Jodi Speaks Her Mind

Court Status and Kiev Life 9/18/2005

The current court situation is such that things appear to finally be moving forward, albeit slowly. We have a preliminary court hearing this Friday, Sept. 23, but this is still not our official “court date.” Evidently, the new code requires TWO court appearances, but only the second is really significant. This more official court date will, God-willing, take place 7-10 days after the preliminary hearing. Then, there could still be a 30-day wait imposed OR the new code might instead have a mandatory 10-day wait, which cannot be waived. At this point, we are just trying to take it one day at a time and to trust the Lord with the timing of everything. It seems dangerous at any time to start planning a departure. We are about to change our plane tickets home for the second time, and once again we will have to “estimate” a departure date. Sigh Obviously, your prayers for expeditious proceedings are requested!!

As for our life here, we have adapted pretty well. We are pleased with our new apartment, which at least has a washing machine so we do not have to hand-wash our clothes. We aren’t too far from Adelina with about 35-40 minute commute made up of walking, bus ride, metro ride, another bus ride, and then more walking. Of course reverse this for the return trip. This is a pretty typical Ukrainian commute.

We have found a collection of eating establishments that offer us a choice in cuisines, and we have even found a Mexican and an Indian restaurant for those nights when we want something extra special! Generally speaking, we really like Ukrainian food, so that is certainly not a problem. Much of the food we will miss when we come home, especially good Borshch and these tasty things we’ve discovered near the metro close to the orphanage that are sort of like “fritters”. They are deep-fried pastries with stuff inside them, and our favorite is a sweet version with something like apple pie filling in it. YUM! Oh, and they only cost the equivalent of 20 cents!

Our new location is within walking distance of the YWAM base, where we can occasionally use their internet access as well as fellowship with other YWAMmers and a fairly good number of Americans (or at least English speakers). We attended their “family night” last Thursday, and they blessed us by praying for us. Boy, was that refreshing!! We have also become pretty good friends with another U.S. adoptive family that is here. They are also adopting a girl in the Kiev region, and we’ve been meeting for dinner off and on for the past 3 weeks. They are staying not too far from us, and it is so nice to have this growing friendship while here. We are all excited to meet the others’ new daughter!!

I guess that sums up our current lives. We really do miss home and hope God will open the doors so we can bring our precious Adelina home soon. In the meantime, we are going to keep on keeping on. Thanks for following along!