The Amazing Pan

Koyla and Mama are home with Papa and today our daughter, Yana, will join us after her own weeks vacation in Florida. We will be a family of four on our own turf, for the first time. We are praying the adjustment will go as well as the adoption. Koyla has adjusted well to having a mama and papa, now for the time to adjust to having a older, wiser, sister. Yana on the other hand needs to adjust to sharing what was all hers! Sounds like a real family to me.

I was going through our trip pictures to put a group of pictures together for Koyla's bedroom and came across this picture, which is one of several that I had taken at Grandpa's house. What a great picture to express adoption. Grandpa had a dog that had 2 puppies and a cat that had 2 kittens. The dog wanted no part of mothering her puppies ( in all fairness, the dog was tiny and her puppies are big). The puppies were hungry and they went over to the cat and she very lovingly rolled to her side and fed the puppies her milk. The puppy at one time got a little rough with her and she gave him a good hard bite on the head and the puppy settled down and the feeding continued. This picture captures how God planned for our adoption into the kingdom of heaven. We are not by rights part of His royal family, yet through the sacrifice of Jesus, He took us in as royal blood. If we accept Him, He no longer sees our difference. These little puppies accepted this cat and the cat no longer saw them as different. What a great example to raise our family that has been blended together by God. We are all coming together with differences and uniting to be one family. I pray that the unity that existed at Grandpa's house will exist in this family as well. The base root will be the acceptance. It did go well in Berdyansk, so I think we are on a good path.

We have not yet been home a week and a lot has been accomplished. To bring Koyla in to the house we had to add a bedroom, literally putting up walls. We had hoped to accomplish this before we left, but with a nine day notice for the adoption we didn't get it done. To make the extra bedroom, the whole house has to change. The whole house has been uprooted this week. The first couple of days, mama didn't do to well with the confusion and mess. I have to say that I was overwhelmed by jetlag, messes, new child, and the transition back to America. On top of that I had to start the process of registering Koyla for school immediately so that he could take advantage of summer ESL classes. I wasn't going to put him into summer ESL, but the situation is perfect for him to get introduced to school in a very non-threating situation. Yana will be on the same bus as he will be and there are 6 children in the class total. When I took Koyla to the school on Thursday of last week, he was so sad. Later he communicated that he thought I was leaving him there. When he discovered that I went there to just blah, blah, blah with the people and that he got to go back home, he gave me the biggest hug a mama could get! The routine will be great for Koyla and mama needs some time to get the house in order. Summer school is out at the end of July and I will be more organized by then, I hope.

Everyday has been an incredible adventure for Koyla and for us. Everything is new. Everyday Koyla is getting younger, he has totally shed any toughness that comes from orphanage living. He is experiencing childhood and all the excitement that goes with it. It is so refreshing to see him laugh and have such a carefree spirit about him. He was so serious in Ukraine, forced to grow up beyond his years. He is so free to be Koyla. Koyla is a precious free spirit. He loves the outdoors, especially bicycling. He is experiencing life to the fullest. The plan to have Yana on vacation worked very well. Koyla has attached to mama and papa, giving Yana the freedom to be a sister and not the mother to Koyla. I want Yana to have her time and space also. She is quickly approaching 17 years old, I don't want to cut her teen years short, she has thrived since she has been here.

At the end of every blog writing, I have to sit back and praise God for the work He has done in me. The first adoption was hard and brought me closer to Him, right where I should have been in the first place. It taught me lessons in obedience inspite of circumstances. It demonstrated that He is God, not my servant that answers my plan, but I am to follow His plan, for it is the best plan. My second adoption strengthened my faith. This will be a pivital point in my faith walk. He did have a better plan, one that brought together a brother and sister. He knew what was good for us and was watching out for us through the journey. I thank you God for forcing your hand when I was trying to push yours. It reminds me of Koyla, when he thinks he knows what is the right thing to do, but I have the advantage of reading English and know the right thing to do. He tries to force me in his direction and I have to force him in my direction. I often get a sad looking face as I am forcing him my way, but when he sees the end is the right way he gets so excited, he says "tank goo" in his sweet broken English. The more often this happens the less he is resisting me because he is trusting me more and more. The lessons of faith taught by an innocent child.

Amazing grace how sweet God is to put me on this journey. Is it over????? Who knows, when I am in the mist of the adoptions, I think this body is getting old, when things settle down, it feels good to be young. God has a plan and I am on a ride. I trust the journey more then I ever have. Where He takes me (us) from here I do not know, but look forward to the following chapters as they unfold.

Fran