To sum up the last few days...

When I was bored earlier today I made a list of things I wanted to blog about when we finally got connected to the internet and it ended up being a page and a half so here goes...
First off, I literally thought I might not get Keith on the second leg of our plane ride. But, without revealing my methods, we got him on the plane! He definitely loves Vladik to have done this. He also made me promise that any of our future children MUST be adopted from some place he can drive to!
I do have to say that I love Lufthansa. Those Germans know how to fly. All my flights in the future now are only going to be international and only be on Lufthansa. Do you know gave me a free magazine?!?! And not one of those crappy SkyMiles mags but a real Glamour mag. And then dinner was like a full meal, the chicken was a bit rubbery but we were 30,000ft in the air so I am not being too picky.
So when we got to Kiev, Vladimir, our driver, picked us up and took us to exchange some money and go to the grocery store. There were no seatbelts and I am not sure if it would have made a difference. It was scary. Kiev is a very big, very metropolitan city. You would almost think you were in a large city in the US if it weren't for all the Russian signs. So then we turn to go up a very steep hill that is all cobblestone (lots of history in this VERY old city) and I take a little sigh because I think surely he will slow down on cobblestone... I was mistaken. He is flying between cars leaving only inches between them. But we arrived safely and were taken into a very old building with very dark and dreary halls and then we opened the door to our apartment for the next two days. It is beautiful! It is completely restored with high ceilings and huge windows that overlook a beautiful city street and buildings. It even has a jetted tub. It is like a two day mini-vacation for Keith and I (and we needed it!). Certainly the place we stay in Luhansk will be nothing like this one.
This morning Keith went to make himself a bowl of cereal. Apparently we picked up some yogurt type substance when we thought we were getting milk. It had a cow on it! Keith just had a poptart, thank goodness we had packed those.
This morning we went to our SDA appt. I believe SDA is like our DHR. They are in charge of the children. We were told that Vladik's father died in 2004 and his mother died in 2006. That is most likely when he entered the orphanage but they did not know the date he entered. He said the orphanage will have more info for us. They also told us his brother Roma will be turning 18 on Feb. 22. We got to see a picture of Vladik that they had in his file. It must be from when he entered the orphanage. he looked to be about 5 or 6 and he was just as cute back then. We hope we will get to keep that picture since he will have none from his childhood.
We were also told by Nastya, our Ukrainian adoption coordinator, that she told Vladik yesterday that we are here to adopt him. We will take a train overnight night Thursday and get to see him on Friday! Nastya said he was very excited and that the orphanage director was interested in our ages. Apparently we are much younger than the couples she normally sees adopting children from her orphanage so we just might be the talk of the orphanage! I will try to act very mature!
On a completely unrelated note... there are a multitude of attractive women here! (Keith is very happy) But not so many attractive men. But all the women walking down the street are dressed well with their high heel boots and looking so fabulous. On our outing to the grocery store again today (to get milk for real this time) Keith even commented on how many beautiful women there are and for those of you who know Keith that is rare. Normally he is so taken with my beauty that he barely notices other women!
Tomorrow between 4 and 5 pm we go to pick up our letter of permission from the SDA. This is the letter that allows us to go and see Vladik!
Back on the home front... I certainly hope everything is going well at my job. I miss my students (a little bit :) and I hope they are treating the fabulous Mrs. Maloney like the gem that she is!
I  miss my fam already, and am especially missing Jax. I know he had his first lacrosse practice yesterday and am sad that I am not there to be a part of it. I am hoping to skype with him when he gets home from school today. It is 9:52pm here but only 2:52pm at home. Will update soon and hopefully post some pictures!
Thanks for all the love and prayers ad support from my family and friends back home!