Day 5 in Tulchyn

Hi Family & Friends...

We hope you all are doing well and enjoying the time as the Christmas holiday draws near! We are good and are missing you all so much. We spoke w/some of the kids yesterday afternoon (about 11:30 pm our time) and that was wonderful! It was great to hear their voices...Georgia said she misses Roman already. :)

Well, yesterday and today we visited the orphanage and spent some good QT w/Roma. Last night, after dinner we walked over and spent a little more time. He is so happy to see us when we come. Today, we played in his "pod" a good part of the time and he was very protective to not let the other children get too close to me--he doesn't seem to want to share his ma-ma! He is very comfortable w/both of us and lets us both hold him and hug on him...

Jim did some "tricks" for the kids today--he got them to sit down and then he walked on his hands for them! They were going crazy after that...one boy was so freaked out by it that he started to cry! ha! ha! ha! Then Jim called them over one at a time and he helped them do forward rolls--even Roma did one! The children loved it...

We saw Roma help set the tables w/another girl, Natasha, today and he did a great job. We also saw him clean up some toys and put things in their proper places--wow! He is so smart...He is a joy and delight to go visit every day...Last night we saw him do some pretty amazing things w/his feet--throwing blocks back into their bin from a great distance...amazing! We look forward to our "orphanage time" w/such great joy every day...the workers have been pretty agreeable toward us and have been helpful and very kind--an answer to prayer!

We received word today from Svetlana, in Kiev, that we will receive our court permission paper on Monday (24th) and she thinks that we will have our court appointment on Christmas Day!!! This is great news...that means that we are ahead of where we originally thought we would be at this time and we are WAY ahead of the game compared to last year this time.

Keep praying about the 10-day waiting period to be waived...as we have said before it is very RARE but Roma's social worker and Svetlana both agree that we must ask. It is up to the judge whether or not to waive that waiting time...pray for his heart to be moved w/compassion and that the Lord would put it on his heart! Nothing is too hard for our great God!!

By the way, the water situation is MUCH better :) and the food has been great! It has been SUPER cold here w/no sun the entire time we've been in Ukraine...maybe we will get some more snow! :) We love you all very much and are thankful for your love and support and prayers...

Love,

Karen & Jim