The Good the Bad and the Ugly...

Where to start? How about just going in order...first the Good. Marina is doing very very well adjusting and loving and being funny. Today she was very busy in the kitchen as Tully and I watched church on tv, until I finally got up to check on her. She had found my muffin tin and broke up the extra waffle, filling the cups with the pieces, then emptied my salt shaker onto the top of them. How Yummy! I found it in the oven, baking...she watches everything and only needs to see it once to learn how to do something. I was not the one who turned on the oven either. Yesterday we got up early and went to the park to ride the train and enjoy a morning with other kids. It was beautiful outside, and a friend gave Marina a bag of really neat clothes, complete with a killer snow suit! Marina LOVED it the most and almost would not take it off once we returned from the park. I loved that she had it too, because she was the only kid out of several hundred that had on a fuscia snow suit:) Easy to spot! Again the kids had a great time and enjoyed the wide open space (as if our 3 acres is not enough). The favorite thing to do IN the house is to sit on the corner cabinet and help me cook, and that is both Evan and Marina. IF Marina would just stop resetting the auto start time on the coffee pot I might have a better chance at getting in front of the day. Hey shifting gears here, I got the best phone call the other day, and ended up getting a job at USAir here in Greenville Spartanburg. I am so excited to get that job you have NO IDEA~! Since we have gotten home, there has been very little work available through the holidays. I do not start until January 10th as it takes about a month for FAA clearances and safety classes OH HA! I only THOUGHT I was finished being back ground checked! The work is part time flex shift so I am really happy about that too. I won't get rich but we will be able to do some traveling to various places for as long as i work there. It will be a fun summer I think. Tully has filled out several applications but again, this is not the time of year to start something as most folks are in year end mode.

On to the Bad...Marina has absolutely no intention of doing anything that is not already on her list. She is as bull headed as any child I have ever encountered. Sometimes she gets in trouble and chooses to spit in retaliation. Then go rubber and then turns to molten lead, actually resembling liquid mercury. She is heavy and fluid and cannot be gotten off the ground. So we have some things to work through ab out anger management. This does not happen often but she really does not listen particularly well if she does not feel like it. On the other hand, she understands nearly every thing we tell her. Sometimes I forget she speaks Russian. The other day after she got out of the bath I told her we needed to go dry her hair. She ran to the bathroom and got the hairdryer out of the drawer. That sort of stuff is spooky because I hardly ever dry her hair so she had not heard that before. The other thing she does that I could do without is her tattling. Then I remember she speaks Russian. Poor Evan cannot blink without Marina suggesting we spank him and he has learned that sticking his tongue out can be tattled about faster than he can get it back in his mouth. I still don't know why she calls him Dasita but that is what it has been since she met him...and that is about as far from the word Evan you can get. Marina does not sleep in one place through the night, and usually comes in search of me. She usually also needs every light on in every bedroom that she encounters, which is disturbing at 4 am to say the least. She will start with Evan's room or maybe the couch, and may use her room, but needs me by the middle of the morning hours. She does snuggle right back to sleep but I never do. I am hanging on by my fingernails by then trying not to fall off the bed that everyone is in. Reminds me of the little book The Napping House where the bed breaks from too many folks napping on it. Really it is a matter of time...

Now on to the Uglys. Evan is having a hard time with Marina being here. That is the truth. He likes her and loves her but often says he prayed and prayed for her but she is different than he thought she was going to be like. I asked him what that meant, and he says it is "Just too hard" and not much else will come out about it. They are at each other often and want to blame everything on each other. I know it will level off but I feel bad for both of them. I might feel a little bad for Tully and I too...loads of referee work to be done here. When I look at her, I can hardly believe she is finally here...then I wander to where she would be if she were not here, and it really upsets me that we were not only the choice, but the back up plan as well...what if we had not come? She is so smart and funny and "electric" I can hardly bare the thought of that light nearly being extinguished, which is exactly what would have happened. So not too much is ugly since this will level off in time as we all find our places in the universe we share. It's the "in the meantime"part that gets a little mundane to say the least. I thought about leaving this out but it is the truth and anyone thinking of adoption should know that adjustments are difficult for family changes. It is also very very worth it and I would do this again in a heart beat. I believe Tully and Evan would too, Tully is grateful she is here and Evan has times of happiness too that are different than being an only child. There is much to celebrate this Christmas and we are grateful for the life that has been added to our family. The photos are just some various home life shots...Evan was a sheep in the nativity scene at the school musical, and of course Marina was proud! It was a cute production and very well done. It is getting hard to finish anymore of this post as Marina and Evan need to get in the bed soon, and Scooby Do is on as LOUD as I can hardly stand! Thanks for visiting, We ask for prayers to include those children left behind with no family this Christmas season, and especially for those who are on the transfer list. It is almost too much to bear remembering their faces and knowing that some of them will not make it.

Crazy Days are here again....

Ok how it got to be more than a week since the last post, I do not know. We survived the flight, arriving in time to basically pull up a chair and stuff our little faces at my sister's house, and life on our hamster wheel began again. Yesterday was Evan's first day back to school and he was a nervous wreck for some reason. As he walked in the door his friends all jumped up and mobbed him with hugs and back pats. Nerves appeased and he settled into a nice short day at school since he sabotaged the day by leaving his lunch box at home...(stinker!). Marina went with us for a variety of reasons, of course to show her off and to show her that kids do go to school here. I needed an interpreter to explain that we were not taking her to a different orphanage, as she saw the guard, sweet Mr. Bob, open the door for us and she bolted back out to the parking lot. It took a while but she came back in and hid behind me the rest of our short stay. Today was a completely different story. She slung on Evan's back pack and hopped in the car. I am always happy to see anyone in the car on time so we were happy all the way to school...and through the door, and to the class where we drop Evan off...and then it got both interesting and ugly....she was furious that we did not let her stay!! I took her straight to the park despite it was 35* outside...and we played and got dirty and then went to Barnes and Noble for a cookie at starbucks. Heck everything else was closed! I was on a mission to find a magazine we have around here called upstate parents but could only find November issues. It has a monthly list of everything a kid could do and I thought it would be a good place to start for finding fun stuff. i have also written to several very competent folks in the community to find out what I need to go ahead and get her into school. She will not be able to go to Evan's school because i doubt they are set up for Marina and also could not possibly afford it unless they both went half days. Anyhow once again Marina is on her own game plan and taking the lead in surprising me. We went to dinner at the Country Club for family spaghetti night last night and she was amazing. For one she was absolutely precious in her little gymboree dress from Shelly Burman, and for two, she was incredibly well behaved! She even asked for help every single time she wanted to drink out of her "pedastal water glass"! She was totally happy to see her cousin Laurel and hugged her a zillion times. Laurel will be three in January and every time she sees me if Marina is not with me Laurel laments..."Where's Rina!" They will be fun friends as both love to play babies, though in vastly different ways:) (Marina spends great quantities of time bawling them out and smacking them with belts or spatulas and putting them to bed.)

Evan and Marina have their differences but both love the other greatly. Marina dresses in Evan's clothes when he is gone to school and when Marina was mad and laying on the couch with her back to everyone, it was Evan who was petting her and loving on her. She is easy to put to bed as she loves to be read to, but she does not stay where she starts out. She often takes to the couch with her little blanket and pillow, but last night made her way to my room. She is like wrestling a ferret to get her to stop moving around, and I will chase her back to the couch if she comes in again. 4 am was just too early to deal with anyone who was not sick or bawling! Speaking of sick, of course she has had a cough and a runny nose since we got home and is now on a z-pack so hope that will knock it out for her at least for a while. I took her to the doctor the other day and she had the same reaction as she did with Mr. Bob--run for the door! So we did nothing other than visit and weigh her in at 46 pounds and get a sticker. Since my dad is the doctor it is important she not associate bad things with family.
the only other things to report include that Marina is the cleanest child in the USA as she takes several baths a day. She has figured out how to set the water temp and turn on the tub and is in it before you can realize she is not still beating the babies in her room! Tully set up a second swing out on the playground and that has been a good thing too. I guess in this post what the bottom line is, is that she is about as normal as they come. She runs, and jumps and falls down and does everything Evan does, half a second behind him. She inadvertently strangles the cats because they are too heavy but they keep forgetting and keep coming back for more abuse since she is the only one who will let them in. She is an easy easy child to transition into our family and I feel like we will face very little issues from her past. I still feel like the last place she lived before here was instrumental in her success at being this beautiful child. They gave her levels of confidence and self reliance that I personally would not mind having! We have taught her only one thing since she has been here and that is to blow her nose. I just wish she would now tell me she was going to blow so I could go get a kleenex! She is no longer afraid of dogs, and spends alot of time fussing poor kiki out russian style. We still have to figure out how to get her to let us brush her teeth, but I imagine that in the rear section of her mouth they probably hurt. She has at least 8 cavities that I can see. Will deal with the dentist after all her papers are processed at immigration. Maybe she will learn some English by then and can really tell some one how she feels haha!
One last thing on being fearless. We went to the mall the other night to see Santa but ended up finding the set up for that human bungee jumping thing where kids get strapped in and can jump with those rubber cables enabling them to nearly touch the ceiling. Of course it is Evan's favorite thing in the world...and Marina is half a second behind him in needing to jump as well. I relented and sure as the moon, the girl who is going to help Marina...is from Russia and as bilingual as they come. The look on Marina's face was awesome! Sort of like we are holding out on her with speech but this girl forgot and spoke Russian to her! Anyhow that little Marina jumped and jumped so high! She fears nothing that I can find...and truly I am not looking very hard.
The newspaper did a wonderful story on our adoption and I will post the link separate as I do not want to risk losing this lengthy post about life that is as normal as they come. Tully is struggling to find work and I have several options for merchandising that came in this week. But we feel that we as always will find a way to make ends meet. And we struggled occasionally before she came so yes, life is normal. Except that we have girl clothes in the laundry again. And russian speaking sunshine streaking through the house. thanks for keeping up with us.

The Thanksgiving...

I am so tired I probably should not be utilizing a keyboard right now...but the kids and Tully are asleep and it is 10 30 EST. The kids have been asleep since just after 2 this afternoon. Marina also slept for 14 hours yesterday, right through her nap as well. We are toast...it is not just the flight, it is the months and months of accumulated emotions finally breathed out. To be honest I feel two dimensional and incapable of big word combinations. But I really wanted to post some photos of our last 24 hours in Kiev, the capital of a country we came to love dearly. We are thankful beyond measure to have been a part of this event. Not only has Marina been a complete lottery winning, the entire journey was nothing but amazingly graced with goodness. Tomorrow we celebrate our thankfulness and it is not lost on me that of all the days we could have come home, we were chosen to arrive during the week slotted for giving thanks....Marina has cried twice since we left the orphanage. Once because she was in the car and on the way to the train and I think she was scared. Today she cried because I would not let her play outside barefooted. I am thankful for these days. Life is short, the days can be long. We make mistakes and say mean things. We are human. But opening the door, for Marina, to have a life that is vastly different from the one chosen for her statistically, we are humbled to be her family. We feel special...she is beautiful. She makes us beautiful because she is free and we have a first row seat to watch her blossom. The photos are of the view from our window in Kiev the last day. The night time shot is of a statue that stands for the liberation of Ukraine from Russia and the fall of the USSR. To me it symbolizes the thankfulness Marina feels as well. She saw the play ground out the back window this morning that Make a wish donated to us several years ago and nearly went into orbit with glee. I remember how much that playground hurt us that it was not built in time...then it became therapy to overcome pain, now it is the symbol of joy, tying all my children together. Time heals, but nothing heals better than chasing sorrow from your heart and replacing it with being thankful that we can do more than we understand about ourselves. To see Marina happy, reminds me that Cay is free too, and even more happy where she is. There are sacrifices with that level of accomplishment...we are sorrowful that Cay is not here. Marina's parents are devastated that she cannot be there. Best is not always the easy route. But better is what it is, simply better. Sometimes it can only be better for one person, even though many are involved. God is funny like that. He cares individually more than collectively and does not use the bell curve system.

I still want to post the things I love and will miss about Ukraine, but it is time to concede defeat for the day, and go to bed. And that post deserves a blog all by itself. The newspaper came today to photograph our family for a story on our journey. Evan could not have acted worse if he had been given the mission by God to be awful. I assume that the photographer was morbidly impressed that Evan did not like anyone, never mind his new sister. Now that the nap has stretched into the night by 9 hours and rolling, I understand better that tired is debilitating. I am interested to see how the photos turn out. I am glad for photo shop...anyhow it is due out sometime next week and I will post the link when the story appears.

And the thing about being thankful comes back to you....Thanks for you. Thanksgiving is all about realizing what you have, and we are grateful beyond measure, for you.

Rockin' in the USA!

We are home, after a lengthy journey through Kiev passport police to Munich and then on to Charlotte NC, where our first purchase was indeed a 6 pack of mini cinnabons:) The kids were unbelievably good on the flights and Marina has really rolled with the madcap ideas we have to drag her halfway around the world without complaining. Every time we disembarked from a plane she would hop into her stroller and sing her little heart out as we rolled through the airport. I know it is a song she learned in her previous location as she is perfect in her rendition every time and it includes a lot of hand gestures and waving and smiling. We had no trouble coming through the customs agency in Charlotte but that left us with about 2 1/2 hours to kill and we were already close to falling over. So we moseyed southern style, aimless and slow, and at that point Marina fell over in her stroller and stayed asleep through the next flight and getting met at the airport by my mom and dad and sister and brother in law and their two little ones. I have to say we are so humbled by the support of all of our friends and family members. The well wishes and sweet comments and just the love that has been poured out over us is breath taking and awesome. My sister rode in the van as her family went back home, and when we arrived at our house I knew why. Evidently she and her whole family (and extended family girlfriend Ms Holli) and my mom and dad cooked up this surreal idea that redefines what a "baby shower" is all about! They spent the last 17 days doing the ultimate home makeover of our place. Rye grass is planted, pansies in the pots outside, and the inside!! Holy SMOKES! Every drawer is organized. Pictures hung and new furniture in place, guitar office set up for Tully that looks like the Hard Rock cafe with guitars on the walls. This is nothing short of a miracle combined with 1000 man hours of sweat and labor. Our closets are cleaned out, Marina's room looks like a magazine ad. Heck the whole house looks like a magazine ad! When Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray wonder where the real talent is, they can look for my sister Tonja and my mother who likely has no checks left in the check book. I bet my dad worked overtime for this one too! Utter gratitude will never be enough to describe what it was like to walk into this house last night. Or to open the refrigerator this morning.

Marina did wake up once we got through the door and she found her room and then discovered that we live in cat central, with 8 now full grown kittens who have been waiting to be introduced to her. (yes, they are all "fixed"). We will have to work on the dog introduction thing, as Marina wants to pet them but sheer terror and common sense keep interjecting and colliding with her desire. She finally fussed them out in Russian and shut the door. Marina has been playing baby dolls since she woke up last night and discovered that there were several things ready to play with in her room. This must be heaven on earth for her. Evan and Marina slept in her room last night, and are already up playing in his room this morning. She has dragged many baby dolls into his room so she can play near him as he watches new found old movies that have been placed with great care back in their cases. Things he thought were lost forever. Did we say thank you to our family? Evan will be hugging your necks for years to come just over the movie organization. And me? Well, it is hard to know where to start being grateful that instead of coming home and digging out of a life in shambles that it felt like we flew away from, instead it feels like what Marina feels like...a true fresh start in a life that sort of looks like our own but we wonder what we did to deserve all of this?? Heaven claps and cheers over a family that loves each other the way ours does. And I mean all of our family, Tully's and mine!

So we are ready to start the day, after a nights sleep in beds that never ever felt so comfortable. I will post photos as we locate cords to the computer and camera and slowly unpack and find a way to get back on the treadmill of life here at home. Something tells me that it will be action packed with great things as we realize how much we have to share with one small power house of a child who sasses dogs and baby dolls in Russian. My heart is so tender this morning as I realize we arrive home just in time for Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for it is hard to know where to start. I am struggling with the words this morning and jet lag will be to blame for now. But to our friends and family who made this possible, Marina's life will forever be a dream come true for her. And also for us. Yes Caylyn, we are happy to live the life example you left us with. It feels radically right, and would be perfect if you were here to play babies as well. But we know you know, that all is well today as we throw kisses through the thin veil that separates us being face to face. Thanks for what you left us with.

What a long strange trip it's been....

It has been several days since an update and it has not been with out adventures to post, just without the time or energy to manage the words. Even as I type I am practically falling off the bed tired...but here is a summary of the week in Kiev...We arrived Tuesday night this past week at 11:30 pm and the kids really got that second wind with a 2 hour train nap-- and even the time awake on the train was waaaaaay better than I had expected. It was as if Marina was born to ride the train and she sat around playing with cool floamy stuff that the facilitator had given us to keep the kids busy on the train ride. When I first opened the box of this weird stuff I thought it was a cruel joke to keep me busy writing checks for all we destroyed with mini sticky foam balls everywhere, but to my pleasant surprise it was actually very groovy as far as toys go. Buy some, it is too hard to explain but I promise you will not pick it out of the rug like playdoh. Anyhow back to arriving in Kiev. We had rented an apartment online (I have come a long way since we first landed six weeks ago and I could not buy bread by myself), and the apartment has been magnificent...it is huge and the mattresses are real, and the stove works and the tub is a miniature round swimming pool. At least according to the children. (Mel's son included...they are still here with us) I might add that Marina had her first bath at 2:30 in the morning because no kid has ever been so gleeful about the bath idea. She had her second bath the next morning, and one in the afternoon, and another one or two that evening. I have checked for gills and fins, they are hidden somewhere but she is surely part fish! Evan could not stand it, he finally realizes that baths are fun again and yes, you CAN get water on a 14 foot high black italian tile ceiling if you try hard. But I have jumped way ahead in the story. Did I mention I was tired? I do have to say that gotcha day was a fairy tale story as far as adoptions go. The plan was to pick Marina up at 3:30 right after nap time. We were invited up to her room which is a combo play room snack room bedroom kinda thing. The nurses and nannies were all there and helped us get Marina ready to leave. They had gathered her clothes that had accumulated with each visit where I wanted to see if something fit and Marina would never give it back digressing here and back to the play room) where the kids were all gathered around having snack and juice in these little ceramic mugs. It was awesome to see them all watching Marina get ready to leave. Everyone made such a big deal of her going, and how beautiful she looked and we said good bye to everyone we could find! I know Marina felt like a fairy tale princess...she sure looked like one! The photos are of the orphanage the last night we saw it, and the kids in the groupa, and Marina getting dressed and saying Good bye. We all cried when it was time to go, and the director came to say good bye once again, and good luck. These people are so incredibly good hearted! Anyhow the trip to the train station was less exciting and more scary, partly because traffic was horrible and also because Marina was bawling hard. Finally our wonderful driver Roman talked to her in Russian all the way to the station and when we arrived Marina was perfectly fine, and has been that way ever since! Of course we cried when we said good bye to the driver too, he was the same driver we had the whole time we were in Dnipropetrovsk and he was a great friend as well. So, back to Kiev we went. Thursday was embassy day and medical check up day. I found it odd that the doctor there was surprised that Marina followed instructions and understood what he was saying, but that in itself explains a lot. Anyhow this is a long day and a family day as well since everyone is required to be there in person. The kids were good but tired and hungry so it went as well as to be expected. We rewarded them with another bath when we got back to the apartment. I simply love this bathroom! Mel's son Timothy has come to understand that if he gets naked someone might add him to the tub as well, though usually he just gets sat on the potty so he is not always so happy about that turn of events. He is a little pistol and is really really cute but is really going to give Mel a heart attack on the plane as he grabs things faster than any kid i have ever met, and then moves right on to the next big idea of his before you get the first idea cleaned up. He can usually be diverted with food, but I fear he will one day simply explode, even though he is small. He can really pack in a ton of food! Speaking of food, Wednesday night we ate at Il Patio, a wonderful italian restaurant adjacent to TGIFriday in Kiev. We met up with two other Reece's rainbow families, Meredith and Mike Cornish and also Melissa Lorenz and her new daughter Liza, and of course Mel and Timothy were there as well. The kids were great but Marina feels it is necessary to personally tell each table in a restaurant "Dasvadonya" which is russian for Good bye. It must be accompanied with a wave, preferably a half an inch from the patrons nose. We left abruptly after several similar good byes to stunned folks we did not know and once on the side walk Marina broke into a dead run, the kind that is hard to catch in a pair of tall black boots, the likes of which I was wearing. Since we were to be at the embassy the following morning which required her physical presence, I gave it my best burst of energy and grabbed her laughing gleefully half a block away. I might mention here that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you ever ever buy the cheap stroller in Ukraine. And by cheap I mean 60 bucks US dollars. No such thing as an umbrella stroller here. Our stroller broke right away because aluminum pop rivets do not withstand 40+ pounds, and we won't even talk about Evan sitting in it, will we? I am still going to have to replace that thing just to get home. Marina has that leadership quality that will make for difficult travels without a chariot.
So we are really really winding down the journey. I can hardly believe it and echo Evan's sentiments as he occasionally blurts out how he can't believe we get to take Marina home and how he loves having her for a sister. And indeed we do too, love her being little Marina. Today we picked up her visa at the embassy and got to meet lots of other families as well! And that is the end of our paper chase, officially!
We bid adieu to Mel and Timothy around 3 am as they head to the airport and back to Iowa. We, the Bachmans, change apartments tomorrow as this one is rented to someone else tomorrow evening, so we opted for another studio apartment that we will find our way to tomorrow....we leave for South Carolina on Monday, also 3 am. so the next two days are ours to do with as we wish, relax and roam the city in search of a see saw and some swings. Our family once again has managed to complete a journey and embark on one all at the same time, yet again. God has been very gracious. More than I ever ever dreamed. Cay would love this gal. But with out Caylyn and her journey I can surely say there would not be a Marina Hope Bachman in our lives. As always, Caylyn continues to give, even still. Thank you for your prayers. We have been overly protected along the way. Cath & crew

Today is the first day of the rest of our Lives

It is Gotcha day~the official spring your child to a freedom that is going to confuse the daylights out of her and give her a life that is our responsibility to convince her through language brick walls, that this is indeed, the life for for which she was made. A good life, with lots of new adventures. Last night we were offered the opportunity to take Marina from the orphanage grounds and see how she behaved. Our (my) bright idea was to take her to the mall, which was only a few blocks away. This had visions of grandeur that did not include one iota of reality from my perspective. We dressed her in her new coat, put her in her new chariot which she liked alot, handled Evan bawling because he did not get a turn in the stroller and off we went, through the gates that have held her for the last year and a half. To the mall, all was well. In the mall, it began to unravel a bit. Then we thought, in the game room, she can roam freely and enjoy that environment. We paid for her to go play in a jumpy bouncy thing with tunnels and a climbing wall and a huge slide at the end...then we were starkly reminded that Marina has no fear of falling. She got braver with every bodily fling from the top of the slide. I aged severely. Tully went pale. Finally it was time to leave. but only by our standards. By then Ms. Freedom had gone around the bend. She was having NOTHING to do with getting in that stroller. We wrestled and physically carried a howling squirming (mad understatement) child from a game room fraught with onlookers. It does not help that the average temperature in the mall hovers around 84*. We managed to get her into the stroller and I convinced Tully to go back and play with Evan as I walked Marina back to the orphanage. As I got to the door to leave the mall with a mad ferret determined to wiggle out of the stroller, i realized I had to put her coat on. Oh crimony. Another 15 minutes and I buttoned it around her arms creating a straight jacket. Once outside, the lights and cars and ringing of my cell phone took over the moment and she was perfectly over the temper. I crossed the street and we put her coat on right as we took up the entire sidewalk to do so. I gave her juice, and my cell phone, she put on her hat and gave me a kiss. Her idea. Then she talked on the phone most of the way home, interjecting waves to cars along the walk. I, meanwhile, worked to reduce my body temperature to a reasonable degree somewhere below the internal spontaneous combustible level. We arrived promptly at 6 pm where the little princess refused to get out of her stroller. I waved PAKA as the nanny wheeled this amazing child down the hall to dinner. This was all last night...today we take her for forever. This will undoubtedly be the most interesting week of our lives and we ask that you seriously pray for us to get through the embassy paperwork and medical exam with success. I already assume "with dignity"is out of the question. We pick Marina up at 3:30 and head straight to the train station for a 5 hour ride to Kiev. I am grateful that Melissa DeLlanos will be with us and we will continue to share the apartment in Kiev. I am grateful that God saw fit to pair us up on this journey because it has made this not only bearable but hilarious at so many intervals. We have laughed and cried and moseyed to the mall and through the supermarket so many times that I can imagine the folks of this town wonder how two crazy Americans can walk around giggling so much. Part of it is surely insanity to have come here when only 614 children were adopted from this country last year...but we all agree that the two more added to this years' list is beyond priceless. There is so much more to post later about saying Good Bye for the last 24 hours to people who have come to mean so much to us. Friendly faces at the mall, people who chose to attempt speaking english to us in order to help us, and all the work of our facilitator and driver to make our journey a true success. We have made friends along this path that will never be forgotten. They are set in our hearts. It will make leaving all the harder today.

The photos are from passport day and my favorite one of Marina and Evan on the see saw, and also from last night at the mall. I did not see the need to take photos of Marina bawling mad so you will have to take my word for it.:)

Passport day:)

Yesterday was one of those long car days that was both exciting and cumbersome. We left the apartment at 8 am with our housemate Mel, along with me Tully and Evan and got in a small nice little Chevy with the driver and facilitator (Marina). Off to various passport agencies and orphanages to gather papers and then back home to drop off Evan and Tully for the afternoon and I went back to the orphanage around 2 so Marina (facilitator) and I could meet the driver and Mel and the orphanage nurse and Mel's new son Timothy (he is in a different orphanage but nearby) and then all head to the regional passport office to get the children their applications to leave the country. This is also why we left Evan and Tully back at the apartment because they would not remotely have fit into the car. The kids were totally awesome on the ride and behaved really well in the passport office. The thing I was most impressed about was how loving little Marina was to Mel's son who was sitting on Mel's lap beside us in the car. Little Marina would lay her head on Mel's arm and stare into Timothy's eyes with just the biggest pool of LOVE swirling around! She patted his hair and stroked his face and was the most gentle little child. I had not seen this in her specifically yet, though I had no reason to think she did not have this tenderness about her. Timothy will be 5 in January so they are only a year apart but he is in size 18 months so seems much smaller, therefor younger. Anyhow with the additional side trip back to the bank to add a needed signature we had missed earlier in the day, we were looking at nearly 6 pm by the time our little Marina got back to the orphanage. She was tired but very happy and had spent the day either letting me carry her, snuggle her, or hold her hand. It was a great day and we should have passports either monday or tuesday...and the minute we have that paper in our hand we are off to Kiev with the kids free from the life they have known up to this point! WOW! Gotcha day is fast approaching! I will post photos later of Marina and Timothy at the passport office but am trying to hurry and get everyone breakfast and dressed and out the door to go visit Marina for the morning. We love spending time together and hate even missing a minute! Thanks for continued prayers and good cheer that you send our way, we love hearing from everyone:) Love, US