Dictionaries, anyone???

February 13- Friday—LAST DAY
Today is our last day of the 10 day wait. And as of 2:00 this afternoon, no one had filed an appeal. We know, we asked. We are a little paranoid because of the Cox’s situation.
I visited the girls with Elijah this morning and left Keith to work. Elijah was a bear. Through a strange set of circumstances he didn’t get to bed last night until after 10:00. Let me tell you, that isn’t going to happen again. He threw several loud, screaming fits at the orphanage. I had to take him out of the room for him to calm down. Even then I’m sure the whole orphanage heard him.
A1 was home from school again. I still don’t know what is up with that.
I tried to get A2 to go and take pictures of her room. For some reason she didn’t want to (maybe she didn’t make her bed). But she got a lot of other pictures… of one of the orphanage doctors, the new girl and her father (who was visiting her), more friend pictures, more caregiver pictures, the food preparing area. A1 also got some video. I usually don’t let that out of my hand because it seems like it will break easier but Elijah was throwing a fit and I had to stop him from biting R. I haven’t seen what she took video of yet. Should be interesting.
As we were leaving the orphanage Elijah wanted to play on the playground. It is like that every day but today he was so tired that it was much harder. Out by the gate I saw some pigeons on the ground so to distract him I said “let’s go catch a bird.” I spent the rest of the way home regretting saying that. It was a funny sight: him running chasing the birds, backpack bouncing up and down, zipper pulls jingling, yelling “catch bird.” And me yelling “watch out for water/ mud.” The birds even added to the comedy. They would wait until he got within a couple steps from them and then run a few feet a head. If he came at them too fast for their liking they would fly 5 or 6 feet a head. Just far enough to fool him into thinking he could still catch them. It was hilarious to watch. The only way to get him to move a head was point out the birds farther in head of us. We had to chase ever gaggle of pigeons (or is it parcel of pigeons??) from there to our apartment. And only the threat of being left and missing lunch with Daddy would get him in the building. What am I going to do when I get 4 more who don’t understand a word I’m saying?!?!?!
We needed to do some shopping so I was hoping that Elijah would fall asleep on the bus to downtown. Of course, when I want him to he won’t. We went downtown to get a couple pair of pants for the girls. We ended up buying some shoes for Elijah, too. His are starting to fall apart and are too small anyway.
While we were in the second store Elder Thatcher called to say that they found a place for us to stay with the girls. It is a really good deal at a hotel by the church (and a park, and a grocery store, and the train station). The owners are excited that we are adopting 4 girls and will even give us a second room by the first. When they were invited to English class that the missionaries teach (to help with their business) they offered to give us a little deal on the first room and a big deal on the second room. We would only pay total slightly over what we are paying now. There is a fridge and stove. And they would supply any additional bedding that we would need. WOW. Can’t you just feel the Lord’s hand in all that?!?!
That took a couple of phone calls and quite a few minutes. When we got done with all that it was 4:00. Late again. So we hurried and finished the shopping. And after a slight delay of setting the metal detector off on the way out (complete with miscommunication—did you know that receipt is “check” in Ukrainian?) we were on our way back to the orphanage. We’ll have to go back down tomorrow to finish.
Oh, also the weather has warmed up enough that the more sensible part of the crazy people reared its ugly head and there wasn’t anyone out fishing on the ice. I even packed my camera to get a picture of it. Shoot!
On the bus to the orphanage, Elijah fell asleep. Finally. We stopped at the apartment to pick up the computer and then ran to the orphanage (not literally, it is hard to run when you are carrying a sleeping baby—they jiggle too much).
While at the orphanage we tried to figure out how much the girls understood about being adopted, how much time they needed to pack and how much they had to pack. THAT was a circus. Caretakers were brought in (“No, we don’t need their passports.” “We know that the director has them.” “We know you can’t sign any papers, you are just a caregiver.””yes, the court judgment is up tomorrow.”), dictionaries- electronic and paper were used. All to no avail. We couldn’t get a hold of Julia to translate, the Elders were in institute and the girls don’t even understand (or at least won’t admit it) when the Elders have time to talk to them. I think we finally gave up. What am I going to do when I get them home and they don’t understand a word I’m saying?!?!?! It got us thinking though. Do they speak Russian or Ukrainian? You never know and that could be part of the problem. We asked Luba and she said that at the orphanage and school they speak Ukrainian. OK back to the drawing board.
Elijah slept through much of that and was more human when he woke up.
We were to exhausted after all that (and the girls climbing all over us) to go to the store to get some much needed food. So, we had the rest of the noodles, which I boiled and we topped with the rest of the cheese, grated. And we drank the rest of the juice. LOL Time for bed at 8:30!!

But I'll leave you with pictures...