Work Day

We spent most of the day at the internet cafe so Tim could work. The wireless connection in our apartment is so low we were unable to get a connection. We received a call an hour ago that we have our 2nd appointment. It's this afternoon. We hope all goes well. We don't know if we will be leaving Kiev today or tomorrow. We'll post again when we have more information.

It's snowing very hard outside. Tim will probably need to buy a new coat before we leave Kiev. We are very pumped about the new appointment.

APPOINTMENT
We had our appointment this afternoon. Everything went well and they expected to have the referral this evening. We stopped by the travel agent to book our train tickets for tomorrow. There weren't any seats available when we checked, but our facilitator is a miracle worker. He said that he would be checking on our tickets and not to worry. He thinks we'll get tickets for the 6:30p overnight train to our region. June made this trip and she told me it's a 14 hour train ride. It's in the far eastern part of Ukraine. So, the adventure continues. We could not be happier with this referral!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is emailing and sending us comments. I know we've said it before, but we can't wait to see what you all are writing to us.

Ladybug - It was exactly what we wanted! Very happy!

Brenda & Bob - Send a picture of Missy and Joseph. Is there anyway you can airmail a jar of Robbie's picante and chips?

Becca - I'm sorry I won't get to see you when you are in town this weekend. I'm sure you will be very busy with your adorable granddaughter. Keep the comments coming. I know you can multitask. You can type with CJB in your lap :-)

Steph and Julie - Keep the emails coming. We miss you very much!

Mom and Dad - It worked out like we hoped. Very good news today!

Kathi - Please tell Brandi thank you for her prayers. We'll see her soon.

Jeanine - We miss you! Can you believe this? We are very happy. Have a fun and safe trip to Chicago. We hope Caden gets to play in the snow. Say hello to Lyndsey and Lance.

Happy Tuesday!

We talked to our facilitator this evening and he is hopeful that we will get our 2nd appointment no later than Thursday. So, we wait. It was very cold today, but it was another beautiful day in Kiev. It snowed all night then the sun came up and started to melt the snow. We did alittle shopping and took a long walk up and down the main street in front of Independence Square.

Our internet connection has a very low signal and I haven't been able to upload any photos. We are going to the internet cafe in the morning so hopefully I'll have better luck there.

From Tim
Lots of interesting comments on the water with gas. Noted and appreciated! Thank God for McDonald's! We are putting in about 5 miles of walking a day. The most dangerous part is the ice and snow falling from the tops of the buildings. You never realize it's a problem until you hear a huge crash directly behind you and then you think - I bet that snow that fell has no gas.

Still Waiting

We gave our facilitator a letter this morning requesting an appointment for another referral. He has to get it translated and submitted to the appropriate people. It could take 2-3 days. It snowed alot today. We went to the bank to exchange money. Went to the market to get a few items. We spent a couple hours at the internet cafe so Tim could get some work done. The landlord of the apartment we are renting is a husband and wife. They are very nice. When we arrived on Saturday night Tim asked them if we could get some American tv channels on the tv. They came by this afternoon with a cable box and we now have a few American tv channels. We have CNN, Animal Planet, 3 Discovery channels, VH-1, and Hallmark channel. It's amazing what a few American tv channels will do for you.

From Tim
Ukrainian cooking lesson: Take a baked potatoe and add ham salad, garlic and mayonaise. Mix together and eat. That's what I had for dinner. Actually, it was pretty good. I had another bottled water with gas in it today. Anybody that knows me knows that I don't need anymore gas. What's the deal with putting carbonation in water? I just don't get it. The real problem is that I can't read Russian and they can't understand "no gas" in English. Ok, here is your assignment for the week. Go out and buy a bottle of water with gas in it. Choke it down and tell me how it turns out.

Change of plans

Ok, all is well with Sharon and I. Looks like we will get another chance at a second referral for adopton. We have to wait until tomorrow for our facilitator to let us know when our next appointment is. It could be as quick as one day or as long as 3-4 days. We are still in Kiev and have learned enough now to be very comfortable here. This city is beautiful and full of all the world has to offer. We want to let you all know how much it means to us to see your messages on the blog. Communication is all that the world really needs .........oh yeah and family. Today was super. The sun was shining and we got to be tourists for the first time. We bought some trinkits and had the local fare. We slept like babies and washed some clothes. Does anyone know if you can wash a suit case? Mine has kind of a funky smell. I'm taking a poll. I want know what is the longest anyone has lived out of a suitcase? Now, go smell your suitcase. Anyway, I was told once by my Dad to have kindness in others troubles and courage in you own. Good words to live by.

As we were walking down the main street in front of Independence Square a crowd gathered and a camera crew was shooting what appeared to be a famous singer. He sang a few songs in Russian and the crowed was singing along. We took a photo of the crowd. It's posted above. The other photo is of a statues across the street from Independence Square.

Our "Hotel"

This is a photo of our hotel (3 story bldg) and one of the streets in the small city where the orphanage is located.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support. Reading your comments and emails helps us more than you know. I'll post more later once we know what our next step is.

Confusion........

We finally have an internet connection! We are back in Kiev. We arrived this evening. We drove to Odessa on Thursday to see the children. They are wonderful kids, but we have found out that they have an older brother. So it's a complicated situation and we have some things to work through, but the reality is that's it possible that we will be coming home without children. We are hanging in there and are doing ok. I wish I had something witty to say, but the reality is that international adoption is a complex and wonderful thing, but sometimes things don't work out the way you hoped. Whatever happens; we have no regrets.



Thanks for all of your comments. It really makes us happy to ready them!

From Tim
The trip to and from Odessa was intense. And I mean speed (160-200 kil per hour). The orphanage was in a small town south of Odessa. We were at the gates of the Black Sea. The ocean was covered with ice. We had to wait and hour and a half at a draw bridge where freighters headed to Turkey had to pass. This was a wonderful sight. Something that I can look back on. OK, now on to the living conditions.... the hotel was someone's house. We stayed in a room upstairs on the second floor where there were serious plumbing problems, shower problems and no damn coffee! And St. Christoper, the guard dog, barked all night long (which was a good thing). We had a couple of meals prepared by the family and ate in their kitchen. It was interesting. Serious sausage. I kept feeding the cat with the broken leg my food. The kids were beautiful and I didn't scare them with my beard. Even though things have not panned out as we thought, we are making the best of it and there is nothing like a hot bowl borsht (the local standard soup)......yummy.

Photos from Today

These are a couple of photos from our walk around Independence Square. That is Tim wearing the beret and looking towards the dome. Underneath the glass dome is a big food court in the mall.