Court Day

Court went pretty well today, better than we expected. We had an appointment at 9am, but didn't get to see the judge until 9:30 because the orphanage director didn't show up until 20 after. There were 2 jurors, the orphanage director, some other lady and the judge in the room. It was pretty informal, he questioned me first, name, birthday, address, then asked Scott the same questions. Then he asked me what kind of house we lived in, how many bedrooms, the community...we gave him our photo album then, and he asked how much we bought our house for. He was amazed that it was so cheap. Then he asked Scott when our anniversary was....of course he stumbled a little bit, I helped him out with the answer...the judge got a kick out of that, he said all men forget that. They really liked our photo album, they thought that our nieces and nephews were really happy and healthy and cute. Overall it was a great experience, no tension, and we were pretty relaxed after a few minutes. It was over in about 15 minutes, they congratulated us and we left.
So, its official!
We were about 30 minutes late for our date with Kasey, and he was outside with his groupa walking and looking around for his papa and mama. We had a good day today, with only a couple of time outs for throwing stuff. He is making progress everyday on learning new english words.
Our 10-day wait has been extended to 11 days due to a Holiday on the 10th of March. Bummer. So, we get him on the 12th of March, then it's back to Kiev for more paperwork. I don't anticipate leaving until the 20th or 21st??? I'm not positive on the date yet.
Other than that, we miss everyone, and I hope it warms up there soon.

Shannon

Another day in Ukraine...

So, this morning we took Kasey outside for a walk around the orphanage. We taught him how to throw rocks and sticks :) which we will probably regret later. Dad bought him a little tank that lights up and flips over when it hits a wall, so we were pretty much ignored this morning, :) I don't think he gets to see toys like that very often, so we let him be. It was a little cooler here today, with a chill wind, but still it's warm. Tomorrow is our court date, so our 10-day waiting period starts on Saturday. Not much else is going on. I can't wait to get home so you guys can meet him, he is a lot of fun. Before I forget I just want to say
Happy Birthday Riley! Miss you!

Shannon

Shopping!

Today we were able to take Kasey out of the orphange to the market across the street to do some clothes shopping. He was pretty excited, a little scared, and he really held on to my hand. The market across the street is like the Pine City flea market. It's just a bunch of shacks bunched together. You can buy anything here, food, clothes, dog toys, hardware, fish, produce, toys...it's like an outdoor walmart! We found a few outfits here to bring him home with, the clothes were pretty expensive here, no walmart prices. The clothes here are strange, you can't buy a plain pair of jeans, they all have writing or patches or some strange design on them. We bought the plainest pair they had, with pockets of course. Kasey loves pockets, dad bought him some tools and he needs a place to put the tools. He also loves hoods, so we bought him shirts and sweatshirts with hoods on them. He had lots of fun, but got scared by some lady and wanted me to hold him from then on.
That's all for now, it's almost time for our second visit of the day.
Bye
Shannon

Trip to Kiev

Hi! Yesterday we took a trip into Kiev to do some sightseeing. It took 2 buses and a subway to get us to Independence Square where we got to finally send a few pictures and eat some PIZZA. nummy. (On sunday night we had the pleasure of eating an unknown fish, with bones, cooked in an egg. yeah. not good.) After we were done eating we walked to this big steel rainbow structure that signifies the unity between Russia and Ukraine. At night it's lit up so it looks like a rainbow. Then we walked to the Miriinsky (sp?) Palace, which was undergoing a lot of construction. It was completely surrounded by fencing so you can't see in, but I managed to get a picture from the front gate of the front of the palace. No one lives there, but they hold state dinners and greet foreign dignitaries there. Then we walked some more to the Ukraine Orthodox Church. It's a huge complex, lots of buildings. It's about the size of maybe Valleyfair. We got a lot of pictures of the murals and the church itself, but weren't allowed to take pictures inside. We walked down into a cave where they keep a lot of dead people in glass coffins. There were souvenir booths everywhere, even inside the church. Then we walked to the Ukraine WW 2 war memorial where the keep hundreds of tanks and copters and other war stuff. Scott was more impressed with it than me. There is also a lot of sculptures of soldiers and people of Ukraine that we have pictures of. There is a very tall lady on top of a hill that looks like our Statue of Liberty, but she represents the protection of the people of Ukraine. She holds a sword and a shield.
It was a long day with a lot of walking. I missed Kasey. He missed us too. We were home in time to visit him at 6:30. He was very happy to see us.
Our morning visit with him went OK, but morning visits are harder because we are always interrupted by orphange workers coming in and out of the room we are in. The night visits are a lot more fun because we are left alone. We brought him some grapes today along with his usual cookies and juice. He likes grapes a lot. We haven't brought him any candy yet, we don't want to spoil his appetite too much with candy.
Almost out of time on the computer. I hope everyone liked the pictures we sent. Bye!

Shannon

Feb. 25

Hello from Keiv. We are here just doing some sightseeing today. We might get to visit Kasey later this afternoon. I posted a picture of him playing outside, yes I know, no face. Sorry. We sent a few pictures to family today. If you want to see a picture of him, please email me or Scott. We'll post our adventures in Keiv tomorrow. Have a great day!
Btw, it's 55 degrees here today-haha.

Feb. 24

Today we finally got to go outside and play. He's had a cold for a while now and they wouldn't let him go outside all week. He headed straight for the playground which I am sure was off limits because of all of the mud. He sat on this wheel that goes around in circles and had a blast. He fell off a couple of times right into the mud. But he was laughing the whole time. All the playground equipment is made out of metal and wood. Scary stuff. He went nuts when he saw dad climbing up on a jungle gym. He has to copy everything dad does. He was completely full of mud by the time we got him back in his room. We tired him out pretty good today.
Tomorrow we are going into Kiev to do some sightseeing. We have another translator, Lena, who is going with us. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow.

Shannon

Feb.23

We had a really good visit with Kasey this morning. He is learning to listen to us when we say no, and didn't even throw a fit today. We found out today he likes to us to pick him up and swing him in a circle, of course that just makes Scott even more dizzier than he already is. ;) We brought him a skidster that came with a couple of tools, he was more interested in the tools than the skidster. I think Scott is going to buy him a snowblower next, just to get him used to it. We have been trying to work on his throwing and catching skills, but I think they frown on the kids throwing stuff, so we have long way to go. He kinda throws sidearm without aiming at anything, kinda like his Uncle Tommy. :) I think Blake and Ryan and Logan have to help him out with his baseball skills.
In keeping up with the latest fashions, he was wearing a girls denim/pink oshkosh bigosh bibs, a size too small, and 2 shirts and a pair of shorts underneath the bibs. I can't wait to dress this kid in his own clothes.
The weather here is really warm, and all the snow has melted.
We have our court date scheduled for next Friday at 9am. Then our 10 day waiting period begins.
That's all the news for now. Bye
Shannon