A beautiful Sunday in Kiev

After a cool and rainy day yesterday we woke up to a beautiful day today. It is in the 70's and very sunny with a slight breeze. The weather couldn't be better.



Our morning visit with Victoria on the other hand could have been better. It started off well, but then she starting getting pretty hyper. She wants to be spun around and rough house a lot. When we tried to calm her down a little she starting hitting Joe. I know it is mostly from being bored and frustrated because we can not communicate well. She is used to doing the same thing over and over for 4 years and now we have broken that routine. I'm sure she just doesn't know what to do with herself. She is so excited to have someone paying attention to just her that she seems to get carried away. It is hard too, because you know everyone is watching you. We ended up cutting our visit a little short so that she could get back to her groupa and calm down. She is very, very well behaved in the groupa and with her caregivers, so I know things will get better. Yesterday was great though because she gave me a few kisses without me even asking. Don't worry though, we are not discouraged. We know there is going to be a whole range of emotions that we all will go through and we know it it going to take time. We are going back this afternoon and hopefully things will go better.

After we left the orphanage we came back to our apartment. We decided to try some authentic Ukrainian food for lunch, so we went to a little cafeteria type place near us. I had some borsch and it was so good I had a second cup. After lunch Joe and Morgan went to a park while I went to St. Sophia's cathedral. It is breath taking. You can not take pictures of the inside so I am going to have to buy one of the book about the cathedrals here. I'm sure pictures would not do it justice anyway. I met Joe and Morgan at the park when I was done and we spent some time there.

We are now at our apartment for a little while before going back to the orphanage for our afternoon visit.

On another note, could I please ask for prayers for the orphans in Simferopol (which is where we were supposed to go)? We found out that things there have gotten bad again and it doesn't look like there are adoptions happening. I know that we are where we are meant to be, but my heart still breaks for the children there that may have lost their chance at finding a family. There is another family I know that was supposed to go to the same orphanage and they have also had to accept a referral for another little girl. They are also happy with their decision, but still sad for the little girl that they had thought would be theirs.

Our paperwork was submitted to the court on Friday, so hopefully I will have news on a court date tomorrow. I'll let you know.