Friends in Kiev

Weekends are rough cause you know NOTHING is going to happen that will get you any closer to home. So it was so WONDERFUL to have Jenny and David arrive. I tracked their flights all morning - and was so happy to hear David's voice as they were leaving the airport. Sasha and I were hosted by them in their apartment. We brought a pizza as a little housewarming - and a roll of toilet paper too! Not enough room here to go into all that Jenny and I have been through together over the past years and how she has encouraged me and Mark- so it's especially great to have her here. I love David too! :)

They will be leaving to go to the region where their 3 kids are (to add to thier 3 at home) on Tuesday morning so we're planning on having some fun before they leave. HOpefully by the time they leave, Sasha and I will be busy leaving too - to go to US. But while we're here together, we're doing the happy dance (and to be honest - we're doing some crying too cause we do miss home) and praising God that he sent two chicks from KY (and David too) on a mission to Kiev at exactly the same time.

Sasha and I had a really good day. She let me wash her clothes tonight. THat may not seem like a big deal, but these kids have had to be so independent and for some, including Sasha, they have had to play the adult role in some family situations. She's always looking out for me (making sure I stop when the light is red at crosswalk, ordering for me in restaurants....) so it was nice to be able to do for her. Typically at this age, as parents we're trying to get our kids to be more independent, but when adopting an older child, we celebrate when they lean into us as parents. So even though she'll still have that same beautiful hoodie on - know it smells wonderful! After she washed her hair, I could also tell that she's done some work on it in the week we were gone! Interesting....

Oh and on the washing - she put her own clothes in the washer after her shower (cause washer is in the bathroom) and guess what - she left a red pen in the pocket of her pants. So the first load of wash I've done for her - came out with red specks on everything - oops.

Carter and Erin are going to prom tonight. Beth has already emailed me some pictures from my front yard - thank you Beth. Sasha was skyping with Zhenya, so Sasha and I got to see Erin before she even left her house. Looking forward to more pictures.

Okay this picture looks kind of goofy - we were intentionally posing like one of those formal pictures, but we all have our heads tilted in different directions. Sasha took the picture.



Sasha went back to orphanage to get her phone charger today. When she came back she had flowers for me. Very sweet. We ate out at her favorite pizza place. She likes to order for me (they don't have ENglish menus there). We had a great time at dinner. Talked about a whole bunch of different things. ONe of her favorite singers is having concert in Kiev on Monday - we're going to try to go with some kids from orphanage. Have to figure out how to get tickets.