In Kiev

Well, we're here! We're tired, but we're here. We flew through customs with no problems at all (thank you for your prayers). And although two of our flights had minor delays, there were no problems making connections.

The driver who picked us up at the Kiev airport, Nicolai, was such a blessing. He spoke good, but broken English, and of course, I know very little Russian. But I found out quickly that he spoke Spanish fluently and used to be a translator in Cuba and Guatemala for the government. So, here we are in Ukraine and I'm having an awesome conversation with Nicolai in half English / half Spanish! He was very nice and took us to our apartment in Kiev.

It's an old, rather run-down high-rise building, but the inside of the apartment itself is nice. It does totally smell like smoke (nearly everyone here smokes), but I'm used to that from my previous overseas travels and there is no such thing as a non-smoking hotel room or apartment in Ukraine. We'll only be in Kiev for a couple days anyway, so we'll be fine. This is pretty typical we're told: outsides of buildings and common areas within them are not very well maintained, but the insides of apartments or homes which are private are pretty nice. We're on the 15th floor so we have a good view of the city.

We go to the State Dept of Adoption (SDA) tomorrow to see dossiers of the children they've picked out for us. Please pray that the meeting goes well and that it's obvious exactly which child God has selected us for.