Lunch & Art_Day12

Today was extra special as we got to take the girls out to lunch again with our facilitator Galya. We decided to try a different restaurant and found one with beautiful aquariums where we could watch the fish as we ate. We appreciated that there was no competition from the TV and the food was good but it was a more upscale dining experience than last week that ended up being a very long wait for a very little amount of food! The girls were patient but still hungry after we had finished. This seemed like a poor showing as parents so we negotiated a little more time with Galya and headed to McDonald's for some fast food back-up sustenance. Both girls decided on french fries and handily ate a large serving each, though they generously offered to share their bounty with Mama and Papa.

Then we went back to the orphanage where Galya had organized a fantastic art project experience for the children, including instruction from a practicing professional artist. The project included very careful work with a paint that gave a 3D effect and when dry could be peeled off the paper and adhered to a window for a stained-glass look. A group of about 12 children, ranging in age from about 6 to 16, worked for almost 2hrs on the project and were enthralled through it all with great concentration. We really enjoyed interacting with other children at the orphanage but it also tugged deeply at our hearts as we wondered if any of them would find a family to take them home. We know from statistics that the younger children have the most chance to be adopted and it will be harder for the older ones to find homes, yet we see that they all need one.

Galya has created a non-profit organization to help families in Sevastopol who are in need, and this includes the children in the orphanage. These weekly art projects are one of the great things she has brought to the children and she works tirelessly as she plans such events, collects donations, and makes decisions where to allocate resources. We've said it before, but as you can see, she is an amazing person!!!

We have our fingers crossed and are looking forward to going to court tomorrow with the girls!! Thanks for thinking of us:)

Cats and Rats_day11

Walking to the orphanage this afternoon I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I stopped to admire these adorable kittens for sale and saw that I could pick up a couple of pet rats at the same time!!! I'm not sure what you think, my vote for cuteness went to the cats:)

We asked the proprietor if we could take a picture of the kittens and she kindly agreed and then bent down and started fluffing up the kittens and coaching them into the best pose possible for our shots. We thought this was also adorable and quite extraordinary. Soon we had attracted attention including a young girl who showed a strong interest in the kittens, but whose mother was less enthusiastic and quickly moved on, as the little girl looked back longingly.

Our visit with the girls was fun today as we added a new challenge in teaching them the game Yahtzee. They quickly took to shaking the dice in the cup and enjoying the clatter so that I was soon feigning deafness and putting my hands over my ears. They laughed and learned that to keep Mama happy they would only shake the cup a few times for each roll!

It was fun to see their interest in learning a new game, and as they both love math, they enjoyed adding up the points and making sense of the scoring. A few Yahtzee's were rolled and soon David had plans of taking the girls to Vegas (just kidding!!).

We are looking forward to tomorrow as our facilitator Galya is going to join us and we will be able to take the girls out for lunch again. After lunch we will be returning to the orphanage and joining Galya and the other children for a time of art projects. It should be great fun.

Thanks again for all your support!!! Lorelle and David

Neighborhood Snapshots_day10

Added a few neighborhood pictures (from the snowy days). The first is of me standing at the top of the hill by a path that leads down to the village shopping area. The second is of our apartment facade, not so much to look at, but very nice inside. And the third looks like just a street shot but the building you see is important as it is the headquarters for the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy. We often see sailors and officers in uniform walking the same paths as we do.

We had more fun at the orphanage today and as always were thrilled to see our girls. They give us such a warm welcome each time we visit it makes us beam with joy. It was easier to walk to and from today as we've had a break in the weather and most of the icy, snowy, slushy walkways have melted away. It has been a challenge keeping our balance on the ice and we've both been known to give out a quick or sharp cry as we've slid precariously while thankfully remaining upright. They don't use salt to help with the walkways so that makes it tricky, though we've only seen one person fall so far, and most walk with much more confidence than we do!

A fun anecdote from several days ago with the girls: it was the day we came later in the afternoon and about 1/2 way through our time together dinner time was announced. We suggested that perhaps we should leave. A clear and resolute "No" was communicated so we sat back on the couch ready to relax for an expected 15-20 minute break at a minimum. Boy were we surprised when about 7 minutes later they returned, ready to resume UNO with gusto!! We hope they didn't get a stomach ache on our behalf but it was flattering:)

On the way to the orphanage today, David stopped at the market and negotiated a "big buy" of beautiful oranges as a gift for all the children of the orphanage. His favorite vendor wasn't there unfortunately and the next fellow just couldn't understand such a large purchase. But luckily the merchant in the next stall, a bright-eyed and intuitive Ukrainian woman, quickly understood and made the purchase fun and easy. We gave the oranges to the caregivers and they shared them with the children so we didn't see the kids enjoy them but we were assured that it was a special treat for them.

Daffodils, dessert and date

As we left the orphanage today after another fun afternoon with the girls (more cards, drawings, maps & English) we saw our gallant Galya (our facilitator) waiting outside the gates almost exactly where this photo of Lorelle was taken. We were surprised but pleased to see her as she is always a pleasure to talk to. It turns out she was waiting for the Director of the Orphanage to come back so that she could collect on official seal for the paperwork she needed to send by courier up to Sveta in Kiev for the SDA (Ukraine Government). We are always amazed at the dedication of the people working on our behalf to make this adoption happen, and here again was the proof as Galya stood out in the cold waiting at 4:15 til 4:40 and then off to the courier by 5pm!!

Although not all of the paperwork from social sevices has been completed, Galya still has hopes that everything will be ready in time so that we can keep our court date with the judge on Monday. Our hopes are that this is a good sign and things will move along more or less in good order.

As this felt like such good news, our spirits were very high on the way home, so we decided to celebrate! A street vendor was selling the lovely sprig of daffodils which caught us by surprise and then a stop at an upscale coffee shop for a tasty tiramisou to go, made for a special treat when back at the apartment.

Thanks again for all your love and support on this great adventure!!!!

Market Cat_ day8

The girls had a field trip after school today and so we went to the orphanage at 4pm instead of our regular 2:15pm. This gave us a bit more time in the morning and with nicer weather we made a great trip to the open air market. The first photo is of the entrance and the second is of a striking cat who seemed to be the magistrate of the market as he sat on his post at the front of the market. Nothing seemed to phase him, including David's interest in photographing him. As David remarked "They say a cat can look at a King and not blink" and this cat was all over it.

With the warmth, more people and vendors were out today, and we had fun stocking up our larder with fresh fruits and vegetables. We love the fresh bread and think it's great that we can buy 1/2 a loaf at a time. We're still quite new at the numbers and often have to bring out paper and pencil so that the merchants can write the price down for us before we settle up. We also were able to find the roasted "Chicken Shack" for the first time, and thanks to Roger and Kelley's fine advice, totally enjoyed a delicious lunch as soon as we got home!!

The girls were glad to see us and we so glad to see them. We had fun as always and today added the special treat of sharing the photo album created by the six grade girls from Wyoming!! They were thrilled to see the pictures and loved reading the Russian quotes as well as the English ones. They were very impressed with the stickers and colorful drawings, and laughed in recognition when they saw Scooby Doo!!

Maps101_Day7

Greetings All - we are happy to report on day 7 in Sevastopol and with our girls!

Today David brought a world map he managed to purchase in a bookstore here in downtown Sevastopol. It has all the countries in Russian, so that is kind of fun for us and easier for the girls. We put a sticker on Sevastopol and on Cincinnati (though we are sad to admit Cincinnati didn't make it in print onto the map) and so it was fun to discuss our upcoming travels through Kiev and onto Cincinnati. They quickly asked us for the dates of this trip and were clearly disappointed when we couldn't produce any!! The map is nice as it has all the flags of each nation around it's border, arranged by continents and the girls had the challenge of finding "Old Glory."

We got to see the homework in English the girls had for today and that was interesting. It looks like they have a formal lesson about once a week as a part of their regular curriculum. It was great as one of the lessons for today was about family, so they got extra practice with mother, father, sister, brother!! We love to hear them say these words:)

Another game that they are enjoying is a Go Fish Alphabet Game with a variety of animals printed on the cards that match each letter of the Alphabet. It's fun to sneak some learning in while still having fun playing a game. Some of the animals are unusual like Narwhal and Iguana so that keeps it a bit more interesting too.

The time seemed to go so quickly today, and we look forward each day to our time with the girls!

On the home front we are always learning too...our apartment is graciously equipped with a washer/dryer (one machine does both) and we have been trying to get the hang of using it ever since we got here. We think last night was the first time the machine actually gave the clothes back to us voluntarily. It is front load washer and there is a lock on it to make sure you don't open it at an inopportune time, but this can get frustrating when the machine continues to stay locked and running indefinitely after 2plus hours!! We have directions in English and we would have them in hand as we tried to convince the machine to give us our clothes back, but up until last night it was always a tug of war that gave us a great surprise at the tenacity of European workmanship. We have big hopes for tonight's load:)

Sending love and hugs to all you who we miss back home!!! Lorelle & David

Sunny and -14C_day6

Again we are so thrilled to get comments and of course especially excited to have my parents as #1 fans and followers - complete with comment privileges!!

Today we got beautiful sunshine even as it was freeeeezing cold. Thanks Angie for the Cincinnati forecast - at least we're not missing anything too exciting.

We had another great visit with the girls today. We had to make copies of photos of our new family for Galya (our facilitator) to put in the court file she is preparing and so we had the fun of bringing the girls extra copies of photos we have taken and they have taken since we have all been together these past few days. As soon as we got them out (multiple copies) they quickly divided them up between themselves and us, and so I am hoping to recruit them once we get home in helping me in the photo organization department (Wyoming Newcomers alert - how lucky is that?). It was fun to see them quickly insert them into the photo albums they have of their life in Sevastopol.

We continue to love hanging out with the girls and spending time getting to know them better. They are already learning English quickly as we continue to learn Russian slowly!! They like UNO much better than handwriting practice but they humor us and always put forth their best efforts on whatever project we put before them.

Our facilitator Galya works tirelessly for us each and every day. She made many trips just today to many offices and will try and speak with the judge tomorrow that will preside over our adoption hearing. She is trying to get everything ready so that we could have a court day next week - so we wish her the all the best. To make the date, she has to get paperwork to Kiev (processed in Kiev by the SDA - Ukraine Central Adoption Department) and back to her in Sevastopol in time for the court date she sets with the judge, so it is a bit of a balancing act. The paperwork will travel by train between Kiev and Sevastopol.

Just to share some good luck we have had...it turns out that we were the last flight to make it between Kiev and Simferpol last Tuesday evening and then the airport was closed for several days due to ice and bad weather. So Yipee, we made it out just in time. Another lovely thing today...we needed some Ohio Adoption Law info for Galya and we wrote to a lawyer, Nancy Burns, who lives in Cincinnati and has adopted four children from Kazackstan with her husband (who Pam, Len and Angella put us in touch with) via email today and she quickly replied with exactly what we needed!!! How great is that? We feel so blessed!!!

If any of you want to say some extra prayers or have good luck charms - one interesting challenge that lay ahead is that the company that makes the blank passports has been on strike here in Ukraine and the negotiations have not been settled. What that means is that here in Sevastopol they have run our of these blank passports, that we will need for our girls, for them to come home with us...all could go well with the court dates, etc., but then we could be held up waiting for blank passport books. As you can imagine, Galya is doing all she can to find us these booklets but a little help from prayers and love never hurts:)

Snow Day_backup plan_day5

Today we woke up to a snowy Sevastopol. It is not supposed to snow here but it seems we have been especially blessed: 4 more inches overnight and -14 degrees Centigrade. The town was lovely with a garland of fresh white snow and traffic down to a few obstinate trucks.

Sadly for Galya, our erstwhile faciltator,the streets were not plowed in her neighborhood so she couldn't join us at the orphanage. She had planned a major art project of batik and painting for the kids and we were going help (mostly watch). The kids, fortunately, accepted their disappointment with aplomb. This left Lorelle and me with more time to interact with our cherubs.

Lorelle, as always, had a backup plan and was set for any possibility. It seems that word has gotten out and more and more kids are interested in hanging out with us, which is gratifying but much harder to manage than just being with our two girls. It helps when Lorelle and I split up, but the girls always seem to be more interested in what she is doing. Oh well, I have to face reality and recognize the fact that Lorelle is a kid magnet and always will be.

Thanks for reading. Your messages and kind remarks mean a great deal to us.

Best,

David and Lorelle

Pizza Plus...day4

As you all know by now...Sevastopol is not known for snow and so our first fun with the girls today was walking outside and seeing them grab handfuls of snow as fast as they could to make snowballs. Also stomping on frozen snow and hearing it crunch beneath their boots seemed to be a favorite activity.

At the Potato House we found our first mistake, was coming to a place with too many easily seen large screen TV's...perhaps McDonald's has it's advantages after all! But with Galya's help (our translator) the girls were able to order pizzas we didn't even know were on the menu, especially the tuna and mussels selection! I had a small piece and almost gagged but wanted to be a good example of someone who eats what's good for them so managed to keep a straight face.

Papa (aka David) made sure the meal was complete by taking the girls back to the ice cream counter and returning with insanely huge bowls of ice-cream stacked high and decorated with tall spikes of chocolate. A quick parenting discussion had to be held as to whether children had to eat all that was in front of them and after thinking clearly about how sick they might be if they had finished it all, it was decided they should eat only what they wanted:)

Another interesting parenting moment was after taking many cute photos in the restaurant (including one taken by a stranger helping out) and then exiting, the girls excitedly pointed out the sign on the door clearly prohibiting taking photos inside the building. What could we say but, "We're sorry!!"

A fun part of the pizza time, was having the help of Galya in asking the girls questions about their interests and ours, that our Russian is inadequate to cover. We learned that they both really like mathematics, and the older daughter loves cross-stitch and the other loves to draw. They didn't seem surprised that I was a teacher of reading (note already too many quizzes on their ABC's) but were curious about David's love of plants. When told that Papa plays guitar a "cool" was uttered making David's day.

All in all it was a another wonderful day with these delightful girls!!

Love, Lorelle and David

Day3_More fun and games...

Hi All,

Thanks for all the heartfelt comments and support. It is such a joy to read them each day and we soooooo appreciate each and every one of them and all of our readers!!

We've included a picture a short distance from the orphanage, in a small public area near the open market. They say it hardly ever snows in Sevastopol but you can see it did for us:)

Today was very fun as David and I started to feel more comfortable and relaxed with the girls. We successfully played several more games of UNO and they are so cute as each time they give us a card that makes us draw extra cards or makes us skip turns they say..."I'm sorry" with their adorable smiles.

They continue to draw beautiful pictures for us, and enjoy learning more English each day.

Tomorrow is even more exciting as we have been given permission to take them out to lunch at a local restaurant. For this to be legal our wonderful translator/facilitator Galya must be our chaperone which is a delight in itself. Our plan is to take them to the famed Potato House and have delicious pizza which seemed to please the girls greatly.

love, Lorelle and David

Lentz Family Portraits_Day 2

Since we can't post photos of our new family, we thought these artistic interpretations would be the next best thing!!! David loves his generous coiffure and Lorelle loves her tiny waistline:)

We also think "Papa and Mama" peeking out from the tree just about right for our 2nd day of parenting!!!!

In the morning we went to the Notary to get paperwork processed and boy was that something different...it takes hours, not minutes and costs a pretty penny too. They were very nice, but had to put things on hold when the electricity went out for several hours over the entire city.

We also talked with the medical Doctor on staff at the orphanage who was very kind and helpful and will organize many of the blood tests and inoculations required for the US Embassy.

But the best part of the day was visiting the girls from 2pm to 4pm at the orphanage. As soon as we walked in the building, one of the young boys saw us and immediately went and got our girls. It seems word has spread quickly as to who we are and who we now belong to.

We were glad to have our bag of tricks full (thanks Pam & Kelley, et al. for all the great help) and enjoyed many rousing games of UNO, then a time of art work as you saw above, some dot-to-dot puzzles using the alphabet, reading our Russian/English dictionary, reading a fun fairy-tale re-do called Jill and the Beanstalk (printed in both English and Russian) and a photo shoot where both girls took turns being digital photographers.

When it was time to go, the younger girl became quite sad and of course we felt badly, but then we came up with the idea of planning the next day and writing it out on paper with the date and times written on it. Then we went over the list several times and the smiles came out again:) We were so thankful!! We said our goodbyes with many a sweet hug and headed out the door, so touched by the joy and happiness we carried in our hearts.

love, Lorelle and David

Happy Mom n Dad Day 1

Sveta waited in the cold, outside the adoption SDA building from 3:00-4:00 on Tuesday, January 19th, to make sure we got the best place in line and soon after the office opened at 4pm we had our precious papers that gave us permission to visit Sevastopol and the girls!!!! Right outside the SDA building is a statue of a young man and woman courting, and it is good luck to touch the brass beetle on the man's clothing and the young woman's ring. Of course we made sure to do so each visit:)

Our apartment is a short walk past this beautiful church, St. Michael's, to and from the SDA and so we stopped for a moment to enjoy the beauty and said a prayer of thanksgiving after receiving our wonderful papers!! Then back to the apartment, final packing and being whisked off to the airport by our retired race car driving Igor and former engineer Sveta planning each movement perfectly. We can't sing their praises enough as they got us and our seven (yes seven!) bags of luggage onto the plane safely.

Flying into Simferopol late last night, we met our next brave driver, Kostia who came over black ice to pick us up at 11pm with a 1 and a 1/2 hr drive both ways to get us to our lovely (and did I say VERY Lovely) apartment late into the morning hours. What kindness and dedication we continue to receive from our facilitators!!

And now the best part!!!

Today, January 20th, at 11am we met with the director of the orphanage, a government official and with our facilitator/translator Galya, and soon after we met the two most beautiful girls in the world!!!!

We know you all are eager to see pictures, and we are sorry we cannot share them at this time. We still have many legal steps to take, and the Ukrainian government forbids us to post any pictures until these legal requirements have been met. We expect these requirements to take several more weeks at the minimum and so we appreciate your love and patience but as a poor second best we did post a picture of two of the happiest people you could want on their first day as Mom and Dad at the front of the blog. We are sitting in the director's office, glowing!!!! after much fun and joyful time spent with our two lovely hoped for daughters!

The girls were warm and friendly at our first meeting as they were told that morning about our interest in adopting them. They went to school knowing they were going to be brought back sometime during the day to meet us. They are very loving towards each other, showing lots of affection between the two of them and this warms our hearts greatly. The director of the orphanage is sad to see them go as she is very attached to them, but wants only the best for their future. We were very impressed by the director's sincerity and affection for the children and their best interest.

At just the right time, David pulled out the two matching stuffed soft and cuddly puppies we had carried in our suitcases from the U.S., complete with red ribbons. The girls happily accepted them, playfully interacting with them, making us laugh and smile! They surprised us with their knowledge of English, quickly saying "dog" even as we had practiced our Russian saying "Cebaka."

Next, the facilitator had us sit down on the couch, with the girls next to us. We brought out the matching photo albums we had prepared with pictures of David and me, as well as our beloved Cebaka - Gracie! We also had many more photos of ourselves, our home, their bedroom to be, complete with pink bedspreads and us holding their new stuffed dog/cebakas, and also photos of extended family. These photos had labels in both Russian and English, and they worked hard to read the English but did so quite well, proud to be able to do so. We were equally impressed, already proud parents:)

We showed them pictures of our lovely friends Angella (daughter of Len and Pam) and Elona (daughter of Roger and Kelley) who live in Cincinnati, but who had previously lived in Sevastopol, and who had written the girls letters in Russian, welcoming them to Cincinnati. They eagerly read the letters and looked carefully at the pictures of these two wonderful and beautiful girls. It again, made us so happy to have these gifts to share with them.

We also told them of the lovely book from our Wyoming girls, that we plan to bring on another day, and they hugged each other with great joy!

Finally it was time to say goodbye for this first visit, but we got to take some wonderful photos of this meeting which we will always treasure! Tomorrow we go back around 2pm after they are out of school and we will be allowed to visit again. We will bring books and games (thanks for the UNO and Yahtzee!!) and start our wonderful adventure as we all get to know each other over the next few weeks.

Again, thank you for all your prayers, love and comments - you are in our hearts each day!!!

Love,

Lorelle and David (aka Mama and Papa!!!)

Offical Visit to the SDA

Dear All...

Today we paid our first offical visit to the SDA (the Ukrainain department of adoptions). We (Lorelle, myself and our Ukrainain facilitator,Sveta) waited in a hallway for a bit then were eventually invited in to talk with an offical state psychologist. Lorelle and I had all of our phrases in Russian set to answer as many questions as possible, but it turned out that Sveta did almost all of the talking. She explained to the psychologist why we came to the Ukraine for adoption purposes and these statements seemed to meet with approval. The only time Lorelle and I got to talk was when they brought out the dossiers of the girls we hope to adopt with their pictures. We were asked if these were the girls we wanted to adopt and we got to say "das" or "nyet." We both said "das" of course and that was it, except for the negotiations about when the department would complete our paperwork so we can go to the orphanage where the girls live. Sveta got the psychologist, very lovely person by the way, to agree to finish the papers by tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday).

After stopping at several vendor's stalls outside the SDA, Sveta wisked us off to a travel agent to purchase our tickets for a plane to Sevastopol tomorrow night!! Afterwards we stopped for beers and borscht at a local restuarant to wind down a bit. I have already commented on the wonderful flavor of the borscht here but the beer is really outstanding as well. They brought it to us in foot high mugs and it just went down like silk. Smooth and flavorful lager with a head like custard and just the right hint of hops. Makes me thirsty to think about it.

Anyway, Sveta has us organized to the max tomorrow, she and Lorelle will wait at SDA to pick up the papers then will have a car waiting to take them to the airport. Meanwhile, I will wait for the word about the papers and when everything is ready, a second car will be sent to our apt and I will pak it up and head for the airport to meet Lorelle with the luggage. If all goes well we will be in Sevastepol tomorrow night. Then, if all continue to go well (always have to say this), we will visit the orphanage on Wednesday to meet the kids!

Cant tell you how excited we are!... Stay tuned.....David and Lorelle

Catacombs and Guilded Domes

Dear Friends.

We are cooling our heels until the government offices open tomorrow (Monday). Lorelle decided to stay in our cozy apartment, so I went out to sight see on my own. Sveta, our facilitator, set up a tour to Pechersk Lavra, a vast complex (about 50 acres) of churches and tombs on the south side of Kiev that date to the 12th century. The translaters were twins from an English class at a local university who wanted to practice their English. They couldn't have been more pleasant. We were met by a guide at the site who was extremely knowledegable but had a machine gun delivery style that made it hard to ask questions. You can see a picture of the three of them above.

One of the churches was modeled after the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul (See to the left), not as large but more exquitely painted on the interior. Other buildings there dated to the 12th century and were in excellent condition. The catacombs were underground caves where recluse monks lived. Often when they died, they would be left in their cells (by request, not neglect). It was so dry and cool there that their bodies were naturally preserved. Because of this preservation, they were believed to be saintly, so the whole complex has become a nexus of sainthood and pilgrimage. The buildings have been destroyed by invaders and rebuilt several times so it is still a work in progress. Anyway, fascinating World Heritage site.

We finished the outing with a hot bowl of borsht in a little cafe overlooking the Dnipro River. We think of borsht as simply beet soup, but it had beef, onions, carrots and lots of other tasty stuff, really delicious. A fitting end to a lovely day.

Thanks for listening... David and Lorelle

Independence Square Photos

Skating happily to Ukraining pop songs!

View out from Independence Square Monument

David in new hat - see I said he looks handsome!!

We think some Swedes decided to visit Kiev!

Lorelle can't wait to explore the square at the entrance to the underground street crossing:)

Lazy Saturday

Welcome to our cozy Kiev apartment, near Independence Square. Good news, the political rally politely quieted down soon after our post last night!

We enjoyed sleeping in today and recovering from jet lag and long flights.

Our only adventure was to walk from our apartment down the street to the beautiful square. This walk, while challenging due to the ice, was otherwise a quick 5 minute jaunt.

Lorelle has decided that there should be a new Olympic sport called running over ice in stiletto heels after watching with total amazement many a young Ukrainian women doing such a feat!! It makes running in sneakers a snooze.

Follwoing are some pictures of our walk around Independence Square: see next post...

Frosty Streets of Kiev

After a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham and more of that incredible bread and butter (compliments of David's great cooking) Sveta and Igor picked us up at our doorstep as the beautiful snow swirled around and the temps seemed to have dropped from the previous day.

Our errands for the day started with a trip to the U.S. Consulate which meant creeping along through crowded traffic and people watching. What beautiful coats and hats (fur,fur,fur) many of the women were wearing - looking very stylish! People were out walking even in the snowy weather but they knew how to dress for it!!

Our government seemed to be hiding and we were so grateful for help finding the Consulate, as we would have never found it on our own, nor been able to navigate down the somewhat secrect pathway off the beaten track. Our driver, Igor skillfully drove down the icy snow and mogul ridden path, even meeting other cars, as we slipped and slid over the bumps and narrowly missed metal to metal interactions. Later we were complimenting his fine driving skills through the difficult conditions and we found out through his wife Sveta that Igor had been a professional race car driver in his youth!!

Out of the car, we continued the sliding theme as we walked downhill, holding hands with Sveta, to the Consulate door, where not being American Sveta left us to enter alone. First tight but very polite and English speaking security, then on to the Adoption folks in the next building. High metal fences surround the whole place so it feels like our own special spot! We worked on some paperwork and were treated most kindly.

A second errand included a trip to the open air markets of Kiev. A few important items had been left behind in the fury of departure. We originally were going to shop on our own near our apartment, but Sveta would have none of that...as the shops in our area charge exorbitant prices!! Again, Sveta in the lead, we marched into the FREEZING open air markets. Thankfully she knew exactly where to take us for each and every item, as well as how to negotiate the best prices. The kind and long suffering merchants were warmly dressed but still we wondered how they stood there all day. While trying on a hat, David got especially careful service, as the stylish shopkeeper wouldn't allow David to make a decision until she approved of how good it looked!! What a handsome guy he was as he left that vendor!!!

Now back home in our cozy apartment, we have unexpected outside music and rucus provided by the political rallys (elections for President of Ukraine are scheduled for Sunday) at Independence Square. Hope it doesn't go too late:)

Thanks for all who already commented on our 1st Ukraine posting. It means the world to us to be able to share our adventures with you all!!

Love, Lorelle and David

Our adventure begins...

First things we saw as we cleared customs was Sveta our facilitator and her husband Igor at the front of the line with flowers for Lorelle and a big sign with our names on it!! After warm hugs, we went out to the icy parking lot (minus four degrees centigrade) and found our 2nd driver Sasha (yes - one car for lugguage & one for us!)

The next fun experience was the grocery store with Sveta in the lead, taking us through the variety of foods, and products, helping us interpret and plan out our menus. We have many new foods to try as well as two kinds of Vodka!! Our quick dinner tonight was delicious bread, butter to die for (78& of something amazing) and great swiss cheese.

We are tired by happy and hope this posts. We get to explore around our apartment which is a short 5 min. walk up from Independence Square which is a gorgeous area - tomorrow with Sveta.

Love to all,
David and Lorelle

We landed safely & on time:)

bandwidth small and trouble posting more for now...