We're finally in Kiev!

Well, this is interesting...I am at an internet cafe, using a computer that is all in Russian, so if you see any typo's, please forgive me.  (I never realized how much those typing classes would come in handy...thank G-d I know the keyboard layout.)

Ok...so we finally arrived in Kiev yesterday afternoon at 4:30pm, local time (Kiev is 8 hours ahead of Houston). I am glad that we were wise enough to pay for the VIP service offered by our travel agent.  The VIP package consists of a person meeting you at the airport, assisting you through Immigration & Customs.  Let me just say...WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!  Our VIP guy, Alex, met us at Immigration, took our passports from us, told us to go wait for our luggage & he would be back for us (I must admit it was quite scary to be giving our passports to a complete stranger).  A few minutes later, he brought our passports back to us, already stamped, and this was before our 1st piece of luggage actually appeared.  Now, why was this worth it you ask?  Because there were at least 200 people in line at the Immigration spot.  Also, we didn't even go through Customs at all.  Our facilitator was waiting for us at the checkpoint (they are not allowed in the baggage claim area).  Then, we felt better.  So, we were off to the center of Kiev with our facilitator & the driver he had hired to take us there.  Let me just say that we are definitely lucky to be alive today.  Take every American road rule & throw it out the window here.  No rules apply.  People drive 60 mph in the city & maybe 90 on the highway.  Did I mention that the van we were in had no seatbelts?  Very scary.

When we made it to our hotel/apartment, we were very pleasantly surprised.  They had to upgrade our room because the one we had reserved did not have hot water.  We had a 2 room suite.  It was very nice.  We actually ran into a few Americans there also.

Today, we decided to stroll out into the city to do some sightseeing since we have a free day today.  Wow!  I am very proud of us.  We can't speak or read their language, so at least I can say that we haven't gotten lost.  The city is quite beautiful.  Very old!  They have an underground mall that we haven't toured yet, but will probably do a little later.  I've been trying to find an internet cafe for the past hour.

So, tomorrow we have our appointment with the SDA office & they will give us our papers to travel to Kd, where K's orphanage is.  She & her director, S, are driving up tomorrow to meet us and take us back.  She will stay with us through the weekend & will have to return to the orphanage on Sunday night so she can go to school on Monday.  Apparently, she has to continue this until she becomes ours.

Our facilitator did say that we may be able to get a court date as soon as next week.  We are hoping so.  Pray for us!

Well, gotta run so I can check email.

Until Friday.

Our Time in Amsterdam

Well, we arrived in Amsterdam yesterday morning at 7:00am. Of course, we only cat-napped on the plane, so we were very tired, but also very determined to stay awake as long as we could to adjust to this new time zone (Amsterdam is 7 hours ahead of Houston). We were very proud of ourselves...we stayed awake until 5:00pm (this means that we were awake for about 30 hours). 

We took the train from the airport into the city center & walked around Amsterdam looking at all the amazing architecture, among a sea of people.  It really is beautiful!  The weather was quite nice, about 65 degrees...perfect for walking. Although, you really must be careful of bike riders & cars here.  They only stop for you if they absolutely have to & that generally means they are slamming on brakes at the last minute. Did I mention that they drive really fast?  So, that's pretty interesting...

Well, I only have a few minutes left on my "internet time", so I must close for now.  Will write more later.

Tomorrow we Fly!

Well, we'll be hoping on a flight in 24 hours, heading to Amsterdam for a couple of days, then on to Ukraine.  Today, we're trying to get everything together & figuring out where everything is going to go in our luggage (fun times, indeed)!

We're waiting on K to call us, as this will be the last time we talk to her on Skype before we arrive in Kiev next week.  Actually, with any luck, this will be the last time we ever have to talk to her on Skype, at least from thousands of miles away.  We are getting pretty nervous now, but not about actually getting her, but more about the things standing between us & our court decree.  Truth be told, we are actually more nervous about leaving our pets for a month (my fellow animal-lovers will understand this).

Well, that's all for now.  We'll see you on the flip-side!

The Final Countdown

It was a pleasant surprise to get a call from K this morning at 8:15 (4:15pm Ukraine time)...she misses us (thank G-d)!  We only got to talk for about 30 minutes because it was dinner time and she had kitchen duty, but she wanted to call us as soon as she arrived home from school!

So, we leave in 5 days...so much to do, so little time.  Of course, R is working every day until we leave, so I'm in charge of getting things ready for our trip.  Thankfully, we are blessed to have such amazing friends who have gone through this process and have given us much advice and guidance, as well as "stuff" to take along with us to make our trip easier.  And then, of course, we also have our neighbors who support us in ways we never imagined & we really feel that our community is part of our family.  And I certainly cannot leave out our family, because they are wonderfully supportive as well.  It's amazing how a child can bring people together!

Well, that's about all I wanted to say this morning.  It'll be a busy week, but keep checking back with us...you never know what we'll be posting!