Update: End of Week 3

Hello Friends,
Beth and I have been in Ukraine for 3 weeks as of last Friday. We moved to a hotel last Monday which is actually called a Sanatorium. The word has more the idea of "resort" or "health spa" but it in our case the English usage is probably more correct. We have a beautiful view of the sea and coast-line from our window. Crimea has a very Mediterranean/Middle Eastern feel to it (or so I imagine.) The Greeks occupied the place a couple thousand years ago and there are some ruins you can see nearby. You can also see some bomb craters left over from WWII when the town was occupied by the Nazis on a few different occasions. This weekend Beth and I went to a monument on the top of a large hill that commemorates the "liberation" by the Soviets. (Of course the Ukrainians  just ended up trading one set of occupiers for another but the people fought valiantly to get rid of the Nazis.) A statue of Lenin still stands in the square here. Except now there is a big screen TV running advertisements standing directly opposite him and kids play in a bouncy castle nearby.

We see Vlad (not Lenin) every day from 2-5 PM. The orphanage is a 15 minute walk from the hotel. Every day we play Uno, play basketball, soccer, frisbee, listen to music on the laptop and use it to talk to each other via Google Translate. Vlad still seems excited to come home with us. We were afraid he might get cold feet. A couple day's ago he hugged me and said, "You are my American father and Beth is my American mother."Vlad and his friends like to listen to Christian music. Not sure how this came about but, we gladly downloaded a bunch of worship songs for them to listen too. We have also been showing them Torchlighters videos...animated kids programs about hero's of the Christian faith. They are dubbed into Russian and the kids love these programs. Vlad's friend, "M" seems especially hungry for spiritual things. We are praying that he will be able to participate in a hosting program and that someone will adopt him.

 Beth has been struggling with not having anyone to talk to ('cept for little 'ole me.) It's amazing how isolated you feel when you don't speak the language. I for one hate making small talk but even I have been dying for a good conversation about the weather with somebody! Thankfully this week we met up with another American couple who is doing an adoption from the same orphanage. They were missionaries here and they are fluent in Russian. They have been very helpful. Friday was Ukrainian Independence Day and "Frank" the missionary and I went into town and bought some fireworks to set off for the kids in the orphanage's soccer field. Yesterday we also met up with some other friends we know from last year's hosting program. It was great to see them...they are on their way home with their two adopted girls!

This Friday is our court hearing. Please pray that we are able to prepare this week and that God will give us confidence.

More later.

Bill and Beth