Get Ready, Grand Rapids!

Arriving Friday, March 27, in Grand Rapids:

Cheery Lima, eleven, is called “the sunshine girl” at her orphanage. This upcoming Saturday afternoon she fulfills her dream of seeing her biological sister Lisa who was adopted in America five years ago. Lisa has been asking everyone she meets if they would adopt her sister. Because Lima loves to help people, she hopes to be a doctor.

Anton, eleven, loves dogs and cats. His teacher says he is one of the best students in his fifth grade class. His favorite subjects are math and physical education. He is very athletic and enjoys basketball, volleyball, and soccer. He wants a brother, sister, mom, and dad.

Denis E., nine, likes school and would like to be a teacher so he could teach kids to be good. He likes math because he can solve problems. He likes cows, chickens, and geese, and would like to have a dog to protect his home and a cat to protect his home from mice.

Denis L., thirteen, dreams of being a “train driver” some day. He likes winter and skiing, eats hamburgers and pie, and believes in God since some kind soul has taken him to church. He was on an August trip to Wisconsin. His orphanage director says he goes to her office every single day asking when he can go to America again to find his family.

Dmitry, nine, is in second grade, where he is earning good marks. He likes to draw, play soccer, and play with his many friends. He likes to eat meat and rolls. He would like a career as a builder. Dmitri would like to have a family.

Maya, twelve, is in fourth grade, where she enjoys math because she thinks it’s interesting to solve problems. She has a good sense of humor. She would like to be a cook when she is older. Her mother died, so Maya would like a new mother. The new mother should be kind, and Maya will be kind to her also. She dreams of having a family which also includes a kind father.

Quiet Nikolai, newly fourteen, was in Oklahoma in January, but didn’t find his family there. This trip, his host family lives across the street from his best friend from the orphanage, a boy who just arrived home in Michigan in December 2008. Nikolai would like to be a builder.

Ekaterina, fifteen, loves to cook and aspires to be a chef working in her own restaurant, specializing in typical cuisine from around the world. She is in critical need of a family; she will be unable to enter the United States on an orphan’s immigrant visa once she reaches her sixteenth birthday in early November.

Vladimir, nine, loves homework and calls English one of his favorite subjects. Vladimir won my heart when he sang his best-loved song, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in adorable Russian-accented English in a precious interview he gave.

Marching On

Questions about which kids found families are hallmarks of the end of a Lighthouse Project trip. While patience is a virtue I still need to cultivate, I’ve found trips like these might take a few months to completely sort themselves out. That said, some families were definitive enough that I am quite confident these children have found their forever families in Tulsa: Alexei, Denis, Ekaterina, Vladislav, Larisa, Eduard, and Sergei. Anton M. and Ivan have families seriously considering them, fomenting realistic hope within that I might move their names one sentence forward, soon. Three other children have families giving them some level of consideration, and two returned to Russia without any prospects of a family.

The January kids were still en route to Russia when I began anticipating my next trip, yet I confess more shock than elation at being asked last week to do a March program in Grand Rapids so close on the heels of Tulsa. Since I live there I could not argue that Grand Rapids was inconvenient, but the drain of my incessant efforts to stoke interest in January kids who might die if I failed has not, even now, subsided. Leaving on a Lighthouse sabbatical tempted, a larger tease than I would have expected. It would not have been for long; even in my three short visits to Russian orphanages I sensed an emotional permafrost that mocks the Siberian tundra. Nonetheless, it took a final appeal to the immediacy of that need by my friend Hope, the Lighthouse Project director, to extract a yes to coordinating a trip sooner than I would have chosen.

My favorite child from Tulsa was a freckled, blonde-haired nine-year-old who enchanted me, proclaiming his love of homework and English classes, and topping it off with a Russian-accented English rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” While I work until the wee hours of the morning on behalf of every child entrusted to me, I especially liked Vladimir. Occasionally there are kids so winning I cannot understand why no one picks them; I have settled on the explanation that it is God’s will and timing, and that their family must either be somewhere else or they don’t yet know there is a Russian child searching for them. For one of these reasons, Vladimir did not meet his family in Tulsa. A few years ago, the Russian government started compensating families for providing foster care to orphans. Foster care has become more popular in poorer regions than the rest of Russia as government payouts for care have increased. While I would not paint all Russian foster families with a broad brush, does it take a cynic to wonder if there’s a connection, and why only families in poor regions want to foster? And is it a coincidence that once kids reach the age of sixteen, when government payouts cease, many foster families suddenly lose interest in the kids and turn them out to the streets? The Lighthouse kids’ region is quite impoverished and Vladimir’s orphanage, my own kids’ orphanage “alma mater,” is a hotbed for foster care. A child of his age would most certainly be picked by a foster family before I could do the next available trip in June. By consenting to do a March trip, perhaps I can save the boy who stole my heart with his song from a lifetime without a family who loves him.

Also scheduled to travel is fifteen-year-old Katya. Only nine months from her sixteenth birthday, Katya will be unable to enter the United States on an orphan’s immigrant visa once she reaches that milestone. At the stroke of sixteen, hope of adoption is fruitless, leaving little to anticipate beyond an unspeakable future of degradation and a brutishly shortened life expectancy. A trip delayed until June would be three months closer to a sixteenth birthday promising to be anything but sweet. Maybe by taking action just a few months earlier we can rob the Russian streets of a charming girl who still has the audacity to dream of life as a chef rather than life as a prostitute.

The clock doesn’t stop for Vladimir or Katya. I must be as relentless.

Still Waiting

I have a heavy heart today for four children, since I have no leads and no ideas. There are other children I am not confident have adoptive families, though I have significant leads. These kids still wait:

Nikolai, age 13

Nikolai is in 7th grade. He likes physical education and likes drawing. He would like to be a builder some day. He has a best friend whom he appreciates for his reliability and trustworthiness. Nikolai's one wish is to go to America to see what it's like here.

Anton, age 13

Anton is doing well in sixth grade; math and Russian are his favorite subjects. His favorite color is black; his favorite season is summer. He is able to crochet anything. Anton speaks a little English. He would like to be a truck driver and have a family. He believes in God, and told his interviewer that God tells us to forgive and be kind. Because of this, Anton tries to be kind. Anton amazed his host family his first day here with the swan he carved from an apple.

Dmitri, age 13

Dmitry is in 6th grade. He especially enjoys art classes and drawing. He likes the color black. Winter is his favorite season because the new year comes and children get presents. He likes to eat potatoes and would like to have a cat. He likes his best friend, Denis because Denis is a good student. Dmitry would like to be a worker when he grows up. He has worked hard in America to keep his things organized and neat. His host family loves his great attitude and how he is always ready to go. His host family gave Dmitry a one dollar bill which he treasures, taking it with him everywhere he goes. They ached at last Tuesday’s evening program to leap up and tell the audience what a great kid he is. He was so proud to see his photo in the evening program brochure.

Lima, age 11

Lima enjoys math in her third grade class. Her favorite season is summer because her orphanage sends kids to camp where they can swim. She likes fairy tales; her favorite is a story about three pigs. Lima is friendly and talkative, and she likes the color yellow; the orphanage social worker calls her the "sunshine girl"! Lima likes to help and receive attention. She would like to be a doctor some day because she wants to help people feel well. Her biological sister has been adopted by an American family; Lima dreams of seeing her again if she gets a chance to return to America. She was able to speak to her sister on the phone Wednesday and she couldn't stop smiling or saying, "I love you!" afterward. Lima’s sister has been asking everyone her family meets in Michigan if they would adopt her sister, since she knows what a blessing it is to have a family. She wants her biological sister to have this same blessing.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in any of these children, please contact me at (616) 245-3216; the children return home to Russia early Sunday, January 18. We are getting down to the wire, but it is not yet too late!

Remembering the Kids Who Wait

This is a difficult entry to write, as the end of our Tulsa November Lighthouse Project has come sooner for seven of the children scheduled to arrive this evening. One orphanage on the trip, represented by seven children, is under a medical quarantine due to an outbreak of dysentery. The head of the Ministry of Health of the specific region of Russia is not allowing any of the children from that orphanage scheduled to travel to come; thus, there will be only six children on the trip. The children affected are Anton, Alexei P., Lima, Denis, Ekaterina, Nikolai, and Dima P. It would be hard to overstate how sad this makes me, as the children are terribly disappointed. Additionally, the families have thrown themselves into preparing for this trip so enthusiastically that it was devastating to have to deliver this news to them. These families are still true host families, as they’ve been hosting these children in their hearts. Please keep these disappointed and sick children, as well as their Tulsa families, in your prayers.

As these children have passports, plane tickets, and visas good for six months, my plan is to return to Tulsa in January for another trip, hopefully with additional children. These seven should be able to visit Tulsa at that time. Each host family who planned to host one of these kids will, of course, have first priority to host the same child in January, assuming the child is in condition to make the trip. Exact dates will be announced, though it appears the trip will be the early part of the month.

I am experiencing much emotional dissonance: on the one hand, great sadness for the children and families who will not meet each other in November, and hope for the children God has allowed to actually come. I am cognizant that the six remaining children deserve to have a wonderful trip where they find their families, but behind my necessary enthusiasm for the trip as it now is, I remember with great emptiness and sorrow the seven children I thought would be here. I will smile and work vigorously for the trip, but please know I have not forgotten the kids who wait. That said, I am obligated to switch gears and work toward finding families for the kids we’ll meet tonight.

But I have not forgotten…

Ready to Go!

Today brought news that our trip is complete: Denis has his host family! I am praising God that this final piece of the puzzle has been put into place. While the prayers for host families for all children were graciously answered, there is much prayer needed for each child’s forever family to be found. Here are two more of the children I’m praying for tonight:

Andrei (left) is a twelve-year-old who was proud to recite the English alphabet on video. His favorite food is milk soup. Like many boys in Russia, Andrei wants to drive for a career. He was on the master list for two previous Lighthouse Project trips, but as a host family never chose him, he had been unable to travel prior to Tulsa. This time, a host family picked Andrei, so this sweet boy finally has his turn to seek his place in a family. A generous pediatric ophthalmologist in Tulsa has offered to do a complete ocular evaluation on him, so any family considering making Andrei their son would have a realistic picture of challenges he might face. After the struggle to find Andrei’s host family, I am praying that his adoptive family senses God’s call on this first trip so his wait can end without further delay.

My first six Lighthouse Project trips have run in my home state of Michigan. Since the Lighthouse Project has been such an important part of my family’s life for the past few years, it’s not surprising that some of the people I speak with most have wanted to participate. My sister-in-law lives in the Tulsa area; her desire to host a child led to my decision to run a trip in Oklahoma. Her family is eagerly awaiting the arrival of eleven-year-old Anton (right). Anton’s teacher says he is one of the best students in his grade. He knows many poems and has visited the art museum in his orphanage town. When asked what he wanted in the future, he said just a brother, sister, mom, and dad. I’m praying that my sister-in-law and her family will know the same joy that has so thoroughly motivated me: being part of a child’s life in a way that leads him to a future filled with hope and promise.