Exciting News & Progress!

First, the progress in 3 areas...
1.) My attitude
2.) My shopping abilities
3.) Elijah

1. Even thought we were sent back to "that room" (waiting area w/ no toys), my attitude was better. We made the best of it. The laptop helped too! LOL

2. Yesterday I made my first attempt (and it was successful) at buying produce at the open air market. (Yes, Stephanie, it took me this long!) One thing I found out that the prices things are labeled is for a kilo (or pound - not even sure which) and you ask for your produce by how many kilos you want. Yesterday, I told her I wanted 5 (I meant single) oranges. She looked at me a bit weird, then even weirder when I told her to stop filling the bag. :-) I'm glad I got a lot more than 5 though as they are really good! Today I bought potatoes no problem. I have butter and sour cream (they love their sour cream here - "CMETAHA" in Russian). So, I'm nuking them in the microwave for "baked" potatoes.

3. Tonight was the first time Elijah didn't want to leave my arms and go back to the caregiver. And it was even the caregiver that gives him treats. That's progress!

Ok, now the EXCITING NEWS!  I'm happy to share with all of you that my dear friend, Debbie, will be leaving Friday, arriving here Sunday, to spend some time with me and help me bring Elijah home! YAY!!!!!!  I'm so excited!!!!!  It will be so wonderful to have her here with me. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better too. And, the extra help on the way home will be great too. An extra bonus is that she's a nurse, so if anything comes up medically with Elijah after we spring him from the orphanage, she'll be able to help. An extra, extra bonus is that our friend, Max, will be going to the capital city to get her and bring her here on the train. (He's got the train tickets purchased and is ready to go!) Pat and Sarah met Max this summer when they came to this country for a mission trip. (Go back to the VERY beginning of the blog for details.) Max is one very special young man and he has an AMAZING ministry to the hopeless of this country. (If you want more information about his ministry, let me know.) He is a native to this country, so I'm greatly looking forward to the opportunity to have him translate for me with the nannies. I want to find out about Elijah's schedule, what he eats, etc, so it will be a true blessing to have him here as well. Plus, I've never met him, so that will be fun too!

I do want to say a special thank you to Debbie's family - PD, Jake & Ashley, & Ben - for giving up their wife/mother for Christmas. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate that I won't be spending it alone. Thank you! And thank you to Debbie, of course, for your willingness to give of your time and your "Crazy Love". May the Lord richly bless all of you!