Moms' Hearts

For those of you who followed Alek's adoption story, you know that we spent 10 weeks in Russia to bring him home--a story too long to recant. And so you might wonder why we would want to go back to visit a place where we lived some of the worst days of our lives. And it's because we also lived some of the best days in our lives here in Chelyabinsk. We made some eternal relationships with some of the most generous, loving people we have ever met and as hard as it is to travel here, we are glad to be back...in some ways it is our home away from home.

We arrived late last night and were warmly greeted by Lena (one of the women elders in the church here) and her son. They brought us to our hotel, the Victoria Hotel. We chose to stay here even though it is not quite as convenient to the central city, but it holds many memories. We even got to use our frequent guest card for a 10% discount that we earned on our last visit!

With the 3-hour time change from Ukraine, we were a little off our schedule and Alek went to bed extra late (11pm) and of course then woke up extra early (6am). This is definitely a recipe for disaster, but I was thankful that Alek held it together pretty well in this full day. We left the hotel at 11:30 and went straight to Baby Home #2 where Alek was cared for since he was born. We walked in and were immediately ushered into the Director's office. She is quite a stern woman who runs a tight ship, but she greeted us with open arms and said she did recognize our faces. We answered some questions about Alek and then about 10-12 people all piled into her office to see little "Maksimka" which is how they knew him. It was quite a scene with so many of the women all talking at once, marveling at how Alek had grown, asking him questions in Russian, chatting with each other, smiling and cooing over him. I know it was overwhelming for him and he was shy and embarassed. They wanted him to recite something like a poem or a song for them. I thought, he knows the Lord's prayer very well after learning it in Kindergarten this year, but I could not get him to do it for anything...I tried coaxing, offering prizes, please, please, pleeeeaasse for me???...but nothing worked. I bet you mothers can relate. What kept running through my mind was a line from one of Carlene Martin's parenting classes --- "You cannot make a child eat, sleep, go potty or talk" These are the ONLY things that a child has control over and they will not hesitate to assert this control if they feel out of control of their situation, which Alek clearly did. I think they understood--they do, afterall, work with children everyday. Here is a photo of the "scene" in the office.

We then asked if we could go upstairs to his "group room" where he spent all of this time. We thought he might remember something there because to this point, he didn't remember any of the women or anything about the place. When we walked in the room, he smiled and looked around at all the toys. He says he didn't remember anything about the room, but the look on his face seemed to indicate that he did. We may never know. Anyway, I was glad that we went upstairs because 2 of his caregivers were in there working and they would have missed him had we not asked to go upstairs. Here is a photo of him with them. It was a good visit, and you could see it meant so much to the caregivers and even the Director. They just kept thanking us and telling us that they rarely see the kids again once they are adopted. After building a more in-depth relationship with the children and "Mama's" in Ukraine at Yasha's orphanage, I can now appreciate how much it must rip at their hearts when a child leaves. Our next stop was at Olga's home for lunch. We had a Russian feast of Borsht, Salads, Fruits, and a goulache of potatoes, beef, mushrooms and peas -- tell Rachel Ray, YUMM-O! Here is a photo of Olga, Irina, Me, Lena.

Olga is the administrator of the Children of Promise program at the Chelyabinsk Church and we sponsor a child through this organization. I remember sitting in church here one Sunday when Olga was asking for sponsors and one of the childrens' names she read was Maksim and he was the same age as our "Maksim" (Alek). We immediately knew that we were to sponsor this child.

After lunch, we went to visit Maksim and his mother. He has several problems--severe cognitive delay, and physcial challenges with his heart, as well as the majority of his left arm missing. Even though his physical heart is weak, his spiritual heart is strong and we observed what a special person God has created in Maksim. God works in such mysterious ways--had we not had the delays with Alek's adoption and had the opportunity to connect with the church here, we would have never even known about Maksim and had the privilege of knowing him, what a missed blessing that would have been indeed. More purpose in our Alek adoption waiting time revealed today.

We thought meeting Maksim might be hard for Alek, but he did great interacting with him. Maksim was open and loved on us. He kept on giving big hugs to Scott and me and giving us the candy that we had brought for him -- what a huge heart indeed. He needs heart surgery, but his mother has been reluctant to follow the doctors' recommendations because of her fear. Before we left, Scott said a beautiful prayer over their family and as his Mom was brought to tears, we know that God is working in his Mom's heart too. We left there, dropped off Scott and Alek at the hotel, and then I headed with the women to the church for "craft" night. This is right up my alley, but I rarely find the time to do this at home. I think I should start finding the time, because I realized tonight how much joy it brings me to make beautiful things for other people. I arrived home at 8pm, a good exhausted.

Alek is now sleeping peacefully and I just peeked into his room--just marveling that God has given ME the privilege of being his mom. My heart is full of Joy.