Sorry For The Delay.......

(Rob Speaking)

Suzanne is the winner Laura is 41. I'm assume this is Suzanne Lever? Correct me if I am wrong. To make it easy I will bring chocolate for you too, unless you don't like chocolate.


I know we promised pictures yestersday, but I re-pulled my calf muscle yesterday trying to play basketball on a grass, dirt, and broken glass court with no basket. It only had the painted square on the bank board. I know I'm getting older, but Father Time doesn't have to keep reminding me. Vitamin M (motrin) has been my close companion and ally. Our cab was late in picking us up last night, and with my leg thing, I just didn't want to make the trek to the internet cafe, so it was my fault we didn't post yesterday. Since I know everyone reads this to find out about me, and not about the kids, my leg feels a little better, but it's swollen and tight as a drum.



Now, down to the important stuff. We got to visit the little one yesterday, and we are getting the impression that this one lady is saying something to him that makes him cry. If she's not careful I'll turn Laura loose on her. He didn't cry for very long since we had our big bag of all sorts of goodies. Half an orange seemed to do the trick, followed up by some trail mix, good fresh cold water, and even a little taste of Coke. You should have seen his face when he took the first swig of Coke, his eyes were wide like that was a big surprize. We had a very good time playing with him, especially Laura. He seems very proud of himself when he does certain things like climbing up the monkey bars, he seems to be a little frail, but we will fix that back in the States. I'm sure all the Ukrainian girls will just gobble him us when they see him.



We also went to see the oldest today, and he seemed really happy to see us. We brought him a happy meal and switched out a Coke for a Coke Light. I don't think he knew the difference. We had to remember to bring him one since I promised him Friday to bring him one on Saturday. We had a 4 hour visit which was nice, but quite long with nowhere to go. We played a lot of ball, and some of the older kids came and went and came again. There was one older boy that helped Laura go across the street for some drinks that was very nice. We sure would like to bring him home too. I personally thing he would be great for Rick and Fran and could work with Rick in his shop, and would be a great brother for sisters. Of course now that I think about it, the Cooks don't have a boy, he would be a great fit for them. I tried to explain to the oldest that Papa would be going back to America in 6 days, but Mama would be here. I tried to get a sense of if he would like to go, but didn't get much of a reaction. He may not have understood. I also explained to him that today was Saturday, and we would not be back until Tuesday. I'm sure he understood that. When we were leaving we walked him up to his room and we were instantly mauled by children, they don't like to let you leave. They gave us candy, snacks, hugs, kisses, everything. Then one little boy came out and told us that our boy was crying. We're not 100% sure why, but when the teacher came up, she asked him why he was crying and then asked us when we were coming back. I hope he didn't think that we weren't coming back, but I do think he is starting to miss us. I plan to have Igor read a note from us explaining what will be taking place when we go to court. We want him to know that we would like him to be our son and live with us in America with his brothers. We'll see how that goes.


After a much needed day to sleep in, we went to a photo shop today to have some of our digital pictures developed to give to some of the kids we have bonded with. It seems to be a big deal for them to get photos. The boy that I mentioned earlier gave us his photo for us to keep, so we printed some for him. It's very hard to tell who has family that visits or that they can visit, and who is content being there and who isn't content. Some kids make it very clear that they would like to come with you, some you think they might, but they don't feel comfortable opening up and telling you. We should have an exchange program for American kids who don't feel their parents give them enough, and let them come over here. Let them experience always having dirty fingers and toes, not having a refrigerator that you can just open and get drinks and snacks, not having clean clothes to wear every day, having to walk everywhere with no one to give you a ride or having a bike to use. What an eye opener that would be. Now for the spoiled grown-up club, of which I'm probably the president. I have become almost embarassed to show pictures of our house, the rooms we have, my car, and the activities we do. Why has God seen fit to bless us, Laura and I, the way he has? Some of the places where we have stayed since our arrival we would have never considered getting out of the car to look at if we were in the States. I know that most of us work very hard to make a good life for our families, but we need to do more. If money is what God has gifted us with, we need to donate more, if time is what he has gifted us with, then we need to volunteer more, if your gifted with time and money then please tell me how I can get both also. Most of the people we have met here have been so very helpful and so very kind, even thoughwe don't speak their language or know their customes. Our taxi ride last night was in a car that probably would never pass any inspection, and the insurance company would probably total for just a fender bender. I am embarassed to say that I was thinking that this old guy will probably gouge us for the fare. I then thought even if he tried to get 30 extra rph., that's only $6US, what's the big deal. Well, shame on me, he was very pleasant and tried to reassure us that his car would get us home (we gathered from his guestures), and charged us the correct fare. Then he shook my hand for giving him a small tip. Yea, I felt pretty small after that. For those of you who have already been here and gone through this, you probably experienced some of this, if not more. For those of you who haven't been here yet get ready, it will change your outlook on just how important you and your stuff really are, or aren't.



(Laura)
I just love that man more and more every day. People had told us that many of the couples have marrital troubles over here. Once again, I think we are the opposite. We have seen things in each other that draw us closer all the time. We can feel the Lord's presence always. Since there are no churches here that we could find we had our own little communion service this morning and that was great. It was so cool that as I prayed on the way the to see the oldest boy a few days ago the radio was tuned to an english speaking christian station! I didn't even know they had those here and haven't been able to find one since. I think God knew I just needed a little reassurance that He was listening and had heard me. That was the day I had an awesome visit. The Lord really does continue to amaze me daily. I hope that continues when I get home. Raising 3 little boys will require lots of prayer time and I'm thinking an investment in some LAVA soap would be good too.



And now, the moment you have all been waiting for. Here they are, oldest to youngest with thier new names (provided all goes well with the rest of the process of course) :




Yuri Robert Passanita











Victor Reagan Passanita








Evan David Passanita