TWILIGHT ZONE

I just checked our blog and found that our whole long experience at the SDA didn't publish. It is probably a good thing because it was not a good day. We found out that we wouldn't be able to adopt the other children we had hoped for, but they did give us permission for Misha. The day after seeing Misha we had to go back to the orphanage to get another permission slip to see him. The good thing about Misha being at the camp is that he is in a beautiful setting and there is a lot to do, but the difficult part is that he is now under a different jurisdiction so we can't take him out and we can only have limited visitation. We also got to see some of the other children from the hosting group and take some presents. The kids looked great! We then got to go back to the camp, and play more basketball of course. For those of you that don't know us well, we had planned on adopting two darling girls from our hosting group. They had been taken by a foster family over a month ago. Kent and I felt like we needed to go see them to see if they were o.k and in a good situation, so we had to leave for this long journey. We travelled for hours into very rural country and then into the forest that separates Ukraine and Moscow. As we went deeper into the forest I have to say we were definately wondering what we were doing traveling in the middle of nowhere not knowing what we would find. All of a sudden on the side of the dirt road we saw the girls. We had a warm welcome. They took us to their home and their new family was amazingly warm and welcoming. They had another family visiting as well and they were just getting ready to take a sauna. Out there in the wilds they had made themselves a whole spa system with a steam house, cold bath and massage table. Within minutes of our arrival their guest decided Kent needed a massage and he had Kent taking off his clothes! We left to go to the swimming hole with the girls and to see their traditional beehives. The girls picked me berries from their garden. The parents are very well educated, but traded their city life to live in the forest away from civilization. They were apprehensive about our visit, but were very kind and hospitable. The girls dug potatoes from their garden and made us a lovely dinner of french fries and cottage cheese that they had made themselves. We stayed til very late at night. We felt like it was an answer to our prayers that they were in a good situation, but it was also very sad for us. They are the most precious girls and we will probably never see them again.