Arrival

WE ARE HERE IN KIEV!!!!! We are excited to arrive in Kiev for our adoption of Lena and Eddick! We arrived last evening at 5:40. Dusty and Tina were on the same flights as we were even though we had different flight numbers and we were listed as KLM and they were listed as Delta, so we had the pleasure of traveling together. Sasha and our driver picked us up at the airport. He took us to exchange money and buy groceries at the market then to our apartment. Dusty and Tina are staying just acrossed the highway within walking distance of our apartment. There is an underground tunnel that goes under the highway and opens up into a circular outdoor marketplace. There are underground tunnels around the entire market. Dusty and Tina's tunnel is directly acros from ours so we met them there today. Eric and Cindy you will enjoy the market. We are posting some pictures, but can't reveal what kind of meat is being sold, Dusty has a challenge on his blog for whoever can guess what type of meat is being sold. The metro also connects to the circular walled in market place on 4 sides. Catherine thanks for suggesting we get in contact with Larissa. She was wonderful and a joy to meet and spend time with. We toured the downtown center city of Kiev with her followed by dinner together. The city center was beautiful we saw many sites including: the president's quarters where he and Parliament meet, a protest taking place over new tax laws, the town's oldest theatre, the opera house, etc. It was a great time and we were able to experience some of the beautiful places in Kiev. On our last trip we were not able to see these places, we mostly experienced the poverty. We took pictures for Ana, Lena and Eddick to remember Kiev. Dinner was at TJI Fridays, Larissa loves American food and said it is her favorite restaurant. Walking the streets of the city center was enjoyable and a learning experience in many ways.
Tomorrow Dusty and Tina have their appointment at the SDA to get permission to travel to the region to visit the orphanage. Our appointment is Tuesday. We should be traveling by train Wenesday night to Krivoy Rig, so we will see the kids on Thursday. We have been told that they do notknow yet that we are here or coming. Syvette has accepted an invitation from us to take her, her daughter and her husband to dinner tomorrow at a Ukrainian restaurant of her choice. We are looking forward to meeting her family and getting to spend sometime with them.
Everything is good here: everyone seems very happy to see us, the apartment is very nice the best we have stayed in here in the Ukraine, and we are friends with those who are assisting us, it is very nice and thus far more relaxed than our other trips. Things seem to be going well all around so far.Please keep our journey in prayer, I am sure the prayer cover is why everything is going so well.
To my family, we love you all so very much! We cannot call because our phone is not working and neither is our mike on skype. We can hear you, but you cannot hear us. Please know we are thinking of you and love you so very, very much!