(Happenings in October 2019).
Before we knew it, three hours passed. Once again, the Lord brought thoughts to my memory so constantly in conversation with Natalia and she told me some of her many stories. I believe conversations like we had, so full of the Holy Spirit and Scripture, are a worship unto the Lord, radiating the fullness of His glory. In the midst of this, much multitasking happens when I Skype with my birth family which involves operating translation back-and-forth, listening, noticing facial expressions, processing, and responding. Natalia showed me all of her wigs and bandanas while she demonstrated her bandana technique and I learned how to wear them like her! I remember when I told her for the first time that she was beautiful, she pointed at her head and asked "how?" and I said "everything about you is beautiful!". I discovered that she is photogenic and since we cannot be together to take one, we took screenshots over Skype! We talked about so much and laughed; time just stopped and nothing else in the world seemed to matter.
There is sensitive information throughout that is not shared in this blog, but the journey is still so real. Natalia sometimes stays with a man, I., who is fighting intermittently in the war on a three-year contract and he has PTSD. He drinks a lot of Vodka and she goes back to Nadia because he gets violent when he is not sober. She says that she tries to make a positive atmosphere by distracting him, praying for him, and forgiving him. I believe that good change will require an environmental adjustment as well, this has to be so draining. I told her that even if her friends do not get better, or if her situation does not get better, not to blame herself or God. Drug addiction is not it's own isolated cycle of poison... There came a time when my thoughts were this: I cannot know what is really the truth, only I pray for discernment and common sense, and go only off of what I have been told... It was so odd to see Natalia caring for her friend's little girl who thinks she’s cool and fun. This little girl's mother was hospitalized from a drug overdose. There was a small part of me that imagined, “This could’ve been me”.... “what if that were me, little Dasha”.... I went into this journey fully knowing the risks and I don’t regret it one bit. It is what it is and it is very complicated with no logical answer. Please join me in earnestly praying in the days ahead that this war in Eastern Ukraine would end so that rehabilitation centers, churches, and Christian missionaries can move back into their area.