Day 6 until now...our days in Kiev.

(With Yuliya at the outdoor museum of Ukrainian Folk History. This is an outdoor attraction where you hike to different stations that represent the regions in Ukraine. It was quite a hefty walk. Yuliya was bored out of her mind, but was a trooper through it all.)

Good news!!! We have our day in court tomorrow! We sat down with Natasha last night and jotted down everything we need to know for court. Knowing that this court is our final link to joining Yuliya with our family has been a little nervous and exciting all at the same time. Yuliya will be there with us, and it will surely to be an emotional experience. Tomorrow is what it all comes down to. Any words of advice from anyone before our family grows from 5 to 6?? :) If everything goes well, we'll be flying home the weekend of the 23rd.

We've been talking to Yuliya about her name and she picked one out. She pulled out her notebook and wrote it down. We'll let her tell you what her new name is (click on the picture for a larger view)

We're now back in Romny. My apologies for the lack of postings. When we went back to Kiev, we stayed in the same room that the Keller's did, which did not have internet access. It you were careful, there was one spot in the apartment with sporadic internet, if you were lucky and the moon was aligned just right. Fortunately, during those several days in Kiev, we were able to spend much needed time with Yuliya. That time with her has been invaluable. We initially felt like we did in Oct '07 when we first met her. And in many regards, the time with her has really been a 'getting to know each other again' time. Carrie is an amazing mom and has really taken advantage of this opportunity to shower Yuliya with endless love and attention, which has brought her out of her shell quite a bit. Yuliya loves it when Carrie sits next to her and paints their nails, brushes her hair, holds her close, etc. I've also been enjoying the time to take care of her and show her how happy we are that she is ours. For me, as the dad, it is easier to show her my love, such as bringing her breakfast in bed, letting her play games on my laptop, show her pictures, etc. As so many of our friends that have gone before us have advised, we're simply enjoying this time with Yuliya, to love her and to show her that we care. This time with her has been an experience we didn't expect, but it has provided us much needed time to bond with and love her. She has been responsive to that more and more each day. Tonight, Carrie and and I will sit down with her and convey that the only reason we came to Ukraine was to adopt her, and if she would have said no to us, we would have turned around and gone home. We want her to fully understand that out of the thousands of orphans in Ukraine, she is the one we wanted, and on else. Carrie and I had wanted to adopt Nadia if she was available (which she was not) but that was completely secondary to our primary objective. Nadia and Yuliya are as close as sisters, and it's going to hard to separate them in a few days.

We took Yuliya to the circus here in Kiev. It was not quite the primitive experience that Wendy had. :) However, the ASPCA would have had a heyday if we were in America. Who would've ever thought you could train porcupines, foxes, monkeys, a baboon, 3 goats, 2 dozen cats, a hedgehog, llamas, roosters, mice, possums, dogs, raccoons and rats to do so many tricks? At one point, they brought out a horse that was foaming at the mouth. We were just hoping that they would take him out back and put him out of his misery. Instead, he had to run around the ring with a monkey on his back, foam pouring from his mouth. Other than that, it was pretty entertaining and everyone had a good time. Carrie bought some cotton candy that tasted a little like rancid oil and burnt sugar. Yum! Thank goodness Yuliya are most of it. We bought her a big dolphin balloon (you can see it in the picture). The little girl in her was so excited to have it, but when we brought her back to the orphanage, the tween side of her was a little embarrassed to bring it inside. But Vlad insisted, since the whole 5 hour drive from Kiev to Romny involved a floating dolphin constantly obscuring his view, with a few Ukrainian words not repeatable on our blog as he batter it back to her. Poor girl...she had no choice but to bring it with her. Her teacher met us at the door and whisked Yuliya off to her room to drop off her stuff. They walked back to the classroom and Carrie and I got one last glance of our daughter. In passing, Yuliya didn't look too happy to be there. Carrie called her name as she walked by and waved to her. Yuliya turned around and gave us a little wave and the most endearing little smile we've seen yet. That grin said it all.

(In front of the circus with the big dolphin balloon.)

The trained cat (one of many)


(The money with an umbrella)

Yuliya wanted a picture with this snake. Once she got it around her neck, she kind of looked like 'what have I just done!'. If she likes snakes, her and Caleb will get along great.

The trained albino possums on the wheels

The trainer put a piece of raw meat into her mouth, and let this lion eat it!

To Charrisse >> Natasha talks to your Katya every day. We've been there for many of the calls. Natasha sure has taken her under her wing and let's her know every day that you are coming. Although I could not understand anything, I could hear Katya's voice through the phone and sense her eager anticipation. She was meant for your family...good luck in getting her. Natasha has been working on your case and feels good about the way things are going.