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