Day 15 - We Receive a Court Date

Hello from Kiev, Ukraine to all of our friends, family and everyone who is kind enough to follow our story.  At times, it seems our living in Kiev, Ukraine has no end in sight but we know that with each passing day, we are one day closer to bringing our family home to America.  Thanks for all of your prayers and kind words of encouragement.  Also, a special thanks to everyone who is having to take up slack for us at our jobs. 

Today, just our facilitator and I had to travel to the village / regional court to finish filing the necessary documents to allow us to submit for / obtain a court date for our adoption hearing.  Our facilitator has done an amazing job to coordinate all of the needed information and documents, especially considering the unexpected challenges thrown at us including inconsistent off days due to a national holiday, the social worker having to travel out of town for a conference and the orphanage being closed for upgrades before school starts.  But, prayer and diligence has paid off.

I was needing encouragement this morning and the Lord never disappoints.  A close friend gave us several cards to bring with us with instruction to open one at the beginning of each week.  This was very thoughtful and each card has helped us emotionally and spiritually.  Today's card contained a verse from scripture:  Psalm 145:13(b) states "The Lord is faithful to His promises and loving toward all He has made".  Reading this brought to mind 2 Corinthians 5:17 which proclaims "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come."  These scriptures lifted my spirits and strengthened my faith today. 

So, off I went at about 9:15 towards the region / villages with our trusty facilitator (insert "Mission Impossible" theme music here), leaving Angelia to hang out alone with the kids today.  During our drives, our facilitator is tolerant of my never-stop-talking personality and our discussions are always very interesting.  When we arrived in the region, I waited in the car for a while then got out to walk around the little village a bit because the cooler weather and sunny skies were just too hard to resist.  I noticed a fairly large, half-circle, brick / masonry wall standing out in the open by itself and it turns out that it was a World War II memorial.  I found two names on the wall that match the paternal last names of our children.  Knowing they were born in or very near this village, I couldn't help but wonder if they might be related to these two brave men who gave their lives fighting for their country.  If I go back there, I might take a paper and rub the names just in case I ever have an opportunity to find out.  After about an hour or so, we left for the 20 km drive to the court building.  I was encouraged as our facilitator got out of the car to head into the court building.  As the car door was closing, he looked at me and said "pray".  I literally took this to be an urging from the Holy Spirit so I began praying.  I then sent a text to Angelia asking her to pray.  I then prayed some more.  After about 45 minutes, our facilitator came out and told me that our court date was set for Monday, September 6th at 3:00 p.m.  This is such a great blessing from the Almighty and I am grateful for His gift.  I also appreciate all the prayers for us to get a court date soon.  Consider this a prayer answered!  The next big step is that we need a favorable court finding for us to become adoptive parents for the kids.  Although I'm sure you all have much to pray over, I humbly ask that you would add this to your list.

When I arrived at the apartment in Kiev, the cupboard was bare which meant a trip down Mount KievKilamanjaroEverestK2.  We decided to hike down for dinner and supplies.  Mainly, dinner, but the oxygen masks we need for climing at this altitude were running low too so we had to venture out.  We ate at a pizza place whose name literally translates to "Papa John's".  I admit, seeing this sign got my pulse rate up and I didn't really care as much as normal as I was crossing a very busy street in one of those pedestrian striped cross-walks.  Now, I have the right of way but if I get killed then my argument to support this wouldn't really get that far.  But, I didn't care... Papa John's pizza was on the other side of the street.  I was pretty good at the video game "Frogger" back in the day but it's a little more challenging when you are pulling other people along by the arm.  As we sat down, the waitress said "we will need menus in English" and I knew I was in the right place.  I wish you could have seen the waitress's face after she asked if the pizza I ordered was for two people and my reply was "nyet" (with just a hint of southern drawl).  I managed to polish that pizza off so fast that Angelia was a little embarrassed, a baby nearby started crying and a couple of folks across the way from us moved to a table upstairs. No one was injured but I now know that I tend to over-eat when I look out the window and see the first ridge of the snow-capped mountain we have to climb going back home.  By the way, I am 100% sure this is not the same Papa John's that is present in America but maybe the store is taking a certain freedom with their marketing to attract Americans.  No copyright infringement has been breached in my recounting these events.  :-)

We wandered in and out of the grocery store without much news.  One item of note, we found some jars of peanut butter.  I don't think they get that here much because in the past, friends here have asked us to bring it from America.  I tested it when we got home by dipping some "Roshen" milk-chocolate bars down into the peanut butter.  If I'm not mistaken, this is how Reese's was discovered.  I may have that for breakfast.

Just one other observation.  We were recently having to wait in an area with lots of other people and Tolya was wandering around alot and acting up a little.  After asking him a few times to not wander away from us, I finally pulled him over with us and pointed to a painted square on the floor and told him to not get out of the square.  Of course, he went right up to the line and put his feet on it but not across it.  I realized that is how we do with God many times.  We don't believe His instruction that the sin on the other side of that line leads to death, destruction and misery.  Our pride and rebellious attitude sends us right to the line, testing God.  If we truly love God and place our faith in His truth and loving guidance for us, we should stay as far away from the line as possible.

Tolya sharpens his "street-style" using my sunglasses

Goodnight from Kiev, Ukraine everyone!