Wow. I'm conflicted tonight. I saw a post on a friend's facebook. He was dumbfounded (my word not his) by a website and video. I followed the link. I was dumbfounded. I'm amazed by the content and the lack of thought that went into the video. The content...you ask...riveted to the edge of your seat? A music video declaring that God hates fags. Ryan and I sat in my office trying to figure out for the longest time whether or not the video was real or parody. Could someone seriously declare this statement...and set it to music? Could someone seriously declare this with any degree of intelligence? It appears that, yes, this video is real and that they were smart enough to edit video and yet stupid enough to conceive the idea and put it on the internet.
I understand that people fall all over the spectrum when it comes to the "issue" of homosexuality. My point in writing this is not to debate that. Far from it. I'm sick of the debate and I'm sick of it being an "issue" when there are far more important things happening in the world with no action being taken while people point fingers and try to be "right" on this topic.
My "point" is to point the stupid stick at the statement that this video makes. I absolutely hate the fact that those people in the video would pretend to speak for the God of the Universe. I hate the fact that they use mass media to propogate their message of judgement and bigotry. I hate the fact that their controversial video will likely span the globe in hours and in the meantime they make the rest of the Church and Christians look like idiots while pretending to be on God's side. I hate being painted with someone else's brush strokes!!
What do I think about homosexuality? Doesn't matter. What matters is what I know to be true of God. God loves all people. God doesn't hate anyone. God loves us in spite of ourselves. God loves us b/c He created us. No matter what we do, God loves us the same. I screw up and God still loves me. My screw ups and someone else's screw ups look the same to God. Neither is better or worse. He doesn't like either screw up, but He still loves us. Flat out...the video's message is wrong and is bad theology. God doesn't hate fags.
God does hate when we hurts ourselves or each other. God does hate when we treat ourselves or others with less respect than He gives to us. God does hate when we try to appoint ourselves as the dictator of the universe...or the planet...or the city...or the people around us. God does hate when we overlook the plans and designs that he created to protect us from harm. God does hate when we do wrong. But God still loves everyone.
Because God loves me, I try to screw up less. Because God loves me, I seek Him and try to be like Jesus. I still screw up. God still loves me. I keep trying to be like Jesus. That's what I do. That's what I hope I can help others do. That's what I hope those guys in the video discover.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Life with Cole
Hi again! Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. Life with Cole is certainly keeping us busy--that's a two year old for you! [And just what we wanted. :-)]
So closing thoughts on the trip... I'd put the itinerary on my post a couple of times ago, so I don't need to list all that again. What I would like to list, however, is the many ways we saw amazing things and were blessed.
First of all, the trip was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. I needed someone to help watch Cole while I did paperwork, to help get him to sleep, to watch him so I could take a shower, to nod and say "you're doing the right thing" when he'd throw a fit because I wouldn't let him have his way, and to help get through those crazy, foreign-travel airports where nothing ever seems to go right or easy. I'm so thankful Marnie offered to go. And it was so great to have time to get to know, to really know, my sister-in-law. I can truly say, after that much time together when you see it all, that I think she's awesome. (I can only hope she feels that way too after seeing all of me!)
Tuesday was one of those days when things seemed just surreal. We got off the train, and my phone (that Yuri had sent home with me because I'd still need it when I came back) didn't really have a charge, and Nataliya's had run out of money, so we didn't have an easy way to call our driver that she'd hired for the day. He was there. He just showed up to meet us instead of waiting for a call.
Oh, and I can't forget that Tuesday was also "Puke Day." We went to McDonald's straight from the train station to eat and clean up in the bathrooms, which we had always been real pleased with because of how clean they were (many of the bathrooms over there were really not). Nataliya and I are in the bathroom; she's brushing her hair behind me, and I'm at the side of the sink putting my contacts in. Someone comes in and pushes her way to the sink and hangs her head over it. I look, thinking, "What? Rude..." I see saliva hanging from her mouth and think, "NO!" I grab my contacts stuff just in time as she hurls into the sink. We both just watch in shock and disbelief. Nataliya says something to her. I say to Nataliya, "In the US, we usually puke in toilets..." "Yes, here too. I told her, but she must be very sick." Smelled like it. We left.
Marnie was so disappointed. She had watched our stuff and would have had her turn next but there was no way that going into a puke-filled sink room that that was goingn to be refreshing and helpful in any way. We had Nataliya tell the gal at the register. She opened the locked "family" restroom for us and then the poor thing had to go clean out the sink. Yeah, it of course was not liquid and therefore clogged. Poor thing!!!!
After our refreshing McDonald's experience, we headed to the courthouse to pick up the court decision. It was pretty quiet there, since it was technically still their holiday until the 10th or so. Nataliya asked for it and they told us to wait. As we waited, she pointed out a sign that said something to the effect of unless you're "someone," don't come asking for stuff till after the 10th. Yeah, that would mess up all of our plans. She apparently has good "connections," because 20 minutes later, we had the 9 copies of the document that we needed.
It was common for us to borrow and exchange money from each other as needed, just to make things go quicker. On the way to the next stop, she asked if we had smaller change for a $100. Marnie did, and she stuffed it all into an envelope. Huh.
Then to get the birth certificate. Here, they told her that they had a year end report they needed to do and they weren't sure they could get to it. 45 minutes later, we had it. More "connections," which I'm figuring out at this point are connected to the envelope. Don't even care. Want my kid. Wild though, huh?
We stop at a shop and wait in the taxi as she makes copies and then head to the notary next to our favorite coffee shop. We go in to rest and have coffee while she goes to the notary. She's back too soon; the notary is on holiday. We enjoy our time of just sitting and talking, and even catching up a little bit with the coffee shop girls, who inquire about Emma and send her their love. Then we're off to find a different notary and wait in the car again. We get some reading and some napping in.
We hit lunch at the Fairy Tale restaurant, one of our favorites from before, and guess who's there but Olas, that other family the Penner's translator who is just a lot of fun. We enjoy a nice lunch and have some laughs about his plane rides home to Lviv over the holiday in the back of a cargo plane holding three chickens (he's kidding, but it's funny) and then get back to it. Next is the passport place. We're told to wait in the car. We do as we're told. She comes back in an hour with a passport and an empty envelope. We can get my son.
We head to the orphanage and things come back to reality of how difficult days at the orphanage are. Take your boots off. Don't take your boots off. Come here. You can't come in here. Just give me my son and let me get out of here. So to start, she has to finish some paperwork and then we're asked if we want to give a "gift" to the orphanage. We shell over some $$$, say the niceties, and then go to see Cole, who is sitting with his little group eating a roll. The ladies all say oh Cole, here's your Mama. He gives me the turn-away shoulder because can't I see, he's eating. Okay, I can wait, sweetie. Okay, we told you to come in here, but leave now because we're going to feed the kids. Ok.
As we wait, we're told that everything for the hand off has to be overseen by his group's doctor, so let's see the clothes you brought to take him home in. Don't feed him this, keep him out of drafts, don't take him in public because he still has a cough. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Smile. Don't forget to smile. (Can we GO yet?)
He's terrified of the car, maybe because it's dark out, or maybe because it's all different. He screams and beats on the window. This is going to be hard.
We stop at a store and buy diapers now that I know the size 5's fit, and I pick up a few toys that will work well with all the travel we have to do. Then we stop at a restaurant where the Penners are eating with their Nadia that they also got that day. She's happy and "in charge" so even though their experience is different than ours, they'll too have their hands full.
Into the taxi after tea and a roll. Now you have to remember that this isn't just driving, it's go as fast as you can until you have to brake, hard. Not too far down the road, poor little Cole's tummy just can't take it any more and he ralphs all of the himself, me, and the back of the car. As Nataliya later pointed out, it was closure. We started the day with puke, and we ended the day with puke.
Every experience at this point was pretty scary for Cole, but as the same time, once he'd have a few minute to adjust to it, he'd adapt, so we were thrilled to see that even in the face of extreme uneasiness, he's quite adaptable. The train was scary at first, but then we walked the hall over and over and over. Till bed time. He refused to go to sleep until Nataliya played bad cop and threatened him with the corner. There weren't really any corners, but he didn't know that! :-) He tossed and rolled so much that I finally figured out that I'd probably get more sleep if I just laid with him so that I didn't have to keep getting up to roll him back to the safe side of the bed. He did wake up one time before that, though, and he clearly knew where he was and wasn't scared. He simply said, "Mama?" I answered, and he rolled right back over. That was awesome.
Yuri met us at the train station, where I said a teary good bye to Nataliya. I wasn't ready for her to go and can truly say that I gained a friend. But no time for thinking too much. Off for the omelette that you've already heard about and then to the embassy doctor visit, where, after waiting forever, the impressive doctor examines him, somehow with a bedside manner that she didn't scare him, and says he has bilateral bronchitis, where is his medicine? Yeah, they didn't have him on any. So ticked. She sends us to the pharmacy for some herbal stuff that has him in good shape within in literally hours. Amazing stuff. Oh, and what's this huge scar on his belly? Yeah, nothing in his medical report from the orphanage about surgery for a bowel obstruction at 10 months. Hmmm.
He passes and we rush to the embassy before they close at noon to get his visa. Fill out some papers, got it. Just come back at 4:00 to pick it up. Cool.
We got to the apartment and crash. Finally.
Spend the next day resting, souvenir shopping, and getting to know Cole. We take Yuri out for dinner and discuss a cool ministry opportunity for bringing teenage orphans over this summer for people to be able to meet them, and then we're off to the airport next morning. 24 very long hours later, we're walking up to the baggage claim where Trevor, Emma and Marnie's family are waiting. I weep. I've waited a long time to be able to do that. There was no time, to space for it before. I needed to be strong. No more. What a blessed feeling.
Tears and love, and we head home. Trevor pulls into the driving three hours later with three sleeping passengers, and we all crawl into bed. We are home at last, our family of four. Home at last.
So closing thoughts on the trip... I'd put the itinerary on my post a couple of times ago, so I don't need to list all that again. What I would like to list, however, is the many ways we saw amazing things and were blessed.
First of all, the trip was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. I needed someone to help watch Cole while I did paperwork, to help get him to sleep, to watch him so I could take a shower, to nod and say "you're doing the right thing" when he'd throw a fit because I wouldn't let him have his way, and to help get through those crazy, foreign-travel airports where nothing ever seems to go right or easy. I'm so thankful Marnie offered to go. And it was so great to have time to get to know, to really know, my sister-in-law. I can truly say, after that much time together when you see it all, that I think she's awesome. (I can only hope she feels that way too after seeing all of me!)
Tuesday was one of those days when things seemed just surreal. We got off the train, and my phone (that Yuri had sent home with me because I'd still need it when I came back) didn't really have a charge, and Nataliya's had run out of money, so we didn't have an easy way to call our driver that she'd hired for the day. He was there. He just showed up to meet us instead of waiting for a call.
Oh, and I can't forget that Tuesday was also "Puke Day." We went to McDonald's straight from the train station to eat and clean up in the bathrooms, which we had always been real pleased with because of how clean they were (many of the bathrooms over there were really not). Nataliya and I are in the bathroom; she's brushing her hair behind me, and I'm at the side of the sink putting my contacts in. Someone comes in and pushes her way to the sink and hangs her head over it. I look, thinking, "What? Rude..." I see saliva hanging from her mouth and think, "NO!" I grab my contacts stuff just in time as she hurls into the sink. We both just watch in shock and disbelief. Nataliya says something to her. I say to Nataliya, "In the US, we usually puke in toilets..." "Yes, here too. I told her, but she must be very sick." Smelled like it. We left.
Marnie was so disappointed. She had watched our stuff and would have had her turn next but there was no way that going into a puke-filled sink room that that was goingn to be refreshing and helpful in any way. We had Nataliya tell the gal at the register. She opened the locked "family" restroom for us and then the poor thing had to go clean out the sink. Yeah, it of course was not liquid and therefore clogged. Poor thing!!!!
After our refreshing McDonald's experience, we headed to the courthouse to pick up the court decision. It was pretty quiet there, since it was technically still their holiday until the 10th or so. Nataliya asked for it and they told us to wait. As we waited, she pointed out a sign that said something to the effect of unless you're "someone," don't come asking for stuff till after the 10th. Yeah, that would mess up all of our plans. She apparently has good "connections," because 20 minutes later, we had the 9 copies of the document that we needed.
It was common for us to borrow and exchange money from each other as needed, just to make things go quicker. On the way to the next stop, she asked if we had smaller change for a $100. Marnie did, and she stuffed it all into an envelope. Huh.
Then to get the birth certificate. Here, they told her that they had a year end report they needed to do and they weren't sure they could get to it. 45 minutes later, we had it. More "connections," which I'm figuring out at this point are connected to the envelope. Don't even care. Want my kid. Wild though, huh?
We stop at a shop and wait in the taxi as she makes copies and then head to the notary next to our favorite coffee shop. We go in to rest and have coffee while she goes to the notary. She's back too soon; the notary is on holiday. We enjoy our time of just sitting and talking, and even catching up a little bit with the coffee shop girls, who inquire about Emma and send her their love. Then we're off to find a different notary and wait in the car again. We get some reading and some napping in.
We hit lunch at the Fairy Tale restaurant, one of our favorites from before, and guess who's there but Olas, that other family the Penner's translator who is just a lot of fun. We enjoy a nice lunch and have some laughs about his plane rides home to Lviv over the holiday in the back of a cargo plane holding three chickens (he's kidding, but it's funny) and then get back to it. Next is the passport place. We're told to wait in the car. We do as we're told. She comes back in an hour with a passport and an empty envelope. We can get my son.
We head to the orphanage and things come back to reality of how difficult days at the orphanage are. Take your boots off. Don't take your boots off. Come here. You can't come in here. Just give me my son and let me get out of here. So to start, she has to finish some paperwork and then we're asked if we want to give a "gift" to the orphanage. We shell over some $$$, say the niceties, and then go to see Cole, who is sitting with his little group eating a roll. The ladies all say oh Cole, here's your Mama. He gives me the turn-away shoulder because can't I see, he's eating. Okay, I can wait, sweetie. Okay, we told you to come in here, but leave now because we're going to feed the kids. Ok.
As we wait, we're told that everything for the hand off has to be overseen by his group's doctor, so let's see the clothes you brought to take him home in. Don't feed him this, keep him out of drafts, don't take him in public because he still has a cough. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Smile. Don't forget to smile. (Can we GO yet?)
He's terrified of the car, maybe because it's dark out, or maybe because it's all different. He screams and beats on the window. This is going to be hard.
We stop at a store and buy diapers now that I know the size 5's fit, and I pick up a few toys that will work well with all the travel we have to do. Then we stop at a restaurant where the Penners are eating with their Nadia that they also got that day. She's happy and "in charge" so even though their experience is different than ours, they'll too have their hands full.
Into the taxi after tea and a roll. Now you have to remember that this isn't just driving, it's go as fast as you can until you have to brake, hard. Not too far down the road, poor little Cole's tummy just can't take it any more and he ralphs all of the himself, me, and the back of the car. As Nataliya later pointed out, it was closure. We started the day with puke, and we ended the day with puke.
Every experience at this point was pretty scary for Cole, but as the same time, once he'd have a few minute to adjust to it, he'd adapt, so we were thrilled to see that even in the face of extreme uneasiness, he's quite adaptable. The train was scary at first, but then we walked the hall over and over and over. Till bed time. He refused to go to sleep until Nataliya played bad cop and threatened him with the corner. There weren't really any corners, but he didn't know that! :-) He tossed and rolled so much that I finally figured out that I'd probably get more sleep if I just laid with him so that I didn't have to keep getting up to roll him back to the safe side of the bed. He did wake up one time before that, though, and he clearly knew where he was and wasn't scared. He simply said, "Mama?" I answered, and he rolled right back over. That was awesome.
Yuri met us at the train station, where I said a teary good bye to Nataliya. I wasn't ready for her to go and can truly say that I gained a friend. But no time for thinking too much. Off for the omelette that you've already heard about and then to the embassy doctor visit, where, after waiting forever, the impressive doctor examines him, somehow with a bedside manner that she didn't scare him, and says he has bilateral bronchitis, where is his medicine? Yeah, they didn't have him on any. So ticked. She sends us to the pharmacy for some herbal stuff that has him in good shape within in literally hours. Amazing stuff. Oh, and what's this huge scar on his belly? Yeah, nothing in his medical report from the orphanage about surgery for a bowel obstruction at 10 months. Hmmm.
He passes and we rush to the embassy before they close at noon to get his visa. Fill out some papers, got it. Just come back at 4:00 to pick it up. Cool.
We got to the apartment and crash. Finally.
Spend the next day resting, souvenir shopping, and getting to know Cole. We take Yuri out for dinner and discuss a cool ministry opportunity for bringing teenage orphans over this summer for people to be able to meet them, and then we're off to the airport next morning. 24 very long hours later, we're walking up to the baggage claim where Trevor, Emma and Marnie's family are waiting. I weep. I've waited a long time to be able to do that. There was no time, to space for it before. I needed to be strong. No more. What a blessed feeling.
Tears and love, and we head home. Trevor pulls into the driving three hours later with three sleeping passengers, and we all crawl into bed. We are home at last, our family of four. Home at last.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
HOME
Just a quick word to let you know that we are indeed HOME. I can't tell you how great it felt to land in Cincinnati last night, and even more to pull into our drive way. A day we've waited 2 years for. So good.
I'll write more tomorrow to fill you in on trip details if you're interested, but again, I want to say thank you for all the love and prayers. You'll see when I write more the many ways God was with us every step. This trip was like a 150 hour labor, no joke. Very physically grueling. And very emotional. I could NOT have done it without Marnie, literally. It was much harder than I thought it'd be, and I had no illusions that it would be fun.
We had a nice day today, catching up on sleep and just being a family...of 4! I got about 8 hours of sleep total during that 150 hours we were gone, so I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I'm signing off. Talk to you tomorrow!
Love,
Lori
I'll write more tomorrow to fill you in on trip details if you're interested, but again, I want to say thank you for all the love and prayers. You'll see when I write more the many ways God was with us every step. This trip was like a 150 hour labor, no joke. Very physically grueling. And very emotional. I could NOT have done it without Marnie, literally. It was much harder than I thought it'd be, and I had no illusions that it would be fun.
We had a nice day today, catching up on sleep and just being a family...of 4! I got about 8 hours of sleep total during that 150 hours we were gone, so I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I'm signing off. Talk to you tomorrow!
Love,
Lori
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
All is well in Kiev
I talked to Lori this morning which was this afternoon for Lori. They picked up Cole yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 pm after getting his paperwork and passport. He was pretty upset to be leaving the orphanage in the dark b/c all other times that he's been outside it was light out. They got into a taxi and he was terrified and pretty soon after driving he got carsick. Yeah, not the "going home" image in anyone's mind.
They got onto the train to leave at 7:00 pm and he wasn't too thrilled with that either, though he didn't get sick. Once he was comforted by mommy, he was comfortable enough to get down from her lap and explore the train compartment. When I called her last night, she was trying to get him to go to sleep. He wasn't sure he wanted to sleep there and probably wondered what was going on and why he wasn't in his usual bed. They finally got him to sleep. In the middle of the night he woke up and said, "Momma?" Lori went and laid with him for the rest of the night.
In the morning (today) they arrived in Kiev at 7:00 am and went to breakfast. Lori ordered porrige for Cole b/c he's used to eating that. She got an omlet. He ate the omlet! :-) They got into the car to head for the doctor visit and he promptly got carsick. Goodbye omlet.
The doctor listened to Cole's chest b/c he still had a bit of a rattle from being sick. He told Lori that Cole has bilateral bronchitis...both lungs. Whoa. She went into mommy mode wondering what the doctor's at the orphanage were doing, why they didn't take care of that, why he is still sick, etc. Sounds like a mommy to me. I'm not sure, but I assume the doctor gave them something to give to Cole. Thankfully there's nothing wrong to prevent him from travelling.
Yuri, our facilitator, was able to get them into the Embassy today as well. That was a bonus b/c we weren't sure if it would be same day or not. All of the paperwork was processed and they told Lori to come back at 4:00 pm to get Cole's US passport and travelling/citizenship papers. That would have been 9:00 am for us. So, I guess that means that Cole is officially, 100%, our son and a US Citizen. Yay! My boy!
They will have tomorrow completely off to rest in the apartment, play with Cole, and go to get a few more souvenirs. They fly out at 8:00 am (1:00 am our time) on Friday morning and will be home Friday evening at 7:00 pm our time. The reuniting of the Wright family! yay! We're almost done!
Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them up, especially for the plane flight. Everything is so new for this little boy and it seems that his nerves and stomach get upset by these new situations. Hopefully tomorrow's relaxing day will be good for getting him to trust mommy and that might make the planes easier. Pray that he's calm and easy going on the flight. Pray for the connections on the flight. They'll go from Kiev to Budapest, Hungary. From there they fly to JFK in New York and then on to Cincy. Pray for all of us as we transition from a family of three to a family of four. Yeah...just pray, God knows what we need.
They got onto the train to leave at 7:00 pm and he wasn't too thrilled with that either, though he didn't get sick. Once he was comforted by mommy, he was comfortable enough to get down from her lap and explore the train compartment. When I called her last night, she was trying to get him to go to sleep. He wasn't sure he wanted to sleep there and probably wondered what was going on and why he wasn't in his usual bed. They finally got him to sleep. In the middle of the night he woke up and said, "Momma?" Lori went and laid with him for the rest of the night.
In the morning (today) they arrived in Kiev at 7:00 am and went to breakfast. Lori ordered porrige for Cole b/c he's used to eating that. She got an omlet. He ate the omlet! :-) They got into the car to head for the doctor visit and he promptly got carsick. Goodbye omlet.
The doctor listened to Cole's chest b/c he still had a bit of a rattle from being sick. He told Lori that Cole has bilateral bronchitis...both lungs. Whoa. She went into mommy mode wondering what the doctor's at the orphanage were doing, why they didn't take care of that, why he is still sick, etc. Sounds like a mommy to me. I'm not sure, but I assume the doctor gave them something to give to Cole. Thankfully there's nothing wrong to prevent him from travelling.
Yuri, our facilitator, was able to get them into the Embassy today as well. That was a bonus b/c we weren't sure if it would be same day or not. All of the paperwork was processed and they told Lori to come back at 4:00 pm to get Cole's US passport and travelling/citizenship papers. That would have been 9:00 am for us. So, I guess that means that Cole is officially, 100%, our son and a US Citizen. Yay! My boy!
They will have tomorrow completely off to rest in the apartment, play with Cole, and go to get a few more souvenirs. They fly out at 8:00 am (1:00 am our time) on Friday morning and will be home Friday evening at 7:00 pm our time. The reuniting of the Wright family! yay! We're almost done!
Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them up, especially for the plane flight. Everything is so new for this little boy and it seems that his nerves and stomach get upset by these new situations. Hopefully tomorrow's relaxing day will be good for getting him to trust mommy and that might make the planes easier. Pray that he's calm and easy going on the flight. Pray for the connections on the flight. They'll go from Kiev to Budapest, Hungary. From there they fly to JFK in New York and then on to Cincy. Pray for all of us as we transition from a family of three to a family of four. Yeah...just pray, God knows what we need.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
More news from Lori
I talked to Lori for all of about 30 seconds today b/c we had a bad phone connection. Here's what I know. It was 8:00 pm in Ukraine and Lori couldn't talk b/c of the bad connection, but also because she was trying to get Cole to go to sleep. What I have derived from that short bit of news is this: 1) Lori has Cole! Yay! 2) Things must have gone alright during the day or else they wouldn't have been on the train. 3) She's on the train and will be in Kiev at 7:00 am their time, midnight tonight our time.
Tomorrow she'll go to the doctor's visit so that they can give Cole an examination. I'm sure he'll LOVE that after being plucked from everything he knows and sleeping on a strange train with his new mommy. After the doctor visit they will be heading to the US Embassy to get the paperwork finished and get Cole's US Passport and citizenship.
They'll fly back first thing on Friday morning (8:00 I think) which will be midnight-ish for us on Thursday night. They are scheduled to land in Cincy on Friday evening at about 7:00 pm.
Please continue to pray for their travels to be smooth, for paperwork to finalize without a hitch, for stamina for Lori and Marnie, for peace and understanding for Cole as he deals with a whole new life, etc. Many thanks...
Tomorrow she'll go to the doctor's visit so that they can give Cole an examination. I'm sure he'll LOVE that after being plucked from everything he knows and sleeping on a strange train with his new mommy. After the doctor visit they will be heading to the US Embassy to get the paperwork finished and get Cole's US Passport and citizenship.
They'll fly back first thing on Friday morning (8:00 I think) which will be midnight-ish for us on Thursday night. They are scheduled to land in Cincy on Friday evening at about 7:00 pm.
Please continue to pray for their travels to be smooth, for paperwork to finalize without a hitch, for stamina for Lori and Marnie, for peace and understanding for Cole as he deals with a whole new life, etc. Many thanks...
Monday, January 08, 2007
Lori's update from Kiev
Lori here, from Kiev! The computer in Yuri's office isn't cookies enabled so I couldn't post a new one, so maybe Trevor can cut and paste this in for a new post.
We're here, safe and sound, but abit of crazy fiasco in JFK--imagine that! We had to change terminals, from 3 to 4, so we had to go outside, take a train, and then when we came into the terminal, it was utter chaos. Literally hundreds of check in desks for things like Jamaica Air, Kuwair Air, and of course Aerosvit Ukraine, our flight. But no map to find the desk. Marnie dubbed it present day Ellis Island, and it totally is.
Check in: We had been so careful to only take what we could carry so we didn't have to check anything. Not so with Aerosvit. Only one carry on, and only 5 kilos, which is like 10 pounds-ish. My "big" bag was like 22--fine for Delta! And fine for the Ukrainians, as well, apparently. That guy made me check mine but then when we got to the gate, everyone else (literally, not exaggerating) had 2 OR MORE bags. So Marnie had to listen to me whine more than once about that one. Bah.
But the flight was great, and for the guy at the desk (again!) not having two seats for us together, the two seats together at the bulk head were spacious and delightful, if you can say such a thing about flying economy internationally.
We ate the dinner they served at 10 p.m. and the breakfast they served at 2:30 a.m. It was a short night.
Now we're waiting till train time, 7:00 p.m., so noon for most of you. We'll get into Donetsk at 7 a.m. and I'm not sure yet the sequence of events, but if all goes as planned, we'll be back on a train tomorrow night at 7 p.m., noon for you again, with MY SON!!!! :-)))))
We love you all, and please keep praying for everything to go very smoothly. I'd love it if there were no more surprises, and also if we slept good on the trains.
Love you all!
Lori and Marnie
We're here, safe and sound, but abit of crazy fiasco in JFK--imagine that! We had to change terminals, from 3 to 4, so we had to go outside, take a train, and then when we came into the terminal, it was utter chaos. Literally hundreds of check in desks for things like Jamaica Air, Kuwair Air, and of course Aerosvit Ukraine, our flight. But no map to find the desk. Marnie dubbed it present day Ellis Island, and it totally is.
Check in: We had been so careful to only take what we could carry so we didn't have to check anything. Not so with Aerosvit. Only one carry on, and only 5 kilos, which is like 10 pounds-ish. My "big" bag was like 22--fine for Delta! And fine for the Ukrainians, as well, apparently. That guy made me check mine but then when we got to the gate, everyone else (literally, not exaggerating) had 2 OR MORE bags. So Marnie had to listen to me whine more than once about that one. Bah.
But the flight was great, and for the guy at the desk (again!) not having two seats for us together, the two seats together at the bulk head were spacious and delightful, if you can say such a thing about flying economy internationally.
We ate the dinner they served at 10 p.m. and the breakfast they served at 2:30 a.m. It was a short night.
Now we're waiting till train time, 7:00 p.m., so noon for most of you. We'll get into Donetsk at 7 a.m. and I'm not sure yet the sequence of events, but if all goes as planned, we'll be back on a train tomorrow night at 7 p.m., noon for you again, with MY SON!!!! :-)))))
We love you all, and please keep praying for everything to go very smoothly. I'd love it if there were no more surprises, and also if we slept good on the trains.
Love you all!
Lori and Marnie
Friday, January 05, 2007
Not Long Now...
Hello again! It's Lori, and I'm leaving tomorrow to go to Cincinnati, and then Sunday, Marnie (Trevor's sister) and I take off from the Cincinnati airport at 2:55 p.m. We'll be in Kiev about 11:30 a.m. their time on Monday. More jet lag. :-)
The schedule from there looks like this:
--Monday: 7:00 p.m. train overnight to Donetzk
--Tuesday: 7:00 a.m. arrive in Donetzk; get Cole, his Ukrainian passport and birth certificate; finish paperwork; overnight train back to Kiev
--Wednesday: Embassy doctor visit to clear him to come to the US as a citizen
--Thursday: Embassy--get his US passport
--Friday: 7:55 a.m. 2 hr flight to Budapest; 2 hr layover and then the long flight to JFK in NY; 1.5 hr layover, customs and immigration (where they open his documentation and he's admitted into the US); arrive back in Cincinnati at 6:55 p.m.
--Saturday: back to Findlay and finally HOME!!!
So yeah, I'll have my hands on him in a matter of days now, and we'll actually be home in a week from now. So awesome!!!!
Please pray for safe and smooth travels, stamina for a physically demanding trip, and for Cole's transition from orphanage life to life with his forever family. This is going to shake up everything he knows and might be really really hard for him, or it might not be too big of a deal. You just never know, but we're expecting it to be hard, and if it ends up not being so bad, then fine. Just imagine being little like that, not speaking the language, and having to just deal with it as things come. So please pray that he'll feel some peace throughout all of these changes.
Thanks so much, everyone, and thanks for all the encouragement through your comments and emails. Trevor will more than likely be updating while I'm gone; I don't anticipate us having any time to find an internet cafe this time around, so Trevor can give you the latest after we've talked on the phone. Peace out. :-)
The schedule from there looks like this:
--Monday: 7:00 p.m. train overnight to Donetzk
--Tuesday: 7:00 a.m. arrive in Donetzk; get Cole, his Ukrainian passport and birth certificate; finish paperwork; overnight train back to Kiev
--Wednesday: Embassy doctor visit to clear him to come to the US as a citizen
--Thursday: Embassy--get his US passport
--Friday: 7:55 a.m. 2 hr flight to Budapest; 2 hr layover and then the long flight to JFK in NY; 1.5 hr layover, customs and immigration (where they open his documentation and he's admitted into the US); arrive back in Cincinnati at 6:55 p.m.
--Saturday: back to Findlay and finally HOME!!!
So yeah, I'll have my hands on him in a matter of days now, and we'll actually be home in a week from now. So awesome!!!!
Please pray for safe and smooth travels, stamina for a physically demanding trip, and for Cole's transition from orphanage life to life with his forever family. This is going to shake up everything he knows and might be really really hard for him, or it might not be too big of a deal. You just never know, but we're expecting it to be hard, and if it ends up not being so bad, then fine. Just imagine being little like that, not speaking the language, and having to just deal with it as things come. So please pray that he'll feel some peace throughout all of these changes.
Thanks so much, everyone, and thanks for all the encouragement through your comments and emails. Trevor will more than likely be updating while I'm gone; I don't anticipate us having any time to find an internet cafe this time around, so Trevor can give you the latest after we've talked on the phone. Peace out. :-)
Monday, January 01, 2007
Cole Michael
Well, we're back and I've had some time to dump pictures from the camera to the computer. Since the court decision on the 28th, we are now able to share photos on the blog of our dear little boy. Here are a few to enjoy...
We're Home
Hey everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that we're home, safe and sound; we didn't have any internet access till last night briefly, so thanks again to Ryan for that last post. We'll post more details later, but we had an eventful trip, including sitting on a plane on the ground for over three hours and arriving with no luggage. Made for a really long day, but our luggage showed up on our door step last night, which was awesome, and we're starting to catch up on sleep.
Thanks again for our your comments, emails, prayers and love while we were gone. It made our trip so much better. We love you guys!
Next steps: I bought tickets yesterday for the return, and Trevor's sister Marnie has graciously offered to come along, so I took her up on it. More hands and moral support will be certainly a great help, as the trip will be quite a whirlwind, but if everthing goes as planned, Cole Michael Wright will be home to his forever home on Friday, January 12. WOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Thanks again for our your comments, emails, prayers and love while we were gone. It made our trip so much better. We love you guys!
Next steps: I bought tickets yesterday for the return, and Trevor's sister Marnie has graciously offered to come along, so I took her up on it. More hands and moral support will be certainly a great help, as the trip will be quite a whirlwind, but if everthing goes as planned, Cole Michael Wright will be home to his forever home on Friday, January 12. WOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!
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