Sergei's Artwork

Sergei loves cars...especially Ford Mustangs.            Sergei's dream car...

How to draw a Mustang by Sergei

Front

Middle

Back

This is his drawing of a Ford Mustang that he wants put online...

This is the car that he found at http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/226/1/1/how-to-draw-a-67-ford-shelby-mustang-gt-500.htm to use as inspiration for his drawing. He added extra details to personalize the car and make it more cool and more powerful...more of a muscle car drawing...

Day 54 Thursday, Nov. 10 Almost home!

This morning started out poorly. Sergei would not get out of bed and get dressed. I let him sleep as long as possible and then tried everything I could think of to get him going. It was not working. He seemed to have no desire to cooperate. I guess he was getting scared as it was so close to leaving everything he knew to come to America. And as we were finishing up with all the paperwork, it was becoming very real. Nastya called to let me know that she was almost there, and I told her about Sergei. She said she would try to find a place to park and come up if she had to. She spoke to Sergei and told him he had to get ready...it did not help much. He was still not moving. I could not do anything to get him dressed, he was too big for me to wrestle into clothes. We waited as Nastya got closer and when she called back again, he had started to dress. She was outside our apartment when we finally got him out the door. This episode was not a good sign for what might lie ahead. I hoped it was just nerves and that all would work out. Nastya talked to him in the car and tried to help him understand the situation. We got to the medical center in time to get their physicals done. While we were there, we met up with another mom who was adopting one of the boys they had hosted that Darren and I had met on the interview trip. He was the only black boy that we had seen at the orphanages and a black family from Georgia (I think) was adopting him. I was very happy to see him. He did not remember me at first, but as we waited together for several hours, he did remember me and Darren.
The boys checked out healthy, but needed to have a couple of immunizations done. Nastya took me to pay for them and then we went back down to wait some more. Once we got all of the paperwork back for both families, we all went to lunch together. We all had to go back to the Embassy shortly after lunch, so we stayed together for lunch and the Embassy. It was nice to have someone else to talk to and share our experiences.

Cool  giant clock on the ground

At lunch, Sergei was not very hungry, but he seemed to be a little more emotionally okay. After lunch we went to the Embassy and had to wait until last to get our visas. There were several other American families there with us. The other three got their paperwork quickly, while we waited. It seemed like a long time until they finally called our name. We got everything that we needed and Sergei cooperated with the signing and agreeing to all that had to be done. It was such a relief to have everything completed and know we were ready for the airport the next day.

Interesting fortress off the beaten path

Mom in one of the monuments

We had a little time to get some souvenir shopping done once we got back to the apartment. Sergei did not want to go, so we left him in the room to play games on the super slow internet. Yarik had some items that he was looking for, so we tried to find what he wanted. It was late in the day, so we did not have much luck as the street vendors had closed up shop. We did however, get some amazing views of the city lit up at night. It was a really nice time for the two of us. We also found the underground mall and each got a gelati to snack on. Sergei missed out on this one! We took some photos and then went back to make dinner and eat with Sergei. Tonight went much better and we did not have an early flight, so I promised them we would try to go find some souvenirs in the morning. We got as much packed as we could and I was very ready for our trip home.

City lights

Day 53 Wacky Wednesday!! Nov 9

After such an exciting day the day before, it seemed hard to come down from the emotional roller coaster. We got up in time to say Hello to Abbey who was across the hall from us and was on her way home that day. It was nice to see her one more time before she left the country, as we had started our journey together so many days before.
I got the boys up and ready for the day. We had to meet Nastya first thing in the morning and we had not had any time to get food. As we were waiting for her, we tried to find something quick and easy to eat. She called and was delayed in traffic, so we were able to get some food for breakfast. We were going to meet her at the corner by the grocery store, so the boys waited outside as I ran in and got some yogurt drinks and apples. She finally arrived and took us to the Embassy. It did not take long to get the paperwork filled out and turned in. Then we went back out to meet Nastya and go to the medical facility to get their medical exams done.
Unfortunately, once we got there, we found out that the passports did not make it to Kiev the night before and they were going to try to fax the copies to the medical staff to get their physicals done. We waited and they tried several times to get good copies of their passports, but none of the faxes came out clear enough for the staff to be willing to do the exams. Nastya made arrangements for us to come back the next morning to get them done.

Yarik and Mom in Kiev

We also decided to switch to the room where Abbey had been staying. It was a little bigger and had a separate room for me to sleep. We had to move all of our stuff to the new room, at least it was on the same floor, so we did not have to try to get everything back into the elevator again! That was quite an adventure the day before trying to get it all in at once!

Sergei and Mom in Kiev

Skateboarders for Sergei to watch

We really had nothing else to do that day, but explore Kiev and get food. We wanted to try to see the Saint Sophia cathedral, so we walked in that direction. When we got there, we did not have enough money for me to get in with the boys, so we just looked around from the outside. Next we went downtown to the main square and got some photos. Sergei found some kids skateboarding and enjoyed watching them. We had to be back at a certain time to meet a gal who was bringing their passports to our apartment, so we could not explore as much as I had hoped. It was fun to see the boys getting a chance to see their home country capital. We also enjoyed stretching our legs and getting to walk a bit.

Sergei and Yarik walking  back to the apartment at sunset.

We hurried back to the apartment and arrived in time to meet the gal with the passports. We were so relieved to have them in hand...at least I was!! The boys were pretty excited to see their new names on their passports. We later got some groceries and I made dinner for the three of us in our apartment. We had a fun evening eating and playing pillow fights and what not. Sergei found some games on the internet to play, but the internet was terribly lousy, so we did not get much done on there.
We tried to get settled and sleep, but it was hard to get used to another strange place. Sergei was not happy with his bed and I tried to make it better for him, but it did not work out very well. We had another early morning pick up with Nastya to get us to the medical exams again and then the plan was to get to the Embassy to pick up their visas so we could leave by Friday!!

Day 52- The Whirlwind Tuesday, Nov. 8

Wow, it really happened. The morning was so uneventful with even some tough news to take, but then at the last moment, everything fell into place. I knew it would be a while before we knew if the passports were ready, so I did not call Ksenia in the morning. I did have a secret hope that we might still be able to get to Kiev that evening, but was not sure it could happen. I called Ksenia around lunch time and she told me that even if we did get the passports that afternoon it was likely too late to be able to have the paperwork ready for the Embassy by the next day and since Friday was a holiday the Embassy would be closed and it may take until Monday for us to get finished and be able to leave on Tuesday. But the good news was that we could go to the bank and withdraw Sergei's money at noon on Wednesday.
After I hung up the phone with her, I cried. I tried to explain to the boys that it may not be until next week that we could go home and I tried to hold it together for their sake, but I did not do too well. I know that it was just a few days longer than we had anticipated, but it just seemed like a huge frustration to be stuck in Kiev from Wednesday until Tuesday with only a few hours of necessary paperwork keeping us from coming home.
Yarik had already packed his stuff and was ready to go. I tried to get my things organized, because I knew once it was time, we would have to hurry. The other thing we had to do that day was officially sign Yarik out of his trade school. Originally, Ksenia thought she could just bring the paperwork for me to sign at the apartment, but the social worker wanted us to come in person.
Just after 2:30pm, Ksenia called back. She said, "Get packed, you go to Kiev tonight." I was in shock a bit. She said that everything was worked out and they got our paperwork rushed to Kiev to get an appointment for the next morning. We had to go to the school, get the paperwork signed, she had to pick up the boys passports at 5pm once Yarik's clearance arrived from Kiev. We would meet the landlord to get our deposit back and then Ksenia would come back to pick us up and put us on the bus that would leave at 6pm, for a five our ride to Kiev.
It took quite a while to get the right people in the room at Yarik's school to sign the paperwork. We had time, but there was still stuff I needed to do at the apartment before the landlord arrived. I tried to be patient. We finally got all the papers in order and drove the inspector back to her office. Ksenia got us back to our apartment and Yarik and I went in to finish getting things ready to leave. I heated up some left over borscht that I had made a few days ago and tried to clean out everything from the refrigerator and cupboards. Fortunately, Vitali had come over after he was done with school and I loaded him up with things we did not want to take with us. He took the bags of things we didn't need and went to his sisters. He said he would be back to say good-bye before we left. I was a little worried, because it was getting close to 6, and I knew Ksenia would be back to pick us up soon. The landlord came with our deposit money. I had asked him for a receipt, but he forgot it. We called Ksenia and she spoke to him and made arrangements for us to meet him down the block after she picked us up.
In the meantime, we ate dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and finished packing everything into our suitcases. Katya and Luba came by to say their good-byes. We had everything ready when Ksenia came to pick us up. It took a while for Sergei to get his shoes on and to get our suitcases loaded into the elevator. But we made it down to her car and gave final hugs to the girls. Vitali had not made it back to the apartment. But Yarik called him and let him know we were on our way to the bus.
We parked on the street where the landlord said he would meet us. I had to give him the key and get our receipt. He took far too long and was making me nervous. I did not want to miss our bus, or get stuck with bad seats if we had to get on last. Finally he came and I handed over the key and he gave me the receipt. Then we drove to the bus which was not far, just down the street from McDonalds. Vitali was there waiting for us. He had a gift from his sister for me. We loaded our suitcases into the storage area in the back. I was grateful that we did not have to keep them up front with us. We gave Vitali hugs and said our good-byes to him and Ksenia. We were not sure if we would try to come back on Friday to go the bank, since we could not go Wednesday as planned. So we thought we might see Ksenia one more time. Ksenia gave us the paperwork for Nastya. She had not been able to pick up the passports, because even though she had Yarik's police clearances, the head of the office was not there, and no one else had the authority to give them to her. So Lord, willing, she would get them in the morning, fax copies to the Embassy and medical clinic and we could at least get started with what we needed in Kiev.
We boarded the bus and Yarik choose the back row. The bus was not full, so we had all five seats across the back for the three of us. It was already dark, so the boys fell asleep quickly. As we continued on and some people got off the bus, the seats in front of us opened up as well. Yarik went to the two open seats to stretch out a bit. I moved over and let Sergei stretch out and sleep on my leg. It was a pretty bumpy ride, but by far not the most uncomfortable. I could not really sleep, even though I tried. Sergei kept wondering what time it was and how much longer until we got to Kiev. He seemed pretty excited to get to Kiev.
After what seemed like forever, we started seeing signs of city. Then we saw the big sign of Welcome to Kiev. By then Sergei had woken up and was taking in the scenery. He pointed things out for me to look at right and left. I was glad that he hadn't gotten travel sick. As we got nearer to the bus station, I heard from Alex who would be picking us up. I told him that we were in Kiev, but I did not know how much longer to the bus station. He asked me to call when we pulled in. Once I saw the station I recognized it from past arrivals. I called him and he said that he also saw us pulling in. It was around 11pm. He took us to the apartment and met the landlady who had a key for us. We were staying in the same apartment that our NHFC team had stayed in the first few days in Kiev back in February. It was good to have a little familiarity. We also were across the hall from Abbey Yoder and her new son who would be flying to Pennsylvania the next day. I was hoping to see her before we left for our Embassy appointment.
It took us a little while to settle in. The boys scavenged some food that was left behind by previous tenants. I just wanted to get to sleep. We had to be ready for Nastya to pick us up by 8:30am, so we all needed to get some sleep! They did settle and fell asleep pretty quickly. Ready for a big day the next morning!!

Day 51 - Waiting & Good byes - Monday, Nov. 7

Today I was really hoping to hear from Ksenia that we could go to the bank and withdraw Sergei's money. I did not hear from her all morning, so just before lunch I called. She had not been able to get through to anyone at the bank. She said she would keep trying. I was disappointed, but not surprised. We did not have much to do. Yarik and I decided to go downtown to buy a few more gifts. His friend, Sasha Z. met us as we left the building. We took a bus downtown. Got off past the stop we should have and had to walk part way back. We checked out the open air market to see if they had any souvenirs available today, but evidently Mondays most of the regular vendors are not open and they have kind of like a giant yard sale with lots of second hand clothes.
Yarik had wanted to buy a soccer book for one of his friends, so we went to the bookstore. After that, Yarik had expressed interest in a haircut, which Darren and I had suggested weeks ago. So we went to the salon where I had gotten my hair done. Sasha decided to get his cut as well. There was no one at the salon when we arrived so the boys sat and waited. I knew there was another shop with souvenirs that Anika had showed me that was not far from the Salon, so while the boys waited, I went and got a few gifts for my family.
Soon after I got back, several girls went into the salon. They closed the door and had not said anything to us, so we were not sure if they were back open, or still on a break. As time passed, I figured they should soon be ready, so I told Yarik to ask how soon he could get his hair cut. He was too shy, but Sasha poked his head in and they said to come right in. There were two of them, so both boys started at the same time. Meanwhile, Vitalli was also on his way and when Yarik was about half way done, he arrived and decided to get a trim as well. Yarik finished first and Vitalli took his spot. When all three were done, I paid and we walked back to the apartment. Vitalli showered first and then later Yarik. They all had little pieces of hair still on them. The open arms gals had invited us for dinner that evening, so we were looking forward to joining them.
This morning I had woken up with almost no voice. Sergei thought it was quite amusing. It did not hurt, but I sounded awful. Since we had some time before we had to leave, I tried to take a nap. I texted Anika to find out about the bus number and texted Ksenia to see if she could check on passports. I got the bus numbers and then a response from Ksenia...no passports yet.

Chelsea with a couple of the guys they minister to

After a short rest, I wanted to sort through the things that I did not want to take back to America. I packed up one bag of things to give to the Open Arms gals and tried to organize the rest of my stuff. If we do get to leave the next day, I want to be ready! Once I was done, it was time to catch the bus. Sergei did not want to go. I told him he had to go and we did not have to stay long. The bus was super crowded when we boarded. It did thin out closer to their stop so we got seats for the last few minutes. Sergei had not been there before, so he was curious about where we were going.

Anika and Melissa cooking

We got to their building and took the elevator. The girls welcomed us and the place smelled yummy with dinner cooking. We exchanged greetings and I gave them the bag of goodies. They were thankful for the contributions to their apartment. It was nice to visit and talk about lots of different things. The new Visa rules meant they could not stay in country as long as they used to be able to. They would have to return to America in another month and they hoped to return after Christmas, but it depended on when they could get Visas again.

Our soup! Yum....and mayo for the Ukrainians to add

We had some chicken noodle soup and garlic bread. Then the boys started playing on the Wii. The girls had put in MarioCart and it was so fun to watch Sergei's face as he raced. Both boys really got into the game. We had been there about an hour and a half, so I asked Sergei if he was ready to leave. By then he realized it was not so bad and wanted to stay. Next they put in Just Dance 2 and the boys took turns challenging different people. Sergei played several rounds in a row and had sweat all over his face. They really got into it. We had fun, but they were getting tired, so we said our good-byes and went back home.
After we got off the bus near our apartment, we went in to the grocery store to get some eggs. They have been eating them by the half dozen and we were out again. As we passed the fruit, the boys wanted some plums and kiwis, so we got those, the eggs, some yogurt and then some chocolate.

Playing Wii

Back at the apartment we ate some fruit, Yarik wanted to Skype with Katya's older sister who is studying in America for awhile. Sergei and I watched some soccer on TV, while Yarik talked to his friend. After Yarik was done, I chatted with Darren and then called his cell phone as he and TJ were driving home from visiting Pappy. I was wiped out from being a little sick and from a busy day. Sergei had already fallen asleep and Yarik was ready to go to sleep as well. So we called it a day once more. Praying for good news the next day.

Day 50 - Day of Thanks - Sunday, Nov. 6

We all got up in time to shower, eat and get dressed for church. The sky was so blue, but the wind was cold. We did not know what bus would take us to church, so we walked. The wind nipped at our noses! Yarik complained. I said we needed the exercise and fresh air. It was cold, though. Water in puddles was frozen...but we walked briskly and made it to church before the service started this week. They were celebrating the Day of Thanks, so had a special program. They had special music by some teens and then a cute presentation by the elementary age kids and some singing by them as well. It was so very cute. One of the toddlers got up and danced while the other kids were singing. He stole the spotlight for a while.
 After the service, they had plates of food set out and coerced us to eat. During the service, there was a man and wife team video taping parts of the service. We found out that they were making a video for Russian Christian television. It was also Oprhan Sunday and they had played a clip about orphans. I wondered how the boys felt about it. I was glad that I felt the tug of God and had chosen these two and they were no longer orphans. It was a bit weird for the other kids who had come to church with the Open Arms team, who had not been chosen and were out living on their own. We were not sure how they perceived it. Anyway, when the husband wife team found out that I had just adopted our two boys, they wanted to do an interview with us. At first I thought it was going to be Annie, one of the Open Arms gals, and I. But after they interviewed me, they asked to interview the boys. Sergei had already gone outside, so Annie went to get him. They interviewed Yarik first and then Sergei, with my arm around him. They said it might be used all over Russia and Ukraine. Hmm, interesting thought, that maybe God had us stay a little longer to be part of this video?!?

Mom posing for Sergei with Yarik behind me

Anyway, after our interview, we left with the team. They were heading for pizza and planned to catch the bus downtown. We got on the bus with them, thinking we would join them for pizza, but when the bus turned toward our apartment instead of downtown, we got off at our stop. Sergei just wanted to go home, so I was going to send Yarik with the girls, but he decided he wanted to go home with us as well. So they went their way and we went ours.

Sergei putting stickers in my hair!

We had a relaxing afternoon at the apartment. Later in the day, Yarik got to skype with two of his friends from the west coast. They are so excited for him to be coming to America. After Yarik was done, I wanted to try to talk to my brother who had just gotten back from several months of AF duty in Turkey. I tried calling him with our google voice, but no one answered. I called my mom to ask for his cell number. She was on the other line with him, so I told her to have him get on Skype. We got to Skype for quite a while. It was nice to catch up with him again. We are disappointed that they will not be able to get back to PA to visit for a long time. I am glad we at least got to see them in Colorado this past summer.
By the time I was done talking to my brother, it was after mid-night, so I went to sleep. The boys did too.

Day 49- Outing Downtown -Saturday, Nov. 5

Yarik's teacher's daughter had sent me a FB message that she would like to meet us again today. Our last planned meeting was cancelled because she had gotten sick. So today's plan was to meet at 2pm at McDonald's and then go for Pizza. We had a pretty lazy morning and everyone enjoyed sleeping in. We used the internet a bit and then got ready to go.
We met the girls at McDonald's. It ended up being Natalia and two of her friends. This time, her mother was sick. One of her friends was studying English and had been to America twice on exchange programs, so she acted as translator for us. We walked to the Underground Pizza Restaurant and ordered 2 pizzas. I thought we would need more, but the girls insisted that they were large pizzas. So far I have not really seen a true American size Large pizza, but they placed the order. When they came, the three boys had theirs gone in a few minutes and I sent Yarik to order another one for them. I don't think the girls realized how much boys eat.
After eating, we went to the art museum which was closing in less than 30 minutes, but we walked through the main exhibit and saw some lovely artwork. Most from the 1700's and 1800's. It was mostly Renaissance style with a few impressionist type works. The girls talked about Ukrainian history and politics. They were frustrated by their current president and his lack of knowledge of the Ukrainian language. It is sad that their president does not even know his own country's native language. While most Ukrainians know Russian, there is still a pride in their own language and the people want to see their language respected and used. And just like in America, their president's bloopers are on YouTube for everyone to check out.
Near the art museum was the theater. The girls were excited for the premier of Swan Lake by the St. Petersburg ballet company. They asked if I would want to go. Unfortunately, it does not open until the 11th, by which time I am hoping I will no longer be in Sumy. It would have been an amazing opportunity to go to see the ballet. One that I am sure Darren would not have minded me going to on my own. But Lord willing, we will be either in America or on our way.
While we were checking out the theater, Sergei spied a guy on his skateboard riding on the front of the theater steps. He went back out to watch him while waiting for us. After checking out the theater, the girls were ready to part company. They had mentioned trying to go to see a film together on Monday, but I was not sure what Monday would hold. It would be fun for the boys to go to a movie in their own language before we leave, but not sure what will happen.

All three about to crash

Sergei making the turn

On our walk back, the boys wanted to go through the park, where they had some amusement rides and other interesting things to see. We walked through and saw the entrance to the soccer stadium. Then a little farther and  we came to the bumper cars. There was a father and daughter driving around and the boys wanted to give it a try also. When the others finished, the three boys, Yarik, Sergei and Vitalli payed their grivna and each chose a car. It took them some time to figure out how to maneuver the cars, but once they got the hang of it, they had fun circling and crashing. I got some photos, but I should have tried to take a video. It was so funny watching them. I am glad they had fun. It was getting dark, but they wanted to see if the Ferris Wheel was running, so we walked the rest of the way to the back of the park. It was closed, so we turned around and headed back out. There was a lady there, with some grilled shush-kabobs.  We got one and shared it. It was really good. Darren would have loved it. After that we walked the rest of the way out of the park and back to the apartment.

Vitalli rounding the corner

Yarik stuck in the corner

Back home we took advantage of the Saturday with friends being at home and got to make some calls and chat online. I talked to Bekka a little and IM'ed with Darren as he was camping with the scouts. Yarik stayed up a while talking to friends, but Sergei and I went to sleep fairly early so we could get up for church the next day.