Day 28 – Visa

Friday, January 14, 2011

Andrei woke up very happy this morning. Singing and talking non-stop just like his big sister. I miss my little stinker. : ) We had oatmeal and bananas for breakfast. He ate the bananas but not the oatmeal, so I gave him some yogurt, and he liked that.

At 9:00 AM we went to the Embassy to get our visa. It took about 45 minutes, but there were no problems there. It is GOOD to be an American at the US embassy. No lines and paper work is done very quickly. God bless the USA! We can’t wait to be home!

Since we have a day off tomorrow, I asked Niko to help us find something to do that was fun for children. He recommended the circus. It has its own building, and he says that it is excellent. Unfortunately, it will not be open until Jan. 28th. If you are in Kiev at that time, try to check it out. Instead we are going to see a performance of the Gingerbread Man at the puppet theater. This was yet another story about God’s provisions for us. The tickets were sold out, but the cashier called a friend who had reserved tickets, and they decided not to go. Yahoo!! We got the tickets for tomorrow! I can’t wait to go! The building is gorgeous. It looks like something you would see in Disney World.

Then Niko drove us to TGIF where we met-up with a couple of families who were adopting, including the Texan family we have been with since Kherson. It was soooo good to have American food and speak English to the waiters.

I have been trying to remember all of Andrei’s first English words. His first word at the orphanage was “lights”. He loves to look at them, turn them off and on, and figure out which switch goes with which light. When we enter our apartment, he turns on all the lights, and he follows us around turning them on and off when we leave a room. The next word that he understood and used in context was “boy”. Today at the embassy there was another family who was adopting. He pointed at the boy and his mom and said “boy…mama” then pointed at himself and me and said it again. He repeats everything and is really starting to understand what we need him to do.

What I did not expect this early was for him to be listening to conversations and copy a word. I was speaking to our driver in Spanish, and said,“ Andrei es un picaro.” Andrei had been singing and talking in the car, so I was telling our driver stories of how smart he was and that he was a “little stinker”. Well, Andrei heard me say “picaro” meaning “little stinker” and started to repeat that word several time. : ) He had no idea what he was saying, but we started laughing, so that became his favorite word this afternoon.

Day 27 – Back to Kiev – Embassy and Medical Exam

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Niko, our driver, was waiting for us at the station. He helped us to get the luggage off the train and down two flights of stairs. I had Andrei in a stroller, and a very nice guy helped me get the stroller down the stairs.

We went directly to the embassy and turned in our paper work. From there we went to the clinic for his medical examination. The doctor was really touched by Andrei and his determination. She recommended for us to also check his heart (there was a murmur) and the area above his belly (there might be a hernia forming). She also said he has a high pallet which is probably the reason for his mispronunciation of words, but that it could be resolved with speech therapy. She was not very optimistic about the correction of his feet or knees. In Ukraine there would be little hope of correction, but in the US there is hope. She “teared-up” when she saw the calices on his knuckles and gave him an apple out of her purse. When I left she told me that she sees many adopted kids, but she could see in Andrei something very special. While our paperwork was being done, we ate in the clinic café. Our paperwork was ready in 20 minutes. Usually you have to come back after 2:00 to pick-up the results. God is good!

We then went to our apartment. It is not the nicest apartment, but we are only here a couple of days. The entrance has missing wood boards that are covered by 2 area rugs, it is not very clean, and the internet is very slow. On the positive side, there is a working elevator, it is in a great location, and the bedroom is separate from the living room which helps during nap time. Andrei took a good nap when we got to the apartment, and I went shopping for groceries. For dinner, we had a sandwich. Andrei looked at it like it was from outer space.: ) We had to bribe him with dessert to get him to eat some of it. He had a nice bath and went to bed without a problem. He does talk in his sleep.

Day 25 – Passport and Gotcha Day

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Today we went to the bank to withdraw Andrei’s government money from the bank and make our donation to the orphanage. It took about 30 minutes to complete paperwork, close his account, and withdraw the money. They gave us the money in small bills and it looked like a large brick. It was somewhat comical to place the large block of cash (donation) on the director’s desk.

After the bank we went to get our passports. They were not ready!!!! The “boss” had not signed them yet. We waited almost 3 hours for them. While waiting, we had to use the "bathroom" in the nearest restaurant.  A picture is worth 1000 words.

Once we had the passport, we went to the market to buy diapers, fruits, and chocolates for the kids. At 2:00 PM we were able to get Andrei from the orphanage. The caregivers woke him up from his nap, and I was  able to dress him.

Loved the socks!

Look how cute he looks!!!

We said goodbye to everyone, and we were out of there...down the hall...down the stairs...out the door...through the court yard...into the taxi...and...out the gates!  I wanted to post more pictures, but we are having internet issues.


Since we had not eaten all day, we went to John Howard for a last meal in Kherson with the other Texan family, our taxi driver, and our facilitator. The kids did really well! Then we went back to our apartment to finish packing and get ready for the train ride at 9:00 PM.

In the apartment, Andrei had to touch everything! He is a typical inquisitive toddler plus he has not seen or touched most of the stuff around him. Randell and I were exhausted by the time we left for the train station. We are too OLD to have a 3 year old. Our backs were hurting from picking him up and my knee was giving out. At this rate, Andrei will need to push my wheelchair to his kindergarten “Meet the Teacher Night”. : )

We gave him his first bath, and he loved it! After his bath, he was so happy. He kept hugging on me. So sweet!

Our driver picked us up at 9:00 for the train station. He and Randell had to bring down 3 large suit cases, 1 carry-on, and a stroller down 3 flights of stairs. Our facilitator was able to get us 2nd class tickets for the train. It is cheaper to buy all four beds in the 2nd class compartment, then to buy two first class tickets. The compartments are the same in size except that it sleeps 4 people, and you have to share it with strangers if you don’t buy all four beds. I was dreading the heat in that box. It was like a sauna last time, but this time it was not that hot. It was actually fairly comfortable.

Andrei slept parts of the trip, but he would wake at the train stops and would need to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms are usually locked when stopped at the stations, but they were very nice to open it for Andrei. He went about 7 times, and some of the times he did not actually have to go. In the orphanage, I had noticed that he uses needing to go to the bathroom as his escape from having to do something he does not want to do. I think he was very nervous and did not know how to react to this situation.

There is a lot I can say about the bathroom experience, but I think one short sentence will some it up. I had to tuck the bottom of my pants into my boots in order to go into the bathroom. The rest I would rather forget. : )

Day 24 – New Birth Certificate

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

We went to visit Andrei’s birth region today. It is in the province of Kherson Oblast which is the same province we are in, but it is in the city of Gola Prystan. It took about an hour to get there, and on the map, it is between Kherson and the Black Sea. The town is also on the Dnieper river. I tried to take some pictures, but we were going pretty fast, so they are mostly a blur.

It is a small town with mostly small homes. It took a while for the paperwork to be completed, since files here are kept with big books, and the birth certificates are typed. (Yes!!! They typed it on a good old type writer!) I think there was some kind of “payment” given afterwards since our facilitator had to go get some extra $ from the bank. These are pictures from his birth town. They are the best I could do from the car.

After we got his new birth certificate, we came back to Kherson to apply for the one day passport, which by the way costs $700. OUCH! This is where things started falling apart. There is only one place to get the passport and only two special printers that could print these one day passports. They called for a “specialist” to come fix it at noon. We checked on it at 2:00, and it was not ready. They thought it could be a computer program issue. Then they told us they would call us by 7:30 PM if the printer was fixed. Praise God, the printer was fixed, and we could pick it up the next day.

For those interested, here is some brief info about the passports. The old passport (red one) does not require a tax ID number and there is the option of getting it in one day, because it is printed in the region where the orphanage is located. There is a limited number of old passports left in each region, and once they run out, they will not be reprinted. The new passport (blue one) could take 5 or more days to receive, because the application is sent to Kiev and the passport comes from Kiev. We asked if we could go to Kiev to apply for it there, but we could not. You have to apply for it in the child’s region. Interesting system!

To make it more interesting, the new passport requires a tax ID number. The ID number given to the adopted child when their name is changed needs to match the old ID number. Somehow Andrei’s ID numbers did not match, and the guy (not sure who he was) said we were going to need a couple of days to have that corrected in his birth city before we could even apply for a new passport. We were so blessed that the printer was fixed, and we did not need to apply for the new passport.

Day 23 – Passport Pictures

This is the post for Monday, January 10, 2011

Today started as a typical day for Andrei, and we had our "usual" visit.

These are pictures of Ayna, the psychologist, and Andre before we left on our little adventure. She is amazing with the kids! She has worked with Andrei since he was 7 months old and was told that he had no hope of talking, moving, or any mental ability. I am so glad that she saw the spark in his eye, and it is thanks to her hard work and his determination to succeed that he has made such incredible progress. She has a son with CP who has the same name and was instantly connected to Andrei.  Ayna has been Andrei’s parental figure for a long time, and it will be hard for both of them to be apart when we leave. We are forever grateful to her for seeing the hope and determination in Andrei and giving him a chance to succeed in life.  Thank you God for placing Ayna in Andrei's life!

Besides our usual visit, today we went on our first outing with Andrei to get his passport pictures. Little did Andrei know when we arrived that he would get out of the orphanage for a short hour.

These are picture of his shocked face. I think Randell’s face looks a little freaked out also. : )

He did a great job at the passport photo place, and we were done quickly. On our way back we gave him a sucker. He had never had one before and was not sure what to do with it at first. We had to show him what to do.

I can’t wait to see the world through his eyes for the first time!

Side Notes: 
Our internet here at Kherson has not been the best.  I hope to catch up on my Day 24 post when we arrive in Kiev.  On Day 24 we went to Andrei's birth place and had some passport issues that God resolved. 

Today, Day 25, we will go get the passport, take Andrei's goverment money out of the bank and donate it to the orphanage, pick-up Andrei, and get on the train for Kiev.

Tomorrow, Day 26, we will have our embassy appointment. I will try to catch up on my blogging then. : )


Madison, we LOVE you! We can’t wait to see you!

Praise God!!!!!

The printer is fixed, and we will get the passport tomorrow!  God has been so faithful in our journey.  This is one of many answered prayers.  This journey has been one miracle after another!  God is amazing!!!  He continues to bless us beyond measure!!!  Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us!!!

All glory be to God!!!!!! 

Urgent! Your prayers are needed right now.

The special printer that prints the old passports is not working.  Someone is trying to fix it right now.  If it is not fixed, and we are not able to get the old passport, we will have to apply for the new ones.  This will add 1-2 weeks to our stay here.  This means added cost of changing flights and cost of extra days.  It could add thousands of dollars to our cost.  Please pray that the printer is fixed by tomorrow.  We know God can make this happen, and we need your prayers today.

Day 22 – Last day of our 10 day wait!

We had an interesting visit today. Andrei was grumpy and tired. I think he was off his schedule since there is a different crew of caregivers on the weekends.  I left the camera at home this morning.  Sorry no pictures of Andrei.  : (

Now that the 10 days are up, we begin the process of getting a new birth certificate, a passport, and visa to the US. The last 10 days have not been easy, but they have allowed us time to bond with Andrei. We are so thankful that we had another Texan family here to spend our afternoons with. It truly made the time go by a little faster, and together we were “brave” enough to explore the city. God knew we needed that fellowship time. Here are some pictures from our outing to the river this afternoon.

The end is in sight!!!

This is one of our favorite places to eat. It’s good pizza, it’s cheap, and we can order in “Russian” since we order cheese pizza and 2 cokes every time. : )

I could not help taking this picture. Randell walked away as if he did not know me. : )  Check out the make-up!  Mary Kay is everywhere!

Our plan for next week.
• Tomorrow the facilitator will pick-up our finalized court decree, and we will take Andrei to get his passport picture. I hope they let us take him out for lunch also.
• Tuesday we will go to his birth region to get a new birth certificate with our names as his parents. Tuesday afternoon we will apply for the passport and hopefully get it either later that day or on Wednesday.
• Wednesday should be Gotcha Day!
• Wednesday night we will take the train back to Kiev and arrive Thursday at 10 am.
• Thursday 11:00 am we have our embassy appointment to apply for Andrei’s visa.
• Friday morning we will go to his medical exam, pick-up the result by 2:00, and go back to the embassy for the visa.
• Saturday we hope to enjoy our time around Kiev with Andrei.
• Sunday we will be at the airport at 3:00 AM. So early!!! Our plane leaves at 6:45 AM to Amsterdam. We arrive at 8:45 AM and have a short layover until 10:00 AM. We then will go straight to Dallas. We will arrive in Dallas at 1:45 PM. YAHOO!!

It’s a tight schedule, but we know that with God’s help it can be done. Please pray that everything works out smoothly so we can be home on Sunday.

Day 21 – (day 9 of waiting period) – Singing Together

We did not have internet yesterday, so this post is for Saturday, January 08, 2011

Andrei had an interesting outfit on today. Check out the red fringe on the sleeves and the green socks over the pink stockings. : ) He looks cute in anything!

He is starting to show affection without being ask to give us a hug or kiss. Today, he was loved the made up song I was singing to him and was trying to sing along. At one point he held on to my head and gave me the tightest hug. He is going to love being rocked and sang to. Can’t wait! Hope you enjoy the video.

Day 20 – (day 8 of waiting period) – Merry Christmas!

Friday, January 07, 2011

Ukraine is celebrating Orthodox Christmas today.  Randell and I feel so blessed to be here!  Merry Christmas from Ukraine! 

Hope you enjoy the video of Randell and Andrei having fun.