We're awaiting our pickup to head to the train station for the "shake-n-bake" ride to Kherson.
Nadya met us this afternoon and we walked up to the SDA where we simply signed a log and received our referral papers. No interviews. No chats. Nothing. Just a signature and papers in hand! Yeah!
Gotta go. Pray for some sleep tonight and a good meeting with the regional inspector and kids at the orphanage tomorrow (Friday).
Bruce & Michele
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Miracles in Ukraine...
Well, after our somewhat dissappointing day at the SDA this morning, we eagerly awaited a phone call from Oleg or Nadia this afternoon. At about 4:15PM we received a call from Nadia.
She asked me, "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"
I replied, "Nadia, I only want good news!"
She laughed and said, "That's good, because I only have good news!"
They had just gotten off the phone with the SDA. They have agreed to provide us our two referrals, one for Natasha and her older sister and one for Pasha tomorrow afternoon! So, no waiting a few days for more discussions and new SDA appointment dates. God is good and has really blessed us with this news.
So, Nadia was on her way to the train station to pick up our tickets for the overnight train to Kherson. She will meet us tomorrowto pick up our referral packets. Then, Oleg will pick us up to take us to the train station.
We will be on the train for 12 hours and arrive in Kherson at about 9AM (Ukraine time) on Friday morning. From there I believe we have meetings with the local/regional social worker(s) and SDA representatives, and then off to the orphanage to meet the kids. We hope that our meetings will go well and we can start the regional adoption process Friday afternoon.
Thanks so much for everyone's kind thoughts and messages.
More on Friday once we get settled in.
Bruce (for Michele, who is in bed trying to sleep at the moment.)
PS. Our friends Heidi and Carol met us at the metro station this evening and we had our first ride out to Karen Springs' place east of Kiev on the other side of the Dnipro River. Karen was very gracious and served us dinner. Thanks Karen for your hospitality!
She asked me, "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"
I replied, "Nadia, I only want good news!"
She laughed and said, "That's good, because I only have good news!"
They had just gotten off the phone with the SDA. They have agreed to provide us our two referrals, one for Natasha and her older sister and one for Pasha tomorrow afternoon! So, no waiting a few days for more discussions and new SDA appointment dates. God is good and has really blessed us with this news.
So, Nadia was on her way to the train station to pick up our tickets for the overnight train to Kherson. She will meet us tomorrowto pick up our referral packets. Then, Oleg will pick us up to take us to the train station.
We will be on the train for 12 hours and arrive in Kherson at about 9AM (Ukraine time) on Friday morning. From there I believe we have meetings with the local/regional social worker(s) and SDA representatives, and then off to the orphanage to meet the kids. We hope that our meetings will go well and we can start the regional adoption process Friday afternoon.
Thanks so much for everyone's kind thoughts and messages.
More on Friday once we get settled in.
Bruce (for Michele, who is in bed trying to sleep at the moment.)
PS. Our friends Heidi and Carol met us at the metro station this evening and we had our first ride out to Karen Springs' place east of Kiev on the other side of the Dnipro River. Karen was very gracious and served us dinner. Thanks Karen for your hospitality!
"Because it's Ukraine..."
This is quickly going to become our mantra here in Ukraine.
We just returned from our SDA appointment. They were a bit late and didn't see us until after 11:30.
The Ukraine social worker brought out Natasha's file and we read through it with Nadia (our interpreter). There was nothing new in the file that we didn't already know. There was only one thing that popped up as a concern and that was that Natasha's older sister is not yet 18. More on that later.
While reading through Natasha's file, the social worker went to find Pasha's file. She returned and said that she could not find it. After multiple trips to the computer and out of the office to the "place where all adoption files are kept" (don't you envision this huge room with file cabinets lining the walls to the ceiling?), she returned with his file. It turns out that the birth date we had for him was off by a year. He was born in November 1997, not 1996! So, instead of turning 13 in November, he will only be turning 12. This is great since Benjamin can truly be his "older" brother now. :)
However, when our SDA social worker returned from getting Pasha's file, a lengthy discussion ensued regarding Natasha's older siblings. Her brother is not a problem, since he is 20+ years old. As I said above, the older sister is still 17 and will turn 18 at the end of October of this year. The social worker made calls to the internat (orphanage) to confirm a few things and found out that Natasha's sister is actually still living at there. Here's where the problem lies. They will not separate siblings and since the older sister is still there, we cannot get a referal for just Natasha. Ugh. "Because it's Ukraine..."
After discussing with Nadia (our translator) and Oleg (our facilitator), the current plan is to get a referral for Natasha and her sister and then a separate referral for Pasha. We know that Natasha's sister does not want to be adopted, so we will have to get her to sign off on that when we get to the Kherson region. We want some assurances that there will be no "glitches" preventing this from happening when we get to Kherson, and will hopefully have more info on that later today. But, we're also keeping in mind that "things happen because it's Ukraine..."
Also, while we are approved for three children in our dossier, we came to the SDA only looking for referrals for two non-sibling children. It turns out that the SDA does not typically give multiple referals for non-siblings during a single appointment. They sometimes "bend the rules" (as was going to be the case in our situation), and provide two referrals for non-siblings during a single SDA appointment, but when the issue with Natasha and her older sister came up today, we were told we would have to get another SDA appointment to get the referral for Pasha. (Why? Because it's Ukraine, of course... :)
BTW, the good news is that Pasha is registered and has an adult (aged-out) sibling. So getting the referral should not be a problem.
The bad news is that we have to first get the referrals for Natasha and her sister and then have a second SDA appointment to get the referral for Pasha. So, it looks like we will be in Kiev for at least another 2 or 3 days.
The SDA is discussing our situation this afternoon and will hopefully expedite the referral for Natasha and her sister and the next SDA appointment to get the referral for Pasha. We are supposed to hear from Nadia and Oleg sometime this afternoon between 4 and 6 PM. We'll blog an update then.
If you would, please pray specifically for the following:
We just returned from our SDA appointment. They were a bit late and didn't see us until after 11:30.
The Ukraine social worker brought out Natasha's file and we read through it with Nadia (our interpreter). There was nothing new in the file that we didn't already know. There was only one thing that popped up as a concern and that was that Natasha's older sister is not yet 18. More on that later.
While reading through Natasha's file, the social worker went to find Pasha's file. She returned and said that she could not find it. After multiple trips to the computer and out of the office to the "place where all adoption files are kept" (don't you envision this huge room with file cabinets lining the walls to the ceiling?), she returned with his file. It turns out that the birth date we had for him was off by a year. He was born in November 1997, not 1996! So, instead of turning 13 in November, he will only be turning 12. This is great since Benjamin can truly be his "older" brother now. :)
However, when our SDA social worker returned from getting Pasha's file, a lengthy discussion ensued regarding Natasha's older siblings. Her brother is not a problem, since he is 20+ years old. As I said above, the older sister is still 17 and will turn 18 at the end of October of this year. The social worker made calls to the internat (orphanage) to confirm a few things and found out that Natasha's sister is actually still living at there. Here's where the problem lies. They will not separate siblings and since the older sister is still there, we cannot get a referal for just Natasha. Ugh. "Because it's Ukraine..."
After discussing with Nadia (our translator) and Oleg (our facilitator), the current plan is to get a referral for Natasha and her sister and then a separate referral for Pasha. We know that Natasha's sister does not want to be adopted, so we will have to get her to sign off on that when we get to the Kherson region. We want some assurances that there will be no "glitches" preventing this from happening when we get to Kherson, and will hopefully have more info on that later today. But, we're also keeping in mind that "things happen because it's Ukraine..."
Also, while we are approved for three children in our dossier, we came to the SDA only looking for referrals for two non-sibling children. It turns out that the SDA does not typically give multiple referals for non-siblings during a single appointment. They sometimes "bend the rules" (as was going to be the case in our situation), and provide two referrals for non-siblings during a single SDA appointment, but when the issue with Natasha and her older sister came up today, we were told we would have to get another SDA appointment to get the referral for Pasha. (Why? Because it's Ukraine, of course... :)
BTW, the good news is that Pasha is registered and has an adult (aged-out) sibling. So getting the referral should not be a problem.
The bad news is that we have to first get the referrals for Natasha and her sister and then have a second SDA appointment to get the referral for Pasha. So, it looks like we will be in Kiev for at least another 2 or 3 days.
The SDA is discussing our situation this afternoon and will hopefully expedite the referral for Natasha and her sister and the next SDA appointment to get the referral for Pasha. We are supposed to hear from Nadia and Oleg sometime this afternoon between 4 and 6 PM. We'll blog an update then.
If you would, please pray specifically for the following:
- That the SDA would allow us to get the referral for Natasha and her sister tomorrow.
- That the SDA would allow us to have the second SDA appointment tomorrow or Friday.
- That the SDA would provide the referral for Pasha on the same day as the appointment so we don't have to stay in Kiev over the weekend.
- That there would be no issues with the Kherson district courts for separating Natasha from her older sibling.
- That Michele gets a good night's sleep tonight (she slept very poorly last night).
We will give more info as we have it.
Thanks,
Bruce
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A day on the streets of Kiev
Hi all,
We both slept quite well last night, until about 1AM! Then we both lay awake for a while and willed ourselves back to sleep. Michele was done with this by about 5:30, so we decided to get up and say 'hi' to the kids, since it was about 8:30 PM. It was nice to see and talk to them.
We did quite a bit of walking around and even got the stacking dolls that we'll bring home for Clark and Chris.
Our hotel is right across the street from independence square and very convenient. What do you think is one of the first things you see when you walk to the square?
Bruce after washing Michele's hands with his bottled water:
Michele by in Independence Square:
We both slept quite well last night, until about 1AM! Then we both lay awake for a while and willed ourselves back to sleep. Michele was done with this by about 5:30, so we decided to get up and say 'hi' to the kids, since it was about 8:30 PM. It was nice to see and talk to them.
We did quite a bit of walking around and even got the stacking dolls that we'll bring home for Clark and Chris.
Our hotel is right across the street from independence square and very convenient. What do you think is one of the first things you see when you walk to the square?
Yep...good ol' McDonalds. We haven't eaten there yet as we're pretty adventurous and like trying more "local" fare, even if we don't know what we're ordering!
We walked up through a nice park where Michele saw a man with a bunch of pigeons. She really, really wanted to get a pic of him, so walked over to him with the camera. He had different plans, however, and pulled her up next to him so the pigeons would land on her arms like his....here's the pic:
In Michele's own words, "Super icky...". She even made me pour out my bottle of water on her hands when she was able to get away...and even after that, we had to go back to the hotel to wash with soap!! :)
Anyway, that was probably the most "interesting" part of the day. We ate lunch at a little chinese restaurant which had pictures of the dishes on the menu. That made it easier to order, since it was all in Russian cyrilic...
Michele spoke with Heidi and Carol today as well. They are travelling back to Kiev tonight on the train and we hope to meet up with them sometime tomorrow afternoon. She also spoke with another couple here in Kiev to adopt, from Phoenix, Marci and Josh McEachern. Perhaps we'll meet up with them too before we go to Kherson.
We're looking forward to our SDA appointment tomorrow. Please continue to pray. While things are very certain in our own minds, they are likely less certain in everyone else's.
Here are some other random snapshots from the day:
The Dnipro River running through Kiev:
Bruce after washing Michele's hands with his bottled water:
The main column of St. Sofia's Cathedral (I think):
Michele by in Independence Square:
More tomorrow.
Ciao,
Bruce & Michele
Monday, September 21, 2009
We've Arrived!!
Well, our guy George in Denver succeeded fantastically! We made our connection in Chicago and in Paris and arrived safely in Kiev at about 5PM local time (8AM mountain time).
Here's the other amazing part. He had to re-route our luggage after everything that happened in Denver, and they all arrived in Kiev!
We met Oleg and Nadia at the airport and they drove us to our hotel (Hotel Khreschatik) which is right next to Independence Square. We're pretty blitzed so are going to head to bed soon and then will explore a bit more tomorrow.
Thanks for all your prayers for safety thus far. Keep them coming! Pray for our SDA meeting on Wednesday and that we can get the referrals for both Natasha and Pasha.
More later.
Bruce (Michele's already sleeping :)
Here's the other amazing part. He had to re-route our luggage after everything that happened in Denver, and they all arrived in Kiev!
We met Oleg and Nadia at the airport and they drove us to our hotel (Hotel Khreschatik) which is right next to Independence Square. We're pretty blitzed so are going to head to bed soon and then will explore a bit more tomorrow.
Thanks for all your prayers for safety thus far. Keep them coming! Pray for our SDA meeting on Wednesday and that we can get the referrals for both Natasha and Pasha.
More later.
Bruce (Michele's already sleeping :)
We are in Paris....Our flight out of Denver started to board and then right before they got to our boarding section the doors to the plane were shut and the gate agent said, "We have a mechanical problem and will update you at 11:45."
We only had a small window to make our connecting flight in Chicago, so like the occasionally impulsive person that I (Michele) am, Bruce and I ran over to costomer service to see what options we had. Our flight got pushed out another hour in the meantime so we had to change everything if we were going to make it out that day.
We prayed hard for the right customer service person, and G0d truly delivered. Our guy, George Q., spent 45 minutes with us, typing quietly and feverishly to get us out of Denver to Kiev by Monday afternoon. He was able to re-route us from Chicago through Paris, where we are now awaiting our flight to Kiev.
More soon. WiFi access running out and must eat a baguette while in Paris!! :)
Bruce & Michele
PS. Michele says that Percaset made her fluent in French! :)
We only had a small window to make our connecting flight in Chicago, so like the occasionally impulsive person that I (Michele) am, Bruce and I ran over to costomer service to see what options we had. Our flight got pushed out another hour in the meantime so we had to change everything if we were going to make it out that day.
We prayed hard for the right customer service person, and G0d truly delivered. Our guy, George Q., spent 45 minutes with us, typing quietly and feverishly to get us out of Denver to Kiev by Monday afternoon. He was able to re-route us from Chicago through Paris, where we are now awaiting our flight to Kiev.
More soon. WiFi access running out and must eat a baguette while in Paris!! :)
Bruce & Michele
PS. Michele says that Percaset made her fluent in French! :)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Packing, Packing, Packing...
We're packing. And washing. And packing some more. And running to the store to pick up stuff, like an extra deoderant since, well, you never know when you'll run out and I certainly don't know the Russian or Ukranian word for "deoderant".
The big suitcase is 48 lbs...so I think that means it's full! :)
We had a great time of prayer with our friends at Jim and Kari's house last night. Thanks Volfs for hosting that!
11:46 AM tomorrow we'll be in the air and on our way. Hard to believe we've finally arrived at this point. Please keep praying for our kids while we are away. They will be in good hands, but will certainly be experiencing some stress in their lives while we're away.
Please also pray for the kids we will meet and the Ukranian officials with whom we come in contact. We want the process to go smoothly, but we also want to shine the light of Jesus to all.
Thanks for thinking of us over the next several weeks.
Bruce
The big suitcase is 48 lbs...so I think that means it's full! :)
We had a great time of prayer with our friends at Jim and Kari's house last night. Thanks Volfs for hosting that!
11:46 AM tomorrow we'll be in the air and on our way. Hard to believe we've finally arrived at this point. Please keep praying for our kids while we are away. They will be in good hands, but will certainly be experiencing some stress in their lives while we're away.
Please also pray for the kids we will meet and the Ukranian officials with whom we come in contact. We want the process to go smoothly, but we also want to shine the light of Jesus to all.
Thanks for thinking of us over the next several weeks.
Bruce
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