Saturday, September 14, 2013

A really cool happening

God is full of surprises, some are fun and some are just... surprising.  We had a really fun one happen on labor day weekend.  A lovely young lady that I didn't recognize had her daughter out in the lobby at our church during the service.  We were on our way to the nursery so we invited her along.  Turns out, she is from Ukraine and her fiancee is from Russia.  She has adopted (get this) 5 kids in her home country of Ukraine and they all have special needs or were older, etc.  Why was she in our little church in humble Millersburg?  She had seen a movie about the Amish and wanted to come to Holmes County to experience the culture.  She is currently living in Chicago so her daughter can have surgery.  The other children are at home with a nanny.  She ended up at Hotel Millersburg, and on this God-orchestrated Sunday, at our church.  They asked us, "Where are the Amish?", we asked her to "tell us about your adoption experience!"  It was a win-win as we spent the day with Tetiana and Alex and little Sophia. They got to meet Grandma and Abe and Esther and get a tour of the back roads of Amish country, and we got to pick Tetiana's brain about adoption.  The state of the orphanages, and the need these kids have for love and stability was confirmed in the picture she painted of her adoption journey.  Little Sophia herself is a living testament to the power of a loving and determined parent.  They said she wouldn't live, but there she was running around, happy and playing. Kids need parents.  Parents need kids.  We felt so incredibly blessed by this divine meeting.  I mean, seriously, how cool was that?