Super Long Post

It's been a few days and we have a lot to catch up on. So if you're busy right now, you may want to come back later! :)

Life in Ockteerka (spelling it like it sounds) has been alright. Our living quarters we are not so happy with. But we are happy to say that we will be moving tomorrow. We've found a clean room in a hotel. The room is small, but we're willing to take it in order to get cleanliness. Also, it's right next door to the internet cafe. Right now we're about a 20 minute walk away...and Terry hates backpacking with the laptop. So we're very much looking forward to the move. We haven't had a decent sleep since we got here. When I pulled open the blankets to get into bed the first night, I put them right back. The sheets were covered in dirt and hair. So we sleep on top of the blankets. Amy, thank goodness you sent us with those airplane blankets, that's what we cover up with. Not that we need to cover up....it's over 30 degrees and we have no airconditioning. All we can do is open the window for some cool air at night. And there are no screens in the windows, so Terry had to be the mosquito hunter last night. All we could hear all night as we were trying to sleep is buzzing. I am covered in bites....OK enough of my complaining!!! Oh ya! One more thing....I got bit by a really nasty bug while we were in a cab the other day. It bit me on the back and it hurt like a bugger! I immediately got 3 welts on my back. Luckily we had some friends with some Benadryl cream...worked like a charm!

Oh....our friends....Yes, we have some here. It is awesome! There is a couple here from the US with their little 8 year old daughter. They got here a day after us and are adopting from the same orphanage (6 year old boy) They are also using the same facilitation team, so we are just a great big group of buddies! Our facilitators have left the town, though, to get some paperwork done. But it's so nice to have another family here going through the same thing. We also get to split transportation costs to the orphanage which is great. AND they are living in the hotel we are moving into. Does it get any better? Their daughter was also adopted from the same region of Ukraine 3 years ago when she was almost 4. She is now an honour student.

The town we are staying in is much smaller than any place we've stayed. Hot water is a rare commodity, but we are lucky to have had it. People here are so much more friendly than the big city. We only run into the odd person who doesn't want to help us. We have found a good restaurant to eat at. To order, we phone our facilitator and have them translate what we want. We also take pictures of what we eat so we can show the server the next time we go if we want to order it again. Nobody in town seems to eat out. Everytime we go to a restaurant, it is empty. Makes me wonder what those girls do all day!

We get to visit the orphanage 2 hours a day. Our visits have been going well. Emma has really attached to Terry, as she got to spend 2 days straight with him. She is starting to warm up to me, but plays shy sometimes. She would way rather run to Terry than to me...she'll be a real daddy's girl!
She loves to play and loves when we chase her. She is always very excited to see us. We have shown her pictures of family and her new house. I think she is starting to understand. Our driver told us today that she said she wants to come home with us now. She has not picked up very much english, so we are working on our russian. I'm sure things will change when she gets home and nobody speaks her language. We're also sure she'll be a huge fan of grandpa because he can speak Ukrainian!!
Emma is funny when other kids come around us. She starts yelling at them and we think she's telling them that we are her mama and papa and to stay away from us...it's quite cute. She calls us mama and papa already...actually she calls both of us mama...we have to keep reminding her that Terry is papa.

Kids at the orphanage are pretty funny. They are all just longing for some love and attention. They all want to hold hands or sit on your lap. And when our driver is there, they are all over his car! They wanna get outta there something awful! I can tell everyone reading this that if you came here and saw these precious kids, you would be going home with one! We've seen other kids here we would like to bring home, unfortunately, legalities get in the way. We'll just pray that these kids find their own mamas and papas. Orphanage life is definately survival of the fittest. You can see that when they get something, it's theirs! Don't try and take it away. We've seen several brawls and know who the trouble makers are!

Leaving the orphanage is always the hardest. Emma always gets very upset and cries when we leave. Then she'll run away and hide. She never says goodbye...breaks our heart! But soon we'll be able to pack her in that car and take her with us! We can't wait. We should find out tomorrow when our court date is.

Oh boy...I have so much more to say buy my fingers are getting tired and the internet cafe is closing soon. Talk to you again soon!