Good Golly Ms. Molly!

We (actually Lisa has been doing all the trying, I've just been cheer leading) have been trying for quite some time to get a recently notarized copy of our marriage certificate from St. Lucia.  After months of "you call back tomorrow", or "she's not here", or my favorite, "we're working on it right now", we (again, read Lisa), has enlisted the help of a very nice lady at the resort where we got married. Below is a copy of their correspondence with some minor edits:


From: Davis, Lisa
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 4:25 PM
To: Molly McDaniel
Subject: Marriage Certificate - Lisa and Mike Davis - May 1, 2004


Thank you so much for agreeing to try and help us get a copy of our marriage certificate.  As I mentioned, my husband and I are adopting a child from the Ukraine and we can not move forward with the adoption without two notarized and apostilled copies of our marriage certificate.  We were married at The Jalousie Plantation on May 1, 2004.

Per our earlier telephone conversation, attached please find a copy of the original letter that was sent via UPS to the Registrar's office in St Lucia.  The package arrived on August 25, 2011.  My first contact with the St. Lucian Registrar was approximately 2.5 weeks later when I was told that they had not received my package.  UPS had confirmed delivery so UPS was forced to put a trace on the package.  Shortly thereafter, the package was discovered on someone's desk who had apparently been out sick.  Approximately 3 days later, I was told that my request for apostilled documents would cost $50 instead of the normal $20.  I quickly sent the new money order for $50 via USPS tracking and the check was confirmed delivered on September 23, 2011.  I was told that the original $20 money order would be returned with my marriage certificates. I called to follow up on my check and was told that they had not cashed it yet and to call the following week.  The following week, I was told that the supervisor was not in and to call back.  When I called back again, I was told that they only processed certificates on Thursday.  From that point forward, I was making daily calls to check on the status of my documents and was either told that the supervisor was out and/or that it wasn't done and to call back.  Finally, I was told two weeks ago that it would be sent by Friday (Oct 21st).  On Tuesday (Oct 25th) when I had not received confirmation from UPS that it had been shipped, I called back.  (In my original UPS package, I had included a prepaid UPS package for a speedy return delivery.)  I was then told that the certificate had not been signed and that it would go out this week.  When I called again this morning, I was told that the supervisor was out again and that I am to call back tomorrow.

I would appreciate anything you can do to help me move my request forward.  Thanks again for your help.

From: MollyMcDaniel
Sent:Monday, October 31, 2011 4:33 PM
To:Davis, Lisa
Subject:RE: Marriage Certificate - Lisa and Mike Davis - May 1, 2004

Hi Lisa,

Letme see what I can do from here. Do you have the name of one or more of theindividuals you spoke to at the Registrar's Office? This would be reallyhelpful moving forward.

Allthe best,
Molly

From: Davis,Lisa
Sent:Monday, October 31, 2011 4:49 PM
To:Molly McDaniel
Subject:RE: Marriage Certificate - Lisa and Mike Davis - May 1, 2004

I believe the supervisors name is Mrs. Felix (??),but I would normally speak with the woman who answered the phone.

From: MollyMcDaniel
Sent:Thursday, November 03, 2011 8:56 AM
To:Davis, Lisa
Subject:RE: Marriage Certificate - Lisa and Mike Davis - May 1, 2004

Good morning Lisa,

Ihave just spoken with Sophia Felix from the Registar's Office and she haspromised me that she is working to get this matter sorted for you as a matterof urgency. I have copied her into this email so she can respond to youdirectly. This also gives you an additional means of contact. Her telephonenumber is: xxx-xxx-xxxx (I removed her number).

Letme know if I can be of any further assistance. Good luck with the adoption!

Allthe best,
Molly

All I can say is, thank you Molly and of course, huge thanks to my wife for her persistence.  We are finally starting to see some movement towards actually receiving our marriage certificate. I will keep you posted on the progress. And for those who are wondering what a wedding in St. Lucia looks like (which will be most people as the wedding party was small), here ya go:

Lots of paperwork!

Let's go ahead and clear this up, since he has gone back to the Ukraine, our little guy's real name is Volodymyr. This is the Ukrainian equivalent to Vladimir. The short version is Vova. BTW- this is the English spelling of his name, my keyboard cannot type in cyrilic. I am no literary genius. I'm an engineer, so usually my writing is short and filled with facts, i.e. dry. So I thought I would try something which will help me to be a tad more creative and open in these updates. I'm going to write letters to Vova, maybe when he is finally here and has learned enough English, he can read these. So here we go...
Vova,

It has been almost three months since you returned to the Ukraine. I miss you so much. Adam is telling all sorts of strangers that he is getting another brother. He is excited to have you come back home. Please do not worry, we are working through the paperwork to come and get you. There's a bunch of it and from a lot of different places. Including St. Lucia where Mommy and I got married (more on this in a separate blog), some from Virginia, North Carolina, & Massachusetts (don't worry, you'll know where these places are soon enough, we like to travel around the US). Right now, we plan to have our documents submitted to the Ukraine by mid-December.  The first part of the paper trail is called a home study. This basically means a person comes to meet with your Mommy and I to ask us a lot of questions about who we are, what we do, and how we were raised. They also get a bunch of information about our finances.

While this has been going on, we have also started work on finishing the attic into another bedroom.  First, we need to add a window. Second, we will need some minor electrical & air conditioning work completed. Once these are finished we are going to have the entire attic area insulated. Next, we begin the manual labor portion of the process, sheetrock, paint, and trim. We plan to have this all completed by year's end. Tyler, Alex, & Adam all started school. I heard you started school too. I want you to work hard and listen to what your teachers say. I have been taking night classes to help me prepare for my engineering exam. The test takes 8 hours! I'm really nervous, but I know if keep doing my homework, I'll be ok.  Mommy Lisa is continuing to excel at her new job. Alex & Adam are taking swimming lessons.

On a sad note, we had to put down Dudley. He was 15 years old and was really struggling these last couple of weeks. Dudley came from Boston with Lisa when she moved to Richmomd. I met her and brought along my dog, Brodie. Dudley came with us to the new house on the east side of Richmond. He moved with us to the townhouse in Raleigh. He moved one last time with us to our current home. Early on, Dudley would sleep with Tyler and all we had to say was "Go sleep with Tyler", and off he went to sleep in Tyler's room. Dudley and I did not always get along, but he did provide comfort and watch over the house. He loved to go swimming and chase any kind of ball. He loved chewing on leather gloves and getting into the trash when we left it accessible. He will be missed.

Well that will about do it for now.  I'll write again and include a bunch of pictures from what your brothers have been up to.

Love ya bunches,
Daddy

Spasiba dill-ya "Little B"

Sem-ya, inogda legko, inogda trudno. Family, sometimes easy, sometimes hard. This is one of the simple phrases I came up with while Little B was here. Yesterday afternoon he and the rest of his friends flew back to the Ukraine. That was a very heavy moment for everyone. Nobody wanted to see them leave, but this is the next step in their little adventure.

These kids travelled by trains, planes, and automobiles to get to their host family's homes three weeks ago. They arrived in the middle of the night after close to 40 hours of traveling only to go home with a family they have NEVER seen before and add to the mix the language barrier. Russian is not exactly a second language of choice for many kids in the US, much less in NC. That first night was spent getting a little familiar with each other. The boy who flew out yesterday has become a member of our family. Over the three weeks we had our ups and downs, but in the end, we love each other. That's how a family works. We didn't experience any major psychological concerns while Little B was with us. Nothing we don't see in our own young boys when they are tired, overwhelmed, or disappointed in my answer of "no" to their wants.

Our last day together we basically kept it simple. We got up and had a big breakfast. Though I will say that this little guy doesn't eat much, not compared to my other boys. A couple of times it was clearly because he did not like the food or wanted to get back to whatever activity he had been doing prior to sitting at the table. Next we all got dressed for a family picture on the front steps. After the picture we had to get it developed to put into his photo album we made from his time with us. After the photo was printed we headed off to a candy store. We figured he's fixin' to fly back to the Ukraine, why not enjoy the flights with a pound of M&M's and a couple of Lollipop-ish looking things. After, the candy store we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed home to pack.

I was dreading the packing. We gave him a rolling duffle that we packed with the clothes he came with and several extra items, a VT t-shirt, a VT hoodie for when the plane gets cold (you can never have enough Hokie gear), his blanket, stuffed bear, candy, toys, and his photo album. This was extremely difficult for me to do. I have grown very close to Little B and miss him terribly.

The ride to the airport was quiet and somber. Seeing the kids at the airport brightened up the mood big time. They were so excited to see each other and were showing each other their photo albums and what they did while they were with their host families. We asked a translator to ask Little B if he understood our intentions to adopt him and that we are coming for him. He answered that he both understood and also asked if we were going to adopt anyone else. I love this kid. In his time of potential triumph, he's reaching out to try and get a friend adopted too. I pray we could do this. However, right now, our focus is on getting Little B home. We were not allowed to accompany the kids to the gate due to time constraints so we said our goodbyes and got our hugs at the security checkpoint. After watching them make their way through security, we left and drove home to our beautiful three boys.

In the meantime, I will pray for the other orphans that their prayers be answered and if I can assist in anyway, I will do whatever it takes. These kids didn't choose this life. If you happen to read these words and are moved to know or do more, please don't hesitate to email me. I would love nothing more than to make a difference in the lives of these kids. Each is beautiful and strong in their own unique ways.

Lord, please watch over these special children. Guide them and comfort them. Answer their prayers daily. Work miracles for them and shower them with your love. I thank you for the time you allowed them to spend with us and letting me get to know your special children. I thank you especially for bringing Little B into our home and opening our hearts to him. Your will be done, amen.

Shto eta?

This has been the fastest three weeks ever. So last week the big field trip was a trip to the NC zoo. Lisa took the day off to carpool. The kids and her had a great time. Little B walked around the zoo taking pictures of everything. Animals, people, self portraits, a helicopter, a trash can...whatever was at the zoo was probably captured on our camera.

Friday night we took the boys to a fun park where they can ride go-karts, play video games, climb through a giant playland, and play a round of mini-golf...did I mention the video games. The boys had a great time 'til the money ran out on the cards. They each got a card preloaded with $5. Back when I was young, $5 equated to 20 games. In today's value of money, this was only 3 games. Needless to say, the money didn't last long. That when it got ugly. Little B was already a bit overwhelmed (I know I was, the assault on the senses is akin to a Vegas casino), when the money ran out on his card he started to get a little emotional. Please take what I say next in context of our situation and what we know about this little guy. He doesn't cry over physical pain, according to him. When he has not gotten his way up to this point, he has pouted for a few minutes and then moved on. This time however, was too much for the little guy to hold in. The temptation that was surrounding him was very powerful. I can see how easy it would be to play on an orphan's situation and take advantage of this weakness. Which is all the more reason these kids need a home with love and guidance. When I saw his reaction to the lack of being able to play and my unwillingness to ante up the needed money, I was both happy and sad for Little B. Sad for the reason above, but also because I too would have enjoyed splurging on all the games (not so much at $2 a game). I was happy for him, because I did see an emotion. I don't like seeing any of my boys in pain, but I also know that if we can't feel pain, we can't feel joy. Well, we made it out of the fun park with our two oldest pouting, and the two youngest happily recounting the nights events.

This week little B went with me to Tyler's soccer practice. When I wasn't helping the coach, I was kicking the ball with B on the side. He and I had a great time and I look forward to next season watching him play on the field in his uniform. Also this week, the kids went to the pool a couple of times. Little B, and the other kids, have the mentality that they can perform dives and flips as well as the next. Not so much. In B's case, it his ability to swim. He didn't let that get in the way of his chance to experience the diving board. Unfortunately for him, diving boards are not placed in the shallow end of the pool, so when he walked off the end of it, he couldn't touch. His ability to stay above the surface is admirable, but not efficient. He went down, then came up. Down, then back up. On the third trip down, a chaperone who was watching the kids "dive" jumped in and assisted Little B to the side of the pool. The chaperone was nervous knowing what she just did for him and witnessed. Little B on the other hand was clueless to the corklike swimming he just displayed and the potential risk. When we get this guy back home, we will be signing him up for swimming lessons.

At VBS this week they watched a movie on the life of Jesus, dubbed in Russian. At the scene of Jesus being nailed to the cross, Little B started tearing up. Again, this is what we want to see from our institutionally raised son. We will work through feelings, reactions, and responses when we get him home next year. I don't want to start a process we can't be there to guide him through.

The big trip this week was to Jordan Lake. I spent the day with the kids, swimming, pushing them (it seemed for hours) on a tire swing, speaking Russian with them, throwing the frisbee, and just having a great time. A couple of people brought their boats and the kids got dragged around the lake on big flat tubes. They were all smiles coming back to shore. While I will hold on to this day for the enjoyment it brought, it was difficult leaving. These kids will be returning to their orphanages tomorrow. The stark contrast between life here and there is difficult to put into words. For one, I have not seen or experienced their life in Ukraine so I will not speculate. But I can imagine.

Community Event - August 7th

Real quick post.


There are several other families hosting children who are available for adoption. One is very interested in adopting, however, the funds required to bring this child into their home is too much and so they are asking for donations to cover the adoption costs.


If you are interested in knowing more, seeing more, or feeling more, send Lisa or I a quick email and we'll be happy to answer any of your questions. Please take a look at the following website for more information: Community Event Flyer.


These kids are just kids that need love and a nurturing environment.  If you can help, please do.  If you know someone who can help, please forward this on to them.  I've heard amazing stories of God working miracles to get these children adopted.

Three is not Four

Whoever said that having four kids is the same as three was lying.  In fact, it's exponentially harder.  Just when you think you've got a conflict resolved between one pair, another pair has started bickering and so on.    Tomorrow is suppose to be a proposed deadline to submit our adoption agreement to the facilitators in the Ukraine and it's sparked tons of adult discussion.  The most important one being "how the heck are we going to raise four kids and keep everything else in tact...patience, sanity, health, marriage, to name a few?".

Since "B"'s arrival, we've been "on" the whole time.  From the moment we wake up to when we go to sleep, we are translating, parenting, keeping house, working, playing and coordinating.  There's no couple time and definitely no alone time.  This past weekend, we received free tickets to see Hairspray at the Raleigh theatre.  It was a pretty great show, but "B" was a little bored and chose instead to put on a temporary tatoo that he had received at lunch during the performance.  He was more excited with the ice cream they served after the show. Later that night, we were slated to attend a Raleigh Railhawk soccer game, but we opted out.  We simply did not have the energy to do anything else.

Sunday was a little calmer, but it ended with a community event of current and former orphans coming together.  It was an opportunity to talk to other parents about their successes and their struggles.    The kids were entertained by a makeup/balloon/clown lady and she did great.  She made balloon swords for my four boys.  I don't think I need to go into any details of what happened next.   It was crazy wild and it was all boy!  Check out the picture.  I've accepted that I will never get a perfect pose ever again.

Despite our state of zombieism, having "B" here has forced us to rethink how we interact as a family.  We eat dinner together every night at the kitchen table.  This may not sound like anything earth shattering, but dinner in front of the TV or at varying times is often the norm during the school year.  What with sports, work travel and outside commitments, we do what we have to do.  Oh and the DVDs and video games, they are often our electronic babysitter so we can decompress and regenerate.  There have only been limited screenings so the original 3 don't go into shock. 

Enough about our struggles, because the compassion that we're feeling is absolutely amazing.  We simply beleive that this is what we're meant to be doing.  As "B" feels more at home around all of us, he's started to push the limits and tease the boys.  The other day in the truck he actually turned around and shouted "stop it Alex" in perfect English.  He must of learned that phrase from us.  Oops.  We find that he's often williing to help and actually enjoys it.  The other day as I was unloading the table cloth from the dryer, he grabbed the placemats and put them on the table.  I grabbed the now famous "doily" to put on the table, but he quickly took it from me, placed it in the center of the table and went searching for a vase filled with flowers.  That coupled with other one off events started us wondering about his past.  We discovered that "B" was living at home until March when he was put into the Orphanage.  Although his upbringing was not ideal, we feel more comfortable that he was not physically abused at home.  Of course, what we know is only what we've learned through a translator via the lips of an 8 year old.  It's not easy to look at our little guy and not think the worst.  "B" has a few visible scars including a couple on his head.  During a translation session, he told us that he fell off the roof of his garage at his home and hit his head on the way down.  When we asked about the other scar, he said he fell of the roof twice.  He went on to show us other scars that we had not seen including one from a bike accident and another from climbing a tree.  Hmmm...knowing "B" it's certainly plausible, because he's very curious and has explored everything in our home.  All battery operated toys have been reactivated and we've purchased no less that 16 new AA batteries up to this point.  Laugh all you want...it's pretty awesome to see him playing with an ABC game and hearing him repeat the letters and sounds. He even will sit through a story as it's read by the Leap Frog pointer.

I won't go into the process of Ukrainian adoption since I'm not that familiar with it yet, but we're told that until our dossier is submitted to the Ukrainian government we can not learn more about the history of our potential child.  We'll simply have to go by what he tells us.  Unfortunately, he doesn't always have all his facts straight.  We asked him his birthday and he was convinced it was July 23rd.  This was the date that they travelled to the US.  His real birthday is March 27.  Birthdays are not celebrated at the orphanage.  We really don't care what the truth is and regardless of what the file shows, we can't wait to have "B" in our home safe and sound aggravating his brothers and making us exhausted.

"Be strong and courageous." - Joshua 1:9

What a busy week! The boys have gone for haircuts, rock climbing, horse painting, a trip to the beach, and today was filled with baseball, tennis, swimming, and more baseball. Holy cow! I'm not sure where to start or how to describe what we are going through. The first hurdle was the obvious one, language. The first few days, we spent a lot of time reviewing our cheat sheets and plugging simple phrases into Google translator. As the week has progressed, we are getting more comfortable with our Russian, and B is picking up English nicely too.

The effect on the family, let's just say this week has had its tests and we've taken a step back to take a look at how we are acting, or better yet, reacting to having a fourth child in our midst. As I said, the language was tough and of course the first word we learned was niet. Only problem is we forgot to explain what we wanted to be done. I equate this to a math teacher on the first day handing out the textbooks and asking the class to complete the book by the year's end. The students were told to work it out by themselves. When the student finished his assignment and turned it in, the teacher would grade it with a yes or no. No explanation as to what was wrong or how to do it right. The students were destined to fail many times over. So, before we say niet, we have to say what we want, or not want, in Russian. Since coming to this eureka, things have dramatically improved and our hearts are focused more on the moments and not us. We have become less worried about "being on" and are more concerned with getting on. Still, it is four boys. We have also decided that a division of labor is going to exist. Each boy will be responsible for one or more daily chores with Lisa and I taking on the cooking and carpooling. With two working parents and active boys, this WILL happen so we can keep our sanity and help define expectations. We are going to create a chart on a dry erase board with the tasks listed and the person responsible.

Now back to B. This guy has become extremely comfortable with us and I would have to say he feels secure in our home. He gets a little shy when we give him compliments, like how handsome he may look after a bath or his new haircut. However, his accomplishments, he seeks to impress. His mechanical ability to figure out toys or household objects knows no boundaries. He is constantly asking "shto eta?", or what is this in Russian. He loves pictures and does not mind posing. Yesterday in the bath I learned the Russian word for drain, utechka. Why? Because he asked what it was AND what the cleanout above it did. Being an engineer I was happy to explain, so I basically told him that was how the tub breathed air. Next week I'm gonna try thermodynamics! BTW-my keyboard is obviously in English, so when I write Russian phrases, they are the phonetic spelling. The Russian alphabet uses sixes, pies, a couple different W's, and a crosshairs lookin letter. Drink your Olvaltine to get your Little Orphan Annie decoder to decipher the Russia language.

Tonight we had a very simple dinner of sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced French bread, cheese, and salami slices. It was a perfect meal to end this very active day. After dinner, Lisa showed B the costumes from past Halloweens. It was awesome! Like I said, he'll definitely pose for a picture.

Lisa's mom came to town to spend the weekend with us and she is Slovak and speaks Slovak, which is very close. She was able to understand some of the statements and questions coming from B. Tomorrow we plan to see a play and attend a soccer match. I look forward to watching B experience both.

B has a heart of gold. To watch him play with Adam, he is very gentle (even though they are close in size). With Alex, they have the common bound for loving crafts and they both swim the same...fearless. With Tyler, he still prods and pokes Tyler, but we're coaching Tyler on how best to respond, which in some cases is to walk away and give B no attention. All in all though, Tyler had a blast playing with B today. Tyler pitched while B hit. He was very patient while we coached him at tennis. And they both had a blast swimming together. As for me, I took B out into the woods to catch lightning bugs and he thought they were the coolest things ever.

While I know this is stressful and definitely draining (the mental fatigue of constantly translating is wearisome), the smiles and joys we are experiencing and witnessing are quite frankly, divine. May God bless this child and our family.

"Camp was great!"

Camp is going great!  The last two days Tyler and "B" have been going to vacation bible school together. Day one included a trip for a haircut and day two was a trip to go rock climbing.  Part of the day includes English lessons and of course bible class.  When "B" was picked up, he said camp was "great" in English.  In two short days he's picked up a ton of English words and communication has been surprisingly good.  We have lots of moments when we have to use a dictionary or use google translator, but it's working just fine. At dinner, we use flash cards and we all learn a little vocabulary.  "B" learns English and the rest of us learn Russian.

You may be wondering why we're not using his name.  Let me explain.  We were asked not to divulge his real name on anything that goes on the Internet.  Seeing as we are unaware of the true reason he's at the orphanage, there is fear that someone may be seeking him out.  The second reason is because of our intentions to adopt.  A week or so before he arrived, we received a letter from the Ukrainian government reminding us that under Ukrainan law, we are not allowed to preselect a child for adoption.  That being said, it is recommended that we not publicly announce that he's been here with us for three weeks.  The letter also went on to remind us that we are not allowed to keep the child with us in the US after the hosting program is over. Failure to comply will result in cancellation of other hosting programs.  Needless to say that we will do our part not to ruin a great thing.

He's had such a great time discovering all the toys that were so nicely piled around the house.  He is so fascinated by all the mechanical things and loves Pixos, remote control cars, bubble baths and the "magnetic pen" (Doodle Pro).  This morning on the way to camp (known as "lager" in Russian) he enjoyed opening and closing the window and having the air blow in his hair. In the afternoon on the way home, it wasn't as fun since in was 100F and he wanted the window closed.  Other things he loves are chocolate milk, apple sauce in a squishy Dora bag and tortellini.  Things that didn't cut it were bagels, broccoli and regular milk.  As one person explained to us at the camp, milk in the Ukraine tastes like "smoke water", so no wonder he didn't like it.

He's fitting in very nicely and has really taken to Tyler. Unfortunately, it's a little excessive at times and we have to intervene.  The A - team really likes "B" too and there are constant tears over who sits next to him at the table or in the car.  "B" copies what the boys are doing and vice versa.  When he was picked up after camp, he was told "we go get Alex", to which he replied "Alex brat". Funny enough, "brat" is Russian for brother.  We were warned that our child would probably use the word while he was here, we just didn't realize it would happen on day one.

We were also warned that our child may have sleeping issues, nightmares or wet the bed. The only ones waking up in the middle of the night are our own kids going to the bathroom.  "B" sleeps great and wakes in the morning and immediately gets dressed.  Our kids...well....15 mins after we ask for the 4th time, they're dressed too.

Christmas morning...in July!

He's here! I am going to attempt to capture the events and emotions during the pickup of our host child last night at the airport. Let's see. We arrived at the airport at 11:00pm to find the other host families in the waiting area. Some of the families from last year's hosting were in the airport lobby with their newly adopted children. This was great as we used one of their kids to translate for us. Everybody was nervous and excited and of course tired. Unfortunately we did not take ANY pictures...bummer.

When the kids arrived, all walking in a single file line following their chaperones, the group got animated. Waves, smiles, and hugs for friends not seen in a long while. We only had about five pictures of our child, but when we saw him our hearts just melted. It's hard to describe the feeling of waiting and then to finally see him. He was chewing gum and wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and black sneakers. After a few anxious moments, they brought him over to us for introductions. Since very few of the people there spoke Russian, the introduction went like this. Here he is! And then we were left to our own imagination and very poor Russian to communicate our names and show him pictures of our sons. After a few brief (and I'm sure caveman-ish) Russian sentences he handed Lisa a doily(sp?). We immediately found a translator to help express our gratitude and to ask where the doily came from. We were told the doily was in his shoes. Lisa didn't care...that doily will forever be in our family. One of the other little boys was given a package of Twix and he gave one of the sticks to our little boy. He promptly split it into three pieces and shared it with Lisa and I. The inability to communicate with words, especially for me, is humbling. You have body language and hand gestures. I wanted to tell him I was happy to see him. How was the flight? Did you sleep? We're gonna drive home in a truck, do you get carsick? Yeah, none of that was spoken. What words I do know I used. However, I'm sure I was asking him if he wanted to play soccer at 12:30 in the morning when I was trying to ask if he liked to play soccer. No wonder he looked at me like I was an idiot.

BTW - against our wills a bit, we did not hug him or hold his hand. We are trying to ease into a trusting relationship. A newborn you hold as much as possible. This guy, we just want him to feel safe to play and we'll set the boundaries.

On the drive home we tried to ask a few questions and when I asked how old he was, I caught the number 7 but then he rattled off a bunch more. I missed it. We almost need to record everything and run it back for the important stuff. When we got home we took a quick tour of the house and introduced him to our dogs. We showed him his backpack of starter stuff which included a Hot Wheel...that he loved. We picked up on the increased volume and the higher inflection of his Russian at this, so we showed him the collection of cars that our boys have. Then I heard Transformers. So we showed him Bumblebee. We spent the next half hour just playin. We were spent, my Russian was exhausted, but we managed to communicate pajamas, potty, and bedtime somewhere around 1am.

The next morning, he slept in, but our little Adam got up at his usual 6:30...yeah. So today's activities included crafts and legos, which I must say, he picked up both very quickly. Especially the Lego. He built the airplane kit one way and promptly took it apart and built a second style airplane. He's got a good head on his shoulders and picks up tasks quickly. We had a breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, potatoes, pineapple, and watermelon. He ate everything but the watermelon. For lunch, he had a slice of sourdough, cucumber, tomato, and apple slices. We scored again! He ate this too. We took a quick trip to Target to get underwear and socks. Apparently Cars the movie is a big hit in the Ukraine. After the Target adventure, we took all 4 boys to a local park to sweat out some of their energy. The coolest part of the park were the squirrels. Our little host boy spotted one and got all excited, again the speed and volume of the Russian was the clue. He tried to sneak up on it, but that was futile. At one point during the park trip, Adam came over and told me that our guest wanted to play a video game..."he said he wanted too". Who knew my youngest spoke Russian? This afternoon we decided to take it easy around the house. Tyler has been a huge help and I thank God we have him. So far, it appears as if our little guest feels secure. He talks a lot. If I ask a question about what he's doing, I get a full report and then some. It's awesome! Thank you God!

Tomorrow he arrives...

Only one day left until we meet our 8 year little boy from the Ukraine!  Yesterday night, there was a social event for the families who will be hosting the other 17 kids traveling here.  Originally, 20 children were expected for the hosting program, but two kids (13 and 15 years old) dropped out.  Apparently, despite the fact that these kids are abandoned and left to fend for themselves in an orphanage, the parents of these kids (if available), must provide written authorization for the kids to travel internationally.  The mother of the two boys is deceased, so they sought out permission from the dad and he refused.  This makes no sense and makes me so angry.  This story reminds me of Tyler's third grade teacher who's husband attempted to kill her and her children.  After being charged with murder and put in prison, he hired a fellow cellmate to kill them AGAIN.  His teacher attempted to change her identity, but the legal system required consent of the father to change the names of the kids.  Unbelievable!!

Anyhow, we learned about all the cool events that are planned for the three weeks that they are here.   Each family also received a backpack for each of the kids filled with necessities for their house guest.  When I say necessities, I mean just that.  There's a toothbrush, toothpaste, a T-shirt...  Unlike any of us, these kids are traveling about 5,000 miles and staying 3 weeks with no checked baggage.  We were told that they probably only have a small carry on bag, if anything at all.  When they return to the orphanage, the goodies from the backpack will become community property.  Clothes are shared with everyone in the house. 
 
Their journey here will take about 2 days, including a 10 hour overnight train ride to Kiev where they will board their first ever airplane.  From Kiev, they travel to Munich, Dulles and finally, Raleigh.  We are all meeting at the airport at 11:18PM on Saturday to bring the kids back home.  The little boy we are hosting has so much courage to be travelling across the globe to a strange country where they don't even speak his language.  He must be so nervous.  We are all so excited to have him with us, but we're nervous too.  Tyler is nervous because he's not sure that he'll be liked by our guest.  Alex is nervous because we've told him that we won't be playing video games while he is here.  Whatever will he do?  Adam on the other hand can't wait to show him "Transformers" - the movie.  In our multiple training sessions on hosting international orphans,  we've learned a ton of very shocking things about life in an orphanage.  Most of it disturbing and sad.  One such fact is that orphanages play X-rated/porno movies in the evening.  At first, we thought Transformers might be too intense for him, but what do/did we know.  I think we'll just stick to CARS and KUNG FU PANDA while he's here.

Hosting

So it begins...

We are going to be hosting a child over a three week period this summer. The child is coming from an orphanage in the Ukraine. The what? That's right the Ukraine. Let me back up and fill in some gaps.

The new church we are attending partners with an organization called Redline United (check 'em out at www.redlineunited.org). For the past couple of years they have sent mission teams over to the Ukraine to a visit orphanages and as much as possible, or allowed, share the gospel. Last summer they flipped it around. Instead of sending a mission group over to the Ukraine, they brought 16 orphans over to the US. These children stayed with host families during their stay. The families basically welcomed the children into the homes. During their stay the children attended VBS at the church. They went on a couple of field trips to the beach and zoo. Redline also put on a Sunday picnic for the families and children to get together. The purpose of the hosting program, as best as I can tell, was twofold. First, immerse the children in a fun study of Jesus Christ. Second, get the children adopted. If the host family was not going to adopt, they became the child's advocate. 15 of the 16 children who came over last year were adopted. To hear some of the stories of the adoptions, you know God was clearly at work.

When we first heard about the hosting opportunity we were excited. Though, with my wife's travel, we didn't think they would allow us to host if one parent were missing for a week. Well, as it turns out, she would only miss a weekend. No problem, what's next?

Redline has done a fabulous job of developing a process to get you ready to host a child. The first few steps in getting ready is watching about a dozen instructional videos...which will prompt a discussion about the topic and at least open your eyes to the potential environment these children are raised in. Next is taking an online course. Again, they are trying to better prepare you for what to expect. The third piece of the prep process is attending three information sessions. One of these info sessions included a panel of host/adoptive families from last year. This was a priceless session as we got to hear four different stories on the hosting, how they came to the decision to adopt, to the adoption process itself.

Now it's our turn. We've submitted our application, watched and studied (and prayed). Two days ago, we found out the name and received pictures of the child we will be hosting. I'm not sure who is being blessed more in this process. The Redline staff for knowing they are enriching the lives of these children, and the people who participate. The blessing on the children is the potential to find a permanent family, both on Earth and in Heaven. By the way, you have to admire the courage of these kids to leave their home, fly half way around the world to a land that is about as foreign as it gets for a Ukrainian, live with strangers, and hope that someone will love them and adopt them. These guys are my new heroes. That's livin! The final blessing is on the families who host and or adopt. As we go through this, we will continue to share our experiences, good and bad, to help those who go through this next year.

For now, we wait and pray.

"Follow Me!"

Allow me to tell a story to explain the title of this blog. Back in college I had the opportunity to go snow skiing. Being from the Texas coast and having gone water skiing many times, I figured how hard could this snow skiing be. Well, let's just say that snow and water ain't the same (5 years and a chemical engineering degree to come to that conclusion). I was at the top of the mountain standing with a couple of friends about to lead the way down and I said, "Follow me." The next second I was sliding down the mountain on my side listening to the laughter of my buddies at the top. This phrase became a battle cry of sorts from then on.

Little did I know at the time that this same phrase was spoken by Jesus to Peter. I am no Jesus, far from it...way far from it. Needless to say, I liked the message, so it stuck.

Now for the real reason behind a blog as I can barely stand to take notes, much less keep a diary. An organization "affiliated" with our new church brings orphans from the Ukraine to the states for 3 weeks in the summer. During that time they will stay with a host family and attend VBS at the church and basically be a member of the host family. In a nutshell, we are planning to be a host family. Though, that's only a fraction of what we feel moved to do. We have an overwhelming desire to adopt one of these children. Because of this, we want to keep a running dialog of what we are going through from hosting to the first steps off the plane as our child. This will be similar to a pregnancy in many ways. We won't know the sex for at least a few weeks (though odds are great it will be a boy). The process takes anywhere from 7-9 months with loads of uncertainty. The biggest difference this time around is I'll probably be the one who gets all emotional.

Lastly,there are families who went through this process last year and a few of them blogged their experience. From our perspective, it helps take some of the edge off the unknown. Really it gives us the sense that it can be done, just pray and wait. So for now, we pray and wait.