More Monday...

I forgot to mention that after talking with the inspector that Alex had to go write a statement about wishing to be adopted by us. He left the room to do this and was quite nervous about it. I think mostly nervous to have to write in front of grown-ups. But he did it!

We also went to lunch at a pizza place. It was not like the pizza back home but very yummy. Naydia offered to have lunch made for us again but I don't want to take advantage of her generosity and we were heading to the notary's anyway so we opted to eat out.

Tonight Oxana poured over our documents and notice a problem. Apparently Alex's birth mom has a mistake in her middle name on the papers removing her parental rights. She now has to go to Dnepropetrosk (luckily 40 minutes from here-where Ivan lives) tomorrow and get it straightened out with the court there. This doesn't hold us up at this point but it needs to be fixed before our court hearing. My heart sank when Oxana told me in her cute accent "We have a problem." but if this is our only problem, we are indeed blessed compared to so many others experiencing difficulties and heartache. You all know who you are and please know you are in my prayers!

We were hoping the social worker would approve our file tomorrow so Hanna can take it back to Kiev on the train tomorrow night but it sounds like the earliest will be Wednesday. Oxana assures me they "have ways" to get it Kiev, thank heavens for these facilitators, there is no way I could maneuver this system-even if I spoke the language!

The truth will be told now as to what a bad speller I am as spell check does not work here.

Anyway, that's all, it's about 1:40 in the morning and again, I cannot sleep. The computer is in Hanna's room so luckily for all of you I will have to stop typing and go try to sleep....again.

Thanks for comments and emails, it's wonderful to hear from all of you!

Added Later: While tossing and turning in bed last night I thought of two more things I wanted to add!

The assistant director told James that Alex looks like him. I always thought he looks more like me, he's more my coloring in complexion and eyes and he has freckles like I did as a little girl but that's okay, it wouldn't matter if he didn't look like us but it is nice to hear that people think he looks like one of us, it might make it easier for him to feel a part of us. Don't you think?

The other funny thing is I asked Alex if he wanted me to bring him back anything tomorrow. "Da" I said what, he looked at me slyly and asked for a "Play Boy" (in English) I was so proud of myself as I didn't allow my eyes to bulge or my eyebrows to raise and then in a flash it came to me. "Do you mean Game Boy?" "Da!" Whew! I told him that the Game Boy was Da Doma-which isn't exactly true, it's in my luggage but I'm saving it for that long airplane ride home. If I give it to him now, he'll only play with it and not interact with us and then be bored with it by the time we leave. Hey, I may be a first time adopting Mom but I am not a first time Mom by any means!

That's all.

Oh, and just in case you're thinking, what the heck? Why is Wendy writing so much and some of it is so boring? For the most part I'm not writing to entertain or guide I'm writing for me and for Alex. One day he'll want to know about his birth and this is all I'll have. This is his birth into our family. AND I want to remember every "labor" pain and part!

Have a great day!