Good News Today!

We went to the court building this morning. Mark and I had to sign one paper. Then Tanya and Arkadi went inside for about 2 hours. We waited outside. When they came out they were talking to themselves in Russian, and we couldn't understand what they were saying. We followed them to the car, got in, and finally had a chance to ask, "Well, what happened?" They said it was good news. The court agreed to immediately issue the document which will allow us to get the birth certificates, in spite of the problem with the numbers. They could have chosen to wait one week or maybe longer to issue this document, but God answered our prayers. Tanya has been working very hard on our behalf. Arkadi called her, "Your Majesty!" We will have the document in our hands tomorrow morning, so we can once again drive to the village (4th trip!). Then we will go to Donestk to get the passports. Hopefully it will all be done tomorrow, then we can take the train to Kiev on Thursday. We still won't know our final flight home arrangements until we get to Kiev. But as of right now, we've only been set back a few days. Praise God! We pray that the road ahead is smoother with no more stumbling blocks.

After our court appointment this morning there was nothing pressing for us to do, so we went back to the TLC and just spent the day there with Zhanna and Ella and the other kids. It was a gentle, relaxing day. Ella has been fun and silly all day. We put a puzzle together and played games and went outside to play frisbee. Zhanna, on the other hand, being 13, is rather in awe of the older teens in the TLC. It seems that she doesn't want to appear weird or uncool. She will show us affection in our room, in private, but never when the other kids are anywhere nearby. It's so typical of kids this age, but it's interesting to us that parents are uncool when you are 13, whether they've been your parents for life or for just a week! She's been listening to the CD player with the earplugs almost all day long. Oh well! We know full well these are some of the things that are ahead for us. We will have to deal with all kinds of issues, no doubt. We do believe Zhanna is in the midst of some natural age related insecurity issues. We pray that our love and consistent encouragement and attention will help her to feel secure and not so concerned about what others think. We also pray that we can help her to know a Heavenly Father who loves her unconditionally.

If all goes well tomorrow I will share our Blessings and Hardships blog tomorrow. Perhaps it will be our last night in Mariupol. Please keep praying for all the situations to work out well, and for God to keep the paths straight! Thank you.

Love,
Dawn and Mark