Post on Ukraine & Adoption

Hi everyone~ This will be a little different post than our regular updates, but I hope all will read, not just the adopting families :)
First, a quick update: We are doing well and still going to several medical appointments and undergoing evals on Vitali. He is having his MRI under anesthesia on August 5th and we would appreciate any prayers for a smooth time that day and for
a clear MRI report. Thanks so much!!! More updates on post next time.
For now.......

We have for so long wanted to post some info that we have found helpful during our adoption and hope maybe others in the adoption process may be able to use some of this info as well.
First, a little reflection on our time in Ukraine. After being there for such a long period, we kinda felt like we moved there for a short time and then moved back to America, haha! It is no secret that the adoption process in Ukraine changes at different times with different leadership and many times right now has been quite a challenging process for those we are aware of traveling into the country. At the same time, there are an abundance of orphans there that need a family and we truly believe that if this is where the Lord is leading you that He will sustain you and prepare the way throughout the process.
After being in Ukraine and now being home, I find myself thinking of the people and the orphans there a lot. My heart just goes out to the people there. I can remember looking around while I was there and feeling an overwhelming sadness for the opression that so many are living under as they have become a free country from communism, but so many are still living under great oppression and desperately need to know the love of Christ and the freedom He gives. My heart is burdened for the orphans that "graduate" from the system and become prostitutes, drug addicts, and street kids, but what I think of most of all is the orphans in Inna's & Vitali's orphanages that we saw on our visits to the orphanages while we were there. As Inna begins to share more and more about what she was living in and experiencing at her own orphanage (which could only be expected in an institution of approx 300 kids), I am deeply burdened for the ones that we met that are still there...we pray for them often, especially Inna's best friend, Lena (It rhymes, I know :) who she just got a letter from and we were all excited!! Inna wrote her back immediately and wanted to send almost everything she has to Lena in Ukraine. They normally don't let you wear your orphanage clothes out of the orphanage when you leave, but they graciously let Inna wear hers to leave with Jason, so Inna really wanted Lena to have them, so she packed them in a box to send back to her. A neat thing that happened was while we were visiting Inna at her orphanage, I was really drawn to this sweet little girl in her group name Valya and I have thought about her and prayed for her often since we have come home and when Inna got her letter from Lena, there was an old worn out picture inside of the girls and Valya was in the picture too and when I asked, it turns out that Inna's best friend, Lena & Valya are sisters and I had no idea...cool huh!!! Would you please pray that these 2 little girls (8 & 10 yrs old) will find a family also (& we would love it if it could be in America :)
I was also encouraged in Ukraine by so many wonderful people we heard about and came in contact with there. I just for some reason love the widows there (Babushka's)...they are easy to spot with their scarfs on their head and worn out boots. When you look at them, you know they have been through so much in their time, especially knowing the history of Ukraine. One great thing Marianna Peipon shared with me was about her church (Marianna, you can correct me on comments if I get anything wrong) was that it started not as a church, but a choir for widows and then later grew into the church that it is now and she told me the widows come every Sunday and walk to church rain or shine (and let me just tell you that is not an easy walk)...that is dedication!!!!
I guess I wanted to share the above because we cannot all adopt and we can not all take missions trips, but we can support the missionaries that are already there doing these things. 2 missionary groups that we know personally are The Peipons and Bridges of Faith and I know that they do what they do off of donations to their ministries and just wanted to share their info in case your church or individual would like to help them help the people and children of Ukraine.
If you have been following our blog from the beginning, you will remember the Peipons who helped Jason and I in such a tremendous way while we were there (By the way, we miss ya'll so much!) We had the honor to stay in there home for several days while we were in Ukraine and we got to see their day in and day out and I can truly say that they are making a Huge difference there in so many areas. One particular that means a lot to me....Before we left for Ukraine, we went to an adoption clinic for education on adoption and learned that one of the most traumatic experiences for an orphan and one that causes the most delayed developement and delayed growth is when the orphans there have to go to the hospital, because there is no one to stay with them there. Can you imagine how scary that must be for them to be there all alone. Well, this is one thing that just stayed with me after clinic and I told Jason, one day I wish we could just take a missions team there and just sit and be with the orphans in the hospital, so that they wouldnt be alone, even though I had never heard of a missions team doing that type thing. Well, this is how AWESOME God is....he placed Jason and I in a missionaries home (The Peipons) that does this very type missions work. Marianna goes to the hospital, I think it is once a week, and sits, loves on, and plays with AIDS orphans. She has many wonderful pictures at her house of this and it was just a blessing for me to see that God had already placed this on a whole group of people's hearts too!!!!! This is just a small portion of what they do there....here is there website for more info.....
http://www.ukrainemedicaloutreach.org/

Also, another missionary friend is Tom & Larissa Benz of Bridges of Faith. They are doing a great work for the orphans of Ukraine by among other things, holding VBS type camps at the orphanages, even right now as I type. He has shared in his updates of many that have come to know Christ and their lives changed for the better through their ministry there. Here is their website for more info....
http://www.bridgesoffaith.com/

Now, for the ones in the adoption process:
Here is a little bit of info of things that have helped us greatly....
About the adoption links to the right of our blog:
1. Family Life Today~ I beg you to listen to these adoption audios for free...they are Awesome!!!

2. APAC (Alabama Post Adoption Connection)~ They offer a lot of services, but we used them to order library books online for Grant...it was great, I just asked them to send me what they had to prepare siblings of adopted children and they mailed me about 5 books and then you just mail them back when your done. They have books on any adoptive subject.

3. Lifeline Children's Services~ This is the adoption agency we used and we had a great experience with them and highly recommend them. They use great facilitators and believe me, that is important. We came across some families while we were there (not with our agency) that did not have good experiences with their facilitators.

4. UAB International Adoption Clinic~ OK, I really don't think we could have done it without them! They are very experienced on internationally adopted chldren and their medical, emotional, and developmental needs, which is very needed. They kind of guide you into all the areas that need to be tested and how to get started with the help needed. Even my regular pediatrician recommended that we go to them first as most Pediatricians do not have experience with International or institutionalized children.

Some other helpful things specifically for Ukraine.....
1. CD/Handbook~ Ukrainian plus Russian phrases for children- this is a great CD for adoptive parents to learn the basic phrases that you will want to say to your children your first meeting and time at home. I cannot imagine if we had not had this...it has been so helpful. If you are adopting an older child, you will definitely want this. Ours have been picking up a lot of English quickly, but even our first month home, I understood a lot of what they were saying in Ukrainian just from these CD's. We also left the CD with Inna at the orphanage to learn some English before she came home with us.

2. In a store in Kiev called Children's World (It is a pretty popular store there and your facilitator will probably know how to get there), they sell books for children that have basic needs...food, hygeine words, anatomy in Ukranian/Russian and in English. It has the Ukranian/Russian word and then the English word with how to pronounce it written in Ukranian (hope that made sense), it is a good resource to have.

Also, A great site that we would encourage you to check out as we have found the info to be correct with our experience there and with the experience of others we talked to while there....
www.FRUA.org (chat)


This is all I can think of for now. If I think of anything else important, I will add to another post. If you would like to email us...our email address is melhall75@knology.net or jhgasco@knology.net

Comments:
Lara~ Yes, Yes...we remember your family and Jackson...so glad to hear from you! By the way, Do I remember right that you lived in Prattville?

Connie~ Thanks for the comments...I do believe that you more than made up for not having to change diapers starting off with a 9 & 12 yr old :)

Marianna~ Alabama...next spring???? Woohoo!!! Do you know where you are going to be yet...you know that we would love to meet up or if you would like to have an adventurous, action packed time, you could even stay with us!!!!!

Jeanne~ Are you & Kolya coming to Alabama too? Hope so!!! We miss you too and I know Grant would love to see you!!! He might could draw you another potty pic!!!

Andrea & Alea~ Thanks so much for the sweet comment...Alea, Inna had so much fun with you the other day...we will have to do it again soon!!!

Dad~ Yep, we plan to keep the blog going for a while as it is a family journal of our adoption for us also.

Pat Maioulis~ Thanks for your comment on the slide show...we are very touched by your kind words!