I Think It's Saturday...

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to video call my family... only Huz hadn't checked his email so he didn't know about this, so we didn't end up skyping. I could've stayed up to go running, but I didn't go to bed until 3, so I was sleepy. I put my tired self back to bed and slept for two more hours when my skypephone rang. It was Huz:) Girlies were all sleeping though, so I didn't get to see them. So! This is really exciting! Somehow, a true miracle, my webcam decided to start working. Whaddayaknow?! I don't know how it happened, chalking it up as a true, real life miracle.

Today was pretty uneventful. Okay, really uneventful:) After skyping with Huz, I was ready to be awake. It seemed awfully dark still, though. When I looked out the window I saw that the weather had decided for me that I wouldn't be running this morning. It was raining. So, I did what any person who doesn't have little kids around them would do, and I ate three pieces of chocolate and went back to bed. sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

I woke up to a weird tapping noise outside my window. As I groggily tried to pry my eyelids open, I realized that the room was going dark, then light, then dark, then light. Oh goody!!! A mystery:) It's too bad that I'm such a good detective, because this mystery took all of 7 seconds to solve. My upstairs neighbor was shaking her very long rug out her window and it was hitting my window (the tapping noise). When it would get dark, her very long rug was covering part of my window, when it would get light, she would be raising the rug up. Honestly, it was a little weird for a couple reasons. 1) she 'shook' her rug for a really really long time. We're talkin' ten minutes, 2) she wasn't actually shaking it, it was this weird repetitious up down wiggle motion, and 3) it was a really long rug. Long enough to hang out her window and half way down mine.

I stumbled out of bed as one does when they have had too much sleep. It was still dark and off and on rainy. I decided that running was not going to be happening today. The rain never stopped for more than a few minutes and it takes me fifteen minutes to get to the track, then I still have to run, and then another fifteen minutes to get home. Now, sometimes when it would start to rain, it was just a little drizzle. Sometimes, though, it was a down pour. I didn't want to get stuck in the down pour.

So, instead I got ready for the day and decided I would go to the bookstore and then to get some other groceries. I was really looking forward to some fresh vegetable from the vegetable stand by my house today, but it was not open. I'm guessing because of the weather.

I am really grateful that I learned the cyrillic alphabet before I came here. I hung out at the bookstore for forty minutes checking out books and trying to read them (as in sound out the words). It was nice to have something to do. Knowing how to read Russian has saved me, even though my comprehension is way low and my ability to speak it is very minimal, it has really come in handy. Like when I sort of got lost the other night and it was dark and I had to get ahold of Yana, I could read the street sign to tell her where I was, but then I realized where I was and just booked it home. Yana, I promise I won't stay out so late again.

At the grocery store, I decided to by some frozen vegetables (since fresh was out due to the local veggie stand being closed), ice cream (it comes in a BAG!!!), a darling little two pack of oreo cookies, a jug of milk, a bottled water, an oatmeal packet, a green apple (all the red ones were pretty hammered), 2 croissants, and another pastry thing that looked good (but unfortunately was not).

The veggies I ate for dinner with some dirty salt. Dirty salt, evidently, is salt that has not been purified, in other words, not iodized. Hopefully though, it's not really dirty and I wake up in the morning. I'm not much for salt usuall. In fact we haven't ever bought salt ever since the first little blue canister we bought when we got married THIRTEEN years ago. But, I forgot to buy butter for my veggies. They were still good without the butter, but then I saw the dirty salt and thought, why not? Glad that I did. It was way better than table salt. And I only needed a tiny little pinch of it for the entire bowl. And I KNOW you know what I did with the ice cream and oreos. Oh yeah! Good stuff. You can take the girl away from her ice cream, but you can't take the ice cream away from the girl. You better believe that ice cream was the first word I learned in Russian.

Above is a picture of my dinner. I honestly don't think you care, but there is nothing else to take a picture of, and if there's anything worse than a post with a picture of my dinner, it's a post without a picture at all!

Look at that cute little package. Seriously. There are two oreos in there. And that is why the American population struggles with obesity. You would never be able to find anything with that small of a portion back home.


That's my homemade blizzard. It was yummy.



So, here are a few things that I keep forgetting to mention, in no particular order:



*while we were waiting for court to start, I had my legs crossed and was swinging my leg that was on top. BoyTwo came over to me and asked me to please stop moving my legs because it is considered bad luck. I thought it was so cute that he was hoping we would have good luck. I can't wait to see him again!! At the book store tonight I was scoping out some little kid fairy tale books (he said he likes fairy tales). I'm going to buy one and practice reading it in Russian so that when I see him I can hold him on my lap and read him a story. The kid needs his mom. And the mom needs her kid.



*Yesterday after I bought my popsicle, while I was still inside the little store, I saw an elderly man outside fall down. There were several people around him. Nobody moved to help the poor guy. So, I went out there and offered him my hand. I thought I could just kind of give him a little help up pull. Unfortunately, he was way too unstable for just a hand so I had to help him up from under his armpits. He was all spaciba-ing me (thank you) and all I could think was what would have happened to him on any other day of the week? Why did nobody else help him? Seriously nobody even bat an eyelash. It really bothered me.



*I found a recipe for vareniki that looks fairly good and fairly easy. Vareniki is BoyOne's favorite food. Basically, it's a ravioli. BoyOne's favorite kind is the one with potatoes and cheese inside. Excited to be able to try that BACK AT HOME.



*I cried the whole way TO court that morning. I'm pretty sure that nobody knew, I kept that one on the down low. All I could think was that my gain was somebody else's loss. It was breaking my heart to know that she was going to miss out on so much. It was breaking my heart to know that she had already missed out on so much, and at the boys expense.



*A lady I sort of know of through blogging (how exactly does that work? Obviously I don't know her, but we have communicated a little and I follow her blog so I feel like I sort of know her, but I don't really...) is in Ukraine right now. Her ten day wait is over and she is picking up her kids. Yippee!! Congrats to her and her darling family!! I was laughing my head off reading her blog about her adventures, how her new children have their new birth certificates stating that she and her husband are their parents and that she gave birth to them, in Ukraine. Then, I read the part where she was watching the two of them do something and the kids kept checking to make sure she was watching. She commented how sad it was that they had never had anyone watch them do anything, how no one had ever delighted in them and I started bawling like a baby. (I feel so emotionally unstable here! I'm truly hoping it is just the lack of my thyroid medicine...) How truly devastating and tragic that there are so many who have not a person on this earth that watches them and delights in them. Of course I'm thinking of our boys, and feeling so grateful to have them in my life now, my daughters (I am so grateful to be their mom and to be able to delight in them and to have had them their whole lives), the old man that was unnoticed in his need, the lonely babushkas that spend their days on benches and at vegetable stands just watching life happen around them, and all the countless people that fill this earth. How does this happen?!



I keep thinking how this life is a testing period, a time of refinement for us all to prepare to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I keep thinking about how we all want to do the right things, be in the right places, and do unto others... But then I wonder how often we miss the whole point and pass the old man that just fell down, or don't visit with the old babushkas who sit with their eyes empty each day. I wonder what things I'm missing back home. I know that it's the little things that will take us to Christ. It's just so much easier to see and do the big things, right? It's obvious that we should be chaste and virtuous. Of course we should attend church and learn the scriptures. I just don't think those are the things that will see us to Heaven. Don't get me wrong. I believe with all of my heart that these things are important. Extremely important. I just think they are the things that help us to undersand and teach us WHAT else we need to do. I hope that I will be blessed to see the little things because I believe they are truly the things that matter.



"It is not so much the major events as the small day-to-day decisions that map the course of our living." President Gordon B. Hinckley

Day 4 of 'The Wait,' Friday

Hello! Anyone care to join me for dinner? This is what I ate tonight. Spaghetti, a croissant, and pomegranate juice. It is the first meal I have ever made in Ukraine. It was lovely. ish.

Tonight I took a little trip to the store. I'm not exactly utilizing the four food groups, so I thought I ought to at least attempt to make myself something to eat. Also, I know that I would be disappointed in myself if I did not try to cook while I was here. When I travel (haha. that makes it sound like I travel a lot.) I like to try to get a feel for what life is like for those people who live in the place we are visiting. I think it is more fun to experience the true culture of a place rather than stay at a nice hotel and eat the same food you always eat. That being said, I made myself spaghetti. hahaha. In my defense, they really do eat spaghetti here. In fact, they have an entire pasta and pasta sauce isle, just like back home. The pomegranate juice was really good. I had a hard time choosing cookies. I don't even know why I wanted the cookies. Maybe just to have said I bought some and ate them? Who knows. They tasted how I anticipated they would, pretty good.

This is the popsicle I ate last night. Pretty good! Good enough that I bought another today. Interestingly enough, the stick on the first one was round. The one I bought today, same brand, same store, same everything, when I opened it up, had a flat stick like the popsicles back in the States. hmmmmmmmmm. Such deep things to wonder about. I don't know if my brain can handle it all.



This is the inside of my kitchen cupboard. That's right. There is only one cupboard on the top. There is another cupboard under the sink where the garbage can and a couple pots are kept. Let me tell you so that you don't have to try to count, there are five cups (there is no way they hold more than 6 oz each), 6 plates of varying sizes, 2 bowls, and an odd assortment of mismatched silverware. And guess what. It works just fine. This mentality is something I wish I could take with me when I go home. I don't know if I can though. I really love baking and cooking and love all my different pots and pans and the different jobs they do. It will be something I will have to work on. Maybe I'll hang this picture on my refrigerator to remind myself.




This is the bathroom. I cannot remember if I posted a picture of it before or not and, bored as I am, I don't want to go back and read my own blog of my mindless days here to find out. So, if I already posted it, oops. The washing machine is in there too. And, it is really only that deep. It doesn't sit back behind that wall. One pair of jeans would fill that baby right up.

So, now for the exciting part of the post. Crazy dreams. I have debated waiting to dedicate an entire post just to the subject of my dreams while I was here in Ukraine, but I'm running out of material, so I thought I'd grace you with the past three nights dreams. And they are good.

Night one of being here alone. I was exhausted. Emotionally and physically. When I finally finally finally went to bed, I was beyond tired. The type of dream I had was the kind where you are trying to wake yourself up and move your body, but you just can't and then you think you actually are awake, only to realize maybe you really aren't yet and it goes back and forth like this the whole night? Instead of waking up feeling rested you feel like you just ran a marathon? Yeah. That's the one I had. In my dream I was in this apartment, Huz had just left and I was all alone (can you kind of see why maybe my body was confused at the reality of the dream as this was all real?!). The only difference between reality and the dream was in the dream, in the bedroom was a second door. It was a 'lock out.' Like the kind of room you sometimes see in condo rentals where you can rent the entire thing or just the smallest part of the condo, or the bigger part of the condo while 'locking out' the other room? So this second door was a lock out. Except in real life, these lock outs have locks and doors on both sides. Nope, not in the dream. In my dream the lock and door was only on the other guys side and he was trying to come into my apartment. And he was a terrorist. With a gun. At first I jumped out of bed and tried to hold the door shut, except there was not a door knob to pull on because, you know, the knob was only on his side, so that wasn't working so well. So then, I decide that I'm going to try to hide underneath the bed. Except in Ukraine. There aren't really underneaths to the beds. I haven't really figured that one out yet. I mean, obviously there is space under the bed, it just isn't accessible. And here, of all places, they could really use the storage space, but whatever. Anyhow, so I couldn't hide under the bed. Then, I had one of those brilliant ideas that you only have in dreams: I would lay back down and pretend like I was asleep and maybe he would just leave me alone. So I hurried to lay down and pull the covers up to my chin and try to keep my breathing steady and my eyes shut just enough that I could still see him, but that it looked like I was asleep. Because, after all, if he thinks I'm asleep then there's no reason to blow my head off. It makes perfect sense. But then the frustration from the day must have taken over because I decided I was not going to let him get away with this. He cannot just come in my room. What a jerk! So in my dream, I devise a plan where as soon as he looks toward the door (which would put his back to me) I was going to leap up out of bed and hit him with my pillow. That would do the trick! Only when he turned to the door, I couldn't get my legs to move and I was doing the thing where you have to pick up your own body parts and put them where you want them to go and then I couldn't get myself to stand up so I tried to hit him with the pillow while I was sitting down, which didn't work out so well. It would have of course, had I been standing up, because we all know that when you hit someone with a pillow standing up it does a lot more damage than when you are sitting down. Anyhow, he was kind of pissed that I hit him with the pillow so I decided to hurry and lay back down and pretend I was asleep so that maybe he would think I was sleep walking. Finally, finally, I realized, in my sleep, that this was THE DUMBEST dream EVER and woke myself up.

Night two. This dream I was on vacation again, only not in Ukraine and I had my family with me. We were staying in Florida in a little neighborhood community that had its own gated entrance and pool and beach access. I totally know where I got this part of the dream from (because if we ever go somewhere like that it WILL be a dream). I had read some random person's blog post about their vacation, in Florida, blah, blah, blah. So that's where the setting came from. So we're in this gorgeous furnished house and it is dusk and we get a phone call. It is the neighborhood guard letting everyone know that the tiger and the lion have escaped and that they had not been fed, so they were very hungry and on the loose. Because, you know, neighborhoods like this always have their own lion and tiger?! What in the world is wrong with my brain?! So, we hurry and get all the kids inside. We hurry and close all the windows. Strong winds start and people are running all over the place outside to hurry and get indoors so as to not encounter the lion and tiger (who by the way hang out together). The kids are watching a movie and I'm making dinner. Huz is not on this vacation with us. Not sure why-sorry honey. You didn't miss anything, though. The phone rings again only this time it's just someone wanting to chit chat. I happen to look out the window and see the maid (yes, I had a maid in the dream!!) walking down the street. I drag the phone to the sliding glass door (I'm on the phone that we all had back in the 80's with the really long curly cord) and open it up and yell to her to quick get inside, the lion and tiger are loose! She hurries and comes back inside. Then my dream skips to a few hours later. It is starting to rain and it is dark. Can you hear the creepy music?! I am checking all the windows to make sure they are locked (so that the lion and tiger don't slide them open and come inside?! seriously?) and I see another woman outside. I run down the stairs to the door. This one is a glass door, but swings open instead of slides. I yell out to her, "The lion and tiger are loose!! Quick, get in here!" Just then, the lion and tiger come around the corner, snarling. She says, "oh no." Not OH NO!!!!! Just, oh no. I reach out to grab onto her arm and pull her in. The lion and tiger turn as if they are about to leave so I quit pulling on her arm to let her walk in all by herself. Then, the lion and tiger quick turn around and grab her. I fling the door open and am playing tug of war with the lion and tiger over this woman when I decide that it's hopeless. So, I tell her sorry and shut the door. WHAT IN THE CRAP!!! And that's when I forced myself to wake up from that one. Like, oh, that's too bad you're going to get eaten. Sorry. Good grief! I certainly hope that would not be my reaction in real life! 'Sorry.' Seriously?!

Third night. I don't even want to go to bed this night. I know these dreams are ridiculous, but they are unnerving while I am trying to sleep AND I'm not exactly feeling rested when I wake up. Finally, I fall asleep. And this is my favorite dream so far. I am laughing just remembering it. I laughed the whole way to the track this morning. It was so dumb. The dream, that is. Our entire family was in Ukraine to adopt BoyOne and BoyTwo. We were in the ten day wait and the boys were staying with us. We were staying at Disneyland. Except it was how Disneyland would look if it were here. And the 'hotel' we were staying in was actually a church. We had two rooms sort of next to each other. One was for the kids. It had one giant bed in it. (K, this comes from the apartment I am in now. The bedroom just has the bed and a dresser in it and the bed takes up nearly the entire room. Not because it's a huge bed, but because the room is small) All the kids fit on the bed and they are watching a movie. BoyOne starts to complain. Shocking, I know. He wants to know why this is taking so long. I proceed to remind him that we are in the ten day wait and (surprise surprise) we found 3 sisters that we would also like to adopt. That's right. In my dream we are adopting FIVE kids. Send me to the funny farm now. And BoyOne asks who else we are adopting. I tell him who the sisters are, they are girls from his orphanage, and he starts saying that he doesn't want to adopt them. They aren't cool, it'll take too long, why weren't we adopting 3 brothers, etc, etc. I roll my eyes and step back into my room and there is some lady standing there. I stop and look at her, trying to figure out who she is. She walks up to me holding an envelope with some cash in it and starts talking to me about how Huz thinks we need to spend less money and maybe we won't have dinner tonight and that's when I realize/decide that she is the other wife. In my dream I start to get really ticked that Huz suddenly has two wives when I stop myself and think, 'this could really work to my advantage.' I tell her that Huz always thinks we are spending too much money but that we have six kids and are about to have nine and that we have to feed them. Three meals a day and snacks and to get over it and just buy the food, that we have enough money for all of us to have dinner but that maybe she won't be able to buy herself a Dr. Pepper (who do you think I am subconsciously talking to????). Then I tell her that BoyOne is acting up and she has to deal with it. I shut my door and climb on my bed and start reading. This second wife thing is totally going to work out! And then I realized that this was not a normal thought and I woke myself up.

The End.

Day 2 and Morning of Day 3

Oh my. I just realized that I am getting really confused with what day of the week it is. I totally forgot to mention the highlight of Day 1 of 'The Wait' which was Tuesday. Tuesday night I was bored. There really isn't a strong enough word to describe how stir crazy I was feeling. So, I decided to venture out for a walk. I started by walking up to the mall, a place I am familiar with (and not because I have been there a bunch to shop, but it also houses the grocery store). I tried walking there using a different route and was so pleased that I didn't get lost that I decided to just keep walking. I walked and I walked and I walked. A couple from back home happened to have been in Zap the week before we got here (of course, no overlapping for us. We get to do this all on our own.) and they had described to me where they had stayed. I thought I knew where they were talking about, so I sort of headed out to find where they had stayed. After about a half hour it became evident to me that I was not going to find where they had stayed (correct me if I'm way off Kassings... but are you between the intourist hotel and mcdonalds, or way past mcdonalds??), but things started to look vaguely familiar to me. Now, you have to remember that I always sat in the very back of the van any time we went anywhere. I was always attending to the boys needs and trying to follow any Russian conversation that was taking place. Didn't look out the window much. Anyhow, things started to look vaguely familiar, so I kept walking for about another 20 minutes and guess what?! I found the McDonalds! I know it was the McDonalds we had taken the boys to because there is only one McDonalds in the entire city. Sweeeeeet. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of McDonalds and they don't have milkshakes like we know them there, so I could either turn around and head back home, or I don't know what. I tried to take a different street that looked like a fairly main street but after about ten minutes, it narrowed and started to look like not a great part of Zap, which says a lot, because most of Zap doesn't look so great anyway, so when I thought it started to look not so good, I turned right around and went back to the main street and then headed home. It was a lovely walk. I really wish I knew how far I had gone. It felt pretty far.

I also failed to mention that it is, apparently, perfectly acceptable for grown men to pee ANYWHERE! The first morning when I went out for my walk, there were two men peeing on the apartment complex. Hello!? I have also seen men just walking along, suddenly step off the 'side walk' and into the 'grass' and pee. And there are lots of people around. Granted one of the men I saw do this was absolutely, positively drunk, but the others, if they were drunk, did not appear to be. I think it is just common practce!!

I also want to add that not only was our court day emotionally trying for me, but also for the rest of our team. Our facilitator apologized to us for not talking much. She said she just couldn't talk so as to control her emotions. I asked our translator if she was going to hang out with her boyfriend that night and she said no, that she was too emotional and needed to recover. Even our driver said he needed a break. All from this 13 year old little kid. Good night!!

I also forgot to mention that when we were at the airport back home going through security, they took my peanut butter. Were you aware that peanut butter is considered a liquid or gel?! It's a good thing that was at the beginning of the trip because I'm pretty sure that if it were to happen now, I'm feeling feisty enough that either the peanut butter would still be with me, or I wouldn't be here...

Okay. So, yesterday, day 2 of the wait, Wednesday, I had Yana come over to help me with the computer. I was having a few issues and she was kind enough to try to help me out. She messed with it for an hour and couldn't get the webcam to work, but was able to help me with a few other problems I hadn't been able to figure out. (Thanks Yana!!)

After she left, Kim called my Ukraine cell phone. I felt like a five year old answering the phone for the first time. Pretty excited that somebody was calling me!!!!! Kim stayed on the phone with me for a very long time and she and her son, Tyler, helped walk me through a bunch of computer stuff. In the end we were able to get the microphone on the webcam working, but still not the camera. Holy cow, I don't even care about the camera!!! I am so happy that my kids will be able to hear me and that I can have a conversation with someone that doesn't involve typing!! Happy day!! Thanks Kim and Tyler!!!

I was seriously on the computer for I think 6 hours yesterday. That is a really long time. Especially considering I don't even spend an hour a week on the computer when I'm at home!

Yesterday evening I went for another walk. I looked out the window and saw that it was beginning to get dark so I knew I needed to hurry or else I wouldn't be able to leave again until morning. I am just assuming that it's probably not the smartest thing to be out on the streets by myself after dark... My walk was lovely. I found out that I'm pretty close to the river (also known as the beach here) and decided that would be my walk tomorrow.

So, yeah. Yesterday was pretty boring. Oh, and I had take out from Celantanos. I was kind of excited to have it because now that Huz is gone, I can have on it all the vegetables I want:)

Late last night I had a great surprise! Huz was in the Chicago airport waiting for his next flight and we were able to skype. Sort of. We couldn't use the microphone, we just had to type. So is that called chatting? Instant messaging? I don't know, but whatever it is it was great to have a conversation with him. I'm so glad to know that he is home. Glad that he is safe and super glad that he can be there with the girls. It's so hard to leave your kids when you don't know for sure when you will be back or who will be taking care of them. I know you understand.

And now for the beginning of today. I had such a great morning that I don't want to wait until tonight to blog it. That and I'm pretty sure nothing else is going to happen so I might as well:)

Last night I went to bed at about 12:30. This morning I woke up at 6:30. Not sure what the deal is. Usually I am not at all a morning person. The only thing I can think of is that I am sleeping through the night which hasn't happened since One was born almost eleven years ago. Every. single. night. I am woken up at least twice by someone who has barfed, peed, had a bad dream, has a leg ache, needs to be tucked in again, needs to be let out, needs to be let in and then let out again, etc. And honestly if it is only twice during the night, that's a good night. It's amazing what a full six hours can do for me!

When I woke up I tried to get the webcam to work again. I spent about two hours trying to download stuff and following a bunch of online tutorials. All of that didn't yield any results and just confirmed, once again, that computers and I don't speak the same language. Oh well!

After that, I ate my yummy yogurt with chocolate shavings (awesome breakfast!!) and decided to take my walk. I love being outside. Love it. I walked to the beach. Oh yeah!! It's actually the beach of a river (which I have never seen sand beaches on rivers before. Can someone explain this to me?!). Loved it. Loved it!! And now for the day in bullet points:

*men wearing capris is really growing on me. Not the denim type ones, but the athletic capris that they wear here. I like it. Huz, I may just bring you home a pair.

*I am loving that men in Eastern Europe, in general, carry their own bags. I get tired of carrying my purse with my few things in it and then having everyone else in the family pile their crap in it too. Huz, I may also bring you a man bag. It really is a fabulous trend.

*I saw my first black lab here today. There are TONS of dogs everywhere. The dog problem is as big of a problem as the orphan problem here. Lots of people actually own dogs, too. Usually the loose ones are pretty mangy looking and the ones with owners are small. I was pretty happy to see someone out for a walk with a lab. A little bit of home:)

*I saw people exercising today. I almost passed out. This is the first time. Everyone here is pretty thin, but most people lack any sort of muscle tone. I saw a group of bikers and runners. Just like you'd see in the states. All decked out in their little spandexy outfits with helmets (bikers, not runners) and everything!

*I found a track to run at in the morning. I know about 90% of you just had to reread that sentence 45 times, but I have A LOT of energy stored up right now and would reeeeeeaaaallllly like to get it out. I have been trying to decide where would be safe to run and I am happy to report that I found somewhere. There were actually a few other casual runners running there as well.

*I saw someone mowing a lawn. I'm being very generous when I use the word mow, as the machine being used only slightly resembled a mower from 50 years ago. Lawn is also a generous term. However, I am so pleased to have witnessed this! When Huz left I half joking told him I was going to try to find out how much a mower here cost and if it wasn't too expensive, I was going to buy one and just go around and mow all day every day. I love yard work and it kills me to see everything overgrown and not pruned. This place is so beautiful!

*I bought myself a popsicle. I decided I deserved a little treat after my big long walk, plus it was pretty hot. At the store I bought two popsicles that, from the picture on the package, looked like they would be good. I've only tried one so far and it was dang good! I've got to find something like it in the states!!

*When I returned my little babushkas were out on their usual bench chatting and it was great to have someone recognize me and call out a greeting to me.

*At the apartment I found a vacuum. I really, really love to vacuum. A lot. I was so happy to have found a vacuum that I vacuumed the floors and the couch. This apartment is pretty small, but so was the vacuum, which worked out well. If I had my pink Oreck from home, I'd have been done in about 35 seconds. This vacuum mouth or whatever you call it) was about four inches long and two inches wide. It took me about half an hour. I was greatful to have something productive to do for that long. Tomorrow I will clean the blinds.

Anyhow, here are the pictures. I threw some in of my kids because it makes me happy to see their darling little faces. Captions below!

This is the popsicle that I ate. I know we have square ones similar to this back home, there is ice cream in the middle. The ones back home have too much flavoring on them though. And they taste kind of waxy. This one was awesome.

This was a hotel restaurant that you can tell is fairly new, yet abandoned. Yes must have turned to no pretty quickly...

My friends, this is the river and the beach. Isn't it beautiful?!

Another shot. I also saw several young kids (under the age of 2 probably) just hanging out nude. I guess here, when you are that young, swim suits are optional! What a great way to save money:) In case you aren't familiar with Ukrainian culture, most of the men wear speedo type swim suits. The younger generation (some boys, most teenage boys, and some young adult boys) wear swim trunks. I haven't seen a one piece bathing suit on a girl yet, it doesn't matter what age.

This is the track I found. It has a full size soccer field in the center of it. I had to wait for the few runners to pass me and then quick take the picture so that they didn't think that I was some creepy American woman taking pictures of them running!

I also found a really pretty park. Not sure what the meaning of the rainbow thing at the top is, but those step looking things are actually a water fountain. See what I mean about wanting to do some yard work? Parks and rec could be huge here!!! There is so much natural beauty here, along with things that were made years ago that are just a little run down now. It was beautiful.

I'm going to have to ask Yana about this tree. I see it a lot. The little red clusters are actually a big bunch of really small little flowers. These trees don't seem too tall. At least I haven't seen any that are very tall.

This is a statue in the park. There were plaques explaining the statue, in Russian of course, but I couldn't even read it because it was so worn. I do know that this is an ancient Cossock warrior. Pretty sure I slaughtered the spelling, but these guys were the ultimate fighters. Even the Russians were leary of them. A seasoned, trained fighter had a single pony tail growing out of his shaved head. The ones in training had haircuts similar to the 'bowl' style from the 80s.

A fountain in a pond at the same park and a gazebo. Isn't it pretty?

And now for random family pictures that I just happened to have on the camera. Three is the one not getting into the whole prop thing. One is waaaaaaaay into the prop thing! Huz's brother got married the night before we left for Ukraine. Our girls were all a part of the wedding. It was an awesome wedding. Outdoor, I love outdoor weddings! They had the coolest thing I'd ever seen, too. A photo booth. They had a stand set up with some fun props. When people came for the reception, they could pick out props (if they wanted) and then have their pictures taken in the photo booth. You know the kind? Where there are four photos stacked on each other? The photo booth would then print two copies of the pictures. One was for the guest book, the other was for the guest to keep. I totally want to have a neighborhood party and have this. Wouldn't it be so much fun?! Speaking of neighborhood parties, it's been awhile since I threw one...

Huz. Love the hat!

Four. She was a flower girl. This is her 'posed' smile. hahaha. She and Three were the flower girls. Unfortunately they weren't much into the throwing of petals... until they were sitting down and the ceremony was going on. Then they got really into it. Better late than never?

Three

Two was a ring bearer. Love that smile!

Day One and Court Pictures

Good news!! I figured out how to upload the pictures... with the help of Yana:)

Here they are, captions underneath. Be sure to scroll down to the previous post to hear all the exciting details of Ground Hog Day!

Our wonderful, amazing facilitator, Yelena, a.k.a. Helen, the beautiful blonde. Here she is making nice with the 'quiet time' lady, a.k.a. camp director.

The two girls are the youth camp leaders. I can't remember their names, but I was able to spend some time visiting with them and they were very sweet. They like their job and the kids all like them. BoyOne is in his only color, black, and the boy in red is his friend Vlad, from the same orphanage. He seemed to be a good kid.


Here they are, crashed, after their baths, getting some sleep before our court day. Can't wait until this is a permanent scene in our home. Except they will have their own beds and no silky blue sheets or red heart shaped pillow, but you know what I mean...

This is me, Yelena in the background. I felt the need to document what I was feeling like after all of the love the BoyOne was not giving. Thats my 'hope I'm up for this, what the hell' look.

This is documentation of how Huz is feeling during all of this. I'm assuming this is his 'I get to go to work all day hahaha' look:)

This is the blue cage that is in the courtroom. While we were waiting for the judge's assistant to track him down and sign the court decree, the boys kept themselves entertained by playing in this cage for 3 minutes.

BoyOne sitting in the judge's seat. I'm hoping that this court hearing is the only one we will have to go to with him... Really, he is a great kid. He is very smart and kind (even though I'm not seeing a lot of it right now) and I know he has a good heart. Unfortunately, his life up until now has required much of him and trapped in his 13, almost 14 year old body is still a little boy who needs a mom and a grown up child who had to be the mom.

I love these boys so much and am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for leading us to them. I'm so grateful to my biological daughters who have had to sacrifice much in order for this adoption to happen. I am grateful that this adoption is something that they want just as badly as we do and that they have enough of a relationship with the Lord to know that this is what our family needs to do. I am amazed and filled with gratitude every time I drive through this country. To see it is to know and feel God's love for all of His children. I am grateful to Him for allowing me the opportunity to catch many glimpses of the potential these children have and for blessing me with the knowledge of His love for them and for me. Something like this could not be done without Heavenly Father or Jesus. I used to wonder why God allowed so many terrible things to happen, why so many people were allowed to suffer and why so many had so little. I wondered why He didn't do anything about it. Then, I realized He was probably going to ask me the same thing some day. I find myself quick to judge this society who continues to live life as if there were not thousands of children sitting in orphanages on the outskirts of every city, how they could know this and know what they themselves have, and still go on with life. I realized that this was what we were doing. Certainly there are not orphanages in all of our cities in America, but there will always be a need in every city. We also know of places foreign that struggle and live in desperation every second of every day, yet we continue to go on with our lives, waiting for someone else to fix it, or for God to intervene and make it all go away. I understand now, for me, that God will not take it all away. He will intervene, but not in the way we picture things happening in our minds. He will intervene in our hearts and our very souls. The change that is needed most will be made there, in the hearts of His children. In turn we will be the ones to make the changes, because of His love for us. He loves us enough to allow us to make our own decisions, and in turn, loves us enough to allow us to experience the consequences. He loves us enough to have the self control to sit back and watch and wait for the change of heart to take place in each one of us so that His love can heal all the world. I have begun to understand that it is not He that we are waiting for to bring the change the world so badly needs, but it is He who is waiting for us to allow Him to change our hearts so that the world will be changed. I pray that I will always be open enough to His love that I may allow Him to work inside of me.

Day One of the Wait

Day One was pretty boring. I'm not going to lie. It's going to be a long 2 weeks. What in the world?! As I am typing this, the writing suddenly centered all on its own. Whatever. It's so hit and miss here, just like everything else.

Although today was very boring, I was able to maintain good spirits and make it through the entire day. I couldn't fall asleep until after 2 and then was wide awake by 6. Hopefully that doesn't continue or else this long time will be even longer:) Unfortunately, the cost to get to and from the camp is really high, so I won't be able to go visit. 2,000 grivna. To help pass time, I am thinking about making some fliers and offering free day care while I'm here.

FYI the boys we adopted are almost 14 and just turned 7. The almost 14 year old is the one with the girlfriend and the attitude:)

And now, for todays random events/thoughts:

*Everyone stares at me everywhere I go. Everyone. This is my theory. I am wearing a pair of capri jeans. I have only seen men wear capris here. I think that perhaps the Ukrainian people think that I am a cross dresser. Also, because I do not have my thyroid medicine, I am very dizzy and probably appear to be a little tipsy. I think they all think that I am a drunk cross dresser.

*Pigeons here are crazy. They are like the bold sea gulls of Utah. They don't even fly away when you walk through a group of them. Yesterday, while I was walking, one nearly flew into my head. It touched my hair. I am actually so bored that I was thinking it was too bad it didn't hit me, it would have made for an exciting blog post.

*Ukrainian yogurt is good. Kerry, I found the yogurt that you like. I actually prefer the kind with the flakes instead of the little balls though. It's really just texture preference, they taste the same.

*I wish I had one of those things that you hook to your body that measures all the steps that you take. It is very likely that I will clock enough miles to have walked all the way to the U.S. by the time I leave here.

*Thank heavens for my little red headed babushka neighbor. She is always happy to see me. She's the only one in the entire country of Ukraine.

*Brought large garbage sacks from home so that I could walk around and pick up garbage, but I haven't yet because I worry a little about looking homeless. I'm not sure how I feel about being pegged as a homeless, drunk, cross dresser. Normally I pay little attention to how people view me, but that's pushing the limit.

*I feel comfortable jay walking. At first all I could hear over and over in my head was something our Kyiv translator told me, "two kinds of pedestrians, dead or fast." Now, I just feel like I'm in New York.

*I am so bored that I bought a puzzle yesterday. It was embarrassing. There were these two young employees flirting with each other on the puzzle isle so I just kept walking. They never left, so I ended up having to go back and pick out a puzzle in front of them. They were laughing at me which made me laugh. I have turned into the old lady that does puzzles. I don't even like doing puzzles. I bought one that was 1000 pieces. It was the largest one they had.

*I'm considering going back to the orphanage to find the kitten that I saw there on the very first day we arrived. Then I could be the homeless, drunk, cross-dressing cat lady. Either that or I will start feeding the pigeons.

*My skype camera/microphone does not work. My dear friend Kim still skyped with me for an hour yesterday. I would type and she would talk. Her kids thought she was nuts. To them it looked like she was staring at a blank computer screen, talking. For some reason I can't get ahold of her now...

*The random picture of the pair of eyes in my apartment is looking less and less creepy and more and more like someone I could have a conversation with.

*I am totally caught up on my laundry here, which is no surprise given that I only brought three shirts again and have only worn one.

Court

You have got to be kidding me. Now I can't get it to center. Good grief.

This is going to be a long post. And I can't get any pictures to load either, so my apologies.

I don't even know where to start. I think I need to tell you that I have a very looooooooow thyroid. That means that if I don't have my medicine I feel pretty weird. Like super tired. Like sit down to pee and fall asleep on the toilet tired. It also does weird things to my eyes. Think the Bourne movies and the cinematography. (Is that even a word? pretty sure I didn't spell it right) I have a hard time remembering things, like how to spell words:) Before I left, I called the pharmacy to refill my prescription. For some reason, their records show that my scrip had expired, even though my records show I have another six months. Sigh. No big deal. I call my doc to have him call the pharmacy and holy crap. He is out of town until tomorrow. As in July 6. Yeah. Not good. So here I am in Ukraine, without my thyroid medicine and feeling like I described above. I should add that I believe it has made me more emotional that I would normally be. I'm not a crier. Not really very emotional. Except right now. Now that you are up to speed on my state of mind, I will tell you about court. p.s. I also think I may be a lot more sarcastic than usual. I'm usually pretty dry and sarcastic, but I try to be appropriate. Now, I seem to only be sarcastic without knowing when to stop.

I have to start with Sunday night. Sunday day, actually. The boys were soooo happy to see us! For BoyOne, that lasted all of 38 seconds. (Andreas, you may need to add to the website a warning for all adoptive parents that the 'honeymoon' period of adoption can be as short as 38 seconds so people aren't blindsided:))

When BoyOne, aka, Mr. Moody, found out that we would be leaving camp to go to Zap for court at ten the next morning, he was not. happy. Mr. Moody has a girlfriend. This would actually be funny or maybe even cute if he wasn't such a terd. SUCH A TERD!!!!!!!!!!!!! He didn't want to go to court because every night at camp, they have 'disco.' This is a dance. Probably a pretty lame one with not nearly enough supervision. He told us he was mad to miss the dance because he wanted to 'slow dance.' I would like to know how, exactly, they 'slow dance' in Ukrainian orphan society. I'm picturing scenes from a movie I have liked up until now because I'm picturing my son dancing like this: Dirty Dancing. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. I could be wrong. But I doubt it.

So, sorry Mr. Moody, but we have to leave camp. No 'disco' tonight. We have a 3 hour drive ahead of us. Plus, the boys are filthy. Filthy!!!!!!!!!!! And we have plans to meet up with some people for dinner. Grudgingly, we leave. Actually, we all were happy to leave. The only grudge one was BoyOne.

Miraculously the car ride was not too terrible, again having nothing to do with the actual transportation aspect of things, but more Mr. Moody, himself. We ended up having a pretty decent night. When I asked BoyOne to go take a shower, he actually took a bath instead. hahaha. :)

In the morning the boys got right up and got ready. I already told you about the brief problem we had with BoyOne not wanting to wear his court clothes. Huz dealt with that. He is waaaaaay nicer than I am. He let him wear different shorts, but the same shirt. That was fine.

It took forever to actually get to court. We were picked up at 8:30. Then we had to run around and pick up a rep from the orphanage, get some papers notarized, etc. Court was at ten and the judge was late. Also, by about 9, BoyOne's attitude was already not good.

Court itself was great. We were taken into the room, which I have pictures of and will post as soon as possible. There was a cage inside. Niiiiice. At least we didn't have to sit in it:). The night before court our interpreter, the fabulous Yana, prepped us. Our assigned judge is not super consistent with how he sees his court cases. Sometimes he asks lots of questions, sometimes he asks weird questions like do we know who his favorite Ukrainian athlete is and we are supposed to know this (yeah, not at all like the states), sometimes he has the couple say, from memory, the petition to the court. So, we tried to memorize all this crap on the way to court. We weren't worried, just hoping to have a smooth 'trial.'

Like I said, the judge was late. He finally arrived at 10:15 when we were shown into the courtroom. It was us, our interpreter, our facilitator, the boys, a rep from the orphanage, a rep from basically the social services department, a court recorder, and a prosecutor. Then we were asked to stand while the judge entered. Now, if you know me at all you will know that I have a hard time not showing how I think or feel through my expressions. I am hoping that I did a better job than normal when the judge entered. He and two 'jurors' came in together. They were all in jeans. The two jurors were women. He could've grabbed the first two people he saw at the bus stop for all I know. The judge (Wendy) had his shirt unbuttoned half way. Oh my. And not in an oooh lah lah sort of way. First we had to state our names and be 'sworn in' which consisted of the judge telling us to be accurate and us saying yes. No bible or anything. But why would there be? I was surprised that there was even that hammer thing. (I told you already that my thyroid affects my memory) Then we were told to be seated.

The judge formally introduced everyone that was there and told what their respective interest in our case was. Next, he asked us is we had any motions. So, I have to tell you really quick that on our way home last time, we were asked to give the boys their names as they would appear after the adoption. We hadn't talked about this much ourselves, let alone with the boys, so we just kind of grabbed a couple of names and figured we would change it later, even if that meant doing a name change back in the States. Then, last night we were told that we could make a motion to have the names changed right there in court. So, judge asked if we had any motions. Huz stood up and started to give the little spiel he had memorized. After about three words, the judge interrupted him and said that he should just tell him later. Again, hope I didn't laugh aloud. This judge has been known to ask the adopting couple many questions. His first question to Huz was why he wanted to adopt these boys. Huz told him about our hosting experience. Then, he asked Huz if he thought he could care for all 6 kids that we will now have. Huz responded saying that he was prepared to care for them financially, emotionally and physically. When he said physically everyone in the room sort of gasped. I knew Huz meant that he could provide for their physical needs. I also knew that everyone else thought he meant that he could physically beat them. Again, hard not to laugh. I actually think I did. After we cleared that one up, the judge asked the prosecutor if he had any questions. He did not. Then it was my turn. My first question was this: "Your husband has a job. Why don't you?" I took a chance. This is how I answered: "His job is to earn the money. My job is to spend it all." Judge liked that one. He said, "All women are the same. It is a sickness." I said, "Yes, it is international." Then to give a real answer I proceeded to tell him that I had licensing in the financial industry and had been a stock trader until I had kids at which time I was fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom. I told him my job was to care for the kids, the house, the laundry, the food, and that I also spent much time doing volunteer work both at the school my children attend and at our church. I also threw in that we had a very strict budget and worked very hard to save money (I didn't want him thinking that I was some crazy woman). He asked why I wanted to adopt when I already had biological children. I told him that I was adopted and that because I had been given the opportunity to be raised by a father and mother both who cared for and loved me, that I desired to give other children who did not have that, an opportunity. Judge must have had a lunch date, because that was it. The prosecutor asked how I would help the boys integrate into a new culture and how I would deal with their language barrier. I told him that I have been studying about Ukraine's history and culture and that I really enjoy the country. I told him that I wasn't trying to take Ukraine away from the boys, just add our culture to theirs. I told him that I was learning to prepare Ukrainian dishes and studying Russian. I told him I had already met with the director of the school the boys would be attending and we were working on getting a tutor for them during school hours. The prosecutor had no further questions. But the judge did. He wanted to know if I knew how to make borsht. I said I did and that I had made it for the boys when they came to visit, but that it had been a waste because the boys do not care for borsht. The judge asked the boys if this was true, they really didn't like borsht? They confirmed they do not. Then the judge asked if I was really learning Russian and how. I told him that I was studying with an online course and also had text books that I used. Then, I decided to wow him with my impressive skills. I asked him in Russian to please tell me where the bathroom is. He along with everyone else laughed and he told me, "out the door to the left. Did I need to be excused?" hahaha.

Next, he asked the boys to stand and state their names. Then he called on BoyOne. He asked him if he wanted to be adopted and go to America. He said yes and that while he was visiting us we had bought him everything he asked for. I'm not sure if he was thinking that would be a good thing to say, because it is definitely not true. Then or now. He asked BoyTwo if he understood what was going on. BoyTwo said no. Everyone laughed. Judge asked BoyTwo if he wanted to be adopted by us and BoyTwo said yes. Judge asked us what we wanted the boys names to be. We told him. He then said the court would need to take a brief recess to deliberate. Five minutes later he came back in and granted our petition to adopt, pending no objections from the prosecutor. Nobody objected. We were done in 45 minutes total. Sweet.

Unfortunately the judge was in such a hurry to get out of there that he forgot to sign some paper so we had to wait at the courthouse for his assistant to get that taken care of. BoyOne was not happy about having to wait. And if he wasn't happy then, he was even less happy when we had to drive around and collect more signatures and documents. Talk about spiraling downward quickly. Sheesh. And, this was all my fault. Everything was my fault. He was seriously ticked at me because it was raining.

At this point, I was still understanding. He just agreed to be adopted by us, which we know he wants, but at the same time this means he is leaving behind everything he knows. Everything. The magnitude of this is huge and I get that he is going to have a hard time so I don't take it personal. Yet.

But later, when he said that he wished he hadn't agreed to being adopted, I started to cry. I threw on my sunglasses and bowed my head and tried to cover my face. He didn't even care. Like seriously, could he have at least been happy for an hour? Judas. Or even nice?! In retrospect, I am trying to convince myself that it is good that he feels comfortable enough with me to treat me like this. You'd think he'd be scared that we'd leave him in Ukraine. Honeymoon period over (did it ever even happen?!), testing period begun.

Paperwork took forever. Finally, at 3:15 we were able to go to McDonalds. Yum. (hear the sarcasm?:)) The caregiver from the orphanage, our facilitator and I did not order food. BoyOne was super concerned with the caregiver and facilitator not eating, telling them they should eat, it had been such a long day, etc. Didn't even look at me. I was sitting next to him. By now, I've put on my big girl panties and I'm not sad anymore, just pissed. Bring. it. on.

I decided that we would send them back to camp for the ten day wait and that I wouldn't even drive with them back to the camp. I was just going to send the driver and the caregiver. I did feel badly about doing this to BoyTwo, but I knew he didn't know that it was even an option to stay with me during the ten days, so as far as he knew, this was the plan. And, no. I couldn't just keep BoyTwo with me and send BoyOne, or else I would have.

BoyOne was startled when he realized I would not be driving back with them to camp. I was glad. I actually thought that he was disappointed to say good-bye to me. He asked why I was crying earlier (as if he didn't know). I told him it was because he said he wished he had not agreed to the adoption. He said that it wasn't true, that he wanted to be adopted. I started thinking there was maybe going to be a reverse in his attitude.

Until he told me he wanted me to come to the camp so that he could use my camera.

Back at the apartment, Huz packed up and we both took a little nap. He was picked up at 8:45 to go to the train. I left the apartment for a walk.

I can't wait to tell you about my first day here alone. I will wait though, because this post is painfully long. Just know that I am alive and that I have internet access for now and that I did not get lost or mugged. And that I miss my girlies and BoyTwo. And even BoyOne. And Huz and my pets and my beautiful mountains and lake. And the clean air act.

By the way, the boys names are Danil Judd (Judd is a family name and Danil is the Ukrainian spelling and pronunciation of the American name, Daniel) and Brandon Bogdan.

p.s. Kerry, I left you a message on your blog... also, feel free to comment. anyone. i may read the entire king james version of the bible while i am here and still have time to spare.

Alive

Check it out!! It will center this time!! Yipee.

So, we made it from home to Zap in less time than it took us to get from home to Kyiv last time. We took the overnight train and thought it was great. A little warm at first, but nothing crazy. It probably really helps that I was suuuuuuuuper tired.

After arriving in Zap, we loaded up for a 3 hour trip to a camp in a city called Berdyansk where the kids are. This drive was GORGEOUS!!! I tell you, I'm loving the Ukrainian countryside. Just imagine miles and miles of sunflowers. That is one of the big products here, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil and they have the fields to prove it. The roads were pretty crazy, worse than on our 6 hour trip from Kyiv to Zap last time, but we were in a mini van this time and I was sitting in the back. It was like being bounced on a trampoline for 3 hours. Luckily, I love trampolines, so it's all good. Our driver is named Zheniya and he does a great job. Never once have Huz or I feared for our lives. And, he avoids potholes which Huz appreciates:)

Once we arrived at camp the boys came charging out to meet us. Again, a joyful reunion. And for all you who were here in the winter and spring, you have no idea what kind of smells you missed out on, or the magnitude of dirt. The boys have had only one bath while they were with us and it's going to take about 500 more to get the dirt from the camp off of them.

Camp seemed pretty great at first. We met several of the leaders, older teenage kids who work at these camps during the summer. Great kids, great with the orphans, etc. Then, after being there for about 20 minutes, it was "quiet time." As in everybody go to your cabin and lay down and be quiet for two hours. Even the oldest kids. Yeah, that doesn't really go over well with any of the kids who are over the age of 1, and that's in any country. Lame. So, because it was quiet time, we weren't allowed to do anything. Sure, there were ping-pong tables and soccer fields and tons of kids around (there is more than one orphanage at this camp), but we were resigned to sitting on a bench with our boys and a couple other rebels who were willing to risk punishment for not taking their afternoon nap. b.o.r.i.n.g. Good thing last trip was so great, cause this one is not going to be that.

The orphanage director messed up on her paperwork that gave us permission to take the boys from camp back to Zap for court, so there was all this legal crap we had to deal with. Finally we were able to get a few things notarized to meet the requirements of the 'quiet time' enforcer and leave Berdyansk. With us was a woman from the boys orphanage who had to 'accompany' us due to the paperwork discrepency. We were really grateful to her for being so willing to come with us, but in retrospect she was probably fighting all the other workers to come just to get out of 'quiet time.' I will add that travel is very costly. Pretty sure our driver can just retire now.

We were able to stay in the same apartment that we rented last time and for that we are grateful. It's nice and we are fairly familiar with the area.

We bathed the boys and went to bed after a fun evening of being together again. Miraculously BoyOne liked the clothing that I bought for him. All except the court outfit which I knew he wouldn't like. Now, don't go thinking that I brought him church clothes. Nope. These were a pair of Hurley shorts and an American Eagle t-shirt. (everything I buy is always on sale...). The problem was that the shorts were like regular shorts and all that orphans like to wear are basketball type shorts. That will remedy itself when he gets to the states and sees that other shorts are acceptable and popular. Thank the heavens for BoyTwo. He is so darling and could care less about his clothes. He was happy as a clam to be with us and play with his red robot that I brought him from America.

It is rainy, cruddy, cold weather here. Bummer. At least it is only supposed to last the NEXT FIVE DAYS!!!!!! I'm planning on taking an endless nap:) It is four in the afternoon here and I honestly thought it was seven. I am so very tired. It is dark already, and it has been a really, really l.oooooooooooooo.n.g. day. More later. Enjoy the pictures. Captions underneath.

I miss my darling girls. A lot. Such a bummer that travel is so expensive or I'd have brought them all along!! What I wouldn't give to feel their little arms around me and kiss their little cheeks.

It's kind of hard to tell, but this is the bath water prior to BoyTwo's bath. Notice that the water is the same color as the yellow soap. Gross.

Sideways train picture. Sorry. I forgot about the whole sideways thing and most of our pictures are sideways. I will try to remember... If it looks like Huz takes up the whole compartment, it is because he does:)


While we were waiting for our train to leave on Saturday, we took a tour of the lavra. Pretty cool. Especially if you like looking at dead bodies and walking through dark caves holding a candle while priests jump around from dark corners and dart back and forth. This is a sphere made from decorated eggs. I know there is actually a name for these special eggs, but I'm having a hard time remembering my own name, let alone the egg's name. So this giant sphere is about 5 feet and made with these eggs. It was beautiful. All the pretty colors and designs. Loved it.

The cathedral at the lavra. Very beautiful.

I threw this one in because I am homesick. I am missing my girls (did I already mention that?!) and the good weather. My girls decided to go 'camping' one day and loaded up the barbie jeep with their sleeping bags, flashlights, chapstick and books and drove out to the back yard where they set up camp. It was so cute. It was one of those things that reminded me of how blessed and happy I am to be able to have children.