Meet The Grandparents - A sad day...

We woke to a phone call from our intrepretor.  The grandparents had been to the orphanage at 8 am already and tried to get Stas to go on a trip w/ them.  Thankfully, the director did not allow it. We headed to the orphanage- assuming the worst.  Our girl, Tonya told us that grandma did not understand why we would want another child.  There is some crazy talk about Americans wanting body parts for their own children and she was concerned that we would disappear and they would never get to communicate w/ Stas again. 

 Finally, we met with the grandparents and slowly but surely realized that they aren't mean or evil, just sad to see their Stas go. Grandma was crying off and on thru the afternoon, constantly reaching out to Stas for a hug and kiss. Grandfather kept his emotions inside-but outwardly-you could tell his heart was broken. Here is the picture of the family with sister, Ilena.

This picture says it all... This is what we learned today from the Grandparents  about Stas' family.
Mom was going to the bank to get a 100 grevna check cashed (worth $12)  and someone robbed her and hit her on the head.  She died later from that attack. Stas's sister, Ilena ,who was 3 at the time, witnessed this attack. Stas's dad died of a heart attack when he was 40 years old. The grandparents stepped in and tried to take care of them but at age 68 (4 years ago), realized that they could only take care of one.  Assuming Stas would be stronger and tougher than the little sister, they put Stas in the orphanage and kept Ilena.  The grandpa knows first hand how tough an orphanage is as he grew up in the same orphanage Stas is in.

Grandma described how hard it was to lose her son and now to be losing Stas, who she says looks exactly like his dad. We then had some frank conversations about what would happen if they died and we assured them that we would come back for Ilena. They slowly warmed up to us as they could see the emotions that overwhelmed us as we learned how hard their life had been. They finally gave into the reality that Stas's life was going to be better in America than in the orphanage, and Stas was holding firm that this also was his desire to go with us- but they were still devasted to see him go. They asked a little more about the timing of the process and they wanted us to come to their house and have dinner one last time before we went back to America. We agreed. They then wanted to take us to the grave site of Stas' father one last time and say the final goodbyes and we also agreed to that as well. The grandfather took my hand firmly, looked me in the eye and said "I want your word that you will do this" I agreed to his terms.  The tears began to flow...

One more thing about grandpa - he was a driver during the Chernobyl incident.  He would drive in, pull people out and drive them to safety. He feels he's been exposed to radiation and realzes he may not have long to live. He has had 2 heart attacks and 1 stroke. His fears and emotions were very real and he wanted to know if I was a christian and if I would raise Stas to be a christian as well. I looked him in the eye and assured him that I would.

We went to lunch together and got to know them a little better. They were very concerned Stas would lose touch with his sister and his heritage. We tried to explain to them about skype, and reassured them that we would keep in touch via email and letters.  They asked if we could come back to visit in a couple years and we said, God-willing-we will!! Not just to see them, but to also advocate and check on the kids we have loved- that have been forever imprinted on our hearts.  His sister, from afar-will be treated like our own...only God knows the plans He has for her in our family...

Stas and Ilena are two years apart and so, so similar. Our hearts broke as Stas held his sister's hand throughout the day and we realized, it maybe a long time before he sees her again.

We are emotionally spent right now... certainly the hardest day we've had. Thanks for the prayers today... we so greatly needed and felt them throughout the day.
Dave & Darc