Goodbye Yasha - For 8 Weeks!

We traveled this weekend to Chicago to put Yasha on the plane to Ukraine. While we missed seeing our friends in Atlanta, it was kind of a nice change to see him off from a different city...it gave us things to do to distract us from the inevitable "goodbye" that has to occur during each of these hosting visits. It is SO HARD to say goodbye...and making matters harder, is the fact that Yasha makes Scott and I promise not to cry so that he won't cry. Oh boy is this hard...but God helps us each time to keep it together until he is out of sight of the departure gate.

We had a very special visit with him this Christmas. God is so good to give us glimpses of His good plan for our lives. While we so wish we could have adopted Yasha sooner, it seems that these 4 visits (2 in 2009 and 2 in 2010) have been fruitful. He has spent a total of 22 weeks with us in America. But this is the first visit where Yasha, from the day he arrived in December, began speaking of his adoption as if it was really going to happen. He said things like, "When I come to America..." "When you come to Ukraine..." "When you adopt me..." He also claimed all of us, our home, his school for the first time. I heard him say countless times... "My home, My school, My friends, My teacher..." He finally trusts us and that is good. It was just a very special visit. Yasha, we love you. We ARE coming to Ukraine to bring you home. This was the last thing I said to him before he got on the plane to leave. It will be about 8 weeks from now, God willing.

Here are some photos from our time in Chicago.

Alek trying to stow-away in Yasha's suitcase...
Yasha and Alek on top of Sears Tower in the "glass bottom viewing box"...
Chicago skyline, view from Sears Tower...