How one story of a boy changed his life and ours. The adoption of Vitalik to become a "Hudgins" : September 2013

A lot has gone on since July and my last blog post. I thought about updating a 100 times but I didn't know so many people were reading this blog and following our adoption story :) Well... I guess I should say the bad news first. The first of August we received an e-mail at 5:30 in the morning from our facilitator in Ukraine telling us that the SDA people rejected our dossier to adopt due to a misdemeanor on Jerry's criminal record from more than a decade ago. :( WHAT?!?!?!?! The USA had no problem clearing us to adopt internationally!!!!!!! Ok. I can't explain to you how I felt as I read that e-mail. First of all... an e-mail?!?! Well.. Whatever.. I think that deserved a phone call from Ukraine no matter the time of day! Anyways! I felt like I could scream, cry, throw up and pass out all at the same exact moment. I immediately called our facilitator and we talked on the phone. We were already thinking of ideas of what to do now? For those of you reading this know that I (Kendall) don't give up. Within two days of thinking, praying and talking to friends/family we decided that I should go to Ukraine to see V. He had been waiting for soooo long to see us and us to see him. He had some up and downs at camp and for me to tell him that it was going to take longer to figure this out... would devastate him. How can I tell him??! This CAN'T be over!!! No way. A lot of people have their opinions about telling kids that you want to adopt from hosting, about adoption. So many things that you can't foresee can happen during an international adoption but... we felt in our hearts from the beginning that if this was God's will for us then he would make a way. He has been so faithful this whole process and we are keeping our attitude the same way now. Doors have opened at every turn for us financially, spiritually, emotionally since V left us from hosting this past January to return to Ukraine. Jerry and I prayed that if this child was supposed to be with our family then things would fall into place. His will for us. Everything has been.. until now. We are trying to view this as a "speed bump" more than a door that has shut. We have such a strong relationship with V. We speak 1-4 or 5 times daily and he already calls me Mama! I thought about making the trip to Ukraine a surprise. Our friends that were at their SDA appointment had been staying at the camp with the kids for a couple of weeks, so I thought... what better time would it be to go and see V? At these camps during the summer the kids have ZERO supervision and they were in a town that was very tourist-y. So no questions would have been asked about whom am I? We decided that my sister should go with me on this trip. Jerry has to save his travel time for work for when we actually go back for the adoption (we hope) and I wasn't going to go by myself for the first time. We got last minute tickets and off we went! I will post the video of the surprise visit and pictures below. After the 8 hour flight to Amsterdam, 3 hour flight to Kiev, 1 hour flight to Lviv, and a 5 1/2 hour car ride we were finally in Rahkiv, Ukraine where V was at camp. When they say Ukraine is half way around the world. It REALLY is half way around the world! Whew. Nothing was more precious than the look on V's face when he walked out of the hotel and saw me standing there!. In the video the first thing he asked me when I was hugging him is "You no telephone me you say you go Ukraine!!" (In his Ukraine-English accent) He knows that we have been waiting so long to hear the information about our SDA appt and I promised him the minute I knew I would tell him. Well.. since this wasn't the official SDA appt... I figured I could get away with a surprise visit! :) Well worth it. We spent 6 days there. It was awesome. I got to spend every day, all day with him. I learned a lot and I saw a lot. I sometimes think this happened so I would go to Ukraine and learn more about V. To spend that precious time with him in his environment that I wouldn't get to do in America. I also wouldn't have got to spend that much time with him and his friends if they were in school, in the orphanage. They have different rules there. I think V finally let down the trust doors with me and opened up more. He shared a lot more of his past with me and I'm glad. I told him that I was there to see him because there was a hold up with our paperwork. It was going to take more time to re-do and process but I wanted to come spend time with him because I knew he was being patient. I told him Ukraine didn't like one of our papers and we were working hard to figure out a solution. Well here is the next slightly hopeful news!!! When I got to Amsterdam, I turned on my phone, and I received an e-mail from our facilitator saying he just got out of a meeting with the senior official of SDA about our case. They said they would be able to re-submit our dossier for us if we could make some changes in our paperwork. Basically proving that Jerry is far from criminal and what he did was so long ago it doesn't even matter anymore! If we make those changes they would be able to re-submit and take a second look. This is so hopeful! It's not a guarantee of acceptance but it’s worth a shot! I've talked to several people and some of them have told me that this happens frequently. Families are rejected and re-submit to get approval. We SOOOOOOO hope that we are in the same boat! V got to leave camp with my sister and me and travel back to the main city of Lviv. There he got to stay with us in the hotel and take us to the airport the next morning. The taxi driver took him back to the train station after that and he rode the train back to camp. That is how much they are NOT supervised! They didn't even realize V was gone!!! There was no one in charge at the camp that he even had to ask. He enjoyed getting away with us and showing us around Lviv. He grew up there and knew that town like the back of his hand pretty much. Yes, at 14!! He was sent out wandering the streets at a young age so he knew where everything was. I held it together when I was saying goodbye to him at the airport. I gave him about a 5 min hug, a kiss on the cheek; I smiled and looked at him saying I will see him soon :) It wasn't until I got on the airplane; as we were taking off, that I lost it. I realized I was leaving Ukraine, without V. Sending him back to that God awful camp/orphanage not knowing what would become of all this. As soon as we landed in Kiev my phone was ringing as it powered on and V was on the phone crying his heart out to me. Telling me to come back... he wants his mama and to come home to his family. <Insert - heart ripping out of my chest> UGH. So hard. Well we have re done the paperwork since all of this and it got to Ukraine today. They will re-submit soon and will let us know within 4-6 weeks if we are approved this time. This new paperwork has had many prayers, tears and smiles over it and I hope it is on the wings of angels as it enters that SDA office. We know and trust God is bigger than this and he will overcome! God has the same promise to us as his promises to the orphans. "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you!" John 14:18. So if you are reading this, please say a prayer that all this will work out. We know in our hearts that V is our son and is a part of our family. God gives his biggest battles to his strongest soldiers and He knows we will fight for this kid until the end. I will keep everyone posted as I hear the news! Thanks for all the love and support. We truly need it!

Kendall and Jerry