Hi,
It is just another sweltering day here in Dniprozezhinsk. We visited the twins this morning - Daniel/Brady was cranky for most of the morning. Yevgen/Lucas was as happy as he has been. We think the heat bothers Brady more than Lucas but that is just a theory.
There are good days and bad for both of them - we are learning to be patient with this although it can be deflating at times. Both of them have a funny little way of letting us know when they are not happy. Lucas plunks himself down on his but, puts his legs out straight, chin to his chest and curls his bottom lip. He will sit there like this until we pick him up or he is told to stand up by one of the caregivers. We have seen this exact behavior in a number of the orphans - monkey see - monkey do we guess. Brady puts his head down, points his right index finger inward and shuffles backwards. Quite humorous actually!!
Yesterday was fun - we finally had some rain here and cooled things off a bit. The problem is we got stuck in the middle of it with no umbrellas!! Actually it began while we were at the O - we had to take cover with the boys under one of the shelters they have. The boys were not scared in fact they were enjoying a lollipop and could have cared less. Momma was most concerned - pappa was getting soaked. Anyway we brought the boys in a half hour early and headed back home ourselves while the rain slowed to a drizzle. Well the drizzle turned back to a downpour after we left and we got a tad wet. Andrea pulled an OOOPS and tried to jump a puddle and landed in a mud bog!! Needless to say some of us found that funny - Olga, me and all the locals!!
The paperwork is going smoothly - Olga is handling it with the greatest of ease. She is amazing - keeping everyone in line. We are starting to see the begining of some bribes (for instance the doctors want a fan and heater in order to get the paperwork out today) and yesterday we paid the administrator a $100 to get her stuff moving. Oh well - we bite our lips and say "anything else"??
If all goes smoothly we should have the paperwork to the courts by the end of this week. Probably a court date the week after next. We still have a while to go but we'll get there!!
That is it for now -
Patrick - thanks for the update on the Sox! Can you believe it? 13.5 ahead!! Coolidge must be dying!!
Take care everyone -
Chris and Andrea
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Trinity Day - our Day 9
Hello Everyone,
Today is a public holiday here in Ukraine just as it is back home in the States. Today is Trinity Day which is an Orthodox religious holiday. We spent the morning with the boys - they are getting more and more attached to us with each passing visit. When our visits are over we take them back inside crying (the boys and Andrea - j/k). Their caretakers always tell them to go hug momma and pappa before we leave. They listen well and come running over to say good-bye with a big hug and sometimes a kiss.
The visits are challenging for us as we share our time with a group of about 20 other orphans. The visits take place out in the courtyard of the orphanage which is large but not all that kid-friendly. A lot of it is paved and the yard is all crabgrass which can cut the kids up pretty well if they crash and burn! Their are several swings, monkey bars, slides and a playhouse which the kids enjoy. The caretakers take out a bag of old and sometimes dilipitated toys for the kids to play with and fight over. It is amazing how content the kids are with having so little. It will be something to see when we get Brady and Lucas home to see all of their toys. They probably will not know what to do or more than likely they will fight over the same truck!!
In this environment it is difficult to find a quiet space to bond with the boys. Many of the other kids come running over as they are craving attention as well. Olga has become the best friend to a little girl with a cleft palate. She is a cute little thing and smart as a whip. She doesn't speak more than a mumble but she comprehends everything.
The orphanage is clean and well kept. It is a large building with rooms sectioned off for groups of kids by age. There are 70 total kids in the orphanage up to age four. We have personally seen about 25-30 of them out on the grounds. We assume the others are either too young or sickly to go outside.
The boys enjoy the treats we bring them such as Cheerios, bananas, crackers and cookies. Yevgen/Lucas (which is pronouced as Jane-ka) gets all in a fluster when we reach into our pockets and pull out the food. Both the boys seem to have been taught to eat slowly but they do protect their food with all their might!! It was just today that they started to share with us - offering us a little bite of their cookie. Baby steps! Daniel/Brady has quite an affinity for cuddling with momma. By the end of each visit he is ready to dump the toys and get some one-on-one time in momma's arms. The boys are still wearing girly hats and underware which is just about killing me but I will take care of that in due time!! I have been looking for camo underware but have yet to find any!
As for us we are getting along. We are both tired either from the lack of sleep we had during our first week here or just from the heat and many hours of downtime when not with the boys. We are both losing some weight due to a combination of walking a lot and simply not eating as much. We have been buying groceries and cooking in rather than eating out although tonight we are going out for pizza. Food is incredibly cheap here. We can buy three meals worth of food plus beverages (water - juice and Ukrainian beer [ sorry Mom!]) for about 75 Hrivna ($15 USD). Too give you an idea of how much downtime there is I have read two books since getting here. That is about 1/4 of my lifetime count in ten days time!!
We are going to sign off for now - we hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. Keep the comments coming - we look forward to reading them every time we get on the blog.
Take care.
C&A
Today is a public holiday here in Ukraine just as it is back home in the States. Today is Trinity Day which is an Orthodox religious holiday. We spent the morning with the boys - they are getting more and more attached to us with each passing visit. When our visits are over we take them back inside crying (the boys and Andrea - j/k). Their caretakers always tell them to go hug momma and pappa before we leave. They listen well and come running over to say good-bye with a big hug and sometimes a kiss.
The visits are challenging for us as we share our time with a group of about 20 other orphans. The visits take place out in the courtyard of the orphanage which is large but not all that kid-friendly. A lot of it is paved and the yard is all crabgrass which can cut the kids up pretty well if they crash and burn! Their are several swings, monkey bars, slides and a playhouse which the kids enjoy. The caretakers take out a bag of old and sometimes dilipitated toys for the kids to play with and fight over. It is amazing how content the kids are with having so little. It will be something to see when we get Brady and Lucas home to see all of their toys. They probably will not know what to do or more than likely they will fight over the same truck!!
In this environment it is difficult to find a quiet space to bond with the boys. Many of the other kids come running over as they are craving attention as well. Olga has become the best friend to a little girl with a cleft palate. She is a cute little thing and smart as a whip. She doesn't speak more than a mumble but she comprehends everything.
The orphanage is clean and well kept. It is a large building with rooms sectioned off for groups of kids by age. There are 70 total kids in the orphanage up to age four. We have personally seen about 25-30 of them out on the grounds. We assume the others are either too young or sickly to go outside.
The boys enjoy the treats we bring them such as Cheerios, bananas, crackers and cookies. Yevgen/Lucas (which is pronouced as Jane-ka) gets all in a fluster when we reach into our pockets and pull out the food. Both the boys seem to have been taught to eat slowly but they do protect their food with all their might!! It was just today that they started to share with us - offering us a little bite of their cookie. Baby steps! Daniel/Brady has quite an affinity for cuddling with momma. By the end of each visit he is ready to dump the toys and get some one-on-one time in momma's arms. The boys are still wearing girly hats and underware which is just about killing me but I will take care of that in due time!! I have been looking for camo underware but have yet to find any!
As for us we are getting along. We are both tired either from the lack of sleep we had during our first week here or just from the heat and many hours of downtime when not with the boys. We are both losing some weight due to a combination of walking a lot and simply not eating as much. We have been buying groceries and cooking in rather than eating out although tonight we are going out for pizza. Food is incredibly cheap here. We can buy three meals worth of food plus beverages (water - juice and Ukrainian beer [ sorry Mom!]) for about 75 Hrivna ($15 USD). Too give you an idea of how much downtime there is I have read two books since getting here. That is about 1/4 of my lifetime count in ten days time!!
We are going to sign off for now - we hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. Keep the comments coming - we look forward to reading them every time we get on the blog.
Take care.
C&A
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Not much new...
Hi,
We stopped by the internet cafe so we figured we would drop a short post before heading back to see the boys.
We were with them this morning from 10-11:30. Once again they were all smiles and happy to see us. The caretakers there keep telling them that we are their mamma and pappa so they are getting used to that idea - we think!!
This morning we brought them a blow up beach ball and one sippy cup with water. The one sippy cup was a mistake as these boys are not yet in tune with the idea of sharing!! Subsequent tantrums ensued and well we'll leave it at that.
Olga was our paparrazi this morning and will be again this afternoon. The orphanage requires 12 pictures of us and the boys "having fun" together. This should be no problem at all. Olga took a picture of Yevgen doing a faceplant in the grass to the horror of Andrea standing behind him. By the look on Andrea's face (in the picture) you would think the boy tumbled off of the Grand Canyon or something!! Quite funny - you'll see once we are allowed to post the pictures.
Not much else for now - we are going to stop at a kid's clothing store along the way back to the O. We think the boys are between a 2T and 3T. Closer to 2T if you ask me - especially Yevgen. They are going to grow fast once we get them home and start getting some quality nutrition into their bellies - once again like pappa!!
We did meet a couple from Winnipeg who are adopting a single boy from the same orphanage. They have had a helluva time - now entering their seventh week in UK. Canadian requirements are stricter than US standards so that may have something to do with it - we are just hopeful things keep flowing smoothly for us.
Next time we speak we will introduce you to some of the people we have encountered - we have some funny stories and things to tell.
Talk to you later - it is great hearing from all who have commented back!! Keep them coming.
C&A
We stopped by the internet cafe so we figured we would drop a short post before heading back to see the boys.
We were with them this morning from 10-11:30. Once again they were all smiles and happy to see us. The caretakers there keep telling them that we are their mamma and pappa so they are getting used to that idea - we think!!
This morning we brought them a blow up beach ball and one sippy cup with water. The one sippy cup was a mistake as these boys are not yet in tune with the idea of sharing!! Subsequent tantrums ensued and well we'll leave it at that.
Olga was our paparrazi this morning and will be again this afternoon. The orphanage requires 12 pictures of us and the boys "having fun" together. This should be no problem at all. Olga took a picture of Yevgen doing a faceplant in the grass to the horror of Andrea standing behind him. By the look on Andrea's face (in the picture) you would think the boy tumbled off of the Grand Canyon or something!! Quite funny - you'll see once we are allowed to post the pictures.
Not much else for now - we are going to stop at a kid's clothing store along the way back to the O. We think the boys are between a 2T and 3T. Closer to 2T if you ask me - especially Yevgen. They are going to grow fast once we get them home and start getting some quality nutrition into their bellies - once again like pappa!!
We did meet a couple from Winnipeg who are adopting a single boy from the same orphanage. They have had a helluva time - now entering their seventh week in UK. Canadian requirements are stricter than US standards so that may have something to do with it - we are just hopeful things keep flowing smoothly for us.
Next time we speak we will introduce you to some of the people we have encountered - we have some funny stories and things to tell.
Talk to you later - it is great hearing from all who have commented back!! Keep them coming.
C&A
Friday, May 25, 2007
Day 2 in Dniprodzerzhinsk
Hello,
One point that Andrea forgot to mention in her post was that we were asked before leaving the orphanage yesterday whether we wished to pursue the adoption of the twins. It took us all of about 5 seconds to look at each other and say "YES". So this is where the story takes off for today (Friday).
Another point A forgot to mention was that Olga arranged an apartment for us through the pediatrician at the orphanage. The doctor packed her bag and rented her place to us for $50/night (not bad considering it is three bedrooms has air conditioning and a washing machine).
So...Olga, Andrea and I left this morning at 8:45 to go to the state notary in town. We needed to get a application to adopt form and have it notarized. One would think this would be a relatively quick and painless procedure BUT it was anything BUT!! 5 minutes after arriving Olga began to tussle with a local who was upset that we were invited into the notaries office before him. This near melee was quite a sight to see - I didn't know whether I should jump into the fray or just let Olga handle it - it ended up that Olga can handle herself just fine. Through all of this it ended up that we needed to have the notaries assistant type a bunch of stuff so we were unable to get in quickly - in fact it was 5 1/2 hours later before we got the paperwork we needed. During this time we sat out in a dusty parking lot in the biggest pollen storm you could ever imagine!! Needless to say we were all frustrated and ready to get out of there as fast as possible.
Now with the paperwork in hand we headed back to the inspector's office and then to the orphanage - this should have been one simple trip as well but this turned into another 3 hours of activity.
Finally at 4PM after grabbing a quick and cheap pizza lunch we headed to the orphanage to see the boys. They were ready for us with big smiles and wearing their girly bonnets (which "Pappa" is going to get fixed ASAP). Andrea and I bought them some cookies and juice boxes along the way, which they promptly started squeezing and squirting all over everyone. Yevgen has this coy little smile when he thinks he is getting away with something. Daniel just looks over the table at his brother and laughs at him.
Anyway to make a long story short - after two hours we were exhausted and filthy!! I don't know who was dirtier Yevgen or me!! Somehow Daniel and Andrea stayed much cleaner than us. That will change in the days to come. Olga was told that she needs to take 12 impromptu pictures of Andrea and me with the boys by next Friday.
That is about it for now - paperwork is in motion as is the bonding with boys. We are continually warned that this is a slow region and after our experience at the notary we completely believe it. Rumor has it we may be in town for about three weeks until we get to court. After court we will still have another couple weeks in Ukraine to get all of the other things done. We'll see in the coming days how this all plays out. By the end of next week we should have a better idea about what the timeframe really will be.
Thanks Dan, Angie and Ed for jumping on that paperwork snafu today!! Much appreciated!!
Talk to you in a couple days - take care.
Chris & Andrea
One point that Andrea forgot to mention in her post was that we were asked before leaving the orphanage yesterday whether we wished to pursue the adoption of the twins. It took us all of about 5 seconds to look at each other and say "YES". So this is where the story takes off for today (Friday).
Another point A forgot to mention was that Olga arranged an apartment for us through the pediatrician at the orphanage. The doctor packed her bag and rented her place to us for $50/night (not bad considering it is three bedrooms has air conditioning and a washing machine).
So...Olga, Andrea and I left this morning at 8:45 to go to the state notary in town. We needed to get a application to adopt form and have it notarized. One would think this would be a relatively quick and painless procedure BUT it was anything BUT!! 5 minutes after arriving Olga began to tussle with a local who was upset that we were invited into the notaries office before him. This near melee was quite a sight to see - I didn't know whether I should jump into the fray or just let Olga handle it - it ended up that Olga can handle herself just fine. Through all of this it ended up that we needed to have the notaries assistant type a bunch of stuff so we were unable to get in quickly - in fact it was 5 1/2 hours later before we got the paperwork we needed. During this time we sat out in a dusty parking lot in the biggest pollen storm you could ever imagine!! Needless to say we were all frustrated and ready to get out of there as fast as possible.
Now with the paperwork in hand we headed back to the inspector's office and then to the orphanage - this should have been one simple trip as well but this turned into another 3 hours of activity.
Finally at 4PM after grabbing a quick and cheap pizza lunch we headed to the orphanage to see the boys. They were ready for us with big smiles and wearing their girly bonnets (which "Pappa" is going to get fixed ASAP). Andrea and I bought them some cookies and juice boxes along the way, which they promptly started squeezing and squirting all over everyone. Yevgen has this coy little smile when he thinks he is getting away with something. Daniel just looks over the table at his brother and laughs at him.
Anyway to make a long story short - after two hours we were exhausted and filthy!! I don't know who was dirtier Yevgen or me!! Somehow Daniel and Andrea stayed much cleaner than us. That will change in the days to come. Olga was told that she needs to take 12 impromptu pictures of Andrea and me with the boys by next Friday.
That is about it for now - paperwork is in motion as is the bonding with boys. We are continually warned that this is a slow region and after our experience at the notary we completely believe it. Rumor has it we may be in town for about three weeks until we get to court. After court we will still have another couple weeks in Ukraine to get all of the other things done. We'll see in the coming days how this all plays out. By the end of next week we should have a better idea about what the timeframe really will be.
Thanks Dan, Angie and Ed for jumping on that paperwork snafu today!! Much appreciated!!
Talk to you in a couple days - take care.
Chris & Andrea
Going to the Orphanage for the 1st time
Hi Everyone,
Sorry it's been a few days since the last update. It was incredibly busy yesterday and today. Here's what's happened:
We took a 6 hour Express train from Kiev to Dnipropetrovsk then took a taxi to Dniprodzerzhinsk and we went straight to the Inspector's office. She oversees all the adoptions in this region and we need her OK to go to the orphanage- which we received in about 20 minutes. Back into the taxi and off to the orphanage. Here we needed to see the Director; had a short question/answer session, then we went up to talk with their pediatrician and then their current doctor. The boys were born premature and had a rough start in life, but they are absolutely healthy today. They're fighters the both of them!! While we were getting their medical history in they walked holding hands w/their caregiver. I DIDN'T CRY LIKE EVERYONE THOUGHT I WOULD...(tears came later). Daniel & Yevgen hopefully soon to be Brady & Lucas came right over and gave "Mamma & Pappa" hugs. They are 2 years and 9 months old and they will turn 3 on August 30. Yes another (2) August birthdays on the Donahue side!! They both have brown hair and blue, blue, blue eyes. Daniel's hair sticks up in the front and Yevgen has a bowl cut. They are cute as can be. They were pretty serious at first, but by the time we left them an hour later they were all smiles. Daniel is about 3" taller than Yevgen & they both have "potbellies" like Chris- haha...
We can visit the boys daily from 10-11:30 and 4-6pm and we plan to take full advantage of that time.
That's it for yesterday- here's Chris with todays adventure...
Sorry it's been a few days since the last update. It was incredibly busy yesterday and today. Here's what's happened:
We took a 6 hour Express train from Kiev to Dnipropetrovsk then took a taxi to Dniprodzerzhinsk and we went straight to the Inspector's office. She oversees all the adoptions in this region and we need her OK to go to the orphanage- which we received in about 20 minutes. Back into the taxi and off to the orphanage. Here we needed to see the Director; had a short question/answer session, then we went up to talk with their pediatrician and then their current doctor. The boys were born premature and had a rough start in life, but they are absolutely healthy today. They're fighters the both of them!! While we were getting their medical history in they walked holding hands w/their caregiver. I DIDN'T CRY LIKE EVERYONE THOUGHT I WOULD...(tears came later). Daniel & Yevgen hopefully soon to be Brady & Lucas came right over and gave "Mamma & Pappa" hugs. They are 2 years and 9 months old and they will turn 3 on August 30. Yes another (2) August birthdays on the Donahue side!! They both have brown hair and blue, blue, blue eyes. Daniel's hair sticks up in the front and Yevgen has a bowl cut. They are cute as can be. They were pretty serious at first, but by the time we left them an hour later they were all smiles. Daniel is about 3" taller than Yevgen & they both have "potbellies" like Chris- haha...
We can visit the boys daily from 10-11:30 and 4-6pm and we plan to take full advantage of that time.
That's it for yesterday- here's Chris with todays adventure...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Leaving for Dniprodzerzhinsk - the orphanage
Hi,
Thank you for all the warm comments - it is really great to hear from our friends while we are over here so keep them coming!!
Today we received our paperwork from the SDA which is needed to visit the boys. Once we got this we walked about 3 miles to the train station to get tickets for the morning express train (for Thursday). Luckily they had some seats so we will be on our way by 7AM local time. If all goes well we might be meeting the boys tomorrow afternoon. If there are delays with paperwork in the region it might be Friday before we can see them. At this point we are unsure if we can see the boys on the weekend or not. Some regions are open to this while others are not. We'll let you know when we know...
It is still hotter than you know what over here. Today it was 90 degrees F again. We have been mostly walking to get around but every once in a while we will jump on a bus to get across town. They are like steam baths and people are crammed in them like sardines. It gets you where you are going but you surely need a shower after taking the bus on these hot days.
We went downtown before we picked up our referral at the SDA. We met Olga and had lunch with her. She took us to a local pub and brewery and we had Ukrainian brew and Borschdt (sp?) which is beet soup. Andrea said she was going to try it and she did. It was actually pretty good and we both enjoyed it. This place also had fried pig's ears (which Olga said she loves) but we passed on that. Can't get too crazy in one day - have to spread it out!!
Our experience has been very smooth and pleasant so far and we are hopeful that continues. The people we are working with are all very helpful and caring. I think we mentioned in our last post that the region we are heading to is notorious for being difficult so things could be changing from smooth to bumpy. We'll just deal with that scenario if it occurs.
Take care - we hope everyone is well.
Chris & Andrea
Thank you for all the warm comments - it is really great to hear from our friends while we are over here so keep them coming!!
Today we received our paperwork from the SDA which is needed to visit the boys. Once we got this we walked about 3 miles to the train station to get tickets for the morning express train (for Thursday). Luckily they had some seats so we will be on our way by 7AM local time. If all goes well we might be meeting the boys tomorrow afternoon. If there are delays with paperwork in the region it might be Friday before we can see them. At this point we are unsure if we can see the boys on the weekend or not. Some regions are open to this while others are not. We'll let you know when we know...
It is still hotter than you know what over here. Today it was 90 degrees F again. We have been mostly walking to get around but every once in a while we will jump on a bus to get across town. They are like steam baths and people are crammed in them like sardines. It gets you where you are going but you surely need a shower after taking the bus on these hot days.
We went downtown before we picked up our referral at the SDA. We met Olga and had lunch with her. She took us to a local pub and brewery and we had Ukrainian brew and Borschdt (sp?) which is beet soup. Andrea said she was going to try it and she did. It was actually pretty good and we both enjoyed it. This place also had fried pig's ears (which Olga said she loves) but we passed on that. Can't get too crazy in one day - have to spread it out!!
Our experience has been very smooth and pleasant so far and we are hopeful that continues. The people we are working with are all very helpful and caring. I think we mentioned in our last post that the region we are heading to is notorious for being difficult so things could be changing from smooth to bumpy. We'll just deal with that scenario if it occurs.
Take care - we hope everyone is well.
Chris & Andrea
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Take a seat before reading this...
Greetings from Kiev,
Monday was an uneventful day as we had hoped it would be. We wanted to take it easy in preparation for our big day at the State Department of Adoptions (SDA). We walked to downtown Kiev and watched some peaceful political rallies, I bought some handsome sunglasses (Andrea calls them women's sunglasses - I call them Unisex) and we grabbed a meal. We hit the underground mall downtown as well - had a good time.
Last night we decided to stay up until 10 or so and then go to bed in preparation for our big meeting @ 10AM on Tuesday. The problem was neither of us could sleep - probably a combination of nerves and the fact that our internal clocks are still screwed up by the travel.
Now onto the interesting stuff...We had our appointment at 10am this morning. Sasha & Valentina picked us up and drove us to the SDA (Olga met us there). We were greeted by a nice young woman named Tatianna who would be our translator for the meeting. She brought us up to an office where we met Alana- who was the psychologist that would take us through the process of selecting a child. She was very nice as well. We were comforted by warm smiles and handshakes on arrival. Alana gave us information and pictures of four different children ranging in age from 2-4 years of age. Each child had some type of issues and as she took us through each child the issues seemed to be getting progressively worse. Almost all of the children here have developmental challenges some ranging from mild to severe.
It was at this point that I (Chris) spoke up and asked if they had any siblings that might meet our criteria. Alana pulled a folder with twin boys - YUP - TWIN BOYS. Yevgen and Daniel Kremin will be three years old on August 30th. These boys were by far the healthiest children that were presented to us so...they have some developmental delays and some other minor problems due to a lack of nutrition. So sit down now - WE ARE GOING FOR IT!! As of early this AM we were sold on one boy but you know us - we can't do anything the easy way!!
The process from here on out goes like this:
* Tomorrow we pick up our formal referral from the SDA for these two children
* Thursday morning we will leave Kiev from Dnipro...region to go meet the boys. The town where the orphanage is located is about 250 miles from Kiev. We will take a high-speed train there early Thday morning and will either see the boys on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. We should know shortly soonafter if these are the boys for us - wish us well and keep us in your prayers.
The only other thing we know about Dnipro... is that it is one of the most expensive regions to adopt from and things tend to take longer than other regions. Hopefully this does not turn out to be the case but we will see.
All in all we are bit overwhelmed with things but we are going to take the rest of the day today to absorb and decompress!! The SDA experience was far better than we anticipated which is a load off of our minds. Now comes the next step of the process - which we hope goes as well.
This is it for now - we'll update after we meet the boys assuming we have internet access which may not be a good assumption. We'll do our best.
Take care,
C&A
Monday was an uneventful day as we had hoped it would be. We wanted to take it easy in preparation for our big day at the State Department of Adoptions (SDA). We walked to downtown Kiev and watched some peaceful political rallies, I bought some handsome sunglasses (Andrea calls them women's sunglasses - I call them Unisex) and we grabbed a meal. We hit the underground mall downtown as well - had a good time.
Last night we decided to stay up until 10 or so and then go to bed in preparation for our big meeting @ 10AM on Tuesday. The problem was neither of us could sleep - probably a combination of nerves and the fact that our internal clocks are still screwed up by the travel.
Now onto the interesting stuff...We had our appointment at 10am this morning. Sasha & Valentina picked us up and drove us to the SDA (Olga met us there). We were greeted by a nice young woman named Tatianna who would be our translator for the meeting. She brought us up to an office where we met Alana- who was the psychologist that would take us through the process of selecting a child. She was very nice as well. We were comforted by warm smiles and handshakes on arrival. Alana gave us information and pictures of four different children ranging in age from 2-4 years of age. Each child had some type of issues and as she took us through each child the issues seemed to be getting progressively worse. Almost all of the children here have developmental challenges some ranging from mild to severe.
It was at this point that I (Chris) spoke up and asked if they had any siblings that might meet our criteria. Alana pulled a folder with twin boys - YUP - TWIN BOYS. Yevgen and Daniel Kremin will be three years old on August 30th. These boys were by far the healthiest children that were presented to us so...they have some developmental delays and some other minor problems due to a lack of nutrition. So sit down now - WE ARE GOING FOR IT!! As of early this AM we were sold on one boy but you know us - we can't do anything the easy way!!
The process from here on out goes like this:
* Tomorrow we pick up our formal referral from the SDA for these two children
* Thursday morning we will leave Kiev from Dnipro...region to go meet the boys. The town where the orphanage is located is about 250 miles from Kiev. We will take a high-speed train there early Thday morning and will either see the boys on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. We should know shortly soonafter if these are the boys for us - wish us well and keep us in your prayers.
The only other thing we know about Dnipro... is that it is one of the most expensive regions to adopt from and things tend to take longer than other regions. Hopefully this does not turn out to be the case but we will see.
All in all we are bit overwhelmed with things but we are going to take the rest of the day today to absorb and decompress!! The SDA experience was far better than we anticipated which is a load off of our minds. Now comes the next step of the process - which we hope goes as well.
This is it for now - we'll update after we meet the boys assuming we have internet access which may not be a good assumption. We'll do our best.
Take care,
C&A
Sunday, May 20, 2007
We're here...
Hello Everyone,
We arrived without issue. Our flights were long but uneventful. Heathrow was a nightmare - once you get off the plane you have to clear security and the line was outrageously big. Anyway...we made it.
At the airport we were met by the VIP Escort service to get us through Customs. This turned what could have been a very long process into about 5 minutes. After we got out of Customs our facillitator Olga was right there to meet us.
The drive back into Kyiv was interesting. Our translator's son-in-law Sasha drove us in a BMW 5-class sedan. He averaged about 85MPH the whole way in. Andrea just closed her eyes at times. Kyiv is a growing city - a lot of new building going on.
We stopped and got groceries on the way in. We picked up the essentials - bottled water - pierogies and M&M's.
Our apartment is right on a main thoroughfare into downtown. You never know what you are going to see - this is quite possibly the ultimate place to people watch. Just this morning an older woman wearing typical Ukrainian clothes pulled her skirt up and whizzed right on the sidewalk. Yeah - that was not the best way to start my day but Andrea got a good chuckle out of it!! The apartment is convenient to grocery - pizza and coffee. What else could we ask for! It is clean and full of books we can't read - and also some fuzzy blankets and chair covers - we'll take a picture for you!! Actually interestingly enough our apartment is right next to the US Embassy. They had a party last night that lasted until 3AM - didn't keep us up though!
Today we are going to take a tour with a friend of Olga's. He is a young kid who speaks English pretty well. We'll give him $20 USD to show us around for a couple hours.
We spoke with Olga and Valentina (translator who put together our dossier) for a while in the apartment. The meeting with the SDA sounds to be a challenge potentially. We were told to be politely agressive as to the child we are seeking otherwise they will try to set us up with an older child. We were told to ask as many questions as we can. The unfortunate thing is that under the new rules our translator (Olga) cannot join us in the room - the SDA will have their own translator present. We are going to spend a fair amount of time over the next day and a half putting together our questions and preparing ourselves for this all important meeting.
This is it for now - we are going to head out on our tour. We'll catch back up after our meeting with the SDA on Tuesday. Until then...das vedana - that is Russian for good-bye - we think.
Chris & Andrea
We arrived without issue. Our flights were long but uneventful. Heathrow was a nightmare - once you get off the plane you have to clear security and the line was outrageously big. Anyway...we made it.
At the airport we were met by the VIP Escort service to get us through Customs. This turned what could have been a very long process into about 5 minutes. After we got out of Customs our facillitator Olga was right there to meet us.
The drive back into Kyiv was interesting. Our translator's son-in-law Sasha drove us in a BMW 5-class sedan. He averaged about 85MPH the whole way in. Andrea just closed her eyes at times. Kyiv is a growing city - a lot of new building going on.
We stopped and got groceries on the way in. We picked up the essentials - bottled water - pierogies and M&M's.
Our apartment is right on a main thoroughfare into downtown. You never know what you are going to see - this is quite possibly the ultimate place to people watch. Just this morning an older woman wearing typical Ukrainian clothes pulled her skirt up and whizzed right on the sidewalk. Yeah - that was not the best way to start my day but Andrea got a good chuckle out of it!! The apartment is convenient to grocery - pizza and coffee. What else could we ask for! It is clean and full of books we can't read - and also some fuzzy blankets and chair covers - we'll take a picture for you!! Actually interestingly enough our apartment is right next to the US Embassy. They had a party last night that lasted until 3AM - didn't keep us up though!
Today we are going to take a tour with a friend of Olga's. He is a young kid who speaks English pretty well. We'll give him $20 USD to show us around for a couple hours.
We spoke with Olga and Valentina (translator who put together our dossier) for a while in the apartment. The meeting with the SDA sounds to be a challenge potentially. We were told to be politely agressive as to the child we are seeking otherwise they will try to set us up with an older child. We were told to ask as many questions as we can. The unfortunate thing is that under the new rules our translator (Olga) cannot join us in the room - the SDA will have their own translator present. We are going to spend a fair amount of time over the next day and a half putting together our questions and preparing ourselves for this all important meeting.
This is it for now - we are going to head out on our tour. We'll catch back up after our meeting with the SDA on Tuesday. Until then...das vedana - that is Russian for good-bye - we think.
Chris & Andrea
Monday, May 14, 2007
Getting set to depart...
Hi All,
We begin our Ukrainian journey this Friday as we depart JFK around 7PM. Our flight takes us to Heathrow where we change planes and head to Kiev. We land in Kiev around 4PM local time on Saturday (GMT +2 --- i.e. 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time).
We should get settled into a Kiev apartment on Saturday and keep it through our appointment date of May 22nd. This is all we know for now - obviously our trip kicks into high gear after our appointment date.
We will try and update this site regularly so everyone can follow our progress. Look for a follow-up post this coming Sunday. We know there is an internet cafe across from our apartment in Kiev but we don't know if we'll have access once we head to the region where the orphanage resides.
We begin our Ukrainian journey this Friday as we depart JFK around 7PM. Our flight takes us to Heathrow where we change planes and head to Kiev. We land in Kiev around 4PM local time on Saturday (GMT +2 --- i.e. 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time).
We should get settled into a Kiev apartment on Saturday and keep it through our appointment date of May 22nd. This is all we know for now - obviously our trip kicks into high gear after our appointment date.
We will try and update this site regularly so everyone can follow our progress. Look for a follow-up post this coming Sunday. We know there is an internet cafe across from our apartment in Kiev but we don't know if we'll have access once we head to the region where the orphanage resides.
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