Coming home

Well, this is the first chance we have had to get to an internet cafe. We left last Tuesday night from Poltava on an overnight train. We got through the medical exam on Wednesday and got the visa on Thursday from the US Embassy. All our papers are in order, so then we made arrangements to go out to the EEO camp. We have not been staying at the camp but moved from our apartment in Kiev to a room at the Baptist Church in Kiev. We thought it was closer to the camp than it is, so probably should have kept our apartment, but that's okay. We just know the next time we pack it will be to come back to the States.

We think the camp has been good for Svetlana in many different ways. One of the American's is a girl that is working on her master's degree for child/family counseling (can't remember the exact title), but anyways, she has worked in the orphanages and it was good to have her here to talk to about everything so that we have some reassurrance that we are on the right track dealing with various issues that happen to kids in orphanages, and that everything we are experiencing is normal. We hope the camp provides her with a better transition, since it is kind-of like being at the orphanage she was at, but in a full Christian environment so that she can see that not everyone treats each other the way she thinks, even in her own country. It will be a few months before she has some language aquisition, so the teachings have been very good so far. Respect, forgiveness and today, obeying rules (talking on the Commandments). At least she can see that we are not being as mean as she thinks we are with setting up her boundries. She is having a good time and looks forward to going back the next day.

So much has happened since we left Poltava, that time does not permit us to post everything, but we look forward to meeting with everyone when we get back.

Just to let you all know, we will be kind-of 'hermits' for a couple of weeks when we get back so that she has time to adjust to American culture and a lot of new thing and new rules. You are welcome to call us when we get back, but just wanted to let you know that we will not be going out at all for about 2 weeks, nor will we be having much company. I hope you all understand.

This will be our last post before returning to the States. Please pray we get through immigration and make our connection in New York. We are returning Wednesday evening (27th).

Saying goodbye......

Yesterday (Sunday) we were able to take Svetlana to church with us again. She was comfortable enough to stay by herself, so Suzanne was able to go in this week for service. We were able to spend a little more time talking with the team that just came in from Melbourne, and about the outreaches they would be doing while there. It's good to see a healthy/active church here in Poltava.

After church, we called Sergei and got good news. Neelya's family was able to get permission to take her from camp so we could have dinner together! We kept it as a surprise for Svetlana until just before we left. We had spent the afternoon trying on the clothes we brought (which have to be taken in - she'e pretty tiny) and took her to get shoes. You haven't seen anything until you take a almost 7 year old girl, into a store to buy shoes who has never been shopping before! (At least as far as we know and by her actions). Going to the store in America will have to be planed as an all day excursion - not because she likes to shop - but because we will have to take a lot of time to practice our manners! 'Reach, grab and drop' - too many choices! We did finally find a pair of sandals for her and then they didn't have her size for sneakers. We had to have a long conversation about why she had to wear sneakers in America after she told us - 'I'm not going to wear them and you can't make me'! It's hard to imagine having a life where half of it was spent on the streets fending for yourself, and the other half has been only with limited instruction. God has already given us a lot of patience - but we are certainly emptied at the end of each day.

We met with Neelya and her family at 5pm and a new restaurant that was recommended by someone at the orphanage. It had all kinds of things for kids to do there - lots of birds and animals in cages built into the walls, toys, computers with games for older kids - it was very uniques for Ukraine. Svetlana and Neelya were almost inseperable. They both new it would be their last time together before Svetlana goes to America, so we let them be together as much as possible. We got to know Neelya's foster parents better - Alla and Valya - and had a good talk over the girls. They shared a lot of information with us that we would not have been able to find out from the orphanage, because it came straight from Neelya after she has gotten closer to them. We took them after dinner to the cars in the park that Svetlana had been on about a week ago, and boy....Neelya got behind the wheel of her favorite 'vehicle' and we were in shock! What happened to the sweet little obedient girl at dinner? Crazy drivers is an understatment- with 4 hands on the steering wheel (Svetlana was the co-pilot)! We found out why it was Neelya's favorite - because it's one of the fastest! None of us knew what to do as she drove round and round and people had to jump out of the way! We finally got them to settle down and made then switch cars and things were quite more in control. We took a slow walk back to the orphanage and as the girls took time to say there final good-bye's, it was an emotional night for everyone. We are happy though the girls have such a close bond. We hope we can come back soon to visit so that they will continue to be close.

Today, we spent all day in Globino (about 2 hours away) getting the birth certificate changed over and other misc. paperwork. The paperwork was a blur today - we finally got tired of figuring everything out and just said - tell us where we go next....When you have to do things like get the birth certificate then get it authenticated, but you have to go to the bank and pay the fee to get it authenticated because they can't take money of the government office, and then have to bring the receipt back....you just can't keep track of everything. But - we got back to Poltava, did the other stuff we needed to do to present paperwork for the passport and got it all done by 5pm. Sergei is the best! Tomorrow, he will go to deliver the papers to get Svetlana's Ukrainian passport and we should be able to pick it up in the afternoon. So we will be heading back to Kiev tomorrow night - God willing. It will be hard to leave as we've become friends with Sergei and the people at the orphanage, and at church. I can't say we'll miss the Ukrainian style of driving on the long distances (nobody should complain about the drivers in America anymore - you haven't seen anything like this!).

So we will be picking up Svetlana sometime tomorrow, doing some last minute shopping and then we are off to Kiev on the train to finish our paperwork now with the U.S. Embassy.

This will be our first whole day AND night with us together as a family.......pray for our continued guidance and patience and for ALL OF US to make the adjustment easily....

A little story (Today's 2nd post)

We found this on one of the website's we've been using to learn about attachment disorder. This little story describes it quite well from a child's view.....................so anyone in Children's Ministry......consider this as we minister to the kids in our classrooms.....................

PLEASE HEAR WHAT I AM NOT SAYING

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wearFor I wear a mask -A mask that I'm afraid to take off.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me..But don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure.
That all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without.
That confidence is my name and coolness is my game.
That the water's calm and I'm in command.
And that I need no one.But don't believe me.......Please.

My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask.
Beneath swells the real me in confusion - in fear - alone - in pain.
But I hide this; I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness; fears and pain being exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind.
I need help....help that is followed by caring from people who care enough to help me.
It's the only thing that can liberate me.
From myself; from my own self-built prison walls.
From the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It's the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself - that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this. I don't dare.
I'm afraid to.I'm afraid you'll think less of me and that you'll laugh.
And your laugh would hurt me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing, that I'm just no good.
And that you'll see this and reject me.
So I play my game, my desperate game, with a mask of assurance without.
And a trembling child within.

I dislike hiding. Honestly.
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing, the superficial, phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous...and me.
But you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand even when that's the last thing I seem to want or need.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes the emptiness and pain I try not to feel.
Only you can help me.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging.
Each time you try to understand because you really care my heart begins to grow wings.
Very small wings; very feeble wings. But wings.

With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me.
How you can be the creator of the person that is me if you choose to.
Please choose to.
You alone can break down the wall from behind which I tremble.
You alone can remove my mask.
You alone can release me from my shadow world of panic and uncertainty - from my lonely prison.
So do not pass me by. Please do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.

A long conviction of worthlessness and anger builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me the blinder I may strike back.
It's irrational. Sometimes I'm irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love, caring, and kindness are stronger than strong walls; in this lies my hope.
My only hope.
Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands, but with gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder. I am someone you know very well.For I am every man you meet. And I am every woman you meet.

Party and picnic time!

We had Svetlana's little party for her group on Friday. It ended up being only 10 kids in her immediate group and we were able to do it at their normal snack time. Grant brought her flowers and we had lots of fruit, juice and cookies for the kids. The Deputy Director (Supervisor of the teachers) - Tatianna - made a little speech and had Svetlana stand up and all the kids clapped for her to wish her well in America. It was really cute. We also brought her a 'ball/paddle kit'. Not sure how to explain it - the ball has suction cups on it, so when you throw it, the paddle is like a mit, and the ball sticks to it when you catch it. She is very athletic - we're not sure what sport to get her into - gymnastics, soccor, or softball - she can throw really well! And she learns really fast.

Today, we were able to take Svetlana to the church picnic. We meet the American missionaries a little ways from our apartment and then took a taxi out to the place along one of the rivers. We got a chance to meet some of the Americans on the team that just arrived yesterday from Melbourne. We have a feeling that we will be coming back here in the future for more than just visiting Svetlana's sister. We had a typical Ukrainian lunch with sausage/keilbasa on bread with vegetables and fruit. Svetlana wanted to go on the water and really wanted to find the 'mattress' to float on. Someone was using the one from the church and there was a second one but we couldn't find it. Well, while we were talking and watching her, she looked like she was making friends with people - she's not shy for most things. Then, she comes up to us and says that she wants to use the mattress to go in the water. When we said we didn't know where the other one was at, she said - Ihra can take us to it and then I can use it. She wasn't making friends - she was on a mission - a mattress mission! She was going around asking everyone where it was until she found someone who knew. She is very determined!

It was also very cool that we were able to be there for the baptism of 7 people from the church. Anything we can expose Svetlana to we are grateful for. It was like being at home - but we stood there and thought - here we are in the middle of Ukraine, with our new daughter, witnessing a baptism at our sister church....who would have thought we would be doing this? It's pretty awesome the things that God has done to bring us to this point.

Before we went to the picnic though, we gave Svetlana her computer. She loves it! We showed her how to do the ABC's in both English and Russian - but it looks like she is more interested in learning how to add and subtract. She will be able to use this for a long time!

We haven't been able to find out about meeting with Svetlana's sister before we leave Poltava. Her sister went to summer camp, and the director is not a very friendly man. He usually doesn't let any of the kids leave the camp for any reason (not even if there parents come to get them). So, please pray that we will be able to have this time together before we leave. The Poltava inspector wrote a special letter to request that she leave for a day since her sister is permanently moving to America. They went today, but the director was not there, so they are going back tomorrow morning. This is the hard thing to deal with in Ukraine - when someone has this much control over a person's life and there is nothing you can do about it - except it makes you learn to be real nice to your opposition real fast! We hope that we will be having dinner tomorrow night.

Sergei was able to get the person at the vital records office in Globino to handle our request for Svetlana's birth certificate on her day off (yeah!) so we will be able to go down there Monday to get it and should be able to complete everything else on Tuesday, and then be able to head back to Kiev.

Time flying..........

We can't believe it's Thursday already! We have been busy wrapping up paperwork and trying to schedule things to do. We have still been going to the orphanage everyday - sometimes twice. Keep in mind it's a little over a mile each way we walk - so we get a good work out! We were down in the woods with the kids this week as they collected grasshoppers and flowers....and mosquitos! We're surprised these kids aren't one big mosquito bite!

We went shopping yesterday and actually found a billingual learning computer for kids - Russian and English - to help her learn English from it and get her use to computers. We can use it to practice our Russian too! We were able to get the tax number today that we had filed for on Tuesday. This is like a Social Security Number, so we had to have Svetlana's name changed on it in order to get her Ukrainian passport. This is good. Now all we need is the new birth certificate and official court decrees. We have to go to her place of birth to get the birth certificate - Globino - about 2 hours away. Sergei will be going tomorrow to make a request in person that they prepare everything in advance and ask someone to come in on their day off (Monday) so we can go and pick it up. So we may be finished here in Poltava on Tuesday - Wednesday at the latest.

Yesterday while shopping we ran into our Italian friends and we all got together to have lunch today. We just happened to pick a restaurant that has menu's in Ukrainian, English and Italian! How 'bout that! Their translator was out of town, so some conversation went like this: We speak, Sergei interprets to Ukrainian to Nadia (their daughter) who interprets to Italian! and vice versa! Nadia is 8 and has been to Italy 3 times already with a host family and speaks very good Italian! We actually somehow can understand each other - learning some new Italian words (we are really going to be mixed up when we get home!) Svetlana and Nadia had a good time playing afterwards between tennis, frisbee and soccor. We have noticed there is some sort of bond that happens between the kids when they are being adopted. The other girl Olya, who hopefully is being adopted, now they seem to be pretty good buddies as well.

We are having a party for Svetlana tomorrow at the orphanage with the kids in her group. We were asked not to bring cake, but fruit and juice (gee - you think they don't want to deal with 30 kids on a sugar high?) I guess cotton candy is out of the question! Saturday we have the church picnic to go to, and Sunday we hope to get together with Svetlana's sister and her caretakers/family. Then Monday will be the big day, when we can remove Svetlana from the orphanage. We really think that even with all the long process in Ukraine, it really helps the kids make a slow transition into a family, which means less initial shock. We know it's helped us to make a transition into being parents.

Need to contact you Deb........

To our neighbor Deb............you said you might be able to pick us up when we return - we can't find your e-mail address or phone. E-mail us at harriscreations@netzero.net. If someone in the neighborhood sees this..........could you let her know for us?


Thanks!

Calvary Chapel Poltava + Comedy Central

We were able to take Svetlana with us this morning to church. We also had met the other couple that we had posted before about praying for them, whether or not they would be adopting 2 girls at the orphanage. It appears they are proceeding, and we happened to run into them in the grocery market, so they ended up coming to church with us as well. They were going to another church as well later in the day, so it worked out good, since there is still an American Pastor at Calvary and she really needed to hear other people in English!

When we got to church, Grant went in to find someone who could translate for us for Svetlana, to see if she wanted me to go with her to Sunday School - since this was her first time there. When Grant had gone in, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.....it was a very familiar face! When I turned around as Grant came out - he said - look who I found..............it was Sasha! Our friend who use to run the EEO camps when we went before and who had stayed with us a few years back on her visit to the U.S.! We were all in tears to see each other again. She doesn't even live in Poltava but in Kiev. She had come in early for something else she was handling this week. She had asked why we were here, and when we told her we were adopting she was in tears again and we were able to introduce her to our daughter. God is soooooo good! We hope to be able to get with her in Kiev when we go back and spend some time with her.

On the way home, we stopped at the park in the square, because we had seen some really cute things there before. We let her take a ride in one of the powered cars. She picked the one like a big stuffed dog! I would stay off the road while she's driving though! Then we let her pick out a balloon/toy and she picked a cow, which she has now named Dasha. So all they way back to the orphanage she was telling us all about her cow and the good milk it gives. The rest of the day, she had it with her everywhere and was showing everybody her cow! She took it for a walk, and made sure it was fed by grazing in the yard by the playground.

We are in day 3 of our 10 day wait before we have full custody of her. So sometime next week we will be going back to Kiev, visit the Embassy, and then hopefully on to the EEO camp for a couple of days before our scheduled return.
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COMEDY CENTRAL (we have joked with Sergei, so feel we are safe...)

1. In America, we say - everything tastes like chicken
In Ukraine, the chicken tastes like beef ("Is it chicken or is it beef? We call it chow!)

2. How many Ukrainians does it take if you want to purchase a loaf of bread? 4
One to tell you what line to stand in
One to ask you what kind of bread
One to take your money
and one to give you your bread

3. How do you mow a lawn in Ukraine?
You pull the lawmower behind you while smoking a cigarette

4. What do little Ukrainian girls like on their peanut butter sandwich?
Salami (Fu! - translation - Yuck!) - (Yes - she really likes this)

5. How do you know when a Ukrainian translator has been in the refrigerator late at night?
The cheese has teeth marks on it and the mayo is half gone

Yes - we are having a lot of fun and have a translator with a great sense of humour!

Victory Park, lunch and new words

Today, we decided to take Svetlana to Victory Park. It is a park that was named for a battle that was fought years ago between Soviets and Afghanistan (I think). It's on the way we walk to the orphanage everyday. It's just a regular park, but has some rides in the back and places to eat - nothing fancy. Svetlana had her choice of rides. We had a train like a bull, bumper ducks on water (see picture), bumper cars, bounce house, merry-go round (if you want to call it that - she looked pretty bored - didn't move up and down), and a hanging circular swing - you know the kind you sit on and goes in a circle so it swings you out to the side - that one she chickened out of after getting in the seat. She really enjoyed the bounce house. It looked like a shark and the mouth had teeth and would open and close so it looked like it was eating the kids!










We stayed there for a while and then took her back to the apartment so we could eat and show her where we had been staying. We had told her that we would be coming back after eating, and she seemed to understand as we were using some words we knew and some new ones from the dictionary. Everything was fine, we got into the apartment we showed her around, and then all of a sudden she started crying, but we couldn't understand why. We thought she understood we were going back, I could here her say 'I want' and couldn't understand the rest. We thought - Oh my, if she is having shock set in like she finally understands more she is really going to America, it's starting sooner than we expected. We thought maybe she realized she wouldn't see her sister anymore - who knows....So we made an emergency phone call to Sergei - he was on his way back walking, but then took a taxi back instead. By the time he got back she had calmed down some, Grant was starting to get some things out of the refrigerator and Sergei asked her what had happened - why she was crying. Thank goodness! She just wanted to go back to the park! Whew! So we ate and had some fun at the apartment. Sometimes we learn new words because we need to, and sometime by accident. Today, as we were playing and she fell on her 'rear' and was laughing, Grant in his humour, pointed to his rear and said 'tooshi'. Sergei started laughing after she said something, and she had said 'So-what, I have panties too!'. Then Sergei told us she thought Grant said 'trousie' which means underwear! So we all had a good laugh from that one!

We went back to the park for more bounce house and cotton candy. We had stopped at the store on the way to the apartment and I guess she was eyeing a Snickers bar, so we told her she could have Snickers or cotton candy. So we got a real good size cotton candy before dropping her off at the orphanage. (Isn't that what all good parents do? Give there kids sugar and then drop them off to someone else? ha ha).

We all had a lot of fun today and are beginning to be able to communicate some new rules to her. We have been told there is a mentality of 'survival of the fittest' at most orphanages, and we have been observing some subtleties of this, mainly of behavior and attitudes going unchecked of all the kids. It is hard for her to realize that not everyone has this way of thinking/treating others. It is a delicate balance to know what needs to be corrected (and how) because a lot of it is rooted in wrong thinking and lack of teaching/training. I'm sure it is very hard for her because it means losing some of her freedom in making her own choices until she can learn to make better choices.

We hope to take her to church tomorrow. The Deputy Director has been letting us take her without the Director's approval since she is out until Monday, so she is a little nervous. I'm sure the director would let us take her out, she just doesn't want to overstep her authority. Whatever takes place though, it will be good.

Day at the theatre

Today we were able to go to the theatre with Svetlana and the other kids at the oprhanage. It was actually right next to our apartment. Stage theatre is a very big part of the Ukrainian culture. We hope to find something for Svetlana to become active in that will help facilitate this for her - she is a bit of a 'drama queen' - but really - from what we have seen in her, she would probably do well and enjoy it. The play was about lost time - kids not using there time to study but playing instead of going to school and then what happens to them when they get old. It was actually very comical. At one point, they came off the stage looking for one of their friends who was lost and as they came through the audience - of course they spotted Grant on the end and pulled him up asking the kids ' Is this Vasha' - then they saw Grant's backpack and then they took that - 'Oh this must be him he has his bags' (to the best of our translation). Suzanne and the teacher from the orphanage were in tears! We thought he was going to end up on stage, but then the kids were yelling 'no-no that's not Vasha' - and they let him go and kept looking for him.

We are hoping to get permission to take Svetlana for the day tomorrow and for church on Sunday. She didn't seen too interested when the girl from church came today to tell the kids a Bible story, but she's not to interested in anything other than playing right now probably because she is in a comfortable environment - her own 'territory'.

Sergei got our court paper today and has to file for a new 'tax number' (like a SSN number) for Svetlana for her new name. It may be Tuesday and then may take a week, and we need to have it to get her Ukrainian passport. So hopefully somebody will make an exception and do it Monday for him.


Sergei is also helping another couple at the orphanage now. Please pray for them also and the 2 girls they are considering adopting. There are some difficult paper/legal issues that they may turn there backs on the kids after they have bonded with them a little bit, but if they are not truly the parents God has chosen for them, that they would leave before any further damage is done to these girls hopes.

We are anxious to have Svetlana with us all the time, but having her out with us for part of they day only now is probably a better transition for both her and us as she wears us out pretty quick!

Day in court

Well, we didn't find out until 8:30pm Wednesday night that papers had been signed in Kiev to approve our court hearing! The papers were overnighted to us along with another family's and our court hearing was scheduled for 1:30pm on Thursday.

So, today we headed over to the court hearing around 1pm to be ready. A little before 1:30pm, we went into the court room which was smaller than the size of the Maybury jail (for all you old timers who watched the Andy Griffith show!). They even had a jail cell in the court room off to one side (not for us). So we came with Sergei - our translator, Irina - the social worker from the orphanage and also there was the Poltava inspector and the court attorney. Everyone was there......except the judge. So we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Gradually one by one, everyone left to go and finish other work they had (keep in mind they are not in the same building). First the court attorney, then the Poltava inspector, then Grant (bathroom break), and when Irina said she was going to the bank and would be back, the judge finally showed up. Now, remember it's Ukraine......the judge showed up a little after 3pm. So then everyone was called and they came back and we started our court hearing.

Sergei had very well prepared us, and things went along just as he said. Grant was asked to speak first and he was asked a lot of questions. Fortunately, when Suzanne got up to speak, she pretty much just had to say she was in agreement, and answer a couple of other questions. At one point when Irina was making her statement and included that we had visited Svetlana's sister Neelya, and that Neelya had said that 'she has a family and she wants her sister to have one to', so she wrote the paper allowing her to be adopted - the court assistant next to the judge almost started crying.

Everything went well, and at 4:12pm the court declared us as Svetlana's new parents! There is still a 10 day waiting period to allow for any objections (just a formality) and then we get to start more paperwork again. But we should be able to take Svetlana out for the day now, as we went out to celebrate and have pizza tonight. She has never seen ice before - so that was fun, and she had Sprite to drink and was amazed at all the 'fizz' when we poured it out. We think she is still having a hard time comprehending exactly what is going on, or she is just cautious about putting her trust in someone. We had hoped she would be a little more excited than she was, but that's okay. We had enough for all of us. It is hard to understand what she is going through as with any child that is being adopted. After the 10 day waiting period, we will have her permanently, so that would be on the 18th of June.

Please pray for our guidence. She will have a lot of changes she will be experiencing, and too much too fast will spell a really frustrating time for her. Everyone keep telling us 2 things about her - what a sweetheart she is, and what a strong personality she has. We know both of these to be true. Please pray for our discernment in our understanding of her responses to situations and that her trust in us would continue to grow.....when compared to our relationship with the Lord - isn't that what He always does with us? Teach us to trust Him more........

Getting ready for court

Well, it is now Tuesday here. Today we went and met with the inspector in Poltava, the Deputy Director over the inspectors, and the head of the administration (?) of the city. Svetlana also had to come with us as they have to ask her a couple of questions by herself. Everything went well. There has been another family also adopting from here and they are from Italy (Sicily actually) and we have been getting to know them (without an interpreter). But they also had their meeting with the inspector just before us, so we got to see them today. As we all were leaving, and we were heading for our cars, we can't believe who we saw walking across the courtyard......Neelya! Svetlana's sister! She was there with her 'grandmother' the mother of the lady caring for her. It was a very emotional time as we same Svetlana and her sister caring for each other and very emotional as the 'grandmother' was very happy for Svetlana but also very sad to see her leaving. Many tears.......but good ones. This was certainly a divine appointment!

We may actually have our court hearing on Thursday! We are waiting for the documents to be signed in Kiev, which they only do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So, Sergei went out on a limb and talked with the judge that our papers will be signed tomorrow, so as of now, our court hearing is set for Thursday at 1:30pm. After that there is a 10 day waiting period before we have full custody of Svetlana, and then we will be heading back to Kiev to go to the US Embassy.

We continue to be able to see Svetlana everyday and hopefully, once we have the court hearing, they will make an exception for us and we can take her for the whole day out of the orphanage. We went to church on Sunday and met the girl who works with the younger children around Svetlana's age and found out when they go, so we can make it a point to take her to the group this week. They will also be having the church picnic while we are here and they invited us to go - hopefully with Svetlana. It looks like the timing will be well also, so that we can swing by the EEO camp before we leave.

On the bus to Kiev....

Yesterday (Friday), Sergei took the letter to the Poltava Post Office to get it stamped and hopefully they would let him deliver it. Well, the first lady he went to did not like the idea the he brought the letter already stamped. She finally agreed to take it and stamp it, but said someone from the post office would deliver it before 3pm. Okay - well he went back a few hours later to talk to someone else to see if he could take the letter - that lady wouldn't give him any help at all. So he went back a 3rd time, and this time with some 'gifts' and this lady went and got the letter and wouldn't give it to him, but allowed someone from the post office to go with him to deliver it to the inspector's office. Hurray! Once that got done, he got the inspector to type up the final conclusion letter, get the Mayor/city official to sign it and the only other paper we needed was to go to a notary to get the request for Svetlana's passport done. He still had to go back and pick up the conclusion letter, so he dropped us off and later, while we were visiting with Svetlana we got a call....all the paperwotk is on it's way to Kiev to be registered! This means it should be registered on Monday and we should have our court hearing for the final judgement within 5 days after that! It's hard to believe that we are done with everything until we have the court hearing (then we will have more to do).

We have had good times spending with Svetlana getting to know her better. She is definetly one organized little girl who likes to have everything in order. We have been trying to work with getting her to learn English and she is a little timid, but she is the type who once she gets going, she will do very well. We got her some alphabet puzzle cards and she loved them - so she likes figuring things out as well. Yesterday morning we also were able to go to the final graduation ceremony of the older kids. We are trying to absorb as much of the culture as we can so we can talk to her about her heritage and the difference in our countries as she grows up. We found out how much she loves fruit and today (Saturday) we took her a writing tablet and some stickers so she could start practicing writing the American alphabet, and she will get stickers as she completes things and as she learns more English. She seemed to like that and got busy writing right away.

We also had a chance to talk with the 'Deputy Director' who oversees the teachers in the Pre-K area and she was able to fill us in on a lot of Svetlana's personality and family history. This will be important for her as she grows up. She did tell us how she has a very good memory, which is why she had so many lines in her graduation show, and that she loves to help do things/help the teachers and is responsible enough that when the teachers need to relay a message to another teacher, she is the one they send because she can remember what to tell them.

When we talked her her sisters caregivers the other evening, we asked if we were able to continue to tutor her in the language, should it be Russian or Ukranian, and they said Ukrainian since the schools teach that now. We had been recommended a website - www.ukrainianpower.com that produces children's material in Ukrainian to help with English before we left and I think when we get back it will be some good things to get for her. So, I guess we will switch from learning Russian to Ukrainian....hope we don't get too confused!

It has also been difficult as we get to know some of the other kids at the orphanage. This is the hard part where you wish you could take some of the other ones with you. We have to be careful as to how much attention we give them, one, so that Svetalana can see a clear difference in how we treat her as opposed to other kids, but two - for their sake. Some of these kids want parents so bad, that you don't want to give them the wrong impression. We have worked in so many camps here and with the kids at our church, that it is hard to hold back from showing them affection, but we've already had kids 'testing the water' so to speak, to see if we are there for them. Even if you tell them why you are there, it is easy for them to misunderstand your intentions.

We thank everybody for their encourangement and partnering with us in prayer. We could not have asked for a better trip!

Waiting and more family........

We have really gotten used to waiting. Sergei had to stay an extra day in Odessa to help the other family so did not arrive back until Thursday morning. We have been blessed with an excellent facilitator though. He is always on top of everything! Tuesday would have been the first day papers could have arrived in Kobelyaki. This was the paper from the inspector in Poltava to make a formal request to the inspector in Kobelyaki, to make a formal request to the orphanage to allow the sisters to be seperated. They requested that the request be sent by mail only - so we've had to wait. As expected it did not arrive on Tuesday. We spoke with Sergei on Wednesday and he said they told him they did not have it. He felt that they probably did, but one person maybe hasn't told the next person who hasn't told the person he was talking to it was there. So, we would take care of it when he gets back. Things happen a lot faster in Ukraine when you are actually present - not over the phone.


He arrived back on Thursday, and immediately got to calling Kobelyaki to insist someone look for the letter more. Sure enough they had it! So now, we've had a few days resting and spending time with Svetlana, and now it's back to paperwork. So, yesterday morning, he called the orphanage and there was going to be the graduation ceremony for the older kids. We found out that the 'Kindergarten' then Svetlana was in is really more like pre-school. They don't consider it 'school'. So we went to the ceremony for the older kids and then went to see Svetlana for a little while. While there, Sergei and Irina (social worker from the orphanage) went ahead and got the letters typed up that are needed and we signed them - this was the court petition to adopt Svetlana. So we signed those, and then we all headed down to Kobelyaki (hour drive). We went to the inspector (with 'gifts' again) and she had gotten the paper ready, and had to get the Mayor to sign it but he was out. He was probably at one of the school's ceremonies (May 31 is the official last day of school everywhere). He arrived back shortly thereafter, signed the paper and then we drove over to the Kobelyaki orphanage with Luda from the inspectors office to present the request letter to them. They had already prepared it, so she went in to deliver the formal request, picked up the formal response, then we drove back to her office. Now she had to do the conclusion letter (?) and then take it to the Mayor to sign, but he was out again. Now, this may seem like a lot, but remember it goes both ways. If you need something done that is not the 'normal' way of having things done, it can work in your favor. All of this is suppose to be done by mail, going back to Poltava. Sergei had suggested that perhaps someone in the post office would stamp the letter for us and we could deliver it ourselves back to Poltava. So, he had called and someone said they would do this for us. So, while we were waiting for the Mayor to come back, we went to the post office with more 'gifts' for the woman who was helping us to make sure someone would be there later after we got the Mayor to sign. That was good. So we went back and waited some more, and the Mayor finally arrived back. He signed the paper, we went to the post office, they officially stamped the letter, and now we could head back to Poltava.

We will have to have the letter 'officially' stamped at the Poltava post office tomorrow and then we can deliver it to the inspector in Poltava. This way, it appears that all protocals were followed and that it had 'officially' been mailed. Of we had to wait for the mail, it may have taken another couple of weeks - this is what we mean by things working in your favor with a system that is not quite there yet.

After we got back into Poltava, there is one more major thing we had to take care of. Svetlana has another sister, Neelya, who is being taken care of in a home. This is a very good thing, that she is not in an orphanage. Ukraine only recently has had things begin to change into more of 'foster care' than orphanages. So this was a Ukrainian family who could afford to take one girl in. We had to go and get a paper signed that gave us permission to adopt her sister. So we went and met Neelya and her caretakers. This ws very difficult for us. Neelya looks a lot like Svetlana and she is a very smart 8 year old who is completely aware that she would not be able to visit her sister anymore. Apparantly they take her to visit Svetlana once a month. We were very much 'drilled' by her caretakers - which we would too if in the same position - to find out what our intentions with Svetlana were and where she would live, what type of school would she go to etc. Over all, everything went extremely wel but was very emotionall. We made new friends and now have permanent ties with a family in Ukraine and her sister. It was very difficult when her 'father' looked at us and said - 'promise me one thing - that you will never hurt her'. Now what we didn't realize - was that her sister - Neelya - was the one who had to write the letter to give us permission to adopt her sister. We are almost in tears as we are typing this. Imagine having to do this with someone in your family. She completely understood what she was doing, and we will have to plan to come back and visit them - we could not keep them apart from each other. We have their address and they have ours, so they will be able to keep in touch with each other. Afterwards, they served us food and juice, fruit and dessert - very much Ukrainian hospitality to go above and beyond what is expected. We will be getting with them to go out for dinner once Svetlana is in our care and we can share those last moments with each other.

Well, it has been a tiring day - both physically and emotionally - but it was a good day. We hope to have our court hearing by the end of next week now. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to get to know Svetlana and bond with her, and try to help her start learning some English now which will help her make the transition easier to America.

Answers to prayer

It is pretty cool how God has arranged everything...we hooked up today with Natasha, who is the translator for the Pastor at Calvary Chapel Poltava. Since the missionary couple that normally goes to the orphanage is out of the country this week, they gave us permission to go over instead. Natasha met us at the orphanage and Grant and her went to teach the 5th grade class. Suzanne went with Svetlana as they did not want her going over to the area of the school for the older children. We knew when we came this would be more than just an adoption trip but that the entire adoption process has brought us into people's paths that God had arranged, and this was no different. I think the most difficult was after Grant finished the Bible study and then they started asking more questions like why we were there etc, so he did share that we were there to adopt and of course they wanted to know why no one wanted to adopt older children? What do you say to that? At least he could share that we did persue adopting her older sister but that she was not able to be adopted......so they wanted us to tell ALL OF YOU BACK IN AMERICA TO COME TO THEIR ORPHANAGE FOR THEM. Seriously - this was what they actually said to us.....so start praying.......... On Sunday, Pastor Eric also told us how us coming was an answer to prayer because they have been praying that people would come from the U.S. to adopt the children. We get answered prayer and so do they!

Tomorrow Sergei will be back and we will find out what is happening with the paperwork that was sent off to Kobelyaki where Svetlana's sister is at. We hope it is already on it's way back to us.

Paka...............(see you later)

Time to share

Okay....we got some other opinions, and the not sharing pictures until after the court hearing (2-3 weeks away) is more superstition than anything else. So, we would like to share some photos of our daughter-to-be.............Svetlana. Paper work is already in progress, we are just praying for a smooth road to the courts.

You will see also the director of the orphanage in the one picture with all of us...please note that adult Ukranians usually do not smile in pictures, so please know she is usually smiling all the time and has been extremely warm and friendly and helpful to us.

There are 11 pictures as follows:

These are from the second day we met her. We went to take pictures of her to take to her sister to see if that would make and difference with the director there. We already knew at that point that God had led us here though.


These are from her 'graduation' school show (nice Birthday present for Suzanne - eh?)

These are from the square in Poltava a couple of blocks from our apartment

These are just playtime with her