Hello everyone! We left Shreveport at 4:30 Saturday. We almost missed our plane because Maury wouldn't leave the airport and the LSU game... no kidding, we were running to the plane and the doors closed behind us. We arrived in Kiev (Ukraine's capital) Sunday (last night) about 5:30 pm.. WOW, what a very long day. A non-English speaking guy picked us up from the airport and drove us to our apartment. Kiev is beautiful and covered in snow. The buildings are beautiful and the people are beautiful. I have never seen so many mink coats in my life... I told Maury I felt like an orphan (that bad joke wasn't it). We ate dinner last night a O'Briens (doesn't sound Ukrainian does it).. Well that would be because it isn't.. We can not speak Russian/Ukrainian and didn't know the currency exchange.... We thought it would be safer to go there first.

Our apartment is what I pictured as a typical home in the Ukraine. It is very very old..one bedroom, a small kitchen, a room with a toilet, a bathroom (with a tub and sink), a living room and a bedroom. There really isn't much to it.. There is a very old woman (looks like what I imagined - actually looks like pictures of Maury's grandmother) with a long dress, scarf on her head and three teeth. She guards the door of the apartment.. She lives in a very small room and watches people go in and out.. .she is about 80 years old so I am not sure how much guarding she actually does. Maury brought her candy so she fell in love with him. She comes out and hugs him now. I took a picture of them, I will post it if I can. The funnest thing about the apartment is the elevator. It is smaller than a very small closet.. room for about two people at most. Well, Maury is the size of two or more people. You should see us trying to fit ourselves and our luggage into the thing... It is funny. We paid for an apartment so we could have high speed internet connectivity. Unfortunately, having a phone in the room is a luxury and there is no internet connectivity. Thank goodness we are a block away from the main square and there is an internet cafe.

We went to the NICA - like our children's services department. We stood in line with a group of people - one family from the US and the others from Spain, Italy and the Ukraine. They took us to a room with a translator and a "psychologist". We ask them about Kristina and Maxim and showed them pictures. They said they were not available. The showed us pictures of children that met our criteria. Which was pretty broad (healthy ages 4 - 11). Unfortunately, out of the 7 sibling groups, only 1 group (a sister and brother) seemed to really be healthy (the others had problems ranging from a mother with HIV to one girl who had heart surgery). It was really sad. They then showed us single children (without siblings). We selected a little boy that is 6 years old. His name is Koyla. He seemed to be very healthy and looked happy. We really do not know very much about him other than his age and some medical history and that he has a younger sister. His little sister has already been adopted by parents in the Ukraine.We will get our orders to visit him tomorrow afternoon and travel to his region Wednesday.

Other than the visits, Maury and I have walked around and enjoyed the snow and cold. Again, the history is amazing.

We miss you all and know that our hearts with you this holiday. I am very sad that I will not be there during Thanksgiving. Know that I will be thinking of you!

I will try to post things later. I am checking my email so write if you would like. I will try and post some pictures here. If not, I will post where they are.

Love you,
Kim and Maury