today was rather uneventful...except that we picked up our dossier from the SDA which is state department of adoption. we saw a few people there that we had met at the airport from new horizons....so cool to see some americans there and speak our language. ha anyway, we are going to bed shortly because tomorrow we get up at 3:30 a.m. to get ready for our 6:45 flight to Donestk region. We will stay in Lugansk region and travel everyday to sasha's remote village of Lutugano..very very rural!. Soooooo excited to see his little cute face. he has to play it cool though. our facilitator called and told him to not talk to anyone....he said, "I got it." it is very street saavy and he is really excited but will have to be careful. we are anxious to see if he only hugs us when the director and inspector leave the room. we found out that when they lose a child at this orphanage that they don't get paid as much and somehow have to replace him...so it's a bit political.

ukrainians continue to amaze us with their very different culture. they totally make an opinion about you before they get to know you based on how you look. they are sweet if you try to talk to them, but no onoe makes eye contact with you. everyone looks sketch and looks like they are running from something or hiding something. haha We found out that 8 million people died during wwII and that is part of why there is a shortage of men around here....well that's jeff and my theroy. we also noticed that no one has wrinkles around their eyes...no laugh lines...haha.... jeff and i can't seem to do it though. try going all day without smiling...wow...it's strange! It would be wonderful to not have wrinkles on your eyes...but you wouldn't be too happy .:)

tomorrow is a big day for us. we are praying for guidance and asked God to help us to glorify Him in everything that we do. We truly want to bring Him glory and let His light shine through us. It's difficult when we don't speak the same language, but we are willing!

we are really busy tomorrow running around getting paperwork signed and we have lots of different things to do. it's all a faithwalk because it's a lot of "playing it by ear." that's what i do best, but it makes jeff very nervous! we think we are setting the court date for monday and will meet with the judge at some point. we will see sasha everyday and anxious to see if he will introduce us to his friends. his friends do not want him to leave and will try to talk him into staying. many kids still believe that once they are adopted the parents will kill them to use their organs for their other children. it's absolutely insane the stories that these poor kids are told. our facilitator told us that we have to get sasha out of there. she said even if he says no from pressure from someone that we must fight for him and never give up. he doesn't have a chance for survival otherwise. we are hoping that all goes well and that no one bullies him or beats him up because they are mad that they are not going or just plain mad that they are losing a friend.

jeff and i want to start a ministry to bring these kids over to america. when the kids get out of the orphanage at 15, they have an 80% chance of being homeless, addicted to drugs and sold into prostitution. we found out also that women in kiev fake their pregnancies , when they cannot get pregnant and then they go to an orphange to get a baby and change their name, etc. No one ever finds out then that the child was an orphan. In God's eyes, it just doesn't matter, but in this society and culture it does. An orphan is at the lowest in the caste system or the socio economical system. they are never accepted into society and orphans are shunned and treated with no respect. they are never able to get out of this status. it reminds me of Moses and how he was adopted by Pharaos daughter to raise him as a king.

Please check out New Horizons for children. This is the most amazing ministrty to bring orphan children over to anerica. Jeff and I can help you in the process and we will guide you through it. it has chancged our life in so many ways. Our kids are continualy telling me, "mom, go get my brother." you don't have to adopt, but God brough the perfect child to us and He said, you are to be a Nyman. haha i love my children with him...it's been so cool to see them give of themselves and grow through itl the website is called: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org
check it out....click on the hosting program. their is a fee for hosting but many times people offer scholarships for the kids to travel This is how we got started...we just picked a little one and brought him here. we want to have some of sasha's friends hosted so they can all be in our area. we are going to pay special attention to the kids so that we can pick one out for us to host again.
God is sooooo good and we are so thankful for his continued blessings! He has led us all along this ourney and I know that the journey will truly just begin when we get him back home That's when the journey begins....then so much to think about and so much to do. School, etc.
God will give us answers as we progress on....don't have them all yet. ha

we will have much more to report tomorrow...we can't wait to see sasha's face and hug him....i may not let him go. we saw an adorable picture of him when he was younger with blonde tosseled long hair and somehow or another i am giong to try to get that picture.

taking an ambien so i can sleep tonight...we are so sleep deprived and feel like it's been hurry up and wait...so the waiting will be over by tomorrow. we are definately going to be on a fast track to see how much we can get done so we can speed the process up. we could come home early if they let us pile lots of jobs into one day. we shall see. we will still have the 10 day waiting period when he has to be available for adoption to anyone else....but he will not say yes to anyone at this point. okay, the ambien is kicking in...it's 9:08 and i have to get up at 3:30 a.m.
nighty night....love you all!

we miss our sweet children and friends and our cozy bed!