She was Happy

We left Kiev this morning and travelled to Zhytomyr to talk with the passport office.  Then we went to the hotel, got settled and then had lunch.  Oh and when we got our first room at the hotel we were able to get in with the key but we couldn't get it to work to unlock the door to get out.  Oh my goodness.  Our facilitator called to see where we were as we were supposed to meet her in the lobby.  I told her what was going on and she said she would talk with the girl at the front desk and send someone up.  So I again tried the key while saying a little prayer and well, it worked that time.  So we decided it would be best to move to another room and now we have no key problems.

We arrived at the orphanage around 3 and spent some time talking with the director because there is so much to work out since Anna is turning 16 in the middle of the 10 day wait after court. We have court tomorrow so the 10 days hasn't started yet but we are assuming we will get a favorable answer from the judge. So Anna has to have 3 passports; yes I said 3.  Normally it is just the one with the visa to be able to enter the US.  Anna has to get a Ukrainian passport when she turns 16.  Then after that comes back in about 10 days since the 10 day wait will be up she has to get another Ukrainian passport with her new name in it.  And, when that one is done in about 10 days then we can apply for the passport that we need. But wait, there are several holidays at the beginning of May so we will not return to pick her up until May 10 or 11.  God's timing!

When Anna came into the director's office she was excited to see us.  She smiled and hugged us tight. The director said she had been in her office every day asking when we were coming back.  I loved hearing that as I was a little worried after last time.  We spent a little time talking with her through the facilitator.  We brought her a little goody bag with lotion, shampoo, chapstick, candy, notepad, bracelet  and barrettes.  My kiddos had also made her some birthday cards.  She was a little shy and didn't want to open it at first but our wonderful facilitator talked her into looking through it.  I helped her put the bracelet on and she is so polite and said thank you.  We talked about what she likes to do (not many choices in the orphanage).  She doesn't really like sports.  She likes to clean and cook.  She also likes to draw.  We walked outside for a little bit and saw some of her friends,.  They were excited to see us as always.  We then had to leave to get to the court building by 5 to turn in paperwork.

Tomorrow at 10 am we will have court, take Anna out to lunch and get her passport photo taken. We then will head back to Kiev as we fly home on Wednesday. If I had known it was going to be so long before we can come back I would have planned differently.

The following photos are what we took in Kiev yesterday.  They were having a street fair and these first 2 photos are of some artwork that was on display.

~Tina

a CHAIRy tree