Internet at last

Yes, we really and truly have internet thanks to Kenny! And who is Kenny? Well, let me back up... (this will probably be long :) )

After our SDA appointment on Tuesday (a week and a half ago), we had to stick around Kyiv and wait for our referral papers. Those can usually be picked up the day after your appointment between 5 and 6pm. In the meantime, we tried to get train tickets to head to the Donetsk region but everything was already sold. We finally managed to get tickets on Wednesday about 3pm, then picked up our referral papers and headed to the train. The train overnight was great--we were all asleep within half an hour of getting on the train. I woke up a few times when we would stop for more than a few minutes, but overall it was a great night's sleep. We saw the boys for the first time Wednesday morning during an interesting meeting with the orphanage director. We saw the boys again that afternoon in their groupas and decided to stay in town at a hotel not far from the orphanage so that we could file all of the necessary paperwork on Thursday. Thursday was paperwork and seeing the boys for about half an hour.

Okay, so a few explanations in the middle of the story. The boys are in the same region (Donetsk) as our facilitator's family, but about an hour and a half away from Kostya's hometown of Gorlovka. So when it looked like we wouldn't be able to see the boys over the weekend (including Friday) due to an orphanage inspection (or something like that), Kostya's church started looking for a place for us to stay in Gorlovka instead of staying in the hotel in the boys' town. As it worked out, there is a couple here from the states named Lora and Kenny who have started a ministry (the church Kostya attends) here with their family. As part of their work, they have purchased an extra apartment that is used for various purposes, including housing visitors, and the guy who was using it left the Friday we arrived in Gorlovka so they offered it to us as a place to stay. We are so grateful!! :) The apartment has a kitchen, a washer/dryer, and high-speed internet. We have been so blessed by their generosity. In addition, we have been surrounded by the church family here who are praying diligently for us (and were even before we arrived). On Sunday, we attended church and on Wednesday the adult Bible study where Lora served homemade chili...yum! And today we were able to go see their project which is really a labor of love. Kenny and Lora have purchased a large building to be used as a foster care home and they are in the process of completely renovating it. The intention is to end up with several apartments that will house families who will foster children here in Gorlovka until they are adopted. Since we are still having laptop problems, Kenny loaned us a laptop he had so that we would be able to access the internet from the apartment we are staying in. Thanks, Kenny and Lora and our whole church family in Gorlovka! :) :)

Back to the boys...we hired a driver to take us back and forth to the orphanage every day. The visits have been going well although it's hard being in a very small room. Not much space for two active boys to run around. :) We're hoping to be able to take them outside tomorrow. They are loving the snacks we bring--peanut butter crackers and goldfish and juice boxes. We're making them ask for the food we bring in English--in fact, I think their first official English word is "cracker". We'll be taking yogurt tomorrow as well. We are doing absolutely no candy or sweets--they've got plenty of energy without any of that. ;) As most of you know, we won't be showing pictures of the boys until after court, except for this one... :)