Saturday, September 27, 2008
Stressful Saturday - 9/27
We are having a very stressful afternoon and evening in attempting to change our flight home. One of the local inspectors in Simferopol who needs to sign off on some of our paperwork is on vacation. Our court date is slated for 10/17 or so and we feel there's no real need for us to remain in the country for the next 2.5 weeks so we've decided to come home during this time. Our current tickets won't allow us to depart until 10/6, our date we originally planned to come home. We attempted to change them today without any success since there aren't any seats available until 10/14 unless we just keep our original flight of 10/6. So, we've been making calls, using the internet, going to the train station and airport and local travel agent. We have a tentative flight that we're likely going to book for Tuesday, 9/30 tomorrow when the travel agency opens again. Whew . . . what a day!!
In Yalta-9/25
Today our driver and translator took us to Yalta. It needed to be confirmed that Cole's younger (earlier I had mistakingling written that it was older) brother was indeed adopted by a Ukrainian couple. Alla took care of all the details at the orphanage in Yalta and then we took most of the day for sight seeing. We visited a beautiful 100+ year old Russian Orthodox cathederal, played in and collected neat stones from the Black Sea which is a beautiful resort area, went to a fun and interesting zoo where we could actually feed most of the animals and purchased some souveniers. It was a great day with lots of fresh air and a change of scenery.
Our trip has not been as challenging as we had anticipated and we are so thankful for this. We have felt at times that it has been emotionally taxing with lots to take in and process. We have seen the Lord work in incredible ways and we are so grateful to Him. He has truly been our compass.
We feel that our time here has gone so fast, but also that we've experienced so much during that time. Surprisingly today when Steve asked the girls if they miss home, they each said 'a little'. It's so good they're not feeling homesick. A few days ago, we both were talking about how we felt a little homesick. We have a new appreciation for life at home.
Alla continues to be a tremendous help to us. It is amazing how she's on the detail. She's a clear direct communicator and we so appreciate that. We have developed a good relationship with her and she and our girls get along great.
Our trip has not been as challenging as we had anticipated and we are so thankful for this. We have felt at times that it has been emotionally taxing with lots to take in and process. We have seen the Lord work in incredible ways and we are so grateful to Him. He has truly been our compass.
We feel that our time here has gone so fast, but also that we've experienced so much during that time. Surprisingly today when Steve asked the girls if they miss home, they each said 'a little'. It's so good they're not feeling homesick. A few days ago, we both were talking about how we felt a little homesick. We have a new appreciation for life at home.
Alla continues to be a tremendous help to us. It is amazing how she's on the detail. She's a clear direct communicator and we so appreciate that. We have developed a good relationship with her and she and our girls get along great.
In Simferopol-9/24
Well, we hoped to have posted prior to this, but have had limited internet access. We've had a good experience in Simferopol visiting the orphanage and spending time with the little boy we've come to meet. The orphanage is well run and organized; and the director, doctor and teacher who we have had a decent amount of interaction with seem knowledgable, caring and very involved. Each day in Simferopol has included either one or two visits to the orphanage to play. This has given our family a good time of interaction with this dear boy getting to know him and vice versa.
On Monday, we flew Dr. Yuri here to assess/examine him. This doctor has the ability to quickly develop a good rapport with the children he works with (the gift of candy at the beginning of his assessment doesn't hurt!). Dr. Yuri spent about and hour with him evaluating his development in many different ways and we were able to observe, which was helpful for us to see. While our translator played with our girls, Dr. Yuri spent a good bit of time providing his conclusions to us. His conclusions were filled with wisdom and hope, were candid and extremely helpful. We clearly felt the Lord speaking to us through things Dr. Yuri presented to us. One thing he said to us in his heavy Russian accent was 'you'll have work ahead of you, but I believe your work will be rewarded'. This comment was so very meaningful to us because this is one of the main reasons we felt lead to adopt and specifically a child from an orphanage, that we might with God's help bring hope to someone that otherwise might not have it.
So . . . after time spent together, prayer and discussion we decided late Monday night/early Tuesday that we would adopt Viktor whom we will call Coleman Viktor Eberly. We told the director of the orphanage today of our intentions to adopt him. We are so excited that he will become part of our family! Of course, not before another round of paperwork, but he is worth all of that! And he's already become a part of our family in our hearts. We can't count how many times the girls either asked if we could adopt him or said they wanted to adopt him. The orphanage director too was happy that we were adopting him and said how she thought Madison and Mallory would be a big help to Cole. We know that we too will learn many things through him.
Cole has been described by those in authority at the orphanage as kind and not aggressive on various occasions to us. He is extremely smiley - his smile is beautiful. He is so cute and playful. We've found that when we're using the correct Russian words/phrases with him, he usually responds to our directives which is encouraging. It was a new experience for him to drink water from a water bottle and when we walked him back to his group, we were filled with joy to see him share his water with what seemed like as many friends as he could find to share it with before it ran out. It showed us another glimpse of his heart as we're getting to know him. We'd like to post pictures, but cannot do so until later in the process.
Madison and Mallory have been amazing on this trip! We have had continued confirmation that it was the best decision to bring them with us. They've done a great job at adjusting to a foreign country and are enjoying the trip. We've been able to spend a lot of quality time together as a family and move together into being a family of five. As we wanted, we believe their world perspective is broadening in ways that our words could have never impacted them. I think they'd even say the same thing that we've been busier than we had anticipated on this trip.
We're now in our third apartment since arriving in Kiev and we believe this will be our last 'home' on this side of the trip. This apartment is small, just what we need and looks as if it was recently remodeled. We originally were told that we wouldn't have a washer, but we have one which is such a bonus! Doing laundry here has certainly been an event! We have a photo of Kelly hanging laundry out of our 9th story apartment which we'd like to post along with many others when we get a chance to do so. Our translator today talked with the manager at the internet cafe because we wanted to know if we could download our photos to our laptop and then just transfer what we needed from the laptop to our blog at the cafe. He'll hopefully be able to help us do that. We don't want to download all of our personal photos onto some publically used computer and since we don't have internet in our apartment, we must take care of such business at the cafe.
Here are some things we think are interesting or humorous in this part of the world:
- you must pay for the number of plastic bags you need at the grocery store;
- the lovely elderly lady and her doctor's office like scale strategically placed on the sidewalk for anyone that just might want to know his/her current weight - what an entreprenural;
- lots of great history - one example, it has been so interesting to talk with our translator who lived under the former Soviet Union regime and hear her perspective on the pros and cons;
- many, many wild dogs (not necessarily dangerous) and cats roaming all over;
- lots of high heals;
- lots of dirt;
- people who are helpful when you need it;
- various interesting ways to go to the bathroom;
- hot and cold faucets are switched around from the US-Kelly hung tough as she took her first Ukrainian shower in completely cold water;
- as our translator Alla says, kids must be healthy, clean and full as she strongly urges our girls to take one more bite or spoonful and then another bite . . . ;
- the ease with which you can lose electricity in your apartment;
- locks all over, locks everywhere it seems like (there are two doors at our apt. entrance with locks on both of them.
On Monday, we flew Dr. Yuri here to assess/examine him. This doctor has the ability to quickly develop a good rapport with the children he works with (the gift of candy at the beginning of his assessment doesn't hurt!). Dr. Yuri spent about and hour with him evaluating his development in many different ways and we were able to observe, which was helpful for us to see. While our translator played with our girls, Dr. Yuri spent a good bit of time providing his conclusions to us. His conclusions were filled with wisdom and hope, were candid and extremely helpful. We clearly felt the Lord speaking to us through things Dr. Yuri presented to us. One thing he said to us in his heavy Russian accent was 'you'll have work ahead of you, but I believe your work will be rewarded'. This comment was so very meaningful to us because this is one of the main reasons we felt lead to adopt and specifically a child from an orphanage, that we might with God's help bring hope to someone that otherwise might not have it.
So . . . after time spent together, prayer and discussion we decided late Monday night/early Tuesday that we would adopt Viktor whom we will call Coleman Viktor Eberly. We told the director of the orphanage today of our intentions to adopt him. We are so excited that he will become part of our family! Of course, not before another round of paperwork, but he is worth all of that! And he's already become a part of our family in our hearts. We can't count how many times the girls either asked if we could adopt him or said they wanted to adopt him. The orphanage director too was happy that we were adopting him and said how she thought Madison and Mallory would be a big help to Cole. We know that we too will learn many things through him.
Cole has been described by those in authority at the orphanage as kind and not aggressive on various occasions to us. He is extremely smiley - his smile is beautiful. He is so cute and playful. We've found that when we're using the correct Russian words/phrases with him, he usually responds to our directives which is encouraging. It was a new experience for him to drink water from a water bottle and when we walked him back to his group, we were filled with joy to see him share his water with what seemed like as many friends as he could find to share it with before it ran out. It showed us another glimpse of his heart as we're getting to know him. We'd like to post pictures, but cannot do so until later in the process.
Madison and Mallory have been amazing on this trip! We have had continued confirmation that it was the best decision to bring them with us. They've done a great job at adjusting to a foreign country and are enjoying the trip. We've been able to spend a lot of quality time together as a family and move together into being a family of five. As we wanted, we believe their world perspective is broadening in ways that our words could have never impacted them. I think they'd even say the same thing that we've been busier than we had anticipated on this trip.
We're now in our third apartment since arriving in Kiev and we believe this will be our last 'home' on this side of the trip. This apartment is small, just what we need and looks as if it was recently remodeled. We originally were told that we wouldn't have a washer, but we have one which is such a bonus! Doing laundry here has certainly been an event! We have a photo of Kelly hanging laundry out of our 9th story apartment which we'd like to post along with many others when we get a chance to do so. Our translator today talked with the manager at the internet cafe because we wanted to know if we could download our photos to our laptop and then just transfer what we needed from the laptop to our blog at the cafe. He'll hopefully be able to help us do that. We don't want to download all of our personal photos onto some publically used computer and since we don't have internet in our apartment, we must take care of such business at the cafe.
Here are some things we think are interesting or humorous in this part of the world:
- you must pay for the number of plastic bags you need at the grocery store;
- the lovely elderly lady and her doctor's office like scale strategically placed on the sidewalk for anyone that just might want to know his/her current weight - what an entreprenural;
- lots of great history - one example, it has been so interesting to talk with our translator who lived under the former Soviet Union regime and hear her perspective on the pros and cons;
- many, many wild dogs (not necessarily dangerous) and cats roaming all over;
- lots of high heals;
- lots of dirt;
- people who are helpful when you need it;
- various interesting ways to go to the bathroom;
- hot and cold faucets are switched around from the US-Kelly hung tough as she took her first Ukrainian shower in completely cold water;
- as our translator Alla says, kids must be healthy, clean and full as she strongly urges our girls to take one more bite or spoonful and then another bite . . . ;
- the ease with which you can lose electricity in your apartment;
- locks all over, locks everywhere it seems like (there are two doors at our apt. entrance with locks on both of them.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
In Kiev
We cannot express how we've seen God's hand in our trip thus far. Our trip to Kiev was amazingly smooth, the flights were great and our girls did incredibly well. We spent our first full day here sleeping in (Madison pulled the record with sleeping about 16 hours!), playing together, doing schoolwork, going to the grocery store, meeting with Dr. Yuri, a Ukrainian doctor to review medical diagnosis and eating at none other than McDonalds. I'd like to think we'd get a little more adventurous with the food, but I'm not sure!
Kiev in many ways is like a European New York City. We've enjoyed our time walking about the city, taking photos (hope to post later) and taking the girls to the park. Our apartment in Kiev is nice and simple . . . just what we need. We were pleased to find that it has a washing machine and internet.
Our translator, Alla is a mover and shaker. The woman knows what she's doing and gets the job done. We feel that we are truly able to trust her and her judgment; and she seems to have a lot of influence in the right places.
We are all doing really well and enjoying our trip thus far. We have all eased into this temporary new way of life smoothly and are enjoying our time together. Madison and Mallory are really having a good time and doing a great job of listening and obeying. We are thrilled that they are on this trip with us and believe they are learning a lot in the process. Up to this point, things have been smoother than we had anticipated with everything.
AND NOW, about our appointment at the SDA. We had a very successful appointment this morning. We along with another Italian family had the first two 9am appointments of the day. We had specifically prayed that the Lord would guide which files would be shown to us and that it would be very clear as to who we should go meet. After telling the SDA staff person a little about our family and showing a photo album to her, we were shown a file of a boy about 4 years old with cleft palate. He aleady had one surgery, but would need further surgery. He was adorable and we were interested in considering him. Our translator quietly told us that his orphanage is in a region that is very complex and discouraged us from going there. We were then shown a file of a little boy who is five, turning six next month. He has nothing in his file in the way of diagnosis except a type of delay which is typical of children in orphanages and no surprise to us. His file also said he has issues with his adonoids (no big deal). We were so happy to be shown his file! He has an older brother who was adopted by a Ukrainian family. The other files then shown to us were of children who were either very sick or of sibling groups beyond our age range. Needless to say, we are pumped up about meeting this dear boy! We will travel on Friday to the Crimea region (very southern part of Ukraine) to Simferopol to meet him at his orphanage. We will travel by plane since the train ride is about 12 hours, although we might end up traveling back to Ukraine by train just because of the expense.
We asked the Lord for clarification as to who we should visit and we thank Him for making it crystal clear that we should meet this five year old boy. We had no question in our appointment as to whether we should do this or do that - His will for us at this leg of the journey is very clear to us and we just put one foot in front of the other and take the next good step that He's leading us to take. We hope and pray for a good meeting with him on Friday and then we'll go from there. If that goes well, we will have Dr. Yuri exam and assess him for his input.
Lastly, a few months back we felt lead to have an addendum done to our homestudy that changed our age range from 0-4 years old to 0-6 years old. How thankful we are that this was done. If we end up adopting this boy, he falls right in our updated age range and the addendum saves us a lot of hassle and headache on our end over in Ukraine.
Thanks to all for your support and prayers along the way. We appreciate and love you all! Thanks too for your emails and comments to our blog - we are able to read them - and they make the world seem much smaller.
Kiev in many ways is like a European New York City. We've enjoyed our time walking about the city, taking photos (hope to post later) and taking the girls to the park. Our apartment in Kiev is nice and simple . . . just what we need. We were pleased to find that it has a washing machine and internet.
Our translator, Alla is a mover and shaker. The woman knows what she's doing and gets the job done. We feel that we are truly able to trust her and her judgment; and she seems to have a lot of influence in the right places.
We are all doing really well and enjoying our trip thus far. We have all eased into this temporary new way of life smoothly and are enjoying our time together. Madison and Mallory are really having a good time and doing a great job of listening and obeying. We are thrilled that they are on this trip with us and believe they are learning a lot in the process. Up to this point, things have been smoother than we had anticipated with everything.
AND NOW, about our appointment at the SDA. We had a very successful appointment this morning. We along with another Italian family had the first two 9am appointments of the day. We had specifically prayed that the Lord would guide which files would be shown to us and that it would be very clear as to who we should go meet. After telling the SDA staff person a little about our family and showing a photo album to her, we were shown a file of a boy about 4 years old with cleft palate. He aleady had one surgery, but would need further surgery. He was adorable and we were interested in considering him. Our translator quietly told us that his orphanage is in a region that is very complex and discouraged us from going there. We were then shown a file of a little boy who is five, turning six next month. He has nothing in his file in the way of diagnosis except a type of delay which is typical of children in orphanages and no surprise to us. His file also said he has issues with his adonoids (no big deal). We were so happy to be shown his file! He has an older brother who was adopted by a Ukrainian family. The other files then shown to us were of children who were either very sick or of sibling groups beyond our age range. Needless to say, we are pumped up about meeting this dear boy! We will travel on Friday to the Crimea region (very southern part of Ukraine) to Simferopol to meet him at his orphanage. We will travel by plane since the train ride is about 12 hours, although we might end up traveling back to Ukraine by train just because of the expense.
We asked the Lord for clarification as to who we should visit and we thank Him for making it crystal clear that we should meet this five year old boy. We had no question in our appointment as to whether we should do this or do that - His will for us at this leg of the journey is very clear to us and we just put one foot in front of the other and take the next good step that He's leading us to take. We hope and pray for a good meeting with him on Friday and then we'll go from there. If that goes well, we will have Dr. Yuri exam and assess him for his input.
Lastly, a few months back we felt lead to have an addendum done to our homestudy that changed our age range from 0-4 years old to 0-6 years old. How thankful we are that this was done. If we end up adopting this boy, he falls right in our updated age range and the addendum saves us a lot of hassle and headache on our end over in Ukraine.
Thanks to all for your support and prayers along the way. We appreciate and love you all! Thanks too for your emails and comments to our blog - we are able to read them - and they make the world seem much smaller.
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