Learning, growing and bonding!!

The past few days have been great! Filled with many emotions (at least on my end), but great! I find myself often having to message a friend to see if I am going crazy, lol!! I've had several people tell me that I'm experiencing childbirth, and all the hormones that go with it, and I REALLY believe that!! In all this, I'm growing in my love for the Lord, and learning to lean on Him in a new way!

Saturday was a fun day! We went to the island and to the Cossacks Museum! It was so interesting to learn more about the island and things about people back in the past times! I'm not going to give all the info here, because it may not interest everyone like me! Jarrod and Yulia buddied up, with the camera around Yulia's neck the whole time!! Natasha and I lingered behind as she was telling me more and more about this history!

Jarrod taught Yulia her first word......."slow poke"!! LOL!! After the museum we decided to go walking around on one of the trails! It was hot, but so beautiful! The breeze that is always beside a body of water feels like the sweet breath of God! I could just sit and sit in nature, it's where I feel the closest to God! We wrapped it up after a while, but we enjoyed every minute of it! It was a great day of bonding for us!

On Sunday we spent a little time at the orphanage, then back to the apartment to lounge around! Jarrod and I took Yulia by ourselves for a walk so she could take pictures......she loves taking pictures! In fact, we are starting her own folder on the computer for photos, she took 225 one day!! This may sound crazy "taking her alone", but you have to understand......she doesn't speak very much English, we don't speak very much Russian, and we are surrounded by a whole country of people that speak either Russian or Ukrainian, lol! But it was great! We didn't stay long, b/c it was hot, but it was a sweet time of bonding!

That evening we went and checked out another church! It was a Canadian man and his wife, so it was really kind of cool that he spoke in English and had a Russian translator! The highlight of the night was when he grabbed the interpreter and came to meet our family! He didn't know we were American! That's kind of funny, b/c everywhere else we seem to get the looks, especially when we talk! It was a sweet time that night! God spoke some really sweet things to me, some of what I want to share, but feel that it's a bit personal for here!

Today has been a good day! We had some running around to do....and waiting! Natasha had to go and wave her magic wand, lol!! I surely don't know what we would do without this beautiful woman! When I say she is beautiful, I don't only mean on the outside, she is beautiful both inside and out! So she took care of some paperwork things, then we headed to a yummy restaurant and the book store! Yulia picked out a dog book, we also picked up a Russian cookbook! Of course, she'll have to cook by it, or read it to me! I also picked up ABC magnets in Russian! Not only will Yulia be learning English, but our family will be learning Russian! It will be my children's second language!

It really was a beautiful day! Life right now is fully of ups and downs! Learning to parent a teenager isn't as easy as it looks, lol! Kidding, really.....all my friends with teenagers, please don't fuss at me!! I have so many teenagers that I love and adore, and to them I am "cool". But this is totally different, I'm having to learn how to be the mama! I'm used to little ones that need me, and I know how to meet those needs. Yulia needs me, but in a different way. I'm having to learn to nurture her in the way she needs me. This is hard! We are so excited about all the things God is doing in our family, and we do covet your prayers.

Our children at home are doing great! They are with Granny and Papa in the evenings, and with friends during the day! They have gotten used to us not being there, but know we will be home soon! Still, it's hard sometimes to pass the many, MANY playgrounds here and watch the kids playing! It makes me miss my little ones even more!

Be blessed my friends, and I look forward to sharing more with you along this beautiful road the Lord has guided us on!

After almost 6 months of waiting.......

Thursday night we decided we needed to go to bed earlier because we would be getting up earlier to head to the orphanage! After prayer together with Natasha, we headed to bed! I'm not sure what good it did, b/c Jarrod and I both tossed and turned all night! I could sleep for the excitement of going to see our girl! Around 3:30am we both woke up and couldn't believe it wasn't time to go yet!

 5:30am came around on Friday morning, and it was time to arise! At that point I was actually sleeping good, so I didn't really want to climb out of bed....yet I did! We started getting ready! We walked out the door at 7am, on time, woohoo!! We prayed when we got in the car for our day and for favor! These pictures were that morning before leaving the apartment!

We arrived at the inspector's office, and I personally inside had much anticipation! I wasn't quite sure what to expect or what we should say, or what was really even going to happen! Let me just say, that I am so thankful for our beautiful friend Natasha! Without her we couldn't and wouldn't be walking on this beautiful adoption journey that God has brought us to!! After a little while in the inspector's office, we were headed to the orphanage!

We've watched before a clip called "road to Matveevka", so we knew it was a bumpy road leading to there! With a few butterflies in my stomach, we turned on this road. I wasn't sure what this was going to be like, if it was going to be real formal, how Yulia was going to receive us (after all it's been almost 6 months), how any of this was going to play out! So we parked our car and headed up to the front of the orphanage.


When you arrive at the front of the main park of the orphanage, there are double doors that walk you through a foyer before walking into the hallway of the orphanage. We stepped through those double doors into the foyer, Natasha and the inspector already in the hallway, and I hear these running footsteps! I look up and it's Yulia running at us full force, not even allowing us to get into the hallway. She has the biggest hugs I think I've ever received! She went from me to Jarrod, then a big hug to both of us! She told me not to cry, which surprisingly I didn't!! I was just caught up in this moment of sheer excitement that we've been reunited with our sweet girl!

After a couple of moments of talking, we were taken up to an office. Honestly, I'm not sure what all took place! Maybe I was in this moment of "being in lala land"!! The director did talk to Yulia about what was going on....making sure she understood that we were adopting her and making sure she wanted to be in our family! She verbally told them "dah", meaning yes she wanted to be in our family! Oh how this made me smile!! Some paperwork was done, and Mama Natasha held our hand ever step of the way!!

After a bit, we were ready to leave the orphanage, and Yulia was allowed to come with us for a little while! We were so excited that we get to spend some time with her! So we headed out!

On the way home, well our home for now, was one of the sweetest moments!! Yulia was tired, her train had arrived at 3am from camp. (I now look at the timing of Jarrod and I waking up, and I think it was probably around the time she arrived at the orphanage.....I LOVE God's timing on everything). At one of our stops I motioned to my lap to see if she would like to lay down and sleep. She said "dah", and laid her head over in my lap, while I played with her hair and she fell asleep. I will have this image in my mind forever! It was a sweet mommy/daughter moment for me! I'm not sure she understands the blessing that this moment was for me, but it made me see more her desire for me to be her mom! I told her she was my baby, and she grinned and shook her head yes!

We made it back to the apartment to hang out! We had a snack, a new favorite of our, sliced cucumbers. After we were finished, she grabbed the two plates on the table, took them to the sink and started washing them, along with the dishes that we left after breakfast when we ran out the door. I told her she didn't have to, but she wanted to! This was just a sweet blessing to see that she wants to help! I'm sure we will have our days, lol, but we are savoring these moments!!

We went to dinner a little later, then came back to watch a little tv, play on the computer a bit, then play cards before bed! Jarrod got an "I love you" out of her first, but mine came a little later! It was sweet moments, even the big hugs before going to sleep. She's right where she's meant to be in our arms!!

We have only begun the process. Things were delayed a bit, b/c she was a camp, but we are running now! We will remain here in Ukraine for a few more weeks, and we pray the Lord's favor on every step of this process!! Our children at home are still doing well! We miss them like crazy, but we know this will all be worth it! Yesterday just proved that more and more! We still have a long journey ahead of us, even after we leave Ukraine! We will learn to operate as a family more and more each day! Praying that in God's perfect timing, we will go from Jarrod and Amy to mama and daddy!

Thank you for taking the time to enjoy our lives with us! We covet prayers and most of all we wish for God's perfect plan to be executed in our lives!! Bless you all!!

Life in Zaporizhzhya!

Good morning friends! Well, for most of my friends it is very early morning and you are all sound asleep! My body is still adjusting to this time here, and it's been a little over a week :-/ Hopefully soon we'll be on track!!

I haven't blogged in a few days, but honestly there hasn't been too much to blog about! A few of the days we have been exploring the city, walking around checking out the community a bit, checking out the clothing stores (yes, they are as overprised as some of our things), and enjoying fresh food from the supermarket!! I can't even begin to tell you how good the food is here! I have been eating fresh cucumbers like they are going out of style, lol!! In the summer, cucumbers and tomatoes are a common daily food in households, and I completely know why! Of course, when I was home, I didn't even really like cucumbers, lol!! Everything taste better here, seriously!! The food at the market has no preservatives, yes you heard me right, no preservatives!! So we have to shop every few days for our food! Jarrod and I are both enjoying the food and this healthier cooking, and we have both vowed to work on this when we are home!! Honestly I don't want to go back to canned food, or things that can last me 3 months! I want to cook daily fresh food! Will it mean more work, absolutely, but the benefits out weigh the convenience! Does it mean I'll never cook "quick easy food", no, but it will be limited!! Now along with the healthy comes the delicious, very very delicious chocolate! Oh my, we've picked up different types to try, and are for sure learning our favorite!! Their candy section here seems almost a big as their produce. Okay, I'm exhaggerating a bit, but seriously, it's big!

On Sunday we decided to visit a local Baptist church that our friends Scott and Rachel visited and talked about earlier! Pastor Nicholi and his wife Anna called Natasha to see if we would come and if Jarrod would share a little testimony! Jarrod was a little hesitant, but Mom reminded him to be ready in season and out of season!! What a wise woman she is!! So he decided to do a short testimony!!

When we got ready to leave that morning, we weren't quite sure what to expect! We had been told a little about the church, and we wanted to go in open mindedly! We are still adjusting to everyone speaking a different language, and I'll be honest, at times it's hard! Natasha sat on the row behind us, so she could translate in our ears what was being said! This sweet little church had all the windows open, and was just a simple, yet such a welcoming church! There were times when I was seated that I got hot, but around that time, we would stand up to sing. When I stood up, I was beside the window, and as all the beautiful congregation sang, I would feel the wind blow, and it was a sweet presence that only the Holy Spirit could bring, and I could completely feel the Holy Spirit blowing the wind on this place! Jarrod did a great job giving a testimony about our church children's ministry and a tid bit about our adoption! It wasn't as long as the other testimonies and at first I was a little concerned about that, but God reminded me that my wonderful husband is often times a man of few words, and the words he speaks has such a profound effect on others that there is no need to speak anymore!

After the service, the pastor and his wife invited us downstairs for lunch. It was delicious. Each week different members of the church bring food for the church to prepare lunch for guests and for the children. Now you have to understand, this church is in a village. Money is a hard thing to come by here. Jobs are limited, and things are very tight often times. So this was a very giving gesture and speaks high volumes to my heart about the giving nature of this sweet congregation. They have little, but they give much. And God honors a giving heart! I also want to step back and share another thing during the service. When we arrived, there were very few men in the church. Pastor Nicholi shared with us that most of the brethren had gone out to the local villages to minister and meet needs. Can I just say "WOW"?? This was one of the most amazing things I've ever heard! Most Christians, especially in America, would not have done this. They would've said "oh no, it's Sunday, I have to go and get my filling, I have to be in my church". How about we are the church?? This congregation got that! They were being the hands and feet of Jesus. We all need to be fed, but what is faith without works?

It was a beautiful day in the Lord, and we enjoyed it tremendously! Going in it not knowing what to expect! Even Jarrod and I stepping out of our own comfort zones. Usually when away from home, we don't attend other churches, we just have our own time of fellowship with the Lord! Now here we are, attending a church that is completely spoken in another language, and feeling very much a part of the body of Christ here!!

We got an invitation on Wednesday to come and have lunch at the Pastor's home with this family! So we prepared and headed that way! We had not been to a home in the village yet, so we were excited to see a little of village life!! I can't even begin to tell you how precious our time was! We were welcomed with loving hands and hugs from this sweet family! Anna is the best host, and was constantly serving us, without any reservation! We were served so much food, that was some of the most delicious I've ever had. And the food that she served while we were there was equivalent to about 3 meals for them. They are such a giving family!

Now, those that know me, know my love for children, especially little ones! Well, they have 3 daughters, Vaulintina (not sure of spelling) who is 12, Tanya who is 8, and Angelina who is 3. Can we just say how wonderful and well behaved these sweet girls are? Angelina stole my heart on Sunday when I saw her, so the minute we arrived at that house, I started tickling her feet, and she slowly started warming up to me! It wasn't very long before she was in my lap playing with me, we were tickling Jarrod, and she was kissing all over me, and me kissing all over her!! It was truly a sweet time! Tanya was so silly and animated, and I loved watching her personality!! Vaula was her mother's helper, such a sweet servant, and a talented piano player!

The older two girls played piano for us, and it was so sweet and beautiful! As I sat and listened to this family enteract and play the piano and sing, I couldn't help but have tears in my eyes. The two youngest girls reminded us both of two girls from church that we know, Rachel and Lily Bennett! With their personalities very much the same! So with this sweet reminder, it made me yearn to be home even more. I miss my children, all of them, my birth children as well as my spiritual children at church!

It was so humbling to see the simple way of life this family has. And when I say this, I mean absolutely no disrespect. I actually desire much of this way of life for my family. Their home is simple, yet so cozy and peaceful! One of my favorites was the sweet baby chicks that they are growing! There are older chicks that they have up in the attic, and the fully grown chickens outside! Oh how I want some chickens! One of the chickens fell out from the 2nd floor, but it was fine!! Much of the things they laugh about aren't much different than us!

After lunch the girls got their swimsuits on and went out to their little pool to swim, while us adults sat at the table and talked! Now I've always felt like a kid, so I really wanted to run outside and play with the girls! But I resisted the temptation, and sat at the adult table, lol!! We had a wonderful talk with Pastor Nicholi and Anna! I have such a deep respect for their life of servanthood! See, the Baptist pastors in Ukraine aren't paid, there isn't enough money to pay them. He has 5 services a week, and gives tirelessly of himself, yet gets only Heavenly treasures stored up for himself! That is of course a wonderful compensation, but there are also needs that have to be met in order to survive. So he has to seek work outside the church. He's a jack of all trades we've learned.....he lays tile, puts up wallpaper, plumbing, electrical, pretty much anything that needs to be done!!

In addition to his responsibilites as a pastor and a husband/father, he heads up the activities at the orphanage. He plays a key role in preparing some of the orphans that will be graduating out of the orphanage. He gives them life skill lessons, so they will know some things to do for work when they are on their own. He works with the orphanage 3 or 4 days a week. He explained step by step what they do here at the orphange, but I won't go into all those details. It takes planning and helping hands. It's absolutely amazing!!

It was also sweet because they shared some of their time with our sweet Yulia! She goes to church there when she gets the opportunity! She has been to their home, and they have some pictures of her, which we are hoping to get copies of them! She has talked about us to Anna, telling her how excited she was to be joining our family, calling us her Jarrod and her Amy! We know in her heart, we'll eventually be Mama and Papa (daddy), and God knows when her heart will be ready!!

So our time here has been sweet so far! We are very excited that in 24 hours we will see our sweet Yulia and begin all the paperwork!! God is so good to us, and He's blessing our time here!! I do have some things on my heart to share in a later blog! I'm trying to keep this blog as focused as I can on our time here, but I know my heart is also part of that!! Please continue to pray for us, as we are not nearly finished!! Specific prayer needs 1)Favor with the adoption inspector and director of the orphanage throughout the process 2)favor with the judge 3)all paperwork to be in order and be done speedily 4)that our hearts will mesh with Yulia's 5)God's hand and perfect will to be on our every step!!


Be blessed my friends! I should soon have more to blog about!! Yulia hasn't been with us, so we haven't been doing a lot here yet! As soon as she is with us, we will have much more to talk about!!

Traveling to Zaporizhzhya!!

We got up on Friday, July 6 and packed our bags to leave Kiev! We had a bit of time before we were able to pick up our referral, so we decided to visit the World War II Museum!

As we parked, you could see the most beautiful statue, the statue of the Motherland. This beautiful statue stands almost twice the size of the Statue of Liberty! The pictures do it absolutely no justice, seeing it in person brings it to life!! I've looked at other couple's pictures and thought "okay, it's not that big", but when I actually saw it all I could say was "WOW!! A really cool fact about the monument is that it is not taller than the cross on the highest situated church in Kiev, St. Andrews church! When the Motherland monument was first built, they sword was higher than the cross, but they cut it off some b/c they wanted the chapel to have the highest point! Hmmmmm, sort of ironic how a nation NOT founded on Christ, can make sure He is lifted up the most, yet our country that WAS founded on Christ does not......

Under the statue is the museum. As much as I love history, I have to say I wasn't prepared for much of what I was going to see! It was very sad to see the things that this country endured when they were attacked. We took a few pictures, but not a lot. We were more so taking in the scenery. To realize the things that some went through. I think the thing that stood out the most was pictures of children that were placed in concentration camps. These sweet innocent children did nothing to deserve this....in fact, none of the country did! But Germany thought they were a "better" country so to say and could go in and take whatever they wanted. Below is a picture of a pair of gloves that were made of human skin. They would make anything with the things they had. There was also a bar of soap, but we didn't get a picture of that. Also, there is a picture of a table. One side of the table represents the living soldiers from the war, and the other the ones that die. It was a tradition when someone died that they would all get a glass, with a shot of liquor and drink it to remember that person. The pictures, the stories, the memorabilia was just sad, eye opening, and sobering. The last picture is a monument that shows that Ukraine will prevail again. The cross is made out of gun parts, the empty bullets filled with wheat, symbolizing that Ukraine has been attacked, but this will not be the end of the country. It will grow again and be okay. I am completely in awe of the things I saw! There are really too many to mention!

Around 3:30 pm we headed to the SDA to pick up our referral for Yulia so we could head to her region! It was very simple, we went in talked briefly, signed our name, then received our paperwork to take with us!! We decided that Natasha was going to drive to Zaporizhzhya instead of taking the train! We knew it would be about a 6 hour drive (maybe more with stopping), but we were geared up for it! We would take in the beauty of this country and enjoy our time in the car!!

Let me just say, it was a fun experience!! The gas stations on the main road were very nice! The bathrooms were clean, and this one particular we stopped at had a nice cafe to eat in! So we stopped for a bit to stretch, get gas, eat, and hit the road again! The sunflower fields were breath taking! They were everywhere!! We didn't get the best pictures b/c we were driving, but they are still beautiful! There are so many sunflower fields b/c they use primarily sunflower oil here! Double benefit here.....beauty and oil!

It was different going along the highway, many things looked the same, yet many looked so different! We would see cows, horses or goats, just situated on the side of the road, some tied up and some not! Some people have these animals, but don't have any land to feed them, so they would take them each day to the government land for the animals to eat! We've got a picture here of a woman carrying her purse and stick, and taking the cows back home for the evening! People do what they have to do here! There were little stores along the way to buy drinks and snacks. Some places had almost 10 stores side by side selling the same things. They are just all trying to make money to get by.

The pictures do not do justice to how pretty the landscape is! We have a few more pictures, but you'll have to check my facebook to see them! We decided to get off the main hwy and take a shorter road to get here! This was even more of an experience, lol!! The roads were not as smooth, they were bumpy, but it was kinda fun!! My children would have loved the bumpy roads! Each of the villages maintained the roads beside them, so some roads were better than others, depending on how much money a village had! It was really rather neat to see the people of the village out and about! There isn't much for them to do typically, so they all go out walking, and they seem like a true community! Of course along this road we had to use the bathroom, but we could find no gas stations! So we kept driving, rather tempted just to stop on the side of the road!! We saw a few stops, but they all had outside restrooms, and we weren't real sure about using these!! We finally stopped as it was growing darker. There were a few men gathered around the gas station, making it seem a bit awkward! As we got out of the car, Natasha said just don't speak in English......agh, that's all I know! So I kept quiet, only talking very quietly if needed! We survived, and made it back to the car, lol! And we were on our way again!

We got to see a beautiful sunset that evening! It was just a reminder of God's love for us! He is the most amazing artist, creating all this beauty that surrounds us! As we started getting closer to our region, the signs were not clear at all which way to go! It was around 12 or 1 in the morning, and we weren't quite sure which way to go! We asked the only people we saw out, which happened to be drunk men. 3 of them, each at different places, seemed to each send us a different way, lol!! We finally found the way, and arrived safely at our apartment at 2am! It was a long fun ride, filled with many laughs and stories, and taking in God's beauty around us!

So that was our day traveling!! We've had a couple of days here in Zaporizhzhya that I will share about later! God is blessing our time here and we are enjoying learning a little about life here, and spending time with our sweet friend Natasha!