One down one to go

We had our "preliminary" hearing today and then the court scheduled our real court date for June 23rd. In addition to the School director, local childrens services, our attorney and us they will require a prosecutor to represent the children, all 3 boys and a physical representative from the SDA verse the letter to proceed for the court proceedings.

Their is a great local concern regarding the high amounts of Americans adopting in this area and since this is a different court then the other 5 families used we are facing greater difficulty.

We will be traveling home next week and will return to Ukraine a few days prior to the court date. Please continue to pray and we may have lost this battle but we still have our goal ahead. Please also pray for the boys- we have informed them of all the details but each day that goes by causes more and more doubt in their minds.

Final Countdown

Sorry I have been so slow in updating the blog, it just that things have not changed much and have had very little new to report.

Last Sunday was Easter in Ukraine. We joined our Ukrainian church family at the river for service and communion and then a BBQ lunch. It was a nice day and Alex and Joseph joined us, Kevin stayed at the school for their Easter celebration.

For the rest of the week our days pretty much are wake up, walk around the city and go to the internate by 2:00.

Friday we did get to meet with some friends from the winter camp and go to a horse ranch facility with various farm animals and such. Danny got to feed and ride a horse, pet pigs and hold a goat.

Saturday we had dinner with friends and Sunday we had the privilege of hearing from a traveling preacher from Florida. It was wonderful to receive our weekly message in English.

Wednesday is our court date and we request prayer for a favorable conclusion and for a single court date- most in the area are concerned as the tide has changed for international adoption with the administration however the local newspapers have reported positive things regarding the adoptions. We need to cover the area in prayer and again please keep our court in prayer.

Hotel Cal-Ukraine- You can check out but you can never leave

Still waiting. We moved into a smaller apartment, friends of Svetlanas from church who are letting us stay in the apartment next to them, we think it belongs to their brother but are not quite sure. Keep in mind that while we have experienced amazing hospitality it is additionally amazing as no one speaks English. They just love on us, take care of us and help us at every turn but we rarely say more then 3 words to each other as we speak different languages.

Take today for example- we needed to hook up our modem but did not know were to have money put on the card. We showed the paperwork to our hosts and he said he would drive us. When it was time to leave turns out his car was in the shop so we took a taxi which he paid for. Then he helped us get our modem set up and then flagged another cab to take us to the school, upon arriving at the school we tried to pay the cab and again our host refused.

Sunday we celebrate Easter here. Our church family is planning on picking us up and the boys up from the Internate and is having church by the river followed by a BBQ and picnic. The boys are looking forward to it except for Kevin who does not like social activities ( or church ) but will come as he wants to stay in touch with us at all times even if he doesn't like the activities we plan.

Shrinking Numbers

Tomorrow we are all going to Kiev via train to see the girls off. Our plan is that only the girls will be going home however if we do not get Richards and Danny's tickets exchanged they may be going home and Richard returning on the court date. We are leaving in the Lords hands to see what his will is for us in this matter. Richard is concerned about leaving me which he repeated to me several times during the day. I told him I would be fine, flattered that he was so concerned until he responded that we would have to discuss my spending money- and here I thought he was going to miss me.

When we return or I return the plan is to move into another apartment ( also rent free ) of a friend of our hosts who is going out of town for a long period of time so that they can move back into their home. Today my friend brought the girls town souvenirs to take home to remember Chernivtsi.

Birthday celebration

Today was my birthday. We got permission to take the boys out for the day. It seem today was a series of misadventures. First we were supposed to take the boys out at 10:00 am, Kevin called and asked us to come at 11:00 instead, he did not however consult the other 2 boys who wanted us there at 10:00 ( Saturday they have school and did not want to spend a minute more then they had to there) We ended up arriving at 10:30. Alex gave me a cross for my birthday which he claims to have made but looks a bit more like it was liberated from some other place at one time and when Kevin arrived closer to 11:00 ( apparently he didn't care so much that he had class, he had gone to the store) he presented me with a box of chocolate and a perfume gift set. We set out to get breakfast but noticed that Danny had left his back pack on the bus. Richard, Jessica and Danny waited for the bus to go its round while I took the boys for food. After Joseph ate he joined them just as the bus had come full circle and helped Danny retrieve his bag.Following our full morning we hopped a bus to the large Bazaar. Visualize a larger van, maybe a 14 seater modified into an 18 set bus with 36 people actually on it. We squeezed on to the Bazaar. At the Bazaar we lasted about on hour before the cold got to us, the last few days had been really warm so we did not expect the sudden chill we had today. We went back to the apartment and grabbed warmer clothes. We had bought the boys jackets for America but decided they needed them today. We then headed to the park with the amusement rides for a few hours. After the park we took the boys to Reflections for dinner, a nicer restaurant, especially compared to Marios Pizza and the boys were not quite accustomed to such dinning, without going into much detail lets say they will need a few more lessons in manners before we attempt such dining in the near future.After dinner I took the boys home while Richard, Randi and Danny took the bus home. When the boys were checked into the Internate, I headed home stopping at the store for some groceries. Later that night our friends whose apartment we are staying in came by and brought me flowers and a cake for my birthday and visited for a while. All in all it was a good day.

The Cat and the court

OK, I just realize that what is supposed to be blog sharing ups and downs, lately the downs have had the floor- that being said I would like to share an event that I found quite funny. In Ukraine you have many contradictions, you have amazing statues, architecture and memorials- the two trains stations I have been in have incredible carvings and artwork. Then you have the legal buildings, airport and many of the apartment buildings that are dated and many of them run down.

The court that we are required to go to is an older building. While waiting outside of the Judges office one day to ask about our court date ( it was Richard, myself, Riesa and Daniel our translator) a beautiful siamese cat came and ran right up to me and jumped into my lap. It was quite insistent on receiving attention from our group and when finished with me moved on to Daniel. While we were granting our guest his required affection their were court staff members walking in and out of offices, occasionally smiling with us and our new friend. After some time the cat decided he was finished with us and jumped down and started outdoors. One of the staff members grew quite excited and spoke very rapidly to Daniel who while chuckling answered her distress. She was worried that "our" cat may run away if we let it loose like that to which Daniel explained that it was not our cat. Now what really struck me as funny is that it was not odd to them to think that I would bring my cat to court with me.

Rest assured that through our frustrations God grants us moments of humor and joy. I can't stress enough while I have been complaining that God has provided some amazing people to come along side us in our journey. Please continue to pray and in addition our requests please ask God to bless these wonderful people who have made the road we are traveling less bumpy.

Light? at the end of the tunnel

Well we finally got our court date- April 29th, only its not really a court date its a hearing- after the hearing the judge is supposed to set a court date. We have been told the court date may actually be the end of May as their are 12 non-working days that month.

Additionally we are required to have an attorney and an official from the SDA in Kiev at both our hearing and our court date. OK that is the news as of yesterday, today we got a chip of hope- the hearing date is set in stone however the attorney we hired is going to ask if we can finish it all out in one day and if not can we at lease schedule the court date within a few days of the hearing. Also we have a legal document from the SDA stating that they waive their right to be at either the hearing or the court date and that they approve of the adoption. So all we need now at the court is the director, a representative from local childrens services, us and our attorney.

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Josh Zac And JEssicas boyfriend Josh head for home Jessica and Jane went to escort them to kiev. We still have no court date but again more promises for one soon.Please continue to pray for saftey and thank you all for your support.

Prayer requests

Today I just want to list our growing prayer requests and trip status.

Josh and Zac are going home on the 9th, Jessica and Randi on the 14th- Richard, Danny and I are in limbo, hoping to here something quickly to aid us in our plans

Please pray for safety for our children in travel and during our separation at home.

Please pray for Josh and Randi on the Mexicali trip

Please pray for clarity in our plans for travel for the rest of us

Please pray for our business and the individuals running it in our stead

Please pray for our sacrificial hosts who have now been out of their homes for a month and refuse to let us move to a hotel

Please pray for the Judge to be sensitive to our travel dates without taking it out on our conclusion

Please pray for our Ukrainian boys to understand the delays and have confidence in our love for them and security if we need to leave and come back

Please pray for a favorable court decision

Please pray for our faith

and Please pray on Monday as we start our "work week" again in Ukraine

Thank you

Day in the Sun

Today ending the 4 days of dental work for Alex and Joseph. It is very different here then at home. The first day the dentist barely touched the boys teeth saying that one didn't like the needle and the other only wanted one tooth worked on at a time. I couldn't believe that the dentist and the translator couldn't see that dental work is really not an optional activity, that cavities do not heal themselves and that things will only get worse if we don't' deal with it now. But after all was said and finally done all dental work came to $170.00 (US) for all 4 days worth of work.

After the dentist our hosts arranged a day of fun for our family at a village about 35 minutes from the city. It was like a high end camp ground with a lake for fishing and one for swimming. It has a small zoo that was closed but the kids did see the camels, a bowling alley , and the highlight of everyone's day paintball. After lunch the kids played paintball for 2 hours. Alex, Joseph and Kevin had to go back to the Internate by 5:00 so Richard and our hosts brother drove them back and then returned. While they were gone we had BBQ- chicken and beef, alone with various salad vegetables and left overs from lunch. After dinner we ended the day with cookies, tea and coffee and a few praise songs from Josh. It was a wonderful day and much needed after our depressing week of no news. Tomorrow they are having communion at church and we are very excited about that.

Update

As of 8:00 pm Thursday we still have no news. Today we took the 2 older boys to the dentist, we took all of them yesterday but the 2 have more work that needs to be done. We will go again to the dentist Friday and Saturday.

After the dentist Richard and I went with our facilitator to the court and waited for an hour and a half to be told we still didn't have a date and that the judge was to busy to see us. Our facilitator was quite insistent but the "guard at the door" prevailed, he first insisted that when the judge decided on a date they will mail us the "invitation. Our facilitator insisted that we pick it up as we don't have a permanent address in the city. She then insisted on waiting but the clerk said that it would not be ready today that the judge had 10 days to set a date, she then told him it had been 12 ( by my count 14), he insisted the judge needed more time to review and refused to address the issue any more today. We will go back tomorrow.

We once again ask for prayer, please don't stop. I ( Jane ) am scheduled to go home next week, Richard the week after and we don't know what to do.