6 hours at the orphanage was still not enough for me. I think I am ready to become a "den mother" and sleep there each night! (I know I would be cold though. Each child gets two thin blankets and no sheets.) The girls we have been spending most of our time with are such sweethearts. I keep asking God what He wants me to do for them even after our time here. At dinner tonight Jason asked how we could find out availability for international adoption because we are ready to advocate for each one of them in hopes of finding forever families for them. They asked us today when we would leave with our girl. We know they want us to keep coming and spend time with them and they do not want to loose their friend who is really like a sister.
Today we played more ball in the small room, played 2 games of Russian Monopoly, drew faces on "Doodle pages", played hide and seek in their small room, and of course watched the girls take turns playing on the iPad. (We really want to spend the time interacting with them so we limit the time on iPad.)
 We brought socks to the girl who was sad at first yesterday. Her face lit up when we handed her several pairs of colored socks. Our girl helped her choose which pair to put on over her socks with holes. This sweet girl who was so sad yesterday had a smile on her face the entire time we were there. She snuggled up to me several times, grabbed my hand to hold, gave me hugs, and wanted to hide with me for hide and seek. She seems to have some learning disabilities so I think she may be treated like a black sheep some of the time. She knows that I care about her and I pray she is feeling special and loved. I was interested to see what faces she would draw on the pages we brought today and she drew each one with a smile. Is that what they would have had BEFORE spending time with her yesterday? I think not.
 Jason and I walked to a corner store market this morning before breakfast to buy water for us and bananas for each girl. Our girl gave each of her friends a banana soon after we arrived and they gobbled them up. Bananas are a favorite and not something they get very often. Fruit is more expensive so it is truly a treat!
 Tomorrow will be another laundry day of washing items by hand to keep my mind off of not getting to go to the orphanage until after school. On Friday morning I did hand washing and was amazed that everything draped around the room was actually dry by yesterday. We will start walking to the orphanage at 1:30 and arrive to the orphanage about 2:00. Hopefully it will not be raining or snowing and the wind will have died down. We will spend a short 3.5 hours with our girl and whoever joins us.

We pray we will hear from our coordinator tomorrow with a court date. We also need to talk to her about how to get a replacement coat for our girl because the coat that we just bought for her on Wednesday broke tonight. The zipper pulls have come off and although I fixed it we know it will not stay fixed. It looks defective but around here no receipts are given so pray we can somehow make an exchange. Thick winter coats are not cheap here so we are asking God to help us with this situation. Unfortunately the store is about 30 minutes away so we will have to get a taxi out there which will also cost money. She really needs a warm coat and the ones we brought did not work for her so we feel bad she is having to use her old coat that is thin.
 Children at this orphanage have to walk in the cold outside to go to a separate building for school, a separate building for meals, and other buildings for activities such as computer and dancing. None of the buildings are heated well. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your many prayers. We thank God every day for how He has brought us here for our girl and to share His love with hurting children. We pray that before long we will have a court date and then have the adoption validated so she will truly be ours. In the mean time we ask God to use us to be His hands and feet and to be advocates for His precious children. "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9)