Made it to Odessa

Yesterday was a whirlwind, but we made it to Odessa as the passport office was closing at 6:00 p.m.  It started off by being picked up at 8:45 a.m. by a woman from Odessa who knew no English and her son who knew a little English.  They were hired by my facilitators to get the documents we needed and get me to Odessa.  We went to court and waited for the judge to show up to sign off on our documents, then drove to the Social Worker (who made the woman working with me run down the street to make photocopies...don't get me started about the inefficiencies of this country:).  We then drove about an hour to John's birth town and waited a long time there to get his birth certificate.  After that we drove very fast back to the orphanage where they were supposed to have all of John's documents ready.  Unfortunately, nothing was prepared so papers had to be filled out, copies made, etc.  We waited for two hours for the documents to be prepared. Finally, I was able to walk out the doors of the orphange with John - Yipee!!!!  Then we sped to Odessa and made it to the passport agency just as it was closing-thank you Lord!!!  John had never remembered driving in a car so he was silent most of the way to Odessa, just staring out the window.  He did point out the red and green traffic lights, which I assume he'd learned about at the orphanage.  He knew that red meant stop and green meant go.  Thankfully, a couple from the U.S. who are missionaries in Odessa, invited us to spend the night with them.  What a huge blessing that was!  We got dropped off at their awesome 100 year old apartment where they had dinner sitting on the table for us.  Their three girls, aged 10, 9, and 6 entertained John and spoke to him in Russian whenever necessary.  I was so happy they could help John  transition from the orphanage to the real world.  John slept like a rock and we got up this morning to breakfast and plenty of toys to play with.  We will go pick up his passport at 11:00 a.m. and then drive to Kiev where we will stay with Karen Springs who just officially opened her hospitality ministry, where American families can stay while they are adopting here.  I'm thrilled that we will be staying with her.  Please continue to pray for the last days of this process.  John still needs his physical exam and to get his visa, which means lots more paperwork!  Thankfully, all the things that Paul needed to sign and get notarized arrived in Kiev on Monday. We're almost finished and I'm so happy that I'm getting closer to going home!    

Looks Like I'm Going Home Sat.

I was jumping up and down in my hotel room this morning while you all were fast asleep in the U.S.  My facilitator called to tell me me that he could get my passport quickly in Odessa and that I could go ahead and make my appointment at the U.S. Embassy to submit my paperwork for John's visa on Thurs., Mar. 3-YAHOO!!!  What awesome news!!!  So I booked my flight to arrive home at 5:00 p.m. on Sat.  Oh, I hope that it happens!
I went to visit John in the morning and we played outside in the freshly fallen snow for about an hour.  The snow was great for packing snowballs for a change.  This afternoon, we had a going away party for John.  I was told to bring fruit, caramels, and biscuits (like cookies).  The kids were a little amped up to say the least.  After they finished eating (and some of them throwing their food), they danced around to music, then I got out balloons and bubbles and they really went wild.  I tried to take pictures and a little video of it, but I was busy blowing bubbles.  Tonight I'm packing so that I'm ready to go in the morning.


If I understand everything about tomorrow correctly, first I will go to court to pick up some documents at 9:00 a.m, then head to the Social Worker's office, then to John's birthplace about an hour away to pick up his birth certificate.  Next I go pick up John from the orphanage (I gave them his clothes today so he'll be ready), go back to the Social Worker's office and police station, I think, and drive to Odessa, about 2 hours away, by 5:00.  Pray that we can get all of this done!

Only 1 Day Left of the 10 Day Waiting Period

I can't believe that I am only one day and two short visits away from picking up John from the orphanage.  Tuesday will be a whirlwind, but I'm hopeful that I will be able to collect all the documents needed to get him.  Honestly, I'm nervous about how he's going to react to leaving all his friends, caregivers, his schedule/routine, his home, all that he has ever known!  While we are waiting to get back to the U.S., we will be in apartments with the same toys that I can tell he's getting a tired of.  Our visit wasn't even over today and he heard the TV go on in their living area.  He got up and said "good bye" to me and went to watch the show.  He'd never done that before!  Well, at least I know he likes TV if I need to resort to that when we are in the apartment and if truth be told, my boys at home would do the same thing also.  If anyone reading this has ideas of fun things to do with kids in Odessa, please let me know!

It's been snowing the last couple of days

Today I went to church and then out to lunch with the American couple who is staying in this hotel.  They are very nice and we had so much to talk about with all that we're going through, adopting boys from the same town.  I just wish that they had arrived here sooner.  I hope that the judge rules in their favor on Wed. and that they will be able to return home soon too.  If they win their case, the wife will go back to be with their 5 kids and the husband will stay to get their boy's passport and visa before returning home with him.  I know that I keep asking this but please be praying also that I can get a passport for John sooner than later so that we can make a flight on Sat., Mar. 5th.

Answers to Prayer

God is so faithful!  I ended up not even changing my return flight that left today.  United wanted to charge me a change fee that was through the roof (because my ticket was only good for one month...who knew?) and then John's ticket was going to be over $2,000 because they wouldn't book him on a round-trip ticket (that was a lot less) since he was only 4 yrs.old and didn't have an adult travelling with him on the return portion.  I was going to have to pay close to $3,000 for a reservation that I was probably going to have to pay to change again!!!  OK, so I called this travel agency called Golden Rule Travel, that specializes in international adoption, humanitarian, and missionary travel.  A woman who adopted with our agency told me about them months ago.  Golden Rule quoted me less than $500/ticket for Sat., Mar. 5 (I'm remaining optimistic) with only a $150 change fee.  How awesome is that?  Plus, the agent told me that he'd hold our reservations until Mon., in case I learn anything about how long it will take to get John's passport.

I was then able to get the type of room I wanted at the Odessa Executive Suites for Tues.  One of the families we know that's adopting there recommended them.  There are only 2 one bedrooms in the building so I was happy to receive the e-mail back from them saying that they had reserved one of them for me.  I thought it would be nice to have a separate room for sleeping instead of getting a studio, which was only $5 less. 

Yesterday I came across Karen Spring's blog, who has been working with Orphans Promise, a ministry of Christian Broadcasting Network, in Kiev since 2004.  Orphan's Promise (orphanspromise.org) was started by Terry Meeuwsen, the co-host of CBN, when she adopted three sisters from Ukraine.  Karen just started a Hospitality Ministry, which serves to help adoptive families who are in need of housing while in Kiev.  We've e-mailed back and forth so I hope I can stay with her when I go back to Kiev. 

Lastly, an American couple is staying in this small hotel.  Yay...people to talk to in English!  Their story is unreal.  They hosted a cute little boy two summers ago (who is now 8).  They have 5 biological children and this little boy is the first one that they are trying to adopt.  Their very first court ruling was appealed on the last day of the waiting period.  I think they said that this is their 4th trip to this small town due to all the court dates that they have had to attend.  This is their last round of court sessions.  Please pray that the judge in Odessa (it's had to go to the next level) would rule in their favor.  I don't know if they would want me to share their names.  Boy, meeting them sure puts things in perspective.  What a tough road they have been on!

John with his groupa (there are 3 girls & 1 is missing)

John with his best buddies 

Prayer Requests and a Praise

This was taken Feb. 13.  We miss Papa!

I need to change my return flight that's departing tomorrow morning.  Apparently there are holidays coming up this Fri., Mar. 4-Tues., Mar. 8 (I think he said it was Woman's Day?  I can't understand his heavy accent very well).  He said that it's a half day on Fri. so no one will be working, Mon. everything's closed, and Tues. is a half day so no one will be working then.  If anyone out   there reading this knows what the holidays are, I'd love to know. Would you please pray with me that I can get his passport as soon as possible?  Then I can go to Kiev and get his visa and he can have his physical exam and we can return home.  I have been here since Jan. 30 and miss my kids so much!  They will be on Winter Break next week and it would be great to get home at the end of it.  Also, please pray that John gets over his chest cold or whatever he has.  I hope that they'll let me take him out of the orphanage on Tues. even if he's not 100%!  One more thing, I just got off the phone with the National Visa Center and they said that they would be transmitting our updated USCIS approval electronically sometime today and the Kiev office should have it by Tues.  Thank you Lord!

Some Photos

Out and About Today

Last night my internet connection fell when I had just started to talk to Scott on Skype.  I was so disappointed that I couldn't get it to re-connect.  It was late so I went to bed and hoped it would work in the morning.  Well, after many attempts, I couldn't get it to work this morning either.  Panic set in a little because I don't know what I'd do without getting to see the kids every afternoon!  Thankfully I can send/receive e-mails on my Droid so I e-mailed Paul to pray that the internet would come back on.   As I was leaving for the orphanage, I asked the hotel owner's wife if the internet connection was up and running.  I was so relieved to learn that the owner had already left to pay the bill and that it should be up and running later.  Thank you Lord!  I'm so spoiled to have internet access 24/7.

Well, I went to see John in the morning and afternoon again.  I don't know why I even write that because that's what I do everyday.  He still has something going on in his chest so we can't go outside.  It's bitter cold anyway with snow on the ground so playing inside is fine with me. We played in the same little area outside his living quarters.  His favorite thing to do is definitely to bat around a balloon or small blow up beach ball.  

Between visits, I ventured in to town to buy him a jacket, hat, and gloves.  Since I can't read any of the signs, I just looked in the windows to see if they had advertisements with kids on them.  I was surprised that I was able to find four stores and even more in the open air market that has booths set up one right after the other.  The one store that had the most inventory was without power so eventhough the saleperson was desperate to show me the items with her tiny flash light, I had to move on.  I don't know what I'd do without my Droid with the Google Translate app.  Every time I walked into a store, I'd show them what I was looking for and they'd bring me right to the merchandise.  I bought the cheapest one I could find that looked decent.  Once we return to NC, it will be warm and he'll probably never wear it again.  I brought it to the ophanage for him to try it on and it fit him perfectly.  Then I realized that the elastic on it was shot.  I forgot to check it!  I've learned that the clothing here isn't super well made or has been sitting on the shelves a long time so I should have been better about looking it over.  It will still keep him warm.

After our second playdate, I walked to the Wal-Mart type store, bought him a hat and some treats for tomorrow and ate dinner at the cafeteria.  I have no clue what I ate and I still can't believe I ate it because it didn't taste very good.  At least, it had cheese and a tomato melted on the top so it masked the flavor a little.  I sat at the table in the non-smoking section where I used to sit with Paul:(  Since he's been gone, I haven't taken many pictures and haven't had any taken of the two of us until today.  One of the caregivers took this one.  The other photos are of John playing with his Zsu-Zsu pet and gulping down a juice box I brought him.  He inhales any food or drink I give him.  As you can see, he is no longer wearing the Tom and Jerry sweater and his hair is growing out a little more each day.  Tomorrow I'll post some of the photos that Paul took.  You can't see his face very well in these.  Only 6 more days until I can take him out of the orphanage!  Bed #5 will be empty!