The holidays are finally over

The holidays are finally over here in Ukraine (yeah!) so that means that the ball can now start rolling as far as the adoption process goes. We have been here so long (going on 5 weeks!) and are getting very tired of waiting. Tomorrow, our facilitator, Natasha, will return to Kremenchuk and we will spend the day doing paperwork. She told us that we will find out tomorrow when our court date is. Please pray that we will get a court date very soon (perhaps in a few days). After court, we still have to wait another 10 days before we can take Ziva.

We continue to enjoy the time spent with Ziva, although we can't wait for when we can take her home...we look forward to the day when we can start to be parents to her, rather than merely adult playmates. Today it is a "balmy" -4C, so we were able to go outside with her and go on our walk. She hasn't been herself the last few days; she has a very bad cough, seems tired, and tugs at her ears almost constantly. We are wondering if she has an ear infection and are contemplating taking her to a doctor tomorrow while our facilitator is here.

We continue to be very frustrated with the way people do business here (or not do business, as in our case). We are still waiting for internet in our apartment. I don't think the people here understand (or, more acurately, they do not care) that internet is our only link to the "outside world", the world of our family and friends. We have been lied to over and over again, and because we are "Westerners" who do not speak the language, we are taken advantage of at every turn. It frustrates us to no end that we are not able to stand up for ourselves and say something. There is so much news (and photos) we would like to share, but we cannot because we are limited to the internet cafe. We have been here almost 5 weeks and have been in 3 different apartments and have had internet for only 1 day. The lack of connection with you all is really getting to us. Please pray that something would work out soon.