SURPRISE!!

Hey everyone!
I have to give one last shout out to everyone on our last day in Ukraine. Full day, anyway. I will need to be quick because me awesome husband is keeping our son entertained outside so that we could update everyone and one of us get to read the comments and share. We have been so busy that I haven't been able to get on the internet personally for the last 5 days. Whew!

Quick update on the last few days:
The last day in Kramatorsk (Monday) we were busy making sure we had everything for the trip. Almost everything. We need to buy one more package of daipers before our flights and we are having a hard time finding a grocery store. hmmmm... It will work out.
Tuesday we picked up Lance for his last day at the orphanage. It was (and still is) pretty sureal (sp?). We then dashed off to Donetsk to get his passport, birth certificate and go to a notary. That all went well and we ended up having about 4 hours to waste at a pizza joint. We left on a train at 7:00 that night. Lance was such a trooper all day until we got on the train. I think that was his last straw. He lost it, but was able to calm down after about 30 min of rocking and singing. It was pretty hot, so that probably didn't help. BUT, once the train started, we had air conditioner!!!! Yes! I don't know if you can understand how great of a suprise that was. Lance and everyone except me seemed to sleep just fine. hee heedd. That made the second night in a row that I probably averaged about 3 hours of sleep. It was worth it, though. Anyway, we arrived in Kiev at 7:00am yesterday.
From there we went to the hospital for Lance's check up that is necessary for his visa. The lady was supposed to be there at 9, but arrived at 9:50. In the mean time we found out that the US Embassy is now giving about 50% of the visas out the next day. (We had the appointment planned for today and our flights tomorrow). That would NOT work and when I called there was no gaurantee. SO...we made a mad amount of phone calls and were able to convince them to give us an apointment for Lance's visa yesterday at 11:30. That means that we had to hire another translator and rush everything to be there on time. We finished at the hospital at 11:10. I didn't have the documents with me since I was not planning on going to the embassy until Thurs. (today). Augh! I called again and begged. It worked. We were able to keep our appointment, and actually get Lance's visa YESTERDAY!!! And, he had a good nap in the air conditioned embassy while we waited. It was a really long day, but so happy in the end.
So, today we have the day off to rest before our long trip tomorrow. I am glad that I was able to check in and I am very ready to be home and see all of you. Our flight leaves at 6:45am tomorrow morning. Please continue to keep us (especially Lance) in your prayers for the trip. Lance is hanging in there well, but I know all of this is not easy on him. Thanks! I am sorry if my spelling and grammer is horrible. I am typing as fast as I can. ha!

Love you all!
Karen

Love you guys!