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Today was another day of driving around from Litugino (town w/ inspector, court, etc) to the village where Camp is to the village where the Orphanage is. The notary, who was supposed to have some paperwork finished by 5 yesterday, still not not have them done at 11 this morning. We went to Camp to get the girls to rewrite their statements. Also we had a conversation about their names... we had decided we would pick out three middle names for each, and then let them decide between those.

Side note: We found out a couple of days ago that Sasha's name is actually Alexandra. Sasha is just what you usually get called. It all makes sense now... our facilitator's name is Oleksander — the male version of Alexandra - and he goes by Sasha. So as part of the conversation with them, we asked Sasha if she wanted to keep just Sasha — or still keep Alexandra. She was very confused and said - "but they are the same thing." I guess as if asking someone if they wanted to be named Rob or Robert....

So after talking about the choices.... first with Marina saying she wanted to be called Jessica ( a couple of months ago it was Katelyn).... they decided. Sasha will be Alexandra Grace (still called Sasha), and Marina will be Marina Paige. Those weren't my number ones... but we said we would let them pick from the three each. I do like Marina Paige better than Marina Jessica though... ha. :)

After leaving camp we had to go back to the orphanage to get the Director to sign more forms... and then he wanted a ride to Litugino. We had to go back there anyway, so off we went. He is a funny/odd man, who seems very old school russian, has crazy gray hair, and talks a lot. He seems to like us though, and is always giving me a hug when he sees me - even though he seems to forget me every time he does see me. He has asked me twice if I have been here before... hahaha.

Once we got back to Litugino we went to the notary, and proofed papers, and then signed papers. Shane told Sergey (interpreter) to tell us if they slipped something in there about buying a car, or signing up for two years of service in the military - since we would have obviously never known...

The paper that Kyiv messed up on, and that we were waiting to come in today did not arrive - so unfortunately that sets us back a couple of days. In Kyiv, they only accept certain papers on M, W, F... so the papers that we needed to send back once that one arrived will have to be sent Tomorrow evening now, and will not be filed until Friday. This means that the week that it takes to process and get a court date will not start until Friday, and court will not be earlier than a week from Monday.

We went back to the same little cafe, and had the same waitress. She seemed to not dislike us as much today. Shane skipped the mayo salad and he and Sergey got awesome sundaes. I passed, and was a little jealous when they came out. Vanilla ice cream with bananas and chocolate.

Another side note... I was reading in my "Russian for Dummies" book that that Russians (and therefor I assume Ukrainians, esp in this area) do NOT joke about parents. They will tell the most un-PC jokes about anything and everything... but do NOT joke about parents.  was asking Sergey about it, and as an example... told him about "Your Mom" jokes. Shane said... like someone might be joking with you and and say "don't be such a pig" - and then you would say back "Your mom is a pig" Sergey said "Oh nooooo.... we would think that you were really calling our mothers fat, and that would not be funny at all."

We have done everything we could today, so hopefully the form will arrive tomorrow... and we can keep things rolling.

We went to a Ukrainian restaurant for dinner... had some really yummy Borscht, sausage, and a salad that was similar to potato salad with a little ham and peas in it. Shane had dumplings, most of my sausage, fried potatoes, and a salad that was made up of cauliflower, tomatoes, dill, and peas (I ate most of it), and compote (like a boiled fruit juice).

Tonight we work some more! I am also washing clothes for the first time, and hanging them to dry on the line on our closed in porch....

Enjoy a few pictures! :)

(Marina rewriting her statement, Sasha writing, looking at pictures on the comp... and then the one w/ Marina on the white background is Shane trying to take pictures for their passports - they have to be totally stone faced, and she kept laughing)