Just to spice things up....8 days til we set foot on US soil!!

Tom and I never tire of looking at Elizabeth. It was 2 weeks ago today that we met this precious being and our lives and hearts are changed forever! She has changed in the past 14 days, too, not just because she is bonding with us…but even her physical looks. I already fear that she will grow up too fast, so each second with her is valued. We try to image how her birth mother was able to give her up, but at the same time we will always be endeared to her for the wonderful gift she has given us. Having said that, we wonder if folks at home would like to see other pictures in addition to our daughter.

The day we left Kiev on the train (October 26th), had the horrible apartment fiasco, we then went straight into pictures of our daughter. We never really talked about the train ride, or showed pictures of it. We took what is called the “Capital Express” train which travels about 300 km in about 5 hours, with only 2 stops. We had a compartment to ourselves with 3 big, nice, comfortable seats, a TV (of course in was only in Russian language, lol!), and a table. It was very spacious and Tom wishes we could have that much room on the airline. There was a WC (Water closet) on either end of the compartment as well as smoking areas. In our compartment we were able to close the door and could turn our lights on and off if we wished. Since we left at 5:00 pm (this was before the time change) we only had about one hour of daylight, but we were still able to see some farm ground and some corn fields. We brought some water and candy bars for supper, but they had someone that brought a cart around with drinks, sandwiches, chips, and of course, beer. Beer and all types of alcoholic beverages are everywhere here! When we go to the market, half of it is food and the other half is alcohol. There are street vendors everywhere selling beer and cigarettes. We have seen young people drinking and smoking. We asked Igor once what the legal age is here and it is the same as the US…18 to buy cigarettes, 21 to buy beer…but the street vendors will sell them to anyone who has the money to buy them. Guess that explains why we have seen so many youngsters drinking/smoking.

Today we only got to play with Elizabeth from 9am-10am (our driver had some problems, so we had to take 2 taxis to get there and we ran late) but she was in the best mood!! After the banana, she would run and throw herself into my arms. She would laugh and loved to be tickled today! She would walk away and then turn around and run back to me. I loved it and told her I could play that game all day! They took her all too soon and each day it is getting harder and harder to let her go. Soon (Tuesday) we will get to bring her home for good!!!!! We can hardly wait!

Yesterday afternoon, we walked to a McDonald’s that we saw on the way to the circus. It was very far away (40 miles, Tom says, ha!). It was a long walk, but we found it. It was very big and very fancy for a McDonalds. After we left there we walked home a different way so we could go to the Children’s Store (for diapers). We found another McDonald’s that is much closer to the hotel…oh well, next time we’ll know not to walk so far, lol! Really we both needed the long walk to make up for the cheeseburger/fries, ha! As we were walking I took many pictures of the streets and the people. The streets are always full of people. We always see people walking, people driving, sometimes people just standing there or sitting on benches. It amazes us that of all the people we see on the street, we read that about 75% of the people here travel underground by the metro. Wow! That’s a lot of people! The pictures turned out great and we will try to include some (in addition to Elizabeth, of course, lol!) each day. It is interesting the way they dress and the high heeled boots the women wear. We saw a pair of boots in a store window for 2000 krivna ($400)!!! Yikes, could you imagine paying that much for a pair of boots that have a 4 inch heel? And then to wear them on these streets and sidewalks that are very uneven?

Speaking of sidewalks… people drive on the sidewalks and they park on the sidewalks. Even the sidewalks have potholes! Some of the streets are the old cobblestone streets. The buildings are old; some you can tell were very fancy in their day, some just old and ran down. We saw a school, very old building and the playground was just a fenced in lot, no playground equipment, the kids were just playing with a ball, but they were laughing and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

It’s cold and cloudy here today with a few snow showers. Tonight we are going to eat at the Ukrainian restaurant (where Tom and I went last week with Misha) with the other 3 American couples (Bryan & Tamera, Mark & Sue, Tony & Chris) that are here from the same adoption agency. It is so nice to have other couples to talk to and to share our experiences with, not to mention to the food was excellent!

We are so homesick for home and family and friends! I cannot wait to see Chris and give him a great big bear hug!! We look forward to the day that Elizabeth meets big brother and his girlfriend, Kayla. Chris is so good with little ones; I just know that Elizabeth will look up to her big brother! We have been washing out clothes in the sink and shower here every other day, that’s getting very old and we can’t wait to use our washer/dryer again. I won’t complain about doing laundry again for a long time! We are counting down the number of times we’ll have to hand wash (Friday and Sunday should be our last times, Whoo Hoo!). We sit and think about what food we are going to cook first when we get home. We talk about how good our own bed and our recliner/rocking chair will be! We can’t wait to see our good old dog, Cocoa and our cats, Charlie and Annie. Can’t wait to see the fence work that has been done near our house. We can’t wait to see the garden that Kent disked up for us (thanks Kent!). Can’t wait to call my mom/sisters and talk for hours! Can’t wait to see our families at Thanksgiving…and boy do we have so much to be thankful for!!!!

We love each and every one of you! We hope to find out soon the details of next week and when exactly we will be home. Right now we are hoping for Friday, but nothing is for sure yet. Hope everyone in the states is doing great!!

Love, Tom, Valerie, and Elizabeth