Water's Edge

A break from the heat. So welcome. Cloudy, breezy day.

Our visit with "K" went well. We are up to about 1 hour and 45 minutes. We are only allowed 2 hour visits. We have decided to go in the morning for our 2 hour allotment. We could go in the afternoon as well, but mornings seem to work better.

We have been doing many "nature" things with "K". We stack little rocks we find. The first time I started stacking the rocks he seemed so surprised. The play area is filled with rocks, but he had to look so hard to find them at first. Almost like he had never seen them before. Now he finds them everywhere.

Saying goodbye to "K" is getting harder, especially for him. The minute we start walking up the stairs that lead back to his group's room, he cries and cries. We bring him into the first little coat room and have the 3 kids sit down on a bench. We give them all one more drink of water. By this time one of the mama's has come out. "K" finishes his drink and then puts his cup back in Ed's bag and breaks down crying.

We know that "K" would like to spend more time with us, just not quite sure why! We bring him a toy to play with. We bring him treats. We give him undivided attention. If we are given the legal right to be his parents and when we take him out of the orphanage, we will not have all of this "new" stuff to offer him. Treats are just that - treats. They last for about an hour and 45 minutes. I pray God will give all we need to successfully make the jump from visitor to parents.

Since there was a break in the heat today, we decided to walk down to the waterfront. Quite a trek from our apartment.

Sevastopol sits on the tip of a peninsula that juts out into the black sea. It has a busy harbor and a long, wide paved water side promenade. This area has seen much of history. I will share more in a later post.

The area is packed with tourists right now - mostly Russian. There are ice cream stands every 20 feet and little stalls selling all the same souvenirs. But the harbor is beautiful lined with white columned buildings. We will leave you with a couple of pictures. Take care from Ukraine. Love the Gillis'













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Location:Lenina St,Sevastopol',Ukraine

Monday, Monday

What was our visit to the orphanage going to bring today?

We were curious to see "K's" reaction to us today after not seeing him yesterday. His group was outside in their designated play area. All the kids were sitting down on benches and waiting for their turn to drink water. "K" saw us coming from a distance. He quickly stood up and then just as quickly sat down again. He was next in line for water and he is a thirsty boy. I am sure he did not want to miss his turn! We did see a smile on his face though.

Little Putin was right there and ready to take "K" by the hand and bring him to us. He excitedly stood up, took a few steps and was quickly grabbed by one of the mama's and made to sit back down. Poor little guy sobbed broken hearted tears. He could not perform his important task. We would have been glad to allow him to do it, but we do not make the rules. Which is as it should be.

We had a great visit. We were able to get our toy car back that "K" tossed into the locked play area. Peter and Lydia were much happier to see it than "K" appeared to be. I suppose knowing the value of personal property made the loss of that car more real to Peter and Lydia. "K" has known nothing but communal living. Which is better? Not sure. When the car was lost, P and L spent way too much time fretting about it. "K" thought about it for a second longer and then was fine with it.

One thing he has become very attached to is his drinking cup. We found one in our neighborhood store. It is blue and has two little handles. This is a prized possession. Today was the first day that he actually threw it. We could tell he was thinking about it, but wanted to see if he would actually go through with it. Sure enough. Temptation won out. Oh that age old problem! We all have our issues with it I suppose.

Yesterday we, Ed, Lydia, Peter and myself, went for a walk. When we stepped out of our apartment building, we heard round after round of guns being fired. It is an uneasy feeling to be in an unfamiliar country with gun fire sounding in the distance. The streets were full of people all heading the same direction. Policemen had blocked off the main road. We decided to follow the crowds - into the line of fire!

As we got closer, we remembered reading about Flag Day, a celebration of the Russian Navy. That was it! Men in uniform, young and old, were every where. The women were all in nice dresses and the kids had little sailor suits on.

We went down to the water front and watched the parade of Navy boats in the harbor. Ship decks were lined with sailors standing at attention. Other boats had streams of water shooting out from every angle. It was quite a display. The crowds were filled with flag waving patriots. All the while a load speaker blared Russian to the crowd. It felt like we were listening to some sort of propaganda, but of course we had no clue what they were saying.

We then went to another area where there were all sorts of military equipment set up. The kids were able to go inside military tanks. It was crowded and hot. What our military men and women endure for the protection of all of us is admirable. Incredible.

We also saw artillery equipment and many different missiles. The rockets were quite eery. We had had talks about the cold war with the kids earlier. Lydia made a comment that if one of those bombs had hit Grandma Connie's or Grandma Teresa's school, we wouldn't be here today. She seemed very affected. To be in a former Soviet country celebrating the military might of a Cold War adversary was surreal.

So........... God bless America. God bless the nation of freedom of choice. God bless the nation of independence. God bless those who have the opportunity to do for others because of the richness of their homeland. What a blessing to live in such a great country.

Just one of our many blessings.




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Mi Casa

No orphanage visit today. Our driver has Sundays off to spend with his family. I wanted to share with you the story of our apartment. It truly is a testament to God's faithfulness.

We arrived in Sevastopol and went directly to our first apartment. We were so hoping to stay where the Hansen's stayed during their trips to Ukraine, but that place was full. Still this apartment wasn't bad. There were 2 bedrooms, one for us, one for Olga and a pull out for the kids. The one thing about this apartment that I was not too crazy about was the kitchen. I was hoping to be able to prepare some meals for the family. There was a stove top which was perfectly fine and one broken pot. That was it. I remember the Hansen's mentioning to us that the cookware was not up to garage sale quality here in the states. This one pot was certainly on it's last leg.

But this was our apartment and it had an air conditioner. We could make the pot work!

After our first day of busy paperwork running and a hot, stuffy day in a car, we came back to our apartment. Our air conditioning had been turned off and our lights would not turn on. Olga called the owners and was told we were not to use the air conditioning and the lights were off due to construction on a building next door. No telling when they would be turned on again and if they would stay on. Also, the hot water heater only appeared to work in the evening - something about water pressure. Olga was not happy.

Olga had set up an appointment to see another apartment before any of these events occurred and left it up to us wether we wanted to go see the apartment or not. We had decided against the new apartment even before seeing it because the price was just too high for 20 days of rent. But we were now interested!

We went to the new apartment and the land lady greeted us in English. She is from Lithuania but resides in Ukraine and California, USA. She immediately started to show us the apartment. Full kitchen, more cookware than I have in my kitchen, water purifier, television, washer, nice bathroom, 2 bedrooms and another pull out for the kids. When she found out that we were adopting, she lowered her price to what we were paying at the other place. Sold!

Oh, and she found a book in english of Ukrainian stories to read to the kids and she had the cable guys come the very next morning to install english channels on the television so that we could watch the olympics in english. Can you believe it?

Simply amazing. We were so grateful and thankful to God for watching over us and directing our steps on this journey. This apartment goes a long, long way in making our days here bearable and comfortable. God is good.



Entry


Kitchen


Dining room


1st bedroom


2nd bedroom and office


Living room


Happy Gillis family
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P.S.

If anyone recorded the opening ceremonies to the Olympics, please save it for us. We would love to watch it..... even in September! It did not start until 11 pm here and that was just a bit too late for us. Thanks!


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Big Brass

Another hot one. We are so hoping for a cool down, but it doesn't look too promising!

We had a wonderful visit with "K" today. There is one little boy in "k's" group that takes "K" by the hand and leads him over to us. This little guy looks exactly like Vladimir Putin. Today was no exception. Putin excitedly lead "K" over to us the minute we arrived. Hopefully "K" is beginning to understand that he belongs with us too.

We started the visit with coloring. He seemed to know what markers were. He soon had them all over the table, couch, floor and himself. Thank goodness for crayola washables! We did manage to stay on the paper most of the time. After we were done coloring, I took out a hand wipe. "K" immediately pulled down his shorts and then started to pull down his undies. I am assuming this is how they wash them up. Maybe sponge baths more than full baths. We quickly pulled everything back up in case some one happened by and then got down to the business of cleaning up his hands. We both have a lot to learn!

After the orphanage we had our driver take us to McDonalds. This was a treat. McDonalds here is huge. It is extremely busy and the food is cheap and of good quality. Trust me. You will not hear me praise a McDonald's very often, but we did enjoy this one.

Once the temps cooled off a bit, it was time to get the kids out of the apartment. We become like caged animals after a while. We walked along the water front following the sound of a band. We came upon a military brass band and enjoyed a fun concert. They played many American tunes and it was fun to enjoy the shade and the breeze and listen. After all of our "exercise", we bought ice cream for the walk back!





Have a lovely weekend!

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Therapy

Today we had the privilege of attending "K's" therapy session.

As I have mentioned before, our little guy has a cochlear implant. He was born deaf and it was discovered at the age of two. A woman of high standing in the community was visiting the orphanage last fall and took an interest in "K". She found charity funds to provide him with the surgery for his cochlear implant. He travelled to Kiev with an orphanage mama and had the surgery done there. He was back in Kiev for follow up this past June. From what we have heard, the doctors are pleased with his progress.

We had arranged with Olga to attend one of his therapy sessions while he was still in the orphanage. "K" sits at a little table with a toy of some kind in front of him. Before he can play with the toy in front of him (sometimes it is a puzzle), he has to sit still with both hands palm down on the table. Once "K" is looking at her, she makes a clapping noise and he then can play for a minute. Hands back on the table and so it goes. The object is to have him pay attention to the sound when she makes the clapping noise behind his head.

Personally, we are not sure how well he hears. At times it seems like he hears loud sounds. While playing yesterday, a load truck pulled into the yard and "K" became quite afraid. Could have been the sight of the truck, could have been the noise. He does not respond to his name. He may not know it. If he is walking away from us and we want him to come back, someone has to tap him on the shoulder and get his attention and motion to come back.

We will be eager to hear what the doctors back home have to say. One of the mama's showed us the different switches on the device today. We could not understand a word she told us. Before we leave Ukraine, we will have one appointment with the doctors who performed the implant back in Kiev. I know that Olga will attend this appointment with us and will interpret for us. I hope we get valuable information from them to bring home to the doctors in the states.

One cute little side note...... When leaving the therapy session, there was a stool to the right of the door and it had 2 pots underneath it. One pot was sticking out slightly. "K" stopped mid step to bend down and push that pot completely under the stool. He is going to be one orderly boy! Peter and "K's" room will be the neatest one in our home.

Day eleven away from home is almost over. We look to God to give us the endurance we need for the next 25 or so. We cannot walk this journey alone. We know He is walking before us and smoothing our path. We are grateful to have a Creator who knows all things and has the perfect plan for our days.... even if it is thousands of miles away from our comfortable home and loved ones. Thank you for journeying with us and remembering us in prayer. We so appreciate it.





Kids playing on the equipment at the orphanage.





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A fruitful morning

Our visit with "K" went so well today. His group was outside playing when we got there. They have individual group play areas. Each area has a little covered room with bars enclosing it. I assume so the kids can be outside and in the shade while at the same time keeping them in close quarters.

"K" saw us coming and stepped over the barrier the Mama's had set up to keep the kids inside the room. He had a small, empty bucket in his hand and I found some things from the ground to pick up and put in his bucket. He thought that was pretty neat and rewarded us with a big smile. We found a few more treasures and then it was time for the group to go in.

The Mama's tried to get all the kids to pick up their toys. We brought "K" back into the little room so that he could do his share and boy did he! He picked up every toy. Crawled under benches to get the last few things. All the other kids were long gone and he was trying to drag the toy basket into the closet. Such a worker. He will fit in very well with the kids - especially Peter. We have another worker for the church kitchen!

We stayed outside in the shade. With the breeze, it was so much cooler than going inside to that stuffy little room. We played on the "play ground" equipment. It amazes me that the entire orphanage has such few things to play on. I would think the kids have a ton of energy to wear off. There is one little one in "K's" group that certainly has a bunch. Squealing, he threw his arms around my legs 3 times this morning while "K" was picking up the toys.

We took "K" for walks and held him for quite a bit and then it was ready to go. The temps just make everyone miserable and all 3 kids get worn out quickly. We returned a crying "K" to his group. There were older mama's there today and they didn't seem too pleased to take him back all whiney. Can't say that I blame them.

After the orphanage, our driver Max took us to the food market. We loaded up. I bought a huge bag of veggies for $4. Awesome. Two vendors recognized us from two days before. Most people seem rather put out to try to help the Engliski's. I can "Excuse me please, how much?" in Russian but then need to ask for the number of grivneh to be said in English. Some smile, some turn away and let a younger person help or just show the number on a calculator. Either way, we came home with new sunglasses for Ed (his broke), a Lightning McQueen ball to play with "K" and a mess load of fruits and veggies. A very "fruitful" morning!

Tonight we plan to take a walk and see the harbor. It will hopefully be cooler by then. Take care. We miss you all.









dried whole fish


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Rewind

We wanted to give you a recap of our busy days here in Sevastopol.

On Sunday, we arrived by plane. We took the 2 hour drive to Sevastopol and immediately went to our apartment. Our facilitator Olga is staying with us while she is in town. We dropped off our things and then went in search of some food. They had moved the market and Olga had a bit of difficulty locating it. We were melting in the heat!

We found the market and did our best to avoid the raw meat sitting out in the heat. I just could not bring myself to buy any. We purchased fruits and veggies. One man gave us a taste of some melon. Supper sweet! We bought a small one because the larger ones were quite spendy - even for Ukraine. After we had purchased it, the man came around the counter and Olga explained to us that he wanted us to have one of the large melons. They were better, he said and he wanted us to have a good opinion of him. So kind. Olga was very surprised. We swapped melons and we are still eating from it, it was that big!

When we got back to the apartment we crashed. We had an early morning the next day.

I want to describe more of our first encounter with "K". The night before Olga prepared us for what we could expect. She said it was a good idea to have a gift to give to him. My stomach sank. We remembered the Hansen's telling us something similar and in all the commotion of preparing to come, we had not gotten anything. What to do? We had other things to bring and play with him, but no present. We decided that Ed would get up early in the morning and would go pick up some crackers at one of the local stores. We had also purchased a small horse souvenir that we thought we could give him. Peter and Lydia were crushed, but they understood that we needed something for him.

The next morning Ed bought crackers and found a little car for him - larger than a matchbox - that said for 3 and up. We decided to wait and see if it would be appropriate.

Our first meeting went better than we could have expected. Two ladies brought "K" into the room where we were hearing about his file. They had arms full of toys. They were both so busy trying to display all of the things he could do with his new cochlear implant (one ear). He, of course, was having none of it.

The first one he locked eyes on was Peter. In that moment I was so grateful that we had brought the kids. "K's" eyes became big and he stuck his neck forward trying to get a good look at Peter. We tried to get a little closer to him, but the ladies were still pulling him this way and that trying to get him to show off his "skills". It was comical.

He started fussing and then it happened. Ed pulled out the car! Oh boy. That was the thing to get! He came to it immediately. He opened the little doors on it and put it right down on the floor. All five of us were on the floor pushing the car back and forth.

They didn't give us much time for that first visit, but I wanted to get a picture. I was hoping for a natural one of him playing with the kids, but the ladies took "K" and made him stand to attention as soon as the camera came out! Peter and Lydia stood on either side of him and "K" immediately reached out to take their hands. Probably what they do in the orphanage, but it was a sweet sight for this mother's heart. Then "K" realized he was missing something. Dropped the kid's hands and went to get the car. He picked it up and went right back in between Peter and Lydia and picked up their hands again. Every one in the room thought it was something special and it truly was.

We have had one meeting with him since. The car was a big hit again, but an even bigger hit was Ed. It was miserably hot in the room that we visited him in. Ed picked him up and swayed him back and forth like one would a baby only farther away from your body. Poor Ed. He was exhausted by the time the visit was over. When Ed tried to put "K" down, he would shake his head yes and want more. He seems to have a sweet disposition. Not to say we do not have some behaviors that will need to be worked on - we can see that already. But he is tender and seems to pick up on things easily.

So much to be thankful for. Our hearts have been full of praise to God for His wisdom and guidance at bringing us this far and providing for us in all circumstances.

Thank you all for the e-mails and comments. It is wonderful to share this experience with you in this way. We miss hearing your voices - have not been able to find international calling cards - but having the connection through the computer has truly been a God send for us.

Missing Minnesota, but so glad to be where God intends for us at the moment. Blessings!

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Day 2

Again, another short blog.

HOT!! is the only way to describe the weather here. We spent another day zipping around Sevastopol having meetings, copying papers and waiting in a very hot car. All of this with a sick child!

Poor Lydia had some stomach issues last night and this morning. Olga, our facilitator was quite concerned. But our girl rallied!! With the extreme heat and her motion sickness, Lydia did a fantastic job holding it together today. In fact, both kids have done wonderful the last 2 days. Olga mentioned tonight that many people comment on how well the children behaved. Praise God!! We were a bit nervous about this part of the trip. We are so glad that they have been able to keep themselves entertained and quiet and respectful.

We already have our court date and it is earlier than expected. Another "Hallelujah!" moment. We could have had it this Friday, but our paperwork would have never been ready and back from Kiev in time. The judge asked Olga to see what she could do, but we are not part of the adoption "mafia" so we will wait until August 3rd. This is still sooner than we expected. We just need our paperwork back from Kiev by then. Please pray! We are!

We did not visit "K" today. We simply ran out of time. And quite frankly we were exhausted. We have so much more to share and will try tomorrow. Olga will be leaving tomorrow for a few days and we will have some down time. Expect to hear an earful as we try and pass the time till the 3rd!

By the way.... I cannot believe that I forgot about our anniversary. Yes, I FORGOT about it. We were in line to check out at the grocery store and there were flowers in our pile of stuff. I thought they were put there by accident by the person behind us until Ed said "Happy Anniversary!" Pretty nice. The Lord chose my husband well!

More tomorrow. Love from Sevastopol.


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Quick update

Just wanted to make another quick post to let everyone know that we made it safe and are finally settled. We are already in our second apartment here in Sevastopol and wait until you see this one!! Oh boy, the whole day has been paved by the Lord and we give him all the credit. I will explain more when I have more time.

We were all nervous this morning. We went to pick up our social worker and I did not think things were going to go smoothly. We waited quite a while for her to come out of the building and then when we took off in our car, her car turned back and she got out of the car and went back inside the building. Never once did this lady smile or greet us when we greeted her. She was all business, let me tell you.

We got to the orphanage and found out that the head doctor was not there yet. OH BOY. The social worker seemed even more upset. Cannot say that I blame her, but certainly not the look I was hoping to see on someone who was going to be filling out a positive report on our visit!

The medical director arrived. We received all the info they had on "K". We were just about to ask questions, when the director got up and opened the door. And there he was. I will blog the details later, but will just say that the meeting went far better than Ed and I anticipated. We easily agreed to become this little guys parents. He was open and curious about us. I was able to get a picture but was asked not to show it until after the court decree has been issued - 3 weeks or more. Sorry. But, he is a cutie!

Love to you all. Thank you so much for the prayers. They are going before us and uplifting us. We have another very long day tomorrow, but I will try to get another post in. Every one else is sleeping but me! I need to correct that! Farewell.

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Leaving Kiev

We are packed and waiting for Olga to come and pick up us to take us to the airport. We will be flying down to Crimea today.

We had a tough night of sleep last night. There was a concert until 3 AM and fireworks. Surprised we even got any sleep! We are hoping for a quieter location in Sevastopol.

We are unsure if we will have wi-fi access in our new apartment. So this may be the last post for a bit.

We are praying for safe travels and a quick adjustment to our new location. We will be meeting "K" on Monday. This is our biggest petition right now, that accepting his referral will be a joyful decision and that he will happily receive us.

We so enjoy your comments. We read every one of them. It helps to bridge the gap to home. Thanks for your love, thoughts and prayers.


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These are a few of my favorite things...

Busy day. Olga and her driver Vlad picked us up this morning and took us sightseeing. We went to an open air museum where buildings have been brought from all over Ukraine to be preserved along with every day life items for the time period. Amazing! It was huge and we didn't see nearly all of it. We had a Ukrainian meal of meat. They really love their meat here! We had shish kebab, stuffed dumplings, sausage, potatoes, cabbage salad and a tomato salad. We certainly did not need to eat much for supper tonight.

After the museum, we went to the pilgrimage sight that I mentioned yesterday. Much of this area was destroyed in World War II and has been rebuilt. It is a working monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church and people come from all over to worship here. There is a whole complex of caves with tombs and living quarters and churches underground. The caves are lined with the remains of old monks. Yikes! The kids so wanted to go into the caves, but I really had no desire. The bones are visible, the pathways tight and packed with tourists. We enjoyed the sights above ground instead.

While we were walking around, Olga ran into someone she knew. She had helped this lady adopt her son. She and her 2 children, little girl she adopted from Ukraine also, were in Kiev on holiday. Her name is Cass and she is from Ireland. When we introduced ourselves, she recognized our name. She follows Mark and Melanie Hansen's blog (friend's from church) and remembered reading our name on their blog. We were blown away. What a small world! It felt so wonderful to have this connection right out from nowhere. In the middle of all this commotion and this impersonal city, God provided a way to warm our hearts. Perfect.

We'll leave you now with some pictures of our favorite things from the day.









Olga with Ed and the kids.


Don't tell Thunder and Junior!















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Practicing the Gifts

Rainy morning in Kiev.
We had our morning all planned. I should say that "I" had our morning all planned. Ed is much more flexible.
We had a lady coming this morning at 9:30 to pay for 2 more nights on our apartment here in Kiev. We were going to leave right after to visit a religious pilgrimage site. I had it all down to the "T".
The lady was late. We called Olga at 10am to find out when Elaina was coming. Olga then said that she wanted to take us to the pilgrimage site. Ok - still doable and we could still be back by 3:00pm for our SDA paperwork appointment.
Elaina finally showed up(such an incredibly nice girl. We are eating at a restaurant of her recommendation tonight). We hurried through lunch so that we could meet Olga. Waited.... Olga called and she was not going to make it after all due to a busy work schedule, but if we wanted we could go on our own. We did not have time now to make it there and back. Talk about disappointed. This is where practicing the gifts of the Spirit come in.
I was in sore need of a reminder. Patience and self-control were the 2 I focused on this afternoon. Unfortunately I had to dust them off a bit!




So we played Uno for the afternoon. Then it was Peter's turn to practice his gifts. He is still not the best loser! Here he is playing against his green car.
The main event of the day... we got our paperwork to travel down to "K's" region. This is the paperwork that gives us the permission to meet him and get his medical history. We are all very excited about this and a bit scared too in all honesty. We are sure that there are still things we do not know about this little guy. We don't even know if he will like us!
Olga mentioned today that our court date may still be 3 weeks out. She said that is the "long" case scenario. We are praying for something much sooner. We spoke with several different families today, all adopting children. One couple seemed very upset. They did not seem to know that the entire process would take 5-6 weeks. We can be very glad that we were informed of all of this before hand.
Tonight we spent our evening eating German schnitzel and sausage on what has to be the ritziest street in all of Ukraine. The way everyone is dressed is straight off the fashion runway. Mixed in are the people asking for money. The difference is stark. The whole thing was quite an eye-opener for the kids.
We'll leave you with a few pics from our evening. Everyone is in agreement that the city life is not for us, even if the "re-partment" is "cool". 'Till tomorrow.












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How many stairs can a person climb?

After our appointment this am, we felt much relief. We came back to the apartment for a few games of UNO and then headed to lunch. Much better experience for Peter this time.

The rest of the afternoon we climbed stairs. Back up to St. Andrew's Church.



Up some stairs that Peter saw yesterday and just had to climb today. They led to a bench. A "kissing" bench according to the sign. He was slightly disappointed.





Then up the bell tower at St. Sophia's Cathedral.



This place was incredible. We bought tickets for all the museums, the church and the bell tower. We went into the first museum and after viewing our ticket, the lady made some very excited gestures. She took us by the hand and led us out of the building and over to the cathedral. A lady there, also very animated, led us to the stairs and told us to go to the second floor. All in hand gestures and Russian/Ukrainian. We had no idea what was going on, but we so enjoyed the display.

We were not allowed to take photos, but the mosaics, some originals dating back to 1017 AD, were extraordinary. Bright colors, little bits of glass. Brilliant.

We had just finished viewing our last display when a lady came up behind us shaking her keys. Ahhh... now we understand. We were getting close to closing time. We quickly went through the bottom of the church and then the lady that sent us originally to the second floor took us aside and directed us to our next building. I dug out my watch and had her show us how much time we had left for each of the exhibits including the bell tower climb. All this was done without a lick of English spoken by the women and only a spaseeba (thank you) from us. We had just enough time to see what we needed with the help of these ladies. Truly another God moment for the day.
The grounds stayed open longer than the buildings so once everything was closed up, we bought ice cream and found a bench under a tree to soak up the sights and the sounds of the bell concert that had just started.

Mid-lick on the ice cream we had a problem. A bird pooped right on top of Peter's cone. Another God moment? Not sure yet. But it sure was funny!









Good supper again tonight. Except for the grass pita yesterday, all of our food has been wonderful. Although I am a little leery of Ed's meal tonight. Raw salmon. He downed it with a coke and claims he will be fine, but we shall see what tomorrow brings!

Which brings us to our last stairs of the day. 5 flights up to our apartment. UFF DA!

We are feeling at peace tonight. After reading some of 1 Timothy this afternoon, we are feeling confident in our Lord and all that He can accomplish. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us!! Dasveedanya (goodbye) from Ukraine.



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What do you need for an SDA appointment?

A hot pot!




We had no iron and Ed's shirt was in bad need of ironing. We improvised and it worked well!

Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know how our appointment went this morning at the SDA office. We were a little nervous in the beginning. As many of you know, little "K" had an operation this past spring. This may have made him unavailable for international adoption until the age of 5. The psychologist who performed our interview had many questions for Olga as to wether or not he should still be considered available for us to adopt. At one point, Olga had to phone the orphanage in Sevastopol and have the psychologist talk to people there. All this time we sat with our stomach in knots.

It seems the psychologist was ok with all explanations and satisfied with our answers her questions. We were given the ok to take the next step. We have received his case! We will pick up the official paperwork tomorrow.

We are off to find some lunch now. Thank you to all who prayed for our appointment this morning. We truly believe that it helped. We are one step closer!
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If you've seen one dome...

We started this day extremely slow.

Everyone was wide awake by 1:00am. We fell asleep hard last night, but could not stay asleep. Hopefully we'll have better luck tonight. The kids and I got up for our first breakfast... bread, butter and water by street light. Lydia commented on how beautiful the street looked at 1 am. I have to agree with her. Rather like a pastel painting.

We went back to bed and slept for a couple more hours, but couldn't really get any good sleep in. So we started our day, with watching 2 movies on our iPad. I know, terrible Mom!! But I couldn't help it. Between a throbbing sinus headache and sleep deprivation I really had no control over my parenting skills.

After our second breakfast, we went out for a "walk". We started with St. Michael's Monastery where we said a prayer and lit candles (Peter's favorite part of the day).







Then onto another church. The people were crowded around this one. St. Andrew's Church. It is easily seen from many section's of "old" Kiev and dearly loved.






We wandered down the street which is lined with stalls selling all sorts of Ukrainian souvenir items. We bought a beautifully painted egg from a very convincing salesman and then headed for lunch. Ed had an interesting marinated eggplant dish, I had a tasty borsch soup, Lydia had grilled chicken and Peter had hot pita and cheese. Peter's first word's when he saw his plate were "This has grass!" A warm tortilla with cheese and dill rolled up. He almost was able to finish it. It took a lot of cheering on, but he almost did it!






We continued down the street to other beautiful, old, domed buildings and churches. A few history lessons along the way and then we came to Lydia's favorite part of the day. A park filled with pigeons and a gelato stand. Both kids were allowed to take a picture of the pigeons.
Lydia's picture:



Peter's picture:



By this time the kids were begging to go back to the "re-partment" (Peter). Their feet were "dead". Until we passed a playground, then they rallied themselves for a good hour of play. It had newer play equipment next to an old Soviet style play area all concrete and metal. One little boy had a gun in one hand and a large serrated knife in the other. He tried playing with the kids, but they didn't seem too interested.

Back at the apartment, the kids crashed. No sleep, a lunch of "grass", and a full day of walking will do that to a child.







Tomorrow we have our SDA appointment to receive our little one's referral. Our appointment will be at noon, early morning back home. Any prayers at that time would be so appreciated. We could also use some extra prayers for good health. Ed, Lydia and I seem to have some sinus issues. Praying for clear thinking tomorrow for answering questions and being alert to all info given us. A clear head would be a blessing.

We have enjoyed reading all of the comments from everyone. It is so nice to know we have people interested in our journey and praying for us. Very comforting. Dobray Vee-a-chur. Good evening.

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We have arrived

What a trip! We are so glad to finally be here. We did not have good wi-fi access yesterday, so you will have 2 posts back to back.

In answer to the questions:
YES! Our ears did hurt on the second and third flight. Everyone except Peter is pretty stuffed up, so that didn't help. In fact, we are still waiting for our ears to return to normal.

We never got to see the stars on the overnight flight because we were in the middle isle and all the people around us had their shades drawn. The kids didn't get much sleeping done either. I suppose in flight tv is a good idea, but it can be very distracting when your mom and dad are trying to convince you that it is bedtime. Peter was so tired that he fell asleep waiting in the airport in Germany for our flight to Kiev. We could not wake him up. Ed had to carry him on the plane and he slept for the entire flight. I could not even get him to wake up for lunch. Poor guy!

We had wonderful airplane food. Supper, breakfast and lunch were all very good. We had the best chocolate with our lunch today. Pretty spoiled.

Peter has had the chance to use his foreign language skills. It is pretty cute to hear him say "Deh toilette?" even though he is just asking Ed and I. We'll find some unsuspecting stranger for him to try it out on!

When we arrived in Kiev, Igor was there to meet us. He drove us to our apartment. This is where we met Olga who will be our facilitator while we are here. She went over the process we will be going through in the next few days. It seems as if we will be in Kiev a bit longer than we expected. Our appointment will be on Thursday where we will request the case of our certain little guy. We will not be able to pick up the official paperwork until Friday. Unfortunately, train tickets are all sold out for travel to Sevastopol. So we need to fly. Tickets were much less expensive on Sunday rather than Friday or Saturday. So we will be in Kiev until Sunday. Good and bad. That will give a bit of time to sightsee which is good, but we will also spend a bit more money. Bad because that will delay meeting our little boy. There is a purpose for everything and I have nothing but faith that there is a good purpose to this delay in travel.

We ate pizza and soup for supper tonight. I had a very mild chicken and parsley soup. Ed had a sausage and olive soup the was quite rich but tasty. The kids had the pizza. We went "grocery" shopping after supper, but will have to look for stables tomorrow. This was more of a delicatessen. We have a kitchen in our apartment and one bedroom. Ed and I will use the bedroom and the kids will use the living room and the pull out bed. They are more than excited about this. It resembles "camping" to them. They have already made themselves at home.

We miss everyone. Feels like we have already been gone for a week! We love reading your comments and feel so blessed to have people who care so much and lift us up in prayer. You all mean so much to us.

We'll leave you with a few pictures of where we will be calling home for the next few days.
















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad