4/14/07 - One more step closer!?!

Today Sergey woke early to pick up the orphanage lawyer and head for the local civil records office in the village Ira was born to get a new birth certificate. The documents made it there yesterday via express mail. He has been gone for hours, but hope that by days end he has it. Next will be the Inspectors office Monday for the conclusion and the package will be off to Kyiv. God is good! Sharon has been having fun stirring up the locals... She was verbally attacked at the local McDonald's by a native with "Yankee go home." Why Sharon, we can only surmise that she has that look! 10 days ago in Kyiv, she got yelled at by a postal worker and told in a loud scolding way where to put her letters!!! She only could wish that her daughter Kate was here to deal with it... We were able to visit Ira yesterday and again the boys dragged me out to the soccer field so they could test my stamina (not the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago). I'm going to have to get them a couple new soccer balls. Maybe they will leave me alone if I do!!! Somehow I doubt it. Ira has a cold. We played UNO again which more and more of her friends joined in as each new hand was dealt. It is a great game and easy to pick up. One of Ira's friends brought over an English book, Bedtime Bible Stories. Ira took the book and did read several sentences from it! We were happy to see that they have some Christian influence and especially that book! Today, Ira's grandfather is taking the train to visit her for the day. We thought it best to give each of them the time to be together alone. We spoke to him on the phone and said that we would come out to see him with Ira soon, probably next weekend. We have some gifts for him. We plan to pick up Ira tomorrow and bring her here in the city to get some new clothes for court and to wear back to the US. We will probably offer another bath soaking and watch some movies, play cards and go out for a nice meal before we bring her back. She seems relaxed and at ease right now, but we realize she is in her comfort zone. We expect some anxiety to set in once we are on the move away from her orphanage and friends.

Pic. 1 - Ira and friends; Pic. 2 - Dale attempting soccer on a muddy field with the boys...