Rachelle and I have been up since around 5:00 am, yes she has been up since then. We might have had too much rest and plus the anticipation of the SDA appointment is definitely on both of our minds. It was really nice to be able to just lay in bed and talk about this and that. I am confident that this trip is doing just as much for us and our marriage as it is doing for our new son. God is using this time to bring us closer together and closer to Him so that we can be the parents to ALL of our Boys that He wants us to be.
Sasha came by and picked us up a little after 9:00 am this morning. He and I seem to get along quite well. Hopefully this will continue. When we arrived to the Building where our SDA appointment was to be held, we quickly noticed that it was right next door to one of the buildings that we wanted to visit. St. Andrew's Cathedral. The Gold Accents on the columns with all of the other architectural features was really neat.
As we walked in to the Building, there was already another couple waiting in line. I guess that since we were in the hallway talking to Sasha, they noticed that we were speaking English. So the gentleman asked me where we were from and found out that they were from Kansas City and that they had family that lived in Edmond, pretty small world. We were called up before they were, I wished them Good Luck and they did the same to us.
We walked into a cramp office area then back to another office where we meet Maria, or atleast that is what we will call her. She asked us a few questions like what were our names, what do we do for a living and why do we want to adopt. After I answered the questions, she started looking for his file.
His profile was not in the first binder, it was in the second. She, with Sasha's translation, told us a description of his background. His father was born in 1964 and mother in 1973. He has an older sister who was born in 1991. Apparently the parents tried taking care of him for close to a year, however at some point it was decided to remove him from their care, and thus forfeiting their parental rights.
Maria told us some of the medical issues that were present during birth. Typical items like a heart murmur, and slightly undeveloped joints. However we believe that God has healed those items that were present at birth and that he no longer has those conditions! Throughout this process we were able to see pictures of him from one year old to four years old. He appears to be tall and skinny, taking after his soon to be Daddy (Mickey); at least on the tall side of things.
We had to sign that we were present at the SDA and then it was time for Maria to call the Orphanage to obtain an Approval Letter from them so we can go. Things were a little tense between Maria and Sasha when trying to connect to the Orphanage. I am not sure if the Orphanage was not answering the phone when Maria tried calling or what. Sasha picked up his cell phone and made a couple of calls. He finally was able to connector with someone and then he handed his cell phone to her for her to finish the conversation. I guess he could tell that this back and forth started to concern me a little bit, so he leaned over an said that it was all good. She got off the phone, smiled and then Sasha translated that we need to be back tomorrow (Tuesday) after 4:00 pm for us to receive our Approval Letter!!! Praise God!!! Another Step Closer!!!
Sasha took us back to the apartment where Rachelle and I briefly celebrated and then changed out of our nice clothes into a more casual attire and ventured out on the streets of Kiev. We walked to a Pizzeria just around the corner that Sasha recommended and enjoyed lunch. As we were eating, the music would switch from Ukrainian music to some American classics from Elvis and Jimi Hendrix. The server seemed to be very shy, especially after she found out that we were Americans. The pizza was great and it was a great experience. While we were sitting there, the Owner of the Pizzeria walked around the corner to check on things, however I think that she was being curious checking out the Americans that were eating at her restaurant.
After lunch we walked back down to the area where our SDA appointment was just a few hours earlier. Initially we got turned around, however we were able to find our way down there. Rachelle saw a Bakery that she wanted to go in, so we did and purchased a couple of items. As we were walking down the hill to approaching our destination, there were many souvenir shops lining both sides of the street. After some brief window shopping, I noticed that Sasha was back down there talking to one of his acquaintances. He shot us a puzzled look and asked if we wanted him to take us back to the apartment. We declined that we needed to walk off lunch. As we were talking to him, I noticed the couple from Kansas City standing at the steps of St. Andrew's. We walked over there and talked to them striking up a conversation.
It was clear to see that their day hasn't been as pleasant as ours had been. They told us that they had come to adopt a girl. Unfortunately they were not able to adopt the little girl that they had hosted a couple of times over the summer. During their paperwork process they received an email telling them that the little girl had been adopted by an Italian family. Still feeling lead to complete their adoption process, they had picked out another girl this morning and were waiting on their Adoption Administrator, similar what Sasha is to us. They asked us about our situation. During the conversation we found out that he is part ownership to a family owned construction company. They also have five boys and were ready for a daughter, they were done trying for one. Their Adoption Administrator walked up, we wished them the best.
We walked back to the apartment, Rachelle still window shopping. We were planning on stopping at a Market, however where we thought one was, turned out to be a restaurant. We continued on the apartment were we decided that we needed to take a nap since both of us could not keep our eyes open sitting on the couch.
I woke up from our nap with a HUGE headache. My jaw and ear were not hurting near as much as they had been, but were still uncomfortable. We got up and out and tried to find the Market again. Funny thing, it was the same area we had looked earlier, just located at a different entrance. Nice! Anyway, they did not have any Ibuprofen so out the door we went. I called Sasha on the cell phone and asked him were we could find a store that would sell some. He asked me if I wanted him to come pick us up to take us there. I told him that if there was one close, to just give me the directions and we would try to find it. He was able to give me perfect directions and we found a 24 hour Pharmacy that sold Ibuprom.
Just down the street from the Pharmacy was a Coffee Shop that was very similar to Starbucks, so we sat down and had a drink and enjoyed some of their free Wireless. As we were sitting there, Rachelle was able to work a little and I sat there watching people. After 30 minutes or so, it became apparent that something was wrong down the street because the people in the street would keep looking up. Sure enough, there was smoke coming out of a four story apartment halfway up the block from where we were. The Firefighters showed up, and appeared very unorganized. Not a judgement, just an appearance. People were still driving down the street as they tried to get the trucks set up. The water connection for the mobile Fire Hydrant was actually below a manhole, interesting. They fiddled with it and then ran hoses to the pump truck. All of this time, the Ladder Truck finally arrived. People, including myself lined the street watching this play out and many of us were taking pictures. Yes I took pictures as well, I know Typical Tourist, Right? I never saw any flames, however I know that usually where there is smoke, there is fire.
I went back into the coffee shop and Rachelle and I each ordered a croissant sandwich, and it was GOOOD! We sat there and ate and just enjoyed the time. We walked back to the apartment in the rain, which was nice. I turned on the TV for the first time and we watched Extreme Makeover, Home Edition with Ukrainian voice over. We were still able to understand the gist of what they were saying.
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