We made it home!

Our trip home from Kiev to SLC was successful! Here's a picture of Lexi on the 10 hour flight from Kiev to JFK. Once there we passed through customs and immigration. Once we landed in New York City, Lexi automatically becomes a US Citizen. They had to do a finger print and have her sign a document and then we rushed to get our bags checked back in to our connecting flight to SLC.

The top picture is the welcome home banner our kids put together for Lexi :)

The middle picture is a great shot of all of our kids! Left to right - Derek, Ryan, Ashlie (Ryan's wife), Lexi, Shea, Trevor, and Burgundy (Trevor's girlfriend)

It's great to all be back together again. We're really looking forward to having Lexi join our family. Thanks to everyone for your kind messages and support along the way. It's been a terrific journey.

Packing our bags!

We had a nice visit with Vladimir and his wife Valeria tonight in our apartment. They stopped by to say "goodbye" since we are leaving for home first thing in the morning. This is a picture of Valeria, Lexi, Vladimir and Natalie. Vladimir and Natalie have been wonderful people to work with through the adoption process. They really care about the children and work hard to make sure you are well taken care of and everything goes smoothly with all aspects of the adoption. We are very grateful for their efforts.

The next blog entry should be from home! :) We are schedule to arrive back in SLC Monday night around 7:15 pm on Delta airlines.

Bowling in Kiev

We found a really nice bowling alley in Kiev this afternoon and took her bowling for the second time in her life. Apparently she want bowling one time while visiting a family in France a few years ago. She did very well considering she's really not been exposed much to it. You pay for bowling by the hour here so everyone gets two of the same ball so they can hurry and throw the second ball before your first ball comes back to get more bowling completed :) I wondered why there were so many balls on the rack at first but I quickly learned the reason. The cost was a little over $5 per hour per person. That's a fair price but it's considered a luxury here because that is very expensive for the average person.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War

The National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 is a memorial complex commemorating the Great Patriotic War located in the southern outskirts of the Pechersk district of Kiev on the hills on the right-bank of the Dnieper River.

It is one of the largest museums in Ukraine (over 300 thousand exhibits) centered around the 205 ft. tall Motherland statue, which has become one of the best recognized landmarks of Kiev.

Lexi borrowed Natalie's sunglasses for this fun photo!

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery is a functioning monastery in Kiev. The monastery is located on the Western side of the Dnieper River. Originally built in the middle ages. There is a banner up on the entrance indicating 2008 is the 900th anniversary of its existence! The exterior of the structure was rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style in the 18th century while the interior remained in its original Byzantine style. The cathedral was demolished by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, but was recently reconstructed after Ukraine gained its independence in 1991.

Matrioshka Dolls

We visited a few places in Kiev together again today. I'll attach a few pictures of the places we visited. This is a picture of a street vendor we visited that was selling the traditional Russian and Ukraine Matrioshka Dolls. There are 5-20 dolls inside each other starting with a larger figure and going down to a very small wooden figure when you open them all up. There are hundreds of street vendors selling souvenirs.

Lexi and Natalie

Lexi and Natalie at the Friendship of Nations Arc. Natalie has been a tremendous help with Lexi. She is a terrific interpreter and has started teaching Lexi English as well. It will provide a good start for Lexi's experience at home when we'll have nobody to speak Russian with her!

Kiev Independence Square at night

I took these pictures last night while we were visiting Independence Square in downtown Kiev. It was a beautiful evening and thousands of people were outside enjoying the weather. I've been amazed at the number of people who are outside and moving around at any given time of the day. The subway metro system is FULL of people almost anytime we have used it. It's a fascinating system that runs at least 600-800 feet under the ground. It takes several minutes just to ride the escalators down to the entry point for the trains. The trains also run in each direction constantly. The most we've had to wait for a train is less than 2 minutes. They really know how to move people around the city!

Lexi and Todd

Natalie took this picture of us while we were visiting the Friednship of Nations Arc. Behind us is the Dnipro river and lots of apartments on the left bank of Kiev.

Friendship of Nations Arc

Friendship of Nations Arc A highly visible monument above the Dnipro River. This arch rises above this Soviet-era monument celebrating the joining of Ukraine and Russia in 1653 A.D.

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev

I took this picture from the top of the 150 foot Bell Tower inside the cathedral grounds. This beautiful building was first started in the year 1020.

Sites of Kiev

We spent the afternoon walking around Kiev and seeing some beautiful sites. The top picture is an interesting building by the water front where we went for a boat ride. The middle picture is what they call "The Golden Gate" This fortified gate defended the city in the 12th century. The bottom picture is the Kiev Opera House built in the summer of 1867. There are several historic sites in Kiev all easily accessible via walking or the efficient metro system.

Visa Approved!

Today we had our final interview with the US Embassy. They take time to ask both of us questions to make sure we're qualified as parents and Lexi is 100% committed to joining our family before they issue a visa to the United States. After our visit we were officially "approved"! That was the last step in the adoption process. Lexi becomes a United States citizen the moment we land in NYC on our way home. They gave me a sealed packet that has to be given to Immigration officials in New York City at the airport. I guess it contains all of the necessary paperwork to allow her entry into the country.

We celebrated by taking a boat ride on the Dnieper river. Kiev is located on both sides of the Dnieper River, which flows south through the city towards the Black Sea. This was the first time in her life she had ever been on a boat! She'll have a few more "firsts" ahead when we get her home.

Kiev City Golden Gate

Today we spent time walking around the city of Kiev visiting some of the famous sites. This is a picture of Lexi (that's what we plan to call Alexa) and I at the "Golden Gate" to the city. It's less than a block from our apartment.

This gateway was one of three constructed by Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Kiev, in the mid-eleventh century. In 1982, the gate was completely reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev. (that's a LONG time ago!) The top picture will help you see the actual size of the gate!

Passport, Visa and Medical exams

Early this morning Vladimir brought Alexa from Sumy to Kiev to complete her necessary medical examinations. An important part of adoption is having the parents certify that they know and understand the health of their child before the adoption is complete. They ran x-rays, blood tests and other important tests on Alexa for several hours this morning. Once complete, I was asked to join with the doctor as he signed all of the necessary documents and made sure I knew Alexa was in excellent health.

I've been incredibily impressed with some other Americans that I've met here who are adopting children with severe medical problems such as downs syndrome and cerebal palsy. I offered to hold a 3 year old girl this morning with cerebal palsy at the US Embassy so her adopting mother could do the extensive required paperwork. The little girl can't walk and won't go to any strangers so unfortunately I was not much help. The mother was here alone from South Carolina and was doing her best to complete all the paperwork alone. What a wonderful person she is to give this little girl a chance to have a family who will take care of her in spite of her physical handicap!

After we received the necessary medical checks we hustled over to the US Embassy where I filed the papers for Alexa's visa. We will go back again on Thursday for a final interview and hopefully the visa will be complete. Since Alexa is now 16 years old, the US does a complete background check before allowing her entry into the US. Sometimes that check takes a couple extra days.

We're getting closer!

Back in Kiev Ukraine

I'm back in Kiev as of Tuesday morning this week to complete the adoption process. Natalie picked me up at the airport and helped me get settled into my new apartment for this week in the downtown area of Kiev, a city with over 5 million people! It's a very busy city with far too many cars than than the roads are made to handle. So far I've experienced being stuck in traffic for hours, riding the underground Metro system (10 cents gets you anywhere in the city) and several city buses. It's a maze of millions of people.

These pictures were taken from the city center which is only a 5 minute walk from my apartment. Notice the McDonalds restaurant in the middle left of the bottom picture. That's the only US fast food place here and it's very popular even though it's very expensive for the average person to eat there.