The BIG day

July 8, 2005

Today was a whirlwind day.  I am typing this as we are in the van to Kyiv.  I’ll post it as soon as I can get access again.

Late yesterday we received word that the NAC signed the needed documents so we could continue with our scheduled court date.  Lyuda, our translator, had to take a bus from Kyiv to Kharkiv overnight because no train or plane schedule would work that had tickets available.  She arrived in Kharkiv at 4:00 this morning.  At 7:30 it was time to get the day started.  We first had to visit the orphanage to talk to the director and to give a donation.  We stopped for only about a half hour to see Dasha, then we had to run to get the legalities going.

First, we dropped Lyuda off at the courthouse.  Then we went to the Inspector’s office to pick her up for the court hearing.  Then we waited outside the court for word from Lyuda.  This unknown waiting time is about to drive us nuts.  We didn’t know if it was going to be 10 minutes or 4 hours.  Well, it was about an hour and a half.  Then we went into the courthouse and waited once again in the hallway.  This hallway is like what a lot of people have described as a “Scooby-Doo” hallway in the NAC.  This is because like in the Scooby-Doo shows, someone opens a door and runs down the hall to go into another door, closing it behind them.  Then a minute later someone comes out of another door and into a 4^th door.  It’s almost comical watching this happen. 

Anyway, after about 2 or 2 ½ hours waiting in this hallway, Lyuda comes back out and tells us that the prosecutor needs to leave and we will have to wait until Monday….  Lyuda being the persuasive one that she is convinces him to stay for our hearing.  The courtroom was very different than what we would be used to.  I was too chicken to ask if I could take a few pictures. 

The hearing started with the Judge asking us to tell her about us.  Kind of to confirm the documentation she already had, I guess.  Then there was questioning of the orphanage lawyer, the Inspector, and the prosecutor.  All agreed to allow us to adopt Dasha.  After about another 45 minutes of this type of questioning that was all in Ukrainian, of course, we were asked to step out of the room for a bit.  In about 5 minutes or so we were asked to come back in.  At 2:09pm Kyiv time, or 7:09am Eastern time on July 8, 2005, Dasha legally became ours!

Now is when the fun begins.  There is rush hour type traffic and we are running WAY low on time.  We take a few “shortcuts” that would probably get you at least a BIG ticket if not arrested in the U.S.  Including a short jaunt down the sidewalk to get by a traffic jam; crossing the center line to pass a bunch of cars (with oncoming traffic!); and crossing the center line to pass 20 or more cars waiting to turn left, stopping in the front of the line!  To a lot of people, this would have made them uncomfortable…to me it was just part of the fun! 

We had to take the court decree to get a new birth certificate, then to a Notary, then finally to a government building to get it legalized.  After all this, we could go to the passport agency.  The passport agency was supposed to close at 4pm, but the worker took all the information on the telephone from our ever persuasive Lyuda and had the documents ready for their Director to sign when we got there.  We got there about 5pm, so it was a crapshoot if we would be able to get it signed or not today.  Being Friday, if it wasn’t signed today, we would have to stay in Kharkiv until some time on Monday.  Well, in Ukraine, persuasive people and money talk.  It was signed and we were on our way to pick up Dasha. 

We stopped by McDonalds (yes, I did say that!) to grab some food for the road.  None of us had eaten in the past 10 or so hours.  We bought Dasha a happy-meal.  Then we went to get Dasha.  Everyone at the orphanage was so nice.  We went inside to get a few documents clear, then went outside to find Dasha.  It was about 6pm by now and that’s about when her group comes inside to eat their dinner. 

She came inside a few minutes before her group with us.  Her care taker (is it a care giver, or a care taker?  I dunno) gave her a quick bath and changed her clothes to the ones we brought.  We took a couple photos of the group with Dasha being the star in the front.  The group was definitely envious of Dasha, but seemed to be a happy group as usual.  We said our goodbyes to the care takers and the group.  The entire group followed us outside for one last goodbye to Dasha, and they all stood outside waving as we drove out.  It was a bittersweet moment for all.

We are now driving from Kharkiv to Kyiv.  We will have a bit of paperwork to deal with on Monday, but it’s pretty much done.  The main thing is that we have to get her U.S. Immigration Visa.  We will have an appointment at the U.S. Consulate on Tuesday at 11:00 am.  We will have to have a medical exam for her before the Consulate appointment.  So, if all goes right, we will have everything except plane tickets to leave on Tuesday night.  We will attempt to get tickets for Wednesday.  We will have to stay overnight in Amsterdam, so the earliest we could be home would be on Thursday afternoon.

We are planning on staying in the same apartment in Kyiv that we were in before.  This will make life simpler as we know where things are and know the accommodations are adequate.  I also know the internet works GREAT from there compared to Kharkiv where we could barely hold a connection.

WEEHEE!  We are now parents!!!