Court date!

Our court date has been set for Tuesday, the 29th. It's later than we were hoping for, but the end is in sight! After court, we will take the overnight train to Kyiv and fly out that afternoon! Then I will return on April 9th to finish up the process and bring Charlie home!

Now I know why all the other adoptive parents compare this to groundhog day! We do the same thing everyday. We get up late, usually go somewhere in the AM (walking, shopping, etc), visit Charlie in the afternoon, and watch a movie at night. In between all that, we read, use the computer, and do word puzzles. Real exciting, eh? It is getting a little redundant, but the excitement of being in a different country is still good enough to keep us going! Well, for me anyway - Ken is QUITE happy to lay around reading all day! :)

Charlie recognizes us now, and often he seems happy to see us. We only visit him for about an hour and a half per day. During the morning visiting hours, he's sleeping. In the afternoon, our visit is wedged between nap and snack times. The last few days, we've taken Charlie outside and we slowly walk around the baby house a few times before playing with him inside. It's really nice when we get a room to ourselves to visit with him, because we can lay him down on the couch, and we can take off some of his clothes when he gets too hot. Other times we play with him in a long hallway. There's benches and toys for this purpose, but he can't play with any of the toys, and he can't sit up properly on the little benches. So, he just sits on our laps and plays with whatever little toy we brought for the day! There's a sort of faux-jungle gym set up at the end of the hallway, and he likes banging the swinging rings around. They make a great noise! But this really wears him out! He doesn't last very long doing any sort of physical activity. Plus, he's always sweating through his clothes, and I think being that hot makes him sleepy on top of everything else! He's usually wearing three shirts, overalls, tights, and socks. Often the nannies insist on a sweater too. Ok, enough of my babbling, I know you are here for the pictures!

 "Save me, Papa!"

 The hallway where we visit

 It's 50 degrees out, but Charlie still needs a snowsuit and hat. :)

 The groupa's playground

 The ladder to nowhere

 Lounging

  Watching the food cart go by!

We're here!

We finally made it to Kyiv last night. We spent nearly 30 hours travelling, including a 10 hour layover in Munich. I don't know ANY German, but luckily everyone spoke English!

Our flight arrived at about 10:45pm, then we took a shuttle to the airport. We stood in a line for passport control for a loooong time before the workers even got there. After we were through, we found our driver, Nico. He's a pretty neat guy! He took us to a store that was still open (it was about midnight) so we could change money and get food and water. He actually did some of the shopping for us, grabbing things off of shelves and saying, "You need bread I think. Here is butter!" Lol. We finally got to our apartment around 1 AM and were able to Skype with Brennan (and my parents!) right before his bedtime. He really wasn't sure what to think! He'd been watching a Youtube video (Veggietales!) and suddenly Mama and Daddy were there! He did sign mama/daddy at one point, but mostly he was weirded out.

Today we are relaxing and exploring. Tomorrow morning we have our SDA appointment, and then meet some missionary friends for a late lunch. Thursday afternoon we will pick up our paperwork and take an overnight train to Nikolaiv and meet Charlie!

Here are some specific prayer requests:
- Safe, smooth travelling
- A quick, smooth adoption process - no snags or paperwork issues!
- That we have court on or before Friday, the 25th. This is entirely possible, but not guaranteed. It's really important for the timeline we want - one that will best allow my sister to accompany me back to Ukraine, AND allow me to be with Charlie on his birthday!
- That the 10-day wait will be waived. This is NOT at all likely, and is almost impossible. But, I figured I can always ask God - won't get it if I don't ask. :)

Waiting in Munich - this is how empty it was for most of the day!

Tired :)

Our bedroom

Another bedroom view

Bathroom - the washing machine is to the right

Kitchen - the door in the back leads to a small enclosed porch

Another kitchen view

View from our porch

Chocolate! 11.87 = $1.50 USD

Cereal/Muesli

M=M, Ю = yoo, C = s, Л*= L, И = ee.

Myoosli. Now you know some Russian!

*(same letter as on the box, both are used)