saturday

Today was a pretty good day.  It was cleaning day again.  EVERY STINKIN DAY IS CLEANING DAY at the orphanage!  This was the first day that we noticed that one little girl wasn't mopping the floors in the schoolroom.  She is punished daily by this chore and uses a sweater on a wooden stick for her mop.  Whenever we see her she makes this face at us like, "Oh well, I got in trouble again."

Sasha played basketball and soccer with us and we enjoyed being around him for about 3 hours.  His shoes come off often because they are way too big for him, but he keeps tying them around his ankles to keep them on.  When jeff was playing basketball with him Jeff looked at me and said, "I have a lot of work to do."  haha....Sasha is an incredible soccer player but his basketball skills are lacking a bit.  Mostly because the orphanage didn't have a basktball until we brought one.  Jeff said, "Sasha, in America, do you want me to be your basketball coach?"  Before he even got the words out of his mouth, Sasha said, "Yes papa!"

Also his friends call him "Lebedev", his current last name....but when we said, "Hey Lebedev," He said, "No Lebedev, Nyman!"  Of course you know we loved that and it melted our hearts.

We also had an opportunity to skype Alena in Atlanta today.  She was adopted this past summer from the same orphanage by a wonderful family.  She loves America and is learning English very quickly.  Ksenia told us that Sasha said to Alena, "My mama and papa are here right not to adopt me."She told Sasha that she loved America and the sweet Bockish family actually made a video for us to show to Sasha which tells him how much she loves Americat.  We have not viewed it yet, but we can't wait to show him on Monday!  We explained to him that we are not allowed to visit tomorrow but will be back on Monday and will have court on Tuesday. 

We also got the privaledge to hang out with the McVeah boys.  OMG!!!  These are two precious 15 year olds who are best friends and are being adopted in December by a family in Pennsylvania.  They are such amazing boys and are so good to the younger kids.  We are so impressed with them and hope that Sasha will follow in their footsteps as he matures.  They are KILLER soccer players and will be the stars of their varsity team when they arrive in America.

Everyday we take Sasha a Coca Cola and chocolate.  Wow....he has a major sugar buzz everytime we are with him.  Little does he know that we won't be drinking sodas and having sugar at every meal in America.  haha.  I won't switch him to organic right away...haha..I'm all for a little junk food now and then.  When Sasha lived with us this past summer, he usually woke before me and had made eggs and then went straight for the ice cream bars.  I hope we are able to switch him over to some normal eating patterns soon.

Well we went to a restaurant the other night and saw a bong delivered right to a table near us.  No lie!  They use this bong for flavored nicotene and they smoke it right there at the table.  The bongs are huge, about 2 feet in height and have a tube connected which the smoke is inhaled through.  WILD! I know they use this in other countries too, but for us Americans, it was unbelieveable to see.  Of course we associate bongs with pot....but they smoke flavored apple tobacco, etc. You should have seen my face.

The children are so precious at this orphanage.  Sasha's little girl that he likes is named Olena.  Jeff bought an ice cream bar for Olena and her friend.  They said, "SANK U VEDY MUCH!"  Anyway, Sasha is absolutely smitten with her.  I stood by them when they were talking and she just laughs and laughs at whatever he is saying in Russian.  I said, "Sasha, what did you say?"  He said, "It's okay mama."  haha...who knows??  Jeff and I have a hard enough time with the English language let alone the Russian and Ukrainian. 

We are counting down the days.  We are home reading and watching our Jack Bauer save the country.  What would we do without each other, 24, books, and the internet.  Jeff is missing his Saturday football on the couch.  These are some of the little things we miss.....american tv, comfy bed, hot shower,  but mostly our precious children!  Oh Kelsey, karley and Kyle....we're coming soon!

Thanks again for walking on this journey with us.  We hope to have a positive experience in court on Tuesday and then head to Munich to spend the night and then home on Wednesday afternoon.  We can't wait!
love to you all,
m and j