Friday, 25 May It was bound to happen at some point…we experienced our first real challenge related to culture and tradition today. In the end it will all be OK, but the day was not one of our better ones. The day started out pretty typical; we hung out at the apartment until about 11:30 when Sasha picked us up and drove us to the Internet Café. I updated the blog and started adding photos while Mark checked out the downtown shops. At 1:00 Sasha picked us back up and we drove to the orphanage where we met Sveta, Lisa, […]

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Thursday, 24 May 2007 We woke around 8:00 to another beautiful Ukrainian day…not a cloud in the sky. But as we walked to the Internet café in the center of town, we discovered that today was going to be hot…like Africa Hot. We stopped to exchange money, and then stuck our noses in an interesting looking shope that sold toys, electronics and watches. We found a watch to replace the one Masha broke the other day, and one for Mark and one for me as well! No longer must we dig out the phone to see what time it is!! […]

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Wednesday, 23 May 2007 We are starting to fall into a bit of a routine, so I want to take the opportunity to provide a Cliff’s Notes version of our trip so far….. We have been in Ukraine for a week and a half, and we are traveling with our friends Fred and Lisa, who are adopting a child from the same orphanage where Masha lives. We left Fort Wayne on Sunday afternoon, and arrived in Kiev mid-day on Monday. We met with the Ukrainian State Department of Adoption (SDA) on Wednesday to obtain official permission travel to Masha’s city […]

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Wednesday, 23 May 2007 The sun seems brighter here, and we are generally waking up on our own shortly before the alarm sounds. This morning, I made some tea and read a bit before tidying things up and setting off on another day’s adventure. I did find that I was very irritable this morning…or I should say Mark found out. I think that although we’re settling into a routine, I’m having a little trouble adjusting to not having control over what’s going on. Add to that the anxiety of becoming a new parent, but not really being able to start […]

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Tuesday, 22 May After the running documents around all day yesterday, today’s agenda was pretty open at the start of the day. Mark took a walk around our neighborhood to check out the shops, and discovered that we have a lot within walking distance, and we made arrangements to be picked up at 10:45 to go to the internet café and spend an hour or so, and to get our laptop connected. We were scheduled to meet up with Fred and Lisa, and to pick the girls up around 1:00 for the afternoon….but things don’t always go as planned around […]

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