.Happy St. Paddy's day! As I hope you are cherishing today with a tasty green beverage, Sashoi and I are celebrating  today's completion of all the remaining legalities with cookies.  Our paperwork came to an end as a Visa was inserted in her passport.  It still feels surreal that we are done here, and only have two more days until we return to the US.  I have made it a point to immerse Sasha into the busy life here so she could adapt to change a bit better. It seems to be working! Today, we walked all around the neighborhood we currently reside and  went to our first restaurant together.   I sat next to her to help her with her big girl fork, and introduced the dipping of bread into the soup. She put smiles on the restaurant workers, and exited with a lollipop in hand.  We are very lucky to have such a well-mannered child, and have the caregivers to thank for that. 

    Sasha is picking up english words quickly. I make up new little games to make learning less intimidating.. Tonight we were playing with a thin plastic bag, swaying it side to side so it would fill up with air then pushing it up to the ceiling. When it floated down, we repeated the motion this time we both counted to 3, and released it back into the air. Happiness filled the room, as she screamed and laughed with excitement. She understands now the phrase, "Be nice to..." when she gets a little too overzealous.  There is a spark of hope that she will not have such a hard time adjusting overall. 

    On another note, tomorrow I hope to successfully go grocery shopping with a few items to last, and not return with 6 cucumbers.. This is twice now that I have asked for "One"food item, and instead of giving me the desired amount the vendor gives me the amount of one kilo.  I have to smile because everyday is an adventure.

    Yesterday, I saw my little girl open her eyes to a new world, and be a part of it.  Once she stepped foot in our current apartment, She shed her little protective cover and gave life a possibility.  I was debating whether or not to write a note to her addressed as a post. Instead, I will share some of the sweet first intimate moments caught. Her favorite item of discovery: a hairbrush.  She LOVES to brush her hair, and put ornaments in it(That's my girl). She likes to watch herself while walking by mirrors. Her goal is to do everything mom tells her not too. Right now baths are her most absolute favorite thing to do, and looks forward to them at the end of the evening. I look forward to cherishing her newly discovered moments because it has progressed from when we met.  We are starting to understand each other's language.  Earlier today, I picked up that she is saying "HI"to me.

    We will be heading home a week from Sunday. YAY!!! I cannot wait to be home. Scott had to change our    flights, yet again.  We were notified that we cannot stay in Paris overnight because France requires a transit, or short term Visa for Alexandra.  We could apply for the visa, but it would delay our trip. We will be back in SLC on 3/20 around 4pm :) I miss my family, CrossFit family, friends, you name-it I miss it, and cannot wait to introduce Sasha to her new relatives..

Homestretch!

      Scott has booked our flights home. Our departure date is next Saturday.  Sasha and I will be flying into Paris, France and Scott will meet us there. We will spend one night there, and head back to the states the next day..  Tomorrow, the Court decree gets issued..  We (Translator and I)will venture to get Sasha's original birth-certificate located in her home town. We will return to the town we are staying in currently, and submit for a passport. Hopefully, Thursday Sasha and I will start her new journey together. 

    Having a kid was described to us from a friend, "Think of the Wizard of Oz, your life compared to the black and white ho-hum regular day.  Then you get kids, and Bam! life is in Technicolor!" He was right. Just in these few weeks my life has opened up to so much possibility that I never thought possible. I couldn't imagine my life without Sasha.  I am really lucky to have her and both Scott in my life.  

    Sasha and I have been sick this week with fun head colds.  We are on the homestretch of being well again. We have been pushing her baby in the stroller non-stop all week for about a few hours a day. Sasha's orphanage has a mobile play tractor that she likes to be pushed in.  We also have been doing a lot of that.  She likes to put her head back while I am pushing, and feel the breeze in her hair.  Her newest thing is her talking me into scaring her in the play castle, screaming like a little girl eyes wide-open, and us giggling non-stop.  Sasha is going to keep me on my toes as I find clever ways to keep her entertained.  

Scott is trying to coordinate a plan with our travel agent to have Sasha and I return to Utah on March 19.  Hopefully, this will follow through(please keep us in your prayers).  When you are a foreigner even for just a short period of time you start realizing how lucky you really are to live in the US.   It has been a truly humbling to experience the cultural differences that are unlike your own.  I am a wee bit homesick, but in less than a week Sasha will unite with me. We will brave the rest of this trip together! If our travel plans can be executed Scott will join us on a connecting flight.

On another note, Sasha is presenting more sides of her.  Yesterday, I got to attend another program Sasha was in.  Afterwards, she ignored me, cried when the caregivers left her with me, and didn't want to participate in any activities together. I was at a loss what to do next. A caregiver gave us a crepe to share, and it was then apparent to me she was incredibly hungry.  In spite of that, the rest of the visit was pleasant. Last night, a caregiver brought out a stroller with a baby in it for Sasha to play with.  Her baby is now included with every activity we do together. She sets the  baby in her stroller, takes it out, talks comforting words with it, kisses it and make sure she is properly snug in the stroller. Sasha is a great mama, and I know what she will be getting for her birthday this month.

Waiting Period...

If all continues to go smoothly we will get the court decree issued on March 9th, and Sasha will then get to leave the Orphanage.  The ten day waiting period feels like it will never arrive soon enough.  I have brought things to occupy my time, and still visit Sasha twice daily.  Our visits together have been quite special. Her favorite thing to do lately is to play tea party with the  stuffed animals and her Kookla(doll).  She will pour me some imaginary tea, and fills hers cup then we both take a sip. Now, the fun starts here.  We have both made up appropriate sound effects with correspondence of the ahhh! part following the sip.  The Ahhhh!!! part is quite dramatic, but giggles continuously flow as we catch one another's eyes.  We have been flipping through the family book daily to help her remember her new relative's names.  She pays special attention to when the pictures of our pug, Suzie appear. Sasha says Suzie's name and then kisses the page. She loves Suzie already! who wouldn't?  A few weeks ago, Scott and I bought her a 30 big piece puzzle of Winnie the Poo and friends .  She seemed interested when we first showed her how it worked, but she didn't quite catch on. Today, this was the first activity we did together and finished.  With a little help from Mom, she is discovering how the pieces work together.  Tonight will be a movie night together...on the laptop, maybe. Instead, it may turn into "Identify the keys of the keyboard night".

Headed home

After an amazing two weeks I am heading home, before we left for Kiev we stopped to visit alex. We colored together and played puzzles until our morning visit was up. Sam and I still have a number of days until she can leave the orphanage. Sam will be staying behind to finalize the paperwork.
Travling to Kiev is a 5 hour drive from our current location. The drive is about as passable as a us forestry service road sprinkled with brightly mozaic tiled bus stops each with a unique flair. As we pass through the various territories there are large monuments to mark the change in boundry. Sam and I have become good friends with our driver. We passed the time by listening and talking about music interests.
When we arrived in Kiev we had just enough time to check in and get some dinner. We said goodbye and Sam began the trek back to our original location. Just a couple more weeks and we will all be home. Thanks everyone for your congradulations and assistance we are so fortunate to have such support.

Scott is on his way headed for the States :( I will stay behind, and wrap up the last of the proceedings.  My hope is that I get to return with Sasha sometime the week of March 13th, but its too early to tell. Sasha and I started the first visit today bundling up and going for a walk on the Orphanage grounds.  It was nice to get out, and we were alone.  We came across objects that were easy to describe in English such as snow, tree, birds, and ice. Afterwards, we went back to the common room, warmed up, and played a game start-to-finish.  Sasha sometimes loses interest half way through the activity, and picks a new one. We finished, put it away, and by that time the visiting hours ended.  Tonight's visit was incredible!  Sasha and I were watching videos together on my laptop. She started pointing to each object on the screen. This is her way of saying, "Whats this?".  Enthusiastically, I proceeded to teach her the English name of the object she  pointed to.  She mimicked each thing I said to the best of her ability. I decided to put a ABC learning DVD in the player. We went through the whole thing together laughing, making sound effects, naming each animal that appeared on the screen, and speaking each letter in the alphabet. I verbally reinforced her with each chance I got. By coincidence, in one of the videos we were viewing there happened to be a scene of a plane taking off, and I spoke pointing to the plane, "There goes papa." She pointed too and replied loudly, "PAPA". She is starting to stare in my eyes, and smile. Her little heart is opening up, and as long as she has her hand in mine, she begins to trust what lies ahead.