Contributor: Ruth Gutierrez

“What if he will not like us?”  Those were the words spoken by parents, Nikolay and Natalya, just moments before they met David, the very first orphan this family adopted.  They felt anxiety from the beginning the adoption process began: producing the proper documents to the decision makers, dealing with a drawn out court process, delayed and postponed trials.  The couple’s emotions ranged from excitement and hope to intrigue and fear.  Fast forward… they now are the proud parents of FIVE adopted children.

The Godzyks felt called to adopt.  However, when they shared this passion with their own extended family, they were all against it. They reacted well to the first adoption because it was a baby and everyone is fine with the adoption of the younger children.  When they started adopting the older children, they almost had a war because their extended family didn’t understand.  “But we saw God’s hand once again after we went for a visit to see them, they met the children, and they ended up calling to apologize later.  They calmed down and began to see the blessing that the Lord had sent them,” shared Nikolay.  Nikolay and Natalya believed that if you saw things only through human eyes, it came across as scary and difficult to comprehend, and this resulted in people trying to dissuade them from adopting.  Therefore, they continued trusting God. 

Each of the children came with their own set of traumas.  This resulted in a range of behaviors for each of them: just when one child was starting to feel better and happier, the couple would have to start from scratch with each new adoption.  There was such fear for Nikolay and Natalya because the children trusted anyone that would entice them outside of their biological families. Nikolay shares, “…someone comes along the road and calls him/her, they will go to have some tea with that person, they did not care who it was.”  

Things are so much different now.  They laugh, run, dream.  They are beginning to live a full life.  There is always something to work on. But God changes characters: bitterness and resentment go away.  The Soul-Care™ Therapeutic Curriculum played an integral role in helping each of the children.  The parents were able to understand why each of their children behaved the way they did.  “I used to perceive any disobedience, hysterics for example, as an attempt to do evil to us,” says Nikolay.  Now with the help of Soul-Care™, both Nikolay and Natalya understand that everything has a cause which is an experienced trauma which the child had before they became a part of our family. 

Nikolay and Natalya started this journey trusting the God was going to bless their passion and decision to adopt.  They are quick to acknowledge the greatest miracle and response to prayers is the building of the house through HopeHouse International®.  They still can’t believe it, even today.  “HopeHouse is the testimony of God’s miracle for us,” says Nikolay. Every child has their own room, children can grow normally and study, and this makes things much easier.  “And through this, we see that God supports us, that He is with us, and what we do is right and feel very relieved.”