Day Two in Tulchyn

Dear Family & Friends,

It is another cold day here in Ukraine w/a few flurries here and there. Svetlana left without us this morning to take care of some important errands and so Jim and I were able to relax a little. However, the relaxing came to an end when I tried to take a “shower”.

In order for us to have water we have to turn it on, but once it is on it doesn’t just heat on it’s own, we have to light the gas to heat the water. “No problem” Jim told me…ha! Ha! Ha! I stood at the side of the tub waiting for the “rush” of water but it never really came—a very slow and tiny trickle came out of the old faucet…After Jim tried several times to light the “heater” I just gave up and jumped in while there was at least a little trickle—let’s just say it was colder than ice! J After a few more minutes of trying, the water-heater clicked on but only for about 30 seconds…at least it was warm for 30 seconds! I shivered for a while after that but once we got moving I was warm again. Needless to say I did not wash my hair today…all you ladies w/short hair will understand my hair woes today! Ha! Ha! Ha!—it is good to laugh.

After a while we heard from Svetlana that we needed to head back to Vinnytsya later today to the notary’s office as the notary here would not help her at all. Ruslan should be here any time to take us there and back, fill in as our translator at the notary’s office and he knows the notary—what a blessing this brother in Christ is! She also told us to walk to the orphanage and see Roma since we won’t be back for a while…

So, that’s what we did. When we entered his room he was being fed and the other children were sitting there eating too…it was neat to see some of the kids that the team from our church had seen this summer (apparently little David was adopted recently!!!). Before the second part of his meal, one of the caregivers came over and offered for me to feed Roma the rest of his lunch—I was delighted! He did so good…everytime I looked down to get another spoonful of food for him I could see him, out of the corner of my eye, staring at me…He also really stared at Jim—we think he is remembering “the man” from this summer who came for a visit. After lunch, we got to play with him for just a little while before his nap—it was wonderful! We had brought a little educational toy from home and thought it would be a good challenge for him, but he mastered it right away and he wanted to do it over and over. It was adorable. Jim and I were remembering how Georgia has prayed for him to learn how to use his hands and we saw firsthand that the Lord has answered her faithful prayers. The caregivers allowed us to put him in his bed for his nap—he loved that (and so did we). We are hoping that we will be back w/enough time for us to go back to see him tonight…we’ll see.

As far as the paperwork is concerned…things are plugging along. Many neat things have happened so far along the way, but pray that the Lord would continue to go before us w/His favor. Svetlana is hopeful that she will return to Kiev tomorrow w/our paperwork and then we will have to wait for a court date from the judge—pray for the judge to grant us an early court hearing. She said that it usually takes 5 days or more just to hear about a court date…Keep praying for the impossible, as only God can bring about that which is impossible. Thank you for your faithful prayers…He hears!

We are doing fine…excited and filled w/joy to see and be w/Roman, but still longing for our family and the comforts of home J. We think of you all so often and miss you more than we can say… We love you!

Love,
Karen & Jim