Hello everyone! We're having another great day here in Odessa, Ukraine. Sometimes I still can't believe that we are here. If you had told me two years ago that I would be doing this, I would have laughed.

I hear the weather back home is extremely hot! It is probably in the mid to high 70's here today. When it is hot, we are miserable. We are riding around in an old Volkeswagon van with NO AIR CONDITIONING! Actually, there aren't many places here with air conditioning. Our hotel does have it and we are thankful for that. (Actually, we froze it up one day because we had it so cool. They had to get maintenance and everything. I know they think, "You spoiled Americans!"

The people here are extremely nice! There are many people who can understand a little English because it is required in their schools. Most resturants have English menues, so we are able to order without help. The food has been unbelievably good. The only thing that I'm not crazy about is that they use Dill alot. There is a McDonald's right across from our hotel, but we've only been there once.

We visited the orphanage again this morning. We didn't have as long with her because their was a major storm last night with lots of rain. Our facilitators were actually flooded in their hotel. So they were late picking us up. While we were waiting we met an American couple who were retired professors from Rudkers (spelling?) College. They were just traveling around the world. They were very interesting to talk to.
Anyway, we finally made it to the orphanage about 45 minutes late. When Sophie saw us, she starting smiling. Then she pointed at us and told her caretaker, "blah blah blah Mama, Papa!" Then she ran right past me to Lee, again! Lee really loves to give me a hard time about that. I told him that that is just the way little girls are about their daddys.
We've been trying to teach her to call Lee Daddy because we all know that she is going to have alot of Papas when she gets home. She said it once or twice today, but she was just imitating us. She didn't make the connection that we were talking about Lee. Then again, she may have. I can say, "Give Daddy a kiss!" and she will. Sometimes I'll say, "Give Mama a kiss," and she will, but sometimes she will frown with her eyebrows and stick her bottom lip out. It is so funny! We try not to laugh, but we usually do. Then, if we laugh, she will flash a smile at us like she is saying, "I know, I'm so cute!" I guess you can tell that we've really flipped for this little girl.
We hope to find out in a couple of hours if we will go to court tomorrow or the next day. Our facilitators are in Kiev waiting to get the paperwork. I don't think they will release it until after 4:00 p.m. So we've got a couple of hours at least until we hear something. If we do go to court, I will be very busy, so I will not get to post anything. Take it as a good sign if you don't hear from me. We have already had a meeting to let us know what to expect at court. So everything is moving along.
Please keep us in your prayers! We hope to be home very soon!

Hey Jordan and Chase!! We love you very much!!! I can't wait to kiss you all over your faces!!

See you all soon!
Shannan and Lee