The path for the boy… so far

As told earlier, we left a space for a child in our paperwork. I turned out that Elizabeth had no siblings and we chose to pursue this slot as a young boy. We made plans for such, and since I was brought to Elizabeth, I felt Jennifer would be brought to the son. She was searching through the resource information we had. We spoke to Victor and Jessica. The problems are that the child needs to not have siblings; otherwise we would need to go to court to break the family. There are ages we considered for a fit, etc. We had considered Vatalik the fit for weeks. We went with the intent that this will be a child that God had wants to have a home with us. It’s a fun and scary thing to throw yourself into the river of God like a leaf in a river to see what happens.

On the day we arrived at the orphanage, I was shocked when Elizabeth actually wanted to help us find a child rather than being jealous. I would have expected her to resent that we were not going to return with just her, but she did the opposite. It was great. We were surprised when she said that she didn’t want him as a brother. We found other things that excluded him as a choice. We then did a search of others available. Victor did everything else he could to find the child with us. After a few days and no boys, we agreed that we were making the choice to narrow and if it’s Gods choice, He must have control. So, boy or girl, whatever age He gives us. We considered 2 girls that might be available that Elizabeth would like. We considered them, but were not seeking them. We then found a boy that was that sounded right, but we should move quickly.

Victor scheduled an appointment for us to be as soon as he could. It was amazing that they said he may be able to get an appointment in 2 days if we go. We could get the appointment and referral before I go. We hoped on the train the Kiev, stayed a day in the apartment and waited. Victor tried to get us in at 1:00 and we could not, but did say that they would see us if we come back at 4:00. So we returned ready to go at 4:00. We waited for quite a while, and they called him in. He returned to tell us that they boy is now available for international adoption in one month. He then said “maybe you should quit now”… this to us means he sees that all hope is gone and we have exhausted our options.

We still have the appointment, we need to at least say that we cannot wait, and thank you. We went in, and told them our time limit. The lady handling the cases told us she might be able to help. She dug into her binders of tears in the book shelves. She found two boys. Victor translating the profiles and found that they would not be possible. So we returned them. I told Jennifer, maybe the two girls. She said, I don’t know… I said it would be better to ask now that regret later… the lady put the binder away and grabbed another… Victor said, you should stop now. He believes it is absolutely not going to happen. I looked at the lady who was frantically searching the pages with more passion than I could imagine. She said something, Victor said “she said, we have to do what we can to give another child happiness”, then he said “do you want to stop”, and I looked back at her and told him that I need to let her finish, she needs this.

She pulled out two profiles and said they might work. The first one made my heart light and my stomach tight. My heart said ‘this is it’. Victor looked at them and rejected the other one as before. I kept watching as he read the one I reacted to when he said, “I think this boy may be good” to us. We looked over it together and Victor read the details to us. He is a little older, but this is something I know will be Jennifer’s walk, and not mine. I told her that I am good and told her this may be our son. She agreed and we had Victor ask for the referral, which he did and the SDA representative looked as if one of her own children were just rescued. So the next day, we showed at 4:00 to get the referral.

Here is the situation: I am leaving for America the next day. I have granted Jennifer authority to petition the inspector, the child, and the SDA for use to be allowed to adopt this child without me present. So, she left on the overnight train to ask a child that she has never met if he would like to be part of a family that he knows nothing about. I am leaving Ukraine and was only able to call and verify that they have found the boy, he has a cast on his arm and Elizabeth likes him. There is a meeting at the inspectors’ office in 30 minutes.

With that, the aircraft is preparing to taxi and I must say goodbye, turn off my cell phone, and wait to see what God does sometime in the next 24 hours.

In an orphanage, in Ukraine, God is at work. In a home in Virginia, we are waiting to be blessed to serve Him in these children. As I return to the United States, my blogging now ends for a time. I look forward to reading the journals of my wife, who will tell me the story from a third the way around the world.