Very Hopeful News

Once we get back to Kiev and get our camera cords, we'll post a picture of our little girl! We're in Svalyava (Ukraine) right now, and just spent our second morning with her. A few hours after meeting her on Monday, we gave the official "Yes." There is still a lot of paperwork to do, and there is still a good bit of bureaucratic red tape to untangle, but hopefully it's just a matter of time. Best-case scenario, she'll be ours to keep on January 10th! After that, we'd still have a few days of paperwork at the US Embassy before we can return to the US.

So what is she like? A little over 3 years old, a gypsy, and very active! She has lived in the orphanage for most of the past 2 years.

She's delayed developmentally- she's just beginning to speak and she behaves more like an 18-month-old- but some of those things are typical for a child in an orphanage. The doctors and officials her say there's a good chance she will catch up to her peers once she is in a family. But there are no guarantees, so we had to decide whether we were ready to take her even if she doesn't develop much further. The speech delay may even help- she can begin with learning English!

We'll write more updates and post them once we get back to Kiev this weekend. Internet access is pretty hard to come by in Svalyava. In fact, Google maps doesn't even have the streets mapped out!

Prayer Requests:

-that God would continue to confirm in our hearts that this is the little girl he has prepared for us. It is encouraging when she recognizes us and seems happy to see us.
-housing during our time in Svalyaya. it's a small town and we don't have options for housing. we have one option, which effectively means they can charge us whatever they want. they told us there are no hotels in town. we have wonderful housing options in Kiev, but it's not near our daughter (so we wouldn't be able to visit her everyday). we're trying to decide what to do.
-finding fruits and vegetables for April (and baby #2) has been hard here. Rob's happy eating mashed potatoes and bread for every meal, but we'd like to be a little healthier. At the same time, we want to be sensitive to the limitations of this rural mountain community.