Kyle and Jaynie's Adoption Journal

5 and 1/2 years now

2011-04-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

It's been 5 and 1/2 years since we adopted from Ukraine. Overall things have gone very well. Our daughter is 20 years old now. She is in college and trying to get her nursing degree. She has added a lot to out lives. I know some have had a lot of problems with the kids they've adopted but we have had very few.

Aftermath

2005-10-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

We’ve been home for over two months now. I doubt anyone is reading this anymore. The embassy visit was fairly routine. They were very nice there. You have to go through security and if you bring a backpack like I did they have to x-ray it and make sure you’re not hiding something in it. You also can’t bring cell phones or camera’s into the Embassy so leave them outside. Some people said the embassy had a big line of people round it. When we went they had put up a tent and all of the people were outside in the tent so there were no crowds present when we went. Basically we called them and got an appointment. When we showed up they asked us a few basic questions like:
Why are you adopting?
Why from Ukraine?
Why an older child?
How many kids do you currently have?

And not much more than that. You then have to come back around 3pm-4pm and pick up your paper work and child’s visa. They give you a packet to give to U.S. customs when you get to the United States. Some people think that packet is for Ukrainian Customs. It’s not. The Ukrainian Customs people only want to see the original court decree saying you are the legal parent of so and so…

So that part of our adoption process is over. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I really liked Ukraine. It was a nice place. Some people weren’t very friendly and others were. I think you find that every where you go though including America. We plan on going back there someday. Vica would like to visit her friends and we would like to see Ukraine without the stress of an adoption. Iv’e heard that they are trying to change the law so that total adoption time is 30 days from the time you submit your Dossier to the time you have custody of your child. That would be very food for the children there. We ended up only adopting one child because of the length of stay it would have taken to adopt two.

Since we have come home we have:
Registered Vica with the Ukrainian Embassy
Filed court papers to get a Utah Birth Certificate for Vica
Got a Utah Birth Certificate for Vica
Still need to get a SSN for her.
Registered her in school and have been helping her do homework ever since.

Vica has adjusted very well so far. She is learning English very quickly and is doing very well in school. I think she has all A’s or –A’s in school except in one class. It’s late and I’ve been working a very long time today. So I will end this post and hopefully get some time to add more later.

Kyle

Party at TGI Fridays

2005-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hi, my keyboard is all messed up so I hope that this journal entry makes sense. We had a party tonight at TGI Fridays because Kyle is leaving tomorrow so we are celebrating, ha ha. No, not really, we are happy that our adventure is coming to a close. We had combo fajitas and a huge ice cream sundae for dessert. Vica had a huge strawberry cheesecake. Alex came by and was very fair about our fees, way to go Alex. The excl. point and apostrophe doesnt work on this keyboard, ha ha. Kyle will leave early in the morning and then Vica and I will hang out all day and go shopping. Kyle doesnt like to shop anyway. ha ha

This morning, Adam Leavitt took us on the metro and to the WWII museum and to the Lavre a large 10th century church and mosque, pretty cool. The museum was very moving. About 60 million people lost their lives in Europe, I think thats what I remember. There was a section where they had gloves made out of human skin and soap made out of human fat, it was so sad. They also had hundreds of pictures of the people and it was just a fascinating place. And Adam was a wonderful tour guide. Just going on the metro is an adventure in and of itself.

We are excited to be going home and will arrive at nearly midnight on Thursday the 28th on jetblue airlines.

Vica is a wonderful girl and we love her a lot+ We love our Brynn, Kaleb, and Ian and will be so happy to see them, oh yes, we miss our bed with the tempurpedic mattress also, ha ha.

God Bless USA and God Bless Ukraine.

JLB

2005-07-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

My journaling time has been a little limited in the last few days so I’ll just include some of the highlights.

Friday was a whirlwind of paper work and rushing to each office to get signatures and forms. Ira our translator did a great job and we were ready to get on the train by 10:10pm when it left. We even had time to stop at McDonalds and eat dinner. Any other restaurant would have taken too long.
We then stopped at the apartment and paid our landlord which was the father of the family who lived there when they weren’t renting it out. He decided we need to pay for 9 nights instead of the 8 nights we actually stayed there. He was not very honest. The whole apartment thing was very interesting and a story that should probably be told offline. So if anyone is interested please email me.

Valdimir our driver took us to the train station and helped us get our luggage on the train. Then we stay outside the train car until it was time to go. We decided to upgrade to a luxury class car because all of the other ones were full. They are a little nicer but not a lot nicer. The bathrooms are just as bad on the luxury car as on the private cars. Jaynie and Vica stayed together and Ira and her daughter stay together. I was stuck with a stranger in my car. He didn’t make a lot of noise though so that was ok.

Once we got to Kiev Saturday morning Alex met us at the train station and took us to buy some souvenirs. Our apartment wasn’t going to be ready until noon. While shopping for souvenirs we ran into a family from Nephi Utah who offered to send their son to pick us up and help us get to the international branch of our church here in Kiev. We took her up on the offer because we have no idea how to get anywhere here except back to our apartment. This family is here with the American Bar Association. They bring United States judges over and they work with Ukrainian Judges to help fight some of the corruption that exists here.

After souvenir buying we headed to the apartment which wasn’t ready. Alex found us a great apartment over looking Independence square. It has two bedrooms and is only $60 per night. We could have found a cheaper apartment either by ourselves or through Alex but we liked this one a lot and $60 isn’t that bad.

When we got the apartment it wasn’t ready yet so we went to a travel agency to book our flights home. We flew Aerosvit here but they told us we couldn’t make a reservation for a child when we didn’t have her complete name. Since we didn’t know what the name would be and they wouldn’t hold a reservation we had to rely on getting a ticket after we got here. We found out later we could have bought the tickets in our name and then transferred them to our child. But they didn’t mention that.

Anyway… all of the flights out were booked. So we transferred my ticket to Vica. Then I’m going to fly to New York on Wednesday, stay over night, meet Jaynie and Vica in New York on Thursday and then we are going to fly home together Thursday night. Even with the extra ticket I had to buy on Wednesday it’s was still cheaper than flying KLM/northwest with their adoption fare. Alex was great at helping us get a flight out. He helped us find a business class flight from Kiev to New York that was pretty cheap.

On the way back from the travel agency Alex told us he had spent a lot of money getting us into Kiev and usually when he does that he covers 50% and we cover 50% of the extra costs. Hummmmm… not good. We signed up with Alex because we were told this was an all inclusive deal and that we would not have to worry about any unexpected surprises financially. This is not appropriate for him to be hitting us up for more money than we agreed to. For those who have yet to go Alex told us all regions are now considered hard and he is charging everyone the extra $1000.00 that he has listed only for hard regions. Since we are already paying the ‘hard’ price it only makes it that much more inappropriate for him to be asking us for more money. While we appreciate everything he has done (his team is awesome!) he is more than twice as expensive as other facilitators and we feel we have paid the piper so to speak. We also specificly asked if there would be anything extra we would be required to pay beyond his fees and we were told no. Alex said he would leave the decision on whether or not to pay extra up to us. So we will see what happens.

We tried out our ATM card on Friday in Odessa. It didn’t work. So I called our bank Saturday and asked them why. They said they had problems with fraud and ATM’s in Ukraine so they disconnected their system from Ukrainian. Oh well, so much for that idea. We are pretty much out of cash until Alex gives us back some of the money we gave him for two kids. Since we ended up with only one child we should have enough to get home without the ATM card.

After church on Sunday the Leavitts invited us to their home for dinner. We met a 4th district Court (I think) Judge from DC that just flew in and another Judge from Saint George that was also at their house for dinner. These people have great stories and it was fascinating to listen to them. After dinner Dave Leavitt and the two judges left for a region in the south somewhere and we visited with Chelom Leavitt (I hope I’m spelling that right). The Leavitts have a great family and it was very nice to talk to people from Utah and who are LDS. I think we may have overstayed a little bit but it was hard to leave such a great home. Their son Adam offered to give us a tour of the WWII museum here in Kiev. We are going to try and take him up on that offer Tuesday if we have time.

Tomorrow are trying to go for our medical appointment. We are also going to try and get through to the Embassy and setup our Embassy appointment.

That’s all for now. Thanks again for all the prayers and messages of support.

Kyle

Vica is our daughter, officially!

2005-07-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, many miracles happened, we got our papers signed Thurs night at the last minute, we made it to court on Friday, then after much running on the part of our amazing translator, with us in tow, we got Vica's birth certificate, and passport, and made it to the train station and back to Kiev on Sat. morning! We still can't believe it! Our court took all but 15 minutes and the judge was not a mean guy! Yea! And, he waived the 30 days that sometimes does not get waived, so we can take her home, officially! Yahoo! Alex picked us up at the train station this morning, then we had breakfast and began our search for a plane ticket for Kyle. After much running around again, we got him a flight out Wed. morning on LOT, a Polish airlines to Warsaw, then to NYC. He will meet Vica and me in NYC, then we will fly together to SLC, UT and arrive at 11:55 p.m., yes p.m. Sorry for Laura who has to pick us up and for anyone who wants to come welcome us home, that is the only time we could get! But, we are coming home and it will be awesome!

We have spend a nice evening in the same apt. that we started in two weeks ago. It is right by Ind. Square and everything is close by. Tomorrow we will go to church with some members of our church that we met while buying souvenirs. They are from Nephi, UT and offered to pick us up and take us to the Intl. Branch here in Kiev. So, that is how we will celbrate good "ol Utah Pioneer Day!

Kyle's foot is getting better, but I have had tummy trouble again, so I'm back to taking Pepto and the stuff I got at the pharmacy, yuck! Whatever works!

We sure appreciate all your prayers! They have been answered so far! Keep praying for us, we need it!

Thanks for all your emails, wish I could answer them all, but I read all of them and thank you all!

Love,

Jaynie

Our in region approval is signed! 7/20/2005

2005-07-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

We finally got our in region approval signed. It went up to the NAC yesterday to get their sig. too. When it gets back here to Odessa we will be ready for Court. We aren't sure when it's going to get back here though. The NAC has up to five days to sign the thing so it may not be until next week.
My foot has become infected. I was swiming in the Black Sea and was about 1km out to a cement barrier. I wasn't keeping good enough track of where I was and I slammed my foot into the cement barrier as I swam over it. It scraped it up a little bit so I just put neosporen on it and called it good. It's been three days and now my whole foot is swollen and a little red. Our translator took me to the Doctor today and he presribed some antibotics. I'm hoping they don't kill me :)
We were going to go site seeing today or go to the arcadia beach and have some fun with Vika but my foot put a damper on that. So we're going to try that tomorrow ... probably.
More about Vica... (I think we've been spelling it wrong... ). She's a typical teen. I tried to get her to play a card game with me today called fools. She didn't want to have anything to do with it. And was kind of pouting. So I played with our translators Daughter instead. After she beat me several times in a row Vica decided I was an easy target and agreed to play with me. She beat me twice in a row before I finally got the best of her.
Vica also likes to play tickle. She keeps trying to tickle when I'm least expecting it. When I've had enough I have to tickle her until she can't stand up anymore.
Our communication is typical teen too. Like.. is there anything you want to do? Response: I don't know.
We haven't had a lot of exciting times the last few days other than getting our approval signed. We've stay close to the apartment and haven't gotten enough excerise. I have only got one good run in since we've been here and considering the condition of my foot that's probably all I'll get before we leave. So Lynn if you're reading this now is the time to pass me up in running :)

Keep praying for us and the other two families who are here in the same region. We could all use the help. :) We also would like to thank everyone who's sent us their concern and support. We really appreciate it.

Kyle

Vica not Vika!

2005-07-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is Jaynie. I am a ditz and have been spelling Vica's name wrong all this time. Her name is Victoria, so Vica for short, duh! And our trans. told us yesterday that she is 14, not 15, so what am I to believe? I guess when we see her birth certificate, we will find out for sure. We also thought her birthday was in February, not March. I'm sure there are many more things we are going to find out about her!

Some good news!! "Mean guy" signed our papers yesterday!! Whoo hoo! But then it took another 4 hours for two other mean guys to sign them also. But at least they are signed and are back in Kiev via the overnight bus at the NAC waiting for another signature so we can have court. After court, Vica will officially be Victoria Jayne! She seems to like it, but she will still be Vica. Then it is back to Kiev for medical exams and to the US embassy for her passport and clearance to head back to the good old U.S.A! We will know within the next few days when we can go home! yea!

Today, Kyle had to go to the Dr. because on Saturday, we were swimming in the Black Sea and he scraped his foot pretty bad on a cement barrier. It was swollen and red and looked infected, so our trans. took him to the clinic. They did all sorts of things to it that he said "hurt" and then had him hold some sort of light over it for 6 minutes, then bandaged it real good for him. He has to take antibiotics and go back tomorrow to have the dressing changed. He also told me that the Dr. said that I have to feed him grapes and fan him with a large fan and attend to his every need. ha ha Yea right!

We also spent time with Vica. Our trans. taught us a card game called "Fools". I am not good at this game, but Kyle is and he played with our trans's daughter and with Vica. I just watched trying to learn from the pros. ha ha We also went shopping at the market. We bought milk in a bag (no jugs), lunch meat, toilet paper, bread, pretzels (for me) to go with my Coke lite, matches for the gas stove, butter, spaghetti and tomato sauce and seasoning packets, and some fruits and vegetables at the local farmer's market. The checkout girl got mad at us because we forgot to pay for our bags and tried to walk out. She was irked! We thought it was kinda funny! Next time, we will pay for them!!!

Tonight we went out for pizza. It was supreme with ham and the works. Vica scraped most of it off, guess we'll be buying her cheese pizza from now on.

Tomorrow, we will take Kyle for his checkup, then go try to buy some souvenirs at the artists market in the center of Odessa. They have probably 50 or more booths set up with all sorts of locally made crafts, artwork, jewellry, leather goods, etc. We have been eyeing a really cool chess set, so we are going to try to haggle on the price. I am trying to decide what kind of souvenires to buy and what the kids might like. They have some really cool stacking dolls and hand painted eggs and all sorts of wood carvings, etc. So much to buy, so little time! ha ha

I just noticed that Kyle is posting a blog entry while I am so forgive us if we repeat information. You will get two opinions of what is going on! Should be interesting! We like coming here to read the emails from our family/friends. It is very comforting to know that all of you are thinking of us and praying for us and for Vica. It will be a joy to bring her home to the USA and to have her in our family! She is a great girl and will be fun to have around!

We love you and thanks again for all of your support!

Jaynie

We're still waiting!

2005-07-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hi again from Odessa,

We have been gone from home nearly two weeks and it feels like two months. Don't get me wrong, we like it here and our translator is wonderful. She is a great cook and has fed us some yummy food. We love eating the in season fruits and vegetables. Tonight, I simmered chicken with potatoes and onions with salt and pepper. That's what we had for dinner along with sliced fresh tomatoes and bread and cheese. I thought I would lose weight here, but unfortunately, that is not happening. I need to stop eating so much!

Our translator was a detective today. She tracked down Vika's half sisters and found out where they are or where they are not. She took the necessary information to the "mean guy" at the admin. bldg and he said he would decide Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. Like he has a right to decide. I think that he thinks he is the judge in the case, when all he really has to do is approve the paperwork. It is very frustrating, but we are praying that tomorrow, we can finally move ahead again!

While our trans. was playing private eye, Kyle and I went grocery shopping at the market and bought some stuff at the pharmacy. We did pretty well for venturing out on our own. If we don't know what someone is saying, Kyle can fudge his way through and say in Russian, "I don't understand". We know how to point and gesture and shrug, and laugh and smile a lot and usually this gets us what we want!

We did not see Vika today, but will pick her up tomorrow morning before we go to the admin. bldg. to see if "mean guy" is going to sign or not. If not, Kyle and I are going to ask to speak to him. He speaks English and I think we have every right to have a word with him. We will see what happens tomorrow!!!!!!! If he does sign, then the paperwork needs to go back to Kiev to the NAC for approval for a court date.

I know many of you are praying for us, so "mean guy" must be extra stubborn for the prayers to work, so keep praying! We really appreciate it!

We had a nice rain storm today although, I had to grab a bunch of clothes off the line that I had just hung up. No dryer in our apartment, just the good 'ol clothesline. Good thing I brought the clothes in, because the rain that poured off the roof was muddy! That wouldn't have been good!

Laura, please tell Brynn and Kaleb that mommy and daddy misses them so much! We love them and can't wait to come home to them. We think of them all the time and look at their pictures and show their pictures to everyone! We are so blessed to have them in our lives!

Ian, momma and Kyle love you and are hoping you are having a great time! We miss you a lot and think of you often. Kyle has finished book 3 of the Magikers series. He thinks you will like them! Is the new Harry Potter book out yet? I will try to call you. I emailed your daddy Shawn to get your home phone number! So I hopefully will be able to hear your voice soon! It seems like ages since I have talked to you and seen you!

Laura, thanks so much for taking care of our little ones. We have no worries knowing they are with you! You and your family are the best!

Also thanks to our great neighbors who are helping us out! We miss you all!

Kyle and I are growing closer together through this process! We really enjoyed going to church yesterday and we took Vika with us! She seemed to like it, but there is a lot to learn. She brought her bible and she must have gone to many bible study classes because it looks well worn! She is a sweetie! I think she will make a great big sister for Ian, Brynn, and Kaleb!

Kyle is uploading some more pictures of our "tour d'Odessa" on Saturday. Hope you like them!

Jaynie and Kyle

More Pictures

2005-07-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the dophin show Saturday. I got some great pictures here.

Here's Jaynie and Vika sitting near a bridge called the mother-in-law bridge. (it's a long story).

July 14th

2005-07-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

Today we spent most of the day waiting for our translator to come back. She was running papers around and trying to get our approval signed. She though she would only be gone for an hour or two but when 2:30pm rolled around she still wasn’t back. She returned to our apartment around 2:45pm with Vika. She told us the man who has been giving us so much trouble in the past wanted to talk to us before he signed anything. The problem was that the van we have been using broke down and Valdimir our driver couldn’t get it started again. We wanted for about an hour add our driver was able to get the van started but the engine sounded terrible. It sounded like someone was hitting it with a hammer ever few seconds.

Anyway we headed out and took some paper work back to the Internat, stopped at a mechanics shop to let him listen to the vans engine (after which he said it need to be totally rebuilt), and headed to the administration offices to talk to the stubborn man who won’t sign our papers.

When we got there both Jaynie and I were furiously thinking of what we were going to say. But it was all for naught. We basically sat in a chair outside the offices and watched people walk back and forth and talk very quickly to each other. Evidently the stubborn man has found another thing he’s not happy with. Vika only has a brother listed in her paper work, but the brother has two sisters listed in his paper work. So the man says we must find the two sisters (who are in their twenties) and make sure they don’t want to adopt Vika. These sisters are half sisters to Vika and Ukrainian law says only full blooded siblings can adopt their follow siblings. The law also states that if they didn’t visit Vika for 12 or 14 months while she was at the Internat their rights are terminated. But we are going through all of the hoops this guy is throwing at us. I don’t know what will happen but we are believing it will turn out ok.

Evidently the ‘stubborn’ man made one of the ladies who works for him and who had been helping us cry by telling her she was selling children and showing her the story about the Ukrainian child who was killed in the U.S. by adoptive parents. That is a very sad thing that happened but if you look at the statistics of how many kids die here in Ukraine verses how many die after being adopted I think adoption is showing a much, much, much higher survival rate than just letting the kids sit in a orphanage. If this ‘stubborn’ guy was really interested in helping these kids he would spend his energy trying to get funding to give these kids a place to go after they are too old to be in the orphanage.

Anyway after an hour or two of listening to a language I don’t really understand and only catching a word or two here and there we left, got some dinner, and took Vika back to the summer camp she is staying at. We gave her a hug and told her good bye for the night. Tomorrow our translator is going to try and find the two sisters and I need to work on some projects from work so we are probably going to postpone our sight seeing trip with Vika until Saturday.

Tonight we are going to watch the Bourne Supremacy. We don’t get to watch movies that often and in the last week and a half since we left we haven’t watched anything we brought. Although we’ve done a lot of reading because we’ve had to wait for long periods of time either in the van or sitting in an office somewhere.

That’s all for now.

Kyle

It's Hot!

2005-07-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hello! We have been baking here in Odessa. Odessa is a very beautiful city with lots of history! So fascinating!

We spent the day with Vika again and it was great! Our translator's daughter is here visiting. She is 9 years old, just like Ian! Too bad Ian isn't here to play with her. We got a tour of Odessa today from Vladamir our driver. He talks really loud and drives pretty fast! I wish I could remember all of the interesting facts he told us about the history of Odessa. I will call on Kyle to recollect everything so I can label the pictures I took!

We went to a Dolphin show today. It was fun for the kids to see! I wish my other kids could have been there also. It was amazing to see the dolphins and their trainer do tricks! They also had some very talented sea lions doing tricks. I am not a swimmer so I was impressed! ha ha

We also went to the very overcrowded beach. Too many people, and too much smoke! I was a slug and sat and read a book while Kyle and the rest went for a swim. Vika didn't feel like swimming either so we sat and people watched together. The people are interesting to watch, many are wearing next to nothing and I get too much of an eyeful if you know what I mean! All shapes, sizes, and ages, wear bikinis. Not me! ha ha The little kids are either naked or with bottoms on.

Vika and Kyle and having fun teasing each other and playing cards and tag and such. She and I are trying to communicate as best as we can. We bought an English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary and that is helpful! I have learned a few Russian phrases! Where is the toilet and where is the chocolate? ha ha

Vika seems to be a great kid! We showed her video of Christmas, birthdays, and Easter, and she seemed to love to watch our kids! We are excited to welcome her into our family and to bring her home!

Now for the bad news, we are not going to be able to adopt a 2nd child. Vika's adoption has had some snags and there are also people in charge at the administration office who are being stubborn and making us jump through a few extra unnecessary hoops. This has put us behind schedule and to go back to Kiev for a 2nd referral would put us here 2-3 extra weeks which we simply can't do! So, we will bring Vika home and be very happy and proud to have her in our family.

We are excited to go to church again tomorrow! Please pray that the stubborn man at the administration office will sign our paperwork to move this adoption forward! We appreciate your prayers on our behalf and miss all of you!

Jaynie and Kyle

Pictures

2005-07-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

This is Vika and two of her friends, Julia and Catya. The one in the middle (Julia) was sad to see Vika go.

Here we are when we first met Vika at a camp ground near the Black Sea.

Shopping for a teen!

2005-07-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hello to family and friends!

We have spent the last 1 1/2 days shopping for Vika and trying to find things that she likes and that fits her. She is tall, but very thin, so she has to buy things that are xs and are long in the legs. Now I know how you taller gals feel, ha ha. We bought her a pair of flip flops and have been trying to find shoes for church, but she hasn't liked many and the ones she likes, they don't have her size. Where's Pay Less when I need it? We finally found her a skirt that goes down to her knees that she likes. Vika is a lot like my neice Paula, she likes the same type of clothes and loves basketball and volleyball. She even has the same mannersisms. Weird, Paula, if you are reading this, I think you two are related!

Things are a little complicated with Vika's paperwork, but we are trying to get things ironed out. It may take a few extra days since she has a brother and they can't find him, we have to get a special police report. Then the director of adminstration wants to meet with us directly to see why we want to adopt an older girl. He is very suspicious of Americans and wants to make sure that we aren't going to harm her in any way. Yes, it is much more complicated than you would believe! And those in control like to take their time signing documents and getting the necessary paperwork going. It is a pain! So, we are not as hopeful about adopting another child. We will run out of time and money before we can adopt another kid, so we will see what happens in the next 2-3 days. By then we should know our time frame a little better.

Odessa is a nice city. There are many things to see and do so tomorrow we will go sightseeing. Vika says she has seen everything, but will help be our tour guides. She seems eager to get to know us and spend time with us. Today when we picked her up, she was so sleepy because she said the kids in her room were noisy and wouldn't let her sleep.

We have eaten some tasty Ukrainian food while we have been here. I had better learn how to make borscht because Vika likes it. There are also other dishes that are pretty tasty. I have been trying not to eat too much and I think I have lost a couple of pounds, ha ha!

We have been to the market several times and the food is pretty cheap. Everything is fresh and seems to be good quality. Our translator made us dinner on Sunday after church. She made a kind of a stew out of pork, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, etc. The salad is made with tomatoes and cucumbers in vinaigrette. I haven't tried the salad covered in mayonaisse yet, but there is a lot of that kind of salad too. Last night we had pizza and it was pretty good. It was $4.00 for a large. At the canteens/buffet places, 3 of us can eat for $6.00 totoal! But, at regular restaurants, it is more expensive, like $20.00 and TGI Fridays and other American restaurants, are way out of our league!

When we get back to Kiev, our translator is going to help me find some great souvenirs to bring home. She knows where to go and what to buy! It is great having her around!

I think we are used to the time change now, I actually slept through the night last night for the first time, yes! Kyle didn't sleep that well. We miss our bed, ha ha!

It is difficult being away from the kids, but we know they are in excellent hands with the Smiths! They Smith family is wonderful and we appreciate them so much! I wouldn't know what to do without them!

That's all for now. We are well and having as much "fun" as possible!

Jaynie

Sunday July 10th

2005-07-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

We got up today and went to church. Both of us have been waking up at 4am in the morning since we got here. Yesterday I managed to stay up the whole day without falling asleep for very long but Jaynie had no such luck and took a long nap. As a result I had my first full night of sleep last night while Jaynie was up again at 4am. Thankfully she let me sleep.

We went to the central Odessa branch. Our driver is off today so we had to take a taxi their and back but our translator went with us (that was really nice of her). She went shopping while we went to church. We are home now and Jaynie is resting due to some stomach distress.

We met 2 sister missionaries sister Hales from Toole and sister Peterson from I can’t remember where. We also met two brother missionaries and an elderly (sort of ) couple from Preston Idaho. One of the younger brother missionaries was from Saint George and I’m not sure where the other one is from.

The taxi ride to and from the church was interesting as all taxi rides here are. Some drivers are worse than others though. The one taking us to the church wasn’t too bad but the one who took us back actually sped up when he saw a group of pedestrians crossing the street directly in front of us. Peds do not have the right of way here unless it’s a really good looking girl in a skimpy outfit (of which there are plenty around).

While at church we sang our English version of the hymns they were singing in Russian. They sang hymns I knew the words to but when I hear words you’re not expecting it confuses me so it’s a good thing we brought along a hymn book in English. After church we came home. I think our translator was wondering why we didn’t want to eat lunch there at the center of Odessa and why we didn’t want to do anything else that day. I don’t think the translation goes through very well when you are trying to explain religious beliefs about keeping the Sabbath day holy by refraining from buying things or working on it.

Yesterday we went to the store again and got some much needed laundry detergent. We each only brought about 4 changes of clothes to keep our packing light. Almost everything that the stores (food stores) is very cheap. We bought a lot of food and other supplies for 65 rph that’s about 13 US dollars. The restaurants prices here can very a lot. We eat at one restaurant that only cost us 6 US dollars total for 2-3 people. Another one was more like $20 and you can find some that are more expensive than any we have in our home town.

We should meet Vika tomorrow and take her out for the day. We will probably have her with us during the day until the adoption process is finished. We have had it easy so far. It has been weird not having children to take care of for the last few days but that will all change tomorrow.

We are staying in an apartment complex looks like the project housing you see in New York. Our translator says it’s a good area but it really doesn’t look like it. The out side of the apartment complex is dirty and not kept up very well. But the inside of the apartment is nice although the beds are as hard as a rock. We have running hot water all of the time is a luxury here in Odessa as hot water is generally turned off at night. The people we are renting from are kind of funny. They have two bedrooms but they locked one and won’t let us use it. As a result our translator is sleeping on the coach/pull out bed in the kitchen. The first night we were here we our translator had to call and ask our landlords for knives since they hadn’t left any. The husband asked why we needed knives since we had already eaten lunch and dinner…?? I don’t know what he thought we were going to do for the next two weeks… eat out I guess. We can’t afford to eat out all of the time so he came over and unlocked the bedroom they won’t let us use and came out with some knives. Who know what else they’ve stashed in that bedroom but this apartment was stripped bare before we came. It’s kind of funny since we are worried about being robbed and they seem to be just as worried about the same thing. Although why anyone would want to rob them of their knives I don’t know.

We will post more tomorrow once we have met Vika and spent the day with her.

Kyle

Appointment Day

2005-07-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

We had our appointment today. Our day started out normal. We were picked up and driven to the NAC. It’s a non-descript building with a guy in camouflage at the front. I’m not sure if he’s part of the army or just a guy who like’s to hang out at the NAC. He wasn’t in a guard house or anything and didn’t look like he was standing at attention.

While at the NAC we found out the girl we are interested in has a brother. Who is sixteen. We hadn’t considered adopting an older boy and have reservations about it but we are willing to keep our minds open. We are heading to Odessa tonight on the train. Our facilitators did some magic to get us on a train (it’s a long story).

If you’re not up on your fast walking I’d recommend starting to get in shape while here. Everyone walks here a lot. Our facilitators walk very fast and don’t really look back to much to make sure you’re keeping up. But their haste is much appreciated on this end.

Last night we found the internet café in the post office and used it for a little while but it was slow. We then had a few hours of sleep, woke up at 4am and I couldn’t get back to bed. We’re taking drugs tonight on the train! Ok… they’re legal drugs but drugs none the less. Hopefully we will be able to get some sleep on the train.

We had our first Ukrainian restaurant meal it was very good. Some things here are very cheap like McDonalds and a couple of other places J Other things are very expensive. We are in an apartment overlooking Independence Square. The view is great and the apartment very nice. They are still on the pulse dialing system so using the calling card is interesting because you have to dial the phone card number by pulse then switch the phone to tone to punch in the account number and phone you are dialing in the USA.

We have only had a couple of hours of down time so far. Jet lag is present in full force but I’m sure I’ll adjust about the time we are supposed to leave. Please pray for no futher complications… we can use all the help we can get at this point. We can’t afford an extended stay here but we have high hopes things will work out.

Our facilitators are sending a taxi for us to meet them at the train station in a few minutes so I’d better go and get this sent. Give the kids hugs and kisses for us (for the Smiths). We are missing them a lot!!!

Kyle

We found Vika!

2005-07-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hello all! We have great news! After traveling for several hours on very bumpy roads and me about throwing up 10 times, we four wheeled it to Vika's camp and found her there, along with some other shocked kids. We made quite a stir to say the least! She was not expecting us at all! We came home, let her take a shower, ate dinner, tried to converse a bit, then she went back to her camp in Odessa and we went to bed, very exhausted! She is left handed like Kyle, reminds me of my niece Paula, and is tall and thin. She has brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. We spent today finding her some clothes, doing the "shopping" thing. Kyle was really thrilled when we went to the lingerie department, ha ha. We are having a fun time trying to get to know her and we are learning some Russian words and phrases from our very boisterous driver, Vladamir. I finally told him that I had a headache and that I couldn't hear any more! ha ha Things are moving along and we are hoping for a second referral for a boy this week. We are very hopeful that things will work out our way. Thanks again for your prayers on our behalf. I can feel that they are working. We are excited and are having a great time on this adventure.

By the way, we went to church Sunday, couldn't understand a thing, but met some missionaries from Utah and had fun talking to them. So wonderful to go partake of the sacrament and sing our hymns! We felt such a wonderful spirit there.

Now to find a skirt that Vika likes so we can take her to church. Everything we have shown her so far, she hasn't liked! EEEEEK!

Take care and we will post pictures soon!

Jaynie

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Saturday Morning in Odessa

2005-07-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

We have had some interesting events unfold the last couple of days. We took the overnight train from Kiev to Odessa. Sleeping came after taking prescription drugs! I felt like a cow in a stock truck! Eeeek! But, we did get some rest. When we got on the train, it was very hot, so we were worried that we were going to cook in that little car. We shared it with an unknown teenage girl and our translator. As we started moving along, our translator asked an attendant about air, and she said that they did have it, yippppeeeee! It made much more comfortable! Kyle and I didn’t drink anything after dinner because we didn’t want to have to go to the “bathroom” in the middle of the night. But, that didn’t work, so I woke Kyle up at 3 a.m. to go with me because I was too scared to go by myself. The toilet was a scary place and you really had to hold on for dear life to avoid being thrown against the wall. Let’s just say that the outhouses in Yellowstone are stinkier, but they don’t move, ha ha.

We arrived in Odessa at 7 a.m. and drug ourselves and our luggage out onto the walkway to the station. We met our driver there, a stocky guy that looks like many of the other Ukrainian guys his age. Our team hires drivers in each region, people they can trust to keep the luggage and hang out for us all day while we do whatever we have to do. It is very handy and we felt very safe. We then drove to McDonald’s. We didn’t go through the “McDrive”, but went inside to have a bit of breakfast. We ordered four blueberry muffins, two large o.j.’s and a forest berry pie, yummy! Our translator ordered coffee and fries. McDonalds was the only place open for breakfast because Ukrainians usually eat breakfast at home.

After breakfast, we drove to the Registration Office and waited til they opened at 9 a.m. to go in to meet with the lady over adoptions in the region. She asked us a few questions about ourselves and family, then told our trans. That she would have to find the paperwork and might get it signed that day, or Monday. In Odessa, we have to meet with the child you want to adopt for 5 days before they will give us approval to adopt her. We were hoping to have our paper signed Friday because they said they would count the weekend as part of the 5 days, but now we will have to start on Monday, or whenever they sign the paperwork.

We then headed over to the Internat/Boarding School to talk to the director. The building and grounds are very run down and dilapidated. It was quite the dreary place to be and I’m glad that my kids don’t have to live/go to school there. The inside was just as dilapidated, but we noticed they are replacing some of the windows at the front of the building, so at least they are making some improvements, probably through donations of kind hearted and generous people. We found out that she was on vacation and that all of the children were at summer camp a few minutes away. We found this out from a substitute for the director, who had the lowest, gruffest voice I have ever heard. I guess our trans. made some calls because she said that the lawyer and director were going to come in to talk to us. They arrived a few minutes before 10 a.m. We met with the lawyer first. She was very friendly and asked us to sit down. She found the paperwork for V. and her brother and said that her brother was no longer at the school. He had run away and had been brought back by the police only to run away again. She said, “.He is basically a bad boy with a bad face”. Kyle and I looked at each other with relief that he was not at the school, but then wondered what the next step was. She said that he would not be suitable for adoption, but that we needed to find him to have him sign a paper stating that he did not want to be adopted. So, then the director came in (I noticed she drove up in a Mercedes, hmmmmmm. . ..), and they discussed the situation. She was actually very nice also and she thought that the best course of action was to find this boy and get his signature so that we could submit it to the courts.

A note from Jaynie

2005-07-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hi to family and friends! Yes, we went to the Black Sea today and it was so nice! A beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. It was nice to just relax and not do all of the running around we have been doing. Our translator is very nice and we also have a very nice Ukrainian driver who knows his way around. The food is very good and our trans. knows what is the yummy stuff for us to try. We are really missing our kids and want them to know how much we love and miss them! We are going to find an church to go to tomorrow, so that will be nice also! Other than that we will probably try to go visit "V" at her summer camp in the mountains on Monday, but are waiting for the necessary paperwork to be signed. Then it is 100-150 miles to her camp, that should be "fun". We are looking forward to seeing more of the country side. We have been watching movies on our laptop (just watched the Incredibles for the first time, very funny), reading, sleeping, running, waiting, and hanging out.

Love you all!

Jaynie

We're in Odessa

2005-07-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

We've typed some detailed stuff on our computer but haven't had the ability to upload it to the net yet. We are hoping to do so soon. We made it to Odessa Friday but were unable to get the required approvals that day. We are hoping for Monday. Some of the things we've run into have made us doubt that we will be able to adopt two kids in the time frame we have. We are hoping for the best however and are leaving a lot up to faith and our facilitator.

We miss our kids greatly. Ukriane is a very interesting place. We went to the Black Sea today because there wasn't anything else to do. There are jelly fish in the sea that don't sting. I picked a few up to hand to Jaynie but she wouldn't have any of it.

I'm really hungry right now so this is probably going to be a short message.

Later,

Kyle

We made it to Kiev!

2005-07-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, just a quick note to tell you that we have made it safely to Kiev and have found some food and water, ha ha. We have done a bit of exploring also. Thank goodness Kyle speaks a bit of Russian! It is very helpful, ha ha! We think Kiev is a pretty cool city! There are lots of sites to see and we will be writing more later to tell you about our NAC appointment tomorrow.

Thanks for you prayers and support!

Jaynie

While in New York - July 5th

2005-07-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well… I’m sitting here in the airport terminal waiting for our flight which should take off in ohhhh I don’t know 7 HOURS! Sheesh… I haven’t had this much ME time since before Kaleb and Brynn were born. Ian was always an easy kid, very self intertaining and ‘lego’ motivated so before Kaleb and Brynn both Jaynie and I had time to ourselves every once in while. Now having time to myself just feels like something is wrong. It’s kind of like the feeling you get when you suddenly realize the house has been quiet for far too long. You are enjoying the quiet, you don’t want to lose the quiet, but you know the kids are getting into something they shouldn’t be. They drawing murals on the walls, taking apart the vacuum cleaner, or found some paint you left out and are painting the furniture….. that’s how I feel right now.

Leaving last night was hard on both of us. The kids were so busy with fireworks they didn’t want to give us too many hugs and kisses. I suppose that was best for them. At 4 and 2 they don’t realize just how long Mom and Dad are going to be gone. I am alredy missing / worrying about them, but we have a great neighbor who is going out of her way to help us. Our children are staying with her.

Last night we met a lady Jaynie has been emailing, who adopted from Ukraine a year or so ago. She showed up at the airport to see us off and offer words of encouragement. That was something we both really appreciated and neither of us could believe she went out of her way to do. Both of us are very nervous. I don’t think we are so nervous about the travel, but about leaving our children, about the whole process once we get there, and about how many things could go wrong in this whole process. We are going on faith right now.

On the flight we sat by a girl who was commute-dating a guy from Utah, she lives in New York. It sounded like she did most of the traveling in the relationship but I could be wrong. She helped us out with all of the amenities of Jet Blue. Every seat has a TV screen, you can get more than one snack but you have to ask, and you get the entire can of pop instead of a small glass full of more ice than drink. Those are all the good things about Jet Blue. The bad things are that you can’t really watch TV because the flights leave so late you can hardly keep you eyes open. You’re in coach so even if you do fall asleep you will wake up a few minutes later with a sore neck and run the risk of drooling on your neighbor or having them drool on your while they/you are in a semi-comatose/awake state that doesn’t really resemble slumber. But the flight is cheap and non-stop so the pro-s out way the con’s in my book.

Once at JFK airport we asked for directions to Airosvit. I don’t’ know why but I always seem to get in the wrong line. This time was no exception. The travel information booth had two people. We got in the shortest line… thinking the shortest line would be the quickest right? Wrong! We had a lady who had to clean her counter, then she had to tell the lady next to her, who had already helped 10 people the entire time we had been sitting in front of the first lady, to help her clean the entire booth. After the booth was clean, and then cleaned again, and then our ‘helper’ lady’s hands were wiped very carefully about oh… 10 FREAKIN TIMES!! She sat in front of her computer screen saying the computers were slow, mean while the lady next to her had de-queued another 10 people from her line. Finally our lady actually started typing on her computer (computers are really slow if you don’t type on them) and gave us the information we wanted. “Ok, what you want to do is go out these doors and go left. Then take your next left. And you can Walk to terminal 4.” Great I thought. That won’t be too bad… nice easy instructions, left then left. I can handle that. I walked out the doors, turned left and found a large… make that very large line waiting for taxis. I couldn’t keep going. Ok… time to ask another person. The next person said “go right then left and keep left till you get to terminal 4.” So we went right. We were outside now and right took us into another building. Ok.. time to ask another person. This person said take the Air train by taking this elevator and then going left then right and you would be at the Air Train. With my current experiences of understanding peoples instructions here I decided that I would chance walking instead and asked for walking instructions. The lady looked at me like walking was a novel idea and said “Cross the street.”

Ouch… so we crossed the street, turned left and kept walking. About 2 minutes later we saw terminal 4 and, when we got there, crashed on the seats for several more hours of not-so-good sleep.

Well… I’m sitting in a booth right now and my back is hurting because it’s a metal booth and kind of square. One thing I have noticed about JFK is it’s not quite as clean as the Salt Lake City airport, the people have a lot more additude but they are still very helpful even if I don’t understand what they are explaining to me all the time.

Kyle

We're leaving tomorrow!

2005-07-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is the real deal folks, we are leaving tomorrow night. I have been trying to get organized, but have been very slow at it! Plus, today I feel like I have some weird sinus thing/virus going on in my body, not what I needed today!!! I took a 2 hour nap to catch up with sleep.

I asked Kyle today if I could take my king size bed with the tempurpedic mattress pad and he said, "Ummmmmmmmm, NO!" Darn, what am I going to do without my bed. Oh, and I will miss the kids too! ha ha Brynn asked me tonight if she could go with me and if they had beds in Ukraine. I said, "I certainly hope so, I don't sleep well on the floor!" She thinks it will be fun to stay with the Smith family, but she got big crocodile tears when I told her she couldn't come with us and that we would be gone for a "few sleeps". Kaleb has no idea what is going on, but I"m sure he will miss us. He is pretty attached to us, like most two year olds are attached to their mommy and daddy!

Ian made it safely to CA. He and his dad and family are beach camping and he was so excited about it! I miss him a lot. He is such a great kid!

We have been trying to pack and Kyle thinks I am taking too much, imagine that! I'll try to cut down! We got him some new spiffy duds at Mervyns yesterday and some good reads at Barnes and Noble.

I am so grateful for our free country! What a joy and a blessing it is to live in the United States!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

We will be posting a message as soon as I am able when we reach our destination. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers so much!

Sincerely,

Jaynie

Pictures of our Family

2005-06-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's "the" mom again. I thought I would upload some pictures of our family from the past year. I think we have an awesome family!!! I will upload more pictures when I have time! Jaynie

This is a picture of Ian when we went to the Hogle Zoo last year. He wanted to be a turtle.

This is a picture of Brynn taken on her 4th birthday down at the Layton Park.

Kyle took this very cute picture of Kaleb last year. It is my favorite picture of him because it captures the "real" Kaleb.

Ian took this picture of Kyle and me and my 3____th birthday. September 25, 2004

This is a picture of Ian raking playing in the leaves at Grandma and Grandpa Barney's house in Wyoming. We went to visit for Thanksgiving, yummy! Kyle and Ian spent and afternoon raking up some of the leaves in the very large yard.

This is a tired Kyle after raking up leaves all afternoon.

Yes, it's crunch time!!!

2005-06-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hello again from the woman of the house!

Less than a week now before we leave and I have been running around trying to find items for our trip. Finally a few things we've been looking for at Target today, thank goodness!

I had a scary experience in Target today. Kaleb got lost!! I was looking at jewelry and he wanted out of the cart. Since we were about done with our shopping, I let him get out for a minute. Well, he ran away from me and I couldn't find him. Mothers, don't let your children out of your cart! After about five minutes of looking and calling for him, I went to the jewelry counter and told the salesperson, "My son is lost!" Then, I gave her his description. Immediately, she called a code and four people came to me with headsets and they talked to other people who were in different departments! It took about 30 seconds for them to find him in the luggage department looking at Blue's Clue's backpacks. We had just been looking at them when I got the money belts. I guess he wanted one! So, I said, " I just want to go home!" Then I just about lost control! I am just a wreck right now! Just going on faith and prayers, thank goodness for faith and prayers!

On the other hand, I am really excited to go to Ukraine to meet our kids! I get goosebumps thinking about meeting them! I am going to be so nervous meeting them for the first time!

So, now we are trying to pack and get ready. I'm trying to think that "less is more". It is so hard to know what to take and what to leave home. Wish I could pack my kids in with me, but I know they will be very well taken care of with my friends, the Smith family. What would we do without the Smith family? They are great! They are in Park City right now enjoying a week of vacation and I feel lost without them! How dare they have a vacation when I need them? ha ha

Thank Heaven for friends and family who care! You know who you are!!!! I am so appreciative of those who have adopted from Ukraine who have helped me out so much! You are wonderful!

And my wonderful mom and sister, you listen to me whine and complain and cry almost every day about something and you never seem to get sick of me! Please don't get sick of me.

And there are some special friends who are so supportive and I know you are praying for us! We are so thankful for you all!

I will write more later! Jaynie

PRE-ADOPTION - Kyle - June 25th

2005-06-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's crunch time. We have a week and a couple of days before we leave and the basement still isn't done. I've spent all of my spare time working on the basement and none packing. I'm afraid I may get to Ukraine and be totally unprepared.

I spent today getting the toilet and sink hooked up in the bathroom, installed hardware for the closet doors, painted all of the closet doors, put another coat of paint on 3 of the regular doors, and installed a couple more light fixtures.

When we started this whole process we reviewed all of our different options on how to go about this adoption process. From working with an agency to doing it by ourselves and using a facilitator in Ukraine. Obviously we opted for the independent method.

We settled on Alex ( Ukrainian Stork ) as our facilitator and About A Child as our adoption help / dossier checker. We choose to go with them because of several reasons:

They say that their fees are 'all inclusive' and cover all adoption related expenses except the U.S. embassy fees, food, and our lodging costs. Their website says we won't have any unpleasant surprises in this regard. We had other people who used this facilitator and translator confirm this.
Alex takes his payments in three installments and you pay nothing upfront except the translation fees. Then you pay as you go with your final payment being after the court has given you custody of the kids you are going to adopt.
They have a reputation of getting the job done fast.
Victoria Kats from About A Child responded (now and before we signed up) to all of our questions very quickly. Ok, our facilitator pretty much ignores us at this point. Getting a response from him has been impossible, but I'll go on good faith an assume that will change when we get to Ukraine.

When we started this process we were going to adopt two children. Then for a little while we changed that to three kids. After Jaynie ended up having to have surgery (outpatient and not serious), and having some unexpected costs with our basement finishing (so we will have room for these kids), we are back down to two kids because basically that's all we can afford at this point.

Well.. it's late again. I'm still tired and probably will be for the next ohhh... thirty of forty years. I'm going to bed.

More from Mom!

2005-06-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about why us, why now? I guess we never know why until after certain things happen. I do know that the Lord made it very clear to me that we were supposed to add some children to our family and when I went to Kyle with the "news", he was a bit skeptical. But, thank goodness I have a husband who prays and is humble. When he told me that he was "on board" for the adoption, I was so happy! This is such a big step for our family and will mean many sacrifices and changes. I know that it takes a special husband to agree with the wife when "that feeling" hits her. So, I thank Kyle form the bottom of my heart for being such an understanding person and great husband and father. Both Kyle and I felt that we needed to "hurry", so we hurried as fast as we possibly could. There were a few glitches in the paperwork along the way, but mostly everything went pretty smooth. We got our appointment at a very good time for us. I really feel that the Lord's hand is in this adoption and that he knows what is best for us. So, why us, why now? We will find out. In the meantime, we are relying on our faith to get us through! Jaynie

It's Jaynie's turn

2005-06-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Howdy from the woman of the family!

I really enjoyed Kyle's first post. He is right, if we never take a chance on something, how will we ever accomplish what the Lord wants us to accomplish? Yes, this is a frightening adventure we are embarking on. But, we both know the Lord wants us to do this. He wants us to adopt some children and make the a part of our family! I hope and pray that we can find the children he has in mind for us. . . .

I will write more later, the kids just woke up.

Jaynie

Kyle and Jaynie's Adoption

2005-06-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Dear family and friends,

Welcome to our adoption journal. Yes, some of you may thing we're crazy. Ok, actually I think we are crazy but we are going to adopt two older children anyway. This whole process got started by my telling Jaynie that it felt like we were missing some kids. She, in no uncertain terms, told me she was done having children (my shoulder still hurts from where she slugged me.) Within a few months of that event she watched a show on Oprah, (I think Oprah costs us guys more money that a full month of shopping at the mall.) about Orphans in China. From that she became interested in Adoption. Over the next month she migrated her thinking to Ukraine as the place we should adopt from.

When she told me this my first reaction was to pass out cold on the floor. Ok, that's just what I wanted to do, not what I did. I wasn't really sure about the idea at first to say the least. A lot of thoughts went through my head. How would this affect the three children we already have? Adopted children often come with problems. Did I really want to take a chance on those problems entering our family?

After about a month and a half of thinking about adopting from Ukraine something hit me. I had been praying for ways to make our family more charitable. We are so busy with our own lives that we often forget to think about ways to help other people. As I was thinking about whether or not we should adopt it hit me that this was the answer I had been praying for. I think the question that would be in my mind, if I were reading this instead of writing it, would be 'Wow, that's a big commitment and chance your taking based on a feeling.' I worry a lot about the consequences of the actions I'm taking. I have during this whole process. But if you are not willing to follow a path you feel is right just because you are worried about the outcome you might as well give up on all of your beliefs. Helping those in need does sometimes require a sacrifice of the helpers. Christ suffered far more than I ever will. As far as my children are concerned I can only show them the difference between right and wrong. Doing what is right will always make you happier than doing what is wrong. If your children can see and feel that they will eventually come to know it. I think the trick is to make sure they have the experiences they need to see and feel it.

So, after spending so much time on deciding to adopt we then had to spend a lot of time gather documents and putting together what was required by Ukraine and the U.S. for the adoption process. Let me just say... AAARRGGHH.. If you had to go through that much paper work and effort to have a biological child our population would be a fraction of what it is today. I understand trying to make sure people who are adopting are good people but you'd think they would make it easier.

I'm getting tired and it's late so I'll write up my journal for now. We leave on July 4th for our appointment on July 7th. I've talked to a few people who will be there at the same time we will and am hoping we can meet up with some fellow adopters.

Good night.

Kyle