10 Days to court – it just can’t come fast enough. We’re doing OK without Luba, muddling our way through Ukrainian society. Today we’ve decided not to venture into town. We bought enough groceries yesterday to give us several meals, and we’re not going to upload a video today, so we’ll be fine here in the apartment. Had a nice visit with Juliana this morning – brought along a couple of balloons we bought in the market yesterday. Not sure if she’s seen them before, but she definitely got a kick out of me (Steve) blowing them up and letting them go. There’s no doubt, though, that she’s definitely a “mama’s girl” for now. We’ve heard that this is pretty typical, as the only caregivers she’s ever had have been women. She has bonded with Julie very well, loves to be in her lap, loves to be carried. That’s not to say I don’t get any of the action; I get to hold her hand sometimes when we walk, and she’ll give me a hug and kiss hello & goodbye, and she talks about me a lot to the other kids (of course, I have no idea what she’s really saying – “beware of the big, scary papa”?). When we’re sitting on the floor playing, though, she wants to be on Mama.

Shopping is interesting. We know the names of a few things, the rest we try to figure out by sight. Of course, even knowing what to call something is no guarantee. We ran out of milk, so the other night I went into a small store to get some. The milk we had bought previously came in small cartons, maybe 1 liter; must be ultra-pasteurized, because they sell it right off the shelf, no refrigerator. Anyway, this small store didn’t have our usual “brand” so I bought a small bag of it (yes, bag), maybe a pint or so, cost the equivalent of about 45 cents. When we got back to the apartment, we cut it open and this milk both smelled like and tasted like smoked ham. Julie joked that maybe it was pig’s milk. Ha Ha… she could be right. Anyway, we picked up the better stuff yesterday and will give the “pig’s milk” to the local stray cats. Another interesting purchase: a deck of cards. Now, there’s not much for us to do around here when we’re not at the orphanage, besides read and wait for our internet connection, so we thought maybe we could play some card games. We bought a deck at the (huge) outdoor market yesterday. When we opened it, we found that it was complete except for the 2-s through the 5’s. Missing 16 cards. Is this a standard Ukrainian deck? We don’t know. I haven’t called Luba yet to ask her.

We typically ride into town on a “mini” bus (holds 12-20 passengers), and they really do have an extensive bus system here in Mykolayiv, making it pretty easy to get wherever we want to go for about 20 cents each. Yesterday, we got on the bus and sat towards the back – Julie picked the seats, so I am absolved of all blame. There was an awful smell, and Julie was absolutely sick to her stomach most of the 10 minute ride. It wasn’t until he got off the bus that we realized the odor was coming from the man behind us. He was also muttering to himself the whole way, probably saying “I hope the beautiful American woman in front of me notices my cologne”. Gotta find humor where we can.

We’ll try to get into town in the next few days to post some more video. Miss you all, and God bless America.

Another Cold Day in Mykolayiv

It's another cold, windy day here, and we're in town at the post office, which has an internet room as well as phone booths from which we can call to the U.S. (for about $.35/minute or so). Hope you like the new pictures and video.

We had a great visit with Oksana/Juliana this morning and will see her again this afternoon for another hour or so. We've started mixing her new name in with her old one to get her used to it. Yesterday, one of the staff in her group at the orphanage asked us what her American name will be, I think so they can begin doing the same.

I know I've been complaining about the people here being cold and unfriendly. Well, Julie pointed out this morning that they're really not so different from New Englanders. The more I thought about it, the more I think she's right, only here we've got the additional factor of a language barrier. They don't call us the "cold north" for nothing, right?

People have asked us about how big she is, etc. Well, she's two and a half (birthday 4/25/05), but probably isn't any bigger than the average 18-24 month old. She probably doesn't weigh 20 lbs soaking wet. Most of the clothes they put on her seem to be 18-24 months. There's not much to her, but she doesn't seem under-nourished - she'll fill out just fine once she's home. She definitely seems to have a healthy appetite. Oh, and we can definitely attest to the fact that she's a two-year-old. Now that she's grown more accustomed to us, we get treated to a fuller spectrum of her personality. Yes, she can be sweet and gentle, but she can also be stubborn, willful and demanding. This one is a little fireball.

Miss you all and looking forward to coming home in 2 weeks. Will update you again in a couple of days.

13 Days to Court

No real news to report. We are settling into a daily routine of visiting Juliana from 9:30 to 11:00, and 4:00 to 5:00. (By the way, we've decided that her nickname will be "Ana" as opposed to "Julie". Again, pronounced "ahna" not "anna". ) We bring along with us a backpack of toys with legos, dolls, etc. The orphanage has a separate room set aside for meetings like that. We prefer it this way as opposed to the other way where we were in a room with people passing through constantly speaking loudly in Russian either to us or each other. It was a bit more on the stressful side that way.

The orphanage really is very clean and it seems the children are well cared for - some of the staff are actually friendly and smile at us. Of course, that may have something to do with the two new, large rugs we bought for Juliana's group (about 11 or 12 children in her group, about 150 or so in the whole orphanage). Each adoptive family is expected (actually, required) to make a donation to the orphanage. We don't mind it at all because they've been caring for her her whole life and, though the facilities are better than what we expected, there is much that is wearing out and in need of replacement. The rugs were beautiful, about 10x15, and were only $100 each at the local market. Wish we could take one home with us. An additional $500 cash donation was also part of the deal. This orphanage keeps the kids through age 4, then they move on to another facility. We've been told there are 52 orphanages in Ukraine.

Our translator, Luba, has left for Kiev leaving us to navigate through daily life alone, though she is just a cell phone call away if we need her. We won't see her again until the end of next week, so we're really on our own for a good 11 days or so. Of course, we have picked up some basic Russian (which is spoken here more than Ukrainian): yes, no, good, good morning, good day, good evening, goodbye, how much?, please, thank you, you're welcome, ummm.... that's about it. As you can see, we're totally ready for independence :-).

We have learned to utilize the bus system to get into town and will try to consolidate our trips as much as possible. Tomorrow we'll visit with Juliana and then head out for groceries and some time at the internet place. It's not very fast, but is far, far better than what we have here in the apartment; we haven't even been able to post pictures from here the last few days without losing our connection. We'll get some pictures and maybe a new video posted tomorrow, hopefully.

Keep the posts coming - they're a real lifeline to us, making us feel closer to home and all of you while we feel so out of place here. Until next time...

We finally have video! Of course, this twenty second clip took over an hour to upload via our dialup connection, but isn't she adorable? In the video she is playing with a toy we brought her, stringing shapes on a shoelace. She really loves to work with her hands and is very determined to get it right, and do things herself. I think you can see a little bit of her personality even in this short clip.

Nothing really new here. We've kind of gone into a holding pattern, settling into a daily routine as we wait for our court hearing 12/10. We typically spend a couple of hours a day with her, usually an hour in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon. When the weather's not too cold, like today (temp probably around 40) they let us take her outside to play. She loves bubbles - not sure if she had seen them before, but we brought a bottle and, again, she insists on blowing them herself (not too successful, but she lucks out now and then and gets a small one off).

She is favoring mommy a bit over daddy, but does come to Steve for a short time and sits on his lap before returning to mommy's lap for a much longer period of time. She absolutely loves to give kisses and hugs, and calls out "mama dadda" or "mama papa" when we arrive at the orphanage to see her. She likes to take toys in to show the other kids what "mama dadda" brought her, but of course she will not allow them to touch anything, looking is all she'll allow them to do.

We should, hopefully, know by the end of the week whether we will likely be able to get her home before the end of the year. We're both extremely homesick and long for truly hot showers, street signs we can understand, and strangers on the street that don't look like they're perpetually disgusted with us, if they look at us at all. That sterotype of Russians (Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union too) being very stern and unsmiling... true. Trust us. Of course, I'm sure on a personal basis they can be very pleasant - Luba is wonderful, for instance. But as a general rule, very intimidating. Can't wait to see Justin and Jonathan again - we love you guys! We'll all be together for Christmas, thankfully.

Thanks again, everyone for your encouraging posts. You have no idea how precious they are to us. We'll try to post again in the next day or two.

We Have a Name & a Court Date

OK, we've got a name. Her current name is Oxsana (Oksana?) Alexandrovna Avadenya. After much deliberation, I decided to let Julie have her way (I'm no fool), and her new name will be Juliana Alexandra. I wasn't so sure about her first name being so close to Julie's, but it is very pretty (pronounced "Juli-ahn-a" not "Julie-ann-a". Her middle name really won't change too much, and we figure that her new first name is close enough to her current name that she'll probably just think we're calling her by a new nickname. :-) She won't be called Julie for obvious reasons.

We're getting a little bit better of a picture of what our total timeframe may be, and it may not be pretty. Our court date is 12/10, and at this time there's no reason to believe that the judge will not approve the adoption. Then, the 10 day waiting period begins. Then, the process begins for her new birth certificate, passport (from Ukraine) and visa (from U.S. Embassy in Kiev) to leave the country. That can be a 10-14 day process. If you do the math, it appears unlikely that we'll have her home before the new year. Then, get this - Ukraine's big holiday season is the new year/Christmas holiday (they celebrate Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which falls on 1/7). Apparently, the government offices all virtually shut down from 1/1 - 1/9. So, we very well may not be able to get her home before mid-January.

Our return plane tickets are for 12/12, and we will be coming home then. The original plan was for Julie to then fly back a couple of weeks later to wrap thing up. To the point - the area where we are staying and where the orphanage is located is very impoverished and a bit of a rough neighborhood. No way will Julie be coming back by herself. That part of the plan is still up in the air, and our facilitator Luba is meeting with the passport office tomorrow to see if that process can proceed without our presence. Then, we may very well need to come back for just a few days to pick her up, tie things up in Kiev, and head home. There is a slim chance that this could all happen before 12/31, so please, please pray. Otherwise, it will be a longer wait, but we know it will be worth it in the end. We've told you about the bureaucratic red-tape involved in this process, but our heads are spinning right now. We have no great love for the Ukrainian government at the moment. Thank God for Luba, though - she spends all day rushing tirelessly from one office to another to get this document signed by the inspector, that document reviewed by the chief, the next document stamped by the notary... you get the picture.

We've finally got an internet connection here in our apartment (which we are renting from the deputy physician of the orphanage). It is painfully slow dial-up, so we really can't upload video. I'll try to get back to an internet cafe in town to do that in the next few days. Hope you like the pictures. Thank you again for your posts & comments - it is very encouraging and humbling for us to see all of you who are reading this blog and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Well, here she is. "Oxsana" for now, but we need to pick a new name by tomorrow. We spent another two hours with her today and she was wonderful. She is calling us Mama and Papa (we'll have to work on the Papa thing) and actually cried when we had to leave this afternoon. The doctor from the orphanage told us that she has been telling the other children in her group about her Mama and Papa today. Can it be this easy? We know there may be problems that arise, but right now we truly feel your prayers as everything is going so smoothly on every front. As our facilitator, Luba, says - it's "from the heavens". Still no idea on a court date as there is much paperwork and bureaucracy to cut through, but Luba has her first appointment with the judge tomorrow morning, and this particular judge is rumored to be very reasonable and easy to work with. However, before we can get the court hearing, Luba needs to take certain documents back to Kiev for processing which typically takes 4-5 business days, and she can't leave here until Monday because she's waiting for paperwork being processed here. I wouldn't expect our hearing until the week after next, but please continue to pray - sooner is not out of the question. Thank you all again for your posts and feedback. We'll hopefully be able to post again in the next day or two - maybe video next time?

Things Couldn't Be Better

OK, so here we are in Mykolayiv. Now, if you ever get the opportunity to ride a Ukrainian train for 11 hours... spend the money on airfare (about 6 times the price). Imagine being in a small 6x8 foot room with four bunks, sweaty strangers, and no fresh air. That about sums it up. Got very little sleep, no place to sit - just the bunk to lay down on, but the compartment was so stifling hot we didn't want to be there. But - the only alternative was to stand in the 2 foot wide corridor. Yeah, it was a blast. But, it got us to Mykolayiv around 6:00 this morning, giving us plenty of time to do what we were really here for...

We have absolutely found the child that God sent us here for. Oxsana (yes, Justin, the name will change) is an angel. She is beautiful - curly blond hair, blue eyes - and has an incredibly sweet disposition. She cried when she saw me (Steve) because they see so few men in the orphanage that they find us intimidating. But it wasn't more than about 10 minutes and she was climbing into Julie's lap and giving her a hug, and wouldn't let go. After an hour or so together, she was walking holding hands with both of us, and calling us Mama and Daddy. She's smart as a whip, speaks very well, and was already repeating English words by the end of our visit. We had the opportunity to bring her to an eye specialist, and it appears that she suffers from nothing more serious than lazy eye, easily treatable. Of course, we'll get her thoroughly examined in the U.S. as soon as we get home. If we had made a checklist of exactly what we would have wanted, she's it. Of course, we know that this was just our first visit, and that there will undoubtedly be adjustments for all when we bring her home, but this was so much more than we expected from today. Thank you all for your prayers... we feel truly blessed.

We got the paperwork started this afternoon to proceed with the adoption. They don't make anything easy here - truly bureaucracy run amok. Please continue to pray that things will move smoothly (and quickly). Hopefully we'll know our court date within a week or so.

Having trouble posting pictures, will hopefully be able to do it in the next couple of days so you all can see her.

Last day in Kiev for now

We'll be leaving in a few hours for our 11 hour train ride to Myklayiv 
(yeah, that's the name we couldn't remember yesterday).  Thanks for
 all of the posts - we really appreciate all your comments and 
encouragement.  Yes, Justin, a name change is in order - wise guy. 
 Diana - tell Michaela that though this is a great new experience for us, 
I wouldn't say we're really having fun yet.  The weather is very cold 
(seems about like midJanuary back home weatherwise) and we're 
missing the kids terribly.  However, we do feel we're right where 
we're supposed to be, so that's a good thing.
We do plan to post  some pictures when we can - we forgot the USB 
cable for Julie's digital camera, but we can take pictures with our video 
cam as well, so hopefully after we meet Oxsana tomorrow we'll have
 internet access and will figure out how to upload them.
That's all for now.  We'll hopefully be able to post again tomorrow to let
you know how it goes at the orphanage in Mykolayiv.

We're off to the south!

Our appointment went very well this afternoon.  We met with the the government psychologist and interpreter at the SDA and they were both very friendly and accomodating.  After asking us again whether we would be interested in a boy, they accepted our explanation that two was quite enough (not our exact words) and that Julie really needs a bit more estrogen in the household (again, not our exact words).  Seriously - they presented us with case files of 5 or 6 little girls age 2-6, and we accepted a referral of a little girl named Oxsana.  She is 2 1/2 and is in an orphanage about 400 miles or so south of here (I can't recall the name of the city, but it's northeast of Odessa, which is a city in the very south of Ukraine on the Black Sea).  She appears to be in excellent health, generally, but does have a problem with her left eye (coincidentally, the same eye in which Julie only has about 5% vision).  We'll get more detailed information when we meet with the orphanage physician.  What we know so far is that it is something neurological that is not treatable here, but may be in the U.S.  Compared to some of the more severe health issues some of the other children had (fetal alcohol syndrome, cerebral palsy, hepatitis B, hydrocephalis) a problem with one eye doesn't scare us at all.  She was abandoned at the hospital at birth.  They only had one picture of her from probably at least a year ago, but she looks adorable.  We will be leaving tomorrow evening for an 11 hour train ride and will see her on Wednesday.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue to just try to leave it in God's hands and trust Him for direction.
We'll post again on Wednesday to let you all know how everything went.

Greeting from Kiev

Well, we are safely here in Kiev.  Not sure why the post is reading Sunday, 11/18.  It's actually Monday morning, 11/19 here.  We flew out of Logan on Saturday around 7:15 pm.  The flight was about 7 1/2 hours into Amsterdam, then about 2 1/2 hours to Kiev after an hour and a half layover.  Pretty uneventful, but we lost 7 hours.  We arrived around 1:30 pm in Kiev, though to our bodies is was still only 6:30 in the morning.  It is just going on 10:00 am here, while it is 3:00 am back home.  We essentially lost Saturday night en transit, though we did manage to sleep an hour or two on the plane.  Both flights served full meals - clearly foreign airlines ;-).  Went to bed last night around 5:30, slept until about midnight.  We both were awake for a few hours, then went back to sleep until about 8:00 am.  Right now, I feel like I got a full night's sleep so hopefully I've got the jet lag worked out and will be able to go to bed at a more normal hour tonight.  Hard to say, as neither of us has ever done any travelling that required us to change our watches by more than an hour or two - definitely a new experience for us.

Our facilitator, Luba, met us at the airport (though it took about a half hour or so of wandering around before we found each other).  She set us up with an apartment here in downtown Kiev - 3 rooms for $65/night.  It's austere to say the least, but we're not sure how much to expect from things yet - is the lack of basic necessities such as paper towels and waste baskets typical and are we just spoiled Americans?  Hmmm...  we'll need to find a store today to pick up some essentials.  There was about 1/4 roll of toilet paper, so we're not complaining.  Nonetheless, it's in a convenient location and is in a very secure building so we're OK.  There's an internet cafe just across the street (where I am now) where we can access the internet for the equivalent of about $3/hour.  They also have phone booths where we can make calls to the U.S.  for about $.15/minute, so we're definitely not disconnected.

Just trying to take this experience one day at a time as it comes.  Julie and I both agree that we've never felt like such outsiders before.  Any other place we've travelled has been either in the U.S. or in true tourist 
destinations like the Carribbean, where we were surrounded by people just like us.  The people
here seem friendly enough, though somewhat aloof, and taking a course in Russian or Ukrainian
(both are spoken here) wouldn't have been a bad idea.  The immigration agent at the airport, though, definitely seemed annoyed with us and our lack of language skills and was pretty brusque - "stupid Americans" he seemed to be thinking.  Of course, we could have taken him all wrong.  Probably not.

Our appointment with the State Department of Adoption (SDA) is at noon today.  Luba is meeting us at the apartment around 11:00 and she'll be accompanying us every step of the way, thank God.  She'll be our translator and will be able to interpret the children's files, medical records, etc., for us.  Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us - please continue to pray for a good referral today.    Assuming we've accepted a referral, we'll probably be here in Kiev for another couple of days and then will travel to the region where the orphanage is located.  We'll post again as soon as we can to let you know how the appointment goes.

Long Time, No Post, 9 Days to Go

Our appointment with the State Department of Adoption (SDA) is on Monday, 11/19. We will be flying out of Boston on Saturday evening, 11/17. Steve's mom arrives 11/15 and will be staying with the boys. Nothing more to say at this point except that we're very excited but also very apprehensive. So much is unknown, so much we just need to leave in God's hands at this point. Good exercise for our faith.