At the SDA, with the officials, it was OK to mention our hosting, but only to the officials. Speaking of the agency or the hosting to others, even Americans, could cause problems later. The best best is just not to talk to anyone. I, of course, found that hard. I love to talk to others and find out about them. There was another American couple from Kentucky there ahead of us. I think I did OK not to mention anything. Waiting involved standing in the hall until it was our turn. Not so comfortable heals, but oh well.
Our appointment was for 12:00 noon. We went in about 12:15, sat down and waited while our advocate spoke with the official. At first we were told tha Anna was available, but not Misha. Talk about heart stopping. All I could think about was "God's will be done! But please let it be OK!" But then both their files were pulled. Apparently, there was confusion as to which Misha we were talking about.
We were told about each child: why they were available for adoption, medical problems, etc. It seems that most children have some sort of medcial problem listed in their file. Nothing to worry about though, just something to be aware of. We had brought with us photos of Misha in our home and were asked to show these. Unfortunately, we didn't bring any with us all together (I had plenty, but didn't know ahead of time.) In less than 5 minutes we were done. We were not asked any questions. That would come later at our court date at the end of our first trip.
Across from the SDA were many vendors selling souviner stuff. We bought gifts of stacking dolls for those who had helped watch Emily and Mason as well as some things for Christmas. We probably spent more than we should have, but since Ukraine is not our usual vacation spot we thought it was worth it.
In the car, we then discussed the best form of transportation to get to our orphanage city. The train was cheapest (about $100 each), but took about 12 hours, usually overnight. We could fly to a nearby city and then drive 2 hours. This was more than twice the price of the train (about $266 each + $50 to change return date) and we were buying 3 tickets (the 2 of us and our advocate). We were told that we would need to pay in cash. We could do this, but thought it would be cutting it close in regard to remaining cash. Even though it would take longer, we decided to travel by train. Unfortunately, it was sold out. The train is a very popular form of transportation and there is only one train a day to our destination point. Luckily we learned that we could charge the airline tickets. We would get these tomorrow at the airport.
We were home by 2:15 and on our own for the next 24 hours.
We were told about each child: why they were available for adoption, medical problems, etc. It seems that most children have some sort of medcial problem listed in their file. Nothing to worry about though, just something to be aware of. We had brought with us photos of Misha in our home and were asked to show these. Unfortunately, we didn't bring any with us all together (I had plenty, but didn't know ahead of time.) In less than 5 minutes we were done. We were not asked any questions. That would come later at our court date at the end of our first trip.
Across from the SDA were many vendors selling souviner stuff. We bought gifts of stacking dolls for those who had helped watch Emily and Mason as well as some things for Christmas. We probably spent more than we should have, but since Ukraine is not our usual vacation spot we thought it was worth it.
In the car, we then discussed the best form of transportation to get to our orphanage city. The train was cheapest (about $100 each), but took about 12 hours, usually overnight. We could fly to a nearby city and then drive 2 hours. This was more than twice the price of the train (about $266 each + $50 to change return date) and we were buying 3 tickets (the 2 of us and our advocate). We were told that we would need to pay in cash. We could do this, but thought it would be cutting it close in regard to remaining cash. Even though it would take longer, we decided to travel by train. Unfortunately, it was sold out. The train is a very popular form of transportation and there is only one train a day to our destination point. Luckily we learned that we could charge the airline tickets. We would get these tomorrow at the airport.
We were home by 2:15 and on our own for the next 24 hours.
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