Alone again

Here we are alone again, since Russ and Cheri left monday evening, and we had no appointments today we can feel the longing to go home set in. When we are busy or visiting with people from home it is not bad, but after being here so long and by ourselves we start to think about home. We only have one week left in Ukraine, we enjoy our time with the children and are already starting to think about having to say goodbye to most of them. It was difficult to see Vika leave in August, we do not know how to describe to feeling of leaving a dozen of children knowing that you will not see them again. We pray every day that all of them could find a home and someone to show them the love and kindness that all the children that are being adopted have. We can see in their eyes the hope and longing, they are happy for their friends but you can see that they wonder if it will ever happen for them. 
Vika was in a good mood tonight, she knows that we are leaving for Kiev on friday, and as always her first question is "no school friday?'' I am not sure what time we are getting her from the home so I can not answer the question. Anslee and Vika Love are missing their parents and wanted us to tell them they love them.
We played cards and ate apples and candy. It was a nice evening and the girls were trying to talk with us more than usual. They were using our English/Ukrainian dictionary to find a word and we would use it to show them a word. It is late and and time to go to bed, tomorrow we are another day closer to home.

Passport

Yesterday we, along with Vika, drove two + hours, one way, to another city/town to apply for Vika's international passport. Everyone in Ukraine has an in country passport, it is their form of ID. But you have to apply for a passport for travel outside Ukraine. I know that we complain about potholes back home, but you should experience the roads here! There are potholes that would wreck your car, you have to swerve one way and then back the other, half of the time we were driving in the middle of the road. The ladies at the passport office had me print out Vika's full name for her passport, they could not understand the McC in McCracken, Sveta told me to get out my passport and show them. It was done correctly, but I don't think they understood why anyone would spell their name that way.
It is quite here today, we are going to start to get things repacked for friday. Other than going to the market and maybe for a walk we will wait until we can go the childrens home to visit. One full week left, please pray that there is NO snow or bad weather next thursday for our return trip.  We have not had good luck with our flights and would like to have an uneventful trip back.
I do not have any photos from yesterday so I will post a few from past days.

Another Court complete

We did not get to blog last night, and we only have a few minutes this morning, so this will be short. We went to the notary office yesterday to prepare some documents for todays trip for Vika's passport. After that we went to the market and waited to go to the childrens home. We had a few of the pictures we took made for some of the kids and they really appreciaated them.  Most of them have a photo album, and they like to add to them.  Russ and Cheri had their court and everything went well.  They were happy and their girls were happy! We met them for dinner at a very nice restaurant for dinner and all the girls got to come along, including our Vika.  Russ and Cheri had to leave from the restaurant to catch the train so the girls rode with Mick and I back to the childrens home. When we got there the main gate was closed and locked and my first thought was, we are going to have to lift each girl over the fence! But the girls motioned for us to follow them and we walked around the fence until we came to a spot with a hole in it, so we all went through. We got them back inside and went back to our apartment.  On the ride back Mick and I both said how empty it feels here since Russ and Cheri left. We did not know them well before, but we know now that we will be friends forever. This experience has made a strong bond between us and several of the other families we have met. To those of you coming after us - if you thought the week of camp was life changing wait until you get here!

Relaxing day

We picked up all the girls today and came back to our apartment and made spaghetti, salad and watched movies. It was a very easy day and the girls liked being here, it was nice to be able to do nothing. We hung out and used google translate when we wanted to ask them a question.  Cheri also brought finger nail polish and different designs and stencils for doing nails. Cheri made fruit smoothies and Vika Love got so much enjoyment out of toping them off with the whipped cream from the can. This must have been the first time that the girls experienced whipped cream of this kind. This was a very special day, the closest thing to being home that they have experienced since last summer. When it was time to leave of course they wanted to stay. They told us that they would stay in the apartment for the night and that we could go to the orphnage and sleep in their beds. It is so hard to leave Autur back at the home when we go out on the weekends. He is there to see us off and waiting for us when we get back. Joe and Ginger you have a very special young Man. We have grown to love so many of the children here. It is going to be very hard to leave them behind this Friday when we leave for Kiev.

Fun Day

Russie, Cheri, Mick and I were able to take our girls for the day, and as the girls requested we took them ice skating.  They did well on skates only a few spills, but all skated at a higher level then they have in the past. Afterwards we took them to eat at a pizza place, well there was more than pizza but that is what we had to eat. This restaurant had a menu in english, which was nice for us, and a russian menu for the girls. We know they( the people at the restaurant) thought we were big eaters, we each had a salad, then ordered three pizzas, and the girls ordered dessert. It was a large amount of food.
While we were eating we told Vika that we are leaving for home on Febuary 10th, she was so happy.  I think giving her a date makes it seem as if it is really going to happen.  The children all know the process and the steps - parents come, have court, and leave for the 10 day wait, then come back and finish the paperwork.  Our trip was different, we stayed after court and we were here for the 10 day wait or we would have had to make three trips. We know Vika understood this, but it must seem to her like we were never going to get to leave.  She had ask us before when we would be going home and we could not tell her because we were not sure. Now we have a set day I am sure it seems real and she is letting herself believe that it is going to happen.

Birth Certificate

At 8:30 this morning we left are apartment with Sveta to start the process to change Vika's birth certificate. (We are listed as her partents and her last name is changed to McCracken) We also received our court resolution today, which means Vika is offically ours. It was a long day, with a lot of waiting every where we went. For spending most of the day sitting in the car I am wore out and still thawing out.
We did not get to the childrens home until 5, and the kids seemed a little off. They got better as the evening went on, and by the time we left they were excited about going ice skating tomorrow.  Yes we are going skating again, we ask the girls what they wanted to do and they said ice skate. We enjoy getting to take them out to have fun. Oh, How could I forget! we have a flight booked! YEAH!! The 10th of Feburary, it  may sound far off but after being here for almost 3 weeks it does not sounds that far off to us.

Last day of the 10 day wait

Today was the final day of our 10 day waiting period.  We are so thankful that  this step is complete, now we can move unto the next round of paperwork.  It was another cold day but the sun was shining and the walk to the market was not to bad. Some of the vendors in the open air market know us by site now and will say hello and thank you.
The children were all in a good mood when we arrived at the the home and Russie and Cheri brought a large pack of embroidery floss so the children could make friendship bracelets.  Everyone started a bracelet but only a few finished, it is enjoyable but it takes some time to finish. Our Vika, Anslee and sister Vika, Rusalana, Ira, Olya and Russie had a snow and snowball fight. Everyone was wet when they came back inside, but they all had big smiles on their faces. I think the girls ganged up on Russie.