Passports

Monday we did some sightseeing. We went to the museum of minatures. There were some amazing things there. On Wednesday the passports had arrived in Poltava. So here we go driving all the way back to Poltava about a 4 hour drive. We got there at 2:30 and had to wait until 5:30 for the only man with the stamp. Then we headed back to Keiv. Today, Thursday,WE ARE FINISHED!! First we had to be at the Embassy to get Stephen fingerprinted, then went to get their medicals, Stephen hadn't had an HIV test so they had to do that. Both children had to have vaccinations. Then we waited for the results of the HIV test. Then we hurried to the Embassy for our appointment. They talk to you for 5 minutes then you wait for an hour while they print the visas. It feels so good to have that done. Tomorrow we are going to the museum under the open sky.
For those that want to know we will be flying home Saturday August 9 Delta 97 arrives 8:11 pm

We are in Keiv

We arrived in Keiv on the 1st of August. We are excired to be in a new environment. Maybe we won't be so bored. Saturday we layed around the apartment and did some laundry. It was nice to have a washing machine, it is really hard to wash levis in a small bathroom sink. Sunday we went to church at the International Branch. Natasha went with us to make sure we found the church and it made her to late to attend hers, so she went with us. We doubled the attendance with the five of us. Everyone is on vacation in that branch and they will get a whole group of interns in the fall. It was very enjoyable, it was all in English. But maybe it would have been better to go to the ward in Keiv, that way Nadiya and Stephen could have understood it. We are waiting for passports. With the new passports it takes about 5 days, especially if you are adopting a child 14 or older, they have to do a background check. Hopefully their passports will be ready on Wednesday. Stephan also has to have his fingerprints taken, that takes 24 hours. So while we wait we are going to see the sights. Keiv is browner than Poltava and very hot and humid. Our apartment doesn't have air conditioning but usually at night there is a pretty good breeze that blows through. It has a kitchen so we can cook our own meals, it is so nice to eat home cooked food. The apartment has three bedrooms, Bob and I, Nadiya, and Natasha, Stephan sleeps on the couch fold out.

No we haven't disappeared

It was hard to get to the internet cafe in Poltava the last few days we were there. We had to stay in our hotel, because the KGB was involved. I will tell you more when we are safely on American soil.

We are still here!

We went to the Space and Areonatics Musuem. It was very interesting, it had parts from the Sputnik( russian satelite) It also had pictures and planes fromWorld War I and II. There was a large globe in the front of the exihibit, we were trying to show Nadiya how far we had to travel to get home. Our translator told the lady there that we were adopting Nadiya and taking her to America. The ladies eyes lit up and she told us thank you for taking care of their children. Then she said something to Nadiya in Ukrainian of course. It made Bob and I feel really good that we are making a difference in a couple of children's lives. We went to the library, don't bother going there, there are guards everywhere. You have to ask to look at any books and to check one out they have to copy your passport and it takes one month. Not a very friendly atmosphere. Alona told us they don't use the libraries very often, I know why. The circus was across the street in the park. (Of course it wasn't very well attend because they all live in one every day) It was one small tent, with everyone smoking, we decided not to bother. Then at 10:00 they shot off fireworks, right on the curb of the park. They were big ones too. We enjoyed them they were right outside our window, closest we have ever been to fireworks. Of course we missed Hannah Montana.(comment from the luggage) One month in a foreign country is a long time!

What do you do in Poltava?

Well you can go to musuems but.....sometimes they just close because they want to. Natasha could never figure that out. And by the whay don't plan on being allowed in the musuem an hour before closing, the ticket lady has already gone home. There really is not much to do in Poltava you can only see the horseshoe gazebo so many times.
Last night we had dinner at the senior couple, the Pattees, apartment. On the outside the apartment looks really run down, but inside it was very nice. There was another couple with us, the Lees, they are with the church humanitarian projects. They travel all over Ukraine. Right now they are teaching parenting classes. They told us about all the things that they have helped to accomplish here. Amazing the things the church does in other countries that no one ever knows. The Lees had a cute girl as a translator with them, she really helped with Nadiya. It was wonderful to have a home cooked meal.

Some of you were wondering about Katia, we weren't allowed to adopt her.

Life after Court

Well I guess you finally saw the pictures. The first one is a monument honoring National Dumpling Day. You can order any kind of dumpling you want. We tried to get Nadiya to sit in the spoon but she wouldn't. Nadiya's picture, Stephen's picture. Then all of us together. Then just the kids in their best right after they were approved to be ours. Stephen's named was to be spelled Stephan but it was misspelled on the documents and it is a headache to change it all so from now on it is spelled Stephen. Life after the court is rather boring, we have seen alot of sites but....even Nadiya has said "Let's go to America". she hasn't even been there but anything would be better then going to an art musuem. Bob and I enjoy the musuems but Nadiya get yelled at. We took Stephen back to the camp on Saturday, he was bored and he really didn't want to go to musuems, he wanted to say goodbye to his friends.

Pictures!!

Order in the Court

Today, July 18th, we appeared in court. Bob and I were pretty nervous, Natasha had prompted us as what to say. Most definitely don't mention religion! We were all dressed up, we had bought a dress for Nadiya and some pants for Stephen. The judge came in and read our petition. She first asked Bob questions about work, how we would help the children learn english, if we would treat them like our other children. Then the judge asked me some questions, if I would be ready to teach them and help them. She also asked if we would be able to deal with Nadiya's medical situation, we felt confident because of the experience we had with our daughter, Alexia. (I'm Back) Charrisse told me that I had to tell you about court but I was still shaking so hard I couldn't find the keys, still not much better but here goes. After we both talked both the children were asked to stand and talk to the court. Did I mention that the Judge was a woman (even scarier!) Stephen (notice the change in spelling--we'll tell you why later)kind of stood and kind of leaned before the judge . She asked if he was ready to learnEnglish he said ya. She asked what he would call us_his parents, he kind of hummed and hawed then said father and mother(typical teenager) Next was Nadiya, When the judge asked her to stand she jumped to attention and listened intently to the judge. The judge asked if she wanted to go to America she immediately responded 'yes'. She was asked what she would call her parents and loudly , clearly, and quickly she said mama and papa. That was worth the whole two weeks of frustration!Now back to someone who can actually type.
The Inspector of the city of Poltava had to comment about how she felt about the adoption. She looked over at Nadiya and commented that 3 days before she had met Nadiya and she was shy and timid but look at her now. She is looking up and confident, this will be good for her. Bob and I felt great that they had noticed the change in her. The prosecutor woke up long enoughto say he didn't have any questions and it was approved by him. The judge asked us 'How many boys and how many girls' we said 5 and 5. She laughed and said 1 more of each, 6 and 6 now. Irena said that it was divine intervention that we had come when we did or we wouldn't have found Nadiya. Because all the other girls were in Italy, we saw her.
The court was dismissed and we waited for 15 minutes and the judge came back and read the papers, Stephen and Nadiya are ours!

Tuesday July 15

Today we have to meet with the city council. We, Bob, Charrisse, Nadiya and Stephan on one side. Natasha, Irena, Inspector and City Councilman on the other side. They asked us some questions about our home, work, and family. And then they talked to the children about their wishes. The city has to approve the adoption also. Natasha told us not to mention anything about our religion. They don't have a very clear picture of LDS. The city approved our adoption. We went to the park and got to meet Stephan's girlfriend and his sister. His sister is happy that he is coming to America. The weather here is very hot and humid right now. Our apartment doesn't heve airconditioning but we will be moving into one that does. Thank goodness. We wrote the petition for Katia, she really wants to be adopted. So we decided to try it. Natasha wrote a wonderful petition we shall see what they say. Vasili is leaving tonight to go back to Keiv with all the paperwork to take it to the SDA.

Monday July 14

We picked up Nadiya and Stephan from the camp they will be staying with us now. How do you entertain two children for days? We went shopping for the children, because they will have no clothing when we leave. All the clothing stays at the orphanage including the underwear. We met with the Inspector of the city of Poltava. She wanted to talk to the children, to see if they really wanted to be adopted by us. She seems really concerned about the welfare of the children. Nadiya's father showed up at the orphanage wanting to know where she was. The Director told him she didn't know where she was and that he had no parental rights over her. We asked Nadiya how he found out, because we told her not to let him know, she had told a friend the they told her father. It shouldn't be a problem because they lost their parental rights 2 years ago at least. They have never applied to have them reinstated. Nadiya got her ears pierced today. She is not our shy little girl anymore. Oh the sunflowers here are spectacular here. There are acres and acres of bright yellow flowers, they use them for the sunflower oil.

Sunday day of rest (from paperwork)

We have had some of you ask about Anna. We were planning on adopting Anna until we recieved an email telling us that she had decided to go to Italy for the summer. And her Italian family was planning on adopting her and she wanted to go with them. We were crushed but decided that Anna needed to make that choice. So when we came to Ukraine we came with prayers in our heart that we would find another little girl. Our prayers were answered and we have Nadiya. She is shy but very spunky when she wants to be. She has some medical issues that we will have to take care of, but we fell in love with her the first time we saw her.
On Sunday I get to spend all day out and about, so here goes. We got up early and had Vasili take us to the L.D.S. Chapel at 9:00. We got there and there was absolutely no one there. Fortuantly there was a sign saying that the meetings started at 11:00. Vasili was kind enough to take us home and then return us at 11:00. He sure is a wonderful person and a good driver. When we walked into the chapel we were warmly welcomed by many members and three sets of Elders, one pair of Sisters, and a Senior couple on humanitarian assignment.
For Sacrament Meeting we had a native, George translate for us. He did a marvelous job -but would not translated poetry---I'ts getting dark have to go!

Still on the run!

On Saturday as we were picking up Stephan and Nadiya there was a cute girl that was very interested in Nadiya's well being. We asked about her, Katia, she came to america two years ago and stayed with the Morgan's. We asked about her availability, Natasha said she had some siblings but would check. So we might get another girl. We took the kids shopping, what a treat. Give me a good mall, Shopco, or Kohl's. It was radiculous, there were no shoes or clothes for children. When you look for shoes they only have one size in one style. Charrisse opened the suitcase so I'm back a quick comment or two! Imelda Marcos would love the Ukraine! I have never seen so many types , colors, or shapes of shoes. Many of the mens shoes have pointed toes_Like fairy shoes! Vasili has a nice pair of white pointed shoes. Many of the clothes styles seem to be borrowed from MTV or the like(translation:doesn't leave much to the imagination)gjlkjlgjl (oop's back into the suitcase). I don't know where we will find clothes for Nadiya, she is so small. We were able to walk around and see some of the sights. There are a lot of statues of lions it is for Peter the Great. They don't have a statue of him just a lion. There was a monument dedicate for Dumpling Day, it's a region holiday in Poltava. Saturday is a big wedding day in Poltava where ever we went there was a wedding. We took the children to dinner at the buffet restaurant. They have very good food, but it's nothing like our buffets. They dish up the food and weigh it. The children like it though.

Visiting Stephans Brother

Today July 10th we had to get up early we were traveling to visit Stephan's brother, Misha. We drove for 3 hours, Misha was working on farm machinery. When he walked out of the barn he surprised us. He is just a child himself, he is only 17. We had to have Misha write a letter saying that we could adopt him. It was very touching, I felt so sorry for Misha knowing that he will probably never see his younger brother again. Misha looked so sad as we drove away. Stephan was sitting next to me and I could see that he was close to tears. I looked at him and asked if he was ok. Next we had to go to Stephan's home town to have the minister there approve the separation of Stephan from his brother. Natasha was a little worried because the minister wanted to talk to us but all she asked us if we would let Stephan keep in contact with his brother. Then she asked Stephan if he wanted to be adopted by us and go to America. The minister congratulated us and we were on our way. We need to go back to pick up the papers on Tuesday.

I want to go to America

I wanted the Millers and the Carrs to know that we saw their their cute kids. All is well with them. All I can say is be patient, the process moves so slow. The second day we went to see Nadiya and Stephan they had to write letters saying that they wanted to come to America and us to adopt them. We were a little bit apprehensive as we approached the camp because of the cool reception the day before by Nadiya (even a little bit by Stephan). We were relieved however upon arrival to see Stephan smiling and walking quickly toward the van. Later, after they found her, Nadiya came marching toward us with a smile on her face and quickly came over to us. Irena (psychologist) asked her if she wanted us to adopt her and go to America she would have to write a letter. Nadiya nodded yes grabbed the pen and started to write!
The weather has been cool and stormy. It has rained for 2 days. Our apartment in Keiv was very nice, had a kitchen, living room and bedroom($110 usd) a night. Our apartment in Poltava is smaller. One room and 2 twin beds($40 usd) we are hoping to move into the larger one on Tuesday($80 usd). The children will problably be able to stay with us after our court date on Friday.

Meeting Stephan and Nadiya

First we had to go to the ophanage to get Irena and more paperwork. Lots and lots of paper. Then we had to meet with the Minister of Children to OK with her. She had gold teeth in almost all of her teeth. She was very nice though. She told us that she hoped we would develop a relationship with Nadiya like we had with Stephan. Now we are off to visit the children at the camp. It is a camp where the children go during the summer. There really are no children in the ophanage during the summer. Except K-2. Some of the children are invited to Italy, 52 children, some have gone to camps in Alabama.
Charrisse is now making me tell you something about my thoughts about this whole thing. She said that she just as well have brought one more peice of luggage to carry around as much help as I have been--Oh well
Anyway we got to camp with the orphanage psychologist (who all the children love), and many of the kids came out to greet her. Stephan saw us and wandered over to say hi. Our translator asked the kids to go find Nadiya they excitedly ran to find her.
Later they appeared almost dragging this small girl who would not even look up. The children (especially the ones who had been to the U.S.) were very excited when the translator told her of the reason for our visit. Nadiya would still have nothing to do with it. She still would talk to the translator and Irena (psychologist) but not to us. It was fun to watch the other girls come over and one by one tell her what a good opportunity they thought this was for her. We were leaving so all the kids took off. As we were pulling out of camp one of her friends came running up out of breath and announced that Nadiya had changed her mind and decided to have us adopt her. We left camp with a good feeling.
Now maybe I can go back to being like luggage!

Here we are!

Well we finally made it here after 9 hour flight, to an airport no larger that Logans. We had to show our passports to enter and country and fill out a paper where we would be. We didn't have an address so the girl behing the counter was being difficult while eating her breakfast. But we made it through and found Natasha and Vasili. And headed to our apartment. The next day was our appointment with the SDA. We were suppose to have an hour but we only had a half because they were late and then had to have lunch. Picked out a little 12 year old girl after looking through about 10 books. They either had younger siblings or were in Italy. We also got the referral for Stephan, 15. The next day we were heading for Poltava, 41/2 hour on a two lane highway, sometimes a one lane. The roads are really bumpy and they drive crazy.

Ukraine

So I am attempting to create this blog so everyone can be up to date on our Ukraine adventure. Right now I am scrambling doing last minute things, and praying that our house will still be here when we return. We are excited and nervous for this adventure and we are lucky to have so much support. Thank you all, and I will try to be good about posting often! Wish us luck!