Story Time!

I have some stories that have come my way in Russia that I wish to share, and the first one is about Hannah. On our first visit to Russia, we gave her a stuffed dog from Build a Bear with a recording inside the bear from Scott, me, and Luke telling her “I love you, Tatiana.” The workers at the orphanage told us on this trip she listened to it all the time, but she kept asking the workers, “If they love me so much, why don’t they come and get me.” I was very sad to hear this, but in some small way I was happy the dog helped her remember us while we were apart from her.

Another story that a couple told us on this trip concerning their 21 month year old boy they just adopted was tough to hear but understandable. On their first night together, they gave him two pieces of toast to eat, and he immediately got up and was walking around the room looking everywhere. Suddenly, he found the hotel safe and put one piece of toast in the safe and went back to eat the other one. When he woke up the next morning, he went to the safe and got out the piece of toast he had hidden and ate it. The mother said she cried thinking about why he had to do this, but understood that this was common practice for a child in the orphanage. This is survival instinct in its purist form.

I had the honor of seeing many sweet faces of children at Hannah’s orphanage, but it was so hard to realize that they live there without a family. I think the workers try to do their best for the children, but money is not available and time for each child is not possible. My heart cries for them knowing some will never have the chance to leave. I know I will never forget this experience my whole life and treasure what God has given us. One that is leaving and will be loved and have a family.

Some of you may not know, but Hannah is not with us right now. We are in a ten day waiting period and we are not sure why, but everyone usually has to go through it. Hannah is five hours away in the orphanage from where we are staying and we will not see her until they bring her here and she will then be with us forever. This is known as "Gotcha Day", and for us May 6th should be the day! While we wait, we are allowed to leave if we want, so that is why we are going to St. Petersburg tomorrow. It is a wonderful opportunity to see it, and have something to pass the time. Many have told us that it is a beautiful city, and we are looking forward to it. I hope to be able to connect there too! We will be on a train for 24 hours to St. Petersburg without any connection, so we look forward to being reconnected there. Thank you for your prayers and notes, we are reading them and really love it.