SDA Appointment

Today at 10am was our SDA appointment.  We woke up to it snowing so Svetta wanted us to leave a little eary as the roads were a little slushy. It really wasn't that bad out, it's just they drive a little crazy here.  I was a little nervous going into the appointment as Svettat took us to this side door of a building.  If we didn't have Svetta, I don't know how you'd find this place. It is in downtown Kiev, which is a beautiful part of town.  People were selling Ukrainian souveniers and cool art. It was snowing too hard and windy so we didn't walk around much after the appointment.  Anyway, back to the appointment as most of you are more interested in.  We walked into this hallway and waited for someone to invite us in. We waited only a few minutes before a young lady asked us to come in. I started getting a little nervous and asked God to be with us in this process. As we walked in and saw another couple looking through pictures for a child, we went into what looked like her office. When we sat down I felt relaxed already. It looked like she had our homestudy that was translated into Russian and some paperwork on Dima.  She asked us questions like if we have any biological children, how we met Dima, and why we picked him.  Svetta explained to us that the SDA knows that we chose Dima and he was in the US on a hosting program so we explained that and said we fell in love with him. She didn't have much information about Dima and Sasha explained to us that we should not ask them questions because they don't have much information. We did see a picture of Dima when he was about 6 or 7 maybe, it's hard to tell. He looked sooooo cute!!!! She also said in 2003 he was taken from his mother but their was no mention of his father? We are curious about this as Dima mentioned a father when we asked him through a translator.  He also thought he was about 3 or 4 when he went to the orphanage.  I am sure he doesn't really know or understand time from being in an orphanage for so long. Probably seemed that long to him. After she explained that situation, she explained characteristics of him and she said he was friendly and very active! We all laughed at that, even Svetta since she came with the orphans on the hosting program back in August. After that, we were done!

One thing I forgot to mention was very special that Svetta told us when driving to our SDA appointment.  She said when she was at Dima's orphanage helping another couple adopt a girl his age about a month ago, he saw Svetta.  He ran up to her and asked "When are Mama and Papa coming??" That just made my heart melt.  When he was here during the hosting program, he called us Tina and Dusty. It meant so much to us that he didn't up on us adopting him and that he called us Mama and Papa!!

Svetta explained that we need to go pick up that paperwork from the SDA appointment that will let us into the orphanage tomorrow.  We will then take an overnight train ride to Krivoy Rog. Dima will be told tomorrow that we are coming! I would LOVE to see the look on his face when he is told.  I wonder who will get less sleep thinking about meeting again, him or us!

Thanks Mom for the daily prayer, has been helpful! I am still trying to download pictures, not sure why it's not working? I saw that Lori was able to do it. If I don't write for a couple of days, it is because we don't have internet access. Talk soon!!!!