Hello Again!

Hi Everybody! It's been a while since we last posted, so it's time to catch everyone up. We finally found out how to get wi-fi internet (Hallelujah!) so we finally posted some pictures today....and we posted LOTS! Make sure when you scroll down to the bottom of this page, click on "older posts" and you will see even more pictures. I expect you all to look at them, it was a lot of work to get them on here :):):)

Life here has been very routine. We do the same thing over and over everyday. I won't bore you with all the details, just the interesting ones! Eating out is always an adventure. We posted a picture of a Ukrainian menu so you all can see what we have to contend with when we go out to eat. The menu along with servers who only know about 4 english words makes things very interesting. We did happen to find one restaurant that happens to have an english menu, but even with that it's still scary to order off of. For instance, here are some items that appear on the menu...tell me if you know what they are:
Home Mockup
Gentle Salad
Salad z Tongue
Fried Carp
Liver chicken leg
Dolled Sausage
and my personal favorite.......Salad with crabby sticks!
Too funny, eh? We're happy to report that we're not starving to death, but I don't remember the last time I felt really full. Dad, can't wait for a good home cooked meal! (Emma too!)
I've also written down flavors of chips they have here in Ukraine. I would have never guessed it, but you can't find any of our favorites like salt & vinegar, dill pickle and ketchup. Nope...here are the flavors Ukraine offers:
Sour cream and Onion (OK...that one's not too bad)
Bacon
Swiss Cheese
Chicken
Mushroom
Hot Pepper
Crab
We've only been adventurous enough to eat the sour cream and onion. I'm kinda wondering how the crab chips would taste being as I like crab so much, but the whole idea kinda creeps me out! Maybe I'll try them one day before we leave just so I can tell you all if they're good or not.

We've been spending all kinds of time with our American friends. The process for them has been quite smooth. They only got here 2 and a half weeks ago and will be leaving by the end of next week (lucky bums!) That's how an ideal adoption goes. It's been really nice to have them here, though. We split costs on cab rides which is great. We also get together to make lunch everyday. We buy bread, cheese, lunch meat and all the fixins for sandwiches. They're not quite as good as sandwiches at home, but they do the trick. It's alot better than gambling in the restaurants...at least we know what we're going to get! :)

Today we were at an outdoor cafe. There were two girls sitting at a table next to us that were quite young (in their 20's) They were actually eating fish heads!!! (like the pictures of the fish we posted) It was gross! There they were eating fish heads and drinking beer like it's a totally normal thing...and they just sucked all the meat off the bones...ew. Just had to share that.

Our visits to the orphanage have been going well. It's tough to visit out there because there's not a whole lot to do. We actually got to take Emma out for the day today....let's just say it didn't go quite as smoothly as we would like it to. I (Tara) was ready to pack it in and call it quits. This whole mom thing is kinda freakin' me out. Emma has quite a stubborn streak. There were all kinds of tears and squealing and whaling today when she didn't get her way. Terry takes it pretty well, but I have a harder time. Emma is totally in love with Terry no matter what. She hasn't quite made that bond with me yet, but we're getting there. When we got her to our hotel room, we decided to give her a shower because the child stinks big time! The kids wear the same thing everyday and I don't think their clothes get washed very often (even underclothes) I just about gagged when I smelled her clothes. Anyway, getting her into the shower was near impossible. It took about 10 minutes to get her clothes off and then I had to beg her to go in the shower. I know that sounds bad, but we don't want to scare the living daylights out of her yet. I finally got her to get in the shower....she wailed and cried almost the whole time..it was tough. It was nice to get her clean and into some new clothes that we had bought. After that we went about our day...to the park, for something to eat, etc...then we went back to the hotel room. After a little bit of playing, Emma suddenly started stripping her clothes off. We couldn't figure out what was going on. We asked her if she needed to use the washroom. Suddenly she beelined it into the bathroom, straight into the shower and was begging to be washed...strange child. So she had another shower...this time she loved it!

We've decided we're not going to take Emma from the orphanage again until we get her for good, because she has a total meltdown when she has to go back. It's just too hard on her and I'm sure very confusing. Only four more visits. We get to keep her on Monday.

Sorry that was really long winded...just wanted to catch everyone up on what's going on. 17 days till we come home.....