Day 30 -Anticipation - Monday Oct. 17

Melissa, Luba, Annie, Chelsea and Anika

Only one more day to wait until our court. But with all the bumps, we still felt uncertain that everything would work out. We were pretty lazy in the morning. I was getting allergies or a cold and felt lousy. We needed to change some more money to be able to pay the hotel. We had a very late breakfast/brunch. Then we got a call from Anika inviting us for dinner that evening. Of course, we were thrilled to be able to eat somewhere besides a restaurant or sandwiches, and the company was most welcome also. I wanted to try to get to the open air market and find some more gifts for our family, and for one of the kids at the orphanage whose birthday was this weekend. And we wanted to get some dessert and soda at the supermarket for the evening. I tried to catch up on the internet stuff before we went out and it took longer than I thought. Yarik was done early and called around 1pm, so we met him down by the supermarket and walked to the open air market hoping there would still be some vendors open. We were able to find a few things that we needed. Then went to the supermarket. We completely forgot to exchange the money! Well, we found our way back the hotel and organized the food. We did some English lessons and Yarik wanted to get on Facebook. We soon were ready to head over to the Open Arms place and walked down to the bus stop.

Yarik in the kitchen with Annie, Luba and Anika pose

Riding the bus is so much less intimidating now that we have used it frequently. We got off at their stop and walked right to their building, no problem! Up the elevator to the tenth floor and into a wonderful smelling, inviting atmosphere. By now the soup was almost ready and Annie was baking bread. We chatted and met one of Yarik's friends, Luba. She was on her way out and not staying for dinner. This time we did get some photos! Yeah! We had some soul-warming soup and absolutely delicious home made bread! Buttered with a "butterspoon" go figure...anyway. We both had more pieces of the bread than we should have, but it was fresh from the oven and that is always the best way to have bread.

The last of the yummy bread, the butter and the butterspoon

After dinner we talked about our plans for the weekend. Menus and other ideas. Yarik had to get back to school, so Darren walked him out to the bus stop. We got some good ideas on paper and then chatted a little. We were tired and knew we had a big day, so one of the guys had offered earlier to pray for us before we left, so we made our circle and everyone prayed for our court and our family. Darren and I prayed for the retreat and the kids and team. It was a sweet time of fellowship drawing near to the throne of grace at a crucial time in many of our lives.

Darren talking with Mike & Brett, two guys here to help with the retreat.

After prayer we walked back to catch the bus to the hotel. We were both pretty tired, but neither of us slept well. We both were very anxious about the next day!