When do you know when to throw in the towel ?

These last few weeks I have questioned and waited, and questioned.. Just when is it time to give in. This last summer we had such a let down and almost a blow to our understanding of what we were to be doing when the girls could not get their visa's for Canada.. we were sure we were following the right steps and yet eventialy had to give in and except it...were we wrong to try in the first place, I stll don't think so.. In the end things did not go as we had planed.. in the big picture, they went better then we could have ever planed.. so when the troubles for Turat started I sudenly started to question...
Turat was ready and packed when we arrived in Kyrgyzstan in August.. for him there was no other option. Then we began the work of getting his documents together . This is not the easiest thing for a child from an orphanage to first of all take their legal place in society.. to be recognised as a person.. this took us 28 days and a lot of back room discussions.. next he had to have a military clearance slip giving him permition to leave the country. this and a medical and a few other tests, and we were ready to apply for his internationl pasport.. already it had cost more then the average Kyrgyz might make in a couple months.. then the trips to Bishkek and the cost of a rush pasport was just over $300.
Once we had the pasport in hand, we went to the Aeroflot office to buy the ticket.. they would not except visa ( this is how I get travel inscurance on my tickets ) so had to pay in cash... as we were leaving she said in Russian to Sergey.. he needs a certified true letter from both his parents giving him permition to travel before he gets on the plane.. we explaned the situation and her response was simply ... not my problem... so before leveing the building returned the ticket as there would be no refund if I could not get the documents..
Then started the frantic week of watching the available seats and the on going strugle to find documents and his father to get a notorized letter.. we found the father and the documents, but they were to old so no one would touch it.. The Judge would not get involved, but finaly the family of a child we had just helped steped in at the end and came up with the solution... the were able to aquire medical documents that delcaired his father unstable to make such a decision, then get the noterized letter from the mother and finaly signed document from the courts and agreed by them that I was to be his guardian, and could travel if he was in my company...
That night I got on line and bought one of the last tickets.. and was able to put it on visa by purchasing it on line... problems solved...... but then think again
When we went to check in, they did not hav record of his ticket... so I gave them the e-ticket.. the proof of purchase, the prnt out of the reciept they emailed me and finaly proof it came out of my account... Oh yes you ar right here is the ticket here.... CANCLED.... sory he is not getting on the plane... That is when Julie thinks she would have thrown in the towl... I got mad and told them it was not exceptable and he was getting on the plane... meanwhile Turat was meltng away... Realizing I did not have time to fight this and the only way he could leave was with me, I said " fine I will buy him another ticket now and fight this one out latter... FINE they said ... go down stairs , pay last minute price and and pay CASH....SO I DID... It took all three bank machines in the airport and all my available funds for the day, but I ended up with a ticket... then get this ... she says OK so I have re activated your ticket for you now so it will work... and would not give me a reciept, or a new ticket... so I have no idea what is going to happen with this one... but again what point do you turn to a child and say " You know what ... your not worth it" NEVER.. its the same when we take a child to an eye Dr with a $30 glasses sponsorship and it ends up being a $300 operation... once you start into something,.. I think you have to see it through... so I ran back up the stairs and through security to the counter just in time to tell them to try the ticket again now... and Tadaaa Turat had a seat with us on the plane... from tha point the 1o minuts of interigation at passport controle, and the grilling of both of us about what I was up to was a walk in the park... and we were on the plane...


When we got to the Moscow airport, and made it through customs, we had about 2 hours to kill... I got on line right away and tried to figure out how to get ourselves out of this financial mess we were now in and get some wiggle room on a card so we could access some money when we got to Ukraine... Turat went to the washroom, and then for the next hour, we franticaly searched the airport for him... he had dissapeared... we combed every level and every store. then after we were just about ready to go find security to help, we found him about 50 feet from us curled up sleeping... Its funny,,, I was so relieved that I just wanted to go over and push him off the bench or something... but we decided it was best to just let him sleep off some of the stress... It had been a harry few weeks... but he made it...

We got a ride out from the airport to the Ywam boat in Kiev by a friend of Eds, then headed strait to McDonalds... one of everything for Turat... He liked this....


As we were leving and heading home, we went through a little market section... there was a man replacing sipers with this cool little sewing machine... Julie stopped and took some photos and showed them to him.. Bekah and Turat were looking at him and decided that he was Kyrgyz, so Turat wnt over and started to talk Kyrgyz to him ... his face lit up and he said " OOOwaaa " whis is Kyrgyz for "WOW YES I AM KYRGYZ AND I AM SO EXCITED TO MEET SOME ONE HERE IN KIEV WHO IS KYRGYZ.. YOU ARE MY BROTHER" Then Turat said "AAaaii"... which is Kyrgyz for " WOW SO NOW I AM NOT ALONE IN THIS BIG CITY AND I HAVE KYRGYZ BROTHERS HERE TOO.. I WILL BE OK NOW"
We made it... we have done our part... and for Turat the adventure is just beginning...