Good News from Donetsk

All, we had the meeting yesterday and to say that God is good would have to be the understatement of the day. After the appointment at the adoption center in Kyiv, Stacey and I were restless about what we might see when we got to Donetsk. The car ride was long and difficult and it only added to our apprehensions. However, God has always been in control, it is us that has the hard time trusting through it all. As soon as we walked into the room where we met this child, it was an immediate attatraction. He was happy and smiling and very friendly. He threw the ball very well and was interested in trucks "machina". He followed instructions very well and was very attentive. All of the medical reports that we have received on him were very good. The only set back is that he was born with a cleft pallet. He has already had a surgery on his lip and it looks relatively good. He will still need surgery when he returns to the US but he is as normal now and just about any child you will find anywhere in the world. He eats well and speaks well, all things considered. Today, when we visited him and fed him a banana, he already signed more and please and started on thank you. We were very impressed. He also likes playing with a ball that we got him and that bodes well for our family. His name is Mykola which is translated as Nicholas but they call him "Cola" as a nickname. We are leaning towards naming him Micah Coy Yankey and calling him Coy or Coya or Cola. We hardly ever say it the same way twice in a row yet so it will be an adjustment either way. He has big eyes like Caleb and Katie but they are the same color as mine instead of their mother's. He has short blonde hair and is a good size for a 2.5 year old. His birthday is Sept. 15, 2004. They say he eats well. We are guessing that he is either a 2T or a 3T. We are staying in a hotel right now but are hoping to move to an apartment very soon. We are waiting on signatures for a court date. Please pray for these to get done quickly so that we can get back to Caleb and Katie and the rest of our family. He also likes to swing very much. Please also begin to pray for his departure from the orphanage. We have heard that this can be really difficult (for him and for us.) It is a L-O-N-G car ride back to Kyiv. Our facilitator decided to drive instead of ride the train so that we would have a car here. The jury is still out as to whether or not that was a good decision. Although I have heard horror stories about the train so we trust them. We both have interesting stories to tell about the traffic and the restrooms that we have encountered. We may save that for another day. We are less than an hour's drive from Russia and there is obviously still a great deal of Russian influence here. The most interesting story about the restrooms agrees with what I had read on other blogs and heard others say is that some are just holes in a floor and nothing else. And in some places, you have to pay to use these holes. Toilet paper is not there and you have to either carry your own or go without. The traffic, we won't even go there now. It is something like a carnival ride except you are not sure that the person that is operating the ride cares if you ever get off the ride safely or not. The car that gets there first has the right of way and they are not shy about going 3 wide on a 2 lane road with one of those 3 going the other way. VERY INTERESTING!!!
While we were in Kyiv, we saw parts of the political demonstrations that are occuring here in Ukraine. Kyiv backs the President while Donetsk supports the Prime Minister. There are lots of police everywhere protecting the peace. I guess that is good. At no time have we felt unsafe or threatened. Most people here are very frienldy and helpful. We just have no clue what they are saying. We have encountered several though that do speak a few words of English.
To say that we miss home won't cut it either as far as understatements. We went to the Ukraine version of Wal-mart last night and it really made us miss home. Who would of thought that we would miss Wal-mart?? I think it was actually the fun times that we have as a family in Wal-mart that we missed. It is a good date night in rural America though you know.