SDA, Kyiv and ZZZ...

As I write this, I am one very blessed (very TIRED) woman!

Today I sat in a little office with my husband and two Ukrainian women and we looked at the file of a little boy named Pavel. :) We were asked a few simple questions and we told a brief story of who we are and how we came to be here. We were told that this little boy’s parents didn’t feel that they could take care of him when they had him at ages 45 and 35. So they have signed papers saying they don’t want him and will willingly give him over for adoption. We felt such favor from the Lord in that room… the woman said that she was grateful that we wanted him and admitted that it is difficult to find families for children with Down syndrome in their country. She understood that we were fully aware of all that is associated with Ds and absolutely wanted to make him our own. And she said that she wanted to speed this process along because she understood that we needed to get home to our other children. We all thanked each other once more and left. And in that 10 minute period, we became one huge step closer to our lives changing forever. :) We are to go back this afternoon to finalize what happened this morning and then we are getting on a train tonight to travel the 8 hours or so to meet our little boy for the very first time!

I don’t think that this morning could have gone any smoother. Everything happened so quickly and so effortlessly. We are SO blessed to have our amazing facilitator. She has been absolutely wonderful. And we have been so blessed that this process has been so smooth this far.

Psa 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. (2) He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. (3) He has put a new song in my mouth; Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. (4) Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. (5) Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.

Please pray with us that:

~Our meeting this afternoon would go well

~For safety for on train ride to Odessa

~We could recover from the jet lag which is still pretty bad for both of us

~That God would give us wisdom, favor and that we would shine the love of Christ where ever we go

~For our first meeting with Pavel

And now, a few pictures!! (Uploading takes forever, so I will try to post more later.) We very much enjoyed our time in the beautiful city of Kyiv. And our apartment was very cozy… we hope the next one is as nice. We had a lot of fun walking around downtown… here are some of my random observations and thoughts about this city: 1) I never knew what “underground sidewalks” meant until we got here. I think more cities in America should do this. 2) I am very curious to know what would warrant a parking ticket in this city. Cars are parked anywhere and everywhere… the street, the sidewalks, absolutely anywhere. 3.) What they say about exact change is true. People get VERY irritated if you don’t have exact bills, but coins don’t matter as much. 4.) Don’t be too proud to bust out the translation guide when trying to buy some conditioner. You may accidentally buy MORE shampoo. 5.) Hallways of buildings can be very misleading. You can walk through a hall way and feel like the building is going to cave in at any minute… only to walk into a room and it looks like it was built 5 years ago. 6.) Birds are EVERYwhere, but I have only seen 2 bugs since we got here. I’m wondering if the two are related… 7.) If you are a woman in your 20’s, you must own skinny jeans, some shiny pumps and have bangs that are cut straight across. 8.) We saw a couple of different women pulling their strollers instead of pushing them. Don’t know if that was just a coincidence or if that is common here. 9.) Everyone walks in front of cars and I’m curious to know how many people die a year from being hit by a car on the street. 10.) There are little chunks of white fluffy stuff that floats through the air everywhere. It looks like cotton almost but we think its from the tree's. Anyway, its all over the place and looks kind of pretty but its really annoying when it floats into your face. 11.) Taxi’s are terrifying. They must be exempt from all traffic laws. Exhaustion, leftover nerves from an important appointment, car sickness and a little touch of morning sickness do NOT mix in the back of a taxi!

I guess that’s all for now. We love you ALL and will update again from Odessa!!

Our kitchen

Thanks Wes and D'Arcy for the bag, it doubles as a great entertainment center! :)

Another of the apartment.

The view of Kyiv from our window, we're on the top floor!

Before we left the Nashville airport... so ready to go!!
(Sorry these were random pics... I'm running out of battery now and trying to grab pics quickly! Will post better ones soon I promise! :))