SDA Appointment

This is the day we have waited for for 16 months. Joyce and Dan could not stand waiting in their apartment while we had our meeting at the SDA so they demanded to come along. It is so nice to have them with us as they are so funny and easy to get along with. We were told not to wear shorts but capris were okay. Great, I had capris, what I didn't have was an appropriate pair of shoes. Of course I heard all the wise cracks from the boys about how many shoe shops we had passed in the last 2 days. What can I say (Kara) I don't like shopping for shoes. I lucked out as Joyce had on a perfect pair of mules and did not think twice about offering me them for the appointment and we wear the same size. She is my third sister! When I told Valentin to wait a second because I had to change shoes he LOL. Am I becoming a Ukrainian? (by the way, this was written by Wendy; Joe had an appropriate pair of shoes and did not have to borrow Joyce's)

The SDA was interesting for several reasons: They were 15 minutes late calling us in because we are approved for up to 3 kids and they were trying to find 2 more children for us to take home! Go figure adoption friends, I guess we could adopt unrelated children. Maybe they had some left over from last week! I would have brought home all the kids from Mariupol for you guys if I could have, honest. It just isn't that easy is it Lisa?! Next, they stated they knew we were here to adopt a preselected child that had stayed with us in the US. They asked when that was. We told them. Oh yeah, Valentin did no prepping before the appointment, we just answered the questions truthfully. Then she asked us to tell her about our family. We then saw Kolya's picture and paperwork. His information is the same; born to a mother who was born in 1964 and her parental rights were taken away and she still lives in Mariupol. The father died in 2001. No siblings and he may have something going on with his heart which is minor. Thats it. Just remember, no one smiles here and this is very serious. (sarcasm inserted). The mother is not allowed to visit the child once the parental rights are relinguished. Another lie the Stork and "She who must not be named" told. While we were sitting there the lady asked Valentin about the Matthew's appt on Wed. The SDA had not recieved a letter requesting a specific child (another strike for The Stork and David). Valentin called Dan to ask Nastia's last name because the SDA lady could not find Nastia in her Mariupol book. (Wendy then begins to panic for the Matthew's). But, she does find Nastia in the computer so all is well. It is really good that the Matthews came as Nastia was not "reserved" or set aside for Dan and Joyce due to the missing paperwork. When Joyce found out about this, she was understandably upset and it pretty much ruined her day, even though she knows Nastia is still there and the SDA will not adopt her out to anyone else before Wed. It's the fact that they almost did not come here as the Stork requested, that really bothers them.

We then commenced souvenir shopping just next to the SDA. There are many street vendors just like a flea market in Mexico who love to pressure you into buying their junk. We did. Graham was once again in his element as there is so much soviet paraphernalia. I have never seen this kid love to shop like he does here.

We picked up our paperwork (walking papers) at the SDA at 5 pm today. It kills me that we can't leave tonight on the train but the train is booked way ahead just like plane tickets and our tickets are for tomorrow night. We leave at 7:30 pm and arrive in Donetsk at 7am then drive 80 miles to Mariupol. Valentin warned us the kids are at camp and it is up to the director whether or not she will allow him to be at the orphanage while we are in town. He must be there when we arrive for the initial meeting to sign the adoption papers and he must be present for the court date, but whether or not he is at the orphanage or at camp in between, is up to the director.

We are getting along with Dan and Joyce so well we decided that when Joe and the kids leave after the court date, Dan and Joyce will move into our 3 room flat to save money. Our flat will cost $45/noc.

By the way, Twyla, thanks for the Febreeze. With 4 people sharing a bathroom, it comes in handy.

And Shelli, we are so pleased with Valentin. Please send us an e-mail to jwhickman@comcast.net. We thought we would have your e-mail address available using our webmail, but our contacts list is not available. Andrew was the best! We now have Edward for the rest of the trip, he does laugh at our jokes as hard as Andrew. We'll break him in (Ihope).
Joe here. I am providing a link which shows a better default view of our pictures.

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj262/jhickman13/AdoptionAdventure/?albumview=grid

We have no new pictures posted today. We will take pictures of the train which we will post some time after we get to Mariupol. By the way, our translator in Mariupol will be Edward. He has been working adoptions since 1999 and seems to know what he is doing.