The Eagle Has Landed & We Are Off To A Fun-Filled Adventure Already!

First Blog!  Grab your coffee and doughnuts and here we go! 

So we board the Lufthansa plane and I pray for no one to sit in front of my that will recline and I am pinned like last time.  So God answered that prayer by no one reclining in my lap but we were asked if we would give up our seat to this family in front of us.  They did not speak English and I have no clue what was going on but it was clear they needed the extra row so we gave it up to them no problem to discover the place they moved us to was Alaska.  We went from a nice comfy warm private section of the plane to where if their was no ceiling in the plane there would have been ice-cycles hanging from my nose hair.  So my ultra-sensor jacket I bought everyone laughed that I got I got went on, my hair lined fuzzy hoody attached to it went on,  my columbia hat and my fuzzy wool gloves as well on and my snow boots never left my feet.  I looked like an Eskimo.  I noticed after about an hour more folks started to cover up and hunker down like me to then suddenly I noticed the cool air seemed to of kicked off.  Then I could come back to the tropics or at least what was close in my opinion.

So we arrive in Kiev and low and behold the big joke was we would cross paths with LeAnn and the team.  Funny thing is we did!  We get all our 6 bags after what appeared that 2 of them got lost.  Thank heavens they were seriously delayed but over 45 minutes they finally show up on the belt after being unloaded.  I told the lady in lost and found I find myself in this office everytime I fly here.  I was starting to think they had my name and photo in there to look for my luggage and all my pepetia butter.  Maybe I am the pepita butter smuggler or something.  We were greeted by the smiling face of Olexey.  It was so awesome to see him again.  And he took us to the rest of the team.  So we hung out for a few before they flew back.  The cool thing is all our bags made it through the security check the big joke was I was going to be held up for all that stinki'n peptia butter I haul everywhere and then the stuff I brought over for the kids and our friends the McCoys.  It looks like I was bringing in a knife with pot and toys to cover it up.  We actually were bringing a awesome knife for Mr. Alex from Chern for him as a gift and tea but ya know mixed in with kiddie toys and no label on the tea I was praying for no search!  Thank heavens it was so crowded I just showed them all in and prayed it was all clear!  We made it!

So the weather, oh the dreaded weather in which I was anticipating.  It actually is not that bad for below zero.  It is the snow level of Tahoe but yet the cold of shoot I don't know....Ukraine.  It is a crisp cold.  But if you are not use to it and any body parts are exposed oh yeah you will go numb in minutes.  Natalia was telling me last month I believe 110 people died and some of them were actually in houses.  But they just had a storm passed right before we came.  The sun has been out but it is still cold but manageable if you are covered.  The good news is so far I have not had to walk around like Randy from "A Christmas Story".  I actually am bundled but can move my limbs!  (:  So once we arrived I was so stinki'n tired I passed out on the sofa with my hat, jacket, gloves and boots on.  Finally I woke up and put my footsy pj's on and found my way to bed after then prying Joe off the sofa in his clothes and boots.  Let's put it this way the cold is so crisp that I had ice-cycles hanging off my nose hair practically and my eyes were watering so much that my vision was fuzzy.  So yeah it is cold.  Just a little. 

So the SDA~!  We made the appointment this morning and I tried to look as nice as possible in dress clothes.  Ok let's be honest I looked retarded.  I have running thermal pants on, dress black slacks, Sorrel webbed looking furry lined boots on that looked like I could hunt in water (which I can with these puppies!) and then a polar fleece turtle neck shirt, dress shirt over it, big ol'e puffy jacket, black and gray wool hat and snow gloves.  I was not the model of sophisticated by any means.  I think women felt sorry for me so they smiled at me verse giving me dirty looks.  I gave out lots of comments because shoot these ladies look classy even in the winter.  They can rock the high heeled boots and not skip a beat!  I am not a fashion girl but some of these gals put us American ladies to shame in their awesome winter jacket.  Even this lady in the SDA that smiled and took pitty on me (LOL!) had a beautiful leg length brown jacket on and I told her it was lovely.  Shoulda asked her where she got it! 
OK sorry so back to the appointment.  By the way Joe is a champ in all this.  Snow....what snow!  HE IS EATING ICE CREAM WALKING IN THE SNOW happy as can be.  The ladies at the grocery store laugh at him.  OK really now back to the appointment....so we get in there and the gal giggles at us ready his file.  We go over what all she has on him and Joe and I about busted up.  Our response was "We know".  LOL!  I won't go into too many details for the privacy of our boy but long and short of it is which I know many of your moms can relate with your own biological kids we have our one son who we love and adore and he is the apple of my eye and when they talk about discipline and the best way is to do a "time in" well he is always doing a "time in" non stop, he is glued to me so I have to do time outs.  Then you have Sergiy who is timed out and I have to do "time ins".  So when I said my boys are polar opposites they are and I knew it from the time I spotted Sergiy.  So my Sergiy loves to learn schoolwork and is unmotivated at other things and would love to veg out and will avoid work by any means and be a loner in hopes you will not notice he is gone.   Then you have my Kolya who is stuck to you and won't leave your side and will help you with anything but when it comes to schoolwork he is thinking about butterflies and squirrels and will have this professor look on his face like he is really thinking when really he is zoning out about how pretty the colors are in the room.  LOL  Gosh I love my boys!  So lots of laughs were exchanged with the news that our boys would prefer to be a slaker.  We already figured that one out like on day 2.  But both our boys are smart as a whip and they both know their Lord and Savior and for that IT IS GOOD!!!!

So we decide to walk into town to find the pizza joint to eat at that we went to the the Macy family.  I was keeping an eye out for my friend the "Bird Man'.  Wasn't sure if I would see him out there in this cold.  I did see not him but another dude which I believe was the dude that called "Policia" when the dude put his hands on me back when we were adopting Kolya.  Poor birds they even have to work in the cold, such injustices for the birdies.  The only guys hanging out the in the square trying to make a buck was Garfield and some duck character.  Hey at least they could stay warm in their costumes!  So after getting lost in the tunnel and mall for an hour we finally found the Solo Pizza place.  Had a great lunch and then headed to the grocery.  Grabbed a coffee and as we were walking I was really trying to take in and figure out how the darn the girls walk in their heels and look pretty and never fall.  In our attempts into town shoot in my snow boots, ski pants, turtle neck warmer, ultra senor ski jacket, snow gloves I about feel 3 times.  I was basically snow sledding in my boots down the icy hill grabbing on to everything laughing because there was nothing else to do.  i knew if I went down it was going to hurt so I hung on for the ride.  There were groups of folks walking around us and it was I am sure most clear to them we were not from here.  Ya think?  Joe wearing his plaid shirt and jeans and very American jacket and not so tight jeans with no zippers.  AMERICANS were written all over us.  Thankfully we have no shame and that and just rock who we are.....we have issues and it is clear when you meet us.  So after my sledding adventure and lunch we head back up the hill and again after taking in the ladies and how they do it,  I decided to attempt to look like I knew what the darn I was doing walking about a mile uphill in my ski outfit and snow boots carrying a coffee and sweating up a freaking storm because of all my layers.  The cool thing again was no dirty looks did I get, I got the pitty smiles. I LOVE IT.  So I rock my swagger cruising up the hill trying to show that I can get my runway model swagger back from my teens days wearing snow boots holding my coffee.  All the while you hear the swishing of my snow pants every step I take and I am perspiring like I am in a the tropics wearing a thermal jacket.  I kept my chin up and walked with confidence all the way up and by golly I DID IT.  I looked like I knew what I was doing.  Really I didn't but at least I thought I did and that is what matters!  I have not ran in a couple months so I am toning my muscles.  I just need some wrist and ankle weights and I will be good to go. 

So then Joe decides to go back in town to grab some more groceries at the store where all his peeps are now!  Yes Joe has peeps!  He has become quiet the popular one now that he is rocking the Russian!  So he went to one grocery where they are not his peeps and he did not get everything he needed so he took the groceries and just shoved them in all his pockets and hand carried in his papertowels. He thought his peeps yelled at him and told him to leave and come back without all his stuff.  He came back to the apartment with his stuff and said they kicked me out.  I told him "Man these are your peeps, they would not do that".  So he went back and it turns out they did not kick him out they were trying to get him to put the stuff in the locker and that is one Russian word Joe did not learn.  So they showed him when he came back because they felt bad he left.  I told "See man I told you they were your peeps".  LOL!  So I know we are only on day 2 but the adventure has already been a blast.  We love it here and are looking forward to landing in Zap to meet all the folks we have been talking to and see our kiddo.  I know Sergiy is highly allergic to hugs but I told him to get ready cause I am going to nail him with them all the time.  He got a giggle out of that one.  I want to thank New Hope in Zap which I am so looking forward to meeting John and everything who has started an outreach to the kids in Vil'y to walk along side the kids and love on them, teach them about Christ and life skills that are timing out.  We so look forward to meeting and serving with them in our time there.

OK ya all tomorrow night we pick up our papers to see our boy and jump on the train to arrive in Zap Friday AM bright and early.    So there is more to come and I will post photos as I can! 

Again thank you for all your prayers!  They are felt daily and I ask ya to keep them coming!  I do want to say a thank you to one of my boys, Stephon at home.  He is one of my kiddos from the youth group we used to work with.  He is my prayer warrior.  Last night spiritually I was under attack.  Satan wants nothing more then for me to surrender to him and be filled with doubt.  I ain't haven it.  So Joe and I went into prayer last night fighting the enemy and this morning I awoke to an email from Stephon telling me that he felt I was under attack and he started praying for me.  He wrote a verse in Job to me to remind me God is on our side and his email was so encouraging to me and made me so proud of him and to know even God is using the youth in my life to help lift me up, so incredibly awesome.  So a big hug and lots of love to my man Stephon.  Incredible incredible young man for the Lord you are!
Then to follow it up I got an email from my boy Kolya at home and that can do nothing short of put a grin on my face.  He is having fun with Grandma and taking painting classes and painted apples today.  So we are looking forward when we can skype with him so we can see it. 

One more thank you...to everyone that has been so incredibly gracious to help us meet the last remaining funds for this adoption.  God is just reminding me even though this is a BIG universe there is nothing to big for God.  But most of all how gracious people are to help one in need and give the glory to God in doing so.  This is the one thing I so appreciate about working with NHFC.  I see God and Satan on a daily basis working in the orphan ministry.  But the coolest thing I tell ya is to work alongside Christians in every aspect from NHFC families to people I meet along our adoption journey so willing to serve their Lord and Savior and when the crap hits the fan how they are fast to lift one another up, encourage you, dust off your pants for you and tell you to keep fighting and they are right there with you.  With hosting a child from another country you never know what obstacles may show up, like the child country denies the kids coming, the child is pulled from the program, the child goes into foster care so they can't be hosted.  But almost all of my families when I break this potentially damaging news to them they rise to the occasion and say "that's OK, God has another plan for us or that child".  I LOVE IT!  I tell ya I truly love it.  So thank you to everyone that is lifting us up in prayer and is helping us with the last bit of what we need to get Joe's return flight home and our flight home so I can bring my boy home next month!  Just on Friday $500.00 came in, in donations.  Just totally cool!!!!!  The emails I got were I am sorry it is not much.  But please no not much to you is everything to us.  So again we cannot thank you enough!!!!  I know the Lord will provide and he is providing right now our every need.  This just reassures us we are doing exactly what we are called to do no matter any outcome.  If he will bring us to it, he will bring us through it.  AMEN!!!!!