A Full Day...

"God shall arise... Father of the fatherless and protector of widows, is God in his holy habitation..." Psalm 68:1, 5

Our first stop this morning was at a hospital that not only works in Obstetrics but receives abandoned babies.  Many babies have either been dropped off here or other hospitals or have been found in garbage bins on the street somewhere.  This is their first stop as neglected children and orphans.  They are then relocated to baby houses throughout the country...

This little boy was the first child we encountered.  He laid in a crib alone in a big room full of other cribs donated by our new friend, Larry.  Larry is a bit of a celebrity in the region due to his work with caring for orphans.  He created a foundation a handful of years ago dedicated to this cause.  His desire is that all orphans would be adopted and works toward that goal, as well as bettering their environments and opportunities while raised in orphanages. He and our in-region facilitator, Nina, introduced us to the medical staff who are very good at what they do.  While they talked about some ongoing projects at this hospital I looked at these precious children and wondered if we could perhaps add one or two of them to our four (ha ha)... 

Nina had brought a couple toys with her to give to the children.  Precious.  After loving on this little one for a few minutes it was difficult to return him to his crib in a vacant room.  We had to move quickly...

Here the doctor is demonstrating a heating lamp Larry's foundation provided for warming infants and helping them recover from jaundice...

This 3 month old little boy was evidently just registered for adoption... takes awhile for paperwork to process... infants become available to nationals first... then if still not adopted after a year the child becomes available for foreign adoption... please pray for these precious little ones and the staff of doctors who minister to their needs...

After our visit to the hospital, we enjoyed a nice lunch on the river...

Following lunch, we gathered with all the children for a concert.  Another orphanage in the region shared traditional songs and dance of Ukraine.  They did a wonderful job!  

We enjoyed fellowship and honored guest treatment as Larry's friend (ha ha)...

We waited for an hour with Angela and James before the concert began.  Jana and Victoria joined us just in time for the concert.  Despite being a wonderful performance, it was very long.  I was thankful for a purse full of "entertaining items" for our four to help keep their attention.  James, Angela, Jana and Victoria all did a good job staying attentive for the few hours we were in the hot gym.  Larry, Tony and I all felt the need for a chiropractor or masseuse after 3 hours of bleachers...

Some important ladies in leadership... Far right is the orphanage director where we're adopting from...

"Is it over yet?"

All in all, we had a wonderful and exhausting day!  Praise the Lord!  There are 3 more days before our adoption is official.  All seems to be going smoothly.  We should have our court decree in hand by the weekend.  The plan is to drive to the birthplace region of our older three on Sunday, which is 700 km or so from here (a long trip).  

We just learned today that our youngest was born in this region which means it will take longer now for us to get birth certificates and tax IDs.  It is no longer likely that we will be able to get passports done before May 9th (another holiday weekend) like we had hoped.  We are still hoping to get the paperwork started before the 9th.  So, please pray that that will be the case.  That is the next BIG thing (birth certificates then passports and tax IDs).  Once we have all of those we can travel back to Kiev for Medical evaluations and Visas which should take two days - Lord willing.   Thanks for your continued prayers!!!