St. Nicholas Day!

Greetings Family & Friends...

Today is St. Nicholas Day here in Ukraine--a day of gift-giving in honor of the 3rd century Saint, Nicholas. It was on this day exactly one year ago that we were shown the picture of our Nicholas and so this is a special day for us.

Svetlana had told us that there would be a St. Nicholas Day Celebration at Roma's orphanage this morning and so we went around 10 am. We were able to play w/him in a separate room for a bit & then we were invited to come back to the larger room where there was the most adorable little celebration. There was a lady playing piano and the children sang songs and recited things about St. Nicholas and then one of the workers came in dressed as St. Nicholas--they were all mesmorized! There were also some important guests visiting today--some men who had donated things for the children...they were curious to know who we were...we could make out that Maria (Director) was telling them who we were and why we were there. They even played musical chairs w/the children! Roma was so cute to watch--he was fascinated by some Christmas lights that were blinking near him...all the children received a box of treats and 2 clementines. After the celebration they allowed us to play for a while longer w/him in the other room and we were allowed to feed him his treats--he has a sweet tooth!

He loved playing w/the toys we brought and actually let me hold him and sing a few songs to him. At one point he layed back while I sang "Jesus loves me"...it was cute. He even tried to say a few words. A little while later there were some more visitors to the orphanage and they brought toys! Once Roma saw the car that was being offered to him he wanted to play w/it so Jim opened it for him...well, this kind of shook things up a bit. As soon as the donor left the room the workers scooped up all the unopened toys (except Roma's) and put them up--there were several children who just cried--my heart broke for them! They whisked them off to another room while Jim played a little "soccer" w/Roma--he laughed out loud most of this time and seemed to really enjoy playing w/Pa-pa! Then it was time to go as he and the other children had to eat lunch and take a nap--a big day for them. It was clear when Jim told him that he had to go that he did not want to go w/the worker...Jim had to take him into the other room and leave him there.

Last night was a full night...as I said yesterday we were headed back to Vinnytsya w/Svetlana and Ruslan. We had to see a notary there as the ones here would not help Svetlana w/her paperwork--not sure why (i lost it in the translation). The notary in Vinnytsya was very helpful and even remained open to help us...she is actually a friend of Ruslan's! Before traveling back to Tulchyn Ruslan took us to his home for dinner where we met his wife (American), 6 foster children and his biological daughter (Isabella--2 1/2 years)...at one time they had 10 foster children. They run a home for children and hope to take in many more and give them the love of a family. They are unable to afford to adopt them all, but they feel that these children are theirs and raise them as such. We enjoyed the fellowship and food and know that we will see them again soon in the coming days. They have given us an open invitation to come and stay or just visit and eat. They live entirely by faith, like a modern-day-Ukrainian George Mueller! Jim asked him if he had ever heard of Mueller and indeed he had but only in a limited manner--he was encouraged by the things Jim told him. Jim has been very encouraged spending time w/Ruslan.

Now we are off to find some lunch...we are in an internet cafe and are unable to log onto our email addresses for now, so we might try again later. We love and miss you all so much. Please pray for Svetlana as she is meeting w/the judge right now to lay the ground work for our upcoming court appointment (don't know when that is yet) and she will head back to Kiev tonight to give our paperwork to the officials there. Pray for God's continued favor, for a quick court date and MAYBE even to have our 10 day waiting period waived!!! Pray boldly! Talk to you soon...

Love,

Karen & Jim