Friday, December 5, 2008

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy!

Holy Mackerel! There is a sun up there! Now that I've got that John Denver tune stuck in your head, i'll explain. Last week, and the three weeks before that (see, you lose track of time when you're away from a calendar) it has been overcast, cold, clamy and downright depressing. It snowed a couple of weeks back and that just messed things up fine! The walking was treacherous for a week until the ice thawed. We froze our tushes off last weekend waiting for the train to Kiev and shopping for clothes. We should have waited until this weekend! I was happy all day! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was beaming in the Ukrainian sky. It was very warm today (i'm guessing 50's) and it should stick around for the weekend. It gets dark here at 4pm (no kidding!) so before I came into the ole trusty internet cafe, I caught a glimpse of the moon for the first time in over a month. It's the little things that you miss the most!

The kids are fine and we are gaining ground on taking the reins from Nadia. She is starting to act more like the 12 year old that she is and relaxing her "little mother" role she has had to take on for the past few years. It's good to see her be a kid again. Our missionary friends Becky and Nadia commented today on the remarkable change in them that they have seen now vs. our first week with them. Becky taught our Nadia that to get her way with Popi, she needs only to bat her eyes and say, "Please Daddy". The occasional pout we have seen from her has no effect on me and she is slowly learning this. So we went out to dinner tonight with our kids, sans Julia, with Becky and Nadia and on a couple of occasions, our Nadia tried out her new "please daddy" eye batting routine on me. Ugghhh, I caved in seconds! I gotta do better next time...Thanks, Becky!

We've kept it to ourselves, for no real reason, that Julia has been in the sanitorium since we met her. When we go pick up Nadia and Kolya, we travel down the road to the sanatorium to pick up Julia. Apparently, she tested positive weeks ago for TB exposure. It's the same thing that Rimma endured. She doesn't have TB, it's just that she has been exposed to the TB bacterium. We get her medical release on Monday and she will be with us permanently, as will the other two. It's a crazy situation anyway. She comes home with us every night just like the other two and we take her back each night. However, this week we have not had her with us because she caught a cold and they won't let her go home with us. She is over her cold, is no risk to anyone in regards to TB, but we can't find the doctor to give her a medical release to resume our home visits each evening...and he is gone for the weekend. It will be alright Monday anyway as the kids will be past the 10 day wait period and will be staying with us permanently, including Julia. Galina, the director, offered to keep the kids in school until we leave She also said that on days where we would be running around doing paperwork without them, the kids could wait for us at the orphanage until we got home to pick them up. I've said it before and i'll say it again...Galina rocks!

I'm still unable to upload photos in mass quantity to Picasa, so I'm sorry about that. I can only do four at a time and it takes several minutes to do that. If I get it figured out before we leave, I'll post them. I'll be sure to do it when we get home.

Prayer request
I've kept something else from most of you, but I need to ask you now for a prayer request. My baby sister's husband, Shawn, suffered a massive heart attack two weeks ago last Tuesday. He was revived after two resustitations and presently is comatose. He has never regained consciousness and doctors have determined that he will never will. He is 36, seemed to be in top physical shape, and this is a shock to all of us. He will leave behind my sister, also 36 and two boys ages 10 & 8. He was a believer and had been saved, so glory to God for that. I've been struggling with the decision to go home but my family has told me to continue to work to bring our kids home. Heidi needs my help with the three and there is nothing I could do, my sister has many people around her right now. I don't know what to ask you guys to pray for, but please pray for them, us, everything. Thank you.

Felix

About Us

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Longmont, Colorado, United States
Heidi loves to play sand volleyball, sail and garden. Felix loves to fly at the local aeroclub, sail and fish.