Almost Done--And a Sunday Sermon!

Pictures: beautiful church not too far from our apartment; our trusty elevator to our 9th floor apt; our clothes dryer

Well as usual it is nearly 1 am here and I am on the computer. I guess my night-owl habits didn't change just cuz I came to Ukraine :) I've been falling asleep around 8 or 8:30 when I'm getting Caleb to sleep and then waking up around 10 or 11 or midnight to come work on the computer for a few hours.

We are to meet our driver at 8 am sharp for our last day of paperwork (!!!!) so I need to be up at 6 and back to the embassy we will go. And I'm taking my 50-pound notebook along because I really do think someone there is supposed to want to look at old tax returns or something. It is exciting to finally be at this place in the adoption process.

Today the weather here was absolutely gorgeous--so springlike and sunny that it just pulled me outside. It was great to just wear a T-shirt, pants and coat without twenty-five other layers underneath. First, Caleb and I went over to the market and got water, Cola Light and napkins and brought them back to the apartment. Then we headed the other direction in search of a pharmacy that sells babyfood. No fast-walking today just a nice Sunday stroll and no attempt to hide my being an American--I was chatting to Caleb most of the way. I had to just giggle when we passed what must have been a pet store and he saw this big picture of about 5 or 6 kittens-- he was going on and on and on, jabbering excitedly to them and moving his hands. We visited 3 pharmacies and found no baby food but thankfully did come up with more diapers and wet wipes. Finally, back to the market for bananas and oranges and yogurt. The lady at this particular fruit stand is just so sweet so I go to her every time. She knows Caleb loves bananas. She really likes him and gave him a tangerine. I don't know if people realize how wonderful their kindness feels to a person who is so far from home. She and another lady were talking and talking to me and I picked up the part about me being American but that was the only part I really understood. But tone of voice and smiles are a universal language.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved listening to foreign languages. For awhile I actually considered being a missionary with Wycliff and doing Bible translation. At home, when there's a sign written in Spanish I truly enjoy trying to figure out what it says. I remember one day at WinCo a guy behind me made some kind of slur about all the non-English-speaking people there and I said very honestly, 'I love it!' When I see someone obviously from another nation I just have this desire to make them feel welcome in my country. My year in Jamaica gave me a bit of an understanding of how it feels to be a different color than everybody else. And my time (I almost said 'year'!) here has given me added empathy for a person who cannot read or write or speak or understand the language. There is a feeling of being cut off, left out, kind of non-existant in a way. Simply going to the grocery store becomes a task that actually requires courage--not just time, money and gas (I'm talking about people in the States because I obviously don't need gas to walk across the street here) So since this is still Sunday for you guys who are reading this, my sermon for today is to be nice to 'aliens' -- another group that God wants us to look out for as He does the orphans.