His mercies are new every day!!!!!

Wow! Our God is awesome!!!!! I have to admit that it felt like the walls were closing in on our little hotel room. The three of us are living in a hotel room that is about the size of our master bedroom at home (and the bathroom is much smaller). Just for grins and giggles, I'll post some pictures at some point. (First, we'll have to clean up, 'cause what's not covered up with us is covered up with a suitcase or food.) Anyway, last night we went to bed feeling pretty low. After Erick went to sleep, Denise and I talked about all that we had seen and experienced. We were really frustrated. We felt like a lot of what we had been told about N and his personality was so different from what we were seeing. We were really questioning how much to trust of anything we have been told. We talked about all the reasons that we could be seeing what we were from him (even the really scary ones). At the end of the day, there was only one question that really loomed as important. Do we really believe God sent us here at this time for this child. The answer was obviously "yes." As hard as we had tried to make this happen faster, everything put us here at this time which we are confident is God's time. Still, last night was pretty long, and we really cried out to God for something. When I got up this morning, I checked facebook and the comments to the blog, and I know lots of you were crying out for us as well (must admit--I'm crying now!). That's big!!!! And God is big, and He is faithful!!!

This morning, we awakened to something pretty amazing--the sun!! Now all of you at home probably think this is silly, but anyone who has spent much time in Ukraine in winter knows what s big deal this is. We have a sunny day!!!! There is barely a cloud in the sky, and it is so warm that we are sitting this afternoon with the skylight and window in our room open. It was as if God lifted the fog this morning, and we are thankful. Thank you God for a little tangible reminder of your care and your love.

So, at just before 11, we set off for the orphanage. Today we were accompanied by our driver's daughter. She is an English student at the university in Odessa. She spent last summer working as a lifeguard at a small hotel in D.C. and traveling to Miami and New York. She is a delightful young lady, and we really enjoyed her company. When we got to the orphanage, we went to the area where N's group lives and asked for him. He was eating, so we had to wait a little for him. When he came out, he was different. Calmer. at various times during our walk through the corridors on our way to the playroom, he held hands with Denise, Erick, and our translator, but he stayed with us. No running wildly ahead. Just staying with us. When we got to the playroom, he was excited to see what we had in our bag of toys. Today, we had a present of a new toy truck. he loved it. More than that, he got down in the floor and played with it. We played blocks (although they are still a little of a hard sell), and just spent some time hugging, laughing, and playing. We looked at pictures of our house and talked about where he will live. He asked some good questions about his new home and when we would be able to take him away from the orphanage for good. We sat down for him to eat an apple and drink some juice and worked with some flash cards to teach him a few English words. He's mastering "apple," "bee," and "ball." And, today he started learning "shoe" and "cup." All in all, it was a great day. We saw a different side of him today. A side we needed to see. Thanks God for a little focus and a little comfort. By the way, we told him we love him today--and we meant it! It was cool.

Erick is doing great. He is a little trooper. He's doing so well with all the stress of living outside what is normal for him. He misses his class at Oak Grove Primary School. He is working on school work every day to keep up and be ready to rejoin his classmates. Our friends Mary Ellen and Joel gave him a bathtub drain from Ukraine. He's loving it. It is getting a lot of play! He says he'd like to come back and visit Ukraine, but he wants to come back to America to be a plumber. He's having a little trouble relating to N with the language barrier. He's not exactly the most bold child when approaching other kids anyway (adults are another story, of course). One big thing we'll keep working on is getting the two of them together.

Thank you God for a good day, and thank you friends for prayers and encouragement.

Blessings,

Rick