Saturday March 29. Happy Birthday Mom.

Hi,

First things first, I want to send a Happy Birthday wish to my mother in New Jersey. 39th birthday, isn't it? We won't say which Anniversary of her 39th Birthday though. Regardless, Happy Birthday Mom!!!! Enjoy the dinner that I am sure my sisters are preparing for you. Let me guess - its probably your favorite. Roast Lamb and potatoes.


It was a beautiful day here in Kiev. Warm enough to remove the lining from my London Fog coat and even then I had to keep the coat unzipped during our walks. Since its the weekend Shirley and I knew there would be no news regarding an SDA appointment so we just relaxed today. We cruised up and down our street and checked out the shops. Then for lunch we came back to the apartment and watched "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" over cheese, crackers and kielbasa. Do we lead exciting lives or what!?!?



We met another American couple, Tonya and Joe http://eastmanadoption.blogspot.com/ , for dinner at TGIFs. They are also here on an international adoption odyssey. We met in blog-land and apparently each of our blogs are being followed by the families of the other; I've already enjoyed receiving personal emails from members of their family. I can't stress enough how much the four of us enjoyed American food and how much we enjoyed being able to converse with each other without needing an interpreter. Just hearing English was great; whenever Joe or Tonya said a word with the letter "V" in it, it was nice to hear the letter "V" instead of the letter "W". Most of all it was nice to be able to relate to someone going through the same experience that we're going through. For three hours we swapped stories on all topics ranging from problems at the airports to SDA disinformation through referrals gone bad. We compared notes on accomodations, orphanages, the craziest traffic, the grossest bathrooms, and laughed out loud about turning white while sitting in the passenger seats of cars going around curves at 90mph. Both Shirley and Tonya enjoyed the fact that they felt totally at ease walking down a street in Kiev without having to put on makeup with a paint roller, or to dress in tight shirts, leather pants, mini skirts or stiletto heels. You name it, we covered it. We also talked about our families and how bringing children into our homes is going to change our lives. It was a fun three hours and its too bad that our apartments are across town from each other. We will be leaving our apartment on Tuesday; the same day that Joe and Tonya will be leaving Kiev altogether. We wish them well; they're in our prayers.



I expect tomorrow to also be a quiet day. Not sure how much there will be to post. Hope our dull lives aren't putting you all to sleep.


Thanks for reading. Take care....

Steve