My newest Ukrainian niece

I have a little brother here in Ukraine. In terms of blood we are not related, but by all that means anything he is very much my little brother. About 9 months ago or so, he was sitting in our apartment and just blurted out that he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. You can imagine my shock. Well, there has been a lot of things that have happened from then to now. They are no longer together and really hadn't had any contact other than her briefly contacting me. This always weighed heavy on my heart as I so wanted this little baby to have a mother and a father. I was afraid that Yura was going to make a decision of not being in the baby's life. I know he would regret that his whole life.

I had the most incredible opportunity to meet his baby girl. I had never met the mother(who is 17) but we had been in contact a little when she was dating him. She then contacted me again when she knew she was pregnant and he wanted out. I had some things I wanted to send her some clothes and diapers. Just to help out since I knew he wasn't. But then she contacted me and asked me if I wanted to come to the baptism. I was in shock... I said I would and Anika, Chels, Sash, and I made the 2 hour bus ride. I was seriously so glad we did. I instantly fell in love with Sasha, my newest little Ukrainian niece. She was just perfect. I am of course biased :) But she really was. I had no idea what would come out of this situation but I hoped and prayed it would end with Sasha having a mother and father who love her.

 After this I prayed so much that Yura's heart would change and he would find the courage to be the amazing dad I know he can be. Just a few days after meeting his daughter I was talking to him about the situation and not feeling like I was getting anywhere. I felt discouraged. So you can imagine my shock when the next day I see he has posted pictures of his daughter and has been in contact with the mother. That was on Wednesday and on Saturday through a strange turn of events, the mother and baby came and stayed with us in Sumy. It was so amazing to be apart of Yura meeting his daughter and absolutely falling in love with her. He would not put her down the entire time they were here.  After they went back home Yura would not stop talking about his little girl or looking at her pictures. I know this is a sticky situation but I am going to keep praying that this little girl has a mom and dad who are both apart of her life.

At her baptism, that is why I am wearing a scarf on my head :)