A Long Day...But A Good Day

My day started at 5:30 this morning as I awoke to meet Tanya at 6:00AM for the trip to Genechisk. This is a town about 2 1/2 hours drive south and east of Kherson, pretty much on the Black Sea.

While Tanya sawed logs in the front seat, I could bearly fit my lanky legs in the back-seat of the Tercel-sized vehicle, so I was pretty much stretched across the whole back seat. I spent my time listening to Toby (Mac), Audio A., and several other albums that are on Bradley's IPOD (thanks bud!).

We arrived right on time...8:30AM. Genechisk is the city where both Natasha and Pasha's births are registered and where we needed to have the two new birth certificates issued. We weren't sure if everything would go well, but thankfully the "not-so-nice" administrator lady was out sick and her "much-nicer" assistant was there to help today. So, by 10:00 AM, we had two new birth certificates with us listed as the parents of Natasha and Pasha, and we headed back on the road for another 2 1/2 hour drive back.

We got back to Kherson around 1PM and then spent the next 2 hours getting new IDs filed and getting the new birth certificates "notarized" by at least three different offices. Even Tanya was flabergasted at the number of people with their hands in this pot.

Around 3:00 we picked up Natasha and Pasha to try and tackle passport scanning today as well. Tanya had been told that we would be able to be seen shortly after 3:00, so we arrived at the passport office about 3:20. There we waited...and waited...and waited. The kids are not entirely healthy, so they both had masks lazily fitted over their noses and mouths. We played games on my cell phone and on the IPOD. Finally, at 5:00PM, they were ready to see us. We got pics taken and I signed the papers for the passports. They are supposed to be ready by Wednesday! Yay!

I got home a little before 6 after dropping the kids off. I hadn't eaten much all day, so I jumped a bus down to Bourgeous and had some of the best salad and borsch with pampuschkas. I'm now back at the Bible House trying to do a little bit of work before I fall over asleep.

Please pray for Natasha and Pasha's health. They seem to be getting better but I'd like them to be feeling completely well when we leave next week. Also pray for Natasha as she was quite serious tonight and Tanya said she is a bit anxious about everything. I'm not sure if she is anxious about the process completing successfully, or just about the impending move to a completely new culture. In either case, pray that she (and Pasha too) experience God's peace over the next several days.

Thanks for reading!

Bruce