No longer MIA

Hi everyone, sorry to keep you in suspense for the past several days, but I promise it was not intentional. We have been without advanced technology since we left Kyiv on Wednesday after our SDA appointment. Our original plans to stay at Donetsk Christian University were changed as it was the opposite direction of the two orphanages.

A. made arrangements for us to stay in an apartment in Gorlovka. It is a 10-15 minute drive to Artyom's orphanage and 1 + hours to Torez. It is very nice and comfortable and we feel very safe to walk to the Internet cafe and Market (during the day, as there are no street lights here and it is very dark at night) There is no Internet however, in the apartment, so we are now just able to post.

Enough of the boring stuff. I will get to the real news. Our SDA appointmnet went well.
Short and pretty sweet as others before us have reported. All of 10 minutes, if that.
We had learned the Friday before leaving Atlanta that Igor's file was not at the SDA, which indicates he is not registered nor available for adoption. It was very disappointing, but we knew God had the bigger plan, we just were waiting to see it. 

Since we have been approved to adopt 3 children (boys) we decided that maybe God had a third child intended for us all along that only he knew of or maybe we were suppose to just bring home Artyom and


Zhengna. Either way, we were at peace about the changes and continue to pray for clear direction and wisdom. 
A. informed us that we should make a petition at our appointment 
for the third child so that we could meet with him when we saw Artyom as he was also at
 Gorlovka Hope. 
This way we are not losing any time and extending our stay in Ukraine. 
Otherwise, had we just gone to the orphanage and chosen a child while visiting, we would 
have to return to Kyiv (an 11 - hour train ride) and petition again. 
This could add another 
week to our stay. So A. brought us 5 profiles of little guys. 
A few of them had been to the 
U.S. in the past 1-2 years on the hosting programs like Artyom was with us last Christmas. 
I was still too fatigued to make a decision about what child to meet so 
I asked Mark if he would. He chose to meet a boy who is 8 years old and has similar
 physical features as our Nick.  We will meet him next Monday as we have to wait for the 
SDA to fax permission to the Gorlovka Authorities.

We traveled by train on Wednesday evening to Gorlovka. A. had us hit the ground running on Thursday after a quick stop to the apartment to drop off our baggage and shower we headed for Torez to meet Zhengna. Artyom had been at camp at the Crimea, an island off the Black Sea. This is a special state funded camp for orphans and he was there for the past one month. So he just arrived back on Thursday night. We will see him on Friday.


Our visit with Zhengna went well and although we knew he was small for his age, it was very emotional, not only for Mark and I but for the many observers in the room present. We are the first family that has come to adopt a child from this orphanage. Z. responded positively to both Mark and I and smiled and laughed as we played catch and blew bubbles for him.  I am keeping a detailed journal of each days events on our laptop. I will post them when we return to Kyiv, as the cafe will not allow us to hook up our lap top to their connection. I will also post our many photos and videos at that time as well.

Friday was actually the first day I did not have to check with Mark on the day and time we were existing in. I felt well rested and out of the haze I'd been in. We headed to the deputy's office in Gorlovka to get the permission of the local authorities to visit Artyom, just as we had in Torez. This time though the assistant deputy" wished to meet and question us. We were in her office for what seemed to be an hour. Her phone rang every 1 minute for the first 30 minutes, I think. Anyway, she was a woman who meant business, but she was also was warm and smiled often, which is not common in Ukraine (the smiling, that is) . She was obviously concerned for the well being of the children and asked us many questions about our parenting styles, examples of how we discipline our children, what do we "expect" of the children with regards to their behavior. We shared photos of our home and family. She was amazed and smiled big when we showed her photos of a few of our wonderful godchildren and told her we have 6 all together. She is also an animal lover and ooohed and aahed when we showed her the photos of Chloe and her6 puppies. Another step closer, we headed to the Orphanage with another social worker from the office to observe again our interaction with Artyom.

Artyom looked great, although mama thinks he has lost weight. Funny, I say that because apparently at the Crimea the children are fed very well and can have all they want to eat. Helen, the director of Gorlovka hope is an amazing and loving woman. She is Ukrainian and also fluent in English. FYI for the families with coming soon t Gorlovka Hope. Helen tells me that the frying of potatoes in the orphanage is FORBIDDEN by the doctors. So get ready for a trip to McDonalds. No wonder there is not a bunch of chubby kids with bad cholesterol! No wonder Artyom was thrilled when I let him make his favorite dish for us at Christmas last year .... "fried katoshku (potato) chips" and I kid you not, there was a 1/2 pound of butter and 1/2 shaker of salt on those chips!! But , boy were they good!

We  are getting ready to leave the Internet cafe and head to Gorlovka Hope at 1:00.  We will be delivering special gifts today for families coming soon to bring home their children. We wish we could download the photos right away as I know you are longing to see those sweet faces. I will do what I can to find another way, otherwise I will do it for sure when we return to Kyiv. Please continue to cover us in prayer as it is so comforting and definitely helping.

We have arrived safely in Kyiv!!!!

Many thanks to everyone covering us in prayer as we set out yesterday. Your prayers were answered in awesome ways. Our flight from Atlanta to JFK (brief 20 minute connection in Charlotte) went very smooth. Pete and Christopher met us at the baggage claim to pick up Charlie and Nicholas. Although we will miss each other very much, the boys were very excited about spending this time with Nick’s godparents and our dear extended family. It was daddy and mom that got all teary eyed as our smiling little boys trotted off out the door.

We made our way up to the A-train and to the International Terminal. This was a new experience for both Mark and I as the only ‘International" traveling we have done is driving across the borders of Minnesota and North Dakota to Canada during childhood family trips.

Well, first I have to say that although one of my concerns was that I had over packed, I thought I had done an efficient job. Wrong! I had made several attempts while in my packing process to reach Aerosvit (Ukrainian Airlines) to get specifications on baggage restrictions as their website is a bit vague. First off, our checked bags were all under weight, which I was proud of. But I soon had a reality check when I was told that ALL of our carry ons were over. We were required take the luggage aside and reorganize to meet the requirements. I tried everything and redistributed our items including taking our 1 set of clothing for our SDA appointment out and praying we would see them in Kyiv in the checked bags they were now in. Each passenger is allowed 1 carry on item weighing no more than 5.0 kilos. (12.5 pounds) and 1 personal item such as a purse or diaper bag . I had a large back pack that I thought was considered a personal item as I did not have a purse, wrong again, It weighed more then 5.0kg. As well. Laptops/notebooks are not counted as carry on so it is O.K. to have them in addition to the 1 carry on and personal item.
I had to empty out 1 complete carry on bag and leave it behind in the airport. I hope somebody that really needs it will get it. We were still over weight, Oi vey!!! That’s when I broke out the puppy eyes and said to the nice young man behind the counter that I did not know what to do anymore and that we were taking donations and medicines to the orphanage with us and we could not leave them behind (true, not joking) He said, "that is O.K., you can take them." We were still one carry on piece over , but he overlooked it. God was certainly with us.

The luggage saga is not over. We also are carrying two pediatric wheelchairs with us . Because they do not have passengers in them yet, we are charged for extra cargo, $90 dollars per chair!! (another little surprise to spice things up) The nice young man, trying to be most helpful then said that if Mark could "wrap" them together and make one piece, then he would just charge for one. So as I was making attempts to redistribute weight in the luggage, Mark headed over to the wrapping machine. He disassembled as much as he could and Voila! A lovely one piece. Suggestion for anyone needing to "wrap" items: B.Y.O.W. or wrap before leaving home. Total cost for our wrap job- $80.00. Total for our wheelchair cocoon $170.00 We saved $10 bucks whoa!!

The Wheelchair "Cocoon"

The rest of the process including security was painless. The flight to Kyiv went seemingly fast to me as I was able to sleep for a couple of hours. The food was good (yes, girls, mom likes airplane food too). I went to get a water and discovered the bar was open with a little party going on too.
Mark’s thoughts on his first Int’l flight, "The flight to Kyiv was flawless and the food was very interesting. I really liked the status reports and logistical map (must be a guy thing) He also observed that Ukrainians like their shots of alcohol with breakfast. "I thought it was very charming when everyone clapped when the plane landed"





Taxi, taxi????? Thank you Dan for instructing us on the taxi protocol and what not to do. As soon as we came out of passport control, we were bombarded with drivers in black leather insisting we take their taxi "with many bosses". Yeah, right . All that went through my mind was your word "illegal". I had to say "no" or "nyeet" at least three times, then they asked Mark and he had to do the same before they finally walked on. Finally we went outside and found the Taxi hut and got a wonderful driver with a big van so we did not have to split up to get to the hotel. We took his business card for anyone that needs a big taxi out of the airport or in the city. He did not speak English, but had a real kind disposition.



Good Tuesday morning1 We checked into our hotel yesterday afternoon around 2pm Kyiv time. We spent a few hours just trying to get technically hooked up so we can communicate with everyone back home in the States and locally with our coordinator.
We do not have internet connection in our hotel room, but can post to blog and check e-mail at the business center here. We hope to see a bit of the city today and will post tonight to share our day.




Our appointment at SDA is tomorrow, but we are not sure what time yet and will post details when we do. We will make train reservations and head out to the region of Donetsk.

Hey everybody, we're still here.

Yes, I did say I was going to post again 2 weeks ago, but I was not thinking of all I had to get accomplished in 2 short weeks. Whew!! We just packed the last bag and can breath a bit easier after getting through most of the To do lists. I'm sure there will be some last minute details we forgot about, but it wouldn't be a true adventure if everything got done just so.


We are departing from Atlanta on Sunday morning . We will connect at JFK Sunday evening and arrive in Kyiv, Ukraine at 11:00am Monday. I hope to blog daily or atleast often as long as we get internet connections. We are staying at the Hotel Lybid in Kyiv and our SDA appointment is on Wednesday. We will then head to the region where our future children are. It is an 11-12 hour train ride to Donetsk. We will then stay in an apartment on the campus of Donetsk Christian University.


Please e-mail us anytime at our yahoo address or post a comment to our Blog. It will keep us feeling in touch with home sweet home. Charlie and Nick are staying with our dear friends and Nick's godparents in upstate New York.

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIE!!!

WE GOT OUR APPOINTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND WE ARE STILL SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ITS OCTOBER 24TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will write more tomorrow when our brains stop whirling. Thank you for the many prayers and much love sent our way during these past months. God truly has a sense of humor giving us 16 days (14 days, as we need to be there on the 22nd) to be in Ukraine. Leslie, are you responsible for this? I'm not complaining, I promise.