Once again it has been far too long since our last update. It is very difficult to keep up with this without having an internet connection at home. We do make it to McDonalds about once each day to check email and respond to anything critical, but that doesn’t always allow time for updating this blog.

Life has continued to follow a pleasant and comfortable rhythm with a nice balance between activity and rest. We wake up between 6:00 and 7:00 each morning and get ready for our visit with Mikaela which usually lasts from about 10:30 to about 12:00. Then we return home for lunch. After lunch, Greg and Meghan go back out to McDonalds while I stay at the apartment so the kids can take their naps. They often play outside for a little while once they wake up, and then we do dinner between 5:00 and 5:30. We try to have the kids in bed between 7:30 and 8:00, and then Meghan, Greg, and I have a nice little snack while Greg reads aloud from Sherlock Holmes. We try to go to bed by about 9:30, but if the stories are good, it is often a little later.

Yesterday was different, because it was our court date. Meghan kept the kids while Greg and I went with Yulia to court. We had to leave quite early, because another family is also here in Simferopol working on their adoption, and they had an appointment with the notary before our court appointment. At some point, I would like to post more details, but the bottom line is that court was very long (almost an hour), but went well. They did grant our petition to adopt Mikaela, although they did not waive that ten-day waiting period. We will officially become her parents on Monday, June 21^st, which is Josiah’s second birthday. It is also Greg’s brother’s anniversary, so it is a pretty big day in our family. The room was extremely hot, and we were both tired, sweaty, and very, very thirsty when we finished. We talked about buying a drink for the way home, but decided that we could just get something as soon as we got back to the apartment. We spent the whole way home thinking about ice cold water and coke. Then, when we arrived home, we ran into our landlady, who told us through Yulia that she wanted us to grab the children and come upstairs to their place. We did so, and saw that they had prepared a beautiful dinner for us with far more food than we could ever hope to eat. The only down side to this lovely treat, is that Europeans drink their beverages room temperature or warmer, and Greg and I were really wishing we had gotten something on the way home. They told us that our choices for drinks were wine, vodka, or cognac, but then gave us wine without waiting for an answer. Even Meghan was served a glass of wine, but they had lemonade for Josiah. As soon as our glasses were half empty, our landlord filled them again. I think we probably toasted half a dozen different things during the course of dinner. Finally, the landlady noticed that Meghan was not drinking much of her wine, so she told her husband to give her some lemonade. Meghan was very grateful! We finished the evening with cake, coffee, tea, fresh strawberries, and thin pancakes with honey. It was wonderful, and we all came home stuffed! As soon as we got back to our apartment, we all grabbed bottles of water and drank quite a bit. Then we felt much better. We are so thankful for our landlords and will never be able to thank them for the care they have taken of us.

We have been having wonderful visits with Mikaela, but until today, we haven’t been able to get any pictures. She seems to be growing more and more fond of us, and we are certainly crazy about her.

Well, my McFlurry is melting on the table beside me, so I am going to close this for now. We will post more as we can.