April 9,2009

Ah, I feel much better today. I went to bed last night at 8:30pm and slept soundly until about 7am. I don't think I moved at all last night!

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. We visited Maxim for a few in the morning, then met Igor at the flat. We hopped in the taxi to visit the island (not sure what the name of it is.). We stopped at a huge statue of Lennon holding his arm up sort of saying (as Igor explained it) "Friends, come this way to the good life in communism." But we all know how that turned out. It's surprising to me that the major road in the city is stilled named after him. Just behind him is the Napir river, which runs from north of Kiev all the way to the black sea. They have a dam here, and much of the electricity for the region comes from this dam. They are also one of the biggest steel manufacturers in the world. Right from this tiny country! Z is also the 6th largest city in Ukraine.

The soil here is unbelievable. Basically you plant something and it grows. During the Soviet rule, there was a great famine in this area. The soviets believed it was unfair to the rest of the country that this area should be able to have so much food. So they banned the region from keeping any of its food to even things out. In the mean time, thousands died from hunger.

We went to a museum of Ukrainain history. It was small, but very informative. We found wooden eggs with beautiful decorations on them. We also went to a WWII car museum. This guy owns many original trucks from WWII. He also has some bullets, guns, and missile type things (not really sure what they were). We were told most of them have original parts and all of them are in working order...WOW! I thought about how much my grandfather would have LOVED this display. And my brother, Mike, who's in the Air Force, would have loved the Air Force Jeep he had. Don't worry, Mike. We took some pics. This man also told us that when they make movies from the WWII era, they call him to rent his trucks. He also has an original nazi soldier hat.

I've been told, but haven't seen it yet, that they have a plane museum around the airport. When we go back to Kiev, I'd really like to see the WWII museum they have there, although that might be difficult with a wild 3 year old running around.

We didn't see Maxim last night because we were so worn out. But we gave him his Ooff (dog) to hang on to. This morning he was very happy to see us, and we had a lot of fun. He's starting to really come out of his shell. And throw tantrums when we don't do what he wants. He thinks it's hilarious when Dave pretends the stroller has run over his foot. We know when Eli Maxim wants him to do this cause he'll point at the wheel and say "Da". We try to distract him, but it doesn't work. I love these tantrums because it means that he feels safe and comfy with us. At least I hope that's what it means! He LOVES to be outside, and today discovered how to climb on the jungle gym to get to the slide (with help, of course). He can even slide down by himself! I still love his little laugh...it's infectious.

We got word last night that we MIGHT have our court date on Monday, but most likely it will be on Tuesday. That's perfect timing because my mom will be here on Tuesday morning. It will be great to see her. We're just going to sit tight and enjoy our son until then. Anything is possible at this point. We're waiting on paperwork that should be done by Friday, so it could be done earlier, it could be done later. The end is in sight, so we are just praying things go smoothly.