We have made it one week!!

We have now been in away from home from one week and in Ukraine for 6 days. It is amazing how much we have experienced in those 6 days and the run of emotions we have felt.

We are just about done with the paperwork stage here in Odessa.  Monday, we will get Vitya's medical records and give everything to the regional director.  She will will make a report for the court and then they will set us a court date to make the adoption legal.  WE are praying that the date will be next week, but Wednesday is a national holiday, so they don't work on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Vitya wrote a paper yesterday stating that he did want to be adopted by us, so that part is official.  PTL  We have been given amazing favor in the time that we have been allowed to spend with him.  Yesterday, we were able to take him away from the orphanage and out to get pizza.  We enjoy so much being with him, but yesterday, we did not have a translator, so communication was very frustrating, especially for him and Laura Lynn, as they are both communicators.  The first hour, we used a dictionary and kept pointing to words, but that got tiring after a while.  Right now, Vitya is not interested in learning too much Enlgish because he is still in a Russian speaking country. He thinks that we need to study more Russian.  We are trying, but it is a difficult language.

Our translator left yesterday afternoon, so we are on our own for the weekend.  Our friends, the Elliots are here now so it is nice to have their company.  This morning, David and the Elliots have gone to a thrift store to get some clothes for the kids.  This afternoon, we may visit with Vitya at the camp, but this time we will take some activities to do as we will not have a translator. Also, it will be our first attempt on the bus by ourselves.  Ugh!  Tomorrow, we will go to Urainian church, but with some friends of the Ellisors who speak English.  Monday, the Elliots head back to Kiev to start the process for their second child.

This morning, we were talking and just realizing that Vitya has no idea what a mother and father are like because he has never been exposed to any, except what he has seen in very unGodly movies and books.   His birth mother gave him up before he was every born, so he neve knew her.  And all of the women in his life, have been strict, authoritarian leaders who have often physically abused him.  So, it is scary to think that what we show him now is the view that he will develop for always about parents.  It's kind of like when our children are babies.  We are shaping his mindset.  We are so glad we have God's spirit in us and His help.

We write again, probably on Monday, when we have some more details about our court date.  Thank you again so much for your prayers!