Welcome to America, Maryna!!!

June 19th took forever and ever to get here, the date of Maryna's arrival to America. I remember sitting in the apartment in Berdyansk, and Maryna, with tears rolling down her face, said that she will do anything to go to America. Today is the day that she will come to America, awesome. We arrive at the airport in Washington, D.C. one hour before the flight arrives. Rick, Yana and I have dinner, play a few games of Crazy-8 and then proceed to the gate where international travel comes through customs. We get to the gate right on time, 6:55 p.m. and wait and wait and wait. It took about a hour for them to go through customs. Then I look over and Rick is just hugging on this beautiful young lady, and Mama starts crying from joy.

The journey to America is hard and long. For the two children coming from Berdyansk, it starts with a drive to Zaporizha, which is about 2.5 hour trip. Then an overnight train ride to Kiev. The train stops and starts all night long. A very difficult place to get a good sleep. At 5:00 a.m. you get up so that when the train stops in Kiev at 6:00 a.m. you are ready to get off. A trip to the Kiev International Airport, a 5 hour wait for the plane and then a 2 hour flight to Paris and finally the last big push, an 11 hour flight to America. Once you made this difficult trip you stand waiting to get through customs. The girls from Berdyansk were exhausted. Maryna was overwhelmed with everything. Emotionally she shut down. On the way home she informed us that she was unable to eat or sleep on the plane or the train.

Yana was a superstar, what a blessing she is. She helped with translation at the airport, not only with Maryna, but the guardians and the other children. She was tender towards Maryna, helping her through this very difficult situation. Yana is definately a special young lady. She knows when to step up to the task and she proved herself again at the airport.

Shortly after we left the airport we stopped at McDonalds so Maryna could eat and the caffine that was needed to get home could be aquired. Shortly after the food was eaten, the car went quit, Maryna feel asleep, and Yana went into i-pod mode. What a dream to have these two girls with us. God has a plan, this is only a small piece of the plan. This moment in time there is spiritual peace, thankfulness and praise. God has done a great work in all of us, I am not sure the girls recognize it right now, but that is okay, Mama and Papa can see it.

The drive home is a breeze until we get close to 295, the pass around Richmond. The road narrows and if there is going to be an accident that is the spot. Unfortunately, that was the case.
The traffic is backed up, a slow crawl. An hour to think about how fast life can change, how blessed we are, how important to ask God to protect not only us, but all those around us. For over an hour the mood changes, it becomes somber, knowing that at 70 miles an hour accidents are bad and people get hurt. Anyone that comes out of these accidents with minor injuries have just experienced a miracle, I pray that on this night there were miracles.

We get home, we have to wake Maryna up from a deep slumber to walk into a house that has had a dog inside for the last 10 hours! Our dog, Ginny, is almost 9 years old and hyper as a puppy when she is happy. Poor Maryna crawled into Papa's arms to hid from the monster dog.
Ginny is very aware that there is new smells that she has never met walking into the door. Maryna goes from peaceful slumber to confusion, Welcome Home!

Yana takes them into their bedroom, Maryna's face lights up. There is a brief burst of energy. This is the moment in time that you wish that you could speak Russian, to communicate emotions. Yana's side of the room looks well lived in, Maryna's side looks ready for her to move in. The contrast overwhelmed me, I have to remind myself this is God's plan and I know that His way is the only way. My plan was for this to all happen at once, His plan, one at a time. The very first thing Maryna does is open her bag and give Yana a picture of her brother Koyla. Is God's plan more then my plan? The picture creates a bond between Yana and Maryna. Yana is grateful. Koyla, a young brother left behind, what will be his story?

Time for bed; prayers, lights out, mama and papa crawl into bed, and wake up. Too much caffine, too much excitement, and the dog has been in the house for too long, she is ready to play.
This is going to be one huge adventure this summer, I just pray that God's glory is written all it and that he gives the strength to this couple to enjoy every single moment of it.

Fran