Lost and Found in Translation

We were surprised to wake up to an email from the director of the TLC in Ukraine Sunday morning. She told us that she wanted us to talk to Ruslan and Andrey via skype. We were more than ready for that! So today at noon (8:00 pm for them), we had our first skype conversation with our soon-to-be sons. There was no video feed, but there were two voices we remember well. Ruslan sounds a bit older than last year, which is to be expected. Noah was able to talk and listen with us, but Levi is away at camp. He'll get to speak with them next week.

It was an hour of back and forth between us, the boys and the translator. It's funny to need someone elses assistance to speak with people that you think of as family. I am so grateful for their help as we muddle our way through this. The TLC director is also their English teacher and she hopes that skyping will encourage them to do well in their studies. We hoped to answer any questions that the boys have, but they didn't have many. The TLC director said that they think America is just like Ukraine. "They will be surprised for sure." They did want to know about school. We told them that we home school the boys, but we weren't sure what was going to happen with them- that we're checking into all of our options. Andrey liked the idea of home schooling. Ruslan is curious about what will happen with his schooling because technically, in Ukraine, he is finished with school. But in America, we explained to him that this is not the case. He has all B's and 1 C. Andrey has mostly B's. We asked Andrey if he wanted a bike to ride. He does. We told him we will have one ready for him when he comes. We told Ruslan that we needed to teach him to drive once his English is good enough. He really liked that idea. The director said that he would never have the opportunity to drive a car at this age in Ukraine. Andrey said that Ruslan will probably run over our chickens! We told them that Ruslan, because he is the oldest, will have his own bedroom and that Andrey will share with Levi. They replied that this is "discrimination"...followed by a big laugh. I asked the director if they have family that they will want to keep in contact with. She said that they had an aunt visit them twice a few years ago, but now they have no contact with her. She said she doesn't think their mother even remembers that she had them. My heart broke. Well, this Mama remembers them.

Today, before our skype session, Noah asked to watch the video of his birth (the edited version, of course). We watched it together with the little one and a half year old boy we are fostering. His newborn baby sister lay next to us in her bed. I watched my baby meeting his big brother for the first time. The bonding, the tears, the laughs. It's a beautiful memory. I can't help but realize that these two babies don't have the first few precious weeks together that mine did, bonding with each other and their parents. Instead, they are bonding with total strangers. And then hearing about the boys parents in Ukraine made me wonder what their early years must have been like. I think when they make it home, we will have a party for every birthday we missed. Every child is special. Every child deserves to be celebrated and remembered and loved. This world is a sad place in need of grace. Praise God for the option of adoption and His unfailing love guiding us through it all. Thank you for your continued support!