Our First 24 Hours in the Ukraine

Our first 24 hours in the Ukraine have been exciting and exhausting. We arrived in Kiev Monday morning after a (fortunately) uneventful trip from Flagstaff.

When we stepped off the plane, we kept an eye out for Alex. He was to be waiting with our name on a sign to guide us through customs. Jamie was excited to feel like a VIP. Sure enough, Alex was standing at the entrance to customs, in plain view of the entire load of passengers, boldly holding a sign that read "Oder". This slightly horrified Jamie, but this is what you get when you marry into the Yoder clan!

After being whisked through customs (while everyone else waited), we then kept an eye out for Vladim, our driver. Sure enough, he was standing at the airport entrance doors holding a sign that read "Yorder". :)

What a nice guy. He took us to get groceries on the way to the apartment, and insisted on pushing our cart while he helped us select our food. He treated us like royalty. At one point, he insisted strongly, by physically placing her in the seat, that Jamie not leave the van while Steve helped unload the luggage in the cold air. When Steve asked him if he was born in Kiev, he said that his family has lived here since 1490! We hope to have him again as our driver.

We arrived at our apartment that afternoon and crashed for a few hours. Then Olga, our facilitator, met us to explain the adoption process, as well as buy a cell phone for us to use. We are very impressed with her. She is efficient, helpful, and sharp. We crashed again for the night.

Today (Tuesday) was the date for our apointment with the SDA (State Department of Adoption).

We began the day by making breakfast in our three-room apartment. It is located right in the center of Kiev in a beautiful old building. It has a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. After breakfast, we ventured out for a few
hours on our own.

We strolled down the main road to a public square
filled with impressive monuments. We also had our first glimpses of the famous Ukrainian babushkas (grandmothers), some of whom were selling flowers on the streets. Many of them have not had an easy life during this time of transition from communism to capitalism. They have lost social retirement assistance and so many must continue to work. Still, folks we have talked to do not wish to go back to the old days of communism.

After lunch we met Olga for the 25-minute walk to the SDA. Below is a photo of Steve standing at the entrance to the building. Our appointment was brief, maybe 25 minutes.

Basically, the psychologist asked us questions about our motivations for adopting, and shared a photo of Nazar that we hadn't seen before, taken when he was a newborn. It is Nazar's only photo as a newborn, and Olga stated that she would make sure we receive a copy of it.

We wished we could learn more about him, but that will have to wait. It was difficult to hear him referred to as an invalid, but that is the way it is here. They seemed puzzled that we would adopt a child with Down syndrome, and wanted to know why? We both explained our beliefs and feelings regarding the worth, joy and potential that we believe all children possess. The psychologist stated she was grateful that there are people in the world willing to accept a child as this, as the Ukraine does currently not have social programs or future for invalids.

We showed the psychologist a family photo album that we had created for the meeting, and when we got to the photo of Judy (Jamie's mom) waterskiing this past summer, the psychologist called the other government official over to view this photo. They were quite impressed with this babushka!

At our meeting, we were given a referal to meet Nazar. We stopped to get this photo of Jamie and Olga in front of St. Anderw's Church before taking a taxicab through rush-hour traffic to purchase fares for tomorrow's flight to Kharkov. Steve was impressed with the driving skills of our cabbie, and particularly enjoyed the part when the man manuevered down the pedestrian-covered SIDEWALK for a portion of the ride.

After a long walk back to the apartment, Jamie rested while (you probably guessed) Steve wrote much of the entry to this blog. Can't wait for the next 24 hours, when we get closer to seeing Nazar.