Last Days in Kiev

Since finishing out our paperwork on Tuesday we have been officially free to leave the country and return home with Alex. Team Oleg had predicted a return date of March 10th so they improved the timeframe by 3 days. However, in order to affordably fly first class we are flying Aerosvit, an Eastern European airline which flies out of Kiev to New York on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Since our original target date was March 10th we booked tickets on the 12th just to "make sure" everything is complete (Saturday's are often work days here). It was just too much trouble and money to change the flight to only gain 2 days so we've left our flights for Sunday.

Thus, since Tuesday evening we have just been "hanging" around. We have read books, played games, bought Alex a computer keyboard in Russian and generally just "dinked". Wedesday was International Women's Day so we spent a lot of time looking out the bay windows at all the men carrying flowers home!

Today, Friday, it started snowing when we got up, so we decided not to go out in it and instead got together with the Alvastad's on the floor above us so Alex could watch a movie with their two children while we all chatted.

Everyone (except me) has now gone to sleep and I'm sitting here amazed as I realize there is one more full day and then it is Sunday - our departure day!

We want to go home. We have work to do, bills to pay, cats to feed, the house to clean, a school to enroll Alex in and a number of other chores awaiting us. I also am looking forward to some time to write about this trip just for myself in order to capture the details I overlooked in this blog or did not have the time or inclination to think through during the process. I'm also looking forward to a double pepporonii pizza, swiss cheese fondue and a really good steak and salad. Don't get me wrong - Ukraine is a great country to eat in. I divide countries into gain weight and lose weight countries and Ukraine is definately a gain weight country. Still it will be good to bite into a completely known food that I love like Pizza.

Alex improves everyday. The shadow's cross his face less frequently. He moves himself out of "full pout mode" almost as soon as he passes into it. He is cheerful and answers my requests even when made in full sentence English. All around he's a wonderful, intelligent, adorable boy. At times he looks and acts 5 while other times he seems older than his age. His prayers in Russian ring out with the awe of youth and his sleep after his prayers is peaceful and serene. He is ours, he is ours, he is ours.... to love and protect and educate and assist. God is good. Cynthia