Another day

Thank to all of you who brightened our spirits with your comments. We really appreciate it! Our chins are up and we are facing the immediate future with a positive attitude. Well, we may slide backwards every now and again so keep those comments coming!
Yesterday was an interesting day. Lucas (yes…our sweet Lucas) had the mother of all temper tantrums! It was nearing the end of our afternoon visit with Emma and out of the blue, Lucas decides that now would be a good time to throw a huge fit…we’re not even sure what caused it…and I took him thrashing, screaming and throwing himself on the ground, back to the apartment. It was quite comical in a way because he was doing this all the way back to the apartment and everyone in sight was looking at us and all I could do was smile, shrug my shoulders and give that look that says “kids…humph!”. The ladies that sit outside of our apartment, whom we say hi to everyday, gave me that sympathy look that only another mother can give. He cried it out and we talked about it when he was calm. The disturbing part was the fact that Lucas has only had maybe 5 tantrums and 4 of them were the first year we were home. Seeing him so out of control was very out of character for him. We realized that he may be feeling our stress and he manifested it in the only way he could. He seems to be handling everything well on the surface but it’s got to be difficult for him on so many levels. Today he was back to his happy self and played well with the other kids. Hopefully we’ve all learned something from this.

Some of you have asked if Emma is staying with us. We cannot keep her with us until the 10 day waiting period is up. We could take her out for a few hours but since our translator isn’t here, we aren’t able to communicate this with the orphanage director. It’s ok though, she’ll be with us soon enough and we continue to visit twice daily. Luba returns on Monday so we can start the paper chase and rush to get the new birth certificate and passport. We aren’t able to start this until we obtain the court decree, which is issued on the 10 th day after court. We aren’t sure whether we will stay in Nikopol or return to Kyiv sometime next week. We have to wait to see what happens. So, we are looking forward to moving forward but not looking forward to the impending delays that seem inevitable. But, every day we are closer to bringing our little girl home so that is something to be thankful for.

Our visits remain constant and we are communicating better and better with Emma. She understands a few words and she is repeating numbers and letters. She now says “shake your booty”…and well…shakes her booty! She learned that one from her brother! She seems to be catching on but I think it will be a lot quicker once she is only hearing English. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to have a little birthday party for Emma next Wednesday. We may be in Dnipropetrovsk doing paperwork but we’ll mark the occasion somehow.

Well, I’ve got to go look for Chris’s wedding ring. Lucas was playing with it this morning and now it is nowhere to be found. We’ve searched everywhere but no luck. Who is the patron Saint of lost things? We may need some help!

Love from Ukraine,
L,C,L &E