Lazy Saturday

Dear Friends and Family,

We'd first of all like to thank everyone for their comments and well wishes. In a land that is strange to us and where we only have each other to talk to, your communications keep us grounded and in touch with home. We'd like to offer a special thanks to Francessca and Brianna, who have both warmed Kelly's heart by sending very nice messages. Kelly also appreciates the all of the messages from the purple room!

There's not much to say about today. All we've done for the adoption is go with Luba our translator to buy airline tickets. She woke us up with a phone call at 11:30 today. I think Kelly and I were both so relieved to have a referral with no problems that we finally slept peacefully.

Since getting the tickets, we've been spending the day walking around the city. We are finally feeling adventurous, and willing to "get lost." We've thoroughly explored the Independence Square, the commercial heart of the city. We've also visited the Arch Monument. The monument is impressive because of its sheer size, but is not a favorite of the locals. It was built by the Russians to celebrate their "union" with Ukraine. The tongue and cheek nickname of it is "The Yoke."

Our mobility has been very much enhanced by our "discovery" of the under street tunnels. We have read the subways are a bit scary, especially since the Ukrainian sense of personal space is not the same as it is in the US; we've seen public buses crammed full of people like clowns in a little circus car. Anyhow, we'd decided to avoid the subway, but today Bill noticed two entrances on either side of a busy street that we were trying to cross, and suggested perhaps we could go in one and find our way to the other side and thus safely cross. As it turns out, what we have been thinking were subway entrances are merely tunnels built for the very purpose of crossing streets, and nothing more. We feel like geniuses...

Bill is finally starting to feel better. He threw out his back 5 days before we left. The plane ride over was very uncomfortable, but he survived. Despite the 3 inch mattress on the bed, it has gotten better. He also picked up a cold on the flight over, but that, too, is getting better. Lastly, he had a disagreement with the local cuisine 2 nights ago (and lost), and gave the Ukrainian plumbing a good test.

We are intentionally not speaking too much about the boys, waiting until the adoption becomes more probable. (We apologize to both grandmothers who are dying to hear details). We will say, however, that both boys are well thought of by their caregivers.

Peace and Love,

Bill and Kelly