Meeting at SDA

We had our appointment at SDA this afternoon. We were hoping to receive permission to see both girls at once, but we are going to be allowed to see just one. Tomorrow around 3pm we'll meet again at SDA and they are suppose to be giving us approval letter to see Vala. We'll leave on the overnight train Friday night. We will meet with the Inspector on Monday and see what goes from there.

Although this messes up us seeing them on Friday, it will allow us the weekend to get on the overnight train to Donetsk and get settled in to the apartment and do some shopping for food. We've been too busy to get much to eat and drink. We'll want to make sure and stock up on stuff like water. We've not purchased enough lately. With the language barrier, it's been pretty difficult. There are very, very few who speak English in the serving trades like stores and restaurants. We've already been ripped off at one restaurant. We confirmed that with Sergiy. But we are a little wiser now and are getting the hang of it. Food is very inexpensive here. Lunch for two is 1/3 to 1/2 of what it costs in the States. That's very helpful.

It's about 11:30pm and we're finally getting tired. I've adapted well to the time change - John's getting there. Thank you all for your covering of prayers - we appreciate it very much!

Love to you all,
Jenn

Oct. 15

We slept well last night with the exception of John getting up for a bit in the middle of the night. He was able to Skype and talk with Joanna and Ryan. Joanna was thrilled. When I heard her voice it woke me up instantly. So I was up for a bit, then went to back to bed while John Skyped Ryan. It was good to talk to both of them.

We slept in until 7:45am and were so grateful. It was nice to finally sleep. I've included a photo of the bathroom. It is the most beautiful room in the house, with small blue tiles on the floor and walls, including in the shower. There are also fancy deco tiles in there as well.

We ordered pancakes (flat ones like Blinz) with Russian cheese and tomatoes. They were very tasty! We ordered the ones with ham in them too, but did not get the ham. We also ordered two cappuccinos, but didn't get them either. We'll have to talk with Sergiy and see what our receipt says we actually ordered. We also gave 100 grievna and the bill was 80-50 (80.50). They asked for a 50 coin, which we didn't have any yet. So John gave her a 20 grievna. The change we got was 20 grievna & 50 coin. We think we were shorted 19-50. Again, we'll have to clarify the currency with Sergiy or we'll be broke really in no time. :)

We are currently at McDonalds. We came here first for breakfast, but at 10:00 when we walked in, they changed their menu to the lunch one and we were really wanting breakfast. We've come back to get some coffee, which is pretty good. And use the WIFI.

John's computer won't go on-line here either. Please pray I can hook up with our computer guys back home to try and fix it from here. They can get into the computer and fix anything remotely, but only if it's on-line. Right now, if I can't figure what's wrong, we're dead in the water. At least we've still got mine.

Much love to you all. We are going to get ready to meet Sergiy in about 30 minutes. We are preparing our family photos for SDA. Jenn & John

P.S. The spelling's bad...sorry to those who can spell! The spell-check isn't working well either. lol!

Today is the day Oct. 15th

We are constantly having problems staying on-line here in our apartment. We have high speed, but it's through a cable and one end of it is broken. We are constantly being thrown off-line.

I've included a couple of shots from our balcany. The street view is right below our balcany - notice how all the cars park kitty-wampus? The car that's actually driving must manuver around the parked vehicles. The walkers (and there are lots of them) must manuever around everything else.

The other pic is the building directly out from our balcany. Mark & Sally, from this view, the apartment you sayed in was directly to the left. If you were to turn right and head over one block, you would be near the potato house. :) Praise God, they have Pepsi.

Coffee is actually a heavy capacino or latte here. Mark and Sally pre-warned us that they do not drink regular coffee here. In fact, when we get away from the capitol Kiev, we will be hard pressed to find any kind of coffe but instant (in some places).

Last night we purchased minutes on a Ukrainian cell phone Sergiy has loaned to us. It has pics of his 3 year old daughter, making a snowman on it. She's simply adorable. He also have a beautiful wife and a 6 month old son. We are hoping to meet them today, but we don't know what the day will hold. We've got some gifts for each of them, and the super sized jar of Peanut butter Mark & Sally sent over. It's hard to find here.

Well John's mastered the shower and just got out. I'm going to convince him to teach me how to run it. We'll probably go to McDonalds for breakfast. This one serves breakfast (and hopefully normal coffee). Sergiy will be calling us early (somewhere around 9 or 10am, lol!). They are late nighters here!

Good bye for now - we'll see if we can update more later.

Much love to you all.

Thank you so ever much for your prayers!

John & Jenn

Safely In Kiev! Oct. 14

Greetings to you all from Ukraine!

I've included a picture of John and I, sitting in a McDonalds, overlooking the runway in the Frankfurt, Germany airport. Do we look as tired as we felt? We were very glad to be out of a plane. This airport is very, very large. You're right Della, we wouldn't want to leave this one and try to get back in!

John and I made it safely to Kiev, Ukraine today - right on schedule. We had a difficulty or two, but God is good and we passed through without missing a single flight. We were thankful Sergiy had made arrangements for us when we arrived. We were able to get through the airport with no trouble, with all our luggage. It was so good to meet him in person for the first time.

Kiev is an old city (approximately 1,500 years old) with lots of trees, shrubs and grass. There is interesting archetecture, statues and history throughout the city. Many buildings are crumbling and falling apart, but the people are used to it and are very proud of their city. Sergiy says there are about 5 million people.

The driving is CRAZY! In Kiev, the drivers make up the rules. There could be 4 cars across in the space of a two lane road - and that's only for going one direction! There are cars in the other lanes going the opposite direction! And they park anywhere, including the sidewalks and double parking. We are so glad the driving is up to someone else! We are happy to leave this part to others.

I've attached some pics of our apartment here in Kiev - it's a one bedroom with a living room, kitchen and a small blue tiled bathroom. Altogether, it's about 500 sq ft. This is very common living accomodations. My family would have a hard time fitting in here! lol

Thank you for all who have prayed fervantly for us - God has answered your prayers. This trip had so many chances for disaster, but He protected us and kept the process moving along.

John and I have also been blessed by our congregation. They had a apecial love offering ($700) collected on Sunday before we left - we can't tell you how much this helps! We have struggled to collect the funds needed and this love offering is a great encouragement to us that God will contnine to supply all we need. Again, thank you.

We have been up for more hours than we can count. It's Wednesday night here and we are trying hard to stay up until "bedtime" to combat jet lag. We managed to catch some sleep on the various flights, but not much. Please pray for endurance and quickness to adapt to the time change. Our appointment Sergiy says, is at 12noon tomorrow. We are praying we will be granted approval to start seeing both girls immediately, not one at a time. It looks like we won't be able to see the girl(s) until next Monday. Sergiy is doubtful we can get everything done and on the evening train tomorrow night so we could see them on Friday. Still, we'll pray this happens. Tomorrow will be a very busy day.

To our kids - we love you and miss you terribly! You are just as brave and courageous as we are. We are proud of you. Be a witness of Him who send us. Hugs and kisses to you.

All our love,

John & Jenn

Added a blog link for a fellow adopter

Good morning all!

I've added a link to the right ------> that I am really enjoying.

It's called Step of Faith: Ukraine Adoption

This couple has recently adopted two girls from Ukraine and have them home. Their posts are faith inspiring and oh-so real to what we have, are and will be going through. Amen sister! Enjoy! Jenn