2010 - A retrospective

Seems like just yesterday I updated this blog, but it's been a year? Wowza. Time has really gotten away. But I suppose that means there's much about which to write. So here goes...

...when last we left the story, Galyna had her second surgery. After the gauze came off we saw, much to Galyna's delight, increased coverage of hair. It was so awesome to see her excitement when she saw how much more hair she had. She took her restrictions well, and it was good to see her schoolmates continue to treat her well.

February saw our first family vacation in a long time, where we took a week in Florida with Shannon's best friend (and her family) at the Magic Kingdom. We'd taken the other two to Disneyland a few years earlier, but this was the first time for all three at the big park in Orlando. We stayed in an awesome resort as guests of Tom & Becky (Tom's in the President's Own Marine Corps Band, so we were able to stay on site) and overall it was the most enjoyable weekend we'd had as a family aside from the trip to Ukraine to get Galyna:) Needless to say, the parks were all a big hit with the girls.

This spring saw Galyna finish first grade. Her English is still improving, although she needed a 2nd summer of summer school to continue her progress. If she came to the US the equivalent of 3 years behind, she's probably up to 1-1/2 years behind. It must help having chatty sisters.

This summer was an interesting experiment. I returned to Donetsk with my church's mission team. Galyna had some anxiety and openly wondered (and went on record against this) if I'd bring back another child. I think she was relieved when I came back with only stories, pictures and souveneirs.

During the summer we were able to take Galyna back to Chicago for my grandfather's 90th birthday. It was a great time - we saw all the family, including each of my brothers (with associated gals) and spent some time with one of the finest men I've ever met. I'm very glad all the girls have a chance to get to know their great-grandpa.

This fall started 2nd grade, as well as a new adventure. We started therapy with Galyna, and have an official diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder. There is a secondary diagnosis we may have to deal with too, as she appears to be symptomatic for attention deficit too (although that may be due to the RAD, meaning we need to treat the RAD to find out if she also has attention deficit disorder.) This is not at all a surprise as one of the key components of RAD is indiscriminate sociability. She has always shown greater affection outside the family (e.g., hugging strangers and non-family members much more often than those of us in the family) and refused to even show any unrequested affection until just recently. Having the diagnosis is a big win, though, and we are starting treatment which should resolve the RAD pretty much completely.

Overall, she is doing okay in school. She is still behind grade level but progressing at pretty much the textbook rate. Her behavior has continued to improve, although it offers challenges. Beyond the language differences (she is still not able to explain quite everything she's thinking, which makes diagnosing problems tricky) she still shows signs of manipulation from the orphanage days. Not unexpected, but she's good at playing to an audience (i.e., her behavior at home does not match that in other forums at times.) Her honesty has improved, though, which is another big win. We take it as a sign that she's starting to trust more in the permanence, as well as starting to realize that deception leads to trouble in a way honesty doesn't. The incidences of jealousy of her sisters have also decreased, and her oil/water moments with Tierney are fewer and farther between. In all, the three girls get along better - in fact, much like sisters. Over time, I suspect we'll get the rest of the way through the trouble spots. And, truth be told we are a lot further along than we were two years ago. God has been incredibly gracious in helping us to form into a family. We have far more ups than downs, although the frustration can be deep on all sides. The day her English is fully caught up will be a great day indeed.

Recently, Galyna also started round two on her hair restoration surgeries. The expanders are in and we'll start filling them soon. We're not sure if this is the last round or not, nor exactly how much restoration this will give her, but it should be of good benefit. It's amazing work, though, and we can't say enough about Shriner's. To get all this for free, by staff who are incredibly caring and gifted - God is indeed good. Our only complaint is every time we take her in she comes home with more gifts/toys; we're running out of places for them! And, sad as her history is, it is also nice to see people make her feel special - even in undesireable circumstances.

As to her faith...we're still not sure where that is going. As with the other two, she will obviously be free to make up her own mind. But I can't yet tell how much she believes vs. how much she parrots what others say. This is true for all the girls, but I think Galya's English makes it harder to discern. We only hope to give her the foundation to make wise decisions in faith as in all things.

Until the next time (and I'm hoping it's not another year) - thanks for your prayers & support. They continue to be a blessing to us.

God bless, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ron

June-ish Update

Greetings loyal reader, stopping by once/fortnight to see if I've gotten around to actually posting any updates hereabouts. We have some news related to Galyna, some of it more timely than others.

I'm currently in the midst of an experiment. Take Shannon out of the country (to India, to be precise) for 15 days. Add one mama's girl who has yet to spend a night away from both her adoptive parents. Stir in a daycamp for her sisters and a need to work from home for her father. Observe how she handles the relative alone-ness and quiet of the house.

So far? So good. She's handled it with aplomb, although there has been some help in the form of Grandma and Grandpa O'Malley visiting Sunday through Tuesday of each week so I can get some office time. I think she likes the time alone with us too.

She survived the school year well enough, although she will need summer school. Her focus is more sporadic than that of her sisters, so she still doesn't have her letters down. Her verbal English is far ahead of her written, which doesn't surprise. She also seemed to enjoy being at school - although her dinner conversation usually related about recess and lunch more than the three r's.

Her general behavior has improved as well. Galyna seems to be getting better about understanding "the rules" and is conforming to them better. There are still a few side-effects of her background and delayed development we need to work through, but progress is definitely being made. Early on (as I think I mentioned) it seemed she was working her way up the developmental ladder in two-week increments, pushing new boundaries pretty regularly every 14 days. In the past couple of months, that has leveled off quite a bit. One of the things we were told often was that there was usually a big step forward in stability ~ 6 months in. That seems to be right on track.

We also took her on the first road trip to Chicago so she could meet my Mom's side of the family. She very much enjoyed that, and even got along famously with Grandpa's dog. Galya's not been much of a fan of dogs at all, so that was good progress to see. Overall, her skittishness and propensity to flinch away from movement have decreased. I count this as a growing comfort level.

Oddly enough, another sign that tells me I think she's growing more comfortable with us is that she's started talking about her life in Ukraine more. She speaks of how she misses her friend Katya, how she wants to go back and visit, and how she wants to see pictures. This past weekend, she even started talking about her "mommy and daddy" (really, her guardians since she never knew her birth parents in Ukraine) and how her mommy mistreated her. Even this story had new elements as Galyna spoke of being put in very hot water, then being put with the pigs. I have no idea if this is memory or if this is just her repeating what she heard others say about her story. The hot water is a new element, but it would make sense to this medical layman; her scars never seemed quite consistent with just animal bites to me. But again, I'm no expert.

Either way...still ticks me off to know how she used to be treated. And, we'll likely start her into counseling sooner than originally thought so she can work through these in a more healthful way. I also see some new work in helping her understand the concept of family, and what it means to have a mother and father. She still seems to think that those are the people taking care of her. That too will come with time. Really, though, I look at this as a positive. She feels comfortable enough with us and her stability that she can talk about Ukraine again.

Progress is coming in unpredictable fits and starts, but it is coming. Next big milestone is the July 2nd visit to Shriner's. I'll update for sure then, if not sooner.

Thanks for your patience!

God bless -
Ron

Ukraine

As I promised I'm going to try and go all educational on y'all and share some knowledge about Ukraine. Not sure how much this helps/hurts, and frankly I'm not convinced I'll be 100% accurate, but it may provide some context for what we're encountering here. As I'm not a history teacher, nor a geography teacher, I'll just provide links to actual information. What is between here and the links are just my (our) observations of the country.

This is a changing country in the midst of post-independence transition. The government, first of all, faces challenges in forming long-lasting governing coalitions. You may remember the Orange Revolution here a few years back. That movement led to a fairly pro-Western government. That government is headed right now by President Viktor Yuschenko (you may remember him as the one that someone attempted to poison) and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. From what I can tell of late, these two don't get along well and they are soon to have another set of parliamentary elections to try and get the government moving again. For the most part, though, the governmental disputes and workings don't seem to be of primary concern to most of the Ukrainians I meet. Coming out of a U.S. election cycle, I'm steeped in politics, and being the curious guy I am I've asked a few folks how the Yushchenko/Tymoshenko saga affects them. It's been universally waved off as just "politician games."

Really, the bigger thing seems to be both the big picture and day-to-day picture topics. The big picture is whether one sides more with aligning with Russia, or whether one sides more with aligning with the "West" and NATO. It's probably too simplistic, but it seems you find more pro-Western sentiment in the, well duh, western side of the country. Here, in Donetsk, and other places close to Russia, there is more of an agreement with a Russian perspective. With Russians making up a fairly large minority of the populace, I don't expect that dispute to go away any time soon. The Georgian conflict of late didn't do anything to abate the argument.

The day-to-day picture is, as would be expected, the utilities, the groceries, the economy, the family and the job.

The people are generally polite, if a bit more wary than in America. The sense I get is that it takes much longer to develop deep friendships here, but once made those friendships are stronger than back home. People tend to smile more in dealings with those they know; with those they don't, there is a more serious and somber countenance. Children are seemingly loved quite a bit as ours are often doted upon. (Twice on the buses there have been women who have tried to get Amissa's legs covered where her pant legs rode up a little. There are still a few folks, especially in the older generations, who adhere to concepts such as children not being covered in the winter will make them sick.) Ukrainians tend to be more direct and less politically correct than Americans, and will usually assist if asked for help. The children have been friendly with our girls, and have played with them even when they don't speak the same language. There is much hustling about, and while us Americans are trying to make up our minds about what to do, or where to go, next, we'll find Ukrainians working their way past us in line. Personal space isn't as large here either, as the housing (primarily small flats in multi-story buildings) and transportation (primarily buses and marshutkas) do not lend themselves to a great deal of privacy. (I theorize the Soviet structure itself also tended to discourage privacy, as opposed to the American structure which prizes it.) Frankly, the cities in Ukraine do not serve the claustrophobic or agoraphobic many favors.

The girls' observations about Ukrainians: They wear the same clothes as us, they speak a different language from us, they are good, and the girls/women all like high-heeled boots. Figures they'd notice the fashions.

The economy is trying, and ahead of the American economy in the downward trend. There are limits to how much cash people can withdraw from ATMs, which causes problems in a cash-based society. The exchange rate has greatly improved for dollar-holders since this past summer, but that's not good for the Ukrainian currency (the hrivna.) In July I was getting fewer than 5 hrivna to the dollar. Today we're getting close to 7. Unemployment is up, and people are more fearful for their jobs. We hear people speak of the economic crisis, and I think this fear is more impactful than most other things.

The culture is not terribly different from what I've seen of other European people. Walking and hanging out at clubs or cafes is more popular (seemingly) than watching television or staying at home. This is especially true for the younger generations. Traditional Ukrainian arts and clothing are generally reserved for tourist area souvenir shops as clothing and decor generally mimic that found in other European or American places. The arts are important, as evidenced by the many kept up theaters and signs promoting shows. On the other hand, American products are also highly in evidence as the Donetsk movie theater is showing such fare as Madagascar 2. Alongside Ukrainian products and restaurants we often see Coke and McDonald's. As an American, there are differences to be noted, but there is also much here that can make one feel a bit more at home than I suspect one would have a decade or two ago.

Of course, these observations are our own, and may be tainted by sample errors of many types. But they are what we've noted, and therefore help color how we're experiencing Ukraine.

For those interested, some resources to learn more:

• Wikipedia


• CIA Factbook


• The BBC


• Ukrainian Culture


• More Culture


• Ukrainian Language


• Infoplease

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

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

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