Quick summary (or maybe not so quick...)

I've had a few requests to clarify what happens next. So here goes...

On Dec 2, we will fly from StL to JFK, then from JFK to Kyiv. We've only got the one stop, and I booked the whole thing through Orbitz. Not sure yet if that was a good idea. ;) I've used Orbitz before, but not for international. We'll be flying AA the first leg and Aerosvit the second. We'll arrive in Kyiv on Monday, Dec 3, where our facilitator will pick us up and take us to our lodging for the night. We won't know the time for our SDA appointment until the day before, so the day we arrive in Kyiv.

On Dec 4, we will have our appointment at the SDA. We will not know anything about our children until this appointment. Unless things change between now and then (which they certainly can!), we will be shown probably 3-4 sets of siblings' profiles. We are praying that God will make it very clear who are children are at this meeting. Once we have chosen a sibling set to go visit, we will have to wait for paperwork from the SDA giving us permission to go visit those children. We might get the paperwork the same day if our appointment is early in the morning, but most likely will not get it until the next day. If we get it that day, we will hopefully head to wherever the kids are that night (Dec 4). If not, we would travel on Dec 5.

Once we get to the region where the kids are, we have to meet with the regional inspector, give him/her the paperwork from the SDA, and get permission to go visit the kids. This hopefully can be done same day, but might take a day to get done. If it's same day, we would be able to go visit the kids that day.

Now, important note. This is basically working off of the assumption that both kids are in the same region (think of it like our counties here in the States). If they are not, we will need to meet with two inspectors to get permission to visit each of the kids. So tack on some extra travel and meeting time there. Why would they be in different regions, you ask? Good question. :) The orphanages are divided up by age (and then once the kids are older, by special needs v. healthy). Once a child turns 4, he/she is moved out of the baby house into an internot. At this age, the children are also separated by special needs. So if I understand everything correctly, if you had twins, one of whom had a special need (could be something as mild as a cleft palate or crossed eyes, or more severe needs), when they turned 4 years old they would be sent to two different orphanages.

At the orphanage, we will meet with the orphanage director, doctor, and possibly other staff. We will review the children's medical records and then be able to meet the children. If we decide to pursue the adoption at this point, we will start sending paperwork everywhere. Paperwork will go to the regional offices to get a court date set up, and paperwork will go back to the SDA since we will need their permission at court to adopt the kids. There will also be various other paperwork gathering, done by us and our facilitator, to get copies of the kids' birth certificates, etc.

At some point after this (that's only a little vague, right?), we will have a court date. They're usually about a week or so after you start all of the official adoption paperwork in the previous paragraph. But of course that depends on holidays, vacations, etc. as to when the judge can meet with you. At court, we will be asked many questions about us, our home, why we want to adopt, why we want to adopt these children, and so on. The orphanage staff, the SDA, and the regional inspector will all give their approval for the adoption. Then the judge decides. If he grants us custody, we will have a 10-day wait before the children are officially ours. This is a time for others to appeal the adoption. It is 10 calendar days (not buisness days), but does not count the day of court and you can't actually pick the kids up until you have the final paperwork from the judge, which usually doesn't happen on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.

After the 10 day wait, we can take the kids from the orphanage and now begin another paperwork race. We will need to get new copies of the kids' birth certificates with us listed as parents, physicals, passports, and then US visas (since the kids do not become US citizens until they land in the US they need visas).

Then we come home!

Okay, that was sort of the idealized version of the process, and there are several places in there that we can hit some pretty major snags. But that's the basic overview. :)

Plane tickets=done

Lately I've really been struggling with the financial aspect of our adoption. I think we have enough money, but what if we don't? And I worry about such things. So silly of me, as God was quick to point out. :)

We had identified the flights we wanted to take to Ukraine, one-ways from StL to JFK (New York), the JFK to Kyiv. Only one stop, so less chance to lose the luggage. And yes, I'm sure that statement will come back to haunt me. ;) Anyway, the flights were running over $500 per person. I had checked for a couple of weeks and they weren't changing at all, so I decided I would purchase them with our next paychecks, which was yesterday. So I got online and what do you know? The prices had DROPPED by over $100 each!! So we got both of our flights for under $1000 total (all taxes and fees). Then, as if God wasn't already saying "hello, I'm taking care of you!", we found out that a girl Mark had referred to his work has accepted a position and he will get a referral "bonus"!

I continue to be amazed at my own lack of faith. I know God is taking us to Ukraine--why can't I grasp that He's going to make everything possible? That doesn't mean we won't have struggles or problems in the process, but He's already got it all planned out. It gives me funny feelings to think that God already knows our children--exactly where they are, what they look like. Wow.

So we will be traveling to Ukraine on Dec 2 and arrive on Dec 3 (and we're trusting God with the luggage!). :)

We need your help ;)

So here's the deal...we're going to be first-time parents. Of toddlers (under the age of 5, so maybe a little older than toddlers). And it's a little hard to prepare when you don't know age or gender. This is where all of you, internets, can help.

Monday night we registered at Target. Part of the reason for doing this is the ability to update the registry online from Ukraine once we know more information about the kids. But there are a few things we will need regardless. What I would like you to do, if you have the time, is to check out our registry--not to buy things, although you certainly can if you want ;)--and offer suggestions of other things we may need or want. Some things were left off because we already have them (playpens), others because we won't need them (bouncy seats). Other things were left off for lack of information--there were some super cute outfits, but Mark made me control my nesting urges. :) :) So for those of you have/have had/know of/think about toddlers, we'd love your input!!

P.S. This isn't just for parents! I know of a lot of people without kids *ahem* who know lots about them!! Sometime those without do a better job of looking beyond the obvious and seeing the things we really need. :)

P.P.S. To get to our registry, click HERE. To leave comments, click on the word "comments" under the post and follow the directions.

I love living in St Louis :)

These are pictures from the annual Forest Park Balloon Race last weekend. It is an invitation-only balloon race as it is (according to the announcer) the largest balloon race held in a metropolitan area. Apparently most balloon races are held outside of cities, and this one is in the heart of St. Louis. It is free, as are many activities in StL. :) Friday night they have a balloon glow where the balloons are lit up at night, and then Saturday is the race. The first balloon to go up is the Energizer bunny (the hot "hare" balloon) and then the "hounds" follow. The balloon to drop a bag of birdseed closest to the "hare" balloon wins. I took over 100 pictures on Saturday, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to scroll through 100 balloon pictures, so I just shared a few. We were right next to the balloons as they were filling up and lifting off so I got a lot of pics of that as well as all of the balloons as they floated overhead. The last picture is from the Children's Hospital parking garage, and gives you a pretty good idea of how many balloons were there (70!). It was a beautiful day for a balloon race and we had a great time.

So I know we're supposed to be planning to travel, but we haven't had much time to sit down and discuss what we need to get done. I think the first order of business is to get plane tickets, and right now we're leaning towards one-way tickets (no, we're not moving to Ukraine). Two sets of one-way tickets are about the same cost as a roundtrip ticket plus one change fee. The chances of us choosing the correct return date are pretty slim. :) Plus, if you buy roundtrip tickets you're tied into one airline. So even if you need to change your return date, if they don't have 4 seats available until 2 weeks later than you want to return you're kind of stuck. Some people have had to throw away the return portion of their roundtrip tickets and buy new one-way tickets anyway, and we'd certainly prefer not to have to do that. Regardless, we haven't completely decided yet. It's looking like the flights will be about $500 each for one-way, and roundtrip is running about $900. So...

We also need to start making a packing list, but every time I start thinking about it I get so excited I can't sit still long enough to make a list. LOL And I've decided I'm absolutely terrified of becoming a parent. :) :) But also VERY ready!!! :) :)

December 4!!!!

Yes, we have a date!!! We have been accepted by the SDA and our appointment date is Dec 4 (dossier submitted Aug 13). This is actually a few weeks earlier than we were anticipating, but I know God has a plan and a reason for us to be there at that time. I can't stop crying because I'm so happy, and this is going to make finishing work up for the day really hard! We're finally going to Ukraine to find our children! :) :) :)

You haven't heard because we haven't heard (day 25)

Nope, no news yet. :(

But there are more destruction pics...

This is the door within the window. I can't begin to tell you why it's there because we haven't the foggiest idea. The best reason we've come up with is so that you could get into the upstairs middle and front bedrooms without going through the back bedroom; however, that requires you to climb through the "door" in the window.

This is the door open. Not much room to get through. We didn't try it (wanted to though!) because the pane above is broken and I wasn't keen about crawling underneath a loose piece of jagged glass. Go figure. ;)

This is one of the "secret treasure" holes. At least, that's what my mom likes to think. We haven't ventured up here yet--not sure we want to find whatever's up there. It will get pulled down with the rest of the ceiling so we'll find out soon enough!

This is the fireplace that was covered over in the front bedroom. It has been bricked up, sort of. There are bricks in there but no mortar, so Mark (of course) pulled one out. It's now known as the fireplace with the stash of dirt, because that's what came pouring out. We've got all kinds of theories as to where the dirt came from, none of them pretty. The hole...

...and the dirt.

Since we pulled out a top brick, we're guessing the entire fireplace (at least mantel-level and below) is filled with dirt...and who knows what else.

But really, can I tell you how much fun this is? We're having a blast and it's great getting dirty and destroying and rebuilding (okay, eventually rebuilding) this house together. :)

More pics of the destruction (day 22)

Adoption: no news yet. Check back on Tuesday. ;)

We've been demolishing a little bit more of the house. I decided it's about time to get some more pictures up!

Here's the marble hearth that we uncovered underneath the living room carpet. Probably not original, but pretty cool all the same.

This is what it looks like when you remove all of the tiles from the bathroom walls. Yuck.

A great shot of the faux brick with the kitchen cabinets removed. How many colors can you paint a kitchen?? (or not, in the case of the mudded drywall)

General destruction of the back room. All of the cabinets and the countertop are out, and all of the paneling is off of the walls in there and the kitchen.

This is the really cool wallpaper in the back bedroom upstairs. There are two cool layers here: the top layer is the vases with flowers, and the layer underneath it is the house, fountain, and 3 trees. I'm trying to carefully peel off that top layer to reveal more of the scene underneath but they're really stuck. We can tell from some other areas of the room that that scene also has a well and a balcony. For perspective, the area that's shown is about 2.5 feet tall. I'll post the "secret hiding places" tomorrow!