The Day We've All Been Waiting For!!!

After a somehwat sleepless night on the erroneously named "Sleeper Train", we hit the floor running when Marina and her driver picked us up and took us to one of many government offices to do the paperwork side of our adoption here in Zaporozhye.  In between those stops, we were able to go to the orphanage to FINALLY meet our little girl.  Here is how it went:

Nadia was brought out by her Favorite caretaker and was a little out of sorts at first.  They said she does not like it when it's hot so she had already been having a rough morning.  (She's gonna love Air Conditioning!!!)

Once she got her a little calmer and I guess told her that her Mama and Papa were here to see her, she handed her over to me.

She immediately hugged me and held on for dear life.  What an answer to the prayers of this Mom to have my newest daughter cling to me like she had been waiting for me for 2 1/2yrs. :)

Then, of course, she had to check out who was actually holding her.  "It's me, sweet girl.  Your Mama!"

Saying a silent prayer of thanks as I held back tears for this amazing gift.

I think she's reaching a positive verdict at this point.

Then it was time to pass her on to Daddy.  OK, these two connected the moment Nadia was placed in Jim's arms!  God not only answers prayers, He abundantly exceeds them! AMEN!

Don't you love how this girl hugs first and scrutinizes second?  We could all learn a lesson about love from her.

I think she's deciding this parent is a keeper too! :)

Ready for a big kiss from Daddy!  Little does she know how many people are wanting to get their hands on her and give her TONS of kisses for the rest of her life!!!

We only had a few moments with Nadia but then we went back for her to take her to get her passport picture taken.  They put her in an adorable pink sundress for her photo op but unfortunately, the settings on my camera when cahooey so they all turned out blurry.  Plus, when operating on Marina's time-frame, everything seems blurry--we moved at warp speed today.  I'm hoping when we go back in just an hour from now she'll still have that dress on so I can take more photos.  I'll also put up photos of the boys with their new sister. Like I said.  There wasn't much time to take the plethera of photos I was wanting to take!

I'll post more details later but for now I'll tell you that I am already filled with love overflowing for this child.  She is a total snuggle-bug and although she can walk, she does not want to be put down. (Sounds like a Harper-right Adeye?).  She is also toilet-trained on a 1hr. schedule (she was on the "pot" when we got there-blush), tries to eat by herself but still needs assistance, weighs about 26lbs. and has the most beautiful blue eyes and brown hair I've ever seen!!!

Gotta get ready to leave soon so that's all for now.  I can't imagine our first meeting with Nadia being any better!

Lunch with the McDonald's and an Update

We were hoping to meet up with a few Reece's Rainbow Families while here in Kiev and today I got to meet two!  The Fritz's were standing outside of the SDA when I went there this morning in hopes of picking up my referral early. (It wasn't ready yet).  The Fritz's are adopting 4 children this time.  They already have 6 adopted children at home in Minnesota!!!

We then were able to contact the McDonald's who are here to adopt TJ (Misha).  We met them at a Ukranian Cafeteria that came highly recommended by Niko and his daughter.  We weren't sure what the food items were so we just pointed to what we thought we might like and gave it a try. Overall, I think most of us enjoyed at least half of what we ordered so it was a fun experience.

Then we made the long hike uphill back to our apartment to wait on our next visit to the SDA to pick up the paperwork we will need to visit Nadia in her orphanage. 

The plan now is to take an 11:10pm train overnight to Zaporozhye (10hr. trip) and have Marina meet us in the morning. I'm not sure if we'll go directly to the hotel or to the orphanage but either way it looks like we'll be meeting Nadia tomorrow as we had hoped!!!  If you haven't already noticed, I posted a baby picture of Nadia on my sidebar that the lady at the SDA gave to me in exchange for another picture I already had of Nadia.  What a little snookie she is!!! 

I hope to post pictures at some point of the amazing sights we saw in Kiev with Olena yesterday.  My modem is finally working but it uploads photos onto my blog VERY slowly so I'll probably wait until we're in our hotel in Zaporozhye for that post.  :) 

Thank you for all of your very encouraging comments!  Allen and Michael have also started a blog and they'd love to hear from  you as well.  Theirs is called "The Brothers' Blog" and it's listed on my blog list so you'll be able to check to see if they've posted. 

June 7th-SDA Appointment and My Mom's Birthday!

We're back at TGIFriday's for lunch and to use the internet again.  We're still not getting internet at our apartment even after a 2nd modem.  It looks like we may have to wait until we're in Zaprozhye before we have more consistent internet.  (Deep breaths! ha ha)

Today we went for our SDA appointment where I accepted the referral for Nadia.  Everyone who goes to the SDA in Ukraine gets to pass by this beautiful church and they usually post it on their blogs.  So I am too!

Serge took me up to the office while Jim and the boys stayed outside with his daughter Nicole who is here visiting from St. Louis for 2 months.  (Wish my Nicole were here with us!!!)  My part of the appointment was VERY quick.  In fact all the young lady asked me for was my passport.  That's it.  No questions, no inquiries as to why we want to adopt a special needs child.  Serge then read me Nadia's  first and last name from her file (which we already knew--Nadia Bersmyntx) and told me she has an open oval window (which we didn't know).  I prayed ahead of time for God to prepare us for any "surprises" and so this did not come as a surprise to me nor did it feel like one.  We don't know the extent of this heart condition but Her Maker certainly does.  We will hopefully find out more when we get to talk to the orphanage doctor.  The next 20min. of the appointment was Serge finding out more information on other children in the orphanage in Zaporozhye--I'm assuming so he can add them to his files to help find them families! 

This is me with Yulia, one of our main facilitators.  She is very sweet and has been so helpful since we've arrived.  Her first phone call to me was to let me know that she's available  for us 24/7.  That was very comforting!!! 

OK, somewhere along the way, some of you got the impression that I was wearing my fancy new shoes for both my SDA appointment and my Court appointment.  Let me clear things up.  This is what I wore today.  No fancy shoes--those babies aren't coming out of the suitcase until court day! (And yes, my suitcase did arrive last night at 6pm--woo hoo!)

Speaking of stilettos.  I'm not sure what this bumper sticker means but I had to take a picture of it!!!

Here is the tunnel we walk through to get to our apartment.

Here is a shot of the outside of our apartment.

And this is the climb from downtown walking back up to our apartment! I won't try this in heels!

Yesterday, we found a fresh food market and purchased some strawberries, bananas, and cherries.  As we were buying the fruit, a man approached Jim to ask for money.  The only reason we knew he was doing this was because the man who owned the fruit stand threw a cherry at the guy to get him to move along.  Said cherry then bounced off said man and proceeded to hit the lady selling us the fruit. We were startled but then got a good chuckle out of this new use for cherries!

While Allen was excited with our fruit stand find, my husband, a true motorhead, was THRILLED to find the Ferrari store across the street!  I would have taken more photos but was told to put my camera away after I snapped this one.  :)  I can always find a way to get in trouble--even 4,000 miles from home!

On our way home from the SDA today, we passed by the University of Kiev.  This building caught my eye (understatement) so I had to take a photo.  Isn't it great???  We're heading out to do more sightseeing in just a few minutes with Uncle Niko's daughter, Olena, so I'll have lots more to share tomorrow when we come back to TGIF.

But for now, I'll finish this post with a picture of my beautiful Mom who's birthday is today!!!  Happy Birthday Mom!  Wish we could be there to celebrate with you.  Hope you have a wonderful day!

Want to know something cool?  Today is Nadia's 1/2 birthday.  She is officially 2 1/2 today!!!

WE'RE HERE!!!

Hello everyone!  After a long but uneventful string of flights, we finally arrived in Ukraine, June 5th at 2:00pm (their time).  Our flights were great although we didn't sleep much and only 3 of our 4 pieces of luggage landed with us (of course the missing one was mine but I'm just getting more practice with learning to embrace "Plan B"--right Shelley F.?)

So, once we got here, "Uncle Niko" picked us up in his cool car and drove us to our apartment.  Luckily my bag didn't make it because I'm not sure where it would have fit in this car!

Here is our home away from home for the next few days in Kiev.  We're about a 20min. walk from downtown where the markets, money exchange centers, and more importantly TGIF is located! (Which is actually where I'm blogging right now since our modem isn't working in our apartment--can I just tell you all that I don't do well with being completely cut off from communication with my "peeps"!  I wasn't sure you all knew that about me or not-ha ha ha!!!)

Jim getting directions from Uncle Niko on how to use our Ukranian cell phone. 

What would we have done without our new "Uncle" helping us get set up and ready to function in this beautiful country!

Then it was time for Jim and Niko to go get some supplies for the night and the next morning. They exchanged money, got a phone card, the modem (that doesn't work--did I mention that trauma???) and...

...our groceries.  The pizza got a thumbs up from me and Michael--not so much for Allen who ended up eating a protein bar for dinner.  Jim had a PB&J sandwich. 

All of this for just 120 Grivna which is about $15.00!

We then fell into our beds around 7:30pm and slept until 10:30am. (Well sort of...the boys slept through the night--I was awake on and off throughout the night but we're all feeling pretty good today!)  I'm thinking of asking the nice people here at TGIFriday's if I can bring my pillow here so I don't have to be away from my computer!!!  I almost don't want to end this blog entry because it means I won't be connected for awhile unless we can get a resolution to our modem issue.

Tomorrow we have our SDA appointment at 11am and then we're going to have Niko's daughter take us on a sightseeing trip (thanks Lisa P. for that suggestion) throughout Kiev!

Hope to be back online soon!  Keep the prayers coming--we're definitely enjoying ourselves and loving the mission God has us on here!

Saying Good-bye For Now...

                                          To our dog, A.J. who won't be the baby anymore. :)

To my favorite Starbucks Gang (won't be having Starbucks for 3 weeks!!!-YIKES!)

To my dear, sweet Josi whom I will miss with my whole heart!

Final prayer time with my parents, sister Stephanie, and her kids Adam and Jessica.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for our journey to Nadia thus far.  I have been overwhelmed the last few days with an incredible peace that can ONLY be the peace that transcends all earthly understanding and can ONLY come from our Heavenly Father.  Those of you storming the Throne on our behalf...please keep it up...there truly is POWER IN PRAYER!!!

Love you all--next post from Ukraine (God willing!)

One final good-bye and thank you to Mom and Dad who will have our precious Josi the next few weeks.  Thank you!  You guys are the best!!!

Priorities

It's less than 24hours before we leave for the airport (19hrs to be exact...but who's counting) and we're not packed yet.  HOWEVER, little pumpkin doodle will have a place to lay her sweet head when she gets back.  Ah, yes...gotta keep my priorities straight...and pack eventually! :)

Under Attack!

I haven't been able to blog for awhile because I've been defending the homestead against these pesky rabble-rousers.  I wish they'd move along so I could get packed.  Heck, I've only got 36hrs. before we have to be at the airport!!!

Gotta go re-load!

(Can you tell someone's getting a little punchy down here in Dixie???)