Sorry about the lack of recent blog activity.  We've been without internet access for the last few days and just recently were able to get to an internet cafe and get caught up on e-mail.

Tuesday was "Gotcha Day!"  We drove all around town to finish the paperwork and then arrived at the orphanage with candies and juice to have a party with   he children before taking Ben home.  There were about 15 kids from ages of 3 to about 14  and everyone had a good time.  Benjamin took a lot of pictures with our camera (he's a good photographer!) and then finally he said, "Let's go! Let's go!

So Ben took his belongings out of his locker (stuffed animal, books, and a few papers)and danced out the door!

We stayed at the director's house overnite and returned in the morning to Paltava to do the passport.  We are in a  nicer flat now which is convenient to parks and places to eat.  

Ben is now learning what it means to have parents.  As Giles puts it, our parenting is kind of like pushing a shopping cart that has a funny wheel and goes in different directions sometimes!  Ben is great and we love him very much...he just has a strong will that we are helping him with.  The language barrier makes it challenging but we are doing what we can.  It's amazing how our motivation for learning Ukrainian language has increased even more!   We are trying to help him realize our role as parents rather than just playmates.  And that takes some time.

We took him to 2 different parks today...one had a nice merry- go- round , which he enjoyed for the first time, and the second had these electric cars for kids.  He rode 3 different cars...the first was slow, the second was larger, and the 3rd was big and, of course,  faster!  He drove around the park (sometimes wildly!) while we tried to help him go straight and not run into people.  He tries to figure out how everything works rather than look where he's going!  

It's fun to see what Ben thinks   of...he spent 15 minutes yesterday just messing up my hair and showing me what it looks like in the reflection of a CD! (And laughing every time!) 

Right now, Zhenya is teaching Giles all kinds of Ukrainian phrases while I am writing this.  He also helps to explain what it will be like on the plane which is a big help!

We have 4 more days here, then 2 days in Kiev, and hopefully we'll come home after that.  We think it will be about July 16th or 17th.  

Blessings to all!