This is a long posting because it was a very full day...
This morning we woke up to an e-mail from Hannah. She put together this collage of our family using the blog photos from yesterday. She said she wanted to have a family photo to put up as wallpaper on her computer! Praise God for the way he transforms us and prompts us to great love like he is growing in Hannah for her new siblings!



This is a long posting because it was a very full day...

After waiting all morning for documents to be completed (more on that on the next post), we were so glad to finally spend time with our Nastia and Ivan! The director allowed us to visit with them in a classroom where we played Uno and LCR, looked at photos some more and just enjoyed each others company. The big challenge however was that our guide had to complete the document process and could not stay with us to translate. Never fear though, we had our trusty Russian language dictionary!

It wasn't long before Nastia's BFF Natasha came by to see what was going on and she joined us, too.

Not long after we got there, Abbie and Hannah called us before they went to school and they both got to talk on the phone to their new brother and sister. Nastia decided to take a picture of piglet and send it to Hannah! So Hannah this is for you from Nastia :)

Look at these big smiles as they begin to get to know their new big "seestras!"

Not long after that things got really crazy! It was so crazy in fact that we forgot all about taking pictures. While Mike was getting really silly and crawling around on the floor wrestling with Nastia and Ivan, a couple of kids poked their heads in. Then a couple of more until the doorway was filled with kids. Mikey started acting like a monster which of course elicited squeals of delight from these attention starved kids. We knew they just wanted to play so we went into the wide hallway and played duck duck goose. They all knew how to play, too! After all 20 (!) or so of them had a turn we went back into the classroom and played heads up 7up. This was a new game for them, but they caught on quickly. And don't kid yourself- every one of those little boogers peeked! What happened next is something that will stay with Mike and me for the rest of our lives...We knew it was time for these kids to have dinner or go to bed or something, so we asked them where the dining room was. Ivan and Nastia took us by the hand and the whole entourage of children walked us through the halls and down the stairs. As we walked, other children joined in until we were in a sea of children who were skipping and laughing and grabbing our hands, telling us their names and asking us ours and trying so very hard to communicate with us in some way.

A staff member told us it was bedtime, so they then showed us their bedrooms. We still are not sure where the beds were. We think they were in cabinets that pulled down from along the walls. We knew this was a very special orphanage filled with healthy children who were allowed to be kids and yet there was orderliness and tidiness in spite of the limited resources available to them. Mike and I would like to explore ways we can help these terrific and very needy kids.

Seeing all of the need is sometimes overwhelming and even discouraging. But when I start to get overwhelmed I remember a story I once heard about a boy who was standing on a beach filled with sea stars which had been stranded by a lengthy low tide. He was busy picking up the sea stars and throwing them back into the sea, one by one. A man was watching him from a distance wondering, "How can this boy think he can possibly make a difference when there are thousands of sea stars stranded on this beach?" After watching the boy for some time longer, he ventured over to him and asked, "Do you really think you can make a difference here, young man?" The boy simply picked up another sea star, threw it out into the sea and said, "It made a difference to that one!"