PP, tak or nee?

Day 19 – September 28 – Well, it’s the 10^th day of our 10-day wait for the court. We’re excited that we’ve made it through the 10 days, but because of the weekend and the court office being closed on Monday, we still have at least 3 more days until Veeka can come home with us. The time we get to spend with her each day is fun, but there are only so many times you can crack walnuts and play on the playground. We are trying to balance being the “fun people that come to play every day” with the parental role that we will soon fulfill in her life. The walk from outside to her room takes a little longer each day. Today I think our steps were about 1 inch per step and lots of crying along the way. We’re all ready for the next step in this adoption. However, with the long wait and the 30-something visits we’ve already made, we are so thankful for the weather that has allowed us to go outside almost every day that we have been at the orphanage. That has been a huge blessing.

Okay, so here’s a tour of the little place we have been staying for the past 17 nights. Our log cabin is about 20’ by 20’. Our main room is 20’ by 15’. The bathroom is about 5’ by 5’ and there is a small entry room that is about 15’ by 5’. If you were to look at a picture of the bathroom, you’ll see the sink on the left, the shower on the right, and the potty with the hot water heater above it in the middle. (It makes you a little cautious knowing that so much HOT water is suspended right above you.  )

Here is our table where our TV sits that has 9 channels that we can’t understand. For the first few nights we were here, they had headlines in English on one of the channels at 10pm each night, but they don’t anymore. We turn it on every 2-3 days thinking that we’ll watch something even in Ukrainian just to watch it, but after about 5 minutes we turn it back off realizing it’s more pleasant with nothing on. We also have a radio that we haven’t turned on until today. We found a classical station, but before too long they stopped playing music and started talking, so we turned it off too. Regardless, this is the table we eat breakfast and supper at most every day. Lunch is our meal to eat out on most days. It’s also our homework table for Caleb and the only place we really have to put stuff. Hence, it stays stacked up most of the time. You’ll see Caleb holding up a picture of his latest painting. We’re so proud of our budding artist.

It’s been really windy here today, but quite warm. I think it’s the warmest day so far by at least 5 degrees. Papa and Caleb had their jackets washed today along with some other clothes. We had to plan the jacket washing day pretty carefully because every day until now we have needed our jackets. Of course all of the kids in Veeka’s group came outside with their big coats on and their toboggans. This is in addition to the 2 or 3 layers of clothing that she always wears. We finally coaxed her to take her hat off once her hair was half-soaked with sweat, but we never won the battle to take the coat off.

Because of our littlest ones ability to mimmick so much right now, you never know what your conversations might be like:

Papa: Veeka, do you need to pp?

Veeka: PP

Do you need to PP?

PP

PP, tak or nee? (tak is “yes”, nee is “no”)

PP, tak or nee?

Does Veeka need to PP?

(no response)

PP or ca-ca?

PP or ca-ca?

Never mind.