Update

Day 9 (we think). There has been so much happening, it is hard to make it comprehensible, so I will be all over the place....First, I am sure you want to know more about the kids. We officially gave them their new names today. They are all excited to have an American name and to come to America.

Ryan Maxim - 8 - Very calm, sweet, helpful with his brothers and sisters, but did put his little brother in a gentle headlock, so he may be another Tibbetts wrestler!!

Robin Vladislava - 7 - Very energetic, very independent, is definitely going to be the drama queen of the bunch.

Jason Ivan - 5 - He is very energetic, likes to wrestle and play rough and will be our challenge on the way home.

Jillian Katerina - 3 - Very happy, always smiling, loves the Winnie the Pooh we gave her. Likes to sit on our laps.

Luckily, we have a big yard at home. They are going to need room to run and play, as they only have small places to play here and they will need to burn off energy. I think we will need to invest in a trampoline and a swingset, but since I have been hearing it has been very cold and snowy in Minnesota, maybe we better start with sleds and ice skates!!

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I hadn't slept yet in 8 days, just little bits here and there, but I finally slept last night so I feel MUCH better!! Yesterday and today, we spent a lot of time running here and there and spending lots of time waiting in the car while our facilitator did paperwork for us. I am not sure of all the places we went, but we went to the inspector's office (same thing as a social worker for us), orphanage offices, lawyer, judge and a few other places and sometimes back and forth between them. By the end of the day yesterday, I could hardly stay awake and had a major headache. As far as we know right now, we are trying for court about Dec. 24 (so I don't think we will be home for Christmas). All the documents have to go back to Kiev to the SDA (State Department of Adoptions - where we started) and then they will send the referral back to us so we can go to court. After court, there is a 10-day mandatory waiting period before we can take the kids home - but for us it will be more like 15 days with their Christmas.

We are staying at a Christian Clinic here. It is really cool. They have everthing we need. Our bedroom is about 10 x 18 feet with two single beds, a couch, desk, and a closet (and our facilitator has his own room). Across the hall is a kitchen we can use, dining room, and bathrooms. It is like a dormitory. It is where their missionaries stay, but there aren't any here, so they let adoptive families stay here. And the clinic director lets us use his computer for Internet. It is a ways from the orphanage so we have to have a driver everyday for driving to the orphanage and running around for all the paperwork, but he knows where everything we need is.

Jenni and Brian wanted to know why we didn't have hot water in Kiev. I asked George and we got a 20-minute explanation, but it comes down to a political thing and they can shut it off at will.

We have had several visits with the kids. We are allowed to have two visits a day. From 11-12:30 and from 4:15-6:30. We don't always get two visits with all the running around for paperwork we have to do. The hardest thing is communication. George sometimes has to leave to work on the paperwork and we are on our own. They get a little wound up and we visit with them in a little room with no toys and there are decorations on the wall that they don't want broken. We try to bring things for them to do. The oldest two really like to color. We brought play-doh and they weren't interested and put it in their bags to keep. They really like looking at the pictures we brought from home. Vlada tried to say Sierra today when I was pointing out people in the pictures - of course she rolled the R's, so it was really cute. The visits get easier and more enjoyable each time. The youngest boy ran back and gave us both hugs when we left today.

Since the oldest boy is in school, he has to write a petition to agree to be adopted. He has only been in school a short time, so please pray that he won't be frustrated and will agree to us being his parents.

I know everybody is anxious to see pictures, just know that they are cute!! One, I don't know how to add pictures to this blog using a public computer and two, I don't think we are allowed to put pictures on the web until after court. Sorry!! You'll just have to wait!! ;0)

I don't know what else you want to know about. Please keep e-mailing and/or leaving comments on the blog. We really appreciate it and it will give us ideas of what to write about and we love hearing from home!! Thanks for praying!!! Dos va danya!!