The Christmas Eve Miracle

Sometimes He comes, moving softly, and rearranges our lives without our noticing.  The view has changed, but not so much that we notice. Then, after a few moment, the light is now in view. The perspective has completely changed. But not always. Sometimes He moves so quickly, we are left blinking in the radiance, and clinging onto porch railings!

The days leading up to Christmas were busy. With all the family in town, one of my brothers had graciously rented one of those mega-uber-huge-dwellings that pass in our part of the country under the humble moniker of "cabin"
Sweet K shyly hung out on the fringes, but was willing to be pulled into the circle of love and laughter.  Kids ran about shrieking with delight and trying to peak into presents clustered around the towering Christmas tree.  The mists clung over the mountains and soft dew sprinkled your face when you stepped outside.
Chores and errands still needed to be run, feasts cooked and schedules arranged as the plan was to celebrate on Christmas Eve when the largest contingent of family would be present.  And in the midst of the busyness, a single offhand comment changed our lives forever.
When the children come to the US on the hosting program, many rules surround their stay for their comfort and safety. Among these is the necessary contact with orphanage chaperones who travel with the children and stay stateside. K's assigned chaperone was a cheery young woman who understood and loved the kids in her care.  I often enjoyed chatting with her when I had K call in for his check-ins, and she would fill me in on anything K was too embarrassed to tell me :)
A few days before Christmas we were chatting by text, and she asked how K was treating the younger kids.  I responded that he was remarkably kind and patient with them, and they really liked him! She responded that she was not surprised, after all, he had a younger brother of whom he was very fond. "Yes," I responded, "Yes, he talks about V every day, many times. Sometimes he is very sad when he talks about V "  The chaperone responded with "They are in dif. Orphanages" I was surprised by this statement as I had heard that V was no longer in the orphanage system and had been taken into foster care.  (different than the US, foster care legally separates siblings) So cautiously, as I knew there was a language barrier, I asked "Yes, I head V was in foster care and he couldn't see him anymore, is that right?" "No," She texted. "They are in different orphanages and far from each other"
I was startled, but knew that if this were true it could mean the difference between K having a chance at a family vs never having a family.  Still, I was puzzled. We had asked so many people about V and the foster system, and everyone had seemed sure about his status.  I decided to send a quick note to one of those working with the orphans to see if I could get clarification.  I got no reply and assumed that it was a case of misunderstandings. Honestly, there are thousands of orphans.  It would be understandable to get sibling pairs confused.
Christmas eve, I was busy in the kitchen when my husband came downstairs and handed me his phone, "It's [p143 worker]" he said, "she says she has been trying to reach you all morning and it's very urgent."  I stepped out onto the porch for privacy. I could hear a tremble in the voice on the other end of the line. "I just had to call you right away, you are never going to believe this, my goodness, I don't believe it myself!!"
She shared with me that after receiving my query about V's whereabouts, she had dismissed it as likely a confusion, as she had personally verified last summer that V was taken into foster care. She had spoken with the orphanage director! It had to be a mistake. That night she was unable to sleep. "I felt like the Lord wanted me to check one more time" So the next morning, she reached out to her contacts in Ukraine: facilitators, adoption lawyers, orphanage directors.  She believed that the story she heard was nothing short of miraculous.  "Unfortunately, many people view fostering as a meal ticket" she explained. Shortcomings in the system made oversight and protection difficult, and kids once in the system were "gone forever."  In V's case, he had indeed been chosen for foster care, and the family had arrived to take him.  Yet, apparently after signing papers....they left....and never returned! "The director said he has never seen this happen! He didn't know what to do, so they transferred V to another orphanage very far from there, and nobody knew!" "Oh, and get this, he's actually in Italy being hosted by another family there. But I've reached that hosting organization, and they say that the Italian family is a host-only family, they are not planning to adopt, so you realize this means that K&V can actually have a chance at a family!"  I felt as if the world was spinning under my feet.  Of course, P143 wanted to know if we wanted to pursue adoption.  "We have got to pray, I mean, yes, if you have a family for them, then by all means go ahead, please advocate, advocate for the boys, but we need time to pray!" "No, we have advocated and no family except you have come forward, so you take your time and pray about it!" I literally was holding onto the porch railing to keep my balance. I was thrilled for K &V, awed that God had heard our prayers that V would be found, and wondering what on earth we were supposed to do. I was sure that adoption was impossible, but of course we would pray about it.
Later that evening, K and I were talking about it (via google translate!) "I thought he was gone, but he is not because I saw him at the front of the plane" "What do you mean?" I asked. "He was at the front of the airplane near the nose! In Kiev, I do not know why, he was there, and I saw him, far, far away"  After a lot of discussion it turned out that indeed, K was the one who spotted V on his way to Italy, he told his chaperone and the world started turning...
So a lonely big brother spotted a tiny boy, too far away to say anything and knew his brother and God brought all the pieces together!

"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;

 neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear..."