Day Fifty Three – Tired, But No Complaints

Well, if anyone is still following the Giorgio family blog, the news after nearly a week at home is overwhelmingly positive – except for the sleep deprivation, of course. Peter has been a dream, but that may be just my (Todd) hallucinogenic recollection of the last few days. He's been waking up at 3.30 and we're working on various strategies to deal with the early mornings. But we're hoping that this morning's result will persist – he woke at 3.45 and crawled into bed with us. We all slept until 6.00 – pure luxury compared to the 3.30 train-playing, book-reading mornings we've experienced earlier this week.

Peter's interests appear to be no different than any other 3.5 year old boy. Trucks, cars and tractors are all fascinating. He's been very interested in a 16 piece tractor puzzle and some flash cards with tactile components (thanks, Diana and Paul!). Riding in the car remains an exciting event. Sherri bought some pumpkins earlier this week, including small ones for Max and Peter. Peter has been carrying his around the house and holding it up with the announcement of 'pumpkin!' for the last couple of days. It's one of his new English words applied correctly and consistently!

Communication has been a non-issue. We are able to get the critical points across and are working on the routine stuff. While we were in Ukraine, Peter never said much. But here, it's non-stop chattering. I (Todd) took Peter for a walk around the lake the other day and he never stopped talking! By translation, I didn't understand a thing he said, but, hey, if he's pointing to the fountain and jabbering away in Ukrainian, well, I get the basic idea.

Peter's fruit eating, observed in Rivne, hasn't changed. He rejected cinnamon toast for breakfast the other morning and grabbed his half-eaten apple instead – he's the healthiest eater in the Giorgio family, for certain. He chomps a banana every morning (today topped off with a hard-boiled egg) and eats all of the grapes and strawberries you provide. One morning, Peter took a nibble of a chocolate donut and put it back in the box!

We visited Peter's new child care center on Thursday in preparation for next week's 9a-to-3p plan. Peter warmed right up to the facilities, riding a pedal car and wanting to stay and check out the outdoor playground. The other children and the caregivers seem very nice and welcoming, so we're expecting a good outcome here.

Last night (Thursday) was a real pleasure. I (Todd) came home to find the boys running laps upstairs with occasional interruptions for wrestling or other boy stuff. We had an easy dinner concluded with some of Miss Tina's beetle candies. She sent them for Max with a mandate for sharing and that plan worked out great. Max felt extra special, Peter had his first beetle (a square pretzel topped with a melted Rolo topped with a pecan (yum!)) and everyone had a fun dessert (thanks, Tina!).

Aunt Lori and Sweet Pea are here tonight and Peter can't decide where to focus his attention. He has come a long way from his hesitation with the orphanage yard dog in Rivne – he was giving Sweet Pea the attention (and head-locks) of a boy unafraid of dogs. He was exhausted by 20.00 and essentially put himself to bed. I am sure that there are many challenges ahead, but we are so grateful for a relatively easy week one in Nashville.

Day Forty Eight – Welcome Home, Peter!

It’s been a long 24 hours for everyone, but a quick note here to say that all is well. Sherri and Peter arrived in JFK on time and Todd met them there, also right on schedule. Peter had a moment of hesitation when he first saw me (Todd), but it’s been nothing but ‘papa, papa, papa’ since. The layover in JFK was tough on everyone as Peter had lots of energy (sorry to everyone in the JFK Delta Crown Room from 15.00-19.00 yesterday). We made the mistake of allowing the toys and books in Peter’s room to be visible – after a couple hours of snoozing on the JFK-BNA plane, he was ready to play after arriving home at 22.30 last night. Then he woke up at 3.45 this morning – ready for more play time.

Peter has already made the initial trips to both Harris Teeter (with Sherri) and Home Depot (with Todd) and he seems perfectly OK with the entirely new experiences. Sherri picked Max up from Nana Giorgio’s house and the first face-to-face between Max and Peter was … completely uneventful. Peter has been very sweet and Max is struggling with the idea of sharing our attention with Peter.

I’ve just finished putting the eye bolts on all the doors (Peter can open the normally locked doors without a problem) while Sherri and Max get Target provisions. Peter’s napping. Everything is good, although we’re sleepy. But tune in tomorrow…

Day Forty Three – Bye Bye Rivne

We’ve had some communication problems, apparently solved with a mobile phone reboot. The recent news from Sherri includes successful negotiation for a more-rapid-than-expected delivery of Peter’s Ukrainian passport. This one day acceleration relative to the planned schedule gets Sherri and Peter home three days earlier (because they don’t need to spend an extra weekend in Ukraine) – they are scheduled to arrive late Saturday night, 11 October. Sherri has also convinced me to meet them at JFK, so I’m flying to New York on Saturday, meeting Sherri and Peter, and we’re flying back to Nashville together.

Sherri’s plan for Peter’s going-away party on Monday had a few twists and turns. She delivered the cakes and drinks to the orphanage in the morning, intending to return for the party that afternoon. Peter caught her preparing and was crying when she had to leave. Sherri said that she’s never been happier to see her child cry. I (Todd) suspect that Peter will be Sherri’s satellite (if he isn’t already!) much as Max orbits around me. But the Ukrainian-English communication about the party didn’t work as planned – when Sherri returned that afternoon, the party was over and the cakes were gone! She did hear that the cakes were good, though!

So, we’ve fixed the communication difficulties and discovered Sherri and Peter were traveling from Rivne and to Kyiv today (the 7^th). We could barely hear each other because they were in a 1960’s era Lada (a Russian car) buzzing down the freeway – trying to avoid bus travel, no doubt. But all seems well and the end game is next: a visit for Peter with a US-approved doctor on Wednesday, presentation of Peter (and our documentation) to the US Consulate on Thursday, delivery (we hope!) of Peter’s visa on Friday…paving the way for the flight home on Saturday!

Day Thirty Nine – Rock And Roll, Rivne Style

I (Sherri) had a good morning with Peter today. When I arrived, they had all of the music instruments I brought out and had a little band going - it was very cute! (Note from Todd – Sherri purchased a suitcase full of child-appropriate musical instruments and brought them back to Rivne as a gift to Peter’s class.) Peter has taken to the harmonica - he wants to take it with him everywhere. I hope that this interest that will pass before we get on the plane!

The kids have in Peter’s class have become really good at collecting and cracking what I think are walnuts – Peter is a big fan of the nuts so I guess that will be something he has in common with the other Giorgio boys. I'll have to get him some nuts for the trip home. (Note from Todd – We saw the kids in Peter’s class collecting nuts from a tree in the orphanage yard and assumed that they were for baking – but it sounds as if they’re good to eat raw as well. And Sherri is right – Max and I chomp through nuts regularly, especially those smokehouse flavored almonds – we can’t keep them in the house!)

I delivered the laminated pictures yesterday. (Note from Todd – We intentionally captured all of Peter’s classmates in pictures on the first trip and then laminated the printed photos in the form of placemats so that they could be used (and abused) regularly. Sherri brought those laminated photos back on this trip.) The caregivers showed them to the kids and laughed a lot, but then put them up on the kitchen counter, so I don't know that our point of getting them laminated so the kids could handle them worked - oh well.

Viktoria is in Kyiv until late Monday night. I was hoping she would come back Sunday night and help me with the party for Peter. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to order a cake by myself, let alone carry the cake for the kids and a separate one for the teachers (that's what I was told to do) - and juice, too. I was hoping to enlist Nik, but he's having kidney problems and isn't available (apparently he only has one good kidney). (Note from Todd – Nikolai (aka Nik) was our regular taxi driver in Rivne and did the Rivne-Kyiv-Rivne drive when we went to the US Consulate to do some paperwork during a lull in the action of visit number one.)

Day Thirty Six – Back In The Paperwork Jungle

Sherri doesn’t have a computer in Ukraine, so I (Todd) am blogging this from phone conversations with her and some email she has been able to send from the internet café in Rivne. The bus trip from Kyiv to Rivne with Viktoria was a real trial. There was something very wrong with the bus (it felt like there was absolutely no suspension) and we could only go about 40 miles per hour. Finally, about 30 minutes outside of Rivne, the driver stopped on the side of the road and had us all board another bus. The entire bus trip took 6 hours!!! I (Sherri) have now given up on any further bus trips in Ukraine, especially after a girl sitting next to Viktoria said that her husband was on a bus last week that crashed and turned over!

Today has been a fairly full day as expected. We started at the lawyer’s office - he had to get the judge to sign ten copies of the court statement approving the adoption. He was very happy with the bottle of Jack Daniels I found in Paris at the duty free shop! After about an hour there we were off to the orphanage to get Peter's original birth certificate. We filed the paperwork and returned four hours later to pick up the new birth certificate. Viktoria said that the birth certificate bureaucrats told her that this process normally takes a week! The next stop – tomorrow – is the tax codes office. Once that is done, we'll pick up Peter and take him to get his passport pictures prepared (so as not to waste time).

Day Thirty Four – Back To Rivne (For Sherri)

After a whirlwind week of preparation, Sherri left Nashville for Atlanta, Paris, Kyiv and Rivne today. We completed the required paperwork while in Ukraine to authorize Sherri as Todd’s representative, enabling the remaining steps to be done while Todd remains in Nashville. The plan is for all of the paperwork to be completed in time for Sherri’s return to Nashville – with Peter – on 14 October.

Day Twenty Six - Home Again

I don’t know what was more exciting for us - to be back on US soil in NY (Sherri said she was going to kiss the customs’ officer) or to be back at home, but I don’t think we’ve ever been happier to get home. We had missed Max terribly, and despite the excellent care he was getting from Aunt Lori and Lydia, it was clear that he was really missing us too.

There is so much to get done while Sherri is here this week - finalizing day care plans for Peter, getting his room set up, thanking friends and family who have gone way above the call of duty in helping with Max in our absence - we could go on, but won’t. Sherri flies back to Kyiv on Sunday morning to complete the adoption for us. We’re hopeful that the rest of the process will go smoothly and she and Peter will be home by mid-October. Given all of the other things she will be lugging back to Kyiv, she won’t be taking the computer, so our blog, unfortunately, will be less frequently updated.

We want to thank all of our friends and family for the amazing encouragement and support each of you have provided through our journey. The saying that the best things in life are those that you have to wait for seems so true these days. We feel very blessed to have found Peter and look forward to bringing him home to complete our family!

Day Twenty Five - Our Day In Court

Friday the 19th was our day to be in court to petition to adopt Peter. Our court appointment wasn’t until 3:30 pm, so the morning was spent running errands to the notary (our new best friend) and saying a temporary goodbye to Peter. If all at court went well, as we expected it to, we would have a mandatory 10 day waiting period before the court’s decision would be final and we could move forward with the adoption paperwork. We had decided that despite the cost, we both were eager to come home, even if it was for just a few days to see Max.

So the question we were left with was how would we explain to Peter that we were going home to get things ready for him, and that I (Sherri) would be back in just a few days to get him. Ten days is a long time for a 3 year old! So we decided to appeal to his sugar tooth and organized a plan with his caregivers that they would carve out some one on one time each day while we were gone to let him look through the family picture book that we had created for him. We asked them to seal the conversation with a piece of candy reminding him that Mama would be back for him in a few days. Hopefully our plan will work. When Viktoria, our facilitator, sat down with us to try to explain the situation to Peter it was clear he had some level of understanding. His playful smile became serious and quite. Although it was hard to watch at the moment, his response was another good sign - a sign that he wasn’t ready for us to leave him.

Court was brief - only 30 minutes, with 10 of that being translation. The judge left us with a comment of “love him and educate him” - something that sounds so understood in our society, but is not always a given in life. We hopped the 4 ½ hour van ride from Rivne to Kyiv late in the afternoon, and on Saturday morning we caught our flight back to Nashville. Our travel time was about 24 hours from Kyiv to Nashville!

Day Twenty Three – Go Viktoria!

Well, last night Viktoria provided good news about our paperwork – with one exception. The Rivne administrative offices are so unaccustomed to dealing with adoptions by foreign parents that they were insisting that we both return after the 10 day waiting period following our court appearance. In most parts of Ukraine, only one parent is required to be present after the court day. We put the pressure on Viktoria to work her magic today and convince the administrative checkpoints that having only one parent here after our court date would be OK.

It worked! The 'gifts' required to make it happen were substantial, but we're pleased. There are still more ways than we understand (and there are many ways that we do understand) for the plan to be fouled, but we're aiming to come home during the 10 day waiting period after our court appointment on the 19th. Then, depending on the progress of the paperwork in Kyiv and Rivne, either Todd or Sherri (but not both – woo-hoo!) will return to Ukraine on or about the 29^th and continue the process which should take about another two weeks. Any volunteers who are willing to exchange free airfare for help on the plane ride home, please email us.

Today's visit to Peter's orphanage as a real wake-up call. There are a number of new children in his class and a couple of them are particularly heart-breaking. One new child repeatedly cried over and over – for two hours – 'papa', trying to get Todd's attention. When Todd took the child to the window (the objective of all the pleading), all he said was 'mama' while pointing out the window. Clearly his mother had dropped him off at the orphanage over the past couple of days—heartbreaking to us as this child will now not be adoptable for another 1 ½ years at the earliest—and that is only if the mother has given up her rights.

A second child was delivered to the class while we were there this afternoon by his mother, complete with a small bag of special belongings. That child cried most of the afternoon as well - and understandably. It was heartbreaking to imagine what those children will go through over the next few weeks as they try to adjust to their new life. The caregivers in Peter's class are good, but their goal is to incorporate these children in the daily group schedule as quickly as possible, so there was no consoling beyond giving the child a piece of candy and a stuffed animal. Needless to say, Sherri did her best to provide some mothering comfort by holding them and trying to play with them a bit. Quite an emotional day. Sadly, the more senior members of the class like Peter treated the situation as normalcy, and largely ignored the children. It's a real reminder about why these children have such a difficult time truly attaching to people—despite the best efforts of their caregivers they are taught to be survivors.

When we arrived this afternoon, one of Peter's caregiver (Elissa) mentioned that Peter had asked when 'mama and papa' were coming. Peter's interest in us is very heartwarming, but we worry a bit about how he will perceive our 10-day absence. We will leave behind a picture book that he seems to love filled with pictures of us and immediate family. Peter loves to look through the pictures and has started to identify family members. It seems a treat for all of the children to see themselves in pictures! That will be a small gift that we are planning to leave them with—pictures that are at their level and probably laminated so the caregivers will allow them to examine them whenever they want. Given the little bit of history most of these children can touch and see, it seems a simple, but meaningful thing to leave them with.

As you can probably tell, our affection for Peter's classmates is growing each day—good thing our dossier limits how many little ones we can bring home—we see potential in each of them.

Day Twenty Two - Olympics 2020, Here We Come!

Another 'regular' day. Peter demonstrated his gymnastic skills again - today we saw him on the parallel bars! His caregivers continue to reinforce that he's meant to be gymnast. This doesn't bode well for some of our childproofing plans at home.

Since it's raining again, we were inside and visited a new (to us) room full of giant exercise balls, trikes and other energy-burning tools. But Peter also surprised us with his interest and patience in assembling a toy car with one of his caregivers. We're starting to see more clear signs of his personality—he likes order and organization, he is a picky eater, he has a stubborn streak and if he is interested in something like putting the car together he can be incredibly patient—sounds a bit like his big brother, Max.

After play time, we were back in Peter's room and one of the caregivers came by with a plate full of snacks for the kids. It looked like peeled apples, but turned out to be raw onion. And believe it or not, most of the kids liked it and had seconds! As Todd and I prepared to leave Peter at lunch time, we received our gift of the day from him. We told him goodbye to which he responded “no bye bye.” That was the first time he made it verbally clear that he didn't want us to go, so maybe the attachment is beginning—a big step forward for us.

Viktoria is due back in Rivne at 20.30 tonight and we'll have some paperwork to do once she arrives. Until then, I (Todd) am working on a grant application and Sherri is saving her energy for the activities later this week that, we hope, will conclude with a successful court visit on Friday.

Day Twenty One – In The Ukrainian Groove

A quiet day – we visited Peter in the morning and arrived just as he was leaving by car with his 'groupa' for activities unknown. We let them go and stayed long enough for them to return. We took a short walk together and left before lunch.

The afternoon was disrupted because Todd participated in a conference call (by Skype!) and Sherri visited with Peter for a second time today. She discovered two new things about riding the bus—first, you must have small bills to pay your fare or it can be a problem, and second, it is perfectly acceptable for your bus driver to stop for a Kbas (an alcoholic drink made from fermented bread) if he gets thirsty. We finished the day with new dining experiences, some positive (Todd's herring) and most neutral (Todd's rice and Sherri's mushroom soup and grilled veggies).

We have been wondering about the adoptability of some of Peter's classmates – most seem quite attractive in terms of both health and social activities. Well, we learned today that the only girl in Peter's class - who is just a delightful child – has a eighteen year old mother. The mother visits just twice a year, but says she intends to recover her daughter at a future point when she is capable of providing full time care. We are pleased to learn that at least one of these children seem likely to be reunited with their birth mothers.

We have developed some names for Peter's classmates. Ivan is 'the boss' – he is very engaging and manipulative. He understands the adoption process and continues to attempt to win our attention But, he's a tyrant when he doesn't get what he wants – just like a bad boss. Another classmate is 'the singer'. He was recently one half of a duo, but his singing partner was adopted last week by a Ukrainian family. Sherri reports that, during music class today, 'the singer' performed solo without his adopted partner.

We are planning tomorrow to buy the orphanage a lawnmower as a gift – something the overgrown, mosquito-filled location can really use. It was their request, not our recommendation, but we're happy to provide something of real value to everyone at the orphanage.

Our Ukrainian pantomime is getting better – this morning, Todd was able to convince the hotel 'floor mother' to wash our clothes today. She said that they would not be ready until tomorrow, but when we came home from dinner, we returned to quite the animated discussion. The clothes were ready! Clean, but still damp – a huge bag (about a week's worth of dirty clothes for two people) for 20 UAH (that's about $4) – what a deal!

Day Twenty — More Pictures

Not much to report from here. We visited Peter and had fun this morning. We also navigated the time difference and the internet cafe to have a video chat with Max (Thanks, Anita and Duco!) - we were all missing the 'face-to-face' talk since we lost our ability to connect to the internet from our hotel when we moved to Rivne.

So, a couple of new pictures of Peter. These were both taken a couple of days ago during his 'falling leaves' music class.

Day Nineteen – Canadians, Foot Races And Flying Solo

We now feel like grizzled veterans in Rivne when four Canadian couples showed up at the hotel cafe for breakfast. We were able to give them some dining advice and let them borrow our food-in-pictures cheat sheet. They were attempting to reconnect with family unseen for many years and were very appreciative of the point-to-order strategy.

Our trip to visit Peter was quite interesting. Normally, this is a 30 minute taxibus ride without an exchange – super easy. But today, there was a foot race and the main road was closed. The multiple detours – as our driver tried to find a way around – led us to see some new parts of Rivne. The back roads were clogged with taxibuses and it took more than an hour to get there. All this disruption for a race that appeared to have five runners.

But our time with Peter today was great and we stayed long enough (since we arrived late) to see the start of lunch – chicken soup just like my (Todd's) grandmother used to make every Sunday. There were two new additions to Peter's class today taking the spots of the two little boys who were adopted by Ukrainian families. More boys—I (Sherri) was hoping that at least one of the new children would be a little girl to provide some companionship for the solitary girl currently in the class. Today we saw the first of the orphanage's winter wear. To say the outfits they put on the boys would challenge most men's manlihood is putting it lightly. When we arrived they were all running around indoors in little girl's winter tights. Peter's were bright purple and decorated with flowers. As he did his gymnastics bouts across the room, it was all he could do to keep them on.

Fortunately, the foot race was over when we returned to the center of Rivne and traffic was flowing at its normally chaotic pace. We hit the internet after lunch to get some work done and then to the market to pick up a few snacks. We haven't said too much about the interesting things you find here at their grocery stores and on their menus, so maybe I'll share a few popular items to give you a sneak peak into Ukrainian cuisine. First of all, they are meat lovers! Everything comes with meat—they even have ham flavored potato chips. Salo, aka pork fat, is a favorite snack and adorns many of their meals. How does hen stomach sound? Or maybe some good old boiled tongue. Who knows, maybe I'm missing out, but I'll pass for now. Todd is doing his best to embrace the local fare—he actually really enjoyed the crab flavored potato chips and black sea shrimp!

Today was cold – about 10C/50F, overcast and spitting drizzle. The forecast is the same for the next few days – the cold helps minimize laundry, but we're barely prepared for this type of weather.

Tomorrow's plan is the same as today's – Peter in the morning and internet in the afternoon. Viktoria is in Kyiv until Tuesday evening, so we're flying solo in Rivne until then.

Day Eighteen - Kyiv And Back In A Day

We are both exhausted. Late yesterday, it became clear that to ensure I (Sherri) could stay alone to complete the adoption of Peter, Todd and I needed to travel to Kiev to sign some paperwork at the US Embassy. So, today, we woke up at 4:30am for a 5:00am drive from Rivne to Kyiv. We were pulled over by the speeding police only once (!) on the way during the 3.5 hour drive to the US Consulate. The Consulate personnel were incredible – very helpful and complete. The highlight of our day was lunch at McDonald's. I know, it's shameful, but we'll fill you in on some of local dining options in a future blog entry. Let me just mention boiled tongue—enough, right?

So a successful day on the paperwork, but our poor driver ended up being stopped by the police for speeding on the way home, too. Luckily, in Ukraine the police are happy to help you with your personal scheduling needs by taking fines at the road side—I'm sure you get the point.

Tonight we're headed to bed early and will look forward to seeing Peter tomorrow morning.

Day Fifteen – Peter Good, Bureaucracy No So Good

Viktoria made great progress for us yesterday and most of the local paperwork is completed. We need the Rivne city council to approve our plans and Viktoria worked on this all day without success. The city council leadership authorized to sign our documents have proven to be elusive. Once this step is complete, the document package travels by bus to Kyiv and to Galena (we don't need to go). The SDA in Kyiv then takes six days to review our paperwork and, we hope, approve our application. The document package comes back to us in Rivne by bus and we are then ready to make a court appointment here. We'll be here a while!

On the other hand, our time with Peter today was great. When he initially refused the opportunity to give us a kiss, one of his classmates came over and kissed us instead. Well, Peter was paying attention to that turn of events, pushing the other children away and saying 'my Mama, my Papa'. We're his now, I guess! We sat on the floor and read some books, mostly identifying the objects and colors that we all know the words for. Peter's caregivers have been wonderful, really facilitating our interactions with him. It will be a very different story once we're home.

More good news on the home front – Peter is confirmed for child care in Nashville, so one more hurdle overcome.

Day Fourteen – Has It Really Been Two Weeks?

Not too much to tell today. Our facilitator did great work in finding the one notary in Rivna who would notarize our documents without Todd and I having the appropriate tax ID number. Who would have guessed that he would have been the head of the Rivna notary association! I guess rules can be bent when you're the one in charge. So that saved us a trip back to Kyiv, thankfully.

Our visit with Peter this afternoon was trying for all of us. It was our first visit without Viktoria who typically translates for us. To say Peter was frustrated about the communication issues would be putting it lightly.

After visiting Peter we went to the city center for dinner where we had been told we could find french fries. I know it sounds pathetic, but the options for vegetarians here make french fries look like a food fantasy! The french fries were only available if you ordered a meat filled main dish, so we had another meal of pizza.

As we left the restaurant a rain storm had begun, so we decided to take a cab back to the hotel. Well, the cabbie decided to drive us all around downtown before finally taking us to our destination. Our facilitator said he got what he deserved for trying to scam us for extra money when a police car backed into him in the hotel parking lot. There was lots of yelling and waving of arms between the cabbie and police—we decided to throw some money at him and make a run for it. Our facilitator, who thinks herself our parent while we're here, thought we were crazy and suggested we stay at home in the hotel more. I doubt we'll take her advice.

Day Thirteen – First Pictures!

We've been taking some candid pictures of Peter and his group. I've cropped two of these and posted them below. First pictures of Peter!

We're taking the afternoon off from the orphanage to catch up on work, email and grocery shopping. Every errand and activity requires so much more time and energy here – we are taking cabs and buses (and walking) everywhere, for example. Finding a place to eat has been a real challenge, despite our picture 'cheat sheet' – a laminated card with cartoons of different foods. We can go to a pizza place and point to the toppings we want. Pathetic, I know – but effective. Since Sherri has been sick twice already, we're opting for the 'better safe than sorry' in knowing what we're eating.

Tomorrow is sounding like a busy day of bureaucracy. We first have to find a notary to generate a new power of attorney for our facilitator so she can get work done on our behalf. There's only one catch—apparently anyone who uses the notary is supposed to have a government number, which, of course, we don't. In other regions, there are notaries who ignore this requirement, but since foreigners adopting is not common here, we may have to take a 6 hour bus ride back to Kiev to get things done. The fun begins!

We were pleased to hear that two of Peter's classmates are also in the process of being adopted—both by Ukrainian families. The first little boy leaves on Monday. We were told today that we are the first foreigners to adopt from this orphanage in 5 years!!

We hope to be able to post again by mid week.

Day Twelve – Good News From Dr. Yuri

Before the details, here's the bottom line – Dr. Yuri was very positive about Peter's health and we're starting the adoption paperwork!

Dr. Yuri's visit was initially complicated – his 'patient' (Peter) was on a walk when we arrived and no one knew when they might return. He put the time to good use in reviewing Peter's medical records with the doctor at the orphanage. It wasn't long before Peter and his group arrived and Dr. Yuri started his evaluation.

After getting past the obligatory offering of sweets, Dr. Yuri moved right into having Peter building a stack of blocks and and identifying colors. The next round was matching different block shapes with the corresponding hole. I was amazed at some of the things Peter could do at Dr. Yuri's request, but was especially thrilled with Peter's real interest in books. Dr. Yuri got Peter to identify items pictured in books and to correctly find 'the biggest' in a group or 'what item doesn't belong', among other age-appropriate tasks. Without the ability to speak Ukrainian, we had no way to really do similar things with Peter ourselves. Peter was able to assemble a couple of easy puzzles and, when the 'tests' were over, he continued to look in Dr. Yuri's bag and pulled out more books. After a final round comprised of some physical checks, Dr. Yuri gave Peter a clean bill of health. He's small for his age and has some delay in speaking (pretty normal for kids in orphanages), but appears to be otherwise normal for a 3.5 year old. We're thrilled (but not surprised – we thought he seemed quite normal even before Dr. Yuri's confirmation).

So, now the administrative efforts really begin – well, not until Monday. We have some immediate legal paperwork to complete before finalizing the document package required to get a local court appointment. Even if these next steps happen early in the week, there will be a 10 day waiting period after the court appearance before much else can happen. Unless something completely unexpected happens in the next few days, the Giorgio family will grow to four!

Day Eleven - Surprise, We're Back!

So we thought it would be entertaining to add into our blog some of our dining experiences since coming to Rivna. One would think that Ukrainian food is Ukrainian food, but we've seen all sorts of new options here in Rivna. How does boiled tongue sound? Or maybe hen's stomach or dried squid as a snack with your beer? Yummy!!! Suffice it to say, we're hungry (or at least Sherri is hungry). Thank goodness we brought some Special K bars to carry us through the meals that just don't quite work out. Ukrainians are meat eaters to the max—no vegetarian pizza and you better double check your pastry too. So eat a good meal or two for us back in the US.

Today was day 2 with Peter and although he was still a bit uncertain of us, there were no tears when we took him from his group this afternoon. Our typical day for the next couple of weeks will be spending time with Peter from 10:00 to 11:30 each morning and then again from 4:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon. Our mid day is full trying to find lunch and searching for somewhere to try to get our email. I must say the teenage boys here at the internet cafes are great! Yesterday was our first day trying to see how to get email and update the blog and to say we were the center of attention at the first internet site would have been a huge understatement. We couldn't connect there, but the boys were so eager to use their English that they offered to walk us to another nearby site that they thought might work. It was one of those moments where we were so impressed by our Ukrainian hosts!

Peter clearly started warming up to us today. It was very cute how his 10 classmates all called for him to tell him that his mama and papa were here again when we arrived this morning. We had brought bubbles which were a huge hit! Like all 3 years olds he wanted to do it himself which meant a bit of a mess, but a lot of laughs. We took the bubbles in a Winne the Pooh lunch box, so he now knows two English words - Winnie the Pooh and boom, which Sherri repeated as he burst the bubbles. Surprisingly at the end of our afternoon visit he wasn't as eager to run back to his group – we take this as a good sign. Tomorrow, Dr. Yuri will come from Kyiv to evaluate Peter. He has done this for years for other international families adopting here in Ukraine, and has a very good track record. If the report goes as we expect - which is to say that Peter is a very normal little 3 year old boy - then we will formally start the adoption process on Monday. We're optimistic for a great report from Dr. Yuri and the rocky road of paperwork here will begin on Monday. That will be the most difficult part of the process. Wish us well! We'll update again as soon as possible. Again, a reminder that internet access is challenging, so be patient with us. We'll plan to tell Max more about Peter on Saturday if all with Dr. Yuri goes well.

Day Ten - Meeting Peter

8:30am came early this morning—Sherri hadn't slept well given the yelping dogs in our hotel's front yard. We started our day by going to meet the city adoption administrator who was responsible for preparing the document stating we were OK to see Peter. Our facilitator must have dazzled her as what had started as a half day of paperwork to be completed before we could see Peter turned into just 30 minutes in the park.

We both had visions in our minds about what the orphanage would look like and what kind of care Peter would have been receiving there. I must say that we couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised—the place looked better than some of Nashville's preschools that we have toured. The SDA officials in Kiev had warned us that the director of the orphanage was rather difficult and didn't seem to have an interest in seeing the children adopted, so we were somewhat relieved to hear that he is on holiday and that we would be meeting with his interim who also acts as the orphanage psychologist. He was a wonderful surprise full of encouragement and eager to make things with Peter work out for us. We met with the lawyer and the physician and heard what we already knew from his medical record, and then finally had the opportunity to meet Peter.

He was very shy and unsure of us, but that was understandable given that he had been visited by others previously who from his perspective were probably very full of promises and then never returned. We played trains (all little boys love trains) and with some hand puppets before heading out to their playground where this tiny little child shocked us with his gymnastic abilities—he could do chin ups on his own! We got quite a laugh out of that which of course caused him to repeat it. Very funny!

It was time for his lunch and nap so we left for a few hours and returned again this afternoon. I think he was a bit surprised to see us again. We got to join Peter's class of 11 in their music lesson which was about 20 minutes of pure joy for us. A man taught their class playing Ukrainian folk songs on his accordion while they danced and sang along. the kids were very funny—a few of them offering to sing songs on their own for the group and all joining in on silly group dances. For a moment in time i thought maybe we could take more than one—then I snapped back to reality. We spent the afternoon with him playing in their playground sand box and having a few brief moments of coloring. It seems to us that he is a very normal healthy 3 year old boy who will only blossom more with a home and more love and attention.

Tomorrow we will return to spend a couple of hours with him in the morning and again in the afternoon, and on Saturday morning we have a specialized physician coming to visit him to ensure his heath is in good order. It's been a busy but happy day here. We're looking forward to tomorrow.

Evening addendum...After a pizza dinner downtown, we visited three internet cafes – none had WiFi and only one was brave enough to disconnect a computer and let us try to connect via ethernet. Unfortunately, despite heroic efforts, the static ethernet connection settings didn't work. We did, however, develop a posse of 11th graders who spoke good English and led us to one of the internet spots. They earned 20 UAH – enough for a couple of hours of gaming without asking Mom for more money, I figure. Not bad for 5 minutes work. A final effort at a restaurant reported to have WiFi turned out to be false. So, we are without a direct connection to the outside world using our computer. Thus, we're on webmail (presumably, we haven't tried yet) and blog updates will be irregular.

Day Nine - On The Way to Rivne

We started the day with the first case of 'Kyiv belly' (Sherri) and I (Todd) ran around town looking for the Imodium that we foolishly forgot to pack. She was feeling better about the time we went for a visit to the lawyer's office to produce a power-of-attorney for Viktoria to do our business in Rivne. After a long walk with Viktoria around Kyiv to the office of a specific hotapic (notary), we learned that the translation of our passports was not included in the rather thick package of official forms, so no documents could be generated.

We packed and left with Galena to finish the paperwork at the SDA, then on to meet Viktoria for the ride to Rivne. Our private jet (a high mileage, propane-burning Kia) as flying right up until the time we were pulled over by the police for speeding. The fine? $5, plus a 15 minute delay and an embarrassed driver. He was shocked to learn that an equivalent speeding ticket in the US would likely have been $100!

We still arrived at the Hotel Tourist more quickly than anticipated. Vikoria informed us that it was a good hotel – how could it not be – look at all the guards! They kindly extended the hot water availability by 30 minutes (to 10:30 pm) for us to wash up before bed. Each floor has a 'house mother' and she provided the key – and probably cracks down on the noisy and unruly. A Soviet hotel experience, for certain.

Day Eight – Second Appointment to Review Dossiers

Today we had our second appointment at the SDA. Thankfully, it was much more successful than our appointment last week.

We accepted a referral to visit a 3.5 year old boy named Peter in western Ukraine (Rivne). From what we know, he appears healthy and is very cute with a head full of blonde hair. We have learned from his dossier that he is shy and that the director of the orphanage is very protective of him.

We leave Kyiv on Wednesday by car for the four hour drive to Rivne with Viktoria. We hope to meet Peter and have some time to play with him on Thursday.

Rivne is an uncommon location for our facilitator, so we are all scrambling to prepare. In our case, that means doing laundry, hitting the banking machine and taking what is likely to be the last hot shower for awhile. We may not have internet access much, if at all, in Rivne, so any lack of updates may be no big deal.

Day Five – St. Sophia's Cathedral

A couple of days ago, Sherri noticed an advertisement for a classical music concert to be held at St. Sophia's Cathedral tonight. So, we visited St. Sophia's this afternoon – a very impressive place, with much original since the initial construction in 1017-1031. We also found an poster for the concert there and must have asked (mostly through pantomime) three or four people before we discovered the correct place to buy tickets. That's what we'll be doing tonight.

Otherwise, a quiet day. We walked down Andriyivsky uzviz (Andrew's decent) from the old town to the lower town of Podil. This steep cobblestone street is lined with souvenir vendors and art galleries. It's super slippery, too, since we were caught in rain showers on and off all day.

We ended at the Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art – it was so empty that they had to turn the lights on for us at 3:00p! Perhaps it is simply a real devotion to 'green' practices – we also noticed that every chandelier has only one working bulb. More evidence of this conservation mindset was the scolding I received from our landlord for having lights on in two rooms simultaneously.

Day Four – History Lessons

The adoption news from our new Memphis-area friends was about the same as ours, unfortunately. They were not offered children which matched their needs. And, like us, they declined all of their referrals and chose to wait for a second appointment next week. We continue to wish the best for them.

Yesterday's disappointment contributed to our lethargy this morning – we didn't sleep well and could not get started. And, how appropriate, after a few days of brilliant sun and hot weather, it's cold, gray and raining here today. We're trying to figure out how to get some work done here, balanced against learning more about Ukrainian culture to prepare for eventual activities and discussions with the child we hope to adopt. So, we decided that a city tour would be an efficient way to gain some knowledge and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Olga, our guide, was great and we spent three hours walking around (yes, in the cold rain most of the time) and learning some history of Kyiv and Ukraine. Folklore or fact, there are some incredible (and ancient) achievements documented in Kyiv. On Volodimir's Hill, the place where the first settlements were established in 482 A.D., there is a stone with an inscription suggesting that this was the birthplace of Kyiv Rus and the Slavic culture. And there is no shortage of amazingly beautiful cathedrals, although many have been destroyed during the conflicts that have played out here. St. Michael's Monastery, built in 1108 was destroyed during Soviet occupancy in 1936. It was rebuilt in 2001 and was one of the few photos we took, during a break in the rain.
We had our first authentic Ukrainian dining experience tonight at a place that specializes in varenyky (a stuffed dumpling) and men drinking vodka from an iced bottle kept on the table. From what we saw, each diner is expected to drink at least a pint of vodka plus a few 'soft drinks' (known in the US as beer)! Shockingly, we saw no one who seemed worse for the experience. While there, we received a call from Viktoria – our second appointment is the last one of the day on Tuesday, at 4:00p. So, if you're in the US, think of us at breakfast on Tuesday!

Day Three – Appointment to Review Dossiers

We had the first appointment of the day to review the dossiers of children available for adoption. Unfortunately, we were did not accept any of the referrals due to health concerns of the children we were offered. We were able to restrict the ages of the children to four years old and younger, one of our requirements. Initially, we were shown two files of girls, three and four years old. Both were impacted by fetal alcohol syndrome. We then relaxed our original preference for a girl and were shown additional dossiers of boys. One boy had a chronic joint disease that can not be effectively treated. The second boy had recent leg surgery to correct a physical defect, but more importantly, appeared to have other health issues and a family history of mental illness. Finally, we were presented with a set of twin girls, two years old. They were diagnosed with significant developmental delays and have two older sisters with demonstrated significant mental and cognitive problems.

Clearly, today did not turned out as we had dreamed, but we were grateful when we were offered a second appointment to review additional dossiers next Tuesday. We understand that most second visits require a wait of at least a week. We hope to have better luck on Tuesday. If not, we'll be back in Nashville sooner than expected.

Despite the outcome, we felt well served by our facilitators and by the government psychologist selecting the files for us to review. Viktoria and Galena were clearly as disappointed as we were.

Tonight, we will meet a family from the Memphis area hoping to adopt two boys. Their appointment is this afternoon. We're cheering for them and hope to learn of their good news over dinner.

Day One – On The Ground in Kyiv

Well, we make it to Kyiv! We zoomed through passport control and customs as 'VIPs', led by an all-business, no-nonsense guide. We were greeted by Viktoria, an English teacher who will be our translator and continuous guide during our time in Ukraine. She is an energetic, motherly person and we feel like we are in good hands. We were pleasantly surprised to find our Kyiv apartment to be quite modernized on the inside – it's a Soviet-looking, run-down building from the outside. Galena, our Kyiv-based facilitator (bureaucracy negotiator), speaks less English than Viktoria, but certainly has our best interests at heart. She greeted us with a big, warm hug and made sure that all of the Kyiv preparations were complete.

Even on just a few hours of sleep, we were able to get our mobile phone on the grid with a Kyiv number faster than we were able to get a land line in Lausanne! We also got the internet connected in our apartment, but it's TV or internet (only one cable). But with 500 channels and only two in English, no TV isn't a big deal. We had a pizza dinner and strolled down the main boulevard (Kreschatyk) to Independence Square, the site of the Orange Revolution only 17 years ago.

We saved just enough energy to swing through the 24 hour produce/meat/fish market (no need to return there!) and then on to what must be Kyiv's fanciest supermarket. So, we're equipped and rested (sort of) and ready for our big day on Thursday.

Successful Project Management!

Well, after nearly a year of paperwork, we have been invited to Kiev to adopt a child.