowing God" by J I Packer and I want to share a quote from him, 

"'Wait on the Lord' is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for

God often keeps us waiting.  He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way 

to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide

us more than one step at a time.  When in doubt, do nothing, but continue

to wait on God.  When action is needed, light will come."

"Sooner or later, God's guidance, which brings us out of darkness into light,

will also bring us out of light into darkness.  

It is part of the way of the cross."

"Wait on the Lord."  I can't tell you how many times God has been hammering that message into my head in the last three years.  I have been studying the book of Exodus lately and been challenged by the truths there.  As I read about God's calling of Moses, how He promised to equip Moses to lead His people to freedom, how He promised that He would work wonders and free His children I was struck by Moses' frustrations and accusations in Exodus 5:22-23.  Moses told Pharaoh everything God told him to say, and did all the signs God told him to do and what happened?  The Israelites bondage got harsher, more severe, unbearable.  I love Moses' candor with God…"Why did you ever send me??  Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak your name, he has done harm to this people and you have not delivered Your people AT ALL!"

Exactly how I had been feeling towards God…"Why did you call us to begin this adoption?  Ever since we began you have closed one door after another and you have not delivered this child to us AT ALL!"  

As I reread the plagues and how God continued to harden Pharaoh's heart these phrases kept jumping out at me…

"The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD….

        But indeed I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim          My name through all the earth…

                     that you may know that the earth is the LORD's….

                                 I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the LORD."

God was not in a hurry to free the Israelites.  God was not concerned about how quickly they could get to the promised land.  He WAS concerned about the glory of His name.  He had a lot to teach His people about His power, His provision, His protection…and that would require 10 plagues and the long way around the wilderness.   

So for now we wait.  We trust that God will finish what He started, because He promises in His word that He does.  Will that finished product be another sweet boy added to the Jacobs' household?  We don't know.  Will the finished product be stronger faith, deeper love for God?  Most assuredly.  But what else it will entail….we will have to wait and see.  

We are so very thankful for those who partner with us regularly in praying for Igor.  Please continue to lift him up.  We did hear from Nastya a few weeks ago, that because Eastern Ukraine continues to be volatile, the orphans will most likely be permanently transferred to Odessa for the school year.  At that time they will have to move their paperwork.  When the paperwork is moved, we can request another SDA appointment and begin our adoption again.  The moving of the paperwork, as I said in a previous blog, will require many signatures and approvals and could be a long process.  We ask that you pray with us for the paperwork to be safely (you notice I did not say 'quickly'…even though I wanted to) moved, so that all of these waiting children can be united with their forever families.  We don't expect to hear anymore about this process until the beginning of September.