Hope Deferred

"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life" Proverbs 13:12

How well this little verse sums it up for us: A month of deferred hope has left us heartsick, but, God willing, two days from now we will see our hopes starting to be fulfilled and it will indeed be a new tree of life. We know that our translators are doing everything possible to find the right children for us, but it is clearly something that will have to be a gift from God--the right children, even at this point as yet unidentified, showing up and being available for us at 3:00 on Wednesday. God grant it.

"And it will be said in that day, 'Behold, this is our God, for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.' ". Isaiah 25:9

It is a beautiful day here and we are going to take a long hike in the countryside with one of the couples we've met here, who have been such a delight and refreshment to us. They were a gift at the right time, for sure!

Mark


Two more Days

Sunday morning we got up and went to church at St. Michae's. It was funny that we've been here long enough that we've simply picked a church to attend regularly. Neither of us said, let's go here or there, we just walked over to the church.

After the service we walked to Independence Square and in one of the underground street crossing malls Mark bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers: purple iris and white tulips. They have a lovely scent and it was very sweet of him.

Later in the day as we walked down the street, a Ukrainian man asked if he could speak English with us. He was a Jehovah's witness and was surpsised that we were Orthodox. After a few minutes talking with Mark he was glad to give up on us.

This could have been a tough Mother's Day for me, but it was fine. I had a sweet dream in which Andy Stanley (pastor of North Point) told me that Mary Evelyn lives on and that because of our special love she'll always be with me in my heart. I am not putting a lot of faith in dreams, and will admit that there were also mermen in the dream, but I still woke up with a warm cozy feeling that lasted all day.

I also got to talk to Thomas yesterday and that was very sweet. He and Jessica were celebrating with Mark's family and I was so happy to think of them all there together. I feel very blessed as a mom and I know I have a lot to be grateful for.

In the meantime there are other pressing challeges such as returning a t-shirt that didn't fit me. I bought 3 itmes at 25% off and want to return only 1 so I keep the 25% off and get a store credit instead of money back because I paid with a credit card. I can't speak a word to the store clerks so it'll be fun to try to explain all that.

Today is a special holiday here celebrating victory in WW II. There are parades, tourists and most peope don't have to work. In the photograph below you can see the barricades to keep people out of the street.

It's been hard to wait, but each day has had it's joys. I loved what Mark wrote this morning and only wanted to add the fluffy details of our adventures here.

By Edna