Latest Journey

What a joy to see O again, recently adopted from same orphanage Maxim came from. Her brother Z was adopted two years ago, also from Tsyurupinsk. So neat to meet their Mom who encouraged and mentored us even before we went to Ukraine.

We are in Washington State now, on a long overdue visit to my home area. Maxim has been able to meet many more relatives from my side of the family. We are staying at G'mo and Bubeleh's house (grandparents) and Maxim has really enjoyed being with so many others. He is such a people person anyway, and eats up the attention. We have played Jenga and Apples to Apples at Uncle Bruce and Aunt Kadi's house, looked at crabs on the beach, picked a few blackberries and enjoyed a hike out on the Dungeness Spit, up toward the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Such a beautiful area. Yesterday, Daniel and I drove down to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma to meet up with the Walker family. When they went to Ukraine two years ago to adopt their son Ty, they took pictures of other children at the orphanage and shared them with the adoption agency later. It was one of those photos that I later saw, launching us on the journey to adopt Maxim. That little face just grabbed us. So of course, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet the Walkers face to face. It was a really nice day to be outside. Along with Ty, we also met the Walkers other son and their adopted daughter, who also came from the same orphanage. We had met their daughter O during our time in Ukraine, knowing that they were trying to get back there to adopt her yet not having the prerogative to tell her. It is so neat now to see her with her new family, really thriving.

The Walkers live in an area where there are quite a few Russian speaking immigrants, so Debbie was able to stop at a couple of Russian grocers on her way to the zoo to pick up some candy, chocolate and eggplant paste (very yummy) from Ukraine that she knew Maxim would enjoy. Thank you Debbie for your thoughtfulness.

With all of the things to see at the zoo, the three children from Ukraine didn't really connect right away. By the time we went for ice cream later, however, Ty was wanting to make sure Maxim sat by him.

Another thing I thought was really special was seeing how our daughter Cyan connected with their new daughter O. O was in her wheelchair for the day and when she noticed how tired Cyan was toward the end of our visit, she let Cyan sit on her lap so they could share the benefit of the wheelchair. O said Cyan reminds her of her friend Sveta back in Ukraine, who has similar disabilities.

Tonight, after returning from our beach hike, the day was topped off by witnessing the baptism of a new friend, Christy, in Puget Sound. She has been a friend of my Aunt Vivian's for about twenty years and has been intently seeking God's leading in her life. She also happens to be boldly fighting cancer right now, so it was an extra privilege to get to meet her and share in such a special occasion. Maxim watched the whole process of Christy walking out into the water as my dad supported her. He saw Dad dip Christy under the water and then help her up again and wondered what this was all about. As he sat there on Aunt Heidi's lap, Uncle Dean explained in very simple words how this is part of new life in Christ. I'm sure it will be a while before Maxim understands the depth of what he saw today, but I'm glad he could be there anyway. It's another seed planted in his mind of coming to Christ for the washing away of sin and being a new creation.

By the way, our flight out to Washington involved two layovers; one in Chicago for two hours and one in Phoenix for an hour. I wondered how Maxim would do with flying in the first place since the journey home from Ukraine wasn't without great drama, and I knew it would be confusing to him getting off one plane after another and having to be told the trip wasn't complete yet. I needn't have worried. He did beautifully. He ate every bit of the lunch we bought (gone are the days of complimentary meals and entertainment) and was content to stay in his seat and draw or just observe things around him. The older kids and I explained to him that we would go on three different planes and after plane #3, we would see G'mo and Bubeleh. He was content with that and the journey really went smoothly.