Court Date!

On Thursday we stayed at the apartment all day. We started a puzzle which we had brought from the USA. It’s a difficult one - all the pieces are triangles.

We got about half way through the ever growing pile of laundry. God bless the families who do not have washing machines - it is quite the chore to manually wash all your clothes! None of our whites have stayed white - even using the washing machine in Kiev, everything turns out grey!

On Friday we did not go to the orphanage as Nicholas was scheduled for blood tests for the adoption paperwork and would not be back at the orphanage until after 5pm. We heard from Luba - the SDA has accepted our petition at adopt and we have a court date scheduled for Monday at 11am! Wow - we are so excited and thankful that it came so fast.
Please keep Luba in your prayers - we heard today that she is scheduled for surgery on Monday. She had the same operation that I had two years ago (her operation was also two years ago) but she has had painful complications. She will be on bed rest for all of next week. Luba’s sister, who is also a facilitator, will come with us to court. Yelena met us at the airport when we first arrived in Kiev and she was extremely nice so we are comfortable that we will be well taken care of during court. Since Nicholas is an older child he will also be at court with us. The judge will ask him some questions and verify that he wants us to be his parents and wants to live in the USA.

I forgot to tell a story of our first meeting with Nicholas. He was confused why we couldn’t understand his Russian - I’m sure he’s never met anyone who speaks English. He asked Luba if we were from the city and that’s why we could not speak Russian! :o) I love that story!

Friday afternoon we ventured out and walked around a bit. We took a few photos but cannot upload them via the blackberry so we will have to wait until we have reliable internet access.

The weather here is chilly and gray. Every day it has been overcast and it is really affecting our moods. We are used to sunny Colorado - where even when it’s cold the sky is often a brilliant blue and the sun is shining.

I also wanted to post about the people of Ukraine. The 20-something women are either beautiful or stunning! There are no ‘average’ looking young women here. Every woman we’ve seen would make Victoria’s Secret models look plain. It’s really quite amazing. The fashion statement is to wear skin tight jeans with knee high leather boots with stiletto heels. I honestly do not know how they navigate the icy sidewalks and cobblestone streets in heels which are thinner than a nail - but somehow they manage and we’ve not seen a single slip.

We heard before we traveled that not many people smile - and that is the truth. If you catch the eye of someone on the street they give you a ‘You looking at me?’ tough-guy kind of a look. (sorry - hope that sentence makes sense). I’m sure it’s just their culture as the few people we have gotten to know are so very nice once you speak with them. It is a hard life here and I guess that shows in their attitude on the street.

That’s all for now - we’re off to the orphanage on Saturday.

Love to all…