Rescue is on the heart of God

and yet His ways are often beyond my understanding.  I have in my mind exactly how this adoption process should go, but as I wrestle with God in prayer, trying to convince Him to do things my way, I hear Him whispering to me that He loves Katya more than I ever could.  I don't always get His timing, but I'm learning to trust it more and more.  True stories, like the one I'm sharing with you today told by Vinny Rosini at FrontierHorizon encourages my faith and help me to walk in the reality that God truly is good and He truly is great, even when His ways are so mysterious.  You may want to get a Kleenex or two, before you read. 

¨My lost Sheep¨ by Vinny

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it”? Luke 15:4

Approximately 10 years ago in the summer of 1999 Travis and I were in Ukraine working at a summer camp for orphanage children. One day we were walking around downtown Odessa when we passed a woman sitting on the sidewalk with a 3 year old girl in her lap. She was begging for money and using the child as a tool for sympathy. The method was effective for this was no average child. She had an extremely severe scar from a burn. It started on her head and went down the side of her whole body, yet from the front the child was strikingly beautiful. I was also taken in by the child’s demeanor; she was very calm and content, strangely serene, completely oblivious to her severe deformity which every onlooker (including me) gawked at in amazement. I was immediately filled with compassion for her. After a short conversation with the “mother” I asked her if I could bring the child to the Odessa plastic surgery institute and she agreed. (In the summer of 1997 I took the plastic surgery doctors to Romania on an Operation Smile trip and since that time I had a close working relationship with them). After a short evaluation one of the doctors said that the burn was too severe for them to do anything in Odessa and she needed to go to the US for treatment. The woman said she was from Moldavia (a small country that borders Ukraine) and that she was in Odessa to obtain money for the child. I took the woman’s contact information and said that I would make arrangements to bring them to America on a medical visa.

When I returned to the US I set up the doctor’s appointment but lost the address the woman gave me! Needless to say I was very upset with myself. Travis and I searched for them on the following two trips to Odessa in December of 1999 and March of 2000 but could not find them. However, I would not give up yet. The only thing we could remember was the name of the town she was from in Moldavia. In the summer of 2000 I ordered Moldavian visas for both of us and hired a car to drive us from Odessa to Moldavia. We wandered the streets of the town showing the picture of the girl with no luck. I was extremely frustrated. Had I lost the opportunity to help this girl because I misplaced her address? My translators tried to console me: “The woman who had her was a gypsy “they said, “it was probably not her real mother, they probably just had her to get money from sympathetic strangers”. Still, I was overwhelmed with guilt.

To make things worse, Alya, a precious 11 year old girl from Orphanage # 4 had died (possibly of appendicitis) in March in 2000. Travis and I left Ukraine on March 13 and she died on March 20, only 1 week later…one week! “If only I had been there one more week” I kept saying to myself “I could have done something”. With both Alya and the burn girl on my mind at the same time I was an emotional basket cas. I could not help Alya so now I was on a crusade to do something for the burn girl. For the following 2 or 3 years I had my contacts in Odessa scour the streets and shelters looking for her but all our efforts turned up empty. Despite my persistence to find her I had failed. Eventually, as the years passed, the pressing needs of other children pushed her out of the forefront of my mind. However, there were always reminders of my inability to follow thru with help.

I arrived in Odessa on January 22, 2009. Usually, I stay at an apartment complex that is rented out by an Irish guy living in Odessa. A few days into the trip Anya, a Ukrainian woman who manages the apartment complex stopped me in the hallway. She said “I heard you work with orphanages and that you take children to the US for visits”. I told her about the travel program and she asked if a child that was found in a shelter could travel with my group and I said yes. We talked about the process and eventually, she said this child also needs medical attention…she had severe burns. (Of course there are many children with burns so initially I made no connection), I said that was fine, we could also get her treatment in the US. Further into the discussion she said the child had severe burns on her head…the corner of my mind reserved for the burn girl clicked on. I asked two questions: Is the whole head burned of just part of it? Answer: just part of it…now my mind is racing…how old is she? Answer: 13….ITS HER! In mind I knew it but I had to be sure. I asked Anya if she had a picture of the girl and she brought up several pictures on her computer. IT WAS HER…despite the fact she was 10 years older I knew it the minute I laid eyes on her. I had found her again!!! Or maybe it’s better to say by the grace of God she found me since I was not even looking for her anymore. Her name is Galina. She was picked up in a shelter a few years ago by Tanya, a Ukrainian woman who took her into her home and adopted her….unbelievable!

I found her! I cannot describe the feeling of joy, satisfaction and excitement that I had in finding this girl and having a second chance to help her. Why care so much about one child when there are many others in similar needy conditions? Is it merely my selfish desire to alleviate some the guilt I feel for Alya’s death? Or maybe it’s to suppress the constant awareness of my inability to help all the children that need help. I always have to make hard choices so I focus on a few and if I am successful I feel as if I have accomplished something. And yet if “each one of them is Jesus in disguise” as Mother Teresa says then why do I walk by some and stop for others? Who knows? I cannot explain it and will never be able to explain it. All I know is that I was going to do everything in my power to reestablish contact with that girl and bring her to the states.

Of, course things are never that easy, it took some time to reach the family and another few days to meet them. Tanya said she wanted to meet me alone first because Galina had been let down by people promising help in the past. I finally met with Tanya and Galina’s doctor on my last day in Ukraine and related the whole story. After building up sufficient trust that I will put all my energy to help her they said they will allow Galina to come here for treatment. Unfortunately since I met Tanya on my last day in Ukraine I did not get to see Galina this trip. Hopefully that will happen soon. In any case my failure to follow through 10 years ago may yet rise from the ashes.

I am back in the US and have begun preliminary arrangements to bring her here. She will most likely have the surgery at King Daughters Hospital in Norfolk. More to come…