4/12/07 - In a holding pattern

Although Sergey has jumped through many hoops the last several days, the process has many more people and places to go to complete the task. It's amazing what schmoozing, flowers, fruit baskets and US green can do to move things along a little more quickly than normal. All to get a new corrected birth certificate and then get another new one after the 10 wait after the court date. This process can take up to 3 months, normally. We think we are looking at another couple of weeks at best and with God's grace, before we have what's needed to go to Kyiv and come back so we can go to court. Debbie will probably head for home after signing some papers at the Embassy in Kyiv and I will continue to enjoy my "vacation" alone until all of what is left to do gets done and I can come home with our daughter. We have had a couple of days of off and on rain after the 1st 10 days of fair weather. We have not been able to visit Ira the last few days since Sergey is too busy hustling from site to site and person to person to move the process along. We are giving him the room to maneuver. We've tried to pick out a few eligible single men for Sharon to take home, but she simply refuses!!! - Dale
The kids are so mannerly and anxious to please, you see the yearning in their eyes for a family and future. When they see us now, they run to find Irina. On Easter Sunday we did have fun with the kids although our plan to have them enjoy some movies didn't work out. The movies we bought are Russian, but we got an error on our DVD player, "wrong region". Even some of the teenage boys came in to try to get it to work. Sharon had brought a suitcase full of velvet coloring pads which the kids loved, and thanked us for in English. The food we brought (chocolate Easter eggs with a little toy inside, bananas, apples, coke, candies) we thought they would gobble up, but they waited to eat, and started when we urged them. We think this orphanage seems to keep them pretty well fed, a good thing. The boys got Dale outside and wore him out playing soccer!
On Easter Monday, 4/9, we enjoyed the day with Irina. At first the teacher said we could have her overnight, but the director said only for the day. Too soon and paperwork not completed and the director could get in trouble. FYI, the orphanage lawyer Sergey is working with, has a bicycle for his transportation. Irina does get motion sickness, so we do make a stop or two for her to get some fresh air. We had a nice lunch at a cafe and Irina picked a squid salad! I am getting ideas on what to fix for her when we get home! Glad she likes seafood :) Mayonnaise is a favorite food item here (they like to put it on everything) and love potatoes.
The facilitators certainly earn every penny, as we have seen with Sergey. He knows how to work the system. It's important here for papers to be stamped and notarized. There was a couple on the plane we met on the way over from Florida, who were on their 3rd trip to pick up their son. They had a court date, but each of the other 2 times they came, the judge announced he was going on vacation for 20 days. They are doing it independently, so we are happy to have SRC to help us every step. Everyone we've met and worked with have been great, experienced and have been working hard to get us home as soon as possible, working through the Ukrainian system. We thank you for your prayers, support and comments on our blog, it keeps us going! God Bless,
Debbie