Odds and Ends

Finding time to post is dificult. And when time is found, I usually have to rush through it. So today I thought I would share a few odds and ends of some things I have left out in past blogs that some might find interesting or helpful.

Right now we are in Kyiv. It is a holiday. We are in the 10-day waiting period for both boys. Tomorrow we will go to the Emabassy and fill out some paperwork there so that Gabe can leave early. We don't know yet when he will leave. I will go back out to Lugansk Wednesday evening by train to get Roman. We had to leave him there during the waiting period to come back to Kyiv for Vitalik's court date. We will arrive in Lugansk Thursday morning. We will pick up the court decree Friday and begin the paperwork to get a new birth cerificate and passport. This might take several days so Gabe will stay in Kyiv so that he can be here on Tuesday morning to pick up the court decree for Vitalik and begin the paperwork for his new birth cerificate and passport. Once he is finished, he will be able to return home and I will finish up with medicals and visas here in Kyiv. Thats the plan.


We left a phone with Roman. He has been so precious texting frequently. He had guarded his heart until the adoption had taken place. Now we are seeing a sweet, affectionate and even needy side to him that we had not seen before. I am ready to go back and get him. We are incomplete without him. Here he is with Gabe at camp when we went up into the hills for evening worship service. Vitalik has been very patient wtih all the goings on. It is true that 15 year olds can and will often regress to earlier developmental stages. Vitalik has been stuck at about 2 years old for the last few days but may be moving on, a fact for which I am very grateful! Never a day goes by when I do not look at him and think of what could be had God not intervened in his life. God has blessed us with both of these boys.. Here is Vitalik texting his friend, Viktor, after court.

The weather here is glorious. We had expected it to be hot. Instead, its been in the 70's to 80's during the day and much cooler at night. And there is usually a breeze. Some days, we have worn jackets.

If you are coming here to adopt, you would be well served to learn as much Russian as you can before you come. Start with numbers. And pleasantries. Learn to read the letters. It is well worth the time and effort. I can't imagine trying to get around town without knowing at least some of the language. And with the boys, it is invaluable. We also have an electronic translator and a dictionary for those moments with the boys that go beyond our limited vocabulary.

Learn from others' experiences but don't expect yours to be anything like the rest! There are so many variables that come into play. The difference in our two court hearings are a perfect example. They could not have been more different. In Lutigino, the judge seemed genuinely interested in our lives and asked tons of questions, both of us and Roman. Not only that, but he also would go off on rabbit trails, such that it seemed more like a chat with a friend. The judge in Kyiv was all business. He asked very few questions; did not even question Vitalik at all; and refused to be photographed with us after the hearing. In Lutigino, we had to go back and ask the judge for a second set of pictures afer we realized the card was not in the camera the first time!

I guess the same holds true with train rides. We had heard horror stories of train rides. Our experience on the train has been great so far. Having a whole kupa to yourself might be the difference. It was quiet. No one disturbed us. We were able to sleep. The bathrooms were not all that bad. Here is our daughter, Alexandra, without whom I would not be surviving, on our kupa.

Other tidbits you might want to know if you will be traveling to Ukraine: bring lots of ziploc bags; bring more prescription medicine than you think you will need; bring antibacterial wipes or gel and lots of tissues to keep in your purse or bag. Good, quality toiletries are hard to come by so if there is a brand you consider a must-have, bring extra. These come to mind since I did not bring enough of any of them. What we did bring that has proved invaluable: 2 laptops, computer games suitable for our adopted children, and movies both in English and Russian. We have also made great use of cards, both regular and UNO, and board games that we either brought with us or have bought since we arrived. Helps past the time and creates good family bonding moments.

Introducing Vitalik Benjamin Davie

Four months ago, I was fearful that this day would never take place. We did not have a submission date and I did not know if we would be able to adopt Vitalik before he graduated from the Internat and was out on his own. One day, we were all discussing names and someone suggested Vitalik Benjamin. I took out my Bible and read the story of when Benjamin was born to Rachel. As she was about to give birth, her mid-wife said to her "Do not fear, you will have this son also." From that moment on, I knew that this day would soon take place and that Vitalik would be our son. At 12:25 today, less than an hour after our preliminary hearing began, the judge granted our petition to adopt Vitalik. At first, the judge ruled, after the preliminary hearing, that the main hearing would not take place until July 8th. We asked the judge to reconsider and hold the main hearing today. The other interested parties agreed and, after a 5 minute break, during which we took the second picture you see, the judge came in and conducted the main hearing. At that point, he was obviously in a hurry, asked very few questions and mostly just went through the formalities. Nonetheless, when he read the decree naming Gabe and I as Vitalik's mother and father, my heart was rejoicing. Afterward, at Vitalik's request, we had lunch at TGIFriday's. To God be all the glory for his perfect timing and for his love and care of the fatherless. And in God's mercy, may more and more children here and all around the world be fatherless no more.

There's No Place Like Kyiv

After ordering from an English menu, leaning back in my chair with a full stomach, crossing the street to the neighborhood supermarket, and cruising Kreshatik for a few needed clothes items, I have come to the concusion that, at least in Ukraine, there is no place like Kyiv.

Introducing Roman Elijah Davie

Monday was a long, long day that ended with our facilitator saying "Come on, guys, its not a funeral." We picked Roman up at 1:00 and were in Latigino, where court was to be held by 1:30. Roman was so inquisitive. "How long will we wait?" One hour. "Is court long or short?" Short. "Who will be there?" Mama, Papa, you, Max, Director, Judge, Prosecuor, 2 jurors. "Is that all?" Yes. Well, we answered 1 out of 3 truthfully. We waited 2 hours. Court was long. But at least no one else was there. The gloomy faces came at the end when the judge told us to come back Tuesday at 8:50 am to complete the hearing.

You see, at the very end of the day, after all the waiting, and all the questions, and putting our ten year old son through a tough examination, the judge, who had the Petition for over a week, found a mistake and we had to go to the Notary and re-do the Petition. And wait another hour for the Notary to arrive. In the meantime, the Prosecutor got mad and left, taking the jurors with him so that when our facilitator returned with the corrected Petition, we had to adjourn for the day.

But all is well that ends well. Tuesday, June 24th at 9:40 AM, the judge granted our Petition to adopt Roman. On the way back to camp, he tapped me on the shoulder, pointed to me and said "you are my mother." Yes, Roman, vsegda (forever).

Da Zaftra, In court

We have been so busy here in Lugansk. We get up, have breakfast at the hotel, catch a cab for the 40 minute drive to camp, then play all day. We attend the worship service at night at the camp and have been leaving, once again by cab, between 9:00 and 10:00pm. The rides in the cabs are quite an experience. Some of the drivers slow down for pot holes, others just swerve around them. I am usually in the back seat alternating between fear and prayers!

Saying good-bye to R tonight was so sweet. He has been excited all day about court tomorrow. Every time he asks about it, it is with a sparkle in his eye. When I said to him "Da zaftra" (see you tomorrow), he replied, "In court". When we arrived this morning, he was reading Harry Potter and had 4 pieces of candy waiting to share with his family. He is becoming more and more confident in his English. I had a translator tell him the other day that he knew more than he was willing to use and after that, it came pouring forth. He is a soccer machine, that boy! He is a right-footer, so Gabe was encouraging him to start using his left-foot. So he spent about 5 hours on Saturday, shooting left-footed goals. His feet were tired and sore by the end of the day. Reminds me of Luke at this age. Gabe wonders how it is that a boy who has spent 6 years in an orphanage can be spoiled but I gotta tell ya, this boy is used to everyone doing his bidding! Apparently he has never had to go after his own soccer balls. He sends others to chase them down. We are working on this. He is just so cute and so smart that everyone has always done as he says, I guess. God has put him in the right family to get over this attiude!

We are really having a lot of fun and enjoying the process. It has been good to be at camp with so many people, American and Ukrainian, that we know. Da Zaftra, after court. :)

Kyiv, Lugansk, Kyiv, Lugansk

We made it back to Lugansk. We liked the train ride better than the car. We played cards then watched a movie on the laptop before calling it a night. We all slept good and when we awoke we were only an hour from Lugansk. Not bad for a 15 hour trip. Roman was happy to see us. We all got big hugs. He is becoming more and more comfortable with us. And he is using his English more. We saw lots of friends from the states at camp and enjoyed visiting with them. We will spend tomorrow again at camp.

Fun all over Ukraine

Wow. Two turns on the computer in one day. We got a call from our facilitator today after he met with the judge in Kyiv again. Apparently he is having trouble finding jurors as so many people are on vacation. So court in Kyiv is now scheuled for Friday, June 27th. Its all good with me. I always said if I could just get over here I didn't care how long I had to stay. I told V today "the only thing that matters is that I don't have to leave here without you ever again." So he's okay with it, too. I'd love to post a slideshow of some of the pictures we have taken but I don't know how. I am open to learning if anyone wants to send me instructions. In the meantime, I'll just post the pictures of some of our fun times. While in Kyiv, we have seen 2 movies, Kung Fu Panda and Indiana Jones, dubbed over in Ukrainian; we have rode lightning fast go-carts; played laser tags, resulting in a skinned knee, torn blue jeans and a skinned shoulder; we played games at the arcade; attended two concerts, Paul McCartney and Lenny Kravitz; ice skated; shopped at the supermarket daily; and walked over all town. (we are saving the museums for when Roman gets to Kyiv). In Lugansk, we stayed close to the orphanage but had tons of fun on the playground, on the soccer field, walking into the village, and playing UNO and computer games. There were only a handful of kids left at R's orphanage; most were gone to camp. The soccer games consisted of the Davies v. the rest of the kids. We did a little shopping there and tried a few restaurants but had gotten way too spoiled in Kyiv. It was more fun to sit in front of the magazine in Belaraschenka and people watch while we ate our Suharkie and drank our warm sodas. It was way too easy to understand why so many villagers live the way they do.
We are looking forward to our first train ride tomorrow night. We have booked a whole kupa so hopefully we will be able to sleep on the way. From the big city of Kyiv to the little village of Belareschenka..........I can't resist......what a long and winding road.

Ahhh......Computer time

If any of you reading this are a computer dependent family as we are, you will understand when I say I wish we all had our own laptop! I am having rare computer time right now (everyone else is asleep) so I thought I would play catch up on blogging.



I know some of you are interested in the adoption process itself so I thought I'd share a bit about what has transpired so far. However, I must warn you, it has been so smooth and trouble free, it is not at all interesting. But for you nuts and bolts folks, here it is in a nutshell. We had our SDA appointment on June 3rd. We arrived about 30 minutes before our scheduled appointment and were called in right on time. Our facilitator went in with us and translated. The young lady we met with was very polite and helpful. She said she had seen our homestudy but would like us to tell her a little more about ourselves. So my husband gave her a summary of our lives: our children, our jobs, etc. Then she shared what information was available from each of the children's files and we asked a few questions. Then she said "So if you still want to adopt these children, I will have referrals ready tomorrow." IF we still want to adopt these chldren?!! I restrained myself and politely said "yes, we definitley still want to adopt them" then we said our good-byes. We may have been in there 15 minutes.



Wednesday our facilitator picked up our referrals. Thursday we met with the Inspector in Kyiv at about 10:30. That, too, lasted maybe 15 minutes. She asked how we met V and how we knew he was the one we wanted to adopt. So I got to tell my story of how God birthed V into my heart back on that infamous night in July 2007. I showed her some pictures of our family with V and she remarked how much he and I looked alike. She then said soemthing about having confidence everything would work out since it was coming from the heart. We waited while she typed her referral for the orphanage then went to meet with the Director of V's orphanage.

This meeting lasted much longer, maybe 2 hours. We know the Director and already have a realtionship with her so there were no surprises here. She gave us a lot of helpful information about V's background then called V in to write up his petition. He was so excited! While he worked on his affidavit, the Director did all of her required paperwork. All of this was taken back to the Inspector who had to then issue an approval to be returned back to the SDA. I think she completed it on the following Wednesday morning and our facilitator submtitted it to the SDA on Thursday. It takes a week for the SDA to complete their final paperwork that has to be taken to court.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, we drove 10 hours to Lugansk. We met with the Inspector there on Monday. Our facilitator said that this was the longest meeting he had ever had with an Inspector. Actually, we met with the social worker in the Inspector's office in charge of R's file. He went through our homestudy and asked us a lot of follow-up questions. He wanted to know how we would educate R and what sort of opportunities would be available to him. He asked what our hopes were for R's future. He asked if we liked sports and what our involvment with sports has been. Lots and lots of questions along those lines. He knows R very well and said he cared very deeply about what happened to him. He showed us a newspaper article he had saved that had R's picture and a story about a sports event he had been involved in.



After this long meeting, the Inspector herself went with us to meet with R and the Director of his orphanage. Once again, we know the Director well and this meeting held no surprises. I presume because of age, R did not have to write an affidavit but instead gave his oral consent to the Inspector. She apparently had her approval ready by the next day (Tuesday) then on Wednesday the facilitator was meeting with the judge to get a court date. Late Wednesday afternoon, we heard the date was Monday, June 23rd. We could have gotten it as early as Friday the 20th but had to consider that the SDA needed a week to process their paperwork. The paperwork was put on the train Wednesday night and our facilitator in Kyiv was able to submit it to the SDA at the same time as our Kyiv paperwork.

On Thursday and Friday our Kyiv facilitator met with the court and called Friday to let us know our hearing would be Wednesday, June 25th. This court requires a preliminary hearing but he will try to get them both on the same day.

So that has been our expereince so far with the Ukrainian adoption system. So far, it gets rave reviews from our family! As do our facilitators.

We are currently back in Kyiv but will headed back out to Lugansk Thursday night (by train this time) to spend some time with R before court. We are also looking forward to seing some of our friends from the States who are volunteers at the camp where R is this week.

If I am allowed any more computer time today I will report on some of the fun things we have been doing in between official business. We shall see!

And Another Court Date

Court is scheduled in Kyiv for V on Wednesday, June 25th. Barring any unforseen changes, the 10 day waiting periods will end only 2 days apart. There will be a lot of traveling back and forth between the Lugansk region and Kyiv but it will all be worth it. Both of our boys are a blessing to us and are looking forward to a new home and a new life.

We have at least one court date

Everything has gone smoothly out in the Lugansk region. We have a court date for Monday, June 23rd. R asked our facilitator why we had to go to court. When it was explained to him, his question was "What if the judge won't let me go?" Makes me realize we ALL worry way too much.

I Love This Place, Part 2