Beginning of Something Beautiful: Fun in Kiev!

Today started with getting up at 5:00 in the morning and driving to Kiev for our visa appointment at the U.S. Embassy. Yes I survived my last road trip with Vitally! I tell you he really knows how to drive in Kiev and he can squeeze his car in the most tight situations and even argue with a woman when she was trying to get him to move his car. Even though I don't know the language there are some words that are universal if you know what I mean! The appointment went well and even pretty quickly. We get to pick up her visa tomorrow at 2:00! Then we went on to the medical clinic to have her examination and blood work done. This was more time consuming and so busy. We have the best facilitator, Oksana, in the world because she took a very chaotic situation and got it done with a smile! She knows what to do and how to get it done quickly and thank goodness for that because I'm not sure we could have sat in that medical clinic much longer. They were all laughing at me because I fell asleep right in the middle of all these people sitting straight up! I really do have an amazing talent for sleeping in any place and position! Yana passed everything and didn't even shed a tear when she had to have blood taken to complete her physical. So to sum it up we got Yana's birth certificate and passport yesterday and today we completed her medical exam and finished all of the paperwork for her visa! Yes this was done in two days! God is so good and continues to bless us and show us clearly that He is in total control. We are staying in a nice apartment close to all of the fun in Kiev. Tonight we all went out walking on the main street and ate a good dinner and drank some more delicious Ukrainian beer! Bryan especially liked this place and informed us we will be going back there tomorrow too! We met a nice man sitting next to us from America and we visited with him over dinner. I love America and I love Americans! Then we looked around the mall and ate more chocolate! Yana loves chocolate and can eat it all day! Little does she know so does her momma! Yana kept complaining of being cold and Bryan and I loved saying to her that Ukraine is not so cold! She kind of thinks we are crazy. I can tell you that Bryan is starting to form a strong bond with Yana because he and Yana spent the better half of dinner poking fun at momma! She is going to fit right in with Sydney because she and daddy like to make a game out of it! These girls and their daddy are pretty sweet! Today was a fun day and God is really teaching me to enjoy and make the most out of the little things like washing my hands in the bathroom with Yana and her reaching over and hugging me and telling me "Thank you so much momma" and "I love you very much!" God is good and continues to equipt all of us as we go even though sometimes we don't have a clue how to act He makes it all o.k. Here a few pictures from today!