Next Step . . . Court . . . but When?

Our paperwork is complete and was turned in to the SDA in Kyiv on Friday. They have up to 5 business days to process and return to us. Once we have the documents back, we will have our court hearing the next business day. Sergey has scheduled a court hearing for May 3rd, but that appears to be impossible at this point. Because of the holidays, our court hearing will probably be on May 4th, 7th, or 11th. We have appealed to the SDA to process our paperwork so that we can be at court on the 4th since either of the other two dates will require us to change our return flight, which is scheduled for May 22nd. We have been warned by another family that return flights on Delta are sold out through the end of May, so are anxious to avoid any change to our tickets.

Elizabeth has been with us consistently since Wednesday and we are having a great time as a family. The girls are bonding and enjoying each others company. We are all ready to complete the adoption and return home, particularly Elizabeth. She was very displeased to learn that we still had 2 or 3 weeks left before we would leave Berdyansk. She is diligently working on English and corrects us to say “Elizabeth” when we call her “Olya”.

We continue with our routine, which includes schoolwork in morning, lunch, walking around town, dinner, and then a DVD in the room. However, later today, Kate’s sister, brother, and niece arrive so we will have some new variables to factor into our days. We are nervous about how our visit will be with them, particularly for Kate, the language barrier, and their interaction with Elizabeth.

We have spent very little time at the orphanage (and almost entirely without a translator) and have only seen a couple of the kids in passing. We went Saturday to give gifts that we have carried to Marina, Yana, Natasha, & Vika, but the director telephoned and requested we wait until she was there on Monday. All of the girls look fine and inquire about people in America. On Monday we plan to meet with each of them, give them the gifts and answer their questions.

Settling In

We are having a fantastic time while we enjoy some very pleasant family time together as we settle into a routine. We are not stressed at all by the adoption as Sergey competently navigates through the process. The issues that have occurred only impact the timeframe and Sergey has managed to minimize the effect of each little bombshell.

After posting our blog yesterday, we went to the orphanage to visit with Elizabeth. Initially we were the only visitors but, over the course of the next few hours, the orphanage became a very busy place. There is an Italian couple and 3 other American couples from North Carolina in Berdyansk to adopt children. By late afternoon, all 5 couples were at the orphanage conducting business with the Director or visiting with the children. Elizabeth showed Jean her photos on the walls – she is pictured as a top student in her grade and as a member of the orphanage track and field and soccer teams.

Jean spent most of the time with Elizabeth by working on teaching her English (looking at animal and science books and writing the words in both Russian and English.) Jim, Kate and Taylor were engaged in multiple hands of Uno. At one point, Elizabeth was summoned into the office and when she returned to us, asked if she could go to her room and get her pajamas. We were very pleased to hear that the Director had given her permission to come and spend the night at the hotel with us. After a while, our facilitator arrived and he confirmed we could take Elizabeth for the night. We proceeded to go out to dinner and then returned to the hotel and watched a movie before turning in for the night.

This morning we awoke and had breakfast and then began school work. Jim worked with Kate and Taylor on math, while Jean spent about an hour and a half working on phonics and word puzzles with Elizabeth. She did amazingly well with pronunciation and reading. Jim then stepped in and did some math with Elizabeth, to gauge where she is at grade-wise. They use different mathematical operator symbols here, so it took a while to figure things out, but she tenaciously worked through the problems that Jim gave her. She was doing math on the level with Taylor (grade 6), albeit slowly, but that was a good sign!

Midday we switched rooms – the upstairs room had a delightful balcony and view of the sea, but was a little too small. The afternoon will include a visit to the billiard room here at the motel, lunch out somewhere (probably Hotel Berdyansk again!) and then a trip back to the orphanage. Kate’s half-sister Lena called this morning to discuss her upcoming visit – Jean took the call without the assistance of a translator – an interesing call! But, on a good note, Lena said that she could understand what was being said (mostly)! We expect her this weekend by train, perhaps with her 4 year-old daughter Vika and Kate’s half brother, Sasha. Should be an interesting time for all!

Wait … Wait … RUSH!

Adoption in Ukraine is mostly a game of waiting around and then rushing around. We waited for our second SDA appointment on Monday by staying at our friend’s home. They were incredibly gracious hosts and we cannot thank them enough for their hospitality. We enjoyed our conversations with them, particularly learning more about Ukraine’s history and culture.

Our 2 p.m. appointment on Monday occurred without a hitch. We spent 5 minutes with the psychologist and were informed that our referral would be ready that afternoon. During this conversation, we were provided a little more detail into Olya’s past. Tickets had been secured for a 5:50 train, so we returned to gather our bags and make our way to the train. While we waiting on the train to depart, Yulia, our Kyiv manager, brought us the referral documents.

Following the 11½ hour train and 1½ hour taxi ride, we arrived in Berdyansk at 7 a.m. (We pushed the limit of how many people and bags could fit in a car…our friendly driver Vova met us at the station – but his trunk is 2/3 full with a propane tank – the alternate fuel system.) Fortunately, we were able to check into the hotel at that hour and we began to settle in while Sergey, our facilitator, went to work to garner the signatures required that would allow us to go to the orphanage and visit with Olya. It was initially thought this would take a couple of hours.

Finally at 4:30 pm, we received word that our documents were signed and we would be able to visit Olya. She was waiting for us in the director’s office…it was joyful re-union! It was so wonderful to see her, and all three girls together at last. With the local inspector looking over her shoulder, she quickly completed the document in which she requests permission for the court to permit her adoption by us, and to change her name: Elizabeth Olga Henry it is! The director and doctor gave us her background information and also informed us that she is confined to the infirmary for a few days while she gets over bronchitis. So, that means we cannot take her outside at all, but we will be allowed to do so soon. She is in very good spirits and is more than ready to join our family. We left her after a couple of hours, and then went food shopping.

Our motel is very nice (only drawback is the lack of nearby internet access) and is well situated – our room has a great view of the sea (over the roof of the hovel next door), and the weather is warming up. Today (Wednesday) Kate and Taylor did school work on our little balcony. We feel a lot more settled now that we have installed ourselves here. After a short cab ride and lunch downtown, we will return to the orphanage for a few hours with Olya.

Their have been some challenges with gathering the documents, but Sergey is doing a great job running down the issues. The biggest difficulty is that key officials are on vacation and that major national holidays are looming. Beginning next week, there are roughly 10 days of holidays. From April 29 through May 11th, government offices, banks, etc. will be closed with the exception of a couple of days, but even those work days are not fully defined as of now. It seems that holidays such as May day or Victory day require a couple of days pre- and post to celebrate. Some have suggested to us that the additional days are required as a form of “recovery”. Sergey is working diligently to manage around these holidays and in his best case scenario is hoping for a court date on May 3 or 4. Unfortunately, a key document from the SDA was not provided and Sergey is currently working to determine a way to proceed while they resolve that issue. This is the same document that went missing during our adoption of Kate – we hope for a quicker resolution of the issue this time around!

We have seen many people here! We saw Sharon Liddle in Kyiv, after she left Deb and Dale Richards in Kharkiv. We met the Stack family in Kyiv, and just saw them briefly here in Berdyansk along with the Sabatini family and someone else – possibly Romy from VA Beach. (We spied them from our balcony – we think they were checking out our motel and believe they will return to check in later today.) More families are here – the Hustons and others, and we’re sure our paths will cross. It’s nice to have the company!

Kate and Taylor wished to especially pass along their greetings to all, and are looking forward to writing a blog entry soon themselves. Kate is currently writing a book (!) and Taylor has finished reading all (10-12) of her books …so now she is re-reading them! Between school work, visiting Olya, and running around Berdyansk – we are keeping very busy!

Weekend . . . . Kyiv

We had our appointment at the SDA at 2 as planned. We waited on the stairs while they searched for Olga's file. At first they came back and said that they could not locate it. Then they came back and said - Sorry! She's not even in our database - and is not registered. A few minutes later, the assistant director appeared and said that she HAD located Olga's files -- but that she was not available for adoption until this weekend, so we could not stay for our appointment - we must come back on Monday. Ok then - "slight mistake." We are disappointed by the delay, but considering the disaster we seemed to be on the brink of...we'll take it. We will find out tomorrow when our appointment is on Monday.

So we are headed back to our friend's house (thank goodness for them!) for a couple more days. Then we will likely return to Kyiv for the weekend and perhaps do some site seeing. Kate didn't get to see any of the famous places last time -- we left so quickly! We did get to see some of the demonstrations today -- very organized and peaceful, and some good music too! (They play it very loudly in Independence Square between speakers.)

Quick Update

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who have been impacted by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. We pray that the college students from our community are safe.

Our travels went without incident and we have spent a wonderful day with our very generous and hospitable friends in their home. Our appointment at the SDA is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday. We will provide more details and photos in our next update.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers!

We're Off!

Our journey has begun! We packed up a rental car and are on our way to JFK. We elected to drive to JFK and not risk a canceled Richmond to JFK flight due to the ongoing storm. Tomorrow we will continue our drive to JFK and be on our way to Kiev. We look forward to our arrival in Kiev on Tuesday.

We depart with high expectations for many adventures and great confidence in the outcome. In addition to our adoption of Elizabeth, we have the following highlights scheduled during our trip.

1. Upon our arrival in Kyiv, we will be staying at the home of our Ukrainian friends Laurissa & Sergey. We are looking forward to catching up with them, exploring their newly built home, playing with their 4 year old daughter Marianna, meeting their sheep dog Gera (who is advertised to have "a temper of sofa pillow"), and enjoying the incredible hospitality of these friends.
2. Kate's brother and sister (Sasha & Lena) will both be traveling from Kharkiv to Berdyansk to visit with us during our time there. Lena will be with us for about 10 days, while Sasha will be with us for a couple of days before he needs to return to work. We have remained in contact with them since Kate's adoption and everyone is looking forward to the visit with each other.
3. Explore real estate properties in Berdyansk for potential purchase by Heart for Orphans in order to provide a group home for children graduating out of the orphanage.

We have the following prayer requests:
Safe travels.
Good fellowship with our friends in Kiev.
Kate's return to Ukraine and visits with her sister and brother.
Our referral to Berdyansk to be provided to us on the day of our appointment, the 19th.

Бог Похвалы! (Praise God!)

Olya at the Wishing
Chair in Berdyansk, October

We received our appointment date (April 19th) and we are very excited to be in the final stages of welcoming Elizabeth home. Elizabeth's bedroom is nearly redone and our travel plans are complete. Just a few more days and we will be on our way. Бог Похвалы!

We began this very unexpected journey in Dec. 2005 when Olya (Olga's nickname -- she has asked to have her name changed to Elizabeth) was a guest at our house. We entered the hosting arrangement with no thoughts of another adoption, but God had a different plan for us.

After much prayer and family discussion, we decided to begin the process of adopting Olya. We were very, very fortunate to be joined in this pursuit by 6 other families answering God's call to adopt. We came together through informal gatherings and quickly grew into a community. A community of fellowship, prayer, encouragement and friendship.

Without them this journey would have been exceedingly difficult and painful and we thank each one of them for their support and prayers. What a blessing this journey has already been for us. Бог Похвалы! Thank you!!