Its not Over

Well as they say - its not over till its over!

Paula and I found a great hosting organization Frontier Horizons who have been very helpful and we are trying to host Albina and Nadia for the Xmas holiday!  We also accomplished a feat the is  unheard of in the world of adoption. We completed a whole new dossier in 8 days, complete with a home-study update and USCIS, Fbi checks  - the whole set of docs. We are re-submitting to the SDA next week  with a petition for Albina and Nadia. 

We also have a new facilitator who is more in touch, honest and straight with us. His name is Dima, an experienced young man who seems to be on top of everything and understands the process.

Keep your prayers coming ! I'll let you know what happens...

Michael

Home and Thinking

Paula and I are slowly getting used to the fact that nothing good came from our efforts. For those of you who are thinking of adoption from Ukraine , or who are in the process I will be writing a detailed account of what happened to us, what we learned about corruption, and hopefully a helpful list of what to watch out for and possibly avoid our outcome, We know God is watching over the children. They will be ok, and so will we.

PS if there is anybody following this Blog that knows of a xmas hosting program please let us know. 

:)Michael

Its Over for now

Well we have not updated the blog because we were trying to make things happen with the government, and the SDA. It was not a good week. After everything went south with Julia we put in a petition for a 3rd referral based upon the fact that the first 2 were for children that did not want to be adopted. It seemed very reasonable to us, and the short story for now is that we met with the deputy director at the SDA and she turned us down flat! We were well prepared and thought it should be fine but in fact she just told us " You only get 2 referrals and it does not matter if the information we supplied was wrong, or for that matter anything else. You are done...go home"

Paula and I were devastated as we met 2 girls Albina and Nadia , that wanted so much to come home with us. We even had video of them telling the director. We had hit a dead end...lots of time , money, and heart went into this endeavor and it seemed so unfair. We are back in Cleveland as of yesterday with just our suitcases, and very sad hearts. We left Albina and Nadia in Melitopal without a family and waiting for us to take them home with us.

When I get back into the swing , and have had time to reflect I will be writing an in depth article about the adoption process in Ukraine. If you were successful adopting there our blessings go out to you. You were one of the lucky ones. We found out lots of useful information for those of you who are in the process, and those considering Ukraine. Please be on the lookout for my follow-up.

In short lets just say for now that the Ukraine adoption process is wrought with corruption, payola, and built as an official told me to "milk foreigners like yourself for the benefit of Ukrainians"

Our hearts are broken, and our children remain in Ukraine.

Michael

Oct 2nd and too much Cognac

Hi Folks, 

I wish I was a good writer...man, could I write a book about this place. Sure makes me proud to be an American!

We are still awaiting the SDA's decision on a 3rd referral but were encouraged to stay here and spend time at the orphanage, rather than return to Kiev.  We went out to the orphanage today and brought a ping pong table, some paddles, and balls.  This particular orphanage appears to be pretty poor and there doesn't seem to be a lot for the children to do, so we thought this would be a fun and easy way for us to interact with the kids without having to worry too much about the language.    The kids were really excited and kept thanking us for the gift.  We also ended up in the Director's office, drinking some of his special cognac.  He is quite a jovial guy. We aren't big drinkers, but it was his way of showing his gratitude for our gift and we couldn't figure out a way to turn him down without being offensive.  He'd also had his assistant go out and get all sorts of pretty pastries for us, which we don't eat either.  And there was of course instant coffee and candy.  A 15 year old girl from Israel who speaks 4 languages, including English, served as our translator for the afternoon.  It was quite and adventure.

Our cab driver, Sasha, has made maybe twenty dollars a day driving us back and forth to the orphanage in his 21 year old car.  Today, he showed up to take us to the orphanage and told us that he was finally able to install seat belts....$10 for 2 seat belts.  

Waiting....waiting....waiting

So, we are still in Melitopol and waiting to see if the SDA will grant a 3rd referral for us since the first 2 children really didn't want to be adopted.  This is not something that they normally do, but we are hopeful.  We should hear something back Friday or Monday of next week.  

In the meanwhile we are blessed with beautiful weather.  We went to the market this morning. The food is wonderful and cheap.  I couldn't help myself and bought all sorts of fruit and vegetables....if we only had a place in our little hotel where we could prepare it.  The raw sunflower oil here is fabulous.  I bought a bottle and bring it with me to the restaurants for my salads.  We had a great lunch at our favorite restaurant, Classic, for $11.  Included pea soup, mediteranean salad, omelet with greens, and potatoes....Food and clothing are both inexpensive here.

We have decided to stay here instead of going back to Kiev.  There are a couple of girls that we

really enjoyed and would love to take home with us.  The Orphanage Director said it would not

be a problem for us to spend time getting to know them better.  If we get our 3rd appt. with the SDA, we could ask for them.

Keep us in your prayers, Michael and Paula

PS Michelle, I don't know how to respond to your comments other than to write in the blog....our facilitator is Konstantin Yakubenko.