She's On Our Doorstep
Our lives could not have been any better. Or so we thought. We had just brought home the most amazing, considerate, brilliant, compassionate, and curious little girl. Our Amelia is the light of our lives and she brightens every room that she walks in.
It’s hard, yes. The trauma of her past and the things those young eyes have had to see, effect our daily lives. All of ours. But she is worth every tear, every sleepless night, and every question.
I will still, however, never forget the day that she looked me in the eyes and asked- no demanded – that I give her a little sister. We were in the bathtub and she was covered in bubbles when she leaned over the edge and said, “Mama, give me a little sister”. I explained that it doesn’t work like that and we discussed many reasons why. She then asked if we could bring in a girl who doesn’t have a Mama and Papa, like we did with her. I answered that we are planning to adopt another child, yes, but we are waiting until things settle and until she starts school.
She sighed and agreed to the conditions.
But then.
A few days later, I received a phone call from the same social worker that called me about Amelia. My mouth would not go back into place after she said, “Hello, it’s Elena. Listen, I have another one for you. Will you take her?”
She explained that this young girl had stayed in the same hospital and has the same lifelong condition as Amelia. She is 6 years old and she needs a Mama and Papa. She told me that she knows this girl well and believed that she would benefit from being in our family.
I agreed to talk to Steven and we would pray about it and call her back in a few days.
We talked and prayed and agreed that this could be something that we would pursue in a few months when the dust had settled, the new year had begun, and Amelia started school.
But we agreed that if she showed up on our doorstep, we would not turn her away.
Fast forward a few weeks.
Amelia was checked into the National Children’s Hospital for a week for her 6 month checkup after chemotherapy (yes, we knew about the cancer before we adopted her – and she is now in remission). She was checked in on Monday, November 18th. As Steven was not allowed to stay, I slept with her overnights.
The first morning there, I – as usual- was up before anyone else. I grabbed my tea and headed out to the corridor as not to wake anyone. While I was sitting in the bench, sipping my tea and reading, a woman appeared at the door with a young girl holding her hand. They entered the building and the girl made eye contact with me as she took off her hat and coat. She looked terrified.
I slowly walked over and bent down to her level. I asked her what her name was and how old she is. She didn’t answer. I gave it another go, but this time quieted my voice and spoke slower.
She looked the other way and answered me, “Diana”. “Six”.
Wait a minute. Could it be!? The girl that the social worker had called me about was named Diana and I was pretty sure she was six. I immediately got this feeling in my stomach and I just knew.
About 20 minutes later, the social worker came down the hall and introduced me. She said, “It’s her. Will you take her?”
I called Steven and once and he jumped in the car and made his way to the hospital.
When he arrived, we all played together (Steven, Amelia, and Myself). It was strange, it just felt right. Immediately. Neither of us had to do that munch thinking, but we gave it a night’s rest and left the final decision up to a new day.
Sure enough, the new day came and the Holy Spirit would not relent. We made the decision to be obedient and tell the social worker that we would love to give this girl a home.
We began the process immediately and, as God does, it has gone very quickly. The documents from the same process with Amelia were still valid and we had the whole packet of documents ready to go. With the packet, we walked up to social services in Kyiv and told them about this girl. Our social worker from the local services was ecstatic to hear about an addition and immediately began working on the process.
In less than a week, I already found myself in Diana’s orphanage and speaking with her region’s social services. Everything has been approved.
Now we are just waiting for her discharge from the hospital and then we can go to her orphanage, fill out the last document (she needs to be on the grounds of the orphanage to complete this document) and then submit everything to the court and await the decision of guardianship.
This should all be before Christmas.
Don’t get us wrong, we are terrified. Diana is a lot more delayed because she was put in an orphanage with disabled children and has lived there for the last few years. While she is 6 and a half, she operates on a 2-3 year old level. This is going to be SO HARD. But we cannot deny the Holy Spirit and God the Father’s hand in all of this. We know He has an incredible plan and we are excited to see how this all unfolds.
While we wait, we have visited Diana in the hospital a few times and have even gotten permission to take her out for lunch one day (and let us tell you what a CRAZY experience that was!)
So here we are. This childless couple is going full speed ahead. From 2 to 4 in less then 4 months.
