| Our Journey Continues ..... Page 4 |
| Saturday - April 21st - Up early - need to be to the orphanage by 9:00 to pick-up Dema and Yulia. Our translator arranged for a driver through a friend and fellow translator that lives here e in Kherson. He comes to pick us up at 8:30. Dema and Yulia were waiting and very happey to see us. What a driver. Very expressive. Quit a clown. We had a good trip about 1 1/2 hrs. Stopped along the road once so Yulia could go to the bathroom behind some bushes. Finally got to the Black Sea. It was very windy and quit chilly. Didn't stay very long, about 15 - 20 min. Dema and Yulia had lots of fun picking up shells & shells. They seem to really enjoy being with us. We decide to head back to the apartment for a little relaxation and a snack. I than gave them a bath. What a trip that was. One at a time, I had dolphins in the tub. Splashed, did circles, just didn't know how to act. The orphanage doesn't have a bathtub. Only like a shower stall with no sides and a long faucet that they used for rinsing off. They later told us, the only other time they remember a bath was in the hospital when they had their exam before being admitted to the orphanage. We then took them to a restraunt to eat an early supper. I don't believe they ever did this either. Yulia just didn't know what she wanted to eat. Dema wanted cutlets, cucumber & tomato salad and pineapple juice. Yulia only wanted mineral water and cucumber & tomato salad. When the food came, then Yulia wanted meat. I thought for a moment, we had a very picky eater. We really had to watch her. Chewed 2X than down the hatch it went. I hoped she wouldn't get sick but she did OK. Dema was saving room for an ice cream cone. After eating we went down the street to where they had a play ground area with slides kinda like they have at McDonald's. They loved that. On the way back, we bought them an ice cream cone. What a treat. It was about time to have them back to the orphanage, so headed back to the apartment to clean up a bit. We all had a great time together. Another big day. Sunday - April 22nd - Slept in a bit. Listened to a sermon on tape, our translator thought it was also good. Then went to the orphanage at 10:30. Our translator went to the train station to pick up the documents at 11:00. We had a good day playing with the children. Yulia did not have a very good day. In the evening when we got back to the orphanage, Yulia came racing toward us. Some of the other kids got to us first and kept calling me Momma. She did not like that a bit. Then I let one of the other girls carry our back pack, and that did not go down well. She went off by herself and started collecting dandelions. I didn't know what she was up to for quit a while. Here she was planning to braid these flowers together to make me a crown of flowers. She is just amazing, her little heart was going to do something special for me, even though she felt I let her down. Yulia was crying when it was time for us to leave. She said it was because she was thirsty. We think differently. I feel bad leaving her. I feel she just needs to be near us and reassurred that we won't go home without her. The Inspector called us late this evening with great news. She got a hold of the judge and court will be at 11:00 tomorrow. WOW! We are so happy. God is soo good! Monday - April 23rd - Woke up very nervous and anxious this morning, but very excited. Jay was not nervous to say the least. Any way he said he wasn't. Our translator had to go get their birth certificates and meet us at the court house. She was very nervous since she had a lot to do in short order. The Director had to go with her to sign out the birth certificates before she could bring them. Jay and I decided we had plenty of time to walk to court. We thought we knew where it was at. Thankfully the Lord allowed a woman we had met at the Notaries office, to be walking the same way. Our translator had written down the name of the court and address just in case we needed help. Thank goodness she was willing to help us. She walked all the way to the court and before I could offer her anything, she was gone. That's just the way they are over there. They have nothing and some refuse to except anything. Even as badly as they could use it. Even at the market when we would purchase nuts or something, they would always pile on a few extras. We waited on our translator for just a bit before we went up to court. We waited on the judge for about 15 minutes. She just asked us - Jay first, when his birth date was, what date we were married, and where the marriage was recorded. Then she asked me my birthday, the ages of our bio children and whether they were aware of us adopting 2 children from Ukraine and whether they had any objections. Only about 10 minutes. WOW!! This was a very nice surprise and a great relief. The judge then typed up the decree herself. She waived the 10 day waiting period without even us haveing to ask her. How great is our God!! He never faileth. Why do we doubt. We just feel soo blessed beyond words. Now we can start the paperwork chase. Copies, copies, copies, and notarized. Then this much paperwork was sent off to Kiev by train. Then we had an oppertunity to go to the orphanage. The kids asked us why we didn't come to see them this morning. We try to explain we had court and we are now the legal parents of Jamison Dimetry and Reagan Yulia Grube. Our return flight also had to be rescheduled so called LOT Polish to see what we could do. They said to call them back the next day at 9:00. We went back to the Inspector and gave her some gift and a copy of the court decree. Also gave the orphanage director a copy of the court decree. Our translator went to the passport agency with a phycologist from the orphanage to try to get some extra help in speeding up the process there. They really could still hold us up. They said they really didn't have to get the children's passport done in less than 10 days. Just lots of prayers on this regard. Tuesday - April 24th - Up early again this A.M. Need to be at the notary by 8:00. We wait and wait, hoping to be at the Vital Statistics office by 9:00. We leave the notary around 9:25. Our translator than has to run to the orphanage to get a lady to take to the passport agency. Than more copies. We met her at the Vital Statistics office around 10:30. There we met "Hitler" woman. They were not very nice to us. They yelled at our translator and told her there is no way they could get the new birth certificates done right away. She only makes $100 grevnas per month and she is just expected to do all this work. Maybe for an expediting fee!! OK, How much? She said we'll see. We then went around to the basement and she told us, "Oh, I can't do these, they are recorded in a different district. "Praise the Lord!" We went to the other office and what a night and day difference in personality. Nice as could be. They take lunch at 12:00. With a half hour to go, they were more than glad to help us out with the new birth certificates before lunch. WOW!! Then on to Authenticate them. Then on to the passport agency. Got there and waited, and waited. Only to find out we had to go to another passport agency first. Then wait and wait for another 1 1/2 hours. Then found out we could not get them today. OK! That was OK anyway. Our translator sent all copies on the train to Kiev. At least our fascilitator in Kiev would start the paperwork there so we wouldn't have so much to do when we arrived there. It's OK to slow down a bit. One more day would be better. We felt really bad we didn't make it to see the children today. We are just exhausted. Our translator had another oppertunity to go visit her friend again tonight. There is another translator that lives here in Kherson we found out. We were glad she could go have a bit of enjoyment as well. She deserved it. She was just great helping us. I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookied for Jamison and Reagan's going away party. Our translator never heard of such cookies. They never heard of Oreo cookies either. WOW, they really are behind. I managed to find some of the ingredients. I had to use honey instead of brown sugar, chunked up chocolate bars, (no chocolate chips), and powdered vanilla. The oven didn't have a thermostat, so I had to guess. No cookie sheet, only a porcelain sheet. No turner, only a fork. I would have to say, they didn't taste half bad. Not like home, but edible. They were impressed. Our translator loved them. We're so thankful to have an extra day. God knows we needed it and always what's best. Continued on page 5 ... |