Day 6

I'm numbering the days cause you do have tendency to lose track of what day it is over here. so here's the update. we made lots of progress on the paperwork. there was a "complication" today in that the name of Sasha's birth mom on Sasha's birth certificate had a different last name than on the court documents where her parental rights were taken away. they were having trouble locating the proper paperwork so sasha called her birth mom and our driver took her there and she picked it up. we were worried about how this might affect her. especially when you think by giving this piece of paper to sasha, her birth mom is actively participating in giving sasha up. sasha was supposed to be dropped off here at our flat at 5 o'clock, after she got the paper. when it got to be after 6 and we had not heard from her, anastasia called her. the first thing she told anastsia was "i got the paper!" wow!

Kostya picked us up and we went to dinner. fridays was packed so we went to the italian place next door. Jen, we really missed you there. just wasn't the same without you! :) when kostya picked us up at our flat he was standing outside the car. sasha was sitting in the car by herself. i was worried about how she would be emotionally after just being at her birth moms. it was dark but a street light was shining on her face - she was BEAMING. huge gigantic smile on her face as she sat there all alone in the car. she was very happy for us to see her new look (and she looked adorable). At dinner i was asking about her eyes, cause the day before she left this summer she said she needed glasses (which was a little late). she held the menu way far away from her - to tell me she couldn't read. so i pulled out a cheap pair of red reading glasses with rhinestones on the corners (all my crossroads friends have seen these). she LOVED them. put them right on and started reading everything at the table. she wore them out to the car, cleaned them up . . . when they dropped us off at our flat, she handed them back to me and i told her she could keep them. she was SHOCKED. as they pulled away she was grinning, holding those glasses like they were worth a million dollars. she's something.

tomorrow we hope to go to the orphanage (nothing is certain here! those of you who have been here understand that). anastasia was bummed that we didn't' go today but she was able to get a lot of school work done. so tonight was fantastic. it was great watching sasha and anastasia giggle their way through dinner. they both smile pretty much all the time. two happy little chicks.

her new hair! she got it straightened and colored. she was very pleased with it. there was a Ukrainian celebrity in the same salon while she was getting her hair done. Kostya, our driver, told her "they're people just like us, just more people know who they are" she has my $2 reading glasses on. she loved them.
while sasha was at her mom's today she picked up one thing - this certificate (sad that was the only thing at "home" that she wanted to take with her). it is for a computer class that the telephone company did at Sasha's orphanage. they gave a certificate to a child who was "excellent" guess who got it - yep, our gifted child sasha! she had been keeping it at her birth mom's. she wanted us to take it tonight so we have it with us at our flat. We told her we'd put on her new bookcase in her room - she thought that was a great idea. We thought it was weird that the certificate was in english. when we got home we took it out of the frame for the picture (reduce the glare you know) and found that the other side of the certificate was in russian! she had flipped it to the english side for us. here's a pic of anastasia holding her sister's certificate.
here's one reason why traffic is so bad here in kiev. this is the 8 lane highway that is below our balcony. notice there are no lane lines. also notice the cars parked on the sidewalk. our driver is currently driving his father-in-law's car cause his car was rear-ended, while PARKED ON THE SIDEWALK.
building that we see across the street.