The Bilgorod Christian Clinic

The weather turned a bit colder here today so we are bundling up! It's still not as cold as Kiev though. We are visiting our little boy twice a day and learning more about each other. Today we really had high expectations. We bought him a little bicycle. It is red and black with training wheels and a cool bell. We really thought it would be a big hit. Well, it started out that way - big excitement! But, when we took it out to actually ride it we were deflated. He is struggling a bit with pushing on the pedals. He may have never had a tricycle or a big wheel. He doesn't seem to know how to work the pedals. We worked on it a bit, but he quickly lost interest and ran off to the slide. Oh well! We got it for ALL of the kids, not just him. So we thought maybe when he sees the others ride he would learn. When his class came out, there was an excited swarm of kids on the bike and no one knows how to ride. It will take some time. We worked on it again in our afternoon visit. He seems to be picking it up. Hopefully it will warm up and we can go back outside for another lesson.

We are continually touched by how sweet he is. He gives us BIG hugs every time we come and when it's time to leave. He has a sweet nature and doesn't stay down long - even when he doesn't get his way. Today when we were leaving, after goodbye hugs - he was headed into his room and ran back out and said (in Ukrainian), 'I will love you!'. Doesn't that just make you melt? What a cutie! We can't wait for the day when he actually gets to leave with us!

We thought we would tell you a little bit about the place we are staying. The Lord has really watched over us through this entire process and provided a great place for us to stay. If we were at a hotel it would be more expensive, we wouldn't have a kitchen or the internet or a washing machine. It's been great.

This is a Christian clinic. I am not really sure what services they provide to the community, but they are busy every day. It is a 3 story building and the 3rd floor was finished off with rooms for visiting missionaries to stay in. The missionaries are here in the summer and in the winter they allow adopting families to stay. We feel right at home here and some of the folks even speak English. When we went to church on Sunday, we saw a lot of familiar faces from around here - it was great! There is a scruffy little dog out front that barks at all of the passing cars. He is protecting us. He no longer barks at us and Simone, he knows we belong here. He is a cute little thing and we bring him scraps from the table.

Here is a picture of the front of the clinic and you can see Jason with the dog:

This is our bedroom

This is the kitchen...