Thursday, September 29, 2005

Thursday, September 29

Hi everyone. We have been in the orphanage city for 7 days now visiting Connor.
He is getting more comfortable with us every day. His caretakers tell us that he waits for us to come visit him and he is expecting more individual care from them now. We started visiting him twice a day from 10 to 12 and 4:30 to 6. We think he has put on some weight since we have been coming. We are giving him juice and fruit. He loves bananas and says "nana". He says words but hasn't really spoken any english yet. He runs to us when we come visit and he gives us kisses and hugs! We can't wait to get him home to meet everyone!

We hope to have a court date next week. Hopefully early in the week. After the court date, there is a mandatory 10 day wait until we can take Connor to Kiev to the American Embassy to finish his paperwork so he can come home with us. The 10 day waiting period is a new law that just was passed and the court systems are trying to work out the specifics of the new laws/procedures. We are not sure of the purpose of the new procedures. It seems like they just want to keep foreigners in country longer to contribute to their economy. It is frustrating and especially since we have been here 3 1/2 weeks already. We of course always felt lucky to live in America but once you are out of country for as long as we have been, you start to appreciate it even more. In Kiev we had more freedom to walk around and go to the internet cafe. We haven't had that here and it has been harder. We have to rely on our driver who doesn't speak english. Our translater has been busy with paperwork so we have been stuck in the apartment for basically a week except when we visit Connor. Today we went out to the shopping areas without our translater because she had to go back to Kiev to do some paperwork. The problem is that all the sizes are different and we can't even figure out how to get Connor a jacket. Oh well, we are hoping that things improve here. It will be nice when we finally have hot water. We have not had it in 8 days. A real shower sure will feel good. Especially since we smell like diesel fuel from riding in the car. The air quality isn't good and traffic is bad because there is basically only one way to get to where you are going and that is through the heart of down town.

Not to complain too much....We just miss home. Of course it is all worth it because we are getting Connor. He is such a joy. It is just great to see him laugh and smile. Thanks to everyone at home for the support and prayers.
Christine and Darren

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Saturday.... Wow, what a week! I think most of you know that we met our little boy and are moving forward with the adoption. We have decided to name him Connor Alexander. Connor means "wanted" and is an Irish name. Saint Alexander is the name of the church we went to in Kiev.

We feel so blessed. I will try to describe our first meeting. We walked into the orphanage and there were a group of adults with a little boy. I knew it was him and my heart started to melt immediately. We walked into an office and they asked if we wanted to take him. I said Yes!! He sat on my lap and we gave him a cookie. He didn't cry but he was very alert and curious. Darren and I just looked at each other and we knew he was meant for us. We met with the orphanage officials for about a half hour and then went to a separate area and spent about 1 and 1/2 hours with him. We had brought a little stuffed dog along and when you pushed the nose it went "woof woof". Connor thought that was so funny and he laughed and smiled. He was laughing at the funny faces we made at him and giving us high fives! He also did a dance in sync with his care giver stomping his feet and turning around with his hands in the air. When the caregiver came to take him away, he waved to us and we kissed him goodbye.

He was speaking some Russian words. We understood a few but mostly we did not. He is small which is normal for orphanage raised children. He weighs about 22 pounds. He will really start to thrive when we get him home and he gets the attention he needs.

We saw him for 2 hours yesterday and will see him every day until everthing is final. We don't know what the timing on things will be but we will keep everyone informed. Love to everyone and thanks for all your support and prayers.
Christine and Darren

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Hi Everyone,
We had a good day and we are getting a referral for a 2 year 1 month old boy. He seems to be healthy from the limited information available right now. We will travel either tomorrow (Wednesday) evening or possibly Thursday morning to the town with the orphanage. We are cautiously optimistic. I think it is because it has been such a long road to get here. I feel like we may be in the home stretch. There are still several things that need to happen--especially with the court system which is undergoing some changes right now. Depending on how that goes, we may have to come home and go back later to finish the adoption.

We can't tell all of you enough how much we appreciate all the prayers and support. I feel like God is hearing us.

Rita, I sure don't remember who that little angel was who untied peoples shoe strings in line!

We will update as soon as possible!!
Christine and Darren

Monday, September 19, 2005

Monday
September 19th

Sunday morning we attended the English mass at St. Alexander's Parish in downtown Kiev. The Priest, Fr. Roche is Irish so that is a good thing. The mass was very nice, and it was more crowded than last week. After that we were taken by our translator, Ochsana, to St. Michael's a few blocks away. St. Michael's is an Eastern Orthodox church that was built in the 11th century, burned down, and then was rebuilt in 1986 exactly as the original. During the service, the priest is basically in the middle of the parishioners during most of the service. There are no pews and everyone stands during the entire service (spoken and sung in russian of course!)
It was very elaborate, lots of incense, beautiful singing, and gregorian chant like choir music.The cupola of the church rises about 8 stories above where the priest stands, with lots of beatiful byzantine mosaics and frescos. The altar was elaborately carved with gold gilding all over and numerous ancient paintings of Mary, Jesus and various saints. It was an impressive service.
After that we went to St. Sophia the oldest original eastern orthodox cathedral, built around 980 A.D. Many of the original frescos and mosaics are still in the church. It was like stepping back in time. The only bad thing is that the weather turned colder. It was rainy and in the 40s/50s yesterday. Today is sunny and a little warmer. Our new translator, Natasha, who incidently looks like a young Hillary Clinton, took us to a shopping mall so we could buy some jackets. Tommorow is our third visit to the adoption center. We don't know the time yet but most likely we'll get a call about 8:00 tonight from Natasha letting us know. A lot of wheeling and dealing seems to happen after work hours. Hopefully, everything will work out and wednesday we'll be on our way somewhere to visit a child.

Christine & Darren

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Saturday---Last night we got a call from our coordinator and we have a third appointment for either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Please keep us in your prayers as we know you are.

Kiev has an arch too. It is called the Arch of Friendship or the peace arch of freedom. It was built to signify the friendship between Ukraine and Russia. It sits on a hill top with a beautiful panoramic view of the city. It is not nearly as big as our Arch in St. Louis but still impressive.

We also went to the museum of minatures. Amazing and hard to comprehend how the artist could make things so small! He placed a carved rose inside of a hair strand. There was also a chess set that was on top of a pin head. The detail was amazing when you looked through a microscope to view all the works. We were in awe.

We will keep everyone updated. Bye for now.
Christine and Darren

Friday, September 16, 2005

Friday Sept. 16
Hi from Kiev. Not much is new. Just a lot of waiting. We are hopeful we will get an appointment next week at the adoption center. We were told that this was likely. The way the system works is that we won't know until the evening before if we have an appointment the next day. We are hopeful for success.

Yesterday we went to the WW II memorial. It was very interesting. Today we went on a river boat cruise. We could see a lot of the sights/places that we have been. It was a fun day. Our translator is very personable which makes it much more enjoyable.

Other than that it is just daily routine stuff. We have not had hot water for the last 3 out of 4 days. We have been boiling water to take a bath. Otherwise the water is too ice cold to take a shower. There are a lot of dogs here. It seems they have a lot of strays. Darren has been feeding one of the dogs that is around the apartment.

We have been walking around the soccer park track every day and there have been neighborhood girls about 8 to 10 years old that are just facinated with us because we are american. They have been talking to us in the few english words that they speak. The other day they recited "Good morning, good morning, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning, glad to see you." Yesterday there was a group of about 10 of them that followed us on our walk. They were saying "My name is ---" and we told them our names. They also asked how old we were. Then they sat on the bleachers and we left. They saw that we were leaving and chased us to our apartment elevator and said "bye bye". Then they ran up 8 flights of stairs and told us bye bye again. We were cracking up--It was so cute.

Yesterday we ate at Fridays. American food-yum.... The food is just different here plus we are picky anyway. For the most part, we season our food much more. There is another restaurant that is called Arizona BBQ which everyone says we need to go to. Apparently they have margaritas. So for the sake of research (since Lasco has Margaritas) I must try at least one. I will have to report back to work. We have to keep the competition in check.(Ha ha). Anyway, we miss everyone. We will report back soon.
Christine and Darren.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Hi everyone. We had an appointment at the adoption center yesterday. The director (head honcho) wanted to meet with us. We weren't sure what to expect but apparently she wanted to know why we did not accept the first referral for adoption. We told her because the child was very ill and would never be able to walk. It's funny talking through a translator because you say a few words and they start to talk and it goes on and on. They just don't translate everything. Well, we actually met with the assistant director because the director was busy. It went well enough. She told us that we were a young couple and we should adopt siblings and asked us if we wanted to look through the files. It was late in the day and we knew that it was unlikely to find anything but we had to say yes. So they brought out files of siblings. We told them that one sibling had to be under four and the other sibling could be up to 8 and one had to be a girl. We did not find any that met our criteria. The youngest we found was a set of sisters--one 6 the other 11.

Then the helper got snitty with us and told us we should come back in 2006 because they were very busy. I said no that we can not and requested a 3rd appointment. We explained that we wanted to experience raising a child from a young age since we have not been parents before. Plus--I am not ready to bring a child home and have them start dating in a year or two! They did not show us any files of single children. We felt like we were being pressured and we basically ended the appointment. Needless to say, we are both very upset. It is so difficult communicating over here. I asked the question to our translator--What percentage of people in the last 3 months have had a successful 3rd appointment? He said 99%. It is stange though. I am not saying that it is not true but something gets lost in translation and you don't know what to believe.

Now, for now--we are going to wait. I think we are going to request a meeting with the head coordinator. I am just not sure--I doubt--that we will get any information. The problem is that this has significantly postponed our trip. It is just not possible to stay a substantial amount of time longer. We planned on 30 to 35 days--who knows now. I hope I have some better information the next time I post. Thanks for everyone's support. It means so much to us.

Today we are going to the WW II memorial. They have a big statue that looks similar to the statue of Liberty. There are so many sculptures in this city.
For Ned: No, they do not have any Anheiser Busch products--believe me Darren asked. Not bad Ukranian beer.
Christine and Darren

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

September 13 3:45 pm

Hi everyone. Thanks to everyone for their words of support and prayers. It helps us very much. By the way, our luggage did show up. That was good!

Yesterday a new application for another appointment was submitted to the Adoption Center. There are people working for us behind the scenes to get us another appointment as quick as possible. The most important thing is that it is a successful appointment so the wait is secondary.

We have really been keeping pretty busy. There is down time but we have not been bored. Yesterday (Monday) we did more sight seeing in Kiev. We saw more cathedrals and got some nice souveniers. We have been walking everyday usually around the track at the soccer field right next to our apartment. Darren discovered that it is pretty easy to get beer. There is a stand right by the apartment and he has learned that beer in Russian is Piva. So we had a couple beers last night.

Today we went to a beautiful area with more churches and cathedrals. The weather is perfect again today and we haven't had any rain. We had McDonalds for lunch and boy did it taste good! Just like home! The food is pretty good but not as much variety as we are used to. Also, they do not use condiments over here. The pasta that we had has been plain--without sauce. It sure was nice to have ketchup with our fries today. Tonight we plan on walking again and watching a movie on our portable DVD player. Oh--we bought a couple CD's today and boy they were cheap--4 bucks a piece. They don't have all the American Bands over here but a few. Well, we will sign out for now. We will probably post tomorrow again.
Christine and Darren

Sunday, September 11, 2005

September 11, 2005 Sunday

We left at 4:30 am Friday morning to travel to the orphanage about 5 hours west of Kiev in Kymintziev... It was an interesting trip because the country side was very unique. Almost like stepping back in time to the 1940's WW II era. The farmers were gathering milk on horse drawn carts in the morning and shepards were walking their cows to pasture and at times we had to stop because they were in the middle of the road.

We arrived at the orphanage and the children were out playing. As we approached children were walking in a line on the road. All at once the teacher yelled at them and they got out of the way all at once and lined up against the wall as we passed. They were waiving with eyes as big as saucers--excited to see us. We parked and waited for our coordinator to arrange a meeting with the child we were there to see. While we were waiting, a group of younger children about 2 years old came out and started flocking around the van we were in. They were looking at us as to say "Come over and love me". It was a very emotional moment. They were all so cute and looked like they could have been right out of Orphan Annie with the clothing they were wearing. They just kept standing there, staring at us for 10 minutes. We then went in to meet the child we came to see. Her name was Tanya. She was very much delayed and had several severe medical issues. She was very small and not walking yet at 2 years old. She was crying and we spent a little time holding and trying to comfort her. We knew that we were not going to take her. It was so sad.

The rest of the day we spent waiting around trying to get all the necessary paperwork completed. We drove back to Kiev that evening arriving back at about 10:30 pm--a very long day.. The roads were so bumpy it was difficult to relax in the car.

Saturday was a good day. We did some sight seeing in Kiev. We went to the Ukrainian National Historical Area. The weather has been fantastic and we have been getting in a lot of walking. They tell us that we have about 1 more week of good weather before it starts to get cold. Saturday evening we watched a Soccer (football) game outside of our apartment balcony. It was interesting but we couldn't figure out who the home team was to root for them! The home team lost.. Oh well, the Cardinals are doing good!

Sunday (today) we got up and went to mass at St. Alexanders. They actually had an english mass. It was a beautiful church. We found out that it is very old. When the Soviet government took over they closed the church and made it a planetarium. After Ukrainian independence it was turned back into a church.

Tomorrow we file an application for another appointment at the adoption center. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait. We will try to post again soon.
Christine and Darren

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

First 2 days in Ukraine

It was a long flight but we made it here safe and sound. We couldn't sleep on the plane. I think we were just wired from all the anticipation. Unfortunately, they lost our luggage. Luckily, we carried on clothes for about a day so we had csomething to wear to the Adoption center. Hopefully we will get our bags tonight or tommorrow.

We are staying in a very small but clean apartment. The elevator is very small about 3.5 x 4 feet. It really made us nervous at first going up 8 floors. The building seems to be half vacant. We are lucky to have hot water. We have someone bringing us food. It is different than what we are used to but it has been pretty good. Kiev is much bigger than we expected. It is population of about 4 million but it is very spread out. It is very strange not being able to read the words on buildings because everything uses the cyrillic alphabet.

We were very tired yesterday from being up for over 24 hours. We are still feeling jet lagged.

This morning we had an appointment at the National Adoption Center. We did not find our child yet. It was recommended to us that we go look at a child to gain favor (to show we are serious about adopting). So tomorrow or the next day we will leave to go see a child. We do not expect that this will be our child due to severe health issues. We are not looking forward to doing this because it will be very hard emotionally. Hopefully this will help us get another appointment at the adoption center and we will find our healthy child.

We went in with a very open mind stating we would adopt a boy or girl under the age of 4. There were no children available that met this criteria. Our coordinator says that this is common and 70% of the people have to go for a second appointment. We are dissappointed but we are trying to stay positive. Please keep us in your prayers as we need them more than ever.

Tonight we took a walk in the neighborhood we are staying in. It is an older area that is run down by our standards. Ninety percent of the people here live in apartments. We haven't seen any stand alone homes. There is a lot of beautiful architecture in the down town area, lots of parks and high end shopping. We are staying about 30 minutes from down town. The weather is perfect. It gets into the 70's during the day and cools off at night. Tommorrow we may go sight seeing. Darren could really use a Budweiser right now. He (we) are going to try to get a beer tonight! It is nice to come to an internet cafe just to get the news on what is going on at home. We will hopefully be able to post soon and keep everyone updated.
Christine and Darren