On October 26, 2013, in a tiny courtroom in Kiev, Ukraine, this little boy was officially declared our son by court decree. This was the final official step for us to be declared the parents of this little boy by the government of Ukraine. As of this date, he was no longer an orphan.
Before October 26, little Denis’ name (pronounced “Denice” or “Denice-ka” by his nannies) officially identified him as an orphan who had been rejected and abandoned by his parents and the world around him. He had never been visited by anyone other than orphanage workers and had never stepped foot outside of the orphanage. His identity as an orphan imprisoned him behind those gates. He had nothing and his future was bleak as he would have been transferred to an adult mental institution, likely within a year or so, where conditions are typically deplorable. This was Denis’ future and his identity, until this date. But on October 26, 2013, we and the court officially gave him a new name which identifies him as one who has been redeemed and set free, accepted as he is, and adopted by a father and mother, brothers and a sister who will love and care for him. He will be given an inheritance that is associated with his new name and so many privileges that we enjoy in this country.
In light of this significant occasion, we would like to announce a new name to go along with his new identity. Drum roll please..... Introducing “Noah.” Though we will keep his middle name, we have chosen the name Noah for a first name. When the original Noah was born, his parents said “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands” (Genesis 5:29). Noah’s parents had faith and hope that their little new born boy would be the promised one who would come and reverse God’s curse upon the world due to sin and bring relief from their suffering. They trusted God and His promises declaring their faith and hope in naming their son Noah. God did use Noah to bring temporary relief and rest to his family as they were delivered through the flood of God’s judgment in the ark. But the relief that Noah brought was only temporary and earthly as he did not usher in an everlasting and eternal restoration and relief from the curse of sin, suffering and death. But the Christian Faith teaches, and we believe and confess, that Jesus was the promised one who brought in an everlasting restoration, redemption and reversal of the effects of God’s curse upon the world due to sin. We see this in Jesus miracles as He identified himself as the king of a new kingdom in which the lame and afflicted are healed and restored to new life. Through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection Jesus inaugurated a new kingdom wherein people are adopted into a new family, given new identities along with everlasting rest for their weary souls and set free from sin and death and given a better inheritance that is imperishable. And for our little Noah, among the more severely afflicted by the curse in this world, Julie and I chose this name in the hope and expectation that one day little Noah’s Down syndrome will be finally and forever removed on the last day when Jesus will “wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new. Rev 21:4-5”
Our journey to rescue little Noah, redeem and adopt Him into our family, and give him a new identity, new name and a new inheritance are earthly and temporary, mere shadows of what God has done for us. Julie and I have no power to reverse the effects of sin and the curse with which little Noah is afflicted. But Jesus offers an adoption and a redemption that is permanent and eternal along with an inheritance that is imperishable which cannot fade away to any who will turn from their sins and place their faith in Him. We believe that we were not so different from little Noah, who was lost and abandoned in that orphanage without hope. We too had a similar fate, walking in darkness, enslaved to sin and death, destined to destruction because of our sin. “ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”(Ephesians 2: 4-10). We have gone on this journey to rescue this abandoned little boy afflicted with Down syndrome to give him a new identity and a new name because this is what God has done for us. Thank you all for the incredible support and kindness you have shown to us in this journey.
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