Hello family and friends,

I have been surprised how busy I have been during these 10 days. I thought I would be bored with nothing much to do. Things just seem to come up. Eating alone is time consuming, I go to the market almost everyday. Today a new family came to Odessa to adopt a girl from the internot #4, the Laundrums. They stayed at my apartment for awhile they waited for their apartment. They are a nice couple. I hope all goes well for them.

Vitalik and Denise came for English lesson. It went very well. They are quick learners. It is fun teaching them. They are very enthusiastic learners.

The Ohara family left tonight. I am thrilled for them. They all had big smiles on their faces!
I pray they have a blessed trip home. It was nice getting to know them. They are generous people. i have been very fortunate to have met and gotten to know some wonderful people. God
has been very good to me.

I am planning on having Vitalik going away party on Friday. I have some planning to do tomorrow.

Prayer request: Please pray for all documents next week to be done quickly, pray for strength for charles. Pray that Vitalik will be strong and have peace as he prepares to leave the internot.

Blessings to you all,
Jeri

Hello,

It was a long day today, Not to much to do. I visited with the O'Hare family a bit. They are
hopefully leaving any day now to go home. I did some laundry, walked the street for awhile to
get out of the apartment and to get some exercise. vitalik came to the apartment and we visited, played a card game and of course he played on the computer. He loves the computer.

I asked Michelle come and interrupt for me so I could explain a few things to Vitalik. We discussed our plans for the week. I will start him and Denise with some English lessons tomorrow. He is willing to learn, so that's good. Denise asked if he could come along for the lessons. I bought a few curriculum books here to work with them. They are in English and Russian. I am looking forward to working with them.

I will be up tonight until about 12:30 am. Joshua is going to call me on Skype. He is worth missing a little sleep. He is at a friends house that has skype and web cam. I spoke with Lauren Last night. She is missing her momma. I can't wait to get home.

Prayer request: No more problems with any paper work. Passports to arrive within 3 days. God would give Vitalik and I grace to communicate.

Thanks for praying,
Jeri

p.s. I am adding a few pictures from Sunday.

The boys playing soccer at the internot

Vitalik showing off his gymnastic skills by doing flips off the bar.

I thought I would surprise Voucha and give a peck. also, Dima is here with us.

This is Poucha, he is the sweetest boy. He always runs up to you and gives lots of hugs. I would love to see him and his brothers adopted.

Me, Vitalik and Dima on the internot porch.

Denise, vitalik and charles playing a painful rock, paper scissors. If you lose, you get thumped in the head. They were having fun. Thats one way to bond!

Hello everyone,

Charles and I had Vitalik and Denise spend the night last night,then all day today. We had a good time, those boys sure do eat! we are glad to do it for them,It's our pleasure. We watched movies and played games, went to city center today. It was so cold today though we didnt want to stay outside. It was in the 40's.

Now I wait for the 10 days to be over. That will be a week from Tuesday. I think I finally decided to expedite Vitalik's passport. I have heard a lot about passports lately and paying the extra money to just get the job done sounds real good to me right now. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be. I have been watching another family go through the passport experience and it has already been a week tomorrow. They dont have them. I hope they get them soon. I have been told it would cost any where from $300.00 to $500.00.

Tomorrow, I will do some research on exchange students and what is required. We want to help Oxhana (sister) come to US as exchange student. We'll see what happens. she doesnt have many good options here and no family. she is a real sweet girl that deserves more than what she has.

Then, Vitalik will come here after school.

Prayer request: Joshua and Lauren for peace and contentment. the Lord will return charles home safely. pray that the Lord will give grace to us and Vitalik to blend as a family. Please pray as the Lord leads.

I can't thank everyone enough for all your support and prayers, you mean so much to us.

We love you all,
Jeri

Praise God we had court

Vitalik with his teacher and best friend on the right, Denise. Vitalik is a favorite among the staff at #4.

Hello Everyone,

We had court yesterday and everything went fine. We are praising God that its over! It was a long road. Thanks to all of you for praying and supporting us. When you are going through this you need all the encouragement and prayer you can get.

Now we are in the 10 day waiting period.We are very happy that Charles can now go home next week after visiting the U.S Embassy.

I havent been able to post in a couple of days because we were busy with deatils of court and spending time with Vitalik.

Vitalik and Denise are coming over in a little while. We are going site seeing,then dinner and they will spend the night with us.

Joshua and Lauren: Hello guys! mom and dad miss and love you very
much. We cant wait to see you. We are very proud of you. You are brave and strong.

Prayer request: Charles arrives safely home. Grace for charles while he waits on our return home. That we would continue to bond with vitalik. I pray he would feel our love and feel safe.

Court delayed until Friday

Hello,

Yesterday was a crazy day. We waited to hear what time we would go to court most of the day. Then we were waiting on a document to be signed by the inspector. She gave did not want to sign the document because she wanted us to adopt the sister (4 yrs. old) that wasn't even on Vitalik's documents. The SDA tried to convience her it was impossible for us to adopt her. she still refused. Natalya thinks maybe her boss wants something. in the mean time, the judge is waiting for us and we cant come before we have this document. The Director of the orphange is waiting on us, we are waiting on this document. After 3:00pm the judge decides he is going on vacation. He said we wont have court until Monday 10/22. Unbelievable!!

I think the SDA phoned him and he agreed to give us court on Friday. That was the best he could do.

Today, the inspector still didn't help us. The SDA tried to phone her boss, but he wasn't there. Tomorrow, SDA we try again with this inspector. If they don't cooperate then we will go to the region where the sister is and appeal to that director. This is a 2 hour drive from here.

We are standing and believing. WE WILL HAVE COURT! The Lord has given us many scriptures to stand on. We are standing!

PSalm 34:19 Many are the afflications of the Righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of all of them. Praise God :)

Prayer request: the inspector to agree and sign papers tomorrow.

Thank you for praying,

Jeri

Dinner at the Becker's

Charles and Denise waiting for Vitalik to finish his haircut

This was a Paul's house after dinner. vitalik, Paul, Denise, Jeff and Charles

Greetings family and friends,

We enjoyed ourselves today. Charles and I went to church with Paul Becker at a local Evangelical church here in Odessa. It was in Russian, but we did have a nice member that

translated for us most of the time. It was a good service. After church, we had a pizza with Dr. Becker, his friend Jeff, Michelle, Vasha. It was in the Greek Square. The best pizza we had here in Odessa.

Later Vitalik and Denise met charles and I at the apartment. We fed them pizza. Yes, they ate a whole large pizza. The boys can eat! all the boys needed hair cuts, so we found a place and they

all got a hair cuts. They look very handsome I think. vitalik was sleepy so he feel asleep during his hair cut.

We were all invited for dinner by Dr. Becker. We had a great time visiting with one another. Dr. Becker and Tania has been with Vitalik's class since he was in the 1st grade. you can see the impact he has made on them. They are such a blessing to the school and especially the 2 classes they sponsor. They really love those kids. It inspires me to do more.

Tonight, we are preparing to go to court and for Charles to return home. Joshua and Lauren are

looking forward to seeing dad.

Prayer request:1) for God to prepare the way for court tomorrow. 2) Safe return for charles.

3) Pray for complete healing for Vitalik and Joshua they are trying come down with a cold.

blessings,

Jeri

We go to court on Monday

Hello,

Yes, its true we do have court on Monday.Thanks for all the prayers.We are happy to report that Charles will be able to head back next week. Yah! I wish we were all leaving, but it won't be to long and we will all be home.Continue to pray that all goes well.

The last couple of days there hasn't been much to report. We've been waiting and spending time with Vitalik. Tomorrow the boys will get a much needed hair cut. Later in the evening we will go to
an English church service that Dr.Paul Becker told us about.I am looking forward to it. We will be busy this evening preparing for charles to go home and for me to be here by myself. I pray the 10 day goes by fast.

Have a great day!

Jeri