Today is our 1 month anniversary in Kiev- and it looks like we may not even make 5 weeks!!!  We went to the Immigration Office and Justice Department this morning- had lunch then went to collect Katya.  We took her to the passport office and had her biometrics done, then took her back to the orphanage.  Svetlana felt that we would have our passport on Tuesday and that we should be out of here by next Friday (if not earlier!!!)  Yahoo!  Evidently she has connections at the embassy as well- when Pam suggested it would take 3 days to get the visa- she shook her head and held up 1 finger..."no- 1".

We are picking up Katya for good on Monday at noon.  If todays trip was any indication- it may be good we have her for several days before we get on the plane- because she was WILD once we got out of the orphanage.  Waiting in the passport office, she was running and jumping, touching everything, inspecting EVERYTHING...it was physically not possible for her to sit still.  Natasha was not surprised- and said it is normal because she gets very little exercise at the orphanage.  Bless her, Natasha tried desperately to reason with Katya to get her to be quiet and sit down- but it was not possible.  Pam had her fill and took Katya by the hand and asked Natasha to translate EXACTLY what she said....  I'll save you the details- but needless to say Katya sat quietly for the remainder of the wait.

And for those of you PAPs out there- ZIPLOC...bring SEVERAL ziplocks on the first few car trips.  We have to give Katya credit- she tried VERY hard- but about 5 minutes into the ride, she became silent and pale....we rolled down windows and took off her coat- but it just didn't work.  Luckily- we had already shown her the bags- and she grabbed one!  We have already stopped at the pharmacy to pick up some Dramamine for Monday!