Lillia and Anabella enjoying their cousin's 3rd birthday party! 

A family picture from Easter, albeit not a very good one of anybody! Anabella is sitting on my lap, and Lillia is sitting on John's lap.  

John pouring concrete for pantry/laundry room. 

Whirlwind day

What a crazy day. As we finished eating dinner, both John and I couldn't hardly get up to get the kids headed to bed. It seemed like everything happened at 70 miles an hour all day!

John poured the concrete for the foundation today. It went well, and it looks like we might actually really have a laundry room after all! Before today it was just a big hole in the ground, that meant we couldn't walk to the backyard. We also had sheet rockers here tonight who will work this weekend, and finish by Sunday all our taping and texturing! That means we have 4 days to paint, run flooring and trim, and maybe even gets beds set up before we leave.

Speaking of leaving, I finally got our tickets purchased today. When I called NWA/KLM to make reservations, one leg of the trip, the important leg (Amsterdam to Kiev) was full. So, we are flying out on July 16th instead. That's ok - it is one more day to work on the addition before we leave!

It was quite the hassle to get our tickets paid for. We transferred money into checking for the tickets, and tried to use our debit cards. But, it kept getting denied because the charge was higher than the daily allowed use for the debit card. Once we got that all figured out and fixed, then it was no problem! Our tickets are being sent out 2nd-day-air with FedEx - thanks NWA!

So, our itinerary is as follows:

July 16th fly out of Lewiston at 8:20 AM, arrive Seattle 9:33 AM, depart Seattle for Amsterdam at 1:15 PM

July 17th arrive in Amsterdam at 7:50 AM. My German host family (from way back when I was a junior in high school in 1988!) will be meeting us in Amsterdam. We will spend the entire day with them and then leave the next morning.

July 18th depart Amsterdam at 11:15 AM for Kiev, arrive Kiev 3:00 PM. Once we arrive in Kiev, we will meet with Vladimir, a good friend from Odessa. We will sightsee in Kiev for a few hours, and then take the overnight train to Odessa.

July 19th arrive in Odessa at 9:50 AM. We will then spend the rest of the 19th, 20th and the 21st with Vladimir, Lena and Nina in the Odessa region. On the night of the 21st, we will board the train again for Kiev...

July 22nd arrive in Kiev at 8:32 AM, get picked up by Konstantin (Kostya), our facilitator/translator and head to the National Adoption Center for our appointment! From there on out, it will be a surprise and adventure as to what will happen!

Keep checking for updates and be sure to sign our Guestbook to let us know you're checking up on us!

Love and thanks to all for your support, love and encouragement through our adoption adventures!

Kristen