Mission Max

A year ago this time our mission was to bring Max home and make him a part of our family. Because he went home with his birth mother, our mission has changed a little. Our mission is now to keep in contact with Max and support he and his family how ever we can.

We still have pictures of our little man on the refrigerator and Hannah knows who he is. We talk about Max with her and include him in our prayers each night.

We were able to call Ukraine and talk to Max today. We have a wonderful friend; Anya; who has been an awesome translator for us during the kids stay in Ohio for the past few summers. Anya lives in Ukraine and works with orphans through out the year. We are able to call Anya, who then calls Max. Max still knows a little of his English, but typically uses his Russian to talk to us through Anya. He sounds happy, which makes us happy. Like any typical 11 year old, the concept of money and time escapes him. He wants to know when we are coming to visit him and why we can't call him every day! When he asked, I told him it costs money to fly to and call Ukraine. His response was simple "Do you still have the jar of money with my picture on it? [Yes....] Well, use that money to but plane tickets to come visit!" Oh, if it was only that easy!!

We sent Max a box of goodies before the 4th of July. Today when we talked to him I asked him what kind of school supplies he needed. He gave me a list, a small list at first. But then the list began to grow. Here is what he has asked for so far:

• markers


• notebooks


• pens


• pencils


• a ruler


• a pencil box

Sounds simple enough, I know. The longer we talked, the more he thought about Ohio and all the things he left here, thinking he would return home shortly, and the list continued to grow.

• a Superman backpack (simple enough)


• the Superman outfit Grandma gave me for Christmas (the blow up one!)


• George, his bear from Grandma at Christmas


• his watch (....oh and one for his sister Tonya too!)


• and his secret box (the one he kept all his letters in!)

Too funny! I think I will have to send many small shipments to get it all to him. Truth be told, I would gladly send all this to him and more! We love to talk to our little man, and knowing that we put a smile on his face each time a box arrives at his door in Ukraine from Ohio USA, makes me happy, and ready to do it again!