To Sing Frogs Chapter 17a

Fountain at the Detroit Airport

Chapter 17

Chasing the Sun

 My cell phone rang as we sat at the gate in Detroit watching stationary airplanes while waiting to board the flight to Tokyo. Within 36 hours we would be checked into the hotel in Vladivostok. Mike, our oldest, was on the other end of the call. He wanted to talk to Amy.

Often you can divine the rest of a conversation simply by listening to one side. Not so this time. Amy cooed and gasped. “Oh!” her voice quivered out. Then, “that’s so special.” She began to cry. It was one of those episodes that made no sense when you were five, asked your mother why she was crying, and received the inconceivable answer of it being because she was happy.

Amy clicked off the phone and handed it back to me. “Our tulips bloomed this morning. Jack is running around the house screaming over and over that Katya is coming home.”

Two months earlier when we returned from Russia without a new little sister, Jack was distraught. Trying to help him comprehend when she would come home, my wife had given him the same explanation she gave Katya as we left the winter camp. She told him that when the snow went away and the flowers came up we would go back to Russia to bring her home.

“That’s cool,” I replied and I gave Amy a hug. She squeezed me tightly and began to sob.

“Isn’t it just wonderful how much God loves us? Isn’t it amazing the things He does?”

I didn’t know what to say. I let her finish having her moment, not agreeing or disagreeing. I’m sure she assumed I was on the same page she was because she kissed me softly on the lips just before pulling away to wipe her eyes.

Coincidence happens though. I couldn’t picture God taking a morning off to light up some flowers for Jack. He hadn’t bothered to stop a twenty-nine-year-old dad from blowing up while welding the inside of an oil tanker. God gives us choices but He doesn’t stop the consequences. As the president of a company I had the right to refuse employment to my younger brother. My decision to keep him from a safer job came at a price.

What I’d give to have the month before Rod’s death to do over.

It seemed obvious to me if a Supreme Being had time to custom-bloom flowers, his efforts would have been better spent “poofing” Marina out of the orphanage and into a loving family.

My feelings were far too negative to concentrate on that subject. There was plenty of good going on. Since we had decided to adopt Kirrill we knew we would have our hands full for the trip home. We really needed some help so I commandeered an old friend with real travel experience. Bill Jenson was more like my other dad than a friend. His son, Brent, and I grew up together while Bill worked for major airlines assisting in globetrotting with their V.I.P. travelers. Bill was now retired. He would be meeting us in Seoul to help bring the kids home. The added assistance made me more comfortable for a couple of reasons. First, it would put us at one-against-one in trying to manage three kids. The children still had the advantage but at least we wouldn’t be outnumbered. Secondly, if when difficulties arose in travel and scheduling, Bill would be the absolute best at managing those problems. He and his wife, Joan, still lived in Utah and I didn’t get to see them much since we moved to Michigan. I was really looking forward to catching up with my other dad.

Of course the big excitement was being able to see the children again. We had received one letter from Anya at about midpoint of the wait, telling us Kirrill was over his cold and the girls were doing well. I guess it was better than nothing. Not much better. Every day of the separation we longed for the moment when we could swoop those little bodies back up in our arms and feel their tiny racing hearts tapping against our own. We craved the pressure from their fragile arms squeezing around our necks. Now we could measure time to the future event on a clock rather than a calendar. Maybe that’s why I kept looking at my watch.

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