Introducing Ethan Warren Baldwin.........

I wrote the title to this post, now I will let Steph take over, she will let you know how great this week has been......

Hi! Steph here. I first have to say we're sorry that we don't have any pictures yet. Well, we have them, but we aren't able to post them from here. We are writing this from an Internet cafe in downtown Donetzk. Maybe another day we will be able to post some pictures.

Anyway, yesterday we finally met Ethan. His current name is Maxim, but we will change that soon. Ethan is almost 3. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is full of life and when we asked the ladies at the orphanage what he liked to eat, they said everything! So, he is well fed, and has nice little chubby cheeks (We have our own little 'pork chop'). We have been to visit him four times now. The first time was during our meeting with the orphanage director yesterday. We knew right away that he was our son. He was immediately drawn to Joe, and he is already calling him Papa. We have given him several snacks as bribes to keep him close to us. Today, he gave us hugs.

Ethan was diagnosed with two club feet at birth. He has had one corrective surgery, and still needs another. This doesn't seem to slow him down any, becuase he is everywhere and does everything. One foot had previously been corrected with bandages and braces, and now the other foot just needs one more surgery, that we will schedule when we are home. His cognitive development is right on schedule, according to the orphanage standards. He will however, need some PT, good thing I work at Gateway!

We are having a wonderful time here. Natasha, our translator/facilitator/protector has been so good to us. We are eating well and enjoy our time with her. She knows exactly where to go and how to get there. We just follow her along wherever she goes.

We are staying in an apartment in downtown Donetzk. We do not have a phone, nor do we have any internet access there. But, we do have a bed, a shower (with hot water!) and a kitchen. We looked at one other apartment, but the location was pretty scary, and Natasha was not comfortable with us staying there. So, we found this one instead. It is five floors up and we have a bullet proof door! (Don't worry, it doesn't really seem dangerous, but what do we know, we're just Americans)

Yesterday and today we have been running all over town with Natasha to complete paperwork that will be needed for our court date. We know that after our court date, there will be a mandatory 10 day waiting period before we can leave. Natashsa is trying to get us a court date next week, if possible. If not, it will probably be on Dec 6th. So, you all can pray that the court date is as soon as possible so we can bring Ethan home.

Oh, by the way. We decided on Ethan's name last night. We had a different name picked out for the past two years, but when we saw him, he didn't really look like the other name. So, Ethan it is! And I'm sure everyone knows about the middle name! (Joe's grandpa's name is Warren)

We miss you all and are ready to come home with our son. Thank you for your prayers and your postings to this blog. It has been very encouraging to read your words and feel your excitement for us.

We'll send pictures as soon as we can.

Love,
Joe, Steph and Ethan