Friday Pictures

Just another average day in Khmelnytski. Wake up, brew coffee in hot pot, no filters, eat a piece of ham, some bread, bottled water...then get a cab to the orphanage. We had the boys out twice today and it was really great! There's a family of stray dogs that live on the grounds and it's kind of nice knowing they're there.

We agreed today that we would probably rather stay here then spend time in Kyiv as we feel better about walking around here and find the size (pop. 250,000 vs. 5,000,000) more manageable.

We walked back again after the morning visit and stopped in a couple of stores. It was colder today with snow in the air. We picked up a "bilingual laptop" toy we hope to use to great affect. Afterward we had lunch at Cafe LeMon across from our hotel. This is three days in a row and we've had the same waiter - we recognize each other - it is good and is now "our place". Borsch for the first time today - awesome! One disappointment - at the electronics store a clerk approached and said "May I help you?" He said he didn't overhear us talking, but that he just knew we were Americans. One of us may have cursed and then we took his picture and told him he'd be on the internet in America.

The boys are really terrific and Andrei especially has warmed to us. He comes across as sweet, but we saws signs of mischief. It's funny how boys (men) are the same everywhere - Andrei broke wind and we thought he'd pee his pants he was laughing so hard. Both boys are starting to pick up some English words.

We go to court either Monday or Tuesday - there will be pictures. After that there is a 10 day waiting period. Following the waiting period, we can take the boys full time at which point we'll head back to Kyiv for embassy paperwork and Ukrainian passports for the boys.

Time for dinner -beef jerkey, peanut butter crackers, bottled water, and maybe cookies for dessert.