Praise The Lord!

Praise the Lord we have Internet access again! It was so hard not to be able to see the blog and especially e-mails from friends and family. We missed the contact with our children even if it was only by a simple e-mail everyday. We have had a quiet two days with out any running around with documents to notorize or papers to be signed. We had a wonderful VERY short meeting with Svetlana's boss(the guy with the glasses, Jeff and Amy). It was actually a little funny as Michelle briefly informed you about Svetlana taking Ariana without us into this man's office(thinking Ariana was Natasha) and then coming back out a bit embarrased. We went in after she brought Ariana out we introduced ourselves and sat down. The man said something about how there was much documentation. We really didn't understand what he said. Then he said something to Galina and she spoke and then he stood up and said thank-you and we said thank-you and then we left! We weren't in there for more than 3 minutes tops. We were so relieved! We weren't sure what to expect and we were'nt able to ask for prayer from you because the night before we had lost Internet contact. God has just continued to show us His faithfulness through this whole adoption. He had shown us several verses in Ezekiel before we left of how He was softening hearts and it has been so evident to us in many ways. We have also seen so many reasons why He wanted us to bring Ariana with us. We are just in awe of how He has been helping us and continues to help us here.
I just prayed so hard that God would get access going again to the Internet and blessed Victor got in touch with the company yesterday for us and sat down at Lela's computer and went through the steps with the company on the phone today to get this thing going again.
We were able to have Natasha over last night and she spent the night as well. It was fun trying to communicate with her and it would have been nice if the Internet was up so we could have translated online. She is so patient with her Mama. She is smarter than the three of us here put together! She understood us easier than we (or I should say I)understood what she was trying to say. She was so patient with us all and was all smiles while she was here. Ariana taught her to play Solitare on the computer and she learned quickly. Miranda you'll be able to play Solitare with her when she gets home : ).
Michelle's roomate Lisa came in from Maryland this afternoon and Michelle and Lisa are staying here at Lela's with us tonight. It was nice to have a meal all together except we weren't able to have Natasha with us. We weren't able to have Natasha overnight again but we did see her today and got a lot of pictures with her friends. She has gotten a book where she can put her friends' photos in and where they can write comments in it for her before she leaves.
We hope to leave Odessa the 30th and this is longer than we wanted but it works great in that Natasha's Christmas Party with her friends is the 29th and I think it would be good for her to have on last 'hurrah' with her friends before she goes. But we're hoping with the new year and it being the weekend it won't take us longer to get out of Kiev. We'll see what God has planned for us. Thanks for your continued prayers and patience with us as we haven't posted or had a chance to put up pictures.
We also got to see Cole's class and gave Dima S. the Lennard's family picture that we had brought with us. We asked Victor to tell Dima that we would bring back letters for Cole from Dima if he wants to write Cole. So hopefully, we'll have some for him when we return. We gave Dima a big long hug from all the Lennards. We also gave Inna a big long hug from all the VP's. You'll notice Inna has Lena VP's picture in the picture we took of Natasha's friends. Inna wanted to have Lena in the picture before we took it. We also have a note to bring back for Lena from her.
Sorry so long but we had to catch up on a couple of days. Enjoy the photos!
These are of our wonderful meal we had with the Becker's Sunday evening.