Passport and Visa in Hand!!!!

Phew! We can breathe a little easier now because we received Dima's passport and visa this morning!!!!! I purposely got up early in case Dima would take a while to wake up for us to leave at 7:30am.  Thank goodness he is easy to wake up as I only had to tell him once to get ready.  We were ready in plenty of time.  Our driver and Syvette picked us up to take us to Dima's medical exam.  When we got into the van, Syvette cheered and gave us Dima's passport!! Dima and I were very excited to finally see it!  We got to where Dima would get his physical and ended up getting there too early because traffic was not as bad as we expected.  Traffic is crazy here since about 5 million people live here in Kiev.  People here can afford cars and the roads are not condusive to handle that many cars. 

Once the doctor saw us, it was very quick as he asked Dima questions and checked him over.  Once we were done, we received the needed paperwork to go to the US Embassy.  We didn't have our appointment for another hour so we went early to see if they could take us.  They were closing early for their holiday so I was nervous we they wouldn't have time to get his visa prepared today.  Luckily, they allowed us to come in early and I ended up having the same man that I had yesterday.  He took all the paperwork that was needed and said he would have the visa within the hour....I about kissed the guy! Dima and I sat there in the waiting room with two other adopting parents.  One from Colorado and the other from the Boston area.  In that hour we all talked about our experiences of how we met our children, our crazy flights and train rides, and how the children are doing.  It was refreshing to talk to other Americans that are going through the same thing.  You would have thought we all knew each other by how we were talking! Next thing we knew, we were all being called up for our completed visas.  That hour was the fastest hour yet.  This process you hurry up and wait...and wait...and wait! I can't tell you how many hours we've sat and waited for appointments or paperwork.  It definitely taught me patience, but I realized how patience Dima is as well.  He's been absolutely amazing through this whole process! Walking out of the US Embassy after we received his visa, we gave each other the biggest hug! The smile on his face said it all.

Tonight, we are enjoying Lori and Russ's cooking again.  I can't say enough about these guys and how wonderful they have been to me and Dima through this process.  The kids are enjoying their time together speaking their own language because in a couple of days, Dima will be in my situation here with few people speaking his language.  Tomorrow we will try to fill the day to make Saturday come sooner.  We fly out around 1pm and we have a direct flight to JKF.  We will drive home Saturday night into Sunday morning and we will be home!!!!!

Passport is coming by train tonight!

Today was a stressful day as I received the phone call from Syvette that Dima and I needed to be ready within a half hour so we can go to the US Embassy.  I was relieved to hear that we were going to the Embassy to start Dima's visa paperwork.  That was a good sign that Dima's passport has arrived.  When Dima and I arrived at the Embassy, I was very happy to see the Walk's had an appointment at the same time.  We all went into the US Embassy and were able to speak to people that could speak English, very refreshing! The man that waited on me was very helpful and kind.  He asked if I had Dima's passport in hand and when I explained it was coming on the train, he continued to help me.  He explained we need his passport and finished doctor's appointment to complete the paperwork.  His next question asked was "Do you already have your return flight".  I said yes as my heart sank.  He said he would help me anyway he could so I wouldn't have to come back on Tuesday. He continued to ask me questions and had me fill out paperwork.  My paperwork snafu from before caught up with me....again.  He explained I would have to come back tomorrow with this paperwork and the medical papers then we will receive his visa. 

All I can say is thank God for Skype! I had to arrange for Dusty to sign the needed form, notarize it and email it back.  It's amazing what you can do halfway across the world in one day! Tomorrow we will go the doctor's early and then finish our paperwork at the US Embassy.  We should be able to get everything done before our flight to JFK on Saturday.  Now we just need to have all the flights back in order by then so we can make our direct flight.  The Noel's are still stuck in Switzerland and the McKracken's finally got home after being stuck in London since Christmas day with no Euro's to do anything. Luckily, the airline paid for their hotel.  I think we all are going to have one huge party after all the kids get home safely and laugh about what we've all been through!

Chinese Circus in Kiev

After not having much to do yesterday but sit around and eat, we were happy to get out today and see the Chinese Circus in downtown Kiev.  The venue was amazing and I apologize for not knowing the name or much about theatre.  Here are a few pictures from the circus.

This is the inside of the theatre.  I would love to know whom all has sat in those box seats...

The girls were balancing plates while dancing!

The acts were amazing!

The guy on the top is balancing only with his shoulders on the bottom guy!

We all enjoyed the show and it was good to see another side of Ukraine.  In Krivoy Rog, not many people would be able to afford to see a show like this.  It seemed like the people that have business jobs or higher paying jobs attended the circus.  Children actually had clean clothes and were dressed nicely.  You would still see the occational mother with high boots and short skirts, but not as many here. After the show, I had to use the restroom.  As I was waiting in line just inside the ladies room door, I could smell the bathroom already.  I am not kidding you that almost every public bathroom smells like urine.  As I walked in, this picture below was why!

Yes ladies, this is what you call a "squat pot".  They absolutely stink! It really makes me appreciate the bathrooms in America that are usually clean!!!! You can't flush these and you put your toilet paper in a trash can next to it!

The kids seemed to enjoy the show and when we stepped outside, it was snowing more.  The snow actually brightens things up a little so we were excited to see snow! The only bad thing about this snow is the two other families that were here are stuck and not able to make it home! The McKracken's have been stuck in London since Christmas day and the Noel's left this morning and are stuck in Sweden(or somewhere in Europe) as well.  

Erik, Dima and Lena standing outside the theatre.

Tomorrow we pray we receive Dima's passport.  If we receive it, then we will be able to finish our paperwork at the US Embassy, get his medical exam and then fly home on Saturday! 

Another day closer to leaving for home!

After all the rushing around, we are waiting again until we receive the children's passports.  I am really enjoying the time with Dima as I am learning so much about him.  I just fall in love him more and more each day! Yesterday morning Dima put his washed clothes away and helped me make my bed after he finished making his bed.  He has been helping me with picking out food and paying at the market.  I think he just loves to help!  Last night before he showered, I asked him to give me some clothes so I can wash them.  He was a little confused to which clothes and for the first time out loud he called me "Mama"!!! I had to hold back tears to answer him!  You may wonder...hasn't he called you Mama before?  Up until court, he called Dusty and I by our first names.  We didn't push him as he has NEVER had anyone to call Mama or Papa.  We wanted to wait until court was final.  The day of court I told him he could call us Mama and Papa now and he gave his huge smile and said yes!! Since then, the time hasn't really come up for him to have to call to me until last night and he naturally called me "Mama"!

Christmas day I got to Skype most of my family except my Lisa, Phillip and Jamie.  The time difference is 9 hours so it is really hard to catch each other.  I am really bummed that we didn't get to Skype yet as I wanted them all to see Dima.  Phillip is almost exactly 1 year younger than Dima as his birthday is the day before! I can not wait for them to meet as I think they will really get along! I got a chance to talk to my brother and his future wife Gina at about 11:30pm! It was awesome to see them on Skype for the first and certainly not the last time!  I also got to Skype Dusty with his sister and family that Dima has met since they live close to us.  We talked to my Mama and Papa on the phone as well.  Speaking on the phone was a great gift.

The day after Christmas we were going to go to a museum, but Lori wasn't feeling well and everyone was tired so we just hung out all day.  Lori has been amazing as she's been cooking for us! I will probably end up gaining weight from this trip! I took some pictures for you to see what we are seeing.....

Looking out our apartment window.  You may be thinking...this looks like all the other apartments.  Yes, they all look alike. This area is a lot nicer than the previous stay in Kiev. We are within walking distance of a market so we don't have to ask the driver to take us to the market all the time.

This is a one bed apartment.  This is the living/bedroom.  The kitchen is on the other side of this wall.  The couch and single couch pull out into beds. 

Dima and I hanging out.

When we came back after hanging out a the Walk's apartment, I asked Dima to show me his awards from in his gym bad.  It is so sad to think that after 13 year's, the only possesions he has is in one little gym bag.  He was able to take some of the clothes he brought from the hosting trip in America, some gifts that Dusty and I gave him here, all his pictures, his awards, and his English tutoring papers.  I was so excited to see he actually has some pictures of him as he was a few years younger.  Dusty and I only got to see one picture of him when he was probably about 5 or 6 years old, but the rest were within a couple of years.  I can't believe someone has not adopted him before? We looked at the awards again and I can't wait to put them up in his room!  That alone time was quick lived as he noticed one of his boxing friends was on Skype, good thing that we have unlimited Skype as they talked for a while! During that time, I figured it would be a good time to read some of the paperwork about Dima that I will need to give to the US Embassy.  It was sad to see it written on paper that his young mother did not have any interest for Dima's destiny and no one from Ukraine did either. Seeing it say that he had no family made me think how did he have any desire for life? God was definitely watching over him and brought us together.  We thank God for this each day!  

Merry Christmas from Kiev!

Today was filled with mixed emotions of me longing to be back home with my family and enjoying my time here is Kiev with Dima and friends.  I know we will be home to celebrate our own holiday when we get back, but I still felt homesick.  Syvette and her daughter showed us around beautiful downtown Kiev since she knew it was a holiday for us and would want to celebrate. The Walk family, McKracken's, Dima and I enjoyed the beautiful New Year's decorations as they do not celebrate Christmas day.

Before I post pictures from today, I would like to talk about yesterdays crazy day.  Since we weren't able to process Dima's passport on Thursday, we had to do the 2 hour drive again yesterday. Everything went well, but we had to rush back to the orphanage so Dima could say good bye to the Director and his friends. The Walk's were in Lena's room with the girls and I don't think their was a dry eye in the room. I couldn't imagine how those girls are feeling with Lena leaving.  They are happy for her, but long to have a family of their own and they know their time is running out.  I wish we could help these children find a family of their own, they deserve it just as much as Lena, Erik and Dima did. 

The Director wanted to meet with the Walk's and I to celebrate Dima, Erik, and Lena leaving the orphanage.  She celebrated with cookies, cake, chai(tea) and champagne! We quickly celebrated as we had to catch the evening train.  Their must have been about 20 kids that came out to the car to say good bye to the kids.  I really felt for Artyr, Dima's best friend, as he was really having a hard time saying good bye.  His date to be adopted can not come soon enough! He will need some prayers as the next month will be long until the Rose's come! 

Dima had the biggest smile on his face leaving the orphanage! We rushed to get our luggage from our apartments and got on the train.  We splurged and got first class!  Below is a picture of us leaving on the train after talking to Papa on Skype! Dima was so happy to see him! Dusty was also very relieved to hear from us as I had no way of getting hold of him to let him know things went well with applying for Dima's passport.

Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep on the train from the excitement and having three families on the train at the same time.  When we arrived in Kiev, we were taken to our apartments.  The McKracken's are flying back home and will return the second weekend of January.  The Walk's and Dima and I are staying within quick walking distance which will be nice for the kids to see each other often.  We wait for the kids passports and pray that they come in no later than Wednesday.  If they don't, then no trip back home on January 1st! I don't even want to think about if they do not come by Wednesday.  When we receive passports, we do the paperwork for visa and the kids get a medical exam.  For now, we are trying to give the kids an opportunity to see the local sites.

Erik and Dima at the overlook of the city.

Lena, Erik, and Dima near a statue that Syvette told us the name, but I couldn't even begin to pronounce, let along spell it!

Me, Dima, Mirana(Syvette's daughter), Erik, Lori, Lena, Russ, Mick and Janel in front of the Milka tree.  Syvette said this is for next year to be sweet.  Any tree that is named from a chocolate is the tree for me!!!!

The decorations were gorgeous!

Merry Christmas everyone! Please cherish the time with your loved ones!

Very Long Day!

I am very tired from today, but I wanted to at least say what happened for those who follow everyday. This afternoon the Walk family, Dima and I went to apply for the kids passports. The drive was to be 2 hours, but because of crazy traffic, it was 3 hours.  The driving here makes you appreciate our roads back home! We thought our potholes were bad.....that's nothing compared to these here. They are so bad that practically every couple miles you see a car pulled over changing a tire from hitting a pothole.

We arrived at the passport place, what an experience. People use their passports like we use our drivers license so the place was very busy.  I was trying to figure out what people were doing, but I couldn't. We were waiting in a room that had two separate closed doors.  People would come in and open the doors and ask questions just to get pushed out to wait. Some people were dropping off passports, not sure if they were old ones or what. After the Walk's were able to get Eric and Lena's passport pictures, we left without Dima getting his. The paperwork snafu has caught up to me....again. We were told to come back tomorrow and Dima will get his done then.

After being really nervous about getting the passport back for our January 1st flight, I was told that it should still be ok.  If not, the government offices close down for their holiday. I don't even want to think about being here a couple more weeks!  I will not breath until our butts land January 1st at JFK!!!

Next, we all went out to eat because we found out the poor kids didn't even have lunch today.  We are not sure why as they didn't have school today so we would have thought they should have eaten at the orphanage, but who knows. We had a really good meal and then hit the road.  Andre, the one driver took "hit the road" literally as he hit a big pothole and got a flat tire.  We were driving in another car behind them.  Good thing he does this often....he said he's had 4 flats in the last 3 days!  We were back on the road.

Tomorrow Dima and I will go again on the long trip to apply for his passport. I hope to make it back in time for the anniversary celebration at the orphanage.  I want Dima to be able to see some people there before he leaves with me on the train to Kiev tomorrow night! Tonight is his LAST night sleeping in the orphanage, he was so excited when we told him! I would love to know what he is thinking tonight as he lays in that room with 17 other boys knowing this is the last time he will ever have to sleep like that again!

This Christmas is going to be very special! Merry Christmas to my family and friends! Love you!

Birth Certificate Received!!

This morning was great! I went with my buddy Igor (our driver) to go and pick up Dima's Birth Certificate. I was a tad bit nervous due to the paperwork snafu the previous day, but Syvette said everything should be alright. She then said...BUT, if you have ANY problems, please call me ASAP! So, we went to an office that ended up not being open yet and about 8 people were standing outside waiting.  One thing that I have noticed here is that it is not first come first serve....it's whomever shoves to the front first. When they opened the doors, Igor and I followed everyone else inside.  Once we got inside, Igor just went right in front of all these people.  There was one woman already in the room for birth certificates. In America, you would patiently wait outside until that lady was finished, not here, Igor walked right in and started talking to the lady behind the desk.  Next thing I knew, that lady was no longer there and the door was shut! The lady behind the desk spoke back to Igor and the lady started speaking to me in English and looking into my eyes. You usually don't look people in the eye here when you speak, as it is custom. Some see it as offensive if you look too long into their eyes.  She was very sweet as she directed us into another room and told me to have a seat.

Igor and I sat there while I heard the ladies behind the desk say my name and then Dusty's name. Rather than staring at a blank wall, I thought I'd show Igor, my buddy, pictures from my iPhone.  He thought it was so cool how you can look at all the pictures at the same time.  He doesn't speak English, but while showing him pictures, it made it easier to understand each other.  He laughed at the pictures of our greyhounds doing goofy things and of Dima with scratches on his chin from the hosting camp in PA.  He was generally interested in me showing him those pictures. People here are very stone faced and do not look friendly at first, but most are caring once you get to know them. Honestly, I was a little intimidated of Igor when Dusty and I first met him, but after him laughing at Dusty singing "Careless Whispers" by George Micheals, he became our buddy. I told him today that I would not sign to him like Dusty did.....not sure if he understood what I said.

Back to the birth certificate, after about 15 minutes, the ladies asked me to sign a few places and there was Dima's birth certificate! Eventhough I could barely understand it since it was in Russian, I could recognize our names on it. What a feeling to finally have that in my hands! I couldn't wait to tell Dima later and he was excited as well after I told him.

Not too much happened at the orphanage today, just a big group get together again in the art room. Not sure if we are causing a commotion with so many adoptive parents being here because it seems like some kids want to come to the room with us and are getting in trouble by their teachers.  Even the Assistant Director is not letting us visit some of the kids in their rooms.  We have to stay in the art room only.  With four families, we are now taking up a lot of room.  When the art teacher is there, she is running out of space and I feel she is getting a little frustrated.  She is a very nice lady, and we don't want to upset or disrupt what she is there for.

We have had a few kids come to visit and ask if Lori, Cindy and Eric will find a Mama and Papa for them from America.  That is just breaking our hearts.  One girl today weighs on my mind.  It was the first time I've seen her come to the room with us.  Later Lori told me that when Syvette came to our room to tell us it was time to leave, the girl ran over to Syvette and had her translate to Lori that she wanted her to find her a Mama and Papa from America:( This poor girl is 16 years old! She has no time left as she should "graduate" this year from the orphanage because of her age. Lena said she is a very nice girl and I don't even want to think about where she will be in another year. It is so sad, but I just have to keep focusing on saving Dima and getting him home!

Tomorrow we are going to apply for passports.  We tried to do it today, however, the lady that normally does them was not in.  We hope she is in tomorrow as that could hinder our trip back!  Please pray that we go tomorrow and also for Eric and Cindy Noel as they have court tomorrow at 11am.  They ran into some problems with their adoption and it is not totally for sure yet they are able to adopt. They have been told their court will probably be 2 days.  I couldn't imagine as our court was only about 50 minutes long and one day! That seemed like forever! Please pray as they will need strength and for the judge to rule in their favor!!!

Good night!

Day 2 at the Orphanage.

This morning was a bit rough as I waited patiently for a phone call from Syvette to let me know if everything went well with getting Dima's birth certificate and possibly his passport.  Not sure because Syvette has been so busy with all the families here, that I just do as I am told.  I trust things will get done and don't ask questions.  What ever it takes to get Dima home! Syvette worked her magic this morning with a little paperwork issue, but it sounds like we are back on track. 

This afternoon the Noel's, McKracken's and I went to the orphanage as Lori and Russ had to travel to Lena and Eric's region where they were born to do paperwork.  They were hoping to get back to meet Lena and Eric's older sister whom came from another town to see them and meet Lori and Russ before they leave for America.  I don't know if they made it back in time unfortunately.  I know they all will be dissapointed.

Dima was boxing again when I arrived again.  This time the boxing coach made it known to me that they need 10 new boxing gloves.  I asked how much and he said about $3,000 grivnas! People here are known to ask things for the orphanage and when they see that we are Americans, they think we all have a lot of money to spend.  He then proceeded to tell Dima to ask me.  I will have to pull out my Russian dictionary tomorrow to explain "We can not afford to get that many gloves!!".  The tricky thing here is if we would have bought gloves before Dima's court date, it could have been viewed as a bribe.  Now it would be safe to purchase some. I would like to support the boxing here, but it's hard to when there are other needed items. There are kids who have shoes with holes in them and clothes that are so old they are falling apart.

We all hung out in the usual room and enjoyed the company.  Part of me would like to be alone with Dima and get to know him better, but I think I am learning more about him when we are in a big group.  I didn't think he liked to sit down and do book work, but he enjoyed Mick and Janel's word find book that they brought.  It was in English and had pictures to help show what the words were.  I wish I would have brought something like that for our trip home to pass the time.  I enjoy finding out something new everyday about Dima!

 Here are a few pictures from today.

Artyr and Dima trying to pull each other back in their chairs....(notice that Dima loves to wear this shirt a lot so I thought I'd ask him if he'd like to take it back to America with him and he actually said no! I think he wants a fresh new start.)

Eric and Artyr arm wresting...I didn't put the next few pictures in as I didn't want Eric's ego to be hurt:)

Dima's Smile

When Lori, Russ and I arrived at the orphanage, I was told by Erik...formally known as Eddick, that Dima was in boxing.  Everyone knows where everyone is at, it so funny! When I went over to the other building where the boxing room is, I ran into Eric, Cindy and little Dema.  They wanted to see the boxing room so we all went together.  We walked into the room, Cindy and I laughed at how stinky the room was.  I told them it's about as bad as the locker room in Dima's group! Dima was working hard with the other boys.  I waved to the boxing coach and he told Dima to look.  Dima turned around and there was that huge smile! His coach told him to go ahead and stop.  Dima came over and gave me his big hug! The coach spoke to Dima in Ukrainian and allowed Dima to leave, at least that's what I assumed he had said.  The coach then came over to me and mentioned something about boxing....not sure if he meant if I'd like to box or if he was saying something else? I did my usual nod and smile, that seemed to satisfy him.

We all went back to the art room where Lori, Russ, Lena and Erik were.  We were quickly joined by Nastya and Vika, whom was at the hospital for most of our last visit for general tests.  Poor girl was in the hospital for 12 days.  The kids say they all have to do that when they turn a certain age.  That is a long time to be in a hospital when you have no family or friends that visit you!

Mick and Janel arrived from Kiev this morning to "meet" Vika.  They all looked so happy! It was great to see them all together again.  Vika could not wait for them to arrive. We all had fun hanging out as a group and got the occasional visit from cool man Andre. He is so fast that I couldn't even get my camera out to take a picture of him!! He was very excited to receive another gift from his future Mama and Papa! I wish I could just put him in my suitcase and bring him home, he is too cute!

I made the mistake and let Dima take pictures with my camera.  I went through them and most were pictures of Eric's head or the sides of faces.  I didn't think anyone would want to see those pictures.  I will try to get more tomorrow.  Tomorrow we are going to do paperwork for Dima's new birth certificate. I can't say enough about The Stork Agency! Syvette is working non-stop and even more now that there is another family here! Anytime there is a road block, they figure a way to make things work!

I must try and get on this schedule again, so I will force myself to go to sleep even though I am not tired!
 Good Night!

Second Trip.....

After another loooonnnnggggg trip! Lori, Russ and I made it back to Krivoy Rog in one piece.  We origionally were flying from Kiev to State College, but since we had an earlier court date, we decided to fly home earlier.  We found cheap flights to JFK.  Since each flight was going to cost us $1,600 a piece to change, we ended up buying round tickets from Kiev. We planned our return flight to bring us back for our seconde trip so Saturday's flight was our return flight.  I know, it's confusing. Dusty was the only one to not use the return flight.  He must have made an impression here because everyone keeps asking where he is!

The drive to JFK was a little crazy.  Now I know why the flights were less expensive because it took forever to get through traffic to get there and we kept getting lost as the TomTom would lose connection.  Luckily we left early so we made it in plenty of time.  JFK was very easily layed out so it was pretty easy to get our flight.  You just have to deal with the hassle of driving through the city. We opted to find a parking lot about a mile away that shuttled us to the airport. Reserving it beforehand was a good idea as it was really quick and easy.

When we landed, we were greated by our Ukraine adoption facilitator who explained to us that we were going to take a van ride back to Krivoy Rog.  Wewere under the impression that we would take the less expensive route by overnight train.  I was really looking forward to being able to stretch out my legs and maybe get some decent sleep, but that thought ended quickly. We traveled by van the previous weekend and did not have a good trip at all.  The trip is about 5 1/2 hours when the roads are dry.  When we landed yesterday, the roads were snow covered.  I don't like driving 20 minutes in snow covered roads, let alone hours after already traveling for about 16 hours! The roads here are in not good condition.  You've got potholes the size of a car and the driver has to swerve to miss the potholes.  Makes for a very uncomfortable drive.  Not to mention the cost is a lot more expensive! The drive ended up being over 7 hours long!  With having only one pit stop, my bladder was screaming from having to go to the bathroom and hitting all the bumps. There are a lot of gas stations a long the way, but they must close early on Sundays because nothing was open. I really didn't want to try and explain to our non-English speaking driver that he could pull over and I would just use the restroom along the side of the road like I did in my cycling days. I could just see the headlines now "American killed by getting hit by car because she had to take a bathroom break". That wouldn't be good. I can see Dusty shaking his head right now:)

Today is going to be pretty similar to our first trip as we will visit the children after school.  I am hoping that Syvette is not too overwhelmed having four families here at one time! She is busy with another family from our area.  They just arrived this morning to Krivoy Rog and meeting the future daughter today.  I remember that day with Dima like it was yesterday! Thinking back, it's been about 3 weeks ago already! Dusty and I missed Dima while we were gone.  I feel bad that Dusty is not with me to see Dima again, but before we know it, we will all be home together as a family!

P.S. I apologize ahead of time as I may have incorrect spellings. I think I need to change it to check for English not Russian as it says every word is misspelled. 

Getting ready....again:)))

Not much to post, but I just thought I'd let everyone know that Lori, Russ and I will be flying from New York to Kiev, Ukraine this Saturday the 18th.  Not sure exactly of the schedule and when we will be in Krivoy Rog, but I don't think it should be too many days after we arrive.  Dusty and I miss Dima and can't wait to get him home on January 1st!  It is so cool that he, Lena, and Eric will become American citizens the first day of January!!! 

I will be able to post while in Ukraine, so I will try to give those coming after us an idea on how the second trip goes.  I will miss my family while in Ukraine.  Dusty will be staying home so he won't miss anymore work.  Christmas will be different since I will not be home, but something tells me this is going to be a very special Christmas.  We plan to celebrate when we come home.  We are waiting to put up our Christmas tree until Dima comes home so we can decorate together.  There may even be something under the Christmas tree for Dima......

A Day We Will Never Forget

Wow...what a day it was.  This is going to be a day that Tina and I will remember for the rest of our lives.  We truly feel that we are the most blessed people in the world right now.  Yep, we are now a Mama and Papa!

We had our official court hearing at 12:00 today, a day we have been anxiously awaiting.  The procedings went very smothly.  The judge asked me most of the questions and Tina had to do very little talking...lucky her!  To those families coming after us, don't sweat it!  We were well prepared by our facilitator/attorney Svetlana...she did a phenominal job.  What we were not prepared for was what an emotional journey the one hour hearing was going to be.  As I sit here at the computer trying to put my emotions into words, I don't know where to start.  I do know that no matter what I write, I will not do it any justice.

We both were overcome by so many emotions today.  For me, I held it together pretty well until the orphanage director stood to speak...now this lady, although a nice lady, seems to be hardened to the feelings of the kids (on the outside anyway).  Young boys are taught to not show emotion, and people around them are expected to do the same.  However, when she stood to address the court and speak about Dima's past, she became very emotional and had a hard time making it through what she was saying.  She basically said that Dima has been an orphan since he was an infant.  He came to her orphanage at about 4 years old, and she said one of the first questions he asked her was if he had a Mama and Papa...it completely broke our hearts to imagine a little 4 year old boy saying that.  That was the first of a few very emotional moments for us.  Next, the judge returned for her recess and while standing to read her decision, she started to cry...of course, so did Tina and I.  This is something that, from what I understand, is not very common for a judge to do.  Then, after reading her decision, she stepped down from the bench and gave Tina, Dima, and I a gift.  She gave me a hand painted vase, Tina a bunch of roses and a windchime that has several things depicting the Krivoy Rog region...which is also Dima's birthplace.  Then she gave Dima his gifts, a cross stitched piece of material that her mother made and a windchime.  When she explained the windchime to him, she said that two parts of it were angels that represented Tina and I.  She said these two angels have been sent to him to take him and give him a better opportunity.  Well, needless to say, the tears started flowing again. Little does she know, that Dima is the angel here...more than he could ever know.

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that this little guy has never had anyone or anything to call his own.  Nobody to say "I love You", nobody to kiss him goodnight, or nobody ever call Mama or Papa.  It truly does break Tina's and my heart, however we feel so blessed to be able to provide that for him.  Some say to us that what we are doing is so kind and that Dima is so lucky, well we feel that WE are the lucky ones here.  He is more than a gift to us than he will ever know.

We had a celebratory dinner tonight with Russ and Lori Walk (who adopted Lena and Edik, a brother and sister who are wonderful kids), Cindy and Eric Noel (who got to see their soon to be son Dema today), and Svetlana.  Svetlana said that after the hearings and back at the orphanage, the director and orphanage inspector were both still talking about how emotional our hearing was.  It gives me a good feeling that these two ladies thought such kind things of Dima that they were both emotional during the hearing.

We have found out a little about Dima's past.  As I mentioned above, he was orphaned when he was about 6 months old.  His mother was 17 when she gave birth to him.  His father was never in the picture, but was listed as "Pitor"...I think that is Peter in English.  His mother or anyone else has never made contact with him since he was orphaned.  As I said, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this....how could anyone just let this kiddo go?  He is so much fun and has so much love to give...  I guess some things just aren't meant to be understood.

Dima's birth name is TOLSTIKOV Dmytro Pitor (thats how you write your name in Ukraine...LAST, First, Middle)  As I mentioned, Dima's father's name was listed as Pitor on his birth certificate...in Ukraine, your middle name is your fathers first name. So, with that being said...Dima is now, Dmytro Dustin Kunstbeck.  He seems proud to have that name, and I am even prouder.

Here are a couple pictures from today:

Dima and Dusty discussing something before court.

Dusty, Orpahanage Director, Dima, Tina and the Judge after the hearing.

The celebratory diner.

Is this Groundhog Day?

We feel like we are repeating the days over and over again.  Dusty and I get goofy because we keep forgetting what day it is.  Feels like we are in a time warp here.  I can't remember the last time we've ever taken a vacation, let alone this long of a vacation.  When I say vacation, Ukraine is not the first place that comes to mind, but it is worth it when we finalize the adoption with Dima.  Everyday we find more out about his personality and everyday we fall more in love with him.  Today was a very low key day as it was just Dusty, Dima, Artyr and I spending some quality time together.  Dima and Artyr are pretty much brothers since they've both been together since they were so young.  We are not sure if they've been together since they've been infants or not as we still have a hard time communicating the specifics. It hasn't been too hard communicating the little things though.  I am getting better at reading people by their expressions as this culture is different than ours.  People here speak very brash to each other and at times you think they are fighting, but the next minute they are laughing.  The teachers will talk brash to the kids and I am not sure if we are all getting yelled at or if they are just talking to them.  I have learned to watch the kids reactions.  If they run to do something for the teacher then I know the teacher means business. If the kids just sit there and talk to the teacher then they are just communicating.

Today we played Uno and other card games.  The next thing you know, it was time to go.  I wanted to get more pictures, unfortunately the pictures below are the only ones I got.  Our families will like the last one as this is typical Dusty.  Now it's going to be typical Dusty and Dima.

This is the picture I wanted to take.....then Dusty got a great idea...

Great idea Dusty.....boys will be boys!

Tomorrow is the last day before our court date Friday morning! If all goes well in court and Dusty answers the questions correctly, by the afternoon Dima will officially be our son!!

Orphanage Day 6 005

Dima Boxing 1

Boxing

Today during our visit we got the opportunity to see Dima at his best.  He showed us the boxing room in the orphanage.  He was a little timid to show it to us at first, but once he found out we approved, he could not have been prouder.  We got meet the boxing coach, whose first question to Dusty was "Can Dima box in America?".  Coach and Dima were both thrilled when Dusty answered "Da, da, da!!!" which is yes in Ukraine.  From what I understand, he is a wonderful gentleman and volunteers his time with the kids.  The kids seem to really respect this guy, and he them.  The coach was very proud of Dima from the few words we understood.  He showed us group pictures with Dima in them.  He then asked Dima to spar with another much larger kid for us.  As soon as we figure it out, we will post a video on YouTube.  Dima seemed proud to show us his skills.

Dima wrapping his hands before he spars.

Dima and his coach.  Both were very proud to pose for this picture.

After we watched him spar, he and Eddick ran to their room to get his awards and medals he has won over the years.  All the awards were in a 12x18 envelope, it's hard to believe that all the kid really owns was enclosed in this one envelope. After some coaxing from Eddick, he explained them to us. 10 were from boxing, 3 were from soccer, and 1 was from academics.  He then said he would like to put them on his bedroom wall. I don't know who was more proud, Eddick, Dima, or Dusty and I. We are excited to put them up in his bedroom when he gets home. 

We didn't get to see any of the girls today, as Russ and Lori took Lena and the art teacher out to buy some needed art supplies.  I am sure tomorrow we will get to spend time with them.

As we were leaving the boxing room, we briefly ran into Andre, Denis, and the little Dema.  All were excited to see us and said "Hi" in English.  Dema skipped down the hall in happiness after he saw us.  All those sweet little boys will be doing a lot of skipping in the months to come!

Ice Skating!

Today we were permitted, along with Russ and Lori, to take the kids out for ice skating and to dinner at McDonalds.  The day started out a little scary as we had to spend the first hour with the kids looking for Dusty's and my passports! Everyone was so excited when we found them, even Lena knew how scary that would have been if we'd have lost them.  So, for future families coming, make sure you have your passports on you at all times and keep them in the same place at all times!  We were able to relax and go to a skating rink called Ice Age.  It was a cool place (no pun intended) as it also had bowling, a cafe with great pizza, and other stores.  This would be a good place for the people coming over to go to.  The ice skating was a lot of fun! Dusty wasn't able to skate since he fractured his back a few months ago, but he enjoyed watching and taking picutres. 

Dima was having a lot of fun trying to race everyone!

Lena and I skating together.

After skating we took the kids to McDonalds that was next to a cinema, which was playing the movie "Unstoppable" where parts of the movie were filmed in Tyrone, Pa which will be Eddick and Lena's forever home on January 1st!

After eating at McDonalds, the kids wanted to do something for the orphanage so they decided to get rugs for the social area in both the boys and girls room.  The girls were so excited as they couldn't stop touching the soft rug and wanting their pictures taken on it, while the boys, teacher and all were not quite as excited about having a new rug for their room.  There are times when I have a hard time understanding this culture, but I try to just go with the flow, which is very important for future families coming over to know.  As Americans we ask a lot of questions and wonder why, but this culture does not and can easily get offended. 

The next few days leading up to our court date on Friday will be visiting only a few hours each day, we wish it were more!

Another Birthday Celebration.

Today was Nastya's birthday (Lori and Russ's future granddaugther).  We celebrated by bringing pizza and cake to the orphanage.  We invited the boy's group, but only 4 came, Dima, Eddick, Artyr, and Vova who is a real sweetheart that we just met.  We had a great time and it was something to sit back and watch how the children interact with each other in a group.  They have manners that are unbelievable.  They all love to help! I was amazed to watch the children wait until every child had their pizza before they ate.  You know they were so hungry and eager to eat pizza when they don't get many opportunities to do so.  The picture above is of the group.  The girls teacher and art teacher, who are absolutely wonderful ladies, joined us.  The children actually sang Happy Birthday to Nastya in English and then went around the table and said something nice about her.  Not that I understood what they said, but I thought that was very special.  Dima is so shy, when it became his turn, he passed it onto Eddick. After having the pizza and cake, we took pictures and logged onto Skype so some of the children could talk to their forever families. It is amazing how quickly time has been flying by in the orphanage and wish we could spend more time there with these wonderful and loving children.  Here are a few pictures from the party. 

The Birthday girl Nastya (L) and Nastya

Three sweet girls (L) with Vika (R)

The three Amigo's goofing off as always!

The Birthday girls.

I can only imagine what was being discussed here.  Maybe I don't want to know.

Maybe he's not so shy afterall..................



Court Dates, Snowball Fights, and the Best Birthday Present EVER!!

Wow, what a day it was! It started out with a birthday card that my parents gave me and flowers from our facilitator, Syvette.  Then, when we arrived at the orphanage, I was had the greatest surprise ever.....Dima had a box of chocolates for me!! His hug and sense of pride in giving it to me was beyond words.  A moment I will never forget.

Then we got a chance to allow Artyr to Skype his future Papa and sisters.  The look on his face was priceless!  I could only imagine the look on Joe's face was even more priceless! I am so glad we got to do that.  Next, the kids got to talk to their Ukrainian friend and future English teacher, Liliya.  They were so excited to see her again!

Syvette also surprised us with an earlier court date than expected.  The date is next Friday the 10th. Russ and Lori also found out their court date is the same day!  The work that the Stork team has done for us here in Ukraine is unbelievable! Syvette has been working non-stop!

So it looks like we are able to leave earlier and arrive home on the 12th, which is 5 days ahead of schedule!   There is about a 10 day wait for preparation of Dima's new birth certificate and passport.  Lori, Russ and I will return for the kids on the 18th and bring them back to their forever homes on January 1st! What a way to start out a New Year!!!!

To end my blog tonight, I wanted to share some amazing art work from the orphanages art room. It is amazing the bright colors these children use in such an uncolorful place.  Art is such a powerful form of therapy for these kids.

Day 2 in the Orphanage

After being in the apartment all morning, Dusty and I were getting very antsy to go to the orphanage this afternoon. Luckily this apartment has more rooms so we spend some time in the living room, some time in the kitchen so we have a change of scenery.  Here are a few pictures for those coming over soon so you know what to expect of the apartments here.  As you can see the kitchens are extremely small and have very little utensils, plates and cooking pans so buy food that won't need much to  be prepared.

We went to the orphanage a little later today because Russ and Lori had their initial meeting with Lena and Eddick.  Lori and Russ have not had internet access but are buying a modem tonight like we did.  They will be happy to use Skype and to be able to use the internet again as I know they were really missing talking to family. 

The drive to the orphanage was a bit crazy as we got about 3 inches of snow. 

Since they don't plow, the drive over and back was interesting to say the least.  Just to warn those who are coming over, be prepared as the drivers throw caution to the wind, to say the least.  Our drivers have been very nice and follow all traffic rules, oh I forgot, there are no traffic rules here!! Once we got to the orphanage, we were walking into the building when we hear Dima running up behind us.  I LOVE seeing that smile of his and the big hugs he gives us! We went inside where it was warm.  Dusty brought the ping pong paddles and balls that we heard they needed and played for a while.  It was fun to hear the boy's laughter as it's pretty quiet in the orphanage.           

After playing ping pong for a bit, the kids heard Lori and Russ Walk were in the girls section with Lena.  We all went over and had such a nice time with all the older kids from the hosting program.  We all joked around and the girls brought out picture albums from the hosting camp and other pictures. Dima wanted our camera and we thought he wanted to take pictures but he wanted to show the other boys pictures of his new room.  I take that as a good sign he likes what we did. Lori and Russ left before we did with a different driver so the boys(Dima, Dusty, Eddick, and Artyr) and I went back to play some more ping pong.  Thanks for letting us know about that Adam and they are really enjoying playing!  Everyone else that is going after us should plan on taking a small game for the kids to play.  Something that is not too hard to explain how to play and that won't take up too much room in your luggage.

When we said our goodbyes, the three Amigo's (Dima, Eddick, and Artyr) walked us outside to our car.  After we started driving away from the orphanage, we saw 3 boys running to the end of the road and it was them again to wave goodbye.  They are three amazing boys!! Tomorrow we will spend a few more hours visiting the orphanage.  I will try to get more pictures to share.  

We finally get to see Dima!

We finally are able to download pictures because we bought a modem in Krivoy Rog.  It wasn't that expensive and I can use it when I come back to pick Dima up on my second trip.  It is so much faster! I could write a book about the last few days so I will try to keep it somewhat short. Below is a picture from our sleeper car from the overnight train ride from Kiev to Krivoy Rog.  It was an experience, but kind of fun.  We just paid for the regular sleeper cars as we heard another family paid double for 1st class.  I kind of felt guilty knowing that our poor guy is sleeping in the same room with about 20 other boys so I didn't feel right sleeping in luxury. It was not bad and you aren't there long.

When we arrived to Krivoy Rog, our driver picked us up so we could go to the apartment which is bigger than our last apartment, but still very small compared to where we live back home. Not very many homes from what we've seen.  Mostly big block apartment buildings.  Under Communist rule, they wanted everyone to live the same so these were built all to look alike.  That's why it's hard to find your way around because everything looks the same.

After dropping our things at the apartment, we met the inspector that would meet with us and the orphanage director later.  We first were told that we would meet Dima after he was done with school, but received a phone call while grocery shopping that Dima would be left out of school early so we could have our meeting.  We were so excited and couldn't believe that it was finally our time to see him again.  We left to go the orphanage and it felt like our hearts were popping out of our chest.  Seeing where Dima has spent a lot of his life was hard to describe as it is a very drab building. Once inside, we sat and waited as you have no control over the situation so all you coming after us, be patient as they work at their own pace here. You just do as Syvette says and things will be fine.  The atmosphere was friendly as the Orphanage Director seemed very caring of the children and was open to us being there. We were able to meet with an administrator to go over Dima's past. We were shocked to find out he was in an orphanage since about 6 or 7 months old.

It was so wonderful when we were finally able to see Dima when we met with the doctor, inspector, and other people from the orphanage.  We didn't know what they were saying but they seemed to be joking around and took pictures. That made us relax.  They asked us a few questions to why we wanted to adopt Dima and an older child since we told them we didn't have any biological children. Dima did such a great job when they asked him questions.  It was so good to see him again and all I kept thinking about was "When can we finally take him home and get him out of here!".  After the brief meeting, they allowed Dima to sit between us to get pictures. Below is the picture from the meeting.

After the meeting we were able to spend time with Dima while Syvette had to do paperwork, she is amazing and works very hard for us!! Dima took us up to the boys section to show us around. The building inside is very drab and depressing. The workers here seem very nice though. We first saw where all the shelves where they share the clothes.  He then showed us his bed in the room which he seemed very proud to show us.

He then showed us the room the where they boys get to hang out.  Again, there was hardly anything in there but books, a tv where they can only watch DVD's (which they hardly had any) and some desks.  That room is also where the one bathroom/wash room is. There were clothes hung on the vents to dry as they wash the clothes from wearing them all week.  Since the other kids were in school we got to spend some alone time with Dima. Eventually some other boys came in and wanted to watch a movie.  They picked our Babe.  Watching it broke my heart when the movie talked about missing their mommy. Sitting there I was looking at the boys and their clothes.  I was freezing as they didn't have rugs on the cement floor. Some boys had socks on with holes and some didn't even has socks on, but they were so used to the cold floor. As we were sitting there, some of the boys from the hosting program came in and it was so good to see their smiling faces again!  

Today Lori and Russ will have their meeting and then finally get to see Elena and Eddick(spell?). I can't wait to hear how their meeting goes.  Dusty and I will have to do some more paperwork later today and then get to spend time with Dima and his group. We can't wait to see them again! We will be able to spend a few hours with Dima each day until the paperwork Syvette does is done and then we will receive a court date.  We are hoping it will be the end of next week, but nothing can be predicted and we just enjoy the time we have with Dima and the other boys.  They don't get many visitors so we want to have fun with them while we are here.

Getting ready for the train!

After being in the apartment for about 24 hrs straight, we were very excited when Syvette called us to see if we'd want to try a Ukrainian Restaurant with her, Lori and Russ.  It started out snowing yesterday and turned into rain so we weren't able to go outside. We didn't have anything to wear that would keep us dry.  Thank goodness for the internet as I think Dusty and I would have gone crazy! Even though there was not much to do, we had fun and got the giggles about everything. I actually talked Dusty into doing some yoga which he complained pretty much the whole time:)

After a good night sleep for me, a bad night sleep for Dusty, we tried to workout in the apartment.  Now the rooms in these apartments are about he size of our living room put into sections.  The picture below took me about 15 minutes to download.  I tried to download others, but this picture downloaded 4 times.  Not sure what is going on with downloading pictures to the blog. I'll try again in Krivoy Rog.  It was fun trying to workout with absolutely nothing to use so we did a lot of pushups and squats.  Dusty had to complain the whole time during the workout of course:) We then received the phone call to go out to eat.

Syvette took us to this really cool restaurant.  I had to try the borscht and it was awesome.  The bread here is so good too. We were able to get some pictures of us all with it snowing outside.  Looks like Lori was able to download a picture on her blog.  During dinner, Syvette tried to call the orphanage so she could talk to the kids to tell them we were coming but they were at the cinema.  That's cool they were able to do things like that.  Sounds like the orphanage director is really nice, I am looking forward in meeting her.  I was bummed though that she wasn't able to talk to Dima as I would have loved to hear his reaction.  After dinner, Syvette took us to pick up our paperwork from the SDA so we can go to the orphanage tomorrow.  The office is up this really cool cobblestone street with little cafe's and other neat shops.  I wish I could have taken a picture but it was too dark. We stepped inside and there were other couples waiting around as well.  The craziest thing happened, we saw this couple there that I remembered seeing on our airplane from Amsterdam.  How crazy is that? The lady that handed us our paperwork was the same one that we met with yesterday.  Yesterday, this same lady first looked at Dima's picture and showed it to us to make sure it was the child we want to adopt, she said he looked like Dusty.  That helped me relax in the meeting.

Now we are getting our things packed up again so we can take the overnight trip to Krivoy Rog.  It's amazing that for an overnight train ride in the sleeper car, it's only 700 grivnas for us and Syvette. I think that's only around $100US dollars. Dusty is better about figuring out the difference than me.  This is about an 8 hour train ride!

Once we get to Krivoy Rog, we stop and see the Inspector for her to talk to us.  Since Dima is in school, we will stop back after 2pm to see him!!! It's crazy to think that this time tomorrow we will already have seen him! I don't think I am going to sleep much on this train ride!!!!

This is the kitchen of the apartment in Kiev.