Violetta and Yuroslav - photos at last!

Some friends we've made along this journey took some gifts, cards, and photos of Snezhana and Denis from summer hosting to the two siblings we have not met, in order to make "first contact" so to speak. We hope that seeing photos of their siblings with our family having a good time will help alleviate some of their fears about being adopted by total strangers!

This is a picture of Violetta opening her gift pacakge from us. Her brother in the red coat is waiting to open his.




From our friends' blog: Since all the children were asleep, we asked to come back later to deliver a package from a family in America. While back in the school, we asked to see Yuroslav to deliver his package. He seemed shy and was very quiet. Then we went back to see his little sister & deliver her package. She is such a playful & sweet girl. Yuro is a wonderful big brother (he went with us to deliver her package) & let his sister play with all of his gifts. We could tell he adores her. "O" went with us too - to help translate;) "D" had a great time playing with Violetta and her new dog, "Dru-zhok" (it means best friend - animal, not human). She couldn't seem to understand why we couldn't talk to her - she kept repeating things slowly in Russian and taught us how to count in Russian. Such a clever girl. "O" commented too that she was a smart young lady. Yuro mostly watched & giggled at his sister's delightful play.


We also received some not-so-good news from these friends. He was hosted in Italy over the summer and that family wanted to adopt him. He told them no. They also learned through his teacher & a rough translation that he was afraid that THEY were there to adopt him and take him away. His teacher stressed to our friends that he does not want to be adopted. She said he is a patriot (in a rough translation also). "T" said she hopes the caregivers/workers/director will encourage him to go. She said that it seems to her that he has found safety now & doesn't want to go anywhere, although we all know that this safety will not last and that he needs a family.

The statistcis for these kids is not good. If not adopted by their 16th birthday, they will be left to fend for themselves in the streets of whatever nearby village they get dropped of in at the end of the school year. Ukraine ranks in the top 5 countries with the highest suiside rates and most of these homeless children will become part of this statistic before they even reach age 18.

However, there is hope. In the US with a loving family, these children can stay in school, off the street, off drugs, out of criminal activity & jail. They can attend college and become "whatever they want to be" without fear that they will be left homeless and without hope.

Please continue to pray for us and these children. The choice will ultimately be his, but we know what will most likely happen if he chooses not to come home with us.