Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

We found out 2 interesting pieces of news today.  Number one was that my dad works with a guy who has been on several mission trips to the Ukraine and knows several families throughout the country who offer housing to missionary groups or Americans who are coming to adopt.  This is a HUGE cost savings for us because we will be in country for upwards of 2 months.  At +/-$100 per night for a hotel room, this could mean a savings of up to $6000!  Not to mention that we would be able to stay with a contact who speaks English and who has supported others in the same spot we're in and can help us out with some dos and don'ts of Ukrainian culture.
Number 2 was that there was a fight in the Ukrainian Parliament today.  A real fists flying, furniture throwing, bloodied noses, and black eyes fight!  Apparently the party in power (the President's party) is investigating the previous administration to see if they mis-spent government funds.  The party being investigated held a demonstration inside the Parliament chambers to protest the investigation and when the other party came to break up the protest fisticuffs ensued.
What's worse is that it looks like this is the 2nd fight in Parliament this year.  The first one broke out in April over a bill that would allow the Russian Navy to keep a fleet of its ships docked at a Ukrainian port where it's already been docked for the better part of 300 years.  This one had people throwing eggs at the guy trying to read the bill.  The poor guy had 2 or 3 people holding umbrellas up in front of him to keep him from getting pelted.  The bill did pass because the Ukraine gets a 30% discount on the gas it buys from Russia in exchange for the use of the port.
There was also a fight in November of 2008 as they were voting to oust their speaker, an ally of the President.
With all of this fighting, I'm less and less concerned about them passing the adoption bill this year.  It looks like they've got bigger things to deal with for now.  It's just scary to me that these are the people standing in the way of us going to get our kid.
On a completely different note, we took our niece Katherine to the park tonight to see all the Christmas lights.  We had so much fun.  I hate that we couldn't have already had our kid there to enjoy it as well.  Maybe we'll all be together to enjoy the Christmas season by this time next year.

Blake