Getting Closer...

Well I learned a lot today. We eventually made it to the SDA building to pick up our paper saying we could go visit Zoya tomorrow. We had a taxi driver who sat and looked at a map for a while before he figured out where he was supposed to go. He spoke no English so we called the translator and she spoke to him telling him (again) where he was supposed to take us. We got there and there were 2 other families waiting. They got their paperwork, signed the book, and left. We sat there noticing there were no papers of ours there…ugh. Our facilitator explained that since we were supposed to get them yesterday they were still upstairs and had not been brought down yet. We sat and waited and finally they brought the papers. We showed our passports and signed a book. They gave us a paper to take with us and our entire dossier back. Boy did seeing those documents bring back some memories.


We are in need of prayers. Our facilitator told us we need to be prepared for lots and lots of questions. He said people will not understand why we want to adopt a child with down syndrome. It is hard enough for most families to deal with the questioning. He told us to expect even more questions than most families get because we are not like most families. We are younger than most adopting families, and we do not have any children of our own. Basically he said people will think we are crazy for wanting to adopt this child. He even told us he himself doesn’t think we should. Nice. He did tell us though we get the award for cutest adopting couple! Haha. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have been called to adopt Zoya. But, it’s almost like, if people keep telling you you’re crazy you might start to believe it. I know we’re not crazy but I have had a question or two pop into my head saying, “this is not crazy….right?” I know in my heart this is our path. Now we just have to prove to all these people that we really do want to be Zoya’s moma and daddy and that we want her because we value her and she is worthy of a family. Our facilitator said not to try to change people’s minds (which we did not intend to do). So we are trying to be prepared as our facilitator has told us to be. How do we prepare? I guess I will be taking up quite a bit of God’s time tonight! So tomorrow we set out to prove ourselves to a bunch of people we don’t know.

We have learned that we should not smile (we sorta already knew this) but our facilitator told us absolutely not to smile at people. He told me especially not to smile at any men because that would mean something that I’m not trying to convey! People here are very different, they really don’t show emotion. We learned to close our eyes in the back of cars in Ukraine unless you want to pee your pants in fear. We learned that it is okay to park wherever you want and that all 4 wheels do not need to be touching the ground at any given time. We learned we have NO CONTROL over a single thing here. We learned how hard it is for people who can’t communicate effectively in everyday life (we are two of those people at the current moment). We are learning to appreciate different cultures, despite our vast differences. We learned that this adoption is an uphill battle but we will fight until Zoya is home where she belongs.

We are on such a journey of faith. We have gotten into cars with people we don’t know, who don’t even speak English, we have committed to bring home a child we’ve never met, we are at the mercy of others all day every day. “Uncomfortable” and “out of our element” are understatements. Is it as bad as it sounds? Nope because the big man upstairs has it all under control.
Here is a picture of what we’re having for dinner tonight….do you know what this is? That’s okay we don’t either. I’ll let you know after we eat it :)

Our train picks us up at 11pm (Ukraine time) and we will arrive in Zoya’s region at 7am. Hopefully we will go to our apartment and have an hour or so to settle. Then we will begin all the meetings and questioning, and at some point, get to meet Zoya!! Please keep us in your prayers. Specific requests are a continued sense of peace and certainty in our hearts, to eliminate any fears we have, an ability to answer the questions from our hearts and in a way that would convince these people that we really do want to take Zoya home to love her and give her a moma and daddy, that I would grow some thick skin (because I've never had it!) and that we would feel God’s presence with us at all times.