dark and light

"Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it could be." -Rob Bell

I've been looking through Bell's book, Velvet Elvis, today and came across this quote again. I love it. It seems that so often we shake our fist in the wrong direction. Countless times I've received phone calls at dinner time from various Christian organizations asking me to give money so that we can...fill in the blank. It seems to always be the focus of stomping out such and such atrocity in our culture. It seems to be some battle language panic that attempts to go toe to toe with movies, culture, media, or whatever.

Why don't we spend more time being "light"? Why don't we spend more time focusing on illuminating the darkness by reflecting the light of Christ in our lives? We can't stop the darkness of this world by shouting at it. We can't stop it by giving money to lobbyists to get politicians to vote a particular way. We can't stop it by sending boycott e-mails to all our friends. But. We can be as bright a light as God enables us to be. We can be different.

Both of our kids have nightlights in their rooms. I'm amazed at how dark the room is when we first turn off the overhead light, yet in a short moment the friendly glow of the nightlight makes it possible to see across the room. A little light goes a long way. A lot of people being the light of Jesus goes a long way also.

I bet the world would actually "come around" if we'd stop being so focused on fighting the dark of the world and focus on reflecting the light of Jesus. "Why isn't the light as bright as it could be?"

OT from the other side

I've got to post a link to one of my friend's sites. Michele is a great writer a knack for seeing things that others don't. Here's a re-print of the post with her permission and here's Michele's blog:

"i'm just gonna warn you, this thought has the potential to be very long....
so, because i'm shoulder-deep in hebrew and i went to a shabbat service this past saturday, and spent some time in deuteronomy this week, i've been thinking. i've been thinking about the law, the OT, what it meant to God and what it was to the people who followed it. this is by no means a scientific or even exegetical analysis. just more of a question.

many times, especially using Paul's letters in the NT, the law gets this horrible repuation. it's rules to follow, ways of earning salvation, meaningless... but i think that's kind of a conceited way of looking at it. while christians don't want to be constrained to follow OT law, they make their own up... don't drink, smoke, dance, play cards, wear hats indoors, run in the sanctuary, watch R rated movies, or forget a coster when drinking a cold drink on a wooden surface. it doesn't matter what it is, as humans we make rules as ways of governing the way we should live.
so i was thinking about why God was so direct in his "rules" for living in the promised land. and here's what i came up with: it was his way of saying, "this is what life should look like". now, you say, "what???" let me explain as if God and the israilites were having a conversation.

God: i love you

Israel: we love you!

God: i'm going to make a covenant with you. because i love you, and not because you earned it, i'm going to promise you you'll be a great nation, a blessing to everyone. and i'll protect you, and i'll give a land filled with good things.

Israel: wow! thanks God! that's amazing! (however, in the back of their minds, they're wondering how this will really happen).

God: now, this place is such a good place, and i want to live with you, so i need you to to live a life that is holy.

Isreal: holy. ok. got it. what is entailed in "living holy"?

God: well, really, it comes down to loving me with everything you have and are. and as part of loving me, you love your neighbors.

Israel: right... love. got it.

God: really, it's like because I'm a part of your life, i'm going to reset your default settings. instead of being greedy and selfish, you'll want to live in love with everyone.

Israel: right. love. no selfish, no greedy..... uh, God.... this is new. since the creation of the world we really don't have a lot of examples of what that looks like. so, when you say "love me with everything you are and have", what does that look like exactly? what does it mean to love your neighbor?

God: well, for instance, when you harvest your fields & vines, don't go over it twice. i know that yes, you were the one to pay for the seeds, plant and care for your crops, but if you didn't get it the first time you harvested your field, leave it there, because there are people that need it more than you. that's how you become less selfish and love your neighbor.

Israel: oh, ok.

God: and if someone owes you something, and you have to remind them by taking their coat as a "pledge", that's okay, unless they're poor and that's all they have. if that's the case, you need to give them their coat back at night because they'll be cold. they need it more than you.

Israel: oh, ok.

God: and if you really love your father, you won't sleep with any of his wives. and if you love your uncles, you won't sleep with any of the their wives.

Israel: oh, ok. say, God. can we make a list? maybe write this down? so we don't forget?

God: well, you can, but it's going to be a long one. if you want to write down these many ways of loving me and your neighbor, you're going to have to have a big stone (because i have not created one of you with the way to make paper yet).

so, what if to God, it wasn't about a list, but about showing us what it means to live in love? what if it was we humans that keep wanting to quantify it, put it to a list. i was on wikipedia again (God bless that site) and saw the Jewish Mizvot (613 rules they keep).... it's a lot. some of it might seem crazy, but maybe it was all they knew how to do to try and live the way God wants.

and maybe that's what we do all the time. we try to make a list so we can make sure that we act the way God wants us to as He lives among us....

so another question... is who we are a result of what we do, or is what we do a result of who we are? because wow, if we could work on having the character of a loving person, who sought to live in a way that God was trying to describe in the Law, then we wouldn't have to worry about memorizing the right and wrong. if we walked in the Spirit, then that would lead us in the way of life that God desires.

just a thought."

Great insights and thoughts. So, the OT and the Ten Commandments are really out of love rather than spoiling fun. There you go!

pointing the stupid stick

Wow. I'm conflicted tonight. I saw a post on a friend's facebook. He was dumbfounded (my word not his) by a website and video. I followed the link. I was dumbfounded. I'm amazed by the content and the lack of thought that went into the video. The content...you ask...riveted to the edge of your seat? A music video declaring that God hates fags. Ryan and I sat in my office trying to figure out for the longest time whether or not the video was real or parody. Could someone seriously declare this statement...and set it to music? Could someone seriously declare this with any degree of intelligence? It appears that, yes, this video is real and that they were smart enough to edit video and yet stupid enough to conceive the idea and put it on the internet.

I understand that people fall all over the spectrum when it comes to the "issue" of homosexuality. My point in writing this is not to debate that. Far from it. I'm sick of the debate and I'm sick of it being an "issue" when there are far more important things happening in the world with no action being taken while people point fingers and try to be "right" on this topic.

My "point" is to point the stupid stick at the statement that this video makes. I absolutely hate the fact that those people in the video would pretend to speak for the God of the Universe. I hate the fact that they use mass media to propogate their message of judgement and bigotry. I hate the fact that their controversial video will likely span the globe in hours and in the meantime they make the rest of the Church and Christians look like idiots while pretending to be on God's side. I hate being painted with someone else's brush strokes!!

What do I think about homosexuality? Doesn't matter. What matters is what I know to be true of God. God loves all people. God doesn't hate anyone. God loves us in spite of ourselves. God loves us b/c He created us. No matter what we do, God loves us the same. I screw up and God still loves me. My screw ups and someone else's screw ups look the same to God. Neither is better or worse. He doesn't like either screw up, but He still loves us. Flat out...the video's message is wrong and is bad theology. God doesn't hate fags.

God does hate when we hurts ourselves or each other. God does hate when we treat ourselves or others with less respect than He gives to us. God does hate when we try to appoint ourselves as the dictator of the universe...or the planet...or the city...or the people around us. God does hate when we overlook the plans and designs that he created to protect us from harm. God does hate when we do wrong. But God still loves everyone.

Because God loves me, I try to screw up less. Because God loves me, I seek Him and try to be like Jesus. I still screw up. God still loves me. I keep trying to be like Jesus. That's what I do. That's what I hope I can help others do. That's what I hope those guys in the video discover.

Life with Cole

Hi again! Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. Life with Cole is certainly keeping us busy--that's a two year old for you! [And just what we wanted. :-)]

So closing thoughts on the trip... I'd put the itinerary on my post a couple of times ago, so I don't need to list all that again. What I would like to list, however, is the many ways we saw amazing things and were blessed.

First of all, the trip was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. I needed someone to help watch Cole while I did paperwork, to help get him to sleep, to watch him so I could take a shower, to nod and say "you're doing the right thing" when he'd throw a fit because I wouldn't let him have his way, and to help get through those crazy, foreign-travel airports where nothing ever seems to go right or easy. I'm so thankful Marnie offered to go. And it was so great to have time to get to know, to really know, my sister-in-law. I can truly say, after that much time together when you see it all, that I think she's awesome. (I can only hope she feels that way too after seeing all of me!)

Tuesday was one of those days when things seemed just surreal. We got off the train, and my phone (that Yuri had sent home with me because I'd still need it when I came back) didn't really have a charge, and Nataliya's had run out of money, so we didn't have an easy way to call our driver that she'd hired for the day. He was there. He just showed up to meet us instead of waiting for a call.

Oh, and I can't forget that Tuesday was also "Puke Day." We went to McDonald's straight from the train station to eat and clean up in the bathrooms, which we had always been real pleased with because of how clean they were (many of the bathrooms over there were really not). Nataliya and I are in the bathroom; she's brushing her hair behind me, and I'm at the side of the sink putting my contacts in. Someone comes in and pushes her way to the sink and hangs her head over it. I look, thinking, "What? Rude..." I see saliva hanging from her mouth and think, "NO!" I grab my contacts stuff just in time as she hurls into the sink. We both just watch in shock and disbelief. Nataliya says something to her. I say to Nataliya, "In the US, we usually puke in toilets..." "Yes, here too. I told her, but she must be very sick." Smelled like it. We left.

Marnie was so disappointed. She had watched our stuff and would have had her turn next but there was no way that going into a puke-filled sink room that that was goingn to be refreshing and helpful in any way. We had Nataliya tell the gal at the register. She opened the locked "family" restroom for us and then the poor thing had to go clean out the sink. Yeah, it of course was not liquid and therefore clogged. Poor thing!!!!

After our refreshing McDonald's experience, we headed to the courthouse to pick up the court decision. It was pretty quiet there, since it was technically still their holiday until the 10th or so. Nataliya asked for it and they told us to wait. As we waited, she pointed out a sign that said something to the effect of unless you're "someone," don't come asking for stuff till after the 10th. Yeah, that would mess up all of our plans. She apparently has good "connections," because 20 minutes later, we had the 9 copies of the document that we needed.

It was common for us to borrow and exchange money from each other as needed, just to make things go quicker. On the way to the next stop, she asked if we had smaller change for a $100. Marnie did, and she stuffed it all into an envelope. Huh.

Then to get the birth certificate. Here, they told her that they had a year end report they needed to do and they weren't sure they could get to it. 45 minutes later, we had it. More "connections," which I'm figuring out at this point are connected to the envelope. Don't even care. Want my kid. Wild though, huh?

We stop at a shop and wait in the taxi as she makes copies and then head to the notary next to our favorite coffee shop. We go in to rest and have coffee while she goes to the notary. She's back too soon; the notary is on holiday. We enjoy our time of just sitting and talking, and even catching up a little bit with the coffee shop girls, who inquire about Emma and send her their love. Then we're off to find a different notary and wait in the car again. We get some reading and some napping in.

We hit lunch at the Fairy Tale restaurant, one of our favorites from before, and guess who's there but Olas, that other family the Penner's translator who is just a lot of fun. We enjoy a nice lunch and have some laughs about his plane rides home to Lviv over the holiday in the back of a cargo plane holding three chickens (he's kidding, but it's funny) and then get back to it. Next is the passport place. We're told to wait in the car. We do as we're told. She comes back in an hour with a passport and an empty envelope. We can get my son.

We head to the orphanage and things come back to reality of how difficult days at the orphanage are. Take your boots off. Don't take your boots off. Come here. You can't come in here. Just give me my son and let me get out of here. So to start, she has to finish some paperwork and then we're asked if we want to give a "gift" to the orphanage. We shell over some $$$, say the niceties, and then go to see Cole, who is sitting with his little group eating a roll. The ladies all say oh Cole, here's your Mama. He gives me the turn-away shoulder because can't I see, he's eating. Okay, I can wait, sweetie. Okay, we told you to come in here, but leave now because we're going to feed the kids. Ok.

As we wait, we're told that everything for the hand off has to be overseen by his group's doctor, so let's see the clothes you brought to take him home in. Don't feed him this, keep him out of drafts, don't take him in public because he still has a cough. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Smile. Don't forget to smile. (Can we GO yet?)

He's terrified of the car, maybe because it's dark out, or maybe because it's all different. He screams and beats on the window. This is going to be hard.

We stop at a store and buy diapers now that I know the size 5's fit, and I pick up a few toys that will work well with all the travel we have to do. Then we stop at a restaurant where the Penners are eating with their Nadia that they also got that day. She's happy and "in charge" so even though their experience is different than ours, they'll too have their hands full.

Into the taxi after tea and a roll. Now you have to remember that this isn't just driving, it's go as fast as you can until you have to brake, hard. Not too far down the road, poor little Cole's tummy just can't take it any more and he ralphs all of the himself, me, and the back of the car. As Nataliya later pointed out, it was closure. We started the day with puke, and we ended the day with puke.

Every experience at this point was pretty scary for Cole, but as the same time, once he'd have a few minute to adjust to it, he'd adapt, so we were thrilled to see that even in the face of extreme uneasiness, he's quite adaptable. The train was scary at first, but then we walked the hall over and over and over. Till bed time. He refused to go to sleep until Nataliya played bad cop and threatened him with the corner. There weren't really any corners, but he didn't know that! :-) He tossed and rolled so much that I finally figured out that I'd probably get more sleep if I just laid with him so that I didn't have to keep getting up to roll him back to the safe side of the bed. He did wake up one time before that, though, and he clearly knew where he was and wasn't scared. He simply said, "Mama?" I answered, and he rolled right back over. That was awesome.

Yuri met us at the train station, where I said a teary good bye to Nataliya. I wasn't ready for her to go and can truly say that I gained a friend. But no time for thinking too much. Off for the omelette that you've already heard about and then to the embassy doctor visit, where, after waiting forever, the impressive doctor examines him, somehow with a bedside manner that she didn't scare him, and says he has bilateral bronchitis, where is his medicine? Yeah, they didn't have him on any. So ticked. She sends us to the pharmacy for some herbal stuff that has him in good shape within in literally hours. Amazing stuff. Oh, and what's this huge scar on his belly? Yeah, nothing in his medical report from the orphanage about surgery for a bowel obstruction at 10 months. Hmmm.

He passes and we rush to the embassy before they close at noon to get his visa. Fill out some papers, got it. Just come back at 4:00 to pick it up. Cool.

We got to the apartment and crash. Finally.

Spend the next day resting, souvenir shopping, and getting to know Cole. We take Yuri out for dinner and discuss a cool ministry opportunity for bringing teenage orphans over this summer for people to be able to meet them, and then we're off to the airport next morning. 24 very long hours later, we're walking up to the baggage claim where Trevor, Emma and Marnie's family are waiting. I weep. I've waited a long time to be able to do that. There was no time, to space for it before. I needed to be strong. No more. What a blessed feeling.

Tears and love, and we head home. Trevor pulls into the driving three hours later with three sleeping passengers, and we all crawl into bed. We are home at last, our family of four. Home at last.

HOME

Just a quick word to let you know that we are indeed HOME. I can't tell you how great it felt to land in Cincinnati last night, and even more to pull into our drive way. A day we've waited 2 years for. So good.

I'll write more tomorrow to fill you in on trip details if you're interested, but again, I want to say thank you for all the love and prayers. You'll see when I write more the many ways God was with us every step. This trip was like a 150 hour labor, no joke. Very physically grueling. And very emotional. I could NOT have done it without Marnie, literally. It was much harder than I thought it'd be, and I had no illusions that it would be fun.

We had a nice day today, catching up on sleep and just being a family...of 4! I got about 8 hours of sleep total during that 150 hours we were gone, so I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I'm signing off. Talk to you tomorrow!

Love,
Lori

All is well in Kiev

I talked to Lori this morning which was this afternoon for Lori. They picked up Cole yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 pm after getting his paperwork and passport. He was pretty upset to be leaving the orphanage in the dark b/c all other times that he's been outside it was light out. They got into a taxi and he was terrified and pretty soon after driving he got carsick. Yeah, not the "going home" image in anyone's mind.

They got onto the train to leave at 7:00 pm and he wasn't too thrilled with that either, though he didn't get sick. Once he was comforted by mommy, he was comfortable enough to get down from her lap and explore the train compartment. When I called her last night, she was trying to get him to go to sleep. He wasn't sure he wanted to sleep there and probably wondered what was going on and why he wasn't in his usual bed. They finally got him to sleep. In the middle of the night he woke up and said, "Momma?" Lori went and laid with him for the rest of the night.

In the morning (today) they arrived in Kiev at 7:00 am and went to breakfast. Lori ordered porrige for Cole b/c he's used to eating that. She got an omlet. He ate the omlet! :-) They got into the car to head for the doctor visit and he promptly got carsick. Goodbye omlet.

The doctor listened to Cole's chest b/c he still had a bit of a rattle from being sick. He told Lori that Cole has bilateral bronchitis...both lungs. Whoa. She went into mommy mode wondering what the doctor's at the orphanage were doing, why they didn't take care of that, why he is still sick, etc. Sounds like a mommy to me. I'm not sure, but I assume the doctor gave them something to give to Cole. Thankfully there's nothing wrong to prevent him from travelling.

Yuri, our facilitator, was able to get them into the Embassy today as well. That was a bonus b/c we weren't sure if it would be same day or not. All of the paperwork was processed and they told Lori to come back at 4:00 pm to get Cole's US passport and travelling/citizenship papers. That would have been 9:00 am for us. So, I guess that means that Cole is officially, 100%, our son and a US Citizen. Yay! My boy!

They will have tomorrow completely off to rest in the apartment, play with Cole, and go to get a few more souvenirs. They fly out at 8:00 am (1:00 am our time) on Friday morning and will be home Friday evening at 7:00 pm our time. The reuniting of the Wright family! yay! We're almost done!

Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them up, especially for the plane flight. Everything is so new for this little boy and it seems that his nerves and stomach get upset by these new situations. Hopefully tomorrow's relaxing day will be good for getting him to trust mommy and that might make the planes easier. Pray that he's calm and easy going on the flight. Pray for the connections on the flight. They'll go from Kiev to Budapest, Hungary. From there they fly to JFK in New York and then on to Cincy. Pray for all of us as we transition from a family of three to a family of four. Yeah...just pray, God knows what we need.

More news from Lori

I talked to Lori for all of about 30 seconds today b/c we had a bad phone connection. Here's what I know. It was 8:00 pm in Ukraine and Lori couldn't talk b/c of the bad connection, but also because she was trying to get Cole to go to sleep. What I have derived from that short bit of news is this: 1) Lori has Cole! Yay! 2) Things must have gone alright during the day or else they wouldn't have been on the train. 3) She's on the train and will be in Kiev at 7:00 am their time, midnight tonight our time.

Tomorrow she'll go to the doctor's visit so that they can give Cole an examination. I'm sure he'll LOVE that after being plucked from everything he knows and sleeping on a strange train with his new mommy. After the doctor visit they will be heading to the US Embassy to get the paperwork finished and get Cole's US Passport and citizenship.

They'll fly back first thing on Friday morning (8:00 I think) which will be midnight-ish for us on Thursday night. They are scheduled to land in Cincy on Friday evening at about 7:00 pm.

Please continue to pray for their travels to be smooth, for paperwork to finalize without a hitch, for stamina for Lori and Marnie, for peace and understanding for Cole as he deals with a whole new life, etc. Many thanks...

Lori's update from Kiev

Lori here, from Kiev! The computer in Yuri's office isn't cookies enabled so I couldn't post a new one, so maybe Trevor can cut and paste this in for a new post.

We're here, safe and sound, but abit of crazy fiasco in JFK--imagine that! We had to change terminals, from 3 to 4, so we had to go outside, take a train, and then when we came into the terminal, it was utter chaos. Literally hundreds of check in desks for things like Jamaica Air, Kuwair Air, and of course Aerosvit Ukraine, our flight. But no map to find the desk. Marnie dubbed it present day Ellis Island, and it totally is.

Check in: We had been so careful to only take what we could carry so we didn't have to check anything. Not so with Aerosvit. Only one carry on, and only 5 kilos, which is like 10 pounds-ish. My "big" bag was like 22--fine for Delta! And fine for the Ukrainians, as well, apparently. That guy made me check mine but then when we got to the gate, everyone else (literally, not exaggerating) had 2 OR MORE bags. So Marnie had to listen to me whine more than once about that one. Bah.

But the flight was great, and for the guy at the desk (again!) not having two seats for us together, the two seats together at the bulk head were spacious and delightful, if you can say such a thing about flying economy internationally.

We ate the dinner they served at 10 p.m. and the breakfast they served at 2:30 a.m. It was a short night.

Now we're waiting till train time, 7:00 p.m., so noon for most of you. We'll get into Donetsk at 7 a.m. and I'm not sure yet the sequence of events, but if all goes as planned, we'll be back on a train tomorrow night at 7 p.m., noon for you again, with MY SON!!!! :-)))))

We love you all, and please keep praying for everything to go very smoothly. I'd love it if there were no more surprises, and also if we slept good on the trains.

Love you all!
Lori and Marnie

Not Long Now...

Hello again! It's Lori, and I'm leaving tomorrow to go to Cincinnati, and then Sunday, Marnie (Trevor's sister) and I take off from the Cincinnati airport at 2:55 p.m. We'll be in Kiev about 11:30 a.m. their time on Monday. More jet lag. :-)

The schedule from there looks like this:
--Monday: 7:00 p.m. train overnight to Donetzk
--Tuesday: 7:00 a.m. arrive in Donetzk; get Cole, his Ukrainian passport and birth certificate; finish paperwork; overnight train back to Kiev
--Wednesday: Embassy doctor visit to clear him to come to the US as a citizen
--Thursday: Embassy--get his US passport
--Friday: 7:55 a.m. 2 hr flight to Budapest; 2 hr layover and then the long flight to JFK in NY; 1.5 hr layover, customs and immigration (where they open his documentation and he's admitted into the US); arrive back in Cincinnati at 6:55 p.m.
--Saturday: back to Findlay and finally HOME!!!

So yeah, I'll have my hands on him in a matter of days now, and we'll actually be home in a week from now. So awesome!!!!

Please pray for safe and smooth travels, stamina for a physically demanding trip, and for Cole's transition from orphanage life to life with his forever family. This is going to shake up everything he knows and might be really really hard for him, or it might not be too big of a deal. You just never know, but we're expecting it to be hard, and if it ends up not being so bad, then fine. Just imagine being little like that, not speaking the language, and having to just deal with it as things come. So please pray that he'll feel some peace throughout all of these changes.

Thanks so much, everyone, and thanks for all the encouragement through your comments and emails. Trevor will more than likely be updating while I'm gone; I don't anticipate us having any time to find an internet cafe this time around, so Trevor can give you the latest after we've talked on the phone. Peace out. :-)

Cole Michael

Well, we're back and I've had some time to dump pictures from the camera to the computer. Since the court decision on the 28th, we are now able to share photos on the blog of our dear little boy. Here are a few to enjoy...

We're Home

Hey everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that we're home, safe and sound; we didn't have any internet access till last night briefly, so thanks again to Ryan for that last post. We'll post more details later, but we had an eventful trip, including sitting on a plane on the ground for over three hours and arriving with no luggage. Made for a really long day, but our luggage showed up on our door step last night, which was awesome, and we're starting to catch up on sleep.

Thanks again for our your comments, emails, prayers and love while we were gone. It made our trip so much better. We love you guys!

Next steps: I bought tickets yesterday for the return, and Trevor's sister Marnie has graciously offered to come along, so I took her up on it. More hands and moral support will be certainly a great help, as the trip will be quite a whirlwind, but if everthing goes as planned, Cole Michael Wright will be home to his forever home on Friday, January 12. WOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Here's the latest...

This is Ryan posting in Trevor and Lori's stead. We spoke with Lori on the phone (at least I think it was Lori, Andrea and actually took the call) and they asked that we update the blog with the latest info.

Trevor and Lori did have their court date and received a favorable ruling which means that Cole is offically theirs. Very cool. I think many of you know that they are subject to a 10 day waiting period at this point. With the country's shut down for the New Year holiday, they won't actually have Cole in tow until Jan. 9.

There are some things they'll have to finish up in Ukraine, but for now, the important thing is that whether he's still at the orphanage or here in Findlay, Cole is a Wright, and that's very exciting.

Continue to pray for them as the travel home (and back and then home again). While this most recent news is a VERY important milemarker in the process for them, there are still several steps to come. Prayers for encouragement for the three (four :)) of them I'm sure will be appreciated.

Please feel free to leave your comments here as I'm sure they'll be checking in as they get internet access upon their arrival back in the States.

Happy Newy Year friends!!

A White (and Blue) Christmas

Well, it's Lori again, and I just have to say, thanks everyone for the encouraging comments on the long post. Glad you like to hear it. I just had a lot to say yesterday. Today, I promise it will be significantly shorter.

Thanks, Marcia, for the cheaper-to-call-us hint. She said if you dial 10-10-987, it's cheaper; see her comment from the last post if you want to read it yourself.

Dad W-hahahaha!!!! That made us smile. BIG. Thanks! We needed that.

We woke today to a light snow for our Christmas, making it a little white. Our smiles today, however, are drooping. The good news is that we went to the orphanage to see Cole, and he's still in the infirmary, but while he still has quite a cough, he took one look at me and said, "MAMA!" with a big smile. They'd only let one of us in to see him, so I went, and it was so great to see him. We played for about an hour, which is longer than I'd expected they'd let us. Right away, while the nurse was still there, he asked me for his car, which was pretty cute, and then he was saying "ball" and "oten" (open) before I left. (Open is for the spill and fill that we always play--his favorite, and really only, game at this point. We used the crackers in the little dish I brought. He didn't want to eat them; he just wanted to open it, dump it, fill it, and then close it, and then over and over again.) He let me hug him and hold him for about the first 10 minutes, and I really felt like he truly was glad to see me. We had a good time.

So now for the disappointing news. We took the paperwork from Kiev to the court today so we'd be ready for tomorrow's appointment, but "something has come up" with the public deputy, and there won't be one on hand, so we will have to wait until the 27th, Wednesday, for our court date. I guess at this point, it doesn't really matter, since there's no way we can take him home with us, but it does confirm that we need to figure out what we're doing and buy a plane ticket for my return if I'm doing that. Thus the trip to the internet cafe today. We all three had come, but Emma had to go potty and couldn't wait, so they went home and I'll join them in a minute. I checked out airfare and can find something for about $1000, which is fine, and I'll probably book it tomorrow.

Emma has been doing so well, but the last couple of days have been hard on her, and today she finally expressed that she'd ready to go home to Ohio. Me too, babe. Me too. So it's looking at this point that we'll hire a driver to take us back to Kiev on Thursday, we'll do some embassy stuff on Friday so that Trevor doesn't have to be present for the second trip, and then we'll be on our way on Saturday. So some of you, we'll see you soon. We probably won't post again after we leave here; it's too hard to find a place in Kiev, and we may not have time.

Love you all. Please keep praying.

Lori

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone, Lori here. Thanks for your continued love and support over the miles. We feel very loved. :-)

Well, unfortunately, we don't get to see Cole till Monday at the earliest. He has a 40 degree temperature (36 is our 98.6), so he's pretty much out of it and sleeping all of the time in the infirmary. Yes, it's killing me. I don't know how much they're with him, how much they talk to him and calm his fears of being sick, but true or not, I pretty much feel already that I'd do it better. How's that for a mom!

We didn't find out till yesterday morning (Sat.)about an hour after we'd expected Nataliya to arrive to pick us up to go visit him. She'd been gone for two days and had promised to call Friday to check on him for us but we didn't hear from her and we'd run out of minutes on our phone, so we just expected that she'd be there at the normal time, 9:30, to go visit him. She didn't come, so at 10:15, we headed out the door to find a phone card kiosk to get more minutes to call her and see what was going on.

We headed up the hill and found a kiosk near our supermarket. It's a small kiosk that looks like a cell phone, and as we approach it, I hand Trevor the little note that says something to the effect of 50 minute phone card please. He looks at it, then at the kiosk, and is like "how do I do this?" "You give it to the man inside." "There's a man inside?" "Yes, look. There's a man inside." "A man inside? I thought it was automated." "No, there's a man inside." It was really funny. Especially since 1) it does look pretty much like a cool vending machine, and 2) I'd had the exact same conversation with Nataliya two days before when she took me across the street from McDonald's for a phone card.

While we were near the supermarket, we decided might as well run in for some staples like water and cookies, so Trevor ran in and Emma and I loaded the minutes onto the card and called Nataliya. On the second try, we connected, and I'd woken her up. She's taken the 5:00 train over night and got in about 5:00 a.m., but had not gotten any sleep because she was in a sleeper cab with a lady with a newborn, and the baby had screamed all night. Fun fun. (Probably will be us on the way home, just with a two year old...). Now we hadn't talked in a couple of days, since Thursday, and we'd expected her at 9:30, so this is where she tells me that he's still sick and we can't see him for another two days. It was a tough conversation, and I did my best not to cry when I got off the phone, but Emma inquired as to the status, and when I told her, she shed the tears for both of us. This continues to be hard.

But thankfully, the day was saved by plans we'd made with a nice family in the same sort of situation, the Penners. They got here about 5 days before we did and have their court date the same day we do, Tuesday the 26th, but in the afternoon. Imagine their frustration that they've been here 5 days longer and we have our appointment before they do. We'd arranged to meet them around lunch time, after they'd visited their Nadya, at the Chuck E. Cheese kind of place. They have two boys, 3 and 6, and the 3 kids had a blast in the bouncing room and the mega-playland thing with slides and ball pits and tunnels galore. It really it pretty cool. There are all sorts of video games, and bumper cars, and even a bull to ride, although we haven't seen anyone ride it yet. If I get Trevor on it, I'll be sure to post the photos of him flying through the air!

So the kids played, and then we got pizza. So far, I've been super impressed with Ukrainian pizza. While it's different that American pizza, I'd call it just as good, as FAR superior to any Italian pizza I've had, but they didn't actually invent it, if I recall correctly, so it's not really an Italian deal in the first place.

After a while, it was time for the Penners to head back to the orphanage for the afternoon visit with Nadya, and we all headed down to catch a taxi. Their translator had not come because, after being gone all week working with other families and leaving them on their own for the most part, he'd gotten back and stayed up all night playing computer games and was too tired to come with them today. So they were on their own again. (Yes, can we even express how much we appreciate Nataliya and what an amazing job she does!!!!) It was a Saturday afternoon, right before their holidays as well, at one of the biggest mall kinds of places in the city. Needless to say, the two taxis that Nataliya had called for us kept getting taken before we'd gotten into them. It was a mad house. We finally got one and shoved the Penners into it so that they could get over to see Nadya, since we didn't have anywhere we really needed to go. Half an hour later, we were able to get one. Had the weather still been nice, it would have been no big deal, but we were freezing. Trevor had last posted that it was "unseasonably warm, with no snow" in his last post, so of course we woke up the next morning to blustery cold and the ground covered in snow. :-) So we were cold, and we headed over to our favorite coffee shop, the Coffee Club, where they have great coffee AND speak English, with menus even in English. Nataliya was super chatty (did she maybe miss us?), and we had a great time getting to know her some more, hearing about her adventures traveling the globe, and we invited her, if she ever makes it to the states to come and visit us. She lit up when we said that, and that made us feel good. If she does visit the US, I think she'll come see us. :-)

We also asked about court this week. Does the judge even have the power to waive the 10 day waiting period? Answer: NO. He cannot. Which leaves us here till about the 9th of January. That won't work for Trevor; he simply has to get back to be ready for a January 21 launch of Journey to the public. Not really negotiable. We've worked so hard over the last two years that this just can't mess that up. So that leaves two options: Emma and I (or just I) stay and wait it out, or we all 3 go home on Dec. 30, when our plane tickets are for (since we didn't have any idea what to make our return tickets for and we knew Trevor needed to get back). We talked it through with Nataliya, and she said that if just I would come back on like Jan. 7, a Sunday, we could take the overnight train to Donetzk and be there Monday, do the necessary paperwork, be on a train back to Kiev on Tuesday with Cole, have the embassy doctor visit and get his passport in the next couple of days and be on a plane back home that Friday, the 12th. So right now, unless God does something only He can do because getting him yet this week is impossible, we'll all three be coming home on Saturday.

Yes, it's hard to leave him for that time, but we don't get to see him anyway at this point with him being sick, and no matter how much we see him before, the adjustment of being together and him being off his schedule will be a huge adjustment. We've spent some really great time together and have bonded well, so we really don't feel it will negatively impact his life long term. Most adoptions, you go and meet them, do paperwork and then leave. So this will probably end up being no different. It beats spending 5 weeks here.

In response to some of your posts:

We are 7 hours ahead of you guys, and our appt. for the court hearing is Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. That's Tuesday morning at 3:00 a.m. for those of you in Eastern time, and 2:00 a.m. if you're in Central. Feel free to pray for us before you go to bed, and thanks so much EVERYONE for all your prayers. We definitely feel them. Things may not be ideal for us, but we're really doing great and enjoying ourselves for the most part. We feel a lot more comfortable now and have enjoyed relaxing, watching movies together, reading, and just enjoying being together. We have lots of laughs and cuddles.

Laundry is going well. :-) I keep washing because it keeps coming. My friend Marcia, who lived a few years in Bulgaria, mentioned that we got the "foreigner rate," and I'm sure she's right. Oh well. Makes for a great story!

We haven't ventured into any Orthodox churches yet. It's taken us so long to get comfortable here that it just wasn't really something we'd considered, but if we could have found a Baptist church with an American pastor, we might have considered it. Both Yuri, our facilitator back in Kiev, and then the other translator here with the Penners, learned English that way, by growing up going to church with an American pastor. Pretty cool.

Someone had asked about pictures...We're not allowed to post them on the blog yet becuase it's a public site--can't do that till he's ours, so we sent some back to both Ryan to send to the Journey folks and then to Priscilla who I believe sent them out to the St. Paul's folks I think. So that's where people have been seeing them.

Oh! I almost forgot! In case anyone wants to call us, here's our number (hint hint parents! or anyone else who wants to call!): 011 3 8066 428 0189. I have no idea what it costs to call Ukraine, but if you want to give us a call and say hi, please feel free. :-)

And last but not least, dear friends, have a wonderful, merry, and blessed Christmas. It's extremely understated here, even when they do have it on Jan. 7, so this week here is nothing but preparations for the New Year's celebration (fireworks and the tent and pony show), but as we think of you and all that you'll be doing over the next few days wherever you're off to, we are reminded of all of the blessings in our life--you, our dear friends; the blessing of family; and the gift of an amazing God of love who reached out to us because we couldn't reach back to him. May your hearts be filled with love, wonder, mystery, and the joy of knowing God loves you, just as you are.

Merry Christmas, dear friends. Merry Christmas.

TGIFriday?

Well, it's Friday, but I don't know about TGI... I guess it means that we can go tomorrow to see Cole, and that is a case of TG! It's been strange sitting around and not visiting him these two days. We miss him and hope that he misses us. It's such a strange set up to go, visit for two hours, tell him it's time for us to go, and then have him hop down and walk back to his room. It's tough to think that he's accustomed to us visiting in two-hour increments, but possibly not realizing that at some point we'll take him home. We don't know how/if they are attempting to communicate to him that we'll be taking him away from the orphanage at some point. So it seems that he's content to hang out with us for a little while and then head back to his little group of friends.

We spoke with some people that told us that probably none of these kids have ever been in a car to their recollection(which obviously means they've never been on a train or plane). So it'll be interesting when we finally ARE able to take him with us and get into a car, and then take a train, and then take three planes to get back to Ohio. Interesting might be an optimistic word.

Here are some more random thoughts so you can picture where we are: it's been "unseasonably warm" here for this time of year. The average has been about 5 degrees celsius which translates to somewhere in the mid 30's. Typically it's much colder we're told, so we're very pleased. There's no snow here which is fine by me. It has rained and been wet from time to time which makes a lot of dirt and mud. We don't see very much grass anywhere. Our apartment is clustered with other apartements in a sort of development and there are trees and dirt in the midst of those. The outsides of the apartments are not really cared for at all. They look dilapidated and run-down, but the insides are often quite nice. Ours is amazing inside, but it's scary walking the hallways. There are 60 steps up to our apartment according to Lori - 4th floor. That's a long ways when carrying large bottles of water (without gas). We did the math and realized that using one computer at this internet cafe for one hour only costs 5 grivna = $1.00. Not bad! There are a few American cars here and there, some Fords and Chevies, but it's rare. Almost every taxi that we've taken has been a Daewoo Lanos. There are some luxury cars like Lexus and BMW, but they are rare, as are SUV's. It finally occured to me that European cars are small b/c of the parking problem. You never know where someone is going to park or drive around here and lines on the road don't REALLY mean that you have to stay within them. It's a bit funny and a bit scary. Their version of Santa is Father Frost and he will come on January 7th. The entire city is decorated for New Year's instead of Christmas. Lenin Square (yes, that Lenin) is decked out and they appear to be setting up festival/carnival rides of sort for a big celebration. Brrr...

Yesterday we ventured out to go to the park (on the coldest day of our visit of course) b/c Emma was going stir-crazy. We played on their equivalent of the Fort Findlay Playground and was pretty nice. We then tried to find a bakery that someone recommended to us, but had no luck. The store fronts are sometimes deceiving, so we may have walked right past it. We did get more water (always need more it seems)at the store and discovered some great Ukrainian sweets, one of which was a giant swiss cake roll kind of thing. We definitely need to go get more of them!!

Our court date has been changed to 10:00 am on the 26th due to a paperwork thing. If our paperwork comes today instead of Monday, it's possible that we could be moved back to the 25th. Either way, please pray for that process. We don't know what to expect, but we look forward to seeing what God does. Thanks again for your prayers and your comments. Merry Christmas...almost!

Lazy Day

Hi there! It's Lori. Not much new since yesterday, but here are a few thoughts.

Rachel, could you pass this on to Emma's class for her? :-) "Class, I miss you. I have a special brother named Cole. He speaks Russian, and he's two. If we want him to sit down, we say 'soondis.' And chew chew is 'joo-ey.' We tell him to chew because he takes a full hand of crackers and puts them all in his mouth. So that's why we say chew chew. But he's getting better at it. And we got a bottle water here that had bubbles in it like pop. It was really yucky! Very bad. We have a lady who helps us talk Russian and understand things, and we went on a train with her. She's gone today, and I miss her. She's really fun; we color at the orphanage, and she's really good at it. She's an artiste! :-) I miss Mrs. Christopher because I love her. Hi Mrs. Christopher!"

We've actually been in a couple of taxis that have nitrous kits. Carol, those are for going really fast, like for street racing. But the funny part is that because of the lack of space in Europe at all, everyone's cars are the size of like a Ford Escort or smaller--all compacts. So it always makes us chuckle when a Ford Focus pulls up and it had a big 'ol exhaust pipe--almost always a dead give away that inside, we'll see that special gauge for rpms or whatever that's connected with the nitrous kit, and if we have STUFF, then we're extra lucky--we get to SEE the nitrous kit in the trunk. Haha!

We slept in this morning, and I did some serious laundry. I kind of have to do it in shifts. Our landlord brought a cleaning lady yesterday, since we're staying here so long, so I took advantage of the clean "tub" (it's a shower stall with a basin big enought to plug and fill a little) and washed clothes last night and then again this morning before we got in it and dirtied it, but the limiting factor is the space to be able to hang them up in the shower stall and let them drip dry before we set them on the registers to finish drying. Once they're on the registers, they dry fast. So that's it for a while. We're going to turn them inside out before I wash them again! ;-)

Some of you have asked about food... A lot of it's the same. The produce doesn't offer nearly the selection that Kroger does, but it's certainly enough. Emma has finally discovered the joy of mashed potatoes, so that makes life easier. So a typical meal cooked "in" is ham, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. Or spaghetti. And then if we eat out, we often go to McDonald's, but if we go someplace else, so far we've gone pretty much to "La Boulangerie," which is French for bakery, but it's just a nice, regular restaurant that's not too expensive. Trevor and I have Meatballs A la Kiev, which is chicken patties that are not breaded but frie in a thin layer of egg--very good--which some little mashed potato fry things that are kind of like the smiley fries, and cole slaw. Emma gets a cheese pizza. Otherwise, it's a double cheeseburger and fries or McNuggets.

I called Nataliya to see if she could call the orphanage and check on Cole, just to see how he's doing today. Since we don't get to see him, I have no way of knowing how he is, if he's any bettter yet, if he's worse, etc. And of course any mother wants to know those things. I'd rather we had him, but you know....

I finished reading a book by Don Miller, for all you "Jazzers" out there. This is the prequel to "Blue Like Jazz;" it's "Through Painted Desserts," and it's the road trip he takes with his friend Paul. I know he refers in "Blue Like Jazz" to Paul as "Paul the _____", but I can't remember what that ______ is. Do any of you Jazzers remember? Or could someone look it up? And also, is Paul married to Danielle? I think so, but they meet in this book. It's frustrating that I can't look these things up, since I ponder his musings on and off throughout the day!

Okay, could someone also look up for me metric equivalents for kids clothing if you have a chance? The only tag I saw on Cole said "92", but the metric chart I brought doesn't go that small. I'm still confident he's in a 2T or 3T, but of course I'd really rather know than guess; I'm sure you understand. :-) So if you have time on your hands or expertise in this area, give me a shout out!

Okay, all for now. Keep up the love and prayers--they really make a difference!!!! We love you all and can't wait to see you again.

Love,
Lori

sunny day!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS!!! They make us so very thankful for your thoughts and the encouragment through prayer is certainly felt across the miles.

Yay! Today was the first fully sunny day that we've seen on our trip so far. It was invigorating to see the sun and feel it pouring in through our windows. I want to start with some random thoughts and occurrences. Today we rode in a pimped out taxi that had a nitrous kit...nice...too bad he didn't use it. At McDonald's you have to pay extra for ketchup and sauces for nuggets. At grocery stores you have to pay for a bag to take your items home in. You also have to put your backpack into a little locker b/c theft in stores is a big problem. It gets dark here at about 4:00 pm which is very odd...it starts getting dark around 3:30. Our translator said that the longest day of the year in summer has light until 11:00 pm. Wow!

Tonight (Wednesday) our translator is going back to Kiev to take care of some personal business. She gave us hand-written notes that we can show to people to communicate how to get places and order things. We are of course at the mercy of the honesty of people when it comes to that. We know reasonably well the way to get from our apartment to the orphanage and whatnot, so we'll probably be okay. We used a note today to get our two computers at the internet cafe right now. We have addresses for the orphanage and our apartment and we now know how to ask for water "without gas" since they typically drink carbonated water (Emma calls this the yucky water). We'll get along alright while Natalyia is gone b/c we can't go see Cole for two days anyway. He has a cold and it seems to have moved to his chest and his cough is rattling. They asked us not to come so he can get better. It pains us to accept this b/c: 1) we want to see him and don't want to take steps backward, and 2) we already feel like his parents and feel like we can care for him and want to just take him with us.

So, for the next few days we'll be hanging out on our own with no Cole and no Natalyia. We'll walk up to the store and over to the internet cafe and possibly venture out to the indoor playground which is just like chucky cheese. We're reading books and coloring and whatnot. Lori might do more laundry in our bathtub which I've take pictures and video of for the benefit of all of you loyal readers. :-)

We often think of all of you and wonder what's happening back home. We typically do the math to figure out what time it is for you guys and it's odd to think that we're going about our day long before most of you are awake. I'll sign off of this now and let Lori do her commenting. We love you...

Waiting...

This is Lori. I just want to start by saying that we can't even tell you how much your comments help us. Today is a full week that we've been here, and we're starting to feel it. We're still not completely adjusted to the time change yet (we tend to be fully awake often between 2-4 am), and just everything is different. So to know that you're thinking of us, and to hear familiar "voices" by computer really just brings us smiles and the extra lift we need to keep chugging away in this somewhat lonely place. We're realizing it's going to be a long month.

So what are we doing these days? We go each morning and spend 1-2 hours playing with Cole, have lunch and rest in the afternoon, and then go back and play about 4-6 p.m. Each time we go, we never know quite what to expect. We haven't made it twice every day, with trying to get everything put together--just the details of living--but I think that will make a difference. It's so hard to know what we're supposed to do sometimes. We do the things we think we should, but then there are also the "appearances" things we need to think about. Nataliya (Emma asked her last night how to spell it, and I've been doing it wrong) told us just this morning that for our court date, the judge will ask us what we've been doing with Cole, how we play, how often we visit and how long we stay, what we speak to him, and things like that. So that has me pondering. We obviously are here to do those things, of course, but it made me more aware that we need to be... aware...of perceptions of us.

It's also frustrating because they do things quite differently with him than we would. For example, every time they bring him out to see us, which is the little room right in front of his "area," they bundle him up in several layers--at least 3 every time. With a hat. He looks cute, but in 2 minutes, he's dripping, so we strip him down a bit to cool him off, but then when people come back and forth through the area we're in, they see him stripped down and they bundle him back up. So the perception dilemma--do we let him drip all over himself and us, or do we do what's better for him and cool him off to a more happy medium? It feels like this is kind of always where we live right now. It's hard.

We're working on helping him to see alsothat the snacks that we bring him are for him, that they're not going to disappear, so he doesn't need to eat 6 animal crackers at a time to finish the back ASAP. That was certainly to be expected, but learning the words in Russian for "chew" and other things was certainly necessary for slowing him down! But we're making some progress there, and I think he's starting to trust us more. He's been pretty good with making eye contact with us; he's even initiated it a few times, which has been great.

And then some days he comes out, takes one look at us, and starts to bawl. So it often feels like two steps forward, one step back. But there's always progress, and the other thing is you never know what fun he may have just been ripped away from, either. So we just go with it.

Sizes, many of you have asked. Hm. None of his clothes have tags, and most of them are too big anyway, at least the ones on the outside that we can find. Sleeves rolled up, that kind of thing, which is completely understandable. So we still have no real feel for how big this boy actually is because he's bundled up so much, he looks like the Stay Puff guy. :-) I'm guessing he's a 2T, maybe a 3T, but I'm not really sure yet. He has an impressive belly on him, though. :-)

Things he likes: tickles, cars, and spill and fill (dumping and then filling it back up, over and over and over and over....). Animal crackers, sippy cups minus the lid (yeah, those are just useful to spill and fill--never had to suck something out of a cup, but he's great with drinking out of a cup all by himself), and his Papa. When he gets a big grin, his tongue kind of curls up to the side, which is really cute. I told Trevor it's just like Katie Holmes, but he didn't get it... Cole and Daddy/Papa are getting along really well these days, which is fabulous. I think perhaps because he has so many female caregivers that at this point, I'm kind of just one more. That's fine; I get it. There are lots of things that are like that. The more we get into this, the more I see that this adjustment will really be a gradual thing and that we will have to not expect much of anything, just roll with it, and be glad when do make some progress.

Now here's a word from Emma. Emma, what do you want to say to our friends back home? "I love you. Cole is very happy with me. I'm a good big sister. I hope he has a great time with me when we spend time there and play. Thanks for writing to me!" (Yes, we do read to her the things that you all put in the comments for her.)

We have our court date on either the 25th or 26th--it's uncertain right now, and then it's a 10 business day wait after that, so more like 14 days. We'll be home mid-January, from the way it's looking. Not ideal, but what can you do? Pray. :-) We don't expect anything out of the ordinary, but if something like that DID happen, our own little Christmas miracle, we'd be very grateful.

We just found this internet cafe around the corner from our apartment, so we'll be able to check in a little bit more often and can even do email, so you want to send emails, you can; we just guarantee when we'll get back to you, but we will.

Love you and miss you all!!!!

more news from donetzk

Well, the first two times that we got online were mere chance. This time we had to go hunting for an internet cafe. Found one! It's so nice to read everyone's comments, so please keep it up. It's nice to know that we are missed and that people are praying for us. Many thanks.

Okay, so the latest news for across the pond. It seems that we spend most all of our time in taxis. We take a taxi from our apartment to various errands and stop to the orphanage for time with Cole (more on him later). Then we head our for more errands and more errands and stop at the orphanage in late afternoon for more time with Cole. It seems that most of my time is spent riding in a taxi or paying for a taxi. The good thing is that we can ride for quite a long time here and the charge is minimal. We spent literally a couple hours in a taxi and it was 47 grivnas. The exchange rate is 1 to 5, so the cost was about $9.00. Not bad! Our lunch today was 95 grivnas, which seemed high, until I mentally converted and realized that it was less than $20.00! We've eaten at McDonalds a few times just b/c it's one of the few places open for breakfast. Of course they don't have breakfast food at all, so we get burgers and fries. Nice!

Our translator, Natasha (also Natalia, they're interchangeable), is absolutely awesome. We got almost all of our paperwork here for the local court done in two days. The packet was sent to Kiev on Friday and will hopefully be processed on Monday. Pray for that. Our official court appearance is December 25th. With the time change (we're 7 hours ahead) you all can pray for us on Christmas Eve. While you're praying for a positive decision by the judge, please throw in a prayer for the waiting period to be waived. God will take care of the rest.

Now more about Cole. Our awesome boy's name is actually Mykola (the Ukrainian derivative of Nicolai). So we talked about possibilities of Michael or Nicholas. Everyone at the orphanage, though, calls him Kola. It sounds very cool the way that they say it, nothing like the soft drink. We can't seem to get our mouths to make the sound. Anyway, we've decided to name him Cole b/c that's pretty darn close to what he's used to being called. His middle name will be Michael as a tribute to his full given name. So, we've got Cole Michael to love. He's awesome. He calls us Mama and Papa and has a great deep laugh. Of course he also has quite a cry. It's taken him some time to get used to us at times just b/c it's out of his routine. They keep him very structured, but it seems that his caregiver has truly loved him. His voice is a bit low. He's blond with blue eyes and is very much a boy. He loves playing with trucks and cars and is intrigued with putting objects inside of other objects. He'll love the tupperware shapes toy that we have at home! We're not allowed yet to put his picture on here b/c we don't have court approval, but as soon as we're allowed we'll add it. For those of you in Findlay and connected with St. Paul's, picture him as a little Jacob Barger with a rolly polly belly. Very good looking boy, just like papa! :-)

Emma doesn't always like the attention that we lavish on Cole while visiting with him, but we're trying to involve her in the visits as a big sister. She likes Cole but doesn't necessarily like not getting all the attention, which is understandable after four years of ruling the roost. We'll get there.

New Year's is coming up. That's the big holiday here. They will celebrate Christmas on January 7th. There are statues of Lenin everywhere. There are also advertisements for Marlboro, Nike, and other American brands. The driving is chaotic, but there's a rhythm and order to the chaos. In spite of all of the craziness, we've only seen one accident so far. They're very good drivers, they just don't pay attention to the lines, lanes, signs, or pedestrians. :-)

That's all for now, unless Lori reads this and needs to add something.

Well hello! It's Lori this time--only fair you get to hear from the other half. We just got into Donetsk after a 12 hour overnight train ride. Not a great way to spend a night while we're still trying to get over the time change, since none of us slept except Natalya, our translator, who's really cute and nice. They're all pretty much cute and nice here, though. I've never seen such a good looking bunch of people.

So we're off to do the paperwork part, which should be quite short, according to Natalya, and then we're off to meet Mykola. Emma is sure he's her brother, but we keep reminder her that we need to meet him first. "Picking" a child off a piece of paper is kind of like deciding to go on vacation by grabbing a map, shutting your eyes and just pointing somewhere with your finger. But we certainly do hope he is the one. His picture was really cute. :-)

Miss you all. Libby, Emma says hi right back atcha. More later. We should know in the next 6 hours if he's the one, so we'll write again as soon as we can, but for now, we're off to McDonald's. Some things are very much the same. :-)