Another Birthday and Many Blessings

We are celebrating another birthday today. Our oldest daughter, Cyan, is now seventeen!

Hard to be apart for such occasions, yet great to look forward to reunion very soon.

Cyan, you precious not only to family and friends, but especially to your Heavenly Father. He has gifted you with persistence together with an overall easy-going nature. He has prompted you to keep trying in spite of challenges you face with your disabilities. He keeps increasing your grace, in your heart as well as when you dance. You are growing a servant attitude and as you keep studying (scripture and school), and acknowledging God in everything you do, He will direct your path. Some may guess that with your CP, certain things are not possible. However, God is the One who holds you in His hand and He has great plans for you. Keep dreaming.

Happy Birthday, Cyan!!!

As we are now on day five of the ten day wait, my attitude about waiting is vastly improved. One thing I realize now is that as we began our journey, we were in "go meet our new son and bring him home" mode. No focus outside that box. And, of course, knowing that our length of time here has some unpredictabilities, we were trying to be very careful and not spend too much. A wise consideration, certainly, but what this turned into, for a little while, was the tendency to stay at the flat and not explore; to not find ways to learn about and enjoy this place we may never visit again, and just be happy tourists for awhile. Who knows where God will lead next?

I really want to be able to tell Maxim about our experience here in positive ways. Yes, there have been challenges. Some culture adjustments. But what a shame it would be if my focus were that of the "ugly American" who wants everything her way, instead of going at all of this with a spirit of adventure and looking to see what we can both learn from and share with the people here.

Here are some things that have been a blessing here:

1)being able to walk almost everywhere we need to go. We need the exercise and fresh air and any other year, we could have had snow on the ground for weeks already, making it more difficult, but we've been blessed with cold yet clear weather.

2)time to know Maxim before bringing him home. I have to admit that the time we have here to spend with Maxim before he goes to the States with us is invaluable. As a small, vulnerable 6-year-old who has not known anything but life in a baby house or orphanage, it is so important for him to get to know us and feel our love for him right now, before we take him to the other side of the globe. It has been a good thing to meet him "on his turf" so to speak and make the transition more slowly. As Daniel and I look forward to being home as quick as possible, we also realize that too quick a transition would be more traumatic to our new son, and we don't want to overwhelm him unnecessarily.

3)we are mindful of how many people here have learned to make due with what they have in a way that is very foreign to Americans, for the most part. We try to be careful how we spend our resources at home but we learn from what we see here. Hand-made brooms (I'm assuming from the reeds of the marsh areas near the river), beautiful floral pictures crafted of anything from various colored seeds to fish bones. Certain aspects of society have become more materialistic since the fall of the Soviet Union (ads and commercials abound for more processed foods, and luxury items such as UV lamps for "getting some sun" indoors), yet there is an underlying culture of making things last and using every resource.

4) there is a history of great hardship over and over yet still trying to make the nation work. Not an easy task for a nation whose present boundaries have only been in place since 1991. We have to be patient with the things we see around us that make us uncomfortable sometimes, as this is an infant nation. And isn't patience something for which to be eager. Aren't we supposed to crave developing discernment between what is wrong and what is simply different?

5)hot water every day, which is not a guarantee here, and our power has never gone out, which is very common in the area.

6)a facilitator/translator who grew up in this area so knows many local things another person wouldn't and who has encyclopedic memory for sharing the history of his own nation as well as others. He has worked hard for us and sacrificed much time away from his family for us.

7)wonderful family and friends back home who have taken our kids under their wings for awhile, sorted through mounds of mail, checked on our house and sent prayer and encouragement. We can't wait to see you all.

So as we go into the last week, most likely, here in the region of Kherson, I don't want to miss seeing what I need to, so Maxim can hear a more balanced account of the land he has come from and also Daniel and I can come away from this experience, glad for the blessing of a new son as well as for the opportunity to see this part of the world. The land we are going home to and this land we find ourselves in now are both precious to the Heavenly Father, and teeming with people who all need Him and have great potential when surrendered into His hand.

In a couple of days, we'll be joining another family as they are celebrating the completion of their adoption at a local restaurant. It is great to share the "grafting in" experience with others and we have also been so blessed by the welcoming and encouraging of local Americans who've given up much more than we can imagine in order to be a light in this area of the world. They've opened their home to us more than once, making Thanksgiving special, accomodating us even when we came knocking at the wrong time, helping us connect with family back home when our phone was not cooperating, etc. Just examples of how God really was walking ahead of us before we came, so all our needs would be met and there would even be unexpected blessings of help and friendship.