Day 4

We woke up early this morning to get ready for our SDA appointment. While Andrew was getting ready I called my mom on Skype and talk with her for a few minutes. (Can anyone tell I am a momma's girl? Just wondering lol) I got off Skype with her and then I got ready. Niko came to pick us up, and we headed to the SDA, I guess they don't open till 9 because we had to sit there for a little while. Then all of a sudden the window in the car next to us rolled down, and Niko and mystery man started talking. Niko then told us to get out of his car and get into this mystery man's car. Ok we did it, with hesitation lol, but we did it. We then got in and I recognized him right away. It was Serge! :) Well Niko left and we sat and talked with Serge for a few minutes before we headed to the gate to go into the SDA. Gate was locked, and we were freezing, Serge made a call, and then a guard came out to open the gate. Ok has anyone ever seen those movies with the really old dungeon gates with the really old locks? Well this is how it was. I guess it was so cold they wouldn't unlock so we got to go in the front door and thank goodness because it was FREEZING outside. We went in and we sat down at a table and a young lady came to the table. She introduced herself and then Serge translated for us. She is our social worker. She opened the girls files and told us about their history. She then showed us the cutest baby pictures ever! Oh my goodness did the tears start then. Our SDA appointment was quick and painless lol... They asked us questions about what we do and why we wanted to adopt special needs. We answered our questions and we were on our way. Niko dropped us back off at the apartment, and by that time we were starving so we went back to old faithful, the coffeshop down the road from us. We wanted something light because we would be eating at tgifridays with The Malone's, The Priests, and JoAnn Torres. After we ate lunch we headed back to the apartment where again it is warm, because the high here today was 13 brrr. At this time I was actually able to call my mom and hear her voice, because see when we Skype I can't hear or see her because it is messed up on her end, so I talk she types. So we added a little money on our Skype, which by the way is really cheap, and I was able to call and hear her voice. Yay!!! Once I got off with her, I laid down for a nap. I slept about an hour and a half. After I got up I face booked some more and then it was time to leave. We met up with the Priests because we still don't really know where we are going and they do which is great! Once we got to tgifridays JoAnn Torres met us and then shortly after them the Malone's met us. Their court ran over. We had a great time. Little Artem the Priests newly adopted son is gorgeous and a ball of fun! We had a great time of fellowship full of laughter and story telling. We are now back at the apartment getting ready to pack things up so we can head out on the train and head to the girls region. I can not believe in 2 days I will be holding my beautiful girls!!! God is so good and so faithful and gives you more than you could ever imagine. He blesses you beyond measure. Now who wants to see pictures???
Ellee isn’t she beautiful!!!
Johannah and isn’t she beautiful!
 
Pray for us tomorrow as we take the train ride to the girl’s region. It will probably be a couple of days before we are able to post again.

Day 3

We have made it through day 2 :) We haven't starved which is a plus for me because I am so picky, but I have been trying new things and they have actually been really good. Day 2 consisted of us getting up and going out and getting some breakfast, which was at McDonalds and it was different but good. We then came back to the apartment because it is very cold outside right now, and there is ice on the ground. I fell back asleep around 10:30 and slept until 2:30 I think I am suffering from a little bit of jet lag, but for the most part I feel pretty good. I am hoping to go to bed at what time I would go to bed at home and sleep all night. After I woke up we ventured back out and we tried to find the Ukrainian buffet that Niko suggested but we never found that so we walked in the direction we walked this morning and found what we thought was an italian restaurant but it wasn't it was a coffee shop but they served really good sandwhiches. We then went and found the little store, which would be like a dollar store in America, and bought some toilet paper because we didn't have anymore in our apartment. We then came back to our apartment because again it is super windy out there and really COLD! So we are now in our apartment where it is warm and you can hear the wind blowing really hard outside.
On a side note the birds here are huge, and come right down on you almost! Ugh anyone that knows me knows I don't like birds so this freaks me out a little bit, but nothing I can't handle. As long as I don't get pooped on I'm ok lol :)
Our SDA appointment is 9 a.m. in the morning and then we are going to meet with JoAnn Torres and The Priests tomorrow at TGIF and maybe the Malones. I can't wait to meet all of them and little Artem.

Day 1 and 2 Airports and arrival

Warning: This post WILL be long! I am going to be putting as much detail into each blog post so that I/we can have these memories forever!
I woke up about 2:00 a.m. this morning and then dozed off and on until the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. Everything was already packed we just went through the house to make sure we weren’t forgetting anything, and so far so good we can’t think of anything lol. Our friend Shari picked us up a little before 8 and we headed out. We stopped at McDonalds and grabbed a bite to eat and we got back on the road. Our airport is about an hour from our house, and they want you to show up at least 3 hours before your flight especially international flights. We arrived at the airport about 9:15 and unloaded our luggage and would you know my friend Shari had me crying lol She started crying and so the floodgates began for me. We came on into the airport, checked in and checked what luggage we had. Then on to security we went. It only took about 10 mins to get through security, do what, yeah only 10 mins. We expected at least an hour if not more. I got Starbucks baby!   So then the waiting began. I updated Facebook, answered a call from a friend, and called my mommy. Then the waiting began. Hubby decided he needed something to eat so he grabbed a bite to eat at Wendy's, my tummy is doing a hundred flips so I decided I would pass getting anything. Thought that would be best for us all lol We haven’t been able to connect to internet so I am just typing this in Live Writer and Andrew is playing hearts.  We have another hour before we board our flight to D.C. I will continue this post when we arrive there.

We got we into D.C. and had to walk  1000 miles, ok maybe not that much, but it seemed like FOREVER. We then had to take the underground subway to get to where our gate was going to be. We didn't have long between the time that our flight from Nashville arrived till our flight to Germany took off. So we got to our gate and we have about 9 mins before our flight was going to board. I made a couple of phone calls and the hardest was the last one to my mom telling her I wouldn't be calling again, and boy did the tears flow. I dried them up just in time to board our flight. We boarded our flight and was told that our flight to Germany would arrive around 6:45-7 a.m. in the morning. A 7 hour flight. Right now I am watching the movie Secretariat and waiting on dinner to be served.

We are now sitting at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany… Dinner was ok I had pasta, which was actually meatless lasagna, and Andrew had beef, which was actually roast beef. Both were ok. Not as bad as hospital food, but not as good as homemade I finished watching the movie Secretariat, and it was a great movie, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who recently lost their dad but it was a great movie. I then went on to watch Chicken Little, it was a cute movie, and then Unstoppable, again a movie I wouldn’t recommend if you are petrified of planes, because it is about a runaway train that has to be stopped or it will crash! Andrew was pretty much asleep after dinner. I finally went to sleep and slept a couple of hours. We arrived in Germany around 6:45 a.m. their time. We had to go through security again and thanks to Andrew and his Sprite bottle that he put in my backpack I got pulled over to the side and the had to check me. Let me tell you what a joy that was lol… Anyways the let me go, but they took his Sprite hehe We went and bought some German Chocolate and then went to McDonalds and umm that meal cost $25 American dollars and you don’t even want to know what we got!!! We have no internet so I am not able to update Facebook or chat with my mom. I am a little disappointed there but nothing that I won’t get over. We have about 2 hours before our next flight so we are just waiting around. I will continue this post when we get to Kiev…

We arrived in Kiev at 1:30 p.m. their time. We had to wait to go through a passport check place. Then we went and got our luggage, and then we set out to find who was here to pick us up. We walked through several people holding up signs and I finally spotted our name, and it really is like in the movies where someone is holding up your name on a sign. That is pretty neat. Niko then took us to exchange some money and get a phone card for our cell phone we will use while we are here. We then went to his car and headed out. He explained to us things that would be happening over the next couple of days. He took us to the grocery story and we bought a little food, and things to drink. We then came to our apartment. The inside of the apartment is really nice. We set up wi-fi on our computers ate a sandwich. I chatted with my mom on Skype for about 35 mins and tried to stay awake as long as I could but that didn’t work. I fell asleep around 5:30 and woke up at 1:30 a.m. All and All a great day!!!

less than 24 hours

In less than 24 hours we will be headed to Eastern Europe. We arrive Saturday evening around 5 p.m. I am so excited. I just can't wait to go to the SDA on Monday learn about the girls' history. Then get our referral on Tuesday and take a 15 hr train ride to the girls' region. We will arrive early Wednesday morning and then we can go to the orphanage and meet our girls' for the first time!!!!!! :) I will post pics and updates as soon as I can! Prayers are greatly appreciated! :)

3 days....

A week ago today a MIRACLE from GOD happened! Around 11 a.m. our FSP went up $1,000 a couple of hours later it went up $2,500 and then at 4:30 the big amount came in and I couldn't believe my eyes, $8,500! WOW! I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I lost my breathe and couldn't breathe. I knew from the beginning God was calling us to adopt, I knew that we would go get our girls, but I also knew that it would be God that got us there and it would be the act of others giving. Now the human in me worried. That is a lot of money, how in the world are we going to get there, but I still got the things I knew we would need while we were over there, I still packed my bags, and I still posted we were going. And then this AWESOME act of God got us there a week and a half before we leave. God is so good and faithful!!!

It is so hard to believe that we leave in 3 days! I am so excited! I just have to say this again we leave in 3 days!!!! :) :) :)

Thermometer

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!!! WE ARE FULLY FUNDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my!!!!!

Notice the themometer???? Up 3,500 just today!!! We are more than halfway to our goal and what we need to travel in 10 days!!! I wish I could explain the feeling I have right now, but I have butterflies in my stomach, a huge smile on my face, and I can hardly type because I am shaking so bad!!!

I can't thank those who have donated and continue to donate to us to help us bring home our girls!!! Not only will two little girls' lives be changed forever but so has ours and it will continue to be changed!!!

Oh my!!!! :) :) :)