a night and a day of sleep...

Well, we went to bed last night at 11 p.m. and got up today around 1 p.m. Nothing like 14 hours of sleep to clear the head! We went downtown and to a children's Ministry Expo and saw our Sasha friend - she was our interpreter when we lived here 11 years ago. We will see her again tomorrow - we saw her just briefly. We bought some coloring books for our new kids and then we went downtown to Kreshatik and OH MY how is has changed. We went to the underground mall and it felt like we were walking in to Watertower Place in Chicago. We went to a Hallmark store which is very tiny but still - HALLMARK in KIEV!?! Everything is so commercialized. All this beautiful, old architecture -COVERED in neon and advertisements. It just looks so different. Not bad - just different. And so many people in short, short skirts and tall, tall spiked heels. Can't imagine riding the Metro in them but they do. Everything seems to be moving very quickly - and that was from the second we got off the plane. As a matter of fact, our VIP service people were rushing us here and there and as a result, we didn't get a piece of paper back that we were supposed to (something to do with immigration). We have talked to them and they SAY it is nothing to worry about (we HAVE the customs thing - that is apparently the important thing). We shall see - but I WANT to just scream SLOW DOWN PEOPLE!!! But I won't. It seems to me that people STARE at us more this time around. Maybe I am just paranoid. And as much as I used to understand (or at least have a clue) I don't understand at ALL now. We are definitely strangers in a strange land. But - it is also so good to be back here. I love this country.

Heavy sigh. Tuesday will come so quickly. Please pray for us that is will go smoothly and that we will find our babies quickly. It will be SO emotional. It already is - who am I kidding!!

We went downtown to Vesuvio's for dinner - we are really adjusting to the cuisine quite quickly!

Tom and Lois