We had our bus adventure making our way back to Kiev yesterday. I always thought that they drove crazy in Mexico, pretty crazy here too. It was a 4 hour ride in an 18 passenger van-like bus. The seats were lopsided, it was wickedly hot (yes I said hot), it smelled unpleasant. The road was full of potholes that driver was constantly dodging. I think for every one he missed he hit two more. Thankfully the road conditions were better than our trip out. We had one "break" about halfway back, and by then we were in real need for some fresh air, 10 minutes and Twix Bar later and we were back on the road. I was pretty impressed with myself and with Lily, we are both pretty prone to motion sickness and we both made it without incident, thankfully.
Once back in Kiev we had to submit an application for our 3rd appointment and wouldn't you know it, they rejected it because our inspector friend back in Romny did the paperwork wrong. Another delay! We did get some FaceTime with our sweet, dear friends Clarke and Kris who really helped us work through some options. We were still trying to figure out the scenario of our best/worst case time line. We were also really doubting what would happen at this last SDA appointment. They called in the back ups and gave us a bit of "our" control back in a system that is truly out of our control. They were also able to verify that the translator who went to talk with the little girl in Romny was in fact in contact with the other American family and they are coming for her. She will have a forever family in the states very soon.
The reality is that we could go back to the SDA and be shown all the same kids again, and therefore end up coming home empty handed. So Clarke and Kris got on the phone back at home and started working their contacts. We have received a couple of emails with possible girls that we will be having our facilitator follow up on. This way, when we go to our appointment we have those options as well as whatever they might present.
The second thing they did was help us to figure out how to get at least Jamie home in the quickest possible way. What it looks like makes the most sense for us now is to go to our appointment, hopefully by Tuesday and get our last referral. Travel to meet this little girl and pray for a quicker "ask" time. File the petition to adopt and get Jamie on the first fight out of Kiev back home. He will go home, get back with our other girls and wait for word on when our court date will be. He will then travel back for court and then go home for good. I will have to wait out the process, but at least one of us will be with the girls! There is also the outside chance that if we end up in a favorable region, with a favorable judge, there is an outside chance that we could petition the judge to allow Jamie to go home and stay and let me finish everything up. This would be the best for the obvious reasons, continuity with the girls, him getting back to work, and saving money on the extra round trip ticket. The most important thing is to try to get back to the girls as soon as possible. We can always make more money, right.
We are still struggling with the process here and are anxious to get to our 3rd appointment. We are committed to this last appointment (baring any other unforeseen delays of more than a week). This morning Jamie was reading Mark 5 to me where it is telling about the man who was possessed by the legions of demons, the demons asked to be sent into the pigs. Jesus sent them into the pigs who plunged over the cliff. Then the man asked to go with Jesus and Jesus said no, go tell of what I have done. I say this because sometimes the answer is no. This man wanted to go with Jesus but was obedient when he said no. Jesus knew that this mans witness would further the kingdom and it needed to be shared. I have been struggling, feeling like some how I had failed. That I had missed something, done something wrong, who knows but that if we came home with out a child, some how I failed. The reality is that if we end up coming home with out a child, I (or we) did not fail. And God has a story to tell through that.
However, please know that I (we) aren't giving up. We are working every contact we have. We are persevering through the process. Following God one day at a time. Trying desperately not to look to far down the road because that is overwhelming. So on Friday we plan to make a trip to an orphanage to deliver gifts to the children. This will be a wonderful diversion and opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to these children.
In the meantime, we will be here in Kiev. Today was a lovely day in the city. It was above freezing. I actually went out without a hat or gloves for the first time. We walked a lot. First to have coffee with a sweet man named George who was such an encouragement to us. The first Ukrainian that we have had contact with that was so obviously filled with joy. He smiled constantly, this is not normal! Then we walked to the market and back and finally back up near the SDA to redo our application. Probably over 4 miles today.
With the warmer weather today, there is lots of melting and with melting comes icebergs literally falling from the sky. We saw several people dodging falling ice and snow with a couple of occasion of it landing at the feet of passers-by. It was an adventure trying to not only watch where you were walking, dodging puddles, ice patches, cars and people but also looking up to see what was over head that could come down on your head. If some of these icebergs came down on you, it would not be good.
Tomorrow, we will start with the donuts we found at the market and maybe we go see some of the sights!
Thanks for all the words of encouragement and prayers, we cherish them, really!!!
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