Update on First Week - Ready to Return to America

It seems like a year has passed since we last updated you on our travel adventures. Well, here goes....We had our appointment this past Wednesday. Immediately we were told that only one child was available (definitely not a true statement) and that he is 12 months old and has had 2 surgeries on his bladder. His bladder does not function at all and he will have to wear diapers for the rest of his life. We patiently listened to the translator and psychologist and then asked to see more children. Things seemed to go downhill from there. We were shown children with Hep C, nonfunctioning livers, severe cerebral palsy, severe psychological delay and retardation, the list goes on. We decided to visit a set of sisters age 3 1/2 and 2. The youngest sister has a cleft palate and cleft lip but had had 2 surgeries to repair the lip but still needed surgery on the palate. Both girls were said to have the normal orphanage social and psychological delay but nothing serious. The older girl was said to suffer from hysterics which in our society means fussiness. The younger child was said to walk normally and speak according to her age level. We did not want to leave the appt. without at least agreeing to visit a child because the conditions may be better than expected. Okay, remember what I just told you because we confirmed all this before leaving the appt. with the SDA. Well, we left by train the next day at 4:30 p.m. to travel to the region of Keminski (sp?). We arrived around 9:00 p.m. on Thursday and checked into a hotel. The next morning, we met our translator in the lobby at 9:00 a.m. and headed to the inspector's office. The inspector is over all the orphanages in her region. She was very polite but seemed surprised that we wanted to visit these children. The senior medical associate from the orphanage happened to be at the inspector's office when we arrived, so she rode with us to the orphange. We met with the director and received more medical information about the girls. The meeting was very discouraging. Apparently, we were not given very accurate information at the SDA about the true condition of the girls. Both girls were severly handicapped and suffered from extreme psychological and social delays, had cerebral palsy, and hip dyplasia. The youngest child could not walk and could not talk at all. Our translator told us that she could not walk because of the surgery that she had had to repair her cleft lip (okay, since when does surgery on your mouth impair your ability to walk - this didn't make sense). The older child also has epilepsy. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. The children were very loving but these were not the children for us. We refused the referral and spent the remainder of the day traveling throughout the city trying to get our refusal paperwork notarized and signed by both the orphanage director and inspector. Both were very polite about our refusal and understood completely. The inspector said that the psychologist at the SDA should have informed us of all the medical conditions because had we not be told false information, we would not have spent the money and time to travel to the region. This has definitely been one of the WORST experiences of our life. It was heart-wrenching to be introduced as Momma and Papa and know that these were not our girls. We will never forget the hug that we received from the oldest child or how it felt when she waived goodbye and called us Momma and Papa.

We are now back in Kiev and facing a huge dilemna. Right now, families wanting a healthy child under the age of 3 are waiting up to 3 months for their next appointment. At the next appointment, it is said that we can rest assured that we will receive a "good" referral, however as you can probably imagine, Jason and I are very hesitant about what to expect because of how our first appointment went. We will be going to the SDA on Monday to hand-in our letter requesting another appointment. Our facilitator, Yuri, has been wonderful through all of this and understands completely. He said that on our appointment date this past Wednesday, he was sent to make photocopies of our dossier and was told that they were implementing a new rule in which facilitators could not be present in the meeting. Apparently, they were making sure that he was not present because he would have been able to read the medical report and urge us not to accept the referrals. Apparently, the SDA was determined to send us to a region one way or another.

PRAYER REQUEST: We need another appointment date within the next week or we will be returning to America without a child. If we have to return home and then travel again in 3 months, we may face difficulty with Nissan allowing Jason off for an extended period of time again. We both have to be present in Ukraine in order to select a child and attend court. PLEASE PRAY THAT WE GET A REFERRAL THIS WEEK - THIS MEANS THAT GOD WILL HAVE TO PERFORM A MIRACLE!

Yuri said that practically all of his families receive good referrals on the first visit and that he has not had a family in our situation. Kate, the Eastern European director at America World, has not seen a situation like this either. I cannot even begin to tell you how discouraged we are (not to mention homesick). We know that God is in ultimate control and that the SDA has no power that is greater than His, however I will tell you that our faith is certainly being tested!

We are having difficulty sleeping because our neighbors are up until 2 or 3 in the morning and having company. They talk very, very loudly and do not care that they are in the hallway right outside your door and practically yelling. For two nights straight we have had someone beat on our door late at night - we dare not open the door because we can't understand them! The dogs run rampant in Ukraine. We had read that taking a rabies shot was recommended however we had no idea at the number of dogs just roaming around - there was even a dog in the grocery store. When we were riding in a car in region visiting the orphanage, I saw an elderly lady being chased by a dog from the back with another one barking at her in the front (of course, no one stopped to help her). In the region, we saw people eating from trashcans. People also "rent" their children out to beggars on the street. We saw one last night in Kiev and she was holding a screaming child and wanting money. Yuri told us to keep walking because more likely than not, that was a rented child. It is absolutely amazing, and horrifying, the sights that we have seen.

It is very cold with snow and ice everywhere. It kills me how the ladies wear such spiked boots and never fall. I guess they are used to it, but we are very careful walking. We haven't ventured out much because we haven't had time. Today is the first day in which we really haven't had anything to do. We are now staying downtown Kiev in what I have termed Elvis' Love Shack. I wish we could post pictures because you would roll with laughter! Truly, the bedroom is the most posche sight you will ever behold (complete with irridescent stickers on the furniture). The thing is, where we are staying is supposed to be very, very nice and is pricey. It's clean and the sheets have been washed (that's more than we can say about one of our hotels wile in region visiting the orphanage).

PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR VISIT TO THE SDA TOMORROW. ASK EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO PRAY THAT GOD DESCENDS UPON UKRAINE LIKE HE HAS NEVER DONE BEFORE!

Thank you for all the comments. We love hearing from home! We miss you all dearly!!!!!!!!