Orphanage Living is Over for Koyla

These are the kids and the caregiver that we said our good-byes to today. They each have had a years worth of impact on Koyla's life some in good ways and some in not such a good way. They all came down from their rooms to send Koyla off on his new journey. Next to the caregiver in the back row is Luda, a young girl that is as sweet as can be. She was busy in the activity room today covering the windows with newspapers and tape so that the windows can be painted. Luda is strong, physically and emotionally. Koyla asked Luda to be in his picture, he respects Luda, she is kind to him. The caregiver made Koyla's leaving exciting and special. She gathered all his belongings and fussed over him, and then she gathered the boys so they would have a picture together. This all happened to Koyla without warning, no time to prepare for this moment. Mom shows up at the door and says, come on Koyla, this is it, the day you leave. I didn't mean for it to happen this way. Victor and I arrived at the orphanage to meet with the director. After talking for about an hour in her office, she said "Take Koyla with you today". This is the same person that told me I could not have Koyla until all his papers were complete and that does not happen until Tuesday and this is Monday. Why the change? Circumstances have changed. The inspectors had told the director on Friday that the children were not to leave the grounds for the weekend. She tried to explain that it was not me, that something was going on. Today she told Victor the whole story. There was a couple from Russian that took a child from one of the orphanages. All orphanages were on alert and the inspectors were to check on the orphanages. They caught the couple in Berdyansk this weekend and they are in jail! Now they are in jail the alert is over. That is why Koyla had to wait until the paper work was complete. Now these people are in jail, the paperwork doesn't have to be so complete. It works for me!

Our 10 day wait after the court hearing is over, and it is time to get Koyla's birth certificate changed. We are going to try to get his passport on the same day and hopefully get us home faster. We will have a long day tomorrow, it will introduce Koyla to traveling.

While talking to the director today I asked questions about Koyla. All her answers were so positive, she thinks very highly of Koyla. My last question, I asked her was for her to tell me something that was not so positive about Koyla, we all have some, what is his. She quickly answered, he is not brave. I wasn't surprised at her answer, I have been watching Koyla at the orphanage all weekend. Koyla will not fight or get aggressive towards others, even when they wrong him. He doesn't like conflict, he avoids it. The director called it not being brave. That is not true about Koyla, he is very brave. He is full of adventure, emotionally he is strong, he is one little brave guy. Walking away from the orphanage today was another brave step. Koyla is a peace maker, not a fighter, I call that brave.

There are over 30,000 children in Ukraine that are eligible for international adoption, there are over 100,000 children living in orphanages in Ukraine. My heart hurts every time I walk out of these orphanages, but Berdyansk Orphanage is especially hard to leave. Some of the children are no longer just faces to me. Tonight I am full of joy to have Koyla laying on the coach watching a video and struggling with the pain of those we said good bye to. Those kids are right in the center of my heart, I know they are cause that is where the pain is. It is going to take a long time for prayer tonight, I better get started.