Catching Up

Hello all our readers! We’re gonna backtrack a bit and catch you up-to-date on our trip starting at when we landed in Ukraine at 9:30ish Tuesday morning, August 4. We landed in Kiev safe, sound, and just a little bit tired. Our driver/translator Nicholai took us to our apartment and then dropped us off at TGIFridays to meet three other adoptive families; The Hosfords adopting Victoria from Kiev, Paula (I‘ve forgotten her last name-AUGHH)adopting Bella in Kiev, and the Haires adopting Anastasia and Sophia. Here we are looking pretty American in an American restaurant. Thanks for lunch, Paula!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shopping in Ukraine is very different and something to get used to! Rich and I have enjoyed it, but it makes us appreciate our grocery stores in the U.S. so much more. There are very few self-serve shops, you have to go to the counter that stocks your particular item and ask that particular sales clerk for what you want and pay them before moving to the next counter.

Produce is not sold in store except in the larger cities, I think. We have been buying produce in open air markets or covered markets JUST for produce. Here, Rich stocks up on plums and bananas to get us through our two day stay in Kiev. There is one really nice store in Kiev that we visited that has everything, but still not comparable to Lowes Foods:)

We had a very nice apartment in Kiev for only $60 a night! It was within walking distance to everything we wanted, including the SDA. One bedroom, bathroom, eat-in kitchen, and living room. Very nice. We even had a balcony overlooking the cul-de-sac we were in. Our door was guarded daily by our babushka landlady. She scolded us one night when we were late returning and showed us how to let ourselves in.

Here is the very lovely church across from the SDA- state department of adoptions. We have seen many ornate churches like this- beautiful! Ukraine has lots of lovely old buildings.

Our meeting at the SDA was at 11am the morning of the 5th. We explained to the social worker why we wanted to adopt a special needs child. She was really touched when we showed her our photo album and told her that we already had a daughter with Spina Bifida. She thanked us sweetly for being willing to give a Ukrainian child with needs a good home. We accepted the referral for Miraslava at this time and were told to come back in the afternoon for our letter allowing us to get into the orphanage.

We were fortunate enough to meet the Tubbs family while waiting for our SDA appointment- they are adopting Sergey from an institution. We can’t wait to hear the rest of their story!

Rich and I decided to try a buffet restaurant of traditional Ukrainian food so we could point to what we wanted. Mmmm,mmm,good!!!! Bortsch, meat and potato pierogies smothered in sour cream, and some kind of meatballs in sauce. I love the food here and you’ll get to see much more of it in later posts. I did get sick once-but that’s another story.

Our apartment was not far from Independence Square- a really nice part of town, very modern

When we returned to the SDA that afternoon at 4pm, we were able to meet the Taborn family, adopting Simon. They were planning to leave right after their appointment on the train. We wish them he best of times with their new little boy!

For dinner, we met Christine Reed, her daughter Julia, and her newly adopted son, Alex. It was a wonderful meeting- we have been praying for Alex since we first saw him on Reece’s Rainbow in December! Alex has Spina Bifida like our Lauren and our Mira Kathryn. We had lots of info to share with Christine concerning spina bifida. We can’t wait to see how Alex grows and develops! We ate at McDonald’s for dinner. Big Macs are universal :)

Looking forward to letting you know all about our adventures in Priluki, Mira’s town! If you want to email us, you can- at Ukraine@strongsignals.net