Our Days With Kole

It’s Thursday night here in Ukraine. Yesterday and today have been pretty good days. Yesterday morning we went to the orphanage at about 10am to visit with Kole. When we first arrived Kole was sitting at a little table drinking milk from a real glass. He literally squealed with joy when he saw Drew and me. You just don’t know how happy that made us. We had brought a pair of sneakers and socks for him because he has been wearing girls sandals. He sat in a chair across from me; I put one sock on him and started to put a sneaker on him when he just hugged me and squeezed my neck, as if he was saying thank you for getting him some proper shoes.

They let us take him outside as long as we stay on the orphanage property. So we ventured out, and Kole was thrilled to be outside. The orphanage does not let any of the children go outside without a hat, so they gave us a yellow Yankees hat to put on him. Yuck! It was painful to see him in that hat and I can’t wait to get him a proper Red Sox hat. We are contemplating buying Red Sox hats for all the children in the orphanage. Haha!

Kole lead us around the entire property until he settled on a particular playground. There are several playground areas each with their own little “dugout” type area. We sat down and gave Kole a banana to snack on. I have never seen a kid so excited about a banana, nor have I seen a child consume one so quickly. It made me happy to see him so thrilled over a simple snack, but I can’t help but wonder if he does not get much food in the orphanage.

Kole then proceeded to walk around the playground and pick up every pine cone he could find. It was really cute to watch; he would point at one and yell excitedly every time he saw one. He was also really fascinated at the cars driving by outside the orphanage fences. Our time with him Wednesday morning seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was time for Kole to go back inside for lunch and naptime. Kole hugged me goodbye, but he did not want to hug Drew. That was really tough for Drew. We have noticed that any time one of the two men who work at the orphanage walk by, Kole acts scared of them. We wonder if they have been mean to him, and we also wonder if he has a bad picture of what a father is like because of his birth father.

At about 4pm we went back to the orphanage. Kole was just as thrilled to see us that afternoon as he was that morning. We went outside again and Kole immediately saw some dogs lying on the steps. Side note: there are packs of wild dogs EVERYWHERE! Kole started to run over to the dogs. Drew chased after him and suddenly the dogs growled meanly. It scared Kole and he started crying. Drew was right there and he picked up Kole. Kole wrapped his arms around Drew’s neck and held on tight. It was as if at that moment Kole realized that Drew loved him and would protect him. After that Kole has been so affectionate with Drew and has even wanted Drew to pick him up and hold him.

It was really difficult to say goodbye to Kole Wednesday. He ran toward the gate when we were outside and motioned for us to follow him. He wanted to leave. Then when we were playing inside he packed a small backpack full of toys, got a “walking stick” and motioned for us to follow him out the door. He clearly wanted us to take him with us. It was so cute and heart-wrenching all at once. But for the first time he hugged Drew goodbye too.

We went to the orphanage this morning and afternoon too. This time we brought him a new hat! We also brought him some clean clothes and a pair of sandals we purchased at the market here. Even though we brought him a pair of sneakers, we noticed that they keep putting those girlie sandals on him, so we decided to buy him some boys sandals. Side note: the children play outside, eat, and spend most of the day in nothing but underwear and sandals. And they are all in desperate need of new shoes and new underwear.

When we were at the orphanage today we noticed that there was a little girl who was always sitting in the same arm chair. I asked one of the workers if I could go talk with her. This little girl is 8 yrs old and so sweet. She has no legs and when I walk over to her she is smiling and so excited that someone is coming to see her. She is sitting in a chair coloring and she is coloring perfectly. It was all I could do to hold back the tears, because she is so sweet and happy, and I think about what her life could be like if someone would adopt her. She could have a proper wheelchair and she could go to school where I know she would excel, because she is obviously so bright. We hope to bring her some good drawing pencils and books when we come back. But won’t you please pray that she will be adopted, soon!

It’s difficult to visit Kole each day like this. We love our time with him, but we just want to take him with us. What’s also hard is seeing the other 70+ children in this orphanage almost all under the age of 6, and to think of their lives having to be wasted in an orphanage. My heart aches because I wish so badly that we were able to do more, to adopt more. They see us walking around with Kole and they say “Mama, Dada.” And we hear the orphanage workers say “Kole’s Mama and Dada.” I am praying to God that these children will one day have a real mother and father. I am crying to God that He will protect them and keep them.

We will go to court the end of next week and then Kole will legally be our son. There is a mandatory 10 day waiting period after court, before we can get him from the orphanage. We will come home during the waiting period. We are praying that the judge will wave the waiting period though. That pretty much never happens. But we have seen over and over again that God answers prayer, works miracles, and provides. Please pray with us that Kole can come home soon!

A huge praise…We received word today that “Show Hope,” which is the adoption grant ministry Stephen and Mary Beth Chapman started, is giving us a $3000 grant (we don’t have to pay it back). That is a huge answer to prayer as we had to take out some loans in order to adopt Kole. We are just praising God for his continued provision and goodness!