Sunday Edition...

Sunday morning showed up with some fresh snow, and a wind that will cut your nose off. You think I am kidding. We took our usual route to the orphanage, once again joined by our friend Oleg P. (see how you benefit from hosting exchange students?). Sunday mornings are fairly quiet at the school yard, and we were surprised to see little ‘k’ since he had told us he was going with his class on a field trip. He clopped around the corner just as we walked in the door into the (you guessed it) dark lobby. Now today, even the guard wore his jacket and stood by the radiator while we talked with the boys. He seemed to love every minute of our conversation with the boys. We waited for them to go down the hall for 15 minutes of their 30 minute lunch time, and little ‘k’ quickly returned with soccer shorts (from the uniform we gave him) and yes, the cleats (see post from Saturday).

O.K. out into the grey wind we go, looking for a place to stand where your breath is not taken away by the icy breeze. We were laughing at little ‘k’ taking a risk of frost bite on his skinny legs as he wore his new thin soccer uniform. You would’ve thought it was the Bahamas for him. Fortunately, we had to leave to meet with Igor in the middle of the afternoon, so we had our standard trip to thaw out on the way back into the city. Most Ukrainians would choose the 2 grevnia shuttle, since it is a little faster than the bus.
Frankly today, Ukrainians and Americans would choose whatever drove by that had a heater. You know how mud gets mixed up and makes tracks from vehicles driving on the wet ground? These mud tracks are not mud anymore but more like bricks with black ice on top of them. After the long haul to meet our friend, we realized a miscommunication had occurred. So, we write now before we make the trek back across town to the apartment. Our sunny Florida friends leave at about 2:30 a.m., so what’s the point of going to bed? More details to follow…Praise God for His faithfulness to us, and for our constant burden to be aligned with His Spirit. We miss all of you (especially our kids at home).

Blessings,
The Nichols