We have a court date!

hey everybody!
Our translator told us yesterday that our court date will be next Thursday, April 13th. After court, we have a mandatory 10 day waiting period where we just hang out to see if anyone contests the adoption. Unlikely. So that means we would get to leave Kharkiv on the 23rd of April. We would head back to Kiev for passports, medical exams & visas. That should be another 3-4 days and then we are on our way home! Woo hoo!!! So why we aren't even halfway there yet, it is nice to be able to ballpark a timeframe. Our paperwork on this end is really going pretty smoothly. Praises to the King. We are so grateful for his mercy & your prayers.

The kids are doing great. Kade is sitting next to us playing Tetris. He would eat at McD's every meal if only we would let him! He is happy to be with his family and is anxious about showing Dima (Nate) and Anya (Hannah) everything back at home. We were talking about playing at the lake together in just a few short weeks. That will be so fun. We brought homeschool math with us, so we are accomplishing some traditional schooling, although we are more of "life school" mode right now. This is definitely an experience of a lifetime for him! Dima (Nate) is doing well, too. He is learning more English. Yesterday they both learned to say "cookie, please" in English. Dima's 7th birthday is April 21. We hope to be able to take him out of the orphanage to celebrate such a special day! His front tooth is loose. He is going to look so cute missing that front tooth. Anya (Hannah) is really progessing. Yesterday I went to her class to excuse her for some family play time, and she ran right to me and said, "Mama!" Warmed this mom's heart! She really is coming out of her shell. She is giving Kade hugs goodbye, she is allowing Scott to swing her around (daredevil) and she went to him and let him hold her. She likes to count to 3 in english while Scott and I swing her as we walk. And one of the biggest things for me was that she repeated "Giddy Up Horsey" in english about 5-6 times. She likes the "don't...fall...down" part. (see picture)

I am fighting a little cold, but am hopefully on the mend. Scott is good. He will tell you more about that later, as soon as I quit hogging the computer. Yesterday we did have a pretty funny experience. We have to hang our clothes out on a clothes line to dry. (average dry time-2 days) We went to retrieve some clothes and noticed that one of Scott's shirts was missing. Our apartment is on the 6th floor. So we look over the edge of the balcony where the clothesline is and there is Scott's shirt. It has blown down 3 stories and is stuck in a tree. We are not quite for sure how we are going to retrieve that shirt. :)

Today we are at the internet cafe, then we are meeting another American family for lunch. We met them the other day when we were grocery shopping at Target. (not american Target) They are adopting a girl from the same orphanange. She is around 14-15 years old. His parents flew in yesterday so now their whole family is together, it is very sweet. They are staying in the same area (the Center) as we are, McD's is walking distance between us. So we are meeting at McD's and then they are going to show us a local restaurant that has great borscht. This is their 3rd adoption from this orphanage. What special people and we are grateful for the english company. At 3:00 we are headed to the orphanage to visit A&D (can't wait to quit saying that!) to play for a couple of hours and then we will go to Target to get some TP and some more yogurt. Kade & I will do math later and Scott will probably work on CPE. That's the jest of our day.

It's time now for everyone's favorite game show.... Ukrainian trivia! Okay, so yesterday we were walking along the street trying to find a grocery store with some TP. Each time we went into a "grocery store" it turned out to be more of a little deli. Water, meat cheeses, etc. So as we are leaving the last deli, we notice a dingy car in the parking lot with the trunk open. We take a gander in the trunk and do you know what we saw? Chicken legs, ground beef, etc. all out in the open air, exposed, no refrigeration, in rubbermaid bins. This guy was delivering the meat to the grocery store. Thank the Lord for the FDA!

Now for Scott, Kade & pictures...
Love ya!
Kayla :)


Hello I'm Bob the tomato oops sorry today we're going to lunch with some people we met. Yesterday we played inside & outside with Dima & Anya. Dima,Dad, & I played tag.

Thank you for the comments.

Preston, no, I'm not tired of McD's

Kade :)

Hi from the third leg of this post. Thanks for all of the comments you have posted. It's good to hear from the newcomers too. I hope everyone has a chance to post. We would love to hear from all of you. Now from my perspective. We had the pleasure of watching a firework show outside our apartment window last night. Our translator said it was probably someone's birthday. I asked if it was someone famous and she said no, just rich. In any case it was an impressive show of continuous blue and gold fireworks. Kade and I enjoyed it as Kayla rested from feeling sick. I am really enjoying our time as a family at the orphanage every day, although for all the time we are spending over here, I would like to spend more of it with all five of us. Again, all in God's time. We'll be patient and enjoy the time we have. It was great seeing Anya play with Kayla yesterday and me getting to spin all three kids around until they were not quite dizzy. I get the feeling that Anya and Dima just enjoy any excuse to smile and laugh. This is okay with me as I enjoy watching all my kids smile as much as they enjoy smiling. As you might know, I am quite content and very thankful for all that God is doing in our lives. Okay, enough words for now. Time for some more pictures. We'll talk again later.

Scott