The Road to Starribilsk

Gabe and I were up until almost 2 AM last night trying to make flight arrangements for his return home. Court is Monday, August 17th at 11:30 and he will fly home on Thursday along with Roman. Thank you for praying for an early court date that has enabled Gabe to get home in time to help Luke get moved into his college dorm for the first time. We were tired but we left at 10:00 this morning for our daily trek to Starribilsk. It is really a very beautiful drive so I thought I'd tell you about our day with pictures.


There are beautiful sunflower fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. Everyday we talk about stopping and taking some pictures and today we finally did it. If you have ever ridden with a Ukrainian driver you know that you always seem to be in a hurry so stopping for pictures can be a monumental task!


As I mentioned yesterday, the road is shared by all sorts of vehicles. Cars, bikes, pedestrians and even horses. Everything we pass is picture worthy. It is such a beautiful place and there is so much character in every scene, in every face.


I mean, wouldn't you like to talk with this man? Ride with him on his cart? See where he came from and where he is going?


Our driver, Sergey, laughs at some of the things I take pictures of, especially cows. Yes, we have cows in Alabama. But I don't see them on leashes being led out to the side of the highway to graze for the day. And I usually do not see them in open carts being transported down the highway.


We always talk about stopping and getting watermelons to take to the Bela kids. But we haven't done it yet. Today we took ham and bread and some sort of meat filled rolls. The dorm parent requested that we stick to fruit so we may yet stop and get some watermelons. The road is lined with small stands such as these with not only watermelons but cantalopes, tomatoes, beans and all sorts of produce.


We see this bread truck everyday. I don't why but I think it is cool. I guess its just the big "bread" on the side. Plain and simple.


We got into Starribilsk about an hour early today and discovered a market and some small shops that are only open until 1:00. We browsed through them, didn't buy anything but Sergey was scoping out the local scene and found us the coolest restaurant called Shaslick (Shish-ka-bob). We were in this private room. There was no one else in the restaurant. No menu. She told us what they had and we said "we'll take it." It was delicious. The meat was more like huge pork chops rather than shish-ka-bob meat. Tomato and cucumber salad and fried potatoes rounded out the meal and it was way more than we could eat. We felt like we were guests in someone's home.


This is the grill out back where the shish-ka-bobs were made. You see it before you walk in the restaurant and feel a little wary at first but once you get inside, its all good!

This is our driver, Sergey, outisde the building where the restaurant is. He not only drives us around all day but he is very protective of us and helpful in finding whatever we need.


This statue of Lenin is in a very nice park in the center of Starribilsk. We walked here one other day but today was a bit more leisurely. There are statues and busts such as these in every town and village in Ukraine.


This was the second hidden treasure we found today in Starribilsk. A small amusement park. It never ceases to amaze me how complicated things can be in Ukraine. Something as simple as buying 4 tickets can take 15 minutes. And its not the language barrier. We have 2 Russian speaking children. Its just the way it is.



Gabrielle is not yet keen on trying new things. Here she and Gabe watch the rest of us on a soviet-era ferris wheel.


It didn't look very sturdy but it didn't go very high so I figured if we fell, the most we might do is break an arm or a leg. Maybe Gabrielle was just smarter than the rest of us!


Now, you've got to love this. Bumper cars so old that we were told not to bump them! They must have been originals! The boys still had fun on them and wanted to go a second round. Gabrielle still was not so sure and just watched.


After the bumper cars that couldnt't bump, we bought pellets for 25 kopecks each and took target practice. But no prizes here, no matter how many targets you hit!


Here we are outside a little magazine (store). We were getting drinks and ice cream. Gabrielle is so beautiful but shy about taking pictures. So I will post everyone she will pose for! How blessed we are to have 2 beautful daughters! She is also shy about trying English. I'm sure she is even more self-conscious since the boys already know English. I have told her that when the boys got home last year, from day one they were required to speak to me in English. There were lots of charades and dictionary moments but they had to try. I know that she will want to rely on her brother/translators for as long as possible so we will have to start working through that soon.


We left Starribilsk a little early today and made it out to Camp Druzhba before the night service. We got to see most of our interpreter friends as well as Shane and Marilyn and Lori Jackson. It is always good to visit there. Here is Alexandra with Lori, Yura and "Soccer" Sasha.

Tomorrow we will do it all over again. The Bela kids continue to warm up to us and Roman and Vitalik are getting some soccer in. They asked to stay longer today so that was a good sign. Vitalik is enjoying getting to know Gabrielle. Roman practically grew up with her but Vitalik only met here last week. He has given his vote of approval. I believe their personalities will work well together. The dorm parents are kind and helpful to us. We are just counting down the days till court.

Never a Dull Moment

Another interesting day in Ukraine. Instead of frying toast and eggs again for breakfast we decided to walk across the street for some blinchikis. I don’t know why it is that in Birmingham, I have little to no desire to take an early morning walk. But I absolutley love early morning walks in the city. Maybe its because I actually have some destination in mind; I’m not just walking for exercise. But anyway, we enjoyed our blinchikis and coffee then headed out with Sergey to Starribilsk.





We stopped at the supermarket in Chastia to get some more meat and bread for the Bela kids. Those items were a hit on Saturday. I think we angered the lady in the meat section when we just refused to accept that she could not slice any of the “cooked” meats including bologna. “What about this one?”, we had Roman ask. “I told you, we do not slice the cooked meat.” So we ended up taking the hot dog type links.







We took our daily outing to the village, including lunch at the Tet-a-tet . We are finding eating out to be so inexpensive this time around. The dollar is worth 8 griven so it ends up that 7 of us can eat a nice meal for less than $20. We also had some success shopping. We joked that Sergey, our driver, must have been doing some internet research on shopping in Starribilsk because he had several new suggestions today. Gabrielle found three pair of shoes; one pair was a whopping 10 griven. Do the math! She is shy about asking for things but so were the boys a year ago. I’m sure she will come around just like they did. Gabe even found a jacket that he was needing since he forgot his and the weather is a little on the cool side.





We’ve been pulled over a couple of times for various traffic violations. We were sitting in the car during one such stop when Roman asked “Are they going to take me to Juvi?” Sergey had been in the militia car for what seemed like ages and I think Roman was seriously worried we might all be going to jail. They all stare at us funny in Starribilsk. I wonder if they have ever seen Americans. We are eyed suspicioulsy in stores. But we are getting more and more comfortable in our daily walks. Cars, pedestrians and bicycles share the bumpy roads.




There are a number of camps all lined up along the river, some of them in better condition than others. I don’t know much about the camps but I do know that every time we drive back in after our outings Gabrielle breathes a long, heavy sigh. If we tell the Director we will be gone until 5:00 and we come back and 4:30, she complains and wants to know why we came back early. She is ready to be with her family.




The Bela kids are warming up to us a little bit. It is a little bit awkward for everybody when you have come for one child. They are all happy for the one child and yet they want so badly to be the child that is being rescued. There are only about 30 of them at camp. I think some have gone to Italy or Spain. I pray that all of them would soon find families. It is so different for them here than at Shane’s camp. At Shane’s there are adults who have come to minister to them, to pay attention to them, to show them that they are loved. That they are important. Here, they are alone, except for each other.





We ended the day with dinner at Silver. Then Vitalik and Roman watched Country Bears in Russian and I blogged. We have had a little bit of pouting going on from various boys in the family but other than that, everybody is doing very well on this adventure. Never a dull moment.

A First for All of Us

We enjoyed our first night in our apartment. Nothing like waking up to a medley of various hits wafting up into your window from the Jumbo Tron below. Such interesting tunes as the Mission Impossible Theme Song and The First Noel. You just gotta love Ukraine! We slept in a little later than usual and after a breakfst of fried toast and fried eggs, we were picked up at 11:00 for our trip to camp.

We made a speical detour on the way to camp. In a small village called Chastia (Happiness),our friends Ira and Anton were married.The boys had never attended a wedding and the rest of us had never attended an Orthodox wedding. It was very beautiful. We were honored to be able to attend. Both Ira and Anton have served as translators at Camp Druzhba. For anyone not familiar with Camp Druzhba, it is a camp near Lugansk run by our friends Shane and Marilyn Duke who are serving as missionaries here. It is a beacon of light in this area.

After the wedding, we continued on our way to Starribilsk. We took Gabrielle into the village again and ate lunch then walked from one end of the village to the other. Not too many things to do in the village but Gabrielle loves getting away from camp. By the time we got back to camp a light rain had started. We went in the dorm and played a game of Trouble before calling it a day. After the drive back to Lugansk, we stopped off at Metro to shop, ate dinner at New York Street Pizza and are now watching The Country Bears, a family favorite for years. Our facilitator will be meeting with orphanage officials tomorrow to finalize paperwork then take the train back to Kyiv to get the papers to the SDA. We will spend another day in Starribilsk.

A Happy Anniversary

August 8, 2009

Today was mine and Gabe's 22nd wedding anniversary. I think that half of Ukraine will share our anniversary! We saw at least 10 brides today. They were outside of our hotel first thing this morning posing for pictures; they were in the park; they were coming out of churches; speeding down the highway with balloons tied to their cars.

And then when we got to Gabrielle's camp, she had a special surprise awaiting us. She and one of her friends had designed a beautiful tribute to us. It was made with pine cones, flower petals, and berries. It was beautiful. Notice all the detail!


I had told Gabrielle weeks ago that we would be celebrating our anniverary while we were here; I never dreamed she would remember, not just the date, but the number of years we had been married! What a special time to share with her!

We brought salami and bologna sandwiches to share with all the children from Bela that are staying at camp. All our kids, including Gabrielle, enjoyed serving the others.

Afterward we headed to the village of Starribilsk, which we affectionately refer to as Starbucks, to do a little shopping. And I mean little. We found two clothes stores and one shoe store. We made it back to camp with the major purchase of fingernail polish and a blow dryer! But thats OK; the main purpose was just to get away from camp for a little while. We enjoyed the perfect weather, the ice cream, and, of course, the company!

Next was a game of UNO, which one should never leave home without when doing an adoption,and lots of silliness and laughter. We ended the day back in our newly found apartment. It is right in the center of Lugansk, near all the shopping and restaurants.Not that we will have much time for either; at least during the next 7 days as we wait for court. That long drive to "Starbucks" eats up much of the day. Tomorrow we get the honor of seeing two of our Ukrainian friends get married. Ira and Anton were actually officially married today (yet another one) but will have their church wedding tomorrow in a small village on the way to Starribilsk. Love is in the air!

Our first day with Gabrielle

We got into Lugansk last night about 10:30pm. Our drivers met us and took us to Hotel Druzhba where we stayed last year and where we have chosen to stay until we have time to look for an apartment that suits our needs.

We left our hotel around 8:15 this morning for the drive out to Litugino to meet with the Inspector. Here's a picture of Vitalik, Alexandra, and Roman playing Big Booty while they waited on us outisde the Notary.

After the Inspector and Notary we started the 2 hour drive to the camp where Gabrielle and the rest of the Bela kids are staying. Gabrielle ran out of the dorm to meet and greet us with smiles and hugs. She was hoping that she would be able to leave camp today but it was not meant to be. Thus we will be making this long drive daily at least until court. At this time, court is scheduled for Monday August 17th. There was one particular orphanage official who was on vacation and not able to sign the documents today. If she had been available, we probably would have been able to have court on Friday the 14th. The disadvantage of adoptions in August. But, still, we feel very blessed to have court set for the 17th. If all goes well, Gabe should be able to be home before Luke leaves for college.

I leave you with pictures of the day as we prepare to head out to look at an apartment.

Cool time at the SDA

We took Vitalik, ALexandra and Roman all with us to the SDA. By the time I got into the office from the rear of the line, the psychologist was already chatting with Vitalik. She remembered him from when he was first placed at Orphanage 21 in Kyiv. She remembered how stubborn he was and that he "refused" to have his photograph taken back then. She was also noticably thrilled at how much he had changed. After fawning over him a while, she turned her attention to Roman and they chatted about Gabrielle awhile. Then she showed us Gabrielle's file and said she would have our referral ready this afternoon. I am so proud of how my children conducted themselves and thankful for God's favor. We will fly to Lugansk tonight. We have an appointment at 8:30 am with the inspector. Hopefully we will be able to go to camp after that and see Gabrielle.

By Him, through Him, for Him and in Him

Colossians 1:16-17: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

I have been pondering this verse all week. With so much going on in our lives, so many changes over the horizon, and so much weakness on my part, I find peace and courage in this verse. When I am feeling overwhelmed and fearful, uncertain of the calling, I remember I that I do not have to hold it all together. He does.

We will leave Tueday morning and drive to Atlanta for a 12:35 flight to JFK. We will leave JFK at 6:30pm and arrive in Kyiv at 11:00 am on Wednesday. Traveling with me and Gabe will be Alexandra, Vitalik and Roman. I hope we will be in Lugansk Friday.

Luke will leave home for his first year of college on August 22nd. I pray that God will miraculously allow us a quick court date so that Gabe can come home and help Luke get settled in at Belmont. I have a plan that includes cooperation by judges and other Ukrainian officials. My plan may fail, but its OK; for every authority in Ukraine was created by Him and for Him. Thus, I can be at peace, knowing His timing will be perfect.

Suitcases are packed. 3 checked, 3 carry-ons. I still have a long to-do list to tackle tomorrow. I don't feel prepared to leave home for an extended period. But I am ready to be with Gabrielle, ready to bring her home, ready for the next adventure. And thankful that He is before all things.