Waiting....

We are hanging out in region as we wait for Danny's passport. While we wait, we are continuing our visits. We have had a few nannies come up to us and gesture that we are taking "Maxim" far away, and then they smile happily, Makes me feel good to see that they are happy for him, knowing he is going to a better place. One nanny was escorting us to the room we visit in. Another nanny stopped her and from what we could tell, she told that nanny that we can take him ourselves, no more need for escorting. So she handed him to us, and then left us. It is amazing what you can pick up in body language here!

 

Here are some pics from our visit. Another Reece's Rainbow family is currently visiting there future son in our same orphanage. It h's been nice having a friendly face to interact with. It can get pretty lonely here.

 Yesterday we had a few rays of sun coming through the clouds, then it was gone. It has been really cold and rainy here. I love it!

During today’s visit, I could tell Danny was really tired. He seemed very anxious to cuddle me. Since I know he has been sick, I wondered if the nannies let the children nap extra on days when they are not feeling well. I figured him sleeping in my arms was needing to help him feel better. So I ran the risk of upsetting the nannies and let him sleep. He actually woke up literally minutes before they came and got him to feed him lunch. Success! 

Love this boy!!!

We are hoping to get Danny’s passport on Monday, which would allow us to break him out of the orphanage on that day too. We will then head to Kiev. On Tuesday we will have his medical and embassy appointments and then Lord willing, we will be on a plane come Wednesday. Obviously, this is Ukraine and we know that anything can happen. But that is the plan!



Back in Ukraine

 

Hey folks! So as you read in the title, we are back in Ukraine. We are so anxious to spring our boy from his orphanage. But there are many hoops to jump through first!

 

Here we are waiting for our flight to Chicago. We look so happy....... too bad we didn't know what was going to happen.

 

 

We ended up having a small problem with our plane heading to Germany, so we had to sit and wait for about an hour and a half, while in the plane. That hour and a half didn't sit well with us because we knew we were only going to have only an hour layover there. So we assumed we were going to miss our connection.

 

Luckily they held the plane for us, probably because there was a decent amount of people connecting to that flight with us, so we thought we were in the clear. When I got to Ukraine, we got an email saying none of our luggage made the connecting flight :-(

 

So we filled out the appropriate paperwork and they told us our luggage would be delivered to our facilitator's office that evening. They ended up delivering it the following day; however, we still had to go one more day without our stuff.

 

Here is our apartment in Kiev.

 We were very centrally located, which made it easy to find places to eat at.

 We even got to eat at the TGI Fridays!

Then on Tuesday morning, we headed out early to start the "paper chase". Our first stop was to Danny's birth city to get a new birth certificate printed. This is the building. He was born in a very old city. Our driver told us that Chenihiv used to be the capital city for Russia many, many years ago. They too have churches that are over 1000 years old.

 Then we headed to Pryluky, where Danny's orphanage is.

We had to sign papers with notaries, apply for a passport, and do some other paperwork that the lawyer from the orphanage assisted with. Finally, at about 4:30 (which is when it gets dark here) we picked up our little man to go get his visa/embassy photo. I was a tad frustrated. The nanny that came with us did not let me hold him or even interact with him. We know it is common for an orphanage to send a “representative”, however, not letting me hold him seemed to be just plain mean. I hadn’t seen our little guy in like three weeks. I was so anxious to snuggle him. I had to hold back the tears. This mama was upset.

The next day was better. We again had a long drive ahead of us, but this time Danny got to come too. We had to go back to Chenihiv to apply for his passport from the passport office. A woman, who wasn't your typical nanny, came with us. (I'm pretty sure she was the director's daughter or something. No nanny wears knee high stiletto boots!) She was much more gracious in letting me love on my son. Within 5 minutes of being in the car, he zonked.  



 

After we were done with our appointment, we headed to the children’s hospital. The orphanage director had asked our driver to pick up a little boy that had been in the hospital for a few days and bring him back now that they were releasing him.

When the worker placed the child next to me in the back seat, I had a realization. This little boy looked afraid. I thought about how these children go from nanny to nanny, and even nurse to nurse, and never have someone that sits by their bedside when they are sick. This child was just in a hospital, and now he is in a car with people he hasn’t seen before. Overall I knew these kids were alone, but the little boy truly gave me a clear picture of it, up close. I reached over and squeezed his little hand. He looked up at me puzzled, and then I got a little smile. The whole way back he would try to reach for my hand. (Danny was sitting on my lap, so it was hard to meet his hand holding demands.) He got bored, so I pulled out some little toys I had in my backpack and he loved them. My heart aches that I couldn’t give him more of me or what he truly longed for.

Holding him as he slept today, a verse popped into my head.

I Samuel 1: 27- “For this child I prayed; and the Lord has given me my petition which I had asked of him.”





 

I may not be able to change the fate of every waiting child; but you can bet I will change the fate of this one!

 

Angel Tree for Malcolm-Help us Reach our Goal!

As I mentioned on a previous post, we have the privilege of being a special little boy's angel tree family. What does this mean you ask? Well, let me tell you!

 Malcolm is a little boy in China waiting for his forever family. He has Down Syndrome and is listed for adoption. Every year, Reece's Rainbow has an Angel Tree event that allows people to advocate and fundraiser for a waiting child. Because our own adoption was so blessed by the efforts of this program, we decide to "pay-it-forward" and help another family. Our family was matched with Malcolm and our goal is to raise $1000 for his future forever family's adoption costs. 

Right now there are four ways you can help us reach our goal. 

Option 1: Donate directly to his adoption fund. If you go to the Angel Tree link, you can donate whatever amount you feel lead to give. If you give the gift of $35 or more, there is a keepsake ornament they will send you with Malcolm's picture on it. We started doing this last year and are planning on keeping this a family tradition. I can't wait to see the little faces all over my Christmas tree of the children we have sponsored and prayed for.

Option 2: We have started an Usborne fundraiser. If you are unfamiliar with Usborne, it is a wonderful company that sells quality books. We have been graciously offered the full commission of our consultant toward's Malcolm's angel tree fundraising. All you have to do is go to this Usborne link. Click on "shop" and choose the party that says Reagan's Angel Tree Fundraiser for Malcolm! Then shop to your hearts content! These are great books to give for Christmas! They will be shipped directly to your house. 

Option 3: Continue to use our fundraising links to shop online. All the money raised will go to Malcolm.

Option 4: (Unfortunately, this one is only for local friends and family) We are partnering with a local company to sell Butter Braids! Butter Braids are something that I have seen as a fundraiser for my high school that I teach out. We have bought them before and loved them! 

Each hand-braided pastry is 22oz.- icing packet included.

It comes frozen and all you have to do is set it out to thaw, rise (it doubles in size!) and bake!

You'll wonder how you ever lived without them!

For more product details, please visit: http://upliftingpromotions.com/

So I will be taking orders for these sinful treats through till Thanksgiving. They are scheduled to be delivered to me on the 12th of December, just in time for Christmas. 

So there is our plan! Our plan to help a waiting little boy get one step closer to feeling the love of a mom and dad. Please consider helping us. Every little bit helps. 

If you have any questions about any of the fundraisers, feel free to leave me a comment with your email or contact info and I will be glad to respond. Thanks again for helping us reach our goal!