Multiple Miracles!!!

Awesome God, Awesome Results!

Wow, a day of awe! We truly experienced a day full of God’s awesome moving of people to do his will whether they wanted to or not. Our facilitator and CBN staff said this has never been done before! So many steps, in so many cities, even for one child would be a miracle. But leave it to God!

We started the day by splitting up. Dan and Luda, translator #2, headed to the court to pick up the decrees at 8:05. Julie went to the orphanage to get Luda, our 14 year old daughter, to go to the notary (we were looking forward to that!), to pick up the girls’ old passports which we had to have to get new ones.

Picking up the court decrees was quick. So, Dan and Luda headed to the Zags to get Luda’s new birth certificate here in Berdyansk. This lady didn’t seem to agree at first this would be done quickly! After Luda talked to her and explained we were trying to get up to Zaporozhzha, she told them to take a walk and come back for it. Mean while, Julie arrived at the orphanage and the director was not in! The staff didn’t know when she would return, and they were locked in her office. However, within 10 minutes she returned and we headed out. We called Natasha (our translator #8) to meet us at the notary.

At first, the notary was not as helpful when yesterday she agreed for us to come at 8:30 (it was 9:00). She finally decided after 30 minutes to write and notarize Luda’s statement agreeing to come to America, but only after Natasha said she had a different notary we could go to (notary fees are some of the most expensive fees in Ukraine and she didn’t want to lose the business). She gave us a 1 ½ hour time line. At 9:40 Luda and Dan arrived at the notary with birth certificate #1!

At 10:00 we decided again to split up. Luda headed with Grisha to Vasylivka to start Nastia and Galina’s new birth certificates. However when she called to inform the lady she was on her way, she told Luda she was heading to Zaporozhzha for the day and wouldn’t return until Monday! Again, Luda explained our schedule. The lady agreed to stay and wait!! 11:50 Luda arrived at the office.

At 10:45, Dan, Julie, Luda, and Natasha finish at the notary and head to the hotel to pack lunch and get our cab. 11:20 Dan and Julie take Luda back to the orphanage with Grisha’s dad’s taxi and head to Vasylivka to meet up with Luda and Grisha. We arrive at 12:50 and Luda was still waiting. At 1:15 we get birth cert. #2 and #3!! We head across the plaza to get copies of them and have them notarized. What a difference experience at a notary in a small town. We were in and out in 20 minutes and she was not even in the office! They called her to come and complete our copies.

At 2:35 we pulled into the Regional Authentication office. We needed to have our 3 birth certificates verified for the embassy to verify we are the girls’ parents. Again, she was not in the office and it was not their usual day to see people so no one knew when she would return. Finally, the secretary agreed for us to leave our documents and we headed to the passport office.

At 3:05 we arrived at the passport office to turn in our new birth certificates and court decree. The lady hardly spoke to Luda and Luda had to ask if we should wait or go. The lady said I will check which didn’t seem hopeful to Luda. 15 minutes later the lady emerged and told us to continue to wait. When she returned from another office, Luda asked if we could go to the bank to pay authentication fees and return after the Registrar’s office. She said “yes” and told Luda she worked until 5 and for us to return before then.

After paying our bank fees, we arrived back at the Registrar’s office at 3:45 and she still was not in. Finally, the registrar’s arrived at 4:15 and we had our documents
by 4:25 and were off again back to the passport office. By 4:40 we had 3 new passports and had completed many days worth of documentation by the hand of God using many willing and unwilling parties!! We passed out many boxes of candy today but didn’t have to pay a single unofficial fee to anyone. (Again, another move of God)

Tonight, our girls will spend their last night at the orphanage. This must be a thrilling, sad, and anxious feeling for them. We will meet with the orphanage director tomorrow morning and head back to Kyiv in the evening. We believe God moved in such an immense way today to show us again how he is in control and will be with us in the future. Scripture for the day: But you will not leave or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Isaiah 52:12

God bless,
Dan and Julie

Big God, Small Problems!

(To the right: Pictures from parts of the outdoor market)

Hello Everyone!

Even though we dealt with the first real rain here in Berdyansk, we got everything done we needed to do prior the 10 day wait completion tonight at midnight. We were greeted this morning by a phone call from Luda, translator #2. She arrived at 8am from Kyiv. We quickly mapped out our day, thanks to Anya. Off to the notary we went for a second shot at notarizing the passport application. Our notary had a big change of heart and agreed to have all of our documents waiting for us in the morning at 9am, praise God! We also had not remembered we needed a certified translator to complete the application and God supplied this! While we were discussing the process with the notary, a woman and man came in and out quickly signing documents in the office. A short time later the notary called to the lobby and the woman came back in. She was a certified English translator!!! Natasha translated our documents for only 30 Hirvna ($6) and said she would return in the morning to translate again. Unfortunately, we didn’t get her photo for you, but Natasha has officially become our translator #8.

(Below: Dan and Luda, translator #2, eating Plov.)



After the notary, we hit the market again. Luda wanted to shop also and enjoyed the reduced prices compared to Kyiv. We ended up buying some gifts for the kids at home and just getting some fresh air. Following a quick outdoor lunch eating Plov, Georgian beef fried rice, we proceeded to the passport office. There we had all of our documents in order and set the itinerary for tomorrow in Zaporozhzha. We also called the court to make arrangements to copy our court decree, and praise God all fifteen copies had been made (complete with the infamous tied string!). They will be stamped tomorrow morning and ready for pickup at 8:15am.

Later, we picked the girls up at the orphanage along with their friend, Yira Ruban, and took them out to dinner at our much-loved pizza place. We had dinner and then crammed EIGHT people into a compact car, aka Grisha’s taxi, and took the girls back to the orphanage.

We are trying to finalize all of our plans here to head back to Kyiv on Saturday afternoon if all goes well getting new birth certificates and passports tomorrow. We will try to blog tomorrow, but if we have to stay overnight in Zaporozhzha we will not be able to do an update. We will try to complete one before heading back to Kyiv. Thank you all for your continued support and words of encouragement. To quote our good friend Dima, “Big God, no big problems!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Blessings to all,
Dan and Julie

One day and counting!!!

(To the right: Luda and girls from orphanage, and Galina with her teacher and classmates)

Hello Everyone!

Well, we have one more day left in our ten day waiting process. The ball drops on Friday morning and we will be off to all of the different places to gather all of the documents and head to Zaporozhzha. We spent the first part of the morning getting all of our documents together for our visit with the Passport Office tomorrow here in Berdyansk. Anya has been keeping us on task with itineraries and checklists everyday from Kyiv, thank God for her!

Today we had coffee with Misha, Luda, and their son, Paul, in our hotel room as they were handing off packages for us to take back to the US for them. Afterwards, it was off to the market again. Even if you just go to look, it really does feel good to get outside for a bit. We have learned not to speak too much out there. Otherwise, the vendors go ahead and tell their friends that the Americans are there, and sure enough, our prices seem to magically increase, sometimes by as much as double. There are some really good vendors though. They like trying to speak English to us, while we do our best to butcher their language. It’s OK!

(Below: Dan and girls near a kiosk)



We had a good day with the girls. They really enjoy seeing our taxi driver, Grisha. He has become our primary mode of transportation for most places here outside of walking distance. We had more English lessons today, trying to learn the basics. We basically thought of the things we always have to tell Jacob to do and tried to teach the girls. It went pretty well. I think they are looking forward to going to Kyiv on Saturday and seeing Anya again. Julie and I definitely are. We can’t wait to see all our friends there and to be one step closer to being home.

We have enjoyed the wonderful and supportive emails from people back home. It is such a blessing to have friends and family like we do. Thank you all for your support. We can’t wait to get home to be with our family again. We continue to ask for prayer and favor from God for a safe and expeditious return to the States as the time approaches where one thing can hold you up for days (AKA a Ukrainian notary).

God Bless,
Dan and Julie

To serve others!

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday, Monday, Dan started out by going with Dima to pay some fees related to the new birth certificates and passports at a federal bank here in Berdyansk. This took a while since there had to be 8 different transactions to complete the process. Dan and Dima then went to a small coffee and pastry shop. The “sweets” here are sold all over the city on sidewalks and stores. They even have small portable shops called “Kiosks” on corners to provide for your sweet tooth and weight gain needs!! Just wanting to sample since we may not get the chance again, we stop and purchase something almost daily. So much for losing weight in the Ukraine!!

Today, we went to the outdoor market and purchased some warm winter clothing for the homeless boy in front of the hotel, all for about ¼ of what it would have cost in the states. We feel led every day to give him food. Lately, he seems to have picked up a bit of work with the construction workers laying brick at the entrance of the hotel. When we approached him to give him the clothing, the 2 workers across the parking area seemed to watch us as if looking out for him. When he looked into the bag and saw his winter coat, pants, hat and gloves he became so excited he yelled across the lot to the men and then gave Dan and me a huge hug! As we walked away and turned to look at him, we saw that he began changing immediately on the sidewalk layering his old and new items. It is truly a humbling and moving experience to realize we are so unworthy of being the hands of Christ. Yet because he loves us so much, he has given us the opportunity to pass his blessings on to others. We have talked to our CBN staff about this boy and have seen the police talking to him a few nights ago. So, we pray we will learn more.

Today, we are organizing our documents for Friday’s travels around to get court decrees (Berdyansk), birth cert’s (Berdyansk and Vesyvlica), and passports (Berdyansk and Zaparozhzha). We make a trip to the courthouse Thursday to make copies (15) of our court decrees. The court does not have enough staff to do this, so Luda (facilitator #2) will be returning on Thursday morning to lead us through the process and prayerfully head back to Kyiv Friday late or Saturday.

(Below: Kids from the orphanage playing soccer and at dinner)




We continually realize how great the need is here in Ukraine and everywhere else in the world. It is a truly humbling experience to be over here and seeing it first hand. We appreciate all of the prayers and support for us and our journey. If anyone feels led to help or even to adopt, please feel free to email our friend at CBN in Virginia Beach. Her name is Nataliya Khomyak, nataliya.khomyak@cbn.org, and she will gladly point you in the right direction.

God bless,
Dan and Julie

Love others!

Hello Everyone!

We just got home from having dinner with Misha and Luda here in Berdyansk. What a neat family they are. We started the day off with picking the girls up and coming back to the hotel. Luda was not feeling well today, so she took a nap while Dan took Galina and Nastia to the market for fruit.

After returning from the market, Luda seemed to be feeling a bit better and we went out to look for new shoes for the girls. Afterwards, we came back to the room and the girls got baths. They really enjoy the big bath tub.

5:45pm rolled around and it was time to take the girls back to the orphanage. After dropping them off, Julie and I went to Misha and Luda’s for borshch and grilled fish. What an amazing feast! We had a wonderful time visiting with our new friends in God. They truly are doing God’s work here in Ukraine by opening up their hearts and home for the orphans in the city.



(To the right: Luda making Borshch for Dan and Julie, Yum Yum!)

After dinner and dessert, we headed back to the hotel where we saw a homeless boy, about 14 years old, out in front of the hotel we have been seeing the past several days. He is not in an orphanage, and after asking the hotel front desk personnel about him, we learned that he lives on the streets. Right now, it is around 0 deg C every night and he has nothing but a light, worn-out, winter coat. Everyday, there are sights like this over here and it makes us realize how much we have and how much we take for granted in America. We want to do so much, and realize what we are doing here is just “the tip of the iceberg” of need around the world. That sounds pretty elementary, but it is necessary to tell ourselves that every day we go to the orphanage and see all of the lonely, lost, and desperate faces we pray one day will have a family. I guess God can open up your eyes even bigger when you are so far out of your comfort zone and have to totally rely on him for direction and support each day. John 13:34 “God has given me one new commandment that I should love others just as He has loved me.”

Thank you for all of your continued support and prayers. We ask that you all keep praying for all of the orphans here and all over the world. May God bless each and every one of you?

Blessings,
Dan and Julie

Take care of the Orphans!

(To the right: Precious, little kids from the orphanage just after dinner.)

Hello everyone!

Yesterday, Saturday, Anya (from Kyiv via phone), Dan and Dima (CBN Berdyansk) had a long meeting with the passport agency here in Berdyansk. Anya translated to Dan after Dima told her what the lady was saying. It was progressive, informative and helpful. Praise God! These steps need to be done because Luda is 14. This office has to run a background check on Luda. They also will update the girl’s names on their tax ID numbers since the children will have dual citizenship until 18 yrs. old. At 18 the girls will have to pick their citizenship either the U.S.A or Ukraine.

Since our trip to Zaporozhzha, we have learned God was sparing us further delay in not getting the passport application notarized. At the meeting with the passport office in Berdyansk, we learned there we needed more information for them. Had we notarized the application we would not have known to do this step in Berdyansk. It is a blessing to have these thing started during the 10 day wait, and we continue to praise God for his direction and for the judge who has given us God’s favor.

We also went to the grocery store for some more “American” type shopping. Yes, we had everyone watching us due to our different style of shopping (bulk, children and groceries). If they could only see us once we get home!!

Later today, we are invited to dinner at Misha and Luda’s home again. They are so wonderful and despite the language barrier we do well together. Misha and Luda speak some English to our 15-30 words of Russian!! So, dictionaries are a must for each step outside of our hotel room. Wow, my purse will be lighter once we return home.

Tomorrow, we have some more document preparation to do to organize the girls’ paperwork for the passport and birth certificate office. We are progressing forward with our knowledge of independent adoption with the full assistance of the CBN Ukraine team.

Blessings to you and thank you for the many prayers,

Dan and Julie

More Red Tape!

(To the right: Grisha, Karen, and Dan eating at McDonald's; Grisha, Julie, and Karen in McDonald's parking lot)

Hello Everyone!

Today was a 12 hour day! Wow, praise God for his favor and protection today. We started out with our favorite taxi driver, and new translator #6, Grisha! Yes, our first stop was to fix documents in Vasyvleka for the classification of Nastia and Galina as orphans. We had already done this with Larissa (translator #3), but the documents were not bound together with the typical string through all the pages in the ice pick holes and then taped to the paper, therefore not acceptable to the notary as “official”.

This event deserves the history of its conception. We needed a Ukrainian citizen to show a passport to obtain this new document. Since we were running low on translators, Dan ran the idea by Larissa via phone to have our cab driver go into the court building and pick up the documents. She said, “this may work” and called the cab driver and orphanage to make arrangements. So, yesterday we had to obtain permission from the orphanage director to have a new document made for us again. When we arrived in her office to pick up the document with Karen Springs, aka translator #5 “the American who speaks Russian” and wonderful friend, the orphanage director asked who “Grisha…” was on their permission slip. You can imagine her shock when we told her it was our cab driver!!! Yes, I think she thinks we are crazy Americans for sure.

Anyway, our new translator, Grisha did a wonderful job obtaining the necessary documents from the court and could you believe when he came out of the office again the documents didn’t have the string!! Dan suggested we do this back at the hotel with our sewing kit, but just to be safe we went back in and Grisha and Karen explained what we needed.

We arrived in plenty of time to go to the McDonalds’s in Zaprozhzha!! Eat your heart out Helen, Joshua and Jacob! Grisha told Karen he had only had McDonald’s once before and commented it was better to eat at home!! We picked up another official translator (#7) Ludmila to accompany us to this region’s Regional Registrar’s office to verify our adoption documents. This step is to release the new birth certificates for the girls. This is needed to obtain their passports. Praise God, after much disagreement with the judge here in Berdyansk that we could start this process without the 10 day waiting period. The registrar gave us the verification which is good on Dec. 15th. We showed her the order which said she could START the process. Now we can go to the Berdyansk and Vasyvleka (1.5hr away) offices to obtain our birth cert. first before heading to Zap (2.5hr away) to get passports on the 15th instead of making three trips there in one day. We also drove around to 6 notary offices to get our passport application filled out and notarized. However, we were told “today is not a good day to need a notary”. All of the notaries were in a regional meeting today and most were not returning to work afterwards. We need a translator to do this work, so watch out for our update on translator #8 to follow soon!

Sadly, we took Karen to the train station for her trip back to Kyiv tonight. It was unbelievable we were saying goodbye to her. She will be returning to the US next week for Christmas, and we will not be able to see her in Kyiv. What a wonderful woman of God and so giving! We are so blessed to have the wonderful team of Christians working their hearts out for this adoption.



(To the right: The Zaporozhzha Train Station)

Our drive back to Berdyansk from Zap was tense. The fog was horrible, and we could hardly see past the front bumper. We saw at least 5 bad accidents. Grisha, 22 yrs old, did a wonderful job. Thank you so much Anya (translator #1) for all of the work from Kyiv for arranging the day today!

Thanks to everyone for your continued support and prayers. We are so blessed to have wonderful friends and family like you all.

Many Blessings,
Dan and Julie