The Clark Connection

A New Family Photo

2009-02-19T17:26:00.001-08:00

We hope you enjoy our new family photo, which felt like a huddle when we did it! ;)

Christmas with Family!

2009-01-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

Finding and Decorating a Christmas Tree - Part 2

2009-01-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

Finding and Decorating a Christmas Tree - Part 1

2009-01-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Brody's First American Haircut

2009-01-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

We're a bit behind in sharing these pictures, but thought it would be enjoyable anyway for you to see. The barber is Raul and we took Brody to see him just before Christmas. Looking cool!!!

Kevin's Birthday!

2009-01-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

It was a special 19th birthday on December 19, 2008 for Kevin as the Lord answered everyone's prayer in bringing his mom and new brother and sister home to celebrate it. One of the two families (the Calvis) that the kids stayed with while we were in Ukraine was able to make it for the party and Jacob Clem, Kevin's buddy and workmate at Chick-fil-A. Happy birthday Kevin!!!

Christmas Cousins!!

2008-12-30T12:50:00.001-08:00

Here is a photo of the Clark and Townsend children at their Clark grandparents in Banning, CA. We were very encouraged at how they all interacted and it was a joy to have Kim and the kids home for Christmas!

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

2008-12-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family. It has been 2 weeks (including Kevin's birthday and Christmas), since Kim and the kids arrived. We have enjoyed so much having them home and helping them adjust. They've been great at being flexible and have been eager to be involved. I'll take time to write more again, but I wanted to pass on some pictures for a couple of posts before I share more in writing. I hope you enjoy them...

Hey, It's Good To Be Back Home Again!

2008-12-15T15:38:00.001-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Our family is all together again! We had a wonderful reunion on Saturday night at LAX. You can't fully tell from this picture, but Kim, Kaitlyn and Brody were all completely wasted after over 24 hours of travel. Kim said it came right down to the end that she wasn't sure that they were going to be allowed to go. Kim and I still have some older versions of passports. I believe the technology changed the year after we received our new 10 year passports in 2001. So whenever we travel there is usually some kind of delay. In Ukraine, they were very perplexed as to whether ours are even real since the technology on them is so different. So, there was a long delay about that. Then the passport control in Kiev wanted adoption papers, but would not tell her which adoption papers they wanted. Kim kept asking them which papers and they just kept saying, "Adoption Papers". She finally pulled out all of her adoption papers and kept showing her one after another until the lady said which one she wanted. Very nerve racking! She was praying the whole time that she would get through and on her way home.

In our excitement as a family and Kim being so tired, we didn't check her bag carefully and we grabbed one that was almost identical. At 11 pm we realized that it was not her bag. Her bag had my name on it and this bag had a Robert as the first name too. Well, we solved that in a hurry by calling this other Robert and then going for Kim's at the airport and taking Robert his bag at a hotel near the airport on Sunday morning.

The kids were absolutely ecstatic to find their room and bed all ready for them. Kaitlyn loves light blue and Kelly loves clouds, so their room has exactly that painted on the wall. Brody has taken over Kevin's old bed that has a ladder up and has a desk underneath. After unpacking their bag and putting what little they have into their dressers, they showered and then everyone went to bed. It was a very relaxing Sunday for us as we did some things around the house, played chess and took them on a long walk to keep them awake. Tiffany was with us on Sunday and then we took her back to school later that night. She played Speed with Kaitlyn too. We think the bonding is going well for now. By 7pm on Sunday they were ready to crash, but we kept them up longer in order to beat the jet lag.

On Monday Kim and I took Broden at 8am to his first appointment with the pediatrician. She was extremely helpful and looked him over well. She was concerned though about a sound she heard in his heart that she couldn't really distinguish. She will eventually have us see a cardiologist about it, but she wasn't too concerned yet. We'll take her an x-ray of his chest that we forgot the next time we go in. Please pray that we'll be able to determine his meds really soon, find out how to obtain copies of medical records and exams that the Ukrainian doctor failed to provide for us and that his heart sound will not be serious. Praise the Lord we were able to get him home and started on this process. The whole family is both overjoyed and also getting used to having us all together. The Lord has truly continued to show us He is our Provider.

Arriving on Saturday!

2008-12-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Kim took advantage of the free Vonage line at the Carter's home and an 800 number and called our travel agent (whose office is in Ohio). His office was open... I was still asleep! He has arranged flights for them on Saturday and they will arrive to LAX at 8:34PM (Lufthansa through Munich to Charlotte, US Airways to LAX). In Charlotte, NC they will go through customs and become US citizens. Kim was born in North Carolina, though she doesn't remember it.

Customs can take 2 hours. She has 2 1/2 hours to get through customs. Pray that customs will get them through quickly. If customs doesn't get them through then they (airline or customs?) are required to put them up in a hotel for free and send them on the next day's flight. Thank you for all your prayers on behalf of our family and for those who have and will be providing us meals. It has been a great help to me.

On Thursday morning, the kids and I had a time of prayer and in the word together. We now call it Table Talk Time, though it was around the couches in the family room. We looked at 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." This verse was suitable to the uncertainty of the moment as we were completely expecting Kim, Kaitlyn and Brody to be there through the holidays. We prayed together for them and endurance for all and that the Lord would bring them home as soon as possible.

Kim was working on a new place for them to stay. I was working and studying, helping the kids in their studies, as well as, trying to find flights for Tiffany, contacting Congressmen and Senators, and following leads on places for Kim to stay as well. Tiffany was preparing to leave on the 20th after finals to be with them in Kiev. Kevin, Jason, Kelly and I were preparing ourselves for the separation during Christmas and we were discussing that. Of course the Lord had another plan and we are so grateful to Him for showing us in this way that He is our Jehovah-jireh (Our Provider). Our facilitator in Kiev thought it was an amazing miracle too. She's never seen it happen. No one could have orchestrated it in this way and to have the embassy and the DHS and CDC be willing to do it all by email just now is truly a miracle in our minds (it was a 3 day turnaround!) .

"I Got It! I Got It!!

2008-12-12T04:11:00.000-08:00

These were the words coming through my phone that woke me up at 4am on Friday morning as Kim called me to share with me her news. She had just received a call from the Adoption Unit at the Kiev Embassy saying that they had received the approval by email and were able to issue the visa!!!

She was arranging a taxi to get over to the embassy. She was so excited she started listing off how I could contact the travel agent who is helping us so he can try for a flight this weekend. I had to stop her to remind her that it's 4am and that we are 10 hours behind and I would have to wait till the poor guy opens his office. :-)

I had actually just gotten to sleep at 3am, so that's why I was so groggy. I had been working late and then decided to not wait, but to issue my own personal request and plead our case to the DHS in Moscow. I didn't want to delay because the weekend was coming and so I wanted them to get it on their Friday. My email to DHS went out at 2:06 am. Immediately after I sent this personal request I found that Kim had just written to me. She wrote that the embassy told her our waiver had been assigned a DHS reviewer and he was reviewing it already! Less than 2 hours later the embassy called her!

It turns out that Broden is not necessarily the first child to be adopted with HIV. Although, you could deduce that sort of scenario based on some of the comments from various Ukrainian and American officials. But, he is the first to receive a waiver where all communication and action was handled by email! That is a certainty based on communication from the embassy. I hope they will do this in the future for others.

Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf. I had intended an update on Friday with some other details of what was happening and how the Lord had opened up doors:

~~ Kim had found a place for them to stay with a single missionary who offered for them to stay at her flat,

~~ the fact that we were working on the details of sending Tiffany on a flight next Saturday, in order to stay with Kim during the holidays and to help her, and

~~ little tidbits of activity and interaction that they were going on for Kim, Kaitlyn and Broden.

But now that doesn't matter and we are all overjoyed to say that as soon as we can arrange their flight through The Golden Rule Travel guy (after he gets to his office today) they'll be on their way home!!!

~~~~So, now... I'm going back to bed. I need the rest. ;-)

Blood Test Received - Waiver Submitted!

2008-12-09T21:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I spoke with Kim on Tuesday and inspite of some delays and difficulties with the medical clinic, she did receive the needed test from the clinic. She was told it wouldn't be ready before 1pm and so at 2pm she arrived and finally received the test from the doctor at 4pm. So, she dashed over to the embassy, as fast as the traffic would allow the taxi to go, and they had a short interview, the visa was rejected and then the embassy prepared to send the waiver.

It is now Wednesday morning over there and the waiver should be getting sent out. I would ask you to pray for the waiver to be accepted quickly. Much quicker than the minimum 2 weeks they estimate. Kim still has to arrange flights, but she can't do this until she has that waiver approved. As I stated in the other posts, it is so important that we get them to the US so we can get Broden new medicine before his supply runs out on January 3rd. The embassy has said they are trying to use both fax and email in communicating with the CDC in Washington and CIS in Moscow for the approvals and hopefully this will speed things up.

Meanwhile I spent some time on Tuesday preparing forms and communication for our California senators Feinstein and Boxer and our district Congressman Darrell Issa. Senator Feinstein seems to be potentially the best help as she has a specific form for helping with immigration problems and that form is very detailed as well. Her office also allows the faxing of all the forms and communication necessary. Please pray that they will respond and help us by directly having their immigration liaisons request for a speedy waiver on our behalf. We are doing all we can as we know we are our own best advocates in this situation, since we feel the urgency more than anybody, but there's only so much possible and it's ultimately the Lord's sovereign care that matters. Pray for Kim too as she is quite tired and drained. This is a hard waiting period and she can't go outside much since she's fighting a nasty cold. It's snowing in Kiev now. Pray Kaitlyn and Broden and Kim will forge a special bond during this time. Thanks for your prayers for us.

Adjusting to Family and Seeking Contentment in the Lord's Plan and Timing

2008-12-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers for Kim, the kids and the whole family. This is a trying time, but we know that the Lord is always at work in our lives, so our anxieties are lessened as we take time to seek Him. This happened for Kim on Saturday, because Lisa Carter (missionary that Kim is staying with) gave Kim that time she needed by taking all the kids out to some self serve car wash near a lake where the kids could help. Our kids were overjoyed to help and they all received 10 hrivna ($1.50) for doing it!

Actually it has been very good for Kim and the kids to be there because certain behavioral issues have come up, but because of the Carter's values and rules as a family matching our own, it has helped Kaitlyn and Broden to see how a family should work. They've had chores to do and there are strict rules about meals, such as eating salads first, eating everything on your plate and the mandatory everyone must try everything. Kim is finding that Broden has a really big appetite. At one meal "Brody ate a ton! 2 large chicken rizeks (like breaded weinerschnitzel, but chicken), 3 good helpings of potato salad, 2 breads w bologna/salami + cheese. Not long after he had more potato salad!!" Kaitlyn is beginning to try new things and even some things she previously said she didn't like. The Carter's 10 year olds (not twins) were adopted in the Ukraine and so this makes for a good mix, since they know Ukrainian and yet are American missionary kids too. "Kaitlyn, Brody and Ethan were all slow in eating so she said the last one done has to do an extra day of dish duty. Boy, did that light a fire under them all. Ethan does not like meat so he tried to speed up but was way behind to start so he lost. It was pretty funny to watch the whole thing. After the boys did the dishes (into the dw), we went to church and the kids went to kids church. They seemed to have a good time. Broden wants to come back next week. I guess I'm happy about that but I'd like to be home. It would seem that part of God's plan is the family thing and the chance to go to church in their mother tongue. It is worth it if God uses it to plant seeds or bring them to Christ. I feel it is a big sacrifice but I know it is nothing compared to what Christ sacrificed for me."

Kim went on to share some of the things the Lord is showing her in the midst of this trying time. I too would echo that the Lord is pruning me during this time. He's also showing us some of the areas that will be difficult to deal with, but will be necessary to instruct and be firm about, (flippant apologies, impatience, rude comments to each other, swearing, tattling and whining, etc.). As a result of some poor behavior and attitudes, Kim brought Lisa in to translate her straight to the kids. They seemed to listen to this. Lisa runs a tight ship at home and it helps Kim a lot to be able to talk fully and straight to them, even though it's being translated. It has eased her mind to have that option. We have to get them doing well in English in a hurry. As we wait on the blood test and the next steps afterwards, it is good to be able to see that this delay is actually helping with their transition and the Lord has orchestrated and revealed some of the things we need to be praying about and dealing with.

On Monday I spoke with a lawyer from National Immigration Law Center and although she doesn't specialize in these cases, she said that lately the government is trying to process waivers related to HIV in a more speedy fashion than ever before. So we remain hopeful. The embassy reiterated to me that they have received word from their contacts at these two agencies that they (the CDC in Washington and USCIS in Moscow) will handle our waiver in the most expeditious way possible. I am also in contact with various HIV/immigration lawyer centers that have given me help in knowing what to expect related to this waiver and what I can do on this end.

Please pray that the blood test will be performed on Tuesday (it requires other patient's tests to warrant doing ours and there must be some magic number to make it happen). This seems to be the biggest holdup right now as the embassy can't move on the waiver until this specialized blood test is performed to establish to the greatest detail that he has HIV. One encouraging note was that the medical clinic in Kiev told Kim that if he's had it all his life and has done well thus far, then sometimes, but of course no guarantees, it has happened that HIV and its symptoms have just disappeared. Wouldn't that be nice? Each time he's been tested this year it has been positive. Only the Lord who is shown in the Word to be the Great Physician, knows fully and could do that. We are total amateurs in all this, so we've not heard of that before. We can trust Him. Please continue to pray that we can get him home and into a doctor for the tests he needs so that new prescriptions can be filled. He only has medicine until January 3rd and it's the holidays too, so who will see him during the holidays? We'll take one step at a time I guess. Thank you for your continued prayers for us. One other item: Kim and the kids can only stay with the Carters until 12/17, which is a two week mark that we all originally thought this would be. Please pray for the Lord to open another situation for her if she must be there longer.

The Reality of it all...

2008-12-05T07:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I just spent time on the phone with Kim and it was a really hard day for her. The reality of it all is that there are no guarantees and every time we gain one thing, there is yet another which delays progress. The documents in question did arrive, but the medical staff informed her that a special test that is necessary won't be in till next Tuesday, at the earliest! This test is needed before they can do her interview and it can't be performed until they have enough of other patient's blood tests to warrant doing them all at the same time. It reminds me of the time in Czech when we were waiting on Fed Ex in Prague to bring us plane tickets and they told us on the phone that we can't bring it to you overnight until we have enough packages to justify a driver! We drove to Prague and got the tickets on the way to the airport. Nothing like that is even possible here.

That's bad enough, but then there is the waiver and the possibilities of any number of barriers. There are no guarantees. We need prayer like never before. The children don't understand and they are getting both bored and difficult because of it. Kim is trying hard to explain, but there is simply not much she can say since she doesn't have answers. She had to get firm with them yesterday because she understood enough to know that they were talking rudely and badly to one another and they both turned inward. Kaitlyn ignored Kim's repeated tries to talk further. Broden cried and wanted to talk but couldn't. Perhaps Kim didn't understand what was really happening or perhaps they just are very immature in how they handle discipline. She's going to seek the help of someone who can translate tonight or on the weekend to try and iron it out.

Please pray for a breakthrough and for the Lord to give to Kim the ability to handle the emotions of it all. She's very discouraged and struggling with the delays, struggling with wanting to come home and the waiting, the fears and the potential longer time of being there. Please pray for a breakthrough! Pray for me too according to these things. I'm very discouraged about it, though trying to stay focused. Pray that the testing of our faith will produce endurance and pray for the Lord to move in the hearts of those who can help us. Pray for the Lord to be glorified in it all. In spite of whatever we struggle with we are still called to honor and glorify Him and so no amount of complaining will be helpful or wise, so I'm determined to set myself to praying more constantly and earnestly, even though in all honesty I constantly struggle with wanting to get angry at the system or complain about the situation. Pray too for my kids here who are anxious and struggling as well. That the Lord's grace and mercy will be given abundantly to all of us to stand up under the weight of waiting. That's all I can say for now, I have to get to work and other things on behalf of her and the family, but I want to say thank you for caring and praying. I pray the Lord will give to you wisdom and the ability to honor and glorify Him in all your situations and relationships on this day.

Embassy Interview Friday?

2008-12-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

The battle continues and we appreciate you for your prayers. Kim communicated today with us the following: "I finally connected with the doctor tonight. She had not gotten the English version before leaving work. Marina says that Natasha (adoption lawyer) sent it so possibly no one gave it to the doctor. I will call the doctor in the morning to see if it is there. If not, Natasha will fax it again. The original will arrive on the 9:30am train. ... Anyway, tomorrow will be a race to get to the embassy before they close. Traffic is unreal in the city and it will be Fri which is always worse."

Getting to the embassy in time is related to having time to do their interview for passport and visa. Following that Broden's visa will be rejected. If she doesn't make it on Friday, then they have to wait till Monday. The waiver can't be sent to the 2 US agencies for their approval until this interview and subsequent rejection has taken place. These interviews only happen on a weekday. The embassy is saying at least 2 weeks after the interview before approval. Please pray that they will be able to have it on Friday, which is 10 hours ahead of us here in California.

Here in California I've been trying to obtain contact information for the CIS, CDC and a county HIV program that we need to enroll Broden in. It was not going well. Then I came across something that just seemed obscure, but possibly what I needed. I called and it turned out to be a State Department Adoption Hotline, though it sure didn't seem like that's what I'd found. Well, it was "INFORMATION JACKPOT". They provided me with everything I needed and then some. I was off and running. I contacted this county HIV assistance program, Inland HIV/AIDS Project, and they were very helpful. They provided me with a letter over the internet in 15 minutes stating they were willing and prepared to enroll Broden into their assistance and support program as soon as he arrives to the US. Then I contacted the CIS and they have an over the phone Service Request center for asking for an expediting of our case. Their system was down, but I'll be calling them Friday morning. The CDC number that I called didn't seem to be what I was looking for, but I learned some things about their role as "Review Only" and that CIS is the final approval. Then I contacted our State Representative Darrell Issa. I was looking to ask for his help and influence in requesting the expediting of an approval for our medical waiver. I wrote a letter with detailed information of the situation and our request for his help and action on behalf of our son/family. I'll be driving that to his office tomorrow. All in all it was an interesting day.

Meanwhile Kim and the kids are enjoying time with the Carters and their children (when they aren't running around town). They have biological children as well as 2 adopted Ukrainian children (Ashlee and Ethan - both 10, not twins). Ashlee likes to tell blonde jokes :). Kaitlyn and Broden are enjoying their time with these kids. For us it is a bonus to our prayers, because having others to play with takes their mind off the other activities and the waiting. They are getting to see first hand some other kids that were adopted and the result. I'm praying it is influential on them as a glimpse of how things will be for them. Kim asks prayer for the following: "It is late and I need some sleep. I'm getting pretty sick so I need to rest. It is good that the weekend is here. I won't have to go running around. Pray that I can be an encouragement to Lisa (Carter) and any others while I am here."

Praise the Lord that Pam Greer and her new son Justin will fly to LAX arriving around midnight on Friday. Congratulations to the Greer family (Kevin, Pam, Garrett and Morgan) on their new son and brother ~ ~ Justin!.

Hardest Day Yet...

2008-12-04T05:16:00.001-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We continue to be very grateful for your prayers and encouraging messages. It seems there is a large supply of obstacles that just keep extending this process. My constant prayer has been that the Lord will sustain Kim and give her wisdom (Proverbs 9:10; James 1:5) and the ability to stand firm (Ephesians 6:10-12) and take all thoughts, fears and anxieties to the Lord. (Philippians 4:4-9; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

After the wonderful news of receiving the passports and getting the addendums submitted on Tuesday, we again have learned of other barriers to overcome in this final phase of the process. Kim and the kids took an overnight train to Kiev. In one sense she said it was easier to sleep because this train went slower and so the train wasn't rocking so much. However, it took 14 hours and was the most amazing "oven" you can imagine. Each time the train stopped the temperature shot up. There was no mechanism to really control the heat. There was no way to open a window or vent. She said it was easily 100 degrees and the only "relief" was when the train was moving. They left at 7pm and arrived in Kiev after 9am.... "A driver met us, Nik. Nice guy, speaks english. He took us to get photos done of the kids and then to the medical clinic. That's when the bomb hit. Broden's the first one to be adopted with this virus, so no one really knows what to do. Turns out they did not give me all the medical documents in Belgorod. I need things by the specialist who oversaw his case. He has never been vaccinated for rubella and did not get one yet maybe because of the virus. Kaitlyn needed another one. I had them both get a blood test. He again tested + and her - . I could not get into the embassy so I have to go at 8:30am tomorrow. The embassy is saying (by phone) they hope it will all be ready in 2 weeks. UGH! The hard thing is that the kids don't know what he has so they don't understand the seriousness and the delay. Also, they see Justin about to leave. I hit my max today and am exhausted and discouraged. I hope tomorrow is somehow better."

I spoke with Kim after receiving this email. They had eventually arrived at the Carter's home and the kids were already sleeping. She's tired and fighting sickness, so we didn't talk long. I asked whether others are working on these other medical documents. She assured me that they are trying to contact the doctor in Belgorod for her to get what is needed. Also, the children don't know the details of HIV, because it is culturally and universally common in UA for a doctor to not tell a patient about a serious disease, but to tell their family members, which they didn't have at the time. We do know they've been told he has a virus and that's why he has medicine, but nothing has been explained to them beyond that. Please pray for wisdom as we face these delays and as Kim is dealing with them that she'll know what to share at this point with the kids.

On an encouraging note, I was able to contact the National Visa Center. Turns out they are almost like a way station or conduit for moving these approvals along, at least for adoptions. I was told that our approval had been moved on by email to the adoption unit at the Kiev embassy. I then wrote to the embassy and they replied that they had received it. I am waiting now to hear from Kim what the embassy told her and whether this email approval has satisfied their concerns about the home study and I-600A documents.

Well, I wish I had more news, but that will be coming today. I would ask you to continue to pray for Kim and that these barriers will be overcome swiftly. Praise the Lord with us that she has a comfortable and affordable place to stay in Kiev. Pray the Lord will give her strength, health and perseverance. Pray for endurance according to James 1, where it speaks of having your faith tested, which will produce endurance. Please pray too that we will not crave so strongly "good news" at the expense of doing the Lord's will and seeing what He wants us to see.

TWO TOUCHDOWN TUESDAY!!

2008-12-02T19:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we were able to have success in two different countries! Kim wrote that she and the kids traveled to Kiev by train because their UA passports were received. Kim wrote: "Well we got the passports today and I'm on a train with the kids to Kiev :-) Hurray! Hurray! Tomorrow (wed.) we will go straight to the embassy."

TOUCHDOWN #1!!

For our Tuesday in California it was looking rather grim. I was primed and ready to go, but couldn't get the DHS office on the phone. I knew that they have limited window hours. Kim's email came in about 11am our time and I was replying and even writing to her that I don't know what will happen today, when the phone rang. It was the DHS office and they told us of some additional information to put into the rough draft addendum to the home study. I then called the social worker, who has been extremely helpful, and we made our plan. She prepared and notarized the documents I needed while I got gas in the car and then Kelly and I took off.

The window for submitting documents closes at 3pm! So, we prayed for smooth freeways (which we got) and to be able to park quickly in downtown LA (which we found). Then Kelly and I made it to the building by 2pm. There was a line of over 100 people in front just waiting to get in! I sent out some SOS prayer texts and 15 minutes later we were through the security line and off to find the DHS office. Ten minutes later we were able to submit our documents and waited for the DHS officer to return from lunch to finalize it. I asked for expediting the approval to Kiev, but she said they can't do that. Then she told me that she was sending an email "heads up" to the National Visa Center. Finally, she gave me the NVC's phone number and email, so now I am able to contact them as well and ask for expediting of the approval over to Kiev!

TOUCHDOWN #2!!

We would ask you to pray for the waiver to get approved through the CDC in Washington and Moscow quickly too. Also, that Kim and the kids can get the other items at the embassy accomplished quickly. Thank you for joining us in prayer.

Last night I didn't sleep much. I normally sleep like a log, but I woke up quite early today and decided to get up and pray and then study. I was sensing in my thoughts and feelings far too much discouragement. I looked into Valley of Vision again and found the following to be a huge encouragement and helpful later in the morning.

From, God Enjoyed ~~ (I exchanged the Old English where appropriate for more modern English to help it read better) ~~

Thou incomprehensible but prayer-hearing God,

Known, but beyond knowledge,

revealed, but unrevealed,

my wants and welfare draw me to you,

for you have never said, "Seek me in vain".

To you I come in my difficulties, necessities, distresses;

possess me with yourself,

with a spirit of grace and supplication,

with a prayerful attitude of mind,

with access into warmth of fellowship,

so that in the ordinary concerns of life

my thoughts and desires may rise to you,

and in habitual devotion I may find a resource

that will soothe my sorrows,

sanctify my success,

and qualify me in all ways for dealings

with my fellow men.

I bless you that you have made me capable

of knowing you, the author of all being,

of resembling you, the perfection of all excellency,

of enjoying you, the source of all happiness.

O God, attend me in every part of my arduous

and trying pilgrimage;

I need the same counsel, defense, comfort

I found at my beginning.

Let my religion be more obvious to my conscience,

more perceptible to those around.

While Jesus is representing me in heaven,

may I reflect him on earth,

While he pleads my cause, may I show forth

his praise.

Continue the gentleness of your goodness

towards me,

And whether I wake or sleep, let your presence

go with me, your blessing attend me.

You have led me on and I have found your

promises true,

I have been sorrowful, but you have been my help,

fearful, but you have delivered me,

despairing, but you have lifted me up.

Your vows are ever upon me,

And I praise you, O God.

And Now For Something Completely Different!

2008-11-29T01:48:00.000-08:00

Kim shared with us in an email that they had an opportunity to go with Pam Greer and Justin and walk around town. It was a good experience as it showed that she and Kaitlyn and Broden are getting closer to one another. Plus, there were some interesting things to observe, not the least of which were some technology that we take for granted, but these former orphans have probably never seen...

"We went into town today. It was nice to see justin and pam. The kids all had a great time. They were enthralled with a revolving door and the escalator. Pam said justin watched her washing machine for 30min and then freaked when it spun and started jumping. (You can read a more detailed account of this with pictures on the Greer's blog - www.kevinandpam.blogspot.com) The kids are doing well. They each grabbed my hand at different times to hold it as we walked. As we were walking there was a boy having to hold and guide his drunk father. All 3 kids got very uptight, slowed down walking and really kept their eyes on him. They were obviously afraid and were pointing him out to us nervously. Broden motioned that the man had drunk alcohol and used drugs. It seemed that they had very bad memories. Kaitlyn was really affected. I had to hug her as we walked and tell her, not in our family (drunkenness). She relaxed. It was interesting."

This would figure since part of the neglect they experienced was a household that had 6 adults + an invalid grandmother. None of them were working and most likely they were drunks, drug users and abusive. Please pray for wisdom as we help them adjust.

Urgent Prayer Needed!

2008-11-28T10:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Changes and surprises can be very sobering and can happen quickly. I received an urgent call from Kim early on Friday morning. The reason for it was that she had received a call from the US Embassy in Kiev, Adoption Unit/Immigration Visa Services. In a nutshell, they discovered that a form from Immigration Services (I-600A) and our home study reflect adopting 2 children that are relatively healthy. Since HIV has not been taken off the list and probably won't be taken off now for immigration visas (only tourist visas have seemed to be approved on this), then I need to provide an amendment to the home-study and the I-600A (in that order) through our agency and the Los Angeles DHS office. So, I need an amendment reflecting the change in the health condition of a child. The potential timing delay is big. I have been in contact with our agency here and will continue to be until I can get the home study amendment and then get into that office in Los Angeles hopefully Monday.

As you can imagine it is both a surprise and shock. It sure woke me up in a hurry at 6:20 this morning! We thought we were complying completely with all requirements and that the waiver was the way of reflecting the change in health condition. That's not the case though. Please be in prayer for this as I need to be able to obtain these documents quickly. When it comes to dealing with these sorts of things a one day delay here can turn into a week or more in delays there. The embassy is willing to even contact the DHS office and encourage them to expedite our amendment. They can't demand it but they can earnestly suggest and encourage it so that they will be able to continue on our behalf. I would ask you to earnestly ask the Lord to move all barriers so that we can bring Kim and the kids home soon.

It is quite interesting too, and I share this with a sober heart, but on Wednesday I was stuck in some traffic a half hour and I had taken with me my copy of Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, which I only usually have on my nightstand. While sitting there I read the following and it caused me to pray and even on Thursday send it to Kim to try and communicate the Lord's working in my heart through it: From the prayer The All Good...

You are all my good in times of peace, my only support in days of trouble, my one sufficiency when life shall end. Help me to see how good your will is in all, and even when it crosses mine teach me to be pleased with it. ..... you are a bottomless fountain of all good, I give myself to You out of love, for all I have or own is yours, my goods, family, church, self, to do with as you will, to honor yourself by me, and by all mine. There's more of course. I recommend the book very much.

Needless to say, I had no idea we'd be facing this sort of situation today. Sometimes it is 3 steps forward and 2 steps back, but it never catches the Lord off guard. My hope and prayer is that this is just another "hiccup" in this whole thing and not a delay. The embassy said they will work with Kim as far as they can (passports, visa, visa rejection, waiver documents) so that perhaps the only thing needed is the receiving of the amendment from DHS in LA. Of course I can't get that until the amendment related to the original home study is in hand. Honestly, I have had moments of depression and anger over this today, but the Lord has been good to me in those moments and the peace that passes understanding and correct thinking and action that is explained in Philippians 4 4-9, have been also evident to me as well. Philippians 4:4 says "Rejoice!". Verse 5 tells us to let our forbearing spirit be known to all men. I curiously looked up forebearance and it says, "patient self-control, restraint, tolerance". Synonyms are very helpful too and some of them are, "patience, resignation, endurance, fortitude and self control". Verse 6 reflects this further with imperatives like, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication (to appeal to, call on, ask and request) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Then it says, "And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Please pray for Kim and I and especially our children as well, to not lose heart or grow faint-hearted with all of this. Even before I had time to tell Kelly what has happened today she came to me asking when Kim and the kids would be coming home. So, I tried to explain this situation to her and that we need to continue to pray, because the Lord knows that exact day and time that they will come home. Thanks for praying and listening.

Wonderful Wednesday! Much To Be Thankful For!

2008-11-27T10:30:00.001-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We talked with Kim and the kids late on Wednesday and again on Thanksgiving day. They were able to make it to the little nameless village that the kids were born in, received their birth certificates and then took off for Odessa. There they were able to get in for passport photos and apply for their new UA passports. Following that they made it to the place they are staying and waiting at in Odessa.

I had arranged with Kim that I would call on Skype to her phone when they were in the car and on their way to the village. I hoped it would encourage them to hear from me and that we are waiting expectantly for them. This turned out to be a helpful call as there was much emotion for them when they were leaving (both excitement about going, but sadness about leaving friends). Kim said I made them smile. Kaitlyn also had some trouble with the drive with feeling sick to her stomach, but I guess it was okay.

On Thursday they needed to go to a particular pharmacy in Kiev to get an additional supply of medicine for Broden. Kim had what she thought she needed from the orphanage doctor, but the pharmacist would not fill the prescription and would not try to understand at all. Kim called Ludya to translate, but they didn't know her so it was a still a "nyet". Then she got in touch with the adoption lawyer and the orphanage doctor. Finally, after some pretty rough communication they agreed to supply her with more of Broden's medicine.

The kids were especially intrigued by the place they are staying in Odessa. They were told they'd be going to a hotel, but it's a Bible Institute and they have the whole place to themselves, so they were confused. But Kim explained to them (she's trying Russian and using her Czech to get by and help with communicating) what the place was and why they are staying there, so it was fine. The people they've been meeting there have been so kind and encouraging. There are missionaries and Ukrainian believers that have been very kind and interactive with the kids. For Thanksgiving they were invited to spend it with ABWE missionary Caleb Suko and his family and others. Apparently it was a very special time.

Now they are waiting. Please pray that the application for passports won't have any difficulties for the release of passports. Apparently everything must match and no irregularities (ie: mistakes) or it will seriously hamper the process of getting them. She hopes to have the passports by Monday. Meanwhile they are enjoying each other. Kim and the kids are playing card games a lot and Carcassone a board game that Kim took with her. Kaitlyn now knows how to shuffle using a "waterfall" style and her and Kim are playing lots of Speed. Kaitlyn told Kim she wants to get fast enough to beat Tiffany, who is the family speedster. They are trying to use English more and more. While I was there at the orphanage I taught the kids the Name Song (you know: Broden, Broden, bo Broden, Banana Fana fo Froden, me my mo Mroden, Broden). He really thought this was great and has practiced it a whole lot and when Kelly and Tiffany spoke to him on Thanksgiving he launched, no he flew, into that song using their names...it was really a funny time and he's really fast at it.

We have much to be thankful for at this time as we look at this whole situation. The Lord has been watching on us the whole time. Kim shared with me in an email the following, "I was quite calm yesterday considering it all. I had a peace and can relax in God's timing. I hope the same will be true in Kiev :-)". The people that He's put into our life there to help get finished with the process in Belgorod has been great. Even His work in the heart of important officials that we needed documents from was obvious. Lyudmila was a constant encouragement as she helped us there. Though the situation of an orphanage is never ideal, the orphanage director and her workers did take good care of these kids. We've heard stories of other orphanages and this seems to have been a much better orphanage upbringing. We were especially thankful to be able to see part of their world as they prepared for and won first place at the festival. There are other things that I can't share now, but will share at a later time when they are on their way here, that really show the Lord's protection and provision. Meanwhile, they aren't here yet and we ask you to pray for the Lord to continue to orchestrate it so that they do get all that they need to accomplish the adoption in Odessa and Kiev and as soon as possible. Pray too that Kim can find a suitable and affordable place to stay in Kiev. Solving this has been a bit elusive. She'll be trying the Baptist church we know about in Kiev on Friday and there might be some families that she could stay with. Now that she's waiting in Odessa and not driving all over she'll be able to try and finalize that. Thank you again for your prayers.

Tuff Tuesday!

2008-11-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

I've received an email today from Kim and have pasted necessary information about their day here...

"Well what a day. We all met at the court at 9am. At 11am we had the final letter and we all took off. I went with Ludya and Gene(taxi driver) to a village N of here. It took 2hrs going sometimes 160 Km/hr! Went thru Moldova for a short bit. The official found a mistake and would not do new certificates so we had to come back to Belgorod. Natasha (adoption lawyer) called the judge and he gave a new letter. So, at 6:45am Gene will come for me, we will get the kids, go back to the village with the new letter, get the new certificates and then go to Odessa. Pam had no problems and went on to Odessa."

She went on to describe that Kaitlyn is having a hard time. She saw Pam Greer leave with Vladi (now Justin) and she cried. Please pray for her as it's all very emotional for her (wanting to leave and then again not totally wanting it). It was a very frustrating day for Kim as you can imagine. Pray for her. It's hard for her on her own. It was good teamwork between us when I was there and so it's hard. Even though it went as it did today, they might not lose a day if this new letter works and they get off to Odessa from there. I hope to call using our computer and Skype tonight at the time that I know they'll be leaving, or have left the orphanage, to try and encourage them that it will be alright. Hopefully the translator will be with them, but if not I'll at least show them that I and the other kids are anxiously waiting for them. Thanks for praying.

Pray Specifically!

2008-11-24T14:13:00.001-08:00

After a short conversation today with Kim it became very apparent that specific prayers are in order as anything can change her return home with Kaitlyn and Broden from potentially 2 weeks from this coming Wednesday to a return even around Christmas and beyond. That's right! In my mind and in my heart I would sure be against that, but I would have to yield and so would all of the family if the Lord allowed it to happen. However, I began to realize that my prayers are far too general and so I/we would ask you to pray for the following:

(these are in somewhat of a possible chronological order)

~ That the letter from the judge and court in Belgorod will be done accurately and correctly as any mistake will be another day of delay at least.

~ That the Lord will give Kim and Pam Greer, safe car rides from Belgorod to the little village of the kid's birth. It would appear that they will travel in separate taxi cars to the villages near Odessa that the children were born in. One of the villages is nearer to Odessa than the other and they don't who has which and they won't know who has which until the day they take off with their translator.

~ That they will truly be able to get the birth certificates necessary (and any other things that we've not been told about yet!?) quickly and correctly prepared (spelling, stamps, etc) as any mistake will cause more than one day in delay. In addition, it would cost another trip by taxi and the cost is not only about $50 each way, but also a cost of the time the taxi driver sits and waits for them (potentially hours).

~ That there will be no delay in getting the children out of the orphanage, hopefully Wednesday, and off in a taxi to Odessa. Pray too for safety on a very reckless road. My driver almost slid into a semi and another car on the way to the airport. No, it wasn't even bad weather conditions like the ladies will be experiencing now, but he was going at high speed (at one point 160km/hour or 100mph) and began to skid when the semi and car suddenly weren't moving as fast as he anticipated!

~ That the Lord will provide them opportunity to submit for the children's passports the same day that they travel to Odessa. Also, that it will become more clear what type of passports the children have (apparently there are several kinds) and what is required to get the correct one issued. In other words, there is a possibility that the present passport would need a different passport issued in between the one that is required for them to travel to Kiev and then to the US! So, potentially one new one would be issued so that it could then be destroyed or made invalid so that then the one that Kim really needs for them could then be issued! Yikes and willikers! (2 words that describe quite a bit of angst and frustration :)

~ Praise Item... and now a word of encouragement - the Lord has provided Kim and the kids a place to stay in Odessa that seems very helpful and reasonably priced in order to save some costs. They'll stay at a Bible Institute that a missionary from our ABWE mission is involved with. It's north of the city, but it has a kitchenette, little markets and vendors nearby and buses that are good transportation and 40cents a trip.

~ Pray too that Kim will be able to get to Kiev as quickly as possible from Odessa. Why do I think this is important, besides the obvious of getting them home sooner? Essentially anything can be a potential delay. She has to get to the Adoptions Department of the embassy and get things rolling. I must say that the interaction we've had with this department of the embassy has been first rate (they actually called us in Belgorod to follow up a call and concern we had, which was a big one and they knew about our situation in detail). But, the simple matter is that Broden's visa request will be rejected due to HIV and a waiver is needed and that can take time. It could take another 2 weeks or more! Again the Embassy adoptions department has been first rate in their desire to expedite and informed us that though they must reject the visa, they will try and do all of it in a day! (ie: passport prep, visa, visa rejection and submitting of waiver) Also, they told us that since they know that HIV is scheduled to come off the waiver requirement list anyway (though it is still not official-bummer!), then they are going to try and FAX the needed documents to the CDC in Washington and their regional CDC office in Moscow in order to try and expedite things and GET THOSE SIGNATURES AND WAIVERS! My oh My! (another earnest expression meaning roughly "I hope it works"). ;) Please pray specifically it will even exceed our expectations for speediness.

~ That the Lord will move in the hearts of authorities and those providing needed documents to work quickly, accurately and thoroughly. Also, that there will not be anyone going on VACATIONS! No I'm not against vacations, but pray that vacations would not cause delays for us and that those who would be needed to make this all happen will be available and not away or that their colleagues will also be sufficient to help us. Pray this from Belgorod to Odessa to Kiev to home!

~ Lastly, pray for Kim and the kids to be able to be home before Kevin's birthday 12/19 or even earlier than that, say 12/10 (that would be fantastic!)

Finally, I would like to ask you to pray for Kaitlyn as she is experiencing some visible sadness at leaving friends she has known since she was 4 years old and has been mostly quiet and reserved. Even though it's better to be in a family and none of those kids can stay there forever, it is the only life and "family" they've known. Brody on the other hand has been "chomping at the bit"! This kid is visibly ready to go! Kim's take on his attitude is essentially, "Yeah man! I'm out a heeeerrreee!". He tells Kim, "Mama! I'm Broden! Broden James Clark!". Pray too for all of them in these last couple of days. Their movements and places to interact and play are now more restricted to the rooms they are in (not too big), sometimes the game room and an entrance hall upstairs (not too big either). Plus Kim and the kids are there with Pam and their son, plus the Vanderburgs (3 people) and the 3 girls they are adopting. Close encounters and getting old for all!

T minus 2 Days and Count....Wait! New Plan and A One Day Delay!

2008-11-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Something that we learned over there and in this whole process, is that one must never count on anything too much. Actually this is just a little "hiccup" as the 10 days ended on Sunday and so the court needs to provide a letter explaining the court order, which is used by Kim to go to get the birth certificates. Since it's Sunday, the court needs Monday to get the letter ready and so a departure for Odessa to get birth certificates is now scheduled for Tuesday. This means she'll be able to get the kids out on Wednesday and head off to Odessa with them. But it also means a potential delay to getting to Kiev till after the weekend. Please pray that there won't be any other delays if at all possible and that she can get the passports by Friday and get to Kiev by the weekend.

One particular encouraging theme that I was reminded of while I was there, and it's something that has continued to be on my mind, is that when we face adversity and changes in our expectations and plans we are still called on by the Lord to "be strong and courageous". It was a fitting encouragement by the Lord for Joshua and the people of Israel as they were about to move into the promised land for real. But, something greater than the need to be strong and courageous, which God told them to be 3 times (see Joshua 1:6-9), was that He promised them that He would be with them (verses 5 and 9) just as He was with Moses. He told them that He would not forsake them. It gives one great confidence and security to know they are cared for no matter what the circumstances. We hope to pass this on to Kaitlyn and Broden as well. Lamentations 3:23 tells us that the Lord's faithfulness is great and He is the source of our hope. This truth gives confidence and security. When we have this we can be strong and courageous and we will be able to stand against those feelings of fear and dismay (Joshua 1:9). Dismay has some helpful synonyms to help us know what we are talking about here: shaken, rattled, offbalance, shocked, unnerved, unsettled and alarmed. Usually when these are not brought under control it leads to thoughts that are out of balance with biblical truth, such as feeling sick and tired, impatience, fear of the unknown, etc. Of course these are definitely out of tune with the fruit of the Spirit.

I write all this to ask you to pray for Kim, Pam and the Vanderburgs. Kim has been there now for over 4 weeks (having arrived on 10/23) with potentially 2 more weeks to go. It's of course not a time to grow fainthearted, but one does become weary, so please pray for her/their stamina, endurance and total dependence on the Lord. Also, that she'll be able to fight well by applying the Word of God from those specific verses of the Word that will give her strength and victory. Ask the Lord to give her discernment and insight related to helping Kaitlyn and Broden during this time of change and feelings of uncertainty. It's hard to know exactly what we need to give to them to help them through this time of change. Pray for wisdom as well.

I had intended to download some pictures onto our blog, but my computer is now in repair since last Wednesday. As soon as I get it back I hope to download some newer shots. If you have Facebook and want to be our friend :) then you can see the albums we've managed to get onto there. Kim has other pictures, but she can't easily download using the Ukrainian server (1/2 hour for one picture to download - if it doesn't disconnect).

T minus 3 Days and Counting!

2008-11-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

I just got off the "Skype phone" with Kim and told her I would send out an updated post. The last few days have been interesting when visiting the orphanage. Kaitlyn and Broden are of course excited to be with her and they are getting time to play and interact with Kim. However, there has clearly been moments of emotion or quiet sadness and even tears. Kaitlyn has been much more quiet, by Kim's side and even sitting closer together when playing games or looking at pictures. Even when I was there we would give a big hug and kiss the top of their head at the door when we left. We'd tell them what time the next day we'd be there, hug and say goodbye. The other day Kim was about to leave and Kaitlyn gave her a huge hug and was obviously not going to let go quickly. She then looked up into Kim's face and said, "Tomorrow Mama, right?". Kim reassured her that yes she'd be returning the next day. Turns out it was a wise move to have Kim stay there during these days.

For a couple of nights now Kaitlyn, Broden and the Greer's son Justin, have been separated to downstairs rooms near the doctor's office. It is not clear yet what the reason is, but we could imagine it's related to potential jealousy among other children OR just as an anticipation of their departure so that it is not so sudden. Please pray for the kids as this has been the only home and only friends they've really known and there will be lots of mixed feelings. They were told their last day at school in town was Thursday, however they were told this on Thursday night! Kim says it doesn't seem to bother them at all. Broden has been asking practically every day if they had to go to school any longer. Brody is just a bundle of energy. Some conversations with teachers have shown their concern for him being "weak". We've translated what they've trying to get across as their concern for him being frail. Well, this is true. He's not a big kid at all, but he needs a higher calorie intake to help that situation! Kim has been told that she'll receive medicine for him to take us beyond the December 3rd supply he already has. Each night they text Kim or call her to say goodnight.

Looks like Kim (probably Pam Greer too-though I'm not clear on it yet) will be going Monday to Odessa to get the birth certificates (they were born in a village near Odessa somewhere). Then she'll come back to Belgorod and Tuesday the children will be released. They now have housing arranged in Odessa at a Bible Institute in the northern part of Odessa. We were able to make contact with an ABWE missionary in Odessa and the institute has 2 rooms available there and a little kitchenette as well. Please pray for the birth certificates and passports to be provided quickly. Once they have these things, then it's off to Kiev. Pray too that we'll be able to make contact with a Baptist church there which has rooms available for those working on adoption.

It's pretty cold there now and so Kim has been purchasing whatever they need, since they must leave all the clothing they've been using at the orphanage.

This brings up another couple of prayer items and needs:

~We are in need of a day bed for a girl that could be either a loaner situation, giveaway or for a low cost. If you have a used day bed or know of someone who does please let us know.

~We need clothing which still has "life" in them, for a 13 year old girl (size 14 slim) and 12 year old boy (12-slim): T-shirts, jeans, pants, sweatshirts and sweatpants, long-sleeves, dress shirts, dresses, leggings, socks, lightweight jackets, sweaters. If you or someone you know have giveaway clothing in these sizes and would like to donate it to Kaitlyn and Broden we would all be very appreciative. We would essentially go through what you have and give back what doesn't work for us or pass it on to someone else or Goodwill if you don't want it back. This will certainly save us money and time too as we'd probably be spending lots of time at thrift stores and garage sales to find it all.

If you or someone you know has any of these things and can help us, then please contact us about it at Robert.Clark777@yahoo.com or 949-702-4632 or via the comments on the adoption blog.

Thank you for all your prayers and please keep praying they'll get home soon. Robert (for all the Clarks)

Good to be with our other kids in California! Praying for Kim, Kaitlyn and Broden!

2008-11-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

After 2 days of travel it was good to get back to the smiling faces of our other kids. They are obviously glad to have me home, but we are all missing Kim, Kaitlyn and Broden.

I arrived Monday night to LAX after traveling from Odessa to Budapest to London and to JFK in New York. In London I had to wait for a flight the next morning, but it wasn't going to be a problem as I figured to just pick a spot in the terminal, tie all my bags to me and sleep light. The plan was good and I was even directed by a worker to the correct terminal (or so I thought). About 11pm a security worker came by telling me that I couldn't stay in that terminal. They were very sorry and sympathetic to my situation, but the terminal for staying overnight, like I wanted to do, is Terminal 1. I was in Terminal 3. Since I couldn't go to terminal 1 my only option was to go out through customs to the arrival terminal. There I spent a restless and uncomfortable night in a cold building. Oh well, our best laid plans can easily change. I guess I should have asked a few more questions.

Around 5am I heard the noise of others who were in my same situation. They were making their move over to the departures building. After an hour I was back on track in terminal 3. I caught my flight to JFK and later to LAX. I usually sleep on flights, but had the hardest time doing so. I think I ended up with about 5 hours of sleep (2 of which were in the cold arrivals building of London Heathrow. But I didn't really care because I was getting back to our kids, which Kim and I agreed was the best move. They've been well taken care of by our friends the Weavers and Calvis, but it has been a long 3 and a half weeks.

Upon my arrival to LAX I rented a car and went to The Master's College (TMC) to see Tiffany. I wanted to visit with her since I was already more than halfway there at LAX. Traffic slowed me down, but I was able to get there to watch her audition for a part in a play at TMC. She did very well in her audition and I really was grateful to the Lord for allowing me to make it to that and visit with her at Starbuck's. I showed her photos that she hadn't seen yet from Ukraine and shared other items about our trip. Then I had to get on the road to home. It was 10:30 before I left and I was getting tired. There were two moments where I got too tired so I started to rub my face a lot, sing to K-eaRTH 101.1 and do some Tarzan yells. Hey, whatever it takes, right? The thing that really woke me up was seeing a bad accident, though nobody was injured. I arrived home about 12:30am on the 18th. It was good to see Kevin, but Jason and Kelly had already gone to bed. Kevin and I talked for awhile and then we went to bed.

Please pray for Kim, Kaitlyn and Broden. The count down over there now is 5 days. She now has a place to for all of them to stay in Odessa while getting the birth certificates and Ukrainian passports. She's still trying to find housing in Kiev, but a Baptist church there might have rooms available. Please pray that she'll be able to find ways to save $ along the way. We found the price of some things to be less expensive than expected, but she has to provide clothes, shoes, etc. for them because all that they have now must stay at the orphanage. The temperature there in Kiev has been under freezing, but no snow yet.

Hide-N-Go-Seek

2008-11-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

Today, we visited the kids at the orphanage again. When we arrived some of the older kids were about to do a little production about Ukraine, its history and culture. Kaitlyn was one of the speakers and Broden was the "sound man." The audience was the younger children who all seemed to have a good time especially trying to answer some of the questions and get a candy!

When this was over we just hung out. They worked some on the alphabet, spelling their names and we got a lesson on the Russian alphabet. When that was finished they did not really want to go outside. I'm not sure why because it was a beautiful autumn day but instead we got into a fun game of hide-n-go-seek. We were playing in one room, but then we kind of got kicked out, so we moved to another room where we were ok to play. The problem was that there was not much of, as in no place to hide. Broden instantly ran to the corner and began counting. We three just looked around and scattered. Kaitlyn climbed under a desk, but Robert and I were not of quite the correct size or flexibility for that. So, I ran over and sat on a sofa-type chair and held a large stuffed elephant in front of me. Robert on the other hand was quite ingenious. He just stood in the middle of the room, pulled his black sweatshirt up over his head, zipped it up and did not move! Broden finished counting, turned around and just started laughing, took a few steps and then fell on the ground giggling! In the next rounds we all found much better places to hide.

Soon this game led to a fun game of soccer with ,large not fully inflated bouncing balls (the kind you sit on and bounce). The boys really got into this and soon sweaters were laid aside as every one was working up a sweat.

It was a great time with lots of laughter and teasing.

When it was time to go we gave the round of big hugs and told them we would call later in the evening. This has some what become a routine as the kids have numerous nights called us just before they go to bed to say "I love you," and to hear "I love you too, Good night." :-)

Allow Us To Introduce to You....

2008-11-14T01:28:00.001-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We would like to introduce to you the newest members of the Clark Family.

Kaitlyn Viktoria Clark and Broden James Clark

On November 13, 2008, we were granted custody of these two wonderful kids. We were taken into a court room to appear before the civil court judge and his witnesses. There he led a formal hearing where we stated our names, birthdates, address and highest degree. We then heard the law related to adopting and our rights as the one petitioning the court for the children. The adoption lawyer and the person in charge of the adoptions and orphanages in Belgorod gave their approval that our adopting of these children would be in the best interest of the children. Following this there was an opportunity for questions, but nobody had any, so we were asked to step into the outer office while the court deliberated. This took all of 1 - 2 minutes and we were brought back in so that we could hear the court's decision, which was that they agreed! Then the judge announced the order for issuing new birth certificates and passports in their names with us as their adoptive parents. We overjoyed to hear all of this and then court was adjourned and congratulations took place. We thanked the judge and his witnesses and the attorney and person in charge of adoptions. We especially thanked Lyudmila for her constant help in all that we've been doing since we arrived. She's been so gracious and helpful to us and the Greers. After our court time the Greers came in for their court appearance and were granted custody of their new son, Justin.

Later that day, around 8pm, we were able to visit the orphanage to tell the kids. Kaitlyn, Broden and Justin along with about 15 other orphans had just returned from their festival performance in Odessa. We were greeted at the door by Kaitlyn and Broden and others saying, "Mama! Papa! First Place!". They had all done so well that they as a group of performers won first place for their variety of songs, dances and emcees! We got upstairs and sat them down to tell them of our good news as well. They were so excited that they started jumping up and down and hugging us. It was truly a special day! We had them talk to Lyudmila on the phone who explained what is happening now. Kevin Greer needed to tell Justin that he was leaving in the morning for Odessa, flying to Kiev and signing papers at the embassy. Then he would be flying to California to work and be with their other 2 children. We told Kaitlyn and Brody that I would be leaving on Sunday, but that Kim will be staying and after 10 days they would travel with her to Odessa to obtain birth certificates and passports and then to Kiev to finalize things with the US Embassy. I told them that I will go to California and we would all be waiting anxiously for their arrival with Mama.

New Court Date!!!

2008-11-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

Yes! It's official! We found out this evening, Wednesday night, that our court date is Thursday morning at 9:30am. The Greer's time is still 10:00am on Thursday, so we're on track with one another now. Please be in prayer for us as we go to the court and hopefully finalize the Ukrainian side of the adoption. If successful the judge will call for the 10 day period of an announcement in the paper, issuing of their new birth certificates and Ukrainian passports (they'll travel to the US with these). Once the 10 days are finished (estimating 11/23) then Kim will be able to obtain the birth certificates and passports, then take off with the kids to Kiev for the US embassy side.

Pray for the kids as they are in Odessa on Thursday for their festival event. We have been able to sit in on most of their practices before dinner each day and have seen the whole performance. It's been a lot of fun with them. V came looking for us today as they were practicing and we were sitting in another room. She wanted us to come in and see the dress rehearsal. Everything from beginning to end went very well. V was really excited to have us in there for the dress rehearsal. We had to buy her another pair of pants because the director said what we had bought her the other day was not dark enough. So today we found her some black jeans and a glittery belt to go with it. She was very excited and her face lit up when she showed us how it fit. I just told Kim, I guess we hit the mark on that one. :) We'll post something more after our court date. Thanks for praying.

Wait! Check That!! Court Date to be Rescheduled!

2008-11-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

The use of the internet over the weekend and into the week was impossible because the clinic’s internet server was not functioning. So, we’ve been unable to post or do much of anything. That’s just some of the bad news. Our translator Lyudmila told us right after we received our court date last week to not make any changes in plans (flights, etc.) because often court dates get rescheduled. She was right. On Sunday evening we received a call saying that a paper that is necessary for the court date to proceed was needed from the SDA in Kiev and it had not arrived yet. This might be because of at least one holiday last week. So, we are in a holding pattern. We waited all day for a call that might come to either get us in for the court on Monday or give us another date. We called Lyudmila and she said that when this happens we essentially have to wait for Natasha, the adoption lawyer. When she gets information on it, then we’ll get a phone call from her right away. Meanwhile, Robert is scheduled to return to the states on Saturday, Nov. 15. But given the situation that may have to change. Please pray that we’ll get word from Natasha on a new court date on Monday night or Tuesday, which will give us time to make plans.

Meanwhile we have been getting some extra time with V and B. On Friday we were able to watch them practice for an upcoming festival in Odessa on Thursday the 13th. Many of the orphanage children will be performing. V will be part of a dance troupe of girls that will perform a Ukrainian folk dance and also a more modern dance to a fun little tune called “Chihuahua”. B is part of an emcee team of 4 boys for the event. They needed clothes for the event and so we were asked to go out and purchase the clothes for them. So on Saturday we spent the day from 10am to 3pm with them in the center of the city. It was a nice chance for us to be together and to experience the buses and city with them. They pointed sights out to us along the way. We visited the open-air market and some of the department type of stores near it. We found B his pin-striped suit and bow tie eventually. We found V her dancing shoes and special jeans for the festival event. We also took the opportunity to get them some clothes for traveling with Kim to Kiev and then the USA. We found B a beanie, sweater and winter jacket and we found V a sweater and winter jacket. It was a lot of fun and after searching so many booths at the open-air market we felt we had a successful time. We then went to a local restaurant for some lunch. They were so excited to share with others what we had bought them. They essentially leave with whatever we provide for them because their clothes stay at the orphanage. So, this means we have more shopping to do.

We attended Lyudmila’s church on Sunday, which is an Evangelical Reformed Church. They have a one-year old building and are trying to make an impact in the community. It’s a hard, atheist area with many who are transplants from Russia. We (the Greers and us) were asked to share our stories of how we came to be there and why we were adopting. We shared about the last 15 months and about the way people are praying for us and the children. Pastor Sergey is Lyudmila’s husband and he said that until recently orphans were considered generally to be second-class citizens and that adoptions were not well thought of. However, he said that this is changing and he thought it would be good to hear our stories and our heart’s desire for adoption. We shared about the Lord’s heart for it and that is why we have a heart for it.

We spent Sunday afternoon with V and B and a bunch of boys as we played in the little fitness room of the orphanage. They did gymnastic tumbling, wrestling, weightlifting, etc. We took lots of pictures of them. On Monday we went late in the afternoon to spend time with V and B. They weren’t as upbeat as they have been and we weren’t either. I think all of us were tired or even down due to the court date delay. We hope to take them on a trip on Wednesday and let them show us the fortress of Belgorod. It sits right on the bay at the point of land that juts out into the bay. This will be a good trip if we can get it arranged. Pray that the Lord will give us this time with them and the Greers and their little boy V. We’ll post our new court date as soon as we get it. Some good news though…Kim’s Blackberry phone (it’s red and black so we call it her Raspberry) began working (not for talking on it, but the international data function that we activated for this trip allows her to do email and Facebook from it).

Court Date!!!

2008-11-05T22:05:00.000-08:00

Yes!! We have a court date for Monday November 10th at 10am!!! It been actually fun to see the Lord make this happen. Each day we have been ready to run with our translator Lyudmila to whatever office we needed to. On Monday we heard that the adoption lawyer needed all of our paperwork to prepare other papers for the court. We are presently using the office computer of the clinic / hotel that we are staying at and so we are limited to use it. I have to get off now and I'll update more later, but wanted to let you all know of our court date. Please pray for me as I am fighting a chest cold and don't want it to become bronchitis.

Lots of UNO

2008-11-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today Kevin and Pam arrived into town today. We had a nice time catching up a bit with them. We went into town to get some food for dinner. We found some little sidewalk stand type of markets and got chicken, veggies, fruit, water and some coffee! The Greers were beat from taking the night train from Kyiv to Odessa so while they rested we went and visited V and B. We took along an UNO game and played for more than 2 hrs. The kids didn't know the game but it is easy to catch on to and great for practicing colors, numbers and a few simple commands like "Draw 4" :-) Soon we had more kids joining us. There was lots of laughter as they would save all the 'dangerous' cards to pick on each other with. We taught them how to shuffle cards and do the waterfall and they were quite intrigued. When Robert did an UNO version of 52-card shuffle they all just about lost it and scurried to pick up the cards. We left about 5pm and walked home in the dark and the fog. Pam cooked up a great meal with the chicken and veggies which we all really enjoyed.

Friday - Extreme Sportin’ around town!

2008-10-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

As we were about to leave the Christian Clinic our missionary host mentioned to us that riding in the taxis are an ‘extreme sport’ in this country. Well, today we had lots of that. We jumped in the taxi to visit the kids. It was a work in the garden day for them, however, B was waiting at the gate for us. He was so excited to see us. We went around the building and he called to V who was tilling the ground with some other kids. She dropped the tool and came running to us! We spent some time playing with them in the garden and more picture taking. Then we got a call that we had to go pick up another letter and make some copies. So, a taxi came and we zipped off, picked up the letter, took a taxi ride to the notary to make more official documents, took a taxi ride to a building that was falling apart (not unusual), went in the side door, thru a little hallway and in to a very small room where people ran a little business making copies. The taxi waited and it was back to the main orphanage (the kids are in a different location about 1 km away), then back to visit the kids and wait. So we played some little games with the kids to practice their English and learn a bit more about them. We had a deck of cards and so we worked on numbers and suits. They liked trying to get the suits and numbers right before the other one and it was good practice for them! Soon a teacher came in and she had the children write an official letter stating that they agree and want to be adopted by us. Once that was done it was off in a taxi again to get the packet of documents from the main orphanage office and hustle to the Department of Education before she left early on this Friday. As we entered, her assistant told us that she was doing an interview for a local newspaper so it would be a moment. At least she was still here! We had a short wait before she returned and began going through all our documents. While she was doing this the reporter some how found out that some Americans were in the office so she wanted to interview us about the American holiday of Halloween. We agreed, so she asked her questions and she snapped our picture for the article! Wow! In the mean time our paperwork was all in order so the official agreed that she would file it today with the judge and hopefully by Monday evening we will know when our court date is. We jumped back into the taxi and through town, around the potholes and we were back at our place, ready to crash and spend some time in total amazement at God’s work.

Thank you to every one who is faithfully praying! We rejoice that God is good and things are going quickly. We realize that on the other end of things with the American visa it may well go slower for our situation and God will still be good for He is in control!

Please keep praying for the judge to meet with us quickly. We have heard that the judges in this area can be difficult and delay meeting with people dragging the whole process out. We have flights for Nov. 15^th but would love to come back early if at all possible because then the back end of the process can be bumped up by a week so I am not trying to come back with the children on Dec.23^rd as it currently stands.

The Greers will arrive to Belgorod tomorrow morning so we are eager to see them and spend some time together! Pray for their travel on the night train to be safe.

Thursday, just hangin’

2008-10-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

We got over to visit with the kids around 9 am. They gave us big hugs and we sat and talked a bit. They showed us some books; we played Carcassonne. V came with a pad of paper and pen and eagerly wanted us to write their new names and they practiced saying them over and over. As friends came by throughout the day they would tell them their new names. We were taking some pictures of their rooms and they seemed to enjoy that. I let V use the camera and boy did that open things up. Every where they went they began taking pictures – the sports room, friends, the chess club room, staff ladies who are obviously dearly loved, the craft room, I think they photographed every item in that craft room! We sat and had tea with the woman who is their craft teacher and very grandmotherly. She was asking all about us taking the kids and began to tear up some as we talked. She spoke about the children’s grandmother who can’t take care of them because she is not healthy, and how clever the children are. The kids scooted off to eat lunch, which seemed to take all of 2 minutes and they were back! We stayed for another couple of hours and then had to take some papers over to the lawyer. We took a LLLOOOONNGG walk back to where we are staying because we were trying to find a restaurant. We never found a restaurant or anything close, but we eventually came to a place where we could jump on a bus. We took the crowded little bus and got off near our place. It was a very fun day with the kids…but we are tired!
So it was a simple dinner and crash into bed!

Meeting with Viktoria and Borys

2008-10-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Olga’s office and were ushered in right away. Lyudmila explained our day to her and Olga exclaimed that it’s typical, but God must have wanted us here today. We then sat down to some business and she asked for the infamous letter! She then told us how this would all work. She needed to know for sure that we wanted to continue with the adoption, we would then hear what they know about Viktoria and Borys and their background and then V and B (nicknames) would come in to see us, and Olga would have a talk with them. She needed to officially hear from them that they wanted to go to us and our family, in order to proceed with preparing documents. This would be followed by a conversation with the orphanage doctor about their physical condition, vaccinations, etc. Then we would have time to talk with their teacher about their education. We could ask any questions that we would like and even we could ask later if questions came up. Olga told us that no question was considered to be stupid.

We heard from Olga about the children’s background and the reason for their parents losing parental rights. They had come to the orphanage in March 2000 because their grandmother is an invalid and couldn’t care for them. So they arrived at the ages of 4 and 3. They are both good students and very industrious. Time and space right now doesn’t allow me to go into too many details, but we will share more later about what we are learning about them. Both of them were dressed really sharp when they came in. Bora wore a little black suit without a tie. Vika was wearing a beautifully knitted sweater. They were beaming with smiles. Then they were asked to leave and wait in the other office. We had our time with the doctor and then the teacher. Olga went out for a bit and we found out later that Vika had been crying. You can imagine how hard it is when your friends have been the other kids in the orphanage. She was nervous about leaving them, but torn too because she wants to be with us. Olga told her that this is the best choice because none of these children can stay here forever. Only a few more years and they’d be out on their own in some way. They came back in a little later and the question of name change came up. We discussed the options. Borys after hearing Olga tell him, "Now Borys, what kind of American name is that! No one has the name 'Borys' in America!" firmly decided to lose that name completely. Viktoria decided to keep it as her middle name. Once the judge approves the adoption, we will introduce you to the children!

The Lord Moves in the Heart of Kings!

2008-10-31T12:55:00.000-07:00

We had come early to the Department of Education, but it was an arranged meeting for this day by our adoption lawyer and facilitators. The woman in charge met us but said to Lyudmila that we could not receive our letter until she had a notarized letter stating that Lyudmila could represent us. It had to state that Lyudmila could receive this letter for us. Lyudmila told her that this was irregular and that going to the notary was not necessary. She then told Lyudmila that she couldn’t help us until she had something from the notary. Lyudmila came to us and told us what was happening and didn’t know if maybe the law had changed. She made phone calls and eventually it was decided to visit a notary and talk it over. This lady told us that it was not necessary also and that she had no reason to write the letter or the proper codes to place in this notary letter to make it work, so she would not do it. With more phone calls to the lawyer and facilitators in Kiev they decided to get on the phone to the SDA in Kiev. Meanwhile we needed to wait, so we took a walk to a nearby park. On the way Lyudmila took us to a little Christian bookstore. It was practically the size of our walk in closet, but it was completely full of books and materials. We went to a park and took some time to get to know our translator.

Lyudmila is a pastor’s wife. Her husband pastors the Evangelical Presbyterian church in town. She shared with us that she has been a translator for many years, but before she was a believer she translated for missionaries at all kinds of speaking events. Eventually, after translating the gospel message hundreds of times, she realized her need for forgiveness and the Savior! She has 2 children who are 19 and 10 years old. Her daughter is studying economics in Odessa.

While Kim and Lyudmila talked further I began a couple of pictures. We also watched as an older man kept taking little children for rides on his two little electric powered cars. He walked alongside and took them all over the park. He had a little police car and an off road type and grandmother’s and mothers paid him about 75cents for a 5 – 10 minute ride. After about 2 hours of this we decided it was time to go. The Department of Education office was only open till 12:30 according to the sign. Lyudmila called Gene and he took us home. Lyudmila went to teach an English class. After arriving at the clinic we slept for a couple of hours. Then we decided to make a call to the Kiev facilitator, Marina. We told her of our take on the situation and she immediately started telling us that it’s time for action. She told us to contact Lyudmila and get Gene to take all of us back to this office and tell that woman that we’ve come for our letter and that Lyudmila is just our translator and that a notary letter is not necessary. She had been in contact with the SDA in Kiev and they had confirmed this. So that’s what we did. We arrived at 3:00pm. Robert knocked on the door and then opened it. Both women looked shocked, but allowed us in. Robert explained that we were there for our letter because we have a letter from the SDA and that Lyudmila is just our translator and that we are representing ourselves. She asked for our papers and passports and then a total transformation took place. Her assistant started preparing our new letter, while she began to smile and ask us about our children (have we met them, their ages, etc.) She instructed us that the letter needed to be signed by an official in another building and that we’d have to wait about a half hour while she personally takes the letter to get the signature. We told her we’d take a walk and Lyudmila took us in the direction of the building from which this lady would have to get the signature. As soon as we walked out of the office and the door shut, Lyudmila told Kim she’d never seen anything like that before; that was amazing! We spent some time talking at another park. There was a fountain here and someone had put detergent in the water so it looked like a great big bubble bath! Next to it were some young guys with about 5 mechanical “ponies”. Again they gave children rides on these. The seat and the stirrups worked to make the pony (which had wheels) look like it was galloping along!

The half hour turned out to be a whole hour, but we had some good conversation with Lyudmila. She told us that Belgorod is 2500 years old. It has a huge fortress that was built in the 1300s and had withstood many invasions until the Ottoman Turks took it. They had it for 300 years. While we stood there Lyudmila saw several of her students and received phone calls from others. One called saying that he and the other 3 friends had all passed their big test. This meant that the 4 of them, members of a jazz band, would be able to get the job on a cruise ship as part of the entertainment.

Eventually the lady came out and handed us our letter. We told her thank you and immediately called Marina. She told Lyudmila to call Gene and get over to the orphanage as fast as possible because Olga, the orphanage director was waiting for us. We later found out it was her day off, but she had come in that day and waited because she was expecting us to arrive and wanted to get things rolling right away. Gene picked us up and he truly sped us over to the orphanage offices.

Overnight Train to Odessa – Fast Car to Belgorod

2008-10-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

Our hosts in Kiev were a delight to stay with. Their hospitality was fantastic! After the embassy visit we walked through the city to their home. The old town sits on a high hill and the embassy is on the slope of that hill. On our way back we stopped at an indoor market. It was quite a mixture of booths with everything from butchers and cheese sellers to vegetable, fruit and flower sellers. We picked up a nice flower basket for Irina and went on our way while we noted the possible places to change money. The people and government of Ukraine need prayer. They had a bank collapse back in the mid-nineties where all deposits and withdrawals were frozen. Nobody could get money. It helped them survive. Now with the current crisis in government related to the disagreement between their president (pro-western) and prime minister (pro-eastern), the effect looks very similar to the last time. The $ and Euro continues to get stronger here and that’s effecting the banking and credit system. They have again frozen the deposits and withdrawals. People are afraid to put their money in banks, but keeping the money at home is not safe either because it potentially makes them a target. Please pray for all of this.

We received our referral letter and adoption dossier on the way to the train station. A very fun taxi driver named Misha took us to our facilitator and then to the train station. Yulia gave us our tickets and then the dossier saying, “These are your adoption documents. They are extremely important. You can lose yourselves, your luggage or whatever, but losing these documents will severely delay this adoption.” We still have our documents, our luggage and ourselves! 

Misha took us directly to the station and escorted us to our room on the train. We slept a bit better on this train. It was a faster train, which meant more movement, but that seemed to be better than stopping 10 or more times. We arrived in Odessa at 6am and were met almost as soon as we stepped out by a taxi driver named Gene (pronounced “Je-Ne”) hired to bring us to Belgorod. He was the fastest taxi driver we’ve had yet! Gene took us to Belgorod. In this part of the country we are near the Black Sea. The countryside and villages are much like our days in Czech, except that the buildings and homes are much more run down. There are farms and fields and there was lots of fog. We traveled over a bridge that spans a bay of the Black Sea. The bridge is the kind that has a center section that lifts straight up for ships to pass under it. After another 20 minutes we were in Belgorod by 7:30am. Gene tried calling some people but found nobody answering. Possibly it was too early. We eventually spoke with Tasha, the lawyer involved with adoptions and with our facilitators. She encouraged us to get to our hotel at the Christian Clinic in town and then go with Gene to meet with Lyudmila, our translator. We didn’t know exactly where the Christian Clinic was though as we had only a phone number and nobody was answering. But, when I was speaking with Kim about it and said the words “Christian Clinic”, Gene piped up and said, “Christian Clinic?”. The next thing we knew we were on our way through Belgorod. We arrived at this medical facility, which has rooms upstairs. We then left our luggage, took our backpacks and documents and went with Gene to find Lyudmila. Gene picked her up at her home and then we went to the department of education. Here we were to receive a letter of referral in exchange for our letter of referral from the SDA in Kiev. This would allow us to go to the orphanage.

Big Help and Encouragement at US Embassy

2008-10-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the day we received our letter of referral from the SDA, we decided to take a chance and see if there were papers that Robert (and I?) could sign now rather than making another trip to Kiev at the end. In this way we’d be able to save money and since timing might be crucial later it would be a big help. I called the US Embassy and spoke with the adoptions department. They thought it was a good idea to come in and sign the documents, which I will completely fill out later on during the final phase. This was a very encouraging time, because the staff at the embassy (some Americans, some Ukrainians) knew of our case and assured us they will do all they can to shorten the expected time frame for getting the waiver. They also noted to us that there is a strong possibility that HIV will soon be taken off the list of medical reasons that require this waiver. However, it has not happened as of yet.

We did find out though that we had missed a crucial form related to the eventual waiver application for B when his visa will be rejected. We misunderstood the form, thinking that it was something to be filled out related to medical authorities after our arrival with the kids in the US. Thus, we, family and friends in the States are trying to get this form filled out with the proper signatures of a pediatrician and state health officer even while Robert is still here. We sometimes feel we’ve had a big financial part of Fed Ex this last year!  We left the embassy much more confident and encouraged. We then began to prepare for our departure Tuesday night to Odessa and Belgorod.

SDA Appointment ~ Letter of Referral

2008-10-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we were finally able to connect by phone with Yulia, our facilitator in Kiev. Yulia informed us that she would be able to find out our exact time for our SDA appointment on Monday morning and that we should be ready for leaving at 8:30am in case we were the first on the list. She then called us at 8:30 to tell us that our appointment was scheduled for 3pm. This was fine because it gave us time to work on other things and to catch up on some sleep.

We were ready to go and waiting on the corner at 2:20 when Sergei, our host at the bed and breakfast, came running outside to tell us that Yulia had just called. She had arranged a taxi to pick us up and she would meet us at the SDA. We had just been commenting on a taxi that had made a U turn near to us, but he was just sitting there. Sergei went over and determined that he truly was the taxi on call for us. Off we went through the city towards the SDA, which is located in the downtown area. It was quite congested with traffic and we truly wondered if we would make it there in time. We did make it with 10 minutes to spare and Yulia saw our taxi and came running over to meet us. Since we had never met her before, we just figured the young lady running after our taxi and waving and smiling was there for us. J

We were taken to the SDA and waited until the 2 couples before us were finished. Other facilitators began showing up with their couples and they were all obviously from Italy. Yulia informed us that this shouldn’t be a long meeting because we know the children and don’t have to look at any listings/pictures or make phone calls to get a referral going. So, we went upstairs to talk with the SDA representative. She was a very friendly representative and I mean that sincerely. Her whole demeanor put us right at ease and she asked us to tell her about the kids and their visit to us 15 months ago. We pulled out the only pictures we have of them and told a couple of stories and then it was essentially enough. She and Yulia pulled together our official dossier and told us what was to transpire. We are scheduled to receive our SDA referral letter on Tuesday at 5 to 6pm. If the facilitator that is on our power of attorney is in town tomorrow, then that person will get the letter for us earlier. Otherwise we will go at 5 to get it.

Following that we’ll be taking another night train to Odessa and a facilitator for that region will pick us up and drive us there or we’ll go by train if that proves a possibility. So, we are on our way and should be able to visit with V and B on Wednesday. We’ve managed to secure a room at a clinic in the town of Belgorod at a substantially lower rate. We don’t know if we’ll have internet, but we hope so. Stay tuned…

Budapest ~ Odessa ~ Kiev

2008-10-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

Friday we took a quick hop from Budapest to Odessa. We were the last ones to get through customs, except for the Brazilians who were being escorted back onto the plane to Budapest for lack of visas. In spite of the commotion related to them (I counted 7 border guards handling this situation) the border guard helping us was very focused and handled our situation fairly quickly. Our bags were waiting and we departed. As soon as we came through security, there THEY were! The taxi driver “vultures” and they came at us from all directions wanting to “serve” us. We changed some money and hired one of these aggressive guys to take us to the train station. We managed to talk him down a bit, but we found out later we probably paid 5 times what was necessary. We’re chalking that one up to “live and learn”.

Our driver became very jovial along the way since the traffic jams he promised (and the reason for the higher price) were not to be seen. He kept referring to the policemen in the middle of every intersection and saying, “O, no traffic! Policejty! Tuk, tuk, tuk!”, and waving his hands like he was directing traffic. Upon discovering that we are from California, he became more jovial. He rambled for several blocks about Schwarznegger, the Terminator, but we have no idea what he was saying about him. He drove very fast and recklessly, bordering on lunacy as he zipped along.

Along the way we saw packs of dogs: stray dogs, big dogs and mangy dogs. (like a bad version of the ‘Go Dog Go’ book!) There were dogs eating out of trashcans and dogs eating out of a McDonald’s bag in the gutter. One lady was either holding her groceries above her shoulders in order to keep the dogs away from them, or she was trying to feed this group and there were too many wanting food for her to handle. We’ve heard stories of the packs of stray dogs in Romania and perhaps it is the same way in Odessa. It did remind me though of one of the most beloved characters of Czech literature, Good Soldier Svejk. Svejk played the town idiot, though he wasn’t at all. He just was lazy and loved beer, gossip and to make the establishment look bad. He was famous for making his beer money by forging pedigree papers for stray mutts and selling them as rare breeds with classy credentials. He could make a lot of money in Odessa this way! ;)

We bought tickets for sleeping quarters on the overnight train and then waited 8 hours to leave at 23:09. Most of that time, we sat and tried to learn some Ukrainian. We only met one person who spoke some English, so we have mostly relied on our Czech. Although they don’t speak Czech, it seems to be that we can all recognize some words, which are common, or at least common enough. We are a couple of steps above ‘sign language and grunting’ when communicating J. Most of our time ‘learning Ukrainian’ meant learning the alphabet so we can read the signs.

We found a waiting area for ticket holders. As the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped outside, homeless people began to come in. They can pay the equivalent of about 20 cents to stay inside and sleep on the benches. One homeless lady sat on benches directly across from us and stared non-stop at us. Finally, she came over asking what time do we leave. We told her and she decided to sit one seat over from us. She gave Kimi a part of a newspaper and was saying something about ”read and understand our politics”!? Later the lady was enjoying watching this one small girl and her father walk around and gave the girl her orange. However, when some other children were just kind of playing around, she got up, started yelling at them, told the guard, and even went to the parents and yelled. Finally, the guard told her it was none of her business, to sit down, shut up or leave. She sat but continued to grumble! When we left for our train the lady was quite glad because it turns out, she really just wanted our spot where we were sitting!

We made it onto the right train and found our compartment. We both slept some but not well. I counted 10 times that we stopped in 9 hours in order to let another train go by. We were able to lock our room and that was comforting.

We arrived at the Kiev train station at 8:44am and promptly tried to find a phone booth. Of the 4 phone numbers we had for contacting our facilitators, nobody answered any of them. Hmm, frustrating. We would have called the night before, but the phone we brought with us would not unlock with the pin code our server had given us. We’ll keep working on that.

We called the people we are staying with in Kiev. They told us to use the metro (subway). The metro experience was like no other. Pushing our way through mobs of people, just following the mob to buy tokens and pay (cuz we had no idea how it works), cramming onto the extremely fast escalators, and trying to figure which subway and direction to go! Kimi asked some mothers standing with their children for directions. They pointed us in the right direction and then went part way with us. We made the transfer to another subway and our host was waiting for us. Perfect, like clockwork!

We slept all afternoon on Saturday, had dinner with our hosts and a pastor friend who is here from St. Petersburg, Russia. They just finished a Bible conference in Kiev. Pastor Roman helped start a publishing house in St. Petersburg as well as a church ministry. Tomorrow is a day of rest and then we’ll appear at the SDA on Monday.

The Lord is always good, no matter the circumstances. Lamentations 3: 19-23 says, “Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down (humbled) within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.”

LAX-London-Budapest

2008-10-24T01:40:00.001-07:00

We are in route to Odessa and then Kiev, Ukraine to begin this final phase of adoption. We thought it would be good to send a quick update now because we don't know the internet situation at the home we will stay at in Kiev.

The Lord has been so good to us along the way. We were able to spend time with all of our children before we left, including Tiffany who caught a ride with her roommate, Lacey, at Master's College and met us at LAX. There, along with our friends Sue Weaver and her daughter Amy, we all enjoyed In n Out together. The rumor of 25 cent hamburgers for their 60th anniversary was truly a rumor!

We managed to sleep fairly well on a flight that was probably less than 1/2 full to London. We arrived on Thursday night at midnight in Budapest and the owners of the Pension Alex were there to meet us. It is a nice old manor with the upper level prepared for guests. Our hosts here, the Romanov family, speak Czech as well as many other Slavic languages, and English. It was enjoyable to speak the Czech language again. As I am writing this, Mr. Romanov has come up to take breakfast plates away and handed me a Czech picture book of southern Moravia, which is where we lived and served in Brno for 10 years. The pension is just 10 minutes or less from the airport and so we'll get a ride there in less than an hour.

While waiting in LAX we spoke with a lady who is from Finland. She has traveled extensively in Europe and she provided us with some encouraging tips about Ukraine.

Please pray for the Lord to provide us with affordable housing in or near to Odessa and the same in the town of Belgorod where the orphanage sits. This is something we've not been able to arrange ahead of time.

In our devotions this morning we looked at October 24th in the devotional Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. "The trees of the Lord are full of sap", Psalm 104: 16. At first glance one might think what kind of silly little phrase is that? But in the New American Standard it explains the verse as meaning they "drink their fill" or literally "are satisfied". The rest of the verse says, "the cedars of Lebanon, which He planted." It speaks both of finding satisfaction in the source of life, God Himself and in trusting His sovereignty, since it is He who is the planter of and sustainer of our life. Spurgeon writes, "Without sap the tree cannot flourish or even exist. VITALITY is essential to a Christian. There must be life, a vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is but a dead thing, we must be filled with the spirit of divine life... Regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost entering into a man and becoming man's life... Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hid in Him.... As the sap manifests itself in producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a truly healthy Christian, his grace is externally manifested in his walk and conversation."

May the Lord give us the ability to live the life "full of sap" or in a satisfied way in Him, showing life and bearing fruit.

Travel Prayer Requests

2008-10-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

We have had a number of people want to know some specific things that they can be praying for, so we have composed a list. Thank you so much for your concern, prayers and support of us in this adoption.

Oct. 22nd - A good day for Kelly (it is her Birthday). A safe flight for us. We fly at 8:30pm.

23rd - We have a layover in Budapest.

24th - Fly into Odessa. Pray we can find the train station, get our phones up and running as a 'local' phone, and catch a night train up to Kiev. We won't be answering our phones while over there, but we will check our email.

25th - Some friends put us in contact with some Ukrainian believers where we will spend a couple of nights. Pray we can find our way easily. Also that we can meet up with our facilitators.

26th - Hopefully attend a church and familiarize ourselves with the city of Kiev.

Pray for our kids here as they stay with the Calvis and some close friends the Weavers. (Pray for areas like school, healthiness, emotions, drawing close to God for their strength).

27th- Our meeting with the State Department of Adoption (SDA). Pray this meeting will go well, that they will be favorable to us and that we can quickly get our Letter of Referral so we can go to Odessa region where the kids are. This letter gives us permission to visit the orphanage with the intent of adopting the children.

We will then go to Odessa, visit the children and wait for the 'OK'. We then must meet with a local judge who has the final word. We have been told that the judges in the region are hardened and can be difficult. Please pray that the process will go smoothly and quickly.

Pray for the heart of the judge to be kind and favorable to our case.

Once the judges says 'OK' (Lord willing) then there is a 10-day wait period where the children must remain in the orphanage. We will quickly go back to Kiev, sign some papers at the embassy, go back to Odessa and fly home (depending on the timing of it all).

Pray for opportunities to speak the gospel to people on trains, at the orphanage, with the facilitators, with government officials, in hotels, etc. We want to remember that although we are going for the adoption, God is working in many people's lives, so we want to be available to Him. We don't want to miss an opportunity to be a witness for Him.

Pray we can make our flights or if necessary re-schedule them. The holidays are a factor in finding available flights at this time of the year.

Currently, we both fly back on Nov.15 arriving in LA on the 17th. Kim will then fly back to Odessa on Nov. 25th to finalize things. She has a final return flight for Dec. 23rd arriving in LA on Dec.24th. We are unable to get flights for the children until we have the judge's approval for the adoption.

Keep checking here as we will give better prayer requests as it all unfolds.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support!

Monday, October 27th is our appointment

2008-10-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

This is the date we've been given when the adoption agency called us today. It is essentially just about 2 weeks away and it has us really hopping right now. We'll appear before the State Department of Adoption (SDA) in Kiev on that day and then travel to the orphanage 2 hours outside of Odessa. We're arranging flights now and making sure we get in early enough to make that appointment. We hope to talk with V and B on Friday to tell them of the plan. Please be in prayer for us as we are feeling quite overwhelmed with arrangements to make for Kevin, Jason and Kelly. More later as there's so much to do. In spite of it all, He is still sovereign and in control. Pray that our faith will remain strong and focused on Him as our Jehoveh-jireh (meaning the Lord will Provide).

Job 23:10-12 - But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread. But He stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever He pleases. [TRIALS PURIFY THOSE WHO CLING TO GOD]

Fundraiser Update

2008-10-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

The Clark family would like to thank all who were able to join us at the adoption fundraiser and everyone who contributed. We were overwhelmed with the love and generosity that was displayed. We were very encouraged!

Kevin and Pam Greer had the idea to host the fundraiser about a month ago. As word got out, we know that many people helped out in some way. Although we don’t know all the people who helped, we are very grateful to everyone. To some whom we do know: thanks to Lauren for all the help with the food and raffle items, to Erick and Kaleo for loaning the grill, to Meredith for baking the yummy cakes, to the “Raffleteer” Josh Petras, and especially to the entire Greer family for hosting the event and all your work!

In our quest to finalize this adoption process and be ready with the funds we are lacking, we took a big leap forward with $3,000 raised from the event. Thank you everyone so much.

We, the Greers and the Vanderburgs continue to pray and wait for that phone call which will give us the "green light" and date when we must appear before the Ukrainian State Department of Adoption. Please be in prayer for all of us.

Once again our heartfelt thanks!
Robert, Kim, Tiffany, Kevin, Jason, Kelly
(and two waiting in Ukraine)

Fund-raiser Tomorrow!

2008-09-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the big fund-raiser. We have been SO encouraged by our friends the Greer's and others in our church family that have been so wonderful in putting it all together. To tell you the truth, we were feeling really overwhelmed and could not even begin to see how we could put a fund-raiser together. God stirred in their hearts to do this to help us and he has been providing through them and others to make the whole thing come together. It has been a huge encouragement to us to see this all happening. We are excited to see what God will do and extremely grateful for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Please pray for the evening tomorrow and that God will receive the glory. Thank you Kevin and Pam :-)

Dossier Submitted Again ~~ Call Possible in 2 Weeks!

2008-09-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We received a call today from our agency and they told us that our dossier, with the new updated documents, has been resubmitted. We were also informed that we could get a call to arrange our travel date within the next 2 weeks and potentially the date for that travel could be a month later. Looking at the calendar, this would place our travel date possibly around the first or second week of November. Some adoptive parents we've heard of recently have received a call and notice for travel for 3 days to a week later!

One really cannot predict what will happen. We are essentially getting ourselves as ready as possible, given the circumstances. Meanwhile the Lord has provided us with some more funds from generous donors and so our totals are now at $29,000. If you or anyone you know are interested in helping us raise the last amounts that we need for this adoption to go through then please take note of the Adoption Fund information on the sidebar of the blog. A donation fund has been established through Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry to help us raise the last amounts and bring V and B home. Please pray for the Lord to lead us as we make preparations for this trip.

It is at times like these that I remember what I have read from some of the Lord's faithful preachers and teachers. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is my favorite and in his book "Spiritual Depression: Its causes and its cure" he communicates some solid truth about faith and how we should exercise faith...

"That is the first great lesson we have to apply to ourselves and to one another. It is very wrong for a Christian ever to be in such a condition. I do not care what the circumstances may be, the Christian should never be agitated, the Christian should never be beside himself like this, the Christian should never be at his wit's end, the Christian should never be in a condition in which he has lost control of himself".

~~~ Well, I can honestly say I've not measured up to this standard. To my shame I've struggled off and on with these sorts of reactions. Thanks to the Lord's provision I can exercise faith in His truth from passages like...

~~ 1 John 1:9 and confess my sins and be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

~~ I can do as James 1:2 says and "Count it all joy".

~~ I can also agree with Paul and forget "what lies behind and press on to what lies ahead".

~~ Paul writes to the Philippians, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am to be content... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

May the Lord grant all who are attempting to adopt the grace to have their faith in God's sovereign provisions.

Lloyd-Jones also provides some focused conclusions on how to express faith in whatever circumstances. After observing that Jesus calms the storm in Luke 8, Lloyd-Jones points out that Jesus asks the disciples the question, "Where is your faith". He then makes further observations:

~~ "You observe our Lord's question. It seems to imply that He knows perfectly well that they have faith. The question He asks them is: 'Where is your faith? You have got faith, but where is it at this moment? It ought to be here, where is it?'"

~~ "Faith is not a matter of feeling"

~~ "It (faith) is a response to truth."

~~ "Faith is an activity, it is something that must be exercised. It does not come into operation itself, you and I have to put it into operation. It is a form of activity."

~~ "The first thing I must do when I find myself in a difficult position is to refuse to allow myself to be controlled by the situation."

~~ "Faith is a refusal to panic."

~~ "Faith is unbelief kept quiet."

~~ "You then remind yourself of what you believe and what you know."

~~ "That is faith, it holds on to truth and reasons from what it knows to be fact."

We have been challenged in these circumstances of adoption in many ways that we did not think possible and did not imagine we would be. And yet, the truth of the Word shines through that "His mercies are new every morning" and "I (Christ) am with you always". I asked myself today if I still believe that His name of Jehovah-jireh (my Provider) still describes His character or not? Does His character ever change? Can I believe that He will finish what He started? I had to confess that's not where my heart, mind and faith are at, but that I do believe that He still will finish it and that He still is my Provider. It is a moment of "I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief".

I concluded in my mind that this is no time to become faint hearted or fearful. The whole situation is in the hands of the Lord and has been from the beginning. I pray the Lord will give us strength, endurance and faith in Him. Reading 2 Peter 1:1-15, I see some some interesting principles (add to your faith... don't be shortsighted or blind... as long as you practice these things you will never stumble). Please Lord, teach me how to add to my faith these other qualities.

Reminded to Consider it all Joy

2008-09-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, in the past couple of weeks we have really seen God's continual provision and care. We have some really great friends who have so encouraged us by organizing a fundraiser dinner for us. We are still short some funds, yet could get the call with the travel date anytime. Our fundraiser dinner will be on September 27th so please pray that plenty of people will come, they will enjoy themselves, and we can get a bit closer to having all the necessary money.

Then, we also got a call last Wednesday saying that our dossier had been conditionally rejected. A certain letter was not in the right format. When we got the news, we did not get the news that it had to be fixed like immediately, so we went over the hill, about an hour away with no traffic (but there's always traffic) for a doctor's appointment. While there at 2pm, our friends (who are also adopting and in the same boat) called telling us that we need to all meet, get the letters notarized, and sent upstate to get apostilled all by 4pm. I had not yet met with the doctor, but the amazing thing was that we made it home in 45 min. without speeding! We got it all notarized including overcoming a couple more problems and sent out with FedEx all in time. The FedEx pickup person even waited for us to finish up. It was very evident God's hand in it all and how smoothly the whole thing went. So now the letters are back in Ukraine, have been translated and are getting resubmitted.

We also got to speak with the kids on Friday morning and that was such a great time. They sounded great, talking about their summer holidays, school and other activities. They spoke with Kevin, Jason and Kelly, and we are all eager to have them with us.

I have been thinking lately about all that God went through to make our adoption as His children reality. The years and years God waited from Adam's sin in the garden to Jesus' arrival in this world, his death on the cross and the glorious resurrection. Wow! Puts my wait in perspective. The heartache of God as his chosen people hardened their hearts and often chased after foreign gods. But his love is amazing! Jesus overcame every temptation, every evil, and death itself to make our adoption real and secure, even though we hated God. Dealing with people who were stubborn, and blind to who he was, did not stop him. He never sinned and stayed about His Father's business. His love is so GREAT! And I am so thankful.

My prayer is that we might stay true to our call to adopt these kids, not waivering when things seem hard, knowing that our perseverance will lead to godliness, which will lead to brotherly kindness leading to love. These qualities if they are increasing will keep us from being uneffective and unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord willing, a couple of kids will have the chance to know the love of their Saviour.

So, we must consider it pure joy, whenever we face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Some Thoughts about Adoption

2008-08-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

Reading our posts recently we realized that we made the mistake of not mentioning about the submitting of our dossier. The dossier was submitted to the SDA (State Department for Adoptions) in the Ukraine on August 11th. They will then send word through the agency of their decision and our date for travel. Please be in prayer for the Lord to lead and for His sovereign direction and provision for all that we need.

I was reflecting on adoption recently. Adoption is such a perfect picture of the human situation and the need of safety, security, identity and belonging. Through Christ's death in our place He made the sacrifice to bring man into a right relationship with the Father and thus provided for all of these things. The Spirit of God indwells the believer and so this brings assurance, safety and security. As a prospective adoptive father, I know that the Lord has placed deep in my heart the desire to give the love of the Father to these children, just as we have strived to do for our 4 biological children.

We try to keep in mind that the end goal in this adoption process is not just to bring them home, though that is certainly a big part of it and looms before us in a huge way. No, the end goal is to bring them into our family and parent them so that they experience and learn that they are our children in the same way as Tiffany, Kevin, Jason and Kelly are our children. Another is that they will come to know and experience the love of Christ and our Heavenly Father through the love of their new family members. It is our hope that we will be able to teach them the character qualities of courage, honesty, caring for people (love) and stewardship. These are the big four character qualities that effect all good qualities in a person. I see examples for myself in Ephesians where Paul tells me to "clothe yourself in Christ". In 2 Peter 1, Peter reminds me and stirs me up (verses 12 and 13) to a greater understanding that I must add to my faith the qualities of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. If I do not add these qualities to my faith then I am so short-sighted as to be blind, because it means I have forgotten about my former state and situation. It is out of my own growth in Christ that I'll be able to pass on to all my children the ability to know Christ and know they are loved by our Heavenly Father.

We hope to speak on the phone with V and B soon as the children will be brought back to the orphanage from a summer camp this week so they can begin school again. Pray that we'll be able to get further information about B's physical condition. More later. Thanks for praying.

Emotions Ebb and Flow

2008-08-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings in the Lord! Kim and I are new to the blogging scene, but we are excited to finally be doing it and for a very important reason too. A question came to my mind about this whole year and the adoption process up to this point, What has been the effect on my faith? or How would I sum up the experience in relation to the challenges we've faced and the effect on my faith?

The Lord provided me an answer as I sat and reflected on a recent visit to the beach on Coronado Island in San Diego. It was Tiffany's birthday, and we wanted to get there before sunset to get some family pictures. After finishing with the pictures, we were watching the sun go down off of Point Loma and I was watching the waves, and the way the tide ebbs and flows. It is reminiscent of how it's been for us. I think our faith has been quite strong and there has been a strong element of peace in the times of waiting, times of disappointing news and the times of nerve-wracking paper activity (i.e: documents, notarizing, etc.). There have also been times, however, during these same activities when our emotions have ebbed and flowed. We have found ourselves asking questions like, "What have we gotten into?" or "We can't wait to get the kids, when's it going to all happen?"

For 14 years we were able to successfully go through a very involved process for securing our visa to stay and work in the Czech Republic. There were always twists and turns, along with new and more involved requirements to obtain a visa, but the Lord was always faithful to provide us with the items and help we needed to obtain our visas. We know this, and we know that God can overcome every obstacle. One would think that we'd have no problem with the requirements of the adoption process in an Eastern European country knowing how it all works and God's faithfulness, yet still our emotions fluctuate. Each time as we work through the emotions of it all our faith deepens. God is our rock and the only place where stability is found.

In those times, Kim and I, and our children have had to remind one another that the Lord is known as Jehovah-jireh (God will provide). It comes from the story of the Lord commanding Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22:14). The place was named this by Abraham after the Lord provided a ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac. He is still known as the One who will provide. This simple truth and trust in His sovereign grace has been a foundational theme for us even when emotions and fears tend to pull us down. This is a transferable concept to many areas of our life. The children of Israel were called on by God to remember His provisions for them and to pass on these stories of His care to their children. It was His way of providing hope and confidence during the journey. No matter how the situation ebbed and flowed, they could always depend on the Lord to provide because He had been faithful to provide before.

Isa.43:2-3a

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Jesus Christ, He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

An Overview of this Past Year

2008-08-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess we are a bit slow to get into this world of blogging but thanks to good friends we are here. I think it should be good.

So...last summer we were living in a barn (converted to an apartment) on the property of some supporters and good friends with our 4 kids and our 2 young Ukrainian guests, a sister and brother. We had a great three weeks with them. It was fun to see them try new things like riding a bike, and start to open up/relax, giggling as they played together, which there was none of for the first week or so. It was hard for all of us to see them go. Earlier in the summer, we had resigned from our mission to pursue a different direction in ministry, so Robert had to take off to Czech to close out our household a few days before the kids had to go back to Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, I followed him to help out. While saying our goodbyes to our dear Czech friends, God kept putting the kids on our hearts. We knew if He really wanted us to pursue adoption then we'd need a different living situation to pass a home study, and some money. Soon after our arrival back to the States, God provided a suitable home and close to half the necessary funds. It was a GO!

Since we were also changing mission boards, our life was full of finding references, meeting deadlines for a multi-phase application process for the mission or dossier items for the adoption, medical exams, fingerprinting, theology exams, etc. During the thick of it, it was crazy to try to keep track of it all, homeschool 3 kids, raise support and work some side jobs. Of course, there were all the unknown issues of the Ukrainian government accepting a limited number of dossiers, and would we make it into this year's quota? Then came the time to start more paperwork and apply for grants. Wow! But, God is good. He keeps giving grace each day and the next day, so that now we can look back and it seems so long ago that all we saw was paperwork!

Then in late June we got our surprise. (It seems that everyone gets one in this whole process :-) We got a phone call telling us that the brother has twice tested positively for HIV. What a shock. Quickly we had to come up to speed about it - lots of questions flying into our brains all at once. In February, we had become appointees with our new mission board and so there were lots of questions on that end of things. We had a deep awareness that this was not catching God by surprise, but we felt...I would say...wobbly. The elders in our church were great and prayed with us. We felt their support and prayers and God kept calming our souls. In July, we spent 2 1/2 weeks in Pennsylvania in training conferences with our mission. One week the speaker spoke on passages from Job 1-3. It was perfect. The time in God's word was rich. I think during those weeks in PA, God spoke deep to our hearts. What a privilege it is to be adopted when we were sick with sin and dying. What an amazing honor to be called by God to adopt kids and do for them physically what God has done for us spiritually.

The US does not give visas to HIV+ people from what we have read, but you can apply for a waiver. We heard that in Ukraine the waivers can take an average of 6 months, but then we got information from the Consulate that it can be 2 weeks. There are still plenty of questions and things we don't know. The amazing thing is that before this all happened we had been appointed by our mission board to go to South Africa. Coincidence? I don't think so. How will God use all this? We don't know, but possibilities abound!

We still are working on finding $23K. Our dossier has been submitted and we have mixed emotions about getting that call with our travel date. We want it to come, but just yet we lack the funds, so a little later is not necessarily bad.

Please pray for his health. We have been told that he is on medicine although we don't know what type. He had an appendectomy in May. The orphanage has not told him of his illness, but say they are caring for him.

I guess that's about it for my first post.

Test post

2008-08-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm under construction today but I will hopefully be posting soon.