Good News on Thanksgiving Day

We heard from Oles on Thanksgiving day. He was able to get the Moldovan court to process an order to change Elliott's birth certificate. Now we are in the 20 day waiting period which will end on December 13th! We are now working on the schedule of events fro my return to Ukraine to get Elliott. I should be able to pick him up in Kiev and do the Medical and Embassy visits in just a few days and then fly home with him before Christmas. We are soooo excited!

I have gotten Nicky and Elliott added to my medical insurance and we got a SSN for Nicky - all you need for the SSN is your ID (driver's license or passport) and the child's passport. We went to the SSN Administration office so we wouldn't have to mail the original passport. Nicky got a physical for school last week and started in the fifth grade today!!

Please keep us in your prayers as we make arrangements to get Elliott - God has been so good to meet all of our needs this far that we know he will do an awesome job in this last step to get Elliott!

Nov 17, THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME…

We made it!!!!!!!! After an 11 hour flight from Kiev to JFK we will thrilled to be off the plane onto American soil! I can’t believe how excited I was when the immigration guy spoke English and welcomed us back! People were actually saying “excuse me and sorry” if they entered into your personal space and the highway and loving American restrooms! Customs and immigration was a breeze. We rented a car and drove the 7-hour trip to Williamsburg arriving exhausted and exhilarated at 1:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. in Ukraine). Nicky slept the entire time in the car and we woke him up about 15 minutes before we got to the house. He was so excited! Dave went straight to bed so he could get a few hours in before going to work (I know, he is a crazy man). Nicky and I stayed up for a few hours. I just reveled in being home and Nicky explored. He kept saying “Wow”! As we have said before, he has a very curious nature. I’ve decided that could be to our advantage and we are getting older and keep forgetting where we put things!

Nicky couldn’t wait to see Tyler and neither could we. He got off the bus and came running from down the street. Nicky yelled “Tyler” and Tyler yelled “Nicky”. They ran into each other’s arms and hugged what seemed to be a long time (especially for Ty). It was so good to see him. They immediately started playing, going from one thing to another and haven’t stopped since!

We prayerfully wait with hope to hear from Olas next week. He will be meeting with Moldova Vital statistics and possibly some judges on Tuesday.

Nov 15, CBN Visit

Today we were invited to go to the CBN offices. Karen Springs invited us but then she called this morning and said she was ill. Natalia called and said she would meet us there and to not tell Nicky – she wanted to surprise him. Karen gave us directions to take the subway and we were off! The subway is very crowded and busy all day long. It was easy to find the CBN offices and Nicky was very excited. He was here last year for practice prior to going to the states. He was very surprised to see Natalia and it was like old home night as he talked to everyone. Natasha (the narrator from the Old Russian Shoemaker) kept him while we met with Steve Weber. Steve was very interested in our experience and asked what was going on with Elliott. He offered to get Elliott from the orphanage and he or someone from CBN would keep him till we returned. He even called the orphanage director to pave the way. We went back to the apartment via the subway and got the court decree and headed back to CBN. When we went to the notary – she said we needed some Ukrainian tax ID number to complete the Power of Attorney and we were all stumped. We were late for a meeting with the SENSE people to get a power of attorney for Olas to go to Moldova and get the BC. So we asked if they could also do the Power of Attorney for Elliott to go to CBN. They did it and the P of A is at Sense’s office and Steve will pick it up tomorrow. God is good!!!

Nov 14, Tickets to Fly Home!

We have tickets to fly home!! We will be flying on Thursday 11/16. It is a direct flight from Kiev to JFK. We leave at noon and arrive in the USA at 3:30 p.m. We will rent a car and drive to Williamsburg. While getting the tickets, Nicky was right next to the agent and asking her questions and following her around as she processed our request. The next thing you know she was pulling out travel brochures of Finland and Alaska. Before we left, he asked for her business card. I think he swung a deal for his summer vacation next year! We have decided that he talks more than Grandma Snoz and Tyler combined! As much as we want him to learn English, we have our concerns!

Went to dinner with Karen Springs who works for CBN, Kiev with adoptions. She wanted to meet us and hear our adoption story. She is an American but speaks Russian so Nicky had a great time with her. When we departed he warned her about going back to her apartment by herself. He gave her some martial arts moves in case she was assaulted! Needless to say, she was entertained by him the entire night! See the picture!

We went to the US Embassy this morning to get a permanent Visa for Nicky. After submitting the forms and being interviewed by a consular, they kept Nicky’s passport until the process is complete at 4 PM. Nicky was not happy to leave without his passport. There was a lot of traffic around the embassy and the streets are narrow. The accepted protocol is to drive with one set of wheels on the sidewalk (see picture)! Great for the cars; not so great for pedestrians!
We are getting tickets for the Opera tonight – Don Quihote! If I can find the ticket office! I’m sure Nicky will help!

Nov. 13, Medical Approval Granted

Yuri (The project manager for our adoption agency) picked us up and took us to the Medical Center to get Nicky’s physical. Nicky had to have a Hepatitus B shot. Evidently, it is a new law for children over the age of 10. The Doctor said he will need to get 2 more Hep B booster shots when in America to complete the series. Hopefully, tomorrow Olas will arrive with the new birth certificate, we will go to the American Embassy and obtain a visa for Nicky. We have made a decision to all come home this week (hopefully) and Dave will return as soon as possible to get Elliott.

Here are two pictures, one is Nicky cooking yaitzak (eggs) for him and me and in the other I am teaching him to floss (I never did it much at that age!!). Nicky is soo good - he cooks, does the laundry and vacuums!

Once again, thank you so much for all your encouraging words and your prayers. We know God is at work and his ways are perfect. We may not understand His plan, but we know we can trust it to be better for us than anything we could devise for ourselves.

Hebrews 11:1 says “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.
Until tomorrow…

Nov 12, In Kyiv

After an overnight train ride we arrived in Kiev at 6 a.m. We were greeted by a driver and taken to an apartment. It is so nice to have some room! It is very cold here and snowed today (but no accumulation). We spent the day getting settled, going to the grocery store, internet café and McDonalds! Nicky was very happy because he loves french fries! He has ordered them for every meal we have had with him since we got here! We can’t seem to talk him out of ordering them especially with the language barrier! For dinner we went to the Italian restaurant, DaMario’s that we enjoyed so much when first arriving in Kiev. The waitresses were all entertained by Nicky and WHATEVER he was saying to them. He had them teaching him fancy folds with the dinner napkins!

Nicky gets a Passport

Well, Olas got the Ukraine passport for Nicholas David Schweickert today. He still has to get the BC authenticated Monday and then he will carry it to Kiev. We got tickets for tonight’s train to Kiev (we left Olas behind to finish BC) and are headed there to get Nicky’s medical and get a VISA for him from the US Embassy. Olas will come to Kiev on Monday with the BC and go to Moldova on Tuesday and see what is up there. If he can get Elliott’s BC done in a few days we may all wait. It is a possibility that Kathie and Nicky will come home later this week.

Nov. 10, Nicky says "Goodbye Berdyansk!"

What a day!! I have to start with what Olas did last night. He searched out a cab that would take us to Zaporozhye, back to Berdyansk, and then a final trip to Zaporozhye. The cab had to be reliable and big for all us and our luggage. Here is the proposed itinerary: (keep in mind that it normally takes 2 ½-3 hours to get to Zaporozhye!) Olas and I would embark on this journey at 6 am to go to the Birth Certificate (BC) lady in Zaporozhye to get her written approval to make a new BC for Nicky. Go Berdyansk to court house, vital statistics and get Nicky out of the orphanage in time to make a 2nd trip to Zaporozhye to finalize Nicky’s passport and make the 7 p.m. train to Kiev.

Olas found the perfect cab, so we all headed to bed to rest for our big day. At 0600, Olas and I went out of the hotel to find two different cabs there. Evidently the guy from the night before couldn’t make it. Instead there were two “not so nice cabs” (I’m being gracious) there. After talking to the drivers, I found out these weren’t the second or third choice either!! We ended up in a LADA (wonderful little cars that they are!!) that only ran on propane. We got to Zaporozhye at 9:30 got the paperwork done and Olas hired Berdyansk in 2 hours flat, hightailed it to court and then ran to the hall of records had just closed for lunch! We did not get Nicky and the luggage till 2 PM. But should be no problem getting back to Zaporozhye by 4 PM with the cab driver we had. Well, not exactly – The engine started to overheat as we left Berdyansk. After 5 stops to fill the radiator we realized that the water pump was shot. This guy still drove the car all the way to Zaporozhye with the temp gauge pegged although he could only get it up to 10 MPH. Not too mention that he also took a wrong turn and we went 100 kilometers out of the way! The cab driver finally gave up and order us another cab on the outskirts of the city. Needless to say, the BC authentication is on hold till Monday. We arrived at 7 p.m. and waited 30 minutes to get our room at the “Hotel Intertourist”.

Leaving Elliott was very sad. We all tried to be brave but it wasn’t easy. We are still trusting God to bring it to fruition and are thankful he we were able to go to court and adopt before his 16th birthday.

We met American families (in hotel lobby)from Indiana & Ohio in process of adoption. They are still waiting on paperwork and they came just to visit their soon to be adopted children.
Nicky has been so excited since he left the orphanage he can hardly stand it. The 3 of us were in a half of the back seat in the taxi to Zap for 5 hours and he didn’t even care. He kept saying “Hello America” with tons of hugs, kisses and smiles! Our first night in the hotel with him was priceless. When it came time for bed, he got out his Bible and read for about 15 minutes, knelt by the bed and folded his hands and prayed. God was smiling and so were we.

Nov. 9, Miss Autumn Contest

Today was a fun day at the orphanage. We went to the auditorium to watch the crowning of “Miss Autumn”. There were many performances and forms of entertainment. The ballet performed (Olga was beautiful), a solo from their beloved “Tolek” (Elliott), volunteers from the audience who came up and spoke, not sure what they said. It was a lot of fun to watch but Olas wasn’t there so I’m not sure I have the big picture! The boys also got their passport pictures taken today and were excited. Nicky has been asking when we are we going to America all the time now and Elliott ask today for the first time. I shrugged my shoulders and he shook his head to say he understood. It is heartbreaking. The passport issued was resolved FINALLY after Olas spent 3 hours with the notary. He is working hard all of our behalf. Tomorrow, we try to finalize paperwork in Zaporoshe and get Nicky out of the orphanage. It doesn’t look like Elliott will be leaving with us.

A BEND IN THE ROAD

Yesterday when went to the Notary to sign a petition. When verifying our passports the notary found a discrepancy. FYI: Our old passports expired Nov 4, 2006, so we renewed them over the summer. We didn’t want to worry about not having them updated when we received an appointment to travel over here. When we started the adoption process in December 2005, we used our old passports for all the legal documents we had to complete and a copy of the old passports was included in our dossier. When the Notary was verifying our passports she found that we had renewed them. The Ukrainian law says that the passports have to match. Olas is trying to get around this today by creating and translating a petition with a copy of our new passports and running it though the legal system so that everyone is aware. Please pray for favor, that the new petition is accepted on every level and does not take us back to square one. The phone calls to Moldova continue.

The good news is that the Bruce’s were able to take their daughter from the orphanage last night! They left Berdyansk early this morning and are onto the final steps in Zaporozhye and Kiev and then home! We will really miss them and loved watching God’s hand at work in the adoption of Erin Taylor Bruce!

Included are some pictures of some children at the orphanage. I don’t think our suitcases are big enough to bring them all back but we would love to!

November 6, 2006, Happy 16th Birthday Elliott!!

One day, when we walked into the restaurant for breakfast, a guy heard us talking and said in perfect english, "where are you from?" We were surprised so we invited him to sit at our table. His name is Yaroslav Ovsienko and he is actually a native Ukrainian!! He has a home in Washington state and Britian. Now get this – he is an interpreter for Scientech – a nuclear consulting company!! He has to translate terms like "Probabalistic Risk Assessment" and "HPSI"! How interesting that we run into someone from the nuclear industry in Berdyansk! He and his wife took Kathie and I to get a present for Elliott for his birthday, to get Kathie’s hair done (color & cut for $30) and to order pizzas for Elliott’s party at the orphanage.

Elliott had a great birthday! We got him couple of DVD’s and he wore his new coat and shoes back to the orphanage for his pizza party. (Can you tell he really loved his new clothes?) His classmates gathered for the celebration with, of course Nicky, who thinks he is as old as the others! You could tell the kids all loved each other a lot as they ate, talked and joked around. They gave Elliott a hand-made booklet. Each page was an outpouring of their love for him, including pictures, words of encouragement and past memories together. It will be a sad day for many when he leaves the orphanage.

These children, even though they are older, still long to have their own Mama and Papa and they all dream of coming to America. Unfortunately, in America you cannot be adopted from a foreign country after you reach the age of 16.

Olas called Moldova again and was told to call back tomorrow….

November 4, 2006, Lunch with the Orphan Director

Galina the orphage director invited Olas, the Bruce’s and us for dinner. We ate together is a tiny room and some were not able to put their legs under the table. Tons of food was displayed on the table and the cook kept bringing more! Dave, being the good eater that he is, ate and ate and ate, accompanied by all the correct moaning noises. Galina watched in amazement, but with great approval! I really thought she liked me before the luncheon, but when she found out I was vegetarian and didn’t eat nearly as much as my husband she was concerned. Olas assured her that the boys would be able to eat meat and everything would be fine! (No smart comments back on the blog about my cooking or lack of it!)

Tobi has had trouble calling us and discovered that the phone number I posted ealier was missing a 3. The correct number is 38 (095) 849-91-70.

Fall Break Continues...

November 3, 2006

The days are getting colder as we walk to and from the orphanage. Once again, we retrieved the boys and brought them back to the hotel for the day. When I was going over English words with them I had to lie between them on the bed because they would not quit wrestling and teasing each other! They also love to TRY to teach me Russian words as I am teaching them English. They say the word, I try to repeat the word. They fall out laughing! They repeat it slowly syllable by syllable, I repeat it again slowly syllable by syllable. Now, they are howling!! The picture is of Olas with the boys on our walk back from the orphanage. He really loves them and told us that they are such good boys he would have adopted them if we wouldn’t have!

The birth certificate issue is still an ISSUE that Olas continues to work on. He has called Moldova two days in a row and keeps getting the run around and told to call back tomorrow. He will call back once again on Monday. It continues to be a concern and a prayer request as we stand in faith and trust God.

As we walk through the orphanage each day we occasionally run into the toddlers. There are about 68 of them and they are in a section of the orphanage on the first floor. They are so adorable – they walk up to you and smile and grab your hand and call you mama and papa. Here is a picture of their lunchroom as they were setting it up.

When we shop for bananas and oranges for the kids, we found this indoor market not far from the hotel. They set up tables in the aisles and sell tea, candy, nuts, and all manner of commodities. On the far side they sell fish – we stay away from there because it smells a little rank. Here is a picture of Kathie’s favorite section!!

Day 2 of 10

We have settled into a routine now in the city of Berdyansk, which is starting to feel like home. We picked up the laundry, had breakfast, shopped at the market and did our usual walk to the orphanage. We brought the boys back to the hotel spent the day just hanging out together. Every night we have dinner with the Bruce’s, Olas and all the kids. The cook’s specialty is a Caesar sald (different than in the States) but pretty good and a killer banana cake (with small cubes of ice cream and raspberry sauce). It is hard for any of us to pass on it. The size of the portion is the same as for ordering wine – either 100 or 200 (grams for cake, ml for wine). I’ll let you guess what size of cake Dave orders.

Transportation in Ukraine:
No Pickup trucks - only old little cars that have seen better days (like the hearse in the picture). There seems to be two kinds of busses – large busses like city buses and overgrown vans that appear to be private ventures. I have seen one or two large buses like tour busses but there were no markings on them. Many of the busses and cars run on LNG – you can see the cylinders attached to the top of the busses, the cylinders in the taxis are in the trunk. Vehicles have the right of way unless you are in a crosswalk – always look both ways before venturing out on the street. Twice I have been a few feet from the curb when the light changed and the car waiting on me honked and started moving toward me – one of the two actually ran into me before stopping with the horn going all the time (it is a little unnerving!!). They will hit you with their car but they don’t want to harm you – that is against the law! I have only seen one cop since I’ve been here. If they stop you for speeding, you give them 10 grivnas ($2) and you’re on your way again. No one parks on the sidewalk in Berdyansk, they only do that in Kiev (pronounced "keve"). Many people walk or ride these very old bikes. It seems to me that all the bikes have about half the tire pressure they really need (maybe because the roads are so bad). Many of the manholes are missing the covers – in these situations, someone has placed some tree limbs or long boards in them sticking up so they are noticeable.

Day 1 of 10

We went to the orphanage around 1100. We needed to fill out a petition that would allow us to get the boys each day this week – it is fall break for school! We picked up the boys and walked back to the hotel. We found out that the boys can go to town whenever they want to. If they are going to be gone for a meal they need to let the caretakers know. So they have walked this route many times – I thought we were giving them a new experience!!!

We taught the boys to play Rumikub – a tile rummy game. Olas helped us – he has a great sense of humor and he is very competitive. The boys loved the game and we didn't need to speak the same language to play!

Elliott had to leave a little early because he had a league basketball game. So he left about 40 minutes before we had to take Nicky back. Elliott wanted to walk back alone – he knew the way and he had done it many times. Kathie stayed at the hotel and I walked Nicky home around 5:30. He wanted to lead and show me the way he goes to the orphanage. He is so independent!!! I’ll bet he feels like he is adopting us!!! I guess it is all in your point of view.