Under The Big Top

Okay, so I don't really know if there is a "big top", but Ruslan got to go to the circus today!  We showed up for our 4:15p visit as usual, but the door to his orphanage room was locked.  Our driver had us sit and wait while he went to find out where Ruslan was.  A few minutes later, he came back to tell us that Ruslan's group went to the circus.  He said we could go across the street to the store and have dinner, and then go back to the orphanage to see Ruslan at 6pm. 


We had pizza for dinner, and either we were starving the first few times we ate it, or the novelty has worn off because it didn't seem quite as good as we remember tonight!  We are both dreaming of food back home, and we feel like any day now our heads will turn in to a cheeseburger or some other yummy food when we look at each other, just like in the cartoons!

Could that be Mama and Papa?



All smiles to see us!



After dinner, we went back over to the orphanage and waited for Ruslan to return. 

After a while, his group came walking down the road.  It was so cute to watch them all walking, dressed up for their day out and so excited to be outside the gates of the orphanage.  At one point, Ruslan must have spotted the red van we ride in, because he started craning his neck to see, and shielding his eyes from the sun so he could get a better look.  When he saw we were waiting for him, he was so excited!   

We had a short visit with him before he had to go eat dinner.  Bill made an elephant gesture when asking Ruslan how the circus was.  Ruslan just looked at him like he was crazy! Guess this "circus" didn't have any elephants!  Truth
be told, we can't even begin to imagine what a circus here would be like! But Ruslan was excited about it, and said he had fun!  He spent some time taking more photos, and we explained that we would be back tomorrow.  We told him tomorrow we would be able to have a longer visit. 

From the orphanage you can see a body of water.  While we were waiting for Ruslan to get back from the circus, we asked our driver if the sea was nearby.  With our broken Russian, and his broken English, we were finally able to decipher that Dnistrovs'kyi Liman was not too far.  (From everything we can gather, it is like a harbor?)  He said he will pick us up tomorrow before our orphanage visit to take us there, so we are kind of excited about the change of scenery!

We ended up over-sleeping and missing church        last weekend, but we might try again tomorrow morning! (We'll see if we're up in time!)  At least we were able to catch Pastor Mike's podcast, so we didn't totally miss church!  We are still prayerful that we'll have the SDA's permission for court by the 13th, so we can have court on the 14th.  But, our facilitator tried to go to the SDA today (usually a work day) and they were closed.  With all the delays due to the Euro Cup, the facilitator tells us all we can do is hope and pray.....which we are definitely doing!

Bill has decided to stay for the ten day waiting period.  I told him I would DEFINITELY understand (in a big way!) if he decided to come home instead.  But I am glad he'll be here to see Ruslan each day.  I think it would be very hard for him to understand why we were leaving, and I think he would worry that we might not be coming back.  And, now Bill will be here for Ruslan's birthday on the 25th, and I will be home with Mason for his birthday on the 28th, so no one will be alone on their special day! (We're very grateful we'll get to celebrate the rest of their birthdays together as a family!) 

In an attempt to be supportive, I told Bill not to be hard on himself if he made the decision to come home, and that Ruslan has been strong for ten years in the orphanage already and God would guide him through the final ten days, and Bill said, "But he wasn't my son for ten years.....I'm not going to leave him alone"   I love that man, and feel so blessed that he is the father of our boys! He also said it only felt right that if Mason would have me home with him, that he should be here for Ruslan.  And, we both agreed that we would NEVER leave Mason in the orphanage for ten days without one of us here, so it really was a no-brainer!!! So, that decision is made and we both feel really at peace with it.  Prayers would be much appreciated for Bill as he stays here for another month to complete this journey!

We are so blessed! I shared this list of gratitude on Facebook today, but for those of you that might not have seen it, here it is!

Today, I thank:

• God, for choosing us to go on this amazing journey, and choosing Ruslan to be our son.
• My amazing husband who is a devoted father, my best friend and a good and Godly man.
• Mason for being brave while we're gone, and for taking this whole thing in stride, and for eagerly welcoming his new big brother.
• Shaun and Heather Sullivan for keeping our beloved son, loving him, guiding... him and treating him as their own.
• Katrina Forbes for moving out of her own house for a month to watch after ours and care for two crazy mutts!
• Our employers who have shown amazing support for us in this journey, graciously allowing us time off and ensuring us that things at work will be handled so we can be free to focus on the business of getting our boy home.
• Our awesome coworkers bearing the load in our absence.
• An amazing church family with too many people to name individually, who have loved on us in countless ways that we just can't express our gratitude enough for.
• Each and every person whose large and small contributions (money, advice, wisdom, support, etc) got us here and continue to keep us going.
• Our family for preparing to welcome a new nephew, grandson, etc. with love and open arms.
• Redline United for preparing us in immeasurable ways for this journey and for growing and striving each year to better equip families-please know it is evident that your heart and intent are good.
• Stork International Adoptions for walking in faith with us, and for your flexibility and patience.
• Advocate for Orphans for your expedience, and for walking us through the "next steps"
• Our in country facilitator who is a BULLDOG and works like nobody's business to get things done (and who has also proven himself to be a huge advocate for Ruslan in a very important way this week)
• Our driver who carts us all around Ukraine with a smile (and who Ruslan has come to love!)

What a crazy compilation of circumstances, individuals, processes and relationships....if I didn't live it myself, I wouldn't believe it. So humbled to be a part of His amazing plan!