Ok ... to start with ...

Matt: I may have watched miserable hours of "Highschool Musical 3," spent more time in the mall than I have in the past 5 years combined, and sat quietly in the corner while Michele and Lina made jewerly. But over here it's ok to not shower for a week, attempt to go from 0-60 between stop lights, and having control of all the money is better than just the remote control. And, given the choice between sticking out like a sore thumb or dressing like a European guy, I'll stick out all day long. No man-capri's for me.

Jason and Jocelyn, Thanks for following along. It has been great to read your comments. I know that someday you will make great parents. When we get back we'll have to have you guys and Jimmie B. over for dinner. We aren't taking a huge amount of pictures and video because Lina is still a little camera shy. We told her about the blog and have been showing her the pictures we post. I think that it is all pretty overwhelming for her to think about all of you back home following along. Plus she gets a little frustrated trying new things until she gets the hang them. We don't take pictures because she has already thought we are laughing at her. But we haven't been laughing just big grins as we watch her move from fear to interest to "lets do that again." There are so many things that she has never done, even here in her home country.

Margaret, she does love horses, but looked worried about riding them ... I'm sure she'll change her mind once she tries it though.

Philip, We have been praying for you in Haiti. The BBC was reporing on that school collapse that killed all those people. What a huge need in that country. We hope you are weathering the storms alright. Keep doing God's work my friend, I know He is pleased.

On the subject of when we can bring Lina home. We are meeting with the adoption state services again tomorrow. We were hoping once would be enough but they wanted to meet again after we had a longer amount of time to spend with Lina. If they will give us their official seal of approval tomorrow they will start another round of paperwork and try and set up a court date. Looks like November is out and December is packed because they try and cram lots of work into the first part of the month so that they can take a long Christmas holiday. So that means that we won't be able to get into court until January sometime. Lina is not excited to go back to Ukmerge but she will have no choice but to wait. Then it's all up to the judge. Our lawyer from the Adoption Services was quick to point out that there is still a risk that the judge will deny the adoption because Michele is 3 months short of being 18 years older than Lina. So please keep praying.

KC