Dinner at the Becker's

This evening, we had dinner at the home of Dr. Paul and Tanya Becker. If you don't know about the Becker's, we'll tell you more about them in another post. Anyway, Dr. Paul was chef for the evening and prepared a wonderful meal. We talked for hours about everything from home renovation (Ukrainian style) and old episodes of M*A*S*H to the personal stories of kids at Internot #4. I'm sure we could have talked into the wee hours of the morning, however, we pulled ourselves away at a reasonable hour. Renee and I brought dessert to the dinner. We purchased what we thought was some kind of chocolate tort from the market. Turns out it was a traditional Ukrainian cake made with prunes! Actually, there were not that many prunes so, it was pretty good.

We were entertained by the Becker's charming one year old daughter, Abigale. She is very cute with bright eyes and a big smile. We also enjoyed the company of Jeff, a good friend of the Becker's and farmer from northeast Iowa. For the last 13 years, Jeff spends about half of every year in Ukraine helping to manage a huge farming operation between Kiev and Odessa. He brings modern farming practices to Ukraine and introduced the soybean to this country.

It rained all day in Odessa. Renee and I ventured out in the morning to a local travel agent. We checked price and availability for flights to Kiev (to remake our fingerprints) and were pleased to discover some very affordable prices. After that, we shopped at the grocery market in the basement of the Afina Mall. In the afternoon, Renee worked (again) and we checked email. Paul took advantage of the lazy, rainy day and took a Saturday afternoon nap. (Yes!) And we continued the daily habit of doing laundry in the sink. Believe it or not, Paul did not take a single picture today. (There must be something wrong).

Prayer Request - For all the kids who have yet to be adopted. There are so many good kids who still need a home and parents to love them. There is special urgency for older children to be adopted before they turn 16. There are too many names and stories to mention here. For the names and concerns of particular children that you can pray for, please email Dr. Paul Becker at beck@real.ua