2/24/2009

Happy Mardi Gras !
I grew up in New Orleans and lived in Mobile, AL for a long time - two locations that really celebrate Mardi Gras.
Sasha found his daughters' sled and took it to the orphanage for E. & D. D. had a great time with Papa pulling the sled all over the orphanage grounds. I forgot to mention that on Monday, the caregivers said we could come upstairs and see the children's living quarters. Wow! It was very nice. E.'s group has a large room that is kind of like a huge den. There is a large entertainment wall unit with bookcases on each side and a big t.v. in the middle. There are fun, huge stuffed animals in lots of places. There is cute children's furniture (bookcases, storage blocks, cabinets and toy chests). There are lots of tiny chairs and a round table for sitting down while doing craft projects or writing/coloring. E. showed me their "washroom" with 4 little sinks, 4 low toilets and short lockers with toothbrushes on the top shelf, soap and towel hanging up beneath. Very neat and tidy. Their bedroom is dormitory style with 10 or 12 little beds, all neatly made up and lots of cabinets/storage closets/bookshelves along the wall. The dressing area for outside play also has little short lockers, with each child's name, hats/gloves on the top shelf, a few sweaters and a few pairs of socks, pants for cold weather play and then coats & mufflers hanging on the open door of the locker. Very organized. Boots are lined up along the wall close to the radiator pipes so they are warm and also so they dry out. Dressing appropriately for cold weather is very important - the children go out for 30 - 45 min. at least twice a day even if it's snowing. The playground has lots of cute equipment and 4 little "house-rooms" with open air windows so the children can play outside - but still be sheltered from the weather. Today when we arrived, E. took me upstairs again to show me her bedroom area "all dressed up" All the beds were
made up with pink satin comforter covers and pink satin pillow shams to match...the caregivers know by now, that I take photos of EVERYTHING and they had dressed up the bedroom area just for our photos, although Monday's impromtu visit looked just as nice to me! More snow play and pulling D. around on the sled a.m. and p.m. just about the same, except the children cling to us more , fuss a little bit, pout a little, and don't want to go back to their group.

2/23/2009 MONDAY

After breakfast, Chris & Sasha (our host) took Y back to school. There were hugs & kisses and some tears. While they were gone, I walked up to the neighborhood market and bought a special cake for Sasha...in Ukraine it was "Man's Day" a holiday/celebration for all the men in Ukraine.They are supposed to receive little appreciation tokens from family & friends in remembrance of all the men that have been in military service (I think). Anyway, after lunch Chris & I had a good visit with E.& D. Still lots of snow!

2/22/2009 SUNDAY

We got up early and dressed for church. Y. looked nice in the new clothes we had bought him. After church, and lunch, Y asked when we were going to see E. & D. We had another good visit...
and more snowball fights, etc. We have to keep reminding Y that he cannot give his sister & brother candy and chocolate. (he loves to give them things) It really upsets their stomach since they don't usually have such things at the orphanage. Y likes his new hand-held computer game, and loves the big Bose earphones. He climbed in bed between us with his game and earphones and finally fell asleep.

2/21/2009 SATURDAY

As soon as we got up Saturday, Y asked when we could go see his brother & sister. We had a good visit and the children played well together. Lots of snow ! In the afternoon, we (Y , Mama & Papa) walked up to the neighborhood store and just walked around to be together. Later that afternoon, we had another visit w/ E. & D. Lots of snow, snowball fights and falling in the snow. etc. Fun but COLD! Another great dinner and off to bed.

2/20/2009 FRIDAY

The Director of Y.'s orphanage, has given us permission to pick him up for the week-end. We were going to stay at a hotel, but our Host Family insisted we bring Y. to their home in Kramatorsk. Sasha & Tanya are really going "above & beyond" what we ever anticipated. We feel like such an imposition...but they take it all in stride. Tanya fixed lunch for us in the refridge. before she left for work, so all I have to do is warm it up when our Translator/Facilitator arrives with Y.this afternoon. We have straightened up our room and are ready for Y. to spend the week-end with us!

The reunion of Y. (the older brother) and the two little ones (E & D) was good. He was so glad to see them, and although E.& D. were very young ( 3? & 4 ?) when they were separated, E. seems to be remembering her older brother. They played together for a while and we took family photos of the 5 of us. When we arrived home, Tanya had a great dinner for us and a beautiful special cake to celebrate our arrival with Y. for the week-end.

2/19/2009 THURSDAY

Today we had our Court appointment in Ynakiieve at 11:30 a.m. to approve our petition to adopt...in other words...for the legal custody of the 3 children. After a few official questions from the Judge and statements from the 2 sets of orphanage directors, we were parents!!!!!!!!!!!! This was probably the fastest Court hearing in Ukraine history.Ten Minutes! This was such an emotional time for us both. When we arrived home to Kramatorsk, Sasha and his daughter had lunch waiting for us. When Tanya arrived home after work, she prepared a special dinner and produced a beautiful "torte" (cake) from the market to celebrate our successful day in Court.
After dinner, we made several phone calls to the U.S. to family and friends and lots of e-mail
messages.We now begin the Official 10 day waiting period. When that is over, we can begin working on birth certificates, passports, getting medical exams for the children and Visas
from the U.S.Embassy. Ellen & Chris are now Mama & Papa !

2/18/2009 WEDNESDAY

This morning we visited E. & D. and were again shown to the "quiet" room. Just as we got comfortable, and E. & D. were actually playing quietly (using my huge quilted coat as a sleeping bag), the Social Worker came in and asked us if we could take the children outside for a walk - instead of playing inside. Soooooooooo, the children were taken upstairs and dressed in their
warm tights, coats, hats, boots, etc. ... afterall, it was -5 Degrees (Celsius, I think) anyway, COLD. After our visit, Sasha drove us to a "sports" store and we purchased some soccer balls as parting gifts for Y.'s class. Although Y. is not a huge soccer guy, he said his class would enjoy playing with the new soccer balls and that was his request. Sasha drove us home and I warmed up the delicious potato/cheese/onion casserole that Tanya had prepared for us before she left for work in the morning. We are searching for appropriate parting "Thank You" gifts for the orphanage Directors, Social Workers, Teachers and Care-givers so this afternoon we shopped
around downtown. Since we were a little late coming home and Tanya had met us at a store to
try to help us find the items we were looking for, she only had time to whip up a delicious
chicken soup for dinner. Yum Yum. Everything we have to eat here at Sasha & Tanya's house is
wonderful. It's a great experience to be able to live with a "Host Family". Although our Russian is still pitiful, we do practice here at home quite often, and the cooking lessons are priceless!
Our Court date is tomorrow in Ynakieve (the city closest to Y's orphanage). Our attorney in
Kiev called to say that we have final approval from the SDA, so we are well on our way to completing the next step of the 10-day waiting period, then getting Birth Certificates, then going to Donetsk for Passports and then on to Kiev for medical exams and then the Embassy for Visas and then arranging flights home! Still many, many more days, but we are making steady progress:)

2/17/2009 TUESDAY

Early in the morning, we returned shoes that we had exchanged 3 times trying to fit E. She has a wide foot. For our morning visit to E. & D., we were shown to a new room. It is full of huge stuffed toys, two huge leather sectional sofas and a full kitchen. There are also a few exercise
machines in the back of the room. I guess this is the "quiet" room. We did play quietly, but we
also spent much of our time saying, "nee tro gai" (don't touch that) and "eta nee eegrushka"
(this is not a toy) After our visit, we stopped for lunch at the pizza cafe in Kramatorsk, before
beginning our 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive to see the older brother of E. & D. We also took some clothes for Y. to try on. He was really a good sport and did not complain...We had brought him another
car (a bright green Hummer) that he was glad to see. Y. definitely likes cars and computers...and although I'm not sure how much he has actually worked on computers, he picks it up quickly. Our Translator/Facilitator, Austop, had good news about our court date - Feb. 19.
While Chris and Austop were talking in English about the court appointment, Y was really listening and then Austop began exlaining to Sasha (in Russian) what he had just told Chris about the judge asking if Y. was ready to go to America and Y. said "Yes" in a quiet voice so as not to interrupt, and when the men kept on talking - not noticing what Y had said...he said "Yes" a little louder and then I winked at him to let him know that I had heard him and he smiled. After the discussion about court, etc. Chris and Y. began working on finding a racing game on the computer. Time to go came much too soon. We visit Y. on Tues. and Thurs. because the drive is approx. 1 1/2 - 2 hrs. and it gets dark so early...and it was snowing yesterday evening. When we arrived home, dinner was ready - Tanya is the best cook in Ukraine! After dinner, we checked our e-mail and had a message from our agency stating that all of our paperwork from our agency and the state of Alabama ( approval for us to adopt 3 children, instead of 2 ) was on its way to Ukraine and the only other paperwork needed was from the Dept. of Homeland Security - approval for a third
child's visa. Things seem to be going smoothly so far!

2/16/2009 MONDAY

Monday was a busy day. In the morning, before our visit, we were looking for a musical telephone for D. and went to several toy stores. Of course there were no musical telephones, but we did find a musical, spinning light toy and a small flip phone that says a few phrases. We also found some pink shoes for E. She really likes clothes. We had the best time playing with the children - Papa held E. up so she could "dunk" some balls in the basketball nets...then she decided that she could stand on a chair and throw the balls in the basket with some success. We also made paper airplanes and played "soccer" with the beach balls...a few funny photos of D. kicking the balls while "talking" on his new toy cell phone.
We went home to Sasha & Tanya's house for lunch that I warmed up. Tanya has spoiled us. She prepares breakfast for everyone, gets the girls off to school then feeds us, fixes her lunch to take to work, then prepares lunch for me to warm up when we get home.
After lunch, Chris & Sasha went to town for a portable computer modem. That way, we can connect to the Internet whenever/wherever we need to. SUCCESS! DA! We are now connected!
Our after noon visit began with a frown as we walked in the orphanage door. There was much frowning and whispering and Sasha had to talk us out of trouble...evidently, we are not only known as the "Dirty Boots" family, we are also the "Noisy Family". We made too much noise
in the a.m. playing ball. :( We promised to play quietly and spent most of our visit saying,'tee ha'
(quiet) to the children. We also took a few more photos.

2/15/2009 SUNDAY

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we walked to Sasha & Tanya's church about 1 mile away. I found it difficult to walk in dress boots, but Tanya set a quick pace and we made it in a few minutes. A member of the church, Alexai, offered to translate for us during the service, so he sat between us and quietly whispered the translation of the bible verses, and bible study that was

first on the program. This church is Baptist. The church is in a building that was once a movie

theater. The service began at 10:00 a.m. and was over around 12:45 .There is much singing

and reading of bible verses throughout the service.

After church, we walked approx. 1 mile to get a few things at the market. After lunch, we visited
E & D to try on some of the clothes we bought them on Saturday. Tanya went with us and was a big help. There was another family visiting the little boy they are adopting. He is 2 1/2 and likes
to play with D. The boys had quite an "issue" over a play telephone, and when we took D away from the telephone "situation" the tears really flowed. Papa held D and let him cry and cry. We promised him a telephone of his own the next day (Monday) so that set the agenda for Monday morning!

02/14/2009 SATURDAY

We visited D & E outside. Svetlana, daughter of Sasha & Tanya, went with us when we visited
D & E. She translated a little and helped "corral" the children. We went outside,but evidently we are notorious for getting our children's boots dirty...so the children had been admonished to stay
out of the mud. After our visit, Tanya accompanied us on a shopping expedition - clothes for the
children. Since Sasha is out of town working, Ruslan - Tanya's brother- in -law is driving us to visit the children in Kramatorsk.
After returning home, Chris walked up the street to the local market to buy me some flowers and candy for St. Valentine's Day. Svetlana & Tanya presented me with a Valentine with dogs on it. I had a Valentine tucked away in my Suitcase for Chris, in case I didn't have access to a shop with Valentines. I had placed a few little gifts on the kitchen table for Tanya, Svetlana & Olga.
Instead of Tanya cooking for us - We offered to take our driver,Ruslan and Tanya, and Svet
to our favorite Pizza place in Ukraine. Later that afternoon, we visited E & D again around
4 p.m

2/13/2009 FRIDAY

We visited D & E in the morning and also in the afternoon. E and D are precious! E likes to be the center of attention, and is quite the "Mother Hen".We have played outside with the children in their play area, but it is so muddy after all the snow and rain, it's difficult to keep the kids' boots clean ! (and ours too) We are probably known as the "dirty boots parents". There is so much mud everywhere, that it customary to remove yur boots/shoes as soon as you come in the door. When we returned home in the evening, a modem appeared - from Sasha's brother. As soon as we have time, we'll download some photos.

2/12/2009 THURSDAY

We visited D & E in the morning and returned home for a fantastic lunch . Tanya spoils us with wonderful Ukrainian and Russian traditional meals. After lunch, we traveled to Y's orphanage in
Ynakieve. Chris & Y put together a wooden helicopter and painted it. Austop met us there and had some final documents for Chris to sign. Chris found a game on the computer (with helicopters) that Y enjoyed playing while the documents were being signed. Austop hurried away to get the document package on the train to Kiev and delivered to the SDA on Friday. When it was time to leave, Y escorted us to the door and there were hugs and kisses all around. Because of the distance between orphanages and the time it takes to get there, we decided to visit Y on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are at the far Eastern section of Ukraine - Sasha says, at times on the road, we are only approx. 60 kilometers from Russia.

2/11/2009 WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, we visited D & E and enjoyed playing with them. They are so sweet and we have hundreds of photos ... just no time to download them...we will try to get to that soon. After our visit, we returned home to a fantastic lunch, and then began our search around Kramatorsk for
Internet access. No luck. Late that evening, after a delicious dinner, we made our final decision
on names for our children. Austop is ready to turn in our final documents and the children's names will also be submitted to the SDA in Kiev.

2/10/2009 TUESDAY

On Tuesday, we took all papers we had received in Kramatorsk and Ynakieve to the Notary in
Donetsk. Austop, our Translator, was familiar with the Notary and things went very smoothly.
We picked up the rest of our luggage from the apartment in Donetsk and began our drive up to Ynakieve.We were not able to visit D and E, because of the time it took to complete the many trips to get official documents signed and stamped at various locations. We arrived late in the evening at the home of our Host Family, Sasha & Tanya. As we continued to go back and forth to the car for the rest of our luggage, Sasha asked us if we had plans to immigrate to Ukraine. After introductions were made, we were treated to a wonderful dinner with the family.
Our Translator, Austop, is like one of the family at Sasha & Tanya's. We discussed our plans for the week and who would be responsible for what and then Austop drove back to Donetsk. Sasha & Tanya's beautiful daughters - Svetlana (14) and Olga (8) have given up their room for us and
are "camping out" on the sofa bed in the living room - for our entire stay. Tanya is undoutedly the BEST COOK in the entire country of Ukraine. We were made to feel at home the minute we walked in the door. Sasha will be our driver and will transport us to both orphanages each day.

2/09/2009 MONDAY

At 7:30 a.m., out Translator, Austop, picked us up (in the rain) to load up one huge suitcase to take to Kramatorsk to leave with our host family...thus making it possible to fit in the car better on Tuesday when we move up to Kramatorsk. Dodging HUGE potholes in the road, we finally arrived at Ynakieve, to meet with the Inspector and the Director. Documents were exchanged
so we were able to see the children. We were able to visit with Yuri for a short while in the
Director's office. He sat quietly on the sofa with us and asked to see the small photo album we had prepared for him. He remembered what we had said about each photo and quietly went
through the entire album with one of his teachers that was also in the meeting. Yuri pointed to a
television in the corner of the office (while the Social Worker and Director and our Translator
worked on filling out the proper documents) and whispered to me the Russian word for television...VERY SLOWLY...so Mama could learn to pronounce it. It was time for us to go, so Yuri walked us to the door and gave us each a big hug.

2-8-09 SUNDAY

We slept late and once up, we walked to the mall, called "Donetsk City", about 2 miles away.We bought toys and clothes for the kids at the mall. We "toasted" our children with champagne that we had purchased in Kiev. Later that night, we un-packed and re-packed a suitcase for our Translator to take up to Kramatorsk - to leave with our Host Family - when we go to visit the children in Kramatorsk.

2-6-09 & 2-7-09

Finally, updating blog.We have not been able to update over the last week.We did get a modem that will work in this area of eastern Ukraine on 2-13-09 late in the evening went through 100's of e-mails 95% of which was spam. Will try to keep it short but no promises.

2-6-09 Friday= We picked up our official doc. from the SDA on Friday at 4pm , then boarded a train from Kiev to Donetsk in the lower eastern section of Ukraine at 7pm. Arrived in Donetsk on Saturday at 6:30 am.The train ride was long but the time went by quickly even though we hardly slept.The train was very nice the only problem was the heat was on high and no way to turn it down.

2-7-09 Saturday=When we arrived our facilitator/translator "Austop" met us at the station. Chris took a quick shower at the train station changed clothes, then we headed to meet the Inspector for the older child to get permission to see him. Then off to see the Inspector of the region where the 2 younger childern live. Luckly everything worked out since this was one of thier working Saturdays to make up for time off at Christmas & New Years. We fell in love with all 3 children as soon as we met them.We knew these were the children we had been waiting for. All 3 of the children are cared for by professional, but very loving, people. Everyone has been very helpful & nice (Inspectors,Orphanage Directors,Social Workers,Medical Directors,Staff etc.)Austop's wife called to set up an apartment while we were making our long trip in Austop's car to visit the the children.This gave us plenty of time to get to know Austop. We were able to talk/play/interact with the 4 yo"D"& 5yo "E"for around an hour and with the 10yo "Y"for close to the same time. We greatly appreciate the effort everyone made to get the papers signed to allow us to meet with the children. It is very difficult not to refer to them as "our " children.We are just praying that nothing occurs with process that can't be fixed.

TODAY'S SDA APPOINTMENT

We are finally catching up on some computer news, e-mails, etc. at 1:00 a.m. Friday morning Feb. 6 after a full day Thursday (Feb. 5) beginning with our SDA Appointment at 9:00 a.m.
Our facilitator, Sasha, picked us up at our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and we arrived at the SDA building
a few minutes later...we were the first folks there. We went to the gate and waited for the guard to let us in, all the time Sasha was chatting with everyone we encountered. We waited inside on the stairwell and were invited up the stairs right on time. Our interview with the Social Worker was cordial.She showed us three files of siblings, and after we asked several questions (re: health of the children, ages, how long they had been on the Registry, how long they had been at the orphanage, had anyone (family) come to visit them, etc. we decided to request a visit with the first group of siblings...a boy, 10;a girl,5;and a boy,4. All of the children we were shown were healthy,cute children who deserve loving families and it was a difficult choice. Friday, at 4:00p.m., we pick up our letter of permission to visit the children. They are all in the Donetsk
area in eastern Ukraine. The two little ones are in an orphanage in the city of Donetsk and the older boy is in an orphanage about 25 miles away. We will travel by train Friday evening and arrive in Donetsk around 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Dr. Jim Peipon will travel with us to
examine the children and give us his opinion as to their health status and to look at any medical records that might be available.

Out & About

Today we got up a little later and touched base with the Maxwell family that is also staying at the same hotel. We decided to strike out together on a sight-seeing walk around. We walked to

Independence Square and went across the street (via the underground stairs and passageway that all of the busier intersections have) to the Globus Mall. Here we see the basic mall stores - even Hallmark! We went down the escalator to the Food Court, found seats for the 6 of us and ordered pizza from Papa John's - not the same chain as in U.S. though. About that time, Ben

Robinson showed up, came right up to us and said "Maxwells?" "Cospers?" For not ever having seen us before, I don't know how Ben picked us out of the crowd :) We sat and talked for quite a long time about general questions/situations with other Lifeline families, etc. then Sasha appeared...we sat and talked about a few more issues and then Sasha took the Maxwells back to the hotel and we went out walking up to see St. Sophia...beautiful mint green with gold domes and St. Michael...beautiful light blue, with colorful murals...lots of gold trim, icons, etc. As long as we were in the neighborhood, we decided to search for the SDA building. It's on the street next to St Michael...on the same street as the British Embassy which makes it easier to find on the map. We took a few photos in front of the SDA, walked past loads of souvenir stalls across the street from the SDA and then back to the hotel...rested a bit and then our to eat with the Maxwells. More computer loading, photo loading tonight - and then SDA appointment tomorrow morning - Sasha is picking us up at 8:30 a.m.

FIRST BLOG POST

We arrived Tues. Feb. 2 at KBP airport around 10:15 a.m. Kiev time. Our agency people met us at the airport and helped us through Customs. Our Facilitator, Sasha, drove us to our Hotel/Apt. in Kiev about 25-30 minutes from the airport. Sasha gave us a short orientation tour around the neighborhood, pointing out a few restaurants, shops and where to change our American $$ for hryvnia (uah). We walked around a little, went to the Tsum Department Store which is close by, to purchase a curling iron, blow dryer and iron with the proper connections. We have converters, but are using them to power our computer, and other electronics from home. There usually is a clerk that speaks English and as soon as we Americans speak, there is a rush for that clerk. We ate dinner at TGIF around the corner from our hotel, changed some more $$ and then went to the mall around the corner that has a grocery store in the basement. We stocked up on 1/2 L
sized bottled water to carry around and to have in the room, as well as some chocolate candy and great bread. You bag your own groceries, but this store did provide bags. We got back to the room around 9:00 p.m., un-packed a little, watched a little Ukrainian T.V....Men In Black
movie on T.V. was interesting in Ukrainian, then crashed around 11:00 p.m. We arranged to
have breakfast at our hotel at 8:00 a.m. this morning and then did some e-mailing. Ready to get out and meet with another member of our Facilitation team around 12:30 at McDonald's.Chris says, "that's enough, Ellen" so Good Bye, Ellen & Chris

TRAVEL PLANS

We fly out of ATL to JFK on Feb. 1 (Sunday, around noon) and arrive at KBP (Kiev) on Feb. 2 (Monday, a.m.) Our SDA appointment is Feb. 5 (Thursday, a.m.) Until then, we are finishing up paperwork, making several copies of everything, packing, un-packing and re-packing. Thanks to all family and friends for your encouragement and well-wishes.