Smiles

Today was one of those days you imagine when you think of what your adoption will be like. We got up and the driver took us to the orphanage where we got together with the kids. They have warmed up to our family incredibly fast. We hoped for this with Masha as she had spent the time with our family last summer on the hosting trip and it has been true to form. Andriy we expected would take a lot longer as he seems pretty quiet and shy and had not met us before, and he has far exceeded our expectations. He has turned out to be a very sweet young man with a beautiful smile, and smiles easily. We are still amazed at how these two kids have jelled with our three, we are on our way to having 5 teenagers that get along so very well with each other! The adoption process continues to move forward, the initial rush of activity will now give way to waiting for government approvals back from the SDA in Kyiv leading to our court date.

We made it to the Global, a large indoor mall in Zhytomr and our 1st trip to McDonalds. Why yes, it does pretty much taste just like McDonalds in America, although I think the cheese is better here in Ukraine. The girl at the counter spoke some english and was incredibly friendly and helpful. There is an indoor ice rink at this mall so the kids went skating and had a blast. Then some wandering around, more time with the kids, then back to the apartment for the evening. Try #2 at spagetti on the stovetop tonight :)