Prayer Requests (and some things for which we're thankful)

By way of prayer requests, here is an update:

April has been having some problems sleeping lately, and last night she had three separate nightmares that really upset her- please pray that God would calm and protect her.

On Sunday, we'll be traveling overnight to meet a little girl that we may end up adopting. Pray for us as we handle the usual risks of travel, and pray for April's health (and for baby #2).

Also, we've been hitting a lot of red tape- officials with ulterior motives, indifferent bureaucrats, etc. Pray for patience and wisdom as we (and our wonderful facilitator, Helen) work with these people.

Pray also for wisdom as we meet with this little girl. She is a little older than we had expected, and we're not sure how to make this decision. We need to be able to know that we will be able to meet her special needs while living overseas. We hope that we will know right away that this is the girl God has prepared for us.

If we do go forward, timing will become an issue. We're running into the New Year holiday as well as the Christmas Holiday (which is Jan 7th-9th), so getting all the paperwork we need and setting up the court date will take longer than usual :-/ We'll probably be here for another 3-4 weeks.

And here are a few things we are thankful for:
-Wonderful brothers and sisters in Kiev who have welcomed us, hosted us, and served us, though we were strangers only one week ago.
-Five cups of hot tea a day to keep us warm!
-No health problems so far.
-Rob has been able to find enough to eat, despite his allergies (Pierogies- yay!). Although at one buffet-style restaurant, we asked which foods had eggs, and an excited server replied, "Everything!"
-Our helpful facilitator, who has been working hard on our behalf.
-Some of the most incredible snowflakes we have ever seen. Huge! And they hold their shape for a few minutes after they land on you, so you can observe their amazing detail. Rob thinks it's like God saying a quiet hello.
-Being able to spend 24 hours a day together (April made me write that...)
-The hope that this adoption just might work out after all...