Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Visas in hand, America, here we come!



(To the right: Luda, translator #2, and our girls at medical.)

One step left!

Praise God! We are one step away from having our adoption process completed in Ukraine. We went to the medical exams today for the girls. It was a Ukrainian medical clinic which does exams for people applying for Visas. The staff was very nice. Adoption clients had priority over other patients at the clinic, and we completed our exams, paperwork and first Hepatitis B vaccine for Luda, all in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Then we went for the third time to get photos done for the girls. We needed different sizes and views for the passports, medical exams and visas. However, the specifications have changed over time and the printed material was out dated on some of our directions. We stopped by CBN’s (Mission Emmanuel in Kyiv) bookstore around lunch time and purchased several Christian books, DVD’s and CD’s in Russian for the girls. It was a comforting feeling to know even though we couldn’t read the packaging, this material would be a blessing for the introduction to a Christian walk for the girls. CBN is a light and hope for Ukraine.

(Below: Julia and SDA psychologist with us at Ukraine Adoption Agency.)



We took the girls back to the SDA (State Department for Adoption) today to meet up with our friend and department English translator, Julia. We are excited to go to lunch with her to Mc Donald’s tomorrow! We also introduced them to the psychologist who interviewed us for our appointment on Nov 21 to gain approval for the adoption process to begin here in Ukraine. It was strange to be in the office with our girls knowing almost a month ago we walked in so uncertain of how God would play out the timing and plan for this process. We saw several prospective adoptive parents waiting in the lobby and they curiously watched us and the children as if just wishing they too were with their children. We were told by the staff at the office they rarely have families bring children back by for them to meet. We believe this overworked staff really needs to see the children with their families to encourage them in their hard work and future adoptions. It shows them their hard work pays off in the faces of the children!

We spent the remainder of the day with our dear friends, Anya and her husband Victor. They have been such a blessing to our lives and have been a main strength in the process here in Kyiv. Towards the end of the evening, Anya finished our documents for the embassy visit at 8:30 in the morning. She even used the famous string, needle and tape procedure which makes Ukraine documentation so unique! If we only had these materials a few weeks ago, we too could have doctored our documents up a bit and saved us a trip to a village with our translator/taxi driver Grisha!

(Below: Anya stringing documents for us.)



The girls were exhausted from the walks around Kyiv today and even fell asleep in the taxi ride back to the apartment. For the second night it was a humbling and heartfelt time to tuck the girls into bed and say prayers with them. They chatted for a while before falling asleep. It would be so wonderful to be able to understand all of their conversations and thoughts right now.

After the embassy and Mc Donald’s lunch tomorrow, we plan on meeting up with Larissa and spending more time with our friends. We leave early at 6:50 on Wednesday and are so excited to be heading home to get our whole family together for Christmas! Please pray for smooth up coming traveling and all of the children and families who are in the adoption process.

Blessings to you and your family!

Dan and Julie

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