The Reunion

So this morning we had breakfast at 9am with Victor and then took our laundry to be done. We are without clothes until the 3rd because they will be closed for the holidays. I guess we will become one of the natives and where our clothes day after day. After dropping off the laundry we went and picked up Dasha and headed for Molachansk to get Michael. It rained today, so the trip was even less enjoyable!

We walked into the lobby of the orphanage and Michael was standing there. He wasn't expecting us to bring Dasha with us. The reunion was surprisingly uneventful. I think it was a little awkward for them. We traveled back as sardines in a can since it was a compact size car with 6 adults. When we got back we had lunch and both kids ate well. We decided to play a few rounds of UNO since it was raining outside. That was an ice breaker and Primo was acting stupid because he was winning. It annoyed me, but the others found it comical!!!

Michael and Primo have been playing games on the computer and Dasha and I stayed in the room 1/2 watching a movie. Now I think we are going to grab some dessert and hang out. The kids have been given permission to stay with us until Friday so we have gotten a second room. Like this isn't expensive enough, but it's worth it to be able to spend time with them!!!

I guess that's all for today. Tomorrow we hope to walk to the sea if the weather is good.

The Latest

Okay, this will be quick. We were able to get Dasha and Natasha today!! We took them shopping at the outdoor market and Dasha found a couple things. Natasha is looking for a dress to wear to their end of year party at school. We will look again another day.

Tomorrow we are planning to pick Dasha up in the morning and go to Molachansk to pick up Rodion (Michael) to bring him to Berdyansk for the holidays!! We are hoping to get the reunion on video!! I can't wait to see their reaction to one another!

It should be an early evening for us today. I just wanted to give you a quick update before settling in for a relaxing evening. Ahhh.....

So another day and another paper issue. We walked around town today while Victor took another lovely trip to Tokmak to get more information for Rodion's medical report. So our plans to see Dasha fell through.

Ukraine's holidays are coming up, May 1st, 2nd and 9th. They decided to make April 30th a holiday so they worked today. The holidays are going to mess with our original plans, but what hasn't?

We are hoping to see both kids over the holidays, but we'll see. Tomorrow's plan is to get Dasha and go walking throughout Berdyansk. That will be nice. I'd really wish we could get Rodion here too.

Hopefully, we'll have a glowing post after spending Sunday with Dasha!!!

Exhausted

Thanks to those of you who posted! Sorry I didn't write last night. We have been running around NON-STOP for the passed two days. It's difficult because Rodion is 1 1/2 hours from Berdyansk.

So, I will first let you in on something we found out earlier in our process. We were told that Rodion was mildly mentally retarded. I didn't want to share that because history has shown that these children are "labeled" for unknown reasons, so I wanted to wait and see for myself what he was like. I'm SO HAPPY to report that he is amazing! There is NOTHING wrong with him (that isn't wrong with 99% of all teenagers in America!!). We were nervous about meeting him....what would we say?! When we arrived they told us he was in the infirmary because he was having an allergic reaction or something. Primo and I along with several "officials" went to where he was. He had no idea we were coming. I admit that it was a case of love at first sight for me. He looks very much like Dasha and shares many of the same mannerisms. We had a very relaxed steady flow of conversation with him. He was glowing. He shared with us that he had heard last summer that Dasha was being adopted by an American family. He has not seen her in seven years and misses her very much. Our facilitator, Victor, asked Primo and me if we wanted to go outside to discuss whether we wanted to adopt him. We said, "No, I think we've already decided!". So Victor asked Rodion if he wanted to be adopted by us and he said, "Yes, very much!!!" As we left he shook Primo's hand and I of course went in for the hug!! :)

Victor spent the next 3-4 hours gathering paperwork at the orphanage. Let me explain something to you about this place. The Molachansk orphanage is in a small village and is surrounded by pasture. Cars are scarcely seen. Most ride old time bikes or walk. It's a step back in time. Primo said that if there were ever a picture of utter despair, that would be it. The orphanage had no running water when we were there. The kids swarmed us like we were celebrities. They ran to us as if it were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Talk about heart breaking. Most had shoes that were barely holding together. They commented that this place was their world. They don't know anything outside the walls of the orphanage and beyond the pastures. They asked how far away America is....is it nice? They fought over the few pieces of gum we had in our pockets. One girl wrote a note to me that said she had no parents and no family. Someone looked over her shoulder and said, "You have a brother and grandmother..."and she replied, "but they don't love me." You can't in your wildest immagination picture what we witnessed there. Horrendous. We literally drove out into a field to get a signature from the doctor.

Okay, so Rodion wrote his letter requesting to be adopted. He has changed his name to Michael David Sabatini (Sorry Sheila, I know you aren't going to like that!).

Today we ran the paper chase all day. It was critical that our documents be completed and sent to Kiev in order to get permission to go to court. Ukraine has holidays next week and government offices will be closed. We finished the papers in Berdyansk around 5pm and took off for Tokmak to get Rodion's paperwork. We checked at the bus station in Berdyansk to see what time the bus would be in Tokmak. We literally out ran the bus in order to get the documents and meet the bus to get them to Kiev. We did it with time to spare!!!

Another exhausting day!!! Tomorrow we get to sleep in!!! Yeah!! There is more paperwork to be done, but not as bad as the last two days....I hope! We should be able to get Dasha tomorrow since she won't have classes. We didn't see either children today.

I'm sure I've forgotten many many things, but hopefully we'll be able to sit down and recount these stories when we get back. For now I'm hoping to get some rest. Oh! If you're wondering, Dasha didn't end up going to see Rodion (Michael) with us because she had to finish her medical report here. I will let you know how their reunion goes when it happens. I'm sure that will be difficult to put into words.

That's all for now....more to come!

This is what we worked so hard for!!

Ok....I have awesome news, but first things first. We traveled by train to Zaphorizhia (?sp) and then took a 3 hour van ride to Berdyansk. I slept about 20 minutes and Primo slept about an hour. Just when we were getting caught up on sleep!!

So here's the adoption news. We stopped in Tokmak on the way through and dropped off our documents to the inspector requesting permission to visit Rodion. We will follow up on that tomorrow. After arriving in Berydansk our facilitator, Victor, started the paperwork race while we checked into our hotel and had some lunch. We met up with him in the afternoon to sign a couple documents and then got permission to see Dasha. We went to the orphanage and met with the director, Galina, and she called for Dasha. She is just as beautiful...no, more beautiful than when I saw her in October. She was asked if she would like to be adopted by us and she said "Yes, of course!!" They asked what she wanted her new name to be and for those of you who know me best, I didn't want her to change her name. She wants to keep Daria and we chose Marie (my middle name)...so she will be Daria Marie Sabatini.

We found out that she has been in the orphanage since August 1997. I asked her if she remembered her brother and she said she just remembers having fun with him. The director offered to let Dasha come with us to see Rodion tomorrow and she was very excited!! It will be so neat to get to see them reunite! You're gonna want to read the next post!!

We will meet our driver tomorrow morning at 8:15 to take care of a couple documents and get Dasha. The trip to see Rodion is a couple of hours. It will be a long day, but it promises to be an exciting day too. Time to get some rest, but I was anxious for you to hear the latest!!

Limbo

After I posted yesterday we went back to the apartment and fell asleep. I woke up when the phone rang. It was an invitation to join another family from Raleigh and Sharon (from Sense) for dinner. We had a nice time visiting and then went to an underground mall. It's really weird because on the surface in Kiev everything is really really old and run down looking, but inside many things have been renovated and are very modern. We got back to the room around 8pm and watched another movie. We went to bed around 11pm and slept all night...yeah!!

We got up this morning and packed. We will catch the train to Berdyansk tonight and will hopefully see Dasha tomorrow!! We met Romy who is from Chesapeake, VA and is in her 10 wait period. She has her adoptive daughter with her because the biological mom was causing problems for them in the region so they felt it best she be removed. The bio-mom is apparently "nuts" and has severely abused this child both physically and emotionally. She's in the other room as I write this. I'm so glad she's been rescued! They are going to travel to Berdyansk with us just for something to do.

We will be leaving here soon to get lunch and maybe just do alittle walking and/or shopping. I love reading your comments so keep them coming. It helps me to feel connected. I will be more than ready to be back on American soil by the end of this!!

Love ya'll!!

The Ball Is Rolling

I'm sure you are anxious to hear what's been going on since I last posted. This is the first time I have access to the internet. Let me get you caught up. We left RDU at 1:50pm on Friday. It was smooth sailing to JFK until the pilot made an announcement that because of air traffic we would need to circle for about 25 minutes. This delay caused us to miss our international flight!! We had questioned the minimal layover time at the time of booking, but were assured that there would be enough time. We went to the Delta reticketing counter and all I kept hearing was "there are no more flights"...."the next flight isn't until 4/22". Overwhelmed with emotion, the tears began to fall from my eyes. After 16 months there is NO WAY we can miss our appointment! After quite some time on the phone the clerk gave us an alternate travel option. She was booking us on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany with a connecting flight to Kiev. We'll take it!! We wondered where our luggage might be, but when we arrived in Kiev it was already there waiting for us. It apparently made the connection that we missed. We were met by Yulia, our project manager, and she took us to our apartment (which is quite nice). Yuri, the office manager for SRC, was waiting for us at the apartment. We took care of some business and the went to the grocery store and out for a pizza.

Yesterday (Sunday) we slept in late (2pm!) and then went walking. We had a nice dinner "at home" and watched two movies before I decided to go to bed. I slept for a couple of hours and then was wide awake! Primo had yet to sleep. So he layed down and slept for a little while and I read a magazine. Then we were both up! It was 4am and we were watching our third movie of the night. Finally I fell asleep and when it was time to get up I didn't want to! It's gonna take awhile to get my body clock straight!

This morning we had our appointment with the psychologist at the SDA. It was quick and very relaxed. Yulia said our appointment was the fastest one of all! I was impressed by how very nice everyone was. We will be issued two referrals which grant permission for us to go to Berdyansk to see Dasha and to Molachansk to meet Rodion. The referrals will be obtained tomorrow and we will take the train to Berdyansk. We were also given good news about Natasha. Most of you know that she is not currently available for adoption and we were hoping that paperwork had been submitted. We were told that she would be available for adoption on January 15, 2008!!!!! This is great news!!! We are very happy about this!

That's all for now! More to come.......

The Last Night At Home

This week has been busy making sure all of our "t"s are crossed and "i"s are dotted. The hardest part is going to be leaving the kids. Nic and I spend all day every day together and it is going to be difficult not seeing him for 3 weeks. While Primo Jr. is obviously older and understands more, I will definitely miss him!!! I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from friends. So many people have reached out to offer their time and money to make this transition as smooth as possible. We are truly blessed.

Suitcases are packed and we leave the house tomorrow morning at 11:00am. We fly from Raleigh-Durham to JFK and then on to Kiev. We only have a very short time in JFK to make our international flight. Please pray that we aren't late getting in. The flight from JFK to Kiev is 9 hours and 40 minutes...yuk! I just hope I can sleep though most of it.

This is an exciting time...come with us and watch it all unfold! Stay tuned....

The First Big Step

One week and counting! Primo flew to NY yesterday to get his mom. They drove back to North Carolina today along with RoseAnn's dog, Charlie. She will be spending the next 5-6 weeks here. Nicholas was a chatter box as he reaquainted himself with grammy. He was anxious to show her all his toys and to have a story read. I think they are going to have a wonderful time together! The next week is going to fly by with last minute details that need to be addressed. It's unbelievable how many things have to be considered when traveling for such a long period of time. Bills will still need to be paid, soccer games to be played, family birthday's to celebrate, Mother's Day on the horizon, end of year preschool programs, medical authorizations for treatment should something happen to one of the boys in our absence....on and on and I'm sure we are forgetting some very key factors. We will be leaving next Friday, April 20th on the trip that will surely change our lives forever! I can hardly wait!! More to come......