Sunday in Kyiv

With the steadfast and amazing help of Sergey P., we succesfully obtained the court documents from Berdyansk late Thursday. Our last full day there featured an exit meeting with the orphanage director to review Elizabeth’s school records and saying our final goodbyes. For Elizabeth, she seemed to have gotten over the sad emotions of the previous days, and was able to depart with a smile and a wave. The director gave her a cookbook and a box of chocolates. All that she took with her were a few items of clothes, her pink backpack, and her picture albums. In the evening, we had one last dinner at the Hotel Berdyansk, walked home via the waterfront arcade, and turned in early.

Friday morning, we left at 3 am in a van, with us nodding off and the girls sleeping in the back row. At 7:10 am, we pulled in to Zyrubinsk, Elizabeth’s birth town. We watched the town square come to life, with the fish mongers laying out their still- hopping fish and the other vendors setting up their tables. It was a small, poor town. Elizabeth said she remembered living with a younger half sister several years ago.

Sergey worked his magic and obtained a new birth certificate and sent some fax documents off to various places. His work preparing the way for this day payed off, as we were able to quickly hop back in to the van and continue on 30 minutes to Kherson, the regional center. There we finalized Elizabeth’s vital records and were on our way to Zaporizhia by mid-morning. After lunch at a roadside café, we piled back into the van and arrived in the city at 4 pm. We waited outside the passport office building and at 5 pm Sergey emerged to inform us that we would need to spend the night at a hotel and pick up Elizabeth’s Ukrainian passport at 10 am. This was as expected, so we unloaded ourselves in to a nice 2 room suite at the Hotel Ukraine and enjoyed a nice dinner in the restaurant there. Then we caught “Shrek 3” at the movie theater next door. (in Russian of course!)

By the way, we are experiencing an incredible heatwave here! It has been climing steadily into what must be the low 90s. We have “deep-sixed” most of our warm clothes and shoes, and are living in tank tops and shorts!

Saturday, Jean and Sergey arrived at the passport office and picked up the documents without incident, and gave each other a big high-five on the way out. We decided to go to the market to buy some lightweight clothes and also search for a few desired items. The market was astoundingly large, with hundreds of clothing, shoe, and food stalls lining the hill area of the city. We slithered our way through the stifling and tight walkways (about 5 feet between stall and hundreds of people streaming in each direction), found what we wanted and headed out of there.

We checked out of our room at noon, and hung out for a while in a local square. However, it was so hot, we opted to return to the hotel lobby and wait around watching a dvd. We left for our train at 7 pm and said our goodbyes to Sergey. We could not thank him enough for his effective management of this adoption. We offered to host him is he ever decides to visit the USA.

The train ride was just fine, and to our surprise and relief, featured an air conditioned train. We answered the 5 am conductor’s knock, and piled onto the platform in Kyiv an hour later. Our driver wisked us to a nearby flat, a rather spacious 2 bedroom spot just up the street from our favorite restaurant. We are having a relaxing day and will meet our Kyiv friends Sergey and Laurissa, and hopefully Rob and Laura Passanita, there for dinner.

Monday we need to be up early for Elizabeth’s medical exam and then get to the US Embassy for our 11:30 am appointment. We hope to obtain her visa by 5 pm, but have been told that even if we don’t, it should be ready by 8 am. So, we are keeping our Tuesday midday plane tickets and Lord willing, we’ll be home that night!!!!! : ) (9:00 pm, Richmond) Thanks all, for staying tuned, for writing and for praying.