She is With Us

We left our apartment at 11 am today and travelled to Berdychiv.  On the way we found out that the passport office had gotten in a package today but they were busy with paperwork and couldn't open it until 2 pm.  So we weren't sure if the second passport could even be picked up today much less start the third one.  Well the passport did come in and the lady who puts the official stamps on the passport, wasn't in the office this afternoon and took the stamps with her leaving no one to do the stamping.  The orphanage director spoke with her several times but she could not come back to the office.  So we got the second passport but have to wait until Monday to get the stamp on it and start the third one.

After we finished all the paperwork to get Anna out of the orphanage, it was about 6 pm.  We decided to head back to Kiev and we will travel to Zhytomyr, which is like the capital of the region that Berdychiv is located in, on Monday to start the final passport.  While we wait for that passport we will take Anna to get her medical exam and we will make the first trip to the US Embassy.  We will go the Embassy again after we get the final passport.

Enjoy these pictures from today.  Anna seems to be adjusting well and is just taking it all in.  It just floors me to think about her being 16 years old, starting all over again and leaving everything she knows. What faith and trust it must take.

~Tina

These first few pictures are just random things around the orphanage while we waited for the paperwork to get done.

apple orchard on the orphanage grounds

These boys are playing soccer with a
basketball.

L to R - city administrator, our facilitator,
Peyton, orphanage director,
orphanage attorney

Anna walking out the gate.

Saying her goodbyes.  She is holding
a swan that her friend Peter made
for her.