Tuesday April 25th

Since they don't have subway maps I took a picture and printed my own...American ingenuity (and a digital camera)

Below, air hockey fun for all!

Blowing bubbles with "Hooba Booba" bubble gum :)
Mini Golf - a first.
"Jumping, Jumping, Jumping"... and sliding.

It seems like a long time since we last posted, but I'm pretty much losing track of the time now. I guess we are wearing down a little. I will do my best in my tired state to fill you in on all the happenings. God, please give me a second wind.

Let's see. I believe the last news we shared was about Dima' birthday. A lot has happened since then. No more news from the grandmother, which is probable good. We don't know for sure if we will see her again before we leave for home, but are certain (with God's hand) that she will not contest the adoption.

Back to the fun stuff. The last few days have been wonderful, except for the weather. One day, we went to a place that had ice skating, bowling, mini golf, and arcade games. Bowling was closed, ice skating too expensive and difficult, so we chose mini golf and games. Golf was actually rather difficult, but it was wonderfully fun for all of us. We also played air hockey. Kade enjoyed a skateboarding game and Dima and Anya were race car drivers for a few minutes. Kayla got on the internet while we were there and showed Dima and Anya their pictures on our blog and they thought that was amazing! Just another magic moment. Yeah God!

One day we went to a park with slides, swings, etc. The hands down favorite though was the inflateable slide. We told the kids they could go "jumping, jumping, jumping" on an inflateable we saw at the zoo, but it was "not working" and then taken down, so they didn't get to do it. So when they saw the slide, they were of course very excited. They climbed, and jumped, and slid, with some acrobatics I might add, and had an amazing time. Now they want to go jumping, jumping, jumping (their words) everyday.

This same day, we found out that 2 bombs went off at one or two grocery stores in Kharkov. Before entering the grocery stores here, you have to check your bags in little lockers to prevent theft and for security. Someone placed the bombs in the lockers and several people were injured and some may have been killed. You all may have heard about this already. Of course we are all fine, but a little uncomfortable about being so close to terrorist activity. We actually were at a grocery store near the park and checked our bags, and went in and shopped at a grocery store that could have been a target for these bombings. They reportedly closed down many stores around the city for a time because they believed there were a total of 12 bombs, though no others were found or detonated. Thank God for his protection!

Let's see, yesterday we tried to find a park that we could just play on the free equipment. It seems though that they want to charge for everything here. We did do a little playing even though it was cold, windy and rainy. Finally we went back to our apartment with the kids and let them try on their new shoes and taught them how to play UNO while we ate Pringles. This was of course great and they caught on quickly to UNO and the Pringles. Oh, yes we had to stop for ice cream before heading back to the orphanage. We'll have to do better on nutrition when we get home. For those of you who are worried though, we do bring them bananas at least every other day. Dad, I think of you when we eat ice cream, but I sure do miss Braum's. I also miss frozen custard, and all of our familiar places for that matter.

Today, we went back to the huge market for the last time. We went by ourselves without a translator and we rode the subway. Wow aren't we adventurous. The subway cost us 20 cents per person round trip. Much cheaper than a taxi. It was fun and we finished our clothes shopping for the kids, at least to get them home. Kade is now feeling sick and Anya has a runny nose and a cough. We went to the Orphanage around 4:00pm and played. Anya required almost no warmup time and was as happy as could be, despite her cold. We played soccer, and had a big UNO game with all of us and another girl at the Orphanage. It was great interaction and Kayla does a great job showing Dima and Anya how to "get into the game" with animated faces when playing a skip or a draw 4 card. It was a joy and fun all around. I felt sorry for Kade who was dragging a little, but hope he feels better tomorrow.

Well that is all I can think of for now. Tomorrow we are getting up early to go to the notary office and make application for passports. This should give us a head start for Thursday; the BIG day!! After we are done at the notary office, we will have lunch with some missionaries from Oklahoma who are about 10 minutes away from us here. This should be interesting and a nice break from all of the foreigners. Wait, we are the foreigners here. Anyway, you get the idea. I hope this is making sense as I am getting tired. It is about 10:00pm here and we have had a long day.

Now I really better shut up and post some pictures!

Love to all and thank you for your prayers!

Scott, Kayla, Kade, Dima and Anya