What a day!

Sorry for not posting yesterday. We had a very long day and were too blitzed to blog when all was done at about 9:30PM last night.

We were able to meet Pasha and Natasha for church Sunday morning. We were there at 8:30AM and we had to run to meet the bus because we were waiting for them in the wrong part of the orphanage. Pasha's caregiver was none too happy about having to run to meet the bus. Tanya (our facilitator) met us as well to help with translation, and she told us after we all got on the bus that the caregiver told her that Pasha is actually her favorite and a good boy. That was pretty funny to hear after the scolding she gave him!

We're still not quite sure what church we went to! It was a "Christian Church" (Tanya thought it was a Church of Christ), but realistically, we didn't understand a word for the two hours we were there. We did understand a couple of songs ("Great is Thy Faithfulness" and a version of "Holy, Holy, Holy") and while everyone else sang in Russian, I sang in English (quietly, of course).

I think Pasha normally goes to a youth service during the main service, but he and Natasha stayed with us. I think Natasha was just too nervous to go do something new, since she does not typically go to church. Even when we saw Zina up front waving to Natasha to come with and Natasha smiled in recognition, she chose to stay with us, as did Pasha.

Tanya did not stay for church but before leaving confirmed that we could stay with the kids and take them out to lunch. So, after church, as we were walking to the bus stop, Michele decided to call Oksana, a friend of Heidi and Felix's whom we met at the Bible House a couple nights before. I may have mentioned earlier that Oksana was at the same orphanage as Natasha and Pasha here in Kherson. Through a sad set of circumstances, she has aged out (she is now 19 years old), but in the process has become a strong believer in Jesus and a real shining light. She is currently going to the university her in Kherson and just learned that next year she will be going to a Bible college in England where she will also continue to study English. But her heart is for Ukraine and she will be coming back.

Anyway, Oksana happened to be going to church just a block or so away, and was happy to meet with us and go to lunch. Well, she was a life-saver for the day as she speaks English very well and was able to help us communicate with the kids. And when I say, "for the day", it was the entire day! Here's a pic of Oksana, Pasha and Natasha:

We went downtown and had lunch at Zeppelin's which was excellent. The kids ate 'til they were full, as did we all. Then we walked around through a park in the downtown area and had delicious ice cream cones, which were on sale! The Dutchman in me really came out when I saw that I could get 3 scoops for the price of 2!! So, 3 scoops for everyone!

After the ice cream cones we walked a ways to a place where there's a beautiful overlook of the Dnipr river (not sure if I have the spelling right). Then we decided that we should head over to Oskar's for some fun and a little bit of shopping. But before doing so, we were nervous that we were going to get in trouble from Pasha's and Natasha's caregivers for keeping the kids after lunch. So we had Natasha call and ask if it would be OK to keep them longer. "No problem. Just have the home by 7PM." (My translation of course.)

Oskar's is a fairly large shopping center which has shops and games and even bowling on the main floor and then a large grocery/department store on the second floor. We took the bus over there and bowled for an hour. That was pretty hilarious! By that time, Oksana and Natasha had gotten a hold of the camera so were taking snapshots of everything and everyone. (We probably didn't post that we lost our camera somewhere in Kiev and ended up buying a new one there at City Com, which is the Kiev-equivalent of Circuit City.)

After bowling, we went upstairs and bought the kids some essentials (toothpaste, shampoo, deoderant, hair gel, etc.). Then it was back to the Bible House where we chilled in our room for a while. We showed them the clothes that we brought. Some will fit, others will be too big, but they took them all back to the orphanage to distribute to their room mates/friends. We had a chance to talk alot about the adoption process and timing and their names and all sorts of stuff that probably merits a separate blog entry.

The one funny thing that came up was about the timing of the adoption. I think it was Natasha who asked Oksana about if we would be coming back in a year to take them to America. We explained that, if Jana (pronounced Ya-na) was willing to give her consent, then the process would likely be done by the end of October or early November. If Jana did not feel comfortable giving her consent, then it would probably be sometime in mid- to late-November. They were clearly surprised at this and their eyes opened wide when Oksana explained. Pasha commented that he was excited to be in America for Christmas as he really likes Christmas!

The best part of the afternoon was getting a call from Tanya. She had been in discussion with Roman (the lawyer at the orphanage) and Roman had spoken with Jana. Jana has decided to give her consent! When Natasha heard this, she let out a big sigh of relief and had a big smile on her face. So, Tanya will be meeting with Roman this morning (Monday) to get the papers signed and then we will go with her to a notary to start the process!

After that news, we packed everyone's stuff up and headed back to the orphanage. While there, Michele asked to have a look at Pasha's teeth. He had drawn some blood while using a toothpick after lunch, so Michele was concerned that there may be some issues. Sure enough, he has a fairly large cavity (Michele thinks she pretty much knows what to look for). Oksana knows of a good dental clinic close to the orphanage and Tanya has a friend who is a dentist, so we will make sure we have both Natasha and Pasha check out this week.

We said our good nights and told them we would probably see them on Tuesday, since we did not know what Monday's schedule looked like.

After leaving, Oksana came back to the Bible House with us and I helped her out a bit with a PowerPoint presentation she had to get done that night. She was very thankful to have it done (and not have to go to an internet cafe and spend grivna to do it!) and I was happy to help out. By the time she was done and we had her PowerPoint saved to her USB stick, it was after 9PM. We said our good-byes and Michele and I happily landed in bed for a good night's sleep.

We woke up this morning about 8AM and both feel pretty refreshed. Tanya will be calling us sometime later this morning to let us know the schedule for the day. Until then, I'm going to get some work done and Michele is busy doing something in the room.

Thanks for all your prayers! Keep praying, in particular that we would not encounter any further glitches as a result of Jana giving consent even though she is less than 18 years old. This all still has to be approvied by 2 judges, so pray that there would be no "hassle" with that.

We'll post more tonight.

Thanks again,

Bruce and Michele