Pictures!

Okay, I think I'm going to experiment here. Instead of putting a bunch of pictures here, inline, I'm going to link to photo albums I created in Facebook. For one thing, Facebook's interface is better.

So please let me know if you can't get to these photo albums and I'll try to post pictures here too.

• Pictures of the girls with the Riccardelli girls


• Pictures from the Kiev leg of the trip


• Pictures from Donetsk


• A couple of traveling pictures


• Tierney has been taking animal pictures


• Some cultural entertainment


• And...the star of the show, Galya!

I will post more pictures to these photo albums as I can, but will post here when I add pictures.

Hope this works and you can share a bit of what we're seeing!

God bless,
Ron

Sunday at Last

I have two objectives today in regards to the blog. First, I want to catch up the narrative to today. Second, I want to post some pictures (finally.) Shannon has some up on her Facebook page, and I'll post some there as well, but for those of you not on FB, I'd hate to leave you out. Then again, you could just join Facebook and become my friend...

Friday morning we awoke to no power still, and Colleen came down to tell us there was an accident at the power plant. It affected all of three locations, so it wasn't exactly a high priority fix. Fortunately, we'd enough cold cereal to get the girls through breakfast, and us 'Sotans are used to enough cold that Shannon and I were able to wash our hair in frigid water. The power came back around mid-morning, so we were able to get the girls a warm lunch (these little hot dog-esque sausages and fried potatoes. That's quickly becoming Tierney's favorite lunch, and she's now cooking it herself.) After lunch, we went to the orphanage to visit Galya again. This time we were completely on our own as Angelina is still in Kiev. Andrey from DCU drove us over, and unannounced we walked in and asked for Galya. There was another family there, but we did not get to talk with them. There are apparently a few families in the adoption game about now.

We colored and drew pictures with Galya and showed her some games we'd brought. She didn't have any overt interest in learning how to play the games, but enjoyed looking at the pieces. We also had two happy meal toys (or as they spell it here, xeппi miл) which she couldn't put down. Unfortunately, the toys made noise. That doesn't bode well for quiet, but then our girls aren't that quiet anyway. Galya will fit right in!

The visit wasn't terribly long, although long enough for Galyna to use up a bit of camera memory card again. It was a good thing I downloaded all the pictures and videos before we went over! This girl may have a future as a photographer.

We returned home via Amstor, and think we're finally caught up on groceries. They didn't have belts in Tierney's size (she didn't bring one; oops!) so we tried dog collars that (a) looked like belts and (b) were almost the right size. I think the dogs here get rather large. Shannon also found some broccoli - which was very welcome to my veggie-starved wife - and I picked up something I thought was popcorn, but turned out to be something like sugar-coated white-cheddar puffed Cheetos. I really need to pay more attention.

Saturday was a busy, busy day. We started by attending a little theater production on campus. There was a Polish group which presented some children's theater, which was good fun. We could follow the basic stories, which appear to be traditional folk tales, despite the language differences. There was also a professional poet laureate from a nearby town. He did some dramatic poetry readings, and in one of them gave gifts to various audience members. Our darling little Amissa got a mirror. Made her morning, that. Part of the program was also dedicated to a puppet show, and it was very well done. The puppet show was put on by members of a local church, many of whom are affiliated with the Shelter of the Good Shepherd in Makeevka. I will speak more of the shelter in a future post. It was a very clear presentation of the Easter story and forgiveness, which was cool to be able to pick out. Apparently dramas translate well even without words being understandable.

After the puppet show, which I neglected to mention we watched with the Riccardellis, we met up with Andrey (a boy I'd met the past two summers at the Good Shepherd Shelter, and who came to DCU with the Riccardellis) to head into downtown. We made it halfway via bus when the bus driver kicked us off to turn around and head the other direction. So we waited and caught another bus. Eventually, we made it downtown and walked to the artist's "colony." This is an area where local aritsans sell paintings, sculptures and various souvenirs. We picked a few up, but I won't say what they are in case the recipients are reading this blog. We then went to a restaurant called "big belly hut" or something like that. It was a buffet restaurant with Ukrainian food. It was tasty, especially the solyanka. Shannon has since looked up many recipes online, and will treat you to it someday if you'd like.

Oh - almost forgot. Between the artists and the dinner, we stopped at Lenin Square where the girls rode some pedal-powered cars. I'm surprised Amissa didn't run anyone over, but it was quite amusing to watch. It was less amusing to watch the guy running the amusements keep telling the girls to keep driving when we were paying by the time, but it all worked out. The Riccardelli girls and ours are getting along quite well. I'm rather proud of our daughters, who have proven adept at making friends with, and playing with, children over here - not least of all Galya - despite the language barrier. Two little girls from our apartment building just showed up at our door one day and the four of them played and had a great deal of fun.

We got home, then, and the girls watched Tinkerbell. They liked the movie so much they watched it this morning again before church. Fortunately, church started at 10:00, so we had plenty of time. We went to the church here on campus, which Sergei (the rector of DCU) leads. The girls went to Sunday School and were pleased to know one of the songs they sang. We also met a couple from Kyrgystan who are studying here at DCU and speak pretty good English. They "knew" us before we even arrived as they're part of a Monday night prayer group which Olga Z. hosts. Guess with all the prayer in two countries, we can't be surprised things are working as they are:)

So that catches us up to the moment. There are a few things I will talk about in future posts which put more color to the stories so far, as well as pictures. I'll post the pictures today, but along with narratives the following topics will (God willing) appear in the blog this week:

• Donetsk and Ukraine


• The girls and their adjustments and observations


• DCU


• The Shelter of the Good Shepherd


• And last, but certainly not least, Galya's Tale itself

So stay tuned!

God bless,
Ron

Back to our Story, Already in Progress...

We left off at Monday, so on to Tuesday. That was a rather quiet day as Galya had to take a few physical exams. We spent the day hanging around the apartment, and walked down to a local market across the highway from campus. The girls played outside a little bit, but the wind was a bit brisk so they didn't play long. In the evening, we went over to our friend Olga's apartment, and shared tea with some people I knew from the English Intensives in the summer (Andrew, Tanya and Nazar, along with Tanya and Nazar's mother Natasha.) Tierney and Amissa hit full sleepy-silly mode during the visit and provided no end of amusement.

Wednesday was a bit busier. We started with a walk down to another local store, called Victory, to pick up a few more items. Shopping is more piecemeal for us this week it seems. In the afternoon, we went down to see Galya again, this time bringing some coloring books and white boards. The visit was MUCH quieter as the girls spent time coloring together. Galya was much taken with the girls' digital camera, and about filled up the memory card taking pictures of people who didn't want their picture taken. Some things transcend cultures I guess. Coming home from this visit, Angelina informed us she was heading back to Kiev for a few days to file more paperwork with the Ukrainian government. If the Ukrainian railroad offers frequent rider miles, I'm sure she's in an elite class. So, in the next few days we'd have to arrange other transportation for visits to Galya. We came back to campus, and Lawrence came down to invite us up to their apartment for dinner Thursday night. It will be nice (he says using future tense to pretend he's not writing this long after Thursday night already happened) to spend Thanksgiving with a couple of other Americans. The evening was spent reading with the girls, and trying to keep up on their homework. The girls have been really good about that while we're here, and both were able to email their teachers on Tuesday. They're even doing well without any television to watch!

We also found out that our court date is set. We will be in court next Wednesday, December 3. That should be the time we are deemed to be Galya's family, and this is followed by a ten-day waiting period where anyone can appeal the adoption. This rarely happens, but the waiting period is also rarely waived. We're hoping it can be this time so we can return home ten days sooner, but it's up to the judge. So we pray and hope, and we'll see what happens.

Thursday, Thanksgiving day. This was the most unique Thanksgiving in my memory. We went downtown to do some sightseeing. We visited Lenin Square, Pushkin Boulevard and the downtown Donetsk McDonald's. Yes, we are experiencing culture everywhere!

We started our time downtown with the girls playing on a playground on Pushkin Boulevard. For those who haven't been there, Pushkin is a pedestrian boulevard with playgrounds, benches, walking paths, flowers, sculptures, cafes and fountains. If I were to live in Donetsk, this is where I would spend most of my free time. From there we went to Lenin Square to meet Deanna and Sean Riccardelli and their daughters, Elina and Liza. Elina and Liza were adopted from Russia, and so we had something in common right away - daughters adopted (or about to be) from behind the old Iron Curtain. We adults chatted while the girls all chased pigeons. The Riccardelli girls both caught pigeons, and Amissa was able to hold one. It was fun, albeit something we wouldn't encourage back home. I'm not sure the pigeons liked it either, but they were being fed so they didn't leave. We were introduced to the Riccardellis through Olga Zaitseva here at DCU.

After a time talking, we split to different restaurants for lunch. The girls had to have McDonald's, so we headed over for our chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches and fries. Following a typical Ukrainian, er, American lunch, we walked over to a souvenir shop - and ran into the Riccardellis again. Small world, this place. Leaving the shop, we returned to the bus for the ride back to campus.

The buses here run on electrical wires hung above the street. Which the girls found interesting. We stopped at Amstor to pick up a desert to bring with to our Thanksgiving dinner. We got home shortly before 5 and headed up for dinner at 6. The Gingerys are wonderful folks, missionaries serving here at DCU for a number of years. Olga Z. joines us as well, and we sat down to a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner of chicken, potatoes and all the trimmings. The cranberry sauce was superb, as was all the food really (we have been eating well; the bread, especially, over here is tremendous.) In the middle of dinner, though, the power went out. This doesn't happen here as much as it used to, but we ended up having dinner by candlelight. It was rather nice, and we had good conversation. And, we had dinner theater when Amissa and Tierney started doing shadow puppets with the flashlight. All in all, a great Thanksgiving.

We did miss family and friends, though, and cannot wait to see you all when we get back. We are truly thankful for all of you; for your support, your prayers and your love we are most certainly grateful too.

This catches us up to two days ago. I'll try to get caught all the way up tomorrow, assuming we have electricity. We are planning a quiet day around the apartment before another busy week. I think the girls need it.

Now off to watch Tinkerbell. Shannon surprised the girls today with news that she picked it up before the trip. They want me off the laptop so I can put the movie in. So...until tomorrow,

God bless!

Ron

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

Well, we had a nice Thanksgiving; chicken dinner over candlelight. Some ex-pat missionaries who live here (Lawrence and Colleen) invited us over for dinner, and since turkey's a bit sparse 'round here they had a lovely chicken. Tasted like turkey:) Just as dinner started, the power went out. Seems there was an accident at the local power plant affecting the campus and only one or two other places in the neighborhood. The girls enjoyed the lack of a night light (ha! or not) but otherwise we got through the adventure unscathed, and in very good spirits thanks to our wonderful hosts.

However, since we did not get power back until this morning, and since we spent most of the evening trying to get Skype to work (hint: if you're going to set up Skype, do it before leaving the States) there isn't much time to actually blog by now. Should be plenty o'time this weekend, though, so see you back here tomorrow! (Unless the power goes out again...)

Ron

So where was I?

Ah, yes. Sunday. Sunday was a day of rest as we hung out around the apartment and packed up for our trip to Donetsk. We did take a little walk out through the nearby neighborhood. The girls each picked up a pair of slippers to keep their feet warm; one doesn't wear shoes inside the house here, and they wanted the slippers to keep their feet warm. Not that we've needed it; the weather's been pleasant (for Minnesota standards anyway.)

Sunday evening Nick picked us up and took us to the train station where we boarded the ol' iron horse for the overnight train ride to Donetsk. Shannon says the train was more comfortable and spacious than the one she rode in India last January. I'll take her word for that! The girls liked sleeping in the upper bunks, although the frequent stops in between did wake them through the night. They did very well, though, and so far are traveling like little troopers. It's a big adventure for them and they're taking quite a bit in. The only thing they're not getting much of is sleep, although they're soon headed for a day or two of crashing.

Monday: The big day! I suppose if I stopped this post here, Mom and Dad would reach through the network cable and wring my neck, so I'll continue. We arrived in Donetsk ~7:00 a.m., and were met by Olga and Andre from DCU. Andre brought the school's van, so we did have enough room for our overpacked family. It was nice to finally introduce friends from Ukraine to family as I've talked about each to the other many times. We arrived at the university by about 8:00, and were put up in an apartment in the staff housing building. It is spacious and the girls love the wallpaper in their room. Coming soon we'll post photos, and I'll make sure the girls include a picture of their room for y'all.

After a quick shower and putting away of suitcases, we were picked up by Angelina. She spent some time before we arrived doing paperwork, and getting ready to file things with the court. We were therefore able to get to the courthouse and register the adoption case, and we also were able to get to the city council offices and file the appropriate paperwork there. (Side note: I've made the comment frequently that there is more paperwork involved in adoption than in buying a house. This is probably for the best, of course, but I'm losing track of what we've filed, where.) Then to the orphanage where we met Galyna.

I've met her three times before, but this was a first for the rest of the family. She knows we're there to adopt her, and she ran into the room all a-smiley. She went to Shannon and gave her a big, long hug and called her "mama." This, needless to say, went over well. She then hugged the girls as they were introduced, and finally me. Consistent with the rest of this trip, we didn't have our camera available. Ooops. We went into a side room while more paperwork was completed, and the girls played with Galya. The language barrier seemed a bit less problematic in that first 90 minute visit, and we expect she'll pick up English quickly. She has not yet had any English lessons, so we'll be starting from scratch. I will just have to keep my Russian dictionary handy:) Fortunately, she's probably not old enough to yet critique my grammar too strongly.

Galya's a sweet girl, mildly stubborn and certainly eager for attention. She has a smile that lights up the room, and a bit of energy. Though the youngest of the girls, she's a good couple of inches taller than Amissa. So Amissa is still the older sister, but she's not going to be the big sister! So far that seems to be okay with her. We were very proud of the girls; they latched onto Galya immediately.

From that visit, we hit Amstor for groceries, then returned to the university for a couple of hours and some lunch. Late in the afternoon, Angelina returned and took us to Gorlovka to sign some more applications with the notary. While waiting for our driver afterwards, we hit a little cafe where we had the absolute best hot chocolate ever. No lie. Best ever. It was like drinking melted, high-quality, smooth chocolate bars. The girls also had rather large ice cream sundays. I think we're looked upon as oddities, eating ice cream in sub-freezing weather, but that is the way of us. After this, it was time to head back home for much needed sleep.

More later. We're on the way to the orphanage to see Galya again. This time, we'll be taking the camera:)

God bless,
Ron

"No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

So, where to begin? The week (or nearly so) has gone by quickly. In the proverbial nutshell, the trip-to-date in review:

Wednesday: We got up very early, which is terribly annoying, but considering the cause we dealt with it with good humor. Gib Coleman (thanks again!) drove us to the airport and we boarded our plane sans incident. The girls enjoyed the flight to NYC's JFK airport, which provided highly overpriced food and underwhelming entertainment options. Again, good humor. The girls made a new friend in the lounge, coloring on the floor next to this little Ukrainian girl. Would have made for cute pictures if we hadn't been up so early so as to fry our "let's take a picture!" synapses. On to the plane for Kiev, again without incident. That flight introduced two minor problems: Amissa's food intolerances, and forbidden-for-the-girls movies on the "big screen." Our lovely flight attendant was kind enough to find some corn flakes for Amissa so she could have a wheat-free breakfast, thus resolving issue #1. We tried to get the girls to sleep, thus mitigating problem #2, but they were having none of it. So, sleepy and excited we landed in Kiev on...

...Thursday. We were early into Kiev, so we had a chance to change some currency before our driver arrived. Nick, our driver, then drove us to our apartment. Nick was great, and I never felt in danger. But I would have to call the traffic there...interesting. We stopped at a small market for a little food, and then hit the cozy apartment for some rest. After dinner (basically some sausage, cheese, juice and bread) we went for a walk. The girls liked the street vendor motif, and we picked up a few oranges on the way back to the apartment. It was off to an early bedtime, and after we all woke up ~3:00 a.m. (unable to fall asleep) we waited for...

...Friday. Nick and Angelina (our facilitator and all-around superstar) met us Friday morning to take us to a meeting at the Ukrainian governmental department whose name escapes me, but which handles adoption and child-welfare issues. There we met Irina, a case worker who heard our story and gave us the referral to adopt Galyna. She noted that it was unheard of for people to be invited to Ukraine so quickly after their application was submitted (we were rather surprised ourselves.) Angelina also was able to convince them to give us the referral that same day instead of having to wait for the next day - which would have been Monday. This was quite the benefit as this referral was required in order to set up a court date in Donetsk to formalize the adoption. Since the courts in Donetsk only take registrations for cases on Mondays and Fridays, losing that day would have meant another few days on the trip. So far, things are going more quickly than is typical, and everything has been going smoothly. Were I superstitious, I'd be knocking on every tree in my room! But I would be remiss were I not to thank all of ya that have been praying for exactly this type of smoothing of bureaucracy and expediting of time lines. And Angelina, with her connections and knowledge of how this all works, has been an absolute lifesaver.

After the meeting, we returned to our apartment (after one more stop at the grocery store; now that we knew the size of our refrigerator, we knew what we could buy to supplement the sausage/bread/cheese.) From here until Sunday night, we had no further obligations, so spent this Friday afternoon hanging out. We visited a wonderful little restaurant/pizzeria about two blocks from the apartment. The girls enjoyed a chicken and potato dish that was of the über-cute ilk. The dish had a chicken breast dressed up with various vegetables cut and pieced together to make the chicken look like an actual chicken, with wings, tail and head. Unfortunately, the girls were so into taking silly videos of themselves they forgot to take pictures of the food (noticing a theme yet?) The girls also enjoyed the underground shopping stalls by the subway station. Here in Ukraine there are many intersections where pedestrians cross the road underground, and they are often filled with little booths of products for sale. This day behind us we tried to sleep in preparation for...

...Saturday. Nick came and picked us up around 2:00 for a sight-seeing trip to downtown Kiev. Lots of fun here, even though cold and sleety (well, not "cold" for a bunch of Minnesotans, but cold for people from further south, like Iowa.) We saw many nice examples of Ukrainian architecture, including St. Michael's Monastery. To get there we rode the funicular which was nice because it got our little stompin'-in-mud-puddles-in-her-now-soaked-tennis-shoes youngest out of the damp for a few minutes, and because it was a rather unique experience. We also checked out the souvenirs and artwork on the streets, and had a nice Ukrainian buffet dinner. Busy, wet and fun. We then hit the apartment to watch movies on the laptop and blow the backup fuse in our transformer. Oops. So the question is, will we or will we not have power for the laptop the rest of the trip? Will we be able to charge our camera battery? (Well, since you're reading this, yes.)

This is getting to be a long post so I'll get the rest of the trip posted in a following item.

I hope all is well, and happy (belated) anniversary to Mom and Dad. We would have called or sent an email, but until today...no Internet! As soon as we refresh our Skype account we'll give you a call.

God bless -
Ron

We're here!

We made it safe and sound, but haven't had Internet access until today. So...lots to catch up on.

Unfortunately, I don't have time for that at this moment, so I'll be updating more this evening.

At this point, suffice it to say the paperwork is going well, the folks here at DCU are wonderful (as always) and we got to meet Galya yesterday. She and the girls got along famously, although the language difference will take some time to work through.

Until this evening -
Ron

Tomorrow's the Day!

Welcome to Galya's Tale, the blog where we're recording our story of adoption. Over the next few weeks, we will update as often as we can to keep y'all updated on our adventure in Ukraine. We'll also share with you the story of how we first heard about, and how I had the pleasure of meeting, a little girl named Galyna. Galya, as she's nicknamed, has stolen our hearts.

So feel free to come back as often as you'd like.

In the meantime, we're leaving tomorrow, flying from Minneapolis to New York to Kiev. There is much to do yet, as you can imagine, and so I'm off to continue preparations for the trip.

Until next time -

Ron