The Ups....the Downs....

We were so tired from our full day out on Sunday that we actually slept in past 8AM this morning. When we left Tanya on Sunday, she said she was going to the orphanage Monday morning to work with Roman (the orphanage lawyer) and get the documents signed by Jana. She told us to expect a call from her sometime after 11AM on next steps.

She called to let us know that the orphanage director (Nikolai) was not willing to sign the documents as it is "not the way it should be done." She apparently continued the discussion with Roman and Nikolai most of the morning and called again to have us come to the orphanage around 2PM. We met her there, and also greeted Roman and Nikolai. While Nikolai had not yet agreed to sign the papers, he had softened a little and allowed Tanya to have the kids' birth certificates. This was important since we needed them to go to the notary and actually start part of the paperwork process, instead of waiting around sitting on our hands.

So, we left the orphanage without seeing the kids, since they were still in school, and headed to the notary (right behind Cafe More for those who know Kherson... :). When we arrived, we realized that we needed our passports, which we did not have, so I headed back to the Bible House on the bus to get them. When I returned, Michele and Tanya were sitting outside having a cup of coffee at the cafe, and after giving the passports to the notary, we sat down to wait.

We waited at least an hour and a half, maybe more, sometimes I lose track of time when sitting around doing nothing. Then we were ready to sign the first of many documents. These were the basic documents saying that we are officially asking to adopt Natasha and Pasha, and these we could do without having Nikolai's signature on the separation documents from Jana.

One thing we were able to do while waiting was to pop into an internet cafe and have quick chats with all three of the kids back in Colorado. That was refreshing and we were so happy to have had that opportunity. They are being well cared for, but we still miss them!

So, by around 5PM, we were finally done there and Tanya headed to the inspector's office to do some more work and we headed back to Bible House. We got back to Bible House and I ended up working for quite a while and then we headed back to Cafe More for dinner. We had told Natasha and Pasha yesterday that we likely would not see them today as we didn't know what our schedule was. And it turned out to be a good "heads up" since we spent most of the morning waiting for Tanya's call and then most of the afternoon waiting with Tanya at the notary's office. We will definitely see them tomorrow again.

Serge from the Bible House brought up two New Testaments last night, which are Russian/English. We will give these to the kids tomorrow when we see them in the afternoon.

Oh, one other thing. We learned today that, besides the issue with Jana, Natasha's papers are in good order. Pasha's papers, on the other hand, to use Tanya's words, "Are a mess." There are some problems that she will likely have to travel to another region about 200K away to correct. This could add a few days... :( However, she is still hopeful that we will be able to get through this process (assuming Nikolai signs Jana's release papers) in time for Michele to come home on the 16th of October.

So, here we are again, continuing to need your prayers. I think God is bringing new meaning to the idea of "praying constantly", which is actually a good thing! Tanya is hopeful that Nikolai will sign Jana's release papers tomorrow. Please pray that God would prick his heart to do so. Please also pray that "the mess" of Pasha's papers can be squared away quickly and not cause too much delay.

We miss Abigail, Bradley and Benjamin terribly and want to give this process a kick in the pants as best we can so that at least Michele can get back home to be with them.

That's it for now. Hopefully, we'll provide more good news tomorrow!

Bruce & Michele