Day 50 - Day of Thanks - Sunday, Nov. 6

We all got up in time to shower, eat and get dressed for church. The sky was so blue, but the wind was cold. We did not know what bus would take us to church, so we walked. The wind nipped at our noses! Yarik complained. I said we needed the exercise and fresh air. It was cold, though. Water in puddles was frozen...but we walked briskly and made it to church before the service started this week. They were celebrating the Day of Thanks, so had a special program. They had special music by some teens and then a cute presentation by the elementary age kids and some singing by them as well. It was so very cute. One of the toddlers got up and danced while the other kids were singing. He stole the spotlight for a while.
 After the service, they had plates of food set out and coerced us to eat. During the service, there was a man and wife team video taping parts of the service. We found out that they were making a video for Russian Christian television. It was also Oprhan Sunday and they had played a clip about orphans. I wondered how the boys felt about it. I was glad that I felt the tug of God and had chosen these two and they were no longer orphans. It was a bit weird for the other kids who had come to church with the Open Arms team, who had not been chosen and were out living on their own. We were not sure how they perceived it. Anyway, when the husband wife team found out that I had just adopted our two boys, they wanted to do an interview with us. At first I thought it was going to be Annie, one of the Open Arms gals, and I. But after they interviewed me, they asked to interview the boys. Sergei had already gone outside, so Annie went to get him. They interviewed Yarik first and then Sergei, with my arm around him. They said it might be used all over Russia and Ukraine. Hmm, interesting thought, that maybe God had us stay a little longer to be part of this video?!?

Mom posing for Sergei with Yarik behind me

Anyway, after our interview, we left with the team. They were heading for pizza and planned to catch the bus downtown. We got on the bus with them, thinking we would join them for pizza, but when the bus turned toward our apartment instead of downtown, we got off at our stop. Sergei just wanted to go home, so I was going to send Yarik with the girls, but he decided he wanted to go home with us as well. So they went their way and we went ours.

Sergei putting stickers in my hair!

We had a relaxing afternoon at the apartment. Later in the day, Yarik got to skype with two of his friends from the west coast. They are so excited for him to be coming to America. After Yarik was done, I wanted to try to talk to my brother who had just gotten back from several months of AF duty in Turkey. I tried calling him with our google voice, but no one answered. I called my mom to ask for his cell number. She was on the other line with him, so I told her to have him get on Skype. We got to Skype for quite a while. It was nice to catch up with him again. We are disappointed that they will not be able to get back to PA to visit for a long time. I am glad we at least got to see them in Colorado this past summer.
By the time I was done talking to my brother, it was after mid-night, so I went to sleep. The boys did too.