A Tale of Two Sons -- Jan 20, 2008

Well, yesterday was just amazing! After my early morning movie watching and a great breakfast Momma Olya had prepared for us (Cheese cake, but not any like you have ever had before, Simply delicish for all you Rachel Ray fans). We went to church with Lori. Pastor Bob preached and 2 friends we have prayed for shared testimony, it was good. We joined Paula, Chris, Katya and Lena at Puzata Hata for a great lunch. Paula schooled us on some of the ins and outs of gathering documents and papers. We are thoroughly enjoying our times with them. Chris is such a super young man. He keeps us laughing! Chris is becoming a rather adept translator too. Around 3pm we began our journey out to the orphanage to visit. A metro ride and a trip on the marchutka (bus) and we were there. It snowed yesterday, and changed the landscape from what I had remembered it. But then, there was the gate and the giant door. We had met a few of the kids outside the orphanage at the Metro stop and were joined by a few others as we entered the compound, but it seemed somewhat empty. We went inside and met one of the guards, who spoke good English (V). We went inside just beyond the front entry way and sat in some seats there. And there we waited as several kids from previous summers of Hope came through. It was good to see them, and meet others I did not get to meet this past summer. Soon, my life would change, as I couldn�t help think back to my morning�s writings of what God had allowed me to get all emotional about over the movie. And those questions I was pondering, it was amazing how some of them were answered immediately upon seeing a face.
I remember looking just past our group of friends. Jenn was standing next to me, closer to the door, when through the hallway O came. He had the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face and his arms were outstretched and reaching toward Jenn. He embraced her still smiling, and began to tear up (ok, we all three were). Next it was my turn, as he broke eye contact with Jenn, but only after the hug and another glance to make sure he was really seeing her standing in front of him. I don�t know if I can put into words what it felt like to hug my son. To know that I was really here, and if God allowed, I would bring him home with me. Chris grace, I can totally relate to all those times you knew you were going to be toast, and not be able to hold back the tears. O hugged me for a long time and glanced also into my face after the embrace. I could now see the tears welling up in his eyes as he could see mine and we both soon wiped them away. Jenn, after introducing Lori, asked if she would translate for her. I am sure she will capture the details of what was said better than I can remember, so I will write about the highlights I do remember.
We talked about how long it had been. I think she asked him to pray for our meeting on Tuesday and that it was so good to see him. I remember him saying he had waited so long, and we echoed that. While we are talking, and I am laughing now thinking about the wildness that started to unfold, our budding translator Chris begins to share that O�s mama and papa are here to adopt him. How quickly our plan to be careful and not share too much information was just blown away by the tidal wave of information that began to come forth. This was beyond the scope of where my imagination had lead me, prior to our visit but we went with the events, because after all who can stop a tidal wave? We visited more with O, before our other son came in; for confusion sake I will call him O jr. for now. Again, Chris helps us out and lays the whole plan on jr. and his face is a bit shocked. Haha, you had to see this happen, it was quite funny to watch the magic Chris was working � I can almost hear some star trek theme music playing in the background, �space, the final frontier � to boldly go where no man has gone before �� haha. I occasionally glanced over at Paula, and she was like, eh, what can you do, these kids get to talking and you never know what will happen� there are no secrets. I appreciate the fact that Chris and Paula were there. I admit at the time I was freaking out a little bit, but God seemed to work it all out as the conversations continued. Lori was such a help too! We were so glad she was able to be there to be our voice and ears. She did some observing, and we had a great debrief time later when we discussed all our observation of the boys.
Now the party changes again as G arrives on the scene. G is great with the kids! He immediately jumps into the conversation with them. Both boys and other friends are so happy to see him. He asks if they are happy to see us and they appear to be. Funny stories with G follow, soon after explaining some of the process of how paperwork and steps to the process happen to the boys. G introduces us to the conversation of names. Ummm yes, he did. And we were not ready for that discussion, but ready or not, there we went. Through the discussion we learned more about our boys. We are sold that one of their favorite movies is Home Alone. In fact, jr. wants to be called Kevin as a result this movie. We were cracking up watching this exchange between all the kids about the movie �.on and on� I was thinking, I like the movie, but didn�t remember it being that great. But I am here to say it will be added to our collection (Lori says we will find it in Russian soon). We approached the name Will Franklin with O, and he was not all about that name. I was thinking, come on, you could be Will Smith, trying to appeal to his movie watching habit. I got a ehh, kind of response, and Mrs. Kristi, it was definitely negative cool points in his eyes�. Sigh. G asked if there were other names so we shared the other one we had considered for O or M with him. John Benjamin. G liked the name, commented that it was a strong name and it O. O continued to try it on for size and we told them there was time to think this over (I mean really, it was the first visit�lol � Mark still swimming in the events of the 2 hours, wondering when the tidal wave would stop rushing). We then began discussing what middle name Kevin would take on � we laughed as he said Costner, both boys know their movies and actors. We watched some video footage of Kevin in a play the Underwood�s had. Of course Kevin wanted to know the middle name of �Kevin� in the movie. We couldn�t remember (but Jenn and I had discussed Michael as an option to go with Kevin on the side real quickly, so I interjected, �I think his name was Michael.� G liked it, and mentioned it to the boys � haha this was really a hilarious scene, I hope you can just picture this, with about 4-5 other children helping the whole situation out. Soooo once we watch the movie, who knows if the middle name will change or not, we will keep you informed. This led to a conversation with the boys asking them where they would want to go on outings, and G thinks Sat. and Sun. are good days for visits and outings.
We also shared with the boys that there were others we came to adopt. We wanted a big family, and were prepared to bring home 3 others at the time we�re getting them. At first, and maybe he still is, I think John Benjamin was disappointed. We will plan to do some coaching and reassuring with this, so please pray. All of us, G, Lori, Paula, know John�s potential to be a great big brother. He just fits the role � serious, protector, leader, compassionate. We began talking about our home, and the rooming situation. Again, not what John B had imagined, but we told him since he was the oldest got to pick his bed. He got a big smile on his face and let out a hearty noise (didn�t get the translation on it, but it was like, yeah, I am the oldest, kind of positional in nature, verbal response� I believe it were Damian, it would have been posed as �In your face�). He seemed to be ok to share a room with the others, considering he got first pick of which bed was his.
It was a great visit! I am still overjoyed the morning after. We just heard from G and he said he spoke with the boys director. She is sad that one of her favorites will be leaving her, but so excited for him also. She wants to me with us after we get our official papers and she said she will begin to gather their documents. As far as when either of us will head to Zap to begin things there, your guess is as good as ours. It appears Jenn may stay here a little longer to get the process going in Kiev. Really, the plan seems to be one day at a time, so we will let you know when we do.
We love you guys! Thank you for journeying through this with us. We really could not do it without Jesus and without you and your prayers! We know He is who is making all this possible, and that your prayers are being used to get us through the wonderful blessings we are experiencing now, and the rough spots to come. Hope you enjoyed our two versions. If the details were not totally the same page, Jenn�s recollection and story- telling details are what I would go with. We all know she doesn�t forget anything ;)
Blessings to you all!
Until He is Known
Papa Mark