We are in Ukraine

We are Ukraine!  We had good plane rides from Charlotte to Munich and Munich to Kiev.  We had amazing favor in customs.  Not even questioned.  Met another couple who was adoptiong and they were grilled.

Arrived very tired.  We spent our first two days in Kiev staying at a church and we walked everywhere we went.  Our translator dropped us off with a cell phone that had her number and we were pretty much on our own except for adoption appointments.  Communication is difficult.

We were staying in the old part of the city, so we were able to walk to many areas and see things and eat, etc.  We have eaten only Ukrainian food so far and loved it!  Borsch is Great!

Monday, we had our SDA appointment and it was very short and simple. We were approved for adoption within 15 minutes.  The rest of the day, we slept and then had dinner at a nice Ukrainian buffet and enjoyed the cool weather in a park.

Monday night, we could not sleep, so we slept half of Tuesday, then we met our translator at the SDA and got our referral documents that afternoon.  Afterwards, we were able to see some of the historic sights, such as St. Micheal's cathedral. It was beautiful, but seemed so dead spiritually.  At 9 pm, we left for the train station.  There we met our new translator, Nataliya and we rode on the train for 8 hours all nite to Odessa.  It was a rough ride and we are very tired.

We have just arrived at our apartment in Odessa.  It is nice.  In one hour, we leave to start all of our appointments, and then this afternoon, we finally meet Vitya.  We are excited, nervous and tired all at the same time.  We have internet now, so we will write when we can. 

Please pray for favor in the next few days.  The timing of the whole process rests in the hands of the people we are meeting with.