Saturday April Fool's Day

Saturday, April 1 2006

Are you ready for this?!? Grab a cup of hot chocolate, put on your rubby socks and curl up in your office chair…this is some long reading!

It is about 5:00 in the morning, Ukraine time, and I can’t sleep. The good news is that Scott and Kade are both snoozing peacefully. I came home tonight and was in bed by 7:30 p.m. (Ukraine time) and have been awake since about 4:00. So at least I was able to get some continuous sleep. I think we will all have a better day today.

Okay, so here is the whirlwind since we last posted. Our appointment at the NAC (National Adoption Center) was at 11:00. So at around 10:30 we headed off to the NAC office. We met with the Director & Assistant Director regarding the upcoming changes in the adoption process. I have heard countless terrible things about the female NAC Director, but during our appointment she was very gracious and pleasant (answer to prayer.) We wrote & signed a piece of paper that said that we understood there could be some delays due to the changes. And then we went to sit in the infamous hall. I have read many weblogs about this hall. There are doors in front of you and people are constantly going in and out of them with no rhyme or reason (at least not to us). It is a very busy hall. We met a nice American couple there from Utah. This was their second appointment at the NAC in 10 days. They were very nice. Then we were called in to go to meet with the “psychologist”. This is not what you would think of in terms of an American psychologist. This person’s role is more like an intake nurse at an emergency room. She asked us a little bit about ourselves (this was very brief). Then the process began.

I will stop here for a few God moments. The night before our appointment I had been praying (who else but God is up at 3:00 in the morning :) I was given a very quick, brief picture of a blond haired boy, and a darker haired girl and the name Anya. This didn’t come all at once, but throughout the time with Him I had these three pieces of information. As I normally do, I just pushed it to the back of my brain and moved on. So, back to our appointment. As most of you know we have been praying for some time for a son and a daughter to add to our family. We have been praying for “our brother & sister in Ukraine” for almost 19 months now. We have also been praying that the first children we were shown would be the ones that God had prepared for all of us to be a family. We are at the appointment and the first pictures we are shown are of two brothers. Darling boys, but did not feel that they were ours. Scott & I reiterated a brother & a sister. The next children we were shown were brother & sister, Anna (Yuri told us her Ukrainian nickname was Anya) and Dmitri, ages 5&6. We knew. They tried to show us other pictures but we kept going back to these children. They were the first brother & sister children we were shown (answer to prayer). As we were leaving the NAC, Scott told me that God had told him the children might be older than we were expecting. I shared what God had told to me the night before and we were so excited. So no time to post to our friends and family, we have to get back to the apartment pack up and get on a train that night to Kharkiv (the city in which the children are located). Kharkiv is about 4 hours by car NE of Kiev, but about 8 hours by train. Kade really enjoyed his first train ride. We kept wondering how all of us were going to fit in the train car (think room enough for 2 bunk beds & that’s it) on the way back home. We really didn’t sleep well on the train, either. I guess when you are deprived in an area, it becomes a great focus for you. I realize I keep mentioning sleep, sorry. I will be a normal person again someday. :) But I digress, back to the story. Sleep on the train, arrive in Kharkiv at 6:30 in the morning, try to find a hotel, found one on the second try. Let me stop here and say, hotel…this really is a generous definition of where we are staying. This is not the Marriott, the Holiday Inn or even the Motel 6. There are beds here and a shower and we are grateful. So we check in to the hotel, we get settled and then head off for the local inspectors office. This is a person who is like the county social worker. Her job is to make sure that children in her area are not abused or neglected. Her job would be to remove the children from an unsafe home and she gives permission for PAP (potential adoptive parents) to visit children in an orphanage in her county. In less than 15 minutes we are approved and on our way to the orphanage. Natasha (I forgot to mention her earlier, she is our in-city translator & will help us with all of the paperwork for the adoption) called the orphanage, spoke to the Director and was told that the children were having a “holiday” and that we could go ahead and come.

When we arrived at the orphanage, the outside was dirty and dismal. I began to tear up for my children inside. We were met by the Orphanage director, her first name was Ludmilla, she told us to come watch the children’s holiday program that was just about to begin. She pointed out Dmitri & Anya. So we were able to watch the children in their performance. I tell you, I am already partial. Dmitri had a solo performance where he pretended to be the “country boy” walking around giving flowers to the young girls and then gave a large bunch of flowers to his favorite girl. I, of course, thought Dmitri (Ukrainian nickname, Dima) did the best job and stole the show. And for some reason, Anya’s group did not have any special performances; they sang and danced with the total group. This was one well-rehearsed children’s program. The kids were so full of laughter and joy. While the outside may be dark and gray, the inside was full of joy that day. It made my heart sing to know that they could enjoy themselves at something like this. The great part for me was to be in the audience and for the children to not know that we were there. I could pray for them, pray for the meeting that would happen in less than an hour, ask God to calm our anxious hearts and theirs. It was definitely a gift from God.

When the children’s performance was over, we met again the director’s office. She brought in the doctor & the psychologist. They told us briefly about the children’s medical history, and their circumstances for coming to the orphanage. We asked many, many questions. At one point I asked the question if Dima had lost his baby teeth yet. I couldn’t tell from where we were sitting during the children’s program. She kind of got a little irritated and said through the translator, “how does the answer to that question help you to determine if you would like to meet with these children?” I guess what she didn’t know is that these children were already ours. We did not need to determine yes or no, we were just trying to find out as much possible information about them at that moment so that we could retain all of the information for medical decisions and for the children, later. Guess there were a few things lost in translation. :)

Next came time for meeting the children. (Let me stop here to stay I realize this is the longest post known to man, and I apologize, but I know our friends & family out there will want every detail, so I am appeasing your need for knowledge. Let’s move on…) We sat in what is the equivalent of a children’s coat closet. We placed three small benches in a circle (triangle) and Scott and I sat on one small bench. While, Natasha & Kade sat on the other bench. We left the third bench available for the children. First Dima came in. We introduced ourselves to him. He seemed very happy and was excited to be there. Moments later in walks Anya. She starts to cry because she is frightened. I begin to cry because I hurt that she is scared. Remembering that my crying might scare her more, I quickly get my act together. Dima encourages his sister to come into the circle. The caretakers walk Anya to my lap. Oh how scary that must have been for her! We talked with Dima (Anya was very shy and wouldn’t say anything) for a while and then finally he asked if we were from America. I replied, Duh (yes), ya Americanyits. Yes, we are American. He was VERY EXCITED to hear that news. He asked for a pen and a piece of paper. In our talking with him, we found out that he likes to draw. So Scott gave him his pen and some paper because he wanted to show us how well he could draw. Dima drew a flower and a yard and a house. I asked him, “Whose house is that? and he replied, “Ours.” I asked if he would like to come to America with us and be a family. And he replied, “Yes.” I asked Anya if she was scared, she said she was not. Dima spoke words of comfort to her in Russian and could hardly contain his excitement for them both. I had made the children scrapbooks (I know that will come as a shock to you) before we left. In the scrapbooks I included pictures of us, pictures of our house, pictures of family, etc. I also included pictures of their bedrooms. They were SOOOOO excited about that. Dima kept opening his book to his bedroom and then opening Anya’s book to hers. He told her to look at the toys in the pictures. He took the books and showed them to the caretakers that were standing nearby. At this time, Anya did open up a little. She looked at the picture of Scott and then pointed to him sitting next to us on the bench. She did the same with mine & Kade’s pictures as well. Dima & Anya could not put their books down. It just warmed my heart. To say to a precious child, “Would you like a family?” is so different than showing them that there really is people (friends and family) waiting for you, and that a special place has been prepared just for them. (Scriptural Reality: In my Fathers house are many rooms, I go to prepare a place for you) And that is what Jesus has done for us and that is what He has called us to do for these children. WOW!!! Sure wish I could see a picture of my room in Heaven! That would be so cool. The caretakers told us it was time for the children to get on with their naps. So we asked the children if they would like us to come back later in the afternoon. They both replied yes.

We came back to the hotel, took a quick nap, and then headed back to the orphanage. When we arrived the children were playing on the playground. Scott mentioned that all of the children were looking at us and that they knew we were the mom & dad & brother of someone. We were walking across the playground to get to the front door when Dima ran right up to us. First he hugged Natasha, then Scott put his hand down to shake his. Dima responded joyfully and I gave him a pat on the back. My first impulse was to swoop him up and shower him with kisses, but all in good time. Since I am a visual person, sometimes my prayers (or answers from God) come in the form of pictures. Praying for Anya & Dima, I had a picture in my head of slowly watering their hearts. While my heart is full of love for them and has been for months. Now seeing them makes me want to just gush forth everything for them. Well Paul says to speak to you hearers so that they can hear you. And to not try to feed babies meat. So I thought about just slowing watering their hearts with love from my heart. I can’t just pour out everything I have right now or they will drown. They won’t understand. I want them to grow & thrive. So a little water, a little nourishment, for right now, will do their heart good, while they grow.

Dima immediately began hollering on the playground for Anya. She came over and hugged Natasha. I bent down and said hello. As we walked across the playground, she clung to Natasha like glue. I can only imagine how confusing this must be for her. We sat down on some benches on the playground. Scott was a big hit with the digital camera. His job was taking pictures of the children so they could see themselves on the screen. This was fun for a while, but very difficult to get to visit with the D&A. We literally had children climbing all over us. It reminded me of the first time I went to Mexico for a mission trip with the youth at church. I began to hand out toys and what started out as 4-5 children quickly turned into 30+. This is the way it was today. The more pictures Scott took, the more children there were to take pictures of. How can I get all of these children home with me??? We asked Dima to take us inside so we could visit. He took us to the coat room. Shortly thereafter the children started filing in from outside and putting away their hats & coats. So we moved to the room where Dima sleeps with probably 20 other children. There we had a great time throwing stuffed soccer balls around the room. Scott, Kade & Dima, played various versions of toss the ball, kick the ball, hide the ball, etc. Anya (sitting in Natasha’s lap) and I rolled the ball back and forth. Although, we had a little game of trying to get the ball past each other so you had to get up to go get the ball. She made good eye contact and we smiled a lot at each other (just a little watering…) Then Dima told us he was going to put on a show for us. So we all sat back and this child commenced on a very rough blend of Russian breakdancing. That’s right folks, the kid has got some moves! It was great. He then led into a series of gymnastics…backbends, flips with no hands. Pretty impressive.

Dima began looking at his book again and told us that he was scared to sleep alone. We told him that his bed was right next to Kade’s bed and that they would share a room. He wanted to know where the window was. He said he didn’t want to sleep under the window. We told him the window was above Kade’s bed and he seemed pleased that Kade could protect him. He said, “Okay, then I will not be afraid.” He wanted to know where the window was in Anya’s room, but didn’t say anything. We took the kids some little backpack size magna doodles, so we all took turns drawing on them and then naming the drawing in Russian and then in English. Dima liked to say “fish”. He said he had a friend at the orphanage that went to America but he didn’t know English. I hear him wanting to learn, so we will begin to translate from the very beginning so he can feel comfortable when landing on American soil. Well, Dima wore Kade out. Kade told Dima that he needed to take a rest from playing and Dima said, “That’s okay, I just play with Papa.” Scott laughed.

Earlier that day we took Cheerios for the kids to snack. When we left this evening, it was time for D&A dinner. As we were walking out, Dima wanted to show me that he still had his snacks. He had a special place for them on his table. I hope he feels special. Anya walked us back to her group. When we left we told her goodbye, she did not respond verbally, just looked at us and walked into her group. Her caretaker came to the door and was asking Natasha how long the adoption documents/paperwork would take. Natasha responded, “About a month.” Pray it doesn’t take a month from now. Pray we are home by the last week in Apirl. Anya is shy now, but I am excited to see her when he is comfortable and warmed up. She is precious and I hope she feels special, too.

As we left today Kade said, “Dima is a good little brother, and a good big brother to Anya, too.” He is really happy to see their faces and is excited to share life with them. Kade is ready for them to speak English so they can communicate better.

We came back to the hotel about 6:30 tonight. I was out by 7:30. We didn’t even eat dinner. Scott & Kade played Uno and snacked then went to bed. It is now 7:30 a.m. as I wrap this up and Scott & Kade are still snoozing soundly. Yeah God! We go to the notary’s office today to sign some documents and then will visit the children this afternoon. OH! I almost forgot, Anya did ask earlier today (during the second visit) that when we get to America, would I take her to get her ears pierced! Isn’t she precious?!? But really in some of their questions, I hear the pain. Did she ever have hopes of getting her ears pierced, did Dima ever have hopes of having his own room, I don’t know. Whether they knew it or not, they will know that God had a hope & a future planned for them from the very beginning. I am hoping to attach a picture to this post. Scott is going to find an internet café today where we can communicate with you guys and show you the faces of the new Thompson family. Stay tuned…and please keep praying.

BTW, what are your prayer requests? If we can’t be connected physically, please tell us how we can connect spiritually with you by praying for you.

Love you all,
Kayla :)

PS: I hope you will forgive me for any grammatical errors, poor sentence structure and the like. Web log journaling is different that writing a paper for Sr. High English, right Mrs. Larson?!?

PSS: I almost forgot the odd Ukrainian trivia – In Ukraine they have stoplights just like in the US. However, just before their stoplights turn green, they turn yellow. This is a clue for all Ukranian drivers to go ahead, rev on the gas and move on. These drivers are a little scary to me. The LA taxi driver we had coming out of LAX has got nothing on these guys!