Sue – Monday, October 19, 2009 (slideshow in sidebar)
Day 4 – Appointment with SDA.
This is the big day!!!
We awoke at 7 am, because our facilitator and driver were meeting us to take us to SDA.
I was imagining some KGB-type of department, stern and judgmental, so I was more than a little nervous!
The drive was around 30 minutes or so, then we parked to wait until our 11:00am interview time. The cobblestone streets rumbled under tires as we drove. I couldn’t wait to move past this meeting. Little street side vendors were putting their goods out as we sat and waited. Our facilitator knew I was anxious, so we moved inside the building to wait, with about 3 other families, inside the stairwell. Some families came out – some more families came in. One spoke Italian… one spoke French (we thought). We didn’t speak at all. In a very short time, a lady came out to lead us into the offices. They were clean and neat, very warm and inviting. Pictures of children on the walls reminded me of the nature of their department. “State Department of Adoption” - SDA. Here we were, at the coveted “SDA” appointment we so longed for after submitting our dossier.
The SDA agent, Maria, sat down and started shuffling through the folder that had Anastasiya’s picture on it. She was dressed very stylishly in a black dress, with sheer sleeves, and had a very European hairstyle and makeup. She reviewed the folder briefly, then looked at us, smiled, and said “Passports, please” in Ukrainian (or Russian?). Our facilitator translated; we complied. She verified names in the adoption folder with our passports, smiled, and handed the passports back to us. “Spa-cee-ba.” Maria spoke, then our facilitator translated, then we spoke, and the facilitator translated again.
“You came for Nastiya?”
“Yes.”
And in that moment, the weeks and months of paperwork, appointments, fingerprinting, schedule shuffling, calendar arranging, packing, traveling, and waiting all came down to one answer.
Yes, we came for Nastiya. Tears welled up in my eyes. I smiled, to make them go away. They didn’t. We came to get the girl. How simple it sounds, but it was a powerful moment. The first time I saw Connor on the ultrasound screen, I felt this way. It may seem odd, since we’ve already met her and hosted her, but this was the moment that we found out that yes, she was still available, and yes, she was going to our daughter.
I don’t remember the rest of the questions (Jeff probably does), but something about Maria just made me want to show her our photo album of Nastiya. She went through the album slowly, and I shared a story here or there about the photo. Maria was kind, caring, and very loving toward the soon-to-be-adopted child’s pictures. She smiled, and made comments, and was very empathetic.
The rest of the day was anti-climactic, hanging out, taking a walk, and eating dinner in the apartment.
We took a short nap after lunch, then went out for a walk. The temperatures have been lows in the 30’s, highs in the 50’s. It has been partly overcast, partly sunny, and no rain while we’ve been here. Apparently, it rained like crazy right before we arrived, so the ground is still damp, but we’ve had no rain.
The apartment here in Kiev is in a large complex of apartment homes. They rise about 10-29 stories high, much like we saw in Singapore or Hong Kong. Kiev’s population is about 5 million, a sizable city, out of Ukraine’s 46 million. So when you are in the “residential” part of Ukraine, as opposed to the “downtown” part of Ukraine, there is just street after street of high-rise apartment/condo buildings. Most are in need of repair, lacking maintenance and paint; you can tell that Ukraine’s economy has not been thriving for the last 20-30 years, and since the world-wide decline recently, they have suffered even more.
So our little walk was only around the residential buildings here. There are pathways that weave all around the buildings, with children’s playgrounds in each area, plus some areas to play soccer, with fencing. Along the pathways, made mostly of cement blocks, are little markets. These are small portable-type buildings, which contain window-access, you don’t go inside – you look in the window, see what you want, and order it through the window, like a “to-go” ice cream stand. One had wonderful cookies and pastries (no, I resisted), one had salamis and cheeses, several had the “convenience items” (Ukrainian version of 7-11 stores), from beer, cigarettes, soda, candy, ice cream, chips, and limited groceries. We took our walk around 5-6pm, so many people were coming home form work. I am not sure if they were walking from a bus or train station, but they were walking long distances. Men carried large plastic grocery bags, bulging with whatever their wives told them to bring home for dinner. Older women in boots and babushkas (my word for scarves on your head) carried cloth or canvas bags with what I assumed were groceries. Working mothers dresses stylishly were holding the hands of their children, talking animatedly about the child’s day in school. Several mother sand grandmothers were buying ice cream or sweets at the various shops along the way. Some of the “shops” were just trucks lined up, with their back doors open, selling their wares that way. One man had large bins of various types of apples, one was selling some sort of linens, one older woman was selling cups full of beans. The economy is struggling here. Jeff will post his pictures in a slideshow of our short walk around the complex.
Then we had dinner, easy to make in the apartment kitchen – pan-fried steak (denser and less fat than at home), rice, broccoli, and cabbage. I am definitely NOT losing any weight here! The food is too good! The eggs are “real”, with richer yolks, the bread is “yeasty” like sourdough, the meat has no antibiotics and growth hormones, and the vegetables still have dirt on them.
Watched a couple episodes of Heroes (we started from the beginning again on this trip), and turned in by midnight. A very good day!
Jeff: Also Monday!
Sue doesn’t remember the rest of the questions because she was so emotional. We went into the room as Sue described. There was a nice corner arrangement of a couch for us, and our facilitator and the agent sat in chairs next to and across from us. The thing that really struck me was how warm and welcoming the agent was. She obviously has an awareness of the impact this process has on us and on the children. When Sue’s eyes welled up, she broke out a sunshine smile and told Sue not to cry. I had to laugh – as you read above from Susie, it all came together in that one simple question. But the agent kept smiling and almost reassuring us the entire meeting – she was a delightful participant in this process.
We were asked questions about when we met Nastiya, how long she stayed with us, what we thought about her disposition and attitude. We commented that she seems a very responsive, loving, 10 year old girl. The agent continued with the details she had on Nastiya – family relations, current status of other relations, other details from her file, and then she showed us the file. Obviously, we could not read the file, but a picture of Nastiya was attached to the front of the file. We saw the face we have come to know and love, taken at a very low point in her life. She still had a very warm look in her eyes.
So that was it. The agent handed the facilitator some papers, and we were done! Except of course Susie said “what about our pictures?” As Sue said above, the agent browsed through all of the pictures, really paying attention. She also commented right away that Nastiya looks like Sue.
I forgot to look at my watch when we left, but we were back at the apartment by 12:15 – after stopping for some more vada (water – NOT vodka) and some more minutes for the cell phone that we are borrowing. The meeting could not have taken more than 20 minutes.
Our next conversation with our facilitator was about how we would travel to Mariupol, the next stop on our journey. We talked back and forth about this quite a bit. Sue had really wanted to take a train across the countryside of Ukraine. There are three options, though only two are practical. The first impractical option – for us – is a train straight to Mariupol. Unfortunately, this train leaves once a day at 4:30 in the afternoon and takes 16 hours to get to Mariupol. We are not going to get our form until after 5 PM, so this option is out. The other two options are taking a train or flying to Donets’k, then driving two hours to Mariupol. We hear the drive is going to be quite interesting – will report on that after the fact. But back to our two options for getting from Kyiv to Donets’k:
We talked about this with our facilitator. The train to Donets’k takes 12 hours, the flight is about one hour. The train has three classes.
• First class is a cabin with 2 beds. Since we are taking our interpreter with us, the cost would be $139 * 3 = $437 – one way ($874 round trip).
• Second class is a four-bunk cabin. Wickedly cheaper - $57 * 3 = $171 – one way ($342 round trip).
• Third class is a dormer car with 54 beds – not really an option for our – or our interpreter’s – travel wishes.
• The plane, on the other hand is $279 *3 = $837 round trip.
Remember that we just spent over 24 hours traveling from the US to Kyiv about 3 days ago? And that I slept about 45 minutes on that entire flight? So let’s see – travel by plane from Kyiv to Donets’k at 9 PM after getting our documents around 5-5:30, then drive to Mariupol and arrive around midnight, sleep in a real (non-moving) bed before meeting all of the officials at the orphanage and the court system. Or spend all night on a train (that costs more if first class or means spending the night with other people in the cabin if second class) that is moving and rattling and certainly does not sound like a great sleeping environment, then go straight to the court and/or orphanage. Oh – and we’ll see Nastiya again for the first time in three months.
We chose the plane.
So: the game plan for Tuesday: get packed and out the door by 3 PM, get our documents from the SDA around 5PM, catch a plane at 9PM. Details tomorrow
Some other unrelated details that I haven’t captured elsewhere. If you are reading this blog and you are not following in our footsteps, you can skip this part
When we first arrived in Kyiv, we used the VIP service to get through customs. A previous family commented on how nice it was and how much time it saved. Let me tell you – if they had this service at JFK, I would use it every time! However, we did arrive on a fairly small plane from London, so there weren’t that many people on the plane. Overall, though it was extremely simple, I don’t think it saved us that much time and energy. As a matter of fact, it caused us two problems. The first one was that we actually got out of customs so fast that our driver and translator hadn’t even arrived yet! No big deal – they arrived about 5 minutes after we got through customs. The bigger problem – my fault (kinda) was that the VIP guy asked for our passports and really expedited that process. But I had neglected to put the entry-exit form with our passports and he neglected to ask us for them. So when our driver met us, he asked to see the exit form that stays with our passport. We didn’t have it. So of course we had to go back in to get that form stamped. When we went back in, even the officials were saying it’s no big deal, but when we told our interpreter that, her comment is “they don’t know why you are here – you will need that for the adoption process”.
Summary: I would definitely recommend that service if you are coming in on a large plane. Maybe not if you are arriving on a smaller plane. If you do use it, make sure you and the expediter your passport and your forms that you just filled out so laboriously on the plane.
If you are staying in the same apartment:
• There is a valve under the sink in the bathroom. If you’re going to use the washing machine, this valve has to be turned a quarter turn (I think I remember clockwise – but it only goes one way). Don’t forget to turn it back the other way when you are done.
• Oh – speaking of the shower – don’t do dishes while your partner is in the shower. Flushing is also a bad idea.
• Saran wrap and paper towels are on the kitchen window shelf behind the curtains (we found these the third day – after working in the kitchen without…)
• Bring more that one adapter for power! There is one converter here
• The apartment seems to run warm – at least for us. Outside temps are running around 35-45 degrees at night.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Jeff - Day 4 - October 19 (eary morning!)
10/19 – Day 4 – SDA
Adjusting to the time is quite the challenge. I’m up a bit earlier than I need to be, so of course I spent the time reading other blogs! We talked to the facilitator last night, so I’m not worried about the SDA at all, but we’ll report on that later – right now, I want to talk about the DEBATE – Nastiya’s name!
First things first: the first name. Sue and I have been going back and forth on the spelling of Nastiya’s name. The anglicized version is obviously Anastasia. This is what Sue would prefer as it is the easiest and most recognized spelling for the name in America. I on the other hand, have been fairly vocal about using the spelling that is in the documents we have received so far: Anastasiya. I really think this is fairly important as she is giving up so much of her heritage just in the transition. This one is optional. And we will be asking her to change her nickname. Neither of us thinks that Nastiya will play well in the US. So in the middle of all of our own discussions, we were talking to the translator yesterday while we were touring. First, Sue found a translation on one of the posters in the church that translated the name as Anastasia (there is a Saint Anastasya), and then she saw one of the paintings of the saint on a wall, and the spelling was Anastacia! Oh, jeez – more excitement. The translator said that the spelling on the documents that we received is correct, and that we should stick with that.
Now, about the middle name. I was just reading Richard’s blog (see the list at the bottom of this blog), and saw his section on the middle name. The translator relayed to us the same thing Richard has documented very well about the patronymic – the middle name in Slavic countries is based on the father’s name and must be changed. Our translator though it hugely amusing when I suggested “Jeffreyivna”. However, she did seriously say that it is considered bad luck to use another girl’s name as the new middle name – it should be last name. We did use Sue’s middle name as Connor’s middle name to honor his heritage. We were considering a standard girl’s name: Michelle or Helen for other family reasons, but now we will probably use Sue’s maiden name as Nastiya’s middle name as well. Last thing we need is bad luck!
On a side note: we picked up the cell phone that the last family was so kind as to leave here with a few grivna left on it. Our translator was shocked when I picked it up and had it ringing on my own blackberry in a few seconds. One of the simple things you can do internationally on a cell phone: dial the + sign and the regular US number – bingo! We now know what the number is for our loaner phone!
OK – off for breakfast, and then SDA.
Adjusting to the time is quite the challenge. I’m up a bit earlier than I need to be, so of course I spent the time reading other blogs! We talked to the facilitator last night, so I’m not worried about the SDA at all, but we’ll report on that later – right now, I want to talk about the DEBATE – Nastiya’s name!
First things first: the first name. Sue and I have been going back and forth on the spelling of Nastiya’s name. The anglicized version is obviously Anastasia. This is what Sue would prefer as it is the easiest and most recognized spelling for the name in America. I on the other hand, have been fairly vocal about using the spelling that is in the documents we have received so far: Anastasiya. I really think this is fairly important as she is giving up so much of her heritage just in the transition. This one is optional. And we will be asking her to change her nickname. Neither of us thinks that Nastiya will play well in the US. So in the middle of all of our own discussions, we were talking to the translator yesterday while we were touring. First, Sue found a translation on one of the posters in the church that translated the name as Anastasia (there is a Saint Anastasya), and then she saw one of the paintings of the saint on a wall, and the spelling was Anastacia! Oh, jeez – more excitement. The translator said that the spelling on the documents that we received is correct, and that we should stick with that.
Now, about the middle name. I was just reading Richard’s blog (see the list at the bottom of this blog), and saw his section on the middle name. The translator relayed to us the same thing Richard has documented very well about the patronymic – the middle name in Slavic countries is based on the father’s name and must be changed. Our translator though it hugely amusing when I suggested “Jeffreyivna”. However, she did seriously say that it is considered bad luck to use another girl’s name as the new middle name – it should be last name. We did use Sue’s middle name as Connor’s middle name to honor his heritage. We were considering a standard girl’s name: Michelle or Helen for other family reasons, but now we will probably use Sue’s maiden name as Nastiya’s middle name as well. Last thing we need is bad luck!
On a side note: we picked up the cell phone that the last family was so kind as to leave here with a few grivna left on it. Our translator was shocked when I picked it up and had it ringing on my own blackberry in a few seconds. One of the simple things you can do internationally on a cell phone: dial the + sign and the regular US number – bingo! We now know what the number is for our loaner phone!
OK – off for breakfast, and then SDA.
Jeff - Day 3 - Sunday, October 18
10/18 – Kyiv
Of course it was a challenging night. After being unable to sleep on the plane as usual, I was completely wiped. I napped for a few minutes while my loving wife made a nice dinner (shuka?) and then headed for bed after dinner. So after getting to bed pretty early on Saturday (OK - so I passed out at 9PM), what else could possibly happen but I end up wide awake at 3 AM. I read for a couple of hours, and fell asleep again to the white noise (not really) of the clock. Sue had been concerned about not starting until 11 – she is a die-hard tourist. Of course we didn’t even wake up until 9:30 moving slowly. Breakfast was a few cups of coffee and some fruit and yogurt. We tried three different methods for coffee – the Starbucks instant (yup – I got some just for the trip), the espresso maker (water goes in the bottom, then coffee, then the pot screws on top – put it on the stove and “steam” coffee is brewed), and Susie finally tried holding a filter over the cups and just pouring water through the coffee and filter. Probably best, but it took us a while.
Finally out and about with our interpreter/guide. We really had a tourist day: Volodymyr Church, the Golden Gate, St Sophia’s Church, St Michael’s Church, Independence Square, and European Square. These were the spots that our interpreter said were obligatory tourist spots. Pictures posted in the slideshow next to this blog. The churches were all fantastic.
The first one was still a working church . We went in to a packed church with the choirs and priests singing and people very actively moving about, praying to the reliquaries, lighting votive candles and walking out of the church backwards while genuflecting (I think – isn’t that what you call the act of making the cross?). It was a very elaborate exit. The church was an Orthodox church with many Ikons and frescoes. The part of this visit that I liked the most was the singing. There were actually at least two different choirs in two separate parts of the church, so the origin and the resonance changed completely when the choir singing would change. Coming from the type of church that we do, it was also interesting to see people praying to the reliquaries - kissing the glass and wiping it with the kerchief left there.
At St. Sophia’s, the women working there – not guides, not guards, but something in between, somehow got the idea that I was going to take pictures, which was not allowed. I did make an adjustment to the camera while we were inside, and I swear she came out of nowhere! I got told in not uncertain terms that I was not to take pictures – and then there was never a point through the rest of our visit where I was out of sight of one of the women. Every time I would turn a corner, another one would come walking around a different corner. Some of them were coincidence – that’s where they were stationed. But I just know that word got ahead of me so that they made sure they had an eye on the American tourist with the camera! One of the women took pity on us (me) and did explain the meaning of the six wings on the Seraphim.
Our interpreter was really fun to have along. She was greatly amused by our feeble skills trying to go-var-you pa-russki (speak Russian). That’s OK – we’re going to keep trying. Thank you, Pimsluer! I know enough to be able to tell people that my Russian skills are weak. I cannot get “hello” accurately – sheesh!
Finally, back to the apartment, and Susie used a quarter of our Chernobyl-sized cabbage to make a great stir-fry to go with our beef. Tomorrow we take care of the financial stuff (9 AM!) and then we have our first appointment at the SDA. Report to follow!
To my son: Spasiba! I love getting the text updates. Congrats on sweeps! (his marching band took top honors in the competition on Saturday). Wish we could have seen it – thank you for your patience with this process. Paka.
Time for bed – we’re only going to get 9 hours of sleep tonight! Spa-ky-ne noche!
Of course it was a challenging night. After being unable to sleep on the plane as usual, I was completely wiped. I napped for a few minutes while my loving wife made a nice dinner (shuka?) and then headed for bed after dinner. So after getting to bed pretty early on Saturday (OK - so I passed out at 9PM), what else could possibly happen but I end up wide awake at 3 AM. I read for a couple of hours, and fell asleep again to the white noise (not really) of the clock. Sue had been concerned about not starting until 11 – she is a die-hard tourist. Of course we didn’t even wake up until 9:30 moving slowly. Breakfast was a few cups of coffee and some fruit and yogurt. We tried three different methods for coffee – the Starbucks instant (yup – I got some just for the trip), the espresso maker (water goes in the bottom, then coffee, then the pot screws on top – put it on the stove and “steam” coffee is brewed), and Susie finally tried holding a filter over the cups and just pouring water through the coffee and filter. Probably best, but it took us a while.
Finally out and about with our interpreter/guide. We really had a tourist day: Volodymyr Church, the Golden Gate, St Sophia’s Church, St Michael’s Church, Independence Square, and European Square. These were the spots that our interpreter said were obligatory tourist spots. Pictures posted in the slideshow next to this blog. The churches were all fantastic.
The first one was still a working church . We went in to a packed church with the choirs and priests singing and people very actively moving about, praying to the reliquaries, lighting votive candles and walking out of the church backwards while genuflecting (I think – isn’t that what you call the act of making the cross?). It was a very elaborate exit. The church was an Orthodox church with many Ikons and frescoes. The part of this visit that I liked the most was the singing. There were actually at least two different choirs in two separate parts of the church, so the origin and the resonance changed completely when the choir singing would change. Coming from the type of church that we do, it was also interesting to see people praying to the reliquaries - kissing the glass and wiping it with the kerchief left there.
At St. Sophia’s, the women working there – not guides, not guards, but something in between, somehow got the idea that I was going to take pictures, which was not allowed. I did make an adjustment to the camera while we were inside, and I swear she came out of nowhere! I got told in not uncertain terms that I was not to take pictures – and then there was never a point through the rest of our visit where I was out of sight of one of the women. Every time I would turn a corner, another one would come walking around a different corner. Some of them were coincidence – that’s where they were stationed. But I just know that word got ahead of me so that they made sure they had an eye on the American tourist with the camera! One of the women took pity on us (me) and did explain the meaning of the six wings on the Seraphim.
Our interpreter was really fun to have along. She was greatly amused by our feeble skills trying to go-var-you pa-russki (speak Russian). That’s OK – we’re going to keep trying. Thank you, Pimsluer! I know enough to be able to tell people that my Russian skills are weak. I cannot get “hello” accurately – sheesh!
Finally, back to the apartment, and Susie used a quarter of our Chernobyl-sized cabbage to make a great stir-fry to go with our beef. Tomorrow we take care of the financial stuff (9 AM!) and then we have our first appointment at the SDA. Report to follow!
To my son: Spasiba! I love getting the text updates. Congrats on sweeps! (his marching band took top honors in the competition on Saturday). Wish we could have seen it – thank you for your patience with this process. Paka.
Time for bed – we’re only going to get 9 hours of sleep tonight! Spa-ky-ne noche!
Sue - Day 2 - Saturday, October 17
Sue – Saturday, October 17, 2009
Day 2 – Finishing the traveling to Kiev.
We arrived in London Heathrow airport around 7:00 am, and had to wait for a gate, since we were 15 minutes early. There had been no breakfast on the plane, just a yogurt and croissant a couple hours before landing, enough to make you feel good. Dinner was right after we took off, so almost 8 hours earlier. You certainly don’t starve on the long intercontinental flights, if you’re not picky. I thought everything was just fine.
We counted up the hours until we landed in Kiev, got our bags and contacts, and drove to the apartment where we will be staying… about 6 hours… hmmmm “I guess we better eat now, because there will not be another opportunity for some time”. Found a little British Pub type restaurant that served a marvelous breakfast plate, complete with fried eggs and bangers. I had Scottish Salmon with scrambled eggs; a tradition of sorts here. How fun to have our “Tea for Two” pot of tea!
The flight from London to Kiev was about 3 ½ hours. We were not on British Airways, a partner of American Airlines. We used AA points for our round trips, about 180,000 points total for the two of us.
If our plans change, and get bumped back, we may have to use more points or $$$ to get a different flight home.
After a slight mix-up with our VIP escort service, we met our translator and our driver, loaded up the van with our luggage, and took the somewhat long drive to the supermarket. Shopping was wonderful!! I could have a great time trying the many, many types of fish and dried fish, if we had more days here! We bought cabbage (HUGE!), some rice, fish, beef, cheese, bread, veggies, milk, kefir (a salted cultured milk-product, like liquid yogurt), eggs, butter; enough food for three days – and everything very similar to the products at home, only the packaging is not in English. This market, however, puts any of my local markets to shame with the variety and choice of so many things!
When we unpacked all the groceries back at the apartment, we could really feel the pain! It was 7:30pm Sat night, Kiev time, 5:30am San Jose time; we’ve been up for over 24 hours. I started dinner, and found it very disorienting with a strange kitchen, very little sleep, and different time zone. I made the fish, rice, and broccoli, keeping it as simple as possible. Jeff had passed out while I made dinner, and we both crashed by 9:30 or so.
We are very grateful that the Lord has seen fit to bring us this far. There have been no mishaps, no problems, and the flights have even come in early. We feel very blessed… very blessed indeed!
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3)”
Day 2 – Finishing the traveling to Kiev.
We arrived in London Heathrow airport around 7:00 am, and had to wait for a gate, since we were 15 minutes early. There had been no breakfast on the plane, just a yogurt and croissant a couple hours before landing, enough to make you feel good. Dinner was right after we took off, so almost 8 hours earlier. You certainly don’t starve on the long intercontinental flights, if you’re not picky. I thought everything was just fine.
We counted up the hours until we landed in Kiev, got our bags and contacts, and drove to the apartment where we will be staying… about 6 hours… hmmmm “I guess we better eat now, because there will not be another opportunity for some time”. Found a little British Pub type restaurant that served a marvelous breakfast plate, complete with fried eggs and bangers. I had Scottish Salmon with scrambled eggs; a tradition of sorts here. How fun to have our “Tea for Two” pot of tea!
The flight from London to Kiev was about 3 ½ hours. We were not on British Airways, a partner of American Airlines. We used AA points for our round trips, about 180,000 points total for the two of us.
If our plans change, and get bumped back, we may have to use more points or $$$ to get a different flight home.
After a slight mix-up with our VIP escort service, we met our translator and our driver, loaded up the van with our luggage, and took the somewhat long drive to the supermarket. Shopping was wonderful!! I could have a great time trying the many, many types of fish and dried fish, if we had more days here! We bought cabbage (HUGE!), some rice, fish, beef, cheese, bread, veggies, milk, kefir (a salted cultured milk-product, like liquid yogurt), eggs, butter; enough food for three days – and everything very similar to the products at home, only the packaging is not in English. This market, however, puts any of my local markets to shame with the variety and choice of so many things!
When we unpacked all the groceries back at the apartment, we could really feel the pain! It was 7:30pm Sat night, Kiev time, 5:30am San Jose time; we’ve been up for over 24 hours. I started dinner, and found it very disorienting with a strange kitchen, very little sleep, and different time zone. I made the fish, rice, and broccoli, keeping it as simple as possible. Jeff had passed out while I made dinner, and we both crashed by 9:30 or so.
We are very grateful that the Lord has seen fit to bring us this far. There have been no mishaps, no problems, and the flights have even come in early. We feel very blessed… very blessed indeed!
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3)”
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sue - Day 1 - Departure
Sue – Friday, October 16, 2009
Well, here I am at 30,000 feet, somewhere over Nevada.
Thursday was quite a day. I started out the morning dropping Falkor off with Pat. Loading the car with his two large tins of food for the 18 days, and his two beds (one for the house, one for the car), his five cans of dog food, two boxes of doggie biscuits, leashes, collar, bowl for food and travel water bowl, and several of his favorite toys. It almost seemed like he was taking more on vacation than I was!! Pat suggested I leave him, go return the shoes that didn’t fit Connor to the shoe store, and then return, so he gets the idea that I WILL return for him!
I stopped and got a 100 foot roll of heavy-duty plastic sheeting from the hardware store, and then to a large department store to get candy for the Ukrainian kids. Four different families who are adopting from the July campers group sent small packages to us to take for their children. Tracy took a photo album for A. of all the pictures from the trip to Disneyland. We had to leave early to come home, so we had no time to get to Costco to print out photos and put them in an album. Tracy took pictures of her looking through the album, which of course brought a tear to our eyes when Jeff and I looked at the photo. When Anastasiya is caught on film candidly, and not “posing”, she has such a joyous expression of little girl wonderment about her, that melts our heart. Then, the times she is pouting (and let me tell you, she is a profession pouter…), cracks us up! She is very expressive in her facial and body language – we can’t wait until she speaks English.
But I digress. So Thursday, when I dropped off Falkor, and picked up the tarp and TONS of Halloween candy, Pez dispenser stuff, and cards for both Connor and Anastasiya, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted! In the afternoon, I switched around the clothing we’re donating to the orphanage into a large duffle-type bag, and re-stuffed the very large black suitcase with the packages for the other kids, and the toys for A. I did – I bought a lot of wonderful toys for her… a Hannah Montana headset and player, and a Hannah Montana wig, so she can pretend she is a rock star (it has buttons for applause and cheering on it, so while you are “singing along”, you can push the applause button – cute. I have Disney princess flashlight, with various covers, so you can display Tinkerbelle and or Bambi on the wall…there are Halloween cookies you decorate yourself with the icing and sprinkles… large bouncy balls for the playground, but I deflated them, and brought along a pump and extra needles, and last but not least, many package of orange tic-tacs and bubble gum. There’s a lot more, but I can’t remember it all, because my living room became a staging area, with three suitcase spread out, and things going into them as you thought of them and/or bought them. We remembered our converter and adapters, so we can charge our cameras and laptop, and use our hairdryers/curling irons/shavers.
Later yesterday, we dropped off the suitcase of Connor’s clothing to Jill, who has Connor next school week. Jeff tried to get Connor’s laptop to work with her system, so he can do homework while there.
Jeff and I also went out into the yard where the storm had blown down a 5 year old plum tree I planted years ago. The trunk was not snapped, so we were able to push it back up – I hope it can recover. The long shoots had not been trimmed, because the weather was so unseasonably hot; we thought we had time in November to trim the fruit trees, but that storm was a little rowdy after such mild weather, and took us by surprise.
When I walked in the house after shopping and errands, and was thinking, “Wow, we are really doing okay with the packing and chores”, there it was, the distinct “boop!” every minute or so. Oh, darn!
So Jeff and I went on a seek and destroy mission to find out WHICH smoke alarm was on the blink… of course, it’s the retreat, which probably got overlooked when we changed batteries last spring. It seems at every turn there is something going wrong, some other chore pokes its head out demanding attention.
What we did NOT get to do was finish setting up all the fog machines and other Halloween stuff for Mary and Taylor.
So then, at 6:00 pm, I am still rearranging suitcases and all the gifts. I want everything to arrive undamaged and in perfect condition. So I packed and unpacked a bunch, until each suitcase was evenly packed. Gee, now it’s time for me to pack MY things… ha-ha… I had already picked out a few blouses, a couple jackets, and had packed the folding clothes days ago, so now it was simply putting everything else into plastic bags and finding a place for everything. Running out of juice – cord isn’t working right on this plane… we passed the Grand Canyon a few minutes ago – it’s stunningly beautiful, even from the air!
Okay, I’m back. Our flight from DFW to London Heathrow left on time, 4:45pm Dallas time. In Dallas we met some lovely people at the Admirals Club, Hugh and Barbara, and a group of people on a missions trip to Peru to spread God’s word. It was a nice stop. We are now about 2 hours from London. It’s 10:00 pm in San Jose, and we’ve been on this flight about 5 or 6 hours. Our altitude is 38,000 feet, and our ground speed is 633 miles per hour. They still give you hot meals on international flights, so after “dinner and a movie” I dozed off with all my earplugs, blinders, blanke,t and neck pillow. It’s better to try and sleep, because when you get to London, its morning, then another flight to Kiev, and getting to the apartment.
We were showing the folks in Dallas pictures of our vacation with Anastasiya, and it makes us excited all over again. She is such a vibrant, interactive, funny, charming, sweet, wisp of a girl! I can hardly wait to see her and throw my arms around her. We brought some games like Uno that you can play without speaking the same language. My understanding is that when adoptive parents are there, and the child’s school day is over, you go into the “green room”, which has tables, chairs, and is apparently quieter than the rest of the orphanage. We get to see the other children that came out on summer camp, and we can give them their packages that we’re bringing from their prospective parents. We are able to spend only about an hour a day with A. and I don’t know if the weather will be conducive to outside play time or not.
Last reports we looked at said it was lows of 31-38 degrees, and highs around 40-45 degrees. By Ukrainian standards, it is not quite winter yet. Winters are very bleak, cold, and have a LOT of snow! It will be fall there now, much like out Northeast. Being a spoiled An Jose resident, I consider anything below 35 degrees to be winter. Up north in Kiev, where we land first, and where the SDA is (the Ukrainian government agency in charge of adoptions) it is colder than the southern town near the Aziz Sea where the orphanage is.
We will get from Kiev to the southern town by an overnight train, which we think is about 16 hours. If we are lucky, we will get one of the sleeping cars, with two bunks so .we can stretch out. We are somewhat concerned about all of the luggage. We have one large workhorse black wheeled suitcase, a medium brown wheeled suitcase, and a large duffle that we checked. We each carried on our smaller wheeled suitcases with out toiletries and at least one day worth of clothes, along with any valuables and electronic accessories. We’re hand-carrying our coats, because it will be cold! With these 5 suitcases, Jeff’s backpack, and my very large traveling purse, it is going to be a challenge on the train, and in the car at the other end. Think little cars, like in France or Great Britain, not large American cars
This is truly an adventure. Jeff and I are excited, a little weary, and very happy that two legs of the trip to Kiev is almost over. We’re getting anxious to see Anastasiya again. The last time we saw her, she was in the security line at SFO with the other children, in her hooded white sweatshirt, with the pink and burgundy hearts on it, looking back at us over her shoulder and waving. That was July 25, and it is now Oct 16th, and we miss her.
Well, here I am at 30,000 feet, somewhere over Nevada.
Thursday was quite a day. I started out the morning dropping Falkor off with Pat. Loading the car with his two large tins of food for the 18 days, and his two beds (one for the house, one for the car), his five cans of dog food, two boxes of doggie biscuits, leashes, collar, bowl for food and travel water bowl, and several of his favorite toys. It almost seemed like he was taking more on vacation than I was!! Pat suggested I leave him, go return the shoes that didn’t fit Connor to the shoe store, and then return, so he gets the idea that I WILL return for him!
I stopped and got a 100 foot roll of heavy-duty plastic sheeting from the hardware store, and then to a large department store to get candy for the Ukrainian kids. Four different families who are adopting from the July campers group sent small packages to us to take for their children. Tracy took a photo album for A. of all the pictures from the trip to Disneyland. We had to leave early to come home, so we had no time to get to Costco to print out photos and put them in an album. Tracy took pictures of her looking through the album, which of course brought a tear to our eyes when Jeff and I looked at the photo. When Anastasiya is caught on film candidly, and not “posing”, she has such a joyous expression of little girl wonderment about her, that melts our heart. Then, the times she is pouting (and let me tell you, she is a profession pouter…), cracks us up! She is very expressive in her facial and body language – we can’t wait until she speaks English.
But I digress. So Thursday, when I dropped off Falkor, and picked up the tarp and TONS of Halloween candy, Pez dispenser stuff, and cards for both Connor and Anastasiya, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted! In the afternoon, I switched around the clothing we’re donating to the orphanage into a large duffle-type bag, and re-stuffed the very large black suitcase with the packages for the other kids, and the toys for A. I did – I bought a lot of wonderful toys for her… a Hannah Montana headset and player, and a Hannah Montana wig, so she can pretend she is a rock star (it has buttons for applause and cheering on it, so while you are “singing along”, you can push the applause button – cute. I have Disney princess flashlight, with various covers, so you can display Tinkerbelle and or Bambi on the wall…there are Halloween cookies you decorate yourself with the icing and sprinkles… large bouncy balls for the playground, but I deflated them, and brought along a pump and extra needles, and last but not least, many package of orange tic-tacs and bubble gum. There’s a lot more, but I can’t remember it all, because my living room became a staging area, with three suitcase spread out, and things going into them as you thought of them and/or bought them. We remembered our converter and adapters, so we can charge our cameras and laptop, and use our hairdryers/curling irons/shavers.
Later yesterday, we dropped off the suitcase of Connor’s clothing to Jill, who has Connor next school week. Jeff tried to get Connor’s laptop to work with her system, so he can do homework while there.
Jeff and I also went out into the yard where the storm had blown down a 5 year old plum tree I planted years ago. The trunk was not snapped, so we were able to push it back up – I hope it can recover. The long shoots had not been trimmed, because the weather was so unseasonably hot; we thought we had time in November to trim the fruit trees, but that storm was a little rowdy after such mild weather, and took us by surprise.
When I walked in the house after shopping and errands, and was thinking, “Wow, we are really doing okay with the packing and chores”, there it was, the distinct “boop!” every minute or so. Oh, darn!
So Jeff and I went on a seek and destroy mission to find out WHICH smoke alarm was on the blink… of course, it’s the retreat, which probably got overlooked when we changed batteries last spring. It seems at every turn there is something going wrong, some other chore pokes its head out demanding attention.
What we did NOT get to do was finish setting up all the fog machines and other Halloween stuff for Mary and Taylor.
So then, at 6:00 pm, I am still rearranging suitcases and all the gifts. I want everything to arrive undamaged and in perfect condition. So I packed and unpacked a bunch, until each suitcase was evenly packed. Gee, now it’s time for me to pack MY things… ha-ha… I had already picked out a few blouses, a couple jackets, and had packed the folding clothes days ago, so now it was simply putting everything else into plastic bags and finding a place for everything. Running out of juice – cord isn’t working right on this plane… we passed the Grand Canyon a few minutes ago – it’s stunningly beautiful, even from the air!
Okay, I’m back. Our flight from DFW to London Heathrow left on time, 4:45pm Dallas time. In Dallas we met some lovely people at the Admirals Club, Hugh and Barbara, and a group of people on a missions trip to Peru to spread God’s word. It was a nice stop. We are now about 2 hours from London. It’s 10:00 pm in San Jose, and we’ve been on this flight about 5 or 6 hours. Our altitude is 38,000 feet, and our ground speed is 633 miles per hour. They still give you hot meals on international flights, so after “dinner and a movie” I dozed off with all my earplugs, blinders, blanke,t and neck pillow. It’s better to try and sleep, because when you get to London, its morning, then another flight to Kiev, and getting to the apartment.
We were showing the folks in Dallas pictures of our vacation with Anastasiya, and it makes us excited all over again. She is such a vibrant, interactive, funny, charming, sweet, wisp of a girl! I can hardly wait to see her and throw my arms around her. We brought some games like Uno that you can play without speaking the same language. My understanding is that when adoptive parents are there, and the child’s school day is over, you go into the “green room”, which has tables, chairs, and is apparently quieter than the rest of the orphanage. We get to see the other children that came out on summer camp, and we can give them their packages that we’re bringing from their prospective parents. We are able to spend only about an hour a day with A. and I don’t know if the weather will be conducive to outside play time or not.
Last reports we looked at said it was lows of 31-38 degrees, and highs around 40-45 degrees. By Ukrainian standards, it is not quite winter yet. Winters are very bleak, cold, and have a LOT of snow! It will be fall there now, much like out Northeast. Being a spoiled An Jose resident, I consider anything below 35 degrees to be winter. Up north in Kiev, where we land first, and where the SDA is (the Ukrainian government agency in charge of adoptions) it is colder than the southern town near the Aziz Sea where the orphanage is.
We will get from Kiev to the southern town by an overnight train, which we think is about 16 hours. If we are lucky, we will get one of the sleeping cars, with two bunks so .we can stretch out. We are somewhat concerned about all of the luggage. We have one large workhorse black wheeled suitcase, a medium brown wheeled suitcase, and a large duffle that we checked. We each carried on our smaller wheeled suitcases with out toiletries and at least one day worth of clothes, along with any valuables and electronic accessories. We’re hand-carrying our coats, because it will be cold! With these 5 suitcases, Jeff’s backpack, and my very large traveling purse, it is going to be a challenge on the train, and in the car at the other end. Think little cars, like in France or Great Britain, not large American cars
This is truly an adventure. Jeff and I are excited, a little weary, and very happy that two legs of the trip to Kiev is almost over. We’re getting anxious to see Anastasiya again. The last time we saw her, she was in the security line at SFO with the other children, in her hooded white sweatshirt, with the pink and burgundy hearts on it, looking back at us over her shoulder and waving. That was July 25, and it is now Oct 16th, and we miss her.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Jeff - Final day before traveling to Ukraine
Here we are – it’s about 24 hours before we head for the airport. Funny – all the prep in the world, and there’s still 48 hours of stuff to do in the next 24 hours!
I have to give my dentist a huge thank you. I’ve had a tooth that’s been sensitive for a while. About two weeks ago, it got worse. My worry was that I would end up in Kyiv searching for an introduction to a Ukrainian dentist. I’m sure they’re all nice guys, right? But that’s absolutely something we didn’t need to fit in to the trip. So I turned my lack of previous action into a crisis for my dentist. He came through – as of 3 PM yesterday, I have a new crown. I was joking with a friend the other day about getting my appendix out before I go. Remember Dian Fossey? One of the things on her to-do list before she headed to the highland jungles of Africa!
It’s been a very interesting week as we come down to the wire. Several other families have sent us ‘care packages’ to take to their kids. The amount of love we have to carry to Mariupol is amazing. Fortunately, that’s the light load. For the more substantial items, we’re going to have a challenge when we get to Kyiv. All of the blogs have made it a point that we need to travel light. We’re not. I called American Airlines the other night to see what the restrictions are on luggage for international flights. When I was at Rackable Systems for four years, I traveled internationally quite a bit, so I still have Platinum status on American. Not sure what the standard limits are, but I was told that we can bring 2 checked bags each plus one carry-on and one personal item. The checked bags are limited to 50 pounds, and the carry-on items are 40 pounds combined. Between two people – that’s 280 pounds worth of stuff! Well, two of the 50 pound checked bags are already stuffed with toys and clothes and Halloween candy. The toys and candy have been provided by the families with kids that are over there, but the clothes that we are donating have come from multiple sources. The generosity of people who know where we are going is very heartwarming.
My own musings as we get closer have been influenced heavily by one of the thoughts that David shared with me last week, with some amazing coincidences of supporting events. Sometimes you just need to hear it from multiple sources.
One of the things David mentioned was that I can spend the time thinking about what it will mean to have a daughter. I have had a son for 16 years. I know what it means to be a father, right? Well, surprisingly it doesn’t mean a thing. Turns our girls are different. I was listening to a radio program yesterday that was talking about the impact that a father has on a teenage daughter. There were three aspects of this that I hadn’t really thought about before. The focus of the program was really around how a father’s words affect a girl, how fathers in today’s society are allowing their daughters to do things they probably don’t approve of, and how teens rebel to establish their own place in the world. Obviously, I’ve been living through this with a young man, but now I have to think differently. It’s really been nice to have this hiatus before we head to Ukraine to think about such things. And thanks to those who remind me to think of such things.
I’ve also been reading other blogs from people about to adopt and people who have just completed the adoption process fairly recently. Links are below, but two mentions: Thanks to Tracy for her conversations with God. And thanks to Mark and Laurel who adopted a young lady slightly older than Nastiya – the thoughts of those who have gone before have been hugely valuable to me in preparing for the next part of the journey – the part that lasts for ever
OK – back to the last minute things: you know – packing, picking up the last few items, one last sales call, dumping everything else on my buddy Eric…
Next blog from Ukraine. Poka!
I have to give my dentist a huge thank you. I’ve had a tooth that’s been sensitive for a while. About two weeks ago, it got worse. My worry was that I would end up in Kyiv searching for an introduction to a Ukrainian dentist. I’m sure they’re all nice guys, right? But that’s absolutely something we didn’t need to fit in to the trip. So I turned my lack of previous action into a crisis for my dentist. He came through – as of 3 PM yesterday, I have a new crown. I was joking with a friend the other day about getting my appendix out before I go. Remember Dian Fossey? One of the things on her to-do list before she headed to the highland jungles of Africa!
It’s been a very interesting week as we come down to the wire. Several other families have sent us ‘care packages’ to take to their kids. The amount of love we have to carry to Mariupol is amazing. Fortunately, that’s the light load. For the more substantial items, we’re going to have a challenge when we get to Kyiv. All of the blogs have made it a point that we need to travel light. We’re not. I called American Airlines the other night to see what the restrictions are on luggage for international flights. When I was at Rackable Systems for four years, I traveled internationally quite a bit, so I still have Platinum status on American. Not sure what the standard limits are, but I was told that we can bring 2 checked bags each plus one carry-on and one personal item. The checked bags are limited to 50 pounds, and the carry-on items are 40 pounds combined. Between two people – that’s 280 pounds worth of stuff! Well, two of the 50 pound checked bags are already stuffed with toys and clothes and Halloween candy. The toys and candy have been provided by the families with kids that are over there, but the clothes that we are donating have come from multiple sources. The generosity of people who know where we are going is very heartwarming.
My own musings as we get closer have been influenced heavily by one of the thoughts that David shared with me last week, with some amazing coincidences of supporting events. Sometimes you just need to hear it from multiple sources.
One of the things David mentioned was that I can spend the time thinking about what it will mean to have a daughter. I have had a son for 16 years. I know what it means to be a father, right? Well, surprisingly it doesn’t mean a thing. Turns our girls are different. I was listening to a radio program yesterday that was talking about the impact that a father has on a teenage daughter. There were three aspects of this that I hadn’t really thought about before. The focus of the program was really around how a father’s words affect a girl, how fathers in today’s society are allowing their daughters to do things they probably don’t approve of, and how teens rebel to establish their own place in the world. Obviously, I’ve been living through this with a young man, but now I have to think differently. It’s really been nice to have this hiatus before we head to Ukraine to think about such things. And thanks to those who remind me to think of such things.
I’ve also been reading other blogs from people about to adopt and people who have just completed the adoption process fairly recently. Links are below, but two mentions: Thanks to Tracy for her conversations with God. And thanks to Mark and Laurel who adopted a young lady slightly older than Nastiya – the thoughts of those who have gone before have been hugely valuable to me in preparing for the next part of the journey – the part that lasts for ever
OK – back to the last minute things: you know – packing, picking up the last few items, one last sales call, dumping everything else on my buddy Eric…
Next blog from Ukraine. Poka!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sue - We Leave in Two Days!
Sue – We Leave This Week!!!
Okay it is Wednesday; I just spent the better part of my afternoon using Connor’s laptop camera to film a video project with Bryan for Latin III.
So far, I have :
- Met with Marsha, turned over all the guardianship/medical consent papers, the forms with ALL the families involved, the forms with all of Connor’s medical doctor’s and emergency room info, the clothes he needs for the weekend at their house, and the band competition, and the meds he needs to take.
- Met with Jill, and turned over all the forms and meds mentioned above (not the clothes he needs for the 3 day band trip down south and for the 4 days with her, though…).
- Met with Kristine, and turned over all the forms/clothes/lunch stuff, etc. She has him the longest, through 3 days of no school.
- Met with Mary, who is running the Halloween scary house we do each year for the kids. She and her daughter, Taylor, are helping Connor pull it off with two other parents.
- Spoke with Larry (helping with Halloween)
- Spoke with Wendy – also helping with Halloween
- Spoke with and turned over papers to Mallik – doing the carpool each morning while we are away… needs to know where Connor will be and when he’s part of the carpool
- Met with Pat, who’s taking Falkor the WHOLE time we’re gone – Bless her!!! Gave her the Homeagain microchip info, vet and vaccination stuff.
- Met with Tami, who’s watching the cat and turtle and plants (both indoor and outdoor) and mail, and bird feeder,… and??? Turned over all related paperwork, including Homeagain microchip stuff, vet, and vaccination paperwork.
- Emailed all the teachers letting them know about the trip
- Gave the school office a copy of each family guardian/consent form, the master list of families and dates, the list of doctors, and the medical/prescription cards, and master calendar.
- Gave the band office a copy of everything, since Connor is going away on a 3 day band competition and he needs the consent forms and the medications he is on.
- Sent both my brother and Jeff’s brother a copy of the contact list.
- Emailed the church contacts.
- Packed one 45 pound suitcase that is filled with clothing/gift donations for the orphanage.
- Started packing a second suitcase, but I think I need to change to a duffle bag to stuff the clothes and then use the large suitcase for the toys, etc…
- Been cruising the stores for toys, clothes, and all kinds of supplies we might need over there (things like iodine tabs – they say don’t drink the water if you don’t boil it, and I have invisalign braces, so I have to brush and rinse both my teeth and braces every time I drink or eat… yikes!)
- 32 oz water bottle, iodine tabs, money pouches, electrical converters and transformer, oatmeal, coffee/tea bags, cold tablets, immodium, Tylenol, Airborne, vitamins, powder creamers, and a bunch of other medicine-type-stuff-you-don’t–usually-need-to-take-on-vacation, boots (it is very rainy and mid-30’s), winter coats, nice clothes for court, umbrellas, travel stuff (earplugs, eye patch, neck pillow), oh, and you know – all the usual stuff you travel with.
- Charged my camera.
So, for the past several weeks, I have done contact lists with everyone’s name/address/phone, and also a Master Calendar with the carpool info, so they know where he is, and where they are taking him, and basically almost everyone has a backup, in case of their own emergency.
About 3 weeks ago, Connor had a bad cough, but no fever, so I kept him home 2 days from school. The cough never got better, so the next week I took him to the family Dr. She put him on the Azithomax antibiotic. A week after finishing that medicine, he was not better completely, so back we went. She put him on Amoxocillin for 10 days. She said if he was not better after 5-6 days on THAT, to take him in for a chest x-ray, to see if he has “walking pneumonia”. Oh, NOOOOO! I guess she will try another med if he has it…Jeff just took him there – they just got back. I guess we will know tomorrow…
The thought of Connor being very sick while I am gone is a very bad feeling for a mother.
Seems that a LOT of kids at the high school have a cough, cold, or flu. Late last week, and early this week, ALL the families I spoke with or visited or met with to turn over supplies and forms, all had some sort of illness in their family, some mild, some severe. Then this week, I had a slight temperature, and a headache that would not quit. I pumped up with Airbourne, extra C, and Emergen-C, then took a nap yesterday afternoon. As of this morning, I have neither a temp nor a headache, so I guess I might have chased it away.
Connor, Jeff, and I all got our regular Flu Shots early in October, so I don’t know if this is simply a cold, or a very mild version of the flu, or what, but there is definitely a lot of illness circulating right now.
I have to say it here, because I don’t do this often enough, but, I am able to do all this running around and planning the practical stuff, and shop for the orphans, BECAUSE Jeff did all the Ukrainian paperwork, dossier, etc, etc, etc…!!!!!! I could not have done all this planning and doctor visits, AND tried to keep up with the travel documents! So BLESS that man in your prayers! I do!!! And I am very, very grateful I have him…(he’s going to blush when he reads THIS!) What a great team we make!
So, at this point, I only still have to
- Pack my own stuff for travel
- Drop off the clothing stuff to Jill, along with the 3 day Southern Cal band trip stuff for Connor
- Contact my tenants and make sure they all are on target… by the way, did I mention I have done two property turnovers since Anastasiya was here? One in August, and then a different tenant is moving out Oct 26th, when we are gone, so I did everything, lease signed, deposit, etc… the locksmith is all setup, as is the carpet cleaner, and the turnover is going to be “virtual”… never did this before! I’m a little nervous… but my realtor friend, Kathy, will help me out if something goes wrong. Two turnovers in two months is a lot, on top of all the adoption/Connor/travel stuff!
- Get the results from the chest x-ray today… and get any additional meds needed before we go.
- Try and download my pictures again, so I can delete a bunch so I have room on my digital camera.
- Clip the cat’s nails (fun!)
- Do Revolution (flea and heartworm meds) on cat.
- Drop off dog (tomorrow morning) to Pat’s house.
- Water inside plants (tomorrow)
- Do the turtle cage & feeding (tomorrow)
- Pick up some Halloween candy for Anastasiya
Why, I’m practically out the door! Don’t forget the passport!!
I cannot describe the stress, excitement, overwhelming feeling I have been living with; I guess I am MOST nervous about the Halloween night at my house… it will be the same big, scary, walk-through haunted house, at my home, without Jeff nor me being there… talk about a SCARY HALLOWEEN… what’s more scary than candles, and hundreds of strangers walking through your garage haunted house, when you’re not there??!!?? Of course, we have wonderful adults in charge, so, no worries, right?.… RIGHT?!
Well, God has brought us this far, so I am stepping out in faith and trust.
There have been setbacks all along this journey, to the point that I just shake my head…“Now what?!”
I feel that we are embarking on this journey in faith…and pray that God will help us.
James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend…. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Okay it is Wednesday; I just spent the better part of my afternoon using Connor’s laptop camera to film a video project with Bryan for Latin III.
So far, I have :
- Met with Marsha, turned over all the guardianship/medical consent papers, the forms with ALL the families involved, the forms with all of Connor’s medical doctor’s and emergency room info, the clothes he needs for the weekend at their house, and the band competition, and the meds he needs to take.
- Met with Jill, and turned over all the forms and meds mentioned above (not the clothes he needs for the 3 day band trip down south and for the 4 days with her, though…).
- Met with Kristine, and turned over all the forms/clothes/lunch stuff, etc. She has him the longest, through 3 days of no school.
- Met with Mary, who is running the Halloween scary house we do each year for the kids. She and her daughter, Taylor, are helping Connor pull it off with two other parents.
- Spoke with Larry (helping with Halloween)
- Spoke with Wendy – also helping with Halloween
- Spoke with and turned over papers to Mallik – doing the carpool each morning while we are away… needs to know where Connor will be and when he’s part of the carpool
- Met with Pat, who’s taking Falkor the WHOLE time we’re gone – Bless her!!! Gave her the Homeagain microchip info, vet and vaccination stuff.
- Met with Tami, who’s watching the cat and turtle and plants (both indoor and outdoor) and mail, and bird feeder,… and??? Turned over all related paperwork, including Homeagain microchip stuff, vet, and vaccination paperwork.
- Emailed all the teachers letting them know about the trip
- Gave the school office a copy of each family guardian/consent form, the master list of families and dates, the list of doctors, and the medical/prescription cards, and master calendar.
- Gave the band office a copy of everything, since Connor is going away on a 3 day band competition and he needs the consent forms and the medications he is on.
- Sent both my brother and Jeff’s brother a copy of the contact list.
- Emailed the church contacts.
- Packed one 45 pound suitcase that is filled with clothing/gift donations for the orphanage.
- Started packing a second suitcase, but I think I need to change to a duffle bag to stuff the clothes and then use the large suitcase for the toys, etc…
- Been cruising the stores for toys, clothes, and all kinds of supplies we might need over there (things like iodine tabs – they say don’t drink the water if you don’t boil it, and I have invisalign braces, so I have to brush and rinse both my teeth and braces every time I drink or eat… yikes!)
- 32 oz water bottle, iodine tabs, money pouches, electrical converters and transformer, oatmeal, coffee/tea bags, cold tablets, immodium, Tylenol, Airborne, vitamins, powder creamers, and a bunch of other medicine-type-stuff-you-don’t–usually-need-to-take-on-vacation, boots (it is very rainy and mid-30’s), winter coats, nice clothes for court, umbrellas, travel stuff (earplugs, eye patch, neck pillow), oh, and you know – all the usual stuff you travel with.
- Charged my camera.
So, for the past several weeks, I have done contact lists with everyone’s name/address/phone, and also a Master Calendar with the carpool info, so they know where he is, and where they are taking him, and basically almost everyone has a backup, in case of their own emergency.
About 3 weeks ago, Connor had a bad cough, but no fever, so I kept him home 2 days from school. The cough never got better, so the next week I took him to the family Dr. She put him on the Azithomax antibiotic. A week after finishing that medicine, he was not better completely, so back we went. She put him on Amoxocillin for 10 days. She said if he was not better after 5-6 days on THAT, to take him in for a chest x-ray, to see if he has “walking pneumonia”. Oh, NOOOOO! I guess she will try another med if he has it…Jeff just took him there – they just got back. I guess we will know tomorrow…
The thought of Connor being very sick while I am gone is a very bad feeling for a mother.
Seems that a LOT of kids at the high school have a cough, cold, or flu. Late last week, and early this week, ALL the families I spoke with or visited or met with to turn over supplies and forms, all had some sort of illness in their family, some mild, some severe. Then this week, I had a slight temperature, and a headache that would not quit. I pumped up with Airbourne, extra C, and Emergen-C, then took a nap yesterday afternoon. As of this morning, I have neither a temp nor a headache, so I guess I might have chased it away.
Connor, Jeff, and I all got our regular Flu Shots early in October, so I don’t know if this is simply a cold, or a very mild version of the flu, or what, but there is definitely a lot of illness circulating right now.
I have to say it here, because I don’t do this often enough, but, I am able to do all this running around and planning the practical stuff, and shop for the orphans, BECAUSE Jeff did all the Ukrainian paperwork, dossier, etc, etc, etc…!!!!!! I could not have done all this planning and doctor visits, AND tried to keep up with the travel documents! So BLESS that man in your prayers! I do!!! And I am very, very grateful I have him…(he’s going to blush when he reads THIS!) What a great team we make!
So, at this point, I only still have to
- Pack my own stuff for travel
- Drop off the clothing stuff to Jill, along with the 3 day Southern Cal band trip stuff for Connor
- Contact my tenants and make sure they all are on target… by the way, did I mention I have done two property turnovers since Anastasiya was here? One in August, and then a different tenant is moving out Oct 26th, when we are gone, so I did everything, lease signed, deposit, etc… the locksmith is all setup, as is the carpet cleaner, and the turnover is going to be “virtual”… never did this before! I’m a little nervous… but my realtor friend, Kathy, will help me out if something goes wrong. Two turnovers in two months is a lot, on top of all the adoption/Connor/travel stuff!
- Get the results from the chest x-ray today… and get any additional meds needed before we go.
- Try and download my pictures again, so I can delete a bunch so I have room on my digital camera.
- Clip the cat’s nails (fun!)
- Do Revolution (flea and heartworm meds) on cat.
- Drop off dog (tomorrow morning) to Pat’s house.
- Water inside plants (tomorrow)
- Do the turtle cage & feeding (tomorrow)
- Pick up some Halloween candy for Anastasiya
Why, I’m practically out the door! Don’t forget the passport!!
I cannot describe the stress, excitement, overwhelming feeling I have been living with; I guess I am MOST nervous about the Halloween night at my house… it will be the same big, scary, walk-through haunted house, at my home, without Jeff nor me being there… talk about a SCARY HALLOWEEN… what’s more scary than candles, and hundreds of strangers walking through your garage haunted house, when you’re not there??!!?? Of course, we have wonderful adults in charge, so, no worries, right?.… RIGHT?!
Well, God has brought us this far, so I am stepping out in faith and trust.
There have been setbacks all along this journey, to the point that I just shake my head…“Now what?!”
I feel that we are embarking on this journey in faith…and pray that God will help us.
James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend…. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
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