We've Got Her!

Finally able to update. It is now Tuesday and we're back in Kiev and everything is going off without a hitch. Our flight arrived on time on Sunday afternoon, so we had no problem catching our beloved train to Mikolayiv. We arrived there about 6:30 Monday morning and found a hotel room. Not that we were actually going to have the luxury of spending the night (night - that's when you get to sleep, right?); we just needed somewhere to put our luggage, take a shower, and use as home base for the day. We each slept about 2 hours on Saturday night on the plane, and maybe 3 on the train Sunday night. I confess that I probably got a bit more sleep than Julie - snoring? What snoring? I didn't hear any snoring - I have no idea what she's talking about. ;-)

We went to the passport office around 10:00 or so to pick up Juliana's passport, on which her new last name is spelled "Kon". Great. It turns out to not be that big of a deal - she'll just need to travel under that name if she ever uses her Ukrainian passport again in the future. Not likely to happen as it expires in 10 years and we'll just get her a U.S. passport next time we go globe-trotting (like, in 2015?). Anyway, from there we headed to the orphanage to see Juliana for the first time in 6 weeks. She definitely remembered us and came right up and gave us both a hug, but then she acted somewhat shy for a while. We expected that, considering the fact that her time with us encompassed all of just under 3 weeks, and we'd been gone twice that. We played with her for a little while, then it was time for her to take a nap (sounded great to us). It actually worked out really well, as we took advantage of the time to go back to our hotel room and grab a couple hours of shut-eye too. We were back at the orphanage around 5:30 or so, and she seemed much more excited - the caregivers had obviously clued her in on what was going to happen. It was all very quick, considering the enormity of the change coming into her life. We brought her clothes (she had to leave what she was wearing there) and one of the caregivers changed her, quickly hugged and kissed her (and us, for that matter), and practically shooed us out the door! The truth was, we could see that they really love Juliana there and just didn't want to drag out a difficult goodbye. A couple of them were definitely tearing up a little, and they repeatedly asked us to send them updates and pictures of her.

We really didn't know how Juliana would handle this new adventure. She's never spent a night away from the orphanage and had certainly never been on a train before. Now here we were, dragging her away from all she's ever known and immediately taking her for an 11 hour ride on Camp Claustrophobia (have we mentioned how we dislike that train?). Julie and I were joking that she may wonder if she's been adopted by a family of gypsies and that this will be her new life every night - just hopping the train from one place to another. :-) Well, we've got to say, she has been an absolute angel. She has taken everything in stride and we haven't seen one tear or heard one whine out of her. And have we mentioned that she's 100% potty-trained? We weren't sure how the whole toilet thing would go, with all of the hustle-and-bustle, new environment, new parents - but she hasn't had one accident. She just goes with the flow (no pun intended. Or maybe it was). She spent most of the evening in our compartment playing with the toys we brought, and then went to bed and slept well all night - wasn't even phased by all of the stops and starts, bumping and swaying. She got a full night's sleep - the only one of the four us that did (Luba shared our compartment too).

We arrived back in Kiev this morning at 5:30 and went straight to the apartment that Luba had lined up for us. It's a small one-room studio, but it will be fine for two nights (Luba lives in Kiev, so she won't be staying here at the apartment with us). Considering the fact that we have now spent three consecutive nights on either a plane or a train, averaging 2-3 hours sleep per night, this place looks beautiful. We went to the US Embassy this morning and got the visa process going and we have an appointment there at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon to pick it up, so we're just about done. As I type this, Julie and Juliana are snuggled together sleeping on the bed, both getting some much needed zzz's. I think I'll crash on the couch for a couple of hours.

Thanks for all the prayers - we have no doubt the Lord has been in control of this adventure every step of the way. We'll be home Friday - all three of us!