We are in the girls' city and have met them! I will make a longer post later tonight, with some more pictures, but for now am on borrowed internet. :)
Thank you for the prayers!
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
On the train (backpost)
Once again, God has paved the way. I cannot begin to fathom why this adoption process has moved so smoothly when others don’t (including our first one!) but we are very thankful.
Our driver picked up our luggage at noon. The apartment service had called and said we could stay until 2pm, so we wandered around a bit before meeting back at the apartment to return the key. We then walked to the SDA. Right as we got to St Michael’s, Nicolai (Nico, our driver) called and said that our papers were ready and he would meet us at the SDA in 10 minutes. Of course we were already basically there, so we waited a few minutes for Nico, then went inside with him to get our papers. We also received from him money for Sasha (our in-region facilitator) and all of our documents to give to Sasha. On the way out we very briefly saw Luda, who I communicate with on a daily basis for RR. We didn’t actually meet, so I am hoping we can meet her on our way back through Kyiv.
We then went to the train station, hoping to make the train that would take us directly to the girls’ city. We were unable to get 2nd class tickets (4 to a compartment) but we were able to get 1st class tickets (2 to a compartment) for a little less than $200 total. Nico had to leave us at the train station to help a couple of other families get their referral papers. He was more than a little concerned that we would not be able to get on the train, but we reassured him that we were fine. After he left, we grabbed some food from inside the ticket hall (to the right of the main hall) and headed out to check on our train. Once the track was posted, we headed to our track and boarded the train. We knew what car number from our tickets (and Nico) so we got on and found our compartment. Now we’re sitting on the train, blogging (in Word) and playing games. I’m debating whether to leave the door open and deal with the smoke, or close it and deal with the heat. ;)
Sasha will pick us up in the morning and from there it’s on to the social worker and orphanage!
Our driver picked up our luggage at noon. The apartment service had called and said we could stay until 2pm, so we wandered around a bit before meeting back at the apartment to return the key. We then walked to the SDA. Right as we got to St Michael’s, Nicolai (Nico, our driver) called and said that our papers were ready and he would meet us at the SDA in 10 minutes. Of course we were already basically there, so we waited a few minutes for Nico, then went inside with him to get our papers. We also received from him money for Sasha (our in-region facilitator) and all of our documents to give to Sasha. On the way out we very briefly saw Luda, who I communicate with on a daily basis for RR. We didn’t actually meet, so I am hoping we can meet her on our way back through Kyiv.
We then went to the train station, hoping to make the train that would take us directly to the girls’ city. We were unable to get 2nd class tickets (4 to a compartment) but we were able to get 1st class tickets (2 to a compartment) for a little less than $200 total. Nico had to leave us at the train station to help a couple of other families get their referral papers. He was more than a little concerned that we would not be able to get on the train, but we reassured him that we were fine. After he left, we grabbed some food from inside the ticket hall (to the right of the main hall) and headed out to check on our train. Once the track was posted, we headed to our track and boarded the train. We knew what car number from our tickets (and Nico) so we got on and found our compartment. Now we’re sitting on the train, blogging (in Word) and playing games. I’m debating whether to leave the door open and deal with the smoke, or close it and deal with the heat. ;)
Sasha will pick us up in the morning and from there it’s on to the social worker and orphanage!
Prayer request
Well, you knew it couldn't take long, right? :)
If we are able to get our referrals early today (before 4pm) we will be able to take the train directly to where the girls are. If not, we will take a train to close to where they are and then drive another few hours.
Things are complicated by the fact that we need to be out of our apartment by noon (just got a call, now 2pm) but our train doesn't leave until this evening. We've got the luggage worked out (we're leaving it with our driver here in Kyiv since he'll take us to the train station) but it would be great if we could get our referral early and just take one train.
I probably won't be able to post again until tomorrow, but I'll update as soon as I can! :)
If we are able to get our referrals early today (before 4pm) we will be able to take the train directly to where the girls are. If not, we will take a train to close to where they are and then drive another few hours.
Things are complicated by the fact that we need to be out of our apartment by noon (just got a call, now 2pm) but our train doesn't leave until this evening. We've got the luggage worked out (we're leaving it with our driver here in Kyiv since he'll take us to the train station) but it would be great if we could get our referral early and just take one train.
I probably won't be able to post again until tomorrow, but I'll update as soon as I can! :)
Monday, February 07, 2011
More pictures
At the far end of Kreshatik (away from Independence Square and right around the corner from TGIF) is a grocery store called Billa. When you walk in you go to the left through produce, dairy, deli, bread, packaged meat and cheese, tea and coffee, candy, cereal, crackers, pasta, seafood, dried and salted fish. Downstairs is water, juice, soda, beer, wine, and toiletries, including feminine items, toilet paper, toothpaste, kleenex, and shampoo. Decent prices and the cash register displays face out so you can see how much you need to pay. :)
Independence Square
O'Panas (a yummy Ukrainian restaurant with English menus)
The opera houseIt's been a busy day!
We had our SDA appointment at 11am this morning. It went well, and we will be going to visit Candace and another little girl on Wednesday. That's all I'm saying until we know more. ;)
After our SDA appointment, we met another family and their two little boys. They are here adopting a little girl through RR. We had lunch with them (at McDonalds--a first for us in Kyiv!) and then they came to our apartment for a while. After they left we hung out in the apartment for a bit then headed out to walk. We walked in some big circles, then met up with the Torres family at TGIFs (another first for us!). We talked to them for a little over an hour and then went to the grocery store, back to the apartment, then out to walk some more.
We walked a lot. :) :)
Here's our picture gallery of our trip so far:
Parking on the sidewalk is the norm here.
Traffic. Wouldn't want to be the cars in the middle!
One of the cathedrals at night.
Our apartment building!Sunday, February 06, 2011
Flights
We made it to Frankfurt! We had a minor fiasco in St Louis when Mark’s ticket was apparently issued in another name. We had known this beforehand but thought it had been fixed…apparently not. After about an hour working with the United ticket counter, we were able to get boarding passes to Chicago. But they warned us that we would need to talk to Lufthansa when we got to Chicago as they would need to correct Mark’s name on the rest of the flights.
We only had an hour in Chicago between flights, so we were a little worried that we would need to change terminals and try to get the boarding passes.
You can’t imagine our relief when we landed at gate B22 and were heading to gate B17 for our flight to Frankfurt! And then when we checked in there weren’t any problems with the boarding passes at all. We were issued passes for our flight to Frankfurt and the connecting flight to Kyiv.
The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful but really HOT. I watched “Morning Glory” (cute!) but didn’t sleep much due to the heat. Now we’re hanging out in Frankfurt waiting a couple hours for our next flight. Soon we’ll be in Kyiv!
We only had an hour in Chicago between flights, so we were a little worried that we would need to change terminals and try to get the boarding passes.
You can’t imagine our relief when we landed at gate B22 and were heading to gate B17 for our flight to Frankfurt! And then when we checked in there weren’t any problems with the boarding passes at all. We were issued passes for our flight to Frankfurt and the connecting flight to Kyiv.
The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful but really HOT. I watched “Morning Glory” (cute!) but didn’t sleep much due to the heat. Now we’re hanging out in Frankfurt waiting a couple hours for our next flight. Soon we’ll be in Kyiv!
We're here!
We're here in Kyiv! Flights were fine (other than a small issue in St Louis which I'll share later). We are loving our apartment with wireless internet and satellite TV (but of course the ONE channel that won't come in is ESPN!). Since it's 5pm here (we're 8 hours ahead of CST) we are heading out to find some dinner. In case I crash before I post again tonight, our appointment is tomorrow at 11am. If you wake up super early tomorrow, please be praying for us!
Our cell phone number is 380995483941 and incoming calls to us are free. If you're on Skyp*, my name is mcolmsted11. Please don't be offended if I'm online and you call and I don't answer--I'm probably talking to the kids. :)
Our cell phone number is 380995483941 and incoming calls to us are free. If you're on Skyp*, my name is mcolmsted11. Please don't be offended if I'm online and you call and I don't answer--I'm probably talking to the kids. :)
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