We had a busy, snowy, and fun weekend. God sent us Americans and a Ukrainian translator this past week who have become dear friends. We enjoyed many meals with them, walks, and lots of laughter. In our time of need, God heard our cry and answered our prayers! Praise be to our loving and faithful Heavenly Father!

The translator has helped us in so many practical ways. On Friday night we were locked in the "den" with our girl because the caretaker told her to stay there with us while they took the children somewhere. Later, we needed to leave since we had arranged a taxi ride but we were trapped and had no idea when the caretaker and children would be back. We called the translator and he was able to have the caretaker come "free" us! He was able to buy a replacement zipper for our girl's new coat that was defective and then he helped us walk to the local seamstress to ask them to switch out the zippers. He never would tell us the costs of buying the zipper or having it replaced. He even picked up the coat for us and brought it to the orphanage! We had no idea how we were going to get a new zipper or exchange the coat and we were afraid it would cost a lot in taxis and repairs.

We were extremely homesick before meeting our new friends and God gave us company and fun times with them! On Saturday we were able to take our girl out of the orphanage because the lawyer from the orphanage gave up his day off to accompany the woman's host children and our girl. Our friends made all the arrangements and had room for us so we decided to tag along and spend quality time outside the orphanage gates with our girl! We traveled over an hour, through 3 military checkpoints, through one town and to another. At the first checkpoint we were pulled over and the driver was asked extra questions before we were allowed to proceed. On the drive we saw a statue and many people gathered around with flowers. We inquired about what was going on and were told it is the place where 3 years ago a Ukrainian tank of soldiers were hit and destroyed by Russians. We were in an area that had been occupied by Russia for 5 months back in 2014.

Once at our first destination we toured a small mall and did some window shopping. We then went to a fun zone for kids, similar to Chuck E Cheeses, and played a few games for tickets and had Ukrainian pizza. Our girl was thrilled that she got enough tickets to get two cheap versions of Barbie dolls, thanks to others giving her some tickets. (Our group ordered two large pizzas, one cheese and one meat of which neither came with sauce and both had very thin crust and were covered in dill garnish. The cheese pizza had white cheese and chunks of what tasted like feta cheese and then dill. The meat pizza had white cheese, ham and pepperoni with dill sprinkled all over the top. It was tasty but we have decided we prefer American pizza. It is one of the few foods, other than meatballs made of veal, that we think is better in America. The food here has been delicious and I have become more adventurous in what I am willing to try!) The highlight of the trip for Jason was finding the last Uno game in Russian that was in a small toy store. Uno is our girl's favorite game so she was thrilled. We have played many games of "Crazy Uno" since that purchase. Hopefully we can find another one somewhere to buy and bring home for her to play with her siblings! This Uno game will need to stay at the orphanage as it has already been enjoyed by many children! It is amazing how one game can provide so much entertainment to these children who do not have much.

Once we got back to our village, we went to the orphanage to play Uno and then watch the children in performances. Our girl was not in any of the performances but it was sure fun to sit next to her and watch the kids. We also enjoyed the group synchronized dancing after the performances. On Saturday nights they turn on the disco ball and put on a dance so we quickly came back to the hotel to eat and return to the orphanage. Since we went with the other host mom we did not get back as quickly as we had planned so our girl was not in the dancing area. We went to her building and she was watching a movie in the common room. When she heard us arrive, she leapt off the couch and ran to me, giving me a big hug! That was the best part of my day seeing her so happy to see us! Another highlight was when she whispered "I love you" to me after I whispered it to her during our car ride. She is so sweet and I pray everyday that God will help us all bond and attach quickly and easily. He is already answering that prayer and we know He will continue!

Another prayer has been for God's provision. We had been so worried about not bringing enough money on this trip that we were only eating two meals a day and either snacking or having a small breakfast in our room. Many days we were hungry but told ourselves it was part of the experience of orphanage life so it gave us an appreciation for what the orphans experience everyday. God once again knew our needs and He gave us food when we had not even specifically asked for that. The host mom had a friend who sells Melaleuca and she gave us many breakfast and snack bars which we have already enjoyed. Several times they ended up ordering more food than they needed and so they sent it with us to put in our small fridge. We have enjoyed the extra rice and chicken! Friday night we went to pay our food bill for lunch and dinner that day and were told it was already paid. Then again on Saturday we tried to pay part of the bill for pizza and were not allowed. As they were packing to leave on Sunday, we got several knocks on our door of things they did not want to pack, more bars, extra batteries (which we can use for our camera since I take so many pictures), and an apple left on our doorstep. All I can say is: God is so good!

Sunday morning we once again tagged along (to split taxi costs) and went up to the Bolshevik statue on the mountain and to the church and monastery. Jason and I had walked to the church and monastery but had not entered the gates on Thanksgiving. Not being able to read and understand enough Russian or Ukrainian we would not have ever entered without a translator. Since the translator was with us, we all went inside to look around. We were glad to have this experience and enjoyed learning more about this region, their religion, and heritage.

After lunch we went with the other host mom to the market to get a few items her host children needed and we found scissors! I was so excited because for several days I have been helping the children cut out Christmas decorations to put in their windows. They have very few scissors so it is hard to help much since the scissors are shared. We bought wrapping paper on our shopping excursion on Saturday to teach the girls some Origami so we needed scissors to cut the paper. We brought the scissors and wrapping paper to the orphanage and our girl was thrilled because the scissors that were technically hers got broken by another child. Jason had bought two kinds of wrapping paper for very cheap and it turns out we should have bought 10 times that amount. The girls asked if they could give one roll to the caretaker to put as decorations in room windows! They were so happy to have beautiful paper! We truly take so many things for granted. We had tried to find wrapping paper here in this village and never found any so it is something they are not used to seeing.

Since we did not go to the orphanage until after lunch on a day with no school, we had told our girl we would stay longer. We shared the taxi to the orphanage one last time with our friends instead of walking. Sunday was bitter cold and we have gotten about 4 inches of snow since Friday night. The road is narrow to the orphanage and roads are slippery so we were thankful to take a ride instead of walking in frigid temperatures. Since we stayed longer, we enjoyed another "show" which was an improv that featured two volunteers from each "den". They each got a part in the play and had to act it out with the narration. After that they had elimination rounds to choose the best performer. The children acted like animals, pretended to be different professions, danced different dances, etc. It was very entertaining even though we could not understand most of what was said. After our girl went for dinner, we watched a small part of the movie "Balto" with her in the auditorium. We are pleased that the children are offered many different activities.

We are also thanking God for health for Jason and his healing touch on me. My throat is still a sore but that is all. I feel great, just tired from not sleeping well on this very firm bed.

We are praising God for his love, faithfulness, and provision. Please pray that He will prepare good flight prices for us to come home for Christmas. Jason and I have decided to fly back after our court date on December 15. Then the plan is that Jason will stay home and I will come back to pick up the final court decree, get birth certificate, passport, visa, medical papers and finally take our girl home forever! We need God to work out many details which we trust He will do better than we can even imagine!