A day on the road!

Today was busy from start to finish! We left Sumy at 3:30 am this morning and rode in a taxi to Kiev for our SDA appointment. The drive was nearly 4 hours in the dark while avoiding people on bicycles, broken down cars on tne side of the road and thick fog in many areas. I thought we might sleep during the trip but that was not an option with all the distractions and the typical bumpy ride along the winding roads.

Our SDA appointment was at 9 am this morning. We met up with Vladimir and Natasha in Kiev to help us with translation. The interview was approx. 20 minutes with a young lady who looked no more than 20 years old! She was pleasant and wanted to hear about our family at home. We showed her pictures and told her about the activities and schooling that everyone is currently involved in. They approved us to proceed with the adoption process. The next step was to immediately visit the US Embassy and fill out the required paperwork and get signatures on their paperwork before Vika turns 16 this coming Sunday. We feel very fortunate to have all of the right things fall into place to allow us to adopt Vika who really wants a family.

Immediately after leaving the US Embassy with the right papers in place we headed right back to Sumy again on that wonderful 4 hour journey. The way home in the day time had it's own unique challenges. This time we faced chickens, goats, cows, people on bikes, geese crossing the road, slow trucks and an assortment of other roadblocks. Vladimir likes to get places in a hurry so we just closed our eyes and prayed a lot :)

As soon as we arrived back in Sumy we picked up some more paperwork from the Sumy orphanage, picked up a social worker and headed to meet the Director of the school Vika is currently attending. Vika was there waiting for us to arrive and quickly gave us both a big hug and smile. She is so cute. She introduced us to her best friend Natasha (a popular name here in Ukraine) There are 800 students in this school they call a "college". It appears to be the same ages as our high schools at home. They specialize in the sciences at this school. Children are required to leave the orphanage at 16 and they have the option to move on to this advanced school if they choose. People were gathering for nearly an hour waiting for the Director to arrive. It was a little intimidating to have 10+ people talking in Ukrainian and not knowing what they are saying. It seemed as though something was wrong with our paperwork for a while but he finally showed up.

We sat around a table while he asked questions about why we wanted to adopt Vika and what our plans were for her education back in Utah. He didn't smile that often until I believe he understood our intentions and desire to give Vika the opportunity to enjoy a family like she will never have the opportunity here. He finally smiled "a little" and shook our hands and wished us well. Vika was very happy. The Director and others told us what a good girl she was and they wanted us to make sure she keeps in contact with the school through letters and email.

We ended the day by taking Vika, Natasha (our interpreter) and Natasha (Vika's friend) out to pizza tonight. We continue to learn more about Vika and her interests. We are already worried about the first time we are left without an interpreter :) There will be lots of smiles, pointing and waving our hands around to help communicate.

We're tired tonight after what I could only describe as taking two 4 hour "flights" in rough turbulance to and from Kiev. We didn't realize there was so much on the agenda today but we're happy to be through it with such great progress.

We were talking tonight about how fortunate we feel to have everything falling into place with the timing to allow us the opportunity to adopt Vika. The reality is she would not be eligible for adoption in 3 more days when she turns 16. The paperwork has to be started or there is no option to complete the process. The fact that we had one "extra" day based on flight plans we made several months ago that allowed us the chance to meet her in Sumy before our SDA appointment in Kiev today. It's been a whirlwind of activity and changes and we feel blessed to have ended up with such a sweet girl.

The next step is getting a court date here in Sumy. Vladimir believes that will be sometime late next week. Once that occurs, there is a 10 day standard waiting period until a "final" approval is given for the adoption. We then take a day or two in Kiev to complete the passport, visa and medical checks in order to travel back to the U.S.

More to come...