Plans and Preparations

Mark and I have made our lists of things to do and buy before we go. One thing we almost forgot was Andrew's passport. Fortunately you can get one right away at the passport office in Atlanta so it's not a problem. The trip feels much easier the second time because there are less unknowns.There are restaurants and coffee shops I like in Kiev and Kovel and we even have a favorite church in each city. The women in Kiev dress very nicely, so to fit in I should be bringing black leather high heeled boots, but I'm bringing sensible snow boots like anyone in New Jersey would wear to the ShopRite. I don’t want to advertise that I’m an American, but my feet are important to me. I am packing a beautiful black coat so I’ll have part of the local look. The Ukrainians may think I’m a Ukrainian woman who sadly has foot problems.

I set aside clothes and drawer space in Andrew's room for Ruslan from the beginning so we're prepared for him. I’ll find out his shoe size when I’m there. A few friends and relatives have given me some clothes that we think will fit Nadia and I bought a beautiful gray woolen coat for her. It’s fun and scary to be getting clothes for a teenage girl. Just like with Andrew, we have to have complete outfits for them when they leave the orphanage and I want Nadia to feel pretty.

Our appointment will be Tuesday, January 17th so Mark, Andrew and I will fly on Sunday, January 15th to Kiev. We’ll arrive Monday morning and settle in for two nights in Kiev. After our appointment on Tuesday, there is a follow up appointment Wednesday for the referral giving us permission to go see Nadia and Ruslan. When we have signed for the referral, we’ll drive out to Kovel so we can see the kids on Thursday.

Thursday will be a busy day of meeting with adoption officials, orphanage Director and seeing the kids. We can’t wait to see their happy faces! It’ll be nice for everyone to see Andrew and they will be able to see how happy and healthy he is. He’ll also be able to reassure Nadia and Ruslan about what life with us is like in case they are scared. He can also translate for us a little although he says he's forgotten alot of Ukrainian.

We’ll visit again on Friday but also be busy filing paperwork, signing documents and driving from notary to court to orphanage and back again.I think we’ll be back in Kiev to submit papers by Monday or Tuesday and then we can go home. Mark and Andrew will definitely go home; I may stay if it is a short time in between then and the court date. I don’t mind having a quiet week by myself in Kiev if it’ll save $800. I can settle in with good books on kindle and enjoy the peace, but if it’s much longer than a week, I’m coming home too. I am doing better balancing my grief over Mary Evelyn with finding purpose and joy in life but don't want to stretch myself too hard.

Mark and I both have to be there for court, but that trip may only be three days. Then we’ll both come home to wait until we can go back and pick up the kids.I may go on the last trip by myself. Luda and her husband Leo will be with me so it’ll be fun and maybe even easy. I’ll just need to follow directions and sign lots of things. I hope to take the kids to the Lavra Monastery, beautiful churches and an opera or ballet while we're in Kiev waiting to go home. 

Hopefully, I’ll be back in Atlanta with the kids by the end of February.

Father Jacob has insisted to me that I update the blog more regularly this time so I will try to post a lot.

Hopefully, it won’t be the emotional rollercoaster this time and you’ll get sleepy reading it.