Jennifer Grace - Part II

Continuing on with the story of Jennifer…

When last we left we were stuck on the ground after 9-11.  I must admit that we really were not very concerned about getting on the plane, assuming one was going to fly.  It seems that God had confirmed the trip in so many ways that we were to go, no matter what the outcome was to be.  That is not to say that those around us were not concerned.  Both our moms were scared to death and I guess from a purely human standpoint it was probably pretty ridiculous.  However, in the end, we cannot live one day more or less that God has planned, and so we went forward knowing that our lives our in His hands.

So we took a 6am flight out of Tulsa the day the airlines started flying again.  I don’t know if it was literally the first flight to fly, but it was the first on the schedule for Continental.   In the mean time, we had been unable to find out whether Aeroflot was flying from Chicago.  So we got on the plane not knowing whether our connecting flight was going to fly.  When we finally got to Chicago, it turned out that the Aeroflot plane had landed in Montreal when all the planes were grounded.  They then flew a 767 wide body jet back empty to Moscow.  So we were stuck in Chicago.  So we spent the rest of the day trying to find an alternate flight.  No luck.  The entire airline industry was in chaos with the terrorist attacks.

So we had to decide whether to use our round trip ticket to get back to Tulsa and see what we could do from there or find someplace to stay while we tried to get someplace to stay in Chicago.  Part of the problem was that, with the job loss, the impending move, $15,000 for the adoptions, we were getting strapped for cash.  By God’s grace someone in the church offered to pay our hotel bills in Chicago.

We spent the next several days trying to find a flight.  Finally, Aeroflot flew a flight into Chicago.  After five days we were off to Moscow.

Once we left US air space things were pretty uneventful.  The trip was long.  A twelve hour flight to Moscow, an over night stop in a hotel, get on the plane another long trip to Irkutsk, change planes in an airport where no one speaks English, and arrival at 3 am, all just normal stuff for such travel.

It was about 4 am when we got to our flat and we had to be up at 8am to meet the kids.  Whew!  

So at 8 we are up, the ever entertaining Russian car ride (do they even know what a lane is), and we get to the orphanage.  We got shuffled into the orphanage director’s office.   We had an interview, I think so that they could make sure we had the right answers for the judge.  Almost no one in Russia has eight children, no one home schools, and we were doing both.  They seemed to really want us to get the kids, but I think they thought it was going to be hard for the judge to understand what we were about.

I remember during this time trying to convince them that we had enough room for eight kids.  Discussions of how many square feet, two acre yard, and all of that made little difference.  What really convinced them was the fact that we had three bathrooms!  After you think about it, it makes sense.   In their culture every home is a flat in a big apartment building.  And every flat there is one bathroom.  So having three bathrooms means that we have the equivalent to three flats!  Ahh, cultural context is everything.

Then we got to meet the kids.  I frankly don’t remember much about that meeting.  We were going on about eight hours sleep in about 72 hours of travel.  And, they wanted them to go with us!  I can’t say that we were thrilled.  At that point we really just wanted to crash for a few hours.  Still, it would have looked really bad it we had not taken them.  So off we went, eight hours on the ground, the same amount of sleep out of 72 and three teenagers that didn’t speak English.  

From there things went fairly well, given the circumstances.  Jennifer (Veronika at the time) was the oldest.  She kind of kept the other two in line.  They were very intimidated by us and were on their best behavior.  

We had several adventures shopping for clothes, and getting food for the five us.  The kids offered to clean up after the food was fixed and were generally helpful.  

Then the day for court came, it really was somewhat anticlimactic.  There was an interview with the judge who really did not have many questions.  Everyone seemed very happy that the kids were getting homes.  I guess the fact that we had adopted before from that court helped get us through quicker.

From there we had to get passport pictures, finish paperwork, and start the trip home.  We had to stop in Moscow for several days while we got their visas.  We did a little sight seeing.  We took them to Red Square and to the Arbat(marketplace).

Finally, the flight home began.  The plane was filled with other parents who had adopted, mostly small children.  It was nice not to have to fight with a toddler or infant that suddenly had new parents.  Our kids even helped some with the little ones.

Finally, after more than three weeks we arrived back in Tulsa.  Three days later I left to go to Alabama to start my new job.  However, that and the move don’t really come into this story.

Now Jennifer has been with us four years, and seems like it has been forever and no time at all.  One of the bittersweet elements of adopting teenagers is that you have them for so little time.  Jennifer turns nineteen in a few months and will legally be an adult.  Though she will probably stay with us a few more years as she completes her education, it still seems like such a little time.

Jennifer has been such a blessing to us and she is such a testimony to the grace of our God.  She has come to profess faith in Christ and is working out her faith with fear and trembling.  We are excited to see her grow in faith and thank God for every day we have had her.

To Him be All the Glory forever.