Wonderful Day

It has been an absolutely beautiful day.  I slept in a bit this morning.  I was up until 1:30 am Odessa time talking to all of my guys so I was really tired when I went to sleep.  It is not often I get to sleep until 9 am.  I got up and did a few things around the apartment, worked a little, checked in on Facebook and emails.  All-in-all a very relaxing morning.


I walked to the orphanage at the prearranged time to visit with our daughter.  The weather was a bit on the warm side, but beautiful.  Anybody who is planning to come to Ukraine please make sure you bring some walking shoes and hydrate well during the summer. The air here is dryer than in Mississippi.  


The visit went very well today.  Our daughter seemed more excited this afternoon than I have seen before.  She will have to officially make her decision on Thursday.  It is very good for her to have a few days to really evaluate her decision.  If we were adopting a toddler it would be a matter for the courts to decide if the child's placement with the parents is best for the child.  However, we are not adopting a toddler.  We are adopting a teenager, a young woman with a mind of her own; her own opinions, strengths, weaknesses, fears, pains, and everything else.  It is a big choice for her to make.  Can you imagine being 16 and having to agree to move to a foreign country where you don't speak the language and don't know anything about the culture with parents who you don't know but will be making decisions for you?  Could you leave all of your friends who have been there with you in the orphanage, the ones who have experienced some of the same pains you have?  Could you go to a public high school in a foreign country with all of the drama of teenage high school life going on around you and you don't understand it?  I don't know if I could, yet I am here asking her to do that.  How I would love to be inside her head hearing her thoughts.  How I would love to know her fears so I could help alleviate them and make her feel safe.  I  know that life will be hard for her but it will be worth the struggles.  I know what is waiting for her on the other side of the ocean.  But she does not, yet she must choose "yes" or "no" to take me up on the offer of a "forever family".  I watched our son struggle through a lot of this when we adopted him.  Now I will have to watch our daughter struggle through.  It pains my heart to see them have to struggle so hard for something so many people take for granted.  God has said in His word that he will not leave us as orphans, that He will come for us.  We have a hard time turning it all over to God, the creator of all things in this world.  How hard must it be for an orphan to turn it all over to imperfect parents?  Please be praying for peace in her heart as she makes this decision on Thursday.  She needs the wisdom and comfort of our Heavenly Father guiding her thoughts and her words.  I also ask that you pray the same for me and the rest of the adoption process.


Some of the girls in our area who have been adopted from Ukraine are intending to write letters to our daughter to tell her about the things they struggled with.  I think that is a very sweet gesture from the girls.  I may try to get them to her tomorrow.


Thank you very much.  I hope you have a great afternoon and evening.