Lost and Found

Well, yesterday marked the end of the first full week of having Viktor with me. From all that I can tell, he is an authentic genuine earth kid. It has been very busy around here since Sharon went back to the states last week. I have a whole new appreciation for single parents. Last Thursday night on the way back from the grocery store (Cilpo), we heard someone calling Victor's name. It was one of the boys, named Denis, that graduated from the internat at the same time as Viktor. Turns out that the trade school that Denis attends is very close to our flat, merely a short 2-3 minute walk. They talked for a bit and we asked if he would like to come back to the flat and join us for dinner. Denis and Viktor watch a movie, Hancock in Russian, and we had dinner then Denis had to get back to the school hostel before they closed the doors for the night.

The next day, Viktor and I went and visited the Great Patriotic War Museum (WWII Museum). Ukrainians suffered greatly in the years leading up to the war under Stalin's communist rule, but it was nothing compared to the cruelty they experienced at the hands of the Germans. The images on display at the museum left an impression on me that will last a very long time. It explains what I see in the faces of the elderly I have seen in Kiev. If you lived in Kiev during the thirtys and the fortys you lost multiple loved ones either to Stallin and/or Hitler. And I think that a two month adoption process has been difficult. Sorry for the history lesson but it left an impression on me.

Anyway on the way back we stoped by the Mickey Dees on Khreshchatyk for lunch. As we left the McDonalds we ran into Denis again. He was with one of the teachers from O-21. We talked a bit and then we made plans for them to stop by the flat to visit later on in the evening. I thought to myself, there must be some reason that in a city of 6 million people, we keep running into Denis.

Skip ahead to the weekend. After a brief break from writing, I post a fresh blog. I look forward to reading comments from those who read the blog. Its kind of like fissing. You start by throwing a freshly written blog overboard and then let it soak for a while. I prefer to wait about 12 hours before I pull it up and see if I caught any comments. To think that someone would take time out of their busy lives to read what I have to say is somewhat flattering. Puts a lillte extra pressure on you to try and write something even midly interesting.

Anyway, as I was sitting at the lunch table I decided to check my latest blog for any comments.There was a comment from a lady who said she stumbled across our blog. She had read it and notices that we had mentioned our facilitator Zhenia. She said that she was looking for a child she had lost contact with from O-21. She meet this child when he visited the states a couple of years back. Zhenia was part of the group that brought the kids over to America.

I'll give you two guess which young man she was looking for? Yep you guessed it, she was looking for Denis. Wait it gets better. Guess who was sitting that the table with me eating lunch? If you guessed Denis again you are correct once again. I don't believe in luck. I believe in answers to prayers and this was clearly a case where God answered the prayers for help in finding a young man that had been placed on a someone's heart.

Pretty cool stuff to be allowed to experience. More great news. We play soccer Sunday after noon and it did not involve the much anticipated trip to the Hospital that I feared so. Viktor is the real deal when it comes to soccer. Tonight he was picking a sprite bottle of a post at about 75 ft. Soccer is second nature to him. Its been his escape for years.It will be fun watching him as part of a team in the states.

My thumbs are sore and its after two in the morning. Time to throw this blog overboard and let it soak.