Evil Queen Pt 2

Or better titled, "Choose to lose my joy day."

This is one of our first videos! It's called evil queen pt. 1(we wanted to put pt 2 on, but you would miss the background!)

Hey all...

Hey all,

We got up about 6:30. I got a hot bath, read the Word for about an hour (I'm reading through the Psalms, a salve for my soul, Proverbs, and continuing my trek through Kings. I finished Samuel before I left). We had omelets with ham (sorry Ken) and cheese and toast (even though they think it's bad for our digestion...yes, I'm serious). You can eat bread, even dry, crusty, old bread...but call it toast and it messes up your digestion. :o)

Since I'm suddenly on the subject of "old wives tales"...we had heard that Ukrainians believe that if a female sits on the cold pavement, then they will become sterile. Well, on Wednesday we had to sign a whole bunch of papers and George met us on the street (since we were out shopping for shoes for the boys and hats), I sat on a marble wall and signed. Then I got up so Mary could sit down. George said, "Maybe I'll just hold. It's dangerous for a woman to sit down in the cold." I turned away and bit my lips...I wanted to BUST OUT LAUGHING (but somehow, that would seem rude). I wonder what things I believe that have no basis in fact. I've been trying to figure some out. I do still find myself thinking that if my hair is wet and I go out in the cold, that I will catch a cold. I KNOW this not to be true, but still it sometimes changes my behavior. How often do false beliefs about God cause me to act in ways that make Him just sigh and shake His head?? Belief rules the day. God, teach me more about You today than I have ever known.

We're off to Romaniv this morning. We will go by ourselves (with our driver Valentine, of course). We need to deliver the sopeonas to Alla, the Inspector and to the Assistant Director at the institution. We haven't been to see Micah since Tuesday, so we're glad to see him and we are glad for a break in the monotony. :-)

Some things no one told us...

• How bad it would hurt to leave our kids at home for 6 weeks. We knew it would be hard, but we were SO EXCITED to come and meet the boys and bring them home that we didn't consider how it would feel to leave. The day we left I felt like I was going to a funeral, not a celebration. We are VERY homesick and we've been here only 13 days.
• How hard it is to play with the kids in the small room with only a couple of toys.  It’s kind of like trying to play with your child in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.  :-)  We love seeing them and spending time with them…but it will be so much EASIER at home!! 
• The deep feeling of connection that we would have almost immediately.  As though they were our own, by birth.  Wow.  It must be how God thinks of me.  Double WOW!
• How much I would appreciate the inspectors, directors, and care givers.  It’s not that expected to hate them or anything, but once you get here and see them and experience their life (only an hour at a time), there is a deep appreciation for what they do.  They are limited in resources, one-on-one time with the kids, maybe even know-how, but the really care about these kids.  It’s so easy to place the blame for the situation of kids on them…since they are the only ones we know…the parents, after all, are nowhere to be found.  God, bless these dear ones who are taking care of your children.  Heap blessings on them that will overflow onto the precious children in their care.
• How LONG the days are.  :-)  We are thankful that we get to break our days up by visiting Romaniv and seeing Micah!

We are back from Romaniv…can you guess where we are now?  Palermo!  The pizzeria!  :-)

We had a very sweet time with Micah.  When he came running down the hall to the room where we were waiting, he just lit up and said “mama”, “papa”.  He wanted me to get out the computer and start “Miss Patty Cake” and wanted mama to get out the banana that he was just sure we had brought.  Which of course we had!

So we watched Miss Patty Cake, ate a banana, played ball, spit, wiped the spit off the window, spit, wiped the spit off the computer, spit, wiped the spit off our clothes…  did I mention that Micah has some sort of salivary problem where the saliva builds up and then he doesn’t want it in his mouth anymore.  So he either spits it out, or wipes it with a kleenex.  I suspect that they don’t chase him around and hand him kleenexs all day so he has gotten used to just spitting it out.  Ugh.

Today, we did the time out thing.  I would say no, sit him down and turn off Miss Patty Cake.  (only for 15-20 seconds).  Would you believe that by the time we left today (after only an hour) he was just letting the saliva go into his hand (not spitting) and then would wait for us to give him a kleenex to wipe it with?  Wow…that’s progress!

Here’s some pics from today, but don’t forget to keep reading at the bottom for some VERY EXCITING NEWS!

Waiting patiently for the banana and Miss Patty Cake.  (really…he WAS patient…amazing)

“Papa…what have I told you about that camera!!!?”

Here comes banana.  He said banana today.  It was kind of nananana.  He wasn’t sure how many nana’s there was supposed to be.  So cute!!

Oh…joy.  Pure joy.

He LOVES Miss Patty Cake.  He clapped and played along today.  He said “BUBBLE” today every time the bubbles came on the screen.  So smart!

Loves his mama.

This pics are from last nights’ visit with Matthew.  I didn’t post last night.  I was tired and in a bit of a weird funk…so here they are today.

This is Parker.

This is Parker and Matthew.  Matthew loves Parker.  He listens and rocks himself and giggles.  Not once each visit, not twice, but dozens of times.  He must have some pretty fabulous abs!

He got out Mary’s water bottle last night.  He didn’t know it was for drinking.  He sloshed it and just laughed and laughed.  He really enjoyed himself.  I was glad for a little variety in our visit!  He also played with a kleenex package.  He liked the crinkle of it.

He also looked through the water bottle.  You know that makes a cool magnifying glass.  He was very amused and curious.  He’s a very smart kid (especially for someone with very deep mental delay…**he said oozing with sarcasim**)

“Et tu, Matthew?”  When he’s tired of the camera, this is what I get.  He just turns around.  These boys have a conspiracy against my camera!!

And now back to today…

On our way to see Micah, we stopped by the Inspector’s office to deliver the “invitation” to court.  Alla wasn’t in the office so one of her assistants asked if we could sit down and wait.  Of course we did.  I warned Mary that they might offer us coffee and she would just have to choke it down (that would have been interesting).  They offered us coffee OR tea…so, phew…safe.  I had coffee, Mary tea and they passed around the box of chocolates.  We had one with our beverage.  It was mighty fine.  The assistant studied English in school so we chatted about some surface stuff (family, pets, weather, children).  It was hard for her.  But she speaks FAR BETTER English than we do Ukrainian or Russian.  :-)

We were in a bit of a hurry to get to Micah because Valentine (our driver) had to get back to Novograd to go to the dentist.  So they retrieved her from her meeting when she saw me looking at my watch.  She REALLY wanted to see us, we were told.  These ladies have been SO AMAZING!  This was the place that we were told we might not get permission.  Then that it might be months before we got it.  Then that they would let us have him, but we would have to have court there and it might be months, then when they realized that it really might be months, they said to please move the court to Novograd so we could complete it quickly.  Bless them.  They have thanked us repeatedly.  Today, the assistant said that God would “remunerate” us for what we were doing.  Her way of saying that God would bless us because we were adopting Micah.

Alla came in and was all smiles.  She said she wanted to thank us again for what we were doing and that we would always be in their hearts and they would never forget us.  She presented us with this gift…

They took this picture the day we met Micah (Misha) and had it framed.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  It took my breath away.  We have gotten many gifts from many kind people in Ukraine over the years, but this will remain our most cherished.  They said they wanted us to never forget them and always think of them when we saw this.  No worries, ladies.  You will FOREVER be in our hearts too.  What amazing people.

AMAZING NEWS COMING UP IN A MOMENT…

Mary at Palermo…  yep…this is what we do…  :-)

Okay…here’s the news…
We were told that we would have court next Friday (that’s 7 days from today!!) IF our papers were approved by SDA in time.  Well guess what?  Our facilitator called us from Kiev at about 12:45 today and said that our papers were good and the SDA was satisfied with them and were approved.  WOW!!!  Praise God!!  We have seen His hand, experienced His power and been blessed way beyond measure!!!  We Bless Your Name God!!!  We would Bless Your Name regardless…  We love You.  We adore You.  We worship You.

Blessings to all.  Grace and Peace.

Till tonight.  :-)

Here’s some pics from today’s visit. 

We woke up to more snow today.  It was snowing big, wet flakes because the temperature is above freezing (just barely).  It was pretty, but it made our walk a little wet!  :-)  But we are thankful to the Lord and bless His name!

In my time in the Word this morning, Psalm 40 came up…it’s probably my favorite portion of Scripture.

1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened.
  He lifted me out of the ditch,
     pulled me from deep mud.
  He stood me up on a solid rock
     to make sure I wouldn't slip.
  He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
     a praise-song to our God.
  More and more people are seeing this:
     they enter the mystery,
     abandoning themselves to God.

4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
     turn your backs on the world's "sure thing,"
     ignore what the world worships;
  The world's a huge stockpile
     of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
  Nothing and no one
     comes close to you!
  I start talking about you, telling what I know,
     and quickly run out of words.
  Neither numbers nor words
     account for you.

6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
     that's not what you're after.
  Being religious, acting pious—
     that's not what you're asking for.
  You've opened my ears
     so I can listen.

7-8 So I answered, "I'm coming.
     I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
  And I'm coming to the party
     you're throwing for me."
  That's when God's Word entered my life,
     became part of my very being.

9-10 I've preached you to the whole congregation,
     I've kept back nothing, God—you know that.
  I didn't keep the news of your ways
     a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
  I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
     I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
  For myself alone. I told it all,
     let the congregation know the whole story.

11-12 Now God, don't hold out on me,
     don't hold back your passion.
  Your love and truth
     are all that keeps me together.
  When troubles ganged up on me,
     a mob of sins past counting,
  I was so swamped by guilt
     I couldn't see my way clear.
  More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
     so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
     hurry and get me some help,
  So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
     will be embarrassed and lose face,
  So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
     will be heckled and disgraced,
  So those who pray for my ruin
     will be booed and jeered without mercy.

16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
     oh, let them sing and be happy.
  Let those who know what you're all about
     tell the world you're great and not quitting.
  And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing:
     make something of me.
  You can do it; you've got what it takes—
     but God, don't put it off.

Here’s the pics…

This is yesterday. No, he’s not trying to choke me.  He’s feeling the resonance of my voice while I make different sounds.  He came right back to doing this today.  So he must really like it.

Ukrainian Taxi.  (just kidding)

On the road to Romaniv to see Micah. (This was Tuesday)

Papa and Micah.

Mary was so beautiful this morning…as always.

Bethany & Seth…you would LOVE this fort that is in the park near our apartment!

This is right before Mary knocked the camera out of my hand.  :-)  Just Kidding.

Woke up to snow this morning.

The streets of Novograd.  On our walk this morning to see Matthew.

Either it’s trash day or it’s a special holiday for dogs when they leave all the trash at the curb for the numerous stray dogs to tear in to…

Just a random shot.

The orphanage complex.

The window to Matthew’s bedroom.

Well…be blessed our friends.  Tonight we will go eat at Pastor Andre & Tatiana’s apartment with the Loux’s.  Scratch that…we just found out we won’t be.  So much for the break in monotony.  :-)  Oh well.

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!!

This afternoon, something happened to my internet card and it instantly ran out of money.  Ugh…  So I got it refilled this evening and I’m BACK ONLINE!!  Yes!

I don’t like not being able to get online.  This afternoon, I typed a post and was about to post it and Mary lost her internet connection and we couldn’t get it back.  ARGH!!!  So I posted it when I got back online this evening.  It’s the post below this one.

So…so good news!  George (our facilitator) met with our judge this afternoon and he agreed to do court next Friday!!!  Praise God!!!  He will go to Kiev tomorrow to get our paperwork to the State Department of Adoption (SDA).  Please pray because we need to get our approvals from them by NEXT THURSDAY.  Sometimes they drag their feet so it makes it difficult.  So please pray.

While I’m talking prayer, please pray for John & Tracie Loux.  They are still waiting to hear about their court date and haven’t yet.  They have been here since Feb 7 and are REALLY READY to be done.  I can only imagine. 

Also…please pray for Wayne and Meghan Dickinson.  They are leaving to come adopt on Saturday.  That’s 2 days away.  They still need financial help.  Please pray!!

Things are going good at home.  Talking to nana right now.  She sounds tired but is doing well!  THANK YOU mom for all you are doing!  We love you.

Yesterday, we were going through our final application, George was reading it to us (since he had to translate it).  When he got to the part requesting to change their names to Matthew Isaiah Malone and Micah Jonathan Malone, the tears were ready to flow freely.  I had to choke it back.  I thought maybe I shouldn’t do the ugly cry in front of the director of the institution.  :-)  It was so overwhelming.  Not just the adoption of our boys.  But also the fact that God gave me a new name too.  Just experiencing the emotions of it, I can almost imagine my Heavenly Father when the day came to change my name.  He must have been so full of joy and relief that the day had finally come.  I can’t thank Him enough for adopting me.  I can’t thank Him enough for allowing us to adopt Matthew and Micah.

We had 2 great visits with Matthew today!  This afternoon, we got to take him OUTSIDE!  He was amazed and full of wonder.  I don’t know how often he gets to go outside, but he LOVED it!!!!

Check out this video:   Matthew loves "Parker" the singing donkey.  There is one song on it that is his favorite.  He rocks and rocks and rocks.  He'll do this for as along as will let him.   And he likes to hold Parker up to his ear.   He's so precious.  Thank You, Jesus.  :-)

Thank you all for praying for us!

Here are some pictures…

From this morning’s visit.  He’s always so happy to see us.

If you think this is right before I got pegged with the xylophone, you’re right.  Wow.  :-)

Matthew’s name plate on his bed.  :-)

The only one missing is Micah.  :-(  But he’s 100km away.
Left to right:  Chris, Mary & Matthew Malone; Emma, Tracie, Aiden & John Loux
We all got to go outside this afternoon.  It was a little warmer today.  :-)

We are SO BLESSED to have John & Tracie here at the same time.  We get together a couple of times a day at the pizzeria and just bum around town.  It’s a huge blessing to Mary and I.  So far away from home, to have a brother and sister in Christ to share the joy and the sorrows.  Praise God!  They will leave to go home after their court date for 10 days and then come back to get their two precious gifts from Jesus.

Psalm 30
4-5 All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God!
      Thank him to his face!
   He gets angry once in a while, but across
      a lifetime there is only love.
   The nights of crying your eyes out
      give way to days of laughter.

I’m so thankful for God’s Word.  Everyday He meets me there.  He never disappoints.  Never stands me up.  Thank You, Father.

Be blessed our friends.  We love you all.

From our visit on Saturday evening.  Hey Malone kids…please note that he is looking at Mom out of the CORNER OF HIS EYE like Eli does!  :-)

Is that a beautiful smile or what!!??

Miss Patty Cake…  He watched the whole program and seemed to really love it.  He loves music  very much.  Micah does too…so I guess that wraps it up for the whole family loving music.

Okay.  In case you are wondering if clothes will actually dry in the dead of winter when it’s snowing…  the answer is, we’re not sure.  Mary hung some stuff on our clothesline in the apartment “terrace” (don’t get too excited about the terrace…we’re afraid to walk on it because it could fall off the building at any moment).  They froze solid.  So she moved them inside and hung them on the radiator.  So maybe given enough time, they would eventually dry.

We attended Pastor Andre’s church this morning.  We didn’t recognize any of the songs, but we recognized the Spirit of God.  We had a good time fellowshipping with these believers.  John & Tracie Loux attended too.

Lunch at the Novograd Cafe with Pastor Andre & his wife, Tatiana (pictured), and John & Tracie (pictured) Loux.  Also, Lilia came with us and interpreted as best she could.  We had a great meal with these new friends.  Andre is the pastor who allowed us to use the apartment we are in at such a great price.  He says it is an honor to serve fellow servants of God.  Wow.

The view from our apartment.  You might think it’s cold here now.  You’re right.

Next to our building is a broken down amusement park (at least I hope it’s broken down and they don’t actually allow children on these rides).  It’s a bit creepy at night so we only take the shortcut through the park in daylight.

So…tomorrow we head to Romaniv to get in a visit with Micah.  While we are there, George will hopefully get the rest of our paperwork we need to file for court.  It’d be swell if we could do that on Monday afternoon or Tuesday.  We’ll see.  :-)  PLEASE PRAY!

The snow has tapered off this afternoon.  As I type this, we are about to get our shoes on and start the trek to the orphanage to see Matthew.  Hopefully it’ll be a sweet time with him.

***********************MONDAY***********************

Hey all…yesterday we didn’t have internet…so no post.  :-(  But you can read it now.  :-)

We visited Micah today for about 2.5 hours.  Had a good time with him.  He’s bonding with us nicely.  He’ll fit in as a Malone easily!!

George has worked tirelessly to get our papers done.  We hope to have the last papers tomorrow, then he’ll be off to Kiev on Tuesday night to take to SDA and get them stamped etc.  We hope to have court next week!!  Please pray!!!

Here’s some pics from today.

Mary is such a priceless treasure to me.  She’s the best mom, wife, lover, friend in the world.  So thankful for her.  She’s a real trooper too!  If you’ve been here, you know what I mean!

John Loux & their new kids…  Aiden (left) and Emma (right).  SO CUTE!  They came walking by the window of the room we were playing in with Matthew.

Sunday…  look, he has different pj’s…  I can’t believe how cute he is!!  And he even looks like a Malone!

He loves the xylophone…  Music in his future?  Hmmm….

He’s so happy just being with us. 

We spent a LOT of time in the car today.  We enjoyed it!  Can you tell?

Our boy, Micah, today.  Eating a banana.  He’s a bottomless pit.

He likes the xylophone too… to a limit.  :-)

Yes, that’s banana oozing out of his mouth and yes, he’s about to spit.  He gets saliva built up in his mouth, then he spits it out and then he wipes his mouth with a kleenex.  Cute, but obviously a habit we’ll need to work on.  :-)

At the table waiting for his lunch.  Fish soup.  Ummmm…would he be this excited if he knew that?

Yes, he’s eating fish soup and a piece of bread.  He was SO HAPPY with it…

More new pj’s today (Monday)…  He was sure happy to see us tonight.  Hugged me, then Mary, then me, then Mary…  get the picture?

Thank you God for the MANY blessings we have seen.  Thank you for the down times when we’ve had to cling to You with all our might.  Thank you for the moments when Your hand has been so evident.  We love You.  We trust You.

Psalm 19
7-9 The revelation of God is whole
      and pulls our lives together.
   The signposts of God are clear
      and point out the right road.
   The life-maps of God are right,
      showing the way to joy.
   The directions of God are plain
      and easy on the eyes.
   God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
      with a lifetime guarantee.
   The decisions of God are accurate
      down to the nth degree.

Thank you for all your prayers.  Keep em coming.

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