Our three living miracle boys... Silas, Ethan and Sasha!

Ethan’s progess has been nothing short of a miracle. Derek and I were looking at some past pictures of Ethan when we first took him out of the orphanage.  We were shocked at the shape he was in!  It’s amazing how your mind forgets some of the hard details of the past when such growth has been made. It’s good to see the growth and it’s also important to remember God’s faithfulness and all the Lord has brought Ethan through.  Ethan is truly a miracle child!  All our boys are!

When Derek and I were in Ukraine going through the process of adopting our three precious sons, Derek went though a really difficult time connecting with Ethan, who at that time was named Dimitri.  On December 12th, Derek and I were sitting in the office of a telephone company using the wireless internet to write some emails. Derek began to write a post for our adoption blog.  As he was writing the post, he had tears in his eyes. I knew the Lord was speaking something powerful to his heart.  We wanted to re-post Derek’s post again to remind you of God’s greatness and His power!  When you read the post below you will be reading the names Roman, Dimitri and Sasha as the three boys we were in the process of adopting. We changed Roman’s name to Silas, Dimitri’s to Ethan and we kept Sasha’s name. When we left Ukraine with Ethan, he weighed 11 pounds at 5 years old. He now weighs 26 pounds and has grown 8 inches in 9 months.  He laughs, he smiles, he talks, he’s learning how to walk and he is very smart.  We were told he would “do nothing.” What a testament to the Lord’s awesome power!

Those of you who follow our blog are aware that since this post below, we have not only adopted our three boys but have also brought in two new daughters, Leeann and our little Sana. God is good! What an amazing heavenly Father we have!  His love endures forever and we have 10 beautiful blessings to prove it!!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Renee’ and I are sitting in the office of a telephone company in Novograd Valenski, Ukraine, using wireless internet.  We are in the middle of adopting three special needs boys from an orphanage here.  Two of the boys have Down Syndrome.  Roman is high functioning, energetic and happy.  Dimitri has serious mental retardation, failure to thrive, and though he is five years old, he is the size of a 1 year old.  He has sores on his face, a distinct smell of death on him, and yells out if we try to do anything with him other than hold him. Because he has less ability to respond and learn, he naturally gets less attention and care from the orphanage workers in this world of limited resources.  The harsh reality of the “survival of the fittest” principle is a life and death struggle that this little boy is losing fast.  Our third boy Sasha, is a brilliant six year old who has Spina Bifida (the condition our son Josiah died from in 1996). He is like a learning sponge that can’t get enough! He is happy and alert and thirsty for knowledge and experience.  So with two of our boys, we get an immediate return on any investment we make.  With Dimitri, there’s not much immediate gratification. In fact, it’s unknown when and if there will be a return at all. This is the kind of situation that makes the carnal, fallen, human reasoning think, “Why try?  What’s the point?  What will this produce?  What good will this do?  Why not select a boy who has more potential?  This looks like a lost cause.

Two days ago we drove for hours into the Ukrainian countryside to the village where Dimitri was born. We met with officials there and signed papers and answered their questions. We also went and saw Dimitri’s house. The day had been long, we were still recovering from jet lag, I was beginning to really miss my six daughters at home and all the familiar things our fragile human hearts entangle themselves with in feeble attempts to feel secure. Sitting in the dark on our very long drive back to Novograd that night, the Holy Spirit began to whisper to my heart, and new understanding about redemption began to take shape.

I was thinking, “Man, adopting this little boy has been so much work. This is exhausting, expensive, uncomfortable … and it doesn’t feel very rewarding right now.” What am I doing in some little Soviet car in the dark, in the middle of rural Ukraine in frozen December, as the driver dodges cats and potholes? What if Dimitri doesn’t improve at all? What if we get “nothing” out of this? … Ahhh, there it was; that dark, fallen, unreedemed, selfish human love, rooted in the tree of the knowledge of “good and evil”. The love the Greeks called “erao” love. The love where we treat someone as precious and treasured for what we can get out of it. This is unlike “agapeo” love, the God kind of love that treats someone as treasured and precious for their good, not for my good. It’s when I love a person in order to meet their needs, having no expectation of them meeting any of my needs. At a whole new level, God is working His kind of love into my weak heart, and He’s using little Dimitri to do it.

On the drive home that night, the Lord whispered in my ear, “This is Redemption. Derek, do you know how far I travelled to get you and bring you back? I had to be separated from my Son, in order to get you, just like you are separated from your children in order to get these boys. Do you know how expensive it was for Me to purchase you? It cost me everything. Do you know how broken, sick, damaged, twisted, dirty, smelly, and hopeless you were? And at the end of it all, you had nothing to give me or add to me. I did it for you. I emptied myself and became nothing so that you could have it all. This is redemption.

My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him. And when He redeems us, we can’t even really appreciate or comprehend it, just like Dimitri will never comprehend or fully appreciate what is about to happen to him … but … he will live in the fruit of it. As his Daddy, I will never expect him to understand all of this or even to thank me. I just want to watch him live in the benefits of my love and experience the joys of being an heir in my family. This is how our heavenly “Papa” feels towards us.

Today, settle your busy heart down and rest in the benefits of redemption. Enjoy the fruits of His goodness, and stop trying to “pay Him back”. You’ll never get close you goofy little kid.

Our beautiful girls, Telma, Teyolla and Keyolla!

Happy Birthday to our Precious Teyolla and Keyolla!! We love you!

We had a great time celebrating the twin’s birthday on Wednesday the 23rd!  It’s hard to believe that they are 18 years old now!  They have grown into such amazing young ladies!  Derek was living in the Marshall Islands when the twins were born.  In fact, he was living right across the street from their home.  When he heard about their birth, he went to their home to meet them.  He even held them in his arms, not ever knowing that these little beauties would be our baby girls 10 years later!  Amazing!  We are so proud of the beautiful young ladies they are and we can’t wait to see the path life takes them.

After celebrating the twin’s birthday on Wednesday, we woke up bright and early on Thursday morning (today) at 3:45AM and loaded up our van with Telma’s suitcase.  As Derek, Telma and I sat in the van on the drive to the airport, Derek and I had big lumps in our throats.  This was our first little bird flying out of the nest.  She is going to be attending the Compassion DTS with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Kona Hawaii.  We are so excited for her!  After her training in Kona, she will be flying to Rwanda to do her hands on outreach.

The evening before Telma flew out, we had been reflecting on some of what she had walked through before she became ours.  She had quite a traumatic life, filled with much rejection and pain.  She speaks very openly about this when she shares her story to others. It’s amazing how far the Lord has brought her. She has been healed from so much of her pain and is filled with such hope now!  Those of you who know Telma are aware of her great love for Jesus and her admiration of Mother Teresa’s past work, as well as others who have given their lives to serving the poor and the orphan.  This is Telma’s life calling.  We are so proud of her and can’t wait to hear the stories she will have to tell. We know there will be many stories of God’s miraculous power and love to those who desperately need the hope that only Jesus can give!  Please keep her in your prayers.  Thanks so much to all of you who have been so faithful to pray.  It means the world to us!

Blessings and hugs to you all!

There was lots reef fish, coconut, white rice (the islander’s staple food) and breadfruit.  Tanya and Amy cooked up a storm and provided traditional dishes like IQ (a hot coconut soup), Lukuor (a cold coconut drink), Bwiro (fermented breadfruit that is sweet and formed into gelatin type squares), Mae’ ( breadfruit), fish, BbQ chicken, and Bobo (white rice cooked in sugar and rolled in coconut).  Our Ukrainian boys dug into the feast like true island natives! We laid out the spread in the back yard and had an outdoor feast, “Island Style!”. Our twins, Telma and Leeann’s favorite part of the whole feast was the raw fish… YUM! They tore the fish apart with their bare hands! Soph and KK looked on saying, “EEEWWWWW!!!” They were very grossed out at their sister’s wild cravings!

After eating, we started a camp fire and sat around with a guitar singing fun and silly “campfire” songs while we ate s’mores.  Sana had her first s’more and was an instant convert!  We had such a great time together and the various smells and tastes brought back many good memories to all of us.

Thanks Terry and Amy for all you do to minister to the Marshallese people and for coming to visit us!  It was awesome to see you all and to make more memories that will last a lifetime!

Yokwe Yuk! (Love to you).

Our island girls kissin their salt water favorites!

My beautiful sister-in-law Amy and our daughter Teyolla

Literal fishy kisses!

Tey doin a little fishy kiss of her own

These are the fish that gave up their lives so our girls could feast on raw fish!

Limes are another treat in the islands as you can see by Tey and Key's smiles!

Juggling limes

Tanya working hard making a cold coconut drink called Lukur

Sana having fun with her fishy friend

Precious Amy working hard in the kitchen

My brother Terry giving a scary look with Key and Leeann smiling on

Our extended tribe... maybe I should say the whole village!

Getting ready to feast on island treats

Yum yum!

Telma filling her cup with Lukur (coconut drink)

Telma and Jikko (our twins biological brother)

Soph and KK diggin in

Yummy food from my people.... gets a thumbs up from Key

Jaukon, our twins other biological brother

Leeann had a smile from ear to ear eating her favorite island dishes

Tanya enjoying the fruit of her labor!

Ethan loved the Bobo's (sweet rice balls rolled in coconut) so much that he tried to eat the whole thing in one bite!

Our other little Ukrainian loved Bobo too!

Yum yum, raw fish, my favorite!

Key chowing down on raw fish too!

My brother Terry and Leeann having a snuggle moment

Sana and her first S'more

Fun around the fire pit, singing and cooking S'mores

One very blessed Mama!