More about today...

What a difference a few hours make! We are SO much more relaxed than we were this morning. I can finally eat again - without all the nerves! We can finally sleep, too. We are heading to the same orphanage as Leeza and Kyle who were previously adopted by fellow blogger friends! We hear great things about the orphanage, and are excited about that. We are leaving tomorrow for the 14-hr train ride and 1 1/2 hour car ride. Then we go to the inspector's office to get permission to visit the orphanage. THEN we get to go meet her! We are hopeful that the Lord will confirm that this little girl is the one for us.

We don't know what our internet situation will be in Mariupol, but I will journal in the meantime and post it all when I can.

We called/webcammed the boys today and told them about the little girl we are going to visit. We were wondering how Garrett would react, because he and this little girl would become practically twins (same age, birthdays 3 weeks apart!). I think he had more of a "little" sister in mind.... well his little smile just lit right up and he said, "She's the same age as ME?" So precious! Both boys are excited - as excited as they can be with the situation a world away right now. :)

Today we bought some snacks and drinks for the train ride. Did I mention it was 14 hours? I think most of you know or have heard me or others discuss the bathroom situation on the trains in Ukraine. They are horrendous! I (like others before me) will be reationing my liquid-intake to avoid it at all costs! This time tomorrow, we'll be sitting on the train - on our way to meet this little girl! We can't wait!

In Kiev today, we strolled and explored our neighborhood. Then for dinner, we met some other adopting parents - Marty and Angela, and their little boy, Joshua. They are such a sweet family. Their appointment is tomorrow morning and they are hoping for a girl around 3 or 4. I pray they will find the little one God has for them.

This might be our last post from Kiev for awhile. Scott might blog about our grand adventures in the Metro today! :)

We can't thank everyone enough for the prayers. We believe they are the reason we are heading to Mariupol tomorrow. Can't wait to see the next chapter of the adventure!
Love,
J

Scott's ManBlog

SDA - the typical guy wants to strategize his way through the SDA appointment. I had gone through in my head the best time to have the appointment, the best way to get past the small talk and onto files, and the best way to maximize the number of files that we would view. In the end, you end up throwing all the strategy out the window. It's an organization that is anything but. It ends up being a huge faith building experience, because it renders us guys completely powerless to outwit, outplay, outlast.

The Metro - after finding my testosterone useless at the SDA, I had to have an outlet. So, I convinced Julie to try the subway. I felt like a hunter stalking his prey as we tried to navigate our way through the most confusing subway system I've ever seen. They have subway lines that are marked on the map with colors, but nowhere in the actual subway will you see those colors. We didn't actually make it on the right train going to dinner, but we did make it back home just fine. Everything became much harder given the fact that once again, we are dealing with a completely different alphabet. My map had the words spelled in English, but the subway signs are all in Cyrillic. In the end, we conquered the Kiev subway system, but I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you are really brave.

P.S. I just bragged to our facilitator about taking the Metro. She said that what we did was very dangerous, especially since we had over 5 figures in cash strapped to us. In other words, don't try this if you come to Kiev.