New Friends...And a nice looking Fort

Tuesday, June 13

Garrett and I were reading in the bedroom and the kids were playing in their fort when there was a knock on the apartment door. It was Marina and she had a couple from Michigan that had just arrived in Karaganda. There names are Brett and Karen and they are adopting a 9 year old boy named Marat which they are naming Nathan. They had flown straight through without overnighting anywhere and there apartment was not ready because Marina was not expecting them until Wednesday. They came up to our apartment and stayed a while until their apartment was ready. They were so tired. At 12:30 their apartment was ready and they had 30 whole minutes to get a shower and be ready for lunch and then go pick up their son. It was such a different situation for us. We had rested so much prior to getting Sasha and Stella which was good. They got thrown into it right away.

After lunch the kids walked over to the computer salon by themselves. Marina said it was safe for them and we could watch them most of the way. They went for a whole hour and they loved it. They had strict orders about games they could play and when we expected them back and they did it all perfectly. The girl that comes to clean came shortly after they came back and we decided to go to the grocery store. We went to the one that has the sunflower stuff but they were out of it! Can you believe it? They say tomorrow, guess I’ll have to wait. I’m having withdrawals!

At dinner we got to meet Marat. He is a little guy and was very quiet at the table. Brett decided to stay in so it was just Marat and Karen but we are loving having the company. They are a very cute couple. We are going to enjoy doing things with them. By the time dinner was over the kids were chatting on the sofa and getting along well. Sasha found out Marat has gameboy and decided to give him one of his games so we went down to their apartment which was a little weird since it was Ron and Sharon’s place before them. I was sitting on the same sofa I had before talking to a whole different family. It was like something out the Twilight Zone. Garrett says we will not still be here to meet the next family though!!! Karen is going to stay here the whole time and Brett will be going home after their court date.

The boys traded gameboy games and we came back up stairs because they had to be tired after such a long trip. Sasha had a good time playing the new games. They set up their beds on the sofa without pulling out the bed part with each having a fan blowing on their faces. They have to do things as much alike as possible lately. Truth be told it is her copying him. Typical sibling stuff. We got to bed at a reasonable hour but a big storm blew in and we had thunder, lightening and lots of rain throughout the night. We kept waking up all night.

It was a good day. God is so good and His mercy lasts forever!