Life in Kyiv, Ukraine

Well, we’re here!!! After 3 pretty uneventful flights, we made it to Kyiv, Ukraine on Wednesday at about 1pm local time. Praise God that all our luggage made it as well (we really rejoiced when we saw our suitcase with our coats in it because it’s pretty cold here now & snowing off and on). We went through customs without a hitch and even when we tried to go through the line to “declare” what we had, the little man working said “are those your clothes in those bags?” – we said “yes” and then he said “then go around” and he pointed to the nothing to declare lane. It was that simple and we were out! We have great coordinators on both the US and Ukraine side so we knew exactly what to expect at the airport and didn’t have any trouble navigating. We stayed up until 3:30 am on Monday night packing and then traveled for 24 hours with only a couple hours of sleep on the plane, so we were exhausted! We stopped on the way to the apartment to exchange a little money and then went into a grocery store to buy some food essentials for the next few days. After spending less than $12, we were out of there and headed to our apartment. We were determined to stay up until it was time to go to bed so we would adjust to the new time.

This is the view from our apartment window. Sort of reminds me of Mary Poppins when you see all the rooftops!

Jack standing on the balcony taking his picture – look at all the snow!!!

Our apartment – this is what I call the Living Bedroom! I’m “Skyping” the kids which has been great! After very little sleep even the thin European 6″ mattresses sleep well!

Our cute little kitchen – we haven’t really cooked much… just sandwiches, but we did buy some eggs that we’ll cook for breakfast & they look just like ours that we gather from the chickens at home – chicken poop and all! You know what I’m talking about, Mom!

This is our bathroom – much nicer than the one we had in Russia! The water does back up in the shower and there is no curtain, but everything works pretty well! So glad to be clean!

We slept 12 hours last night and were up and ready to leave the apartment this morning for our noon appointment at the SDA (State Department on Adoption). They were running a little behind, so we had to wait in the hall for a while. After we sat down, we both looked at each other but didn’t say anything. The woman in front of us had three files for three children, but all three pictures were of little boys! I didn’t know if we should say something or wait and see if she was going to pull out different papers with our girls faces or what. Well, sure enough, she started reading off of those documents and to our surprise, she read our girls’ names and brief background info. She handed us the papers and asked if these were the girls we wanted to adopt. We looked really close at the pictures and I could start to see the resemblance of Zhenya in the oldest child. They were our girls… the pictures were just taken 5+ years ago and they all had little boy haircuts and no smiles on their faces. Relieved that we had received the correct referrals, we left the SDA and went across the street to a little outdoor flea market to pick up some gifts for our children at home – can’t wait to show you guys!

Tonight, we went to dinner with Renee and Randy McAlpin who are also here adopting a child they hosted. We ventured to a Ukrainian “Piccadilly-style” restaurant. There was a lot of buffet food and everything had cute little signs telling what the food was & prices for how much by weight, but it was all in Russian! We did our best to guess or ask in Russian and then just took a chance. It was pretty good and we tried some new things. Dinner for us both was about $11 total, so not bad!

Jack tried all kinds of things – he’s way more adventurous than I am! Nothing tasted bad, however – just different.

After dinner, we went by a little market to pick up some toilet paper (there’s just 1 roll in the apartment), paper towels and shampoo. Wish I had pictures of the store! It’s in the basement of a big building and it is broken up into probably 10 or more rooms – each has a different “specialty” and cashier. We spent most of our time in a room that seemed to carry only household/hygiene products (jam-packed space about 12′x12′). Jack didn’t really enjoy me trying to discuss with the cashier about the thickness and softness of toilet paper or if they had body wash and not just bar soap. After some charades, help from several people standing by, and my limited Russian, we had it! The woman in the shop was very patient… a little amused perhaps, but very helpful.

On our way back to the apartment from dinner in Independence Square.

We’re going to do a little sight-seeing tomorrow thanks to Ksenia. We’ll take more pictures of the city and post them!

We’re missing home, but having a good time together on a new adventure. We have felt God’s hand along the way and know we’re exactly where we are supposed to be. We’d like things to move a little quicker, but we’re trusting His timing (we’re on day 3 of this trip with 21 more to go). We have great people here in Ukraine helping us each step of the way. We will pick up our official letter from the SDA tomorrow which will allow us to go to the orphanage. We will travel Saturday overnight on the train and check into our hotel on Sunday. Monday, we get to see the girls! Pray for them – that they are ready to be officially part of our family. They are leaving behind so much. I cannot even imagine the weight of their decision, but I know God has an amazing plan for their future and my prayer is that they will trust us and take a huge leap of faith to just come home.