Trust in the Lord

We are living by faith and nothing else at this time. We have been promised in Mosiah "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage. " We have many, many stumbling blocks within our own minds and within the adoption systems but we know that we are only capable of removing the stumbling blocks within our own minds. That as we make sure our minds are insync with our hearts and with the will of Our Heavenly Father then all will be well. We were able to spend 4 one-hour playtimes with Dimitri before we had to leave to come back to Kiev. Daniel and Dimitri were brothers from the first day. Dimitri was difficult to engage but seems to click with Daniel from the first moments that they met. They were able to play in sandbox, swings and run around outside.

Degrees of Separation?

OK, so let me tell you a story that really shows how small the world is when it comes to members of The Church. Today, we went to the Kyiv ward that meets on the third level of a bank building. There is an International ward in which English is spoken but we like to meet the natives and wanted to attend the Ukrainian ward. We got there an hour early after a Metro ride and a block and a half walk. We met Brother Alexander who was a very friendly middle-aged man who told us that he collects state quarters from the United States. I found three quarters and gave them to him. He then asked if we had the opportunity to see the Temple yet. We told him that we did intend to but had not yet been able. He then told us that to pay us back for the 3 quarters he would go to the temple with us after church. We also met two Elders, one from Colorado and one from Huntsville, Utah and a Sister from Salt Lake City, Utah. It was fast and testimony meeting and you should have seen Daniel's eye when the bread was passed. It huge chunks of bread and it was delicious. Many of the people testified of the power of the temple as they had recently taken a ward trip to the Frieberg, Germany temple. There was also a deaf member so there was a sign interpreter as well which was very cool. After church we caught a taxi and made our way to the Temple. It is still under construction and there was a big fence all the way around it. The chapel next to it was complete and it was easy to see that Brother Alexander was well known by many of the people coming and going to the Chapel. He even talked the guards into letting us behind the fence to see the Temple but as soon as we took out the camera they wanted us to get back outside of the fence. As we were about to leave a young man about 25 years old came up and started talking to Brother Alexander. He spoke very good English and explained that he had served his mission in the United States. We then found out that he served in Kennewick and Richland Washington and in the Columbia ward. We asked him if he knew the Christensens. He asked which ones? We said Chris and Gwen or Tory and Wendy. He said doesn't Tory sing kids songs and at the same time John and the former Elder said "Wiggle like a Fish" and then started laughing. We then realized that we had met him when visiting the Columbia ward when in Washington. We found out that Brother Alexander and his daughter introduced him to the church. So even halfway around the world we meet up with a member of the Church that knows some of our family. We were freaking out the whole taxi ride back. Then, Brother Alexander rode the Metro to our stop to make sure that we got back before getting on the Metro to get to his stop. What an amazing man!

Traveling through Ukraine

We are having a blast traveling through the Ukraine. We are mostly walking because we are in such a good location but we are also using the Metro and today I think we are going to take a taxi to the Temple. Daniel really wanted to ride on one of the minibuses or the electric trolley buses but we will see. Walking is probably my favorite because you get to look around as you go. Last night we walked to TGIFridays. Daniel had chicken strips with french fries that were really good. I accidently order fish that was alright and John order steak fajitas which were quite different than the one we are used to. Also, a quarter of our bill was for our drinks which would be fine if we had order anything but soda and water. I think we will stick with McDonalds and local pizza restaurants from now on. Then of course we walked to our daily fountain trip and Daniel played in the water. This morning Daniel said to John "Don't you have to go to the Internet Cafe today Daddy?" I think I know what he wants to do today. He is so funny. John and I are constantly cracking up as we go through life with him.

Fountain Swimming

Daniel is really missing summer swimming in Arizona. He is like a fish out of water so he has found a new passion of fountain swimming. The water is a little gross so I tell him to make sure and not get it in his mouth but he has so much fun! Today the News was there videotaping all the kids and adults in the fountains.

A Dreaded Delay

We were supposed to fly out tomorrow morning and meet with the social worker who gives us the appointment to meet with our child but she is going to be out of the office Thursday and Friday and then we have the weekend so we won't be flying out until Monday 6:45 am to Donetsk. I am really disappointed but there is nothing we can do about it so we have decided to make the most of it. John will get ahead on his online homework, I am going to make picture cards to help D to communicate and Daniel is planning for daily Internet Cafe trips to play Roblox, daily fountain swimming, park playing, walking around the city at night, and lots of Metro rides.

We accepted a referral

So at 1:30 we drove to the SDA and waited for them to get back from lunch. At 2:00 we were called in and a cute girl “psychologist” had us sit down, explain why we wanted to adopt from Ukraine and then explained that all of the adoptable kids were not healthy. Then, she started showing us kids. Telling us their names, birthdates, siblings, if parental rights had been terminated, and medical issues. There were a lot of cute kids with a lot of medical issues. Then, I started to get a feel as she talked about a kid. By the next kid, my heart was about to explode and I knew that this was the referral we were supposed to accept. We were told that he had a hearing impairment and was hyperactive. We looked at a few more children and saw a cute little blond haired, blue-eyed girl that was almost two. She reminded me of Kate a little and I was totally drawn to her but I knew that other little boy was our child. The psychologist then called the orphanage director to get more information about D. We were told that he had been diagnosed mentally retarded, hearing impaired, behavioral issues and a whole bunch of other things but we knew he was our and didn’t believe the hype. Also, if it ends up being true, it really doesn’t matter because we know this is the child that was meant to be in our family. We will try and fly out Thursday morning if it works. The social worker we have to meet in the region Donetsk might not be there Thursday and Friday delaying us until Monday but we will find out tomorrow for sure. We will be on our knees tonight hoping for a quick appointment. I just want to meet him and then get the paperwork done so we can "get the kid" as Daniel would say.

Apointment Day

I was up at 5:30 am after sleeping about 4 ½ hours. I forgot how hard it is to flip your sleeping schedule. Daniel got up at 6:00 am and John at 7:00. Now they are at the park throwing the baseball. I think after that we will probably head back down to the square and maybe take a trip on the Metro. After our appointment at 2:00, I will definitely need a nap.

We made it!

12:00 p.m.

We finally made it to Ukraine after two airplane rides that seemed to last forever. Daniel did really well after getting up at 4 a.m. happy as a clam to catch the plane. He slept about 7 hours in total on both planes. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Kiev and saw that most of the signs had both Ukrainian and English on them. We made it through customs and found our translator Olga and our facilitator Sasha without too much hassel. After a quick trip to the grocery story we arrived at our apartment. It is totally adorable (despite the five flights of stairs we had to walk up). It opens to a hallway that has five doors: one to the frontroom, one to a closet, one to the bedroom, one to the kitchen and one to the toilet. There is a bathroom off of the kitchen as well. Oh I forgot the coolest part. There is a little room off of the frontroom that has windows that open and you can look down onto the street. Of course this is Daniel favorite part of the apartment. The apartment is located on a street that ends at a square that is basically the middle of the city. We are all so excited but I have to say that I think Daniel may be the most excited of us all. Either that or he just has the hardest time containing himself. John keeps saying “I can’t believe we are here” and Daniel keeps saying “when do we get our kid?” I am just happy and can’t believe we have this opportunity to add to our family in such a cool and unbelievable way. This country really has a good feel. When I get up I think I will try and find out where the temple is exactly compared to where we are. We are going to get some sleep now. John hasn’t slept for basically 48 hours and I have only sleep a couple of hours during the last 48. Good night.

9:30 p.m.

Tonight we walked down the street to a square which had a cool little McDonalds where we ate dinner and even bought some ice cream cones. I am happy to say that they had happy meals and toys. They were the Shrek toys but a little different. It was a happening place and almost everyone was buying ice cream and hanging out. Then, we walked around and saw some cool buildings and restaurants and John talked to anyone who would try and communicate with him. It was really fun. This country has a really good feel.