Day 16 (saturday) - travel

Denton and I were up early to finish packing, eat breakfast & take an estimated 3 hour taxi ride to the airport in Donetsk. I will add that we do not speak Russian (remember) and we cannot communicate with this taxi driver. We are trusting that he will actually get us to Donetsk - and on time. Sergei thought the taxi driver would probably follow all the traffic laws to avoid a ticket, thus the 3 hour estimate. We arrive an hour early. Does this mean the driver didn't follow the laws?

Two things Denton and I observe: 1)Dodging potholes is a sport, 2)The stark contrast between the black soil and the bright green winter cover crop along the way is breathtaking.

After a very bumpy ride to Donetsk, we get to the airport about 1:30. Denton's 4pm flight is international, so we have to be there early. My 5pm flight seems forever away. Denton departs from me to head through security & back home. I can't cry because this man from PA who has been talking to us is standing beside us (hello! privacy please!). I put on my big girl pants & send Denton on his way. The kids will be so happy to see him tomorrow! I will be happy at Belichi Bible Church among friends. As Denton walks away, the PA man resumes his talk about airline safety these days and how ludicrous it is to pat down and strip search a 5-year-old boy. I am praying that we sail through all security check-points. I am just not comfortable with getting molested - for myself or my children! I didn't realize it was that bad.

At the end of the day, I arrived safely in Kiev; Denton is in Munich safely. He should arrive home tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for your prayers!

Day 15 (friday) - Dinner guests

We are so excited to be invited to Inna's home for dinner tonight! (I love her borscht - glad she taught me how to make it when she stayed with us in America!)
After much begging, Ola was allowed to go with us (shhh).

We slept in a little after yesterday's hectic & exhausting day, packed for tomorrow's travel & then went to visit Ola in the orphanage. When we got there, it was a frenzy of kids everywhere - school was letting out. One friend of Ola's met us in the hall on the way to her floor & said she wasn't in her room, but we knew where she was (did I miss something? - we have no clue where she is if not in her room). So we call Ola - she says "you know where I am" - maybe she meant that as a question. Eventually she finds us (we actually told her where we were:) & we are taken upstairs to the party room. It is the last friday of the month - a time of celebrating the November birthdays. We have music, funny skits, and entertainment from the kids. Each birthday boy & girl gets a gift & recognition. Then off to Ola's room for another form of entertainment, Olga M. She is such a funny character! We're praying her Mom & Dad get to come *soon*. We skype our children at home & then time to walk to Inna's.

What a treat! Borscht, chicken, pickled tomatoes, compote, sausage, cheese, bread, homemade sauce - I am sure I'm forgetting something...
Inna tells us about her garden & that every vegetable we see is "real" and all from her garden. She plants, picks, and preserves the foods we ate. I am going to need those recipes, Inna! My favorite was the raspberry compote. Recipe: put fresh raspberries in a glass (not plastic) jar, pour hot water over them, add sugar & put the lid on. A delicious & traditional Ukrainian drink.
The tomatoes were great too - they had herbs & stuff, but Inna couldn't translate/mime that recipe - will try again to learn how.

We had a wonderful visit with Inna & Zhennya. Looked through photos of their life and children, talked about family, and laughed together as friends. Ola translated some. Zhennya & Inna expressed their thankfulness to us for adopting Ola.

Thanksgiving

Please allow me to revisit Thanksgiving now that I have had time to collect the thoughts from a whirlwind of the past 4 days...

from http://dictionary.reference.com

thanks·giv·ing

/ˌθæŋksˈgɪvɪŋ/ Show Spelled[thangks-giv-ing] - noun

1. the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to God.

2. an expression of thanks, esp. to God.

3. a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.

4. a day set apart for giving thanks to God.

Normally, our family celebrates Thanksgiving with extended family - a time of eating delicious food when everyone brings her specialty dish. We visit, say a prayer of Thanks to God, eat & then some have a nap (due to tryptophan coma). After reading the definition above I ponder how much of the 24-hour day called Thanksgiving do we set apart for God - to give Him proper thanks - how can we give Him proper thanks?

Pastor Kolia preached today on the 1st of God's Commandments - "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The following 3 commandments also deal directly with man's relationship with God (Exodus 20:1-11). One way to show our Thanks to God is to follow His Commandments every day. Jesus gave 2 Commandments in Mark 12:29-31 which are most important: "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

I am now alone - without my husband or children. I am Thankful God has me here; thankful to be at our church in Kiev amongst God's people. My heart keeps repeating Ola's words after court "I can't believe I have a family. It has been my dream." I also know that Ola prayed diligently for God to bless her with a family & asked others to pray with her. She asked, "what if God does not answer my prayer?" to one friend. I am so Thankful that God in His divine plan has orchestrated me to be Ola's Mother, Denton to be her Father, and Emary, Alex, & Abigail to be her siblings. I am certain that even with a much larger vocabulary I could not express my thanks to God. My prayer is that we will show our thankfulness through obedience to the Lord our God who has brought us out of bondage.

Exodus 20:1-2 "I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

Day 14 - Thanksgiving and Court (thurs)

Happy Thanksgiving! Our court day was today at 2(ish)pm.
What a wonderful day to have court and welcome our 4th child, Olga Joy Elliott!
After a 30 minute visit with the judge & a 20 minute recess, he stated that Ukraine would allow Olga to be our daughter. The photo is taken outside the courthouse: Denton, Tamara, Ola, Inspector General of Children's Affairs in Severodonetsk, and the Orphanage Lawyer (Yanna).
Praise God! What a work He has done.
Ukrainian law requires a 10 day wait for any appeals to the decision to be made, but since the 10th day falls on a Sunday, we must wait 11 days. Denton will travel home and I will travel to Kiev to stay with our church family there. This was a long day - more details to come (especially since I am a few days behind - it is late & today (actually saturday) was a really long day of travel. More later on our interview with the Ukrainian news.
I am so thankful to be able to worship with our church here (Kiev) tomorrow!

Day 13 - tour

What a treat we had today! Our friend at the orphanage gave us a tour. We saw 3 incredible museums in the school, many classrooms (the children are so respectful - when we entered the room, they all stood and said "dras-vwe-te"!), and the school chapel - beautiful! After a tour of the school, we were taken to the "kindergarten" building. Can you imagine a dozen little cuties *all sleeping*! They are so sweet - precious - beautiful. The girls' hair was decorated so cute with braids and bows. This is where Ola began her days at the orphanage nearly 11 years ago. We saw their playroom, classroom, kitchen, sleeping room - all miniature for toddlers. The caretakers were so nice - this school is a good one in which they truly love the children.
Since all the children were asleep, we asked to come back later to deliver a package from a family in America. While back in the school, we asked to see Yuroslav to deliver his package. He seemed shy and was very quiet. Then we went back to see his little sister & deliver her package. She is such a playful & sweet girl. Yuro is a wonderful big brother (he went with us to deliver her package) & let his sister play with all of his gifts. We could tell he adores her. Ola went with us too - to help translate;) Denton had a great time playing with Violetta and her new dog, "Dru-zhok" (it means best friend - animal, not human). She couldn't seem to understand why we couldn't talk to her - she kept repeating things slowly in Russian and taught us how to count in Russian. Such a clever girl. Ola commented too that she was a smart young lady. Yuro mostly watched & giggled at his sister's delightful play. On our way out, all the children were seated for dinner - so quietly! They all spoke to us & Ola showed us her favorite little boy Koyla. He is tiny & I am certain he could fit in my purse (kidding of course - I wish it were that easy). When we skyped our children & told them about our day Abigail asked if we could buy them & bring them home:) Oh I certainly could bring them home! The caregiver told me that all of these children want a family. We could give them that! So could families here. We are praying that more families will want to adopt. More on that tomorrow...

Day 12: Bowling and games

We were able to take the children bowling and playing some video games! It was very fun to watch all the children and 2 teachers have a fun time out. The local news came and the director of the orphanage came and talked with them. Basically there is a horrible misconception that Americans are taking these kids for body parts and other nefarious purposes! The director is trying to change this mindset as she knows nothing could be farther from the truth. The news team took video of us bowling and then had a short interview with Tamara and me. Then the lady asked if she could interview us again after our court date (which is Thurs. @2). So we will get a more in depth interview. We pray that our words will not be misconstrued and only help the children here get more care! They are already blessed to have such a great orphanage with many workers that obviously love these children greatly!

Here are some pictures from our night out:

Days 10-11: Oh to Speak Russian!

The worst part about being in Ukraine is we aren't with Emary, Alex, and Abigail. The next worst part is we don't speak Russian! ;-(

I am amazed at how much Olga speaks English. In fact, Sergei our facilitator says Olga speaks the best English at the Orphanage that he has heard. She definitely is gifted for language it seems. We have been learning little phrases but it is amazing how we can say something in Russian and they people have no idea what we are trying to say.

The weather here has been great. Cold and overcast, but not freezing and wet as we thought it would be. In fact, I (Denton) may make it out of Ukraine without ever seeing one snowflake!

Tomorrow we take Olga's class bowling! This will be so fun as most of the children (and caregivers) have never bowled before. Olga said to me that it would cost too much and we told her that she should not worry herself with money that is daddy's job. Turns out I can rent the whole bowling complex for about 400 Grevena which is about $50. :-)
So I plan on buying the kids video game tokens and icecream as well. This is about 25 kids. I just wish it would be that cheap in America!

We ate tonight at my favorite restaurant here Istanbulitsa! It is run by a very nice couple named Sirhan (from Turkey) and Olga(from here)! Sirhan likes to practice his English. He is really a computer engineer but quit that work to do his love of cooking and serving Turkish food. Let me just say that I am very glad he did because the food (and tea and coffee and desert) is top-notch!


Amanda and Randy Hermes have a 15 year old boy here named Alex that they will have to wait a year before he is available to adopt (just like we did with Olga). He is now out of the Orphanage and in the nearby technical school learning welding. So we had Sergei call him up and invite him to go with us to Instanbulitsa. He is a very quiet and polite boy. In fact he was rushing to the door to make sure he opened it for us. We bought soups, dinner platters, teas, coffees, baklavas (the best I ever had!), icecream-like desert, juices...all for.........250 Grevena! Amazing! It just seems so strange to get a large bill like that until you do the math and realize this is a little over $30! Also, I tip like 50 Grevena. It feels weird because you think it's lots of money, but you have to divide by 8 in your head and realize it is not much. The waitresses love us because people don't tip much at all here and we are tipping a lot to them. It feels so good to "make their day." :-)

Here are some pics:

Olga here is on the phone with her pappa Bobby!



Alex says hi to mom and dad:


Sergei (our favorite half-Russian, half-Ukrainian friend! :-) Tamara, and Alex:





PS - MEN don't wear blue shirts in Ukraine...it's gay and I don't mean happy! All I brought was my blue button up dress shirt for court! Oh well, I am American so they make exception I hope! :-)

Day 9: Giiving gifts is fun!

Today we arrived at 3 and Ola's floor was locked. A boy saw us and said to follow him to Ola. We followed him and ran into Ola on her way back from class. They have school everyday, except most Sundays from what we understand. Today being Saturday we were able to have an extra hour with Ola and friends before having to leave. We decided to give the gifts for the children today so I ran back to the Hotel (it's already dark at 4pm!). On a side note, it is not so easy getting used to the Ukrainian food, kinda messed with our stomachs today. It is good, but maybe more fatty? We had a great time giving out the gifts from all the families that sent gifts through us...1 of our checked bags full! :-)

Here are the pics:

Day 7 - visiting

Today we slept in a bit, but Sergei was up on our behalf & running Ola to all her medical appointments. One of the orphanage nurses died this morning, so please pray for her family. We ate a late breakfast & waited until 2:30 or so to walk to the orphanage. We are only able to visit from 3-5, so this is the highlight of our day! Ola wanted to show us her photos, then we went down the hall to her chaperone's office to see some videos of her dancing (beautiful!). After, we just 'hung out' in Ola's room & visited with her friend, Olga.
It was nice just to see her in her environment. See her daily life. All the time we've been apart, I've wondered what it is like - now we see:)

We also visited with a guard dog at the orphanage (she barked when we came up). Very sweet old dog & Ola said she has had lots of puppies.


Thankfully, with Sergei's hard work, everything got on the train this evening to Kiev! Thanking the Lord for Sergei! Praying for him and his family - he leaves them to help us.

When Ola hugged Denton "spok-e-nya-noche" (good night), she said, "you smell like home." Melt our hearts! She told me again when she hugged me at the front door.

Day 6 - Ola

Today we see Ola! We have our letter of permission, but first we have to sign a petition to see her & get it notarized. After about 6 hours of sleep, we're up and eat breakfast. Then off to the lawyer to notarize. Next to the Inspector General's office - we sign something and take the Inspector with us to the orphanage for the "interrogation". They inspector asks if Ola knows we are here. The assistant to the Director and the Orphanage Lawyer start laughing & speaking some kind of funny story. Sergei translates that they are all laughing at the question because Ola has been telling *everyone* that we're coming today. Ola has become friends with lots of families coming for their children because she speaks such good English & she can translate for them. Thus, Ola has everyone looking out for when we arrive. I am thankful everyone seems to be in a good mood. Ola is well liked at the orphanage having been there 10 years or so & she is a very good girl. It seems they are so happy that we will be her family.

We joke with everyone that we will name Ola after Denton (a custom in Ukraine) - Olga Dentoniva Elliott. They crack up in laughter! Everyone asks me if I have Russian roots (Russian name, fair hair). I do, I only wish I could speak the language.

Finally we meet with the Director. She asks how we know Ola - we tell her. Then Ola comes in & what a reunion! She seems smaller - more like a little girl today. She sits & the Director asks her some questions (in Russian of course) - I hear "da, da, nyet, nyet, nyet" and that is it. She has to write out that she wants us to adopt her & sign it. All done. We get to go to the library to visit with her a while. After about an hour Sergei comes in & is in a hurry to get Ola to her list of medical appointments. The process is something like this:
6 or so Medicals > paperwork signed and on the train to Kiev > must be submitted M, W or F > processed> returned by train > given to Head Judge > trickles down to the Judge for our case > then we can have court!

We are so happy to see Ola. I keep thinking about her birth mother - wonder what is going on in her life now. I wonder how Ola felt the day she was brought to the orphanage close to 11 years ago. How she feels now that we are finally here. We feel so blessed to be here for her - to be her Dad, Mom, sisters, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends = FAMILY forever. Amazing that God had it planned this way all along. His name is Wonderful.

Day 4 entertainment

For this evening's entertainment, we will wash clothes:)
We have a washing machine from about 1980 (maybe older).

Kolia, Lena, and Yulia told us their best guess on how to work it, so I put soap in the "II" box, twisted the knobs, and nothing happened. Bummer. I twisted knobs in a different order, nothing, more twisting, fiddling, banging...nothing. I call Denton for help. He's an engineer and he can figure anything out! He's fixed our washer and dryer at home - very handy. He twisted, banged, fiddled, nothing. He kept at it for about 5 minutes & still nothing! We call our facilitator & she and her husband try to talk us through the process. Still no success. Ugh. We leave tomorrow at noon from the apartment & the clothes won't be dry it time if we don't get this moving! Finally, Denton has the right sequence of twists and the water comes on. YEA! I come back to the washer about an hour later. The cycle knob has not advanced AT ALL! It has just been tumbling for an hour. Back to fiddling. Another 10 minutes or so & Denton hears the knob clicking - he has gotten it to work properly & the cycle advances. By now it is after 9pm & I am wondering if these clothes will be dry by morning to pack. Doubtful. That is when a Mom goes to work. I have Denton light the oven (from about 1960) & crank it up. I find hangers all over the apartment & hang everything from the curtain rod in the kitchen. OSHA would have a fit.
I open the oven door and pray the clothes won't fall & catch fire. I set a trap for the oven door in case it falls open (an ironing board made of the asbestos-type counters found in a chemistry lab). The kitchen has a door, so I close the door & return to the living area. Denton (a little OCD) goes to the kitchen to check the clothes & it is a sauna! It is working! We turn the oven off & go to bed about midnight. That was fun and by morning everything was dry.

A Kiev Birthday - Day 5

What a treat to spend my birthday in Kiev! And to pick up our referral for Ola! Denton took me to a nice lunch, then Melanie and I left their (very nice) appartment to walk to SDA for exercise. The guys were to follow with the facilitator in the car & be there by about 4pm (you can only pick up the letters from 4-5pm). Melanie & I walked through Independence Square (see the photo of the monument) & into the underground mall - very cool! Sort of like Underground Atlanta, but more compact & nicer. Ola and I will have to visit that when we return to Kiev.
Mel & I got to SDA a little early & called the guys to see if they were on their way (by car, it would probably take twice as long as our15 min. walk to get through traffic). They were still waiting on the driver. Uh-oh. We called again at 4:30 - still waiting on the driver. Yikes! So we did what all ladies would do in a situation like this. We shopped! Just before 5pm, we walked into the building to wait. SDA wasn't ready, so everyone was there waiting. Guys still not here. Did I mention we have a flight to catch? Leaving at 7:50 from the airport about 45 minutes away (hour+ through traffic). Finally the men arrive - just in time for SDA to bring all our paperwork downstairs. We wait for everyone else in line, get our documents & get to the airport with time to spare. I think time is different here. God must be multiplying it when needed:)

Denton will explain his amazing race to the SDA by car:

OK. Bill and I were waiting for our facilitator who was supposed to pick us up with enough time to drive from the apartment to SDA. Traffic was horrible so we weren't picked up until 15 minutes before SDA closed. I asked if he thought we would make it and he said, "We see," with a big smile. We threw our bags in the car and the race began! Driving by independence square left turn are not permitted and traffic doesn't move much so facilitator takes a "short cut." This was amazing, I felt like we were playing "chicken" with pedestrians, parked cars, and barrier railings. You know how cats can squeeze through small openings. Well, somehow facilitator's car was able to transform to cat mode...it was quite thrilling. All this to get us on another rode that goes straight up to the rode that leads to SDA. We arrive at SDA about 15 mins later...this should have easily been a 40 min drive. :-)


We get on the plane, quick hour flight (that would have taken 15hours by train), then a 2 hour drive to Ola's city. Thankfully Sergei had just replaced the shocks on his car (must be done every 10K kilometers due to the terrible roads). Still a bumpy ride, but we saw a white fox! Sergei said he has only seen 2 others in his lifetime! Beautiful. We finally get to bed about 1am. Got to be up running in the morning to see officials to get the paperwork done to get permission to see Ola!

Day 4, SDA

Today was our SDA appointment. We walked in, sat down, and the lady asked us how we knew Ola and why we want to adopt her. We talked about meeting her, hosting her, and how our hearts love her and we wanted her to be a part of our family. She asked how our children felt about all of this & how they liked Ola. I smiled and said they can't wait for Ola to be home. We then saw Ola's file & she explained what was in the file - all that had happened to Ola since 2000 when she was taken to the orphanage by her mom (temporarily). She also explained that Ola's mom didn't come back for her, so in 2005 she was considered "missing" and Ola was considered abandoned. At this point parental rights were terminated. Nothing is known of Ola's father. The lady asked us if we still wanted to go see Ola & asked if we were still interested in adopting her (HELLO!). We said yes of course.


We walked around the vendors & saw St. Andrews church which they were rebuilding the foundation. Our facilitator explained that St. Andrew was the first apostle to come to Ukraine and he stood atop this hill & saw a vision that Ukraine would be the center of Christianity. So they built this magnificent church atop the hill & named it for St. Andrew's.
We met up with 2 other families adopting and along with our facilitator and her husband, we went to a great lunch. Hot herbal tea, Macchiatto, Coke, pizza, bacon and cheese omelet, cherry crepe/pancake - all for about $10. wow. On our way back to the apartment we posed for a photo in front of St Sophia's. A bit of rest, then eat, then rest.

Ukrainian Worship - Day 3

Today was spent with our Ukrainian Church – we celebrated Thanksgiving! Denton gave a sermon, beautiful singing (which we recognized!), and Pastor Kolia delivered his sermon. It was a wonderful service – we had a great feast of authentic Ukrainian food afterward. I just realized – I forgot my cake! Everyone welcomed us & we got lots of hugs & smiles. The children even gave us a poem in English! They did a great job! After the festivities, Pastor Kolia, Lena (his wife) and Yulia (his eldest daughter) took us to a beautiful and historic Ukrainian village. Amazing! Beautiful rolling hills, windmills, homes, a market, and lots of people! The weather was probably in the 60s with a light breeze – I think this is a special gift from God just for me (kidding, but I sure am thankful!)! This excellent weather is atypical – usually by now there is snow & ice falling from the sky.

Kolia and his family then drove us to the market and Yulia helped us shop for a few necessities. Really neat mall. Inside was a market with items similar to what you would find at Dollar General & a Farmer’s Market. There was a huge area of cheese, a whole row of sausages hanging & bulk bins of fresh fruit for you to scoop out for yourself, and the bakery of course. We got some of each & some yogurt which was THE BEST EVER! I do not know what is different, but it was so creamy & sweet, but not sugary. YUMMY! Everything I have seen hints that they do not use artificial anything. Did I mention the butter isle? There were so many *types* of butter – different fat content, different brands, wow. And there were attendants everywhere watching.

After the market, we returned to the apartment & I asked if Yulia and Lena could help me figure out the washing machine. They toiled over it for about 5 minutes, even Kolia gave his input. The final outcome…? Put clothes in here, soap in there, set the dial to this & see what happens. Can’t wait!

I am truly thankful to be here, blessed beyond measure, and having the time of my life!
I wish our children were here to share it with us.
Our appointment is tomorrow at 9am. We are praying that we do exactly what God has for us to do.

Travel, Days 1-2

Travel – Days 1-2

What a wonderful few days we have had! Our journey began about 7am Friday morning; getting up and ready, saying good-bye to the children & my Mom, driving to the airport & watching Robert & Kathy drive away. All incredibly difficult, but the Peace of God which passes all understanding was overwhelming! I do not worry, I do not fret. I am so thankful God has answered prayers for us to have a good & safe trip and for peace. While in flight I looked out into the great expanse and saw God’s beautiful creation. What a mighty God we serve! Our flights were uneventful; we had a quiet trip for the most part. When we got to Germany I realized how tiny of a box I have lived in. I so wish I could speak to these people! The flight attendants spoke to me in German (I look very German I suppose) and I really was disappointed that I couldn’t talk to them. When we landed in Kiev, it was the same. I really wish I knew Russian! And I forgot my Russian notebook which has all the helpful conversational stuff.

We have an apartment just off the downtown Independence Square in Kiev. It is beautiful here (if you look). I was sad to see an old lady sitting on the steps begging for money. I realized too that this is everywhere – even America. Everyone here dresses very trendy – much different than the town in GA where folks go to Wal-Mart in their PJs and slippers. Up to the knee (or higher) boots with 4 inch heels or so on these rough streets is amazing to watch. Skinny jeans, blingy tops, and leather coats (even though the weather is GREAT – sixtys or so)! Now I can understand why Ola was a little bored with the t-shirts and tennis shoes...

Denton was my entertainment for this evening. He had bad jet lag, so he took a pill for sleeping. My amusement began. He was leaving the kitchen and said, "Whoa, I have got to go sit down" I then heard shuffling of feet and banging against the wall. When I got out of the bathroom, I found Denton passed out in the bed with his sermon notes on his belly. He was snoring. This is about 6:30pm. Normally a light sleeper, he didn't budge when I walked across the floors that squeek with each step. He was still snoozing when I removed his pen and papers from his chest. More squeeking & sleeping husband. Wow, that is powerful stuff. To my delight Denton woke up for a few minutes to entertain me. He was like a drunk college kid. Stumbling around, slurred speech, the whole bit. He had been hallucinating he told me. He though he was talking to his Mom and Dad about his sermon. He bumped along the wall in the living area, talked crazy sentences; I begged him to go to bed before he hurt himself. He said he was fine (I was laughing so hard). Finally he went back to bed. I'll try to get video next time:)

Thanks for the laughs!