Right now, my heart is on the other side of the world.

You see, my life is about to change. I’m about to become a mother, but not in the traditional way. In June, after my husband and I had been on two different lists to adopt an infant domestically, we visited a program here in Alabama called Bridges of Faith. And we fell in love with a girl named Nastia.

BOF is a non-denominational Christian organization that brings orphaned children from Ukraine to Alabama for a cultural experience here in America and to teach them about Jesus. Mostly, the volunteers spend time with the kids, take them on fun outings, and show them love and affection. Although BOF is not an adoption agency, about 80 percent of the children are adopted through their visits to the United States.

For many years, my husband and I wanted children. But it hasn’t been that easy for us. I know many of you reading this have had the same experiences. Peeing on sticks is not fun. Fertility testing, as many of you know, is embarrassing and expensive. And we weren’t getting anywhere with it.

I am approaching 40 and it seemed the next step was IVF. I was not jazzed about it. My husband really wasn’t jazzed about it. He wasn’t really excited about my being pregnant at this point anyway. What if I had a stroke, a blood clot, had to be on bed rest? Since I am the main wage earner in our family, he worried about how we would make it. He worried about my being sick. He’s a worrier.

So we started looking at adoption. At first, I wanted a baby. I love babies! They are so cute and cuddly, and I just love them. But the wait times are long, and we were getting frustrated. We started thinking about older children. There are so many of them who need love, and seem to be overlooked, forgotten.

A very good friend of ours went on a mission trip with BOF to Ukraine in March. She is a reporter for the newspaper here in Montgomery. We’ve known her for years, and she was excited to tell us of the wonderful work they did with the kids. They were bringing a group in May, and wouldn’t we like to come and meet them?

Finally, June came and we got the chance to meet the kids and the founder of the organization, Tom Benz. When Dave and I got there, we discovered that the kids there were considerably older than what we were looking for. We were a little disappointed. But Tom said to stay, talk to the kids and, “See what we’re all about.”