Friday

Well, it's Friday night at 9:45 and the only thing I really want to do is go to bed. If that isn't an indicator of how our lives have changed I don't know what is.

Gideon is doing better but we are still battleing to see who is going to be the top dog in the house. I am grateful to say that so far he has lost. [I will also admit that I bear a few of his teeth marks.] Bruce and I have actually begun to make time outs last until he quits fighting us. It is difficult but it seems to be having a greater effect than just waiting for the timer to go off.

Nina will start school on Monday at the Newcomers Academy. It is designed for students like her who have little to no English. We are very please with the man who runs the program and even though it is housed in one of the schools with the worst reputation in town, I think she will be safe and it will be a good place for her. Pray for her as she now begins to adapt to American life not just life in our house.

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Monday, Monday

Well here we are at the start of our second week home. Nina had a great time at church with the youth last night. When we got back in the car she told me it was a "good day."

Gideon is still his charming stinker-pot self. Bruce has dubbed him "Little Man" I think I prefer "scally-wag" even though I'm not sure how to spell it. We have had some battles today, but I seem to be growing more immune to them. I mean I am getting less angry with him when his belligerent stubbornness comes out. He is getting better and will now occasionally choose to not disobey us when we tell him something. On the other hand, he is also beginning to look right at us and do the thing he knows he is not supposed to do.

All in all, I think I am starting to find my feet with this new life God has given us. Now I just have to figure out when I am going to work in the time I need to get stuff ready for my responsibilities at church during Lent.

Nina and I will go to the ESL office tomorrow to start the process of getting her in school. Pray that we will have the wisdom to pick the right school and that the people are willing to work with us. Much thanks to those who have checked into this for us, your input has been invaluable.

Pray for Bruce as he is still finding his stride balancing his work and our family. I know he would much rather stay home with us than go to work and the 1 hour commute one way doesn't help. Pray that God will lead us in the right direction as to what we should do about that as well.

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Yes, we are all home

Howdy friends and neighbors,
I apologize for the cliff-hanger blog. We have been so busy since we got back that I haven't had a chance to look at email or blog. I also didn't realize that so many people were still checking up on us daily.


We received a call last Friday, ( Jan 26) that Nina's visa was ready. There was much rejoicing and praising of God. We looked into switching our tickets to leave Friday, but it wasn't going to be worth it. (It meant about 17 hours in the airport in Amsterdam) So, we stayed in Kiev and had a great time with Galya, one of our facilitators. We even went to the Circus ( think Cirque de Sole meets Ringling Brothers) Friday night. We had a great time! We also had some really great talks about everything under the sun. It is my prayer that some seeds were planted in fertile soil.

Bruce arrived home safely on Friday the 26th. He and Gideon were both none the worse for wear. He was so tired and glad to be home, he cried when he saw all the people at the airport. Bruce, Gideon, and many of our family and friends met Nina and I at the airport on Sunday the 28th. We also had a fairly uneventful trip, except that unlike Bruce and Gideon we did not get a hotel room and we took so long in immigration we were afraid that we would miss our plane. Thankful all our connections were made and we arrived home to a warm welcome and cold weather.

The bad news is that we came home to 2 dead cars. One is now in the shop and Bruce's dad is trying to fix the other. Top that off with the furnace going out on Monday night and we were beginning to think the sky was falling. Thankfully the furnace is now fixed.

The kids are doing well. Nina is a little bored. We have an appointment at the ESL office on Tuesday. I hope to get her started in school as soon as possible. She seems to be in good spirits and adjusting well, better than I had hoped to be honest. We have her room almost finished and she seems very happy with it. We got her a soccer ball 2 days ago and she spends a lot of time outside in the cold kicking it around. If anyone in our area knows of any leagues for girls around 16 we would love to know about them.

Gideon is surviving. (translation -- we haven't killed him yet) As those of you who have done this know it is a difficult transition for him. Nina and I both bear the marks of his angst (me, scratches and bruises, He actually bit Nina and broke the skin today) I think we are making progress though. Today was better than yesterday, yesterday was better than the day before. I hold no fantasies that we are out of the woods. He was used to being able to get whatever he wanted and it is difficult for him to take "no" for an answer. First he tries cute and if that doesn't work he get angry. And then he switched back. It would be funny if I wasn't living with it. Still, God is faithful even when I am not.

I have heard Gideon begin to make some new sounds verbally but he is not consistently repeating them. We will wait to seek speech therapy for him until we get Nina in school.

My Dad was here with us this week which was an invaluable help. He helped get some projects done to set up Nina's room and move my office downstairs. He also was a calming presence for everyone. Both kids are going to miss him now that he is gone. (he left this morning).

Well that is all the news for now. We continue to desperately need your prayers. As with all parents, we do not possess the wisdom and patience for the task ahead of us. I am beginning everyday with a desperate plea for God's help. I will try to keep updating every couple of days at least until we get into the full swing of life.

I cannot express how good it is to be home, and how strange it feels.

Peace,
BLN&G

On the way home, kinda

Here is the latest update for the Elbert adoption journey. Bruce and Gideon are on their way back home and should be in Louisville Friday at 2:15pm if all the conections are made. Bruce was a little anxious about traveling with Gideon all by himself as Lori stated that he had to be watched all the time. He just could not be left alone. Bruce feels that Gideon is his dad's pay back child. Lori and Nina had to remain in Keiv as Nina had not received her visa. Lori stated the an official at the embassy in Keiv told her that due to Nina's age the request for a visa was automatically kicked to the FBI for a background check. Lori was told that 95% of the time the clearance is given in about 48 hours. If this is true then she and Nina should be in Louisville Sunday at 2:15 pm. There could be a delay of as much as 3 to 4 days. Pray that things move quickly and they have the visa in their hands tomorrow.

Tues Jan 23

Hey guys,

Bruce here. I am currently in Berdichiv with Nina, Sveta, and Viktor trying to finish up Nina and Gideon's passport issues. Thus far things have gone smoothly but we have only done the easiest part. Already, we have been to Zhytomer and picked up papers. Then we went to Novagrad Volensky to have Gideon's orphanage stamp his paper and now we are in Berdichev to have Nina's boarding school stamp her paper and to get her second of three passports. We will probably be in Berdichiv for several more hours to have that done. Then we will go back to Zhytomer to show them the stamped papers and get their paperwork that we need for the U.S. embassy. Hopefully things continue to go well.

We currently still have the reservations for our flight but have not comfirmed it yet and cannot until we have all of the paperwork from today. We will have to repeat the reservation by phone today and confirm tomorrow. So we will let everyone know as quickly as possible.

Currently, Lori is back at the apartment in Kyev with Gideon all day. I hope they are surviving one another. I'm sure they are, but I have a feeling that I will have to take Gideon on a long walk when we get back to Kyev.

Well, I have to run. Hopefully, we will be able to get to the internet tomorrow.

Peace,
BLN&G

Coming Home

We are now in Kiev and only passports stand between us and coming home so I now will post that N's name is Nina (NEE-na). Gideon loves being with and pestering his big sister.

Here is the news:
We now have a tentative flight home. We do not yet have all the passports finished but we are hopeful that it will happen tomorrow (tues.). Bruce and Nina will go with Sveta and Victor to Zhytomer, then Berdichiv, then Zhytomer and then back to Kiev. IF we get all the passports we have an appointment at the embassy at 11:30 am on Wednesdays. Both kids will have to have their medicals early that morning. Nina's will probably be more extensive because of her age. If all goes well tomorrow we will confirm the flights we reserved this morning. That Means . . . we will arrive at the airport on Friday -- check with family or the church for the time.

Obviously we were not able to complete all the passport things on Saturday but they should be done tomorrow. We checked out of the hotel around 11:45 on Saturday. Nina was ready to go at 10 am. She was very anxious/excited about leaving. We then went to the orphanage to get Gideon. They did not tell him he was leaving forever in hopes that he would not be freaked out by the car ride. All of his care givers lined up see him off. You could tell they were happy for him but were sad to see him go. We dressed him in his new clothes and then he ran into the bathroom to show his friends and kiss them all. We then headed out to Victor's van. The minute he was sure we were getting in, he began to cry and it took him an 1:10 to stop. He then just laid in my arms sort of listless until we got to Kiev, at which time he began to cry again. The Boy does not like being in the car, luckily it doesn't make him sick.

We went to church yesterday. Nina and Galla to a Ukrainian service and Papa, Mama and Gideon to an English one. I cannot tell you how good it was to be able to worship with understanding again. The service was very similar to the 9:00 at St Paul, but more extended. it was scheduled to be 2 hours but was only 1:30. Gideon was great through the singing and listened very intently. By the time for the preaching he had to go to the bathroom, so he and mama slipped out and let Papa listen to the sermon undisturbed. I (Lori) cried through a lot of the music. It was as if God reached down and said, I will carry you through all that is ahead. I am faithful. I could cry now remembering.

Today we have been out running around. It has been a good day. Nina seems to be warming back up to us and to Bruce. She does not like to be alone with him, but we are taking baby steps. Hopefully tomorrow will help. Gideon is doing better with the car rides, but it is still hard on him and anyone riding with him.
I'm not sure if we will get back to the internet before we leave. If you don't here from us, assume that plans won't change. If they do we will let you know. We love you all.
It seemed unreal when we finally got to come and now it seems unreal that we are finally coming home. Praise God we are finally coming home.

Pray for Bruce, he may have the roughest transistion because he has to be back at work on Monday. Pray for all of us for patience, love and understanding. our prayer has been that God will bind us together.

Please let Mandy E know we are praying for her daily. When she is up to it, I will bring the kids by.

Peace of Christ,BLN&G

Last Day in Amongst the Farms and Horsecarts

At least we hope it is the last day. We had the little party with Gideon's group last night and it was a big hit. You have never seen so much food disappear so quickly.

This morning we got up a little early to hit all the important offices when they opened. First the notary to sign our names again and pick up papers. Then the Civil Registration office to pick up the new birth certificates and adoption certificates. IT IS FINAL THEY ARE OURS! Now we just have to be able to get them out of this country and back into ours. When we finished that, Sveta, Viktor, and N headed off to Berdichiv to get N's second passport. Our prayer is that they will again be able to get it in one day (today) if not it will further delay our coming home.

Tomorrow we will pick up Gideon, put him in his new clothes, since he will take ABSOLUTELY nothing with him from the orphanage, I mean nothing. (I think there is a sermon in there somewhere, I'll have to think on it then pass it along to one of you preacher types.) We will put him in the van (which hopefully will go better than last time) and all of us will head out. First stop will be Zhytomer to take care of more passport issues for the 2 kids then on to Kiev. Getting to the internet maybe iffy over the next few days, but I promise we will get our flight info out.

Best case scenario we will leave here on Tuesday. Worst case scenario (I am willing to think about) we will leave on Thursday. Leaving on Wednesday is the most likely (At least we hope so.)

Pray for N, she seems very overwhelmed with everything. She has pulled back from us a little. I think she is afraid that it will all fall through and we will leave her behind. I can't imagine what she must be feeling.

N, got pretty upset with Sveta this morning because N's aunt had told her she was regestered in Novagrad-Volensky. N wanted Sveta to take the court judgement to someplace here to make sure that they released her from here. Sveta told her that she was not registered here, she was regestered in Berdichev, you could tell by the passport we had already received. N loudly told Sveta she was not right, her aunt had said she was registered here. N, almost crying in frustration, said if they didn't release her from here, they would not let her go to America. It made us feel better that even though she is pulling away from us a little she still desperately wants to come with us. (It was a very teenage moment :-)

Pray for Gideon. He seems very scared of completely new things (like the car ride) and he is in for nothing but new things. Pray that he will be able to receive comfort from us and embrace his new adventure.

Pray for us, that we will have patience, wisdom, love, ans strength to do the right things and say the right words. I have asked God a few times if he is sure he picked the right people for this job :-) As God has said he is sure we are trusting him for the strenght and grace to do the tasks before us.

Maj. Tommy, do you remember when we were in Japan and you said that people who think with the metric system judge things much differently, that instead of feet they thing centimeters? Well having ridden around in another metric country for 7 weeks, we would like to confirm you hypothesis. Centimeters, definately centimeters. [For the rest of you, that means that if they have 3 centimeters between them and the car next to them that is plenty of room, where as we English measurement people want 3 feet]

I guess we will close for now. We miss you all and are counting the days until we will FINALLY be home. Wow, is life going to be different.

Peace,
BLN&G