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CBN.com – The 700 Club co-host recounts the special trip she took with her daughters last summer. Together they show God’s love to the forgotten orphans of Ukraine.
Before we knew it, Alysia, Sophia, Zoyia and I were ready to go to the Ukraine for the first time since the adoption. It would take us five flights and over 22 hours.
The day had arrived to visit the girls’ grandparents. The girls had seen them frequently because they lived in an apartment near theirs. However, the girls’ mother had been killed, and they were taken away.
When we arrived in the Ukraine and came to their grandparents' home, the girls just flew off of that bus into their arms. I remember just standing there watching and thinking [cries] this is beyond anything I’ll ever understand.
I watched their grandparents, and I knew in that moment there was healing that was taking place right in front of me.
I knew we had a lot of catching up to do. From the beginning Grandma and Grandpa Galina and Nicoli were so easy to be with. Grandpa is a riot. He has a great sense of humor. Galina was just great about sharing the girls’ past and wanted to be sure that I knew their history.
There were other people to see too, including their cousin Violeta.
Violeta and Sophia are only three years apart, so they really relate to each other. She is a very sweet girl and really anticipated the girls coming.
They also have a half brother Vova. He was just old enough that he taught them a lot of games when they were younger. So it was fun to come together.
But amidst the fun, I thought there was something important we had to do. I wanted my children to visit their birth mother’s grave. They’d never been there before.
Galina had three daughters all who dried tragically. So to go back to this grave was not just sad because their mother is there. It’s sad because it represents the tragedy that has struck this family over a long period of time.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye. But it was time for our adventure to continue. We were on our way to the orphanage! We just couldn’t get there fast enough.
The hours crawled by until we finally arrived in Berdansk. We checked into our hotel quickly and reloaded to drive five miles to the orphanage. The ride was priceless.
The girls started recognizing things. Then the momentum built as we got closer. It was just overwhelming.
I couldn’t wait to see all my girls’ reactions to all their friends. I anticipated that Alysia’s reunion with her closest friend Sveta would likely be the most emotional.
Alysia almost didn’t get off the bus. She looked at me with panic and said, “What do I say to her, Mom?” I said, “Just go. Don’t say anything. Just get off the bus.” She did, and they fell into each other’s arms.
Zoyia took off with her friends to get reacquainted. I couldn’t help but wonder what it must be like to be back in the place that they had known as home.
Sophie was very shy at first. She looked back at me, and I know right away what was wrong. They were all jabbering in Russian, and she knew what they were saying, but she couldn’t remember how to talk back in Russian to them. However, after awhile it began to come back to her, and she began to talk to them.
Alysia, who was 13 when she came to America, had no problem picking Russian right back up. She enjoyed spending time with Sveta and wandering around the orphanage.
Soon it was time to leave but we would be back tomorrow. We had a special evening planned at the hotel. Alysia’s friend Sveta and her sisters were allowed to stay with us for the night, and we had a surprise waiting! A birthday party! None of the girls had ever had one before.
The next day we returned to the orphanage for another day of visiting and ran into some familiar faces.
David and Carol Davenport are CBN partners who visited Berdansk last year on a CBN vision trip and were so moved that they came back to adopt two girls.
There was a concert to attend. There were so many talented kids. But one kid that stood out from the crowd was Nikolas. He absolutely stole the show.
Later we learned of his tragic past. He told us he used to live in the sewers in the winter. The pipes below ground would keep him warm. He is safe now in the Berdansk orphanage but he longs for a family.
We also met a little boy name Yuroslov. He is 11 years old and has been in the orphanage since he was born. His favorite subject is English and was anxious to show it off.
Yuroslov also longs for a mom and dad, just like every child here. It breaks my heart that more of these kids are not adopted. I think every one of them in their heart is saying, “Will you take me this time? Is this the time someone will take me home and say to me, ‘You’re special?’" Every kid wants a home. Every kid wants to know they are wanted. Every kid wants to know they belong somewhere.
Our time in Berdansk had come to and end. The departure was just as emotional as our arrival. Saying goodbye to Sveta was just as hard for me as it was for Aylsia.
For Zoyia at first her classmates were happy and smiling. Then I watched one by one tears fill their eyes.
Some of them are 14 or 15. In one more year they age out of them. They are so young. Most of them don’t know how to do anything. They don’t know how to handle money and now they have to go out and find a place to live and find a job in an economy that has a 50 percent unemployment rate. They feel so alone. I look at everyone in the faith, and I say, “God, help them.”
As I reflect back on our adventure, I am reminded that three years ago, I knew nothing about the Ukraine. Now God has placed something on my heart that’s not just about adopting and raising three more children. It’s much bigger than that.
It was about changing a nation. It was about having a vision for the Ukraine. It was about seeing things from an eternal perspective through God’s eyes and putting aside my convenience and my comfort to grab hold of what God was.
My prayer is for people, who know Jesus, talk about what they believe and mean it, to be willing to go out and be risk-takers. Be inconvenienced. Put their plans and their comfort on the line to make a difference.
Give to CBN and help these orphans have a happy holiday
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