We have our court date!

Monday, March 4th at 11AM (4AM NC time:) - yeah!

It's knots for everyone...

Well today was much the same as yesterday except I had the bracelet rings figured out.  Or I thought I did...  N, a young lady we met this past summer during the hosting program, showed up and jumped right in.  The day started out with the girls doing nails and me getting out the preloaded bracelet rings to get ready for the expected rush.  The rush never came and the kids had a terrible time figuring out my wordless instructions so they all gave up except for one little boy who hung in there with me until the ipad came out.  You can see him in this shot doing some coloring.

N came off the sidelines and decided to join in.

Electronics will win every time.  We downloaded some English learning games that were supposedly free.  WRONG!  They were free for the first level then they wanted you to pay.  There was a carnival game that even wanted you to pay per round.  Lesson learned.  Stick with the apps that charge you up front.  Shortly before the ipad sucked everyone in, A and M showed up.  M was called away by an adult but we did get to spend a little bit of time with A.

3..2..1.. Jon's Done

Time went by too quickly today.  When time was up, we said our goodbyes with hugs all around.  I normally don't look for hugs so it was a nice surprise when Anya decided to give me a hug.  Monday Betsy and I both have to work so there won't be a blog update.  I can't wait to see these kids on Tuesday.  Maybe by then I'll have the bracelets figured out for them...

Nails and Knots

Nail painting today and we took along string and a kit for making bracelets but we didn't do enough homework beforehand so tonight we are sitting in our apartment working on some bracelets so we can go back and do them with the kids.   We sat in an open area today - not sure Y was thrilled about all the kids there especially a couple of the boys who were a bit on the mischievous side.    We started off with Y and I doing our nails, her sister sure did pick out some good colors of polish for us.     One of the boys had the camera and took some interesting pics and videos but it was all good fun.   You just wish you could take them all home or some how give them a bright future.    After visiting at the orphanage we had a bite to eat and some great conversation with a wonderful lady who has a huge heart for these kids and visits them every week.    She also translates letters and gives to the kids and takes them packages we send.

Wow - some bright colors!

Jon working on getting out some knots in the string and happy to have such good company.

Yes that pink protrusion is his ear the boys were fascinated by the cardboard disks in the bracelet kit.

Again with the ears.

Hands, hearts and shoes!

Hey look we really didn't forget about our blog and all the folks out there anxious for a look or the ones that just don't have anything better to do;)    The last few days we have had some nice visits with Y and some with her bff A.    I learning how easy it is to fall for these kids they are always so excited to see us Americans there visiting and are quick with a "Halo" or a "goodbye" and they do play a mean game of UNO.

Electronics are good on days like this when we forget stuff.

(Friday the 15th) Today was shower day so kids were a bit delayed.     Good thing as Jon and I ventured out on foot a bit around our apartment looking for the Mini Market but some how we got turned around and ended up going to two little markets.    Our driver Yevgenny drove up when we were almost back to our apartment.  We were super brave and got some kind of pastry with what we believe to be chicken in it and it looked like the Russian word chicken was on the label - so far so good - I had a little bit of it and Jon the rest but I have tums, alka seltzer and some stronger digestive aids if necessary.    It is really hard doing just little things like walking to the mini market in your block and getting a couple of items.    We also made an errand to get sweet Y a pair of sneakers and some socks as the thick fur lined boots she has been wearing were obviously way too hot and have been worn way too many years by people.    Of course we didn't have our cash with us so gracious Yevgenny brought us back to our apartment to get it, then off to find some shoes.   As we were going back to car we found someone had parked directly behind us, beside us, and the remaining sides were cement walls.   In America we would most likely just wait for one of the other drivers to return - but not here - with a full three quarters of an inch to spare total between the two cars it was back and forth, wiggle, wiggle and I cannot believe he got the car out - we had a little celebration of cheering.   The sad thing is I am not exaggerating - there literally was less than half an inch on either side to spare.

Jon trying to distract Y by mimicking her screen locked eyes .

(Thursday the 14th) On Valentine's Day we hand made a card for Y along with some candy and gum and also a card for A and a couple packs of gum.   Jon taught us all how to play "Fast Hands" and we had some good laughs.    We did try and throw the football around but readily got scolded by the stern guard lady.   Who knew you couldn't play ball in the house:)   Our facilitator rode back with us and was dropped at the train station so he could get to Kiev to submit our paperwork - I mentioned I really was hungry for pizza so he said come with us and we will go to a little pizza shop near the train station and I will order for you before I get on the train.   He has really been super accommodating and we are very thankful to have some one who knows the process so well.   And the super wonderful Yevgenny gave me the cutest little bouquet of petite white flowers all bound together with a few big leaves.   A very good Valentine's day.

Sweatheart!

Learning "Fast Hands"

Gotcha!

Go ahead smile, I promise Jon isn't behind you making rabbit ears.

(Wednesday, the 13th)  A couple of the boys accompanyied us and played some marathon UNO with us.

Time for a Full Visit...

Ok, I was a bit nervous today as we packed up to go.  We were going to have two hours of time and I didn't know if we would be able to fill it without electronic aids.  Another family that recently adopted brought UNO cards so we shamelessly borrowed the idea and did the same.  UNO was a hit.
I forgot how bad I was at it but everyone went easy on me.  Except that is for my loving wife. :-)  My card shuffling received a comment that seemed to be something along the lines of "Silly Americans only they shuffle cards that way."  We'll see if the cards get the same reception tomorrow.  We were whisked into a classroom today so we didn't get to see the other kids.  However Y was able to snag her friend A and bring her along.  Good thing too since we had a present from some friends in the states for her.

 











Following cards Y found some English/Russian flash cards.  Y and Betsy absolutely ran circles around me.  They're much smarter than yours truly :-)

See you tomorrow!!!

Sorry folks.  not too many other pictures.  You can only take but so many pictures of people sitting around a table...

All Aboard! 1000 Kilometers Later...

What a happy day.   Finally, after six months we got to hug our sweet Y.    And yes, I cried but really good kind of tears.    The train was actually quite comfortable accept the very Ukranian high thermostat settings.   So just a side note in case anybody visits here in the winter it will be about 85 degrees in every building, car, train but the exception is apparently orphanages.    I was expecting a much more cramped ride on the train and maybe some motion sickness but honestly I was able to get some sleep between stops and the train noise was even kind of soothing.   Although travelling 14 hours in any mode is a bit tiring.    We got into Simferopol around 10:10 this morning and off to government office then to notary we went, then at last to the orphanage to see Y and spend some time with her.  Then off again to govenment office and notary and then had a nice meal with our new friends and our facilitator and finally to our apartment where we (by we I think mostly Jon) to unpack and settle in for a few weeks stay.     We are up and running again and even though it's only about 7:00 feel ready for bed.    And impatiently waiting to Skype with Hailey as we missed yesterday.  OK - now for the pics:

Tickets please...
 

What a feeling to see her again!

Papa got a huge bear hug!

Sweet, wonderful hugs for Mama too!

Let it Snow!

Well I have to say yesterday was definitely an emotional biggie so unexpected but so amazing my brother is getting a whole new healthy life.    Haven't heard any updates on the plan so still assuming we will leave for Simferopol tomorrow and finally get to see kind and sweet little Y on Monday.

We had beautiful big snow today and Jon and I ventured to the mall.  We went to a little coffee place and I ordered what I thought was a nice big mug of coffee but it was a hot adult beverage of some type most likely wine with a lot of fruit in it.   And what else but a slice of NY cheese cake to accompany it with a wonderful little yellow/orange fruit on top that was about the size and shape of a cherry tomato.

We had dinner on Thursday evening with the other couple here who are adopting V from the summer hosting program we had a very nice dinner in Kiev whilst our driver went somewhere for about an hour, thinking maybe he had to get copies of the paperwork from SDA made but we didn't ask, figure if we need to know they will tell us.

St. Andrews church lit up at night

A family we will get to know well over the next weeks

Great little pizza/italain joint where we ate dinner

Smiles everyone

Sidewalks, not just for walking

 Our Saturday adventures in the snow!

At the mall

New fallen snow - pretty

Let it snow!

Anyone claustrophobic

Always check your hair before going out

 


















Just were told our travel plans and we will be booted from our apartment at 11AM tomorrow morning and hang out somewhere and then our train to Simferopol departs at 8:11PM.   Yeah - here we come Y!

I just got the best update on my brother - his numbers are great and he got up and walked further than any post transplant patient they have seen - they are planning on moving him out of ICU tomorrow - I am feeling surges of happiness coming out in tears and I just can't say enough prayers of thanks.   My brother has had people all over the world praying for him.    And now I am confident Hailey and Y will have an uncle around for many years to come.   OK - need to go pull myself together now...

Out of the Blue

It is completely unrelated but an amazing blessing came to our family today.  Betsy's brother has been waiting for a pancreas and kidney transplant and he got the call today.  He went into surgery five hours ago!  Please pray for a successful outcome and recovery.  While this is a blessing for our family, it is a tragedy for another. An eighteen year old child lost their life to bring this blessing.  Please pray for the family that lost a loved one so that my brother in law might live.   Thank you Lord and we desperately wish we were there to support you Mark!

If we had not been delayed traveling to Simferopol we would not have gotten this news in time and Betsy wouldn't have been able to call during the surgery.  God works in mysterious ways.  I can't describe just how thankful I am right now.

The Sun Finally breaks through : SDA Appointment Day

Today was the day! As some of you may already be aware, Y was visited last week by an Italian family looking to adopt her.  She kindly told them that she was waiting for her American family and turned down their offer to adopt.  Those poor souls then had to take the overnight train ride back to Kyiv to find another child.  Now mind you I'm not upset in the least that Y turned them down.  Quite the opposite in fact we were both happy and relieved.  However, I can only imagine the other families pain and frustration of traveling overnight via the train only to be forced to return again and repeat the process all over again.  The problem for us and what really worried us was that when a family is given SDA permission to adopt a child that child becomes unavailable.  That meant that we could be walking into the SDA office when the Italian family had not yet returned and released their claim on Y.  If that was the case, then we would have to ask for another appointment and wait until they did return to be able to adopt her.  The fact that the social worker couldn't find Yulia's paperwork didn't help my nerves much either.

As it turns out all of our worrying was for naught Yulia's paperwork was located and we have been approved to start her adoption process!  For such an important event (at least for us) and for all of the work leading up to it, the actual approval process went very quickly.  We answered two questions and signed two pieces of paper and we were done.  We walked out of that office on cloud nine.

Unfortunately one of those branches I mentioned earlier jumped out and bit us.  Shortly after our appointment with the SDA, our coordinator called to inform us that we would not be traveling to Simferopol until Sunday.  The orphanage is going through a big review and we will not be granted approval to see Y until after the review.  Something had to bring us back down to earth didn't it?  So we will make the most of the wait.  We will plan on studying up on our caveman Russian and doing some more exploring of the nearby attractions.  Also on the to do list will be to put together some pictures of us in Kyiv to send to Y.  Hopefully they will get there before we do!

The weather around here has not been exactly cheery.  The photo above was actually an accidental shot that just happened to catch the sun.  Even the bright colors of the church next to the SDA office were dulled by the cloud cover.  The church itself was amazing.  We happened to be there during a

service and were privileged to hear a priest and a woman (nun?) chanting while we were taking in all of the amazing paintings and carvings.  I say chanting but it really sounded like singing.  The experience will be one that I remember for years to come.  Svetlana, the wonderful woman who helped us with the legal side of things also tried to show us some of the sights as we blew through the streets on the way to our appointment.  I was not all that successful at getting pictures using a camera phone but here are a few that came out that will hopefully give you a sense of some of the nicer buildings in the area:

We learned our lesson and picked up a basic point and shoot camera to use for the remainder of the adventure. 

Out and about in Kiev on our own.

Well we travelled out today on our own, not once, but twice and nothing terrible happened.    OK so we only walked half a block to Dream Town mall but still it counts.    We underestimated how long it would take to grab a bite.   We have a total new appreciation for foreigners who don't speak the language and in Kiev it does seem common to see some English.    The menu we looked at did have some English but it was still a difficult task.   I confused the poor waitress so much that my iced tea with lemon and ginger ended up being a glass of ice with a short glass of pure lemon juice and ginger with no sweetner.   It was really funny and I even confused her enough she didn't get Jon's drink at all.   And we ended up with what we wanted to eat plus an extra pizza.

Dream Town mall in background - notice the parking job right behind me.


Well tomorrow at 11AM (4AM east coast time) is our big appointment at the SDA so excited to get things going.    Countdown is on!

Here are some pics of the view from our apartment:




View from Kiev apartment

View from Kiev apartment

Well off to do some more Russian lessons before bed time.  

On a Wing and a Prayer

It's official.  The Ericksons have landed in Ukraine!  True to form every plane was late except for the last one to Kiev but we made it and on time!  I will never carry that much carry on luggage again!  We dressed for really cold weather but so far every plane, shuttle and building  we have travelled in or visited has been really hot but I suppose that makes for interesting travel smells.  

It is a very humbling feeling being somewhere that we are the ones who do not understand the language or protocols.  Riding from the airport with our driver just taking in all the signs in a different language, strange sites and so much evidence that we come from a land of plenty.  At the same time it is so liberating to give up all control and kind of do as we are told and being okay with doing things a different way.   Our driver went with us to get a phone, some local currency and some groceries.   It was a very uncomfortable experience grocery shopping as we knew our driver had many things to do and we had no clue in the store but we got some things;)  It really does take faith, trust and humility but in return there is calm.   Getting over all those really trivial luxuries and self determined standards of living definitely gets your heart and mind in the right place.   Gee all this shock and we still have things like hot water, heat, internet, TV here.

We have a break today to shake off our travel and rest up a bit and prepare for our Wednesday morning appointment with the SDA where we hope to procure a referral for Y.  If all goes as planned we should be able to pick up our approved referral on Thursday and take the overnight train to Simferopol where the orphanage is and meet with the orphanage director Friday morning.   And then finally we will see our amazing little Y and spend some time with her.   As we understand it on weekdays our visits will be limited to a couple of hours after school and before dinner but on weekends we should have more time to spend.     Our facilitator will be busy collecting all the approvals and paperwork from the area local to the orphanage as well as book a court date for the upcoming adoption hearing.  Then the facilitator will take those back to the SDA in Kiev by early next week where multiple approvals over a long ten business day period are acquired and brought back for our court date. 

It is snowing at a good pace outside now and looking forward to bundling up and getting out and about later this morning and will try and get some pics of this winter wonderland up later today.  Our apartment is located around "Dream Town" which from what I've been able to understand is a mall with three floors of grocery, shopping and restaurants.   And as much of the living spaces we have seen so far in Kiev most are expansive ten story condominium type buildings in various states of disrepair.

Our apartment is no exception to the excessive temperature we have had the window open most of the time as we have not yet been successful controlling the temp with the limited controls. So thankful it is hot and not cold extreme.  I just keep thinking this has got to be costing someone a fortune or it's just because we are on the fifth floor.  The apartment seems to have been recently remodeled and has everything we need including a washing machine.   The rooms in the apartment each have a color theme with textured wall paper and what looks like a colored plexi glass on the ceilings.  It's kinda neat but I wouldn't want to keep it forever.  Here are some pictures of the temporary pad :

There are sparkles in the wall paper...

The blue room bedroom

You've heard of a welcoming red door?  This is a welcoming red entryway

The Green Room where we'll sit, wait, and bone up on Cave Man Russian

Kitchen Light

It's Time to FLY

I've ignored this blog for a while.  Mainly because life has been frantic.  However, now that I'm sitting in an apartment in Kiev, allow me to catch you up on what has happened over these past months. 

Once Y left things shut down around the house.  We were in a mental funk since she was gone.  Well, not completely shut down.  We were busy pulling together all of the documentation needed for the adoption.  Everything in triplicate, no photo copies, no black ink, no typos, all must be notarized and then the validity of that notary validated.  Basically, lots of running around with the expectation that we'll have to do something over again.  Nobody gets everything right and we were no exception.  The good side about all the running around is that it kept us busy.  

It was my job to ship the papers out.    I wanted it shipped out in the fastest and safest way possible.
In my wisdom I decided that going directly to a DHL hub would save time and ensure that the papers were shipped correctly.  Nope.  When you ship from the hub, DHL strictly follows the rules.  One of the rules is that a document that contains more than 35 pages must be shipped under a corporate bill.  Insurance was recommended with the assurance that there would be no problems with customs.  I also allowed the rep to inspect the papers and include the pictures in the content list.  So as I would find out too late these were three critical mistakes.  When an insurance value is assigned, the value is listed on the waybill and appears as a taxable value.  So when the package got over to the Ukraine customs grabbed a hold of it and held it hostage to the tune of 243.00.  If I had not listed a value but indicated that pictures were in the box then a duty still would have been slapped on the box.  Why?  Because it turns out that pictures are a taxable item!!!  So our Ukrainian coordinator needed to go to customs to pick up the box.  A real pain when he is currently running around the country working on getting adoptions completed.  But the last straw was that the box was shipped under a corporate label.  That means that it could not be picked up unless the receiver has a corporate account with DHL!!!  REALLY would have been nice to know that!  The result?  Our paperwork was stuck in customs for a month which delayed our leave date to this Sunday. 

  Do not ever, under any circumstances, try to save time by dropping the package off at a DHL hub!

I beat myself up for weeks waiting for that package to get back.  While waiting those long weeks, thoughts ran through my head and came up in prayer countless times asking how I could mess a package drop off so royally..  Scary thing asking questions in a prayer.  Many times you'll get answers in the most unexpected ways.  While I didn't see it immediately,  during that delay I watched God use every minute.  

• He used my wife to support people that may have otherwise fell through the cracks
• My daughter and I both decided to be baptized
• We were given a chance to see one of the most direct displays of the difference between Christs teachings and what Christmas has come to mean to so many people.  
• The delay was a sobering experience that forced us to adjust our outlook on life and what is truly important.  We were given a gift that allowed us to grow in our walk together and most importantly for this trip, realize that the control that we thought we had was a cruel and destructive illusion.

The realization that He is in control and that we are simply worker bees given the chance to follow his instructions has given both of us a new perspective on the process. Before the goal was to get Y home as soon as possible.  I needed to get her back.  I wanted to make my family whole.  I had lots of I's going on and while they may have been well intentioned,  they were missing the point of why we were guided into this process in the first place. 
There is still a sense of urgency, it just shifted from focusing on the adoption process to seeing the kids we met this summer and meet the kids we've heard and read about.  We have heard stories from others who have traveled to the orphanages in the Ukraine but I am certain that they will pale in comparison to actually being there.  I welcome the adventure and I know that any discomfort we encounter will pale in comparison to the relationships we make and the things we learn.  I welcome this gift and thank God for the time that I didn't know I needed.  If I hadn't blown the shipping I might have blown the bigger opportunity placed before me to grow and learn from these dear hearts.

Today these baby birds to Flew!  We stepped off of American soil and out into a world that neither of us have directly encountered.  We will no doubt be in free fall for a while and we may even smack a few branches in the process but I welcome the experience, hits and all.  Ours eyes have been opened and were excited to see what He brings our way.  Let the adventure continue!!!