A VERY quiet night!

After getting settled into our apartment we figured we would just go to bed since we were pretty exhausted from the trip. Then we noticed that it was snowing outside. It seemed appropriate to walk around the square in Kiev in the snow. So, we switched from pajamas back into clothes, bundled up, and off we went. It was beautiful. If you think to yourself "what would it look like when it snows in Ukraine" and your view was HUGE snowflakes, and lots of then, you are right. As we were walking around these beautiful old buildings we just kind of giggled.

At one point there was a group of junior high-age kids walking next to us. One said "hi", giggled, and then they all said "hi" and sort of ran off. Once we caught up with them Anne told them they spoke English very well. One girl introduced herself as Mary and we had a brief conversation with her and her father. She was very, very polite and spoke the language much better than we speak Ukrainian (obviously). Her father said that the group of kids was a "children's club for kids without parents." In other words, they were all kids from an orphange and he had a club to take them out, in this instance to a concert. We told him we were here to adopt a little girl, to which he responded that Mary was his adopted daughter. This was very cool and served as yet another reassurance that God is shaping our entire journey.

Thing you never see in America: We noticed many people walking around the square drinking beer (big bottles). Then we realized they bought them from a street-side vendor. So, you can walk up and buy a beer right alongside a Coke or water.

Anne and I have grown used to, and quite fond of, having little kids crawl into bed with us in the middle of the night. That being said, we went to bed last night at 10:00pm and woke up at 10:00am. Nobody kicked us in the middle of the night. Nobody asked us to come lie in bed with them. Nobody cried out and had to be checked on. Actually, we woke up because our translator called to let us know she wouldn't be to our apartment until 3:00pm today because she was meeting another family at the airport (the Dickensons, who we are traveling with). Funny thing is, we rolled over and went back to sleep BECAUSE WE COULD!!! We finally got out of bed at 2:00pm. That's right, a good solid sixteen hours of sleep. We are ready to go.

Irina will be here in few minutes. She will take us to exchange money, have dinner, and talk about our day tomorrow (SDA appointment).