It has been 10 weeks since the children went back to
Ukraine. I have had some communication
with Tanya at Schotova, as well as the guardian, Vita. Tanya is doing well and wants to come back to
America. I think she means for
good. Sasha K. has already been adopted by a family here in
the Birmingham area and now goes by the beautiful name of Eli Tucker. Two families have submitted their dossiers to
the SDA in Ukraine and are waiting on appointments so that they can ask permission to adopt Sasha S. and Valya. Another family is in the middle of the
homestudy process, seeking to adopt Zhenya.
It is my prayer that any of the others available for adoption will find
families soon.
It is a sad fact of ministry to orphans that not all will
find families. We cannot understand why
some do and some do not; we can just continue to minister to each one we
meet. I am reminded of a quote I read
the other day: The only thing you can do
- the only thing - is to try for the one
who's in front of you. Act as though
this one....is the only person in the world - because to do otherwise is to lose
that one, too. One at a time, that is all you can do. And you learn not to
despair over all the ones you can't help, but only to do what you can." Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander)
As we
prepare to travel to Ukraine in 7 days, this is the cry of my heart: Lord, may we do all that we can for those you
place in front of us. The bed-ridden
child in the special needs orphanage; the Director who might have never met a
Christ follower; the village child who still has parents but who is hungry and
cold; the orphan graduate who is despairing of his future; the orphan who longs
for a family; the “social orphan” who wants nothing more than to be returned to
her “real” family. No matter who we meet,
may they feel like they were the most important person to us in that
moment. And may we have the opportunity
to share with them their worth to the God of the universe.
