For several years now I have waited on this one precious day – day 10. What that means for a family adopting from Ukraine is that the judge’s decision is set in stone after the 10 day waiting period. Our day 10 was on December 26, one day after Christmas. It almost seems surreal. Three years wrapped up and tightly packaged into a few small days, and then like an explosion the day arrives and three years just fades into a memory. There were times during the wait that I promised God that I would never, ever forget a single day of waiting for Jake. Strange how things just fade away when joy washes over them. Memories take new shapes and forms as reasons become clear and faith is grown. Often I felt that the three years would haunt me as “The Time the Lord Forget Me” but now, well looking back I can clearly see it as the time the Lord prepared all of us. Day 10 was a celebration for me. It meant so very much to my heart and it was quite like the day we heard Jon’s heartbeat for the first time. It was a moment of stability and so stationary in our lives. It just gave me the “this is REALLY happening!” feeling. Ten little days! You know when Jon was born we counted fingers and toes to make sure there were 10. When Jake arrived we counted days to make sure there were 10. I am starting to work on Jake’s “baby” book. I know most people do a life story when they adopt, but God has just impressed on me to do a scrapbook, much like Jon’s. Jake’s life story will come in bits and pieces as he is able to tell us. Since I am the original adopted one in the family I think I get the pleasure of starting my own branch on the family tree – I am now officially Janet, the First in my family and I pray that each generation will have a “First” in it that can start their own branch. So many people wonder what it is like not knowing one’s “official” history. You know things like – Who do I look like, who do I act like, what family traits do I have, where did I get my enormous beauty, why am I so wonderful and perfect, you know questions like those. But truly, what courses through my veins is NOT what makes me – ME. In fact most of what I inherited I really don’t like anyway – i.e. hips! I am so unique and I love it. There are things from my family that I have picked up, but there are things that are so individualistic. I find great joy in them both. But what truly is making me who I am is my relationship with Jesus. Only He knows what I am supposed to be turning into anyway. And might I add, He is doing a great job! Jerry agrees! Well Day 10 did in fact arrive. I wondered at times, doubted at times, cried about it at times, and laughed about it at times, but it came all in good time, no wait a minute – in God’s time. And it was perfect!
We Wish You a Merry Christmas #1 December 24, 2008
WOW have things been busy! It is really better that way for me so that I don’t drive Jerry crazy. He is so very delicate. I have been whopping up some Christmas cheer and getting the little red house in the woods ready for all the Williams traditions of Christmas! We have hung the stockings by the gas logs with care, we have adorned the mantles with the traditional nativity scenes, we have put up the snowmen throughout the house that Jon gets me each year, we have the supplies for our Christmas breakfast celebration, and I have cleaned the house. Why is it that we clean the house as if getting ready for surgery when the holidays roll around. Heck, I have been approved to adopt by TWO different countries, you would think my house would be clean enough. Anyway, I felt the need to scrub everything down and get it all spic-n-span so that tomorrow morning Jon can trash the place. Ahhhh, isn’t it wonderful to be home for Christmas. The only thing that is not complete is the tree. Stop gasping for breath there is a reason. The tree is almost completely decorated with the exceptions of some very special ornaments. We are saving all of Jake’s ornaments for when he gets home and we have Christmas #2 or Christmas,the Second! Every year since we met him we have been getting ornaments that symbolize something about him or a prayer for him. It is a family tradition that my mom started. When we were kids she would always get us an ornament each year and give it to us usually on Christmas eve. Then we advanced the tradition to include memories of trips the family took. It is MUCH better than a goofy t-shirt. When my Daddy went to heaven we also included ornaments that remind us of him so that the children hear the stories of his life and the Jon can remember him. Our tree is an absolute monument of our family’s life and history. It is wonderful. There are ornaments of all sorts, from all over the world and for all occasions. So when Jake gets home he will complete the tree. And is if I need to cement my position as Queen of It All any further, there are also several strategically placed ornaments of nothing other than…. CROWNS! Yes, I do reign over the tree as well! Jake is doing great. We talk everyday and his English is getting wonderful. We still depend on Yana for the difficult things! The deputy director, and now extended family member, has graciously offered to allow Jake to spend the holidays with her family so that he is not alone. They are such precious people. Also his teacher Svetlana has offered to allow him to visit at her home as well. I can’t tell you what a blessing these ladies and their families have been to our family. God is just so wonderful and so in control and so in charge it gives me goose bumps. Everything that anyone has meant for harm to us and to Jake has just been transformed into blessings. It is amazing how God is always a dozen steps ahead!! Jake did get Jon on the phone and try to get him to tell what presents he had! Is that not priceless! Jon told Jake that he didn’t know, Jake asked if he was kidding or really didn’t know. Jon just died out laughing!!! It was priceless. There is no telling what these two will get into. Today Jon is soaking up the Christmas flavor and getting excited about the events that occur tomorrow. Jake was playing soccer, he was the goal keeper, at the local gym and couldn’t talk long because the game wasn’t over. Jerry is holding the recliner down to the floor and searching 5000 channels for football games. I have been cooking and just looking at friends blogs this morning. This afternoon we will go to my in-laws for our traditional Christmas Eve gathering. We pray that this Christmas you will enjoy the season and all the fun and joy that comes with the celebration of the birth of our savior, Jesus. Please take the time to thank God for His wonderful gift of His son. I could not imagine the emotions that the Father felt as He looked down at the simple manger that was holding the Redemption for all of humanity. What a beautiful moment as the angels descended from heaven to let the world know of God’s gift. Wow what a gift tag that was. Even the universe celebrated as a new star began to burn to signify the delivery of the gift. Immediately this Baby began to draw all men to Him as the lowest were invited first. It is indeed a privilege to have this first Christmas and then welcome the gift of a son from God and celebrate a second Christmas with Jake. We send love to you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas from our family – Jan, Jerry, Jon and Jake!
Hi Mom! December 20, 2008
Oh, it is soooooo good to be home! There is just something about knowing you are in the United States that sends a warm fuzzy all over me! If you beg to differ, then load your tail up, trek halfway around the globe, live with others that you don’t know the language, and then you can differ!!! HEHEHE I am feeling my oats today! Last night I slept in my own bed, this morning my Mr. Coffee perked me a perfect cup, I ate (Yes Lord Praise You) country ham and biscuit and (can you hear the choir begin to hum) chocolate gravy! Mercy I love being from the south! I bet you think that we have just wasted the day away – no! We are still so pumped up about everything that Jerry got up at 6:30 am to watch old football games, I got up about 8:30, which is the equivalent of Jerry’s 6:30 and cooked one mean breakfast and since that time we have accomplished the following tasks: Jerry has played all his video games at least once, Jan has wrapped all, count them, ALL the Christmas presents, Jerry has gone to town to pick up some quick supplies and run by the church to check in, Jan has completed stringing the lights on the tree, Jerry has drug out all his camo stuff from the basement in an effort to harness into his inner huntsman, Jan has unpacked all but two of the bags and Jon well he has made every step that either one of has made and LOVED every minute of it. The dogs are just in hog heaven! Even the turtle seems happier. We been checking in and checking up on everyone and everything and the phones have rang off the hook and I LOVE IT! Everybody keeps apologizing and saying, “I know you have a lot to do so I won’t keep you.’ The truth is we WANT you to keep us – forever! If I could have two phone calls going at once I believe that I would. Speaking of phone calls, I had the sweetest one today. We had not gotten to talk to Jake since before we left Ukraine. I was getting quite anxious to hear his voice. So this morning when I got up all bright tailed and bushy eyed, I called and got his roommate Denis. Seems they have switched sim cards to give Jake some peace from a sibling. So Denis answers the phone and says “Eta adeen minute!”‘ translated “Wait just a minute” I can hear him calling for Jake and Denis says “Petya, eta mama.” Which is “It’s yo mama calling, hey yo mama’s calling, hey answer the phone yo mama’s calling, hey, hey, hey yo mama calling.” Jake picks up the phone and says “Hey Mom!” I know this may not seem like much to you, but I would give a million bucks to have that moment recorded. The sound of his voice the tone and the pride that was in that short sentence. Oh, it was priceless, for the first time he got to answer the phone like any other teenager – his mom had called and he was just soaking in the moment and I could just feel the emotions that were surging through his heart. There was a sound of rest and peace and relaxation, it was just so normal and you could tell he felt so full and as if all was right in the world. Just a simple “Hi Mom” holds so much for him now; it is like a world is opening up to him. Next he gave me his new number and then with the help of Yana proceeded to tell me not to worry, he would wait until I came for him! Yes, he did!!! Told me not to worry – it was priceless. I’m telling you being the mom of all these boys is what it is all about! They don’t want me to worry about anything!! I told him that now it was official and he was mine and I was definitely coming for him to which he responded “Well, o.k. whatever mom!” Oh, his first teenage sassy moment! I love it and I just soaked it up. I had one on the phone and then Jon right beside be all day just checking on me and helping me and being goofy with me. It was such a good day to be home. So tomorrow we are going to tie up some loose ends around here and get that tree decorated. For now we have managed to stay up to 10 and we are going to hit the hay. Next time you call your mom think about all that your first greeting entails! Just in those two precious words, “Hi Mom!” there are deep and rich memories and tightly strung heart strings that just echo so very much about the effects our mothers have had on lives. I am glad that my children, all of them, can say that phrase and it bring peace, love, faith and hope to their minds and soothe their hearts and bring their thoughts to a place of rest and comfort. Next time you say hi to your mom please pray for those that can’t and ask God how you can help. Well, its off to bed and get ready for another day. Jerry says he is getting up at 6 again to go deer hunting. Stupid man, he can sleep until noon and still go to Kroger and pick up all the steaks he can eat and be back at the house in under an hour. I think for fun I’ll go hide his Charmin, than will REALLY give him something to hunt for!!!!
Eating Grits and Coming Home December 18, 2008
Well good morning all you sleepy heads!! It is midnight your time and about 8 am in Ukraine. We are up, and ready to GO! Everything is packed and we have just a few minutes left before Sasha will be here to take us to the airport! I am munching on a bowl of GRITS and sipping on some bottled water. Jerry is chomping on some cookies and drinking a Coke. We are soooooooooooo excited to be coming home!!!!! We wish everyone the very Merriest Christmas and sending love and hugs and kisses to all!!! See ya stateside really soon!!! JFK here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 Years + 3 Hours = 1 Family December 17, 2008
Hey everybody, I am writing to you from Kiev, Ukraine where the celebration is still going on! I have waited 3 years to get to place yesterday’s post and it was with nothing but tears of joy!!!! All is good with the Williams family of FOUR! I just can’t give God enough praise for our results yesterday. It will take years for me to be able to even cover the surface of what all He has done for us. He is truly an Awesome God! So what happened yesterday – well the judge asked questions for three hours for a start. Sergey said that we now hold the record for the longest court case he has ever had. Poor Jerry took the worst of it – again ladies submission does have its privileges! He answered everything from “why do you want a 15 year old?” to “Do you really think you have enough money to feed and provide for him?” I wanted to answer that last question by saying, “Well its more than he gets here!” But I didn’t and that is miracle number 2! I just sat back thinking about the verse in Psalms (I think) that says is good to wait in SILENCE on deliverance from God. I just sat back and prayed for Jerry. After almost an hour it was my turn, I was geared up, and only got a few questions! She knew not to mess with the Queen! Then it was Jake’s turn. Bless him he was so nervous I thought he would faint! He answered everything perfectly. Katya even gave us rave reviews! I can’t tell you how God used everything to His glory. We suffered this summer, I mean REALLY suffered with Katya, but in the end it was her testimony that made an impact with the judge because she had BEEN in our house with us! She was honest and told the judge that she didn’t like America, she didn’t like the rules, and she didn’t want to learn ENGLISH! She also told the judge that we were a good family and kind and that we had been good to her and to Jake and that we loved them and Jon. She was more loving and gentle to us yesterday than ever. The judge had requested that all his siblings above the age of 18 be present and they were. It was awkward when we first met before court, but you know me, I get to talking and everybody warms up. Jake has a brother-in-law that seems to have a good head on his shoulders and was able to take into perspective his entire future. All the siblings were in agreement that the adoption was the best thing. I had prayed that the questions would be stated in such a way that no one would have to discuss past problems with his mother, who is still living and the judge worded everything in such as way that no one had to make negative statements against her, but the truth was clear. We even have some pictures to post of all of us together. I want the entire family to be moved by God’s love and to see a clear picture. You will never guess what I did have to answer. For those of you that know me well, you know that I have one weakness – to keep me humble – I CANNOT remember dates! There are times when I am not exactly sure of my own age! I am being serious. Jerry laughs at me. I can rembmer Jon’s birthday because the date is 9-7-97 but I still don’t know for certain if we were married on August 6 or 7. I have no idea of what years I graduated from anything and just last week I thought I was 34 when I am actually 35. The judge had me check over all the important dates such as BIRTHDAYS and WEDDING DATES to make sure they were correct!!!! I just prayed and glanced at the paper and said “YES!” The strangest question of the day was asked ot the vital records office secretary and it was “What language will the birth certificate be printed in?” She looked at the judge with a smirk and said “Ukrainian of course!” I was hoping that she was going to say “CHINESE!” After EVERYONE in the court room was questioned the judge left to make her decision in her chambers. Oh yeah, we also had the same jurors as before, you know the ones that watched as we feel to pieces sobbing – yeah it was good. The poor woman walked in and saw us and began to cry herself!!! The judge came back in 30 minutes later and we stood as she declared that our petition to adopt would in fact be granted fully. Jacob Petro Williams was ours!!!!!!! Yes, we cried again and this time everybody was crying joyfully! Even the siblings were happy for him and hugs went out all around. Names and addresses were shared and they were even calling him Jake!!! They were very pleased that his middle name was Petro. I can’t tell you what a powerful God we serve and how loving and good HE really is. The day was truly amazing. We left the hearing with a boy that had a smile a mile long, but knowing that his parents were leaving and wouldn’t be back until January. Please pray for him in these few weeks of waiting. Although the decree would become active on Dec. 26, the court would be closed and not reopen until Jan. 12. Jake knows the steps and we shared hugs and instructions and we headed back to Zap to catch a train. Jerry and Sergey have plans as to when to met and get Jake. He was all smiles and was headed off to begin the process of saying goodbye and gathering his things. It is almost surreal. Three years we have waited knowing that we were being obedient, being told that it might not happen, and now here we are with two wonderful sons. The first question from both of them was “Have you told my brother!” the second question was “When are we going to be home?” the last question “Mom, do we have anything to eat!” Well, we are going to catch a quick nap and then head to the embassy so I can sign some papers – you know the Queen must leave her signature! Then we are going to go to sleep and catch our flight tomorrow. Hopefully the next blog will be stateside! Will you share the news of our mighty God to everyone you see please. Also I look forward standing beside you in heaven when God opens the doors and you see just what a might impact your prayers and encouragement were to us during these years of waiting. I have never been more amazed at prayer in my entire life! You are as much a part of our story as we are. You have been faithful to us in the difficult times and now I invite you to rejoice with us and to celebrate our mighty God together. Know that He heard you and answered in a powerful way. We love you all and are privileged to have you in our lives and praying for our family. I look forward to the years to come as you watch our boys and see the impact your prayers have made. We hope to see you soon, look for us at Catfish Hotel or Dinner Bell!!!!
Jan, Jerry, Jon and officially Jake Williams
Our Prayer for Court Tomorrow – Psalm 10: 12-18 December 15, 2008
Psalm 10: beginning in verse 12 we ask you to share in these prayers with us for our court date tomorrow…
12 Rise up, LORD God! Lift up Your hand.
Do not forget the afflicted.
*Father, please graciously give mercy to Petya and do not forget the years that he has spent in the orphanage. Do not forget the days and nights of hunger for both food and family. Please do not forget the many cold nights and hot days and the loneliness that he has endured. We ask you to remember the times he has had things taken from him as he was too weak to fight for himself. Father, we ask you to move on his behalf and to raise Your mighty arm to fight for him.
13 Why has the wicked despised God?
He says to himself, “You will not demand an account.”
*Father, we have not understood why the judge cannot see how much we love Petya. It is obvious that she feels her position is the ultimate authority in our lives. God we ask You to make Yourself known to this judge and that she would recognize in her heart that our lives are guided by Your right hand and that whether she means to harm or to protect Petya, we ask that You would show Yourself to her for her ultimate salvation.
14 But You Yourself have seen trouble and grief,
observing it in order to take the matter into Your hands.
The helpless entrusts himself to You;
You are a helper of the fatherless.
*Father, help us to remember that You have witnessed every step and every heartache and every tear that has been shed. Help us to be strong and not fall into the temptation that You have forgotten about us or that our trials haven fallen on deaf ears or that You simply do not care. Father we are so very, very totally helpless tomorrow. There is nothing that we can do; we have gone down every road and exhausted every option and we are at the place where we are helpless without You. We entrust our day to Your love and goodness. We believe that Your word, not our emotions, is truth. We ask You to make this truth known through our lives tomorrow. We TRUST and BELIEVE that You are Truth and that You will be a helper to Petya and to us. We are thankful now for the help that You will give us tomorrow and may You receive all the credit and praise for what You are going to do. You have witnessed everything and You will take the matter into Your precious hands. Help us to give it fully to You and only do and say those things that would bring honor to You.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil person;
call his wickedness into account
until nothing remains of it.
* Father we are asking for Your power to be displayed tomorrow. We are asking for the years of wickedness that this precious child has endured by those that were supposed to protect him to be called into the spotlight and for these people to be held accountable for their actions. We ask You to break the hold they have on Petya based only on bloodline and we ask you to grant him a new name. We ask You to shine the truth of our love and care for Petya so brightly that nothing remains of the account of the wicked and their hold disintegrates.
16 The LORD is King forever and ever;
the nations will perish from His land.
*Father please help us to remember in this land where knowing the right person is so very important, help us to remember that we DO know the right Person. You are King forever no matter what ruler, or judge sits on any throne or seat. This is YOUR land and here in Ukraine YOU are King and when every nation is long gone You will still be King. We ask that Your power be poured out in Your land tomorrow and that Your position as King be made known to everyone and Your love be made known as the King of all eternity reaches down from heaven to care for this precious orphaned child. May everyone that hears of our family see Your love and see a picture of salvation by grace. You are the mighty King and Your reign will never end! We are Your children and help us to be brave in the fact that our Father is the King.
17 LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will strengthen their hearts.
You will listen carefully,
*God, you know our hearts before we even utter a single word. Father there have been moments that our actions were for vanities sake and for this we ask your forgiveness. Father we come to You humbly to ask for Your mercy on us tomorrow. God we know that You will do just what Your words says and strengthen our hearts. We are so very thankful that You are listening to us carefully! What a promise, to be heard by You, but to have You listen carefully to us. Oh Father forgive our arrogance and pride and desire to attain recognition, help us to show others that we had to be changed to be brought to the point where we could adopt. Father for the times we have been petty and wanted special attention forgive our childishness and lack of maturity. Father receive all the credit and glory for this process. Father, we thank You for listening carefully to our pleas for this child.
18 doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that men of the earth may terrify [them] no more.
*Not only are You listening, You are going to DO something. You have promised to do justice for Petya. Lord, he is terrified of tomorrow. He has lived in fear and tried to solve every problem that has arisen since we have had our date. He has given every single possession that he has to ensure that court will go well. He has given up everything in fear of what may happen. I can only imagine what he has endured over the past few weeks as he is doing everything in his power to ensure a good outcome. Father, You know what is in his heart better than I do. I trust that You will act as Your word says and that Petya will no longer be terrified of these people any longer. Tomorrow holds freedom for him and I ask you to show Him Your ultimate freedom. Lord, move on his behalf so that these people will not terrify again. Let him rise up and say that God came to his rescue and gave him justice and freedom. Let him know that You are a God that is true to His word and for generations to come let the story of his life be a constant reminder of all that You are and the truth of Your word and may this day serve to bring generations to the knowledge of You as King, Saviour, Friend, Judge and Father! To You be glory, power, honor and praise and we ask all of this in the name that is above all names, in the name of our Friend and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Can the vacation end now please! December 14, 2008
Well I (the Queen and reigning ruler of her own mind) am now back in Ukraine. It was NOT, and I repeat NOT an easy trip. For that matter neither Jerry nor myself had an easy trip. You might as well sit back, get a cup of coffee and get ready to read what I am attempting to make as a hilarious chain of events in the life and times of the Williams family. O.k. so let’s start back on Thursday night, location Zaporzhye Ukraine, Jerry is attempting to get on the night train to head back to Kiev. He had left the Underwood’s, a fellow suffering, I mean adopting family, with one last piece of advice—and I quote “Oh, the train is ALWAYS warm, in fact it is so hot you will have to strip down to day cool.” end quote. Jerry got on the train a few moments later expecting to have a nice toasty, if not extremely hot ride back to Kiev. Seems that his expectations were shattered as he realized that his compartment’s window had a tiny crack in the window. Now this might not seem like much to you, but in the winter months of Ukraine a tiny crack in a window might as well be a full blown gap. As the train begin to reach cruising speed Jerry realized that stripping down to his undies was not going to be a wise idea. In fact he went the other direction—he applied layers. In a effort to keep from getting hypothermia, or having to share a compartment with “others” he first donned his “fumble underwear”. What are fumble underwear you ask, well I will tell you. Jon Michael has always called his long-johns fumble underwear. Jerry had purchased a complete set of Under Armor “fumbles” (short name) from Lonnie’s and they were to be layer 1 against the winter wind. Next he put on a sweat shirt. Ha, ha, ha, sweat shirt—in Ukraine—what a joke—sweat-hahahaha!! Then he pulled on the jeans followed by his winter coat zipped to the top. Still feeling gaps in the Armor, he got the sheets that are supplied with by the train. Now the sheets are packaged in a nice and tidy plastic bag and they smell of bleach, which leaves one feeling wonderfully safe from unwanted little germy creatures. There are wool blankets in each compartment, however they DO NOT come in a nice tidy plastic bag and they DO NOT smell like bleach. Jerry prayed that he had enough layers to keep any little germy creatures from breaking the boundary of the Under Armor and his final layer was the bleach-less smelling wool blankets from 1954. With these various layers Jerry did in fact keep from freezing to death although his nose shows signs of frostbite. Oh, well I am sure that he would prefer to have a pug nose like me and Jon in this case. The only other interesting tidbit from this trip is that during a visit to the restroom he grabbed onto what he thought was a bar to help steady oneself because you can only go to the bathroom as the train is moving. Why you ask, well when you flush it goes directly on the tracks below! Anyway, turns out that the bar was not a steadying bar, it was in fact attached to a small door with electrical wiring behind it. Now how do we know that there was electrical wiring behind the door? Well, during an untimely bump in the track, Jerry accidently pulled the entire door off the train. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone, he propped it back up and stuffed toilet paper in the gaps to hold it in place. I kinda wish he had kept the door as a souvenir. Anyway he made it back to Kiev to await my arrival which brings me to part B of the adventure. During the time Jerry was freezing his way to Kiev, I along with my Mom and Jon were battling the blizzard of ‘08 to get to Birmingham in time to catch my flight. O.K. so we have spent what, about 1000 weeks in Ukraine (well actually 8 or so, but it feels like 1000) and never saw the FIRST snowflake, not one, not even a single sprinkle, not even a flurry, not even a slightly chilled drop of water did fall. You know why, it all went toward the highway that I had to travel across. Yes, I had to drive through weather that was classified as a Winter Storm!!! Now praise God, Mom and I decided to leave the night before the plane left and just get a hotel room you know just in case the weather was really as bad as the weatherman was saying. Well, honey chil’ let me tell you that weatherman didn’t lie. There were times that we just had to follow the tracks left by the car in front of us just to see the road. Law, I was praying for Rudolph to just drop out of the sky, land on my hood, and blink our way to Birmingham. Keep in mind that I have never driven in snow, for that matter I have never driven in sleet, or ice or freezing rain. Thankfully we only had about 2 hours of this weather and drove out of the storm. That’s when we thought we had it made. We would just drive on into Birmingham, locate a Cracker Barrel to nourish ourselves and then hop on over to the Holiday Inn-Airport where we would get a good night’s sleep and take the shuttle to the airport the next morning after a leisurely breakfast and cup of coffee. (Insert hilarious laughter here) Our story took a detour about 1 hour outside of Birmingham when Jon uttered those horrible words “Mom pull over I think I am going to be sick!” And sick he was, all over the shoulder of the road. Bless him he looked up after it was over and said “Don’t worry I didn’t get any on the car.” I felt so bad for him—it is awful to be sick and away from home. We, my mom and myself, being the eternal optimist, decided that Jon was car sick, or maybe nervous because I was leaving, or maybe his blood sugar had dropped, or something –just not a stomach virus. We pressed onward. About 15 minutes later I looked back and saw that Jon’s cheeks were red, and his eyes red and his color pale. He was cold but sweating—none of these are signs of car sickness and I knew the stomach virus had landed. We made it to the Holiday-Inn, Jon emerged from the car and “decorated” the parking lot. I knew we were in trouble then! We got to the room and I pulled out the phenergan, or how ever you spell it—the anti-throwup medicine and dosed him up. It was then that it hit me that I could also be infected. So what do you do when you potentially have the stomach virus—you go to Walmart to get supplies! Now we had borrowed my brother’s GPS navigator thingy called Garmin, which we affectionately named Gerttie because it was a woman’s voice not a man’s and Garmin sounds like a man’s name. So mom stayed with Jon and I took Gerttie to locate Walmart. Well I punched in the data, Gerttie pulled up several Walmart’s within 4 or 5 miles of the hotel and we were off. Now apparently Gerttie has not been notified of the recent unfortunate financial crisis because she took me to 2, count them, 2 Walmarts that are NOW closed. By the second Walmart I was using some language that Gerttie had never heard and I had actually taken her off the windshield and proceeded to yell at her face to screen. I gave her one last chance to locate a working Walmart or else I was going to relocated some of her circuits. Being fearful, Gerttie did in fact locate a Walmart—right smack dag in the local ghetto of Birmingham. By this point there was no one that would have taken on me and won. I proceeded to whip into a parking spot with this “what are you looking at fool” expression on my face and I proudly marched myself into that Walmart to purchase an extra pair of sweat pants, Immodium, and Depends underwear! Look I am being as honest as I can at this point. I was afraid that if I got the bug I would not be able to make it to a bathroom in time on the plane. Hence the “extra” supplies. I marched my self up to that counter, purchased my disposable underwear proudly and headed back to the car to get Gerttie in line to go back to the hotel. It was during this leg of the trip that I began to feel nauseated. Yes, I had caught the bug as well. Once back at the hotel it was full blown nausea. I was still optimistic that something could be done. I mean after all we have spend several weeks in Ukraine and we had done everything they had asked us and we had followed every law to a tee and what was I thinking—this is Ukraine and they weren’t going to be understanding and helpful, or at least this particular judge. So I too dosed up on phenegran and tried to sleep through the cramps and nausea. The morning broke, Jerry had no luck finding a way for me to travel at a later date so I had to double dose to get to the point where I could fly. I got ready as best I could, got everything to the shuttle and had mom stay with Jon. I made it to the front door of the Delta drop-off and prayed “Lord, I can’t get these bags another step, please send help.” It was then that a Delta employee emerged and asked if he could help. I told him I would name my next child after him if he could just help me get my bags to the counter. He did and once there I proceeded with the old e-ticket and it printed my boarding passes right out. Then the clerk took my bags to weigh them and one was too heavy but the other one had plenty of room. So right there I began to switch things over. Now I was not packing the usual. I had one entire bag full of food for friends here in Ukraine. I’m talking Captain Crunch, Hershey’s syrup, brown sugar, even sweet potatoes. So when I opened the bags naturally I drew a crowd. I shifted some items and lifted the bag back on the scale when I realized that I had not ZIPPED the bag and everything came spilling out. It was at this point that I began to cry. Everyone around me began to kick in and help get everything loaded back up and I just stood there sweating from fever, trying not to throw up and cried. Another Delta employee helped me get the bags to the check point and that left me with only the carry-on and my purse. So I was off to security. It was then that I realized I had taken my MOM”S cell phone instead of Jerry’s—oh, could this get any worse! SO I called to tell her that I was going through security and that I had her phone. She was find and told me to not worry, just get there. So through security I went and I set off the alarm. Why did I set off an alarm, well it might have been that in my carry on I was packing an 8 pound spiral cut ham. Seems that hams don’t show up good on the x-ray screens. So they stopped me and proceeded to search my bag. Luckily I got the woman guard, she could tell I was stressed to the maximum and when I told her was I was packing, she laughed, looked at it and zipped my bag back up and told me to have a nice flight. Well, I made it to the gate and sat there with chills, fever and popped another pill and God assured me that what I needed He would take care of. The plane arrived, I boarded, we left, I slept, we arrived at Atlanta. I located my next flight and the same things occurred. By this time the meds had fully kicked in and to be honest I don’t really remember anything about the Atlanta airport. By the time I got to New York the meds were falling off and upon finding my gate I spotted the most wonderful sight—the Hall family, or at least 4 of them. I just can’t tell you how nice it was to see their smiling faces and know I was with friends that would help me if I needed it. Then two other families showed up who were also traveling to adopt. I felt so much better and by this time I was somewhat coherent and could speak. We boarded the plane and I had lucked out and got a seat by an exit. I promptly grabbed my pillow, took another dose of meds and was out when the fight attendant noticed that the seat belt in that seat was broken! So, I had to relocate and this time to the back of the plane, but thankfully one of the other families was back there too and my seat was close to the restroom in case of emergency. I know we left JFK, and I know we arrived at Kiev, but in between I don’t know what happened. I got off the plane just thinking about getting to Jerry. I knew he would take care of everything if I could just make it to him. I did, I emerged the last one out of customs due to some questions about the ham and there was my handsome, wonderful husband that just wrapped his arms around me and took everything off my hands. Oh, he is so wonderful. It didn’t even matter that he looked like Hitler. We got to the apartment and I handed off the supplies to Ben and I have slept for two days. I haven’t had any more meds, but what I took to travel would have knocked out a herd of elephants. I am weak, still having to eat chicken noodle soup and drink Sprite, but I am here. In a few hours we will load on a train and head back to Zap. We will face the judge again and this time we have the assurance of the SDA that we will have court. It has been such a battle, but we still believe in God’s goodness to his children and we still believe that God is in control and we still believe that God loves us. Do we understand the difficulty—not always, but we trust God. Has it been easy to trust God, not always, there are several verses that we keep reciting and claiming as truth in the face of adversity. What we have witnessed is God’s ability to meet every need and the fact that we are tougher than we thought because of God’s strength in us. Well, I am going to sign off and leave you with some prayer requests: pray for Jake because his Ukrainian family will be in court with him and thus far they are all excited about his adoption and getting a chance at a life, pray for them as they will meet us and we are the ones taking him away, pray for the judge for everything, pray for Sergey as he translates, pray for health for me, pray for Jerry to have peace of mind because he is so ready to just get home, pray for Jon because he is really tired of having his family all over the world, pray for my mom as she never quits worrying about her children, pray for God’s spirit to enter that courtroom and in our weakness that His love and glory would shine through and that everyone in that courtroom would see God in this and that seeds would be planted that would grow into salvation for all. Perhaps that is exactly why we have been made so weak—so that He could be shown so very strong. We love you all and hope to bring news a completion to you. Hugs and I’ll hold off on the kisses because I haven’t brushed my teeth in 4 days. Lots of love to all.
PRAYER REQUEST December 12, 2008
I can not lie about it I am not the writer that Jan is and oh my goodness can she write. You can just see her bubbling personality come alive on the page as you read her funny and sometimes hilarious since of humor. Me I tend to be let’s admit it a little dull and dry when it comes to my writing. So here goes some more that is a little more serious than normal.
Jan, Jon and her mom traveled to Birmingham Thursday evening to beat any snow that might stop them from getting to the airport Friday morning. They ended up driving for two hours in the snow. On the way Jon began to get sick and offically has the stomach bug. At about 5:00 am Ukraine time I thought I’d call and found my family in this situation. Jan was trying to find a Walmart to get somethings to help with Jon with the heart breaking thought that she was going to have to leave in the morning with him still sick. As we talked she began to feel sick as well. I have tried to find tickets for another flight but there are not any and she has to be here for us to have court. She is hopefully going to be okay and get on the plane in the morning. Please pray for her and Jon. This old boy can handle his situations and go on, but when the two loves of his life are sick, hurting and just plain upset it is trying. It seems that as of late we have shared with you alot of hardships and to be honest as of late there has been quiet a few. I know that you are all praying for us I can feel it even now. PLEASE SAY A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR JAN AND JON AND SALLY JAN’S MOM WHEN YOU READ THIS. God has been doing things in our lives and in situations that we can not reveal to you at this time. Many of you that have adopted understand what I am saying. I have seen take things that were intended to harm or hurt or just completely destroy our hope, and God took it and made it to our benefit. Who knows what is going to happen in all of this. We are in a situation and are having things happen that have never happened before with other adoptions. I told our translator Sergey that he has a whole list of things that he can now say this has happened to me before. We have had some unheard of things come our way. All I can say that is what I told a man during and “interview” this week, “For a boy that has been in an orphanage for 12 years and no one cared about it seems that he has become priority number one for the country of Ukraine”. One day I will be able to explain that in more detail.
I have been in Keiv for about two hours and it is just 7:30 am. I’m going to try to get alittle rest before Jan starts out on her journey back to Ukraine. Again thank you all so much for loving us and prauing for us. We love you all dearly.
Jerry is officially tired of Ukraine December 11, 2008
Bet ya thought Jerry was writing this. Not so, this is Jan. Bless him he is just too worn out to write. Things just keep piling up on him and without me, his life, his love, his reason to breathe, it gets really difficult. I talked with him several times today. So many decisions that he is making on his own. He was actually so overwhelmed that he walked to McDonald’s today. WALKED TO MICKEY D’S – do you hear, the man is desperate! Some things have raised their ugly heads and he has had to deal with them. He is alone, hungry for home cooking, and just plain old homesick. The holidays have arrived and he is not home. He is just worn out trying to please people that don’t really matter or have a legal say in this adoption. He told me today “Why is it that a boy that was orphaned for 12 years without love or attention is now so important to the powers that be that when a family comes to adopt him with every paper in place and all the legalities in proper order for three years, and with a loving home just waiting for him - why is it that they are making it so difficult. Even to the extent of costing him one more Christmas alone.” I didn’t have an answer, just a promise that one day God will bring justice to this child. Tomorrow holds another difficult day for him as he tries to decide how best to handle a situation. Please know that God is taking care of him. There are so many moments that God has interceeded on our family’s behalf and He is working wonders. Most importantly God is protecting us. Please pray for Jerry to be fully in line with God’s guidance tomorrow. I will be leaving on Friday headed back to Ukraine and I know that Jerry will be so happy to see me. Who wouldn’t be! Actually he is going to meet me at the airport. Keep in mind that we have never been away from each other this long in 15 years! I’m telling you Jerry is truly an amazing man and if he hasn’t gotten tired of me in 15 years, can you imagine what he is going through when he is tired of Ukraine and only been there 9 or so weeks. Please pray for Jake also as this hearing is turning into more of a circus than an adoption hearing. He is going to have to face some issues and people that are going to be difficult. Although there is absolutely no legal basis or practicle reason for the judge’s wishes to have non-involved family members present for the hearing, she has still instructed them to be present. There seems to be no one that has any authority over her even though she is not following the letter of the law. If I have any hard feelings toward this whole process it is that they (meaning the judge) do not try to protect the children; they try to protect the interests of all adults with little regard to what effects the hearing can have on the child. Please pray for Jake’s peace of mind and well being above all else. Also please pray that for everything that satan throws at us in an attempt to bring us down – pray that God will just use every event for His glory and to bring Him praise and to show others His love. We are tired and emotionally worn, we need your prayers to be the kind of people God can use. Well, I am going to call it a night because I have to be responsible and be awake at 6 am. Don’t worry the coffee pot is set! We were only 10 minutes late to school this morning, but I had to re-enroll him so that was my excuse. Tomorrow’s excuse… well I’m still working on it. We love you all and are so thankful for your prayers and you constant encouragement. Don’t tell Jerry, but I am coming to Ukraine packing my secret weapon…FUDGE!!! That should perk the old boy up!
