Tues May 29

I am now going back to try to recall what happened since we last had internet to blog. It seems like so long ago! We had no internet access for the last week so just called details to my sister to post.


On Tuesday, May 29 we got up early to go to the orphanage to pick up the girls. Jon posted most of the details that day but, of course, I have more to add. The huge blessing that day was our van. If you recall, our ride to Odessa was quite memorable(see May 16 post) and I did not want to repeat it. God provided a great van and driver this time! We were able to rent the van used by the baptist churches in the Odessa region and their driver. We were thrilled that morning to see such a spacious van! That was also such a blessing because the eight of us were in it so much during the day. Besides the driving we had to wait several hours in the van in the hot afternoon sun while waiting for Seroge to get our paperwork. Our driver was also better but when the time crunch came he did step it up to normal Ukranian driving. We had to race back to Odessa to try to get our passports done before the office closed and he broke plenty of traffic laws on the way(if there are any traffic laws that is). We really didn't notice though due to our previous experience. At least this driver drove as if he valued his life.


As Jon mentioned in the post last week, we were at Andrijevo on the last day of school to see their graduation. These were some of their ninth grade graduates.


The ninth grade graduating class. These children now leave the orphanage for the next stage of their life.


Flowers are a common gift in Ukraine. I think these went to the teachers. Of course, we did not understand anything said at their ceremony. These are some first graders.



This is how we spent most of our time during the adoption process.....waiting.

Some of Tanya's classmates


After much waiting around we finally got to pack the girls up and leave. We drove a couple hours to the town where their birth certificates were located. The official took her time reviewing our papers and finally got the birth certificates done. Here is the town we were in and Amber, Tanya, and Morgan are just trying to kill time.


We then went to Odessa but the passport office had already closed. We were able to get to another office and get a stamp on the birth certificates. Seroge took us to get our train tickets to leave the next day. Again we were thankful for our big van and safe driver because we could leave the girls in the van to wait. We saw a McDonald's and finally got to eat about 7:30 PM. Up til then we had only had some trail mix since our light lunch at the orphanage. Despite no food and little water and lots of time in a warm van, all four girls did great.


We had to call and find a place to stay for the night since we had hoped to be on a train to Kiev. Thankfully the seminary had a couple rooms for us again. While at the seminary this time we were able to meet the seminary student our church is supporting. He helped us carry our luggage and find our rooms for the night.















Sunset over the seminary as we were arriving.

They are in the United States!!!

posted by Lynette - Saturday, 9:30 pm

I just talked to Janell and they have arrived in Cincinnati. They are in their hotel room and they were able to get tickets for their whole family. Praise God! They will be coming into Sioux Falls at 10:45 on Sunday morning.

Coming Home Soon!

Friday, June 1st - 8:00 am
posted by Lynette(Janell's sister)

I visited with Janell last night and they are very anxious to get home. They were going to spend the day getting their passports and getting rested up to begin the trip back home. They are leaving Kiev on Saturday and arriving in Cincinnati around 7:00 pm and spending the night there. Right now they only have 4 tickets to leave Cincinnati. They need all of our prayers so that they can all come home together that morning. The scheduled flight is suppose to be around 10:30. Janell will let us know any additional information as soon as she knows.

A Full Day

Tuesday May 29 at 9:30 pm

Got Jon writing this time...Janell will return soon :)

We were off early this morning at 6:00 am on our way to the orphanage. We arrived to see the last day of school ceremony take place. It was quite a presentation. The ninth grade class graduated as well. We then waited for Seroge and the Deputy Director of the orphanage to go and get the court decree signed. We have a story about that to tell when we get home. All went well and after they returned to the orphanage we packed up Lienna and Tanya's things. Mostly toys. They did not have many clothes with them. Another story to tell when we get home. The girls said their goodbyes and it was tough for us to know the reality of that situation for our girls and for the other kids still at the orphanage.

We headed to Bilivka, about a two hour drive, to get their birth certificates. We were there for over two hours as they checked every detail of the court decree. We then raced to Odessa trying to get to the passport office before it closed. We missed it by about an half hour. We did make it to the Odessa vital records office, just as they were closing, for another stamp on the birth certificates. We will get the passports first thing Wednesday morning and then board a train to Kiev at 11:47 am.

Thank you for the prayers today. We waited around for many hours but the girls have done well. We are hoping things in Kiev will go smoothly and quickly so we can make it home soon.

All for now.

ten day waiting period over

Posted Monday, May 28, 2007 at 5:00 pm

Amber writes…Well it is hard to believe that we only have a few days left until we come home. I think I am ready to come home. I had fun at the orphanage spending time with the kids and getting to know some of them. Even though they have so little, they found things to give me as a gift to make my birthday special. I will miss some of them when I leave. I thank you for all your prayers. God has been really good to us on this trip.

Janell writes…..Yesterday Jon preached again at our sister church. We then had another meal and visited. We have really enjoyed the people we have gotten to know here and learned a lot about their church.

Pastor Alexander presented us with a gift at the end of the service.
Jon preached the second out of the three sermons at this Sunday morning service. If you think our Sunday services are long, try listening to three sermons with two in a different language. We have someone interpreting during the Russian message but with no pauses. It is hard to hear with two languages going at the same time and our interpreter has to talk fairly quiet. It amazes me how someone can interpret and listen at the same time. I have a huge appreciation for people who can do that and will do that. I was so thankful to our friends for interpreting. When Jon preaches he pauses after each phrase and the translator repeats in Russian. That is easier to listen to but harder for Jon to deliver the message. For those of you who have traveled to other countries and visited their church services, you know that we in America have no reason to complain about long services. Maybe we have it too easy as Christians in America if we are not eager to hear more teaching from the Bible.

This picture was taken after Wednesday night bible study. Their church has been under construction for several years. We know what that is like.
Pastor Alexander and his wife Lubov.

In the evening(Sunday), we walked to a salt lake with our friends, Tanya, Liza, and Dennis. Tanya is Vasily's wife and Liza and Dennis are 5 and 2. Tanya speaks English and has also been great to have as an interpreter as well as a friend. This lake is as salty as the dead sea. The salt and mud are therapeutic to people with all kinds of ailments. There is a large clinic here where people will come for treatments. The locals just go down to the lake and cover themselves with the mud. The lake is very large but shallow enough to walk across. The one drawback: the mud stinks. It was interesting but I opted out of the mud bath. Morgan, of course, loved it. I was mostly worried about her getting the coal black mud on her clothes because we have so few clothes along. I know, I know, I should just let the kid have some fun!

Today (Monday) we are preparing to leave. We walked several miles to a mall and found pizza. It tasted so good! We only order ham and pineapple because those are the only words we know. The other choices here seem to be salami, chicken, fish, and veggies. The crust has always been thin, very little sauce, and the cheese is a little different. We think maybe it is Russian cheese. We got a few other supplies and headed back to pack.

We leave tomorrow morning very early for the orphanage to pick up the girls. If all goes well, we will be on an overnight train to Kiev Tuesday night. On Wednesday we could complete documents and be ready to leave on Thursday. Then we will have to try to get two plane tickets for Tanya and Lienna and change our four for an earlier flight home. That may be the toughest step. So we don't know when our next blog post will be. Maybe we will be headed home when you see it next! Hopefully we won't be in Kiev another week.

Shopping in Odessa

Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 5:00 pm

We got final word today that Monday is a holiday here. We are not sure what holiday though. Therefore, we will be going to get Tanya and Lienna very early on Tuesday morning. Seroge, our facilitator said Lienna has called him and is anxious for us to come and get them. Seroge and the deputy director will go Tuesday morning to get the court decree signed and you can pray that it will go smoothly. That should be about 1 am Central time so you can just include it in your bedtime prayers. We will get to stay at the orphanage to pack up the girls and say good-byes while they get the paperwork done. An answered prayer: we have found a van to take us to the orphanage and drive us around Odessa to do paperwork on Tuesday. It shouldn't be as exciting (nerve-wracking, treacherous) as the taxi here.

Morgan being Morgan!


Today we were blessed with some clouds and a cooler breeze! We did the Ukrainian thing and walked lots of miles today. We did some shopping for gifts for the kids at the orphanage and found McDonald's. McDonald's is a good 45 minute walk. We succeeded in ordering our meal. We also got some more feel for the city life here.


Outdoor rumage sale, Ukraine style. People lined the sidewalks and streets with their items for sale. The clothes are not drying, they are for sale.


If you don't have a table, you put down a sheet and open for business. We saw hundreds of entrepreneurs like this.




Morgan writes.....


I am going to miss all the kids at the orphanage. It will be hard to say goodbye. I made a lot of friends when we were there for six days. Especially in school. It has been fun staying in Odessa. Pastor Alexander and Lubov found out I liked oranges and have three plates at every meal for me. I miss you all. Thank you for your prayers.

A Day at the Docks

Friday, May 25, 2007

Thank you so much for all the emails you have sent. Hearing from home is such a blessing to us and helps us keep going. In case you have tried, you can’t put responses on our blog site but you can email us with our normal email addresses. Unfortunately, each day brings frustration though as we try to connect with the internet. So we never know if we will get our blog updated or get our emails.

On Thur May 24, 2007

Yesterday, (Thursday) we went for a boat ride from the Odessa dock. While waiting for our boat, we saw a large ferry from Turkey come in and watched it dock. While sitting on our boat we watched other large ships (above) come in and saw how the tugboats maneuvered them in the port. We sat on our boat for two hours. Pastor had driven us down to the port and does not speak English so we could not ask what was happening. He was a little frustrated too. But it was a nice day with a breeze off the sea so it was comfortable. The girls also watched the jellyfish. Morgan however found a Ukrainian girl her age to befriend. It took a whole hour before she talked to her though which is longer than usual for Morgan. When the boat finally took off we got a nice ride along the coastline of Odessa.


In the evening we went to Vasily and Tanya’s home and ate and visited. The girls played and picked fresh strawberries. The gardens in Ukraine are huge and they can grow such variety. They produce grapes, cherries, pears, and strawberries along with their many veggies. Jon wants everyone to know that he has eaten quite a variety of veggies. Most of the food here is homegrown and we are told some Ukranians get sick from American food due to the preservatives.
Today (Friday) is laundry day, rest, and try to stay cool. For those I asked to pray for warm weather for me, Jon says you can quit! We are trying to get some breeze blowing through our dorm to cool it down at night.

Our room is second floor on the far left. This is a new building with ongoing construction all around it at the seminary.

This is the main office building for the seminary in Odessa.