Staples, seaside, sight seeing, and surrender

We don't have much news to report on the birth certificate.  We found out that the court did accept the letter from the minister of justice. Today Svetlana petitioned the court for a new judge and we have not heard anything from her.

We spent Friday at the camp stapling more cloths to the tables…

And watching more of the camp come together.

(recruiting even the littlest helpers in raising the tent!)

On Saturday we took a 10 minute bus ride to the beach on the Black Sea.  This was our first European beach experience, and I'll just say it was….ummm…an eye opening experience.  The boys however seemed oblivious to everything and had a grand time.

 Making new friends!

In the afternoon we took a taxi downtown with hopes to see a show at the opera house.  They were sold out :(  So we took a tour bus around the city and enjoyed some melted chocolate instead.  Yum!

 The Opera House in the background that we didn't get to go to.

 A 250 year old shopping mall.

 Catherine

 Flat Stanley's House

 Port of Odessa

On Sunday we went to church with Laura.  Such a soul nourishing experience.  The service is in English and Russian.  When they sing praise songs the sing a verse in English and then the rest in Russian.  The preaching is both in Russian and English.  Such a blessing to fellowship with believers who live half way around the world and see their love for Christ.


After church we had lunch with Laura and her friends Michelle and Andrey.  Later in the afternoon we visited with Alyona and her adorable children at their lovely home.

Today we did some cleaning and helping at the Nasledie office and then went back to the beach for a couple hours.  The power was out for about 7 hours this afternoon and evening, but thankfully it stays light until almost 10 here and Laura has a gas stove.  We sent the boys out after dinner to the little convenience store by the apartment to buy ice-cream and milk (the essentials of course) and enjoyed a little treat in the dark.

(it was dark…but you can't tell with the flash)

Each day I am desperately aware of my need for the Spirit to grow the fruit of patience, contentment, peace, kindness, and compassion in me.  I'm a planner and a scheduler.  I don't deal well with indefinite waiting periods.  So every day, actually, nearly every moment of every day I find myself asking the Spirit to give me the patience, thankfulness, and contentment to trust my Father's plan.  To wait peacefully for Him to work out this paperwork problem in His time and in His way.  To surrender to His will and look for ways to be thankful during this indefinite separation from the rest of my family.  My sweet Aunt Lois pointed out some blessings to me the other day.  Even though I am not able to go on the Costa Rica mission trip with our church, God, in His goodness, gave us a mission trip here in Ukraine.  Isaac has all this wonderful time to be around Russian speaking people and be able to communicate (and boy is he a talker!)  The boys have this time to bond and build a relationship.  I have this time with Isaac, without the responsibilities that come with being a wife, mom, bookkeeper, housekeeper, etc. to bond and shower love on him.  He is very, very desperate for constant affection.  (and unfortunately, this is not my love language…another opportunity for the Spirit to work in me).  Laura pointed out to me that Isaac is my sanctification.  I have to agree.

So, as I head to bed, I will once again surrender my will to the Father's plan and wait to see what tomorrow will bring.  Asking Him to fill me with the fruit of the Spirit so I can joyfully accept it.