Disappointments and Encouragements

When God closes a door, He opens a window…..At least that’s what Mark and I keep trying to remember this week. Masha was scheduled to arrive in Denver last Saturday night, and then fly home to us for a two week visit on Sunday. Unfortunately, due to some communication challenges, Masha and two other children were left off the visa list and were unable to travel.

We have learned that the kids knew much earlier than we did, and that they were told that their parents would be coming to Ukraine soon to bring them home…So the rug wasn’t pulled out from under them. We were very comforted to know that this was only an issue of managing our own disappointment and not the kids’.

We also got the opportunity to speak briefly to a representative of Masha’s orphanage on the phone a couple of days ago. While the conversation was short, it was very encouraging. She told us that Masha is healthy, happy, and can’t wait for us to come for her. Masha has been receiving the packages that we’ve been sending, and she is doing great in school. We are encouraged by this news!

We also will have the opportunity to host the orphanage’s Director and the woman we spoke with (a worker at the orphanage and also a translator for the group currently in Denver) for lunch next Tuesday in our home. The Director and translator are coming to Indiana for a couple of days to meet with the families that hosted children during last summer’s program. It will give her a chance to meet us all first-hand, and to see the environments that the children she’s cared for will soon call home. We hope she approves of us!!!

In the meantime, we wait. And wait. And wait. We are still waiting to hear that our dossier has been accepted by the Ukrainian adoption authority and to be granted an invitation to come to Ukraine to adopt Masha. Our dossier was submitted on or around 7 February, and the 20-day waiting period was up early last week. So far, our facilitators in Ukraine have not been able to get any information about our appointment, but parents in the group that had documents submitted in mid-January have begun to receive invitation letters. We watch the mail pretty closely these days!!!!

We appreciate all of your prayers and positive thoughts…..they mean the world to us, as do all of you!