Court was a success!

Samantha Rose Stoesz   12/29/11

Our family is now the Stoesz EIGHT!  We are so happy to introduce to everyone our beautiful daughter, Samantha Rose Stoesz!  Anna choose to change her name to Samantha Rose and we honored her request.  I can't imagine the mix of emotions Samantha must have been feeling when she found out yesterday that court was today.  Her life living in the House of Joy for the past 7 years is about to change forever.  We are so grateful for the love and care Samantha has received from Nicoli and the loving staff.

We have been wanting to adopt Samantha since we met her back in the summer of 2010.  In God's perfect timing, we hope to complete the remaining process and be back home in about 3 weeks.

After court we stopped by Samantha's school to catch a glimpse of the school play on their last day of class.  Samantha showed us around, introduced us to her teachers, and maintained a courageous smile while saying goodbye to her friends.  What a leap of faith and incredible strength we saw our beautiful daughter display today.

On the way home from a very busy day in Fastiv, Clarke and I ran to the underground subway market to buy dinner and 7 roses for Samantha.  One from every member of her new family.  One from Clarke, Kris, Amanda, Alex, Rhya, Luke and Natalie.  Samantha is our sweet beautiful flower that will bloom in our family forever!

Thank you all so much for all your prayers for our adoption.  We all feel covered in answered prayers and are so grateful.  What a blessing it is to become parents again.

Court Tomorrow!

We just received the call from George, who has received the permission from the Ministry of Social Policy and the Fastiv Distircit Court, "Tomorrow you will have court, and so everything is okay!" 

Our prayers have been answered and we give God the Glory! Thank you all for your prayerful support!

Willages...Willages...and St. Sophia

Tuesday the 27th, we spent touring the Museum of National Architecture and Life in Ukraine.  This is an outdoor museum which is actually a collection of authentic villages scattered across the countryside and forest.  We picked a warmer day, (45F) and braved the breeze and hiking to explore a glimpse of Ukraine peasant life from different areas.  We were four of the seven tourists that decided to visit the museum today, since it is clearly more designed for a warmer season. 

Regardless of the gray skies and the runny noses, we were fascinated with the thatched roofs, willow woven fences, and the vision of how beautiful if must be in the summer with all of the flowers planted and in full bloom.  Each little community had a cute Babushka that was a curator of sorts who unlocked the interiors of the homes for us to see artifacts of this difficult life.  Most of the interiors where off limits for cameras, but we did manage to capture a few shots through the windows.  It is funny that in this country of superstitions my DVD cam-corder lost all of its data right after I tried to sneak in a video (without flash) of a school room that was not that different from our Little House of the Prairie.

This tourist stop is be a must during the warmer seasons, with the outdoor theater, the actual workings of small farm life, and the mills that are an integral part of peasant life.  Many windmills decorate the property, which was a surprise to us all, not thinking of Ukraine being known for windmills.  Scattered between the villages of 5-15 buildings each are grassy rolling hills, plowed soil that is still worked and a real feeling of being back in time.  There are also 3 functioning churches that are made of wood but still capture the Byzantine architecture with domes that are presumably covered with a more affordable copper based on their green tinge. 

It was mid afternoon and we hadn't adequately planned for the length of this museum.  Walking through the forest we shared a few almonds that I shoved in my pocket that morning.  We all talked about the movie Defiance that we had seen the previous night.  The movie was based on a real life survival story which the Bielski brothers lead over 1,200 Jewish people to safety after living 3 years in the forests of Ukraine during World War II.  We knew that we were far from appreciating the harsh reality that the Jews suffered, but somehow a grumbling stomach, a long way to walk, and the silent forest helped us imagine just a little bit better. Our backs were starting to ache after so much walking, and I personally marvelled at the hard work that these peasants did day by day just to exist.

Cute Ukrainian Home

The museum was just a little south of the main city of Kiev, and only cost a taxi fair of 86 grivna.  We shaved that down to 18 grivna on the way home by combining transferring Marshrutkas (buses) and the Metro with a little more walking.  Once back in the center of the city, we spent some time at Saint Sophia's Cathedral.   This is another must see attraction with it's restored and original frescos dating back 1000 years!  Yarislov the Wise and other iconic royalty of Ukrainian history are all captured on the walls and upper domes of this beautiful Cathedral.  In addition, there is an incredible painting of Christ as described in Revelations with all of the kings of this world bowing down to him.  This was our favorite painting. We were a little late for taking good pictures outside, but Kris's camera did capture this wonderful shot.  Another successful day while we wait for our court!

Where will they live?

Monday the 26th we visited our 2009 Camp Chaperon, Tatiana, at her home in Vishgorod just north of Kiev.  Her husband, Nicoli, is the director of the orphanage in Petrivski, of which we were unable to see on this visit.  Their two sons are both grown and the youngest, Serogiy is employed utilizing his world economics degree under a deputy minister in that big building next to St. Michaels.  Much of our conversation was surrounding the state of affairs of orphanages in Ukraine with them sharing that only 310 orphanages of the previous 659 are still open today.  It appears that there are many reasons for this, but one such reason is the implementation of the foster care system.  Nicoli has seen many of his children leave his program, only to return once the short lived monetary incentives wore off with the new foster family.

We can only speculate that this isn't the norm, and that perhaps there are many positive reasons for the diminishing number of orphanages.  However, the bleak future of all orphanages was repeatedly communicated from Tatiana, as she tells that their orphanage is slated to close next year like many others. Their fears are that reform is being legislated without the ability to truly bring about positive change.  The specific orphanage in Petrivski that Nicoli is running also happens to be one of the finest facilities in the local village which could house a desperately needed kindergarten.  Even worse, is that there are no specific plans for what to do with the remaining children except to, "turn them to the streets to stroll," stated Tatiana.  They have some German sponsors that have poured their finances and love into this orphanage.  It just wouldn't be fair to the sponsors or the children for such a tragedy of closure to occur.  Nicoli is burdened with not knowing how he can present this news of closure to the children when it happens!  Like so many situations in Ukraine, there also happens to be some political motives with a local election just around the corner and savvy politicians looking for a quick solution with the associated votes. Turning this orphanage into a kindergarten is one such quick solution for the politicians.  Tatiana is not quite ready to give up fighting.  She has been interviewed by area officials and promised to bring attention to this situation through local activism outlets if closure of the orphanage comes true.  She is aware of the high risk that she is placing on her and her family, but the children must be given a voice!

Like we often find when looking in depth into so many areas of this country, the problems are overwhelming and in huge need of prayer.  For now, we asked for the blessings on our beautifully prepared duck, borscht, blinchniki (sweet pancakes) and kortoshka. 

Tatiana, Natalie, Clarke, Rhya & Nicoli

Tatiana took time to specifically remember each and every volunteer that she could from the 2009 UOO camp, and asked that we share a warm "hello" and "thank-you" to each volunteer. The girls watched an episode of I-Carley (in Russian) while the parents droned on about boring topics.  We shared some photos and caught up on each other's families and had a wonderful visit...... that is if you can put the needy children out of your mind.

Merry Christmas from Kyiv!

Merry Christmas!

Clarke, the girls and I have enjoyed our Christmas Eve and Day here in Ukraine.  We were able to have Anna spend the weekend with us and just now Clarke had to leave to take her back to the "House of Joy".  We had fun shopping, cooking, wrapping, singing and preparing on Christmas Eve Day.

Today we went to church ICA (International Christian Assembly) here in Kyiv (8 Metro stops away from the apartment on the blue line).  As we approached the entrance, Christmas carols were being sung and I had to hold back my tears.  It felt so good to be here celebrating with fellow believers on the day we remember the birth of our Savior.  As we joined into song "What Child is this?"  the verse that resounded in my heart was:

"Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail the Word made flesh,

The Babe, the Son of Mary."

Thank you Jesus for coming to earth to be our Savior, 

Lord of lords, Wonderful Counselor, King of Kings, our comforter

Creator, Deliverer, Holy Messiah

Immanuel (God with us) 

Peace on earth and goodwill to men.  

And the bells they're ringing, 

Like a choir they're singing

And with our hearts we'll hear them

Do you hear the bells, they're ringing

The life the angels singing

Open up your heart and hear them

Peace on earth, goodwill to men

(Casting Crowns)

Below is our Christmas greeting to you all!  We had fun putting it together and we would love to hear what you had for Christmas dinner.  Sit back and take a glimpse into some Ukrainian culture and yummy food!

Merry Christmas from Ukraine

Our adoption process is still in a holding pattern.  We are praying for court at the end of this week, before the New Year Holiday.  It is all in God's timing I know, but prayers are much appreciative for us to at least find out when the SDA will have the paperwork approved.  Since the SDA opened back up in the beginning of December, as I understand it, the typical 3-5 day approval at the SDA has now turned into up to a 10 day wait.  Our paperwork approval in the Fastiv region seemed to go seemingly painless and our facilitator had the paperwork in the hands of the SDA on December 21st.

Anna, Natalie and Rhya enjoying dessert

While we wait we will visit a few places this week.  We will visit with Tatiana (from UOO camp 2011) tomorrow and we would also like to visit "Fathers House" here in the Kyiv region this week as well.  We will also do some sight seeing with the girls as well as continue to enjoy the Christmas season in Ukraine!

On Friday December 23rd, we had dinner with the DeYoung family and walked around Independence Square enjoying the lights and the wonderful chocolatey tastes that Kyiv has to offer!

Natasha, Anna, Natalie, Clarke, Rhya, Abigal, Bruce and Michelle

So, will you please share what you had for Christmas Dinner?  It would be great to hear from as many as possible!

Merry Christmas!

Kalininske Orphanage Visit near Kherson

Dec 18th

Sunday visit to Kalininske Orphanage

We had an apple oatmeal breakfast at Joshua's house with Karen & the Kiev CBN entourage. We said goodbyes to the house boys (including Sasha) and headed out for the 2 1/2 hr. van race to the orphanage in Kalininske.

We stopped to get some fruit & water for us, and some groceries for some workers at the orphanage.
We are greeted with stares as we drive through the local roads approaching the orphanage. We all piled out of the van like a bunch of Disney tourists having gone on the space ride 17 times in a row. I feel like have to get my land legs back, so I walk around briefly as the crowd of greeting children are approaching.


Our Natalie goes straight for the tiny kitten, while the welcoming hugs and greetings continue! Quite a while goes by before seeing any adults at this facility and even when we do they seem not directly involved with the developing plans. Kris and I are missing out on all of the plans and discussions, which makes for a struggle with our internal desire to seek order, and generally know what the heck is really going on. Not knowing the language might have something to do with this all.

Very few introductions occur and it is easy to feel like the fifth wheel. Soon a special young lady named Natasha (a 17 yr old who dresses like she is 40. and is developmentally delayed as an elementary student) approaches us to practice her “my name is Natasha” line. We are so happy to be exchanging our crude strasvichya and hellos with a smiling orphan.

Orphan girls finished decorating the mess hall and crafts were prepared for the kids. The girls and I are employed to help with crafts. In typical true form, the older boys cautiously watched until eventually they sat down and joined in on making snow flakes and reindeer. Ruslan is among these older boys, but is one of the first to join in. For those that remember Ruslan from UOO camp 2007 his smile is the most contagious of all!!! Many of the boys are at least 14. They are showing their crudeness, especially when not being watched. We see hitting, shoving, harsh words and a defensive stance by a few who are clearly afraid of something.

 



Karen handing out summer camp photos

There is a clear pecking order of who they are in their status among themselves. Regardless, Karen's crew is able to penetrate with smiles and affirmation, by hugging and speaking kindly to each child. It is clear that they have developed bonds already from past summer camps. What a delight it is to see the Love of God shining upon these children.

Soon it is time for the Christmas skit. The 60 kids paid close attention and seemed to soak in the lesson of Jesus’ birthday while being entertained.

We are so proud of our girls Natalie and Rhya for going with the flow, remaining willing and helpful, and flexing with all the irregular eating. Kris and I are taking it all in. We both are hoping for a true development of appreciation to set in with Natalie and Rhya. Meanwhile, the Zondervan Jesus Story Bibles were all stacked up and waiting to be given out with the big Korona (crown) chocolate bars at the end of the skit.



Ruslan with his Huge Smile!!



    

After they all received their American Christmas sugar cookies, bibles, and chocolate, the crowd started to disperse. A few of the boys grabbed the "snow in a can" window paint that was left over from the skit. They headed outside and continued the "decorating" outside. (at this point it was starting to look a lot more like graffiti on the fence which needs paint anyway). As the van packing up started, so did the long embraces, the sorrowful goodbyes, and the mobbing of the van. Soon the whole van was decorated with sayings of love smudged into the caked on road grime.


We departed the orphanage, one of two in this little community, and meandered down another muddy road to visit Olya and Oksana, orphanage workers who have prepared for our group of 17 borscht, cabbage salad, and potatoes! We all piled into this 4 room house of about 600 sq ft to share in the meal and listen to the CBN Volunteers describe how during their summer camps they all sleep in this same house at once.

After our meal we pray together for the intercession of change in these Childrens’ lives. The Holy Spirit's presence is felt with the fervent prayer that is flowing from our volunteer's hearts!



Just two weeks ago these children had suddenly lost their director to cancer. Of course this is just one tragedy in the string of losses that make up the fabric of loss and grief for these kids. We as a group thank the lord for being able to still come and do this program, and to reconnect these volunteers to the kids once again. Kris and I are thankful for being able to share this experience with the CBN crew, to see Ruslan and Katya (UOO Campers) and to witness the love of God being poured into these kids.

Soon it is after 4pm, we have finished our lunch and prayer, and we return down the puddle laiden road for the race back to Kherson to see Vika and Edik and a surprise visit from Igor before catching the train.

We know have much time to be reflecting on the day with Ukrainian music playing and the countryside fading into the night. Without the light of God it is an overwhelming reality that we could feel so helpless to change. Thank you for the hearts of these awesome volunteers!



Galina Sharing God's word



Visit to Stara Zburivka

December 17th visit to "SB"

After receiving our referral on Friday late afternoon, we took the Metro back to Karen’s apartment and finished packing for our weekend in Kherson.  We were going to be spending time with the CBN crew to visit 3 different orphanages and 1 boys transitional home called Joshua’s house.  We were packed and decided to order Domino’s Pizza (yes they now deliver in Ukraine) to share with the Deyoung family, who were enroute from Munich for a week visit in Kherson.  After filling our bellies with pizza, we were off to the train station. All 8 of us headed to the train with lots of extra luggage filled with donations for orphans in the Kherson region.

The DeYoung and Stoesz family and George

The train departure was relatively uneventful other than our taxi being pulled over by the police for careless driving.  We all nestled into our cabins for the fun night on the train.     

Arriving fresh and well rested in Kherson, Karen and her crew met us with smiles with the huge CBN 17 passenger van.  

Our first stop would be Stara Zburivka to met 91 orphans and have a Christmas program that CBN organized.  The party was filled with kids making crafts, decorating sugar cookies, and watching a wonderful skit staring CBN crew.  One of the highlights for the children was receiving a Bible and a chocolate bar as a gift from CBN.  A special thank you goes out to all of you who shopped and donated Christmas decorations, crafts and cookie frosting & sprinkles, it was such a joy to see the children enjoy their time making ornaments, decorating the sugar cookies and hanging ornaments on the tree.

          

Being here in Ukraine and spending time with orphans during the Christmas season has been such a blessing.

It’s exactly where I want to be. 

It is hard to see what we have seen and not forget.  Meeting kids that only want one thing for Christmas….a family.  They are starving for attention and often I am smothered by their little dirty hands and they just want to be next to me, getting hugged and ask for me to take a picture of them.  They talk to me as if I can understand them, I wish I could.  I see their smiles; their beautiful eyes their warm hearts.  These children are getting their basic physical needs met; they have food, shelter, clothing and some education.  The orphanage does the best they can with what little they have.  The teachers and workers seem to tend well to the kids. 

As I observe the “craft” time, I see how certain children will get picked on and bullied.  Many times there would be little girls in tears because someone took their glue, or scissors.  I see older boys trying to take something from the younger kids. I see elbows and shoves and small scuffles with one another.  I see kids trying to watch out for themselves, trying to only survive in this harsh world that they are living in.   Just by being there and helping them with their ornaments would light up their faces. 

A room full of 91 orphans excited for the visit

Karen helping with the frosting of cookies

Spending so much time with these precious children is heartbreaking.  I continue to smile, hug, encourage, take pictures and embrace as many as I can, even though inside my heart breaks and is filled with sadness and wonder.  I wonder what God has planned for all these special children?  I wonder if our visit will only make it harder on the children?  I wonder how I can do MORE to help MORE children!  I wonder what each and every one of us can do to help just one child.  It is so easy to turn away and forget about the orphans of the world.  “Out of site, out of mind” as they say.  

We cannot forget these lost children, not only of Ukraine, but also of the entire world.  I wonder about the imbalance that seems to be everywhere in this country of Ukraine.  So much poverty and poor as well as so many enjoying the finer things of life.  The rich drive Lexus, BMW’s, wear designer brand clothing, live in very expensive lofts etc.  .  The clothing styles of the women, the availability of alcohol everywhere, the provocative life styles of so much of this society is evident. 

On the other side of this imbalance are the people of the village who are just trying to survive. As for orphans, well, they are at the bottom of the society pecking order! I pray that God continues His watch over these precious, vulnerable children, protecting them and sending angles to them (The staff at CBN) as often as possible. 

Karen, Galina and Oksana...Angels on earth

Karen Springs, Oksana and Galina are truly angles living on earth, bringing hope to the orphans in Ukraine.  Watching them minister to all the children, young and old, was so moving.  Their selfless giving hearts, the love they give to the children and orphanage staff is simple, pure and filled with care and concern.  CBN has loyal volunteers as well, Sasha, Roma, Alena plus many others, donating their time and energy to help the CBN staff.    

Rhya handing out Bibles

Sweet girl

The highlight of the party was the skit, which talked about Christmas and explained why we celebrate Christmas and that it is the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Concluding the party, the kids enjoyed their chocolate bars and looked through their new bibles.

Mary, Baby Jesus and Joseph stenciled on the window

Clarke and I were able to meet privately with past UOO campers and give them gifts from friends back home.  They were all very thankful and filled with smiles and hugs and all the kids say hello to their friends in Colorado!

2007 & 2008 UOO campers

 After our visit to SB, we packed into the van once again and headed back to Kherson to set up camp for the night at Joshua’s house, a transitional house for aged out orphans in the Kherson region.  As we settled into our comfy bed and drifted to sleep, I could not get the pictures of children out of my thoughts.....
Kris

Visiting Anna at House of Joy

Note:

Our blog is not chronological, it has been challenging to keep up with events!  Below is the blog from our first visit to see Anna at her "House of Joy"

Monday December 19th, 2011

We just arrived at Anna’s orphanage in Chervona Motovylivka.  As we walked into Anna’s orphanage the smell of fish was in the air but soon was taken over by a sweet baking smell.  The orphanage was mostly quiet with a few cute sounds from the younger kids upstairs.  All the older kids are at school.  The kitchen is bustling with Maria, Luda and Natasha making home made Pelmini, which is essentially meat pockets boiled and served with butter.

                                                           

We introduced ourselves and then in our elementary way tried to find out how to make this dish.  Only about 5 minutes later we were served up fresh Pelmini and coffee. I love the hospitality and feel of the “House of Joy”.  It is a very home like feel with only 22 children.  It feels like a big family and the children are truly cared for. 

Our adoption process is well underway and some monumental steps have been successful.  Friday the 16th we received the official “referral” from the SDA at 4:45 pm.  George’s wishes were to go to Fastiv (the district) at 8:00 a.m. on the 19th but we did not arrive from Kherson via train until 8:30 a.m. and made our way as fast as we could to Fastiv to meet Maria the inspector.  Maria would be the one to start the local paperwork to start the approval and court process.  After our meeting on the 5th floor with Maria, we were finally headed to the "House of Joy"!

Now we sit and wait for our meeting with Anna.  They have to pull her out of school to come meet with us. George is driving back to Fastiv to do some more paperwork and Clarke and I finally have time to do some updates. After about an hour of waiting, Anna arrives with big smiles along with George.  We are so happy to see her and give her big hugs!  She looks great and seems so happy!  No time is wasted and Anna is asked to write her "letter" of agreement to be adopted.

Anna writing her letter that she wants to be adopted

Dasha and Vika

After the letter is done, the little ones at the house were curious peaking into the office, wanting to know what is going on.  Anna introduces us to Dima, Vika and Dasha, the youngest ones at the house.  They are not in school yet, so their days are spent playing and having fun at the house. Dasha is 3 years old and even her young sweet age does not make her exempt from doing chores.  After their mid day meal, she quickly got the broom and dust pan out to sweep under the table, while Vika and Dima cleared the table.  This orphanage is not like your typical orphanage, it truly is a "House of Joy".  The kids are loved, cared for, tutored, attend church, do chores, garden, clean and understand some of the basic life skills which so many orphans do not.

Anna, Dasha, Vika and Dima

Soon more of the kids start coming home from school and it is evident there is a routine of what must be done after school.  Their mid day meal is served and we are asked to join in.  We are eating fish soup, fresh bread, canned peppers from the garden, kashi and fried meat patties.  It is all freshly made with the resources of the local village and garden and actually tasted very good!

Once all the UOO campers are settled in we have an opportunity to give them gifts sent from friends in Colorado.   We are joined by Masha, Sasha, Alina, Vika, Dima, Valeria, Nadia, Diana, and Luda.

Soon our day was coming to a close and we said our goodbyes.  We are warmed by our visit and our hearts are filled as we leave the "House of Joy"                                                                           Kris