Greeting from the Sicilian's Grand Tour of the Crimea!

Well, we met the girls and they are GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Victoria, (Vica) is absolutely beautiful. Dark hair, fair skin and hazel eyes- she's the spitting image of matt.

Natalia has blonde hair and the most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen- she's already got Matt wrapped around her little finger.

The girls are very well adjusted, seem very bright and healthy.

There are simply no words to say how blessed we feel right now.

We have spent the last two days driving back and forth from Yalta to Kerch. It's sorta like driving from NJ to Binghampton, NY every day- on a VERY bumpy road. Luckily, we've had an excellent driver- Ivan, who is now part of the family. My mom can not stop feeding him.

We've stayed in two very nice hotels, plenty of hot water and the food is still good :)

Tomorrow there will be more running around, we will visit Natalia in the morning and the head out to Kerch again- hoping to arrive in the late afternoon to pick up yet more documents. Then we will visit with Vica in the evening.

The running around is hard, it's nerve wracking- but I can not stress this enough to those about to travel. EVERYONE in Ukraine has been nothing but absolutely nice to us. Trust your translator, do what they say. You've got to suspend your need for control here, but in the end, things seem to just work themselves out. But more on that later.

The really tough thing is that when we are in Kerch, we are missing Natalia, when we are here in Yalta, we can't wait to see Vica. Very hard on Mama and Papa- but we're just going full steam ahead.

There isn't anything to compare witht the sight of seeing that little one's face light up at the sight of you, and having them come running into your arms.......

We promise to try to post pictures, but as you can imagine, this is easier said than done.

Yes, they let Dad video everything- precious memories.

We even had an impromptu dance recital by Vica and three of her classmates that was an absolute riot!! Can't wait to show her that in ten years :) :)

That's it for now- keep those comments coming. While we're loving what we're doing, we are so very homesick. Hearing from you all just makes it easier!

Will try to post in Kerch- but we're more out of our element there than here!

Matt wants Chris Braich to please contact him when he gets a chance- mpsteach3@aol.com, or mpsteach8@yahoo.com. He's not worried, just wants to know how things are going.

Warren, you better be taking good care of my dog- want to babysit for ALL the girls when we get home??????

Love to you all,

Lisa and Matt