April 12

We got word today that court will be April 12.  So soon!  We are excited!  This will be our short trip; 5-6 days.  Then we will come home and fly back about a week later.

There is a mandatory 10 day waiting period after court and that is why we are flying home.  After we get Anna from the orphanage on the next trip we will have to be in Ukraine about 10 days.  So we decided that being away from home for 3-4 weeks all at once was not a good choice for our family.

Now I am kind of nervous about court.  Last time I had Gary there and although I did all the talking he was still there and well I draw so much strength from him!  Now I am going to have to sharpen up on my knowledge of his farming operation as I am no longer working and all the income questions will be directed toward his farming.  I know I'm sweating about nothing.  God has it right!

~Tina

Court Date

It looks like we will get to have court the week after Anna's birthday.  Waiting to hear a definite date but such good news!

Here are a few pictures from today.  We slept in and just relaxed some.  We have a long day of travelling home tomorrow.  Say a little prayer for us on our travels.  We are travelling through Amsterdam.

Thanks,
Tina

We just stood a while in these flowers.
Such a beautiful aroma!

Peyton is on the left in this picture.

St. Andrew's Cathedral

This beetle is on the back of the
man's coat in the previous picture.
You are supposed to rub it for good luck.
It was pretty shiny!

Peyton saved her money so that she
could buy a Matryoshka.  Here it is and
of course it is pink.

Headed Back To Kiev

Today our facilitator finished up all the paperwork that we can do for now in Berdychiv.  Just waiting to see about the Ukrainian passport and when court will be.  The office that we needed to talk to about the passport was closed today.  Our facilitator should be able to talk with them tomorrow and hopefully know something by the end of the week.

We got to spend about an hour with Anna today as we had to head back to Kiev.  We gave her a birthday gift since we won't be here for her birthday in April.  We got her a watch, a fluffy bear, a sketch pad and a chocolate bar.  She really liked it and said spasiba (thank you).  

She is still a little distant and I can only imagine what is going through her mind.  No one has ever come to the orphanage to see her for adoption before.  She has seen friends get families and move on. Here we are wanting her to be a part of our family; she is excited but why does anyone want her now after all these years.  And then we are leaving and won't be back for probably a month or more.  We may get to skype with her.  The caretaker, Katerina, gave me her skype information.  So that will be exciting if we can do that.

I have a funny story to tell.  One of the girls in the group, Schnezanna, is so funny.  She was excited that we were there and asked if she could sit by Yulia (Peyton).  She remembers us from last time.  As she sat by Peyton she slipped her arm through Peyton's and just hugged her.  She then asked if we could take her to America.  She dreams of going to America.  We all got such a kick out of her talking and the next thing we knew she had Peyton's hair in her mouth.  Oh my goodness.  Peyton is so calm and patient and she just said to Schnezanna, is my hair good.  Oh everyone started laughing so hard.

Soon after that it was time to go and Anna, Schnezanna and Mikolya (a boy in the group) walked us out; all the way to the gate of the orphanage.  They all wanted hugs and said their goodbyes with a smile.  Anna knows we won't be back for a while but she didn't show any emotion.  I guess when you have been disappointed all those years, you don't allow yourself to get attached too easily.  I look forward to her reaction when she sees us again.

~Tina

If you are wondering why Anna has the
same thing on in every picture well
this is her weekly casual outfit.
She will get a different outfit on shower
day.

Our facilitator had our driver stop along
side the road on the way back to Kiev.
There were a lot of people selling things.
She got some mushrooms from this woman.

Peyton and Schnezanna

Time With Her Friends

We had a little party today with Anna and her friends.  We brought Coke and cookies.  Our facilitator thought they would like that.  We had also made some little treat bags for the kids with candy and a bracelet in each bag that Peyton had made.   This is just a few of the kids as some were in and out of the room.  It's Sunday and free time to play outside, take a nap or talk on your phone.  Yes somehow some of the kids have phones.

These kids, I just love them.  I want to shout out to one boy, Dima, in the group that is available for Summer hosting.  He only came to the orphanage in 2013.  I am not exactly sure of the circumstances.  He is 14 and has a younger brother who is 8.  We have not seen the younger brother yet but Dima is oh so handsome and seems like a nice boy. I am not sure of his availability for adoption but I will see if our facilitator can find out.  So, if he and his brother are available, does anyone back home feel like this could be your son?  I would be glad to help with all the paperwork and connections needed to make it work.  He is very calm, with a sweet smile and has manners,  He is the boy on the far left in this photo below.

One of the boys, Peter, gave me this swan that he made.  How awesome is that!  He was in the group when we were here in 2012 and he remembered me and Peyton.

After we left the orphanage, we grabbed a bite to eat and then shopped around for some gifts for Anna for her 16th birthday.  I feel so bad that we will not be here for her birthday but I am giving the caregiver for her group some money to buy her a cake when the day comes.  I am glad she is willing to do that for Anna.  She really likes Anna and talks highly of her.

Here are some random pictures of our hotel, hotel room and our view out the window.

And here is another one of two sweet sisters.

~

Laid Back Day

Today we took A and her caregiver out to lunch and around Berdychiv to a museum and to a Catholic church that used to be a monastery called Carmelite .  I didn't get any pictures inside the beautiful church out of respect for the service they were having.  I have included some pictures from the museum.  Just a very relaxing day and sooo cold.

Our facilitator asked A if she liked the name we picked out for her but she decided she wants to keep her name.  So Anna it will be.  I guess I can't blame her as she is 15.  Peyton was so different though she wanted a new name; an American name.  Silly girls.

Enjoy the pictures!

~Tina

This phonograph is made of wood.  The
horn part is usually made out of metal. 

And She Said...

Today we arrived at the orphanage at 10am and met with the orphanage director until A got out of class.  When A came into the room we could tell she was still struggling.  She had not been able to get in touch with her brother on the phone last night and so she wasn't sure what to do.  Our facilitator, who is wonderful by the way, along with the director talked with her about what kind of life she would have in America and what kind of life she would have in Ukraine once she graduated from the orphanage in a year.  I don't really think she can grasp that though because if all you know is what is inside the walls of an orphanage then you have no concept of the war that is going on in your country or what America means.

I  brought a photo book of our family and our life and she smiled but still she was unsure. We then had to move to another room since the director had work to do.  When we got to the other room the facilitator asked A if she could have brother's phone number to call him.  She tried but the phone was not in service.  A then gave our facilitator the phone number of her brother's aunt. The aunt was very supportive of A leaving Ukraine and told her it was up to her but to make a wise choice that she would not regret later in life.  They talked for quite some time and after they hung up A was still not sure.  As you can imagine this is such a hard decision to leave everything and everyone you have ever known and start again at almost 16 years old.

And then it was like she was done thinking and she turned to me and she said...YES I want you to be my mother and to Peyton, my sister and she hugged us both tight.  Next she had to write down on a legal document that she wanted me to adopt her.  She then left the room and went to class.  From that point until we left at 3pm the paperwork was moving fast; 3 copies of this, 3 copies of that;, sign here; stamp here. Really so much chaos in the room with all the documents that had to be printed and the phone calls that were made.

Once we left the orphanage we travelled to the administration building to get that part of the paperwork started which should be finished on Monday.  After that we went to the notary so that I could sign the documents to apply for a court date.  Then we finally got to eat at 5 pm.  This was a long day of hurry up and wait.

We did find out today that we have to try and time when the court date will be because when A turns 16 on April 15 she has to get a Ukrainian passport and that can take a month or more.  If we were to have court before she turned 16 and then the 10 day waiting period after court were up we would have to get her out of the orphanage but would not be able to leave Ukraine until we had that passport. So our facilitator will take care of that detail.

Tomorrow A and one of her caregivers, Katerina, such a beautiful, kind woman, will pick us up here at our hotel at 11am.  We will travel around Berdychiv just spending some time together and grab some lunch.  It will be fun to have this time with A outside of the orphanage.  : )

In all the excitement of this day, I have no pictures to share but maybe you can see the pictures in what I wrote.

~Tina  

What a Day

Well, we got to see A this morning about 9:30.  She was so shy, withdrawn and not receptive at all. Tears streaming down her face off and on.  She didn't want to take anything that we had brought to her and would not speak.  It was a bit overwhelming for her to have so many people in the room talking so fast back and forth, back and forth.  Most were shocked she was being withdrawn, although she is shy.  We could not get even half a smile out of her.  The director recommended that we go to another room with just us, the facilitator and her caregiver.  That did not help much but our facilitator did get her to tell why she was upset.  She has an older brother, age 23, that she talks to on the phone occasionally.  He has told her not to go anywhere and when she leaves the orphanage he will help her.  He lives in another region; 6 hours by train.  The director then said we should come back this afternoon and give her some time.

So at 3:00 this afternoon we arrived to a girl who was a little more open.  She still had tears but a smile was now appearing.  She talked to our facilitator again about her brother.  He is the only family that she has.  Her mother passed away in 2012.  Really the orphanage is the only life A knows.  They are her family.  She finally started talking to our facilitator and took the things we had brought for her.  I made sure that our facilitator told her that we did not want her to go with us if she did not want to.  We wanted her to be happy and make the choice that she thought was best for her.  She then relaxed and started coloring a drawing that she had made.  We left around 5, as she had homework, and we all got a hug from her; baby steps.

We will be going to see her again tomorrow morning and we really don't know where this is going to go.  Obviously it would not be right for anyone to talk her in to doing something she does not want but we also have to think about how much time we can spend here.  It seems we will have the weekend with her and then by Monday she will have to decide.

So many mixed feelings.

I rest in the fact that God knows what He is doing. So no worries.

Here are a couple pictures from today.

Here we are with the director of the
orphanage.

Here is A, a little smile. : )

Lots of Pictures

We have had a relaxing day just taking in a few sights as it is still a little cold.  At 4:30p we met our facilitator, Angelina, and went to the SDA and picked up the paperwork we need to go and see A tomorrow.  There was no line.  We waited about 5 minutes and we went in, showed my passport, signed for the paperwork and we were out the door.  Can't wait for tomorrow!

~Tina

Ready to go to breakfast

The breezeway we go through to get
to our apartment.  The brown door back
by the car is where we go in to the stairway.

Here we are in front of the SDA's
official sign.  We actually went in a
side door where there is no sign so
we decided to take our picture in
front of the building.