Crossed over and the "Over/Under"

Today may be the day I have crossed over into adapting/assimilation/survival mode without realizing it. Our hotel/apartment is very nice; spacious, internet (although weak at times), comfortable couch, room to play and wrestle, lots of hot water, etc. What we don't have is a kitchen. We are using a hot water pot to make everything. Because of the size of the sink and location in the bathroom, it's hard to do dishes. This morning, without really thinking about it, I grabbed the seven or so items that needed washed and took them into the shower with me and washed them while showering. It wasn't until I got out and looked back at them sitting in the corner of the shower that I realized what I had just done. We had an exchange student from Russia several years ago who would wash clothes in the shower and hang them to dry. We gently told her it was OK to not do that. She insisted. It took several weeks to correct that as it was foreign to her. She also would not put hot or semi-warm items that were left overs in the refrigerator until cooled because it would cause the temperature to rise inside, using more electricity to cool it down. She's 21, now, and doing great at a prestigious university in St. Petersburg. Anyway, very disturbing to do this without thinking. I've crossed over. Also, for those of us who have had issues with our spouses, or other people in out homes concerning whether or not the toilet paper goes over or under. I had to come all the way to Izmail, Ukraine to finally be vindicated and validated. The dispenser is designed to have the roll go OVER, not under, OOOOOVERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! If it goes under, the tearing mechanism does not perform as designed. It's intrinsic! Everyone knows in their gut it goes over! Even in Ukraine it's obvious. Think to yourself, "What would that look like or how would you design it to go under"........you WOULDN'T!!! That's right! Anyone who doesn't do that has an issue of very subtle, passive-aggressive, oppositional-defiant behavior. I've considered running for office on the, "Over Platform". I'll take the over!..............Just came back from breakfast. I dropped my keys in the exact spot where they went all the way to the basement. Went to retrieve them and came across a nice, huge room with two tournament size, quality pool tables and a really nice ping-pong table!! Right across the hall-JACK POT...a fully furnished, accessible weight room!!!! Finally; the picture to the left is what you get when you order an expedited court hearing and a waiving of, or partial reduction in the number of days required during the dreaded, "10-Day Waiting Period.". I'm facing knee surgery when I get back. I'm considering playing that angle with the judge, as well. Off to get a tour of the city so we have stuff to do and somewhere to go for the next 2 1/2 weeks.

When orphans go gangsta!

I also posted this on FaceBook, so put it in the category: "From The Department Of Redundancy Department. " This is our soon to be 10 year old son busting out and showing his inner-gangsta! We are already so proud to be providing the platform upon which to launch his new career. Have you seen the movie, "White Men Can't Jump.", well...in this video, you be the judge.

Take what you get.

We are staying at a hotel that caters primarily to seaman who work the docks, port or on the ships themselves. Great place and I negotiated free breakfasts. We have to give our orders the night before which includes the time we want to eat and what you would like. This is what happens when you order scrambled eggs, sausage and orange juice. Somehow, someway, somewhere this morphed in to rice and hot dogs. Aimee had her rice served with some sort of cheese/sour cream combination; I got mine with butter. Aimee received just the rice. We had grapefruit/peach juice. The young girl who has now been preparing our breakfasts for the last five days, served it with pride in her eyes. You smile & take what you get.

We now have friends who are also grandparents

FYI we now have friends who also became grandparents this past week. Burt and Robin our good friends from church and worship ministry. Little Taya was born Feb 21st. She is a beautiful little girl. This is the first child of their daughter Amber and the frist grandbaby, Amber you did a great job, she is just precious. We love you and are praying for you. So Felix, I am now not the only young beautiful babushka!

Update from past 5 days

We have had very poor Internet connection in our new hotel/apartment that we moved into Friday. We are on the third floor and walls are mostly concrete so router has a hard time with the signal up here. This combined with the fact that Oksana or Vlad are on my computer whenever they are here with us, and I am so tired by the time we get them back to the internot I have had no energy to blog. I have been posting new photos each day on the Picasa web album link with some captions that tell a little bit.

A lot has happened since Oksana made the decision to move forward. Our paperwork has been completed. Valentin called this morning to let me know it had been submitted to the SDA. He expects us to have it back by Friday and then Yuri will return from Odessa with the copies for court. Valentin thinks we will have court by the end of next week, I am not sure about that it seems rather quick, but I would be thrilled if it does happen.

Yuri our "Translator/Driver/in region facilitator" is a very strange person who speaks very little English, his second language is Italian he does adoptions for many Italian families in this region. Valentin figured with Matt's little Russian, Yuri's little English and this being our second adoption, that having a "translator" who does not know how to translate would work for us, it has been very stressful to say the least. Yuri left yesterday morning for Odessa with our documents, it has been good for us to have time apart. He is good at his job and does have good relations with all the right people here in Izmail to get things done for the adoption, but it is always a guess for us as to what he is doing. Perhaps we were just spoiled by having Nadia during the last adoption trip. He is the slowest driver ever, has been taking him at least 30 minutes to drive us to the orphanage each time, and it is very obvious that he takes a lot of roads that just waste time and take us in circles. Other drivers are always honking at us, and Yuri often pulls over to allow everyone to pass, there are times when we are actually coasting, no gas pedal being pushed for many minutes. The worst thing is that he really has a fear of black cats. He will pull off to the side of the road if he sees on in the distance, and wait for another car to pass the cat causing the cat to run away, then he will drive again. It is absolutely insane, if you have been here you know how many stray animals roam the streets, so black cats do cross the street more times than we had the patience for. Yuri also is grumpy a lot, or at least it appears that way. Oksana & Vlad do not care for him much either. Yuri seems to be inserting his advice and or request of the children, when it is really not needed or wanted by any of us. One day after one of these conversations between Oksana & Yuri I could tell she was very annoyed with him. I asked her what is his problem, her answer "I don't know He Always has a Problem!!" This is Yuri's car where we have spent too much time. The bonus is he has this self installed security alarm system, that has the old manual door locks now wired to a push button locking system. A few days back this system had a major malfunction and as a result the locks in the driver side and front passenger side door constantly move up a down as you drive. It is creepy. Yuri just laughs and says in his broken English "Crazy Car" "Magic Car". Since Yuri has left we have been using Taxi's to get back and forth from the orphanage and the hotel, Taxi takes 5-6 minutes tops, this in comparison to Yuri's 30 minutes.

We have had much freedom as to our visits with the kids. We can take them with us to eat, shopping or to to the hotel to hang out. We can also stay at the orphanage and visit there for a s long as we like. We have been doing some of both. There are two other American couples adopting now from their orphanage. I posted their photos on our web album. When we visit at the orphanage during the same time as these couples it is really loud and chaotic, the other couples have younger kids so they are very active and everyone tends to feed off each others craziness. This is the photo of Matt bench pressing Vlad during one of these visits. This was after the 10 minute long WWF match between the two of them. After Matt was all worn out Vlad wanted more, so little Yura put down the gameboy and joined in for round two. After all of this Vlad was very hot and sweaty in his three shirts. He took off the top two layers which left him in a tank top and his jeans. We were informed by one of the care takers who happen to walk by that this was NOT OK. She began to spout off in an angry Ukrainian mother tone about how Vlad will get sick and it is way too cold bla bla bla. Vlad tried to explain over and over how hot he was, she would hear none of it, finally he compromised and put back on one of the long sleeve shirts until she was gone. These Ukrainians and their superstitions, it is out of control! By the way I talked with Valentin about adoption of Yura, no way to do this during this trip. If we had brought a second dossier we could add him to the petition and have the same court and would have been able to bring him home also. I wish we had brought another dossier but we did not think it would be needed. Matt and I are praying about how, when or if we can come back for him in the next year. Yuri has been in the orphanage for 7 years. He turned 13 on December 23rd this past year. He wants to go to America and have a family. Please pray with us as we seek God's will and try to figure out His plan for this little boy.

Monday was a busy day. The children did not have any medical records in their orphanage files. I am not sure why this is, maybe because they have only been in this orphanage for a little over two years, not 6 years like Oksana had told us when she was in America. Anyway we had to take them along with the orphanage nurse to the children's clinic for an exam and to get a certificate of health made. This clinic is like the rest of Ukraine very old style stuck in the soviet times all the equipment in the exam rooms looks like it was made in the 40's. The system of record keeping for each child's medical history is shocking to me. They each have a little notebook like they use in school with had written notes, various papers stapled in them and all of the little books are stacked on desks with the child's name on the front of it. No computers! This is the picture of the doctor writing in one of their little notebooks not sure if you can make it out but there is a stack of these on the edge of the desk.

Monday was also Vlad's 10th Birthday. We had a cake with candles that spelled out Happy Birthday in Russian letters, balloons & Presents. We had the plan to have the little party at the orphanage with Vlad's group of kids, but he really wanted to do the party at the hotel with just us. It was a good time. Vlad got a MP3 player and a Avalanche Hoodie and sweat pants. He loves his music and really gets into his dancing, it is pretty funny. Matt has a video maybe he can post on facebook of Vlad dancing in his new outfit on this day cracks us up. Vlad also asked me to take pictures of him in various poses with his outfit and the avalanche hat he got when he was in America over the summer, he really thought he was the man in this get up.

I think we are just entering the hurry up and wait zone other wise known as Groundhogs Day. I guess I have rambled on enough for now. Matt is also writing a blog post here next to me so between the two of us I am sure you

will have a pretty good idea of what has been happening here with us. If any of you have facebook and don't have Matt as a friend look for him, he has been updating often there from his blackberry which has better connection than our hotel internet.

Good Night for now!

"I'm coming to America"!

It has been several days since we blogged. No real reason except maybe it's so much easier to FaceBook events. The young lady pictured here is on board, always was & always will be. Took this shot on the couches at the orphanage where we have spent a lot of time. I love those couches! She's sitting right where she was when she spoke her heart, Satan took one in the a.. & the process to get these two out of here moved forward. To me, it's sacred ground, the exact location where the battle was won. We had our paperwork get to Kyiv this morning. All is good, in order and a confirmation that the Interpool clearance is good to go. Will have documents to submit for a court hearing on Monday. Good possibility we could have court next Wednesday. Is that really still a whole week away? We've been skeptical for about a week about the time, distance & travel path taken to get to the orphanage by our translator. I tend to pay attention to directions. We rarely went the same way twice, had lots of u-turns, back streets (if you can imagine a streets worse than the ones I posted as a video on FaceBook) and it was taking approximately 20-25 minutes, one way. Last night we took our 1st real Izmail taxi ride. It went exactly how I had mapped it out on Google Earth, cut the distance by 1/3 and took about 6 minutes. We knew something was really wrong last week when some on bikes started not only honking at us, but passing us. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to be sitting in a taxi and have a 70 year old guy on a crappy bike wave his finger at you as he bolts by? The other three rides we've taken have been only 30% of the cost we were told it would be and just as fast. We have settled into that mode where you wake up as late as possible, eat breakfast as late as possible, slowly make your bed, remake it, look outside and start wondering if it's OK to wander out without getting lost because all the streets have really long names and end in, "...skya, or ...ova". Had our taxi guy, Zhenya, take me to a gym near the port to see when they played basketball. I brought shoes, a ball and a pump-no luck. It's all about indoor soccer; guys the size of linebackers playing indoor soccer...pleeeeeeeze! For those who met Oksana; imagine her about 20 lbs. lighter, if you can. To describe her as thing would be a stretch. It's very hard on me.A few things that drive me crazy: when people criticize shows like, "Extreme Make Over-Home Edition" or, "The Biggest Loser" because it's just about promoting the advertised products or cashing in on someone's weight problem. Aren't they still doing a good thing, meeting real needs? Or those who pronounce judgement on a religious sect, movement or belief system because certainly their good works or intentions cant't be as good as those whose theology is rock-solid. When Jesus used a Samaritan traveler to be the leading man in one of his greatest parables, do you think it was an accident that He chose someone other than God's chosen people, especially the two mentioned who would have clearly had the correct, "theology" and instead inserted one whose heart was in-tune with the spirit of Jesus? The woman to the right sits at this spot every day. We watched as dozens walked by. If ever the skill of NOT

making eye-contact paid off, this was it. We watched. We went shopping for her. She sits, strategically, on the sidewalks that surround the church. Why? Why would she do that, of all places? I submit that at the core of who we are as humans is an innate sense that those who talk of religious issues or would be in a location to present that religion is a part of their lives, are the very people you expect ACTION from. Read Matthew 25. I want

to make it perfectly clear that I am not self-righteous and have made too many errors to pretend to assume a position over others I know I'm not qualified to fill. What I do know is this: if you SAY you're a believer in Christ you are bound to manifest that in tangible ways that meet the needs of the outcasts: the poor, the widows, those unfairly imprisoned and the orphans. Those are identified in scripture so if you have a problem with me saying it or are offended, you don't have a problem with me; you have a much bigger problem. I think it fair to say that God has no use for lip-service. I've really got to stop reading this stupid book, "Red Letters", by Tom Davis. I'd much prefer to go back to my comfortable life in the greatest country in the world, at least for a while. I have a whole perspective/blog/discussion venue on that: I think God is slowly allowing our country to suffer the consequences of a nation that has the resources to be Jesus to the world and is finding every excuse under the sun to justify our selfishness. God used the Assyrians, the Persians and Babylonians to dismantle His chosen people, it's certainly within the realm of possibility that He would allow us to destroy ourselves from within, IE: socialism. While Jesus had some very socialistic things to say, it wasn't the kind were heading down as a nation. I've read through the Bible, cover to cover, chronologically, twice in the last three years-it's there! If there is a growing burden concerning adoption, that burden is the Holy Spirit. Ignore it or excuse it to your own detriment. We are not called to comfort, we are called to a cause. Or, as I heard it was stated in Sundays service at Rocky Mountain Christian Church, "Comfort does not trump calling". I love that. Did I mention our driver stops for black cats? The melting snow is revealing streets that were better off covered in it. With the way this affects me, will it ever end? I don't have the money or any more rooms in the house. Can you hear the Lord right now? "PERFECT, just what I need! Someone who can't take credit." Another thing: there is NO biblical basis for retirement as we define it and strive for...anyone want to correct me on

that, feel free. I can't find it. Wrestled with Vlad yesterday. Was wonderful to let him dominate me and see his confidence grow, up to and including yanking off his shirt and flexing as some sort of warning for me that I'd better back off or more of that was coming after me! Look out indoor-soccer-playing-linebackers...here comes "Vlad The Huge".

To the left: dinner last night! Can I interest you in tonight's special? We have instant mashed potatoes, with or without chicken flavoring. We have Ritz type crackers & a cheese that is completely unknown. Very expensive grapes and day old bread that appears to be a pizza, "wanna-be". Washed down with flat Fanta & lukewarm soda water. Bon-apa-puke!

Loud & Clear!

In Aimee's previous post, there is a picture of all four of us. See that blue cup in my hand? If one could find a way to market, distribute & sell this simple item, one could become a millionaire almost overnight. This is a culture of, "NO, you may NOT have it to go!!!" Also, I'm sharing a stunning thumb-nail photo on the upper right, of probably the coolest item in Ukraine: a hot water heating pot. These are, without a doubt, the most useful items ever. Water heats up in about 2 minutes or less and burns the hell out of your mouth shortly thereafter because you're so excited it heated up so fast you fail to draw upon decades of experience concerning damage that excessive heat can cause or exercise any wisdom or discretion regarding putting scalding hot water into the hole on your face! Last night, I posted about the Lord intervening. It was one of my more eloquent posts, I know, save your admiration for an even more compelling episode later. By the way, is that really a church bell "gonging" for the 20th time in the last few minutes at 11PM? Be aware of what you pray for, request, or challenge God at doing; He may just do it! Last week the community of believers prayed for the Peck's and I KNOW God moved to change a government bureaucracy. This week, this same group left at God's feet, the more specific item of a lunatic, 13 year old girl's heart, which in my experience can have more red-tape than a bureaucracy. Last night I scoffed at and thumbed my nose at the Lord of the universe regarding an audible intervention. In hind-sight, I used reverse psychology on Him; God's all about reverse psychology. We know He can dish it out, but can He take it? I was sitting at a desk outside the director's office when my mind went blank, everything went completely quiet (for those of you have heard Ukrainians talking, that's amazing if that's all that happened), in a split second I heard myself say, "Thats it, I've had it. I'm not giving her a choice. I'm telling her she's coming to America, that's it. No more. I'm done" It was that easy. I looked at Aimee and said those very words. She also knew it & told me to do it. We walked to the same room we were in last night, sat down & less than a minute later, despite all the distractions, I engaged; eye-to-eye. I saw fear, I saw questions & a lack of faith-can't imagine why??? I saw her starting to shake. She knew it was time. She knew what she wanted and needed to say. Some may/will call it bullying, coercive, intimidating and that we'll pay for it later...I say shut the, you know what, up! I'd rather cross that bridge in the states than here. I'd also rather pay for it in the states than have some,"creeper" (to use the choice words of my lovely teen-age daughters back home) pay for her to do things here. That's the reality, people, read the stats! Who can say the methods that the Lord uses has to follow a pattern, or has to be under the threshold of a self-appointed threshold regulator? What is that threshold and how do you get the job of determining it? Can you imagine, in response to the question, "So, what do you do?", your response is, "Well, I'm the self-appointed, self-righteous, reasonable, responsible, spiritual, religious, threshold regulator analyst." Perhaps if most of us were familiar with our Bibles we would know He uses a gentle whisper as well as tornadoes. I would prefer my methods were more, "My Little Pony" or, "Care Bear" like, but we're not storming the beaches of "Barbie's Dream House", going to, "...infinity & beyond", with Buzz Light Year, or playing a DVD called, "Dances with Gilligan", we're battling an entity that wants to drag these kids and their souls to hell. God spoke through me to get her to say she would come. She spoke her heart & DOES want to come to America. It was a choice this girl was empowered to make and wanted to make. She wanted & needed to be able to say yes with certainty. The top left photo is the letter of consent. It's the real deal. It's not the final ticket, but it's way past yesterday. I believe there is spiritual warfare here in this country because Satan has had a death grip on it for centuries. Any time we get one more child out of here, he throws his little satan-hissy fit & loses, again. I fantasize about the Lord taking that cartoon character tail of his, yeah, the one with the heart that's upside down and rather large, and uses it as a stool for Satan to sit on at His feet right before he face plants him securely under His heel-remember that prophecy? Recall that scene in, "The Passion Of The Christ", where Jesus looks through the crowd and sees the face of that creepy, child-like Satan appear(could that face look any more like the face of the, "...mocker & fool..", described in Proverbs)? Last night when I felt we had lost the battle, there was a really eerie moment when I saw that look. It shot shivers up my spine. I felt the tingling of complete fear over the centuries find its way to the backs of my arms and on the back of my neck. There was a totally exposed from behind sensation I can't describe-it made me want to stand up and look behind me. I was in complete and utter horror for that moment. It's a look burned into my mind forever. The prayers offered on her behalf were heard. It compelled me to pursue with no fear, no regret and no doubt. I really cannot explain it. To be sure, we cannot pretend that Satan won't try again with this child over the next few days and what we can do is limited to what God's will is. To be sure, my focus is clear, my determination certain, my purpose defined and resolute. & for the love of God would everyone quit being so politically and adoption correct and stop being so sensitive and offended-it's a blog that contains thoughts, feelings & opinions. We're in a foreign country. I speak just enough Russian to start WWIII. We have a driver doing circles here in the city. My "Total Pillow" broke. I miss my other girls and new grandson. The cab driver that took us to the train station took a 200 grivna and drove away without giving me change-it was supposed to be 80 grivna!!!! It was hell just getting a spoon from the hotel kitchen. The liquid Coffee Mate is gone. We haven't been able to do laundry in a week and there are soldiers carrying rifles at the entrance to the supermarket...lighten up.