Have Kids....Will Travel...

Well, even if I don't know when we'll travel, I can certainly say "I have the kids!" Tanya and I stopped by the market this afternoon and picked up a bunch of cookies and candy and juice for Natasha and Pasha's roomies. We also brought a bagful of things for each caregiver. They were all very thankful. I took as many pictures as I could and I will post some later when I have a chance to breathe.

I don't think there were any tears in Pasha's group of friends. You know, they're all boys after all.

Natasha's roomies were a different story. All of them were very teary eyed and sad to see her go. We will be able to go back to the orphanage before we actually leave from Kherson, so they were happy about that. Nevertheless, I had to fight back my own tears watching them say good-bye. These are kids who have known each other for many years and are like sisters, no doubt.

One of Pasha's caregivers (whose name I can't recall) told me through her broken English that she was at the orphanage when Pasha showed up at the age of 3. She's known him and been part of his care ever since. I definitely got a pic of her with Pasha.

We also had a short sit-down meeting with Roman and Nikolai. Nikolai had some very nice things to say about Michele and me. Through Tanya, he said that he feels he is a pretty good judge of character when first meeting someone, and he told Natasha and Pasha that he believes they have very good parents now. He also told them to "be nice, work hard and do well in school."

Tanya will find out tomorrow the definitive answer about passports. Pray that they will be done tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. I'm itchin' to get home and get everyone together.

Thanks for your prayers.

Bruce

Here are a couple of pics from dinner tonight. Pasha was sitting on the other side of the table from Natasha and me.