Joseph celebrated his 19th b-day and so did we

We celebrated Joseph's b-day on Feb. 2. I would like to share about Joseph and his special spirit. Most people would never take a chance on adopting this yg. man. He was 15 yrs and 1o months when he came home. We had traveled the year before to adopt Luke and Naty and had met this rather sad but engaging young man on that trip. He was a favorite of the director. He actually had been in the orphanage all of his life. He was born with a cleft lip/ palate and was given up as an infant. His life in an orphanage was typical and it was not. Because he did not speak well he was made fun of and actually was beaten lots of times by bullies... when other children were sent to the beach during the summer break he was sent to the insane asylum. He tells of times when he was drugged so he was not a bother during his time there. When we left with Naty and Luke we thought we would certainly advocate for him but we were not interested in returning to Ukraine. The director of the NAC had made our first trip h'/,0-. We shared about him with other families but no one was interested in an older, special needs boy... so we thought the only way we would return is if God got rid of that director or did something supernatural... He did--- Joseph needed some more cleft surgery and we sent some $ to do the surgery. When the doctor heard he could be adopted he spoke with the director and said it would be better for him to come here and get the surgery.... she called and asked our team if we were still interested in adopting him... If we were this director promised she would help us. This was a total change of her heart and so we decided to adopt him... we got our home study done and all the necessary docs for the dossier and we were submitted in Sept. and got an appt. date for Nov. 3. When we had our NAC appt. she asked all of the staff of the sda to come in and we were invited in with our facilitator and our son, Ben who was traveling with us. They asked several questions and even Ben was asked some- he was able to speak in Russian to them... when we were to leave they gave us a standing ovation.... we were shocked. She said you will get your children and we were able to adopt 3 unrelated children.. as far as we know we have been the only family they allowed to do this. Then in 2008 under a diff. director and now it is called the SDA we were allowed to adopt our last 5 children- 3 sisters and the 2 boys not related to them or each other... God has been a part of each one of our adoptions....

The story about Joseph continues... he has been a very strong and positive personality in our family. His love language is to give and boy does he.... I will have my breakfast made by him many ams and I don't ever ask. If I need some help discliplining one of the kids.. he takes them and when they come back it is like he was the big brother , Holy Spirit whisperer... it has amazed me more than once how sensitive to others he is... if a child talks in a mean way or back to me.. he says they should not do that ... and then he will deal with them in a positive way. He also has an unatural work ethic... he sees things that need to be done and does them even before Paul or I ask....He can organize the kids for projects and get them motivated and has such a heart for orphans ... he is getting 1,500 back from taxes this yr and wants to donate all of it to the fund to adopt Dancho... he is a selfless, caring and sensitive yg. man that we feel very blessed to have as our son.

He got a job at Sams Club in Sept. 2007 as a cart person ( the only job they let him do until he turned 18). When he had his b-day last yr he was moved inside... he has had 2 cleft surgeries and speech therapy... he is better but still has a speech impediment... and needs to remember to talk slower... He works as a cashier. In the 8 months that he worked this position he has gained the award as the top plus seller ... he gets people who go thru his line to upgrade their membership... He has also worked in several other positions for a time and is willing to do whatever they ask... He was in the running for the top Sams employee of the year for all the stores... My yg man who was sent to a "crazy" house for his summer breaks.. and who was beaten and taken advantage of... there is another story I need to share as well....

When we went to adopt him he had already been moved to a technical school about 2 hrs away from Izmail.... This is the first step and last before they "release" you into society. It was a hell hole in all ways. When we would visit him there was no lite thru the buildings... we were there in Nov. and Dec. and there was no heat... his window was broken and he had no money to offer the director to get it fixed.. so he stuffed his only thread bare blanket into the window to keep the wind out.... he wore the same, smelly wool plaid pants every day... when he took his shoes off in our apartment we coudl barely stand the smell even for hours after he left... only one pair of socks and smelly old shoes does that you know. He did not get enough food and would cry like a baby when we left..... the director was a very obese man.... who went home every nite to a warm and comfortable house. He had a warm and comfortable office in this orphanage unlike the children who were housed there.... he was mean and uncaring from what we saw and Joseph shared. It was very tormenting to have to say goodbye to Joseph until we could visit again... knowing what hell he was living in... Joseph never knew he had a brother and sister until we were adopting him... they were older and we had to get them to sign off for us to adopt... He never says this but I can see in his heart that hurts. He will say they never even came to see me mom... He has said he never wants to go back now... this has been a change in the last months... before he did. He has written letters that no one answers, he knows he has no one there... but thank God he knows he has us... and Joseph has given his life to Jesus... it is thru this love that he has come to terms with his past and his future... We thank the Lord for this child and that no one else wanted a special needs, older boy... boy have they all missed a blessing.