At the airport.
The view from our last apartment in Kiev.
Walking home from church in Kiev.
Clips just prior to leaving the orphanage for the last time.
Clip of Independence Square at night.
Clip of Independence Square at night.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Still More Pictures and Clips
Alex and Inna at the airport just prior to our leaving. She gave him a scarf and hat (he's not wearing the hat) as a departing gift. She was a great facilitator.
At the airport.
The view from our last apartment in Kiev.
At the airport.
The view from our last apartment in Kiev.
More Pictures
Eating at out favorite restaurant in Kiev. I'll bet we ate here at least ten times. It was the best deal in town.
The day we took Alex from the orphanage. The quarantine was back in force. I'm surprised they let us in to take Alex. Notice several of the kids have face masks on that they've pulled down for the picture.
Everyone's looking very somber here. The boy at the far right could not control his emotions. We felt so bad for him.
Alex and one of his teachers.
Watching us get into the taxi to leave for the last time.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Last Post from Ukraine!!!!!!
I am so happy to say this is our last post from Ukraine. We're blogging from McDonald's, our office away from home. WiFi in every McDonald's here. Everything is on schedule. We're going to get Alex's visa in about an hour and eating dinner tonight with Marie and Brian, our friends from Arizona. They adopted Vladik and are one day behind us in the process. They are hoping to fly out tomorrow afternoon. We can't wait to get home to our children and extended family for Christmas and introduce you all to Alex! The weather here is so much warmer today, almost like a warm, balmy day comparatively speaking!!
Our flight from Chicago arrives at 8:10 on United Airlines, Flight 6449. Thanks for the support and love of all our friends and family. We are signing off.
Our flight from Chicago arrives at 8:10 on United Airlines, Flight 6449. Thanks for the support and love of all our friends and family. We are signing off.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
From Here at Home
Hello to all from home sweet home. This is Marissa! I have just come in from shoveling our driveway and am now thawing my fingers as I type. Quinn is at Patrick's house having a sleepover, aka: nonstop video game playing with a small break for sleeping. Gage is with Emily watching a football game with her family. Zack is in Arizona for Christmas break which leaves me lonesome at home.
Nothing much new around here except that we are all itching for Mom and Dad and Alex to come back home! The stockings are hung, the shopping is done, and the presents are wrapped. Now we just need some more people to fill up the house. This Christmas will be more fun for myself than anybody else I believe. Since I already know what everybody is getting for Christmas I get to watch my five children (Mom, Dad, Gage, Quinn, and Alex) open everything Christmas morning! I can't wait.
I spoke with Eric early this morning. He was waiting to leave on his plane back to Guam. He will stay tonight in L.A. and then tomorrow on another plane to Hawaii then Guam. I know he is excited to be back in Guam for the lovely warm weather. In about a month he will ship off to Iraq for six months. Me and Gage and Quinn often talk about how we wish Eric were at home. The holidays are the very worst time to be lacking family members in the home.
I have three job interviews tomorrow! More than I have had in ages so things are looking a bit brighter these days for my desperate job search.
We are all getting along great here! Only a day and a half more. Merry Christmas everybody! Marissa signing off.
Nothing much new around here except that we are all itching for Mom and Dad and Alex to come back home! The stockings are hung, the shopping is done, and the presents are wrapped. Now we just need some more people to fill up the house. This Christmas will be more fun for myself than anybody else I believe. Since I already know what everybody is getting for Christmas I get to watch my five children (Mom, Dad, Gage, Quinn, and Alex) open everything Christmas morning! I can't wait.
I spoke with Eric early this morning. He was waiting to leave on his plane back to Guam. He will stay tonight in L.A. and then tomorrow on another plane to Hawaii then Guam. I know he is excited to be back in Guam for the lovely warm weather. In about a month he will ship off to Iraq for six months. Me and Gage and Quinn often talk about how we wish Eric were at home. The holidays are the very worst time to be lacking family members in the home.
I have three job interviews tomorrow! More than I have had in ages so things are looking a bit brighter these days for my desperate job search.
We are all getting along great here! Only a day and a half more. Merry Christmas everybody! Marissa signing off.
The Day We Took Alex from the Orphanage
I wanted to write about last Thursday, the day we took Alex from the orphanage permanently. It's one of those days that will be etched into my memory forever. Michael and I had gone to the director's office first to pay our "donation," where we were joined by Alex. The three of us walked to Alex's classroom so he could collect his "things," and say good-bye to his classmates.
As we entered the classroom, the teacher was at the front of the room and class was underway. Things abruptly stopped, and all eyes were on us. The teacher asked Alex when he was leaving, and he said right now. There was a flurry of activity as the children rushed to help Alex get his stuff. (Everything he owned could fit in a shoebox.) Alex has lived in the orphanage since 2003, when he was six years old. Many of these children have spent 24 hours a day together for years. I noticed his friend Seruja starting to get teary-eyed and then very emotional. He was embarrassed and went and stood at the back of the room. Then his friend Ruslan also started to cry. It was a very sad scene. Michael and I both had tears in our eyes. Alex did not cry and seemed surprised others were crying. We took pictures and went outside to the taxi. The children were all gathered waving good-bye out the window. I snapped pictures.
Alex's stuff consisted of a few notebooks containing current schoolwork and the pictures we had given him of his trip to Utah. There were no pictures of him as a baby or little kid, no records of any kind. We have a copy of his father's death certificate and a copy of his mother's termination of parental rights decree. It's as if he didn't exist before now.
Sunday, Dec. 20
It snowed all day today, and the locals were panicked by all the snow. It just piled up, and the city was unprepared with snowplows and salt. People were out trying to clear six inches of snow with babushka brooms. We found out from the missionaries where church was held and couldn't believe the coincidence. Our apt. was two blocks away from the building. The three of us walked to church in the snow. We had a choice of the Russian-speaking meetings or the International English-speaking meetings. We opted for Russian so Alex could endure three hours of church. Elder Thorpe from Bountiful kindly translated for Michael and me. The meetings were great, the members were friendly, and the spirit was strong. It gave us a real lift to be there.
Monday, Dec. 21
Inna got Alex's passport today, nothing short of a miracle. We are told it's unheard of to get a passport in one day, but she did it.
Tuesday, Dec. 22
Today we went to get Alex's medical and were taken in front of others already there. I don't know how she did it. Then we went to U.S. Embassy to apply for Alex's visa. We pick it up tomorrow at two p.m. We fly out Thursday at 5:30 a.m. and arrive in SLC 8:10 p.m., Flight 6449 from Chicago.
As we entered the classroom, the teacher was at the front of the room and class was underway. Things abruptly stopped, and all eyes were on us. The teacher asked Alex when he was leaving, and he said right now. There was a flurry of activity as the children rushed to help Alex get his stuff. (Everything he owned could fit in a shoebox.) Alex has lived in the orphanage since 2003, when he was six years old. Many of these children have spent 24 hours a day together for years. I noticed his friend Seruja starting to get teary-eyed and then very emotional. He was embarrassed and went and stood at the back of the room. Then his friend Ruslan also started to cry. It was a very sad scene. Michael and I both had tears in our eyes. Alex did not cry and seemed surprised others were crying. We took pictures and went outside to the taxi. The children were all gathered waving good-bye out the window. I snapped pictures.
Alex's stuff consisted of a few notebooks containing current schoolwork and the pictures we had given him of his trip to Utah. There were no pictures of him as a baby or little kid, no records of any kind. We have a copy of his father's death certificate and a copy of his mother's termination of parental rights decree. It's as if he didn't exist before now.
Sunday, Dec. 20
It snowed all day today, and the locals were panicked by all the snow. It just piled up, and the city was unprepared with snowplows and salt. People were out trying to clear six inches of snow with babushka brooms. We found out from the missionaries where church was held and couldn't believe the coincidence. Our apt. was two blocks away from the building. The three of us walked to church in the snow. We had a choice of the Russian-speaking meetings or the International English-speaking meetings. We opted for Russian so Alex could endure three hours of church. Elder Thorpe from Bountiful kindly translated for Michael and me. The meetings were great, the members were friendly, and the spirit was strong. It gave us a real lift to be there.
Monday, Dec. 21
Inna got Alex's passport today, nothing short of a miracle. We are told it's unheard of to get a passport in one day, but she did it.
Tuesday, Dec. 22
Today we went to get Alex's medical and were taken in front of others already there. I don't know how she did it. Then we went to U.S. Embassy to apply for Alex's visa. We pick it up tomorrow at two p.m. We fly out Thursday at 5:30 a.m. and arrive in SLC 8:10 p.m., Flight 6449 from Chicago.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Alex is Ours
Oh, my goodness. Friday, December 18, was our court date, and it ranks right up there with one of the most stressful days of our lives. Things have to happen for us boom, boom, boom, in order to get home on Christmas Eve. Court was supposed to start at 11:00 a.m. At 12:30 we were still sitting in the hall stressing out waiting to be called into the courtroom. Finally the court clerk came and told us they were still waiting for the prosecutor to show up. About five or ten minutes later, she showed up, and we started. The judge was a woman, and she was very methodical and thorough. The proceedings lasted until 2:30. I didn't think they would ever quit asking us questions. Finally she (and the two jurors) took a break to make a decision, and when they came back, they gave us everything we asked for, including ten-day waiver!!!! The judge told us to come back in one hour for the paperwork. When we came back everybody was gone home except for the clerk. She handed Inna the papers, and Inna started "sewing" them together, which the clerk had failed to do because she didn't know how. Halfway through the sewing, Inna noticed several errors in our birth dates etc., and she had to hunt down the judge and jurors to come back in to sign corrected documents. It was stressful; Inna was stressed as well. She said, "Now I remember why I used to smoke." The process of correcting the documents took about an hour; we hopped in the taxi and raced to Alex's birth town to get his new birth certificate. Inna called and begged them to wait for us. We arrived five minutes to 5:00 p.m. Whew! We got the birth certificate and waited for a bus, boarded the bus at 11:00 p.m., arrived in Kiev at 6:00 a.m., slept three hours, went to the notary's office on Saturday, St. Nick day. Alex is with us. We're sitting in McDonald's blogging. It is bursting at the seams in here; people are waiting for our table. Monday is the passport; Tuesday is the US Embassy, Wednesday we pick up the visa, and Thursday 5:30 a.m. we board plane for home, arriving in the evening of Christmas Eve. We expect no one to greet us and don't want anyone to feel guilty about it. It's Christmas Eve, and everyone should be with their families. I'll post more on Monday if we can get to McDonald's.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Update
Our facilitator is now telling us that we will not likely be home before the 24th. That sort of news will prompt us to take sleeping pills tonight. Oh, well. Better before Christmas than after.
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