Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!! (from Kayla)

Hi Dottie: Thanks for keeping an eye on the homefront. I am glad you had a good time at the Women's Retreat. Kade is really ready to play with David, too. Hopefully we will see you guys in 7-10 days!!!!
Hi Susan: Thanks so much for your faithful posts. I miss your smiling face too! Where is Jan? Is she doing good? Is she going to the retreat with you this weekend? You guys are going to have great fun!!! Happy Scrappin!
Alikia May: Sure do miss you guys too! How was the cruise?? Do you feel rested & relaxed? how did Beanie do?
Cathy: Thank you dear friend for the faithful prayers. We have felt them. Before we left, Ginny gave us some of those silver crosses that are on the Lord's table several times each year. She said I am sure you have a million of these, but I want you to keep these in your pockets while you gone. They will remind you that people are praying for you. And I can't tell you how many times I have reached in my pocket, just today even, and thought of everyone at home taking the time & thought to pray with us. Wow! It is very humbling. But those crosses have reminded us to pray for y'all, too. So thank you again, dear friend.
Flurry's: Thanks for the posts, too! How is Caroline? Leslie, are you getting any sleep? Kade misses seeing Cooper.
I hope I didn't miss anyone who posted yesterday. Sorry if I did. But thank you to EVERYONE for praying for us. It is the mercy of God through your intercession that sustains us. Thank you!

Well here is my (Kayla) perspective on the last 24 hours. I woke up this morning sooooo excited I could barely sleep (and those of you that know me, know that I am a SLEEPER and a late-sleeper, at that!) We started the day by going to the notary office to draft letters to apply for passports for the children.

UKRAINIAN TRIVIA: It is perfectly normal for you to have a "office cat" that can wander on its own about your lobby amongst your customers and if your office opens at 9:30, then go ahead and arrive at 9:35, pretend like your not late (because in Ukraine you're not!). Crazy!

Anyway, then we went to have lunch with some good ol Baptist missionaries. What a joy this was!!!! Totally God coordinated! We had to have a substitue translator for court last week, our normal substitue translator was having some pregnancy difficulties. Our substitute substitute, Sveta, works for these American missionaries here in Ukr. She was soooo nervous about meeting us before we had court, that she asked Aubery & Cheryl (her employers, the missionaries, who let her off for the day to come to court with us) what she should talk to us about. Aubrey said, "Ask them where they're from, who knows they may even be from Oklahoma." (Aubrey is from around the Choteau area, up by Tulsa) Well when she got home, she couldn't wait to tell him that in fact we were from Oklahoma!!! We had a great visit at their house today. It was so nice to have a conversation with others. We don't have real conversations with anyone else other than the 3 of us. So this was such a blessing for us and for them, too. They have been here in Ukraine for about 1 year. And Scott and I were just talking the other night about how God is using this experience of living in another culture for a month to develop a deep appreciation for those who are called by God to live in another culture for extended amounts of time to further the Kingdom. I was having a conversation with our other subs. tranlator the other day, it gets confusing, I know, but anyway, I was talking about the gmother and my concerns about how she lied to us about going without us to meet with the children. And you have to understand that this culture is post-communism/socialism, so she says to me, "sometimes you have to "pay off" the gmothers." And I said, "I WILL NOT PAY OFF ANYONE FOR MY CHILDREN!, you have GOT to be kidding me." She said in this culture, you just tell people what they want to hear, so you can get what you want." I told her that I would not do that because then I would be lying just like the gmother did, and I am not going to do that. She just sort of shrugged me off. But as Scott & I were pillow-talking that night, we were talking about this and how these are the types of things that you don't know about before you come to another country. When you visit a country for a short amount of time (2 weeks or less) you really don't experience the sub-culture or dynamics of the people. But as we have lived here for going on a month now, we have seen first hand this "way of life". The other interesting thing about this culture is the expectation of gifts. If you are paid to do a job, at the end of the job in addition to your money, you expect a gift. And sometimes they drop BIG HINTS about the gift that is expected. BIG HINTS. As S&I were talking we said, "How can anyone in this culture accept the ultimate Gift of Jesus?" Such an amazing gift, so freely given, and yet if it is not on their "expected gift" radar screen, they can't see it. Things such as this are helping us to understand the heart & struggles of a missionary to this place and others around the world. Scott has a cousin who is a missionary to India, and I don't think we fully understand all of the things she encounters there that can't really be verbalized. But we have been praying for her with a new fervor. Same thing for Aubrey & Cheryl that we met today. Such obedient, struggling servants for the King. WOW!!!! We were so thankful for the afternoon with them and they truly have hearts for God's will in their lives. Please take a second right now to pray for them. They need to be renewed in the Spirit, they need friends for their children, Godly good friends, they need open hearts to the Word. I just realized that we will give them our crosses that Ginny gave us for our pockets. It will remind them that you are praying for them. Their translator, Sveta the one who went to court with us, said to them the other day, "Why has no one come to my village before to tell me about Jesus?" She earnestly wanted to know. When we think of "untouched" places on the earth, we think of remote jungles in Africa. This girl is 23 years old, and has NEVER heard, nor anyone else in her village heard, the name of Jesus. Jeremy B. if you are reading, let's get some mission trips scheduled to this country, pronto, please :)

We went to the orphanage again today from 3-6. We had a good time with the kids. As we were about to leave, Dima was sing-songing in Russian, "I am so happy I am leaving this place with my family tomorrow!" And then Scott said, "Me, too!" So he began to sing, "And Papa too!" What a sweet gift! The kids are die-hard Uno fans now. This is a great game for teaching numbers and colors. I told our subs. translator who is also a kindergarten teacher that I would leave the game for her to use with her students. So we'll have to get a new Uno set when we get home so we can continue this fun game. Anya was wonderful today. She came right up to me hugs, kisses and laughter! She is doing great, she even told Dima . She has Scott on her radar screen and will ask Papa for help with stuff and will go to him and sit in his lap, etc. Dima is his usual loving self to all of us. Pray for Kade, he is struggling with wanting to love on Anya, but I am not for sure that Anya is quite for sure how to love him back right now. I keep telling him to give her another month at home with us and she will come around. Pray for his patience and Anya's opening heart. Oh I wish you could have seen Anya & Dima today. They have faithfully, each day, been marking off the days on the calendar that I made for them. When we first started this, it seemed like such a long time. But here we are the BIG DAY is upon us. They were so happy! I asked them if they were scared, they both said no. I asked them if they were happy to be going and they both said an emphatic YES! And Anya said today, I am American. I will tell you of a Divine Intervention that happened on Dima's birthday. As the gmother was leaving the orphanage, she stopped the Dir. and told her that she was having second thoughts. The Dir. looked her in the eye and said, "Do not hold these children back from this family. They are a good family and A&D will be very loved. They should not live their life in an orphanange. Let them go." WOW!!! God putting people in the right place at the right time. I think her words comforted the gmothers heart (and as angry as I am with her), I am glad she was comforted. Dima told two of his teachers, "I love my grandmother, but now I have a FAMILY, and I want to go with my family. " The burdens in this boys heart make me ache. Such big stuff to deal with, but I know that God knows everything about him and will give him the strength he needs to bear all of this.

I can't not wait to get home. We say the word "home" now with such longing in our hearts. I did not realize all that "home" means to us. It means you guys! Not just our bed with our sheets, but our friends & family. If I haven't said it before, let me say it now, "thanks for being "home" for us!" As Scott mentioned earlier, we are wearing thin. We are at the end of ourselves and are having to be totally sustained by God.

Well, I guess I better close. This is a really long rambling and I am not sure I made much sense.

UKRAINIA TRIVIA #2 for this post: The police here stand on the side of the road with a black/white baton. When they want to stop you they just hold out the baton toward your car and YOU HAD BETTER STOP or else big trouble. They will "fine" you for an offense without writing you a ticket or telling you what offense you committed.

love to you all!
Kayla :P