Have visa, will travel!

God is good – ALL THE TIME! God has truly blessed us beyond what we could ask or imagine. Rebecca had her medical exam this morning and everything went just fine. They discovered a vision issue with her right eye that had never been documented before, but it did not stop or delay our travel. We will get in touch with Tim’s pediatric optometrist and/or ophthalmologist when we get home. Our next stop was the US Embassy. We had to leave our backpack outside with Victor, our phones and camera with security and were “wanded,” but they let us in. ;-) The building was nothing at all like we expected. We were expecting some big, fancy, UN looking building and it was more like a series of portables with gargantuan steel doors. There was a short wait, but once we got to a clerk she was very friendly and helpful. She took all our papers and told us we could pay for processing down the hall – come back at 2:00 tomorrow for our interview and hopefully they would print the visa at that time. Going with our theory of “Ye have not because ye ask not,” I asked if we could come back at 2:00 today. She said she’d have to check with a supervisor and document a good reason (5AM flight on Wednesday was sufficient), but she thought so. We waited a few minutes to pay our fee and when we brought back the receipt to the first clerk she told us we were all set for the appointment at 2:00 today and could probably get the visa tomorrow morning. That was at about 11AM, so we headed out. Victor was waiting for us outside (I think you have to be a US citizen to go in) and we headed out to find lunch. It was another day for MickeyD’s. Beautiful quality about McDonald’s here, they have free wi-fi. I’m not sure if the ones at home do… I’ve never looked and rarely go anyway. We still had some extra time before we needed to be back at the Embassy and the snow flurries were starting to fall, so we wandered a mall and then walked back to the Embassy. We arrived there at 1:30. They took our passports around 1:45 and started processing our paperwork just after 2:00. The “big interview” lasted about 2 minutes. The officer asked if Dan and I swore that all the documents we turned in were true and witnessed us signing 5 or 6 forms. Okay, go sit back down we’ll work on printing her visa. While waiting, we met two really nice families from the US. One from Salt Lake City and the other from Minneapolis… we exchanged e-mail addresses and stories while we all waited. A little while later a clerk called us up to the window and asked to see the papers (Rebecca’s new birth certificate and court decree) because there was a problem. Oh no!!! He looked at them and obviously didn’t find what he wanted, so I asked what he needed. It seems the cover page of one of our immigration forms (current name, previous name, address, etc.) had been misplaced. Phew! No big deal – I have an extra blank one and will fill it out again! There was also another short form missing, but both took no more than 5 minutes to redo both for him. A little while later he called us back up to the window and said we were all set. Here’s your official immigration envelope (Don’t open it!!! Give it to customs in the US.), a form to send to Washington, DC once you’re home, and Rebecca’s visa and passport. That’s it! No more forms, no more government offices, no more hurdles! Now, I wonder if we can get home sooner?? When we bought her ticket, our 12/29 flights were sold out and we thought the visa wouldn’t come till Tuesday, which is why we had Wednesday flights. I am pleased to tell you that my wonderful husband found a wonderful Lufthansa employee who found us wonderful flights and we are leaving in the morning! Woohooo!!!! We are coming home!!!! Not only are we leaving a day earlier, but the first flight leaves 1 hour later (almost 7AM) and our total travel time is reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours.

Don’t stop praying just yet… the snow is still falling and they are predicting more overnight. We’ll be leaving our apartment mighty early in the morning, you’ll still be awake from today, so we will try to go to bed early tonight.

A quiet day and a new favorite restaurant

Today was a much quieter day. We stayed in all morning together playing Uno, looking at books and magazines together, and covertly giving English lessons. You can really incorporate quite a bit of language (and math if you keep score) into an Uno game and we have also introduced Rebecca to “Living Books.” They are animated story-books on the computer (like “The Cat in the Hat” and “Dr. Seuss’ ABC’s” etc.) that were designed with the principal of helping kids learn to read. Tim has quite a collection that I’m sure he and Rebecca will spend many hours exploring together once we get home. Victor stopped by very briefly to bring us a new pair of boots for Rebecca. The orphanage was kind enough to let her keep the ones she wore while there, but last night they became completely unusable. Victor told us we could not shop near here (less than Kmart quality at Millenia boutique prices) and wanted to bring his wife and son into town today, so they picked up a pair near their house and we reimbursed them the almost $30. They are actually kinda’ cute – purple with sparkly glitter built in.
     Since Rebecca had shoes again and we were getting hungry, we decided to do some exploring by ourselves and try a nearby Italian restaurant. We had previously received a paper copy of their menu that I’d been able to read some of (lasagna is still lasagna, you just have to sound out the Cyrillic letters) and Victor helped with some of the other descriptors I couldn’t make out. Knowing we’d know what to order, we felt brave and set out to find Il Patio. Ah, Il Patio, my new favorite restaurant – at least for the next two days. Here’s what I posted on Facebook while there: Italian restaurant, English menu, non-smoking section, 1 block to apartment, great food & free WiFi!!! We can eat for 3 more days!!!And my follow-up comment: AND, the bathroom was clean with a "real" toilet... including paper. I think that says it all about lunch. We sat for a while even after we finished eating… our little iphones were just soo happy we couldn’t leave right away. Since the weather is better today, clear and about 34, and our bellies were full and happy, we decided to continue the adventure and walk a bit. We found a mall (I know, Mom, you’ve been waiting for that line) and wandered for a while. Interesting thing about the mall… it was five stories tall and had escalators, but they only went up. When you wanted to go down you had to take the stairs. There was a good size toy store and we bought two books for Rebecca. One is a chapter book of poems and stories about Christmas (I think) and the other is an activity book with mazes, pictures to color, etc. We are trying to prepare for the three flights we trust we’ll be taking on Wednesday…
     That’s about it for today. We bought some more water and juice at the corner grocery and are tucked back in for the night. Victor will be here at 8AM tomorrow to start our last set of official tasks. First is the medical exam and then the US Embassy. Please continue to pray for all the details and people we will encounter. It feels like the homestretch, but each puzzle piece must fit perfectly into place before we can come home. Ah yes, please include our weather in your prayers. Snow is beautiful on Christmas cards and when you can sit inside and have “no place to go,” but we have places to go and things to do. Tomorrow’s forecast is not bad, 1-3”, but Tuesday is saying over 12”. We will probably have to go back to the US Embassy on Tuesday to pick up Rebecca’s visa and our first flight leaves Kiev around 5:30AM on Wednesday.
     Thanks for all the Christmas wishes. We are trusting God to take care of the details of the next few days (okay, really of all of life, but especially the next few days) and get us home safely for the New Year.

December 26th - tourists

Living in Orlando, we see a lot of tourists. Today, we were them.  As promised, Victor acted as our tour guide, showed us the sights of Kiev and we were the tourists to the utmost. It was warmer, about 40-45 degrees much of the day, and a slight drizzle all day. Fun sightseeing weather, huh? We followed Victor ALL day, most of it walking. Some areas reminded me of Boston (historic looking and cobblestone streets) and some were more like San Francisco (big hills). Dan's knees really started to bother him at the end of the day, but he was pleased it hadn’t happened until this point in the trip. We started our journey walking through the botanical gardens (like Boston Common, but older and not as well maintained) and then saw St. Vladimir’s Cathedral and St. Sophia’s Cathedral.

While at the first cathedral, Victor told us it was not very old – only built in the 1700’s. (Ummm, we're from Orlando - that's old!) St. Sophia’s is really a whole complex of cathedrals some of which date back to the 1100’s. Most has been rebuilt by a preservation society (that of course charges admission to help with ongoing efforts), but there are places where they have left the original stonework so you can see what it looked like in the 1100’s. Amazing. So much beauty and detail and impressively large buildings... there are detailed depictions of Biblical events on every bit of wall and ceiling. I can read the Cyrillic alphabet well enough to sound out some of the writings (like the apostles’ names) and a few had descriptive signs in English, but for most of the time we were simply in awe of the detail and magnitude. I wondered as we explored how many workers it took and how they built without cranes, etc. There are no photographs allowed inside, but I tried to take as many as possible outside without getting the camera wet. (I’ll work on sorting and posting those when we get home.)
     Up to this point, we have resisted buying ANY souvenirs knowing they would just add to our luggage. (We also thought it best to wait till the end of the trip since everything here is cash based. I’d hate to run out of money for food because I bought too many matruskas!) Those of you who know me well know that was very, very difficult. Victor once told me that our paperwork was among the best, most detailed he’d ever received. Today, I told him there are two things I do very, very well – organize paperwork and shop! The good news for him is that we had previously perused the outdoor market (the one we went to is only about a city block long) while waiting for our SDA appointment so we had a very detailed list of everyone we wanted to shop for and ideas of what to buy. I think we got everything on the list except for the Harley Davidson Kiev t-shirts. (Special apologies to our Harley fans – we couldn’t find them again.) Thinking about it now, a fly on the rainy wall of the market would have probably gotten a pretty good laugh watching us. Even with the detailed list, it took quite a while to select each item with the recipient in mind and negotiate with each vendor. The vendors all spoke enough English to get their jobs done, so negotiating was my job. Dan, Rebecca and Victor all followed along. Rebecca mostly just watched and Dan paid each vendor as I got my total. After shopping, it was time for something every adopting family seems to do while in Kiev – visit “The Fat House” for lunch. You can envision it as a Golden Corral of traditional Ukrainian foods in about 1/5 the space. You also get each item you select on its own plate and pay per piece. All considered, it was a lot of food for the money. All four of us ate for 126 grivna – about $16.

     The next stop of our rainy, tourist journey involved a subway ride. The subway itself was very similar to Boston, NYC or Atlanta, but the escalator down… wow! I commented on how long our escalator down was and Victor replied, “Just wait. The next one is twice as long because the station is at the top of a hill!) Yikes! We exited at the Arsenal station (old arsenal building nearby still showing mortar wounds) and took a bus to the Kievo-Pechersky Lavra. It is commonly known as the Caves Monastery. There is still an active monastery above ground and it is considered a religious shrine as well as the headquarters for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The history of the caves dates back to 1051 when a monk came to Kiev and started living in a cave. Eventually, it was expanded to include many caves and a series of tunnels. Some monks spent their entire lives in the caves writing and praying. Being that at many places the actual caves are only 2 feet wide and 6 feet tall, Dan chose to avoid the stairs and waited for us in the chapel above. After reading my travel book about the caves I was highly intrigued, but a little concerned I’d find it… creepy. After the monastery itself moved above ground, the caves became a place where monks and other saints’ bodies have been laid to rest… not in vaults, in glass cases. Understand my concern now? Victor assured me it would be okay and that I could not come to Kiev and not visit the caves. He was right. The bodies are almost perfectly preserved in glass cases. Some believe it is because of the moistureless climate and others believe it is the “miracle of saints.” Whichever you choose to believe, they are also shrouded in fine, embroidered linens/satins. The only “body” you can actually see is some of the hands. (A big relief to me – I had visions of Indiana Jones movies… didn’t really want to look in someone’s face that died in 1200.) If you arrived at the Caves Monastery early in the morning on a beautiful day, you could probably spend most of a day exploring all the churches, museums and caves, but that was not our case. It was the end of the day, getting dark, and many sections had closed already, so we called it a day and took a taxi home to our little studio apartment. It’s not home, but it felt good to be warm, dry and in a comfortable chair.
     I’m supposed to be sure to tell you that first thing this morning I suggested to Dan that he turn on the television. We actually have not watched ANY television since we’ve been here. Well, okay, we’ve watched about 15-20 episodes of “House” and a few movies on our laptop, but nothing ON the television. It is all in Russian, you know. Yesterday morning, however, I was not really ready to be awake (hadn’t slept well) and we had a very energetic, ready to go, 10 year old. I’m pleased to say that just like kids are kids wherever you go, there are Saturday morning cartoons, too. Rebecca and Papa watched some cartoons while I finished waking up, checked e-mail, and made breakfast for the three of us. Today, incidentally, Dan said he didn’t want to make a habit of always turning on the television. (Can someone please go pick Dale up off the floor? I’m sure he’s in shock at both statements.)

Merry Christmas!

The fabulous, wonderful, God is AMAZING news is that Rebecca Valentina Myers is with us in Kiev tonight! The the judge executed our adoption decree immediately AND we were able to get her new birth certificate and passport all yesterday. This is truly our Christmas miracle!!!

Thank you for your prayers and please continue to lift us up. We will go to the medical center and the US Embassy for Rebecca’s exam on Monday.

When I originally wrote this blog, there were a number of email updates we sent to our family and friends that were not included on the blog for privacy and safety reasons. The post above is actually what we sent via email on Christmas Eve as we left Donetsk. The post that follows gives the full story beginning with our Christmas Eve court visit and continues through our travel back to Kiev and Christmas Day.

Ukraine update – Merry Christmas!
     This has indeed been a very unique Christmas. For those of you that are enjoying all our details, I will start with yesterday. Be forewarned – this is going to be a very, very long email. (Short version – we’re in an apartment in Kiev with Rebecca.)
     Dan and I started our day with the traditional Hotel Krystaal breakfast and then prayed together in our room before Sasha picked us up at 8:30 for the 9AM court hearing. In his car with him already were Victor, Rebecca and the representative from the orphanage. Sasha told Dan he should sit up front since he is the biggest which meant Victor sat in back with the orphanage representative, Rebecca and me. (Sasha’s car is about the size of a Honda Civic.) Luckily, the court house was only about 15 minutes away. Dan, Rebecca the rep and I went inside to wait while Victor and Sasha continued on to pick up the representative from the town inspector’s office. While we waited, in the almost totally dark hallway since the power was out, a man who looked like I thought a judge should look came out of an office and spoke briefly with the orphanage representative. The only words I understood were “nine” and “Victor,” so I guessed he was our judge. (I know, I know. After all my years working with attorneys, judges and mediators I shouldn’t have a stereotype of what a judge should look like, but I do… and he did! He was roughly 60 years old, 5’10” tall, had a rim of graying hair, and was dressed in a suit that was MUCH nicer than anything anyone else in the courthouse was wearing.) Victor arrived with the woman from the inspector’s office just before 9:00 and we were called to enter the courtroom around 9:10. They started by reading from our official paperwork (our names, her name, etc.) and then asked Dan to approach the podium. He confirmed his name, that we were aware of Rebecca’s history and that we wanted to adopt her. Next was my turn… same questions plus “have we maintained a relationship with the child?” The judge asked the two jurors and the woman from the inspector’s office if they had any questions and no one made a peep. That was my cue to step in with the big request. “Your honor, if it pleases the court and you are pleased with our petition, we respectfully request the immediate execution of the order. We would like to take Valya (her Ukrainian nickname to show we really did know the kid and have a good relationship with her) to the United States as soon as possible to begin her schooling and medical treatment.” The female juror nodded like any good mom would and the judge spoke briefly. That’s when Victor leaned over to us and said, “Your petitions have been granted.” We carefully resisted the urge to squeal, cheer and jump up and down, but did give Rebecca huge hugs and kisses. God is amazing! Court was over by 9:20.
     Sasha drove the three of us back to wait at our hotel while Victor obtained the official court decree and made copies. So what do you do in a hotel room with a 10 year old you can only moderately communicate with? Play Uno! We left the deck we’d been playing with at the orphanage for the children, but brought a spare for ourselves thinking we might have some blocks of extra time. Victor called about an hour later and asked us to be ready in 5 minutes. That was the beginning of our paperwork marathon. We have been staying in a little town called Enakieva, but Rebecca was actually born in Gorlovka. It’s about a 30 minute drive and a big enough town that you can probably find it on a map. There was even a page written about Gorlovka in the Ukraine travel book we brought along with us from home. We needed the vital records office to issue a new birth certificate that changed her name and listed us as parents. Oddly to us, the people at the vital records office are in the office on Thursday’s, but do not have any dealings with the public. This is the part where all Victor’s legwork and previous work in this region came in very handy. He had called ahead and asked a friend to do a favor for us. She unlocked the door of the building for us and gave Victor a form to fill out. He quickly did that and we waited. I should describe the vital records office to you so you can get a better idea of our 90 minutes there. The building appears to have been built in the 1950’s and has a very large entrance/reception area (we estimate 45’ x 80’) with age-appropriate tile floors and floor to ceiling windows on three sides. It had a unique little area in the center that looked like maybe it was supposed to be a fountain (sunken kiddie pool) but now had potted plants in it. We were supposed to stay near the back of the room where a wide staircase led to the actual office so passersby wouldn’t notice we were inside and, lest you get comfy in this picture, there was no heat in the building. There was a thermometer on a bench that read 3C… yup, 37F INSIDE the building. We would have preferred to wait in Sasha’s car, but needed to stand watch and look desperate (I was told to be ready to cry at any point during the day) to encourage them to make the certificate. Other than getting really cold, we all did pretty well waiting and were on to the next leg of our journey. Victor said our time was running tight to make the two hour drive to Donetsk and, as you can imagine, there was not room in Sasha’s car for all five of us and our luggage, so it was time to divide and conquer. Sasha called his friend Sergey who met us along the road and Dan switched cars. The plan was for him to go back to the hotel with Sergey, pick up the luggage and go to the train station in Donetsk to buy tickets for the overnight train. They did exactly that and arrived at the train station around 3:30 to find no 2nd class tickets. (Victor considers 3rd class unsafe for tourists and 1st class too expensive. At about $100 per ticket I agree.) Victor spoke (via Dan’s phone) to the ticket agent and instructed Dan to leave some money with her. At 5:30 they release the cancelled tickets and leaving our money with her would make us first in line. Since you know we made the train, you know the woman found us tickets all together – important because there are 4 beds in each compartment. Rebecca and I did not have as simple an afternoon, but it was wonderfully productive. Actually, now that I reflect on it, all she and I did was sit in the car… sometimes it was moving and sometimes we were waiting with Sasha for Victor, but all we had to do until we got to the train station was sit. I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version without all the waiting. Our first stop upon arriving in Donetsk (big city… made me think of Boston) was at a notary’s office for certified copies. We left there at 2:15 and didn’t arrive at the passport office until 3:30. I’m really not sure how far we traveled between the two, but am quite certain I have seen traffic in Manhattan move faster. We passed countless typical buildings and a few car dealerships as well as the new Donbass Arena. Apparently Donetsk has a world renowned soccer team and they have a shiny new arena. I really felt like we’d been driving all day when we got to the passport office, but will admit time was probably magnified by the length of time since I’d last seen a meal… or a bathroom. Rebecca was incredibly patient the whole ride and while we waited. She spent a while taking pictures out the car window and then asked for Dan’s iphone. She played not only Uno like he had showed her but also found 4 or 5 of his other games. She asked me for help and I had to tell her I didn’t know how to play most of them. As he does for every place we go, Victor had called ahead to the passport office and made sure they would be open when we arrived. He was inside for a while, close to an hour I think, and we waited in the car. (Neither Dan nor I had to go inside because we’d previously filled out paperwork with a Ukrainian notary that authorized Victor to request it on our behalf.) Rebecca was happily snoring in the backseat next to me by this point using my backpack for a pillow and sweet Sasha went to a nearby stand and bought some peanuts that he shared with me. He offered to get me a drink, too, but I didn’t dare drink anything. (In case you’re wondering, even though there wasn’t time for lunch, Rebecca and I did snack some along the way.) Once Victor emerged from the office with the coveted passport I quickly confirmed that Rebecca’s birth date and new name were correct and we were back out in traffic. (Poor Dan. He was at the train station with Sergey by this point and really had nothing to do. Thankfully, we have two Ukrainian cell phones and I could text him with updates, but he was painfully bored. They went to a restaurant together but realize that Sergey speaks no English and Dan knows only enough Russian to play Uno and say “thank you.” Even though I wasn’t really doing anything, I understood how helpless he felt.) Okay, back to me... and Rebecca. ;0) Victor went to one more government office (I really don’t know what it was for) and then we found the wonderful, blessed golden arches. I have never been so happy to see a McDonald’s in my entire life… not only do they serve food that I recognize, but they have complimentary bathrooms with toilets I recognize. Ahhh, McNuggets. You have to pay for BBQ sauce and ketchup, but I did not care. Sasha, Victor, Rebecca and I sat down to enjoy our meals and we took cheeseburgers to Dan at the train station. We waited for just a few minutes at the train station and boarded our train around 6:30 for a 7:20 departure. After all our “Groundhog Days” it was a very, very long day, but God blessed us more than we could have ever imagined. We have heard so many accounts of horrible delays for countless reasons and were more than ready to sing the Hallelujah Chorus multiple times throughout the day. There are so many people with seemingly small parts in this process and any one of them can bring it to a screeching halt. God is good… all the time!


Christmas Day – we awoke today not to a Christmas tree, but to the gentle motion of the train. We all slept some, but were awake well before 6:30AM. Our train arrived right on time in Kiev and we were off on our next day’s journey. Our apartment is only about a half mile from the train station, so we saved a few grivna, skipped the taxis and walked. What’s better than walking through the streets of Kiev at dawn with your luggage? Walking through the still icy, but starting to melt slushy streets! It really wasn’t that bad… just couldn’t resist the descriptors. You can visualize the four of us trudging carefully along trying not to slip on ice, towing suitcases, and avoiding little streams of runoff as we crossed each street. We are on the second floor again, but have a different apartment than when we arrived. This one is a bit more per night, but has a functional kitchen, washing machine and fold out sofa for Rebecca to sleep on. (We thought she’d like that.) We stayed at the apartment just long enough to drop off our luggage, inventory the accommodations and Dan was able to take a shower. (No time for girls to shower, we’re too slow.) Victor called a taxi and we were at the medical center before their scheduled 9:00 opening. Hmmm, there’s no one else waiting. Victor finds that odd. He poked around a bit and found a doctor who told him they are closed today and could not do Rebecca’s medical exam. (I’m putting that in my “I don’t get it” category. If the office is closed, why are they there?!) The doctor was nice enough to review her paperwork, though, and told us we should have no problem if we come back on Monday morning. That’s our plan now. Monday morning will be the medical exam followed by the US Embassy. Typically, the Embassy will issue a visa the next day (Tuesday) and we will be able to all fly home together on Wednesday. We’ll have three flights instead of the two that were originally scheduled, but we were supposed to fly on Tuesday. Two problems with that: 1- we’re not likely to have her visa and 2 – there were no more seats on Tuesday’s flights. It will mean a full 24 hours traveling, but we’ll just keep praying and continue trusting God to go before us each and every step.

     Okay, so now what? What do you do on Christmas Day in a foreign country that doesn’t celebrate for two more weeks when it’s just barely above freezing? You go to the circus. Nope, never imagined I’d be writing that. After we left the medical center we wandered a bit and considered a mall, but it wasn’t open yet. Victor was pointing out significant buildings and we came upon the circus around 9:20. They had a performance at 10 and it was warm and dry, so for just over $10 each we went to the circus. It was a circus like you see in old movies complete with clowns, acrobats and a dancing bear – entertaining, but probably not PETA approved. Don’t worry, they didn’t do anything overtly cruel, some of the animals just didn’t look… happy. The dogs and the bear did, though. There were 3 big white dogs who took turns riding in a cart behind the bear’s motorcycle. Yes, after he danced, the bear drove a motorcycle! Rebecca has never been to a circus, or a city like Kiev for that matter, so she’s enjoyed the day quite a lot. After the circus, on our way to lunch, we stopped at a big park and saw Santa Claus (or maybe it was Papa Frost? He was wearing blue instead of red.) in a little log cabin. There were 10 or so other children and I think there must be a corporate sponsor because all the kids got to talk to him and have a photo taken for free. They also received a small cat shaped cake (dusted with sugar… tasted a little like gingerbread) in a box like a Happy Meal would have. I think our lunch today was Dan’s highlight meal of the trip – even better than the first time at the hotel’s restaurant. We ate at TGIFriday’s. The menu isn’t quite as extensive as ours, but they had all the basics including cheeseburgers and potato skins as well as an English menu and English-speaking server. All four of us were stuffed and happy when we left! On the way back to the apartment we stopped at two grocery stores and got to experience one of the much talked about, packed like sardines, Kiev buses. Victor will act as tour guide for us tomorrow and we’ll do a bit of sightseeing, but we’ll be on our own Sunday. He will need to translate all Rebecca’s paperwork and medical records both for the US Embassy and so we have copies we can understand to take home with us. I’m sure we’ll get out some, but just like at home it is often easier and almost always less expensive to eat at home.

     Wow, I’ve written a lot today, but I’ve stopped more than a few times to make snacks for dinner, help Rebecca take a shower, etc. (I didn’t really help, just made sure she knew where/what everything was. She seems very independent.) Tim is still excited to have a sister and even more so now that there is some sort of timetable to her arrival. He and Carey both heard and greeted me on the phone today. Ahhh, there’s no place like home and I can’t wait to get there.

           Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night.

Ground Hog Day is Over

Unlike in the U.S., Ukrainians don’t start putting up their Christmas decorations on November 1st. It is true that they don’t celebrate Christmas until January 6 or 7, but we’ve been watching decorations just start to go up over the past week or so. The hotel has a courtyard and it has been filled with inflatable snow globes just like you’d find at Wal-Mart and other lighted decorations. I think the icicle style lights here are proportionate to the size of the icicles. While the ones at home are about 12 inches long, these have icicles about 4 feet each – no exaggeration! I will try to send photos when we have capable internet. The hotel put up a small Christmas tree in the lobby (about 5 ft tall) and even decorated our room on Monday. We now have a small garland draped over a mirror with a pine cone shaped ornament hanging from one of its lights and a white, glittery spherical ornament from the other. The grocery store has toys and candies boxed for Christmas and the Pizzeria has ornaments hanging from the ceiling tiles. It’s all very festive and a stark contrast to what we’ve otherwise found to be a function over form style in this region.

As expected, Victor got back today and we’ve been running ever since. Sasha picked the three of us up around 10:30 AM and we were off for the day. The BIG news of the day is we got to take V out of the orphanage! As I said before, she will need clothing when she leaves, so today we went shopping! Oh, to have a Target here! There is an outdoor market in town that is supposed to have good prices, but it was not open. There is no Wal-Mart or mall, either, but they have what reminded me of an indoor flea market. The merchandise was all new and sold by multiple vendors, like mini-stores, inside a large building the size of… maybe a two story CVS. (It was actually the 2nd place of its kind where we found anything appropriate… kids’ clothes are NOT prolific here.) Even at this market, there was not a lot of choice in kids’ stuff and we rejected the first children’s store as too expensive. The clothes were all imported from Spain and a pair of girls’ jeans was over $45. We ended up finding a few pair of socks, panties, two t-shirts, cute mittens, a sweater and jeans for around $64. I expect V will outgrow the jeans and t-shirts quickly, but the sweater might last longer. (One of the shirts has a size 8 tag… it is comfortably snug.)

While waiting in the car at one point today Dan gave V his phone to play with. (He has an Uno app and we had been sitting quite a while waiting.) She VERY quickly learned how to play the game and enjoyed it, but obediently gave back the phone when it was time to get out of the car… until later. We got our first dose of “if Dad says no, ask mom.” We had just finished dinner (Pizza again) and were on our way back to the orphanage. She asked Dan for the Uno phone and, knowing it was only a short drive, he said no. That got a long pleading, “Pazhalsta.” Translation… pleaaaaaasssssseee. They went back and forth a few times and then she turned to me on the other side of her in the back seat, smiled, and tried the same thing. I quickly said, “No. Papa said no.” We were rewarded with a big pouty face and chuckles from both Victor and Sasha who listened to the whole exchange from the front seat.

Court is tomorrow morning at 9AM (2AM EST). Please keep praying for us.

A bit of sun and a unique restaurant

We saw the sun today! Dan was excited to see it peek out of the clouds in our otherwise overcast sky this morning. He says he’s a Florida boy through and through – has to see the sun every day. We didn’t feel a lot of additional warmth from the sun, but today’s -8 was certainly better than yesterday’s -20C with major wind. There was almost no wind at all when we got to the orphanage and there were 20 or so kids, probably 14ish in age, playing in the snow. It was almost all boys and there was quite a snowball fight going on. We successfully dodged the snowballs and made it safely inside. We asked V and her friends if they ever play outside and they all said no, it’s too cold. For those that have asked, she’s not a fan of snow and isn’t worried about not having any in Florida. Most of our time today was with just V (and Nastiya to translate). Nastiya says she never expected to spend her winter holidays this way, but she is enjoying it… maybe someday she will become a translator. V and I looked through an “Angelina Ballerina” alphabet book together and she said they have the same character here, too. We gave her the choice of keeping the book with her or us bringing it each day and she asked to keep it. That’s a rarity for her to ask to keep something… Papa thinks she wants to study. The English lessons weren’t too long and we quickly switched to playing Uno. Uno was recommended to us by other families that have traveled and I must say it was GREAT advice. The kids all love it and you can play it without a lot of language in common. As the days have gone on, the five girls in V’s group have all learned to count to 7 in English and are getting close on the four colors. Dan even knows his colors and numbers in Russian – at least up to 9.



The roads are still not clear, but were much better today so Sasha said it would be okay to stop at a restaurant for dinner before going back to the hotel. We went to a place that I believe was the most unique restaurant I’ve ever been to – anywhere. We entered what we expected to be the dining room and were given menus and directed to go to number 1. There were a number of small cabin looking buildings and each had two tables inside… little private dining rooms. We discussed the menu with Nastiya and when our server came she ordered for us. We did ask Nastiya if there were any vegetables on the menu, she said “no, just salads.” Salads, remember, do not include lettuce and usually look like potato salad. We passed. It was definitely a traditional Ukrainian meal. I asked for chicken with mushrooms and Dan thought he ordered a beefsteak with a side of potatoes. Both our meals looked very similar. Mine was chicken. It had some sort of thick, mayonnaise like sauce on it which was then smothered with cheese and mushrooms. Dan’s had the same sauce with mushrooms and black olives. He thinks it was really pork. As my sister told me, “Order what you want. Eat what you get.” The potatoes tonight were cut like Steak and Shake French fries, but sautéed in butter with onions. It may not have been what we expected, but all three of us ate, including tip, for about $13 and we got some meat and a change of scenery.

Many of you have asked about school for V once she’s home. Right now, our plan is that she will go to public school. As much as the intense instruction of home schooling might help her catch up with the academics more quickly, socially and for the purposes of learning English quickly, we feel the group setting will be better for her. Remember, she’s done nothing by herself for a few years, so having a classroom full of her peers will be more “normal” to her than learning at home. Also, I am not an ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) expert and the public school would provide her with services from someone who is trained in that area. Just like everything else in this process, we will take one step at a time and trust God to lead us.

Special thanks to our friends in the Washington, DC area and our family in Massachusetts for making us feel better about our weather… they are supposed to have more snow than we do!

The next post is a bonus... it was not on the original blog. This one wasn't really omitted for any privacy reasons, it was more likely an internet connectivity (or lack thereof) issue.

Ukraine update 12/21/09

     Our story today may sound similar, Dan has said more than once he thinks he’s Bill Murray and this is “Groundhog Day.” We had our standard breakfast (it’s been ham instead of salami ever since the change) and were pleased to find the thermometer outside had a positive number on it. It was only +1C, but still better. (That’s about 34 degrees Fahrenheit.) It rained early this morning which made the world very slushy and now that we’re back down to -8C the slushy has become icy. The roads were surprisingly good today. Still tons of snow banks and you have to drive in the tread marks, but a bit better than yesterday.

     Our visit with V started out slowly today because when we arrived she was at dance class. BTW, someone asked… dance class is Monday and Thursday and all the kids take showers Monday and Friday. Guess I shouldn’t complain about the two times since we’ve been in Ukraine that I wanted a shower and there was no hot water. Once she came back from dance class we shared a necklace kit with her and her group. A few of the boys were looking on longingly, so we invited them to join us. (There were plenty of beads to share; they just had to find their own string.) Each of the girls, including our 16 year old translator, made a necklace with the center bead being the first letter of their name except V. She got 2 letters – one for her Ukrainian name and one for her American name. Her current name, V, will become her middle name. They were all thrilled with the beads and wore their necklaces proudly while we, you guessed it, played Uno! After lunch the other kids went to take their naps and we had her all to ourselves for about an hour.

     Victor called today. He does have our paperwork back and it is all ready for court. Unfortunately, the judge could not call a jury by tomorrow, so court will remain scheduled for Thursday at 11AM. Merry Christmas Eve. Victor will take the overnight train back to Donetsk tomorrow and arrive Wednesday morning… with the frigid temperatures and potential for icy roads, he wants to be back in plenty of time.

     Something I’ve found intriguing… very frequently while we are riding in Sasha’s car the radio station plays American music. It is not remixed in Russian, it is the same songs I’m used to hearing at the gym in my group exercise classes. (No Z88.3 here.) I’ve even heard songs from Zumba! It caught me off guard initially, and Dan thought it odd when I asked if we should be doing bicep curls as we drove, but I must admit it’s nice to have a touch of home. Tonight was the first time we heard a song that we recognized the melody, but it had been rerecorded in Russian – The Lady in Red. I believe that was the theme song from Dan’s senior prom.

     Sasha was kind enough to drive us to Pizza Celentano for dinner tonight. Now it is 5:30 and we are tucked back in our room for the night… wild and crazy, that’ us. There really are what appear to be some beautiful parks in this town. Maybe if the temperature stays above freezing for more than a few hours we’ll get a chance to see them or do some shopping.

     Thanks again for your prayers. We know God is paving our way each and every day and feel very blessed to be in His protective hands.

Cold, colder, hopefully today was the coldest!

It’s another chilly day here in the Donetsk region. Today was the coldest day so far with temps of -1C and -12C with light sleet. We’re expecting a heat wave of sorts on Monday. The high will actually be 2C! ;-) Tuesday the forecast cools back down but changes from snow/freezing rain to clear skies. We’ll hope that is accurate. Our days are looking very, very similar… we did have a bit of excitement at breakfast today. We got ham instead of salami. Please don’t tell the Food Pyramid police about our diet here. The closest we’ve gotten to a fruit or vegetable in two days was a glass of grape juice with breakfast. 

 We left earlier for the orphanage today so that we wouldn’t have to be concerned about coming home after dark. When we arrived, the children were all enjoying their vast collection of candies, cookies and roll-on deodorant that St. Nicholas brought them last night. The caretaker told the girls to take us out of the playroom where everyone was gathered to play in their room today. (They’re still in the new, warmer room. It looked like its windows had been replaced with new weather-resistant windows.) V, of course, wanted to play Uno. We did that for a while, but just before lunch she told Nastiya that she wanted to learn the English alphabet. (I think I held in my excitement, but you know the teacher in me was squealing!) When they came back from lunch Dan played Uno with Nastiya and V’s roommates while she and I looked at the alphabet and an “Easy English” book we picked up here. It’s actually pretty well designed with not only the Russian and English words but the phonetic spellings (in Cyrillic) as well. We left around 3 and faithful Sasha was waiting for us in the car… holding his windshield wipers. I wouldn’t have thought of it, but they do work better when not frozen.

We expect we’re in for the night… yup, it’s only 4:00. No real need to explore town with the current weather…

Snow covered day

Today was/is still snow covered and well below freezing, but was a better day because we got to see V.
     We saw a plow-like truck go by on the main road this morning and walked (carefully) out the front courtyard and across the street to the little grocery store this morning after breakfast.I wouldn't call the street clean, but it is passable. (Where, oh where, is Uncle Kevin with his real plow?) A good number of people had already walked the same route across the front of the hotel, so it wasn't too bad. Now we have ham and cheese (stored on our frigid windowsill) along with some chips and coke light... just in case.
     Victor called and told us that Sasha would be able to drive today, but our translator, Nastiya, was ill, so we were totally on our own to communicate during our visit. V seemed to understand why we weren’t there yesterday. It is supposed to be colder still tomorrow and we told her we would see her again tomorrow “if it was safe.” She smiled and nodded, but based on the response we got when we arrived today, we know she’d prefer to see us each day. (That’s our preference, too!) It was just the three of us and we, of course, played Uno. She is doing well counting in English, at least up to seven, and knows the four colors. We are working on larger numbers when adding points at the end of each round and general English words and phrases.
     Interesting tidbit… I’m not sure I have mentioned it, but everyday while we are at the orphanage the playroom gets colder and colder, to the point where Victor put his coat on inside one day. The girls’ room is immediately adjacent and, although it has a large space heater, we’d noticed it was chilly as well. When we arrive each day there is not anyone like a receptionist or front desk that greets us. We simply walk in the front door, up a tall flight of stairs and go to the playroom. Today the playroom door was locked, but the boys’ room next to it was open. They were all tucked in their beds but greeted us enthusiastically as we peeked in the door. We intended to sneak through their room to the girls’ room, but when we opened the girls’ door were shocked to see only 2 of the 5 beds… and no girls! The boys said a whole lot of stuff we didn’t understand and pointed upstairs… then two of them jumped out of bed and led us up another flight of stairs to find the girls. We asked V about why her bed moved and deduced from her responses it was too cold in the room. I must say the caregivers may not seem “motherly,” but are definitely attentive and keep track of details.
     The drive to and from the orphanage was an adventure of its own. Let’s just say in the old Disney system, this was a 2-E class ticket ride. Sasha is a great driver and certainly experienced at driving in the snow. We, however, expected all the roads to be as clear as the one in front of the hotel. Apparently, we are staying on Main Street. The other roads were passable as long you drove slowly and stayed in the lane created by previous vehicles. At one point, we had to pass a stopped/broken down car that was in the travel lane. We followed another car and a city bus into the oncoming lane and then had to cross back over through the accumulated snow to our side. Thankfully, the lonnnnng driveway to the orphanage was mostly plowed. We only had to walk the last 50 yards and there was a shoveled path for that. We kept our visit fairly short to ensure that we got back to the hotel before dark. It was just dusk and Sasha was attempting to make the last corner when we got stuck in the snow. Our turn was not a major road, so the passing plows had created of a bank for us to cross. Dan volunteered to push and tried for a few minutes, but no progress. I volunteered, too, I think a bit to Sasha’s dismay, but still no luck. Sasha, as all good drivers here should, keeps a shovel in his trunk. He expertly shoveled around the front of the car and then tried again with Dan and I pushing. The car zipped right out of the bank and down the little hill. I grabbed the shovel and we slid (on our feet, no injuries) down as well and hopped back in the car. Dinner was at the restaurant just across the courtyard. There is value in location!
     We are now back in our room for the evening. Thanks again for all the prayers. God is certainly ordering our steps and keeping us in his care.

Snowed in



This would be a beautiful postcard... it's the view from our hotel room window.

It snowed most of yesterday and there are still light flurries this morning. The front sidewalk of the hotel, bordered by 8-12” walls is gone and we were not able to visit the internat yesterday. Our driver got stuck 3 times just trying to get out of the garage. Our power was out for about 2 hours yesterday and apparently with the power goes the heat... thankfully, it was restored and we’ve not turned to popsicles. I’m beginning to get a better understanding of cabin fever, but would rather be stuck here, even without power and heat, than on the road somewhere. We had a very restful day yesterday… apparently God thought we needed to nap, watch movies on the laptop and stay in for dinner. We were able to get 4 pieces of toast from the receptionist and ate that with our snack stash for dinner.



Our translator was able to turn in our revised documents in Kiev yesterday. He is hoping to get the paperwork back on Monday, but not sure that will allow us to move up our court date at all. He will ask…

Pray for a snow plow so that we can visit V today! We are going to try to make it across the street to the grocery store now, while there’s a break in the weather, just in case we can’t go anywhere and need to eat in again tonight.



The photos (added to the blog after we returned home to high speed internet) show our "dinner" of peanut butter toast, tea, and hot chocolate. The staircase at the right edge of the next photo is the front entrance of the hotel and the building with the red stripe is our Eko Market grocery store. 

 

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday – We had a good afternoon with V and her friends (aka “groupa” or roommates). All five girls were there today and all seemed happy and interactive with both of us. V said she shared the candies we gave her yesterday with her roommates as well as the boys and the caretakers. We’ve been impressed with how non-materialistic she is… she often asks us to save something (like stickers or candy) for the next day and always shares. Even the first day we met her, we only had a few pieces of candy for each girl and she wanted to give hers to me. Today we gave V the choice between playing Uno or making friendship bracelets (a small kit we brought from home). She and her friends were very happy to try out the bracelets, but we all realized in not too much time that it wasn’t a very interactive activity. We (the girls included) decided to play Uno again and they would finish the bracelets on their own. We’re beginning to see more and more of each girl’s personality every day. The boys were absent again today (not sure if they truly were napping or in another part of the building) which made it much quieter and less chaotic. Actually, there was one boy ready to make a bracelet with us. He was about to choose the colors of thread he wanted when a caretaker realized he was with the girls and sternly called him away. He dutifully jumped up from the table and ran out.

This is the door is where we enter the internat.

The streets are clear of snow, but there was a reasonable accumulation out in front of the orphanage where Sasha waits for us in the car. Ah yes, how could I forget this part?! At the entrance of the orphanage there are 5-6 steps with a steep ramp next to them… way too steep a wheelchair. There were two teenage boys using the ramp as an ice slide. They would slide/skate down the ramp then run back up the steps and do it all over again. Kids are kids wherever you go. On the way back home we stopped for dinner at the pizzeria and Nastiya helped us order. No pepperoni here, just salami or ham. They also have black olives, mushrooms, tomato slices and a few things I don’t recognize. (I know that’s not really significant, but my online friends who are preparing to come to Ukraine will appreciate knowing they won’t starve.) We were back in our room by 6:30. We don’t have a fridge, but at these temperatures who needs one? We opened the window and put Dan’s “Coke Light” out on the ledge… just like Christmas in Massachusetts! No room in the fridge or freezer? Put the extra food on the porch.


Wednesday – It is not even 5:00, but already as dark as midnight here. I cannot get used to the fact that we are wrapping up our day as all of you are just getting started. Our driver picked us up at 1:00 today and we got to visit with V and a few of her friends. When we arrived the children were all lined up in the playroom practicing a song with their music teacher. She was seated on the lone sofa playing an accordion and directing their singing. It was a shorter visit today because our driver needed to drop us off by 4:00 and take some documents to Donetsk. I assume there must be some sort of courier service that runs on the train. There’s really not too much else to tell. I haven’t played this much Uno since I used to babysit my eldest niece and nephew and they’re both in their 20’s now. We had Nastiya (our teenage translator) ask the kids about discipline and what happens when they disobey, they all said “nothing.” We don’t really believe they are always perfectly obedient, so the addition of discipline into V’s life may come as quite a shock. We will also ask a caretaker the same question and see if she gives the same answer.


THE PROCESS - We've gotten a few questions about the timeline and the procedure from this point forward, so I will do my best to summarize.
Victor is in Kiev and submitted our papers to the SDA. They have 7 days to process them and have been taking the full time lately. If they return the papers in 7 days, that would be 12/23. Victor will pick them up and take the overnight train back to us for court on 12/24. The 10 day waiting period doesn’t start until we have court and that makes our 10 days end during the January 1-10 holidays (New Year's is a HUGE holiday here and Christmas is not celebrated until 1/6). Once we receive the court decree (typically after 10 days) it must be taken to the town where V was born. (The same place we went for the paperwork about the older brother.) Their vital records office will issue a new birth certificate that indicates we are her parents and changes her name. Once the birth certificate is received, we request a new passport. One of our big praises when we came to this region was that they "still make passports the old-fashioned way." I don't really know the difference between the old way and the new way, but have been told it saves us 4-5 days processing time. I think that finishes the in-region portion of the trip. There will, of course, be a farewell party of sorts for V and her friends before she leaves the last time. Somewhere between now and then we have to do some shopping. When she leaves the internat, she leaves everything behind, even her underwear! We'll need to buy enough warm clothing, etc. for her to make it home. The journey then goes back to Kiev via the overnight train. In Kiev, she must have a medical exam at a specific place authorized by the US Embassy and then it’s the US Embassy's turn to do paperwork. Dan and I did not need visas to come to Ukraine, but V will need one to leave. She is already legally our daughter at that point, but not a US citizen until landing back in the states.

3 big days - lots of great progres

We have had 3 busy days of emotion and paperwork since I last updated. I'll try to fill you in on a bit of each.

Saturday - We found some coloring books, art paper for the kids to use with the stickers we brought and 4 more Barbie type dolls. The girls were so enamored with the one we gave V, we splurged the $12.50 and got them for the others. O's doll was a little nicer, because we wanted her to feel special like V had yesterday. When we arrived at the orphanage playroom (expecting to see 5 girls) we were greeted by ALL the kids. (I'm sure not all the kids in the orphanage, but all the ones in the 3 adjacent rooms... 10-11 year olds.) We know there are 5 girls. Dan says there are 8 boys, I think there are 11 or 12. Either way, we were very popular and very overwhelmed... they have A LOT of energy. Victor, Dan and I played Uno with 10 of the kids and they were very eager to learn and quick to pick up the game. We are really starting to see their personalities. They brought out the picture book we left with V yesterday and had many questions about where we live. Important things, like “how deep is the pool?” :-) I was able to chat (via Victor's translation help) with one of their primary caregivers. She seemed young, maybe early 20's, and was very caring, informative and willing to share about the girls and their personality types, behaviors, academics, etc.

Did I mention the weather? It was another “brisk” day… just below freezing with on and off snow flurries. As long as I can view the landscapes from a window, they are beautiful. While outside, there’s not a lot of pause to smell the snowflakes… we hurry to get where we are going and are very careful to avoid slippery spots like the marble stairs at the hotel entrance. (Victor says it’s going to be colder tomorrow. He said minus 20 Celsius, but I think he was kidding. Sure hope so!) Our lunch/dinner combo meal was at a small Ukrainian "café" with single serve ice cream from the grocery market across the street. Remind me to tell about the grocery stores sometime… there are things in open bins/boxes like we might find walnuts or wrapped hard candies that the FDA would never allow. Unwrapped things like stacks of cookies, shrimp, frozen berries, etc.

Sunday - After much prayer, soul searching, and counsel we decided that we will be bringing home only one girl. We have asked God for complete clarity at every step of this process and as much as we were prepared to adopt two girls, our visit today confirmed the decision. O is a beautiful, sweet girl, but we don’t believe that we are the right family for her… we will continue to pray that God brings the perfect family to her and trust that she is in His hands.
Sunday started much more leisurely. We didn’t have to meet our translator, Victor, for breakfast until 10AM. Breakfast is included in our room rate and he says it has always been the same meal every time he’s been here... one hard-boiled egg, a slice of cheese (like a Kraft single, but white), a piece of bread with butter, a small vacuum sealed bag of salami, a glass of OJ, a large roll (tastes like King’s Hawaiian bread), a yogurt and your choice of coffee or tea. Dan and I were able to trade our yogurts for an extra egg each! We chatted with Victor over breakfast and our driver picked us up a little before noon. We made a few quick stops on the way to the orphanage so Victor could begin printing our court documents. Today’s visit at the orphanage was very different from yesterday. All the children flocked to us, especially Dan, as soon as we entered the playroom. (I counted the boys today, there were at least 15 circling around him.) We were only with the entire group for a few minutes because they were called by the caretaker to wash up and go to lunch. When the group came back from lunch they had “nap” time and V was allowed to stay up to play with us. We brought some bananas and Disney princess stickers for her, which she enjoyed and thanked us for, but she was truly excited by the markers and sketch pad. She drew some amazing pictures for us and we wrote out her new name for her. (Victor asked her a few days ago if she wanted an American name and without hesitation she enthusiastically said “yes.” She didn’t have any preferences, so we chose one that we think will fit her and she said she likes it.) We also played Uno for quite a while. For a little girl who had never seen Uno until yesterday, she picked the game up very quickly. She and Papa played as a team and beat both Victor and I almost every time. The math teacher in me took advantage of the opportunity to watch her add up the points on our cards at the end of each round. Dan says she gets her game playing style from me. Her personality is really coming out as she gets more comfortable with us and she is opening up little by little. Hugs and kisses were exchanged all around when it was time for us to go (4:30ish).
Monday - Our (your) prayers are truly being answered! Today was a wonderful day with smooth, timely processing of much paperwork. Those who have travelled this road before us know that is not always the case and God is truly opening doors for us. We went to the records office to request that V and her 17 year old brother be legally separated. Our translator and the clerk bantered back and forth very quickly for several minutes. I understand about half of what the kids say to me in Russian now, but the only words I got from their conversation were “girl” and “brother.” Eventually, Victor turned to us and said, “It is not a problem. The brother is unadoptable.” Apparently, even though he was placed in an orphanage years before V, their parental rights were never terminated. Therefore, he HAS parents and cannot be adopted. That is great news for us! We did not need any real action to be taken by that office. They simply had to write a statement about the brother’s status… told us to come back at 11:00AM and it would be ready! Hallelujah!! We were back at the records office around 10:30 and the clerk was smiling with our letter all typed and ready to be signed. We walked downstairs together and in just a minute she had it all signed and stamped. Victor says, “Nothing can stop us now, we’re made of stars!” From there, we went back to the office of the inspector we met on the first day to pick up her recommendation letter, dropped off papers at the court for their preparation and inspection, signed some forms for the notary and paid the court fees at a bank. (I use the term “we” very loosely. Of those four places, Dan and I waited in the car everywhere except the notary.) Our day went so smoothly we even got to have lunch at Pizza Celentano and visit V for about an hour and a half. We had warned her yesterday that because there was so much legal paperwork to be done today we probably wouldn’t get to see her. Her face lit up when she saw us walk in. We played Uno for a while with just her and then, when we realized her roommates were playing in the next room, invited them to join us. V and Papa teamed up, again, to beat everyone else.

All the paperwork that can be done “in region” right now has been completed and Victor actually left us this afternoon and is on the overnight train back to Kiev. He will finish preparing our documents tomorrow and submit them to the SDA on Wednesday. (They only accept these documents on Wednesday and Friday for an hour each day.) It typically takes the SDA a week to process those documents, so Victor should have them back and be able to return to us in the Donetsk region for our court date. (Drum roll, please!!!) It has already been set and is scheduled for Thursday, December 24th at 11:00AM. Victor could have come back and translated for us while the documents are in Kiev, but there is no real “work” for him to do here. We chose to let him enjoy the time at home with his family and an added benefit to us will be not having to pay for 2 rooms at the hotel.

Please don’t worry about us being here without Victor. I know almost all the words we need related to breakfast each day and it is served in the hotel lobby. Victor has also prearranged with our trusted driver Sasha to pick us up each day for our visits to the orphanage and we will have an interim translator of sorts named Nastya (short for Anastasia). She is sixteen years old and has been studying English for 10 years. She went with us to visit the orphanage today when Victor left and also helped us order dinner. Her school is on Winter Break right now, so she has agreed to do this for us every day and we will help her with her English. It is not as easy to find and/or order food at restaurants here as it was in Kiev. Many places in Kiev had either an English menu or an English speaking server… we’ve not found any of those in our quaint little town and at -12C we are not really interested in wandering the town to explore restaurant options.

I guess that’s the summary for now. I experienced some… let’s call them unique restrooms today, but will save those stories for another time. I think our days are going to all look the same for a while and that’s okay with us. A bit of redundancy will be okay after the heightened state we’ve been in since arrival.

Please do keep praying. It’s been over a week now and we are missing Tim, Carey and the comforts of home… like sidewalks without ice and internet with speed and without random disconnects.

We haven’t done much Christmas shopping this year, but you can imagine V's new name as a gift for you all wrapped up and waiting under the tree. We’ll unwrap it for you on Christmas Eve when everything is finalized and V's real name will be revealed.

“You had me at Zdrastvyutsya”

Remember Jerry McGuire? “You had me at hello?” That’s how clear it was for Dan when the little girl, we’ll call her V for now, entered the room. I know that’s what you’ve really been waiting to hear, now I’ll fill you in from where we left off yesterday. (Wow, was it really just yesterday? It seems like about 3 days from where I sit.)

Thursday afternoon: We set out on foot with our translator from Music Mission Kiev (where the widows prayed for us) and walked about 20-25 minutes to the SDA. I have to say that as soon as we stepped out the front door of the building it just struck me as an amazingly beautiful day. It was not as bitter cold as it had been in the morning, snow flurries were just starting to fall and even though the sky was not clear, it seemed… bright.

Dusk comes very early in Kiev and as the lights came on all around the city squares and gold topped cathedrals the view was striking. The SDA was scheduled to open at 4:00, but it was about 4:20 when they unlocked the gate. We were first in line and went right in to see the official and received our paperwork uneventfully. Next our walking tour took us to a copy center, dinner at a “home cooking” buffet, and back to MMK to pick up our laundry and a taxi. The taxi ride to the train station MORE than rivaled any we have ever taken in Boston or NYC. The overnight train was exactly that. We boarded around 6:45 PM, left the station at 7:23 (the only thing in Ukraine that is ALWAYS on time is the trains), and got to Donetsk at 7:30AM. Each cabin on the train has four bunks. Our translator advised us to buy all 4, even though there were only 3 of us, for security. It turned out to be a great decision because our luggage would not have fit in the designated space, so we used the spare bunk for storage. Each passenger receives a sealed plastic bag with sheets and a pillow case to make up their bed and the conductor even serves tea/coffee (for a small fee, of course) before bed and just before arriving at the station in the morning. We did get some sleep, but are very much looking forward to a real, stationary bed tonight. A driver met us at the train station (with a Mercedes mini-van… Dan says don’t let the brand fool you. It could have easily been a 1990 VW van) and drove us just over an hour to the little town where we are now. (This drive made the New England back roads near my MA family seem smooooooth.) We stopped at a supermarket that was more like a mini-Walmart to pick up some candies and a doll for V and continued to the inspector’s office. (She is like a DCF social worker.) Our translator had phoned ahead and she was expecting us and was very cordial. After about 15 minutes we, including the inspector, got back in the van and arrived at the orphanage around 9:30. Once there, we first met with the inspector we’d picked up and the director of the orphanage. They asked questions about our family and why we wanted to adopt, then brought in V with her teacher. She has blonde hair a bit lighter than Dan’s and blue eyes. In her navy and white school uniform, she looked just like a little doll and is tiny for her age. She told us, through our translator, that she likes to write, draw and play with toys and dolls, although she no dolls of her own. (That was our cue to give her the Barbie type doll we had just purchased.) We looked through the picture book of our family and home together and told her about ourselves, Timothy and Carey. When asked if she had any questions for us, she asked if we had libraries where we live. (In case you are wondering, yes, I was on board by this point.) Her teacher said she studies hard and is friendly with all the girls in her class. Which, incidentally, brings us to a VERY big prayer request. Another girl in her class is also available for adoption and the officials said even though they are not sisters, we could adopt both on this trip. “O” has my hair and Dan’s eyes and just turned eleven on the 1st of December. We spent a bit of time with her, but are not quite sure how to proceed. She is a very sweet, beautiful girl, but we only want to proceed if we are certain it is God’s best for her and our family. The officials asked her if she’d like being V’s sister, and she said yes, so we really feel we need to make a decision soon so as not to lead her on if we do not proceed. After that the girls went back to class and we talked with the adults a bit more about their history.

Next was lunch. Dan and I, known to many as the pickiest eaters on the planet, accepted a very generous offer to eat lunch in the cafeteria. We had the same meal the children would be served later: borscht (a type of soup), cabbage with sour cream, something that resembled shepherd’s pie with just meat and potatoes, bread and pineapple juice. We didn’t clean our plates, but our moms would have been proud. After lunch we were taken to the play room with V, O, and the other 3 girls in their groupa. It was a good sized room between the girls’ and boys’ bedrooms with a few tables, a sofa, TV and a few toys. We gave the girls the candies to share, but V was much more interested in my Russian phrasebook and looking at all the words in both languages. The girls quickly led us to their adjacent bedroom to show us their Disney princess poster. V’s favorite is Snow White and O prefers Ariel. We spent a few hours with the girls. Some of the time was just with V because we are definitely moving forward with her adoption, some was with the 5 girls and some with the 5 boys from the opposite room as well. They were entranced by “Papa’s” ipod and our digital camera. O quickly took control of the camera and, with no direction or instruction, became proficient at looking at all the photos stored in it. The boys were most impressed by a photo of Timothy and me with Lightning McQueen at WDW. We enjoyed the time with them and they were all eager to learn from a “My First Words” English book with us, but it was very overwhelming. They all want so much to have a mama and papa of their own. What do you tell a little child who looks up at you with huge eyes and asks about that? We finally left when the children were all called to go to lunch at 2:00. (Don’t worry, it’s not as late as it sounds, our translator said they have 2 breakfasts.) V had just finished writing out her official request to have us be her parents. If we decide to go forward with O, we will have to go back to Kiev next week for another SDA appointment and get official permission to build a relationship with her before she could do the same. As the children lined up to go to lunch, O dutifully went and got in the line. V did the same, but not before giving each of us a huge hug. All the children wished us farewell and we told them we’d see them tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for us. We will be developing our relationship with V and need to decide about O. Because of the way we were introduced, she is rightfully confused about whether we are there to see her or just V.

The round up of the day was checking in to our hotel, being pleasantly surprised by its quality, enjoying long overdue showers, and then going to the notary to begin paperwork and to dinner at Pizza Celentano. There is no such thing as wi-fi in this tiny town so we are using a USB modem and it is at best edge network speed and only works with Dan's computer. (You can comment on this blog and I see it online before it is published. If you want to send me an email, please comment and tell me it is a private note in your message. I'll be sure not to publish it.)

We are truly thankful for God's guidance throughout this process. We appreciate your concern and prayers and will try to log-in periodically.
Frozen hugs to all! It is much colder here.
Kathi and Dan

Thursday quick note

We are at Music Mission Kiev visiting with some wonderful people. They have been very kind to us and are even letting us use their washing machine. They have a widows’ ministry and introduced us to a group of the babushkas (grandmothers). The women were very sweet and one, who has a granddaughter in an orphanage, prayed for us. It was so sweet – brought tears to our eyes. We expect the next 24 hours to be very intense and appreciate all your prayers as well.

SDA appointment

Thank you so much for all your prayers. Our appointment went very well. The psychologist that we met with at the SDA (State Department of Adoptions) was very cordial. We were a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of children’s files they have, but had no problem knowing which God wanted us to select from the files we were shown. Dan and I are in complete agreement about the child we asked to meet. She is an almost 11 year old girl currently living in the Donets’k region. (You can see where it is on google and/or weather.com.) I will not be able to share many details or photos until after things are finalized, but will do my best to keep you posted. We expect to receive our official referral Thursday afternoon and will take the overnight train (12hrs) to get to the town. On the plus side, our translator has worked with this orphanage before. On the negative, there are no apartments/hotels in the same town, so we will have to stay at a hotel in the next town and hire a driver… raises the budget quite a bit. A friend who is also adopting once said, “If it is God’s will, he’ll pay the bills.” We are trusting that to be true and continuing to follow His lead both for direction and provision. I’m not sure how much internet access we will have, but will post when we can…
Thanks again and keep praying!

Kiev Day 2 – things we’ve learned… in no particular order

• The Irish Pub has a non-smoking section and plays 80’s music… in English. They also have an English menu and a server who spent the summer in San Francisco. This is all very helpful if you want to breathe while eating and know what you’re ordering.
• There is a Ukrainian equivalent to Starbuck’s. The hot chocolate is just is good, but even more expensive.
• The woman at the corner grocery market is very friendly and very patient. She will wait while you look things up in your phrasebook and then point out what you are looking for… or try to explain what they have instead.
• McDonald’s is McDonald’s wherever you go.
• Milk is NOT milk wherever you go. (I’ve tried a few times. It is called milk, but it is… different.)
• It is very comforting and reassuring to know you have a whole team of people praying for you… even if they are thousands of miles away.

Tomorrow our appointment is at 11AM (4AM EST). We will do our best to get another update to you. Thanks SO much for all your prayers and encouragement. We can definitely feel it.