Sunday, January 18-Monday, January 19

Jim:

Back in Kiev

Sunday – Sergey came over early to get some music. He said he was close to finding a job, but the one he wanted required a registration fee, but he couldn’t pay it. I asked him if we could help him by giving him some support – he’s been a huge blessing to us, and we would really like to return the favor. He said that he didn’t deserve it, but he would accept it because that is what God does for us, He blesses us even though we don’t deserve it. So I went to the restroom and put $200 in an envelope and sealed it. I came out and gave it to him and said he could open it later.

We took a cab to pick up Ashley and head to the same church we went to last week. He asked me if I wanted to preach today. I said, “No, thanks.” He still wanted us to go to the front and talk about what’s happened, especially since I had both kids with me. I said OK, but I didn’t want to embarrass the kids, so I would go up myself. At church, the people I met last week were so glad to see me again. Sergey’s mom was smiling from ear to ear, and looked like a proud mom herself as she looked at Ashley and Josh and gave me a thumbs up. We had to sit in the front row because it was full again. The pastor saw us when he came in and came over to say hi and meet the kids. He was also very pleased to see us. After a few songs, and the first sermon, which was in sign language, translated to Russian, then to English for me, the pastor called me up. I said, “I’m back, and this time I’m not alone. I’ve brought our new kids with us. I introduced them while the pastor made them stand up. I told them they could sit down after everyone could get a look at them. I then said that I’ve been here 6 weeks now, that there have been a lot of great times and a lot of really hard times for all us (I was looking right at Ashley when I said this). I said in many ways, the hard part is still ahead of us. Sergey thought I said it wrong, so he asked for clarification. I asked them to pray for us to grow close together as a family as we return to Kiev tonight, and then on to America. The pastor said that in America we will speak English, but today they speak Russian, and he said he saw Ashley singing. He talked about some families who adopt and then bragged about how fast their new kids forget their native language. He wants these two kids to remember their language and to someday come back to Ukraine as missionaries. Then he called the kids up front, turned them around to face the crowd, then prayed for them while he rested his hands on the tops of their heads. The kids handled it all great. The pastor then gave me another hug and kissed my cheek, and we sat down. The sermons and closing prayers lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes, but again, the kids sat there patiently the whole time. After the service, many people greeted me again, as well as the kids. I met Sergey’s father, and he said he would like to be at the train station to send us off. I said our train left at 11:15 pm. He apologized and said his kids would be in bed, so we said our goodbyes there. Outside, Sergey’s grandfather talked to me again at length about God’s love and guidance. At one point, since Sergey was translating, instead of translating what his grandfather was saying, he just told me that sometimes my grandfather just keeps talking about nothing in particular. Of course, grandpa is just smiling at me since he thinks Sergey is translating.

We went to Oskar’s for a lunch of Ukrainian food. After lunch Ashley asked what the plan was. I said I wanted to buy some DVD’s and play at the video arcade for awhile before returning to the orphanage to get Ashley’s things. She started to cry because she wanted to go be with her friends. So I told her we’d get some DVD’s since we’re here, then go back. We bought 6 movies at about 55 grivna each, then called Oksana and said we were on the way to pick her up. Ashley asked her if she could stay at the orphanage a little longer. It was 2:00 now, so I said I would drop her off, and pick her up at 6:00. She was very happy about that.

From 2:30 until 6, Josh and I hung out in the room. He wanted to watch his new movies, and I said that for each minute of learning his letters or reading he could have a minute of DVD. He decide to do some writing of his letters, so he wrote the alphabet out about 10 times. Then we sat together, and he said the letter when I pointed to each one. He knows all of them, but many times he would say he didn’t know. I’d point to his head and say, “You know this”. Many times he would think for a second and then get it right. He wasn’t able to get through the entire alphabet without a mistake, but he’s getting close. After 35 minutes he could take no more, so I let him put Hulk in, but it didn’t work – wrong region. Same problem with the other 5, so he watched more Panda Kung Fu – that one must be in the right region. Starting about 4 pm, Josh kept asking to see my watch, and saying, “Nastia!”. He was excited to go get her. I can tell he really likes her a lot. He loves talking to her but usually waits for her to initiate the conversation. There’s been a couple of times when they were alone in the back seat that they have had long talks.

I talked to Kari while we were waiting to pick up Ashley and told her I wasn’t sure what to do with them while we waited for the train. I didn’t want to just sit at the Bible House since I knew that would be hard on Ashley being so near her friends. Kari gave me several good ideas – long dinner, buy more DVD’s at the place where I got Panda Kung Fu, and go buy Ashley gloves and a hat.

Finally, at 6:00 Oksana arrived and we went to the orphanage again with our driver from yesterday, Vova. As we were walking in, we saw a large crowd of kids, including Ashley, heading down to dinner. Oksana said Ashley had just called her a few minutes ago and asked if we could get her at 7 instead. I said she could go eat with her friends while we waited in her room. In her room, her roommate Natasha stayed with us and talked to Oksana. Soon we were joined by Ashley’s other roommates Olga and Tanya. I was surprised to find out these 4 were the only ones in this ‘suite’, and Natasha had one of the bedrooms to herself while the other three slept in the other bedroom. I pulled out my laptop to show these girls the pictures I showed Ashley and Josh’s family, pictures of our house and Colorado. Natasha was on one side, Olga and Tanya on the other. After those pictures they wanted to see more. Oksana said they were especially interested in seeing pictures of my twin brother. So I found several of John, some with his family, and several of him and me together. For each picture, they would point to one of us and say, “Youuuuuu?”, then “Braaat?” (brat=brother). Some of the pictures were old, and one was with Barb holding us both as babies. I told them I didn’t know who was who in those. Then they said they wanted to see more. So I found the family portrait taken in Estes Park for Mom and Dad’s 50th(?). I knew they’d like that one. First they gasped, and Olga had to count everyone. There are 48 of us in the picture. They asked if this was everyone. I said, “not quite”. They were able to find me and Kari, and Austin and Tatum, and John. I then said that John has had 5 kids since this picture was taken, which made them gasp again. I said Ashley now has 28 cousins (I think that’s what Patty was counted). We looked at pictures for over an hour. Then they noticed I have Cyrillic on my keyboard (taped on). So I showed them how I can change it to Russian and type. This will help me talk to Ashley sometimes. Olga asked me to type something in English, and then she read it by sounding it all out. Natasha noticed my name and email address on the laptop, so she put my email address into her phone. Somehow we got onto music, and so I copied some music onto her flash drive that goes into her phone, and I copied a directory full of pictures of her onto my laptop because she wanted me to. I gave the laptop to Olga to type something in Russian. Natasha got out her photo albums and showed me several pictures of herself. Then she pulled one out and said it was for me. Then she pulled another one out and said it was for Kari. . Then she gave one to Oksana. Later I found yet another tucked in my laptop bag. Soon Ashley comes in and quickly gives them kisses on both cheeks, and she’s ready to leave. As I’m getting my laptop, Natasha was typing something but was closing my laptop when I came to get it. I thought the battery died so I tried to turn it back on, but they made it clear that they want me to read it later. So I shut it down. It said this:
джым кери остин тейтен саша и ешли одна симья я наташа буду очень скучать за всема

Which translates to something like this:

Jim Kari Austin Tatum Sasha and Ashley one simia(?) I Natasha will very miss vsema(?) (Them?)

I said goodbye to Ashley’s roommates, and Natasha and Olga both gave me a hug. I kept thinking I should have pulled out these pictures weeks ago! Who knows, maybe they weren’t ready to see them yet. As we walked out Oksana and Ashley were ahead of me. Natasha held back and grabbed my hand and held it for a long time until I pulled away and put my arm around her shoulder. This is the Natasha that Ashley had asked us two times to adopt. She said she is available for international adoption in the spring of 2009. I got the feeling that she was reaching out to us in hopes that we could either adopt her or find someone who could. Ashley said her final good-byes and we got in the cab and left. It was about 7:30, and we went to John Howard’s since they are nice and slow, and they lived up to it tonight. But first, on the drive over Ashley said she was feeling dizzy and suddenly had a really bad headache. We stopped at the department store to buy DVD’s, but they were closed. So we walked to John Howard’s from there so Ashley could get some air. She started feeling better, and by the time dinner was over she said her headache was almost gone. At John Howard’s, it took at least 30 minutes for them to bring me and Josh a grilled chicken breast, that was still raw in the middle. It was almost 10 before we left. We went back to the Bible House to get our bags, then to the train station. As I was setting my bag down, Sergey was tugging at my coat. He and his mom and dad had come to send us off. They found a babysitter to stay with their daughters. He said they all really wanted to come. His mom said that she really liked it at church when I said that the hard part was still to come. They adopted their two daughters and were glad to know that Kari and I have some understanding that there will be difficult times ahead. She had also written a letter to Ashley and gave it to her. I don’t know what it says, but Sergey said that she talked about how Ashley will feel much better once she gets home with us. It will help her when she has other women around. She also said that God will help her adjust and urged Ashley to stay close to Him. Sergey also thanked me for the offering I gave him earlier. I told him that it was the exact amount that we had received from Rocky Mountain Christian Church just before we left. (RMCC had a special donation where the donor wanted it to be given to single parents, people in job transitions, or any family who someone thought really needed it. That afternoon one of those envelopes was in our mailbox, so someone felt we qualified for the 3rd option. So if anyone knows who the anonymous RMCC donor is, please let them know that they have helped a young Christian man in Ukraine who is in a job transition). Sergey was very moved by that story and said that is what God wants us to do when we receive a blessing – pass it on. He said that he used some of the money to buy meat, cheese, bread and cake for his parents (his dad is also out of work).

Also, while we waited for the train, Zoya, Josh’s aunt, called one more time to say goodbye and wish him well. He was happy about that.

The train arrived, and we had to quickly board. Sergey and his dad helped get our bags to our room, and I quickly went back to say goodbye to Oksana as they were closing the doors so we could leave. Back in the room, we got ourselves situated and made our beds. Josh wanted to play the Leap Frog, but I said it was bedtime (it was 11:15pm). Ashley was crying softly in the hall as I made the beds. I hugged her and said it will be OK. She then climbed in her top bunk and sat for a while. I held her hand and tried to give her a little comfort. She laid down and covered up and called her friends for a couple of minutes. Then I could hear her sending and receiving texts until 1:00 am. (I couldn’t sleep, either). About then, it seemed to stop, and I found out in the morning that her battery had died. Josh woke up at 7 and played Leap Frog quietly. I had to wake Ashley up at 9:45.

Or Kiev driver, Sergey, picked us up at the train station, and I asked him to take us to McDonald’s. We arrived and Josh and I ordered first, then Ashley. She said she didn’t want anything, she hates McDonald’s. I probably should have just canceled the order and gone somewhere else, but I didn’t, so try as we might, she didn’t want anything, nor did she want to go anywhere else. We quickly ate and drove to Eunice and Kevin’s house where we’ll be staying. They graciously offered to let us stay with them our final days in Kiev. This is another huge blessing because they speak Russian, and a missionary (Leslie) is also staying with them this week as well who speaks Ukrainian. Leslie and Ashley immediately connected. Leslie works with teenagers and has a way of getting them to relax and open up to her. Soon she knew Ashley was a huge High School Musical Fan who has seen the first two movies but not the third.

(To be continued....this is all Jim could type before he went to sleep tonight)