Three's a crowd

If you’ve been wondering what’s going on, we’ve had a little trouble with internet access in our apartment, and our schedule has not given us a chance to spend time in an internet café. On Monday, we took a snowy shuttle ride from the metro stop at Nivky station out to meet girl ‘k’ and Luda, and then together we bounced our way out to the boy’s orphanage. At this point in our journey I have just about memorized the old automated voice announcements in the subway cars. It is obviously recorded from a long time ago, and the ancient speakers make it sound similar to the Charlie Brown teacher’s voice in the Peanuts cartoons. We sloshed to a stop near the orphanage around 3:30 pm and were surprised to see the director walking in the hallway. She stopped long enough to sit with us (a rarity) and chat. We discussed the short-circuited court date from last Friday and pondered the sovereign will of God about such things with her through translation from Luda. It was a good thing to talk with her, and she volunteered for us to take the boys out of the multi-room holding cell they call home each day to go with us for the night. Okay- this is a test run of the days ahead when we have all three in waiting for travel documents.

Now picture the scene as we take our future “3” with us through the frequent stares, and we single-handedly attempt to bring Ukraine out of financial recession by the amount of grevnas we spend at the nearest arcade and the McDonalds near the metro stop. It is funny to watch “little k” as he goes from machine to machine, spending his tokens like there is no tomorrow, and then to watch him eat again at McDonalds even though we just ate 2 hours earlier at a buffet restaurant aptly named some words that translate to “fat house”… I am convinced he can eat more than I can-scary isn’t it? Our evening ended with a much needed shower for “little k” and with “big k” using a brush to scrub his tennis shoes so they continue to sparkle despite the cruddy black slush and mud we tromp through each day.

This morning our little flock decided to get up at the crack of dawn for no apparent reason, so we took the opportunity to get everyone dressed and go for a 15 minute walk to experience a newly imported treat…breakfast menu at McD’s! Yes- egg mcmuffins have made a comeback here in Eastern Europe and they seem to be doing well…this writing finds us spending a little time goofing off downtown until we have to return everyone from their work release with us before court tomorrow.

Please pray for our court tomorrow at 4 pm. Pray for any unexpected items that the judge might try to come up with to delay this once again, and pray for grace and strength for us as we continue on this journey. Pray that all the people show up for court that are supposed to be there and pray for us to show Christ to our new children.

Blessings,
Chris, Vickie, and Kelsey