David's (edited) email..

Internet is still not working at the apartment. Not sure if it is a computer issue or provider issue. Had the girls bring me to the Internet cafe down the road. Will try to get here every day if I can't get ours working. The girls are off to the camp.

Vita's friend Ira is leaving tomorrow for 10 days so this will be the last chance for her to see her. Her birthday is tomorrow as well so they wanted to get her something.

I feel pretty good with where we are at on paperwork. We will see once Monday gets here and Oksana takes over.

Nice day here today, but since I am on my own I am not sure what to do. I may try to venture downtown and hang out this afternoon. I think I can find my way down there (and hopefully back to the apartment). I can probably find some English speaking people down there.

The girls are on a crazy eating schedule. They get up at 10, eat lunch, at 3-4 and then eat dinner at 9-10. Everything seems to run late here. Their current schedule should help them adjust to Missouri time.

Jennifer seems to be the cook in the group. She said she enjoys it. She made a good meal yesterday of fried potatoes, crab and corn salad, and tomato and cucumber salad. The Crab and corn salad was excellent. We had left overs last night. They love those little crab sticks. They eat them like candy. I think that is half of my food expense. They would love Hemingway's, but I think we might be a little embarrassed by how much they would eat. Maybe we could sit at a separate table...


Things are sounding good from a Missouri perspective...we are ready for the other half of our family to come home and enjoy what's left of summer before school starts.

Freaky Friday

Things are looking better after today. Our translator will be gone next week...and Oksana (Jennifer's aunt) will take care of David (for a fee) with Vita as translator (hope Vita doesn't charge David!!). Nice.

I talked to the girls earlier while David was gone and they said everything was good except they needed money for a movie. I asked David if he left any money at the apartment that they could grab to go get a movie and he said he can't leave money in the apartment because they will spend it. Yup..they are teenage girls!

I changed flights for 7/26....getting them home the 27th...but I wouldn't make plans based on that! When I called British Airways, they said they didn't have the girls in the system as ticketed....I can't even imagine David's response if he had gone to the airport this saturday to check in and was told that the girls weren't booked. ugh. So that is taken care of at least! That could have very well saved someone's life!!

Barring any problems monday (hoping against hope here!!) they will be able to finish up tues/wed in Odessa and head back to civilization in Kyiv to wrap things up and FINALLY head home!!!

Some day....a long time from now...we will look back on this and laugh...or at least giggle...maybe just sigh with relief......

It's More Fun to Blog When Things are Good

OK...so our translator has plans next week, that don't include working on our adoption. However, she found someone to help....for $1000. Hmmm....didn't we already pay for someone to help us with our adoption?? Wasn't aware that it included paid vacations.

Still working on getting the apartment situations taken care of....that is our brick wall keeping us from getting the passports. I think that we need to get the apartments taken care of to get the girls signed out to get the passports to get the physicals to get the visas to get them the hell out of Ukraine. David, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on the chain of events leading up to the homecoming. A miracle would get them home next weekend.....I'm just hoping they are home to start school August 20th. On the bright side, things seem more promising than what another family is going through with property issues there now.

Good news....David has physical and legal custody of our girls. Unfortunately, he may need to become an expat and get Ukrainian citizenship so he can live there with the girls since they can't seem to escape, lol!! Vita's stuff is actually all cleared up and could be home in a few business days. But...David needs her to be his translator!

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel??? Oh, it's just a train.......

Helpless.....

Things in Ukraine are complicated, not exactly good, and can't end soon enough. Many people need a lot of prayers, grace, patience, kindness, and a hug. "Hugs not hundreds" is my suggestion for a new slogan for Ukraine...to replace the current slogan, "We'll take all your cash from all of your orifices!"

I want to be there with David and the girls....but then again, I'm glad I'm not. Holding my tongue and patience are not even in the top 50 of my attributes...and I'm sure I don't want to see the inside of a Ukrainian prison.


Praying in Battlefield......

Finally Some Work Getting Done!!!!

I can sum up today in one word….Busy.***
Our translator, Lena got into Odessa this morning about 7:30. We started our day at the first birth certificate office at 9. This was a good sign as they normally do not open until 10. This was the office that messed up everything last Friday so I think they were trying to make up for it. And we did not have to negotiate for anything. We were finished the first birth certificate by 10 am and were off to the second one. We arrived there by 9:30 and gave them our papers. They did not do the birth certificate on the spot, but after negotiating, they said we could pick it up in the afternoon. While we were in the same area, we went by the passport office to discuss getting the passports for the three girls. When I say we discussed, that means I wait outside while Lena talks with the officials. We think we will be able to get the passports in one day once we finish all the other paperwork. This is great news as it can sometimes take a week in this region to get passports.***
From the passport office we went to the third birth certificate office. We were able to negotiate with them to have the last birth certificate at 2 pm. Everything is going very well at this time. After that office we went to both inspectors’ offices and one of the orphanages to drop off the court decree and pick up some other documents. It appears this region requires some paper work to be completed by the orphanage to release the girls to my custody. This was the first snag of the day. Since one of the directors was not available, this will have to wait until Wednesday morning. This means no girls tonight. I made Lena call the girls as I all but promised they would be coming to the apartment. Needless to say this was not taken well.***
From there we had to go back to two of the birth certificate offices. We finally had all three new birth certificates in our possession. This is where our second snag of the day came in. It appears that someone has to sign the girls out of their official residence. In most communist and now former communist countries you are required to register your residence. Yana and Jennifer are registered, but Vita is not. So, we have to get Vita registered so that someone can sign her out……if you understand that you are smarter than me. We went to that office and picked up the paperwork to start that process.***
We then went to the Regional office to have the birth certificates legalized. I asked Lena what this was about and it is basically getting a stamp saying that the person that signed the document is able to do so. Then we have to get another stamp to say that the person that did the first stamp was able to do so. Seems a little redundant, but for every stamp there are multiple jobs and a price.****
By the time we made it to the Regional office it was 5 pm and we had not eaten anything. Now I know how my Dad feels when he is working with me and I do not stop for lunch. We had juice and a muffin at the office to hold us over.****
We called the girls to see if they wanted to eat dinner with us and of course they did. We picked them up at 6:30 and ate at the mall close to the Camp. We had a good dinner and then did a little shopping. These girls go through shoes like you would not believe.****
We took the girls back to camp and made it into the apartment close to 11 this evening.****
It was a very productive day for us. The two snags that we hit should not take long to correct with a little negotiating.***
Tomorrow we will get the orphanage approvals and should have the girls for good by lunch time. Tomorrow night Vita and I are going to the Opera. The other girls have already been to the Odessa Opera house, which is quite famous, and they are not interested in going. No reason to push the issue if they would not enjoy it. Vita and I are very much looking forward to it.****
Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. They are very much appreciated.

Monday in Odessa

I will try to do today’s blog a little different since the format of yesterday blog did not work out too well. I did not intend the blog to be one paragraph. (Angie's fault....cut/paste glommed it together....I was too lazy to fix)

I am currently sitting in a dark apartment. The electricity has gone off twice over the past hour. Not sure why. We did not have this problem when we were here last month. I am thankful for that as the boys would have freaked out. They are working in the apartment so I hope that is the cause and I am hopeful it will not last too long.

Today was pretty uneventful. The girls wanted me to pick them up at 11. I got there at 11 and Vita and Yana had decided to go the sea. They got to the camp around noon and we headed off to the movies. We took the three girls and some friends. Jennifer’s boyfriend whose name I am pretty sure is Lusha came with us, a friend of Jennifer's, Nastia and a friend of Vita's. We saw the new Will Smith movie, Hancock. Even in Russian I was not too impressed. Vita filled me in on some of the important parts of the movie so it made a little more sense after we left. I doubt I will spend money on a ticket when we get home. Popcorn was even average this time. But, I think the kids enjoyed the time with their friends.

After the movie they kept asking me what are we going to do next and I told them it was up to them. We ended up doing bumper cars and eating at McDonalds again. After that there really was not much time to do anything and I could tell my girls were tired still from the water park so I took them back to the camp and I headed back to the apartment.

On the bus ride to the camp I was explaining to Jennifer what the schedule might look like this week and I told her that if things go well over the next couple days we might be leaving for Kiev on Thursday night. She seemed a little surprised by this and when she told Lusha I could tell he was upset. I think they finally understand that in a few days they will be parting ways. It is my understanding that they have been "dating" for 4 years so I am sure this will hard for them. Please pray for them as we prepare to leave.

We have a lot of paperwork to do this week and other people to see before we leave. We have to go to Jennifer’s Aunt and Uncle's house to get some of her clothes, Yana’s grandmother and sister want to see us again, Vita wants to take me to another lady that is like a babushka to her, cookie party for the groups that the girls are in and the Opera on Wednesday night. Seems like a lot to get done in a short amount of time.

It is hard to believe that I have been here for a week already. It seems like we have accomplished nothing in that time. I am thankful that I came last week. If I had come any later, the judge would have been on vacation until August and we most likely would have not been able to get the process taken care of until after he returned due to the multiple mistakes in the court decree.

Throughout this process Angie and I have felt the presence of God. We appreciate everyone’s prayers and thoughts. Keep them coming until we touchdown in Springfield.

(We love and miss you David and girls!!!-Angie and the boys)

Second Hand Blog...

Well, it was another Ukrainian day here. As Angie posted in the last blog, I took 10 people to the water park today. We took Vita's friend Ira,Jennifer's friend Luda, Yana's friend Oksana, a brother and sister that a friend of ours knows, Alena and Maret, and one of the teachers at the summer camp,Marina. We also took Jennifer's boyfriend, but I cannot remember his name. I know that is pretty bad that a dad does not remember his daughter's boyfriend's name. Maybe I am in denial that I have a 15 yr old daughter that is dating. It all started out needing to get money exchanged. I know I should not have done this on a Sunday, especially knowing the amount that I was going to need. But I did , and we had to go to 6 different places to get the money. Some of those first places were open, but they refused to accept my $100 bills. They said they were too old. For future travelers I can not stress how important it is to have crisp, new looking, US dollars when you come. (seems as thought Mrs. Kellett mentioned this to Mr. Kellett in the past, but Mr. Kellett poo-pooed Mrs. Kellett......) I think the other thing that scared them away was the amount, so after the first denial we at least got smart and only did $100 at a time. We got to the place where the bus was suppose to pick people up, but there was no bus. We called the number on the brochure and we found out that the bus only picks up at 9 am. We were there at 10:30. Since we had 11 people it was not an easy taxi ride to the park since it is an hour away. So the girls started flagging down cars. (appears he is letting our daughters hitchhike!!) The first several would not take us since it was so far away. We finally found one that would take us for 150 grevna, about 30 US. So five people piled into that car and took off. The rest of us waited and finally found another car to take us. He wanted 200 grevna, but I was more interested in getting there than arguing about the price so we agreed. I think he was surprised that all six of us got into his little car. I was fortunate to ride in the front. We finally all made it to the water park about 11:30. We thought the price dropped at noon, but it actually did not go down until 2:00. So I paid full price to get us all in. This is not your typical Ukrainian attraction. This is very western, with very western prices. Total to get in was $30 each and they did not take credit/debit cards. By this time all the money that I had exchanged was gone so I needed some more. Fortunately one of the workers agreed to exchange some money for me after giving us the normal run around about my money being too old. I can not say enough about this water park. We were there for about 6 hours and the kids (and me) had a great time. There are 10 large water slides, a huge swimming pool and a giant kids area. I wish I would have known about this when the rest of the family was here. The three boys would have loved it. We had a good lunch at the park, fried chicken and french fries. We have a lot of pictures, but those will have to wait until I get home as the laptop is running too slow to upload anything. The park closes at 6 and this is when the bus leaves to go back to the drop off site. We needed our tickets to show that we were actually there all day,or you could not ride the bus home. Vita made it very clear to me that I needed to keep track of my ticket. Guess who lost her ticket....Vita!! She was scared that they were going to kick her off the bus, but fortunately they are not really organized on the bus when they check tickets. They came up one side first and then the other. This gave Ira enough time to pass her ticket to Vita so she could ride home with us. I told her it would have been a long walk. The bus ride was long and hot, just like all of them in Ukraine. We finally made it back to the drop off site at 7:15. Dinner at camp is at 7 so I treated the kids to McDonalds. It was the most I have ever spent at McDonalds in my life. I don't know how to get a McDonald's franchise, but if you are looking you need to consider a foreign country. The prices are higher than the US. They do not have a dollar menu and the lines are long anytime you go. They have to be the most profitable resturants McDonalds has operating. I finally sent them back to camp at 9 and made it into the apartment at 9:30 with about 3 dollars in my pocket. All in all it was a great day. I can't count the times they each told me thank you. I just wish that I had more money so I could have taken more of the kids with us. Maybe next time. Tomorrow appears to be a pretty low key day. The girls want to see a movie. The new Will Smith movie. I have read that it is not very good, but since it is in Russian it shouldn't matter to me. At least thepopcorn is good.

Saturday

Well, the good news is David didn't have any adoption issues today...I'm sure only because there was not attempts made to get anything done. He and Vita ran errands after some fun stuff at camp. There was a missionary there who was doing stuff with the kids...David enjoyed that and I think the kids did too!

The Ukrainism for the day: David and Vita went to the opera house to get tickets for wednesday for the two of them. Well, they pre sell tickets for every day BUT wednesday. Why? Because that's the day they wanted tickets!! lol. Poor David...I'm sure if they wanted to go tuesday there would be no presales for that day either!!

Tomorrow he's taking the girls to a water park. Well, it was him and the girls...then Yana asked if her best friend, Oksana, could go. Then Vita asked if her best friend, Ira, could go. Then Jennifer asked if her best friend, Luda could go....and her boyfriend. Then the camp director said the extra kids could only go if a camp counselor goes. And there are a few other kids that Carol added on for David!! lol!!! He doesn't care...he seems happy to be going and taking a crowd with him. I'm sure this crowd will be easier to handle than the birth certificate and court people!

New number for David if you want to call him: 011-380-507-22-8267

Thanks for the prayers....keep 'em coming!

The Other Side of Hell....formerly known as Odessa, Ukraine

So, the first thing discovered was that someone was lazy and wrote a letter saying there is NO father of record for one of the girls....David got to the birth cert office today and they said there IS a father of record....making our court decree wrong....AGAIN!!! Back at the court (term used loosely) they granted a THIRD decree...not for free. Still better than the judge's initial plan...whole new court date....in August when he comes back from vacation...and I'm sure I would need to be there as well. Do I need to say that no birth certificates were acquired today??? All of these thing are GREAT news compared to this: the girls had to go back to camp until the birth certificates are issued...TUESDAY!! He has three unhappy girls and translator going home for the weekend. It is at this point in time that I am ECSTATIC to be home with three wild boys full of energy and car to drive to Wal Mart and food I like to eat and a phone that works in my house (The phone in the apartment doesn't work now, either)

Here are some ramblings from David: Couple of funny things that I have learned. Three teenaged girls eat more than three boys under 10 and they rarely leave anything on their plates. They cooked lunch for me today. Jennifer cooked and Vita and Yana cleaned up. She cooked eggs. Good thing we have plenty of shower space. Of course they do not use the same shampoo, or conditioner, or body wash. The shower looked like a store. It is quiet in the apartment. I am not a big talker, but I have come to appreciate the noise of children, both big and small. It will be a long weekend. I will have to look through the movies to see if there are any good ones. (He also mentioned that he remembers why we took to vodka on our first trip...it makes the nights go faster!)

Pray for David....the girls....our frustrated translator....and anyone who screws things up in Ukraine from here on out that has to feel the wrath of Vita....

The craziness that is Ukraine....

Well....David was picked up at the airport, which was a surprise. The hotel we where we had a room reserved didn't work out..he got there and they said they were booked and had no reservation for him. The said they don't do online reservations...yet their website has the application to do so. yup. So he found another hotel....where he sat today waiting for our translator to show up, as she was late and he had no phone to call her. So...they went to camp to get the girls and discovered that the court decree was drawn up wrong....listing me as the adoptive parent and him as the consenting spouse of the adoptive parent. There was a couple who used the same court the monday before our adoption and they had that situation since the man is legally too old to adopt the kids. I guess they forgot to change their fill in the blank adoption decree. Vita made it clear that staying another night at camp was not an option...she said they would look stupid if they had to stay another night....she's so funny! Once the decree was corrected, they went for groceries and to get settled in the apartment.

Tomorrow ( as in right now for David!) is going to be rushing to THREE different birth certificate offices to get the girls docs. AND the offices are only open from 9-1. AND they are closed monday. If the birth certs are not done friday, it will add several days to the trip since nothing else can be done until the new birth certificates are issued. (insert prayer) The girls have decided they want to sleep in and not go do adoption stuff. I wish I had that option when I was there!!! lol Should be easier to rush around with just 2 people. I think the girls want to go to camp to visit their friends too. Funny how they couldn't wait to get out of there, but are going back tomorrow!! Jennifer has a list of things she wants to do in Odessa before they have to leave for Kyiv. Both Jennifer and Yana will need to go to family's apartments and get personal belongings and hopefully some family photos to keep.

David attempted to blog....but the text was in cyrillic. So we will do second hand blogging! I will try to limit my artistic liberties.

Good news is I now have a car (read: bus!) that is large enough to haul the Kellett Bunch around the Ozarks! I'm sure the boys will have it broken (in) when the sisters three arrive!

So we are ready to roll......bring it on Mr. Kellett!!!

WOOHOO!!

David made it to Ukraine...hopefully as far as Odessa by now! We have heard many stories of quickfire second trips that give us hope. Our only stumbling block will be setting Jennifer's real estate issues.

We can't wait to get the girls home and to the doctor and dentist...I'm sure they will be THRILLED to know of our a few of our first outtings!! Of course there will be shopping too!!
Luckily all summer stuff is on clearance so we can get stuff to start the school year in mass quantities!! We will also have a welcome home party at the airport...at church...at home and anywhere else we feel like it. Our girls have waited patiently for a family. I can't imagine the feelings of being happy to see friends get adopted, but sad that they were not. My heart breaks for all the kids that we saw at camp who looked at us visiting the girls and all the fun stuff that goes with the process. If there are pap's reading this...please consider the older kids. This is their last chance. We passed a prison one day while going downtown and Vita commented that alot of her friends are now there. The boys tend to go from one institution to another...at the orphanage/internat they are referred to as inmates. The girls futures are not as bright as the boys, unfortunately.

God has been so crazy good to us with this adoption....it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop some days! The excessive cost involved is far outweighed by the little miracles we have experienced along the way!

The Beginning of the End

Today David left for Ukraine...and we already miss him! Noah and Levi are excited though because they can sleep in our bed! We have some preparing still to do to get ready for the girls...assuming you can ever be ready to have three teenage girls in your house!! We will have plenty to do, I'm sure!

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that one way flights from Kyiv to Odessa are only about $60. Wish we would have known that before.....it would have been cheaper and faster than a taxi when we were there! Live and learn.....but then again, with Ukraine the cost could have been $300 one way then....lol

More as we know it!

Counting down...again!!

Well, David leaves July 8 to head back to Odessa...he still isn't over the jet lag from round one!! I talk to the girls almost every day.....and every day I hear, "Mom. When is Dad coming to get us??" I'm sure it's hard for them to see the light at the end of the tunnel of something that is so dream like!

We hope, of course, that David's trip is a short one...but we know it could be up to three weeks depending on how the property issues pan out. I will blog second hand while he's there. It may be a short blog as David isn't one to get chatty!! lol

Saturday/Sunday

We lost internet at the apartment and gave our phone to the girls, so we have been cavepeople for a day!!

We spent the day shopping for things for the girls, a few things for their friends, eating (of course!), and we went to the movies!  I watched Wanted with the girls....and it was good.  I listened to my mp3 player and followed the story line quite well.  Vita filled in the blanks when needed....she's an awesome translator!!  David saw the Hulk with the boys.  

Thankfully no one cried when we said goodbye....it's easy knowing we will see them again soon.

We went by Mercedes van to Kyiv today...0nly about 5 hours with one stop.  Now we have time to kill at the airport....and cheap internet cafe!    The airport is a ZOO....chaos and lack of efficiency, which seems to be a trend in UA.

Will likely post some pics once we get home and updates as the adoption process winds down.  Maybe I can get David to blog on his trip.......

COURT DAY!!!

WE GOT OUR GIRLS!!!!!!

After a morning of getting everyone clean and dressed...and keeping them clean and dressed, we were off to court. Our taxi didn't come, so we got on the hot bus and were all sweaty when we got there! We waited in the hallway for about one hour before we were seen....not unlike the U.S.!! This gave us a chance to talk with the prosecutor and others involved (directors, inspectors, social workers) Once in the court room, and I do mean room, we went thru the formalities of everyone stating name, producing passports, etc.. We had to tell the "court" what we were petitioning for: adoption, name changes, and birthdate change (which we had to justify) We answered a few questions about our jobs, home, income, etc.. The girls were asked if they consented and if we had been in contact. The judge asked if the boys were in favor of.....as the boys had all picked a sister's lap to sit on! After we plead our case and were asked a question by the prosecutor, the judge and two "jurists" (I think just people from the public to sit on either side of the judge and help decide cases?) excuse themselves after our closing arguments (all quite comical, to me). After a 10 minute recess, we are all called back into court for the decision. He grants the adoptions, but not the 10 day waiting period...which was expected, but it doesn't hurt to ask. We were told we could appeal that part of the decision....but I'm sure that would take more than the 10 days~

We left court and had lunch before hanging out at the apartment for some down time. Galya had to go back to camp and clean as today was her assigned day. The rest of us headed downtown to meet Ira Azerlyan who has been a tutor to Vita and Galya in the past for English. We had never met her, but have communicated on Facebook and email! She is a sweety!!! Ira's English is so good, she could be mistaken for an American with a regional accent! We celebrated at Mike O'Neill's Irish Pub! I think it was the best meal we have had since getting here and we wish we had discovered it sooner!! After dinner it was the habitual ice cream and some shopping for necessities for the girls. We got them back to camp, late as always!

We are so sad that tomorrow is our last day with our new daughters before we have to leave them. But we know that this is the light at the end of the tunnel and in a few weeks, our kids will all be home, where they belong, for good....not just a visit.

Thursday

Today was a lot of fun for everyone! Well, David spent two hours at the tax office after our translator told him what to do and left....that part wasn't fun. But after that....fun!!! We had lunch with the girls and then commenced to shoe shopping at Provost Bazaar. Highly inefficient way to shop...but, it works! If it were our method in the U.S., I would not be much of a shopper! Vita and Galya eventually found shoes and Yana found a pair of shorts she liked. With our mission complete....it was off to the beach!! WOOHOO!!! The boys really liked it...the water was COLD, and I did not get in other than my feet! The girls are all like fish from living by the Black Sea their entire lives. I felt quite overdressed for the occasion in a black one piece. One piece was acceptable for women....as long as it was the bottom piece!! Tops optional here, and there were some two pieces that women wore that it was hard to see the bottom piece for two reasons: it was a thong or the "muffin top" on the women hid their bathing suit bottoms!! It was fun and I am glad we saw the beach. We had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sea.....overpriced, poor food, poor quality, good company and good view! From there we visited Galya's aunt and uncle where the kids gorged on sweets. We were also entertained by Galya's uncle, Yuri, with some magic as he is a professional magician. The kids all loved it and created quite a memory for all of us.

Tomorrow is the big day!!

Wednesday

Today was what I call a blogable day! We got the girls for lunch and then went so see Kung Fu Panda at the “cinema”. Here are all the GREAT things about seeing a movie in Ukraine:
 The price! You have seat assignments and the cost varies on age, time of show, and seat chosen. For 8 of us, the tickets totaled $25
 Snack prices! For unlimited snacks for all of us….a whopping $15!!!!
 There is a bar in the theater
 You can bring in your own snacks
 There is Baskin Robbins in the theater

The drawback: dubbed in Russian!!!

From there we went to the “bazaar” to look for shoes for the girls for court. Yana, who insisted she didn’t need/want any, is the only one who found a pair acceptable. Tomorrow, we have more shoe shopping to do!

Moving from bazaar to “BIZARRE”. The McDonald’s we stopped at for drinks/ice cream and play place was a plethora of characters tonight! There were about 8 Hare Krishna’s out front playing a drum, dancing, and singing. Appeared they found a good deal on melon colored fabric as it was the color of choice for most. They did their thing for at least one hour….even had mics and speakers! As they were doing their street evangelism there was an old drunk street lady dancing around within their group…she was not a part of the group as indicated by her lack of melon colored toga. She then felt compelled to drag one of the many stray dogs by its’ front paws into the mix. She had the dog up on its’ back legs and she danced with the dog for a few songs until the dog grew weary and she wore out from leading. Eventually, the HK’s called it a night and packed up their gear. As they waited for the marshuka (bus) to take them to their assumed commune, they attempted to hand out propaganda. Of course David was a target and he was happy to tell them he doesn’t understand. David was also handed a Jehovah’s Witness Watch Tower pamphlet a few days ago while we were out walking…it was in English, I think. He must have looked foreign and spiritually lost that day. Shows the insight that the JW’s have! They only got a 50%!! Lol

On a sad sighting…there are stories on the internet with photos of street kids in Ukraine who are drug addicted, dirty, begging, and empty. There were three of them in front of Mc Donald’s tonight begging. I couldn’t help but wonder if they had been in orphanages and were then turned out onto the streets when they turned 16 or 17 with no family, education, or means to support themselves. Then I see our amazing girls and have so much hope for their futures…and feel bad for not being able to help more kids who live lives that are unimaginable to most Americans. It’s not designer drugs like are in America, it’s household chemicals and other caustic things that these kids inject just to escape from the horror that is their life. It’s easy to see why so many people do anything they can to get out of Ukraine or self medicate to escape reality.

On the adoption front…Lena was out doing adoption stuff today and we have a little bit of work to do tomorrow to prepare for our court date on Friday. We are still cautiously optimistic for a waiving of the 10 days…but expecting it to not happen. Lena will leave Friday night from Odessa to go home for awhile until she can come back to Odessa and work on paperwork to prepare for David’s return.

I think we are all very homesick and weary…just ready to be home and get our girls home as well. Jakob’s head looks great…all things considered. He is still running/jumping/spinning all over Odessa…it’ll be a miracle if he doesn’t come home even more battered. Levi is scraped up from his falls on the sidewalk…and where Jakob pushed him down the stairs. Noah is running a fever and didn’t eat much today, so he’s down a bit too. I’m afraid when the judge sees how beat up the boys look, he won’t allow us to adopt the girls!!

Looking forward to the hotel in London as a primer for our own beds on Monday night!!!

No News is Good News!

We didn't do much today....went and did the applications for the girls' birth certificates then came back to the apartment. I think all 9 of us were tired from all the running and heat, so we took a down day. Lena went to the beach by herself and I'm sure she had a blast! The girls just hung out at the sea and rested. I'm sure tomorrow will be a different tale! Galya is checking with her soon to be sisters to see what they would like to do... and will call us back...maybe!

I think I need to go change my pants....someone just set of fireworks so close to our apartment that we couldn't see the entire explosion out our window. Still not accustomed to it even though it happens every night...not sure what they are celebrating!

Our last monday here

Today was a fun day!! Vita and Yana started off not speaking, but they were both willing to go with us! We met Lena at the mall and had lunch, then went downtown to do some souvenir shopping….it took Yana and Galya little bit to open up and be willing to let us buy them stuff. Once they got started….holy Lord!! Vita, on the other hand, was happy to buy for herself, Oksana, Sasha, Jessica, Justin, Grammy, PopPop, and anyone else she could remember! We met Galya’s aunt Oksana and uncle Yuri for dinner tonight. Very nice couple…not what I expected. Then Gary and Pat met us for their dinner. The kids ate for two dinners worth…Yana can put away the groceries! Grammy: double the mashed potatoes!!

Some adoption stuff was done today…I wrote a letter to explain why we wanted one court date for two oblasts. We have some stuff to do tomorrow…..not sure what. We just do whatever Lena tells us to do! We are doing all we can do to keep up with six kids!

After shopping a bit, Vita and Yana made up…Vita bought her some earrings and a manicure kit. David and I are going to do some adjusting to the whole rollercoaster of girl emotions! And when you say, “what’s wrong?”. The answer is, “I’m ok” Even though you know it’s not ok…

We are looking forward to coming home…the sooner the better!

Sunday?

Today we got to see another side of teenage sisters! We got to camp to pick up the girls and Yana was a bit surly. We weren’t sure who she was mad at and hoped it wasn’t us. She said she was tired and needed to do laundry, so she didn’t want to go today. We offered to do her laundry for her tonight, but she insisted on not going. On the bus, Vita explained that she had asked Yana if she could borrow a pony tail holder. Yana said, “no, I’m using it for a bracelet.” Vita, responding as a Kellett, “oh, why thank you.” (add sarcasm…) So, to spite herself, Yana stayed at camp. We took the girls to the mall to eat at the food court….good prices and variety. Lena met us there as well after going to the inspector’s office…yes, the inspector met her on Sunday!! We got our money’s worth with that fee!! There were some little pony type rides in the food court and the boys wanted to ride…so we caved since they had a good lunch. When we were done a woman by the name of Luda came over and asked if she could buy the boys some sweets. I said sure and thank you, thinking it was going to be a little candy from the Mr. Bulky type store in the food court. Instead, it was 7 full sized desserts that she took Vita over to the restaurant to buy! We were floored, amused, grateful, and a little confused! Jakob was the most grateful as he had at least two of the desserts! Much better than yesterday on the marshuka (bus) when a drunk man sat in front of Levi, Galya, and Vita and said: English bad, Russia good. Then he got pissed at Levi and yelled: bad boy!! Bad boy!! This made Yana get defensive so she went and sat in front of the man, then beside him…she had quite a scowl on her face!! Another drunk interlude on the bus….there were two drinking buddies standing (swerving!) in the isle next to David. One fella was so drunk he couldn’t even see the hand rail to grab on and kept just reaching until he lucked out. We were both shocked that he didn’t pass out!! Then his partner in crime lost his balance and nearly ended up in my lap. That’s what riding the bus later in the day will get you!! Another bus experience: David was coming home with Noah and Levi from taking the girls back to camp and a long haired guy started chatting with David about the Paul McCartney concert in Kyiv that was simulcast to the big cities in Ukraine the other night. He was trying to tell David the names of the songs and when he couldn’t think of the name, he would sing it for him….and poorly. From my understanding, the entire bus was amused. I digress….

After lunch we went to an amusement park, Ukrainian style! $5 per ride was the average…a little steep if you ask me!! But the girls had fun and so did the boys. The girls rode the throw up rides….and Vita did throw up after the last one. Galya wanted to, but couldn’t. From there, Lena dropped us by the apartment and took our documents to the train station and David took the girls back to camp.

Not sure what tomorrow has in store for us! Depends on the weather and adoption stuff…we have still have to get David registered for his tax # so the girls can retrieve their pensions and go ahead and start the paperwork for birth certificates!

We are cautiously optimistic that our 10 days will be waived….all three of the girls have medical diagnoses (nothing of concern or reality based) and we will argue that we would need to get them home to get settled, learn some of the language, and get evaluated before school starts for the ESL program. This is the new judge who is doing his first adoption Monday….so we can see it going either way. As much as we paid to expedite our court date, I would think it would be a breeze! The embassy said they would honor it…so we are asking for more miracles, as if we haven’t received enough already!!

More tomorrow!!