You Know What Assuming Does

Well, when we hopped on a plane last Tuesday with one outfit for court and one outfit to ride home in, we assured our kids (and ourselves) that we would be back in the States by Friday evening.Yet, here I sit in my little hotel room in Aytharka trying to invent a fashion equation that gets equal use out of each article of clothing while also mixing and matching. I’m not gonna lie...when the first words we heard when we got off of the plane were “I have bad news for you”, I had a mild panic attack.  But at that point we were told that we would only push court back one day to Friday (all for 1 missing signature). Home Saturday. Not too big of a change. And from that point right up through having court moved to Tuesday, I can’t tell you how many people have told us in one way or another, “It’s all God’s timing.” You may think right now that I’m about to go off on how cliche that is and how it drove me crazy, but I’m not. Because all million times I heard/read it, I needed to be reminded that God loves my babies even more than I do and if He sovreignly allowed our absence to be longer, then 1) He’s taking good care of them and 2) He MAY just see a way bigger picture that I can’t and have a plan behind this extended stay. 

So I started muttering to Jono...”What could the reason be???”...I literally stayed up ALL Friday night tossing and turning and asking God to clue me in. It sounds spiritual, but really I’m just nosy. Because I had thought that maybe we’ll never know until we get to Heaven why God planned this and that just drove me crazy. Well, I’m not gonna say I’ve definitely figured it out, but maybe I have. And her name is Snizshana. Cutely called “Snishka” by our boy. We met her the first day that we saw Vitya, and every day that we visit since then, the two of them are waiting together at the entrance to the orphanage. They have taken us on tours, played endless amounts of UNO, thrown a football, and played on my ipad with us.  I knew I liked her within minutes of meeting her. We “Anne of Green Gables” fans call it kindred spirits. I was sitting with Vitya and she walked by and I told him, “I like her.”. He translated it to her and she said, “Da?” (“Yeah?”) and he said “Da!” (Yeah!”). It was so sweet like he wanted her to know that I liked her and she was taken aback by it. It made me just wanna smooch them both. So she’s been hanging with us all the time now.  She had a birthday the Monday after we returned home the first time, so I took her a gift this time and asked her if she had a good birthday through our translator. She said that she didn’t because no one cares there and they don’t do anything for birthdays. Yep. Just go ahead and let your heart break with mine.  Almost 100 kids in an orphanage and not one of their birthdays are important to one being on this entire earth. If there was a dern Party City in this place you betta bet there would’ve been one heckuva partay up in there the next day. But there isn’t, so I’ve taken her birthday treasures every day like nail polish, chocolate, and lip gloss.

Anyway, I’ve fallen in love with this sweetie. And it popped in my head one day that-WAIT!-we came approved for a boy (Vitya), and a girl up to 18 years old! This was just in case something worked out with Oksana...we wanted to be ready. But now at 18 she can only come on a possible student visa. I remained calm and didn’t start begging Jono like a 5 year old who wants a new kitten, I promise. However, he was finding her just as sweet and adorable as I was. And about the time we were both getting brave enough to talk about it, the facts hit us. She is 16 years old. The U.S. will not allow a child to be adopted internationally once they are 16 (stupid law that needs to be changed) UNLESS they have a younger sibling who is under 16. Which she does. She has an 11 year old brother. That’s good news for her because it gives her 2 more years to find a family. But, assuming that we confirm that these facts are correct, it takes us off of the table as snatching her precious self right up.

Speaking of her bro, we’ve seen him quite a bit also. He’s a very sweet, affectionate little boy. He just always has classes to go to or something and doesn’t hang around as much as his sister does.

So I’m typing all of this in hopes of bringing attention to this sweet sibling group and really, the whole orphanage. People, this place is in the middle of nowhere.  There are 90 something kids there who will never have a chance at a family short of maybe this blog post. It really freaks me out when I start to think about it. Snishka and many other kids will age out of there at 16 and go on to, what? What would you have gone on to if you were homeless and family-less at 16? Even in the good ol’ USA where dreams come true you know that would be a pretty bleak future.  I’d be a mess if I was homeless and family-less at 31.  It sucks, it’s wrong, and I have areally hard time hearing someone say “We’re just not called to adopt” until they’ve walked through these halls, hugged a child who has NEVER been hugged, and seen exactly what their existence consists of.  While we’re thinking about how it would mess up our schedules and finances and post-retirement plans, kids that Jesus told HIS FOLLOWERS to CARE FOR are living with less love and attention than 99% of our pets are. 

I’m sorry. I was bound to have one big rant. Please forgive. But I want to find some families for these kids. And why is it so flippin’ hard? I’ve been a Christian for 18 years and been a member of 5 churches. Shouldn’t I have enough Christian families on my contact list to make a good dent in this place? (oops. Sorry. There I go again.)

So pray please.  There’s a huge part of me that hates saying that. Like, “Hey. So there’s these kids I met that don’t have people who love them or protect them or give them gifts or ever, ever, EVER talk to them about Jesus and the majority of them are on the road to prostitution, drug abuse, or suicide. Just pray and ask God if He wants you to do anything.”  

I feel like I need to insert here that the majority of my disgust is toward myself.  Because I know that a few months ago that was me. At the fair wondering, “Will we ever be able to afford to come here again? I bet this is our last time. Farewell greasy food and creepy carnies.” And in a few months it may be where I’m right back at. And I hate that. Living life like I gotta make the best of it as if eternal perfection is not awaiting me just around the corner. You know? I mean, if I really believe I’m going to Heaven and will be there forever and it’s perfect, why the heck am I so afraid of messing my life up here (which is supposedly, according to the Bible, just a wisp/vapor) with caring for orphans? What if we did just keep on adopting and had to wear old, ugly clothes and never eat anything but Ramen again? Do I really think that Jesus is gonna say to me, “Girl! Why didn’t you live it up? I really just wanted you to enjoy vacays and nice cars.” No. We don’t think that. We know deep down that if we live like eternity is real then we’ll err on the side of absurdity. We know we’ll never hear “Why’d you feed all those people?/Adopt all those kids?/Give up everything?”. We know it.  We just need to be reminded a LOT that life is super short and it isn’t given to us to see how awesome we can make it for ourselves.  

So I’m gonna be praying about all this too. First of all, that there ends up being some miracuous way somehow that we can just bring Snishka home ourselves. But if not, for her a family. And also, that God would mess me up so bad during this trip showing me these kids that I will never go back to making all of my decisions erring on the side of what is most sensible and comfortable to my life.  May we always assume that He WANTS us to do something and trust Him to stop us if He doesn’t instead of assuming that He WANTS us to do nothing and remain comfy and thinking that He’ll write it in the clouds if He does. 

~Heather~

Trip #2 of 3

Trip # 2 has begun.  I am sitting in Munich Germany writing this, waiting on our next flight.  This trip is short and crazy.  We are literally flying all the way to Kiev Ukraine for a brief (approx 30 min) court appearance with Vitya. Friday morning we fly back home.   The good news is that this trip will make it officialish.  Once court is finished there is a 10 day waiting period by law before we receive the decree stating he is a member of the Long fam.  That 11th day (Nov.5) is when we will return to do the final paperwork, passport apps, visa apps, physicals, etc.  And I must say I'm a little nervous about trying to find somewhere to watch the election results in Ukraine.  And I'm a little more sad that I won't get to have my quadrennial election results & hot wings party.  But, it's all worth it right?!
The question we get a lot, besides "why would you adopt internationally when there are so many kids in the U.S. who need families? & aren't you worried about how this will affect your life?" is "when will he be home?"  Vitya will not come home with us Friday at the end of this trip.  We will return to Georgia, once again without him.  Its at the end of the 3rd trip that he finally get's to come home and begin the process of getting settled into the crazy life that comes with being a Long.  Hope he's ready!!  Thank you for your prayers and support.  For those of you who have asked about giving a financial gift to help with the cost of travel, you can click on the "donate" button at the top right of this blog. Anything you wish to give will be HUGELY appreciated!

Love you all!
Jono

Melted Our Heart

Today was the big day.  The one we've waited for since January of 2010 when we took Oksana & Vitya Sushko to the airport to return them home after hosting them for a month.  Today we went to the orphanage..... // "going" to the orphanage was a 1.5 hour trip with 6 people in a toyota corola //.... and finally got to see Vitya.  I can't even describe the feeling when he walked into the room.  No one told us he was coming so we were shocked and awed when this handsome young man came in smiling! We were able to give him  huge hugs and love on him a bit.  We laughed and shared about all of the memories we had from hosting and hugged probably 20 times.  One of our prayers was that Vitya would smile when he saw us and that it wouldn't be an awkward moment.  God answered and Vitya smiled from ear to ear and just kept looking at us in what seemed to be disbelief.  It was surreal for all of us.  It was a day that none of us will ever forget.  The visit ended with Vitya signing the adoption agreement.  This form will be submitted to the court letting everyone know that Vitya wants to be a part of the Long family.  So thankful to God for where He has brought us.  Please continue to pray.  The next step will take place Monday.  We learned today that the paperwork has to be submitted to a "commission" in Vitya's birth-town and they must approve him being adopted separate from his siblings.  He has a little brother whom he's never met that has been adopted in country.  Please pray this doesn't hold up the process.  Once the seperation is approved, the paperwork will then be sent to the court and hopefully we will receive a court date.  Once we've been scheduled for court we will return home to Georgia until the court date.  We will keep you posted!  Keep praying.  We love you all and are so thankful for your support!
Love you!
Jono & Heather

Trip #1 Update

It's been a pretty long 3 days.  Right now it is Wednesday afternoon and there is so much going through my mind.  This morning was our appointment with the State Department of Adoptions.   These are the people who basically are the first one's to say we can adopt.  It was pretty much just a technicality, but an important one.  We go back to the S.D.A. tomorrow around 3p.m. (8a.m. @ home) to pick up our referral (the much awaited piece of paper saying we can adopt Vitya). Once we have that we will catch a bus for a 3 hour ride North to the town where the orphanage is.  Once we are there we will meet up with the social worker and be interviewed with Vitya......(by the way, His given name is Viktor, Vitya is short for Viktor) and they will make sure we aren't "forcing" him to be adopted.  After that it is just a waiting game until the paperwork has been submitted to the court.  While we are waiting.....for 5 days or so.....we will get to spend time with Vitya at the orphanage until we come home.
I'm excited and nervous about seeing him.  We've been waiting so long and really never thought this would really happen.  So much so that it is hard to believe we are really here.  We are so ready to take him home and get started with his new life.  We were told today that he is very ready to be out of the orphanage.  I've spent the whole day wondering if he gets picked on by bigger boys.  Does he wonder what took us so long?  Does he remember the fun we had when he visited us 3 years ago?  I wonder if he will want to have a new American name.  I wonder if he remembers my Memaw and what he will think when I tell him she is gone.  I worry someone will scare him into not wanting to be adopted like has happened to so many other kids.  Our life has changed so much since we had him.  When he was here we had 3 kids.  Now we have 5, including him.  We were at a different Church.  I was cooler....ok, maybe not.  Lots of things have changed but my trust is in God who is unchanging and has called us to something I could have never imagined.  I relate to the Prophet Jeremiah when God called Him out.  Jeremiah's reaction was fear and a deep feeling of inadequacy (Jer. 1).  But God pointed out: "I called you to this before you were ever born.  This was my plan while you were in your mother's womb."  We know that God called us to this way before He ever put it on our heart and He has prepared the way.  So my fears have to be taken captive and my focus has to be on the truth that my only job is to do exactly what the Lord has said.
~ Jono ~