SDA appointment and other happenings.

MONDAY...Yesterday we met up with the Adamson family from South Dakota. Last year when they adopted from Ukraine they met someone who has become a friend so he drove us to a great restaruant and had some amazing Borchst soup and an awesome Greek Salad. Portion sizes are much different than America. Much smaller. Maybe that would explain why the vast majority of people here are very, very thin. We always think that Josh is so super skinny but he would fit right in here in Kiev. We see many men wear capris and many carry man purses. The women are simply georgeous. I've never seem so many good looking people in one area before, however, some of these women could choose to wear more clothes or thicker clothes as many don't seem to mind if what they wear is see through. Oh and their shoes...the higher the heal the better. Many side walks are cobblestone-like but that doesn't stop these women from wearing spiked heals.

Back to our yesterday...Adamson's friend solved our cell phone trouble and had us buy a new one here for $30 which allows us to call to US for around .20 per minute. What a blessing. Today they picked up their 2 referrals and planned on taking the night train to their kiddos orphanage city which will be about a 12-14 hours. Please pray for their safety and that they get a court day fast too as they have 6 bio kiddos and 1 adopted one back at home. One is an 8 month old nursing baby. We have so much in common, Traci Adamson and I. It was so nice getting to know them.

TUESDAY...After another horribly HOT night with very little sleep we had our SDA appointment at 9:00am. Our driver, Niko, picked us up at 8:30am. We met Serge who I think is a lawyer. We waited outside the SDA door until it opened at 9. We were the first appointment and another couple from Maryland doing a blind referral were after us. Serge told us to wait in the stairway/hallway or outside until we are called. We were called right at 9...walked up the stairs...led into a back room...told to sit on the couch...and wait. The case manager and Serge talked and talked and were looking through our translated papers. Knowing Ukrainian language would sure have been helpful. There seemed to be trouble. We asked what was wrong and he said there seems to be a document missing. The case worker called someone on the phone and talked some more Ukrainian between the person on the phone and Serge. It all turned out ok...THANK YOU GOD! We were shown 2 older pictures of Isaiah who didn't really look like him but the birthday was the same and his first name, Ilya. We were expecting to be asked a couple questions like most adoptive families like...why do we want to adopt a child with Ds and asking us about our family....but NOTHING. Not one single question. I took 2 recent pictures of Isaiah out of my bag and put them on the table. They took one and gave us one of his older ones. Tomorrow we are suppposed to be getting the second one...it was glued on the paper and they were going to try to get it off without ruining it. I pray it works b/c it was a baby picture of him. Before we knew it, maybe 5 minutes after we sat down, Serge told us we were done and to tell "her" thank you. We walked out the door and down the stairs and back outside. We wished the family luck and headed back to Niko's car. Yulia did not make it. She is our facilitator here in Kiev. Niko told us to walk around and get some coffee. People are a little different here. He seems "pushy" and so Darrell got a coffee...a cup maybe the size of a doubled dixie cup...VERY strong and HOT...just what we needed in this HEAT wave. Most of it found its way in the garage. We bought soccer shirts for Austin and Noah and a Ukrainian flag for Isaiah at the sidewalk shops by the SDA. Darrell did the "bargaining". He had some practice from his mission trip to Guatemala last year. After about 20 minutes I told Darrell we better go talk to Niko as I wasn't sure if a clock was ticking and that we were maybe paying for this time. We wanted to leave right away but he told us to walk around. He then told us we are waiting for another couple. Turned out to be the Maryland couple. Niko took us all and dropped us off at our apartments. We exchanged numbers and met up with them for supper. We found out that they are one of the 65 families waiting to bring their children home from orphanages in Kyrgyzstan. I recently unsubscribed to the Kyrgyzstan adoption support group. After things didn't work out for Isaiah in Nov. 2008 we took steps to Aaron in this country. We knew their doors were closed but told they would probably open in early 2009. It never happened and I made myself take Aaron's pic off my desktop. He had always been in my prayers hoping a family in country adopted him. Well, this family told us that they were told the country might open the doors to the 65 waiting families by the end of the year. I was SOOOOO happy to hear this and I couldn't believe I met one of them. Too strange.

We so much wanted to walk around the city and site see but the weather makes it unbearable. I thought I was having a heat stroke this morning. I think I was also dehyrated. We finally gave in to trying to tough it out at the "hot box" and paid a little extra money to move into the hotel right next door. Oh how we wish we did that the first day.

After we got settled in our hotel we crashed for a couple hours and then met up with the Maryland couple for supper. We went to a Ukrainian buffet...very good. I had Borchst again. I thought borchst was a German word and maybe it is but that is what they call vegetable soup. So YUMMY. I'm usually good at picking apart a new soup and recreating it at home so I hope I can accomplish that.

After our long supper/chat we walked around a bit and headed back to our hotels. We got lost but we all felt safe as it was still light out and we were all together. It was a good workout...up and down hills.

Plan for tomorrow is to check out of hotel at noon...probably wait in the lobby until 3:30pm when we will get picked up by Niko and taked back to SDA building to pick up the referral papers which gives us permission to go to Isaiah's orhanage and visit him. We were debating on taking the night train which costs $100 for a 12 hour, NON-air conditioned ride OR $200 for Niko to drive us 5 to 6 hours in a car with NO seatbelts. YES!....NO seatbelts. People drive CRAZY here. We almost got wiped out the 1st day crossing the steet. A FAST car came out of no where and he/she would have taken us out. They did NOT slow down at all. So I'm asking Jesus and my guardian angel and any other guardian angels that are bored to sit ride beside me on this long drive. We will be staying at an apartment that Alisha and Michelle arranged for us. THANKS girls!!!!

Some things I miss from back home...wash cloths, kleenex, Reverse Osmosis water, air conditioning, seat belts, and my kiddos, especially Joey. Skype is getting harder and harder. Joey does not want to "talk" anymore and it is breaking my heart. I had to step to the side and bawl tonight. I don't cry easy but I can't control myself when I think of how confused and broken hearted Joey must be. I know this is all for the good and will be so worth it. It has only been 4 days without Joey and it's harder than I thought being so early in the trip. I so badly want his kisses and hugs. Catie said he seems to be doing fine.

Oh and today we also chatted with the Wisconsin family for about an hour when we got to our hotel. They've been staying here too. Having contact to all these USA families makes us forget we are thousands of miles away.

I will try to post a few pics tomorrow.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers and messages. Makes us feel not so far away.

If all goes well we should be meeting the newest Becker boy on Thursday! Does not seem real.