My Dream

I had a dream last night and wasn't sure if I should share it but I feel like I need to because it was so real.  I want to preface this by saying that I don't really have too many dreams when I sleep.  If I do dream, I can't remember it the next morning.   

(Also, a disclaimer.  I have nothing against doctors or lawyers.  Please do not be offended.  That is just who was in this dream.)

So in my dream I am walking with a boy that I don't know but I am in charge of him.  We walk into this building and there lined up are orphans.  I am not sure why they are there.  They smile and wave at me but I do not recognize their faces.  I take this boy that is with me and we sit down at a table.  Seated in front of us is a doctor and to his right is a lawyer and to his left is a lawyer.  The doctor procedes to tell me that he can make an appoitment to see this boy on next Wednesday.  I tell him that won't work and does he have time tomorrow or the next day.  The doctor says it is Wednesday or you can find a new doctor.  I start to get up and they, the doctor and lawyers, ask me where I am going?  I say to find a new doctor.  They tell me, no one will take him as he already has a debt that can not be paid.  I say, well what do you mean, a debt?  They say,  he is a burden just like all these others here and we as a society have already paid too much for him. I say, but they did not choose this life, society chose it for them.  By this time the lawyers are already standing and ready to walk out the door.  I say to one of them, just a minute, can you listen to one last thing that I need to say to you.  So he obliged.  I then said, sir, when you stand before God you do not have to answer for the choices of anyone in this room but your own.  God says in His word that whatever you have done to the least of these you have done to Him.  He says we are to help the orphans in their distress.  So where are you going? 

I am not really sure why I had  this dream but I hope it will stir your heart for the orphan.  These kids don't have a choice but to be here and they are in survival mode.  We can not possibly understand what they are going through, we just love on them while we have the chance.  When we are gone we will remember them but what they really need is to be rescued from the life that awaits them.

~Tina

Patience

There is really nothing new to write about today.  It is just the same thing over and over and over again.  Insanity.  Caleb is still in the hospital and no one knows anything.  Peyton is still all smiles when we get there and we enjoy our time with her and her friends.  Since it is the weekend we can see her anytime but we try to only stay an hour each time.  The kids start getting rowdy after a while and that is usually our cue to go.  The hitting with sticks and fists, choking with shoe strings and pulling hair just makes us so sad for them.  They all definitely know their pecking order and who to avoid. 

Please say a prayer for us as this 10 day wait is definitely a struggle.  We know God is in control and we are trying to stay as positive as we can.

~Tina

Peyton and Mikolya

Happy girl.  Doesn't she look so peaceful?

Looking in my translating book for
what I am trying to say.  She always listens
so intently.  Such a smart girl.

Peyton and mama

Peyton's dom - where she sleeps and also
they have some of their classes
 in this buliding.

Peyton and her friends and that is Peter 
behind doing the bunny ears.

This is Peter and oh how he would
thrive with a mama and papa.

10 Days Minus 4

We are in that holding patteren that those that have adopted from Ukraine know as the 10 days after your court hearing.  The only problem is that for some unknown reason Caleb is still in the hospital although he was well enough to take him out of the hospital on Monday and bring him to court for 2 hours.  We ask the nannies two times a day, every day, if he is back yet. Everyday the same answer, no, still at hospital.  Peyton has school everyday and we have yet to figure out her class schedule. Some days she is between classes at 11:00 and we get to see her for 15 minutes until the bell rings for class.  Some days we see her at 4:15 to 5 and then she is supposed to be in class starting at 4:30 but not everyday so we only visit her for a half hour so she can go to class.  Today we showed up later and class seemed to be over at 6:00 and so we stayed until about 6:40 and then left so that they could go and eat dinner.  Our facilitator is having a hard time getting the orphanage to communicate with him with any detail and so we just do the best we can.

I have been working with Peyton on writing the alphabet and multiplication problems.  We draw lots of pictures and look at photos from home.  The kids in her group like to hang out with us as well and they enjoy writing and looking at pictures.  The kids will write words in Ukrainian and want me to write them in English.  Sometimes I know what they write and sometimes I have to look in my translation book. Peyton doesn't mind that our time with her is spent with her classmates also.  She just smiles and shares the things we bring with them.  These kids need and desire attention.  They are very protective of Peyton and the fact that we are her mama and papa.  So if some of the other kids that are not in her group come up to us and want a hug, a few of the boys will holler "nyet (no) Yulia's mama and papa" and push the others away.  I am so glad they realize this but I feel bad for the ones that need the attention.

Please pray that Caleb will get out of the hospital soon and that this 10 days can go just a little faster. : )  The following pictures are some random shots from today except for the two pictures at the end showing Peyton and her friends.
~Tina



People tie their goats up outside their
gates to graze down the grass.

This sign says Berdychiv, the name of the
town where we had court.

I liked this plant with the big leaves.

 

water pump

Their Names

I have had quite a few people comment on the kids' names, how we chose them and what about the name Adyson, as in The Road to Adyson, that I had for my blog name originally.  So here it goes and fair warning, this is a long post.

Gary and I knew when we got married that we would never be able to have children and that we would adopt one day.  That is why we chose to become foster parents so that we could help some childen along the way and maybe adopt a few of them.  As time went on we were only getting boy placements or calls for placement of boys and I wasn't sure why, I just knew I wanted a daughter. 

I started checking in to international adoption about the time that my oldest son and I went to a concert that featured Christian bands, one being Addison Road.  I always liked this group and there song, Hope Now, just really spoke to me.  Specifically the lyrics,

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm
And everything rides on hope now
And everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free.

My life had definitely had some storms in the past and I guess I had been broken by the people in this world.  But I knew that God had spared my life and my oldest son's life for some reason and so I never let those storms get to me.  That night at the concert God reassured me that my daughter was out there I just needed to be faithful to what He was calling us to do. And so the name Adyson was what I thought would be my daughter's name.

For those that don't know, Gary and I travelled to Ukraine in the fall of 2010 and we travelled to 2 different areas to meet children.  Both referrals we did not feel we were right for.  After 3 weeks here, we felt God leading us home.  I was heartbroken but I knew that God had a plan and that I would have a daughter some day I just had to wait for His timing.

So we went on being foster parents but my heart was still being pulled towards Ukraine.  I followed alot of blogs of people that were successfully adopting from here.  I would check the Ukraine photolisting of available children (not all available outside Ukraine) in hopes of seeing my daughter.  One blog in particular that I had followed for sometime was the Horner family.  They had adopted an older boy from Ukraine in late 2010 and were returning to Ukraine in 2011 to adopt a girl that they knew about.  Right before they left to go get their girl they found out she had been adopted.  They continued on anyway knowing that they had to be obedient to God and His calling for them.  They travelled to Ukraine at the beginning of Oct. 2011 and on Oct. 17 Alecia posted a picture of her new daughter and her friend who was available for adoption. As soon as I saw her face I knew that this girl was my daughter.  I emailed Alecia about her and as they say the rest is history. 

Once we got to Ukraine in July and met Yulia we had our facilitator tell her that we would like to change her name to Adyson as we knew she did not want to keep the name Yulia.  She immediately said she did not like that name and so we told her we would choose another name.  I was not in the least disappointed because I just wanted her to be happy with her name.  It was not like she was a newborn and had no choice. 

When we returned home Gary and I made a list of names we liked.  We hoped when we went back to Ukraine that we could give her the list and let her choose.  Well those of you know,  when we came back to Ukraine in August we only got to see Yulia for about 10 minutes and most of that was taken up with her writing a letter saying she wanted to be adopted by us and we were her mama and papa.  Much more important I think than worrying about her name.  What we did not realize is the next day we would have to file the petition to the court to get a court date and in the petition we would need her new name. So no pressure, just choose, right now.  Gary and I then talked a minute and decided on Peyton.  Our facilitator said we could just file another document to change it if she didn't like it once we got to court. Well, things didn't happen as our facilitator thought they would and when he filed to get a court date he was told that it was not going to be until Oct.  So we headed back home and did not get to see Yulia again to ask her. 

When we came back to Ukraine this time, we came a few days early to visit the kids.  Our facilitator does not live near the area we are in and so he arrived here the day of court.  Needless to say, because we did not have our facilitator here to translate for us, we did not get to ask Yulia about her new name until we walked in to the courthouse.  Our facilitator said she said she was fine with the name Peyton.  So Peyton it is.

The name Peyton means Peacock Town but we did not know that at the time.  As you can see by one of the pictures below, our hotel lobby has a mural on the wall of peacocks.  What a coincidence.

Her middle name, Mae, is a family name.  Gary's mother has the middle name Mae and my late grandmother had the middle name Mae.  Both Godly women who love to help people.  We hope to pass this on to her.

Now on to little man's name.  We chose the name Caleb first because I wanted a biblical name and second I wanted him to have a C name like two of his brothers.  His birth name was Bogdan which means God  given and I knew his new name needed to be pleasing to God.  You see, when we first found out about Yulia we did not know she had a brother.  As the months went on and the Horner family communicated with her for us we found out she had a brother but she had never met him and did not know where he was.  We did not know we would be getting him also until we had our  SDA appointment in August.  So truly God has given him to us.  The name Caleb means faithful and whole-hearted. 

His middle name, Fredrick, was my father's middle name.  He passed away about 4 years ago and he would have been proud to have 2 more grandchildren especially one with his name. 

~Tina

getting ready for Winter

 

peacock mural

sweet girl with her daddy

School Girl

Today was a little crazy and frustrating.  We went to the orphanage at 10:30 and Caleb was still at the hospital.  So we went to see Peyton and she was between classes for school.  We saw her about 15 minutes and then the director saw us with her.  The director sent the orphanage attorney (she speaks some English) to tell us that Peyton has class right now and to come back after 3 pm.  Oh, and also they eat at 3 pm.  So we came back at 4 pm and the kids were just walking out of the cafeteria and Peyton came running to us with such a big smile on her face.  It was raining and so we went in to her building to the entertainment room and watched tv.  We passed out candy and the kids really liked that.  They all said (spasiba) thank you.  We were not in there more than 10 minutes and in came a lady.  She said a few things and the kids got up, turned the tv off, straightened up the room, gave Peyton the key to the door and left.  So we didn't know what was going on.  We decided to take Peyton and see if Caleb was back yet.  No, he is still at the hospital.  I told Peyton to go where she needed to and we would follow.  She must have understood me because we went in to the main building and down the hall and she opened a door.  Low and behold, there is where all her classmates went, to school, again?  It was 5 pm.  So we left her there and walked on back to our hotel.

Tomorrow I will have our facilitator talk to the director to find out when a good time to visit is.  We are hoping Caleb is back tomorrow so that we can visit him.  He is not old enough for school here yet so visiting him will not be a problem.

Please continue to pray for us and the children.

Enjoy a few pictures.

~Tina

school girl

Look at this antique riding toy. 

Can anyone guess what this is?
If you guessed a truck frame powered by
a garden tiller, you would be correct.

Two Less Orphans

We are excited beyond belief that we are now the proud parents of  -

Peyton Mae Bell

 

 

and

 

 Caleb Fredrick Bell

 

 

 

Court was to be at 3 pm today and about 3:35 pm the judge came in the court room.  Everyone in the room had to be accounted for and then Gary and I had to stand and give our full names, date of birth and home address.  I can't really remember all of the details of court, like who said what next, but I know that I had to stand and answer a bunch of questions. Then what came next really surprised us.    

 

Believe it or not Peyton and Caleb both had to be at court with us.  I was expecting Peyton but not Caleb as he is only 5.  That little boy was so brave when he stood up there in front of that judge and 2 town witnesses,  one on either side of the judge.  We are not really sure what all they asked him but he said yes when they asked if we were his mama and papa.  Then Peyton had to do the same thing and she had the biggest smile on her face when she said yes that she understood what was happening, that she would be leaving everything she knows and travel far away and that yes this is her mama and papa.  These two kids just blew me away.  I can not imagine what was going through their minds because I was so nervous.

 

At 4:45 pm the judge was done and took a recess.  At that point everyone left but us, our facilitator and the two women on either side of the judge.  Then  at 5:05 pm the judge returned and pronounced us as parents of these two beautiful children.  Yes, the day we have been waiting for for such a long time.  We give God all the glory because He knew that these two would be perfect for us. 

 

What next?  Well, we have the 10 day waiting period and all the paperwork that follows.  We were so wishing the judge would wave the 10 days but he is a new, young judge and we were only his second adoption case.  So we will enjoy our time visiting the kids and hopefully get to know some of the other children that could be available.

We want to give a big shout out to the Horner family.  If it were not for them following God's call on their lives to travel to Ukraine to adopt their daughter and son we would not have met our kids.  So, Horner family, we love you dearly and will never be able to thank you enough.  
 

Thanks to all of you that have been praying for us.

 

~Tina 

 





 

Today

Today when we went to visit the kids in the morning we found out Bogdan is in the hospital.  We just saw him yesterday but apprarently his throat and ear were hurting and so they took him to the hospital in Berdychiv.  I could tell when we saw him last night something wasn't quite right but I just thought it was his reaction from us being gone.  Please say a prayer for our poor little guy that he gets well soon. 

With Bogdan being gone we got to spend all our time with Yulia.  She was so happy to see us and although we can't commumicate very well we are getting good at drawing and pointing.  She is content just sitting beside us and smiling. 

We were outside a little today but it was chilly and once again she had no coat on.  We went inside and watched a video of some of the kids from her group giving a performance.  I think this video was taken before Yulia got to this orphanage as she was not in the performance and she used to perform when she was at the boarding school. 

It is different when we visit her because all the kids in her group hang around and want our attention also.  The boys seem to not know that hitting girls is not appropriate.  We tell them nyet (no) and they quit for a while but then something happens and they are back at it again.  Yulia carries a purse with her and when they try to hit her she swings that purse back and is ready to hit.  (That's my girl)  She actually is not mean at all, very tender soul, but enough is enough.  You know what I mean. 

These kids really are so nice to us and tolerant of the fact that they are trying to tell us something and we don't understand.  They try really hard to get us to understand.  We (ok I) would love to bring a few more of them home.  They just need a papa and mama to love them and show them the way. 

Please pray for us and our court hearing tomorrow.  Also, pray for Yulia as she will have to be at court and answer the judge's questions.  That has to be a little scary for a kid.

~Tina




Yulia and a couple other girls mopping
the floor of the cafeteria.
 

 



Yulia writng words from this
book we brought.



Isn't this homemade bow awesome!





I wrote the top line and Yulia
copied under it.  Didn't she do great?!



Morning Glory growing on this
fence we pass by every day.
 

 

I am always amazed at the big houses
in among the small ones.





We Are Back In Ukraine

We arrived at our hotel room at 5 pm today, freshened up a little and walked  to the orphanage.  We got Bogdan from his building first and he was so glad to see us.  He came running out of the room he was in and jumped right in to my arms.  He hugged me so tight and long.  He wasn't about to let go. 

We then explained to the nannies that we wanted to take him with us to see Yulia.  They got him all bundled up as it is getting cooler here now and away we went.  As we were walking some of the older kids we walking around and we asked them where Yulia was.  They went and got her and she came running out the door of her building with the biggest grin on her face and hugged both of us. 

We played outside a while, swinging and sliding, and then I could tell they were getting cold, although they never complained.  Yulia didn't even have a coat on and I am not really sure if she even has one. We went inside her building and sat in a room with several of the children and watched some cartoons.  The other children were very curious of us and some would say that is Yulia's mama and papa.  She would just grin and duck her head.  She is a little shy but so so sweet.  She did understand a few things I said but for the most part she doesn't speak any English.  I can tell that she is smart and it won't take her long to catch on. 

I better close for now as I am just a little tired.  Enjoy the few pictures.  I was just too busy taking this girl in and forgot about the camera.

~Tina

I love how Bogdan is looking at her.





Don't you think she looks a little like me?

Court Date

Our court date will be September 24.  We didn't realize we would have to wait so long.  We will be staying in Ukraine for the mandatory 10 day wait and the paperwork that follows to bring our sweet kids home.  Please pray that everything goes smoothly as we are soooo ready to be done. 

~Tina