Houston, we have a REFERRAL!

Of course, I didn't get much sleep last night either.  I was up until about 3am worrying about the appointment and repacking my bags just in case we could pick up the paperwork today.  I laid down, but couldn't fall asleep.  Again, my body was ready to shut down but my mind was still running a marathon (actually, running a marathon kind of does work that way; somewhere around mile 18-20 you hit "the wall" and your body wants to stop, but it's your mind and some strategically taken OJ that keeps you going the full 26.2 miles).

Then around 4am there was a dog fight in the middle of the square.  Funny, but that's the first time I heard or saw a dog anywhere near here.  Haven't seen or heard any cats at all.  Even more surprising is I haven't felt any fur withdrawal yet.  You'd think I would've by now having 4 big dogs and 2 lazy cats at home.

After that a storm came through.  I kept hearing scratching at the window, but when I looked there was nothing there.  It kept coming and going all night, so I figured it was just the wind or some sleet or hail or something.  All in all, I ended up with maybe 4 hours of sleep and got up around 9:30am for my 11am appointment.

Konstantin had called the night before to say that we would drive over to the SDA today because it was going to be too cold to walk.  Turns out he was right, but not about it being too cold.  Everyone seems to think that because I live in TX that I don't tolerate cold very well (okay, I don't like it, but I'll deal with it).  I keep telling them I grew up in the 'Burgh, but everyone from TX thinks that 50 is freezing.  So, anyways, it has been in the low 30s here most of the time, but last night it snowed.  I really do not miss the snow.  Especially this slushy kind.  So it was a good thing that I only had to walk to/from the car.  The shoes I brought for the SDA/Court meetings are really TX shoes and not snow shoes.

It was a 5 minute drive and we got over there right at 11am and we only had to wait about 5 minutes for my name to be called.  One gal came out and said, "King."  She looked at Konstantin as if to ask if it was for him, but he told her we were waiting for Moloney, so she returned to her room to check her records.  Then it dawned on me, they were reading my name as Moloney Natalie King, so I told Konstantin that King is my maiden name, so we went upstairs and, yes, she did mean me.

I don't think the entire meeting took even 15 minutes.  They showed me one file with an 8-9yr old looking boy on it that was definitely Y. The gal only asked a couple of questions, like how did we meet Y and how did we know that we wanted to adopt him.  She did not ask even one question as to why Bill wasn't there, which was very surprising.  I think maybe K greased the wheels a little bit by answering such questions himself yesterday when he went to fill out the remaining paperwork.  The only bad news was that because the storm had knocked out the lights that morning, we would not be able to pick up my paperwork today, so it's one more $130 day in Kiev.

When we went back down stairs Igor was waiting for us.  K introduced us.  Ig. will be my translator in region.  The poor guy, he just got back from that hotbed of excitement known as Stak. two weeks ago!  Turns out Ig. is the same age as Six, but he's cuter and skinnier (sorry, Six).  Too bad Ig. just got married at the end of last month.  Oh well, that and he's about 15 yrs too young for me.  After the SDA, Ig. and I walked about a mile or so to a pizza place on Khrushetok (sp?) Oolitza (Street for you Americans).  There was a demonstration going on downtown.  At first it seemed that the bus and taxi drivers were having a strike, but Ig. said the signs stated it was a bunch of people protesting the government's attempts to stimulate the economy.  He said the signs said those attempts weren't working.  No one bothered us as we passed.  The pizza place was pretty good.  Sort of like I was back in NYC again.  Very thin crust.  One slice filled me up.  Ig. said he thought it was owned by Italians who were very particular about how they served the food.  The cans of Coke came with wine glasses to drink them in.  Six slices of pizza and three cans of Coke cost 150 grivna.  That's about $18.35 USD.  We only ate half the pizza, so Ig. told me to take the rest of it home for tonight's dinner.

Then it was a quick walk back to the apartment where I paid for the last night here (I paid for the first 2.5 days yesterday) and now I am waiting while the plumber fixes the toilet.  It ran all last night and this morning it won't flush.  After he leaves I'm taking a nap.  Still trying to catch up on all that sleep I lost these past few weeks.

Natalie

TX