Hello everyone! We apologize for not posting very much. It has been a whirlwind of activity so time has been sparce. It has also been more difficult than we expected to find internet clubs. Things are going very well for us so far. We have visited Maxim three times and accepted our referral after the first visit. He has a great personality and will fit very well into our family. He has blond hair, blue-grey eyes, and fair skin. He looks most like coleton without the freckles. He is small for his age (2years and 3 months) but most orphans are. This is the first internet club to have computres with usb ports. I will try to post some pictures next time but I left the camera at the flat by mistake. He was a premee at birth weighing 1.9 KG. We are currently waiting on the NAC to approve some paperwork and send it to the inspector here in Donetsk. Donetsk is a large city with a population close to 1,000,000. It is known for its coal mines that surround the city. As we drove in we passed MOUNTAINS of coal (literally). That is correct we could not get train tickets so we had to drive. The overnight ride from Kiev to get here took ten hours. Our appointment with the inspector was at 8:00am. We left Kiev at nine pm the night before. Do the math. By the time we arrived we had just enough time to find our flat to drop of our luggage and go straight to the inspectors office. We were still about 15 minutes late but we were the first couple for the day. This put us in front of several other couples. This will help things move faster for us. Most of the other couples are from Italy. We traveled from Kiev to Donetsk in a van similar to the sweet pickles van. The roads are terrible when you get outside of the big cities. They are paved but it doesn't seem like they prepare or smooth the surface under the road before they pave it. The road has ruts from the traffic and the bumps are like driving on cobblestone. None of the vehicles we have been in have shocks so that compounds the issue. Needless to say we did not sleep during the drive and we both had headaches. This was after the long flight without sleep. Once we arrived in Donetsk we went all day until 11:00 pm until we finally went to bed. We slept really well last night so we are ready for more action. All of the rushing should make it more likely for us to come home quicker. We are hoping for 3 to 31/2 weeks total. There are still many things out of our control so you never know. Even with all of this we are having a great time. We have managed to learn how to say a few things in Russian...Yes, No, Maybe, Good, Mom, Dad, Car, Thank You, Hello, Good-Bye. I have learned the currency and as long as I can see the read out for how much things cost I have no trouble paying. When they tell me and the interpreter is not around it gets interesting. Last night there was a water main break so they had shut the water down to our flat. We were planning on taking a shower since we had not had once since the first day in Kiev. It was OK since we took one this morning. I went out to buy some bottled water by myself last night around 10:00pm. The only thing open near us was a small drink stand. Luckily there was an old couple that worked there and the Man spoke broken english. It was neet he was happy to practice his english and I got the water we needed. It was amazing how much we were able to communicate with the small amount of aech otheres language we knew. I learned that he was retired from a metel sales company and he and his wife now work at the stand for extra spending money above his pension. He learned that we were in town from America to adopt. See what I mean. There was more to the conversation but I won't go into all of the details. It will leave me some stories to tell when we get home. There is alot of interesting cultural difference we can talk about. I know you want to hear more about Maxim. He is very loving. Even the first meeting went well he came right to us and played. He laughs when you play with him and if you tickle him so he is comfortable with out interactions. He has already started to try and manipulate us since he realizes we are giving him lots of attention. He has sinus drainage and his chest seems congested. We can't wait to get him out of the orphanage so we can start to give him the care he needs to get better. We both feel that he will make big improvements when we can get him to see and american doctor for proper treatment. The afternoon meeting today he actually started to cry when it was time for us to leave. He is bonding with us quickly. Which can be difficult with some orphans. He likes to throw things so we bought him a couple balls so he would not throw his sippie cup. All of our visits are outside and the ground is dirty. We get to visit him twice a day at 10:30 and 4:00. Once on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. We should have court mid to the end of next week. After that we start the ten day wait. Once the ten day wait is over he is ours and we travel to Kiev to finalize things with the US Embassey and prepare to come home. Amber, Coleton and D.J. we love you very much and we can't wait for you to meet your new brother. You are going to be so helpful. We love everyone at home and appreciate your prayers and support.