I love this picture of the three girls at their orphanage. It is a composite picture made up of two photos that the girls took with the camera we mailed to them in December. Jay added Lyuba to the picture of Diana and Snezhana. We looked at pictures of Lyuba and Snezhana together from summer hosting to get the proportions right. When we found out about Diana while hosting the girls, Lyuba described the three of them as like stair steps in height. This picture shows that, that's why I love it!
Today I calculated the time left until we go to Ukraine to get the girls. I can't believe that we leave in only 5 weeks! I am very excited for the girls - they will be soooo happy. When we first told them that we are adopting them, we told them we would be coming out later in the spring. At the time, that was when we thought we'd be going. We've left them thinking that now just in case something comes up and we can't go in March. As we get closer to going, less is likely to come up and we are more certain of our travel dates. They will be so surprised and happy when we come earlier. Every time we talk to them on the phone they ask, "When are we coming?" One of their birthdays is March 7 and there is a chance we could be at their orphanage on that day!
We spoke to them on the phone yesterday. It was a somewhat short conversation because they had to go to dinner. We spoke with Diana first because she was in the room already when we called. We asked how she was and she said good. We wanted to know how her new niece was. Their older sister had just had a baby. Diana seemed perplexed when we asked and finally said that Lyuba might have one but she doesn't. It was now our turn to be confused! After the phone call our wonderful translators who haven't had much of a need to speak Russian for 20 years checked their dictionary for the word for "niece" in Russian. They came to realize that they had used the word for "grand-daughter." We had asked Diana how her grand-daughter was doing! We got a big kick out of that, especially the idea that Lyuba might have one, and next time will have to ask Diana how her "niece" is doing! I can't wait to meet Diana and get to know her more. When I see the picture of the girls I know exactly how Lyuba and Snezhana are. I can see their personalities in Lyuba's cool ("clas" in Russian) pose and Snezhana's quirky smile. We are excited to get to know Diana as well as we know her sisters.
Lyuba is doing good. She wants to learn English so much. She recently learned another English word from a movie they had watched with subtitles. She's trying so hard! We told her we'd start teaching her when we came. We told her that we plan to go to the beach this summer. She told the other two girls about that and is excited to go. Knowing her adventerous personality, she will have so much fun boogie boarding.
Snezhana was last and it was already time for dinner when she got on the phone. We all told her we love her and she said "e ya lublu tibya" (the "e" is long), which means, "And I love you." She drew out "lublu." Then she said that she had to go, it was time to eat! We all said "Baca", goodbye, and she was gone. We joked afterwards that she was like, "You guys are great! But I've got to go get some food before it's all gone!" I can't wait until she and her sisters are all here and eating dinner with us instead of telling us goodbye so they can go eat.
I can't believe we are finally getting close to going to get the girls. Everything has gone so smoothly with our paperwork. It is now in a line of dossiers in Ukraine. Today at church one of our teachers mentioned faith. He asked what the difference between faith and belief is. From my experience I have really come to know that faith involves taking action in something you believe. I believe so much in our cause. These girls must be adopted and given a chance for a good life. I fully believe that we are their only hope for this. It has taken a lot of faith to proceed with the adoption. Especially with the financial part. Adoption wasn't on our radar a year ago. We choose to host with no plans to adopt. Because of this we don't have all the funds in place to adopt. We have been able to contribute a large amount of our own funds for the hosting and adoption and have received donations which we appreciate so much. We still have $21,000 left. We could wait and save for another year or so, but the girls truly need to be with a family now. The time for us to go to Ukraine is coming soon. We know that with your help we can make it! Please help the girls by donating and spreading the word. Even a small donation of $5 goes a long way when many people do it. We appreciate your support!
This comment by ShawtGunn on the KSL article says it all:
"I just read the article about this family and these girls. I just
donated the money I would have spent on lunch today and tomorrow. For me that
was $10. I challenge anyone else reading this to donate your lunch money,
whatever it may be. Go without eating lunch out on the town 1 day this week or
month. Take a sandwich to work one day. Donate the $5-$10 using the link on the
blog posted in the article. I was happy to see they have a PayPal link which
made it easier for me instead of digging up my credit card, etc. I am optimistic
that the good in people will be seen in behalf of this family and these kids.
Please DO IT!"
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