A Trying Day

We were up and ready at 8am when Irina called to say she'd decided to go straight to the court and see the judge. So we waited. We waited until 2pm when she finally called to say that the Main Judge (not the one who did our hearing but the one whose signature we need) reminded her of the Law which specifies that if the 10th day of the 10 Day Wait lands on a Sunday, then you must wait another day. Like that Sunday didn't even count! Ira knew this law but tried to get it for us a day early which didn't work. We are allowed to have it on Tuesday, so we go tomorrow with Ira to get it. To pass the time waiting to hear from her we walked to TGI Friday's to eat our 1 main meal for the day. It was very good. On the way back we did some grocery shopping at the bigger market for some things we needed that the smaller market near our apartment doesn't have. Everything here is in miniture size compared to home. I can't wait to go to BJ's and stock up on everything in mega-size!

Slava picked us up at 3pm to head to Borpka for our evening visit with our Slava. No one seemed to be around when we got there so Big Slava went looking for the staff. They sent us upstairs to a room where Slava and his groupa must have been doing some class or something. As they all came out the women oggled Jordan and the little children wanted Slava's Mama & Papa. We followed them back downstairs and the whole time all these little 3 and 4 year olds kept chattering about us. We knew because we kept hearing them say "mama" and "papa". Big Slava left us alone in the little room with our rambunctious boy. At first I thought this was good, we've got to learn to fly solo sooner or later. The visit started off well enough. This time I brought a small orange instead of a banana. But as soon as I gave him some, he spit it out, handed it back and said, "kaka." I guess that's a universal word! Ok, no more oranges. He wanted me to pick him up so he could play with the light switch. I was happy to be able to pick him up, but when I put him down he grabbed my hair with both fists and proceeded to pull...hard! The more I tried to loosen his grip and sternly say, "no", "Neyet" the more he laughed. When I finally got loose, I grabbed his little hands and slapped them (not hard but enough to make a point). He laughed some more. I backed off and let Papa take over. Shortly after that he came up behind me, while I was sitting on the floor playing with Jordan, and he pulled my hair again! This time I picked him up and made him sit on my lap which lasted a whole 5 seconds. Jordan and I started rolling a ball back and forth trying to set an example of proper play. After a bit, Slava did sit down and join us. These visits can be so difficult. I feel like he's testing us because I'm sure he cannot get away with pulling the hair of the staff ladies. And when big Slava is with us, if our Slava starts acting up, he corrects him and he obeys. So I think he's testing us and trying to figure us out. We really don't know how much he understands of what's happening. Maybe the aggression is partly because of that too. We just can't wait to get him home on our turf and really begin parenting him. He needs so much love, compassion, and training. At these orphanage visits we have no real control. I feel like I reacted the wrong way maybe by slapping his hands. Now I'm even worried he'll say something to the workers and I'll be in big trouble. Oh how we want that court decree and birth certificate so we can get out of Dodge...er Kiev. We left the orphanage very discouraged, tired, and so very ready to be done with this whole process.

So we ask for more prayer yet again. We really need God's grace to do this, we are at the end of ourselves. We know that God knows our needs (here and home) and though it appears that nothing got accomplished today, we are trusting that our God is moving on our behalf. Please pray that Tuesday will be a successful paperwork day: that we will have favor with the Judge, birth cert office in Vasilkyv, and the passport office. We are trying to not grow weary while doing good, but we can't do that in our own strenth either.

This morning a song we sing in church was running through my mind even though I couldn't remember all the words. I could hear Bruce's voice, the name of the Lord is like a strong tower, the righteous run in and are.......we go out in victory......if someone knows all the words maybe you could email them to me. Thank you.