Promised Pics

"Mama" holding Yarik and Nikolai. Notice the clothing....they will put on girls or boys shirts, sock or shoes if that is what "almost" fits...and then they have to wear it for the week! They are tripping out of their shoes. It looks like Lamar and I have some clothes shopping to do in the near future.... Let me introduce to you the youngest brother, Yarik (his real name is Yaroslav). He is quite the ham! He will keep us on our toes! He does have hair! He is no longer Cue-Ball. Oh well!

Let me introduce to you the eldest brother, Nikolai. His nickname here is Kolya. (I know it's confusing. Hang in there!) He smiles all the time. There is nothing "angry" about him like the picture we saw at the SDA office. He is a kind soul.

This was the first picture taken of the boys. Yuri grabbed the camera for us.

Meet-cha Day!

Dearest Support Team,

Where do I begin? I wish I had the energy to go into detail as to how our day went, but I am running on low and promise to add more juice tomorrow. I could NOT go to bed without sending a quick update to my prayer warriors and support team now, could I? We felt your love all the way from there. Thank you.

Our trip went very smoothly. (Sorry Bryants...no exciting pothole stories to share. You got us beat there!). The train ride was very comfortable and only took 3 hours. We took a taxi into town and met with the lawyer, Natasha, who has her finger on the pulse of this city and any adoption that takes place here. NOTHING can happen without her. In fact, Yuri gets to sit back and relax while she does the job he normally does. She actually interviewed us before we could go to another location to pick up yet another form to visit the orphanage. We had to wait until 2 to go there because the orphange was having state officials come in to inaugurate a brand new play ground at their facility.

I hope my pictures I will attach on Snapfish soon will do justice to what we are seeing here. The city is 300 years old and VERY run down. Jacob, do you remember looking at all the beautiful churches and saying, "Well, it doesn't look like a poor country!" You should see it. It's quite sad. However, we were both pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to the orphanage. It's actually quite nice. Again, tons of pictures coming your way soon so you can all see.

We went into the orphanage along with a troop of approximately 7 or 8 women and Yuri....all watching every move Lamar and I made. We sat there with the pediatrician, laywer, guidance counselor, administrator and others (whom I can only presume were the cooks, custodians, and grounds keepers because I ran out of titles to pass around). The door was opened by a nurse and all I can remember is seeing two little boys looking a little confused but happy holding hands as they walk in. Lamar and I immediately jumped from our seats and fell to the ground to their level. Lamar was warned they might not take to males right away. Phewey on that! They obviously had never met a Lamar before. He pulled out two matchbox cars we bought in Kiev and they were all down on the ground racing cars over my legs and their arms and Lamar's feet. And then Yarik giggled and I lost it. I promised Lamar beforehand that I wouldn't scare them by sobbing hysterically like every fiber in my being wanted to. I stayed under control, swallowed the lump in my throat and just laughed and laughed with the precious angels. I totally forgot we had a group of women around us monitoring every single motion, action and reaction. The moments flew by way too quickly and we had to move to a different move. I stood up and each boy reached for my hands. My heart melted. I held each of their hands as we walked down the hall to the next room. Let me tell you, their hands just fit perfectly in mine. It felt right. It felt safe. If felt amazing!

Well, Lamar and I proceed to sit on the floor and play with the boys while each person takes a turn spitting tons of information at as about the boys. From what I remember we were told that Nikolai, the eldest, is very protective of his youngest brothers and is very helpful with the group. He always stays behind and helps the slower ones with their shoes (Awww!). He is popular in his group because everyone enjoys his spirit. He is kind-hearted and fun. He enjoys being around people and they can tell he wants to learn so much more but is limited there. He likes to snuggles, doesn't throw tantrums, and eats everything! He gets a rash when he drinks tomato juice (sound familiar, Mom!), or too sweet of a dessert (I'll break him of that!) He has a problem with his "r's" but nothing that isn't age appropriate. (By the way....I sure couldn't detect any deficiency with his language. His Russian gibberish sounded right on to me!) Yarik's personality is very different. He, too, eat everything and doesn't throw fits (yeah~!). He LOVES to explore and is quick to pick things up. He is very bright and has the most contagious laugh. He also walks around with his chest pumped out like he can conquer the world. NO problem whatsoever with confidence. He is NOT shy. He was all over us very quickly. It was too much.

Alright, here I said I was going to keep it short and I've already rambled on. Well, I might as well keep going.

They had to go nap so they blew us kisses as the nurse came back and took them away. We talked with the pediatrician and others. Then we went to the grocery store and came back at 4:30 and visited some more with them....and without such a big audience...and that's when we REALLY got to know their little personalities. (I also got to bring out my camera!) Yarik is fearless and he is everywhere. He is a mess...and we love it! We just chase him around doing damage control. Nikolai LOVES guns. Everything he picks up turns out to be a gun. At one point and time he was shooting Lamar with a gun while fake talking into the cell phone at the same time. He's a multi-tasker I presume. He would pick up every gun he could find, or anything that even closely resembled a gun, and put it in a bag he would carry around and not put down. I gave him pictures of Joshua and Jacob and they went in that bag. You couldn't pry that bag out of his hand. I think it is part of the "hoarding" that goes on with growing up in an orphanage. It's precious but also sad.

Again, the time went by way too quickly. Yuri left and went to talk to Natasha after we gave him a very big nod that "YES! WE WANT THESE BOYS!" A lot of negotiation had to take place. Long story short- tomorrow we are off to visit all the other orphanages the other 4 siblings belong to so we can obtain separation letter. We have until Friday to get them together. Apparently we will be heading North to one region and South to another...go figure! Natasha has to accompany us so we have to work around her schedule. On Friday we will be reviewed by a board. There's a ton more steps after that but I just want to take it step by step. There is a good chance we WILL be coming home with the boys together. We will see. Please pray that works out and our 10 days can be waivered by the court.

Well, my head is spinning and I'm losing my connection. I will post the pictures in the morning. I promised Joshua and Jacob they would see them first! You can understand that!!!

Love you all and thanks for the awesome comments.

God bless and good night.

Kris

Night 4/Day 5 Really Heavy Stuff

Dearest Loved Ones,
Well, Lamar and I have had a change of heart. We have decided that we have invited each and every one of you on this journey to take with us. We need you now. We need your prayers, support, love, and encouragment now more than ever. Therefore, we are going to share everything with all of you.

I have been keeping an ongoing, intimate journal of this life-changing journey. God has placed it on my heart to share it all with you. Please forgive any typos, mistakes, or run-ons. I was writing from my heart for no one in particular. Enjoy the good, the bad and yes, even some ugly.
If you don't have time to read this (yes, it is long!) please scroll down to the last paragraph and you will find the summary. Otherwise, if you have a moment, grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine, sit back and hold our hands as we walk this path together.
We love you all.
Kris (and also Lamar)

When we first arrived in Kiev, Yuri picked us up and drove around town to pick up groceries and show us to our apartment. During our time in the car he asked us what we really wanted. Lamar and I told him we really wanted a child or children as young as possible. We would prefer to have at least one of them be a girl, if not both. However, we would still go home with a child, even if it weren't a girl. Yuri listened attentively and told us he had been doing research and he had come across two options to ask for at our first appointment. He had heard from the adoption networking grapevine that there was a precious little three year old girl available. However, a French couple was meeting her at that moment. He explained French couples were relatively picky and there was a good chance it would fall through because she wasn't the exact age they asked for. The second referral he had in mind for us was two boys, ages 2 and 4. However, they were part of a sibling group of 4 and it could be difficult to separate the two from their older siblings. That's all we got!

That first night I hardly slept. I really felt like I needed to stress to Yuri our desires so he could work hard on finding the perfect child/ren for us. I rehearsed over and over in my head a speech I wanted to give to him. So the very next day after we unpacked, settled in and got to know our environment a bit, we invited Yuri out for dinner. After some get-to-know-you talking, I took a deep breath (and a sip of wine!), and gave it my best shot. I explained to Yuri that the reason we wanted a younger child was because I had the opportunity to stay at home with Lamar's good job. If we got an older child, they would be brought back to the states and immediately placed in school. They would be going from a 1:30 ratio in the orphanage to a similar ratio in the classroom. We didn't want that. I wanted time to spend with the child before they had to go to school. I wanted to take the time to hold them, play with them and bond with them to make up for what they hadn't had in the orphanage.

Yuri listened politely, even though the tears came and my voice cracked. When I finished he said it would be great if I could say the exact same thing at our SDA appointment the next day. Also, he told us to be prepared to answer the question, 'Why did we choose to adopt from Ukraine?' Augh! I had no idea we were going to be responsible for giving a speech to an audience of Russian speaking women while Yuri translated what we said. No pressure...

As you can imagine, I slept next-to-none that night. I kept rehearsing what I needed to say to get our feelings across in the shortest amount of time possible. We had to deliver this speech at the beginning of our ONE hour appointment. We would be cutting into our viewing children's folders time. I didn't want to do that, but at the same time I almost felt like Lamar and I were being held responsible to sell ourselves. I might say that was quite a bit of stress to shoulder.
Now comes the appointment day. After waiting 30 minutes past our appointment time, we were invited into a very modern office. For some reason I expected a dungeon-like room with one light bulb suspending from the ceiling and only aluminum chairs to sit in....if not just crates turned upside down. I also pictured a large woman with a big frown, in a grim skirt suit with knee highs showing named Helga conducting our interview. Don't ask me why....I just did.
However, Lamar and I sat on a couch across from a beautiful, young, Russian woman with a lovely smile. She didn't look at us much and spent most of her time talking/flirting with Yuri. Then she asked us what we wanted. Lamar and I did our very best to quickly and accurately tell her exactly what we told Yuri the night before.

We were told ahead of time by Yuri that you can have up to three appointments. He said it is common to only see very sick and older childen the first visit. You still take a referral, travel to the orphanage, say it didn't work out and wait for another appointment. Lamar and I did NOT want this to happen. We really wanted to have a strong, potential referral after our first visit. Little did we know what she was going to show us...

First of all, she pulled out the portfolios on the two boys Yuri mentioned. The youngest was as bald as a cue ball and the oldest looked mean. We discovered that they weren't 2 of 4 but that they were 2 of SIX BOYS! We couldn't believe it. We placed this aside immediately and asked to see more.

Then came the extremely sick referrals. We saw pictures of children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Hep C, Cleft Palate, sclerosis, etc. Now mind you, we have only been approved through our immigration paperwork to bring home a child with mild, correctable conditions. We didn't see one child that fit that description except the two boys we had placed aside. We didn't see ONE single girl with mild correctable conditions. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't help
but cry. To make matters worse, Yuri received a call during our appointment that the French couple decided to adopt the little girl Yuri had a lead on.

Talk about devastating! Our hour was up and we had NOTHING. We found one little boy that was just beautiful but Yuri made a call on him and it looked like he was so sick he wouldn't live much longer. It was the hardest thing to place his file aside in the "no" stack. So, having no other options, we picked up the file on the 6 boys and gave it to Yuri. He said he would try his hardest to see if they could be separated from their brothers who already lived in different orphanages.

Leaving our appointment was so painful. I felt like my world was crashing in. We were in Yuri's car and we had to get our dossier photocopied. Yuri left us alone (he could tell we needed some time together). I just assumed Lamar was as heartbroken as I was. During the appointment, I could tell he wasn't all that excited about the eldest child who looked downright mean. Then, the last thing in the world happened. Lamar said he was happy. What? Was he sitting at the same appointment as me? Did he not see what we were offered and what we weren't? There's over 10,000 children in the orphanages here and they didn't show us ANY healthy ones except two boys. We wanted at least one girl. Didn't we? He started talking about bunk beds, building forts, and having an entire basketball team in his family. He laughed when he said that the one boy might not be mean at all and we shouldn't judge a picture. The Bryant family told us that over and over again. Maybe he had just woken up from a nap or was hungry and didn't want his picture taken. I laughed, too. What if THIS was God's plan? What if He did want us to double up on our boys and bring home two more? Would that be so bad? I actually started getting giddy with the idea of a household of little men. It could work....right?

When Yuri returned we called the orphanage in Kirovograd where the boys are. We will be working with an attorney that has tight control over this region. Apparently she has quite a bit of authority and power. She has been able to waive the 10 day waiting period for several families. This is unheard of in Ukraine anymore. That means we could come home with the boys together this visit! We could knock out everything in one trip! I don't want to get my hopes up, but that sounds really good. Anyway, Yuri spoke with her and she knew the boys very well. She said, "yes, they are good boys...and very handsome too". I don't think she could have said kinder words. My heart was officially lightened and I was on Cloud 9. Yes!~ However, she reminded us that it could still be difficult to separate the boys from the 4 others, even though she agreed it had to be done because NO ONE could adopt all 6 boys. We actually might have to travel to each of their orphanages to get letters from the boys. Sounds painful, but Yuri said it can be done. She also told us there was a Spanish couple that had just been there that REALLY wanted the boys. However, they did not have permission on their immigration forms to bring home more than one child. They couldn't get around it so it fell through. Was that God's hand, too?

We went home to take naps. We were still jet lagged and exhausted from our draining day. However, I couldn't sleep a wink. (Insomnia much?). I wanted more than anything to get online and type SOMETHING....ANYTHING to all of our friends and family who were praying for us. However, what do you say? So many people have been praying "girl, girl, girl" and now we are sitting here with a referral to look at a 2 year old and 4 year old boy. Would they be disappointented? Would they disapprove? Would they send messages of regret and condolences? I wasn't sure. However, I wasn't ready for that. So, I jumped online and started looking at boys' names. I really wanted to stick with Christian names (having a Josh and Jake). I also wanted to keep part of their Ukrainian names to save a part of their heritage. We knew their names were Yaroslav and Nikolai. However, we didn't know who was who. Lamar and I
both had a feeling that Cueball was Nikolai and Angryboy was Yaroslav. We asked Yuri before if either could be Americanized or shortened. Luckily, Yaroslav could be shortened to Yaric. We liked that. Nikolai was easy enough to say as it was. I tried many different combinations. I wrote them down, and woke Lamar up from his nap so I could share with him our options. I didn't tell him my favorite and just checked to see what his favorites were. We were in
agreement. Score! The winning names were Alexander Yaric and Andrew Nikolai. We could even call them Alex and Drew. We NEVER talked about these names as options before but they stuck. In fact my favorite moment was when Lamar was online looking at bunkbeds and he said, "I can just picture Alex rolling off the top onto poor Drew!" It sounded so natural...so real...and so right.

We had dinner that night at a Ukrainian Indian restaurant. I started crying and Lamar didn't quite understand why. He is so good at being able to compartamentalize everything and I wear all my emotions on my sleeves...both sides. As excited as I had become up to that point, there was still a part of me that needed to greive. I wasn't going to ever have a girl. No pink...no sunflowers and lady bug decorations, no dresses, dressup, tea parties or mother daughter pedicures. For some reason, it appears as though this just isn't suppose to be a part of my life. I will be OK with it, but I will also need a few moments to get through it. I can't focus on looking at what I'm going to never have, I must look at everything I will be blessed with receiving. Dog piles, wrestling, bug catching, trucks, jets, cars Legos, and boxer/briefs are my future...and I LOVE it. There's nothing like laughing hysterically because of anunexpected body noise. There's nothing more flattering than hearing your son say, "Mommy, you sure look pretty!". I'm still touched when they fight over who will hold my seat when I sit down at the table or who can get to the door first to open it for me. Now it's going to be more bodies and limbs flying
everywhere when we have wrestling time in mommy's and daddy's king size bed. We will have more giggles and silliness and longer fits of laughter. We will haved more sweet heads to kiss every night as I bless each of them and say, "May you grow up to be a big, strong, Christian man like your daddy". We can do this. I want to do this. I thank God for an opportunity to do this. We will do it!

That night we decided to tell the boys. Afterall, this is a family decision and we needed their input. They both sat in front of the camera while we had a Skype conversation. They were staring intently and very seriously at us when they asked us if it was a boy or girl. As we proceeded to tell them it was going to be two boys ages 2 and 4, HUGE grins slowly came across both boys' faces. Their reaction was pure, uninhibited, and angelic. It was real. It was
precious. They were more than alright with it. Neither one of them voiced any heartbreak that we didn't find a girl. They didn't even ask. They were happy! That warmed my heart and encouraged me that it wouldn't be so bad when we decided to share the news with the rest of our family and friends. Maybe they, too, would see that this is joyous and good. They asked us what they looked like and we told them exactly what the lawyer had said- "good...and handsome, too!" Joshua didn't miss a beat and replied, "Oh that's great! They will fit in perfectly with this family!" Oh, my dear boy. Lack of confidence will never be a struggle of his. Humility? That is a different story all together...

So...sleeping has become a problem. Last night I couldn't sleep because I was picturing how it is going to be when we meet Drew and Alex. Will they bring them out separately? Will they come out together? Will they be scared of us? Will they embrace us? How do we introduce ourselves? Mr. and Mrs. Douberly is way too formal. Mommy and Daddy doesn't seem right if something happens and it falls through. Lamar and Kris? I'm just not sure. Again, we must turn to God and know His hand will not let go of us during that moment. He will continue to always be present.

Other questions arise that keep me up. What happened to the mom and dad? How long have they been in the orphanage? Do they get to see each other during the day? Do they know they are brothers when they do? Do they like each other and get along? Were they heart broken when the Spanish couple left because they couldn't adopt both? Will they be skeptical meeting Lamar and I? God, give us the answers on your timetable when you feel we are ready. One of my favorite times of the day back at home is right before bed. We have a very comfortable routine. The boys come down freshly clean from the shower and they take turns snuggling in daddy and mommy's laps. Then we say prayers. I love hearing my boys pray. Sometimes the prayers are heartfelt. "Dear God, please be with all the troops in Iraq". Some prayers are convicted. "Please God help me to make better choices tomorrow." Some prayers are selfish.
"Dear God, please let money appear so I can buy the Lego SX-200 Star Wars set". Others bring tears to my eyes, "Dear Lord, help us to buy an orphan". It dawned on me today that the next time we are all together as a family it could very well be the first time Andrew and Alexander have ever prayed with their parents and siblings. That blows my mind. Lord, you have been there with them through it all. You comfort them when they are sick or needing a mommy or a daddy. You give them strength when they are hungry. You have led us to them for some reason. Please use us, Lord. Let us show them the beauty of having you live in their heart. Help soften their hearts and welcome you into them. Let us help them see the beauty and love in the world through our boys, our friends, our family, our home, and all of our other blessings. Let them give their lives to you and love you the way we do.

***Alright, to sum it all up (for those of you whom have fallen asleep or scrolled down from the top), Lamar and I leave tomorrow for the city of Kirovograd to meet two boys, Nikolai Osen (whom we will name Andrew Nikoloai) and Yaroslav Osen (whom we will name Alexander Yarik). They are blood brothers and they are 2 and 4 years old. They are healthy and belong to a sibling group of 6 so there could be complications separating them. However, we can't take them all because we are only approved for 2 and the others are much older and in a different orphanage all together. Please pray for us as we take this journey tomorrow. Pray God leads the way for us. We are very excited, nervous, anxious, and yes, very scared.

We will get up early in the morning to read any comments or words of wisdom you may have for us. It provides us with much strength.
God bless you all, and thanks for hearing....um, reading me out!
With Peace and Love,
Kris and Lamar

Day 4 And we wait....

Greetings all!

Saturday was a great day. Lamar and I got up and had what we have every morning for breakfast...Muselix, a fresh orange, and plain yogurt. It's a good start to our day! Then we went for a walk. They shut the main streets down every weekend for festivals. This weekend's theme was sports. They had "displays" set up one after the other. For example they would have a boxing circle where you could watch school aged children box (and they were VERY good) next to a mat where children would be doing tumbling. We saw caged soccer, horse riding, martial arts, track and field, and crazy obstacle course relays just to name a few. It's a very colorful, fun, lively event that we enjoyed walking along and spectating.

We returned before lunch to our room because we had a date with Yuri and his girlfriend, Victoria. He took us to the underground caves that tomb 5oo year old bodies. The crazy thing is, the bodies are all wrapped up but you can see on some of them a single hand. They still have skin on them (although it's shriveled up and darkly discolored) after 500 years!! Many that come and visit and see this believe this can only be the works of a miracle and they bow down and pray to the tombs. They touch the glass while kneeling and weeping. They believe they can receive healing health if they do this. It really was an amazing site. Honestly I felt quite uncomfortable with it. It's hard for me to get beyond kneeling and bowing before anything other than our Lord. However, I respect the differences and thank God that we have Him to turn to wherever we are. We don't have to seek out underground caves to find healing strength. We can turn to Him anytime, anywhere and ask for healing. Wow! God is truly good!

We also had a chance to visit a National War Museum. That, too, was quite sobering. I think it is incredible to see just how much war affects so many people all over the world. Not just the soldiers fighting, but the families that were put into concentration camps, the mothers who never saw any of their children again once they left for war and the scarring it did on such a beautiful city. Complete and utter devastation...

After such an exhaustive and emotionally draining experience, we went to TGIF Fridays for a late lunch. We needed something relaxing and enjoyable. The food was great and we had a nice time getting to know Victoria (did I mention she was gorgeous!!!). During dinner, Yuri kept pointing out different tables with two men at them. He explained how common it is to see headhunters with their clients at an American restaurant. Apparently, it's still common for men to come from America to buy an Ukrainian bride. We also saw an American older man coming in with his new, VERY young bride-to-be. Yuri actually worked for an agency that helped set up the American men with Ukrainian brides before he became a Christian and went into the adoption business. He can spot these kinds of setups very easily. I had no idea that would still be prevalent today. Sometimes I feel like I live under a rock. (But I'm not complaining. I'm awfully cozy and comfortable under this rock of mine!)

Afterwards we went our own ways. Lamar and I came back for our traditional nap and then went for a walk in the evening to check out more of the street festivities. We had meat stuffed noodles for a snack and came home and tried to go to bed. Before you know it, it was 3:30 a.m and we still weren't asleep. We are still trying to work out the jet lag. We are skipping naps today so we can get to sleep early for TOMORROW!!!!

Speaking of which...it's a big day tomorrow. A lot of questions will be answered for us all. Please pray we get there safely and God's will be done. Also pray they have Internet connections there so we can keep you posted.

We love you all and thank you so much for your prayers. Lamar and I LOVE waking up in the morning and signing on to our blog to see our comments. It's our favorite part of the day. Some make us laugh...some bring tears to our eyes...they all fill our hearts knowing we have such tremendous support from dear friends and family. We will be saving and treasuring all of your thoughtful words.

A quick shout out: Thank you, dearest families back in VA for looking after my parents. They are honored by the meals, visits, phone calls and invitations. It has been so incredibly helpful. Lamar and I are so touched by your outpouring of generosity, time, and grace. We love you all!

Joshua and Jacob....thank you for behaving for Nana C and Papa J. We love getting good reports from them. Remember to give them extra snuggles since we can't be there to sneak them from you. We love you boys so much. You two are one of the biggest reasons we can even be here today doing this. You have made parenting so much fun and joyous for us both that we want to do it some more! We love you, babies.

Have a blessed Sunday, everyone.

Love,

Kris

PS There are pictures downloaded from Snapfish on the side bar. Enjoy!

Day 3 Friday 4SEP09

Friday September 4, 2009

Let the waiting for Monday begin...or so we thought.

We began the day in a lazy mood - why get up early and try to conquer the world when we have to wait three days before we travel to meet a possible new Douberly(s)? Finally, the haze wore off and we took off for a nice jog around Kiev to make sure we wouldn't get lost later in the day when we went sightseeing. The run thoroughly inspired us as we were able to see how to get around the city with relative ease. We ran about 4 miles or so (until my foot started to hurt) before returning home to the apartment.

After our exercise, we showered up (mercifully for the Ukrainians...but still not sure if everyone here reciprocates), and struck out for an early lunch. We went down to the corner to a travel-guide-recommended cafeteria with local fare. The Ukrainian food was good - but we have to let it grow on us some more. One must be careful here not to eat all fried and fatty foods - they are plentiful and cheap! Of course, the one thing we could both agree upon was the Ukrainian borscht. The beet root soup can be done many different ways - always delicious.
The cafeteria came to a whopping $12 (we ordered enough for several locals) , so we definitely needed to walk it off. We struck off on our sightseing tour of some local churches. The churches here are similiar to some of the ornate mosques in Istanbul, albeit with a decided Eastern Orthodox flair. The insides are where the differences can be noticed - the interiors are actually more akin to what one might find in the Vatican. Not quite as showy, but still much more ornate than a mosque. We did get to ascend to the top of St Sofia's highest tower - see for yourself some of the shots we were able to photograph from this perch. Yes, those pictures are real and not something we superimposed or pulled off a website. (Kristina included for your viewing pleasure.)

While in St Sofia, we got a call from Yuri to coordinate a meeting time to pick up our letter of permission to visit a child(ren). We weren't expecting the call to arms this early as we believed nothing else would happen until Monday.

After St Sofia, we went to St Andrei church right next to where we needed to meet Yuri. St Andrei is situated on a hill overlooking a cobblestone street vendor area. It really is one of the touristy highlights of Kiev as one can purchase all matters of souvenirs, knick-knacks and the such. But we were in for oh so much more today.

Apparently Friday is a very popular day to be married in the Orthodox church. The brides and their wedding parties were lined four deep outside of St Andreis waiting for their turn in the chapel for the "big day." We initially were skeptical of our ability to get inside the church due to the ceremonies - not to worry, it appeared none of these weddings were closed to the public anyway. The wedding was something out of the Godfather's baptism scene...complete with a full orthodox choir singing acapella traditional hymns and the minister chanting the rites in a rhythmic almost mystical cadence. We never felt like intruders, but we were blessed to see something so distinctly non-Western.

Outside the church, more brides arrived as some of the completed weddings made their exit - this marriage factory showed no signs of slowing production during the global recession. Some of the wedding parties were dressed interestingly to say the least. I am quite shocked we didn't see a smoking hole where a person used to be as I am sure it was the first time some of these folks had ever seen the inside of any church. That's OK - they probably thought the same about us. Heathens we all are.

We met up with Yuri straightaway at 2:30 and commenced a two hour waiting exercise for our alleged 3:00 appointment to pick up the letter of permission. No, the math is funny purposely there - again we were caught in the Ukrainian time space continuum (vacuum) where time means nothing and personal space is nonexistent. Regardless, we finally received our letter at 4:30 and were able to return home for a small 3 hour nap (yeah, cool) before beginning our Friday evening. It looks like we are still on for a Monday session with our possible charge (s).
We went down to the coffee shop at the corner and had a nice meal (and nicer desserts). We then did a little grocery shopping (bottle of wine inclusive) to cap off our wild and crazy Friday night. A little Skype with our boys capped off a marvelous evening.

On Saturday, it appears we might meet Yuri's girlfriend during some more tourist activites. I will try to keep Kristina on her best behavior and not allow her to give this poor unsuspecting soul the third degree. You all know how gentle she can be when confronted with another possible Alpha female. Things should remain civil unless this girl decides to say something negative about Josh, Jake, and the other addition(s).

Have a great weekend everybody.

Day 2 SDA Appointment Date...FINALLY!

Dearest Loved Ones,

I don't even know where to start with this entry. "What a day!" doesn't even begin to touch it. First of all, we can't thank you enough for lighting candles, sending sweet messages, getting up early to pray, and thinking of us today. We felt your love, faith, and support all the way from here. (Trust me....we sucked up and utilized EVERY ounce of it).

Let me start with this morning. Lamar and I could barely sleep last night. We were up and ready to go at the crack of dawn. We burned time waiting for our 8:30 a.m. call to go downstairs to meet Yuri (per his request last night at dinner). It was 9:00 and we still hadn't heard from him. This made Lamar and I a little bit nervous. This is the one appointment you just don't want to be late for. Yuri showed up at 9:40- not a bit frazzled. That's something Lamar and I are going to have to get used to. When a Ukrainian says they will pick you up in 10 minutes, they mean closer to an hour. Coming from and marrying into the military....that's crazy to me! I was raised with the philosophy that arriving 5 minutes early is 10 minutes late. This will be hard to get used to.

Anyways, I know you are more anxious to hear about the appointment than us waiting around for it. To be honest, there is a lot we would like to share with you, but we need to wait until a later time. We aren't trying to be secretive, private, or just down right annoying. The fact is, there is a lot up in the air right now. There are a lot of pieces that need to come together before we can announce whom we are adopting. First of all, every visitor here that comes to adopt is granted 3 SDA appointments. That means, if nothing comes together with your first referral, you can make another appointment, return to Kiev, wait, be shown more children and try again. There is a chance this could happen to us. This is why we want to wait and see what happens in case this fall through. The good news is we DO have a referral in our hands to go visit an orphanage. We will be leaving Kiev Monday morning. We already have train tickets to go to an orphanage in Kirovohrad. Yuri has never been there so this will be new for all of us. It's a 3 hour trip by train there. It's another hour car ride to the orphanage. Lamar and I are very anxious to get there. Although we wish we could leave now, we are going to make the best of our stay here in Kiev and do a ton of sight seeing the next couple of days.

Here's the deal. Today Lamar and I saw a ton of VERY sick children. There were children there whom I know from their prognosis will be lucky enough to see Christmas. It really hit us hard. It's so sad these children not only have to suffer from their ailments, but they also have to do it without the love and support of a family. It's heartbreaking. I ask that the candles you burn and the prayers that you send will go out to those poor souls. In my heart and by my Faith, they each have earned a special place in God's kingdom.

As soon as we possibly can get connected once we are in Kirovohrad, we should have many answers available for all of you. Until then, thank you for your continued patience and support.

We love you.

Peace in Christ,

Kristina

Day 2

Nana C, Joshua, and Jacob wave to us as Papa J drives Lamar and I to the airport to go "buy an orphan". We are comfortable knowing we are leaving them in good hands!Lamar decides what to order for his birthday dinner. We ate at an Italian Ukrainian restaurant that was delicious.
We have room in downtown Kiev with a balcony. It costs 800UAH/night. Not bad!
Here is the building where we are "roughing it".

Dear Family and Friends,

First of all I must tell you that we are having a terrible time with our computer and the internet in our room. It runs extemely slow. I won't even tell you how long it took just to download these pictures! I did this while Lamar and I were waiting for Yuri to pick us up for our SDA appointment this morning. I do have lots of pictures to share with you, but I might try and download them on to a Snapfish album and clip it on to our site....tune in....I'll let you know.

Thanks for the comments on our blog. Email is even slower to pull up than our site so sometimes that's the only way we can stay connected to you.

Love to you all and thanks for praying for us today.

God bless,

Kristina and Lamar