Journey to Frankfurt again!

We are stuck in Frankfurt again due to weather and snow!  We made it from Kiev late and watched our airplane taxi out as we arrived at the gate.  Lufthansa airlines gave us a hotel voucher this time and money for dinner.  So now we are world travelers and will not leave here til 5 pm.  Hope to arrive home at 9 pm tonight.  Frankfurt is a beautiful city but we wish we were home.

Journey to a Name

Today we signed the papers to change Alina's name to Alina Hope Danehower.  Hope because God has given us Hope in Jesus Christ for Salvation.  Also because our first daughter that died 9 years ago (she died in the womb at 6 months) was named Faith.  So Hope and Faith remind us of God's faithfulness in our lives and that there is always Hope in Jesus no matter what situation we find ourselves in. 
We know that God has a plan for Alina's life and that God has called us to adopt her and give her hope for a better life.
Our journey to find Alina started 5 years ago when we hosted 2 other girls first through a hosting program during Christmas and Summer.  They were both adopted and then we met Alina in Christmas of 2008.  She was not available for 4 years so we waited in Hope that God would move mountains to get her registered in Ukraine. So we hosted her 8 times in the summer and Christmas where she became part of our family.  So our journey to get Alina is a miracle that only God could have brought about.  If someone had not fought for her life she would never been able to be adopted.
Today we spent the day at a mall that was very nice that had an indoor skating rink and carnival rides and children's play areas.  Alina went skating-she really likes to and has done that before with us. We spent time at the hotel again and then went out to eat.  We had to say goodbye and send her off in a car with a man that drove her back to the orphanage.  Hard to see her go and realize this is her life right now-strangers who take charge of her life just telling her what to do-can you image a 12 yr. willingly getting in a car with a man she didn't know and just driving off-can you imagine sending  your daughter in a car with a stranger and being okay with it? This is her life right now until we come back and finish the process.  We leave Ukraine tomorrow but we will be back-we cannot leave her here where she has no hope for a life.
And HOPE does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5: 5

journey to Alina Hope

We have finally reached our journey to Alina that has taken us 5 years to achieve.   We made it to Donestk last night and got into our hotel by 11:30 pm.  We went to see Alina in her orphanage in Makeevka this morning and it was amazing to see her in the place where she has lived for 7 years.  What a joy it was to see her excitement as she showed me her small cabinet where everything she has in the world is stored.  We saw her desk where she does her homework after school everyday (we saw her school where she walks with the other children).  We saw her bed in the room where 15 other girls sleep.  There are 46 children in her orphanage which makes it one of the better ones in the area-there are about 4 or 5 other orphanages in this region where usually 200 or more children reside. We then spent the day together eating out-always a joy for her since she doesn't like the food at the orphanage. Then we found a park near our hotel and played there and took many pictures so she can show her friends at the orphanage where she was.  Now we are in the room and she is playing a game on the ipad.  Of course she has already asked me for an ipod.  What she wants for her 12th birthday-which she turned a couple of weeks ago-is a guinea pig.  I guess we will be getting a guinea pig when we get home.  We have to take her back to orphanage tonight-they wont let her spend the night. We will get her for the day tomorrow again and then we fly home on Sunday am early.  We will be back in 2 weeks  for another court date.  It is just so good to see her and be with her-she is excited and cant wait to come home with us. More later.  God is faithful and this journey has been amazing.

journey of miracles

The last 2 days have been one miracle after another for God to get us  here to Kiev, Ukraine.  We flew to Frankfurt Germany on March 11 and were snow bound with our flight cancelled.  We waited at the airport until 6 pm on March 12 when the last flight out was cancelled and the whole airport shut down. We found out the flight out the next morning was already booked and we had to get on a standby waitlist.  By then we were told we would miss our SDA appointment and then usually you have to wait 10 days to reschedule it.  God worked a miracle and they said if we could get here today March 13th they would hold open the SDA for us so we wouldn't have to wait 10 days (which would mean we would have had to fly back to USA and come back).  That was the first miracle God did for us.  At the airport last night in Frankfurt we found out that all the hotels were booked and people were waiting in line for 3 hours or more trying to find a place to stay or just staying in the airport.  If you know us at all you know  we were all ready sleep deprived because sleeping on the plane was not easy for either of us(we did have a whole row to lay down - the flight was not full at all.)  So on line we found a hotel and then God provided a taxi(after a 45 minute wait).  We made it to the hotel by 9pm.  So Michele R. we are world travelers now and stayed in downtown Frankfurt - it is a pretty nice city. Today God provided for us again in so many ways.  A man at the gate -I know God put him there for us-decided to bump us to first place on standby and we were on the flight-the flight was delayed but we arrived in Kiev and made it downtown by 3:50 to the SDA appointment when they close at 4.  So on this journey of hope God has been so faithful.  It was wonderful to see Alina's picture and sign the papers to start the process.  We wait tomorrow here in Kiev to get our travel documents and fly to Donestk tomorrow night at 9 pm.  Pray there are no more delays at the airports!  Not sure we ever want to see the Frankfurt airport again.  We spent a lot of time there. Our God is a God of Miracles!

Leaving for Ukraine

We are leaving for Ukraine on Monday March 11 at 6:40 pm for a journey that will take us through Kiev, Ukraine and then on to Makeevka Orphanage in Donestk Ukraine. We will be in Kiev for 2 nights and then Donestk for 3 nights.  This has been a journey of Hope that started 5 years ago when we first started hosting orphans from Ukraine.  We had 2 wonderful girls before we met Alina at Christmas of 2008.  God has given us hope and encouragement as a family as we await the arrival of this wonderful girl.  We would covet your prayers as we finish this process that has caused us to trust in God and draw closer to Him.  We have 2 more trips before she can come back with us.  More later from Ukraine.

First Post 3/10/13

This is Joyce Danehower's Blog.