Jeff -T- 2 days, 11 hours, 22 minutes...

T- 2 days, 11 hours, 22 minutes...

I feel the need to share a quick update as we head into the final phase of the adoption process in Ukraine. Poor Susie is sleeping in this morning - she is still suffering from the cold that she caught in Ukraine. She is going to the doctor this morning. She was wheezing last night - here's hoping it broke during the night, or that the doctor can get her started on something to make the trip easier.
We've been home for 5 full days, with one more date to go until Sue heads back to get Nastiya. I've been trying to get caught up with work while getting over my jetlag. Not sure I've been as successful as I wish. Part of the reason is the time change of course: I'm falling asleep at 8:30 at night, but I'm wide awake at 4 AM.

Sue on the other hand has been on fire with her preparations! In 5 short days, she has caught up on the laundry from 2 full weeks, and she has booked flights, bought gifts for the orphanage staff and our Ukrainian team, packed her gifts as well as the last-minute care packages from the other parents, and done all the other million things that she makes look so easy that I will be frantically trying to figure out next week while she is gone! I don't know - I think I'll keep my day job - Susie's job is tough!

Sue also did a little preparation for Nastiya's arrival and entry into the school system. This also caught me off guard. We walked over to the school, and Sue went in to get the documents we need to sign her up (I waited outside with Falkor). We've got our fingers crossed - the next teach who is "up" for a new student is a teacher who was one of Connor's absolute favorites at the grade school. How cool would that be! But the amazing part was the packet of documents that they handed to Sue to fill out. I kid you not - suddenly the adoption dossier looks easy! Holy smokes - the stuff they want to know just to put the child in a class!

One other thing that has been very time-consuming this week: we had a friend and her kids who came in to look after our cat, Percy, while we were gone. They did a great job, but apparently an hour or so every other day just doesn't satisfy the minimum daily requirements of massage for Percy. He has been extremely "interactive". this week. He's either meowing, clawing at your leg, or getting under foot to make you stop and massage him, scratch his chin, stand next to him while he eats...he has this very funny purr in the mornings - I call it his WD-40 purr. Sounds like a regular purr with the occasional squeaky door sound effect thrown in. My favorite is when he's super happy and we get the purr combined with the under-the-breath vocalizations - he sounds like a tribble!

Connor's Halloween event was a HUGE success. We heard from the neighbors about the lines of people. Someone estimated 300 people came through. Two of our neighbors said they did not go through the Huanted Garage because the lines were too long! Thanks to all who participated in making this a success as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures from someone who attended!

The level of encouragement that we have received this week has also been very heart-warming. Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers, emails, phone calls, etc. It's been very nice talking to the other families that will be following in our footsteps. I've also been reading blogs from trips past. I found a couple blogs with photos from the same orphanage, one of them from two years ago. The director looked the same then as she does now - just dressed down a little for summertime:-) But the people who have gone before or are currently in the process: you guys are an amazing group of people! I really appreciate the support, encouragement, and camaraderie of you guys!

I added a few links - check the bottom of the page if you are interested. One is for Orphan Sunday. As Sue was looking through this site earlier in the week, she ran across a little heart-tug slide-show. One of the facts presented is that there are 143 MILLION orphans in this world. I pointed out that as of last Friday, there are only 142,999,999...I can't get over the joy of this. I'm just so looking forward to having our family in one place!

But the paperwork is done, this trip is just to pick up the girl, right? What could go wrong, right? Oh, boy!

How about a swine flu epidemic sweeping Kiev? David sent out some links to news stories a few days ago - schools have been shut down, and SDA is not giving out authorization to visit orphanages right now. Imagine showing up for your first appointment and being told taht you cannot go visit the orphanage until further notice! What does this mean to us? Hopefully, the answer is nothing, since Nastiya is our legel responsibility as of next Tuesday morning! I told Sue that even if they won't let her in to the orphanage, tell them to send her out and she can change clothes in the van! (You heard the part about the kids not bringing any of their clothes with them, right?) Sue is of course carrying gifts for some the the staff at the orphanage, and some of the other kids that have been here. Guess she'll have to pile them at the door, and someone can come out and get them once Sue and Nastiya have left. Sheesh - a freaking pandemic in the middle of our adoption, and of course many other adoptions, David's program, etc. Let's pray that this blows over quickly and allows us all to get our children!

Oh - did I mention that it's Veteran's Day next Wednesday? And the embassy in Kiev is closed? Our facilitator thinks that we can rush some papers to him on Tuesday afternoon once Sue has it, and get the process started at the embassy on Tuesday, and with a little luck (maybe some prayer work), the visa should still be ready on Thursday, or at least Friday morning. Sue and nastiya head for the airport around 11:30 - it should all work out.

And poor Susie: let's hope the doctor gives her something to help!

So tomorrow I drop her at SFO, and she catches an 8:30 flight to Calgary, then to Frankfurt, then to Vienna, then to Donets'k, arriving Monday afternoon. Five countries and 4 airlines in two days - the joy of saving money and using points! The good news is that she got business class - for about the same points as coach! Well, by checking back, she did find an alternative that was less points, but in her current condition, I told her to burn the points and get some sleep on these flights! That girl needs her rest!