Wow, it is hard to believe that it has been almost a week since Mikaela came to live with us. We love having her here, and she seems to be adjusting very, very well. She hasn’t slept quite as well the last few nights, but we are going to try giving her one more feeding a little later at night to see if that will help. Her coloring is already better, her face and torso look fuller, and her activity level is much higher than it was a week ago. We are very pleased with her progress.

As we posted on Thursday, we did apply for her passport, and we got word on Friday that it would be printed on Saturday. Monday was a holiday, so we were told that we wouldn’t be able to pick it up until Tuesday, because a certain official needed to sign it. Then we were going to catch a train to Kiev and spend Wednesday and Thursday working on Embassy stuff and fly home on Friday. Unfortunately, the official who was supposed to sign the passport didn’t come to work today. We don’t know why, but we can’t get that passport without his signature. He will be in tomorrow, and so Yulia says we can have the passport by noon. Then we will head to Kiev. She feels pretty confident that we will still make our Friday flights, but this is cutting it a little bit close. We are trying hard to trust God and know that He will get us home at the perfect time.

If we are able to make up that lost time, this could actually work out to be a blessing, because it is easier for us to be in Simferopol than in Kiev. We have learned our way around very well here, and are very comfortable. It will be nice for us to have one more day here, and one fewer in Kiev, as long as it actually works out that way. We have had a wonderful five weeks here, but we are very, very ready to come home. Please pray that all will go well from this point, and that we will make that plane on Friday.