Waiting

Today was a day of waiting. And waiting. And waiting. It seems that now that we are in the midst of this process there will be a lot of that.

We waited at home today (the TLC) until about 1:30, when we walked to the orphanage to meet Tanya and the girls there. We all drove to the photo store for the girls to quickly have their photos made for their passports. It didn't take more than 10 minutes. Then we drove back to the orphanage.

Tanya had planned to have an English lesson with the girls but they were called to go to singing practice to prepare for the end of the school year program on Saturday. We were told to just wait for them in the teacher's room. Unfortunately, the teacher's room was being used by the teachers, who were obviously in the throes of the last week of school grading angst. (I'd recognize it in any language!) Mark and I pulled a couple of chairs out into the hallway so as not to disturb the teachers working, and we sat there for about two hours. We kept thinking the girls would be done practicing and would arrive any moment, but they never came and they never came.

Finally, the assistant director of the orphanage, who had observed us sitting there for quite some time, came and asked us in Russian where our girls were. We answered as best we could that they were in singing practice. So this woman assistant director promptly took matters into her own hands and motioned for us to follow her down to the music practice room. When we got there she went inside, but motioned for us to stay outside. Even through the closed door we could hear passionate and loud Russian conversation (it all sounds passionate and loud!). After a minute or two she came out and motioned for us to enter and have a seat on a bench. The girls ran through their song one more time, but I think by that time they figured they had had enough singing practice, and they were ready to go outside to throw the Frisbees! The singing teacher agreed that they could go, so out we went.

We did spend an hour and a half or so playing outside. We just enjoy being together, playing with the Frisbees and taking pictures. If other kids come along and look interested in the game we invite them to play, too. It's been fun.

We've seen most of the kids we met last year at camp Yestrebok in Svetegorsk. We've had fun hugging and playing with most of them. Both Slavics and Sergeis have seen us. They all come and hang all over Mark whenever they see him. They are so impressed with his muscles! We've played Frisbee with Vadeem and Vitya and Alona and Kristina and Anya and Sasha. We love all these kids a lot.

However, as much as we care for all the other orphans and will pray for them always, there is definately a different feeling for Zhanna and Ella. It's amazing that we feel the way we do after just having met them last year. We have talked about how we'd be feeling about adopting any of the others. While we long to help them, we don't feel the same about them as we do about our girls. It's love, and it's from God. Mark said it would be comparable to deciding to marry someone because you think you can help them, or deciding to marry someone for love. Deciding to marry just to try to help someone is really not for the right reasons.

Now, I'm sure there are wonderful people who have adopted children to help them and then have grown to love them, but we're thankful that God has given us the love experience at the first. It is beautiful, and helps us to know, without a doubt, this is the right thing to do. We have no doubts.

In the meantime, each day holds its share of waiting. We are trying to be patient and calm and approach each day as it comes. But we know that even the days we sit, our girls know we are there for them. Playing Frisbee with Zhanna and Ella and all the other kids is exactly where we should be for today - showing the love of God to orphans, and letting them know they are not alone. Our homesickness and desire to be done with the process and heading home is just a small piece of our lives, and we will be home soon. So we take each day as it comes.

Please continue to pray for our court hearing on Monday, June 1. If all goes well (and we expect that it will) the girls will be ours on Monday! Then we wait 10 more days and the adoption will be finalized.

Please also be praying for the decision by the Ukrainian parliament to be voted on Tuesday, June 2, whether or not to place a moratorium on foreign adoptions. There are hundreds of thousands of kids in the orphanages in Ukraine. They need the opportunity to be loved by a real family and taken to a real home. The moratorium would hurt a lot of children. Please pray.

We love and miss you all. May God bless you and us.
Love,
Dawn and Mark