Moving forward....

Sorry for not posting anything new yesterday. It was finally a day during which there were no "gotchas" and we're thankful for that.

I was able to work quite a while in the morning, then we headed on the #8 for lunch at Сафз Мояе (Cafe Monet). After lunch Tanya called and let us know that she had picked up all the court papers with the conclusion that was promised the day before. She was at the orphanage waiting for Nikolai to sign another paper and hanging out with Natasha and Pasha. So, we headed over there.

Since Michele will be leaving a week from today (all fingers and toes crossed), Tanya wanted to make sure we had the passport/Visa request papers signed and notarized. So we spent the afternoon waiting at the notary's office, then getting some food for Tanya, Natasha and Pasha, then waiting some more at the notary's office and then heading back to the orphanage.

There was a lot of hustle and bustle at the orphanage as today (Friday) is the big 50 year anniversary celebration. All the kids (it seemed) were outside cleaning up the grounds, or decorating rooms or hanging artwork that the kids had done. We greeted Nikolai who seemed to be in a particularly jovial mood. Then, after Nikolai had signed the final set of papers, Tanya and Roman double-checked everything, and packaged everything up for the overnight ride to Kiev. Then Tanya was off to the train station to put the package on the train.

We took the kids back to the Bible House where we tried on their new winter coats that Michele had bought at the market, had some snacks and just hung out. Pasha was strictly ordered to be back at the orphanage at 5:30 to help with cleaning the grounds...apparently he "missed out" on some of the work his group had been doing while we were all at the notary's office. So, we brought them back and said our goodnights.

Today (Friday) the package will be picked up at the train station and taken directly to the SDA. The plan is for them to do whatever they do and have the return package ready later today for the return trip to Kherson. Tanya will pick everything up over the weekend or on Monday in preparation for court on Tuesday.

So, we "put one foot in front of the other" (whoever can comment first on what Christmas special those words come from and who sings them...hint...hint...will get a special prize! OK, not really, I'm just trying to infuse a little bit of interest in this rather boring post...) and keep moving forward.

This morning (Friday) we will go to the celebration at the orphanage which starts at 10AM. We're looking forward to seeing Natasha, Zinna and Rimma in their singing/dancing performance. We keep kidding Pasha that he should be up there too, but he's not having any of it!

Thanks again for everyone's prayers. We greatly appreciate them.

Bruce & Michele