Our Dear Karina

We arrived in Odessa at 6:12AM on Tuesday, rested for a few hours and then went to the orphanage.  We were taken to a room where we met with the Orphanage Director, a social worker and government inspector who all asked Sheila and I several questions:  "How do you know Karina?"  "Why do you want to adopt her?"  "Where do you live?"  "What kind of work do you do?"  "What is your family situation?"  "What kind of involvement will Karina have with other people?"  "How will you respond to Karina if she believes differently than you?"  "Do you understand that she is a teenage girl that needs to be controlled?"

We answered the questions and then they sent for Karina.

The moment we had dreamed about for months was about to happen.  Our daughter, the girl that we love and desire to raise in the way of the LORD was about to walk through the door. We often wondered what this moment would be like and then...

there she was...our dear Karina.

She stood at the door, as bouncy and bubbly as ever.  She was asked a few questions and then given permission to come to us.  The three of us embraced...an embrace that, on our end, had been waiting to be given for five months, and for Karina, an embrace she had been waiting to give for seven years.  She looked at us and said..."My family!"

Karina had to answer some more questions..."Do you want Matthew and Sheila Nasekos to adopt you?  Do you want Matthew to be your father and Sheila to be your mother?"  

"Da...Da....Da....Da"

Papers were signed and Sheila and I were rushed off to a notary office 20 minutes away from the orphanage where we signed paper after paper after paper...then we were taken back to the orpanage to spend one hour with Karina.

It was a precious hour.  An hour we will never forget.