Our first weekend in Ukraine

I'm a bit challenged when it comes to putting pictures on here the way I want them to be ... sorry! But better this than nothing!

These pictures are 1) Nataliya Joy, the afternoon we met her, 2) Juliya Grace, the afternoon we met her (the man kneeling down is Kostya, our friend, facilitator & translator), 3) Nataliya's referral picture , 4) Juliya's referral picture (these are the pictures we saw at our initial appointment in Kiev on Nov. 8, 2006). The referral pictures are about the size of a passport photo ... and they had staples through them. They are also the only photos we have of our girls prior to adopting them ... so they are very cherished "baby" picutures!

Back to reminicing ... two years ago we were in Ukraine ... just beginning the local, in-country process of our adoption. November 11th was a Saturday and we went to see Nataliya (Joy) in the morning and the afternoon. She was such a delight ... it's amazing how in love we were with these girls when we had missed out on being present in their lives for the first 2 1/2 and 4 years ... but knowing God had been knitting your hearts together since before that time was really an amazing experience!!

We were not "allowed" to visit Juliya (Grace) over the weekend ... so we just prayed for her, planned for our next visits and looked at the pictures we had taken of her during Friday's initial visit.

Our original blog "ate" the entries from our first several days in Ukraine ... but here is something Chris had written as a recap ...

November 10

3. Upon arrival (Friday morning) we immediately headed to meet with Joy’s social worker. (As you now know, although Grace and Joy are sisters, because of their two year age difference, they live in two separate orphanages. As it turns out, they are also in two different counties, this means much of the work in this process is doubled). Adoptive parents are not allowed to visit their children until first receiving the approval of the child’s social worker. The social worker interviewed us (this is #2 interview), asking general questions about why we were adopting in general and why from Ukraine in particular. After leaving Joy’s social worker, we immediately drove to Grace’s social worker’s office. We found her walking on the sidewalk heading to lunch. She graciously agreed to sign our paper work and said she would interview us later. Armed with the signatures of both girls’ social workers, we could then go visit the orphanage director at each orphanage. The appointment with the orphanage director is yet another interview process (because we have two orphanage directors to deal with, this was #3 & #4).

After passing their version of the “interview test” we were then allowed to meet Joy and Grace. Grace was brought into an office of one of the orphanage workers for our initial meeting. Joy was brought into the director’s office.

November 11-15.

Once we had met the girls and decided we wanted to continue the process (something we knew from the instant we met them), we then have to start getting the necessary permission to proceed. This permission must be granted by both social workers and both orphanage directors. Typically, this only happens once they are convinced the children are going to accept you as their parents, which they can (and sometimes do) take their sweet time to decide. Because the federal agency (SDA) has already approved you as adoptive parents, it is very rare that these individuals can actually stop the process, but they can certainly slow it down and make it very difficult. So, care must be taken with each step. By Wednesday, November 15 after interview (#5) with Grace’s social worker, we had everyone’s signature to proceed.