Road Trip

We arrived in Omaha at 2:00 am, Monday, February 4. The next couple of days consisted of shopping and introducing the kids to their brother Geoff, Gail's mom and some people that Gail and Steve work with. Thursday, after Steve got off work, we piled into the van and drove three hours to Cozad, NE to introduce them to their other Grandma, Steve's mom, Gen. After lunch Friday, it was back into the van for a six hour drive to Alva, OK to see their niece MaKenzie (age 6), take part in the Miss Northwestern Pageant in a dance routine and as an escort for one of the contestants. They also met big sisters Amy and Alysson and nephews Weston (age 3) and Wyatt (age 1) and brothers-in -law Corey and Matt. Another three hours of driving to Woodward, OK and back to Alva to see Corey, Amy and MaKenzie's home came on Saturday.

I am posting this from the motel in Alva, OK as we are getting ready to go to church with Matt, Alysson, Weston and Wyatt. After church, we will have lunch and make the six and one half hour drive back to Omaha. The kids haven't even been in the US for a week, and they have been in four states, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. They go to school tomorrow for some placement testing and then start on Tuesday. I think that they are ready, but a little nervous. Masha said that she is ready to meet new friends.

I will post some photos of this road trip when we get back to Omaha.

The Day That Never Ends

As Michelle says, the trip back to Omaha is the day that never ends. We definitely know what she means. We woke up Sunday morning in Keiv at 3:30 am (that would be 7:30 pm Saturday evening Central Time) so we would be ready for the driver to pick us up at 4:30 am. We got to the airport and got in the passport control line. Of course, it was the slowest one. When we finally got to the front, it only took a few minutes. Our flight to Munich left at 6:50 am and arrived at 8:40 am (Munich time) and the flight to Chicago left at (9:00 am). When we got into the terminal a man was waiting with a sign that said Chicago and our flight number. There were seven passengers connecting to that flight and he walked us to the gate, which was at the other end of the terminal. He walked at a very fast pace. I kept up fairly well as we strung out behind him. Gail and the girls were practically running. We went through the passport control for first class and he escorted us to our gate. We boarded and took off within a few minutes. After a nine and one-half hour flight, we arrived in Chicago an about noon. We had been told to go to the US citizens line at immigration, so we went there, only to have the immigration employee direvting traffic tell us in less than perfect English that we should go to the "black line" for immigrants. I think he saw the immigrant visa holder forms that we filled out for the kids, which the agent at the blue line said we didn't need. I told him that we were told to go to the "blue" line. He replied, " I told you go to black line." So we did and the lady there sent us back to the "blue" line. After a couple of minutes we had been checked through and went to collect our luggage to go to customs. We gave the agent our packet with the customs declaration and the sealed packets for the kids that the US Embassy had given us. After a few minutes, he asked if we had any additional passport type photos of the kids. The Embassy or the medical clinic had glued one set of to one of the forms. He was to move the photo to a different form. Gail remembered putting them in a suitcase that morning. After about 10 minutes of searching, Yulia found it in my camera bag. Then we took all the bags through customs and re-checked to Omaha. Our Omaha flight was scheduled to leave at 8:15 pm. So the eight hour wait began, nearly as long as the flight from Munich. About 5:00 pm the ominous "Delayed" went up on the board. Isn't it strange that they never say it why it is delayed. At 7:00 pm, it began to snow. The prospect of spending the night in Chicago, after being up for 24 hours, was not attractive. The departure time changet to 9:30, but the plane hadn't arrived from Providence, RI. Several more schedule changes and the plane arrived. We boarded at 10:00 amid rumors that the snow may get worse and flights stop departing. Once on board we had to wait for de-icing. They let planes that were traveling to airports with curfews depart first, so we waited. The kids were sleeping the entire time and we were napping off and on. We finally left at 12:30 am and arrived in Omaha at 2:00 am Monday about 32.5 hours after we got up. There were 18 people waiting to greet us, from church and other adoptive families. That was really special and the kids were thrilled to see friends from Odessa.

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I still haven't gone to bed. It is 6:55 am. I am going to take a shower and go to work, so that I can take-off in the afternoon, if the the kids ever wake up today. So two months after we left Omaha, we end this part of the journey and the next great adventure begins. Thank you all for your prayers. Stay tuned.

Arrival Time

We have our flights confirmed to arrive in Omaha Sunday night at 9:51 pm on United flight 343 from Chicago. Not much to tell. It will be good to be home. Thanks for all the prayers. Don't stop!

We Have Visas

We picked up the visas this morning. It only took about 45 minutes. We are now finalizing the airline arrangements for Sunday. Will post again when they are final It was a beautiful day in Kiev. Probably about 40 degrees and sunshine.

Busy Day

We left Odessa at 6:00 pm Wednesday evening. We were scheduled to leave at 5:30, but the tearful goodbyes took a little longer than planned. Masha’s aunt and Yulia’s boyfriend and friends Vera and Vova were all there. It was good to have that many hands to get all the luggage to the van in one trip. Speaking of the van. It was our own private matchutka (sp?). For those of you who haven’t visited Ukraine, those are the little busses that will take you anywhere in Odessa for the equivalent of 25 cents. On January 24, the fare increased to 35 cents. This was a new Mercedes vehicle with about 20 seats. A row of two seats on one side of the aisle and a row of single seats on the other side. And I could stand up in it without bending over. About an hour out of Odessa the driver stopped at a roadside market. We bought some kind of large chicken wraps to eat and something to drink for five of us for under $20. The kids needed a restroom break, so the driver handed them one of those flashlights that you squeeze the handle a few times to store up power for the light. They headed off into the dark behind the market. I could just make out the outline of a small white building in the dark and fog. When the journey resumed, the driver let the kids pick from some videos and he put it on the 19 inch TV mounted from the ceiling. We reclined the seats and watched Russian Comedy Club segments. I guess that they were pretty funny. Then we watched a movie that ended just as we got to Kiev. The weather was fairly cold and we drove in mist and fog for some of the way. The road was often wet but didn’t to be icy. We arrived in Kiev at about 11:30 pm and after a few phone calls to the apartment manager, we found the place and a guy came to let us in. Tami, you think your tunnel and courtyard were dark. We drove through the tunnel which was barely wider than the van into a courtyard. Then we walked another 100 feet or so through another curved tunnel with no lights into another courtyard. Then up three floors (six flights of steps) to the apartment with suitcases for five people and two months worth of stuff. I went to update the blog, but the internet connection wanted a password and ID. We were all tired, so we settled in and went to bed.
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Our driver, Alexi, picked us up at about 9:30 am and took us to the Embassy. We filled out three different forms (three sets of each) and, after a few questions about what to fill in where, the forms were complete and the kids had all been fingerprinted. We met a couple from Utah who were adopting a girl of about 10 or 11. They said that they had been in Ukraine for 22 days. I can’t even remember back to when we had been here for 22 days. I think today is 56 or 57. We headed off to get the medical exams. It was 11:30 am and Alexi said that they stopped drawing blood for the blood tests at noon. It wasn’t far, but it took about 35 minutes to get there. The traffic was terrible and nearly motionless. I know that at one point it took 20 minutes to go a half a mile. Alexi called the lab and they were waiting for the kids when we got there and took the blood samples right away. After x-rays, seeing the doctor, lunch in the lunchroom, several rounds of waiting, one shot for Masha and two for Igor, everything finished at about 3:00 pm. Since results are typically given out after 3:00, we waited about 20 minutes more and left with the results.
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We needed groceries. Alexi had pointed out a store three or four blocks from the apartment. Masha, Igor and I made the food run, but when we got there the store was closed, as in out of business. I sure am glad that the kids asked to go with me, because Masha must have asked six different people where a grocery store was. After forays into a couple of shops with only pop, juice and candy, we finally found a store under a large shopping plaza. Not wanting to go back soon, we purchased five bags of items and a large six liter bottle of water. Then it was back to the apartment. I think the walk back was close to a mile. The bags were getting pretty heavy by the time we got back. And these were the kids who had shots in their arms earlier in the afternoon. The dinner of spaghetti, Masha’s vegetable salad, corn and bread was delicious. Then it was an evening of doing laundry, watching a soccer game on TV and relaxing. Did I mention that the hot water stopped this afternoon? It’s midnight and still only cold. A guy did come and get the internet going at about 11:00 pm. We are to limit the usage, because I guess that they pay by the amount of bandwidth used. After having unlimited internet at home and at Odessa Executive Suites, we are a little spoiled. I am typing this in Word and will paste it into the blog. Well I better close and get some sleep. Today is our grandson, Wyatt’s first birthday. We were supposed to be in Oklahoma on Saturday for the party. Gail has the alarm set for 2:45 am so she can talk to him on Skype.
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We have an appointment at the Embassy tomorrow at 10:00 am. If there were no problems with the fingerprint check, I think that we should have the visas tomorrow. Then fly home on Sunday. We wanted Saturday, but the last time we checked it would cost an additional $900.
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This week has been an emotional rollercoaster for the kids. Being biological siblings, Masha and Igor have each other. Yulia fits in well, but at times I think that she feels quite alone. And having to leave your best friend and your boy friend, doesn’t make it any easier. Keep the kids and their adjustment in your prayers.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have the passport. We have a van picking us up at 5:30pm (45 minutes from now) to take us to Kiev. We have a driver to take us to the Embassy tomorrow morning. The Embassy has scanned copies of the kids passports and has already entered them into the system. We might actually be on that plane Sunday morning.

Still Waiting...

Well the passport has been located. It is with Tami's in the wrong city. Apparently a group of them were sent there in error. They will probably arrive in Odessa tomorrow (Thursday). It would seem that since there are at least several in the wrong place, that they could just drive them to Odessa. But that is logical, so there is virtually no chance of that. Indications are that they will be sent back to Kiev to be sent out again. I guess that they want to see where the mail clerk will send them next.

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The Embassy received the passport scans for Igor and Masha and the information for Yulia and already have them entered into the system. We had the ID photos taken this morning and Dima, from Oleg's adoption team will have the police reports for the Embassy later today. So, the visa processing has begun without us. Maybe we will just have them meet us at the airport with the visas on the way home. I don't think that it will be that fast, but they are doing everything possible to try to get us finished by Friday. I thought about trying to get ink and paper and fingerprinting the kids myself and sending an scan of them to the embassy, so that they can start that also. I think that I will scan and email Yulia's passport as soon as I get it, before we start the five hour trip to Kiev. They can start processing it sooner that way.

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Well, I guess I better make a grocery run. We are only buying enough for the next one or two meals at a time. Everything is packed. We just dig out what we need, when we need it. Literally living out of a suitcase.

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Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter. You never can tell what the next twist or turn will be.