SDA Referral

The important stuff first: Our appt at the SDA went extremely well. We received several referrals for sibling groups (all of them for 3-5 children), but only one of these really met all of our criteria: a sibling group of 3, 2 boys and 1 girl. Their ages are 7, 8, and 10. They are in an orphanage only about 1 hour’s drive from here, so we will not have to ride the train or plane to get there. Sasha will find us an apartment to live in closer to the orphanage. We will receive our official referral to visit the children late tomorrow afternoon and will be able to meet them for the first time on Thursday. It was exciting to watch Kevin and Katie through this whole process, and they are as excited as us!!

Since yesterday’s blog was so short, I need to write a little about our trip here: All 3 flights were very smooth with no delays, and overall went much better than expected. I can tell that I am 2 years older than I was on our last trip here because I was exhausted!! However, after a night’s rest, we were ready to go. One thing I learned is that if someone at the airline gate says, “Everyone, please remain seated,” it really means, “Everyone, jump up as fast as you can and stampede to the gate- the last one there is a rotten egg.” Speaking of rotten eggs, the smell of many Europeans on the same plane has not changed. Even Kevin remarked that the smell of BO (body odor) just about made him sick. I had to laugh because not even 2 years ago, he told us that he had no use for deodorant.

Once we arrived in Kiev, the sights are the same. It is still one of the most beautiful cities that you can imagine, and I love being here. Our temporary apartment is just next door to where we stayed last time, so we know the area. A McDonald’s is right down the street and we needed a quick breakfast, so McDonald’s it was. I was happy to find out that they now serve breakfast food at this time of day; the last time you could only order hamburgers and fries for b’fast.
The weather was beautiful when we arrived; sunny, low humidity and about 70 degrees. Today, more of what we remember: cloudy, rainy, and a little cooler.

Last night, we ate at the Fat House, typical Ukrainian food that is very good. Kevin announced that he needed to go to the restroom. After a few minutes, he cam out and said that he would wait to go until we got back to the apartment. He said, “it has some kind of special kind of thing in there.” What he meant is the restroom was lacking a toilet. It was the kind of restroom that is still fairly common here: you step up to a tiled area with a hole in the floor. It’s very hard to hover over this hole for very long unless you have really strong legs!!!!

Katie says a big hi to Marie and to Ms. Laura at church and also Ms Laura, please give our blog to Mr. Justin and Ms. Melinda.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. It was so good to see your comments today. This morning our devotion was: 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
How fitting and what a great way to start off an exciting but stressful day! We love you all and will write again tomorrow.