It would only happen to us!

Today was the big day… the day we were finally going to meet Micah! I was a ball of nerves this morning awaiting our cab ride. At breakfast we prayed that everything would go well today. We had to stop at the social worker’s office to get our referral signed and approved; then we were finally on our way to the orphanage with our facilitator, Yulia.

When we pulled up I was instantly amazed and how great everything looked. I knew the buildings had been remodeled in 2005, but everything looked brand new. We drove around and parked, walked into the waiting area and Yulia asked us to sit down. The director came out and they asked us to go outside because Micah was outside right now. We were a little surprised because usually they sit with you first and go over all the information, then they bring the child into the director’s office. But today, Micah had a cardiologist appointment at 12:30, so they wanted to make sure we saw him before he left… so away we went. The children in the groupa were playing in one of their little play hut areas, (we saw Johanna White first) and the nannies brought Micah to us right away, told us a bunch of stuff about him and I just started bawling… I was holding him and kissing and hugging him, then gave him to Barry, and once we were told he likes music, he busted out the iPad (that I won just a few weeks ago in a $20 raffle "thanks Mom to Mom!") and started playing music. We got him to clap and laugh and he was having a great time.

Looking back, we both noticed that Micah didn't look the same in person as his pictures, but we were so excited we didn't question anything and thought maybe his pictures were just "off".

It was then I decided to get off the grass and go take some pictures of the other children for some of our friends who are coming to get their children very soon (Jackson Golden and Johanna White). In the back of the play hut behind all the kids, I saw a little boy who looked identical to the picture we’ve been holding for 6 months. It was Micah! We were given the wrong child! We were in disbelief and crying and not sure what to do. Yulia said this has never happened before and was VERY confused. She said, “but this is the child you asked for” and repeated his personal information. We said, “Yes, that’s his information, but he (pointing to our Micah) is the boy we’ve come for… the one we’ve prayed over for 6 months!” She didn’t understand, so we showed her his picture and her jaw dropped. "How could this happen?!" She ran to the director’s office and came back with information.

Our Micah's birthday is May 26, 2008 not January 24, 2009 (his 3rd birthday is in three days!) WHAT?!!!!

Our heads started spinning. What do we do? The referral we have is with the right information, but with the wrong picture. We were loving and holding "Misha", but we couldn’t leave the boy in the picture behind; he’s our son! I felt bad putting Misha down, but I had to see our Micah. The nannies were very confused… it was sheer pandemonium. I don’t remember much, but when Micah got a good look at us, he got the biggest smile, ran to me with his hands up, and I just scooped him right up. I’m pretty sure that’s against orphanage rules, but oh well. Nobody stopped us. Nobody shooed us away. In fact, they let us go into the hut and play and hold all the kids. They let us take pictures. They kept commenting on Annie (they called her Anya) as she played with Johanna White and the other littles in the hut.

Our very first moment together. He knew who I was!

Pretty Johanna and another boy wondering what's going on.

Me holding Jackson Golden while Micah honks my nose.

Trying to listen and figure out what's going on.

First hug with his "Papa"... he was meant to be our son!

After a very few short minutes (much shorter than we had with Misha), Yulia asked us to go to the director’s office to figure out what to do. I cannot describe the feeling we both had leaving Misha behind. It was heart-wrenching to say no to a child. But Yulia consoled us by saying that he’s younger and has more time to find a family. "Maybe God brought you here to help save him too, just in another way."

Misha is SO cute and sweet. He turned two on January 24, 2009. He’s had heart surgery, cannot walk without help, and has not been able to talk so far. He does communicate, just is mentally delayed because of the Down syndrome. He has a chest protrusion because of the lack of muscle tone in his body (common in kids with DS). He does show recognition and love, we got him smiling and laughing, clapping and dancing to the music. He let us hold, hug, and kiss him. He clung onto our thumbs with a force so strong you had to pry his fingers off to let go… he wanted to walk! He desperately needs a mama and daddy. Oh how I cry thinking of that little boy. Unfortunately, we asked to be approved for only one child, or we’d bring him home with us too. But, we cannot deny that Micah is our son; the son we’ve come thousands of miles for and there is no way we’re leaving him here.

What we later came to find out is that a family who visited the orphanage took a picture of Micah and told Reece's Rainbow it was an updated picture of the boy they had listed as "Micah", which was actually Misha's file and information. 

So back in the director’s office, a lot of talk was going on in Russian… a lot of confusion on what to do next. The director said he can’t give us information on Micah without an official referral. Yulia said we had to have another SDA appointment for another referral. What does that mean? Days, weeks? We don’t have extra time on Barry’s vacation schedule, so he may have to go home and wait between our next SDA appointment and court now; we just don’t know.

Luckily, we very quickly raised the money for that if it needs to happen. We were baffled, sad, and happy, and found a reason to laugh. This could and would only happen to us… craziness added to our already crazy lives. We praised God with Yulia that we were outside today, that Misha had a heart appointment or we wouldn’t have seen Micah at all. On an average day, Misha would’ve been brought into the director’s office, we would’ve signed forms for his adoption and nobody would’ve been the wiser about Micah. Unless by some miracle chance we saw him outside at a later date and questioned it then… then we would’ve had to start all over after spending a lot of days or possibly weeks here for another boy (one who deserves a family, but not the one we were called to save at this time.)

Finding out Micah is turning three-years-old in three days means he is closer to being transferred to a mental institution. If it wasn’t for us being here and pointing him out, and the mix-up with his photo with the other boy’s information, that would have been his destination for sure, because nobody would have known about him (THANK YOU C for taking his picture last summer!) Who knows how the mix-up occurred, but it doesn’t really matter because all of this is a GOD thing. It was meant to happen. Misha is younger and has more time to find his forever family. We will be advocating for him now. We will be his warriors!

As far as Micah goes… somehow his information was never put in the database at Reece’s Rainbow or the facilitation team’s database here. Somehow he got overlooked at one point (perhaps he was sick or in the hospital or not there yet, who knows!) But what I do know is that God is a loving God and one who knows ALL of His children by name. And He keeps watch over all of His flock. God designed Micah to be our son, and us to be his parents. We’ve known that since day one. It took some sort of mix-up for us to find each other on that early November day. And I will be forever grateful for it.

Funny that the baby picture we have of Micah is actually of Misha, and that we celebrated his birthday on January 24th (which is actually Misha's birthday). With God’s loving kindness, we will be able to celebrate Micah’s 3rd birthday with him in three days. (His birthday is two days after Barry’s! Happy birthday honey!!!) With that said, we have the wrong size clothes, he is much bigger than we expected since he’s 7 months older… time to go shopping!

Let me tell you, Micah is meant to be in our family. He’s a spitfire and will fit right in at our place. After he ran into my arms, he took my glasses off. I was able to grab them and put them back on. Then he grabbed them again and threw them. Then he honked my nose. He has tons of energy, is very communicative and looks very healthy. Any mental delays he has “look” mild, which is what we expected by looking at his picture. He is very happy and smiles a lot, and that LAUGH is contagious.

We will have to move into a one-story house for sure when we buy next year because our stairs will be very tempting for him, lol. We will also have to be very consistent with expectations because that boy is ALL boy. I am beyond excited and can’t wait to bring him home. We don’t know the timeline from here until tomorrow. Yulia was able to run around today to get the papers where they needed to go and request a new appointment. She is hoping we can get in tomorrow. If so, we’ll have his referral Wednesday, and get to officially meet him on Thursday (his birthday!) Then we will find out his personal and medical history as well.

A day in the life of the Ray family! In a foreign country. I hope you are all laughing and praising God like we are. It’s a small setback in the big scheme of things, and it will all work out. Please pray for sweet little Misha that we can find him a forever family too… http://reecesrainbow.org/aaron512

Thank you all for your love and prayers. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: WE FEEL THEM! And so does Micah or he wouldn’t have seen his mama and daddy today. We'll be able to go back in 2-3 days (hopefully on Micah's birthday!)

Here is Misha with one of the caregivers, then the rest with Barry and Annie:






UPDATE January 3, 2014: We are the proud "aunt and uncle" of Mikhaylo "Misha" Aaron Chellson. David and Melissa Chellson quickly committed to him after reading our story in 2011 and brought him home in 2012. They have become some of our dearest friends. Luckily, they live in California too, so we are able to see them on occasion. They are returning to Ukraine to adopt a baby girl and we are helping them raise her ransom. Watching the Lord's hand in all of this is really amazing. We are all very blessed!