Every Day One Step Closer

Our facilitator/translator, Natalia, has been a very busy girl this past week. We are now waiting on our Court date. It will most likely be mid-week next week, but could be anytime after Friday. So we wait...and pray. Please pray for favor with the judge and for perfect timing. Natalia will travel home near Kiev tonight to visit with her husband for a few days and return in time for court.

We are heading to Odessa Executive Suites tonight to stay until it is time to return to Kiev with the children. There is also another family from SC arriving there this week. It will be fun to have someone from home to visit with.

Sunday we had a picnic with the children, some of their friends from Internot 4 and some of the women from the apartment where we are staying. It was the children's first day back at the Internot. They spent the weekend cleaning and preparing for FIRST BELL. The first day of school is a big event here in Ukraine.

Sunday was our wedding anniversary as well. We had a nice Greek Salad at the pizza place. No lettuce in it but their version of salad none the less. After we returned to the apartment the girls all came in with flowers and candy. It was a very nice evening.



Monday we had appointments most of the day to sign documents and receive final approvals from various officials. By days end, it was all finally accomplished! Thank the Lord! Natalia could forward documents to Kiev and pay court filing fees. One Step Closer.



During the morning we had to stop at #9 to pick up documents so we were able to spend about an hour with Andrei before we left for the next appointment.





It started to rain later in the day and the streets were a mess. It hasn't rained since we got here and everything was so dusty and dirty, then with the rain it was just muddy. The roads are paved and cobblestones so it's hard to explain why everything is so dusty, but you always have dirty, dusty feet and your khaki pants all have a ring around the hem.


For our evening meal, we all pooled our efforts and found the makings for a Mexican supper of burritos. Not quite as good as Monterrey's, but considering our location, outstanding! It was a nice evening of sharing how God orchestrated all the different puzzle pieces in our lives to bring such an eclectic group together.

Tuesday we hurried or as Steve says herded an apartment full of women and one man (Steve) thru the bathroom to arrive at school at 9am for First Bell. We stopped along the way to buy 6 bouquets of flowers. Two for each of the boy's teachers, two for Galia's teachers and 1 each for the secretary and director. It is customary for children to bring flowers on the first day of school but the orphans cannot buy the flowers. The contrast of all the flowers at the public school and so few at the orphanage is striking. Our kids were so happy that we brought flowers for them to give.

For First Bell everyone is dressed in their finest, songs are sung, speeches are made and the youngest/smallest girl rings the bell to start the school year. Galia rang the bell this year, but this year she had parents to watch her. It was great to be there for the kids and they were so happy. Our only problem was the battery on the camera went dead so we only have a few photos. So sorry!


We each had haircuts this week. Steve's flattop is not quite as flat as normal but it's pretty close. (See photo above) Pretty impressive cut for a young man that had never seen cut a flattop before or seen one for that matter! This particular young man is also an orphan that made it through the system. Natalia is so proud of him.



Tomorrow is again some big holiday. We will try to find out more and share soon. We will hopefully meet us with Lyonya's and Pasha's class at the center to celebrate then head out in the afternoon to see Andrei.

The Lord has been really encouraging us this week to just continue to trust him for the next step. To lay aside all that hinders and follow Him. Thanks so much for sharing our journey.