Brooke Aslan Shanfelt

Yes, that's our little girl's name! We wanted to wait to tell everyone because until today, we still weren't sure if we'd really be able to adopt her. You see, HIV is a big problem in Ukraine (21% of all HIV cases in Europe are from Ukraine). If Brooke had tested positive for either HIV or Hepatitis C she could not have come back to with us to the United States. But thankfully her tests came back negative this afternoon and she is perfectly healthy in every way!

IMPORTANT POST-ADOPTION UPDATE: We have since learned that while HIV and Hep C complicate the process, it is still possible to adopt and HIV or HepC positive child.

You have no idea what a relief this was to us. We've been seeing Brooke for the past three days here in Kharkiv and while we kept growing closer and closer to her, but we were under the impression that we might not be able to adopt her if either of these tests came back positive. When we heard the news, it was like this barrier was completely removed and we both nearly broke down in tears of joy. We love her so much and couldn't even concieve of leaving her behind. We'd move to Ukraine if we had to! But now we know we don't have to and she's officially our little girl ... well, OK, we still have some more legal hoops to jump through, but those seem like just formalities now.

Yuri, our facilitator here in Kharkiv, will take us to a public notary Monday morning to sign all of the adoption documents using her birthdate and legal name. Brooke means "living stream" and Aslan means "lion." We've had this name picked out since last summer. We felt led to pick a powerful, yet feminine name and sure enough, she fits her name perfectly! She's strong, confident and a fighter. But she's also elegant, gentle, and so beautiful. Even back in Kiev, when we first saw her baby picture, she had both arms up in a boxing pose. We were so drawn to that picture and that's how we knew she was the one. Brooke's middle name is also in honor of Malori Aslan Smith, the amazing daughter of two of our good friends, Mark and Cindy. Malori was only 17 years old when she passed away on a missions trip in Mexico as the van she was riding in rolled over on the highway. She had such a strength about her, led so many people to Christ, and had a closer relationship with God than most adults will ever know. If you'd like to read more about her, go to AslansArmy.com ... you will be simply blown away by what Malori wrote about in her journal. We want Brooke to grow up knowing all about her namesake.

Backtracking just a bit ... we didn't sleep well last night and got up early this morning. It was probably a combination of knowing that the test results were coming in today combined with a new bed that was a foot too short for me, a brick hard mattress, sheets that were too small, and that creaked every time either of us moved. :-) It was cloudy and gray again as it has been ever since we arrived. They keep telling us that this kind of weather is unusual, but we keep waiting to see the sun.

Right around 9:00 we arrived at the baby home and went in. They must have been doting on Brooke all morning because the immediately brought her out to us all dolled up in a pretty dress and in pigtails with big flower barretts. She was wide awake, recognized us immediately, and giggled when she saw us. The other children were also more dressed up today. We think they wanted us to see Brooke at her prettiest. They handed Brooke to us, worked with the other children a bit, then asked to have her back so they could get her dressed to play outside. It's 30 degrees with six inches of snow on the ground, so they really dressed her up. They put on so many clothes that she looked like a little Michelin baby and could barely walk ... we just had to laugh! We were allowed to take her outside alone with us as long as we stayed on the orphanage grounds and had her back inside in an hour.

We walked around in the snow, looked at trees, and even tried the swing. That didn't work so well. Brooke just had this "what the heck are you two doing?" kind of look on her face. One of the other caretakers walked by and said something to us about the seat being cold. We don't know if she was scolding us or just pointing it out to us. Toward the end, we found another swing and Brooke loved pushing it back and forth. As I held out my hand to take her back to the house, she held out hers and said quietly, "Papa, papa, papa..." Needless to say, I'm already completely wrapped around her little finger!

Back inside we had an hour completely alone with Brooke in a separate play room in the house. This room wasn't heated, but was large and had some toys. Brooke's favorite was a little platic scooter, but she couldn't move it forward with all of her clothes on. She liked us pushing her and especially liked it when Kristi showed her how to stand behind it and push it herself. Brooke certainly likes to take control! When she was back with me, she loved me to hold her tight, turn her partway upside down backwards, and lift her back up. We would both say "baaaahhhh..." as we did this and then she'd laugh and throw her head back to do it again. She could have gone on for hours playing this game. Eventually she did start to tire out and snuggled with Kristi, stroking Kristi's face, playing with her lips, eating a couple cookies, and sneezing on her (which was totally funny to Brooke).

We went back to the main room, but all the other children were outside playing except Natasha who was still in her crib. The caretaker put on some music, I picked up Brooke, Kristi picked up Natasha from her crib, and all four of us danced around the room. Brooke giggled and touched my face ... I hadn't shaved and she thought that was funny. Natasha was so happy that her entire body would tense up and she smiled from ear to ear. Brooke wanted to play "baaahhh..." again so we did it a couple times. Natasha saw this, wanted to join in, and soon all four of us were saying "baaahhh...", tipping over backward, and being silly. We had to limit it thought because we didn't want to over-stimulate the kids and we didn't know what the caretakers would think.

The older three kids came back in around 11:15 and we played with them too and watched Brooke interact with them. As is typical with a toddler, her favorite toys aren't the one that we brought, but a tin of candy from Kristi and our Russian/Ukranian phrase book. We had barely turned our backs and she alread ripped the cover off. She looked puzzled as she tried to put it back together. One of the boys came over and tried to take the candy tin, but Brooke threw a fit and he never did get the tin ... she can take care of herself, that's for sure! We showed the children and the caretakers the photos of our family and home and I was even able to tell them what the photos were in Russian. The caretakers wanted to know if I spoke Russian, but I told them I could only say a few words.

Lunch was ready at 11:30, so we had to leave. Brooke was not happy at all, but we think she was just tired and hungry. She has the best pouty look we've ever seen! We went outside and waited by the car while Yuri worked with the orphanage lawyer to prepare the paperwork for the court. As we stood there, the sun started to come out and we could see some blue sky. We still didn't know if the medical resuts were going to come out OK and were scared. What we also didn't know is that the sky clearing up was a physical representation of what was happening spiritually and emotionally ... the overcast and gray insecurity of not knowing if we could adopt Brooke was starting to dissipate.

After leaving the orphanage, we drove to the both local court and the children's welfare office to drop off various legal papers. Then we were off to the lab in Kharkiv to get the Hepatitis test results. They were negative and we were happy, but we still had to get the HIV test results. For this, we had to go across the city back to the doctor we had previously seen. Yuri told us that the doctor really liked Brooke and would not accept payment for the test. She just wanted to do it to help Brooke get a family. So at Yuri's suggestion, we took a detour to buy the doctor some chocolates and a bottle of champaign as a thank you. There was a supermarket just as big and modern as any supermarket you'll see in the U.S. only a couple blocks from the medical clinic, so we stopped there bought the gifts, and also bought some much needed groceries for us.

We met with the doctor and, of course, you already know the wonderful results. While we were waiting for the doctor to fill out an official form with the results, Yuri called Serge to tell him the news. Serge asked to talk to us for a minute, "Congratulations! Your baby is clean ... I told you it was so! You and Kristi happy?" We told him that we were always happy with him, Yuri, and Brooke, but were even happier with the great news from the tests.

After thanking the doctor and giving her our gifts, we stepped outside. The clouds were completely gone and the sky was a brilliant blue ... the first time we've seen this since we've been here and so symbolic of what we just experienced. We went back to the apartment, had dinner, then sat on the bed and listened to some songs that have had special meaning to us: In My Arms by Plumb, The Day Before You by Rascall Flats, and I Still Believe by Jeremy Camp just to name a few. We just held each other and cried with joy as we listened to the music. All of these years and delays with having children haven't been a result of God forgetting about us. He knew Brooke would be right here, at this specific time, and had to help us find our way to her. She is our daughter and God has been so faithful to us.