Days 11-13, Another Weekend in Lugansk

Papa and Dasha playing a new form of basketball

There's no hoop so they're improvising

14 year old Alex and Dasha's favorite kitten "Boynia"

The girls had to try on their uniforms because school is starting soon

They all seemed happy except...

Dasha wasn't given new shoes like the other girls for some reason and as you can see, it didn't go over very well

We visited with Dasha twice on Friday and were able to Skype with her grandparents back in Rock Hill.  She enjoyed seeing and hearing Datchee, E and Granny Nan.  It was the first time she met Nancy's husband, Danny. 

The kids all got haircuts between our am and pm visits.  Dasha wasn't too crazy about her hair cut either but she seemed to get over it.  We're visiting her once today (Saturday) and not sure if we can see her on Sunday. 

Our interpreter/adoption facilitator, Alex, is joining us Sunday evening or Monday morning.  Our court date is Monday at 2 pm and Alex will be with us throughout the process.  We fly back to Kyiv (aka Kiev) Monday evening and will return home Wednesday morning as originally planned if we cannot change our flights to Tuesday morning.  We don't anticipate having much to report until we go to court.  We'll try to post about our day in court and return travel plans.  Thanks for your support...we can see light at the end of the tunnel.  Blessings.

Day 10 - Another Day in Lugansk

Dasha enjoyed showing her friends pictures from America

She obviously likes the peace shirt we got her - hasn't changed it in two days

The bread truck arrives at the orphanage

playing with the cats - part of our daily routine

Brett's not crazy about cats but he's not telling Dasha

Dasha on the other hand  loves "Boynia"

Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day?  We feel like we're in it.  Two trips a day to the orphanage is our daily routine.  The caregivers are very nice and kids are cute but each visit is pretty much the same.  Three more days and then we go to court (Monday, Aug. 29). 

Day 9 - Independence Day in Ukraine

Jamie and the security guard at the orphanage

Dasha riding her bike around the orphanage grounds

The orphanage has at lease 6 cats and Dasha is partial to this kitten

One of the many  "mamas" who take care of Dasha

Dasha's boyfriend Vladik (left)

the older boys get to play video games

Dasha and her friends

Papa and Dasha

More of Dasha's friends

Today is Independence Day in Ukraine - the 20th Anniversary. Thank you President Ronald Reagan (aka Renaldus Maximus).  Remember those famous words, "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!"  We witnessed a large gathering of people not far from our apartment for a concert followed by fireworks.  Didn't seem to be quite as big a deal here as our July 4th celebration but a big event nonetheless. 

Not sure if we said this in an earlier post, but Dasha's orphanage is as nice as it gets.  We were told that it's among the best in Ukraine (probably anywhere), and we have seen that for ourselves.  The director and caregivers are very friendly, the facility is clean and the kids seem as happy as they can be.  This is not the norm, but we are thankful nevertheless. 

We visited Dasha twice today (10 am and 4 pm), which will be our daily schedule through Sunday.  We have our day in court with Dasha on Monday at 2 pm.  If all goes well in court, we will return to Kyiv that evening and then home from there.  Thank you all for your continued prayers.   

Day 8 - Court Date Is Set

Alex informed us that our court date will be Monday, August 29 at 2 pm.  We had hoped for Friday but we learned that we are very fortunate to have it Monday.  The judge has been on vacation and had originally offered September 1.  Alex explained that we already have return plane tickets for August 31.  Alex prevailed.  So we wait.  We'll get to see Dasha this afternoon (Tuesday) after she returns from camp to the orphanage in Lugansk.  We appreciate everyone's prayers and support.

Day 7 - Sunday in Lugansk

A little restaurant and basketball court near our apartment

Another view from our 13th floor apartment

We must be living in the apartment district

Not many signs of recreation in Ukraine as we know it in the states but they do have bowling 

Lots of statues in both Kyiv and Lugansk - pretty sure this is Joseph Stalin but Alex isn't here to answer our many questions

A quiet day in Lugansk

It's not unusual to see expensive cars like this Alpha Romeo

They paint the base of their hardwood trees white - we're told it's to protect them from disease

Another statue - Vladimir Lenin?

A couple blocks from our apartment

Our apartment from the street

Entrance to our apartment building

We had our best night's sleep last night and woke up refreshed.   We hung out in the apartment until after lunch.  It's so nice to have time to read, write, and relax.  The calm before our little storm comes home with us, ha!  We took a long walk , took some pictures, and then came back to the apartment by way of the 13 flights of stairs which we had vowed we would climb the day before.  I cooked my first Ukrainian meal, ha, made up of the things in the grocery store that i recognize, namely 2 pkgs of noodles that look like oodles of noodles and sauted veggies, with our usual cucmber and tomatoe salad.  Very yummy!  We skyped twice with our boys, so good to see their precious faces.  They were so funny and made us laugh with thier stories of their week at school.  Alex is on the train back to us.  We look forward to seeing him in the morning and he says we will go to the notary first thing.   We are excited to have at least one apointment tomorrow.

Day 6 - Gone Camping

Jamie, Katia, Dasha and Olena

The three girls in front of the bonfire which was to be set tonight

Teenage boys playing basketball

Jamie reading the girls Bible stories

the youngest "campers" stayed inside while we were there

Our goodbye also known as "Do svidaniya!" (duh svee-dah-nee-ye) in Russian

This morning we traveled 80 miles from Lugansk to "the camp" where Dasha and her comrades have spent the past few weeks.  We saw several dozen kids during our two hours there.  Teenage boys playing basketball, boys and girls of all ages performing dance routines to Ukrainian/Russian music, and others just hanging out.  There's a pool there but it doesn't sound like they go swimming unless it gets very hot.  The temperature seemed to be in the upper 70s with low humidity, a welcome break from South Carolina's dog days of summer. We spent most of our time with Dasha and her good friends, Katia, and Olena. We brought them snacks (bananas, barbecue Fritos, vegetables) and gum which they devored in short order.  Dasha enjoyed showing her friends pictures on our camera from her visit to Rock Hill.  She took pride in pointing our her two brothers and dog, Houla.  Jamie read the girls some Bible stories after snack time and then before leaving, we told Dasha that we'd see her on Tuesday when she was back at the orphanage in Lugansk.  It was a good day. 

Day 5 - First Full Day in Lugansk

Today was far less hectic than the previous 24 hours...We had an appointment with the director of Dasha's orphanage this morning.  The meeting went well. He was very friendly and I thanked him for providing such a  nice home for Dasha and told him that Dasha speaks very affectionately of him.  He smiled and thanked me.  He told us that Dasha tells the other kids what to do, that she is the "chief" of her class at school, and that she attends the same school as his son, who is also adopted and is 11.  

The rest of the day was spent in our apartment waiting for Alex to return with the last documents that were to be notarized and sent back to Kyiv for permission to petition the courts here in Lugansk to adopt Dasha. Alex told us that the mayor had to sign off on one of our documents, but that he wasn’t in the office.  It was about 3 pm at the time, and the office would close at 4 pm.  Time was running out.  So Brett prayed for the mayor to return so that the document could be sent to Kyiv tonight, which might save us a couple days in the process. At 3:35, Alex received a call that all paperwork was complete and ready to be picked up.   We believe that God answered that prayer.  Alex is leaving tonight for Kyiv on the 15 hour train ride to get our paper work to the State Department of Adoption and to be with his cute wife to celebrate their 1^st anniversary on Sunday.  We are so pleased with the way he has hustled our paperwork through.  He knows the system and has good relationships with all of the officials. 

This means we may get our court date here in Lugansk on Friday, Aug. 26, which is the last of our responsibilities on this trip.  If that happens we may get to come home sooner than the 31st.  Please pray that we will.   

Day 4 - Arriving in Lugansk

Arriving at the train station in Kyiv

Train station

Alex and Jamie in our living quarters on the train (15 hours!)

"Camp" where Dasha and the kids from her orphanage are staying until Aug. 23 - 50 miles from Lugansk

Jamie and Alex while we wait to see Dasha

The Princess arrives and gives us both big hugs

Where's Mason, Logan, Houla and Kit Kat?

She's wearing the same "Hello Kitty" outfit she left us in 18 days ago

Dasha receives instructions from the social worker (blue shirt) about signing the consent to be adopted

No hesitation!

Dasha and Mama swinging

Dasha shows us her bedroom - there are 5 other girls in with her

On our way from camp back to Lugansk - stopped for coffee and ice cream - our only food in the past 24 hours

One of many meetings to sign more documents - here on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere

We left Kyiv by train at 6:40 pm Wednesday and arrived in Lugansk at 9:50 am today (Thursday).  Over 15 hours in a room the size of a modest walk in closet.  It would have been tight for two but we had our  interpreter Alex with us.  But even if Alex hadn't been our roomate, I still wouldn't have slept more than a few hours.  The train must have stopped over 20 times along the way and was quite warm.  Jamie and Alex slept fine but not me.  Even took a sleeping pilll but that didn't help.  I was able to read about 5 chapters of Seal Team Six (thanks Peter), which I highly recommend.  Suffice to say, I"m trying to get us a flight for the return trip. 


We hit the ground running in Lugansk. No shower, no food, just a mission to git er done.  That's what we like about Alex. He's all business.  We made seven stops with various adoption officials.  One of those stops was a 50-mile drive in the middle of nowhere to see Dasha and the rest of the kids from her orphanage.  They have been at "camp" the month of August and won't return until next Tuesday.  Dasha was excited to see us, gave us both a big bear hug and wouldn't let go of Mama...we couldn't stay long but will go back this weekend.  We had to take a social worker who wanted to observe us with Dasha.  We passed the test as Dasha signed that she wanted to be adopted by us.  It was good to see her but sad to see all the other kids.  They seemed to know what was happening...we'll get to spend time with all of them next week when they return to the orphnage.  We will give them soccer balls and basketballs (compliments of ROAR) at that time.  We arrived at our apartment in Lugansk at about 6 pm.  We're on the 13th floor of a very old, rundown building in what appears to be a rough area.  But our quarters are great inside and Alex says the area is not unsafe. Wish I could show you pictures but we forgot the cord to import pictures from our camera.


Tomorrow we have a 9 am meeting  with the director of Dasha's orphange.  It's a chance to ask him more questions about her and to express our appreciation for the way he runs the orphanage, which is supposed to be one of the best in Ukraine.  So it was a very productive day.  Many thanks to all who have been praying for us. We are grateful for you and the way this trip has gone so far.  Blessings.  BR