Leavin' on a Train!

We apologize for the lack of recent updates. We have had fun adjusting to a family of five. Our days have been filled with eating, legos, playing at the park, eating, card games, hide and seek, eating, and today....snowball fights! (and soon to be eating again)

Our last day in Odessa, Ukraine has been a blessing. We feel like we have been able to say our goodbyes to those special to us. We had hot chocolate today at our favorite place. Watching the snow fall and drinking hot chocolate was special.

We leave on the train to Kiev tonight at 11 pm. Please pray for our train ride. The five of us will be packed in a cargo unit of the train (with our luggage, I might add). Our trip from Kiev to Odessa was quite challenging, so we're praying and hoping for a more pleasurable ride this time.

We'll try to update the blog upon arrival and post some new pictures. We have a day at the US Embassy in Kiev tomorrow, then we'll get settled into our new apartment. We are told that piles of snow will welcome us, so the snowball fights will continue.

We thank all of you for your prayers and support. We hope to update you soon and be back in America on the 23rd! God bless and Merry Christmas!

We are finally together

It is hard to describe how much fun we have had with Artur for the past 3 days. He is such a funny, energetic, and kind addition to our family. We finished applying for his passport late yesterday evening, then he and the other girl adopted by the friends we have met here, begged us to go back to McDonalds. I think I was the only reluctant one, but it was good. Artur didn't eat quite as much this time. We followed it up with a piece of chocolate and a walk in the city park. Artur turned our stroller once again in to a race car and was doing circles around us all.


We finished out the night with a card game of Speed, in which Artur beat me 3 games in a row! As he is playing his cards, he is saying, "I'm sorry," with a smirk on his face. Right now we are having an hour of quiet time, where we are all getting a little space from each other, and Artur has cleaned up all the dishes from lunch and wiped the counters, of his own choosing. We are very thankful and impressed!

We have seen how Taylor's adjustment in this new family arrangement will be challenging because he is all of a sudden not the biggest, not the first, not the fastest, and not the most clever. But his big brother has shown great kindness, acting like he can't find him in hide and seek, or letting him get away in zombie (chase). Scott and I are trying to pay attention to him too. We'll play one game of speed with Artur, then play a game of Go Fish so Taylor can play.

Molly girl, now speaking in full sentences said to me this morning, "Where's Artur?" And I told her he was still sleepy. She walked over to Artur, who was having a very difficult time snoozing in bed with everyone coming in and out of his "room" (the pullout in the living room). He smiled at her and she started laughing. Then ran back to me and said, "Artur not seep, Artur woke up!" The 5 of us played hide and seek for almost 2 hours this morning while our electricity was out and we all needed showers (hot water). Molly could fit in the tiniest spots.

Artur is now trying to vacuum. Tell me this is not just a fascination with a new toy. Tell me this is going to continue???

We have had so much fun skyping with family. We would love to keep skyping and can't wait to get back to Mississippi soon! We are scheduled to return to Jackson on Sunday night, December 23rd at 8:07 p.m.

A Day Longed For

This past week seemed to fly by. We visited Artur several of the days at the orphanage but also took some days off to recoup. The weather has certainly gotten colder. We are “gearing up” each day to strive to stay warmer. Mornings playing in the park have turned into mornings playing on and with ice.

Tomorrow (Monday) is a special day. We will pick up Artur from the orphanage and officially bring him into our family. He will say his final good byes to his friends and teachers. We will do the same.

I imagine that tomorrow will be bittersweet for all of us in some ways, especially Artur. Since he was 4 years old, the orphanage has been his home. He has known some of his friends since the first orphanage. We have met some of these friends. They have experienced things together that will forever keep them bonded in spirit.

Tomorrow will be glorious and difficult for us as well. We have gotten to know many of these kids well over the past 6 weeks. We have visited them for almost 6 weeks now. We feel close to these kids. We have grown to love them. We will not forget them. We will pray for them with God’s help. We want them to know that they are loved by our Great God. We will pray for families for these kids. Even though all kids do not desire a family, all kids need a family. We are convinced of this now more than ever based on our experience here.

How brave is Artur? I’d say he is quite brave. Helen first referenced his bravery. He is leaving everything that he has known for the past 10 years to have us as a family. I imagine that he is scared in some ways. But the Lord has worked in his heart, and we are forever thankful. Tuesday, we will have to drive around a lot in the car getting paperwork done. If you have read previously, you know Artur gets very car sick. So we gave him the option of staying one more night until Tuesday afternoon after we have done most of the driving around without him. He opted to leave Monday with us and just bear it! Of course we are all so excited, and will carry a plastic bag with us.

Some great “unknowns” lie ahead for him and all of us. What will family be like now? Will we communicate well? Will we get along most of the time? Will we ever doubt our decisions?

But a greater “known” lies ahead as well. The Lord has called us here, and He has promised to never leave or forsake us, or give us more than we can bear. God’s grace is amazing. We hope and pray that we will always marvel at His amazing grace.

lots of friends

Cute little boy Nikita photographed about 15 times by his good friend, Artur

 Luda, Nikita, and Artur .. They act very silly around each other.

Nikita

Sasha

? and Roma

Svetta

sweet Pasha

Artur trying on his daddy's coat... makes me see how skinny he is!

Pasha and Artur

Scott and

Artur loves the dogs

playing Sala, or Zombie (chase)

Alyona and Vica

?

?

Roma

Maxim

Alosha

Maxim again

Stella, Molly, and Vica laughing about Molly's obsession with her pacifier

Mama's girl

Vica

Angelina and Vica

Artur, his teacher, and Dennis

Molly, Artur, Sasha, Luba and a very nice Ukrainian man

Lots of fun on the court

Angelina, Stella, Molly and Vica again

Sasha and Masha - I played with them in Go Fish and several other games. Sasha is 7 and a cute bubbly smiling little girl, and Masha was older and did not like to lose :)

a new sport, seated at the table tennis --- Dasha

Dennis - very sweet boy

Stella and Vica also seated.  We have had a lot of fun playing with these kids and count it such a blessing to be getting to know them.  They are Artur's friends, and some have known him since he was very young, even 4 years old.  They are probably the biggest part of our new son's past and present.

Walk to the Black Sea and Circus

Looking down from a bridge.

The Odessa port is actively working... lumber etc.

We walked through a pretty park and a colossium. 

We made it to the Sea!  After about an hour walk, we had to warm up with some hot chocolate first.  But we forgot to order "hot chocolate with milk."  If you don't specify the milk, it is literally hot chocolate. Sometimes it is melted chocolate which is amazing, and this time it was more like pudding.  We enjoy it however it comes!

This man was in the Black Sea swimming!  It was in the 50's this particular day and very windy.  He had a personal assistant guarding his clothes while he swam.  When he came back to shore in his speedo, his assistant handed him a towel, and the man put back on his suit.  What a lunch break!

There is the guy behind us guarding his clothes

the sun popped out for a little bit to warm our faces!!!

Taylor knew exactly what to do on a beach... he built a sand castle!  We needed the rest of the cousins to help!

Last Saturday, we went to the circus!  It was so much fun and quite impressive.

they had 2 bears, this cute one is sliding down the slide, and another is about to climb the ladder.

Taylor and Molly couldn't take their eyes off the show even for a second.

We went with another American family and the 2 boys they just adopted!  They really loved it too.

the bear on a skate board

an amazing juggler.

a horse and a clown doing tricks

I don't have a picture of what Scott just looked at, but if any of you know him you could probably guess.  That's right.... SNAKES!  They brought out 3 enormous 10 foot long or longer snakes, swung them around, danced, and of course wrapped all 3 around one man. They must have weighed a ton!  Scott was not digging it too much haha

I took a lot of video, but not as many pictues.  But we hope to go back with Artur next Saturday if they are still in town.  It was a Russian circus, so I am not sure how long they will be here.  They also had trapeze artists that were awesome, a porcupine, a funny clown, a live orchestra, baboons, horses, motorcycles, and even a hula hooper who hula hooped 25 hoops at once.  Taylor and Molly LOVED it.

This is a restored beautiful Presbyterian church in walking distance from our hotel in downtown Odessa.  It is entirely in Russian, but you can have a headset in English, which is really cool.  Much history to be shared later.