Another day closer to leaving for home!

After all the rushing around, we are waiting again until we receive the children's passports.  I am really enjoying the time with Dima as I am learning so much about him.  I just fall in love him more and more each day! Yesterday morning Dima put his washed clothes away and helped me make my bed after he finished making his bed.  He has been helping me with picking out food and paying at the market.  I think he just loves to help!  Last night before he showered, I asked him to give me some clothes so I can wash them.  He was a little confused to which clothes and for the first time out loud he called me "Mama"!!! I had to hold back tears to answer him!  You may wonder...hasn't he called you Mama before?  Up until court, he called Dusty and I by our first names.  We didn't push him as he has NEVER had anyone to call Mama or Papa.  We wanted to wait until court was final.  The day of court I told him he could call us Mama and Papa now and he gave his huge smile and said yes!! Since then, the time hasn't really come up for him to have to call to me until last night and he naturally called me "Mama"!

Christmas day I got to Skype most of my family except my Lisa, Phillip and Jamie.  The time difference is 9 hours so it is really hard to catch each other.  I am really bummed that we didn't get to Skype yet as I wanted them all to see Dima.  Phillip is almost exactly 1 year younger than Dima as his birthday is the day before! I can not wait for them to meet as I think they will really get along! I got a chance to talk to my brother and his future wife Gina at about 11:30pm! It was awesome to see them on Skype for the first and certainly not the last time!  I also got to Skype Dusty with his sister and family that Dima has met since they live close to us.  We talked to my Mama and Papa on the phone as well.  Speaking on the phone was a great gift.

The day after Christmas we were going to go to a museum, but Lori wasn't feeling well and everyone was tired so we just hung out all day.  Lori has been amazing as she's been cooking for us! I will probably end up gaining weight from this trip! I took some pictures for you to see what we are seeing.....

Looking out our apartment window.  You may be thinking...this looks like all the other apartments.  Yes, they all look alike. This area is a lot nicer than the previous stay in Kiev. We are within walking distance of a market so we don't have to ask the driver to take us to the market all the time.

This is a one bed apartment.  This is the living/bedroom.  The kitchen is on the other side of this wall.  The couch and single couch pull out into beds. 

Dima and I hanging out.

When we came back after hanging out a the Walk's apartment, I asked Dima to show me his awards from in his gym bad.  It is so sad to think that after 13 year's, the only possesions he has is in one little gym bag.  He was able to take some of the clothes he brought from the hosting trip in America, some gifts that Dusty and I gave him here, all his pictures, his awards, and his English tutoring papers.  I was so excited to see he actually has some pictures of him as he was a few years younger.  Dusty and I only got to see one picture of him when he was probably about 5 or 6 years old, but the rest were within a couple of years.  I can't believe someone has not adopted him before? We looked at the awards again and I can't wait to put them up in his room!  That alone time was quick lived as he noticed one of his boxing friends was on Skype, good thing that we have unlimited Skype as they talked for a while! During that time, I figured it would be a good time to read some of the paperwork about Dima that I will need to give to the US Embassy.  It was sad to see it written on paper that his young mother did not have any interest for Dima's destiny and no one from Ukraine did either. Seeing it say that he had no family made me think how did he have any desire for life? God was definitely watching over him and brought us together.  We thank God for this each day!