Day Three in Ukraine...SDA appointment day!

Whew! What a day!! Ryan and I have been going non stop since this morning. We started the day by doing a little laundry. And then headed to our SDA appointment at 10 am. 

 Drying our clothes Ukrainian style

 In front of the SDA office

I'm not sure what I expected, but the SDA office was not what I envisioned it would be like. There was no waiting room, so we waited outside until the appointment before us was finished. We were then ushered up a flight of stairs and into a tiny office, with one woman working behind a desk...with the lights out, no less. It was very informal, and Ryan and I said very little. Our facilitator did all the talking, and told us that the SDA worker kept mentioning how young we looked...this was the first of many times we heard that statement today:) We knew A had a brother, but was hoping he was already 18 so that he would not be a problem. It turns out, he is not 18 until next month, so we had to go ahead and accept his file as well with the intention of filing for a separation of him and A. To explain, in Ukraine, siblings are legally joined together until the oldest sibling turns 18. If you wish to adopt only one sibling, you must file a petition to have them legally separated. Our facilitator does not believe this will be a problem, but we do have to track her brother down and have him sign a form stating that he agrees to be separated from Alona. Her file was very small, and did not have much information...exactly what we expected.

 Ryan and Igor buying espresso from a truck vendor

After our appointment, we went back to the apartment to change, and met our new friends the Kaiser's and Eugene, our translator/guide at an Irish pub for lunch!

Our lunch group at O'Briens Irish Pub

After lunch our group headed to one of the 7 Wonders of Ukraine...The Kiev Pechersk Lavra. It is a historic Christian Orthodox Monestary, also known as the Kiev Monestary of the Caves. It has been around since 1051, and is the central hub of Orthodox Christianity for Eastern Europe. One of the most interesting features, is its large underground network of catacombs. There are over 100 burials underground, and you can walk through some of the tunnels to view the catacombs. One interesting tidbit, is that some monks used to live underground in tiny closed in rooms, where they would live out their lives.   

 Standing in front of the Kiev Lavra compound. The women have to cover their heads, so I bought this scarf from a street vendor outside the compound. 

 Ryan with the beautiful golden domes behind him

 Another view of the Lavra 

 Ryan and me in the cemetery outside of the catacombs. The grounds were beautiful, and the graves had beautiful plants and flowers growing over them. 

 One of the flowers growing over the graves.

 Another view of the Lavra

 One thing we have learned about Ukraine, is that there are pigeons EVERYWHERE!!! Here is on chubby one at the Lavra

Eugene in front of the official entry to the Monastery that is a part of the Lavra. The entrance is called Cathedral of the Trinity. 

After touring the Lavra, we went to the World War II museum. It was one of the most well put together museums I have visited. It was HUGE and there was so much to take in!

 Outside of the WWII museum

 Expressive tankers at the WWII museum entrance

Ryan and me with the WWII museum behind us

After our long afternoon of touring, we had dinner with some of our new adoption friends Rachel and Jared from Louisiana, Jennifer and Jeante from Minnesota, and Eugene.

For dinner, I had rice soup, verenyky with potatoes and mushrooms, and mackerel with pomegranate sauce...random I know, but delicious!!

Tomorrow, we plan to take it easy before picking up our referral letter at 4 pm. After we pick up our referral, we will catch a 6 pm train to our daughter's region!! It will be a 15 hour long train ride, which should be interesting!

Specific prayer requests.....please pray that our daughter's brother will easily agree to sign the separation papers. *Retracted this part until after adoption* We trust that God has not overlooked this detail. As my sweet 5 year old told me on face time today, " And the Lord said, with men this is impossible. But with GOD, ALL things are possible".

Day Two in Ukraine

Ryan and I had a wonderful second day in Ukraine. After a much needed,great night of sleep, we were ready to sight see today! Eugene, our tour guide, met us at our apartment at 9 am to show us around the city.

 Eugene

We started out the morning by going to the Museum of History and St. Andrews church, but they were both closed. St. Andrews is a beautiful church, and it is a popular wedding spot, especially in the fall.

St. Andrews Church

Ukrainian humor..this depicts a wedding scene and is in the middle of a side walk right outside of St. Andrews Church.You can't see it in the picture, but there is a beetle on the man's behind, which he is supposedly going to put on his brides wife for good luck.

We learned a ton about the history of Kiev from Eugene, and learned that  Great Duchess Olga and Great Paul Reedemer are patron saints of Ukraine. We visited St. Sophia's Cathedral. It was built in the 11th century under the reign of Yuroslav the Wise's father Vladimir the Great.

 Tower into St. Sophia's with St. Sophia in the background

 St. Sophia's

Ryan and me in front of the tower

Right outside of the cathedral, we came across a musician. The music and singing was beautiful

Statue of Yuroslav the Wise in front of St. Sophia's

After St. Sophia's cathedral, we ate lunch at a lovely restaurant that is adjacent to a park near the Museum of History. Ryan ordered meat dumplings, potato pancakes, and green Borsch. I ordered Chicken Kiev...not really a traditional Ukrainian dish, but it does have Kiev in the name:)

After lunch, Ryan and I headed back to the apartment to rest. We decided to venture out for a walk through the park before dinner. The park had all of these very interesting sculptures.

 Sitting inside a cat's mouth!

 Silly frog!

 Ryan in another cat's mouth

 They had a bunch of these towers of pillows with strange little children perched on top

 Boys will be boys:)

View from the park of the Museum of History and St. Andrew's 

We met up with Eugene who was with a sweet couple adopting from Louisiana, and new friends from North Carolina who are here adopting as well for dinner. I failed to get a group shot, but did get a picture of my food.

I ordered rice soup and blitzes with chicken and mushrooms. I was worried about the food, but everything has been delicious so far!

As you go to sleep tonight, please say a prayer for us. We have our SDA appointment at 10 am local time, which is 2 am CST. This is where we will be presented with A's file. We pray that this appointment goes well, and that the SDA does not see any reason we should not be given her file. If all goes well, we should be done by 11 am, and free to pick up her file officially on Wednesday. Thank you in advance for your prayers!!!

We Made It!!

It is a very surreal feeling to be sitting here in Kiev writing this post! This is what we have been looking forward to for what seems like forever, and here we are!!

We departed Little Rock yesterday afternoon at 1 pm. I was a complete basket case all morning knowing that I would soon be saying goodbye to my 4 baby girls for who knows how long. With the Lord's help, I managed to get out the door and drive away before letting the tears start coming down. I would be lying if I said that I did not ball my eyes out the entire way to the airport. By the time we touched down in Atlanta, I was still crying. I finally pulled it together for our long flight to Amsterdam. 

Ryan and I ready for take off!

We are so thankful that all of our flights were one time. We only had 30 minutes to make our connecting flight in Amsterdam to Kiev, but we made it...and all of our luggage did too! We did not sleep a wink, but the flights went by fairly quickly. I read an entire book, and we watched Sherlock and HGTV Design Star on the kindle to pass our time:) 

Our facilitator her in Kiev met us at the airport and drove us to our apartment. I wasn't sure what to expect, as he made our lodging arrangements for us. Ryan and I were pleasantly surprised by our little apartment. It is right in the heart of downtown, and super clean! 

Apartment Living Room 

 Bathroom

 Bedroom

Kitchen

After getting settled and taking a cat nap, Ryan and I ventured out on our own to explore a little bit. We visited St. Michael's Cathedral, which is right next to our apartment building. It is a beautiful cathedral that was rebuilt in 2000. It was originally built in 1108, but was destroyed in the 1930's by the Soviet Regime because they believed to hold no significant historic value.

  Behind St. Michael's Cathedral was a little park that my girls would have gotten a kick out of. It was a regular playground, but also featured a bouncy slide, trampoline, and a Shetland pony to ride. Quite a mix of interesting things to occupy children:)

 Park behind St. Michael's Cathedral

After walking through an underground mall, we decided to try our first Ukrainian meal. We found a restaurant that had a menu written in Russian and English, and sat outside. The weather is fabulous here...70's and no humidity!! As we were sitting outside, we saw a man run down the street in an Arkansas Razorbacks t shirt...crazy!!! We tried to snap a picture, but he jumped into a car before we could get one. At dinner we ordered Borsch, Chebureka with meat and cheese, and Togerek-Yantik with meat, cheese, and tomatoes. The food was AMAZING!! I could have eaten a ton of the Chebureka. Our feast only cost $16 USD!!

Ryan trying the Borsch

After dinner, we walked around a bit and saw street performers, Scratch from Ice Age, a big carousel, and lots of other interesting things.

 Hard to see, but that is Scratch from Ice Age peering around the pole while a child is performing a rap song

Carousel

Tomorrow, our facilitator will be busy welcoming another American family that is coming over to adopt, so he has hired another man, Eugene, to show us around the city.

Tuesday morning at 10 am, we have our SDA appointment, where we officially accept A's file to proceed with the adoption process. Wednesday at 4 pm, we will be able to pick up her file, and will then hop on a LONG train ride to her city to finally meet her!!

Thank you to all who are praying for us. We can feel your prayers, and they truly helped us have a smooth day of travel. Now, we are off to bed! It is 9:30 pm our time on Sunday, and we have not slept more than an hour in the last 48 hours!!

One week....

It is SO hard to believe that this time next week Ryan and I will be over the Atlantic Ocean, flying to Ukraine to meet our precious daughter. At one week out, I can't possibly write down the millions of things I have to do, or the thoughts going through my mind. Instead, I thought I would simply ask for prayer. 

When we made the decision to say "yes" to start down this life changing road of adoption, it was our hope and prayer that at least one other family would be touched by our story. Not because of our own actions, or for our own gratification, but so that others might see that if we can open our hearts and homes to a 15 year old girl, that maybe they could possibly find a place in their lives for an orphan also. I can humbly thank the Lord for seeing that hope and prayer of ours through. Ryan and I have been beyond amazed at seeing so many of our friends and family stepping out in faith and saying yes to the Lord's stirring in their own lives for the cause of the orphan. Each of these people are starting down their own unique paths, but it has blessed us beyond measure. 

We humbly ask that you would continue to share our story and blog with your friends. As we enter into this next phase of our adoption, and travel overseas to deal with many unknowns, we will need as many prayer warriors out there covering us in prayer as possible. We have seen over and over again the power of prayer through this process.

I will try very hard to give daily updates while we are in Ukraine. I will include in those updates, specific prayer requests. For the time being, please prayer for the health of Ryan and me, as well as our 4 baby girls while we are gone. Please pray for safe travels for us as well. 

I would love to leave you with some pictures of A's room that she will come home to.  We still have a few things to add to the bookshelves, but other than that, it is finished. We love it, and hope she loves it too!

Until next week....

Privilege

A friend of mine posted the above picture on facebook this past week. Quite a profound statement, isn't it? It perfectly sums up the feelings that have been mulling around in my brain and heart these past few months.

When I think about this journey that we are on, I have such a jumbled up mess of emotions that I cannot explain to anyone should they ask. "The depth of the tragedy" is something that I cannot comprehend. I have found myself wondering a lot lately about all the sadness our daughter has had to face in her lifetime. As I sit rocking my sweet baby to sleep, and as I tuck my "big" girls in after giving them countless hugs and kisses, I have had an underlying sadness for our daughter half a world away. She has had to go without hugs and kisses from her mother day after day, year after year. How incredibly tragic. Can you imagine your precious child going without? I have thanked the Lord over and over again for placing my 4 precious biological children in our care, so that they will know love. I am overwhelmed by the thought of trying to undo the years our teenage daughter has gone without the love of a family.

At the same time, I completely feel "the magnitude of the privilege. It still seems surreal to me that the Lord has found Ryan and me fit to be this sweet girls parents. I mean, really!!! What a HUGE blessing and honor to get to shower her with love. While the thoughts of trying to erase...or at least dull... the hurts of her past are mind boggling, I am eternally grateful to be the one that she calls Mama. How lucky am I, that I get to show her how a "real" Mommy loves her babies??

I cannot begin to tell you how in awe I am of how the Lord is working in the hearts of so many dear families around me. Since starting down this adoption path, we have been so encouraged by seeing other families step up and say yes to the Lord's call to care for orphans. I cannot imagine all of the blessings we would have missed out on had we simply walked away and said no to adopting our daughter. Just in these few short months, our eyes have been opened and hearts connected to so many families that have sacrificed so much to welcome children into their families. It makes what we are doing seem so small! I saw this quote on facebook today (who knew facebook was such a good thing!:))

Pretty great quote! Adoption is a calling, without question. And I don't believe that every single family out there is called to adopt. However, I strongly believe that everyone is called to do something. We have been beyond blessed by all of the prayers and support we have received. I would encourage you to stop, think, and pray about what the Lord is calling YOU to do for the cause of the orphan!

*A quick update....we are 2 1/2 weeks out from leaving for Ukraine!! Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to travel for an unspecified length of time, and for our 4 precious treasures that we are leaving behind!!

SDA Appointment...Finally!!

It has been quite a while since I last posted. We have been busy with end of year activities, week-end trips, and swim lessons. We are trying to enjoy each moment with our 4 girls before leaving for Ukraine for who knows how long. We waited 7 long weeks from turning in our dossier to FINALLY receive our SDA appointment date!! We found out this past Wednesday that our appointment is scheduled for July 16th. We are so excited to finally have our date set and know when we will get to start our adoption process in country! 

Our SDA date is only the beginning. For those who might not understand the process for Ukraine adoptions, I will try to explain. This initial appointment is where we will officially receive A's file and "accept" it...meaning she is the child that we want to pursue for adoption. This will take place in Ukraine's capitol city Kiev, or Kyiv. Once we receive this file, we will then travel to her region to hunt down paperwork and do all kinds of other stuff. Once all of that is in order, we will receive our court date. Once we have court, Ryan and I will travel home for a 10 day mandatory wait period. After that, I will travel back to Ukraine to finish up some things and bring Alona home!!

So, back to our initial appointment. We were SO hoping to travel earlier than mid July. There are many reasons for this. Obviously, one being we are so ready to meet our sweet daughter, and would like for her to stay in the orphanage for as short a time as possible. Another reason being, this trip will fall during my baby girl's 1st birthday. Now, I know that she won't know it's her birthday, but as a Mommy, this breaks my heart!! So please pray for me that I will get through July 22 without having a huge Mommy meltdown! The good news for our appointment being scheduled at this time is that it will fall during Alona's 16th birthday, and we will get to give her a little party with her friends and teachers! Turning sweet 16 is such a big deal to us Americans, and I am so thankful that we will get to be there for this special day. 

If you would join me in praying for us as we prepare to travel, we would greatly appreciate it. Please pray for my girls that we are leaving behind to stay healthy, and to not miss their Mommy and Daddy too much! Please pray for my parents as they keep my girls. Pray that they will also stay healthy, and that they will have enough energy to handle these 4 babies! Pray for us that we will handle all of the stresses of this process well. Pray for A, that her heart will be prepared to meet us and accept us as her parents. Pray for safe travels with few delays. And please pray for our facilitators, drivers, and government officials that will be handling our case. We thank you all!!

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" John 14:18