Waiting Period: Day 8 of 10

Last night we spoke with Marina about the game plan for final paperwork next week. After her 8am arrival Monday morning, we are going to try and take care of all the passport and birth certificate stuff that day here in Donetsk in time to pick up the kids and catch the 7pm train to Kiev. Right now that's the most important logistical challenge we face, so please pray that Monday would go smooth as silk with no obstacles so that we can catch that train! Marina advised me to go ahead and buy train tickets today, so I did that first thing this morning, knowing it'd be a risk and that we might have to buy train tix all over again for a later date if we hit a snag. JoEllen also asked her about lodging in Kiev this time, and she said we'd be in a bigger (albeit more expensive) apartment, close to the Kiev zoo and several restaurants. That sounds like a Livingston Family outing in the making right there! So other than our last few waiting days, that's our immediate plans in the nutshell.

Although it was in the 40s and drizzly this morning as forecast, we still decided to make a visit to the orphanage. We figured they probably wouldn't let us play outside since the ground was wet, and we were right. They did, however, put us in a larger playroom we hadn't seen before, complete with a huge ballpit and a tunnel that the kids loved. The Scruggs family came in just a bit after us, and much fun ensued without any timeouts or disciplinary action needed today...it was a VERY good play day! There was also an attached "too-ah-lett", which provided JoEllen an opportunity to practice helping the kids go potty...which went quite well I understand. No, I didn't document that, but here are some pix of the excellent playtime:

Alex and Talia having big fun in the big tunnel.







Talia was a bit surprised to find Papa waiting for her at the end of the tunnel. :-)






Vala enjoyed the tunnel, but REALLY liked the ballpit.







Jeanette Scruggs fired up their laptop for a cartoon show that was enjoyed by all for a solid 10 minutes. Keeping little hands off the keyboard still is a learning opportunity.




Looks like tomorrow is going to be a chilly yet nice day out, so we'll probably be outside then. Only 2 more play days (and Waiting Period days) to go!


P.S. TRAVEL PLAN UPDATE (6pm): You'd think buying Monday night train tickets this far in advance would be a safe call, but not in Ukraine. We found out this afternoon that there were NO available 2nd class compartments (rooms with 4 beds available), so we'd either have to split up into 2 separate rooms and share with other random riders, or get creative. We chose the creative route and upgraded (for about double the price of 2nd class, so about $400 total) to a first-class cabin that we could all stay in. Not what I had in mind, and we'll have to share the only 2 beds that it comes with. It was either that or spend over $1,000 for airline tickets...bearing in mind that our Monday departure is iffy anyways. Oh well, just thought I'd fill everyone in on yet another wrinkle in the adventure, why should we have all the fun?! ;-)