During our last week there we made our rounds and said good-bye to all our friends and new family we had met.

Thursday night (October 7th) we went back to Shayla's birth moms house to have dinner and say good-bye. Shayla's Granny was being extra nice, and very spunky. Everyone in their village wanted to come down and see "the Americans", so we had a audience when we arrived and when we left. One of the neighbors A 84 year old woman asked them if she could come in and meet us. She was so cute, and very nice. It was really hard saying good-bye to everyone, especially Shayla's brother and sister. I knew that I would see her birth mom again the next day for lunch, But it was sad knowing that we would not see the grandparents, brother and sister until next year when we return. Granny was so sweet, she cried when we left and begged us to come back next year. We told her we would.

On Friday (October 8th) Shayla's mom met us for lunch. This would be our last day together. We went to were they keep records for adoptions and asked if they could give us the name and number to the family who adopted Shayla's twins sisters 7 years ago. After some running around we got the information. We then went to this really nice restaurant and had a wonderful LONG lunch. We drank some wine and made some toast.. One from Shayla's mom was "We met as strangers a couple of weeks ago, and we now part as family".. Then we done some shopping and I bought Shayla's brother a new bicycle, her sister some make up, curling iron, nail polish, and a few other small things and then we said good-bye. This was extremely hard for me. I actually felt that I was leaving one of my closest friends and that I would not see them for a long time. We hugged and cried and she asked me: "Please send me letters and pictures". I promised her I would, and told her that she will ALWAYS be "OUR" daughters mother too.

We immediately left there and went back over to one of the care takers house. She asked us to come by and say good-bye and promised that we would only have a cup of tea. When we got there, a bunch of care takers jumped out of the closet and shouted "SURPRISE"... They were ready for another big party, and ready to do some more choo choo's.. But I very politely told them that I could not drink anymore. I had enough! So we spent a couple of hours there eating dinner (which we were still full from lunch).. and we said good-bye. This was very hard too, because everyone was crying and hugging. It took us 30 minutes once we got out to the taxi before we could actually leave.

We got back home at 6:30pm, and momma had dinner ready. She said that we were going to have a last night together party! I thought "Oh no, I can't possibly eat again" but she looked so excited to have this dinner I forced myself to eat once more. (We ate four times this day, all big meals) This was a nice dinner because Michelle and her husband was there with their new children, my friends whole family, and us. We had a wonderful dinner together and then went to bed.

The next day (Saturday, October 9th) our friends came over and brought us to their house for coffee and cake. We could only stay for a short time, because we had a flight to Kyiv at 1pm. We really enjoyed the time with them though, because they have always been a wonderful family and very kind to us. We said our good-byes and off we went.

Once we were in Kyiv, everything was back to fast paced. We ate Mc. Donald's for dinner and went to bed early. The following day at 10am, all six translators I know were in the hotel room talking about recent families that they helped, and talking about families that are going to Ukraine. We hung out and had some Champaigne and then off to the airport we went.

It was VERY hard saying good-bye to my BEST friend. Even though we talk on the phone at least three times a week, I knew that I would miss her the second that I got on the plane. I felt as if I had swallowed a grape fruit, and we hugged and said good-bye.

THE END!