Saturday noon in Ukraine

So it has been a few days since our last blog entry, thank you for checking back in. We have had slight electronic, techno delays in keeping you informed. At the Amsterdom airport we purchased 3 voltage converters to use our US appliances on European 220 voltage. Within 36 hours all three burnt up. Today we will buy one locally.

Darrin has two lengthy blog entries prepared on his laptop, but the battery powered down before he could save them to a flash drive and carry them to the internet cafe to post. So now we will make a quick summary entry for the past few days activities, then after locating a converter we will bring the detailed blog entries over and post them. So you are reading day 5 of our trilogy, then you can come back and read days two and three later-it will be just like Star Wars! Just read it backwards and it will make sense-up to the point where Darrin looks through his hooded parka at the little Ukrainian boy and says "...little boy, I am your father!".

Okay, back to the quick summary.... We did go to the adoption office Thursday morning and decided to meet a young boy in an orphanage in another "region", so we will be traveling. The boy is 21 months old, had no siblings, been in the orphanage his entire life, and never knew his single, unwed mother-everything we prayed for! Friday afternoon we received the official "invitation" paper work to go to the orphanage and meet the boy. Today is Saturday and a day of waiting. We may do alittle sight seeing but nothing happens until Sunday evening until we board a train for an overnight trip to the orphanage. When we arrive there Monday morning, we will go to the orphanage to meet the boy we believe that will become our son, if that is God's plan. We continue to ask for your prayers that all will go smoothly.

A few culture notes.... the Ukrainian country is not like America! The weather has been the same everyday. The weather man can never be wrong..."Tomorrow's forcast-Cold, Gloomy, Gray skies, and Outside." That's all we've seen. Don't know why we bothered to pack sunglasses. We remain cautious in our activities and alert to our surroundings-but there is no crime to speak of and we feel comfortable. Galya was busy for a few hours yesterday, so we walked to the grocery store to purchase bottled water and stopped at McDonald's for 2 Big-N-Tasty and 2 Large Fries-the big pictures are easy to point at! It really worked very well.

Our apartment is warm, cozy, and reminds you of the "I Love Lucy" era. We do have a great shower and plenty of hot water in this "Flat". For the men who travel to the annual Branson Men's Retreat, maybe you can relate to this-if those cabins were graded "A+" this "Flat" would be a "B". Besides restrauant meals out, we have bought groceries at the market. Darrin has fixed a few creative meals and Barb has hand washed the dishes! We understand the region we are traveling to next is a very modern city as well. We should not have a problem finding internet cafes there to keep you posted.

Well, we will post this blog entry for now and hope to be able to post the other two entries also today. It is almost noon here on Saturday, so most of you should still be enjoying your slumber as it is 4 am Saturday there. Enjoy your sweet dreams, and have a great Saturday. We remember you all daily and request your prayers for safe travels Sunday/Monday and a terrific meeting with the boy we never knew would be our son.

Much love from Ukraine,

Darrin & Barb

P.S. We had debated how much to share about the boy before you met him in person upon our return. We have since learned that it is illegal to post photos, information, or names on the web dealing with any orphan child until he/she has been adopted and removed from this country. So you will have to wait to learn some particulars until we arrive home.