Gifts from our "Ukrainian Blessing"

While Jason and I were in Ukraine in November, we purchased traditional Ukrainian items to give as gifts to our family members for Christmas from our new "Ukrainian Blessing". By the way, since we don't yet know the name of our new child, we call him or her our Ukrainian Blessing. For the grandfathers, we purchased hand-painted dresser boxes and for the ladies of the family, we purchased matryoshka dolls. Even though we haven't been united together as a family, we still wanted to give the gifts and have special prayer for our child across the world. The following is the letter that came with the gifts:

Dear (Family Member's Name),

I know you haven’t seen my face yet or even know my name, but I know you love me just the same, and I love you. So far, all of my memories are of my caregivers and other children in my groupa, however all my hopes and dreams are of you – my family. Every night, I go to sleep praying for a family and wake-up wondering if today will be the day when I meet my very own Momma and Papa. Throughout the day, I play with my friends, however I keep an eye on the door waiting for the orphanage director to call out my name, lift me into her arms, and introduce me to my very own family. I wonder what my Momma and Papa look like or if I will have a brother or sister to play with? I like playing with my friends here and will miss them a lot, but it makes me sad not to have a family of my very own. I wonder if I will have my own room with a warm bed and more toys than I could ever play with? Most of all, though, I just want to be loved and kissed forever!

My groupa room is clean and has lots of toys and my caregivers are friendly, but my heart longs for my own family. I want a real family with parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a dog! When we meet one day soon, and we will meet soon, I hope you aren’t disappointed in me. I’ll probably be shy and won’t be able to understand what you are saying because I speak Ukrainian, however I’ll open-up soon and will learn English very quickly. I just can’t wait to be a part of a real family!

Sometimes at night, I find myself cold, sad, and wishing that my Momma and Papa would hurry-up and come for me. My caregivers are very busy taking care of all my friends, so they don’t always have time to comfort me. Some nights, I cry inside because I know that sobs and tears falling down my face don’t help any and only make me hiccup. Don’t worry though, my very special Friend is always there to dry my eyes and hold me through the night.

My special Friend is the only man that I have ever seen. At first, He scared me because I didn’t know who He was, where He came from, or if He was friendly or mean. He doesn’t scare me anymore, though, because He comes to my bed every night and holds me until the sun comes up the next day. He’s still there if I wake-up after a bad dream, and He always tells me that He loves me. Come to think about it, He’s the only person who has ever told me that He loves me. I like to hold His hand while I try to go to sleep. His hand looks funny because He has a scar on it. When I asked Him about it, He said that sometimes love hurts and that one day I would understand. I thought it was a funny answer, but I didn’t ask any more questions because I just wanted to know when I was going to get a Momma and Papa. I ask about my Momma and Papa a lot, and my Friend always tells me that they are coming but I must be patient because He has a very special family picked-out for me and that they are trying really, really hard to find me.

Since I can’t be there with you to celebrate Christmas, I want to be sure that I give you a gift from my homeland. I know that when I become a part of your family, I will leave Ukraine, and although I am excited about living in America one day, I will always love my country because this is where I was born. Very special to my culture are hand-painted matryoshka dolls and hand-painted dresser boxes. I have picked-out a very special gift for you that I hope you enjoy very, very much. Each time you look at it, please say a prayer for my country and me. I hope that we can meet very, very soon! Each night, I ask my Friend to take care of you and to make us a family – I know I can depend on Him to take care of me because He tells me every night that no matter where I live, He will go with me and still be my Friend. Maybe one day, you can meet my Friend too and help me thank Him for making us a family!

Love,


Your Ukrainian Blessing