Anticipation

We had another lovely day. We walked around the city for about 5 hours with a 40 minute break for lunch. I loved exploring and seeing the different architecture. I am so schedule oriented and life at home runs more smoothly when we keep to a schedule. However, the past two days have been so open-ended. Meandering about following whatever road looks interesting. It has been so good for me!

The underground mall system is still so fascinating. We found 3 different underground malls. This large dome was in one of our pictures from yesterday. We had no idea when we saw it that underneath was the courtyard/eating area of the mall. 

(There was another McDonald's, Baskin Robbins, McFoxy (?) and other Ukrainian eateries.)

There are lots of fountains and statues. Today it sprinkled a little bit, 

but not enough to pull out our umbrella. 

Another fountain, statue and the wall of glass is another shopping mall 

with escalators taking you to three different levels of more shopping. 

There are cars and people bustling about. We noticed that there is a large population of men and women under 40. 

Women are very fashionable with their short skirts, or tall high heeled boots. I don't know how they walk with all the hills, cobblestones and steps to go up and down to the malls/metro. Men are mostly wearing black leather. 

When we went out this morning the temperature was probably about 56 degrees. It was crisp and refreshing. 

By late afternoon, it had dropped significantly and I felt chilly for the first time. 

The weather channel said it felt like 41 and I believe it. I might have to take out my hat and gloves. ;)

Such good quality time together! I'm so thankful.

We collected our paperwork this afternoon at the SDA without any trouble. We depart early tomorrow morning for our flight to Donetsk. It's going to be tricky to get up so early since we are not fully adjusted to the time change. 

And finally, we are at the point of the trip we have been anticipating all along! I'm not nervous yet. :) Between 5-7am your time Wednesday (12-2pm here), we will be arriving at Irina's orphanage. That is when things could get a little more difficult and/or emotional. We will have the opportunity to hear more of Irina's history, see the conditions in which she is living and finally get to see Irina! Please pray for our day tomorrow. Pray that our reunion will be sweet, that we'll have appropriate expectations and that we'll continue to see God's blessings no matter what we encounter. 

I am hoping we'll have internet in Donetsk, but I'm not sure. If I'm not able to update the blog, it doesn't mean that anything is wrong. ;) I may have to wait until we return home. We shall see... If I'm not able to update you, please pray that we get to see Irina on Friday (in addition to Wednesday and Thursday). It's not confirmed that we'll get to do that. Lastly, please pray for our safety on our return flight. Many thanks to all you prayer warriors out there. Your prayers are felt!