Things continue to go fairly well for us here, but the weather has taken a nasty turn, and it has been in the 90’s for the last few days. Very few of the buildings here are air-conditioned, so we have been very hot. By God’s grace, our apartment does have an air-conditioning unit in the family room, so that has made it possible for us to stay far more comfortable. We thank God for that daily!

Our visit with Mikaela was not as good today as they have been up to this point. We always treasure the time with her, of course, but our visits are always outside unless it is raining or Mikaela is sick, and both girls were a bit cranky from the heat. Josiah loves to be outside, no matter what the temperature is, so he was pretty happy, but the girls were fussy and a bit out of sorts. There is a little wooden playpen in a covered area, and the girls were content to play together there for a while today. Mikaela is really starting to interact with Gabriela, and it is great to see. She kept reaching up and grabbing Gabriela’s arms and trying to take toys away from her. She isn’t strong enough to pull anything away from her yet, but she is getting much faster. It is pretty cute.

Tomorrow, we plan to go to the Black Sea with our landlord and his family. I hope it is a bit cooler, but if not, at least we will be able to wade and cool off a bit. We are really praying that it will be cooler by Monday, so that we will be able to have a better visit with our little girl.

Here are some pictures from the last few days. Since it has been so hot, they have been dressing Mikaela more lightly, and we have been able to see more clearly how thin she is, and how little muscle tone she has in her lower body. It is discouraging, but we know that we can take care of all that once we get her home. She is beautiful, and such a wonderful gift.