Hello to everyone who continues following our family adoption blog. With each passing day, we are getting closer to ending our time in Ukraine. We are very grateful for all that you have done to be interested in what God is doing in our lives, and especially for the encouragement and prayer that you have afforded us.
Today started relatively early. Anna, Charlie and I were off to the "Oil & Gas Hospital" today to obtain the required medical exams for the U.S. Embassy. These exams and the new Ukrainian Passports are the last two "pieces of paper" that we will need before we can obtain visas allowing the children to enter the United States of America.
The reason Angelia was not going with us today is because we were actually traveling with our trusty facilitator and some other folks (insert "Pink Panther" theme music here as we have now decided it might be more appropriate theme music for our wonderful facilitator). :-) For those of you who don't know, a family from Chelsea, Alabama left for Ukraine two days before we did to adopt their daughter. It was quite interesting to know that someone that lives about 15 miles from us was traveling to Ukraine and even using the same facilitator. Today, the six of us piled into the Honda Accord and headed for the hospital together. It was great to spend some time talking and hanging out with some folks from home (literally, from just down the road).
The health exam for each child was fairly routine in nature with the only development being that Anna had to receive a immunization for "Rubella" (which Angelia tells me is the measles). It was a tad bit awkward for me, Anna and Charlie during the exam. The doctor was checking out Charlie and I sensed that some drawers were about to be pulled down. I motioned for Anna to turn around and close her eyes. Sure enough, little man's undies hit the floor only seconds later. Normally, this is uncomfortable when you're alone with your doctor. Add your new dad and older sister to the mix and you can imagine the embarrasement that occurred for Charlie. Normally, I punish Charlie when he talks back by mumbling under his breath after being asked to do something. In this case, I actually joined him in the mumbling / complaining. When Anna's exam time came, I jumped out of my chair and quickly relocated Charlie and myself to a small area behind a screen. Thank the Lord, there was a toy car on a shelf that I handed to Charlie to keep our attention. Those friends who know me best know that I am squeamish anytime I am around someone else in a medical type capacity (such as when things come up in conversation like "hey, look at this tumor" or "hey, I think I'm going into labor"). Nothing like that occurred here today but I now see that being a parent takes us to places we are not comfortable going sometimes.
We came back to the apartment and it was time for lunch. I have been here for 40 days. That means 40 days with no fried chicken. Now, I'm a husky man. I can't keep this huskiness without fried chicken on some sort of routine schedule that I can predict. So, I decided that today was the day! I bought what was either (a) the three largest chicken breasts you have ever seen or (2) three normal chicken breast from the Chernobyl region (site of the 1986 nuclear reactor explosion / disaster) or (3) turkey breasts. Either way, they were trimmed into chicken finger size portions, battered and fried. Adding some mashed potatoes and corn completed the meal. It must have been good because it was all gone about 20 minutes from blessing to clean-up.
One item of note, Charlie has pretty much only one job in the apartment. It is his role to clean all dishes off the table and place them in the sink after each meal. You would think that he would be used to it by now, but every once in a while he gets upset that mean ol' parents would expect him to do such a task. When I asked him to do this today, he got mad, walked into another room, mumbled under his breath and gave a little kick to a piece of furniture. So, Charlie got to see his old friend "90 degrees" (or corner) for 10 minutes. Afterward, he had to take a damp cloth and clean the entire piece of furniture that he gave the little kick to. Once the furniture cleaning was over, he had to still clear the dishes off the table. It may be wrong of me to say this, but I got a pretty good little lift (that maybe I am doing a good job as a parent) when I saw the look on his face after I told him that he had to clean the furniture he kicked. He had that "this is not going according to plan" look on his face. I think he learned something today. :-)
We got word today that our passports will be ready on Monday. I have also confirmed that we have meetings with the U.S. Embassy on Monday at 10:00 a.m. and Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. to obtain visas for the kids. Because all seems like we are on track, I took the step of reserving flights for America to occur on Wednesday, September 29, 2010. Praise The Lord!
We are not home free until we actually arrive in America so we humbly ask that you would continue praying for us and that God will see fit to get us home safe and sound next Wednesday.
My closing thoughts for tonight are: God is teaching me so much about His nature and about my relationship with Him through my relationship with my children. First, I find great comfort and all my hope in the fact that, because of Christs' blood atoning for my sin, nothing can now separate me from the love of my Father in Heaven. In 1 John 3:1, we can read "how great is love the Father that pours out on us that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are!". In Romans 8:39, we read further that "neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.". In Isaiah 49:6, we read "I have carved you on the palm of my hands". All of this to say, sometimes I deserve to be in a corner. Sometimes, my bad choices bring about more consequences that I considered beforehand. It is my place to simply be obedient to the tasks that God sets before me and to do so with a joyful spirit. When I kick the furniture, I can expect to have to clean up the mess. However, my Father's love for me remains intact.
Goodnight to everyone from Kiev, Ukraine. We love and greatly miss you all.
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1 comment:
So close to home!
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