The little things...

We won't be having court tomorrow since our paperwork was not completed in time, but we will hopefully find out tomorrow that it is all done and can have court this week. I will. You posted, but that is not what I want to write about today :-) Sometimes i think that, in life, we get so focused on the major outcomes or goals that we forget to appreciate the small blessings and victories that lead up to them. I want to take this time to share with you some of the "little things" we are thankful for. Before we left home, Brent spent a lot of time reading the blogs of others who had been through the Ukrainian adoption process. i was mostly interested in what to expect living in a foreign country for so many weeks and the majority of the information i received led me to believe that LOTS of people spoke English and that Ukraine was, in general, very tourist friendly. It took about 3 minutes away from the airport for me to think, "why would they lie about that?" The truth is, very few signs are in English and we have met only a handful of people that speak English...especially outside of Kyiv. I suppose in the US, we don't have signs in multiple languages - except Spanish:-) and no visiting foreigner would expect us to speak their language, but i definitely had other expectations. Thankfully, our adoption agency provides us with a translator whom we can call at any time for ANYTHING. Our first full day in Sumy, i had to call her to explain to our driver where we wanted to go, what we wanted to eat, and what salt was. It was ridiculous. I called her 14 times that day. She joined us for the next week to facilitate meetings and whatnot, but i found myself dreading the day she left. Then we met Nic. He is our landlord (and driver to the orphanage, now) and he speaks excellent English. He is very kind and tries very hard to do everything in his power to make us feel at home. He bought a router so that we could have wifi, translated menus so that we could order food (technically, he orders food for us), he hauls us around wherever we need to go, and walks around with us to talk to salespeople, for WAY less than any other taxi driver. Most importantly, he has downloaded countless praise and worship songs for our 40 minute daily drives to the orphanage and he found us a church with an English translator! God has truly blessed us with Nic and i think that God has plans for us to bless Nic by helping him grow spiritually. I also want to tell you about Ed. It turns out that we are quite popular at the orphanage. All the boys want to get a look at us and try to talk to us everyday. A few interrupt our visit for 10 minutes at a time to talk to us, which can be frustrating because we only get 2 hours and they eat our food and mess with our belongings...and even though they know we don't understand them, they ask us a never-ending stream of questions :-) Then, there is Ed. Ed visits us everyday, but instead of talking incessantly, he says very little with his mouth and uses his hands to communicate. At first, i think he just wanted to make sure Micah was okay, but now i think he enjoys our company and is mesmerized by our family dynamic. He has been in an orphanage for his whole life (20 years!) and in Bilopillya for 15. He has never experienced a family and has seen only 1 other person adopted. He comes in, says "hello," plays with Nathan and Micah, picks up after them, offers to take our trash out, and never asks for anything in return. He is truly a blessing to be around. It seems that love communicates in any language. My last "little" thing may seem silly to some, but don't judge until you've spent any length of time in a country surrounded by people you can not effectively interact with :-) We have people who consistently provide us with entertainment and companionship via the internet. I am talking about our friends who leave us messages on Facebook, or play Words with Friends, Drawsome, and Scramble with friends on a regular basis, and talk to us on skype. You have to understand that we spend a lot of time in our apartment and this interaction - online or not - provides us with a link to home and it is priceless. I get so excited when i see that somone has taken the time to comment on a picture, or leave me a message on my timeline. It makes my day brighter and seems to make the time go by quicker, and for that i am truly grateful. It turns out that when they all come together, "little things" aren't so little after all :-) Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?