Getting closer!

We are going full-speed getting ready for the trip. Thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers. We are encouraged that we are doing the right thing. Only Divine intervention could have given us all we have been given since last Friday. For example:

• We are being picked up at the airport and then shuttled to a place to stay and rest.
• We will "tour" Kiev before getting on the train for Kherson, Saturday night.The train reservations have already been made and paid for by friends, we will reimburse.
• A place to stay has been provided for us, two blocks from the orphanage.
• The place we are staying is a Christian organization and only $20 a night.
• We will be given a favorable introduction by the someone who has a terrific relationship with the orphanage director. They are only a few of the people the director trusts.
• Transportation has been arranged by friends to the S.B. orphanages and to the Kherson baby house to visit and drop off gifts and packages sent by other families that want us to deliver things personally.
• We will get to see the kids from the hosting trip in December from Staris B.
• We will get to see Zina, we hope to see Rimma...but we aren't sure.
• We will get to see Oksana & Marlen.
• We will get to see Karen Springs.
• We will get to see Nataliya (the new director of SB and attendee of the December hosting trip) to work out details of the upcoming trip in July-August.

So you see, God's plan is working! We have been busy with details on this side such as packing, buying gifts, and knocking out last minute punch-lists. We plan on taking the laptop and posting, but if it doesn't workout for us, we will be sure to recap the adventure with words and pictures when we get back. Pray for us...we are scared to death!

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's
will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.Hebrews 10:36, NLT

New, Old Friends

We met Garth & Debbie when we went to Colorado Springs this weekend. I had Air National Guard drill for three days, but was able to get out of it for Saturday's Dave Ramsey program and dinner with the Hoffman's. God's children all know each other, even though they never have met before and that was they way it was with Garth & Debbie. We just picked up like we have been lifelong friends. What a wonderful couple. We laughed, ate, and prayed together for three hours before having to leave for home. I had a 7 am show time for Sunday's drill, but it was worth the loss of a few hours of sleep to be blessed with the conversation of "Old Friends".

Ukraine Bound!!!

It's official! We're Ukraine bound a week from today!!!

This morning we received word that we will get a favorable introduction at the orphanage if we visit. So I bought the plane tickets. I really believe that somehow God opened this door for us and held the ticket prices steady (and low) for the last few weeks.

I'm scared to death. I've never been afraid to travel, and I've been all over the world. But now I'm scared. But I need to slip into my "project manager mode" and work on train tickets, an apartment and and interpetor for our trip.

It will be a busy week. We want to meet Karen Springs in Kiev, meet Oksana in Simperfol, visit Rimma in Odessa (a two hour drive), visit the kids and Natalya at Staris B. (one hour drive), and deliver a friend's photo album to the Kherson baby house to show the director recent photos of a child adopted from her orpanage, and of course spend as much time with Zina as we are allowed. Whew!

We leave on 4/11 and will return on 4/21. Stay tuned!

Sad News

Today we learned that Rimma has been put into a hospital in Odessa Ukraine, a few hours southwest of Kherson. She tested positive for tubercle bacillus (TB) during a routine vaccination at her Internat. She will be there for two months, Zina said. Oksana called Zina and this is how we all found out about it. I read that this doesn't necessarily mean that she has Tuberculosis, just that she tested positive for tubercle bacillus and that if left untreated, it will develop into Tuberculosis. I'm not sure, though. Perhaps our medical friends could set us straight. We are glad that she is getting the care she needs there in Odessa. I feel the need to go to Ukraine more than ever, but we are not sure we would even see her. I hope she can still come to Colorado this summer. I hope that is not a selfish statement...I want that for her. Sorry if I'm not making sense, my heart is heavy and there is a dark cloud over the Rogé house right now.

Please pray for Rimma's recovery. Pray for Zina, too. She is missing her and worried. I'm glad that they have the phones, they can talk to each other.

Internat Longmont!

Well, there it is...Internat Longmont! Heidi is gonna get on my case! We both aren't pretentious people, so I'll just post this one picture. Heidi wants to be the "Old Woman in the Shoe", you know, the one who had so many children...I'll let you finish the rhyme! With our two girls and the possibility of adopting 4-6 kids over the next couple of years, we felt the need to have more beds and bedrooms. Besides, we practically stole it from a hungry builder who has been trying to sell it for three years.

For those of you who think I keep spelling Internet wrong, I assure you, it really is Internat! If you were wondering, an Internat is a type of orphanage that has a boarding school with it. There are Orphanages and then there are Internats in Ukraine. Some of the kids that attend the Internat go home after classes to their parents while orphans like R & Z live on the grounds and are wards of the State. I'm not sure if R & Z have "outside" children attending their school. Not all Internats have children attending from the community. In Ukraine, some parents use the orphanages as a way to raise their children. They put them there so that they can have three meals a day and get schooling. On the weekends, the parents visit their children and spend time with them. This is especially true of single parents. Many of our friends who have adopted from Ukraine have told us that they regularly saw single dads and moms visiting their kids. This explains why many of the children are not eligible for adoption. R & Z are not yet adoptable because of their registration issues...they have not had contact with family since they were 1 year old.

Still no texts from Zina. Although, we were awaken in the middle of the night by a text message in English that made no sense. It was from a Colorado number. Was this an April fools joke from one of our friends?

It is starting to look like the Ukraine trip may be off. Lilya said she was going to call the director last night. We are awaiting word from her. Oksana thinks that the director is very serious about restricting us. Fran and Nancy feel that he's not bluffing, either. We haven't bought tickets yet and we will make a decision soon once we get word from Lilya.

Father Knows Best

I had a total "Father" moment when we talked to Zina on Saturday. I asked her what is was she did in her spare time. She said she likes to embroider, go to church, hang with her girlfriends, and walk the streets. I immediately started worrying, but let it go and we moved on with the conversation. But for those who know me, I couldn't let it rest. So, a few minutes later I asked her to clarify for me what she meant. I was worried that she doddles along unprotected through the city streets alone. She sensed my concerned and laughed. She said that she never leaves the orphanage grounds and she walks on the sidewalk along the street(s) of the internat. She likes to get outside when she can and she is with her friends when they walk. She explained that there are only a few girls in her class and they go together. She said Rimma accompanies them, but she doesn't count, because she is her sister now. How sweet! I breathed a sigh of relief and told her that "I was only being a concerned Daddy worrying about his little girls". She liked that.

Zina told us that she is receiving our morning text messages (Heidi and I send her one every morning when we get up). Lidya helped us with our problem of putting more money on Zina's account. Thanks, Lidya! We aren't receiving Zina's texts yet, even after we resolved the money posting issue. So this morning, we text-ed her the instructions in Russian that we took off the phone's website. Hopefully, we will start getting them soon. We will share them with you once that happens.

The girls said that they got their Easter cards that we sent last week. A record, 8 days! They really like getting mail now. Can you imagine being in an orphanage your whole life and just now getting mail, clothes, and love from a family you prayed for the whole time! If our friends and family would like to send them a letter or a card, just send it to us and we will include it in our regular mailings.

Our offer on the new house was accepted today, so we will be moving in a month. It's got more bedrooms and is bigger. We did this for the big family we want, Rimma and Zina included. Well, that's all for now. See you next time.

A Roller Coaster Week!

Hi everyone,

Sorry that it has been a week since we posted anything. It has been an up and down week for us. Our first offer on the house was rejected with no counter offer, so that set the tone for the week. We weren't too disappointed over that. They finally countered Thursday and we are writing our final offer this evening. Again, stay tuned.

Now the depressing news. We asked Oksana to notify the orphanage director that we are coming to see the girls and talk about their registration issues. She mentioned our phone calls with Lilya as our translator back in December. He said that he had no idea who she was and that the children that went to America were not there as an adoption trip. (True, they weren't, but that is no reason not to work on their registration.) He also stated that we could not visit and that he wouldn't let us in the gates when we arrive. He says we need documents from the SDA and the regional council to come to the orphanage. He stated that Oksana was not to come to the orphanage, even though she went there to see the girls a couple of weekends ago. (Oksana said that he was not there when she visited.) I think he believes that we are trying to circumvent the adoption process and that is just not the case. We want to help the girls get registered and adopt them via the Ukrainian process when we and they are eligible. He doesn't see it that way.

We consulted with Lilya and she says that the director is supposed to say what he said and that he wouldn't prevent us from seeing all of the kids that came last December. She said that she will e-mail Oksana a few notes to say to the director to soften his stance. We e-mailed Oksana and asked her to make one last call to the director to clear up our intentions. I guess we will not be able to speak with him at all about this registration thing.

As far as we know, the girl's will still be able to come out for most of this summer. I hope that we haven't jeopardized that. The director didn't mention it and Frontier Horizons is moving forward with the paperwork and request. Heidi and I agree that we will wait and hire a lawyer for the registration issue until after the girls arrive. As we have to have a Ukrainian chaperon for them when they are here, we asked FH to ask the director to be the chaperon. It would be a great move if he were, we could show him our eternal support and love for the girls. Perhaps it would do wonders for their registration. There is a slim chance of it being him, however.

Now the roller coaster is going up again. We talked to the girls again this weekend. Zina had lots to say and for the first time I heard and understood her ask about me (Dad). She started off by saying, "Hi Mom, hi Dad". She is very comfortable with our newest translator, Lydia. She asked Lydia who she was and why Lilya wasn't with us anymore. (For those who don't know, Lilya is in a big battle with the US State Dept. to get her family over to the US for her wedding in September. Also, she is working full-time now at a bank.) She asked us to send her swimsuit to her that she left. Rimma was a bit quiet, but talked a little with us. We were surprised when Vika (14) asked to speak with us, too. She wanted to give our friends, the Carman's, her cell phone number and she asked us to pass on her greeting to them as well. We finished by talking to Zina for half an hour more. (I did say that she had lots to say.) She didn't ask about her paperwork at all and we were relived. It is hard to hold back information that you know would be damaging and disheartening for them. But, we feel it is in their best interest. She only asked about when we would be coming. We told her that we needed permission for higher authorities. We didn't want to throw the director under the bus, so to speak. She respects her director, we do too, and we want to keep it that way.

As for the trip to Ukraine in mid-April, we are awaiting more info from Oksana and Lilya's attempts. We feel we may still go, but we do have second thoughts. Heidi wants to just go and peer in through those gates he said he won't let us through. I'm a little hesitant, but coming around. It would still be a fruitful trip and we could see Karen, the Staris B. orphanage, Oksana and her husband. We have to buy tickets soon, tonight perhaps.

Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts and prayers. We can feel it working and we know that the girls will be with us as a family one day. More later, we will let you know if we purchase tickets. Don't forget about the garage sale, it is scheduled for April 26th! God bless you all.