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One very tired little boy in the Kiev airport getting ready to travel to his new home and new family in America

Teresa has a cure for the very-early-morning snack attack

Sharing with her new little brother

On board Flight XXXX from Kiev to Frankfurt scheduled to depart at 5:35 am

A second breakfast at the Golden Arches in Germany. We had about a six-hour lay-over at Frankfurt.

Since our stroller died from a fatal blow apparently suffered at the hands of the luggage handlers on our flight to Kiev, we resorted to using a luggage carrier while whiling away our long stay in Frankfurt. Please don't think too hard of me for using the "leash"--I was afraid Steven would dart off in the crowd and get lost or hurt.

Just another quick note to let you all know we are home safe and sound. We had to meet our taxi driver about 2:30 am so I'm guessing I had about 2 hours of lay-down time and Teresa not much more. I'd just put Steven down to sleep in the red and white striped shirt that I wanted him to be wearing when he became an American citizen so just had to slip on pants, socks and shoes. Steven did WAY better than I had imagined on the long flight--ate well (this little guy is so skinny that his size 3T shorts were sagging on him yesterday) slept well. Just maybe 2 or 3 times that he got a little loud but people around commented what a good traveler he was. One guy that we met in the airport gave him a bag of assorted licorice candies in honor of his special day. Though I really do love Kiev it was wonderful to return to American soil in Denver and wonderfully wonderful to see my family in Boise. 30 hours from leaving our apartment in Kiev we walked into our house in Idaho--all of us home together at last.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported this adoption in any way. I can hardly believe it is really me saying, "It is finished!"

Have Visa, Will Travel

I really was not sure this day would ever come but we have completed this adoption process and are scheduled to leave Kiev in the morning.
We got the visa shortly after noon and then were driven to our 4th apartment. We spent most of the afternoon repacking stuff. Then this evening we introduced Steven to the Metro and McDonalds. We even got to introduce him to Lyndi and Boston.

Thanks everyone for standing with us through all of this. Without your prayers I honestly do not believe this day would have ever arrived.

FINALLY We Have Steven

Hopefully I will have time sometime soon to share the details but about 6 pm on Wednesday evening Teresa and I AND STEVEN walked out of the orphanage gate. Our visa is supposed to be ready on Thursday and we are getting ticketed for a flight early on Friday morning. Will probably leave the apartment about 2:30 am. It looks like we are going to have to change apartments AGAIN for those few hours.

THANK YOU for ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL of your prayers. It looks like there'll be a new little US citizen celebrating the 4th of July in Idaho.

Still Chugging Along

Reece's Rainbow Dads and Moms at Tequila House in Kiev. These people represent the adoption of 9 children--all with Down syndrome, I believe--saved from ?life? in an institution. Above: Ruben, Kevin (not my Kevin), Bill and Adam. Below: Me (Joy), Amy, Gillian, JoAnn, Lyndi and Paula

No, God did not do things today the way that I thought He might. Yet I still know that He is God and He is in control and He does all things right. He gets to do it HIS way because He is the boss. I like the way the Three Hebrew Children responded when faced with the very real threat of the fiery furnace: "Our God is ABLE to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But IF NOT . . . we still aren't gonna bow to your image."

I got up fairly early this morning anticipating a call from our facilitator: I showered, blogged, hung up laundry, cooked breakfast, worked some puzzles. Finally, I think it was around 11:00 am Nastya called and said she'd been worried about me because she'd been calling and calling and I hadn't picked up the phone. I have no idea what happened. Teresa and I were both right here, the volume was turned all the way up on the phone and yet we had 8 missed calls. Anyway, Alexey had gotten Steven and worker over to the Dr. to get his blood drawn prior to the actual physical exam necessary prior to leaving the country. They'd wanted us to go, too, but seemed to get it done in our unintended absence. A little after noon Nastya asked us to just hang tight because she was to get immediate word when the passport was ready and we needed to be on hand. I think it was around 3:40 when she called asking if we could proceed immediately to the passport office at the University metro stop. There was a chance Alexey would be getting the passport at 4:00 pm and wouldn't have time to then come back to our apt and get us prior to heading for that infamous 'unregistration' office.

So off we headed. The apt where we are now staying is on the green line so we got on there, rode one stop, transferred to the blue line, rode one stop, transferred to the red line and rode 2 stops. Boy, we got our metro coin's worth on that little trip! I've never had such a complicated ride but we did make it to the right spot--just weren't sure exactly WHICH building was the passport office so got further directions by phone and waited outside the passport office and waited and waited and waited and sweated and sweated and sweated but when Alexey came out--it must have been around 5:30 or 5:40--he had bad news: we can't get the passport until the morning. Bless his heart!! he felt so, so, so bad about it. He said something about they have helped with 300 adoptions and have never dealt with one as difficult as ours.

He dropped us off at the Kreschatik Metro stop since it was now 6:05 and we were supposed to meet Lyndi and Bill, JoAnn and Ruben there at 6:30 and head over to the Tequila House again. When this dinner was planned everyone had said-- half-jokingly, half-seriously--they hoped they wouldn't see Teresa and I there because that would mean we had gotten Steven. This particular get-together had been planned as a way for all of us to meet Boston--another Reeces Rainbow friend--who arrived today---unfortunately that didn't work out but the rest of us--also including Gillian and daughter, Amy and Adam, and Paula and Kevin plus 2 facilitators--enjoyed her party anyway.

So I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a really full day with getting the passport, getting Steven's medical exam, possibly even getting the visa applied for (but maybe that can only be done in the mornings)--these are pretty routine things at the very tail of the adoption process. Though a visa CAN be applied for and received on the same day, the usual and embassy-preferred way is to have you pick it up the 2nd day. But I'm guessing the wild card is going to be getting Steven un-registered from the orphanage address AND actually getting him outside of the orphanage gate in our custody. Who can guess how long those 2 little items may take. (Gulp) So I'm planning for a Friday or Saturday flight instead.

Thanks for your prayers. I know God is answering because though I am homesick and honestly tired of being here I am not totally falling apart with all the delays. Please keep praying for my husband as well. He had a serious strep throat infection and then we thought the antibiotics were causing his gout to act up making it very difficult for him to get around. However, when he went to the Dr. he found out it was not gout after all. The strep had not completely gone away but had attached itself to other parts of his body--his ankes, I guess. (Later found out it was strep in one foot and gout in the other) Kevin said the Dr. just about put him in the hospital but opted for a big shot of antibiotics to be followed up by oral medication. And please remember him at the funeral of his grandmother tomorrow. Your prayers are hugely, vitally important and desired for our whole family.

When God Steps In

Tuesday evening Teresa and I got together with two other RR couples at the Ukrainian buffet right around the corner from the Kreschatik Metro station in honor of Teresa's upcoming birthday on July 1. Teresa is pictured here with the bracelets (including a 'Touched by Adoption' one), gum,and chocolate ice cream she was given.

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I have thought of other titles for this post--like Calling in the Calvary (NOT a typo)--but they all center around the idea that this is a wonderful opportunity for God to ride into town--like the hero on an Old West movie. The bad guys have done their dastardly deeds, the town is in a mess with evil in control and the good people either dead or in hiding and then you hear the music changing and you know the big, strong guy on the horse is going to gallop down main street with both guns smoking and save the day. . . (and the girl. Smile.)

So my response? Go Get 'Em, God!!!

There is so much to be accomplished in the next two days for Teresa and Steven and I to be able to fly on Thursday.

But I also know that God is very capable of doing all of that . . . and more!

Yesterday I was re-reading some great stories from the life of Elisha from II Kings chapters 6 (esp see verses 14-17--part of which says "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.") and 7 (I especially like the phrase 'tomorrow about this time' in verse 1 where God promised an absolutely impossible turn of events in just 24 hours time--and then made it happen!)

Today I'm reading from II Chronicles 20 about Jehoshaphat, a godly king who was faced with a huge enemy army. He was honestly and rightly afraid and called his people to prayer and fasting. They remembered Who God was and what He had done for them in the past; they remembered what He had promised to do and exactly what they needed in the present. I love Jehoshaphat's prayer in verse 12"O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee." God's reply through the man of God was: "Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. . . Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you . . . fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you."

Weekend in Kiev

On weekends this part of Kreschatik is closed to traffic

At the Hydropark Metro we found these two areas (above and below) that look like they might be set up for paint ball.

Teresa wading right at the edge of the Dnipro River

We saw these costumed folks out on the sidewalk outside the theological building on Sunday morning.

Scenes from our apartment that we moved into on Sunday afternoon

Well, we are moved into our 3rd apartment. The funny thing is that it is exactly straight across the boulevard from our last one! This place does NOT have an air conditioner but does indeed have a working computer connected to the internet--and as of 5:00 pm even has a mouse. On the one hand, it has 2 TV's but so far nothing in English :( -------- and on the other hand, Teresa's DVD's work on THIS player so she is surviving.

Yesterday we rode the Metro across the Dniepro River to the Hydropark stop. I wanted to see what this was. When I saw the sign on a previous trip I'd thought maybe it was a water park of some kind. No, it seemed mostly to be a bunch of beach-side, tent-type restaurants and bars-- quite a few places were grilling meat (though one guy seemed to be melting a plastic bottle on the grill right next to the meat) One area looked like it was set up for paint ball. There were quite a few carnival rides out there, too but very few seemed to be operational. The main activity appeared to by laying on the beach and we saw all ages sunning in their bikinis--not necessarily a pretty sight, believe me :) Teresa did put her piggies in the edge of the river and picked up some snail shells from the sand but we have been discouraged from swimming in it--the very brown color of the water helped reinforce the plan NOT to dive in. Good grief! it was so hot out there that the back of my shirt and pants were amazingly damp. Afterwards, we stopped off at the mall for McDonalds--but the LARGE pop was definitely the best part. On the way home we decided to try to find the metro stop nearer our apartment knowing we'd need it for getting to church in the morning. Thankfully, I could read the Cyrillic signs well enough to figure out which street it was on. And we got to church and back this AM using the new Metro stop where we actually had to transfer from the green line to the blue line--it's funny how scary something so simple seemed--AND we made it home about 1:45 to meet the moving guy at 2:00 pm.

Tomorrow is a holiday here--Constitution Day--so no official business will be conducted. Thank you so much for all the prayers. There is SO MUCH that needs to be accomplished on Tuesday and Wednesday so we can fly home on Thursday. We are getting pretty homesick here--having been gone 4 wks and a day.