Monday, 14 May
Sunday and Monday pretty much ran together….It’s Monday evening in Kiev as I draft this, and Mark and I are both running on about an hour and a half of sleep since yesterday morning.
Around 11:00 on Sunday morning, the Maxwell clan stopped by to see us off, and Mark’s parents came about 11:15 to take us to the airport. After many pictures, the guys piled all the luggage into the car, and we were off! We arrived at the Fort Wayne airport a little more than an hour before our flight, checked our bags, and breezed through security.
We traveled with our friends Fred and Lisa, who have their SDA (Ukrainian adoption department) appointment at the same time as us, and it was wonderful to be able to travel with them! We sat near enough to chat on the 25 minute flight from Fort Wayne to Detroit, and our flight arrived early enough to spare a few minutes to have an Einstein Brothers bagel for lunch. Mark predicts that this will likely be the most expensive meal of our trip!
Our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam left at 4:00 in the afternoon, and Lisa, Fred, Mark and I occupied the center row of the A330. Northwest did right by us…these planes are equipped with the most awesome on-demand media system! Gone are the days of stretching to see the little TV monitor hanging from the ceiling in the aisle. Each seat had it’s own independently controlled monitor, with a good selection of music, a wide variety of movies, and even some games. Mark watched The Painted Vail, and I watched Pan’s Labrynth (because everyone needs to read subtitles when they’re dead tired...but I really enjoyed it). Of course we both tried to sleep, but were not successful.
The flight was a little over 7 hours, and we landed in Amsterdam early, with plenty of time to make our connection, particularly since we did not have to go through immigration. The KLM flight from Amsterdam to Kiev was uneventful; the only exceptional piece of it was that they really seemed intent on feeding us until we exploded. They served a fabulous breakfast with a huge portion of kiwi yogurt, bread and cheese, fruit smoothies, a granola bar, and then they passed around candy bars!
We landed in Kiev completely burned out. Fortunately, we had reserved VIP service to breeze us through immigration and customs, and Alex worked very efficiently to keep us moving and get us out of there, although he was very bold when asking for a tip! He did find Natasha and Igor, our translator and driver for the day from The Stork. They arranged to have a bag delivered for one of our friends, and then drove us across town to our Kiev apartment.
We drove around the outskirts of the city, and the countryside reminded us a lot of Indiana. Their trees are about a week behind ours, but most have leaves on now, and the day was sunny and warm. As we entered the city, we were both struck by the contrast between very nice new buildings and the older buildings…many look very run-down, with patched siding tile and exposed wiring. The apartment building that we are staying in is in better shape than many, but still has some elements that we wouldn’t expect to see in the US; it has an elevator, but it’s very tiny and it has seen better days, and most of the mailbox doors are bent and won’t lock anymore. I almost whacked my head on one as I walked though the hallway in a daze.
In Kiev, we are staying in a one-room apartment that seems to be typical to Ukraine. There is one main room, with a pull-out couch, and then an eat-in kitchen, a water-closet with the toilet, and a bath room, with the sink and tub/shower. We have a great view of a soccer stadium from our balcony, so I do hope they play a game while we’re here!
Zhana, our hostess, is staying with a neighbor, and comes in each day to make lunch and dinner for us. This evening, she brought her beautiful granddaughter along, who informed us proudly that she was four years old! For lunch, she made us pan-fried chicken with fried potatoes and a plate of sliced tomatoes, cucumber, radish, and green pepper. For dinner were fried pork thingies (kind of like flat carnitas, Sammy!) and homemade mashed potatoes and a salad. They were delicious, but I can tell that this trip is not going to help the diet!
Once we had dropped our bags, we walked around the neighborhood with Natasha to get our bearings, exchange some money, and try to get our cellphone working. We accomplished the first two items, but unlocking the T-Mobile cell phone we brought with us might take a couple extra steps. We did learn that there is not an internet café within walking distance of our apartment, so I’m writing this offline, and hope to upload it tomorrow when we can get connected. As soon as we got back to the apartment, we took a short nap, unpacked and reorganized our bags for the next leg of the trip (no longer worrying about the risk of losing a bag; now worried about *finding* things!).
Overall, we are very tired, but we are safe and happy. We are much closer to Masha now, and we will see her on Friday!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Happy Mothers' Day
We are all packed and ready to go! We just have a couple of last-minute items to wrap up, and we'll be on our way to the airport.....The last few days have been incredibly hectic, but they've also given us many opportunities to gain perspective.
Friday morning, we spoke to Masha on the phone. Special thanks to Lena Statsenko, my friend and Russian teacher, for getting up at an ungodly hour to come over and translate for us on the call. It was wonderful to hear Masha's voice and to be able to communicate with her!! We did encounter a little bit of a surprise, though...
As many of you know, we've been praying a lot about the decision to adopt a second child while we are in Ukraine. We know many people whose plans have changed while they were in country, and since this is clearly God's journey and not ours, we felt that we needed to give God some "wiggle room." Because of that, we gained approval to adopt up to three children.
So, back in March, the Director of Masha's orphanage was with us, and just as we were dropping her off with another family, we told her we were thinking about a second child, and asked if she knew of any children that Masha had a good relationship with and who might be a good match for her and our family. She immediately told us of a little 8-year-old boy. He is currently "available" for adoption, and Luda told us that Masha has a very good relationship with him.
Now we have several decision points about this, and we've been praying really hard. First, we would need to meet this little guy when we get to Masha's orphanage. Then if we were ready to take the next step, we would talk to Masha and see how she felt about the idea of having a brother at all....that would be kinda changing up the rules on her at the last minute, so it's only fair to hear her opinion on the matter. If we all agree to move forward, THEN, we would need to go back to Kiev to get a second "referral" to move forward on his adoption. This would only add a couple of days to our trip, but the cost rises every time we speak with someone.
Fast forward to this week....the conversation with Masha goes something like this:
Masha: "My future brother says 'Hi!'"
Mark looks at Christine. Christine looks at Mark. Christine and Mark both look at Lena and say "Uhhhh, WHAT????"
Lena asks Masha "Who says hi?"
Masha: "Vitya, my soon-to-be-brother."
Christine and Mark, in unison: "What did Luda tell you about Vitya?"
Masha: "She said you were adopting him....."
.....Hmmmmmm. Now, I have to admit that I'm not the quickest to think on my feet. I like to deliberate and strategize and be careful and thorough in my communications of important and weighty matters...things like brothers and such.... I think, considering the time of day and lack of coffee, that Mark and I did pretty well on the next step.
Us: "well, we are thinking about adopting him. THINKING. We really wanted to meet him first, and to talk to you and see what you thought about this, too. Would you like to have a brother?"
Masha paused for a minute and then told us that she had some mixed feelings about it. She said she would kind of like to have a brother, but that she also kind of wanted to be alone. I thought that was a pretty reasonable and thoughtful comment! We told her to think about it this week, and that we would think about it, too, and that we would all talk about it when we got there. Sounds like we'll have our first Family Conference and major decision pretty early on!
So.....we would really appreciate everyone's prayers not only for a safe trip, but also for clarity with regards to Vitya (pronounced VEE-tyah). There are a lot of unknowns and potential risks involved in this, and we really want to make the right decision.
And for today, I want to thank God for the many beautiful people that have called and emailed and prayed their messages of support and love over the past few days. Each one of you is so very special to Mark and me, and we would not have made it this far in the journey without you guys. The past ten months have been like a mountain path....lots of switchbacks, but steadily climbing. We are getting near the peak now, and we are exited for whatever God has in store for us!
Happy Mothers' Day to all of you mothers out there, blessings and peace to those who have lost a mother this year, and special blessings and rest to the new and soon-to-be mommies!
We love you all......
Friday morning, we spoke to Masha on the phone. Special thanks to Lena Statsenko, my friend and Russian teacher, for getting up at an ungodly hour to come over and translate for us on the call. It was wonderful to hear Masha's voice and to be able to communicate with her!! We did encounter a little bit of a surprise, though...
As many of you know, we've been praying a lot about the decision to adopt a second child while we are in Ukraine. We know many people whose plans have changed while they were in country, and since this is clearly God's journey and not ours, we felt that we needed to give God some "wiggle room." Because of that, we gained approval to adopt up to three children.
So, back in March, the Director of Masha's orphanage was with us, and just as we were dropping her off with another family, we told her we were thinking about a second child, and asked if she knew of any children that Masha had a good relationship with and who might be a good match for her and our family. She immediately told us of a little 8-year-old boy. He is currently "available" for adoption, and Luda told us that Masha has a very good relationship with him.
Now we have several decision points about this, and we've been praying really hard. First, we would need to meet this little guy when we get to Masha's orphanage. Then if we were ready to take the next step, we would talk to Masha and see how she felt about the idea of having a brother at all....that would be kinda changing up the rules on her at the last minute, so it's only fair to hear her opinion on the matter. If we all agree to move forward, THEN, we would need to go back to Kiev to get a second "referral" to move forward on his adoption. This would only add a couple of days to our trip, but the cost rises every time we speak with someone.
Fast forward to this week....the conversation with Masha goes something like this:
Masha: "My future brother says 'Hi!'"
Mark looks at Christine. Christine looks at Mark. Christine and Mark both look at Lena and say "Uhhhh, WHAT????"
Lena asks Masha "Who says hi?"
Masha: "Vitya, my soon-to-be-brother."
Christine and Mark, in unison: "What did Luda tell you about Vitya?"
Masha: "She said you were adopting him....."
.....Hmmmmmm. Now, I have to admit that I'm not the quickest to think on my feet. I like to deliberate and strategize and be careful and thorough in my communications of important and weighty matters...things like brothers and such.... I think, considering the time of day and lack of coffee, that Mark and I did pretty well on the next step.
Us: "well, we are thinking about adopting him. THINKING. We really wanted to meet him first, and to talk to you and see what you thought about this, too. Would you like to have a brother?"
Masha paused for a minute and then told us that she had some mixed feelings about it. She said she would kind of like to have a brother, but that she also kind of wanted to be alone. I thought that was a pretty reasonable and thoughtful comment! We told her to think about it this week, and that we would think about it, too, and that we would all talk about it when we got there. Sounds like we'll have our first Family Conference and major decision pretty early on!
So.....we would really appreciate everyone's prayers not only for a safe trip, but also for clarity with regards to Vitya (pronounced VEE-tyah). There are a lot of unknowns and potential risks involved in this, and we really want to make the right decision.
And for today, I want to thank God for the many beautiful people that have called and emailed and prayed their messages of support and love over the past few days. Each one of you is so very special to Mark and me, and we would not have made it this far in the journey without you guys. The past ten months have been like a mountain path....lots of switchbacks, but steadily climbing. We are getting near the peak now, and we are exited for whatever God has in store for us!
Happy Mothers' Day to all of you mothers out there, blessings and peace to those who have lost a mother this year, and special blessings and rest to the new and soon-to-be mommies!
We love you all......
Monday, May 07, 2007
Baby Shower
In the midst of my scurrying and hurrying to get ready to leave this weekend (yes, this weekend!!), my wonderful sisters-in-law organized a "baby" shower for me!!!! It was so great to see so many friends and family members from different areas of my life come together to support Mark and me as we step into this new adventure!In preparation for this, we went to Target about a month ago to register….it's actually kinda hard to register for a 12-year-old baby!!!! As many of you know, for a traditional baby shower, you can register for diapers and bottles and onsies and crib stuff and rattles. For a pre-teen, you get to register for a bike and a helmet and a sleeping bag, and a CD player that plays MP3s. And you have to worry that you'll pick the wrong color or the wrong size or the wrong pattern!
Fortunately, our experience with Masha has taught us that "you can't go wrong with pink!" and all of our friends followed that well! We received so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts, and Masha and I will both think of all the special people in our lives whenever we see or use everything! Our dilemma right now is to figure out how to give all of these things to Masha without her thinking that Americans are all rich and that money grows on trees!!Thanks to everyone for your continued love, support, thoughts, and prayers. Every one of you is special to us, and we'll be thinking of each of you often during our travels! We are hoping to be able to update the blog often during the trip……feel free to leave comments on the blog so we know you're still reading!!!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Plane Tickets
WE HAVE TICKETS TO UKRAINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have booked our flights, and we even found rates for summer travel directly from Fort Wayne that were less than I paid for my last business trip to New Jersey!
So.....we leave Fort Wayne on Sunday, 13 May (Mothers' Day) at 1:23 in the afternoon. We have a 2 hour layover in Detroit, and then board a flight to Amsterdam. An overnight flight schedules us into Amsterdam just before 6:00 AM, and then after a very quick connection, we leave for Kiev at 7:10 AM. If all goes well, we should arrive in Kiev around 11:00 AM on Monday!
The best part of the plan is that our good friends are with us on the same flights! We've already commandeered the second row of the Economy section for the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam....and I think that everyone around us will be sorry!
We leave FOUR WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!!!! We are so excited!!
We have booked our flights, and we even found rates for summer travel directly from Fort Wayne that were less than I paid for my last business trip to New Jersey!
So.....we leave Fort Wayne on Sunday, 13 May (Mothers' Day) at 1:23 in the afternoon. We have a 2 hour layover in Detroit, and then board a flight to Amsterdam. An overnight flight schedules us into Amsterdam just before 6:00 AM, and then after a very quick connection, we leave for Kiev at 7:10 AM. If all goes well, we should arrive in Kiev around 11:00 AM on Monday!
The best part of the plan is that our good friends are with us on the same flights! We've already commandeered the second row of the Economy section for the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam....and I think that everyone around us will be sorry!
We leave FOUR WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!!!! We are so excited!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
We Talked To Masha!!!!
We had one of the biggest joys this morning….we talked with Masha on the phone!
Flash back to a few weeks ago when the orphanage director was here…she left us all with a phone number for the orphanage, and told us that we could call the kids one time per month until we could come to get them. Life at the orphanage is very structured, and it's obviously a bit of a disruption to go take the kids away from whatever they are doing, so they do try to limit the phone calls. It's quite a privilege to be allowed to call!
We thought that Ksenya, the woman who translated when she came to the US with the director, would be available to translate, but she was not there. We were more than a little challenged with language--every Russian word that I know left my head when I heard her little voice. But I think we got across to her that we were coming to Ukraine in the middle of May, one month from now!!
Other than communicating the travel schedule, we pretty much just kept repeating, both in English and Russian, "I love you!!" Saying goodbye was really really hard, and it was kind of funny…neither of us would hang up the phone. We just kept saying "goodbye" back and forth.
I hope that she liked hearing our voices as much as we liked hearing hers, and that she doesn't think that we're weird! We just miss her so much.
The countdown has begun!!!!!
Flash back to a few weeks ago when the orphanage director was here…she left us all with a phone number for the orphanage, and told us that we could call the kids one time per month until we could come to get them. Life at the orphanage is very structured, and it's obviously a bit of a disruption to go take the kids away from whatever they are doing, so they do try to limit the phone calls. It's quite a privilege to be allowed to call!
We thought that Ksenya, the woman who translated when she came to the US with the director, would be available to translate, but she was not there. We were more than a little challenged with language--every Russian word that I know left my head when I heard her little voice. But I think we got across to her that we were coming to Ukraine in the middle of May, one month from now!!
Other than communicating the travel schedule, we pretty much just kept repeating, both in English and Russian, "I love you!!" Saying goodbye was really really hard, and it was kind of funny…neither of us would hang up the phone. We just kept saying "goodbye" back and forth.
I hope that she liked hearing our voices as much as we liked hearing hers, and that she doesn't think that we're weird! We just miss her so much.
The countdown has begun!!!!!
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