Sunday, Happy Birthday Jackie!

Regarding our video call with Daniel yesterday Christine wrote: “How cool to see Daniel. Dennis was crying when we disconnected. Nick asked him if it was because he missed Daniel and he said, "Yes." I asked him later why he was crying to make sure it was not just the power of Nick's suggestion and he answered the same. From something he said, I got the impression that he did not fully understand that Daniel was coming home to stay with all of you. We talked about the whole process and tried to compare it to their story. We'll see... Nick, on the other hand, does seem to get the whole thing. “

I had an alarm set but was wide awake by 7:30 and got back to work on the journal before taking the first turn in the shower just after 8 AM. Didn’t need to leave much time for breakfast since everyone was still pretty full from the night before (again).

We left the apartment around 9:15 taking the Metro (with one line change) to the Historical Museum stop. We walked into the Digital Photo place we used on our previous trip at 9:50 but we were informed that it wouldn’t open until 10:00. That gave us a bit more time to greet people up in the Musical Institute(?) before the church service began. I was so excited and happy to see Katya and her dad (Denys) as soon as we entered the hall where they meet. We walked right up to Denys and said “Hello, welcome back!“. He hesitated and said, “Oh, you are Americans.” and proceeded to introduce himself. We explained we had been here three years earlier to adopt and we could see recognition dawn. Poor guy - jet-lagged, back in his home church less than 36 hours after returning from a year and a half in the United States and he is accosted by strangers he saw for a few Sundays three years ago. He handled it very well. We excused ourselves so he could continue his other reunions. Katya, on the other hand, recognized us immediately and with two adoring young fans glued to her waist came over to greet us. Her English was very good three years ago, it is flawless with no detectable accent now. She was feeling pretty energetic at the moment but did admit she was awake and trying to fall asleep at 3 AM.

We settled into our “usual” spots over on the right near the back. Alec came over with a friend Alex (who had just returned from six weeks in Nigeria) that he had asked to interpret for us. Once he realized Anya was with us (and recalled who she was from mutual mission trips), he explained to Alex and he sat elsewhere, looking forward to just enjoying the service in his home congregation. Katya’s mother Tanya was already back at the piano.

Anya was able to help us find the hymns more quickly, and we followed along or just listened. Songs today included “Breathe on Me Breath of God“, “Holy, Holy, Holy”(everyone stood), “His Name is Wonderful“, “Brightly Beams our Father’s Mercy”, “Power in the Blood”. Pastor Gnadi read 1 John 1:7 and talked about how much Jesus’ blood can do. He talked about the need for each individual’s salvation, but how much that also attracts to Jesus and therefore assists your family, neighbors and the whole church (so if you only ever do things for others, not for yourself, get saved to help those around you).

The children’s message focused on the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the Thursday before Easter (Maundy Thursday). Again the message was quite extensive in our experience of children’s sermons. She encouraged them to read John chapters 13 - 15.

Pastor Gnadi’s main message started with the prophet Isaiah and his dumb-founded response to his heavenly experience. He pointed out that as [Christian] believers we have God’s Spirit and the Spirit has communion with God - in spite of us. Also when God showed himself people become different: they changed so they could accomplish something for God. [Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Isaiah come immediately to mind.]
He also talked about people’s reaction to Jesus, God in human form. People didn’t tremble. We read Mark 7:31-37. He pointed out how at that time Jesus kept telling people not to talk (after the miracles), but they didn’t listen. When he left the earth he told us all to tell everyone about him, but we don’t listen either. Why shouldn’t we tell? Did he do anything at all to be ashamed of? The church has done things throughout history to be ashamed of, but never Jesus. Don’t be ashamed, and don’t be afraid that he will not give people the miracle they need: the miracle of a changed life.

We sang “Blessed Assurance”. (Do I sound like a confirmation student trying to prove I was in church and paying attentions)

Three members of the congregation have just returned from long visits out of the country and each shared their spiritual experiences/growth while away. Alex (Nigeria for 6 weeks) found a comfortable church on this third Sunday with the help of Brother Ben. He had considered that he would be among barbarians when he went to Africa, but found very many Christians there and that it was with his Ukrainian colleagues that he needed to share his living testimony. He learned the importance of having close relationships within a home congregation to withstand temptations in daily life. Liyna just returned from Germany where she was visiting family. On Sundays she worshipped with other international visitors, often with no common language. She has been struggling with joy in life since the death of her husband, but it has returned. Denis shared their search for a church where they sensed community. He said America wasn’t a barbaric land, but it did have lots of barbarians. J He shared his conviction of the vital importance of being continually immersed in the Word of God. It may be hard to start this practice at first, but it brings such joy.

We had only two birthdays to acknowledge this week. One was for Sveta. She and her husband Victor are very good friends of Alec and Nadya and we all had shared a Sunday dinner last visit. They now have a beautiful little girl named Anya. She looks about 2 ½ years old.

Immediately after the service Tanya (Katya’s mother) came over to us and looked just as excited and happy as I felt. I so enjoyed talking to her, finding out about their time in America, how they are adjusting to being home, about her parents. We had brought a shawl/scarf as a gift for her and she said she just loved shawls and had to be prevented from buying them sometimes (indeed, she was wearing one that morning). After a time she went to get Katya (still with adoring little fellows attached to her waist). We also had a very good time of getting reacquainted. She was at a school (public) which she enjoyed very much with kind teachers, good friends and everyone was so nice. Her mother liked it, too. She has not had such a pleasant experience with school here in Kharkov and is not looking forward to returning to classes tomorrow. She will also have to pass examinations for which she may not be prepared since physics and chemistry are not covered very thoroughly in 7th grade in the States. They did try to keep up with her Ukrainian studies while they were away, though. We also had a small gift for her and exchanged e-mail addresses. Eventually Alec came and urged us all to go down to the café in the basement (which is new since they left) and where more visiting is encouraged.

I just can’t tell you how thrilled I was to have such a chance to connect with them again. Sometimes you look forward to seeing someone and it simply doesn’t happen. Sometimes you have very high expectations for the reunion - and it falls flat because the other party isn’t really interested. Today even exceeded my hopes. Thanks, God!

We did move down to the basement, had a cup of black tea and a cookie and chatted a bit more. I was also able to re-connect with Sveta and Victor (and meet little Anya). They weren’t in church last week. John had a longer conversation with Pastor Gnadi. We also spoke a bit with Alec and Nadya. Their business is selling/delivering bouquets of candy, so we brought them a bit of candy made in Oshkosh. We forgot to give it to them last week. They had plans celebrating birthdays for the rest of the day. Since I might not be here next Sunday I took leave of them, Pastor Gnadi and Katya’s family.

We went back to the digital photo store and ordered prints of photos we have taken this trip. Immediately around the corner is the small cafeteria called “Lido” where we ate several times with Alec and Nadya. We had lunch there with Anya. Lighter fare today, We had soup, tomato and cucumber salad and a meat. Anya had mashed potatoes and fish. The photos weren’t ready yet (had been only 30 minutes). We stopped to buy pastries in the Metro tunnels and headed back to the apartment to enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee. Might have enjoyed them a bit too leisurely, and I should definitely listen to John when he calculates travel time, because we found ourselves running from Metro train to Metro train and finally missed Anya’s 3:22 train back to Kharkov by about two minutes. She was very calm about the whole matter - not upset in the least (and kept reassuring me so I could stop being stressed out about it). She got Metro directions to the bus station. We accompanied her that far but stayed within the tunnels when we said good-bye. She let us know by text that she was able to catch a bus to Dnipropetrovs’k leaving five minutes later. That was another thrilling reunion which exceeded high expectations. It felt much too short, even with the extra half-hour.

We hustled back to the apartment to pick up toys and called the Engebrechts while walking to the orphanage. Being a very busy Sunday morning back home we just arranged with Brian for a time to call later. Christine had written in an e-mail:
“Tomorrow I play organ, Katie acolytes, Ben ushers and Brian is on call. A lot of potential for craziness, don't you think? We'll let you know how it all turns out.”

We didn’t get to Daniel’s room until 4:30. He looked just a little pale, except where it was red until his nose, and seemed tired. He wasn’t too interested in the motorcycle. He did play with the fishing puzzle, he didn’t finish the cookie he asked for (but he did a great job saying and signing ‘cracker’ again). John didn't mind the extra cuddle time at all. Since he was tired and we still needed to do some shopping for the party tomorrow we left shortly after 6.

We dropped our things off at the apartment and headed back into the Metro system. The photo place was still open so we were able to pick up our pictures. Most of the underground kiosks were closed so we hoped to find envelops for the thank-you notes and family photo for the caregivers back at the Billa. We searched: no luck. We did pick up bananas, oranges, juice, plastic plates, giraffe napkins and duck crackers (they didn’t say we couldn’t bring crackers: the advantage of not asking). We called Sergei and let him know we would need to also pick up envelops in the morning.

We called Nick and Dennis at 1 PM (9 here) as arranged. They were in the van (under supervision) while Brian and Christine shopped. We asked them to put Nick on first. We talked about church and Sunday School. Dennis had his turn - answered exactly the same as Nick regarding church and Sunday School, but also told us they ate lunch at “Anera”. Dennis was annoyed when Nick corrected it to “Panera” in the background. Then he started telling us he loves us “bunches and bunches and bunches and bunches , , ,”. It lasted the whole way home, a good 5 - 10 minutes. Since Nick had had a turn and we were on Skype (free) we didn’t mind at all listening to him. We learned from Christine that church had gone well (after she dealt with a number of issues Nick had while she was gone last night).

Having no envelops did cut down on how much we needed/could do for preparations for tomorrow. I pulled out all the gifts we brought to give to the orphanage and workers, loaded up the bags and worked on this journal. John grilled ham and cheese for us. It still ended up being a later night than I had hoped, but not as bad as it could have been. Tomorrow we also learn whether I will be able to leave on Friday as planned.