Ukraine is Awesome!

It has been a great 1st week here so far. We have had lots of snow, so that's been great for the girls. We were so worried they wouldn't get to see any. Daniel has been with us since Thursday and we've had lots of fun. I think he enjoys not having a set schedule like at the orphanage. He can pretty much do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He is having to get used to us telling him he can't do certain things, though. At the orphanage he could just say "I'm going out for a walk & I'll be back in a little while," but the orphanage is in a small village where everyone knows everybody. Here in Kiev it's a little different. He wanted to step outside the restaurant after dinner tonight and I had to tell him no. We were visiting with a friend, it was running a little long, & he was getting bored. He said no one would steal him, but I had to say no. It would be like letting your kid stand out on the streets of New York City because Kiev is that large, plus sex-trafficking is one of their biggest problems here. No way I'm letting my son go stand outside on a busy street here by himself. He was a little outdone, but he obeyed & I'm glad.

Our friend, Katya, leaves going back to Odessa tomorrow. She has been such a help to us, we will miss her so much! Thank goodness she is moving to Alabama and we'll be able to see her when we get home. Daniel is worried about her leaving. She has helped so much with communication and I know he's worried about being here alone with no one else speaking Ukrainian. We'll make it through and we'll have some good family bonding time.

He has been breaking the girls in good the last few days on what it's like to have a brother. He has hit them with snow balls, tonight he locked Hayden in the bathroom & shut off the lights, and just basically annoying the mess out them! Lots of laughing, though, and I love hearing that.

We went to a small village today near Brovary to visit Lynn & Patricia Joy. They moved here from England about 8 years ago. They felt God calling them to serve orphans here in Ukraine, so they sold all their belongings and moved here. They currently are fostering 4 children in their home, 3 girls & 1 boy. The youngest girl has severe fetal alcohol syndrome. Her parents would spend their money on vodka rather than milk. Not only did her mother drink during her pregnancy, but she also gave her vodka in her bottle as a baby. She is 9yo, but looks to be more around 5 or 6. She is precious! She is doing wonderfully living with the Joy's. It is truly an awesome thing they are doing for orphans in Ukraine.

Appointment Day!

Our appointment was Wednesday, March 13th @ 10am. Bill & I woke early and got ready to meet Valery down stairs by 9:15. After a quick metro ride to Independence Square, we walked up-hill for what felt like 10 miles. I thought I was going to die before we ever got there! We finally made it and we were even a little early. People who know me will be very impressed by that! The appointment before us ran late, so we didn't actually get called back until around 10:30. I'm not really sure what I thought this appointment would be like. A few people had said it was very stuffy & official, that no one smiled, and it was a little intimidating. I don't know if it's because Bill & I smile so much that those around us feel compelled to smile as well or what, but our meeting was anything but official & stuffy feeling. The lady who had our file understood English, but couldn't speak it well, she was very impressed at the polite conversation we had learned in Russian, and she smiled at us almost the whole appointment! It was very laid back and she only asked us two questions. 1.) How did we meet Oleg (soon to officially be Daniel)? 2.) Why do want to adopt him? We were simply honest, telling her the story of how we met at Bridgestone and that we fell in love with him and feel like he should be part of our family. She showed us his file and told us a little about his history. My favorite things though, were the pictures! They had 3 pictures of him in his file: the 1st was when he was 5yo & first entered the orphanage (precious!), the 2nd he was probably around 8-10yo (also precious!), and the last looked close to how he looked when we met him a year and a half ago. We can have the photos of him as long as we provide them with a current photo of him to keep on file. I've got to find me a 1 hour photo place around here because I really want those pictures! We go back Thursday, March 14th @ 4pm to pick up our official referral to adopt Daniel! Friday, March 15th, we will travel to the orphanage with our referral and this process will officially be up and running!

This is the sign that used to hang outside the SDA office. They have changed the name of the department now, so the old sign was removed and a new one will go up soon. We seen this sign in so many of our friends' photos, we just had to take a picture of it!

Here is me with Valery in front of St. Michael's Cathedral after the SDA appointment.

After our appointment, Valery needed to go have some copies made. He left us to tour St. Michael's while he ran to do copies. It is so beautiful, pictures don't do it justice.

 

There are murals painted all around the outside of the cathedral. They are amazingly beautiful and intricate.

This is the old chapel. The roof is wooden shingles that look like fish scales. Amazing architecture.

Statue of St. Michael in front of the cathedral entrance.

This is St. Andrew's Church at the opposite end of the same street where St. Michael's is. Valery told us that this was the original city, the two churches and that one road between them.

                              Close up to St. Andrew's Church.

This statue is in the square in front of St. Michael's. The center person is Olga, first woman king of Ukraine.

Fun in the Snow!

One of the things we had most hoped for is that there would still be snow. The girls have never been in the type & amount of snow they have here, so they were so wanting to experience it. God has blessed us with so many things & even this small request he granted us. Not only was there huge amounts of snow on the ground when we arrived, it also snowed very hard the 1st night we arrived as well! This may be the last snow they get this year & the girls got to experience it! Spring is coming on fast here. We arrived Monday, today is Thursday, & the snow is quickly melting in the city. There is still a lot out in the country where Daniel's orphanage is though. So the girls will get to play in the snow a good while longer out there.

Kristina, one of the girls from the orphanage, was having a great time wrestling Hayden down to the ground in the snow. Of course brother, Daniel, was not thrilled that Kristina was rough housing his sister, so he had to rush to her defense!

Daniel's beautiful snow angel! We hardly ever get enough snow in Alabama to do this.

We had an awesome day playing in the snow, but the girls got soaked & were freezing on the way back to the apartment. On the bus ride back to Kiev, Hayden put her hood over her head, only to discover a snow ball was still in it! She had cold, melting snow running down her back!





We were getting worried in the days leading up to the trip. Hayden kept saying she didn't want to come & as the day to leave drew nearer she even began crying about it. There was no way we could get a refund on her plane ticket plus there was no way I was leaving her behind. She acts all tough, but down deep, she's a Mama's girl and I knew she would not be happy without her family. This is one of those once in a lifetime kind of experiences and we weren't going to let her miss it. The plane ride over made things worse. UGH! She couldn't sleep...she couldn't get comfortable...were we ever going to get there? Then we finally arrived & the snow was AMAZING, she saw her brother for the 1st time in a long, long while, & suddenly this was the best place she's ever been. Look at that smiling face above! That is the face of one happy girl! She loves it here. She wants to move here! Both girls love the small village that Daniel lives in and said repeatedly that they'd love to live there. It has been awesome! We have wifi @ the apartment, so in the evenings they catch up with friends on Facebook & talk on Skype, but the rest of the time-there is no cell phone, no TV, & no computer-AND THEY DON'T CARE! I have been thanking God every day for allowing us to share this experience with our daughters. This is a trip none of us will ever forget!

UKRAINE...finally

We packed just a few things! Very different going this trip; staying longer & 3 women going.

  This is a HUGE plane! It has a 2nd story! I have never seen a plane this big, much less flown on one. It was very nice, like all of our flights with Lufthansa have been. The girls were totally amazed & couldn't wait to watch movies on their personal monitors.

We are FINALLY in Kiev! It doesn't seem real! So far everything has been amazing. We arrived Monday, March 11th, and Valery surprised us and took us straight on to the orphanage. We were trying to surprise Daniel, but there were too many little faces peeking out the window. Since we came in December, they all remembered us & immediately began running through the orphanage yelling "Bill! Kim!", so Daniel wasn't too surprised. It felt so good to hug him again!

Sisters & brother reunited @ last!

Our apartment is awesome. It's near Independence Square and walking distance to about anything you could need. There's a McDonald's just across the street & the entrance to the metro (subway) is just steps from our building.

                 
                   View from our balcony.

               Apartment foyer.

                               Bedroom

Kitchen

This is really happening!

We have planned, prepared, prayed, and waited for this day for a year and a half. It just doesn't seem real that in just 10 days we will begin our journey to Ukraine. The airline tickets are bought and the reservations for our accommodations have been made. This is really happening! This time next month we will have a son!

Our flight will leave Atlanta on Sunday, March 10th at 11:40am. We will arrive in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday, March 11th at 1:05pm. Our appointment with the SDA will be on Wednesday, March 13th. We haven't been told what time yet, but I'll let everyone know as soon as we find out. For those who aren't familiar with how the adoption process works in Ukraine, we meet with the SDA, then we return the next day for the referral to Daniel's orphanage. We will travel to the orphanage once we have the referral, where Daniel will write a letter stating he wants to be adopted by us. That letter is what gets the ball rolling. We will meet with the regional "social worker" and the orphanage director. They will have to complete some paperwork and once it's submitted, we should receive our court date.

I have to admit, the thought of court is a little scary. They can ask us all kind of questions from; "Why do you want to adopt a 15yo boy when you already have two children?" to "How do you think your health will affect you raising him?" I think it's the fear of the unknown. They have our home study which has just about every detail about us and our lives. There is no telling what they may pick out to ask us about. How do you prepare for that? But I know that God will be with us and He will lead us. I keep repeating in my head,  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6  It helps a lot, but I find myself having to do it more often as the day draws nearer.

We've been talking to Daniel about 2-3 times a week. He is so excited! He said he's already packed his bag! I can hardly sleep at night and we've already started packing too! Maybe I'll be exhausted enough by the time we leave that I'll be able to sleep on the plane. I doubt it though, because I'll be so excited to get there! We arrive on Monday and our appointment isn't until Wednesday, so we're going to take the train to Daniel's village and surprise him! He doesn't think we'll be there until Friday. I think that's what I'm most excited about, the look on his face when he sees us the 1st time. Seeing him with the girls will be awesome. They haven't seen each other in so long. I'm sure we'll get plenty of pictures!

Yay! T minus 10 days and counting! We're coming sweet boy!

Best Words I Ever Read...APPROVED

"For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27

I opened my email and it was the first one on my list. It was from our facilitator and the subject said "Approved!!!!"

It's surreal. That's all I can say. We have waited and prayed and waited some more. I can't believe it's finally happened, we are approved to adopt Daniel! In a little over a month, he will officially be our son. Son. I like the sound of that. Don't get me wrong, everyone knows how much I love my daughters, but there's something special a mother feels for her son.

We don't have our official appointment date yet, but it looks like it will be the week of March 20th. Hopefully we will find out the definite date later this week.

Thank everyone so much for all your prayers and support! We will keep everyone updated as we find out more.

Long Overdue

Sorry I have not kept our blog updated! Been a couple of crazy months! For those of you who don't know everything that's been happening, I will bring you up to speed.

We submitted our dossier in November, 2012 with great expectations of traveling to Ukraine in December for our adoption. We were thankful to get it submitted in time because the SDA in Ukraine closes in January to observe Orthodox Christmas. Unfortunately, instead of an appointment date, we received our dossier back. Our doctor had not put ICD-10 codes on our medical reports. We were so disappointed. I was devastated and our poor facilitator received a call from me, crying. Remember, English is not his 1st language, so understanding a crying woman on a poor phone connection was a real challenge for him. Why couldn't we just have the doctor send the codes? How could they reject us just because of a type-o? How would we tell Daniel there has been yet another delay?

It took a couple of hours and some raging with God (thank goodness He can take anything we throw at Him!), but finally I felt the Holy Spirit begin to calm me. "Everything in His timing", "He knows the plans for you, plans not to harm you", "I am with you even now", etc...As I went to bed that night, all I could think of was breaking the news to Daniel the next morning. This would be no short delay, due to the SDA closing for Christmas, we wouldn't be able to resubmit until February. Overnight I had a dream and I really felt it was from God. A dream of gong to see Daniel for Christmas. When I woke the next morning I mentioned it to Bill. He had been thinking the same thing! I began researching how we could do it. Could we afford it? Could Bill get the time off?

Everything worked out and we were able to leave on December 25th to visit Daniel in Ukraine! We were able to spend 7 days with him and it was awesome! I think we all needed it, the reaffirmation and connection. On our way back Bill & I realized that was the most time we had ever spent with Daniel. It was definitely the most one on one time. When we met him at Bridgestone, there were 8 other boys and we didn't meet him until their last week here. Even though he has grown up in an orphanage half a world away from us, we just fell right into "family" together. He is so much like Bill in his personality, the 3 of us have the same eye color, and he even has a cleft chin like Bill & Hayden! We had a wonderful time together and can't wait to return so we can bring him home forever.

The orphanage where Daniel lives.

Family!

Orphanage Rodyna

So all the corrections have been made and our dossier was resubmitted on February 5th. We have been told that there are not many applications right now, so we may know as early as next week if we're approved and get an appointment date! So many emotions: happy, anxious, excited, nervous; all mixed up inside. I will definitely let everyone know when we hear something!

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support. I know we (mostly me) have been a little withdrawn from friends and activities lately and we (I) apologize. For those of you have never been through this, let me just say it's the worst, best thing I've ever done in my life. It's like a pregnancy that feels like it will never end! The doctor keeps changing the due date or rescheduling the induction and you just can't face the questions anymore about "Are you ever going to have that baby?" Everyone wants to know when we're going and so do we! I'm not saying not to ask us about it, you deserve to know. We wouldn't have made it this far without your help! It's just hard, the hardest thing I've ever done, and sometimes instead of reaching out to y'all for support, it's just easier to turn inward. I'm working on that because I am sure once Daniel is home, I will probably need some help or advice or a shoulder to cry on. It will be a process and I know it won't be a fairy tale, perfect transition, but there will be one less orphan in this world and he will be loved by a mother and a father and 2 sisters for the rest of their lives.