Thursday, April 7th

Update: Court date will take place on either Tuesday April 12 or Wednesday April 13th.
Corresponding action: Able to exhale at last! (At least a little bit....)

After hearing the great news this morning, we have been taking time (off and on) all day to figure out the game plan from here. Since our original schedule was set to fly back to the U.S. tomorrow, Friday the 8th; we have had to scramble a bit to figure out the new return dates:

The new plan:
Dave and Lucas return to the U.S. on Saturday, April 16th.
Jeanne and Sasha return to the U.S. on Wednesday, May 11th.

Once the court portion is settled the adoption decree is available after 10 days - which falls on a weekend - so Tuesday, April 25th is the soonest the decree can be obtained. Once the decree is obtained 12 days is needed to complete a number of things for Sasha's updated status: a new birth certificate, physical and passport (from the U.S. Embassy).

In the meantime we continue to enjoy and treasure our family adventure in Kiev. Once this is all over (and we re-enter real life) we can't get the time or significance back! We are thankful for many, many things. Our hearts are already overflowing and we still have a lot of time left in the expedition.

Some photos from today:

Lucas 'oversees' Sasha's learning time.

Gametime at the Moore's aparment.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Update: All documents in. HALLELUJAH!! Court date pending.

Details: Our coordinator affirmed at 8:10 PM tonight that all required documents are in the attorney's possession. The next step is to appeal to the judge for a court date. We are praying that as our attorney meets with the judge tomorrow (Thursday) a date will be set to finalize the adoption for no later than next week.

Patience wore a little thin today around the team - including us! At least 2 people were shielded from the challenges and it shows in their faces:

Both Sasha and Lucas make the most of things and manage to have great fun together whether it's lunch time, learning time, tea time or play time. May that always be.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

As I was ready to blog, I heard Jeanne yell, Dave, I need your help! Well this was the scene tonight as our washing machine flooded the bathroom.

Earlier tonight was much more fun when we went with the latest family arriving from MN, the Moores (Dave, Nellie and their two sons Zach and Matthias), for ice cream in Maidan...a 10 minute walk to the center of Kyiv.  Lucas was very excited to meet someone staying in our building like Matthias (10).  We had a great time. Ice cream was good too.

We had a good day at the orphanage.  The boys had a lot of fun.  And I had a gracious customer call my cell for a conference call.

We are still waiting to hear about a court date.  Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Adoption process update:
        Today's interview completed.
        Document signed by one person, to be finalized and collected tomorrow.
          No court date yet.

Details: The chief officer conducting the interview was one hour late. The orphanage director handled the interview. We waited in the car ready just in case we were asked to appear at the interview.  We do not know what discussion took place in the interview. The only things we know is that one of the signatures was obtained and one more is needed on this document. We have been told the document will be ready tomorrow and our attorney will collect it.

Also today, our attorney planned to run our file passed the judge. The purpose of that pre-meeting is to see if the judge would be asking for any other documents hoping to handle those requests in advance of the court date. We do not know the outcome of that meeting. We also do not know how soon we can expect to have a court date assigned. We will ask tomorrow once we know the outcome of the document retrieval as well as if our attorney was able to see the judge.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Whoo-hoo...the hot water is back! It was a beautiful Sunday.  Lucas and I headed to the orphange while Jeanne stayed back to get caught up on work and home tasks.

As we approached the orphanage, we saw all the children outside and several adults we didn't recognize with a huge number of bicycles being repaired or ridden by the children. Sergei and the other adults were helping in the repairs.  I counted approximately 17 bikes.  Some were in good condition, some not and a few will need a new tire.  My friend from CT and one of the older children (Vladik) repaired 2 bikes a week ago (e.g., new tubes, tires, pedal, spoke tightening, etc) before he and his family flew home. Wish he was here today!

I finally figured out that the adults I didn't know belong to a foundation that supports the orphanage called Star Dream (www.detdom.com.ua/ ) who donated these bikes. It was like Christmas - the children all excited with big eyes and smiles everywhere.  Sasha greeted us with a big hug and a "where's mommy" and then, preceeded to point at a bike saying, "me bike."  Then other kids said the same. 

The children worked along side the adults and Vladic too. Repaired tires, chains, brakes, etc and filled them with air.  I also noticed several, new to them, scooters being ridden around.  This was huge and exciting especially after sharing only two bikes and a scooter this year. Spring and Christmas were here together on this Sunday afternoon.

We took a break and had obid (lunch) as a family.  Afterwards we went outside to continue the bike assembly and repair.  Then about 15+ colleged-aged girls came.  I found out they were volunteers for the Star Dream Foundation.  They interacted with the children, played some and then began a traditional spring task of painting the trees and curbing with white wash.  Apparently, this prevents trees from being infected by insects.  We have begun to see this white-wash on many trees in the Kyiv area..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"

Lot's of fresh air and activity outside with bike riding, playground playing, soccer and helping with the beautification project. Lucas and I ended after staying nearly 5 hours. 

Some news items...first, another MN family arrives tomorrow night (the Moores to adopt a girl and a boy). Second, our adoption agency (European Children Adoption Services- Plymouth, MN) just did an email announcement for this summer's hosting program. Some of the children viewed on our blog are available for hosting.  We can genuinely encourage that any of these children would be a blessing to host this August.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Slept in today and started the day with "no hot water"...eyow!  Lucas and I chose to stay stinky and not shave...that was particularly hard for Lucas. 

Left to orphanage around 11:30.  After the subway, I received what I perceived was a tongue lashing from our bus driver for giving him the wrong amount.  Ended up paying him 3 more grivna ( about 40 cents).  He was rough with the other passengers too.  Had a similiar experience with the bus driver on the way back...wierd. I resisted temptation to give it back to them.

All of this reminded me of something Sasha says..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"  To get the full effect picture Sasha with his palms face up and parallel to the floor while shrugging his shoulders as he says, ..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!" I said to Jeanne this would be a great SNL skit and then said, "I smell a blog."  So this is our ..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine" Blog!!!

Uncollared, stray dogs wandering everywhere..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!
Pushing and shoving your way to the exit on the subway..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
Consuming the entire plate of cookies and chocolates at every tea time..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
Impatient bus drivers snapping at passengers..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
Cars having the right a way and parking anywhere they want including the sidewalk...
"Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"

Four or more mounded teaspoons of sugar in your tea..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
A pack of gum costing more than a bottle of wine..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
People admonishing parents for a child's untied shoelaces..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
A springtime chore of burning piles of leaves/branches uncontained  in their front yards ..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
Water in a restaurant costing more than a glass of beer..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
Instead of a Starbucks on every corner, beer and pop kiosks at every bus stop ..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"
Smoking areas are the best seating in the restaurant..."Iss ukay...iss Ukraine!"

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Around the orphanage today:

Friday, April 1, 2011

Hey! We're back in MN! April Fools! ...actually a bit of MN came to us in the form of the Boehr Family.  They flew in last night...all 6 of them...Jill and Bruce and their 4 children, Brian (11), Stephanie (10), Katie (7) and Olivia (5).  They're here to adopt a 10 year old boy...Ilya.

They hosted last summer and our Ukraine boys talked to each other quite a lot by phone over that time so it's great for us and the boys to have the connection. In fact, at the orphanage today, a lot of the boys including Sasha and Illya we're playing soccer.  Another good work out on a beautiful sunny and warm Spring day.  Thank you, God!

I had some business to attend to early this morning so Jeanne and Lucas made the trip alone.  A good trial run for Jeanne since she'll be doing it by herself on the last leg of this journey.  I came an 1 1/2 hours later with the lunch.  I was greeted by some hungry boys and their mom! 


We had some of the usual activities...greeting Jessie, a little wrestling, playing on the playground, bicycle, swing, cards and English learning time with mom and then, the big soccer game when the rest of the children returned home from school.

Jeanne went back to the apartment early today so Lucas and I took the bus-subway journey ourselves.  I asked him how he was doing being in Ukraine and away from home.  He said he missed Sadie, his friends and school.  He wasn’t overtly sad but you could tell it’s been a long time away in a strange country for a little guy.  I told him how proud mommy and I were of him.

On the subway home plans were made to take Boehr's to our favorite Kiev Pizza place...Solo Pizza.  Since it's hard to give directions when the signs are in the cyrillic alphabet I headed to their apartment across from the Opera House (awesome view) and escorted them to Solo's. The restaurant is next to the Subway and the underground mall Jeanne raves about and Bruce said reminded him of Rosedale.

 

We had a great time and our families meshed very well.  Lucas was excited about English speaking friends...so were we. We were placed in a large booth in a far corner that beckoned "for large group of loud Americans" and we loved it. Our waiter Sasha was a good sport and even knew some English. It was good pizza with salad for the adults and banana splits for the kids afterwards.  It was also the most English we spoke outside of immediate family since the other family went back to Connecticut.  Glad we haven't lost our language......