Wow Tired Excited Etc.....

Hello again from Ukraine.

As Debbie said in her last post we have arrived in Kryvy Rih. The last week has been a whirlwind of things happening. We had our SDA appointment on Wednesday last week and we did accept a referral as you all know. The normal process is to receive a referral to go to the Orphanage at the end of the next day. We ended up accepting a referral to the same Orphanage and city as a family we met in Kyiv. The SDA did us a favor and gave us a referral the same day because we were going to the same city and had the same translator as the other family. Wow were we surprised and thankful. We went back to the apartment after the SDA appointment and started to pack and rest. I had to be back at the SDA for the referral between 5 and 6 PM. After we received our referral we went back to the apartment and had to get ready to leave for the train. We were on the 11 PM train from Kyiv to Kryvy Rih. The train was an all night train that arrived at 6:30 AM. We had our own sleeper cabin because they are for four people. We were thankful to have our own space. The boys were excited and thought the train was a lot of fun and another adventure. There was a hallway along one side of the train car with doors to each sleeper cabin. After the train started to go we were hoping to sleep. We were not prepared for people to smoke in the hallway which basically filled the entire train car with smoke which had no fresh air. We did get to sleep but we all slept for about three hours. We were excited and nervous to meet our little girl.

When we arrived in Kryvy Rih we were met by a driver and van. We loaded up the van with all our stuff and headed to our apartments. We were traveling with the family we met in Kyiv (Bridget and Joe) and our translator Yulia who was the translator for both of us. Our apartment is on the fifth floor of an apartment building. We have two rooms (Living room and bedroom) and a small kitchen and bathroom. The apartment is clean and comfortable we again are blessed with a great place to stay for the next few weeks. We basically had one hour to get refreshed and get ready to go to the Juvenile Services office to obtain clearance to go to the Orphanage. We found out that the Juvenile Services Director was at te Orphanage so we went back to the Orphanage. When we arrived we waited in a room with chairs and a carpet in the middle of the room. There were two other families there visiting their children one from Italy and one from Israel. Yulia came and got Debbie and I and we went in to meet the Orphanage director and the Juvenile Services director. She asked us our names and ages and to tell her a little bit about ourselves and what we like to do etc. Then she asked about our boys and their names and ages. Then she told us about Polina (Mariah) and gave us the history information and medical. Then we were taken up to meet her. It only took a little while to realize that she was the one God has been leading us to adopt. Yulia asked us if we have decided whether we wanted to adopt her or not and Debbie and I looked at each other and said yes.
This all happened by Thursday morning. Then the paperwork began and Yulia was off filing papers with the Orphanage and the Juvenile Services department and the local courts etc.

We were back at the Orphanage to visit Maria again Thursday afternoon. She is so sweet and loves to laugh. The boys especially love it when I throw her up in the air a little and she starts to laugh out loud. One special memory is when Yulia was holding Mariah and explaining to her that Debbie was going to be her Momma and Mariah said the first words we heard her say. She responded "Dah" which means yes. After the visit was over we walked around the corner and realized that our apartment was right next door to the Orphanage, again what a blessing. God is sooo good. We all went to the grocery store to stock up on groceries for the week. The store was kind of like a big Walmart but of course not Walmart. We wandered around trying to figure out what things were. Yulia helped us find hamburger and things like that then we loaded up and went back to the apartment. We didn't get back to the apartment until almost 9 PM. We were all totally exhausted. We got ready for bed and we were out.

The next morning Debbie woke up at 7:30 AM and said she didn't sleep very well. The next thing we knew it was 10 AM when we were supposed to be at the Orphanage. I jumped up and ran out the door to the Orphanage. I arrived at 10:10 so not too late. Debbie and the boys came later after they got ready and ate a little breakfast. They brought Mariah down the stairs in a little coat and hat so I could bring her outside. She was all smiles. We had a great visit. We had more paperwork to do after the visit then we went back to the apartment to rest. We had another visit at 4 PM. She was a little tired because they had to take her to the doctor for a check up to get the doctor to sign the paperwork. So she missed her nap time. We also had to buy diapers to give to the Orphanage to put on her every time we came to visit. It is strange to be buying diapers again. After our visit we walked down to the pizza restaurant so we would know how to get there after Yulia left for Kyiv. Yulia had to go back to Kyiv Friday night so she could get all the paperwork back to the SDA for processing. We will find out next week if everything works out for court. The pizza here is great.

Saturday we had a visit with Mariah in the morning at 10AM. She was smily and fun we got to play outside as it was a beautiful sunny day. The sad thing is now we can not see her again until Monday morning. It seems like forever. Our visitation schedule is Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 11:30 AM and from 4:15 to 6 PM. On Saturday we visit her only at 10 AM and no visits on Sunday.

Well this brings you up to today which is Sunday. We are going to have a driver pick us up and take us downtown to walk around and explore. We will try to make the next updates a little shorter. A lot has happened and we are extremely blessed.

Please pray for the paperwork to continue forward without any problems and that we can get to court as soon as possible. Pray for continued health and for us to build a bond with Mariah as we continue to visit her.