News From Ukraine

Tuesday morning we flew into Dusseldorf. Because we didn't have our boarding passes to Kiev we had to go through a passport control check. We then went downstairs and we knew we were no longer in the United States. Everyone was dressed in black. There were very few people wearing jeans. They were all dressed up. We got our boarding passes and then we had to go back through a passport control check again. It was really bizarre.

On Wednesday we went to our SDA appointment. It was originally scheduled for 3:00. Oleg called us about noon and said that our appointment had been moved up and he was on his way to pick us up. On our way to the SDA, Oleg got a call saying our appointment would be at 2:00. So we waited aroung the building for about an hour and half. At 2:00 they let us stand in the stairwell to wait for our apointment. My feet were so cold by this time, I would slip my foot out of my shoe and put it on the radiator to help me get warm. It was fun watching everyone else who was trying to adopt. There was a big commotion about adopting babies, I think. Anyway, all of the facilitators were on their cell phones and jabboring with each other over something that was frustrating them. We finnaly went into our appointment at 3:00. David said a few word and that was it we were done.

Thursday, Oleg brought us to Sumy. We were supposed to meet with the inspector and we of course ended up waiting there for about an hour and half. Once the inspector signed all of the documents she needed we took her to another office to have her documents signed. She wasn't sure if anyone would be there to sign the documents. Luckily there was. We had to have these documents signed before we could see the kids.

As we walked into the orphanage, Tania and Sveta were walking around outside. We all recognized each other and Tania was thrilled to see us. She had been calling Oleg regularly to when we would come. Inside, Tania kept calling Sasha by cell phone to get him to our meeting. Finally, she called him again and the inspector told Tania to tell him "the inspector said to get to the meeting." He finally came.

More to come later.