Day 2 SDA Appointment Date...FINALLY!

Dearest Loved Ones,

I don't even know where to start with this entry. "What a day!" doesn't even begin to touch it. First of all, we can't thank you enough for lighting candles, sending sweet messages, getting up early to pray, and thinking of us today. We felt your love, faith, and support all the way from here. (Trust me....we sucked up and utilized EVERY ounce of it).

Let me start with this morning. Lamar and I could barely sleep last night. We were up and ready to go at the crack of dawn. We burned time waiting for our 8:30 a.m. call to go downstairs to meet Yuri (per his request last night at dinner). It was 9:00 and we still hadn't heard from him. This made Lamar and I a little bit nervous. This is the one appointment you just don't want to be late for. Yuri showed up at 9:40- not a bit frazzled. That's something Lamar and I are going to have to get used to. When a Ukrainian says they will pick you up in 10 minutes, they mean closer to an hour. Coming from and marrying into the military....that's crazy to me! I was raised with the philosophy that arriving 5 minutes early is 10 minutes late. This will be hard to get used to.

Anyways, I know you are more anxious to hear about the appointment than us waiting around for it. To be honest, there is a lot we would like to share with you, but we need to wait until a later time. We aren't trying to be secretive, private, or just down right annoying. The fact is, there is a lot up in the air right now. There are a lot of pieces that need to come together before we can announce whom we are adopting. First of all, every visitor here that comes to adopt is granted 3 SDA appointments. That means, if nothing comes together with your first referral, you can make another appointment, return to Kiev, wait, be shown more children and try again. There is a chance this could happen to us. This is why we want to wait and see what happens in case this fall through. The good news is we DO have a referral in our hands to go visit an orphanage. We will be leaving Kiev Monday morning. We already have train tickets to go to an orphanage in Kirovohrad. Yuri has never been there so this will be new for all of us. It's a 3 hour trip by train there. It's another hour car ride to the orphanage. Lamar and I are very anxious to get there. Although we wish we could leave now, we are going to make the best of our stay here in Kiev and do a ton of sight seeing the next couple of days.

Here's the deal. Today Lamar and I saw a ton of VERY sick children. There were children there whom I know from their prognosis will be lucky enough to see Christmas. It really hit us hard. It's so sad these children not only have to suffer from their ailments, but they also have to do it without the love and support of a family. It's heartbreaking. I ask that the candles you burn and the prayers that you send will go out to those poor souls. In my heart and by my Faith, they each have earned a special place in God's kingdom.

As soon as we possibly can get connected once we are in Kirovohrad, we should have many answers available for all of you. Until then, thank you for your continued patience and support.

We love you.

Peace in Christ,

Kristina