TWO GOOD VISITS AND COURT DATE

We had our best visit yet yesterday afternoon. He played really well and he ate a whole short can of Pringles. I hope that isn’t too much sodium for his little system. I’m a little concerned he doesn’t like to drink much. We have seen him drink something twice. Most of the time he is pushing it away no matter who is trying to give it to him. I looked at the “juice” one time and I would have pushed it away too.

We had some paperwork to do this morning so we only went to see Jacob this afternoon. It was good. He is loving the slide now. Mama – On second thought, we may be getting that swing set when we get home instead of in March (for his birthday).

I put the wrong size he will be wearing when we get home. He is bigger than I thought. He will be in 18 mos. The shirts fit but the shorts are a little big in the waist. We’ll fatten him up in no time though.

Now for COURT DATE. It is not as we had hoped. Our date is July 2nd. Yesterday it was set for July 5th. Andrew worked his charms and got the Judge to change it. Although, we have the travel to the birth city on Monday for more paperwork. We couldn’t go today. The office is closed on Friday’s. We are waiting on more news about Court. Please pray and ask everyone you know to pray for good news on Monday. ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE THRU GOD. Penny – Thank you for the email you sent to us. It came at just the perfect time. Just when I needed it most. You will never know what it meant to me. We love and appreciate you very much.

Christa – Thank you the VBS updates and for the all pictures you are taking. Can’t wait to see them. We miss you all very much.

Brother Greg – If you don’t mind could you please have alter prayer for us and our child on Sunday. God knows the need.

Even in the midst of all the disappointments I am starting to feel calmer, more settled. God really does answer prayers.

No new pictures today. Maybe tomorrow.

God Bless You!!

Love,

JTJ

GOOD MORNING VISIT

We have had one visit yesterday and one today. It has been raining here so it is messy outside and the caregivers are starting to use the playroom too so we don’t have anywhere to play with him. The caregivers have a really hard controlling the other kids when we are around because most of them want to play with us and I don’t think they like it too much. This has also allowed us to somewhat catch up on our rest.

I think it was Mama I told that Jacob doesn’t like to slide. Well I think he is warming up to it, as you can see in the pictures. I think he is warming up to us also. There were no tears or whining today when he had to leave the group to go with us. It warmed our hearts.

Andrew got here yesterday afternoon and had to wait an hour for a taxi. Apparently it rained so much at the train station that the streets were flooded. He did get to make it to the courthouse with our paperwork. The judge told him to come back today at 10:00 AM. Then today the judge changed it to 10:30 and he still had to wait 40 minutes. Sounds familiar. When he finally got to see the judge he wanted 4 complete copies of our paperwork, which is about 400 sheets of paper. When Andrew got back he wanted a fee, which meant Andrew had to leave again and go right back to where he had just come from. Very organized around here. LOL As I am typing this it is 3:40 PM and Andrew is suppose to go back to the Chief Of Judges and find out who is going to be our judge and when our court date is. Stay tuned. As usual, things aren’t going as planned. We now have to go see the Prosecutor tomorrow. I’m not sure exactly why, but hopefully at that point we will have Court Date set. Please ask the church to pray for that things will go as planned tomorrow. Each day without a court date puts us coming home later and later. I know God can handle anything. We love and miss you all and are ready to come home with our little boy.

Love,
JTJ

LITTLE SQUIRRELING AROUND

No news on court date yet. Hopefully we will know something later this afternoon and post it tomorrow. We thought we would give you a few more pictures. We found that Jacob likes Pringles very much. One picture it looks like he is doing pushups under the swing but he fell out of the swing head first. It didn't hurt him though. He just laughed and did it again. We call him "monkey" sometimes because he is climbing on everything. Stay tuned for court date news. Keep praying.

Another picture of James' squirrel. We watched it drink water and eat nuts today.

How was Matthew's first VBS?

Love,

JTJ

BETTER DAY

We had a really good visit this morning with Jacob. We were 30 minutes late to due some problems starting with a new taxi but it all worked out fine. Jacob had fun being pushed on the tricycle to the point of wearing out his Dad and myself. He only had one major meltdown due to me not giving him Cheerios fast enough. He was so mad he laid down on the ground in the wet dirt to prove his point.

We now have a taxi company not just one driver. One first spoken very little English and the second one none, but we just hand them a note with the address we are going to and they just nod. The great thing is they are less than half the price we were paying. We got our own taxi to and from McDonalds today. Let me just tell you about the taxi home. It was an old German or Russian car probably from the 60’s. The old man driving kept turning off the engine and coasting as far as he could then he would turn it back on. James and I both were a little tired and ill before the taxi ride but afterward we were laughing. I guess you just had to be there. Needless to say our day and mood are better today. Prayer works.

Please keep praying that our court date will be Wednesday. We should know a date tomorrow if everything goes according to schedule. Even if it is Wednesday or Thursday it looks like the soonest we will be home is the 4th or 5th.

I said I would post Jacob’s size of clothes and I kept forgetting to. It looks like he will be wearing a 12 mos. probably thru the whole summer. If you need our address you can email me at simsfamily3@gmail.com.

Mama – I know you have Matthew now. Give him a HUGE hug for me. Give Daddy one too. Daddy – Give Mama one for me. We love, appreciate, and miss you all BUNCHES.

OK, now we are back from the afternoon visit and it went well, except for a couple of meltdowns. It seems Jacob likes to eat rocks, sticks, dirt, and crayons. When I wouldn’t let him eat a crayon today he pitched one more fit. Sometimes they are so bad I think he will pass out before he breathes again.

Also, I think it was yesterday that I mentioned I would respond to some comments. Our days are really running together.

Carl & Sharon – No English menus. They speak a little English at the pizza place. We call Andrew to help us order at other places (when needed). We still don’t like Ukrainian food. You are right – there are very few overweight people – could it be they don’t like “their” food either. ??

Michele – It’s great to hear that you & Johnny have a competition going as to whom gets the new info first.

Paula – It was good hearing from you. I bet you can’t wait for Roby & Sandra to come visit you.

Julie – Congratulations on your little GIRL that is on the way.

Vallie – You can’t imagine how great HOME does sound.

Love,
JTJ

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Well we visited Jacob’s once yesterday and once today. Today was a better day with him. Not a lot to post so this will be very short.

We are without a taxi driver and Andrew won’t be here until Tuesday. Therefore, we will not know anything about our court date until Tuesday. We are supposed to have a new driver tomorrow. Please pray him speaks some English. Also, pray that our court date will be Wednesday. It is actually possible. If it is Wednesday we could be headed home in 2 ½ weeks. If not right now we are still hoping 3 weeks. The lawyer at the orphanage is supposed to get getting some paperwork to the court tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a Happy Father’s Day! We will be praying for Bible School. Enjoy!!!! We love you all. We are going to read back thru all the comments and respond soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

James took a picture of a red squirrel that was at the playground.

God Bless You All!!

Love,

James, Teresa, & Jacob

ALUPKA PALACE

Today we visited the Alupka Palace, which is in Alupka near the Black Sea. We thought we were going to see two palaces but as always things aren’t what they seem. They were 4 km apart but we would have had to pay extra and the first one didn’t impress us enough (not after seeing the Biltmore Estates). It took us about 15 minutes to go thru it. Good thing the tickets were only $4 each. It was still a somewhat relaxing day even with all the walking. I did get to do a little more shopping. Oh, by the way the waterfall wasn’t much more than a trickle. We did get to see two swans, three peacocks, and a hawk. I got some really good pictures. The only picture I didn’t get was one of whole front of the palace.

Daddy - Happy Father's Day!! I hate that I'm missing Father's Day with you.

We have been thinking about VBS. We sure do wish we were going to be there with all of you. I'm going to miss being with the kids. I hate that I'm missing Matthew's first VBS and wish that it would have been Jacob's first too. You all are in our thoughts and prayers.

Love,

James, Teresa, & Jacob

DAY 5 OF VISITS

We had a pretty rough day yesterday and this morning. This afternoon went much better. He usually wants to do everything himself, but he let both James and I push him on the little tricycle. He played and laughed with us today. This morning we were feeling like we had regressed but this afternoon we definitely felt like we actually progressed. God was looking after all of us. It did our heart’s good.

As for the pictures there is one of James and I with Young Life t-shirts on (this is for you Lauri) and we are in front of the orphanage (this is for you Melissa) and our taxi is (the white car) in the background. The other picture I wanted to send is of two other kids in Jacob’s group. The little girl is Vicka and the little boy is Salvic. All the kids are so friendly and want to be picked up. It is so hard trying not to play with each and everyone. Of course we need the time to bond with Jacob and he doesn’t have anything to do with us when he is with his group so we don’t spend much time with them.

Melissa asked for pictures of the apartment. The pictures are of the one we are currently staying in so they will probably look a little lived in.

We are going to see a waterfall and two castles tomorrow about 100 km away. We may only see the inside of one of them. It depends on the time. It is so depressing here. The buildings are so rundown looking so we wanted to see some beautiful sites. We also wanted to have pictures for Jacob later of something beautiful from his birth country. I haven’t gotten many pictures of the buildings around here. We are usually in the car and going to fast to get good pictures. We will post pictures of the castles tomorrow.

We love you guys!

Love,

James, Teresa, & Jacob

P.S. - Still having problems with picture placement. Lauri I will probably be giving you a call for help.