Quiet Monday.

We were supposed to have dinner with Sasha but didn't hear from her. She was in Dnipro all weekend teaching adults how to do Children's Ministry. It was a quiet day and I didn't really feel like going out - I am tired. Sooo - we pulled out Scrabble (Janis beat us big time) and then pulled out some of Janis and Randy's movies and watched a few (Rocketman and Cool Running). They were pretty cute and didn't take a lot of brain power to watch.

Then we listened to a Rob Bell sermon which was very interesting - in Ephesians about it being by grace we are saved and not by works and how if you miss the verse after that, you are missing the crescendo of the whole passage - WHY we are saved by grace. We are His workmanship - His artwork, per se, and we were created to do good works. To do MITZVAT - to do good things for other people. We get so caught up thinking we have to have the right words to convince people that they need Jesus and, here it says we were created to DO GOOD WORKS. It doesn't save us - but it is what we should be known for. Thanks to all of you who are praying and interceeding for us. Keep up the good work!

* For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

I have to talk about Shooba - (Shooba is Russian for fur coat but in this house, Shooba is a poodle). Shooba has been entertaining us to no end. She is a wonderfully fun distraction. Tom likes her enough to think someday he could have a dog like Shooba (and if you know Tom...it is highly unusual that he would want ANY animal, let alone a poodle). So - you know Shooba is an exceptional dog!

Kostya picked up our pictures around 2:30 so we know nothing is going to happen today. Maybe tomorrow night. We are playing the waiting game now.

We also heard from our former youth group interpreter Leana. She is back in Kiev and we will plan on meeting with her later. It is so great to get to see people that we thought we would never see again.

It is odd to be doing things like watching movies and playing Scrabble. It isn't what we would normally do if we were on vacation. It doesn't feel very productive. I wish we were getting to know our kids. I pray we are soon...until then we wait!