Let it snow!

...since snow is so much better than mud! We've had unexpectedly warm weather since we arrived in Ukraine, and it has finally decided to cool down. Yesterday and today we had snow and all of the mud puddles in Gorlovka have finally frozen over. It makes it much easier to walk!

We visited with the boys again this morning and it went great! Instead of going to our usual tiny room, we went to a sunroom off of Alexander's groupa room. It's cold and we all had to wear coats, but it's so much bigger and there are all kind of toys and things for the boys to do. The other American family adopting here had told us about the room and few days ago and I'm so glad we decided to check it out. There are tricycles and a bicycle with training wheels, balls of various sizes, climbing bars, plastic bowling pins, benches, a mat, and a small table. It was a fantastic place to get to see the boys run around a bit and check their development. As it turns out, they may not be as delayed as we originally thought. I think we're going to have to do the most work with emotional delays (inappropriate responses, inability to express emotions or express them appropriately, etc.) rather than any physical or cognitive delays. Alexander is picking up English much faster than we had expected--still only a few words, but they are very clear and there are a couple he will use without prompting ("cracker" in particular :) ) and he will mimic others he is told. He's starting to catch on that when we hand him something or point to something and give him the word, he should be able to say that word. Very good progress and well beyond where we thought we'd be with him at this point.

Timothy is making great attachment progress. When we took the boys back to their rooms we took Alexander back first and some of his caretakers came over and were "petting" on Timothy. He hid behind Mark's leg and then ran over and grabbed mine and hid behind me, shyly peaking out but obviously trying to stay away from the "petting". This was completely unprompted and we were both pretty surprised but pleased. It is good if he can trust us enough to feel that we can "protect" him, even if it's from overzealous women who think he's super cute. ;)

This evening we went to the teen girls' Bible study at the church and worshipped with them, then had dinner with Kostya and his family. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening. Mark asked me the other day if I was homesick. Honestly? Not at all. The only thing I miss is being able to go to the grocery store and grab whatever I need, as opposed to trying to figure it out or take Kostya along. :) But there isn't anything I've been craving from home or anything I wish I could do here, so that's nice.

The homestudy addendum was written, sent to the St Louis BCIS, approved, and cabled to the US Embassy in Kyiv! So that appears to be taken care of. I haven't been able to confirm that it was received by the Embassy but we've still got some time so all of that seems to be okay. I'm not giving out any dates or details, but please be praying for airline tickets. I'll be able to share more as some things get firmed up, but for right now prayers for court and plane tickets would be wonderful!

Thanks to everyone for your faithful prayers. Hopefully you've been able to see answers to prayers in some of the things we've already posted, but there's even more I look forward to sharing once a few other things are finished up over here. Just know that your prayers are paving our way and making such a difference in our adoption experience, and we thank you for your love and support of us. Most of all we thank God for going before us and preparing things in ways we never expected! :) :)