Congratulations - It's a Girl!

After nearly 12 months of anxiously planning, preparing documents, and waiting for our daughter, we heard a simple statement yesterday that put huge smiles on our faces --- “your petition (to adopt) is approved”.  As our translator communicated each word from the judge, we waited for the final positive statement to be said.  When it finally came, I am sure we were all three grinning from ear to ear.  There were many hugs as we left the judge’s office.  Yes – court was held in the judge’s office as there are not very many courtrooms in Gorlovka!  The only downside was the phone which rang continuously.  She just picked up and put down the receiver each time without even looking! 

The whole process took about an hour, with the court consisting of our judge (who was feeling better but not great), the prosecutor (who asked most of the questions), the court reporter (who hand wrote all of her notes), and two witnesses.  The witnesses were citizens who were called in to hear the proceedings.  They didn’t get a vote, but they could ask questions. Neither did.  On our side, we had Helen, the psychologist from the orphanage.  She testified that Snezhana had turned down many families before us because she did not feel a bond with them.  In contrast, she feels that Snezhana has developed a strong bond with us.  After each visit, Snezhana met with Helen and told her how much she wants to be part of our family and live with us in Colorado.  In addition, one of the city officials, Oksana, testified that we met all of the Gorlovka city requirements for adoption.  She was present during our first meeting with Snezhana and she was impressed with how prepared we were.  We had written a letter to Snezhana, telling her about us and asking her questions about her favorite things.  She felt that we would be supportive of Snezhana and would put her needs first.

The prosecutor then asked us each some questions.  She wanted to know why we chose to adopt and specifically why we chose Ukraine.  Matt told her about Ukraine Orphan Outreach and our experiences with the children who visited the U.S. during the summer camps.  She asked why we wanted to adopt a child who was so old, and I told her that both of us had lots of experience working with children of that age and that we would enjoy seeing her develop into an adult.  They asked about our home only briefly.  We had brought lots of pictures, but when we offered to show them, we got a resounding – “Nyet!”  I guess nothing was going to slow down the proceedings.   They did ask about schools – would there be accommodations for her.  Matt told them about the special programs in our schools for children who don’t speak English.  The judge was surprised, and pleased.  They asked Snezhana if she wanted to be adopted by us, and she said yes.  They asked her about her family, specifically her grandfather, who telephones her sometimes at the orphanage.  She said that he was old and sick and couldn’t care for her.  They asked her if she did well in school and she said “Da! I am a good student!”

When it was all over, a tremendous sense of relief came over us.  There is still a 10-day waiting period (actually more like 14 days due to the Ukrainian holidays).  And there are still paperwork issues that may arise.  But, we enjoyed a wonderful celebration with Snezhana and her friends at the orphanage last night, and we are so happy to finally be able to share details and pictures with everyone about our new daughter.

Her name is Snezhana Kristen Hooker.  We love the name Snezhana and were so glad she didn’t want to change it.  It translates to Snow Princess or Snowflake, and her grandmother was the one who gave her the name because she came home from the hospital during a blizzard (her birthday is in March).  She chose her middle name from a list of about six that we came up with (with some of your help!).  We hope she will continue to use Snezhana, but if she chooses not to then Kristen is not a bad choice.  She is 13 years old and a talented artist.  She likes to draw and do all sorts of crafts.  Her favorite subject is history, and she has travelled to Italy three times for a hosting program.  She still speaks a good bit of Italian, and the experience definitely opened her eyes to new foods, etc.  She seems to love to travel and looks forward to seeing many states in the US very soon.  Her favorite books and movies are adventure stories and she loves Peter Pan especially.  Her favorite color is yellow and she is a thumb- and arm-wrestling champion. 

We are heading home (provided we can get through the winter storms in Germany) and hope to be back in Ukraine in early January to finish the process.  We cannot wait!!!  Thank to you to everyone at home who has helped and encouraged us along the way, especially to those at work who have made it possible for us to be here much longer than we originally thought so that we can finally write today’s blog entry as new parents!

Hooker family is all smiles after court!

Snezhana gets a hug of congratulations from the orphanage's psychologist.

A toast to Snezhana from her group at the orphanage.

A big smile from Snezhana Kristen Hooker!

No Court Yesterday

The cold weather has led to a rash of illnesses in Gorlovka, including (unfortunately) our judge who is currently in the hospital with "pneumonia".  We showed up for court yesterday, only to find no judge and to be rescheduled for Monday afternoon.   Our hope now is that she is up and around soon, feeling better, and ready for a speedy court!!!  It was heart-breaking to watch our girl tear up as she learned that court would not take place.  She is so ready to come home.  We were in the courthouse less than 10 minutes. 

While Monday is only 4 days away, the disruption has an impact on bringing our girl home.  The end of the 10-day wait now falls squarely in the middle of Ukrainian holidays, and we will not be able to get a new birth certificate or passport issued during that period.  We are likely facing a return in January to pick up our girl.  And just 24 hours ago, we were planning to celebrate New Years at home together.

We tried to make the best of it.  We spent the rest of the day at the orphanage playing with our girl and one of her friends.  We had planned on being busy all afternoon with court and passport photos and parties, so we didn't bring any new games or crafts to do.  We spent a lot of time just looking over all the pictures of home again (which was surprisingly comforting for all of us). After that, I was amazed at the ingenuity of the kids.  They were bored with our standard games, so they took the colored pieces from Trouble and made a game out of a magazine maze discussing different occupations.  We were bored with Uno so we made houses of cards.  We played tons of Tic-Tac-Toe. The kids outside smoothed an ice track for "skating".  It was really fun to watch.

The kids are amazing and we are so lucky to have good friends, family, and coworkers that make it possible for us to be here for this extra time.  We are hoping to get back on track soon everyone.  Be advised, though - your Christmas presents and cards will be on Russian Orthodox schedule this year!

Just like the people inside, the dogs formed a line at the courthouse.

One of the kids at the orphanage finds new things to do with a deck of Uno cards

We Have a Court Date

We finally have a court date!!!  December 16 (Thursday) is the magic day, and we can hardly wait.  We were visiting our girl at the orphanage when we got the news, and she could tell by our expressions that something great had just happened.  In that moment, I totally blanked on the Russian word for “court”, but the minute I said Thursday, she put it all together.  We were all ecstatic, and it was such a joy to watch her get excited and give us a great big hug.  She wants this as much as we do!!!

We had a wonderful visit at the orphanage yesterday afternoon.  We were able to spend our 4 hours there in our girl’s room, which was a lot nicer (and warmer) than the “dining” room where we have been meeting.  She had set up a table in the middle of the room so that we could do puzzles and games (it wasn't there the day before).  And she has all the things we've made displayed around the room (puzzles, coloring book pages, crafts).  Her latest addition was a series of coloring book pages we completed the day before taped on her door.  It is very cute!  She also asked if she could invite her friends to play games with us after we did our puzzle, so we played several hands of Uno and some games of Trouble with her and two of her friends.  It was wonderful to watch her interact with them.  Much giggling was involved!

Christmas Crafts - Ukrainian Style

Thank you to everyone for the many prayers, emails and comments regarding the hearing we attended last week.  Another formality, I suppose.  But for those of you who have been on this side, each formality comes with an almost paralyzing fear that something could go wrong.  However, we were able to breathe a tremendous sigh of relief when we learned the outcome was positive.  Approval to continue with the adoption was given within 20 minutes.  There were very nice comments from the Deputy Mayor, which made us all smile.  The Mayor signed off on the required documents, and they were off to SDA (State Department for Adoption) while the ink was still drying.

So ---- as many of you have guessed, we are now in a holding pattern just waiting for our court date.  Things are moving slowly in part due to the typical end-of-year craziness in the courts here in Ukraine.  In addition, there are also implications for the elderly in 2011 associated with new tax laws, so the courts have additional cases to hear in December.  Net result:  we have not yet been assigned either a judge or a court date.  We are still hopeful this will happen soon. 

While we are waiting though, we have gotten to spend lots of time together as a (dare I say it) family.  Most of that has been spent at the orphanage, and all of the caretakers have been very nice to us.  Our first few visits were spent in the “visitor area”, a room with a couch, two chairs, a table, and one light.  No heat, though, which would be a nice addition.  We played several frosty games of Uno there.  Fortunately, after a few visits, they felt comfortable with us venturing upstairs and they have let us use one of the rooms in which the kids eat their meals.  It has two long tables with bench-style seating and is a great space for games, puzzles, and crafts.  It is still cold, but not nearly as cold.  And, both lights work.  Awesome!

Things are relatively quiet at the orphanage right now as about half of the kids are away at camp.  Even still, it is fun to sit in our room and listen to the kids playing outside the door.  Sometimes they sing along with the videos they are watching on TV.  Sometimes it sounds like they are running at full speed up and down the halls.  The orphanage we are at started out as a hospital.  It has long hallways and lots of small rooms.  Our girl shares a room with one other girl (who is away at camp).  They have nice bunk beds, a sink, and a bookcase.  She has been decorating with all of the things we’ve been making so her room looks pretty festive right now. 

We’ve had about 4 hours a day together, so we’ve tried to do several activities each time just to keep us all from getting bored.  Our staples are Uno, Trouble, Yahtzee, and puzzles.  We mix it up with craft projects, some of which we brought from America and some of which we purchased here in Ukraine.  The latter have definitely been interesting.   Some new friends took us to a store with lots of Christmas decorations and some packaged crafts to make (everything you need included in the kit).  My favorite so far has been the penguins.  Pretty straightforward – Styrofoam balls for the head and body, felt coverings, and some felt pieces for the feet, etc.  The body covering was the only tricky part.  Instead of the pressed felt that you see in the US, the felt came as loosely matted strands that you “attached” to the Styrofoam by poking it into the balls with a small flat blade (included, thankfully – don’t know what we would have improvised with).  This will come as no surprise to some of you, but I managed to poke my finger pretty good with this.  It made me wonder – is this kid-tested, mother-approved?

For all you South Carolina folks, I made the red penguin in the picture below and, yes, he resembles a Carolina Gamecock!  We made up for it by making a set of carol singers the next day (another Ukrainian craft) and one of them is orange --- Go Tigers!

Penguin craft - are there red penguins???

I call these carolers - they were fun and quick to make but a few more instructions would have been helpful

We made dozens of beaded candy canes and then had fun making shapes out of them!

Salt clay craft our girl made for us at school - very pretty!

Prayers Needed

We learned today that we have a critical meeting tomorrow at 8:00am.  We are nervous, but hopeful that this will take us one step closer to getting our process moving. Please think of us, especially tonight!

First Meetings

So much has happened since we arrived in Gorlovka on Thursday night, that I hardly know where to start.  On Friday morning, we met with two social workers to discuss our suitability to adopt from the Gorlovka orphanage.  There were lots of questions about our background, our families, our home, the school system in our city, and what training we were required to take for our home study.  While the questioning was nerve-wracking at first, these women truly have the children’s best interests at heart.  They explained that they became attached to each child and how happy they were that one of them would now become part of our family.  Laughter and smiles were pervasive throughout the interview, and we left with a very good feeling.

Next, we visited the orphanage and were asked many of the same questions by the Associate Director and the psychologist.  After two hours, we had told our full story three times, and we still hadn’t met our potential daughter yet.  A headache was coming on, and I felt like I was on an extremely important job interview for the role of adoptive parent and I wasn’t sure if I would get the job or not. Finally, though we got to meet our girl (she had been in school).  It was a bit awkward due to the large crowd, including translator, social worker, Assistant Director, psychologist, and the three of us.  We showed her photographs of us, our home, our family and our friends.  We also gave her a letter we wrote introducing ourselves.  The letter included lots of questions of things we would like to learn about her – her favorite foods (not eggs), favorite color (yellow), favorite subject in school (history), favorite movie (Peter Pan), etc.  We were so happy that she asked us questions too.  She asked us what we liked to do for fun, what kind of movies we liked, who our favorite authors are, etc.  She really liked our house and our dogs from the pictures.  And she seemed very comfortable with us!  The first day didn’t result in an immediate yes to the question of adoption.  But, she clearly wanted to spend more time together, which made us very happy.

Over the weekend, we’ve had two great visits to the orphanage.  On one hand, we feel a bit sorry for our girl, as most of the kids are away at camp right now (only 5 kids remain in the entire orphanage).  We are the cause of her staying behind.  But, she doesn’t seem to mind!  We’ve mostly spent time in a small room with no heat and only minimal light, but it is private and has a sofa, chairs, and table in it.  The orphanage caretakers are all friendly and seem genuinely happy for her.  Thankfully, our translator has been able to come with us for these visits, and she is very good with explaining everything in English and in Russian.  On Saturday, we talked some and then played Uno and Yahtzee.  On Sunday, we talked some more and then made some beaded jewelry.   On Saturday, she mentioned that she loved art, on Sunday she had a sketchpad with her to show us some of her artwork.  That was very special that she thought to do that, and she is an excellent artist.

Tomorrow we have the important paperwork to do.  There are some additional documents needed because of a family situation (which I will explain later), and she still needs to write a letter saying she wants to be adopted.  Hopefully, once those things are done, we can file for a court date.  We aren’t sure when it will be, but we are obviously hoping for as soon as possible.

While visiting the orphanage and doing paperwork has been our primary focus, it has been very fun to have another family here in Gorlovka and we have made the most of it.  We’ve had great fun at breakfast and dinner getting to know each other better.  This morning, we were all able to go to a local church service run by some missionaries from Florida.  They have been in Gorlovka on and off since 1992 (mostly on for the last 10 years.  It was wonderful hearing praise hymns like “Shine Jesus Shine” in Russian!  In addition to an extensive mission through a baby hospital they helped establish, this couple also works with the orphanage we are adopting from (Hope Orphanage).  They set up sponsors for the kids there and take them shopping periodically and buy them gifts for holidays like their birthday and New Years.  They also stock a small store on site, so the kids can buy small items like Cokes and shampoo using credit they earn from chores.  Finally, they have activities at the church for them, like a spring tea.  This is a wonderful ministry, and I am sure the kids love the individual attention!  If you are interested in sponsoring a child (right now 19 out of 53 currently need sponsors), check out their blog at http://sparrowshope.blogspot.com/.   We can tell you more when we get home, too.

Finally, tonight was really fun.  We came back from the orphanage to find the staff and our friends sitting together in the common area, sharing a cake in honor of Ira’s birthday.  Ira works at the front desk and is young, beautiful, and speaks excellent English.  This was such a treat to be a part of their celebration and talk with all of the people here more.  They were so welcoming and there was lots of laughter!  I loved it.

So far, despite gloomy weather, we have had wonderful days in Gorlovka, thanks to the kindness of friends (old and new).  We are truly lucky! 

This store is very popular in Gorlovka - sort of like a SuperWalmart.  One of my favorite snacks to buy is still the Bacon-Flavored Peanuts!  Lots of interesting snack choices here and some wonderful fruit.  About a 15 minute walk from our hotel.  

Christmas shopping at the Amstor - other than the Cyrillic letters on this signs, I might think I am in America!



With a Little Help from Our Friends

Tonight we have in hand, the magic document – our permission to go to the orphanage in Gorlovka and visit our girl.  Nothing special associated with picking up the referral (thankfully).  By 5 pm, we were heading out of Kiev in a taxi on the way to the airport.  About 10 miles from the airport, however, I noticed we were losing speed and our driver began drifting to the right.  I wondered if he knew road conditions were getting bad up ahead.  But, no, it was simply that we had no more gas.  Our driver coasted several minutes or so (Matt thinks this was really just us sliding on the ice) before finally stopping.  We had seen many cars broken down along the way on our previous journeys, and we had even heard the story of friends whose taxi driver stopped to help another stranded car while taking them to the airport. 

You have to appreciate how people help each other here.  Within minutes, a good Samaritan had come to our rescue.  Our driver, a Ukrainian boy scout, was prepared for the situation.  He brought out a long strap (many of you have seen this before), hooked us up to the tiny car of our new friend, and together we were off.  A few minutes later we were at the gas station waving good-bye.  Our taxi driver added about a quarter of a tank of fuel, and we were on our way.  Thank you so much to our kind rescuer!!!  I just hope our driver had enough fuel to make it home.

The flight was uneventful, and we were met at the airport by our facilitator’s driver.  Within 45 minutes we were checked in at the Pension Ukraina in Gorlovka.  The hotel is really nice, and we were so surprised to see a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers in our room, courtesy of our wonderful friends, Carol and Roger, who are also in Gorlovka for their adoption.  We can’t wait to see them at breakfast in the morning and thank them for this wonderful welcome. 

We spent the last hour looking over our magic referral document.  Thanks to Google Translate, we were able to read through it (a single page – mostly names and stamps).  We learned that we need to visit our girl within a reasonable time (by when?) or the SDA needs to be notified (by whom?).  The document doesn’t give specifics and doesn’t say what will happen if we don’t visit, but we don’t intend to find out.  We plan to visit around 11am tomorrow, and we can’t wait! 

I was proud of Matt’s translating skills.  Without Google, he figured out that the document ends with a reference to our dossier, which has 83 pages.  So for those of you who wonder what we’ve been doing much of this year, it can be summed up pretty well in 83 notarized and apostilled pages, now neatly bound in twine!

Welcome to Gorlovka!

Thanksgiving (One Week Late)

I’m excited to report that we are back in Ukraine and continuing on our adoption journey!  We had our 2^nd SDA appointment this afternoon and are waiting (patiently) for our referral paperwork so that we can travel to Gorlovka to meet the girl who might soon become our daughter.  Our appointment lasted about 10 minutes, and we met with the same official, who was very nice to us.  If all goes according to plan, we will be on a flight to Donetsk tomorrow night and will be at the orphanage bright and early on Friday morning to get things started.

A little over a month ago, Matt and I made the tough decision to move forward with adopting.  I totally supported the decision, but, at the time, I couldn’t imagine us moving forward with as much laughter and enthusiasm as we’ve actually experienced so far.  There are still sad moments when I think of what might have been, but most of these have been replaced with happy thoughts about what is to come.  I believe that we are on the right path – I get the feeling that “everything is the way it should be” every time I see a picture of her.  This time, our blog might seem a bit more guarded.  We’ll keep her name and details private a bit longer until we are sure things are going to work out.  But, we’ll fill you in on how things are going and are really thankful for those of you taking time to read this blog, think of us, and pray for our trip. 

Speaking of thanks, last Thursday was a very different Thanksgiving Day for me.  Because of our upcoming trip, we weren’t able to travel to South Carolina and be with family, and we spent much of the day packing and cleaning.  Although our meal was fantastic (thanks to the fact that my husband is a great cook), we didn’t have a traditional celebration and I don’t remember saying what I was thankful for.  So, just a bit late, I thought I would take this chance to express gratitude for those things (large and small) that make our lives and this experience so special. 

Top 10 List of Things We Are Truly Grateful For:

1.    Our many wonderful friends, who called, wrote, emailed, texted, cooked, chauffeured, cleaned, watered (our plants), raked (our yard), and provided an outpouring of concern

2.    The many adoptive families that we have met along this journey, who inspire us with their stories and their dedication to their new children

3.    Our facilitator, Angelina, for her help, humor, and encouragement

4.    Our families, who have been supportive beyond belief

5.    Our colleagues at work, who have made it possible for us to be here and completed many of our “to-dos” while we are here (twice)

6.    For EBags, who made my wonderful new suitcase that allowed me to bring nearly everything but the kitchen sink (but not for the United baggage handlers who lost my cool Hawaiian luggage tag in the process)

7.    For Lands End, who made my nice warm down coat that really is suitable for blizzard conditions (a.k.a., Ukrainian winter)

8.    For borsch, which is tasty and hearty

9.    For each other, to laugh and cry with

10.  For this wonderful opportunity that has been presented to us!

I read on another blog that it is lucky to rub the beetle on this statue outside the SDA.
We are taking NO chances this time!

Table for Two, For Just a Little While Longer

Many of you have noticed that it has been almost a week between blog posts.  While I would like to tell you that the delay in writing is due to the fact that we have been having too much fun to slow down, it is unfortunately the opposite case.  We have simply been too sad to write. 

Just five short days ago, we thought that everything was moving along according to plan.  We had spent a week with Katya having fun and being a family.  We went to the movies and a musical.  We took numerous trips to the market and tried lots of new restaurants.  We walked to several great parks, and we had a wonderful afternoon of swimming in the hotel pool.  On this last point, for those of you who have travelled to Ukraine, we must admit that we are living in the lap of luxury in Donetsk – the Donbass Palace Hotel.  The hotel is fantastic.  I can’t say enough great things about it, even though we chose it primarily for its internet connection (an essential for Stephanie due to many late night conference calls for work).

We have dozens of great photos with many beautiful smiles from Katya.  Each day she was with us, she seemed to come more out of her shell – trying new foods and learning new words in English. Unfortunately, Katya’s smiles turned to tears on Monday afternoon as she realized that the next morning we would go to court and her life would change forever.  As we were packing up last minute gifts for caretakers and friends, the reality became too difficult for her and she completely shut down.  There were no words, no eye contact, and no explanations – just silent tears.  We literally watched her retreat inside herself little by little.

We have always known that Katya was conflicted regarding adoption.  When we first hosted her in December 2009, we asked her about her interest in coming to America permanently.  We learned at that point that she loved Ukraine and felt a strong sense of obligation to stay here and ultimately care for her mother.  However, after returning to the orphanage, Katya began to express an interest in adoption, finally telling us that “yes, I want to come”.  Expressing this to her orphanage director last week was not difficult.  Writing the all-important letter attesting to her desire to join our family was also easy.  But a court, with a judge – now that is reality.

We will never know Katya’s deepest fears because she can’t yet express them.  All we know is that from the minute we showed up at the courthouse on Tuesday morning, her tears returned, and she refused to speak.  The judge was so nice.  He saw how upset she was and took a five-minute recess to let her compose herself.  But there was no turning back.  She never stopped crying.  She never said “no”, but she certainly didn’t say yes.  She simply didn’t say anything at all.  The judge granted us a two-day extension so she could think more, and we took Katya back to the orphanage.  As we were leaving, I caught the faintest glimpse of a smile – the first I had seen in many, many hours. In her mind, she really was home.

The next 48 hours were excruciating.  We tried to occupy ourselves, but our thoughts and our conversations always travelled back to Katya.  We needed to know what she was thinking and, if her answer was “no”, we needed a say a proper good-bye.  We met with her yesterday morning at the orphanage.  She didn’t even look like herself, with her hair braided up in a different style by a friend.  She rarely made eye contact with us and her hugs were perfunctory.  We asked her again if she wanted to be adopted.  Again, she couldn’t bring herself to say “no”, but her body language was definitely not a yes.  We realized that despite the tremendous love that we have for her, Katya is simply not meant to be our daughter.  We told her then that we loved her, that she would always have a special place in our hearts, and that we would always be there if she needed help.  We told her that we cherished the special memories that we had all made together, and we wanted her to remember our happy times and not the tears of today.  And then we each hugged her one last time.  Watching her walk down the long hallway back to her room was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. 

As I am writing this many hours later, I had thought the tears had finally ceased, but they haven’t.  I know in my heart that as this door closes another will open.   I know that there are so many children who need love, just as we do. I believe that our family will grow soon.  But, I guess for just a little while longer, we have to be content with our table for two. 

Hanging Out in Donetsk

The last few days have been a lot of fun.  The weather is much better – temperatures are in the low 50s, and there is a lot of blue sky.  We’ve had the chance to walk the city some more and check out the great open air market they have here.  We’ve also been lucky to get to hang out with another family from the US, so there’s a touch of home mixed in with our adventure.  That has been great for both us and Katya!  We spent Thursday afternoon visiting one of the local parks and taking lots of great photographs.  The leaves are beautiful right now, and we found a pretty rose garden too.   After days of rain, it was just nice to be out and about without umbrellas!  On Friday, we went to the notary to sign some documents for the passport application.  Each time we go, I get excited.  We are one step closer ….

On Saturday, we went to the local movie theater and saw Legends of the Guardian (the owl movie) in 3D.  It was a fantastic theater with very comfortable seats. Ticket prices were 30 hrivnas each (about $3.75), and they had popcorn, candy, and sodas for sale and some tables to just sit and talk.   Katya said the popcorn was much better in Colorado, but you couldn’t beat the whole experience here.    We saw lots of families together, many of them taking pictures.  This must be a great family treat for many of them, same as in the US.

Today, we are going to see Cinderella (the musical) at the opera house.  Ticket prices there were 20 hrivnas (about $2.50 each).  I am still floored by how cheap that is.  We’ve heard the performances are really good there.  Katya’s group at the internat went to see a ballet there last year.  She said the theater was wonderful, but she is not a fan of the ballet!  They look to have a couple of shows a day, so we might be going back.  The performances constantly change too – musicals, ballet, and operas.  Lots of culture!

One of my favorite adventures was the open air market.  You can buy just about anything there from fancy underwear to boots to oranges.   We picked up almonds, golden raisins, sunflower seeds, and, of course, candy.  The candy choices were amazing.  Katya doesn’t like chocolate, but she loves fruit-flavored hard candies.  We found some great pear-flavored ones.  We’ll try to bring some home for people to try.  We also found some candy she calls “cow confetti” – it has a cow on the wrapper.   Some sort of caramel I think.  The market also had the Ukrainian version of “Lean Cuisine” – they had verenecki pre-made that you just cook at home.  For those not familiar with this, they are dumplings filled with cheese or meats or vegetables and often served with sour cream.  VERY good!  I had some great ones with potatoes inside in Kiev and yesterday I had some stuffed with pork at the Donetsk cafeteria.  I believe my entire meal was about $2 (including a diet coke). 

For those reading this from work, I thought I would also point out that I have been busy assessing the quality of the safety program in Ukraine during our walks.  One of the pictures below shows me conducting a hazard assessment on the communication pole across from our hotel.  You may or may not be able to see the numerous candy wrappers inside the box.  Sorry – the geek in me couldn’t resist!

One of my favorite photos of Katya

Matt and Katya on te bridge looking back at central Donetsk

Our favorite notary - working on our passport application

Katya buying seeds at the open air market

Verenecki - ready to fix at home!

Beautiful fruit and nuts at this stand

Conducting a hazard assessment on the street in Donetsk

Going to Market

The last two days provided lots of time for the three of us to just hang out at our hotel, courtesy of the rain (mostly light drizzle with occasional downpours).  We went back to the internat (orphanage) on Tuesday for some additional signatures and several stamps by one of the regional officials.  Katya seemed to really enjoy being back.  She was proud to show one of her friends her new coat, and she liked showing us around the facility some more.  We took lots of photographs including one with some recent artwork by some of the kids – I wish I had taken closer images because their ability to create art from a banana pepper or a turnip is hard to beat.  One of my favorite pictures was the one of Katya with Olga, the internat director, as we were getting ready to leave.  The smiles on their faces show this is an amazing process from both of their perspectives.

Because the weather hasn’t been good enough to warrant really long walks, we spent most our outdoor time visiting the market.  There is a well-stocked, but small, grocery store about a block from our hotel.  There you can find an amazing array of juices (cherry, pineapple, red grape, white grape, apple, etc.), cheese, bread, and milk.  Katya also chose sunflower seeds (she loves them and has them in her pockets all the time), candy (no chocolate, but a little bit of almost everything else), and sparkling water.  This last one was a surprise to us.  She never seemed interested in trying our sparkling water while she was in Colorado, but here she says that she loves water with bubbles.  She even made the connection between the word “bubbles” from bubble bath and the bubbles in the water.  We were so proud of her for remembering! 

On Wednesday, we ventured out a bit further to the closest mall to buy Katya some new shoes.  Her sneakers are mesh and really designed more for summer.  They get drenched easily and there are lots of puddles.  Katya was very specific about wanting boots that were black and knee height – she is extremely selective about shoes.  She and I spent many hours last summer being frustrated with each other in shoe stores up and down the Front Range.  Luckily we found one pair of black boots that she liked in the only children’s shoe store in the mall. They may or may not be in style in the US, but for the next few weeks, she will fit right in with the fashion of Ukraine!

We were also excited to learn that our court date has been set for next Tuesday, October 26, at 11am.  We can’t wait!

Katya and Olga, the internat director

At the internat, showing off the artwork

Snack of cheese and juice from the local market

Games at the children's store in the mall - recognize the Twister

New boots so that Katya's feet will stay dry

Katya and Stephanie - all smiles at dinner

Table for Three

Today we went to the orphanage and, on our sixth day in Ukraine, finally got to see Katya again.  We had a nice visit with the orphanage director and some of the caretakers.  We showed them photos of Katya’s time with us, as well as pictures of many of you who are reading this.  While we were there, Katya also gave us a tour of the orphanage and showed us the room she shares with three other girls.  The kids at the orphanage don’t have a lot of possessions, but the people there are working very hard to take care of them.

As a part of her day, Katya had to write a letter stating that she wants to become a part of our family.  Her letter, along with the other documents we have prepared over the past several months, is submitted to the court as a part of our petition to adopt.  This all seems like a lot to ask an 11-year-old to think about, but she happily wrote her letter today.  Hopefully we will have our court date very soon.

Thankfully we will be able to spend some time with Katya while we await our court date.  To celebrate being together again the three of us had traditional Ukrainian food for dinner (borsch, zrazy, and verenecki).  As always, it was delicious!  Katya then completed her day with a well-deserved, relaxing bubble bath.

We still have a lot to accomplish in Ukraine before we can bring Katya home, but we are finally together.  Now, when we go out to celebrate our next milestones, we will need a table for three.

Cafeteria at the orphanage

Katya sitting on her bed.  She shares this room with three other girls.

Katya and her very important letter

Enjoying some bubbles after a long day

A Beautiful Day for a Wedding

October 16, 2010

We spent our first day in Donetsk getting a feel for the city by walking through most of the central area.  The weather was fantastic and fall-like, much different than the rain that is projected for nearly all of next week.  We started out meandering through one of the city parks filled with art for sale (along other assorted knick-knacks, candy, and cigarettes) and ended up crossing the bridge into lower Donetsk just in time to witness a Ukrainian wedding tradition.  The bridge railing is filled with decorative padlocks, each placed there by a couple on their wedding day to seal their bond of love.  Some of the locks are simply painted with hearts in what looks to be nail polish, while others are exquisitely engraved with flowers and the couples’ names.  We were so excited to watch an actual Ukrainian wedding party with the bride and groom adding their lock to the bridge, not realizing we would see a dozen other brides taking their wedding pictures throughout the city.  October must be a very popular wedding month here!  Each bride was beautiful, and each dress different.

We also took a long walk down Artema Street, which has lots of restaurants, stores, a movie theater, a shopping mall, and numerous parks and statues (including the biggest Lenin I have seen yet).  One of my favorite stops was the Transfiguration Cathedral, which had beautiful mosaics outside and amazing gold and silver icons inside.  The outside was adorned with several “double crosses”, which I loved because it made me think of Pastor Vickie’s children’s sermon last Sunday about seeing crosses everywhere if you just look for them.  I smile every time I see the picture we took, and it makes me think of home.

My favorite part of the day was just being together, enjoying our walk and experiencing new things.  I was so proud of us in accomplishing simple things – finding a local grocery store, buying a snack in the underground “mall”, exploring some place new for dinner, and just experiencing Donetsk.  It will be wonderful to see Katya on Monday and have her with us as we continue to explore, but our day together was also a special one.

Two questions arose at the end of the day:  “Why is the statue of Lenin so large?” and “How many notaries does one city need?” (I counted at least four just on our walk).

Putting a lock on the bridge to Central Sherbakov Park

Locks on the bridge

The largest Lenin yet (he is facing away from a McDonald's)

Transfiguration Cathedral in Donetsk

Stephanie's favorite double cross

Matt at the old Donetsk stadium

Now that's a cannon

Have Referral, Will Travel

October 15, 2010

After our SDA appointment, we were told to return at 3 pm the following day to pick up our referral.  We arrived on time and met a few other families from the U.S. that were also waiting to pick up their documents.  Talking with other people going through the same process definitely helped to pass the time while we anxiously awaited the outcome of our appointment. 

At about 4:15 a woman emerged at the top of the stairs carrying an armful of documents.  Every referral is accompanied by the approved dossier (with a Russian-language translation), so the 10-15 stacks of paper were quite a load in her arms.  We were the third family called, so thankfully our wait in the rather small area ended quickly and we had our referral to go see Katya at the orphanage in Donetsk.

Later that night, we boarded a flight from Kiev to Donetsk for the next part of our Ukrainian adventure.    The trip was uneventful, and Ukrainian International Airways got us to our destination right on time.  Unfortunately, the taxi driver initially took us to the wrong hotel, allowing us to see more of Donetsk that evening.  You could really smell the coal that night.

Our SDA Appointment

October 14, 2010

Today the official part of our journey began.  We had our meeting at the State Department for Adoption (SDA) this morning.  With the help of Victoria (our facilitator’s assistant in Kiev) and Nikita (our translator) we met with a young woman at the SDA who showed us Katya’s file.  The thing that struck us the most was the photo of Katya.  When we first met her, Katya was ten years old.  Seeing a picture of her at age 5 or 6 was exciting and probably the closest thing to a baby picture we’ll ever see.  Of course, that just means we need to take a lot more photos in the future!

We even had time for a little sightseeing (Independence Square) and a long nap (Stephanie), followed by another excellent Ukrainian dinner.  The borsch was fantastic, and the Soviet-era memorabilia was pretty interesting too.

Nikita and Victoria outside the SDA

Independence Square

Soviet-themed restaurant with great borsch

Tourists for a Day in Kiev

October 13, 2010

We arrived in Kiev late Tuesday night to give ourselves time to get settled and make sure we didn’t miss our Thursday morning appointment.  After sitting in airplanes and airports for a day, we decided to make the most of our visit and see a few of the sites.  Kiev is a fascinating city with structures and landmarks that date back more than 1,500 years.  One of the more remarkable sites is St. Sofia.  The church and nearby Golden Gate (a defensive structure) are from approximately 1050, and many of the original walls are exposed to show the old construction, as well as the changes that brought them to the current day.

We also went through St. Michael’s monastery to see the golden domes on the blue buildings.  We were fortunate enough to have a bright, sunny day with the sun reflecting off of the domes.  Katya has probably never seen any of this, so hopefully we will get a chance to visit some of these sites again we come back to the city at the end of our journey.

We ended the day by having dinner with our friends Kris and Julia.  Kris and her family live just up the road in Berthoud, CO while Julia lives in Kiev and has visited Colorado several times as to help with Ukraine Orphan Outreach’s camps. Kris is in Ukraine visiting campers from four previous UOO camps.  It will be so great to hear how all of the kids are doing and see recent photos of them all. It was a coincidence that we and Kris were in Kiev on the same day, and a treat to have dinner with the two of them in Ukraine.  Sometimes the world is a very small place.

Golden Domes of St. Michael's Monastery

Shopping on Andriyivsky Uzviz

Bells of St. Sofia's Cathedral

Matt at the Golden Gate

Dinner with Georgiy, Julia, and Kris