Joe here. I've talked with Wendy this morning and they have completed all necessary forms and steps at the embassy, Kolya has been checked out in the medical exam and has been pronounced a typical 11 year old Ukrainian boy. He also received a couple of shots which he had not had when he was at the orphanage. We'll have the real exam when he gets here.
I had to wire money to Wendy on Tuesday. She had really gotten into the spirit of Ukraine and started bribing everyone. $50 to a waitress to get ice; $30 to a cashier to get to the head of a line; $20 each to the other 7 people in line; $100 to a street musician to play the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" (cultural reference for those of you not up on the Beach Boys; sample lyrics: "I wanna go home, let me go home. Why don't you let me go home"), $75 to a cat to allow Wendy to pet it, 1 grivna to a pedestrian the cab driver hit, etc. After the massive outpouring of bribes, she found herself with only 15 grivnas to her name and a hungry little boy. But thankfully, she was in Kyiv under the wing of our main facilitator, Valentin. Wendy could not speak more highly of him. He has been wonderful, paying for everything until I could get the money wired to her and she could repay him.
But now, everything (and everyone in the Ukraine) has been paid off and their last remaining task is to get to the airport in Kyiv and board the plane. They will be picked up at the apartment about 3:00am Kyiv time for their 5:30am flight. They have a lllllllloooonnnnnnngggggg layover in Frankfurt, then a direct flight back here to Denver. They are scheduled to land at 4pm on Thursday. It will take at least an hour to an hour and a half for them them to get through passport control and customs. Wendy has told me that they will be pulled out of the line and have their papers examined. So we expect to see them around 5:30pm tomorrow afternoon. We can't wait.
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7 comments:
Joe,
So glad to hear that they are on their way home! The Hickman's can feel proud of helping to raise the GNP of Ukraine by millions of grivna with all of the bribes! What will they do without you ... oh, wait for us!
Thank you both for sharing your days, and nights, with us! It has helped prepare us for the rocky road ahead and we appreciate the pitfalls you and the Stewarts have been through. Hopefully we will be able to miss a few pot-holes on our adventure!
Give Wendy and Kolya a huge hug for us and welcome them home!
Twyla, John, Duncan, and Mari
Hey Joe it is me Susie, Cookie has sent all of these blogs to me and I think this is really GREAT!!! It's to bad he doesn't know the WHOLE family he is getting into, LOL!!!!!!! If I can remember he looks alot like Graham as a child. My heart goes out to Wendy and all she has had to go thru. Good luck and hopefully we will meet him. We r still in Md. Let us know if you and the family are coming to D.C. soon. You can also cotact Mom and Dad to get out #. Love to all Susie and Ron and family
Can't wait to hug them both!!!
Love,
The Handley's
Whoo-hoo! The craziness is almost over Wendy, and by the time you read this you will be home, with all of your family. I have enjoyed reading all of your blogs, and it definitly has made me feel like I've been a big part of all of this. Til you blog again....
Love,
Cookie
I am so happy for everyone!! I can't wait to see Wendy and meet Kolya. Mitchell wants to know when he can come over and meet Kolya. He asks me every day how the two of you are doing.
Love,
John, Kathi and Mitchell
P.S. Does this mean you want to play cards on Friday? Ha, Ha, Ha
Congratulations
we are very happy for all of you
welcome home Kolya!
Bob & Allison Alderton
Did you make it? We want to see the arrival picture in the airport! Can't wait to see you all and get the low down on our Anya,thanks again for loving her while you were with her.
Welcome home Kolya!
Love,
Aimee
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