Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Well, once again we have fallen behind with the blog posts. As Andrew said in the last post, we have fallen into a routine, where we visit the kids, eat and chill.

Tuesday
Luda met with the judge finally, but he told her to come back tomorrow to discuss things in more detail....We visited the boys and M in the afternoon and then headed back to the apartment to make some pierogies and greek salad (cucumber, orange pepper, tomato, onion and a bit of oil, salt and pepper).  This is Andrew's new favorite dish to make. 

Wednesday
Luda met with the judge again and he finally agreed to court on Friday.  Thankfully, we can get the next part of the process going.  Our amended Home Study reached Vlad on Monday and the VISA for the 3rd child finally arrived in Kiev on Tuesday and the Embassy was able to draft a letter for the court saying they guarantee issuing VISAs for the kids.  Thank you all who helped get the home study addendum notarized, apostilled and fedexed to us as well as follow up to Philly Immigration (thanks Joni, Michelle and Kristen).  Luckily everything has fallen into place and we will have court on Friday at 10am.  Not sure what to expect because the hearings differ between judges and regions...

I wasn't feeling well and Luda had a lot of notarizations and paperwork errands, so we were only able to see the boys from around 4-6.  They were having a special assembly, where some older students from the local religious school sang songs, did skits, played instruments and handed out lollipops and juice boxes.  We only saw the last 10-15 minutes.  It was cute to see all the kids dressed up and sitting around with ballons.  We then played inside with the boys for another 1.5 hours.  Unfortunately, we were not able to see M today.

Thursday
Today we were back to our normal schedule.  We saw the boys from 10-12.  Playing outside today was a bit nippy as the weather has turned colder, but it still was beautiful.  We did a craft project from construction paper and played with the ball and on the swings.  A was in a bit of a funk today.  Not his usual self.  C did not want to go back with the Groupa after our play session.  They seem to be more and more reluctant to do so.  After we visited with the boys, we headed to M's orphanage/school.  Their school is on vacation this week, so the only kids hanging around are the orphans.  Sad to see so many beautiful and smart children there.  We did puzzles again and some of M's favorite friends joined us.  We then drew some pictures and wrote english words for the girls to copy.  The kids headed to lunch, but I think they made it pretty quick, because they were back in 15 minutes.  We painted fingernails, handed out treats and got the IPOD touch out for about an hour of fun.  I tried to explain that Da Zaftra (tomorrow) M would see the boys at court.  I don't think it made it through translation.  Hopefully, we will witness the reunion tomorrow and get some video or pics.  They haven't seen each other for over a year and their orphanages are only about 15-20 minutes apart.

We made it back to the apartment before dark, so we thought we would head to Pizza Celetano for dinner.  The pizza was extra cheesy, extra crispy and EXTRA good.  You can't beat dinner for $8 bucks.  We also stopped at the grocery store for more toilet paper (its OK, but not as cushy as at home).  The TP we bought today is green and actually apple scented, we thought we would try it.

Headed home to blog and read the news.  Its only 7:24.  I guess its time to start my second book.  I am trying to space them out so I don't run out of reading material.

Remaining process - Court; 10 day waiting period; new birth certificates; legalization of documents; passport application, receipt of passports, fly to Kyiv, Embassy medical exam, VISA, fly home to good ol' USA.  We will be here for 3 more weeks.  Looking to fly home on Nov 21......

We will try to let you know tomorrow evening how Court went! 

Love and miss you all!

Andrew and Heather