Later

(This morning we just had time to snap a couple photos of the soldier statue across the intersection from our apartment building before Sergei picked us up.)

Our stop at the notary actually took more than an hour, so the passport application will be one less thing to take up time tomorrow. We will still need certified copies of the new birth certificate and adoption certificate, but those shouldn’t take as long. We ate lunch at a place near the Naukova Metro stop we noticed yesterday call The Grand Café. It was a nice place, quiet atmosphere. John ordered mushroom soup with baked bread and fresh vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots and parsley. Sergei and I each ordered borsch and a Cesar salad. We all had black tea. Turns out John’s ‘fresh vegetables’ were served as a pureed drink. The baked bread was croutons. Tasty, just not as expected. The soups and salads were good - although a ‘Cesar’ salad must actually be intended to be different than our ‘Caesar’ salad.

Next stop train station. We decided to book a compartment for the overnight train tomorrow, leaving at 10:55 PM. No second-class compartments were available (we like them because we can put luggage on the upper bunks, and they cost less) but we were happy to take a first class compartment, and we’ll just have to work out the luggage. Good thing we don’t have the four huge suitcases plus carry-on luggage we had last round.

We stopped at the apartment for the ‘evening’ toy bag and then Sergei took us to the orphanage. They provided us with the letter we need petitioning the passport office to issue Daniel a passport. They also gave us the letter regarding medical coverage. We were able to confirm that the doctors will be giving us Daniel’s complete schedule, and we got a quick overview today (up at 7, breakfast at 8, second breakfast at 10, lunch at noon, nap from 12:30 until 3:30 or f4:00, then snack, supper at 7 PM; they put the kids on the toilet 10 - 15 minutes before and after every meal). They said they don’t do anything special to his food: he can eat anything. They also made sure we knew he needs a potty chair with handles and a back support - and not one that makes music when he sits down. I loved that one! They also suggested that when he pulls at his face it is because his head hurts - oh, yeah, just like my head hurts when I don’t get exactly what I want right when I want it. J

We went in search of the psychologist next. The director’s secretary was with her, and she went back to her office to Xerox the cover of the CD she uses that Daniel likes so we can find it on the Internet. She also gave us rather extensive lists of classical music. His favorites, she said, are Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and “Fur Elise” and Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers”.

Then it was time to see Daniel. He came out with his legs loose, jacket hood up, hair damp and smelling very sweetly of clean little boy. No other families were visiting yet and we got the landing for our last visit (we hope). The usual: looking out the window with many cheerful comments; bumping into things while riding on Daddy’s back; fishing; removing pieces from the puzzle; eating 1 ½ crackers and a half banana. He was content to sit on my crossed legs - really does form a pretty good seat for him - and use the puzzle board as a table for looking at the Russian word book.

He was in a generally good and very cooperative mood and agreed to try just about any word we asked of him. He said “Mama, help” for the first time. (“help” was more like ‘elp’) he said bump, armp’ (armpit), bum (bellybutton), Dad, pole (fishing pole), ‘nana, cracker, down, water, “peet” (Russian for ‘drink), and signed fish (although he held his outstretched hand still). He moved his legs for walking and stood and sat multiple times. Our knitting lesson was briefer today but I introduced him to the circular knitting needles this time.

Six thirty came pretty quickly, and when we asked if he wanted to go to group he was very helpful putting everything back in the carryall. He was even patient lying on the couch while we folded up the blankets. On our way out we saw the couple adopting little Nastia. We told them we are going to Kyiv tomorrow. They indicated they will be leaving in five days.

I took a picture of the last walk down the hall returning to group. Back at his room we gave the wooden train and the rubber blocks to the caregivers as a gift. One of the nurses who gave us a completed note card over the weekend was able to tell us she won’t be here tomorrow during the day and said good-bye (’das va dah nya‘). I’m certain she was also wishing us well and said something about Daniel growing big. She had previously asked for photographs and showed us her address in the note card. I will do my very best to honor that request.

At the Billa we found wipes for the trip home, Cokes (and candy bars) for tomorrow’s paper chase, a loaf of bread to feed Daniel breakfast or snack.

John cooked up the last of the ham, sliced up the last of the cheese and we have been finishing up the last bag of chips, the last two pieces of Woman’s Day chocolates, the last chocolate croissants, the last chocolate wafer cookies. Big sacrifices, don’t you think? I think we are done packing. I picked out Daniel’s “Gotcha Day” outfit - couldn’t resist the jacket and pants that say “Oshkosh” even though he will swim in the 3T jacket. We have set aside our gifts for Sergei’s family, calculated our remaining finances, and I’m about to drink a double-bag cup of “Sleepytime Extra” tea, hoping for less trouble falling and remaining asleep tonight, since Sergei recommended we get good rest. He will pick us up at 7:15 so we can get an early start back to Daniel’s home town and be first in line at the Vital Records office after the long holiday weekend.

I have no idea when or if we will have time to post tomorrow. I’ll have the computer with me and should be able to write things down as we go.

Unfortunately . . .

Sergei picked us up at 8:30. We arrived at the court house in time to have a cup of coffee nearby. At 9:00 Sergei went in to talk to the secretary. The judge was not in yet, but the secretary said to come back in an hour, but could not promise the judge would sign the decree today. We drank some more coffee. In an hour he had all eight copies we requested signed, stamped and sewn together!!! We are off to the orphanage for Daniel's birth certificate and then to his home town. Hurray - thanks God. A very big thank you!

The trip to his home town took about an hour and ten minutes - a lot of that getting across Kharkov. Sergei had checked with the Vital Statistics Office in advance to be sure they would be open today and had been assured they would. However as we walked up to the door we saw the bright yellow sign announcing that they are closed today because of Woman’s Day yesterday. They are usually closed on Monday, so in order to have a true holiday they also took Tuesday off. We suspected this was a possibility.

Our elation is a bit deflated, but Daniel is still legally our son and no one can petition otherwise now. Back to Kharkov. We can have our application for the passport completed at the notary’s office today, although we will have to wait to submit it until tomorrow. We will also buy train tickets today for the overnight train to Kyiv tomorrow night. We will see if the Inspector will be available tomorrow at 4 PM. She needs to be present as we take Daniel out of the orphanage. Sergei will also come with us to the orphanage to ask for the insurance letter and other information we have requested. We will try to take care of any little thing to save time tomorrow.

We still know absolutely that God is in control and has all the details worked out.

We Have the Court Decree!

Sergei picked us up at 8:30. We arrived at the court house in time to have a cup of coffee nearby. At 9:00 Sergei went in to talk to the secretary. The judge was not in yet, but the secretary said to come back in an hour, but could not promise the judge would sign the decree today. We drank some more coffee. In an hour he had all eight copies we requested signed, stamped and sewn together!!! We are off to the orphanage for Daniel's birth certificate and then to his home town. Hurray - thanks God. A very big thank you!

Woman's Day

I slept great last night and didn’t wake until 6:47 AM. Could not get on the Internet, so had plenty of time to exercise. Egg, yogurt, coffee/Energy Refresh Tea.

We left a little early and went up to the Blaser Café again. We chose different beans for our mochas and picked up some Limited Edition Galapagos San Cristobal beans. The woman working was very affable and patient. She confirmed the price and was able to determine that yes, we would like it ground for use in a French press. Again, it was a peaceful interval in such a congenial place. The traffic was remarkably, incredibly decreased from any other morning, including Sundays. Ukraine really takes its Woman’s Day seriously! The flower shops were still doing brisk business we could observe from our vantage point.

Next stop: Billa. John put more money on our Internet device (minutes? Broad-band width? Ya nees niuu - I don’t know) at a machine that can also be used to add minutes to a cell phone and we picked up two boxes of chocolates. One we left in Daniel’s room - telling them it was not for little boys or girls (since we don’t know how to say 'grown-ups', 'nurses' or 'caregivers'). The other box we passed out as anyone passed us in the green corridor. We checked with Nadya yesterday about the appropriate greeting for the day. Essentially they wish each other “The Eighth of March”. So we said “Eight, March” in very poor Russian grammar all day. Didn’t seem to matter. One lady carrying food was crabby in her refusal. I think the only other refusals came from two ladies in Daniel’s room, one of whom we had actually handed the whole box to. Everyone else cheerfully took a piece and expressed their thanks - and I think wished me the same.

While we waited for Daniel the doctor of the day came out and indicated he had a little bloody nose. We had noticed a bit of dried blood a couple of times before and he managed an active, but minor, bleed for us once too. Another resemblance to his next older brother. He came out shortly thereafter and we had a good visit.

We avoided the “Up, Down” game in deference to the recent nose bleed. He did some fishing. We have been told he likes puzzles. For us he only likes to pull the pieces out of the puzzle, or use the empty surface to tap the fishing pole on. Once or twice he has accidentally but with obvious ability put a piece in its place before he caught himself. Today he put four pieces in place in a row - but obstinately refused to put even one more in. We had a pit of a stand-off over the triangle piece. It landed on the floor multiple times before I maneuvered his hand into place while he held it. Yes, his mother has completion issues and can be (is always) quite stubborn, too.

He has learned to say “zoom, zoom” to let us know he wants to ride the motorcycle. He got a lot of use out of the motorcycle, and with much less foot traffic we took him along hallways beyond the green corridor. John has been especially diligent about getting Daniel to use his right arm and hand, which is more difficult than his left. Today as long as he used his right arm to indicate which direction he wanted to go, John complied.

Nick had one primary caregiver that we have always referred to as “the stern teacher”. She always seemed more serious and maintained excellent control of her group of ten three-year-olds. She could quickly and with seeming easy engage all of them in organized play (circle games). We never did get her picture or name last round. Apparently she drew the short straw and had to work on Woman’s Day. It was a great break as far as I was concerned. Weekends are generally more relaxed at the orphanage and this holiday even more so. She accepted a chocolate with lots of smiles on her first pass. The next time I was ready with a photograph of Nick to give her, the camera and a notepad. She seemed very happy to have the picture of Nick (I referred to him by the original version of his name, but I have no doubt she remembers us). She didn’t protest very much at all when I asked to have her picture for Nick (it is their custom to protest, at least a little bit, to having pictures taken or accepting gifts). When the picture turned out to be too dark I showed her and she gestured to move down to a lighter area. She commented on Nick being six years old now. I told her he is a ‘very good boy’. Wish I knew the equivalent of “great kid with a fantastic smile”. She even wrote her first name down - in big block letters in both Russian and English. I didn’t realize this at the time, but when she passed by yet again I commented “in English, good job” (Russian) to which she replied “of course” (Russian). So “Nick’s stern teacher” is now ‘Natasha’.

At the end of the morning, we noticed it was the first time Daniel seemed sad to have us leave. Maybe none of his favorite caregivers are working today.

Back at the apartment we got on-line with no problem, able to get Christine’s update and a couple other e-mails. Then we left again for lunch. ‘Our’ cafeteria was closed, so we had “Big Mac Menu”s at McDonalds. We waited and had our cappuccinos at the bakery - too full for pastries, though. John had another document for the Embassy printed at the nearby Internet Café. We were going to buy a plastic sleeve to protect it at the stationery shop, but it was closed. I’ve been thinking. Since it has been in that same location at least three years (we shopped there last visit) and it doesn’t carry note cards or letter-writing paper, perhaps it is more of a stationary rather than stationery store.

We got back to our Metro stop and realized we had left the document at the bakery. I went on to the apartment (first time I’ve ever done that alone) and John took the Metro back (first time he’s ever done that alone). He returned soon and he figured out how to buzz the apartment from the outside door and I figured out how to “buzz” him in remotely. I’m guessing we will never get that second key we were promised on move-in day 22 days ago. Hasn’t been a problem at all, though.

We called Nick and Dennis and we all (Engebrechts, too) ate snowflake-shaped Peppermint patties simultaneously as we had arranged prior to the trip. Of course, ours were an afternoon treat, theirs an immediately-after breakfast treat. Having had a muffin and a stayed-dry-all-day jelly bean too, Dennis spun off into a goofy sugar high.

Anya called us just before we returned to the orphanage. She is one hard-working lady who was back at her office because work on Friday and Saturday hadn’t been overly-efficient due to pre-Woman‘s Day celebrations.

It took awhile to get anyone’s attention at Daniel’s door. John finally stuck his head inside and called out the formal Russian ‘hello’. After the woman brought Daniel out, she was calling to another back in the room while she pushed on the doorbell. Yes, the doorbell is broken. It has been broken this entire round and it is still broken.

Up to the landing. We didn’t see any other families at all today. The landing is always much warmer than the corridor and I have started unzipping or removing Daniel’s jacket up there. We had several more grateful ladies accept chocolates. Daniel had his second knitting lesson. It was a little less complex since we were using only two needles instead of four. We were working with just three stitches, so we had to switch the needles back and forth from hand to hand frequently. At first he didn’t want to let go of the needles, but he stuck with me a long time and got the hang of letting go of one and grabbing the other.


John and Daniel stood looking out the window and Daniel was very talkative again. A great deal of the time was spent with Daniel on John’s back going up and down the adjoining hallway (without lights), occasionally going “Bump” against the walls. Daniel didn’t find it as side-splittingly funny today, but he liked it well enough to ask by name without prompting.

He was content to play with the train, two bags and look at the Russian book while lying on the floor. He army-crawled when he wanted to move and could capably flip tummy-to-back and back-to-right side (easier to use left hand). When we said it was time to leave he moved all over the blankets handing me things to put in the bags, and finally had an excuse to touch our boots (we frequently tell him ‘no, not a toy’) so he could hand them to us, too.

It was a nice visit. We intentionally savored it as possibly the last one of its kind. If all goes well, we will be busy all day tomorrow:

Picking up the court decree
Getting his original birth certificate from the orphanage
Driving to his home town to have name changed on birth certificate and obtaining adoption certificate (total expected time of 4 - 5 hours)
Getting his new name changed for his tax ID number
Applying for his passport at the passport office
And somewhere in there going to the notary’s office.

I’m packing a full day of knitting projects and medical journals.

Another stop at the Billa for water, yogurt, an orange, Coke and ice cream bars (our celebration of Woman’s Day). John cooked pasta and used up the rest of the tomato sauce. He also did the dishes since he read on-line that women aren’t supposed to do housework on Woman’s Day. We are eating the other bag of microwave popcorn. That leaves grilled ham and cheese and the last bag of chips for tomorrow night.

Oh - and the LHM devotion began with some things we do and do not understand about California. IVP Hard Saying: Psalms 51:16-19: Does God Desire Sacrifices?

Sunday - Not Gone Fishing

An addendum: The day after we gave out thank-you photos, blank note cards and blank recipe cards, one of the kitchen workers came to me in the green corridor and handed back all the index cards - with five recipes written. Hurray! We thanked her profusely and can’t wait to find out what they say. Sergei has agreed to translate them for us.

Surprisingly I had no problems falling asleep last night around 11 in spite of the evening espresso and I slept pretty soundly until about 5:45. I gave myself the day off of exercising (Jillian probably wouldn’t approve). During the hour it took to get on the Internet I wrote the letter to Natalya and made myself some coffee. Sure tasted good first thing in the morning.

A correction: I listed the wrong web address for the LHM devotional yesterday - it is corrected now. The one I wanted was for March 6th (which comes into my mailbox before it is available on the website). Today’s is definitely worth checking out: http://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions.asp?date=20100307

The IVP Hard Saying of the Day: Genesis 3:16: Is Childbearing a Curse or a Blessing? It is a good discussion, although in the end they weren’t trying to make the point I was expecting. What came to mind were the many discussions up on the Mother-Baby (Labor & Delivery) floor in the hospital where the nurses recount their own personal nightmare deliveries. At the end of these I raise my hand and say with great relief, “And then there’s adoption.”

Christine’s report: Today the fiery men are Me-shadrach, Meshach, and Go To Bed. From the day the Internet was down: “[Dennis] had dropped a toy motor for a K'Nex set on his foot and wasn't too happy about that. Then, he showed me something and bumped his head on a chair Ben was sitting on as he walked around it. He wasn't to happy about that either. So I kissed it better. Then as he walked around it again, he bumped it again. Another kiss. Then he bumped it again. Kiss. Now his chin. Another kiss. Now his nose, cheek, head, eyebrow. Kiss, kiss, kiss ,kiss. We must have played this game for a good 10-15 minutes and got his "kiss bank" all filled up.”

I just love how kisses can make things all better at that age!

Eggs, yogurt, multivitamin juice, what else? John put all of our towels in the wash for one last round. He admits he likes running the washer here.

We arrived at the Musical Institute(?) building to join a number of church members just inside the entrance while Igor, who led the service this morning, obtained the key to their usual room. It was another happy reunion with Tanya and Katya and we got caught up on the week’s events. I was very happy to hear Katya’s first week back at school here went better than expected. They told me of only one significant “bump” that God has already smoothed out. She and her brother will still be studying for the cumulative exams coming the first of April. We continued talking upstairs and sharing photos of Daniel until we were all called to worship. John had a conversation with Peter who had been a professor at a Bible college in Ohio (somewhere between Akron and Cleveland). The eager gentleman who last week was sorry he didn’t take advantage of his chance to learn English didn’t need any words at all to ask for and enjoy the photos I had on hand. After the service we gave him one of the three of us, and John gave him his e-mail address because he has a son who will help us communicate. With Katya and her father we exchanged Skype id’s.

We began with prayer and a number of hymns, between which Igor would sometimes share some thoughts (no interpreter at that point): “How Great Thou Art”; “Holy, Holy, Holy”; and unfamiliar one but a refrain we caught on to; “Softly and Tenderly”; “Just as I Am”; “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”. Another lengthy children’s message. She lost me after “good morning” in Russian. John heard her say the Russian word for ‘apple’ so he followed a little longer. Then Alec arrived and graciously sat behind us to whisper the translations. She was talking about sin and disobedience and how God in his great love did not stop loving us. He provided the ark for Noah and his family, later prophets, judges and finally his own son. She referred to the “Pearl of Great Price” parable and said God in his love sees us as that pearl for which Jesus set aside his power, glory and riches. I haven’t thought of it that way before. She finished up with an upbeat round of “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” and we know enough Russian to join in the refrain.

Alec was called up front to play a hymn unfamiliar to us, and presumably to Tanya. Igor read from the book of John, chapter 6 beginning at verse 27. He shared his recent thoughts about how he anticipates events such as a new baby, a trip, the approval of a visa and how we can anticipate heaven, too - the joy of eternal life with God, and without tests or hardships.

Alyec (also spoke our first Sunday) came up next. Referring to Psalm 15, 1 Corinthians 6:5, Romans 10 and Psalm 4:6 he talked about the ‘righteous’ inheriting the kingdom of God, and that our righteousness cannot save us, in fact we can not be righteous without God. To inherit the kingdom of God we can only trust in His mercy and love.

Igor spoke a bit more and then we sang, “When I Survey the Cross”. A few people brought up prayer requests. We had only one round of “Happy Birthday” today. We did some more visiting upstairs before moving down to the basement café for tea and cookies. It is just so good to have this time to spend with Tanya, Katya, Denis, Alec and Nadya. We will have a much better opportunity to stay in contact this time. And who knows - perhaps some day we will be able to return? (God does know, He just doesn’t overload us with information too far in advance.)

We grabbed our lunch in the Metro tunnels on our way back to the apartment - the hotdogs in dough from two different vendors, as well as the familiar chocolate pastries apparently from a branch of our Naukova French bakery. We took some time to relax and listen to a CD of a Ukrainian Orthodox priest in America that Oleksandr had graciously given us as we left Kyiv. In this series of presentations he is going back to the basics: why we believe what we believe. It is very interesting. I appreciate his view that once you become a Christian you are not required to turn off the thinking part of your brain, that it is important to know God as much as possible in order to have a closer relationship with him.

We called Nick and Dennis a little before 7 AM their time. They were excited about yesterday’s mini-golf outing with Brian and Caleb. We are not quite sure why, but it seems Dennis didn’t sleep for a couple of hours and he wasn’t happy that Nick tried to tell us about it. Dennis hung up on us once by accidentally pressing a button with his cheek. Nick dropped “us” all the way down the stairs with the same result. We are all glad it was the phone and not the boy that took the tumble.

The modern department store/mall across the street advertises a Blaser Café upstairs. When Anya was here we checked to see if it was a good place for lunch. They only serve coffee. With a day chillier than usual and a little extra time, we stopped there today before going to the orphanage. They do serve only coffee beverages, but the selection of 15 different beans we chose from made for a non-average mocha experience, and that was even before the works of art were delivered to our small table! The view (we were on the third floor surrounded by glass) and soft, pleasant music made for a nice calm interlude. It opens at 8:30 AM, and we might just have to stop in tomorrow morning again. We hope to have a chance to bring Sergei.

At the orphanage one of the caregivers had two note cards to give us while we waited for Natalya to dress Daniel. She made it clear (with no English required) that she would very much like to have us send photographs after we go home. Later up on the landing she let us take her picture with Daniel. Daniel was happy to see us and the feeling was mutual. On our way through the corridor Daniel indicated each couch we passed, but agreed to go all the way upstairs.

We made ourselves at home per usual. What was unusual was that neither bag was ever completely emptied tonight. Usually he upends every bag available at some point. The magnetic fishing and puzzle never saw the light of day today.

John pulled the train out of our ‘evening’ bag and he did dump this out. We brought along the stuffed koala and blue bunny tonight. Koala was allowed to help throw the train pieces back in the bag. Koala also prevented Blue Bunny from eating the cookie Daddy was holding for Daniel.

During this visit another caregiver brought us two completed note cards and when we asked for a photo she called the other writer out, too. We are so grateful for these momentos for Daniel.

Daniel said a nice ‘cracker’ tonight and again asked for the ‘Bump’ game. He and John spent some time looking out the window and we saw Natalya with another child looking out a window in his group room across the courtyard.
He laid up on the couch for a while with John on the floor right next to him, reading a small board book someone had left behind. I helped him drink some water and he was much better tonight. Although he tends to inhale as the water enters his mouth, he only choked once tonight.

He also had his first knitting lesson. John caught it on video.

For supper we had the frozen mixed vegetables we purchased some time last week (I think). They were very good - a mixture of red and yellow bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, green beans, zucchini and a few sliced olives in a light sauce of soy sauce, mustard and lots of basil. Just two or three suppers left here in Kharkov.

Bump

Awake at 6. Haven’t been sleeping very well for a few nights, but felt more rested this morning. John and I have had lingering coughs since arrival. We don’t cough very often, and otherwise feel well so I am wondering if it is in response to residual cigarette smoke in the apartment. We could smell the cigarettes much more strongly in Kyiv when the manager constantly smoked right outside of our door, but Anya says she can assure us 120% that a lot of smoking was done in this apartment, too. Getting away from that and getting back to many more fresh vegetables and no fried foods are some of the things I look forward to at home.

The Engebrechts’ Internet is back up. Nick and Dennis have obviously been listening to their Bible stories at home, school and Sunday school. Christine writes: “Last night at bedtime, Nick and Dennis noticed that the story of the men in the fiery furnace was coming up and were telling me what their names were. "Me-shack, You-shadrack, and Bednigo" was what Dennis thought. I tried to tell them that I though maybe one of the names was "To-bed-we-go" but they didn't buy it. Today he thinks they are "Shadrack, Me-shadrack and Bednigo." “ (The third chapter of the book of Daniel covers the fiery furnace, chapters one, two and three cover more of their story.)

The devotional from LHM was good, and since I don’t want any of you to waste time chasing a field mouse when you started with bigger aspirations, I will encourage you to check out http://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions.asp?date=20100306 . IVP Hard Saying of the Day covered Isaiah 7:14: A Virgin Shall Conceive? I’ll include the website once here for anyone who is interested: http://ivpress.com/hardsay/

Managed to do more of the Level 2 workout today. We had eggs and yogurt for breakfast. Saturday is cleaning day at the Engebrechts’ (and many homes), and by 9 AM our bathroom was also clean and John had the first wave of sweeping done, with plans to sweep the landing outside our door and wash the towel placed there as a door mat.

They brought Daniel to us in his camouflage fleece - guess we got too much banana on yesterday’s outfit - and had the smaller wool socks over the braces. Tight fit, but they did it. The caregiver pointed out that the other socks were quite big. We gestured with English to show the big ones were for the braces. She seemed to catch on but we said we would take care of it ourselves.

We didn’t see any other adoptive families at all this morning. Last night two of the other couples stayed just past 6 PM. Daniel chose the first couch we passed, asked for the black bag and quickly found the banana which of course he wanted to eat. We cut it in half. Lately he gets to the last bite of banana or cookie and just holds it in his mouth, laughing when he tell him to ‘kushi’ (eat). His next bigger brother went through a very similar phase. He did some fishing, some hairdressing, played Putthefishinsidethebag and Dumpthemoutagain (a variation on last night’s train theme), and rode the motorcycle. While helping him drink water I noticed his forehead felt warm. When the doctor on duty passed by, she walked over and felt his forehead, too, noting that he was “choot-choot” (a little) warm. He looked fine to me, so I’m not sure how she knew to check. Maybe he was warm up in his group room earlier this morning.

He was mesmerized when John combed his hair. We will definitely have a comb available for every stage of the trip home!

When he got tired of all our couch activities, John put him up on his back for a walk. He was randomly walking around and wondered what Daniel would think if he tried to walk through the wall. He started gently bumping his (John’s) head into walls and saying “bump”, then moving to the next space with open wall and doing it again. Daniel thought this was hysterically funny, cracking up every time and even learning to enunciate a very clear “bump” for the occasion. Again, I wish uploading video was easier, because I got a pretty good clip of that too, I think.

After he emptied his first cup of (real) water, we pretended to refill his cup with water, juice and coffee and encouraged him to drink it. He seemed to understand this game, although eventually he wanted something real and asked for “wawa“ (water).

At one point he was rather naughty, and itching for a similar showdown as on the 24th, but for this round we ignored and distracted, and he gave up.

He gave no arguments, but showed no eagerness either when it was time to return to group. He does, however, get smiley-excited when we knock on the door to his room, and always reaches to do the same. Since they rarely hear our knock and his is much softer, we let him go for it.

Stopped at the Billa on the way home for water and a stiff broom John wants to use out on the landing. We also picked up some chocolate to take home.

A light snow was falling and a bit colder chill in the air, so the soup we had planned at the cafeteria near the Naukova station sounded better than ever. After soup and bread we looked for a blank card or piece of stationery paper for the note I want to leave for Daniel’s favorite Natalya, but stationery stores here carry no such thing (we were assured by an English-speaking clerk)! I have something that will work well enough, so we left that store to get some reviving, warming cappuccinos and . . . Chocolate French pastries, of course. The steamer is fixed again, by the way. John also order some hot chocolate to mix with his espresso, and drink plain. The rich, thick hot chocolate here is nothing like you will ever find back home. Another food we will miss.

Then back to the apartment to rest. John tried to take a nap, but couldn’t stay in bed wanting to check on the towel door mat in the washing machine. When it finally emerged, the ‘door mat’ turned out to be a small tea towel and a large yellow sleeveless shirt. His attempt to sweep the landing was short-lived. It kicked up way to much dirt and he was wishing for a Shop-Vac with a HEPA filter or a power washer instead.

We arrived at the orphanage shortly after 4 PM and headed up to the landing. Hurray - it was vacant! We started with a video Skype call to the Engebrechts so the brothers could see each other again. Daniel poked Dennis in the eye. Good thing it doesn’t hurt via the Internet. We aren’t sure, but we think Daniel understood they are real people, and talking to us. His interest didn’t last too long, even being fed bits of cookie, but it was sure was good to see Nick, Dennis, Christine and all the cousins.

Daniel asked for “Bump” before we brought it up at all this evening. Dad complied with the same hysterical response from Daniel. Later we found out it is pretty funny when Mom plays, too.

John and Daniel stood at the window looking outside with Daniel talking more and longer than we have ever heard before. We understood none of it, like toddler jargon or babbling, but I caught a full two minutes of it on video. Tonight his ‘cracker’ wasn’t as distinct as previously, but he agreed to do the sign for “fish”.

John invented a new game. When Daniel was fishing, John picked one specific fish and told it to “stay here”. Every time Daniel picked it up with the fishing pole, John took it off and told it ‘no, stay here’ (Russian). Every other fish was allowed to leave the wooden ‘ocean’ and go into the plastic bag, just not that one. Daniel caught on pretty quickly and enjoyed the game very much. Later he played it with me, too. We did see the mom with the older twin girls down in the corridor tonight, and the man with the blond boy made the circuit up the stairs and down the hall a couple of times.

Cleaning the apartment was the prerequisite for eating ice cream tonight. We took the Metro to Bella Pizza for supper. A one-centimeter layer of snow brightened and cleaned up the landscape today. A very thin glaze of ice made it far more treacherous. We each had a couple of slips that could have landed us on the ground, but we were able to hold each other up.

John had a Chief (chef) Salad with salami and slices of white Italian cheese and spaghetti with bologna. I had a Cesar salad and the Macaroni del ? (I can’t remember) - it was a tasty white sauce with cherry tomatoes and chicken. We have been scrupulous about the water we drink, but if we are supposed to be avoiding fresh fruits and vegetables that haven’t been cooked or need to be peeled, it is far too late to bother with it now. We were so nearly full we agreed to share an ice cream dessert - but didn’t make ourselves clear with the waitress, who brought two dishes of ice cream to accompany our two cappuccinos. The only right thing to do was to enjoy them both to the best of our ability, right? And take a picture, of course.

Miscellaneous:

Recent new words: ‘pole’ (as in fishing), ‘no’ (English) and ‘hi’ in addition to ‘bump’ and ‘water’.

We learned that yellow flowers here indicate ‘good-bye’. Anya was gracious enough to accept our bright yellow tulips in the welcoming spirit in which they were intended without comment. Thanks, Anya!

While we were still in Kyiv Oleksandr told us he likes to hold his daughters close to him and smell them. It seemed a little odd at first, but children really do change in aroma as they grow. He told us he had heard (wish I could remember the source) that children are like ice cream. They are going to melt no matter what, so you should be sure to taste them. The longer we are away from Nick and Dennis, the more eager I am to ‘taste’ them again! This month away from them is a month we can never share again, although I think their experience with my sister’s family is very good for them, and the phone calls and e-mails have definitely bridged the distance.

Thurs' Day: Loose Legs

Last night we called The Learning Garden, the day care center we use, and spoke to the director. We had previously told her we were adopting a special-needs child. She had assured us he would be welcome. We let her know when Nick and Dennis will be back and gave her more information on Daniel’s abilities/limitations so she can plan staffing accordingly. We are grateful that they are so willing to try to accommodate our needs.

Lutheran Hour Ministry’s (LHM’s) devo talked about God answering prayer. Tends to boil down to ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘later‘. Thought about it throughout the day. Seems to me like sometimes God says “no” to a request only because he has a much better “yes” planned, one we didn’t even ask for. We asked that the director would be able to allow me to leave early (today) as we had planned. That received a ‘no’ answer. But now it looks like we might all three be able to go home together next Saturday. It would be faster than we imagined for John and Daniel, and a much better trip with two adults and a child who can’t stand. A huge and unexpected ‘yes’. Perhaps.

Intervarsity Press tackled Genesis 3:5: just what does it mean when Satan said, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil”? The idea of this pursuit of autonomy resulting instead in alienation led me to do a search on “alien” in the Bible. God gives many directives on the treatment of “aliens”. Remembering that the Israelites had been aliens in Egypt, they were to be good to the aliens in their midst. Prior to our faith in Jesus Christ we were aliens to God. We have been ‘aliens’ in a strange land for the past few weeks, and we have been well-treated, indeed.

No message from Christine - found out later their Internet service was out. Bad news for Ben who has high school via Internet classes and needed to take a chemistry test. Level 2 on the exercise video. A new twist on breakfast. Inspired by my garlic bread last night John decided to make toast this morning: over an open flame on the stove! The blue flame actually reaches up to the draining spatula John is holding in the picture - and no, we didn’t cause the singe mark on the adjacent refrigerator, but it is easy to see how it could happen.

Daniel came to us with his hood up and his braces off. Since they always put his hood up when his hair is wet, it is possible he had his water therapy before we arrived. He never got upset when he saw the therapist throughout the rest of the day. He was also wearing the wool socks I finished knitting at yesterday evening’s visit. I left them on his feet when we “returned” him for the night along with the loose footies he had been wearing. We had a nice visit down in the green corridor. He ate half of a banana, a cookie and choked down a little water (I hate listening to that, but I know it is how they always let him drink). Riding the motorcycle, and John lifting him high in the air or dipping him low to the ground as Daniel requested either “up” or “down” in English were the primary forms of entertainment. Without the weight of the braces Daniel has a much easier time moving his legs and agreed to quite a bit of walking while John supported most of his body weight. Wish it weren’t so hard to upload video clips from here, because we got some excellent “foot”age. Also due to the absence of the braces, I was wishing I had his shoes along so we could see if they fit.

On our way back upstairs one of his caregivers and the physical/water therapist stopped and asked about the socks. To me they looked ridiculous because I made them specifically to fit over his braces, but they called them beautiful. They asked if I made the sweater I was wearing, too - a smiling ‘nyet’ was my answer.

We had a few more pictures we wanted to have printed so after dropping off the carryall we headed for the Metro and went to the Historical Museum stop by Alec and Nadya’s church to use our usual place. They don’t admit to any English, but don’t seem to mind working with us. We headed down the hill to the open market we remember from the last adoption in search of a bib for the trip home (for soup). That didn’t take long and we explored further. We wandered into a building where they had counter after counter of fresh (I hope) meat on display - on counters and hung in the air - in every imaginable form. No purchases there but on the way back we picked up some leggings (these are common for both boys and girls for warmth) with fire trucks, small flat foam Russian alphabet squares, and finally a fleece outfit. Even the long-sleeved shirt is made of fleece. It will feel soooo good. The proprietor spoke no English but does communicate well. She found out we were looking for clothes for a small two-year-old boy. She thought the outfit we picked out was too small and pointed to a larger sweat suit. John and I agreed the one we had should fit, and with a look that said “you try to help some people and they just don’t want to listen” she bagged it up. We misunderstood about the price but she waited patiently while we parsed out the Russian numerals, and then gave us a 10 grivna discount. (Parsed here doesn’t, of course, refer to grammar, but John said it works based on computer usage.)

We ate at a cafeteria we had seen on our way down. First we made sure it was a cafeteria because “sit-down” restaurants can be very difficult without an interpreter. We each grabbed a tomato and cucumber salad (John’s had some kind of white sour cream sauce in it). John had a rice pilaf and picked something off the top shelf - a spherical, breaded and fried food. I went with roasted potato slices and chicken shish kabob. After dishing up the warm foods they put them in a microwave to further heat them (universal). John also got a bowl of borsch. I had my rice in the form of a slice of rice pudding. We each had a Coke. They didn’t give our hot food back to us right away, and the cashier rang up the rest of our food. Didn’t seem like the bill was large enough ($4 US) for all of our food. I took what we had to a table and John went back to ask for our hot stuff - yep, another $4.

John had better success with his food adventure today. Last time we went to the Naukova cafeteria he accepted some dark meat smothered in onions. Funny, I didn’t recall he was much of a liver-and-onions guy. He isn’t. I split my chicken cutlet with him and discovered I really liked his liver. Strange! It is similar to how I finally began to like oatmeal (again) during a mission trip in Ukraine several years ago. He had more of my chicken, I ate more of his liver and onions. This time we each liked all of our food, and I was too full to eat all of my rice. Most of the Coke came with me.

Sergei called as we were finishing up. He had found another errand we needed to take care of. We first arranged for him to come pick us up at our then-current location, but when we returned to the photo shop our pictures were ready and we let Sergei know we would meet him back at our Metro stop. The errand to the court house was completed and we arrived at our apartment just in time to call Nick and Dennis. They were both pretty excited about bracelets Katie had made for them, each with their name spelled out. Nick counted out the days with us until I (and hopefully Dad and Daniel) return. He is very determined we should play Christine’s choir button game when I get back, and repeated and augmented the rules (to cover cheaters) he had given us yesterday. We should be experts. We learned Nick had been invited to a birthday bowling party that we will miss by a matter of hours on March 18th. We were able to call via Skype and leave our regrets later.

Sergei came to take us back to the orphanage. He had been able to pick up some original hospital records we will need, but the traffic was just horrible and it took him twice as long to get back to us as he expected.

Our favorite landing was already taken again, so we settled on the slightly larger of the three couches in the corridor. Daniel was sans braces - a whole day of loose legs! I had brought along the wool socks I knit for Dennis his first winter to wear inside boots when playing in the snow. They fit Daniel much better than the over-the-braces socks. We also tried on the shoe/boots we had purchased. They slip on easily with just the leggings he always wears, but although I did get them on with the thick socks, I got the impression they weren’t too comfortable. We also tried on the pants we had purchased today (about an inch longer than his usual pants, definitely not too small, thank you very much!) and others we had brought along. All are on the large side, but not by too much.

The favorite games for the evening were Papafetchtheballs, Dumpthetrainoutofthebag and Putthetrainbackintothebag. He did some more walking, too. I put the finishing touches on the socks for the braces (weaving in loose ends, etc.).

After his half banana he begged for water, and we discovered we had the cup, but no bottle of water. John headed for the kitchen where they graciously dipped out a cup for him. Makes us think they might boil and cool the water, since they didn’t just run it out of the tap. I’m still guessing he will have Giardia when we get home. He teased about wanting my knitting and was naughty throwing things we’ve told him not to, so I think he was feeling pretty good. We took away offended items and made him apologize to us, but no major showdowns. The time seemed to go more quickly tonight. When Daniel agreed he wanted to go back to ‘group’ we insisted he put the wooden train pieces back in bag one more time. With persuasion he did. I sent both pairs of socks with him.

On the way home we agreed to use up the foods we have on hand - then just eat out. We will still need water, Coke and chocolate, and John will also have his Multivitamin Juice. John grilled ham and cheese for supper. We have enough bread and butter for one more round of those. I’m not sure the pasta will get used up. It has an unfamiliar texture that John is finding difficult to enjoy. Our pants got splattered with mud today so I am washing perhaps the last load of ‘darks’.

Monday is Woman’s Day, the biggest national holiday in Ukraine. Anyone who can get off work does, and it is customary to give flowers, candies or some other acknowledgement to female family members and co-workers. For Alec and Nadya’s candy bouquet business this is bigger than even Valentine’s Day. The very long row of flower shops across the street from the other side of our apartment building was very busy and we saw many women already with a single flower or bouquet, and it seemed everyone was hurrying home from work to set off on a three-day weekend to be with moms or sisters. We are planning to take flowers to the orphanage on Monday to pass out to those who must work. Hope there are nice flowers left by then.

In anticipation of leaving Kharkov next Wednesday or Thursday we (John) have formulated our list of information to obtain: Daniel‘s schedule of food, sleep and toileting; his Beethoven and Mozart preferences; vaccination record; if he is taking any medications; if the leg braces for night or for day, or both will come with us. All of the legal stuff seems to be done. It remains only to see whether we receive the court decree on Tuesday, or if, due to Monday being a holiday, we will have to wait for Wednesday. By law, if a holiday occurs, a decree can be delayed until the second business day after the holiday.

Waiting

Couldn’t sleep past 6 this morning and was too restless to stay in bed. Found Mom Thur still online so we exchanged a Skype message. As I wrote to her, I am not looking forward to leaving Ukraine, I like it here and will be sad when we are gone. But I would like to be “doing” - packing, organizing, something - but this is not “doing” time, this is “waiting” time. I really do have some things to do: pick out and fix more photos to have printed before we go; write out our questions for the psychologist for Sergei to help us with; write a note to leave with Natalya. But none of it could be done lying in bed, so I got up.
Christine’s update first. In part: “when I sat down next to Nick for the Lenten dinner and asked whether he had prayed yet, he said he had prayed in his brain. I suppose it makes sense that a pediatrician's son prays in his brain instead of his head.”

I checked out the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod’s website (lcms.org) this morning and found a short devotional from Lutheran Hour Ministries. I signed up to receive their daily devotional by e-mail. Then I went back to Bible Gateway for more resources and found “Hard Saying of the Day” by Intervarsity Press. They tackled a passage in Hebrews and essentially discussed justification and sanctification.

In honor of not leaving for Kyiv at 6 this morning I moved up to Level 2 of the workout video. Needed to do most of the modifications available today. It wasn’t as hard as it will be, because I had to/got to keep stopping to see exactly how they did each move.

Egg and yogurt for breakfast. My multivitamin tea didn’t cool down in time to drink it before we left.
Nothing really new for our morning visit except that Daniel decided to comb my hair today. He did some fishing - no string then medium string.

Some other children put on some sort of program this morning. The physical therapist came through wearing a costume dress and a floral head wreath. Three 2-ish boys were led past, and a several groups of caregivers all headed in the same direction, then we could hear piano music from that end of the corridor. When the little guys came back they each had a chocolate candy they were pleased with - and Daniel wanted. We were candy-less this morning and couldn’t help him out. We have no idea what the special event was. We finished with some close cuddling.

We picked up water, yogurt, chips, eggs, Coke, mini bagel cookies, bananas and prepackaged chocolate croissants at the Billa (where else?). Now why in the world that last item seemed remotely appealing after the fresh ones at the French bakery I do not know. We decided to take it easy over lunch and just ate a hot dog and chips at home. I do NOT recommend this diet to anyone, but we were exhausted. I thought I would be picking out pictures of Nick and Dennis to send to the social service folks in their birth town (as requested via Sergei), but I fell asleep sitting up on the couch before I went to join John sleeping on the bed. Woke up to the sound of John washing the dishes. Guess I can’t really complain about that.

We talked to Dennis and Nick and both sets of our parents before Sergei picked us up for the afternoon visit. We brought the stroller along to see how Daniel would handle the restraints. We were able to meet with the psychologist first to ask a few questions - like just what works of Beethoven and Mozart he likes (she will write them down) and how to soothe him on the way home (stroke his head).

When we knocked on the door to Daniel’s group room they already had him ready for us. They had seen us outside through the window when we first arrived, and when it took so long for us to come to the door he started to cry! The judge requested that a copy of the court decree draft be sent to the State Department of Adoption in Kyiv, so Sergei spent the next two hours just getting to the court and getting them sent by train (common means of courier services here) because the traffic was so bad. It had snowed lightly.

As for us, the upper landing was taken so we settled on the couch Daniel chose. John took him for his first spin in the stroller. He did well, although it wasn’t long before he asked to get out. He asked to ride again later and lasted longer. I offered him a chocolate candy from home. He accepted, of course, and we used up the rest of our wipes cleaning up the mess. He also ate half a banana and half of a cracker and drank some water. He does use an open cup with some help, but just like Dennis initially he has trouble regulating the rate and seems to choke on it rather frequently. Not too interested in fishing, books, crayons or photographs tonight.

While John initially kept him occupied I finished his wool socks with reinforcements to fit over and hold up to his braces. I slipped them on while he ate a cookie against John’s chest and they seem to fit fine. He did play with the wooden train while standing against the couch with John sitting on the floor behind him to support his legs. I escaped the beauty treatment this evening. John didn’t.

We left about 6:30, just missing Sergei in the building so that we were calling him on the telephone while standing behind his car. The very nice maintenance gentleman who had offered us a ride home the other day offered to keep the stroller in the garage (where it appears he also sleeps/lives) so we wouldn’t have to carry it back and forth. Daniel tolerated it so well tonight that we don’t plan to bring it back, but we thanked him several times.

We ate our microwave lasagna, an orange and garlic bread (black Ukrainian bread, butter and Frontier garlic flakes) for supper. We also tried the croissants. For being prepackaged they were pretty good.

Passport Photo Day

I was definitely tired enough to sleep well last night. Heeding Denis’ urging from Sunday, I got up a little earlier than usual and searched the scripture using BibleGateway.com for every reference to adoption. More than I expected. And on the “topical” references for adoption I came to realize that the relationship of the Israelites to God was clearly one of adoption, too.

I didn’t have enough discipline to exercise before checking e-mail for the daily Nick-and-Dennis update from my sister, though. In part:
“We've been practicing colors with Dennis. On the "color" day he seems to have the color down. But a week later, he gets mixed up again. One of his problem colors is yellow. At supper Nick was quizzing Dennis on his colors by pointing to different colored flowers in an arrangement on the table. He got blue, "pinka," and green correct, but couldn't think of yellow. So Nick was giving him a hint, "yah, yah, yah" to which Dennis responded, "yah-blue."

But I did eventually exercise and had to hustle to get ready scarfing down an egg, yogurt, and granola bar while doing so. Sergei called to say he’d be about ten minutes late due to worse-than-the-normally bad traffic. That was quite helpful as far as I was concerned.

It didn’t take too long to get Daniel ready and assign a caregiver (his favorite Natalya) to accompany us, although they did take him back inside to add a second hat. Natalya never seems very comfortable around us and I always sense her anticipation of a painful separation coming soon. She knew a place to get passport photos nearby. It was a tiny, highly efficient studio/photo shop. Sergei had thought we would have to wait a day or two for the photos, we thought maybe an hour. It was only five minutes. Daniel had major hat hair and no amount of hand-combing helped. He sat on Natalya’s lap side-ways. It took quite a few shots and effort on the part of all of us to get him looking straight ahead with his head relatively straight, but this photographer knows his business and it didn’t take very long. He was able to quickly straighten out the picture, size it appropriately and print both the rectangular pictures needed for his Ukrainian passport and the square ones for the visa. Without extra charge he also copied the digital images onto one of our camera SD cards. Total cost: less than $4 US. John e-mailed the square ones to Oleksandr in Kyiv in the afternoon.

We were back at the orphanage just after 10:00. Not a very long outing. They took him back into the room to take off the hats and coat and to apply the braces. While we were out and about he clearly preferred to be with Natalya but when we went off to play inside he left her without a problem.

We started off with a cookie - just handed him the whole thing, and other than spitting out the last soggy bite (I think because we wouldn’t move on to the next thing till he was done chewing) he ate it well.

He was interested in his shoes for a long time again, did some very nice quite intensive magnetic fishing, and combed his own hair (rather after the fact) and Dad’s. When we went up at 11:30 Sergei was already back, trying to catch the director to request a letter about Daniel’s medical ‘insurance’ coverage. He did.

Back to the paper chase: the notary, caught lunch while documents were prepared (at ‘our’ cafeteria at the Naukova Metro Stop), back to the notary and then the bank. We were able to conclude our business there and stopped in at the nearby apartment agency to pay rent through next Wednesday. Thankfully they accept grevna because the nationals seem to have difficulty getting our American dollars exchanged, even if they appear to be in excellent condition to us. John and I have had no difficulty getting the same bills exchanged. We suggested to Sergei he might have more success if he speaks very little Russian, and badly.

We exposed Sergei to an American-style coffee shop and his first mocha on the way back to the car.


Somewhere in the midst of this Sergei let Oleksandr know the details of my train trip to and from Kyiv tomorrow. Then Oleksandr called back to clarify the plans. He was still under the impression I was planning to sign the Embassy papers on Thursday and fly home Friday (this week). Guess we neglected to let him on the grand change in plans once we sorted it out last night. He pointed out that since we would all be coming to Kyiv next week I can take care of it then, even if John and Daniel do have to wait a couple of extra days. Um, yeah, he was right. It would be a totally wasted and exhausting (5 AM to midnight) trip. So when everything else was taken care of we headed back to the train station to cancel the tickets for a small fee.

It doesn’t seem like just riding in the car and sitting (mostly) to wait at all these various places should be that tiring, but I was totally drained when we got back to the apartment. This has been the case in the past, too. We were in time to call Nick and Dennis a little bit late. I had a Coke Light for lunch, the double shot (I presume) mocha, and started another Coke Light on the way back to the orphanage just to have a little energy for Daniel. It seemed to help. (Also - sending Dennis off to give everyone hugs for us seems to help him let go of the phone, today even before we said ‘good-bye‘!)

Our favorite evening spot was available so we spread out the blankets and made ourselves at home (even the security gentleman commented).
Daniel didn’t have any interest in fishing, but the comb was put to good use again - first himself, then Dad, and then he called my name emphatically and held out the comb to me.
I have no idea why but he finds it very soothing to have me comb his hair, and I love it! We always try to have him walk a bit (refusing for the last several days) and practice standing and sitting. Tonight was his best effort yet for the latter. I was on the floor and had him sit with his legs between mine, firmly anchoring his feet to the floor. I didn’t have too many expectations when we first suggested standing, but he did - and responded so well to our effusive praise that he just kept standing up (his own strength with a one-finger hold) and sitting down again (very controlled). It was pretty exciting, so the effusive praise was easy to continue.

After six o’clock he developed an interest in the big travel bag, and the wooden train. We were able to direct him to put all the pieces to the train in it’s Ziploc bag, and that in the big bag, as well as the balls, his shoes, etc. The train bag was pulled out a couple of times, but eventually all but the blankets were in place. Then it was the other black carry-all. We had put some things in, but I handed him the airplane and showed him where to put it. He thought maybe he would prefer to pull the fishing (and perhaps everything else) out, but when I asked if he wanted to go to group (yes), I told him “nada” (must) and he put up no further objections. We packed up everything and John took him up and down the hallway a couple of times while I picked up the blankets and put on my boots. That hallway, by the way, is the same where Nick managed to grab a crayon and leave a long, horizontal mark on the wall nearly three years ago. We weren’t able to remove it then, but it is gone now.

I finished my Coke Light before we left so I wouldn’t fall asleep before writing this. It’s only 9 PM, so I’m way ahead of usual schedule - just have to wait till John is ready to give up the Internet device. Once he enters the “work box” he doesn’t really hear me anymore so I get to listen to my iPod. Tonight I played Spider Solitaire (rare indulgence of late) to "Action Bible Toons"(children’s songs), journaled to Brother’s "As You Were" and now Robin Mark’s "Days of Elijah". We ate an orange and a piece bread with peanut butter for supper. Oops - bet my tea is cold again. Anything else you could possibly want to know about our day? :) Oh - Sergei was able to review the drafted court decree after he dropped us off this afternoon and made a few minor changes so all will be perfect on the 10th Day.