Answers

I know there are many questions out there, so I'm going to do my best to answer as many of them as I can. I'm paraphrasing some of the questions to hopefully make this as concise as possible. :)

Are you taking the boys with you?
Yes. This was a huge decision for us, and one I've been going back and forth on for a few months. I finally gave up and just asked the boys what they wanted to do. We had a good discussion about it (as much as you can discuss with a 5 and 6 yo) and they decided they wanted to go. In fact, Dima spent the next two days reminding me not to forget to go get the two girls. We've had a hard time convincing them that they still have several days of school left before we leave.

Who will take care of the boys while you are busy in Ukraine (SDA appt, court, etc.)?
My mom has offered to go with us, and we have gladly taken her up on that. She has been to Ukraine before and is familiar with a lot of the cultural differences, and the boys also know her well. She may regret her decision to go, but I don't think we will!

How long will you be there?
That is an excellent question. Originally, we were told to plan on 2.5 weeks for our first trip. We would then come home for a couple of weeks (during our 10-day wait after court but before we have custody of the girls) and then go back for a second trip. Mark's mom is planning on coming out to stay with the boys for the second trip. However, we recently learned that our timeline may be a little different. I can't share much more than that right now as we don't know much more than that, so you'll have to follow the blog to know exactly where we're going to be when. ;)

What is happening with your flights?
We fly out April 7 and are scheduled to return on April 27. We were able to get flights on Delta that are only one-stop (at JFK in New York) from St Louis to Kyiv. I was very happy about that! We are planning to only use carry-on luggage. Wish us luck with that. ;)

What do you still need?
--A ride to the airport that can accommodate 3 adults and 2 children, and that can get us there at about 7am on a Tuesday morning.

--We are still looking for a house/dogsitter--someone who can stay at our house and watch the dogs while we are gone. We have a couple of people that we think are going to be able to do it, but we're still trying to solidify that. It doesn't help that our house will not have internet, phone, or cable while we're gone...it's like asking people to live in the Dark Ages. ;)

--Our money situation has worked out, although not in the way we expected! The insurance company is holding the check so they can add on an additional dividend. Not a bad thing, except we need the money! LOL Someone has graciously stepped up to cover those funds for us and will be repaid when the check arrives. Thank you so much for your prayers over this!

--Our local bank is working on ordering "new" money for us. They are not sure it will arrive in time. Please pray that it will arrive on time, or if not, that they will have enough good quality bills for our very large withdrawal.

--Prayers. We are taking a 5 and 6 yo on a very long trip to a country that they may or may not remember. Regardless, it will be a lot of new experiences for them. The boys and I had a discussion about what happens after we fly to Ukraine and get the girls, and Zhenya said "We get on a big plane and come back home." I want to make sure they understand that we will be coming back home, so we will probably we emphasizing that a lot in our conversations about the trip over the next week (and after we're there). Please also pray for our relationship with the girls. We don't have a lot of information, but I anticipate having more bonding and attachment issues with the girls based on what we know of them.

How was the move? How is the new house?
Hmmm...I'm not sure I want to talk about this. :)

Everything is out of the old house. I need to go over tonight and finish up a bit of cleaning. The new house...is a disaster area. About the only room in the house that is in normal working order is the boys' room. We tried to make this move as easy on them as possible, so we got them set up first with their beds and toys and everything else. Zhenya's had a hard time sleeping the past few nights, but that seems to be getting better. They love their new room and love how close we are to the big playground across from their school (3 blocks). We walked there several times last week while they were on spring break. I am absolutely loving having a bigger kitchen. The smaller one didn't bother me, but I feel like I've been given a luxury kitchen with all of the space we have now--even with boxes everywhere and stuff piled on the counters! And we got our washer and dryer hooked up this weekend and I tried them out yesterday. They are super fancy and oh-so-fun to use! I think Mark thinks I'm a little weird for being so excited about a washer and dryer. :) :) We're still in the process of painting a few rooms; namely our bedroom and the girls' room.