Merry Christmas from Kiev

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family back home. We can not wait to get home! Last evening we took the train to Kiev, but we were lucky that we could take it with Svetta, Lori, Russ, Lena, Erik, Tina, and Dema. Vika did not know until yeaterday that we were leaving last evening.  We had a lady that was with this children at camp this summer explain to her, that we would be back in January for our court date. It is hard to say good bye to her again, but we all know that this is the last time. We have been here two weeks, we can not imagine how all the children survive for years.  For all those coming after us we have to tell you that yours hearts will be broken.  Lori had chlidren begging for her to find them a home.  You wish you could help each and everyone of them.  Please pray for them today. 
Sorry no photos again, our camera is broke.

Friday

Sorry there was no post last night, we did not do a lot yesterday.  We went to visit Eric and Cindy after they got home from part one of their court hearing.  They will have part two on Monday, we are praying that everything goes well.  Part one was stressful.  We had a nice visit with them, then went back to our apartment to get ready to go to the orphanage. We went to the orphanage a little later today, and all the kids were waiting for us.  Vika was peering out the window, and when she saw the car she ran to the door to greet us.  There were not as many children in the room last night, just us the art teacher and one other girl. Usually we have several extra kids and a few come in and out, we all enjoy seeing them.  Our camera is not working so we have not photos --sorry:(  We will try to get it to work today because we are going to a program at the orphanage at 4, and the children are putting on a show.  The little children, the bigger kids had a program yesterday.  We are taking the train back to Kiev tonight so I do not know if we will have time to blog later.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!  See everyone soon.

Separation complete

This morning Sveta picked us up at 8 and we drove to the village where Vika was born.  This is where we had to go to do the separation from her brother.  We meet with a judge and the orphange inspector from that region.  They ask us some question like, what is your job, why do you want to adopt a teenage girl, how will you teach her english.  Then they said good luck and gave us the separation.  We were not sure how it was going to go but it turned out well.  Then we drove back to Kivery Rog and Sveta filed the separation with this region.
After that we were free until we went to see Vika about 3:30. When we arrived at the orphange Vika was writing her letter that stated she wanted us to adopt her.  So we went with some of the other girls in her group and watched them pratice their dance. These girls can dance!! They were doing a hip hop dance and they can move. Russ and Cheri you have two excellent dancers.  Vika was still working on her letter so we went to the art room with the everyone else and waited for her, she came over about 10 minutes later with a big smile on her face. We have forgotten to post that Vika has choosen her middle name -it is Grace. Vika Grace McCracken, she loves to say it!

Open air market

Today Eric and Cindy Nole showed us where the street market was located.  It is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment.  They had some very nice produce, trinket stands, and of course meat and fish.  It is a very busy place.  We bought some apples for Vikas group at the orphanage and a pen, because we did not bring a pen with us.  We thought they would take it at the airport, I guess they don't.
About 3:30 we received the phone call that our driver was coming and he took us to the orphange.  Went we went to Vikas group room and she had the key for the art room all ready, where we go to visit, and she kept saying in Russian, lets go, lets go!    We gave Vika the Christmas card Micks Mom and Dad sent over for her, and the card and notebook and pencil Karena sent for her.  She was very touched that people had sent things for her.  She was showing differnt people her card and she would say, babushka and diaduska.  At the art room several other children came to visit us.  We had brought some word search books, and the children loved them. Eric, Cindy, and Tina were also there and all the kids like to play with Eric.  We got to stay until about 6:30 and then came back to the apartment and ate. It is now time to sleep, we are enjoying our days and look forward to the next.

Train ride and a great day

Sorry about missing a day but we were so busy yesterday by the time we got back to the apartment we just wanted to go to bed.  Sunday evening we took the train from Kiev toKrivey Rig with Sveta. Sveta is our attorney/facilitator/translater, she is a wonderful person that works very hard. We loved the train ride!  It was overnight and you slept on the seats, they were like bench seats.  You had a matress that rolled out and sheets and a pillow and blanket.  Other than the men in the next car talking until 2 in the morning I slept pretty well.  Mick said he only slept about and hour, but he still ejoyed the train.  When we arrived, at 6am in Krivey Rig we went to McDonalds and got egg mcmuffins and coffee and proceeded to our apartment to eat. When we arrived at the apartment we has such a nice suprise, the lady that lives here had made us breakfast and was here to welcome us.  Her name is Tatinana (not sure about spelling).  She is a very nice person who made us feel at home, and she has a lovely apartment.  She is staying with her sister while we are here.  We had about 45 minutes to shower and get ready for the day and then we were off with Svetta.  We went to the regional government building where Sveta started our paperwork and made an appointment with the inspector to come to the orphanage with us when we meet Vika.  Next we went to a BIG, almost Wal-Mart type of store to get groceries. Dropped them at the apartment, then went and had interent set up at a cell phone/computer store, by then it was after 1pm and we had to go pick up the inspector. When we went back to the regional building we found out that another lady was also coming with us, so Mick, Sveta, the inspector and I sat in the back seat.  Now you have to understand that this is a small car! So I was sitting on Mick and the inspector ladies laps! We were all laughting, and Mick and I both thought how can she say anything negative afIer I sat on her.
When we got to the orphanage we waited in a room outside the diectors office, and people walked by and would say hello. Then we saw the kids walking home from school, and a few of them would stick their heads in the door and look to see who was there.  Dema (Tina and Dustins) and Erik were the first to find us.  They were all smiles and came in to say hello, Mick and and I told them hi and then Mick said shhh and they understood and left.  We also saw several of the girls and they just smiled and waved.  After a while they brought Vika down and she came a gave us both a hug.  It was so wonderful to see her at last!  She sat with us quitely until they called us into the directors office. They ask us to tell about ourselves and what we did for a living.  We showed them the photo book we brought for Vika that had pictures of our home, family, and the school Vika will attend. (For future families this was helpful, because the director and inspector both looked at it) Then they told us about Vika, when she was born, her birth weight and lenght, that her parents rights were terminated, that she has three brothers and none of them have ever come to see her, ant that she is a good and quiet girl.  The doctor read her file, and said that since she has been in the orphange she has been very healthy, has has no major health issues, just the flu a time or two and some ear infections.  Vika had a complete physical in Novemeber and had no issues, at that time she was tested for HIV, TB, and hepatitus, and everything was negative.  They ask Vika some questions we did not get a translations for, and then they ask us  about school and said she has some difficulty with math and if we would  help her with it, of course we said yes.  After that we were dimissed and Vika took us to meet her group, the girls she lives with, and she showed me her bed and pulled out the the camera Karena gave her in August and showed me her most current picutes she took.  Of course we had to meet all the girls and get a group photo and then the girls took a photo of Vika with her parents. Vika and her beautiful smile!
We have more to post but we have to leave soon, will add the rest with photos ( I hope) later.

Waiting for the train

Another day in Kiev.  We are waiting for a phone call to let us know when we will get the train to Krivey Rig.  We took a longer walk today and saw some street venders, some sold vegetables, a  lot had meat. Some of the meat was bacon, some looked like beef, and of course chicken. No we did not try any.  One of the men selling meat kept speaking to us and Mick said we don't understand, english, and he smiled and said oh english.
There are always many children playing outside, which is nice to see, and many people have sleds to pull the kids on.  Not the pastic sleds, the nice wooden sleds with runners. Not much more to report today.  Tomorrow we get to see Vika, and we can not wait!

New picture

Our new photo of Vika is compliments of Eric and Cindy Nole who are in Krivy now.  Thank you both!

Another day in Kiev

The sun came out today!  We have not seen the sun since we have been here and it was so nice! It was not out all day but just here and there. It snowed a couple of inches last night and people were out today with brooms clearing cars and sidewalks, but we still did not get to see any of those shovels Lori was talking about. (Sorry Lori, Mick made me do it) We are taking the train tomorrow night to Krivy Rig, and Monday we will meet the orphanage director and get to see Vika. We also found out that we will not have our court date this year.  We will both need to return in January for the court date.   We will have more of a time frame for that later next week.
We walked to the market again today, it was very crowded.  It was like the Clearfield County Fair on Saturday night.  People were everywhere!  We never buy that much, it is more of a reason to get out and walk around for a while.   

Paperwork pick-up

Today started out slow, we slept until 8, after we got ready we went to the market.  There are two different sides to the grocery store, on side is shampoo, toothpaste, soap and things like that and the other side has the food items.  If you purchase from one side you have to leave your bags in a locker while you shop on the other side.  It is interesting, I want to take pictures but I don't know if they will let us.  There is security there and I do not know what they would think about us taking pictures. We must not look to American because everyone speaks Ukraineian to us and we have to say we don't understand ( the one phrase we know how to say in Russian) and then say english.  Then they just smile and everything is alright.  You have to purchases your plastic bags to put your grocerys in, so sometimes it is hard to communicate what size bag you would like.  But it all works out in the end. The cashiers are very friendly, and once they find out you speak english they are very accomidating  
We came back to the apartment and waited for Sasha to call.  We went and picked up our paperwork from the SAD, it took all of five minutes.  Now we do not have anything to do but wait until Sunday to take the train to Krivey Rig.  We wish we could go to Krivey Rig tonight and just stay there until Monday so we could be closer to Vika.  Two more days!

WE MADE IT

We made it! And we have internet (thank you Sasha). Our plane trip was uneventful, the airports were easy enough to find our way around. The flight from Dulles to Germany was cramped to say the least, but we survived. By the time we arrived in Ukraine it was dark out, so we did not see much driving from the airport. We are in a nice apartment, it has a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. Sasha took us to the market when we arrived, it was a fairly large store with good selection.  I could reconize some lables but Sasha helped us choose most of our items.
Yesterday we did very little.  We slept, read and went for a short walk.  We tried to locate the market that was close to us but we went the wrong direction.  Mick found the marktet today.  Our apartment building is behind a school and we got to see all the kids leaving for the day.  It is very cold here we would guess 14 or 15 degrees. 
We had our SDA appointment today, we left at 8:20 and were back after 10:00.  There was not much to the appointment.  They showed us a picture of Vika, she must have been 5, she was so cute in that picture!  Her parents had their rights terminated and she has been in the orphanage since 2001.  She also has a 17 year old brother and we will have to get separation before the adoption.  Vika's birthday is April 2nd,  She had told us it was April 1st, but it is the second. 
We have talked with Eric and Cindy on the phone, they are in Krivey Rig, we will not be leaving for Krivey until Sunday evening.  We can collect our SDA paperwork tomorrow, but we can not meet with the orphange director until Monday.

Travel Day

It has finally arrived!  Today is the day we leave for Ukraine!  Our bags are packed and the weather is co-operating.  We want to thank everyone for your help and prayers.  This trip would not be possible without the help of many good people.  We will post as soon as we can when we arrive. Vika here we come!

Bad News

David called us tonight with bad news.  The courts are closing on Dec. 24th so our Dec 30 or  31 court date is not going to be.  Our options are - make 3 trips to Ukraine or take a chance and change our SDA appointment to January.  We do not feel comfortable in changing our SDA appointment day - which is the 16th of this month.   We are being told to come this month for our appointment, then go home on the 25 or 26, then come back in January ( both of us again) for our court date ( which is now not known) go home again, then have Mick come back a third time to get Vika.  Your prayers are appreciated.

The Wait

It has been just over one week since we found out our SDA appointment date and there is so much to do.  We have made our fight reservations and are trying to make sure everything at home will be taken care of while we are gone.  It seems like no amount of planning will be enough to get everything done and then another question or complication arises.  We have been praying through several things this week and so far they have all seem to be working out.   Our hearts and minds have been with Vika.  ( Lori thank you for the phone call.)  She knows that we are coming and we will be together soon.    We have been following the Walk's and Kunstbeck's blogs daily.  It is the first and last thing we do every evening.  Seeing the photos they post and reading about their daily events makes us want to be there even more.  Just over a week and we will be on our way!