A Little Sleep Deprived!

It is 5:00 in the morning, I think I've been awake since about 3 due to the time changes here versus Utah. It doesn't get completely dark until almost 10 at night and then it is bright again by about 3:30 am. It is so hard for me to sleep when it isn't dark. Then you add to that the very loud birds that are outside our window and it makes it almost impossible!!! Don't feel too bad for me though, for some reason, I don't feel that tired. It is pretty amazing because I am one that has always thought I have to have my 8 hours a night to function and I've been okay so far.

Since I couldn't sleep I thought I would write a few other memories that I have experienced so far.

Elena took us grocery shopping after visiting the orphanage yesterday. She helped us read all of the labels. As we were looking for tomato sauce for spaghetti she pointed out a vegetable spread that she thinks is so delicious. She said it was a pureed vegetable caviar. I asked if it has salmon eggs in it and she said no, so I thought why not try it.

At the apartment, Drew made dinner!!! I added a little of this spread over my chicken and it tasted a little fishy...I think I did have pureed salmon eggs with vegetables. Hmmm, haven't had caviar before, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I still don't think I could chomp down whole salmon eggs though!

Another interesting thing was how mature Masha is. She is going to be the glue that holds this family together. I couldn't imagine not having these sisters together. When we sat with her yesterday she was pretty quiet at first. I was feeling like she seemed a little sad. We got into a discussion about the timing of things and Drew said "We will be back for you!" And her face lit up. After that she was very bubbly and wanted to know all about home and what to expect. I think she just needed to hear from our mouths that there is no question, we will be back for her. She wanted to know where they were sleeping. She also wanted to know if she would be going to JR's school. She was very excited to hear that she would be.

I think that these kids really do wonder if we are coming for them and question it being an empty promise. Once they see you physically there and hear it from your own mouth that you have every intention of bringing them home to be a part of their family, they can finally KNOW that it is true. The only reason I mention this is because Masha was always so quiet on the phone when we would call her from the States. Yesterday, she couldn't talk enough! Maybe it's just the phone that they're not used to. Whichever it is, it was neat to see her so happy. It helps me to know that we are doing the right thing and that these girls are a part of our family. We are excited about the time we will be able to spend with the girls over the next couple of weeks, bonding and getting to know one another better. They are so sweet.

I know there is more I want to say, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Hope all is well back home!

_________UPDATE__________

We were just asked why we aren't bringing home both girls this trip. There was a problem with Masha's paparwork on the regional level here in Ukraine. We knew this before we traveled, that there was a good chance we wouldn't be able to bring both girls home this summer. Due to this error in the paperwork, Masha's mandatory 12 month waiting period (that allows her to be adopted by Ukrainians before foreigners) has to be served completely. Until it is over, she cannot be adopted by us. Nastia's paperwork was just fine and she completed her 12 months early June. If Masha hadn't had paperwork issues, she would be adoptable too.

We were hoping that we could figure out a way to petition once we got here, but the government officials said it is impossible. We must come back.

We felt strongly, that with the bills that some of the Ukrainian parties try to pass against foreign adoption, that we needed to get Nastia as soon as we could. Once we have adopted Nastia, it puts Masha and us in a different adoption catagory, that no matter what bill passes in the future, we can adopt Masha because we already have her biological sister. That's pretty much it, in a nut-shell. We will return sometime next year.