Hey everybody! Sunday at 5pm here (9am there) and we have just returned from an afternoon out. Our driver (Yari) came to pick us up at 1pm and we headed off to eat some pizza. This was Carol's and Jackson's favorite meal we have had here. It was absolutely delicious....some of the best pizza we have ever eaten. I still like the Ukrainian food better because it is different....probably the same reason Carol and Jackson love the pizza...because it isn't! Anyway, it was quite tasty. We then asked Yari to take us shopping. We were meaning the cheaper, more flea markety, more traditional shopping. But, we couldn't make him understand that....he speaks only a little English. So, he took us to a brand new indoor mall. It did hold the only McD's in town, but we ended up not being hungry for it....so we will have that splurge another day. Anyway, I am very hot while inside here. And I did not bring a short-sleeved shirt. So, I wanted to look for shirts. We went to a trendy, upscale-looking clothing store called "Reserved". I was prepared for high prices and small sizes. But, I was able to get 3 short-sleeved shirts for $17....no lie. It was great. Now I can be cool while my family doesn't freeze because I have the window open as wide as it will go! Anyway, we then went to our normal market to buy some groceries. For all of you that know how little Greg and I cook at home normally, we have already been to the market more times this week than we went all last month! Of course it helps that I work in a grocery store and can bring home the essentials after working! Anyway, we bought Jackson a small Lego set at the market and he and Greg are working on it now. Plus, Jackson has gotten Carol addicted to one of his video games, so she was even playing it this morning without Jackson asking her to. Thanks again to Christie for loaning us her Nintendo DS for our trip....now they can both feed their video game addiction! Back to business tomorrow, so I will let you all know how it goes. Our next step is getting our court date....please pray for it to be soon! Love to all!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! It is 6:32pm Saturday night here (10:32am there) and we have certainly had a day of LOVE! Ha Ha! We have not left the house today, but it has been nice. Jackson did sleep in a tiny bit....until 8am, so we had a pretty restful night. Then, we got up and I got all his Valentines together that his special friends had made him. He was so excited and read each one! He was especially excited about the princess ones...haha! Anyway, Greg and I got him a Valentine too. We got him some used games for the Nintendo GameBoy that will also fit into his Nintendo DS. He was very excited. But, he did want to know where we got them. So, we told him we got them before we left home. About 30 mins. later he said, "Why have you made me wait for all these days since we've been here?" HaHa. We reminded him that they were a Valentine's Day present and he said "Oh yeah. I forgot." Never satisfied, huh? Anyway, we did some laundry and actually cooked dinner tonight. We cooked spaghetti, but when we were at the store asking our translator for sauce he said, "We use ketchup". We kept questioning him and he kept on saying that. So, we went over to the ketchup and they have all these different kinds with different seasonings added. So, we chose one that said it had extra peppers and onions flavoring it. We did end up enjoying it....but, it was nothing like ours at home. It tasted like Chef Boyardee, so Greg and Jackson really enjoyed it. HaHa! We also added English Peas for a green. They were crunchy. Pretty bad I must say, since I don't love English Peas anyway. We wonder if they just eat them that way or if they cook them all day long? Don't really know. Anyway, we have our driver set up to come get us tomorrow for lunch and shopping. Then, we are probably going to splurge and get McDonald's on the way home for dinner tomorrow night! Ha Ha!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we finally decided on names. We took so long because we were thinking we would try to come up with names that were at least close to their old names. But, we ended up just going with names we like and if they want us to call them their Ukrainian names for a while, we can. The oldest is Slavic and he will be Philip Dean Maxwell after my Daddy. He will be called Philip. The baby is Rusic and he will be Ryan Gregory Maxwell after his Daddy. He will be called Ryan. Hope everyone likes those names because we are happy with them and we really struggled for a while! So, our boys will be Philip, Jackson, and Ryan! Well, I hope to hear all about all of your Valentine's Days soon! Love you all!

So, it's 6:26pm Friday night here (10:26am for most of you) and we just got back from a visit to our boys in the orphanage. We are actually glad it's the weekend. We have not had a single day since our arrival that we have woken up without an alarm clock. Hopefully, we will sleep well tonight and then can just snooze for a while in the morning....if Jackson will allow it! We are going to miss seeing our boys, though. We had a really fun visit today. We learned that the Russian word for brother is "brat---pronounced Brot" (once again, no idea on spelling) so we asked both boys about Jackson being their brat and they said "da"! They both called us Mama and Papa and both called him by name. It was really cute and really sweet. The oldest boy (Slavic for now) had drawn a picture of a clown and he wrote some words on there. We asked what it said and he said "Slavic blah-blah-blah". We couldn't understand the blah-blah-blah of course...maybe he said Slavic's clown? Anyway, it made us realize that he already knows his letters....and a lot of them are different to ours. For example, a R here is a P. At TGI Friday's, the Oreo dessert said Opeo! Anyway, we are going to have a job ahead of us re-teaching him his letters! Only with God's help, of course. We went out to lunch before going to the orphanage, so Carol got to get out of the house for a while too. We plan on hanging out here tomorrow, unless the weather is better. If it is, we plan on walking to a park nearby. Otherwise, we have set up for our driver to come on Sunday and take us to get pizza and go shopping. Our paperwork is in processing and we are still prayerful that we will get a court date late next week....please pray for that with us. But, we will have to give our names to our facilitator by Monday, so I will let you all know what we decide! Love you all and miss you so much!

Hello, everybody! It's about 3:20 pm here (7:20am in Alabama) on Thursday. Greg, Jackson and I went back to the orphanage today and we had a blast. Once again, the oldest boy (Slavic) came in first and he and Jackson played like crazy. The orphanage director said that he talked about Jackson and already loved him! Then the baby (Rusic) came in and we had a good time playing with him too. Slavic and Jackson would hide from him and we would say "Where's Slavic? Where's Jackson?" And he would look for them....Jackson, too. It was so cute! Jackson and Slavic both had red cheeks and sweaty hair from running around so much. It was so fun. We picked Grandma up and went to lunch. Then, we walked around the marketplace some more. It is misty and cold today, so after that, we just headed home. We think the boys will just mostly be able to wear Jackson's clothes home, except we need to buy them both shoes and a coat. We are planning on staying here in Zhitomir this weekend, but think we may travel back to Kiev for at least a day trip next weekend. We will keep you all posted, though! Many hugs and kisses!

Good evening everyone! It's 10:36pm Wednesday here (2:36pm in bama) and we are winding down for the night. First of all, I want to send out a huge thanks for the scrapbook that Mary Margaret, Starlette, and Christie made for us and that a lot of you contributed to! It has been a total lifeline for us and I have just not mentioned it because I have not felt my words even could describe how this book makes me feel! But, thank you all again! You are wonderful!!!! Today was a big day....we took Jackson to meet the boys. He was nervous and so were we. They brought in the oldest boy first alone because the little one was outside with his class. That was great because the oldest boy is quieter and more reserved. He and Jackson had about 15 min. to play alone together with the motorcycles and cars we brought. It was great. Then, when the youngest boy came in it fell apart a little bit because he was excited and running around a lot. We got a balloon and kicked and hit it around like a soccer ball. It was still very fun. Both boys were excited to find out Jackson is their brother and both gave him hugs (well, really they let him hug them)! It was great. Jackson had been a little indifferent toward them up to this point, but tonight he has been talking about them and how much he is going to teach them. He looks like a giant next to them...probably almost a whole head taller than the oldest boy! I can't wait to see what they look like next to Matt McDonald!!! Anyway, they will catch up to him. But, we told him he is going to be like the oldest for a while, even though he will not be the oldest in age. He was happy to go and asked to go again tomorrow. We left Carol home, but she enjoyed her time and watched one of her movies instead of having to watch one of Jackson's. We picked her up after the visit and all went to lunch and to the market. We have just hung out together this evening, so we have gotten some rest! We have a washing machine in our home, which is wonderful! No drier, though, so we just have to hang out a load then wash another one when that load is dry! Still a blessing to have the washer! Many of you have asked about names....and we don't know. Seriously, we don't! I promise I will tell you their names once we know them! We love and miss you all!

Dobre dei--Good day! No idea of the spelling, though! HaHa! It's 8:46pm here on Tuesday (12:46pm in Alabama) and we are just hanging out again. Jackson is working on a little bit of his school work, thanks to Mrs. Evans and Briarwood. The rest of us are just chatting and watching him. Well, today was another busy day. We went to the notary and filled out the official paperwork to begin the adoption. We then went to see them and played a little bit outside. We had a very good time with them. We plan on taking Jackson to meet them tomorrow (Wednesday) so please pray for that meeting. We just have complete peace in our hearts and minds that pursuing adoption of these 2 little boys is God's plan for our family. Every step since the initial referal has pointed directly to them. Even the place God has blessed us to stay is amazing! Obviously there are still so many things that have to be done so we are trusting God to continue with us each step! We are counting on all of you for your support and love as we go through some major changes in our family! We can already tell that a lot of you are experiencing the same fears and worries that we are.....and that just shows us how much you love us. So we do just beg you to stand with us as we bridge the gap in these 2 little boys' lives. We can't wait to watch what God will do for all of us next.

Well, it's 7pm on Monday, the 9th here (11am in 'bama) and we are just doing a little hanging out. Greg and I went to visit the boys today and the visit was awesome. They are both so beautiful and seem to be really healthy. The health report from the orphanage was very good...both are intellectually developed where they should be for their age. But, this is relative to where they should be since being raised in an orphanage for the past couple of years. They were both very loving and willing to play with us both. The orphanage director actually asked them both separately but in front of us if they would like for us to be their "Mama and Papa" and they both said "Da--yes" without hearing that the other was even being asked. It was wonderful. Both had smiling faces and lots of laughter. The orphanage is actually very nice and I think the boys have been well cared for...at least as well as they can be in this situation. Carol and Jackson actually stayed home while we went today. We are planning on taking them later after we have had an opportunity to bond with the boys first. I think Jackson is a little bit disinterested in it all right now because he is having a hard time thinking about what it will be like. He did say he was very happy we weren't getting a baby....I guess it is a good thing that we didn't get pregnant! The boys actually look a little bit like Jackson, we think. Big, blue eyes on all three! We will be glad to post pics on the blog of them, but we can't until they are officially ours after the court date. We have been trying to keep Jackson occupied now that we are in the region and can't just walk everywhere like we could in Kiev. We have played lots of games...thank goodness for travel sized games! Jackson is actually recording our time right now and it's pretty funny hearing Greg try to coach him on what to say on the video...you will all love seeing it, I'm sure. We got Carol a new curling brush today since Greg accidentally melted hers when we plugged it up in Kiev. We used the converter...but, it still melted. Anyway, I think she will be a little bit happier with her hair now! Well, I will go for now and will blog again soon.