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.