Day 2 Trip 2 Kiev

Great day. Went to two offices – and left with Sasha’s new birth certificate (with her brand new name and her brand new parents - that would be us). Got her tax ID number (often takes days to get this), picked up her old passport at the orphanage (need this for her new passport) then hung out a bit at the orphanage. Tomorrow we’ll work on getting passport.

I saw Sasha for first time today this trip. Went to the dorm and she wasn’t there, but Luda called her on phone. Sasha was in cafeteria, so Luda and I went outside to wait for her. Sasha ran all the way to the dorm, which was really sweet. She’s counting down the days. Mark and I had each written her a letter, since it’s a little hard to communicate more than simple thoughts. Big thanks to Oksana for translating them for us. She was sweet reading them. There weren’t many kids at the dorm, so Sasha and I had a quiet time just hanging out.

Tomorrow she’ll get her picture taken for her new passport. Just hanging out in apartment tonight – watching DVDs of “the office” and “Arrested Development” (thank you Dave Little and Jason Eads).

We need to get her passport tomorrow if we have a chance at getting home this weekend. But even if we don’t get home this weekend (which would be super quick) we’ll be home by middle of next week. She was counting down the days – she said “tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow home. Your home (then she thought for a minute and smiled) MY home!” She was wearing a pair of pants that she got from Rachel – I think that’s the key to getting her to try some new outfits.

Thanks for the prayers today.