Home, Home, Home!

We have been home for almost four weeks now. Both children are in school and like it very much. The children are amazing! They embrace everything with gusto and want to learn English and participate in school. Michael is making new friends every day. He's made so many that he can't remember all of their names so he writes them down in his notebook in Russian so he can tell me. Elizabeth has made many friends too. There is a Ukrainian girl in her class that has been in the US for two years. She speaks English and Russian and has been very good to Elizabeth. They are friends and we look forward to meeting her family. Elizabeth came home from school last week with an invitation to a birthday party. She is always excited to meet new people and try new things.

Thank you for all of the Mother's Day cards and emails! My first Mother's Day was wonderful!

Photos

Most of the photos were taken while we were in Kiev. The top two photos are of V, the children's brother. These were taken at the orphanage. We talk to him often and hope he can come for a visit sometime soon. The second photo on the left is of Elizabeth, Michael, and Karina. Karina is the daughter of our friends who adopted from the same orphanage we did. We spent two weeks with them in Ukraine and enjoyed every minute!

First Class is the Only Way to Fly!

The photo of me with Elizabeth was taken a few minutes after we met when we arrived at the orphanage. The photo of Tim with Michael was taken right after we saw him for the first time since we hosted him.

We have been home for one week. We are so glad that we were able to get on that flight last Thursday. If we did not receive the visas on Thursday morning last week, we would of had to stay in Kiev until at least Monday (4/28). The big May Day holiday celebrations start in Ukraine around April 25th and last approximately one week. Most people travel for the holiday so all of the airlines were booked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We couldn't get a flight out of Kiev during that time. Starting on Monday there were flights, but they were very expensive. The cheap fares wouldn't be available until May 2. It was all about the timing with receiving the visas and booking 4 one way tickets to the US. We couldn't book our flights until we had the visas in hand, but we didn't know when the visas would be issued. We had a flight reserved for Thursday morning at 11:00am which was the last economy airfare available. Tim wanted to be at the consulate when they opened Thursday morning just in case they had the visas. They didn't have them at 8:30am so we couldn't make the 11:00am flight. They did have them ready at 9:30am so I called every airline I could think of and found 4 one way tickets from Kiev to JFK, but the only thing available was in First Class on Aerosvit (Ukraine Airline). I booked the flights and we had to race to the airport to purchase the tickets by 11:00am or we would lose them. I was so stressed out! Tim got back to the apartment around 10:00am and we had to pay our apt. rent and load our bags in our facilitator's car. The ride to the airport is 45 minutes. We were cutting it so close. There is alot of traffic in Kiev and sometimes it can take 30 minutes to go 5 miles. We hit a couple of traffic jams, but we got lucky and weren't delayed too long. Then we were at a big intersection and the police stopped traffic. I was thinking what are they doing????? Then our facilitator said, "it's the president. He will be passing by in a minute." I'm thinking....this cannot be happening. I was picturing the US Presidential motorcade. You know, 10 police cars followed by 10 suburbans, followed by 5 limos, followed by the President, followed by 10 suburbans, followed by 10 police cars, followed by a few motorcycle police, etc. Well, this one was 2 police cars, an SUV, the President's limo, a police car and that was it. I couldn't believe it! We made it to the airport at 11:45am. We got the tickets and were so happy to be coming home. The only catch was that we didn't have a flight from JFK to Houston. I sent an email to our travel agent as we were leaving Kiev asking him to find us a flight that would get us to Houston. I sent him our flight information so he would know when we were scheduled to land at JFK.

The story continues.... our flight was 2 hours late leaving Kiev. We had already boarded the plane. The good news is that we were in first class so we were very comfortable while we waited. The bad news is that the later we arrived at JFK the fewer flight options were available to get us home the same night. Spending the night in New York isn't something we wanted to do, but at least we were almost home. The pilot made up an hour in the air so we were only 1 hour late arriving. We had to go through passport control and customs. Once we got to the luggage carousel we turned on Tim's blackberry to see if our travel agent had a flight for us. He did! He booked and paid for the tickets using my credit card so all we had to do was check in and make the flight. The race was on again! We landed at 5:35pm. By the time we cleared passport control and got our luggage it was 6:30pm. Our flight was at 7:15pm in another terminal. We didn't have time for bathrooms or drinks. We had to take the tram, get through security, take a shuttle and get to our gate. We got to the gate at 7:10pm. The flight was late arriving so we didn't board until 7:45p. Then they had electrical problems. So we sat on the airplane for another 45 minutes. The kids were great through the entire trip. They were exhausted so when we finally took off and they dimmed the lights the kids passed out.

The kids love their rooms and all of the gifts they have received. Babushka (Grandma) and Deyadushka (Grandpa) came for a visit and took them shopping for school clothes. Babushka also bought them toys and candy. They LOVE their Babushka & Deyadushka! They are sleeping and eating well. We are so happy to be a family!

We are watching my sister's dog, Joey for a few weeks. He is now bilingual. Elizabeth speaks to him in Russian and asks him to sit, lay down, and roll over. He does it as requested. Max responds to anyone in any language as long as they have food.

We had a wonderful dinner with the adoption group last night. It was great to see everyone! We all share this wonderful and complicated experience of international adoption. You all have been there with me every step of the way:-)!

Thank you all for the gifts, cards, emails, and phone calls. Your support means more than you know. We plan to keep the blog updated. Check in with us if you have time. We love to read your comments.

We are home!

We have been home a couple of days now. We arrived at Hobby airport at almost Midnight on Thursday. A huge THANK YOU to Bob for picking us up so late on short notice. We are so thankful to be home. The kids have been sleeping well and eating well. Thank you to everyone who blogged along with us keeping our spirits up when we were feeling blue.

I will post later with details about our last couple of days in Kiev. We didn't know what we were doing until it happened regarding the visas. We also flew to JFK without a flight to Houston so we didn't know how we were going to get home. Everything worked out, but it was very stressful. Of course now that we are home, it doesn't seem like it was as bad as I thought it was:-). We ran in to the couple from St. Louis at the US Consulate, but I did not get their email or phone informaiton. They were headed to the Crimea region on Wednesday (4/23).

The kids are sitting outside playing with the dogs. Julie's dog, Joey, undertands Russian now . Ok, he acts like he understands Elizabeth when she gives him commands. Max remains low key and sits around waiting for the kids to come to him.

Life is wonderful!

Count Down!

We got some good news today. Our facilitator called to let us know that he is taking the overnight train tonight to get the passports. He is going to call us once he has the passports in hand to give us the numbers. Then we can go to the Embassy and start the paperwork to come home. The kids needed another set of photos made for the Visas. We got that done today. So, if we can catch a few breaks we may be able to get the paperwork done at the Embassy tomorrow. Then on Wednesday we have to get the medical exams done and bring the passports to the Embassy for review. Once we have the Visas and medical done, we can come home. So there is a slight chance that we could come home on Thursday. We still have the airfare issue to deal with. Most flights are booked the end of this week and most of next week due to Spring Break. We may have to do a fundraiser to pay for our airline tickets to get home:-). They are extremely expensive. The kids have been asking every day when we will get on the airplane to go to America. They were very excited today when we took them to get their photos made for the Visas.

We talk to V every day. He is a very sweet boy. He sent me a photo text message with a gift box and a happy birthday message on our Ukraine cell phone. He loves to play soccer. He and Michael love to talk "football".

I just ran in to a couple who is here from St. Louis. They just got their referral for an older child in the southern part of Ukraine. This will be their 6th Ukraine adoption. It seems they are experts on this process.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. It was a great birthday and I will always remember how special it was to be here in Kiev with our children to celebrate. That was a nice entry on the blog from Tim.

Kathi - I can't get any emails without my blackberry. Glad you had a good time.

Sharon's Birthday

I got up this morning and made a nice birthday breakfast for all of us. Mmmmm, mmmmm good! Everything I cook is from the skillet. And I mean everything. This morning we had pan toast, scrambled eggs, kilbasa for the kids, juice, tea, and coffee. Sweet. Ok, after breakfast me, Elizabeth, and Michael left to do some birthday shopping. We knew what Mom wanted so we headed out to the underground mall. She wanted a tea pot and a tea cup. Mom drinks alot of black tea and they have a special cup and tea pot to make it in. Since it is Saturday the underground mall shops are mostly closed. So we had to hoof it to a big department store. I had to count on the kids to help me in the department store to find the "foot" tea pot. Luckily Michael lead us in the right direction and I was able to find what I was looking for. It actually ended up much better. There was a nice selection and good prices. The kids wanted to get her something too. Michael got her a stuffed dog that looked like Max. Elizabeth got her 3 roses.

Then we raced upstairs and gave Mom the presents. She was beaming with joy. We spent a total of about $30 and Mom loved everything.

Ok for entertainment purposes only. Sharon commented on people cutting in line. I will elaborate. They have invented the sideways line here. This is where there is a line of people who set you up and then cut in front of you. It's totally obvious. Here if you look the other way while you are in line, you get smoked. If you try to tell them something like, "hey, you cut in line", they just ignore you like you don't exist. Everyone knows why there is a "foot'n" reason for a line. It's to prove who is next.

The kids are great unless you pass by a toy store and don't buy them something. Their heads immediately drop and for the next hour they don't want to talk to you. The cure is a Fanta. Fanta cures everything. These kids are so full of Fanta they are as happy as they can be. Fanta rules. Please if you want to get us a gift for the children. We need more Fanta!

Elizabeth is like a bull in a china shop. She wants to do it and then listen. And by that time something is broken or she has crashed in to something. Michael, on the other hand, is sneaky. He's already used the separation technique. This is where Mom is in one room and he asks her a question and she says no. Comes to where Dad is and says Mom said yes. Foooooot!

Last but not least, if I don't get out of here I'm going to go Ukraine on somebody.

Happy Birthday Honey!

Tim

Passport Update

I called our facilitator this afternoon to check on the status of the passports. Today is day 10! I dialed his cell number and his mother answered. There is a story here, but I'll save it for another day. I have been calling him for the past two days and have not received an answer. After a certain amount of rings the phone hangs up so you can't leave a voicemail. I was so happy someone picked up today. His mother told me that the passports were issued today. I was so happy, but I should have known there was a "Ukraine catch". She said that now we have to wait 4 working days for the "official stamp" on the passports. She said that our faciliator would be traveling via overnight train to the region to get the passports on Tuesday. She also said that sometimes they say they will be ready in 4 days, but it could be 5 or 6. In other words, don't make flight arrangements, don't make any definte plans because you never know when things are done here until they are done.

I called the US Embassy Visa division to see what they need from us so we can get this process started and they told me that the region issuing the passports can fax them a copy of the front page of each passport along with a copy of the birth certificates and we could come in and fill out the papers. So I called "Mom" back and told her this information. She told me that this region does not fax or issue and copies of anything to anyone. That we just have to wait until our facilitator arrives in Kiev on Wednesday afternoon with the passports. Tim is about to go postal on someone. When I talked to "Mom" I asked her to please tell her son to check and make sure that we can't get copies of the passport and birth certificate sent to the US Embassy to get this process started. She said either he or she would call us back tonight. We'll see. We might get lucky and be able to fly out next Friday.

Tim is at the Hyatt working right now. The kids are on the computer next to me playing a hot wheels game on the computer. When they heard that the passports were issued today they were so excited. They thought that we would be able to get on the airplane right away and go to America. Elizabeth started packing all of her things. I had to tell her that we still have 8-10 days here. Michael bounced all over the den saying America, America. Their friend, Karina, flew to America on Tuesday and they have been anxious to talk to her.

There a a couple of things about Ukraine that I will never get used to. One is that people drive wherever they want to including on the sidewalks. There are no lanes on most roads and people cut each other off. If you can't find an open lane, jump on the sidewalk and honk at the pedestrians walking. It's bizarre. The other thing is that they do not believe in forming lines and waiting your turn. If you are in line at McDonald's behind 5 other people, someone will walk right up in front and place an order. To us it's just plain rude. To them, if you snooze (digging for money or looking at the menu) you lose! It happens everywhere. The grocery store, clothing stores, restaurants, or shopping for gifts in the outdoor market.

I won't be able to post any photos until I get home. I think the kids will have gained at least 5-10 lbs each by the time we get home. They eat non stop. It's good for them. They didn't have the best choices for food in the orphanage.

Keep the comments coming! We look forward to reading them.