Thursday, November 8, 2007

We did not have anything scheduled for this morning so we both slept in. I was surprised when I woke up at 9:00, I have routinely been getting up by 7:00 so it was really late for me. Mark stayed in bed for another hour. We walk a lot more here then we do at home and the routine and environment is also different. The sun rises every day here around seven, but the sun sets as early as 4:30. This week the days have been consistently cloudy and getting colder. We could see our breath in the morning today. Although we both grew up in the Midwest and this is normal weather for early November, our bodies are acclimated to the milder temperatures and sunnier days of the South.

We headed out to the Internet café around 11:30. Today I am trying to book an apartment in Kyiv for next weekend as Christopher, Mark and I will take the train to complete his exit medical and obtain his visa. Christopher and I will return home to Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day. This certainly will be one of our most memorable Thanksgivings. Mark will return to Gorlovka to get Artyom and V. The three of them will come home the following week.
The time seems to race when we are at the internet café. Before we knew it, the time was already 4:30 and the night sky commanded that we head back to the apartment. We decided to make our way on foot since it was actually warmer then the morning. There was a blanket of snow about 2-3 inches thick on the ground and the tree branches also laden with the first sign of winter cast a new glow on our path. A few minutes into our walk and snow began to fall lightly again. It was really a beautiful sight and I had forgotten, until now, how much I enjoy this scenery.

It is time for our visit to the market again. The market is an adventure and I am so glad that the graphics on most every product label explain the contents. I decided to create sort of a Mexican Ukranian style meal tonight. I parused the isle with all of the packets of dried spices hoping to identify a seasoning for the ground beef, but there were so many choices and not one appeared to have the right combination of spices pictured. I finally just chose one with a photo of a marinated steak on the front and thought at least it is for beef. I picked up some fresh tomatoes, a block of what appeared to be co-jack cheese but had tiny holes in it and finally the "tortillas" which were actually a very thin potato bread that opened up into a 2 ‘x18" rectangle. Looked good to me and my very hungry man.

When I began to brown the beef (Mark thinks it is veal or mutton) the aroma indicated the meat was already seasoned. Voila! I decide that there is no need to add the mystery packet to flavor it any more. Mark commented that dinner was very good and I thought so too. The only thing that would have made it better was to have our children all sitting to eat with us.


Friday, November 9, 2007
Today Olga is going to help us book our airline tickets for Christopher and I to return home on November 22nd. This is Thanksgiving Day in America. I will certainly be experiencing a grand sense of gratitude this day for God’s abundant blessings and our own Pilgrimage to Ukraine to accomplish His will for our family. I cannot wait to hug my children again. I will have to hold them until they cannot stand it any longer.


We stopped by the orphanage today around 1:30 planning to take Volodymyr (Andy) and get a few outfits, since I had not brought any clothing in his size. It turns out that his grandmother was there to take him to spend the weekend with her. She wants to meet with Mark and I and we would like that too. Helen advises us to wait until after our court date to do this. We know she has seen us though because V is greeting her as we are leaving to take Artyom to our favorite café. V comes to us and gives us big hugs and we exchange smiles with his Babushka. I look forward to meeting with her. I cannot imagine how it would be to not only be an orphan, but to leave one of the most influential and loving women in my life. I hope that she will find comfort in knowing we will consider her as a member of our extended family as well.


We have also just learned that our court date was moved up one day to Tuesday at 11:00am. Artyom and V will get to play hookie from school on Monday and we will take them to obtain photos for their new passports and clothes for V.