The cookout

Hi everyone,

We were so fortunate to be invited to a cookout to honor families of children who have adopted from the Ukraine and to fellowship with the facilitator that has helped many of these families once they arrive in Kiev. It was a beautiful day and the food was wonderful..The best thing about the day was getting to talk to Luda...She is awesome...she arrived in the US in late December and her English is phenomenal...It was so nice to talk to her as Luda is close to her age. Luda knew her when she was in the orphanage and she told Jeff and I more than once that she was a very nice and a good girl...She said she thinks she will be happy to be in America but will still miss her friends....I am sure she will as they are all she has ever known.

The facilitator told us if we get our homestudy and power of attorney to her before she leaves on Tues then she will use it as a place holder in line as we wait for the rest of the paperwork in order to finish the dossier and get INS approval.. This excited us very much because she explained there are no waiting list right now so it should quicken our process....

We also met a beautiful little girl who gave us her birthday money and a lovely card to help in her adoption...She also was adopted and just wants to help other children come to America and have loving and safe homes.

Also because I didn't update on Friday....we got a email from Natasha ( English tutor) and she stated that she was "bright and beautiful, charming and very smart", she said that she was already learning the ABC's and very eager to learn....Gosh that is so nice to hear...

Well next we have to get her gifts and cards that we are sending to the Ukraine with Kathy and Brad...this time next week they will have seen her and told her that we are adopting her and will have given her the gifts we sent.

Well that's all folks