The Decision story

We still don't have reliable internet access so Mike has figured out a way for me to type in notepad on the laptop and then transfer that to his Blackberry and then hopefully we can upload to the blog. Smart Hubby's are certainly a plus! :o)

Goodness - where to begin? So much has happened since we last wrote a full entry in Kiev. If I were any type of a writer I would turn this trip into a book and then a screenplay. I honestly believe it would be a best-seller!

We left Kiev via car Thursday as the plane tickets and train tickets were all sold out. We were told the trip to our region in Eastern Ukraine (sorry - I'm not going to mention the region until after court) would take about 8 hours. We got up at 3am and met the driver and our facilitator at 4am and began the journey. Our driver spoke a bit of English and he seemed like a happy sort of fellow. We made a couple of stops on the shoulder as there were 'funny' noises coming from the back of the Chevy (something like a Neon) and also because his washer fluid was not working. Before the sun had even come up - we were stopped for speeding as well.

The policeman was standing in the middle of the 'highway' and simply turned on his tiny flashlight to indicate that we needed to pull over. I have to wonder about the accident rate for these poor policemen in the middle of the road! We pulled over and the driver got out of the car - then he started walking away. Our facilitator was taking a nap and Mike and I began to worry that the driver was being hauled off to jail! We woke her and she explained that sometimes the police just need to verify documents. The driver was gone for at least 15 minutes. When he came back not much was said and we continued on.

When the sun rose we could then "see" the driving....which I think was not a good thing. The drivers are quite skilled and must have trained in Rally Driving or via video games! The funny thing is that it works. Most roads are only two lanes and the drivers are in the on-coming traffic lane more often than not. Although our driver drove like a loony he was very good about using his turn-signal...

The 8 hour trip turned into 12 hours. We did not stop for lunch, drink or even the restroom - it was 12 hours of solid driving. Certainly not the road trip we were expecting! :o) When we arrived in the tiny town we stopped to ask some Babushkas where the orphanage is located. We semi-understood from the hand gestures that the driver was told to carry on straight for about 5km. I guess you can call it a road - if you live in Colorado - try to imagine Guenella Pass in the dead of winter - with potholes that must have been 2 feet deep (and for once I'm not exaggerating). We had to swerve and sway and hold our breath to maneuver down the road. We "bottomed out" a few times and I think that we may even have lost part of the muffler! We drove for about 10 minutes and again pulled over to ask two kind older women how far to the orphanage. Again we were told to carry on for about 5km. Well - you can see where this story is going - we drove and drove and again stopped and were told to carry on for about 5km! It actually became a running joke and we now know that basically all distances in Ukraine are about 5km away! :o)

We finally arrived at the orphanage and visited with the little boy - and he was so cute and sweet and extremely shy at the beginning. Since we were not sure that we wanted to pursue an older child - we were introduced as 'guests' but he knew what was going on and why we were there. We visited with him for about an hour and then began the two hour drive back to the closest city (the orphanage is in a remote village). We got stopped for speeding a second time, but this time there was no ticket. We heard the driver mention "Americanski" which was followed by much laughter, and then we were on our way again. Perhaps it is good that we don't speak Russian. :o)

We stayed at a hotel for the night (paying for 3 rooms - for us, the translator and the driver). We called Dr. Yuri to see if he could come down to evaluate the child. During our adoption classes in CO we were told so much about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and I must say that we were quite concerned about the effects of FAS and we wanted to verify that any child we adopted would be free of this. Dr. Yuri agreed to come down the next night.

My cold began to really develop during the car ride and turned into a full-blown cold by the time we arrived in the village. I was coughing and sneezing the entire car ride. I was so afraid to get everyone sick (especially in such a confined space) and was using quite a bit of the hand sanitizing gel. Luba stopped at a pharmacy so I could get some cough medicine. The pharmacy had a walk up window and I was instructed to start coughing so the pharmacist could recommend a good medicine. Apparently the one recommended was "the best as it was made in Germany". I don't know why but I found that funny and started a laughing/coughing fit.

On Friday we went out for breakfast at a tiny cafeteria style restaurant in a government building near the hotel. We had to ask Luba what each food contained and to order for us. We ended up with a pork chop which was covered with scrambled eggs with onion. It was tasty although a bit tough. We also had a salad made of boiled chopped eggs, peas, onions and ham with mayo. It reminded me of a salad that Maw-Maw used to make (does anyone else remember this?) - it was very good.

We picked up Dr. Yuri at the airport and drove the two hours to the orphanage. Somehow in the phone conversations with Dr. Yuri he thought the orphanage was in the city and not the remote town - so there was no way for him to make his scheduled return flight. He decided to then give the child a full examination including an IQ test since he was in no hurry to get back to the airport. Our son passed all the tests and has at least an average IQ. Dr. Yuri was actually impressed with his knowledge and excitement for learning. He really enjoyed the puzzles and the blocks which he had to use to form patterns. We were really excited when we saw his obvious enthusiasm when playing with these learning toys.

We decided that evening to adopt him.

We returned to the hotel in the city (another 2 hour drive) and this time paid for four rooms as we now had the doctor with us.

There's so much more to tell but this post is already way too long and I've probably put you to sleep reading this! :o) I'll make a second entry later.

Love to all...