I will try to make this a shorter update than usual! We went to the seamstress and they were so patient and kind as we tried to explain that we would like to buy yarn. That word must not translate the same but they finally understood and showed us one small ball of purple yarn. I started listing other possible colors in Russian and the one woman told us to sit down. She got her coat on, took her keys, left and came back relatively quickly with a bag of 11 small balls of yarn. She apologized for only having a little bit of green, one of the colors I had listed, and we said that what she brought was good. We started choosing the colors we wanted and she told us to have all of them. Then we asked how much and she said no. We tried to pay her what we thought would be a fair price and she would not take it. Later we will bring them a holiday hat that the girls make as a thank you. (These were the women who did a great job of sewing in the new zipper in our girl's coat.) Then we walked to the store where we had found scissors because we needed more for the girls to cut the yarn. At that store they had tinsel garlands so we bought two to put in the girls' room. We were so excited to bring a little Christmas cheer to them! Little did we know this was another gift of God's perfect timing. We walked to the orphanage in the bitter cold. (I should not have complained yesterday because today was colder and windier.) When we arrived at our girl's room we saw they had put up a few paper decorations. We were admiring them when our girl asked for the phone to type something for translation. The translation read, "our room lacks decorations." I immediately pulled out the blue and silver tinsel and her face lit up! She ran to ask the caretaker a question and came running back in. She climbed the bunk bed ladder and immediately started putting the tinsel through the curtain rod. As a team, we wove the tinsel in and out of the curtain rod. The tinsel could not have been a better match to the blue in the paper decorations. It was all meant to go together! Then she ran to ask her caretaker another question. They both came back to the room. Our girl began gesturing excitedly and soon she was putting more tinsel up on this support bar that runs through the length of the room. Our girl weaved the tinsel around the bar and was satisfied. We are going to go buy two more garlands tomorrow so the whole bar can be covered. Her friends each admired the glittery tinsel as they came into the room after school! God never ceases to amaze me in how much He cares about the tiny details! I never would have thought we would find beautiful tinsel in this small village and that it would match the few decorations they had so perfectly! God truly loves all His children. I am sure His smile was even bigger than our girl's smile! Yesterday one of our girl's friends showed us her badly scraped finger. I brought bandaids from home with Neosporin in them so today I brought one of those bandaids and pit it on her finger. She was quite proud and showed friends as they came into the room. It was neat to see an 11 year old so pleased to have a special bandaid; more than that I think she was proud of a symbol that someone cared enough to take care of her in a small way. A few days ago I finally found a small bottle of lotion I had packed and brought it to our girl. Her hands were getting very dry and chapped. When I gave it to her I put some on her hands and had her rub it in. The next day she had put some on right before we came and she wanted me to smell her hands! It amazes me how bandaids, lotion, and tinsel can make these children feel special. It breaks my heart that they do not get this loving attention every day in a family they can call their own. Please continue to pray for God to place these lonely children in families. They love the attention and after next week when we leave, they will not get it from us. Today we gave our girl a calendar page for December that God had me bring from home. (I put it in my bag at the last minute thinking it might be helpful for me to keep organized with appointments but have not needed it.) I wrote upcoming important dates on it; our court date, Christmas in America, when I will come back, etc. and on the back I made the month of January. Once I translated what I wrote on the calendar, she counted the days between when we leave and when I come back. Then she said, "okay" in a tone trying to convince herself it would be okay. A friend walked in right after we went over the calendar and she was busy explaining it to the friend. We can't help but wonder how her friends are feeling about this. These friends are like sisters. We have been praying for God to give them peace and comfort and to provide caring people in our place. May God continue to use us as His hands and feet until we leave next week. (As I was typing this update, which I do not think is much shorter, we lost electricity because of the snow and wind. Sorry I always have so much to share:) The heat and electricity were off for about an hour and then Internet was not working which is why this is posted late. It is already December 9 here even though it is not quite the next day for most of you. Jason and I thought we would be snuggled together for warmth all night but thankfully we had heat all night! We have been looking for blankets but have not found any yet. We will continue to do more asking around to find something for our girl to stay warmer at night and to snuggle with as she waits for my return.)