Flying went mostly well. We were a bit late leaving Houston for Frankfort and I was concerned about missing our connecting flight as you may have heard. Turns out, our connecting flight to Kiev was delayed because of a plane problem. They actually obained a different plane for us. (Original plane had actually started boarding when a technical problem was found causing boarding to stop which allowed us more than enough time to arrive and board ourselves.)
How wonderful it was to have an English speaking friend waiting for us at the airport! Our facilitator is a very nice man who studied in the USA. Everything went smoothly and quickly at the airport. As soon as we claimed our bags, we breezed through the airport.
We had a little trouble getting our Internet service established in our apartment where we are living at least through Thursday afternoon.
Our apartment is very nice and is in or near the part of town where the government is located.
Light occasional snow is falling outside.
As the time draws near for our appointment where we will be making very important decisions regarding the enlargement of our family through adoption, please pray that God would very clearly guide us. What a very special time is this! See James 1:27. Psalms 27 has been my favorite passage for our journey here.
We are hoping to visit the seminary this afternoon here in Kiev where I have a couple of friends.
For the most part, we rested very well last night. Jet lag is an issue however. It is about 10:23 am here but our bodies think it is about 2:24 am I believe.
We are glad that you made it safely. Please keep us posted and we'll definitely update the church on the happenings of the Jones'.
ReplyDeleteYou are on our minds and in our prayers. Enjoy the journey, friends!
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear from everyone! Thank you for sharing in our journey and bearing us before the throne.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, 4/11, we mostly rested around the apartment. In the afternoon, however, Sasha, our facilitator, drove us over to the Kiev Theological Seminary. There we enjoyed a 1 hour visit with Joel, who along with his wife, Mary Ellen, started the Church Planting department at the seminary. We also visited with Sergei whom we met last year in the states when he was translating for an orphan hosting conference. Sergei translates at the seminary and is also a local pastor. His wife, Natasha, also works at the seminary, and we met her last year at the hosting event also. They are very busy and very wonderful people. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.
Today, Tuesday, 4/12, jetlag is still taking its toll on me. If I had not waked her, Lisa would have slept all night. (She was more than a little displeased with me and my sleeping patterns.) However, my body is clinging to CST and I awoke at 1 am local time. I did go back to sleep however after opening the window to cool down the room. The entire apartment is very warm and I don't think we have much control over the temperature. It is very pleasant for waking hours but we are accustomed to a cooler sleeping environment. We are certainly grateful though for such a fine apartment. It is a very nice one.
If our guide's schedule permits, we hope to do some tour visits today. We may visit some catacombs, cathedrals, and etc.
Please be praying earnestly about our appointment tomorrow at 11 am. The young and precious lives of probably 2 people or maybe only 1, as well as the lives of our entire family, will be changed forever. We know that God rules over all and his glory is our goal. Pray that God, therefore, will guide us very clearly and distinctly in our decision making.
So happy to hear from you when I wake up:-) my prayers are constantly with you and Lisa. I know that you already know, but my favorite life verse says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not into thine own understanding. With all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." Prov 3:5&6. Our precious Lord is in control of every step in this journey you take. He already has those special children you are going to bring home already hand picked. It is wonderful to see these prayers being answered. I love you brother! Give Lisa a hug from me:-)
ReplyDeleteI'm way behind blogging. Here is a summary on a day by day basis.
ReplyDeleteWednesday 4/13
We had our appointment with the SDA--the Ukrainian governmet agency in Kiev. There were many people there. We saw many pictures and faced tough choices. Lisa and I agreed on a little boy named Yvon with the accent on the second syllable. We knew our choice would impact our family's life and the child's life forever. We know that God reigns over all.
Thursday
We went back to the SDA to pick up our paperwork. We were the first in line it turns out and that was great. Our facilator met us. Her name is Nina with a long e sound, and our translator is Sergei. Nina had train tickets for us all and for Dr. Peipon whose services we secured for the sake of examining our new son. Dr. Peipon is a pediatrician from the USA who moved here with his family about 10 years ago as a medical missionary. He has a servant spirit about him. So Sergei, Dr. Peipon, Lisa and I all shared the room on the train ride from Kiev to Zaparizhzha. Each had a little bunk. The ride was about 11 or 12 hours. Sleep was hard to get on the overnight trip.
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ReplyDeleteFriday
ReplyDeleteWe arrived in Zaparizhzha around 7:30 am. We were exhausted. A friendly taxi driver, Oleg, met us. He has been ours while here. He works with adoptive families such as ours and has been a tremendous help because he speaks some English. We left depot and went to the apartment. It is very nice and near the center of the town--a city with about 1,000,000 people. We are 1 block off the main street. Many stores are nearby. After unloading, we went to McDonalds for breakfast, came back and dropped off the DR, and then went to the very important meeting with the inspector. Shortly after we arrived, the power went off. That sent her scurrying away to another office. Anyway, all was well. We then went to the orphanage to meet with Yvon.
The meeting was good. He liked us. Besides Lisa and me, there was the Dr., the inspector, the translator, another translator, the orphanage director, the faciliator, and of course, Yvon. Then briefly, another orphan visited the room.
We felt good about the meeting.
Saturday
We visited the orphanage again. This time we spent time with Yvon on the playground kicking the soccer ball and monkeying around on the monkey bars. Turns out, Yvon, is quite a little acrobat. He surprised us when he took off cutting multiple cartwheels.
Sunday
We did not make it to church. (We have contacted a Baptist pastor near the orphanage and hope to visit their church which is frequently visited by American adoptive families according to our cab driver.) When we made it to the orphanage and rounded the building to the back where the playground was, Yvon saw us and came bounding to us calling out, "papa papa..." He then gave me and Lisa big hugs. We were very glad. The relationship is building.
Monday
We spent a good deal of time getting papers notarzied. Basically we were assembling the necessary paperwork to petition the court for the privilege of adopting Yvon. We then went to the orphanage. Again, Yvon was glad to see us. This time, Kyle played soccer with him and host of little children for about 30-45 minutes. What a workout I got! We also caught bugs and bottled them and let them crawl on us. They were sort of the Ukrainian version of our love bugs I think.
Tuesday
Our translator was too busy getting everything ready for court and so we did not visit the orphanage. We missed getting to see our new son. By the way, we opted to give him a new name and keep his old name as a tranliterated version. In other words, his new name will be Jonathan Evan Jones. Jonathan means "Yahweh gave" and Evan is a loose transliteration of Yvon. (The proper way is Ivan and you know how we pronounce Ivan. Yvon is pronounced with a long e on the first syllable and the accent on the second syllable. So opted to transliterate as Evan rather than Ivan). Yvon approved of his new name. We also learned that we have an official court date of 4/26 at 10:30. Please pray that all goes well. After the court, assuming the judge rules we can adopt, there is a 10 day period during which anyone can contest.
Wednesday
ReplyDeleteWe visited the orphanage again. Yvon had to write in his own hand writing a petition to be adopted. This is very important. Once he got that done, we colored a bit. Then he took us to his classroom. There we had time for interaction with his 9 classmates and teacher. Unfortunately, our translator was not with us. Google came to the rescue. Using my newly aquired G3 modem and Kievstar cell service, I was able to access Google translate. So we could dialogue some. Even more importantly, however, Yvon and we are bonding. There have been many hugs. He is trying out a few English words for the first time and that is very significant. He likes using my laptop and Blackberry smartphone camera. (So did every kid who could get his hand on it!) We are thrilled at the progression of our relationship. We have showed him pictures of our family back home and he is working on learning who they are.
The weather here has chilled again. Today the temp was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing strong. The low tonight is just above freezing.
We are visiting the local stores to get things we need. If you have never transacted business where you don't know the language, this can really be a fun experience!
I try to walk a lot every day. Today, I visited the work out bars behind our apartment and did some dips and chin ups. I also bought some ice cream!!!
How great IS our God!! Such wonderful, wonderful news!! Keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kyle & Lisa & Evan!
ReplyDeleteI sent a comment before but I guess you didn't see it. There seems to be two post to choose from. Anyway--sounds as though you're having a ball with no seconds thoughts! AND--sounds as though you better keep up with those exercises so you can keep up with the little one!
With Much Love, Ms. C.
P.S.>I gave Payne your blog. He was excited and wanted to follow your journey too!
Thursday and Friday
ReplyDeleteI don't think we visited the orphanage either day. Lisa had a bout with 24 hour serious intestinal problem and I had bronchitis. Her stomach problems improved but she was still rather weak. Both of us are coughing.
Saturday
We visited the orphanage. The local Baptist church worked with the younger children and put on a small Christian event in celebration of our Lord's resurrection. We met the pastor and he invited us to church. We had a good time playing with our (potential) new son. He loves taking pictures with Kyle's Blackberry. All the kids loved piggy back riding on Kyle, but there was not enough of Kyle to go around. The court date is Tuesday, 4/26.
Sunday
We visited arrived early at the church and were warmly welcomed. How refreshing it was to be in church with God's people. Pastor Nikolai and his wife, Anna, were gracious host. Everyone was very kind. We enjoyed the 2 hours service that was characterized by multiple prayers, congregational songs, choir songs, solos, and 3 sermons--one of which Kyle had the privilege of bringing. After church, we discussed the church's ministry to the orphans and had a quick lunch with the believers there before heading off to the orphanage. Lisa worked on teaching some of the children the hopskotch game. After returning home, Kyle went shopping for some milk. Although everything had closed down for Easter morning, stores began to reopen in the afternoon and the city came alive. Unfortunately, Kyle's (my) Russina is not too good and I came back with what seems to be buttermilk rather than whole milk, and Lisa did not like it with her cornflakes!!! I had already got grapefruit juice instead of orange juice and pomegranite/grape rather than pure grape juice. Oh well. What can I say? I am a novice.
Monday
Today is a national holiday here in celebration of Easter. May 1, coming shortly, is also a holiday. Lisa is still recovering and I feel pretty good. We are to have lunch shortly with 2 translators and discuss the upcoming events of the week. Please pray that everything goes smoothly with all the process.
I am praying Brother, and can't wait till you are home again in the States. It is very special that your court date is on Mine and Jan's 25th wedding anniversary:-)I will never forget this day! I am looking forward to having a new nephew!
ReplyDeleteJan and I got the news also that we are to have another niece or nephew from Eric and Tandy:-) God is so good and it is an exciting time!
Tuesday 4/26
ReplyDeleteCourt went well and shorter than usual according to our translators. The judges asked Lisa more questions than me. The court granted our petition!!! Now the 10 day waiting period.
Wednesday and Thursday
We visited the orphanage both days. We walked around town.
Friday
We did not visit the orphanage. Our translator said it was not a good day because the director had planned a work day for the kids there. They would all be busy. We are supposed to pick up our son on Saturday and keep him overnight before returning him on Sunday.
We enjoyed a nice evening out with two other Americans--a young woman who is living here and teaching at one of the orphanages and a young man who will be living here serving the orphans also. They are not related. Jessica is from one state and Kyle is from another. We ate at a restaurant that serves traditional Ukrainian food, and it was good. Interestingly, this traditional food place was playing American country music. Go figure.