The Weekend!

from left to right, Denise, Okana,Vitalik, Jeri, Charles




Okana, Vitalik, Jeri

Hello,

I just realized I havent blogged all weekend. We were pretty busy. On Saturday we went with Michelle to the orphanage to pick up vitalik and oksana to go have lunch at the local pan pizza restaurant. It was nice that Oksana could join us for the afternoon. We walk a good ways to get pizza. Then we went back to the orphanage to play some board games. It was rainy here so we were limited in what we could do. We took lots of pictures and had a good time visiting.We ended up having to leave and it was still raining, without a umbrella. We road the bus back to the apartment. we were soaked by the time we got back. It was worth it though. We were pretty tired, we went to bed early.

Sunday, we took the bus back to the orphanage to pick up vitalik and Oksana to do some site seeing in the city. We got tired of that after a little while. We decided to make dinner and play some games at our apartment. I made spaghetti and fruit salad. Everyone pitched in to help with all the chopping. We had a nice afternoon.We really like Vikalik very much, he is such a nice kid, he is very funny, he makes us laugh.

Today, we were up early to take care of documents and meet with the Director of the orphanage. All went very well. the Director was very kind and helpful. The social worker gave us some back ground info. on Vitalik and said many good things about Vitalik's character and personality. In the afternoon we went back to the apartment to do some work. Charles did his work for work, and I did laundry and chores around the apartment. We had leftover spaghetti, so Sean and Tracey came over for some dinner and laughs. We had a good time. We will miss them when they leave. Our faciliatator thinks that there is a good chance that we will go to court on Monday. so hopefully charles can head home sometime next week. That will be so nice. I guess it will be me and Vitalik for a while here in Odessa.

We plan to pick up Vitalik tomorrow and take him shopping for a few things. Shopping for clothes isn't easy. All the shopes by us are very expensive. We will have to go to the market by the train station and try to find something.

Prayer reques: inspector to give us positive decision tomorrow. quick court date. Peace and blessings for Joshua and Lauren.

Thanks for your prayers,
Jeri

We had a great day!

Hello,

We had a very busy day yesterday. We met with the inspector. It went well. we received our paper work. We went to the orphanage to talk to Dina (the social worker) she was nice to us. she said she would do whatever she could for us. She said she was glad we were adopting vitalik because she likes him. Then, we spent the afternoon with vitalik.

The students put on a talent show for the teachers and we were able to go. What a blessing this was. Vitalik and his friend ( denise, I think) did some special dance with acrobats and flips. I was quit impressed. The whole show was fun. vitalik sister showed up for the talent show. So we were able to talk with her. she gave the consent for Vitalik to be adopted. It wasn't easy for her, she wanted to do what he wanted. she was very nice.
We plan to keep in touch and see her whenever we can. she is coming to the orphanage today and we will all go have pizza together.

Thank you all for the prayers, God came through in a big way, we are so happy. Vitalik is a great young man, very personable and engaging. He is a lot of fun.

I will post pictures later, we are headed back to the orphanage.

Blessings to you,

Jeri

Great News!

Shawn and Tracey

Tracey, Charles and I at the Black Sea port.

We just found out that we don't need to travel back to Kiev. Our facilitator is coming in the morning with our paper work. We are praising God. He worked above and beyond what I imaged. We will meet with inspector tomorrow morning and than later go to the orphanage to see social worker and Vitalik.

Thank you all so much for praying for our situation. I am very grateful.I also want to thank our friends Terry and Laura for taking such good care of Joshua and Lauren. I also want to thank all our friends and family who have prayed, given and encouraged us along the way. We love you all.

I just wanted to share the good news, have a great day!

Jeri

we visited the port yesterday

Hello family and friends,

I pray all is well with you. I am behind on posting because Charles has been working a lot
on the computer. charles and I joined the O'Hare's down to the Black Sea port yesterday. It is in walking distance from where we are staying. Maybe 10 to 12 blocks. As you can see by the picture, Charles had his picture taken with a monkey. I was surprised at how clean the port was.
This quite a nice port. We really don't have a lot to report, we are waiting for our phone call to tell us when to go back to Kiev. We were told by Friday. I have been reading and praying and Charles is working. I am praising God for our SDA Appoint.

Does anyone have any advice or opinions for us?

Prayer request: keep believing with us for appoint. and a quick turn around back to Odessa. Pray for Joshua and Lauren. I pray the weekends for them are fun and not long.

Thanks for you prayers, they make a big difference.

We love you,
Jeri

The waiting Game

A local bread truck
our new friends Shawn and Tracey O'Hara
here is Charles orderin his street meat
here is Charles lovin the street meat :)
The train station in Odessa

Good evening,

This was one of those days where we just waited and prayed. At the end of the day, we received news that we would deffiently have appointment by the end of the week. That was good news for us.

We visited with our friends Shawn and Tracey today. We had lunch at a local Ukrainian restaurant. It reminded me of a Dutch restaurant. I had some chicken soup and bread, and Charles had borsch soup. The soups were pretty good. They use mostly fresh ingredients in all the restaurants. There is very little packaged foods here. They make everything fresh. We have had some real good food here. The cost is very low because of the exchange rate.

We will probably go to the beach tomorrow to kill some time. I heard its pretty nice. We also move to a bigger apartment tomorrow, we've been in a studio. Its in the same hotel, that will be nice and a change of scenery.

Charles is reading his book and we are waiting to have some bugers with the Shawn and Tracey
at there apartment. We are cooking in tonight.

We have really apprecited all the encouragment that we have received while we are over here. God is so faithful to send such good people in to our lives. We are truly blessed.


Prayer Request:

- continue to pray for the SDA appointment and for Vitalik sister.

- peace and strength for Charles and I, also for Josh and Lauren.

- Peace for Vitalik as he prepares to be adopted.

We love you,

Jeri

For Lauren

Hi Lauren,

How is my sweet pea? I love and miss you very much.
Did you have a good day today?

We are a little bored today because we are just waiting.

Mom and dad are very proud of you and Joshua. Keep up the good work.

I am sending you a kiss.

I'll talk to you soon,

Love Mom :)

To Joshua

Hi Joshua,

Mom wanted to say "HI".
Did you have a good day? did you do anything fun or special? Tell Ms. Amy and Nate Hello, and Tommy.
We are just waiting. We are either real busy or waiting on something.

give Dakota a hug for me when you see him.

I'll talk to you soon, Mom loves you,

Mom :)