Whateverday

We have lost track of time. We are in the wait until the court date period. Today was nice because Dan and Joyce arrived after an 18 hour (yes, I correct myself from the previous blog) train ride and we had some good laughs about our adventures. They are blogging but have not been able to post it to the internet as of yet. So when they do you will have a lot of reading to do!

Yesterday we had Kolya prepare what we would call party gift bags for his friends in the orphanage. He initially wanted to take the entire bag of goodies and poor it out onto the room floor and have his buddies have at it. But we encouraged him to put one or two of each of the items into each bag then give them out to each individual child, as we would at a birthday party. We had parachute men, army men, airplanes, Dum Dums, beach balls, pencils, and other trinkets. Today we had beach balls everywhere on the playground! Graham pointed out that there was only one toy (a raggity old soccer ball) that wasn't given to the kids by us. We wondered where all the toys that all the other adoptive parents are bringing are going?! The beach balls did not last long as the boys were pretty rough on them and they developed holes pretty quickly. Next out of the Hickman gift suitcase are the frisbees everyone sent!

Each day we visit from 10:15 to 12:30 and 3:30 to 5:00 pm. We play with Anya and Nastia everyday along with all of the other "well" children. I already want to bring home a blond little girl about 6 or 7 y/o and another boy the same age as Kolya. Joe is relieved we only have one dossier! Joyce notices Joe's view point and points his relief out to me regularly!

We move to a new apartment tomorrow that is closer to the orphanage and has one bedroom and a pull-out couch in the livingroom. This will save us much money as we will be able to walk everywhere and not pay the driver. I expect this is where I will stay when the rest of the clan flies back to Denver.

Each day it gets harder and harder to leave Kolya at the orphanage. He gets sad and watches us get into the van and practacially follows us through the gate each time we leave. I know he waits for the day when he can climb into the van with us and spend his extra time as a family and not be left out. It will be hard for me to entertain him by myself after he has had a Papa and 2 siblings wrestling him and playing soccer, catch, and frisbee non-stop each visit. Mama will be boring. I know he will be sad to leave his friends at the orphanage also, and we will try to have him call once in awhile, especially within the first couple of months.

Sorry this blog isn't funny. Everyone is in bed and I am up typing. I feel obligated to enter our days activity, even if it is mundane, for those of you who are hanging on every word. I have taken more pictures of Nastia today and Joe will post them soon. I have other pics of the orphanage kids but will not post them as requested by the Director, David Avilla, and other people of Ukraine. I will show you all when we get home. The Matthew's Nastia is still at camp and we have not seen her yet. Joyce and Dan are trying their best to be patient. I know as of Aug. 1st they will be able to see her and we will celebrate big time that evening!

As a final note to the neighborhood, how are our cats doing? We miss them terribly! The stray kitties around here are getting lots of lovin from us along with scrap foods!