Day 18 - A visit to Sergei - Wed Oct. 5

Vagif and Darren figuring out a plan

The Open Arms gals gave us the scoop on getting to Pravdinska using a train instead of the bus. We were really excited about trying out the train and having Vagif there to help us navigate made it much more likely we would succeed. We got up early that morning, well around 8am, early for Vagif....and got ready for our adventure. Anika had given Vagif instructions on how to get the bus tickets to Kirkivka which was closer to the orphanage than Oktyrka. We went and bought tickets for our trip there and tickets to return on a later train. We caught the train that left at 10:08am and arrived around 11:50am. It was soo much more comfortable than the bus!!! It was still a long trip, but at a much cheaper price and no bumps that catapulted me out of the seat.
We arrived at Kirkivka and Vagif called the number for the taxi that Anika had recommended. He was actually there waiting, but we did not realize it, so Vagif called again and asked what car to look for. He was sitting across the tracks, so we crossed over and took the much quicker trip to the orphanage.
When we arrived we were not sure where to find Sergei. We heard some kids on the sports field and went down to ask if they knew where he was.Vagif talked to the teacher there, and he sent Zhennya to help me find him. Zhennya checked his class schedule and we went to his classroom. The teacher dismissed him from class and we went back to Dad and Vagif. We talked for a bit in the gazebo and then decided to walk down to the river for a bit.

Me and my guys at the river

It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed being outside. We got some photos and then went back to the sport field. We did not have a soccer ball, so we tried the floppy frisbee a bit, but the wind was pretty uncooperative. We played a bit of Uno and then decided to walk to the store for a snack. Vagif and Sergei seemed to get along well. Vagif noted that his orphanage had been a lot nicer that this one. Although his was in a city and not out in the country. We went back to the sport field and watched some kids play soccer. After a while we decided to use a picnic table to play Uno until it was time for us to leave again.
Leaving him there is so hard. Especially when we still do not know a timeline to have court and bring him with us. But we promised to come back on Friday and that will have to do for now.

Sergei at the sport field

Vagif had arranged for the taxi to return in time for us to catch the 5:20pm train back to Sumy. We road back to the train station and waited for the train. The morning train was a small electric train. The evening train was a larger one with sleeper cars. Our assigned seats were not together and we found some open ones that were closer to each other. We still could not really talk as we had our backs facing each other. I was pretty tired on the trip back, but watched a little boy who was more restless than I as he walked up and down the aisle, back to his mom, over to the window, used his handkerchief to cough or sneeze.He looked about 4 years old, and his mom seemed ready to be done with the trip as well. It was almost another 2 hours until we all got off back in Sumy: a long ride for us and likely a longer ride for a four year old boy!
Back in Sumy, Yarik called to say he would meet us at McDonalds. We got a taxi from the train station back to McDonalds and snuck up behind him. Yarik had eaten but the three of us were very hungry. Yarik had brought his friend Vitaly with him, so we all went back to the hotel room and Darren, Vagif and I ate sandwiches and instant potatoes there. The guys visited and spoke to each other in Ukrainian. We tried to guess some of their conversation and they tried to include us a little bit. It was good to see the 3 of them interacting.
Yarik got his shower and shortly after he and Vitaly went back to school.

Yarik and Vitaly

Darren had to work some, and Vagif was playing games on his phone. We did a little English lesson for a while, and Vagif helped me with Russian for a bit. He decided he does not have enough patience to be a Russian teacher. I was tired and went to sleep. The guys stayed up a while later.

Day 17- Catching up and saying Good-byes Tuesday Oct. 4

So Vagif was pretty exhausted from his trip. We all slept in, but he kept sleeping! We really had nothing planned for that day. Tonya was hoping to hear from Ksenia about the passport. Of course, Ksenia could not give a time to let her know, but she was hoping to know by early afternoon. We got some breakfast and decided to go out to the shopping area and grocery store. Vagif needed some new shoes, so we thought we would see what we could find. By this time it was almost 1 and Darren had to force Vagif to get awake. We finally got the group mobilized. We went to the shops above the supermarket. The shoe stores there were pretty pricey. Vagif found some shoes that he liked, but Darren did not like the price. We knew that the street vendors had cheaper prices, so we waited on the shoes. We did find a watch for him in another shop. I also bought a battery clock/alarm just in case.
Finally, Tonya got the call! The passport was ready!! They had to meet Ksenia at the passport office. And then they would be ready to go off to Kiev that night.

Darren, Vagif and I went back down to the grocery store and stocked up on food for dinner. In the meantime, Yarik called and was done at school, so he was on his way to meet us at the grocery store. We started doing some shopping and Yarik called again that he was there. I went out to meet him. We all got some foods for dinner. Instant mashed potatoes, kutleti, Vagif got a fish fillet, some different salads, and some bread and deli meat, etc. We went back to the hotel and stashed our groceries.
Earlier that morning, Darren had set up a gmail and facebook account for Vagif, so when we got back Darren showed him the ropes. The day before, Vagif had set us up in Vkontact, the Russian equivalent of Facebook. Now we have to upload the new pictures from this week! We are so excited to have this option of keeping in touch with him! Unfortunately, he still has only limited internet access, so we will get only small windows of opportunity, but it is better than before, when we just had to catch him when his cell phone was working! Now we can send messages!
At the hotel, Darren had to clean up the stuff he had in the upstairs room that was officially Tonya's room. Downstairs, Tonya and Tressa were packing up. Unfortunately, they had to pay for over half a day's charge on the room since they had not checked out before noon. If only we had known, we could have cleared the room earlier! Once they were done packing, Ksenia arrived to take them to the bus and it was off to Kiev for them! We said our good-byes. It will be quiet here without them.
Now that there are two guys who want internet, I don't get much time on the computer! The guys were online most of the rest of the night. Vagif skyping with Derek and Ellie and Darren working. We skyped with them for quite a while. Derek had us cracking up!! He is so crazy. It was great to see them smiling and having so much fun!

I was pretty tired and ready to sleep. There is a curtain that gives a little privacy between the living room and bedroom, so I pulled that shut and left the guys to their computers.

Day 16 - Vagif arrives!!!! Monday Oct. 3

Wow, I can not believe how blessed we have been on this trip. God has worked it out for Vagif to take the train to Sumy to come to see us. We were so excited for him to arrive. I could hardly sleep the night before. And until he called from the train, I was not sure it would really happen. His train was scheduled to arrive at noon. So we took our time getting ready that morning. But as the time grew closer, Darren kept saying, "Is it time yet?...Is the taxi here to take us to the train station?"
Finally, it was time. We took the taxi to the train station, Ksenia had arranged it for us that the taxi would wait until we had Vagif and then would drive us back to the hotel. Once again, Darren called dibs on the first hug. I took the photos!
The train was late...ughh, we were going crazy waiting. But it finally pulled in and was very long, so we had no idea from what car he would emerge. We were at the wrong end, so we walked toward the other end and saw him! What a huge smile on his face as he walked down the path to meet us! It seemed surreal to have him there with us. He looked great! He looked very happy! I have a feeling, we looked pretty happy, too!
We took the taxi back to the hotel and left him settle a bit. We were still sharing the room with Tonya, Tressa and Vitaly, so we did the introductions all around. We took a little while to show him some photos of the family on Facebook. Then around 6 am US time, we called our neighbor to try to catch Derek to say Hi before he went to school. The two of them had gotten to be good friends over hosting. At first they thought it was a prank call, so I had to try a couple times and tell them it was me! We did connect and the boys got to talk a few minutes.
We had arranged to meet Anika, one of the missionaries who is a part of Open Arms Ukraine. She had arrived back in country a few days earlier and promised to give us the scoop on Sumy that afternoon. We walked down to McDonalds at 2:30pm and met Anika and Chelsea who would also be ministering with them for the next three months. Tonya, Tressa and Vitaly were also with us, so we had a big group walking around and locating good places to eat, to find souvenirs and things to do. Then we decided to go to a cafe for some snacks. We had thought that Yarik would call, but had not heard from him. Finally, we got a call from Ksenia that he was with her, running all over trying to get medical documents signed. They planned to meet us at the cafe. While we were there, Anika got a call from one of the boys they are working with and he got out of school early and was on his way to meet us as well.

So eventually, Yarik and Sasha joined us and we had a big party at the cafe! Okay, not much of a party, but our group had swelled to 9 people! When we left the cafe, we parted ways with Anika and her friends. The rest of us went back to the hotel. Later we decided that we would go out for dinner at the New York Cafe and we were glad to have Vagif translate for us to try to order dinner. This time we all got exactly what we wanted!
Tonya was hopeful that they would get Vitaly's passport the next day, so she and Tressa worked on getting some of their things ready to pack. We just hung out with the boys until it was time for Yarik to take the bus back to school. Darren and Vagif walked him out. As we had done some room switching, Darren and Vagif went up to the double bed room. Vagif was pretty tired, so he did not last too long this time. Darren had work to do so he was up for a while on the computer...I was tired as well, and went to sleep, as did the others in my room.


Note on sleeping in this room: it has radiant heat and it is so hot! We have asked to turn the heat back, but it was still uncomfortable for sleeping! I am sure that Darren would have been totally miserable to try to sleep here!

Day 15 - Ukrainian church service Sunday Oct. 2

It is our 3rd Sunday since leaving home. We were traveling the last two weeks and had no opportunity to try to find a church. This week, however, we had connections to find a Christian church here in Sumy where we are staying.Yarik was our guide. At first he said we should walk and then once we got outside and he tried to get his bearings and decided to call a taxi. We were all excited about the opportunity to take our boys to a Christian service in their own language. Yarik was very excited to go to church. We found out that he had never been to a church in Ukraine before. We did not think that we would have a translator, but it did not matter, we knew that the boys would understand and that we could enjoy the singing and fellowship.
The taxi took us to the address that we had been given. At first we were not sure, as it looked like a one story Orthodox church. Then Darren looked on the other side of the street and that building looked more promising. We followed the directions and found the room where they were getting ready to start the service.
There was a lady there that introduced herself in English and said that there was someone who could translate for us. This was an unexpected blessing.
The service was very similar to our service at home. There was singing with overhead slides with the words printed. We did our best to read and sing. We were fairly okay with the slow songs, but had trouble when they sang fast. We have no idea what we were singing, but could get a few things like love God and Jesus. After the singing, they had people greet one another. Then offer some praises and prayer requests.

Ukrainian church service

The Communion was next, and just like home, they do it on the first Sunday of the month. The difference was that they used a single cup for everyone to share the wine. It was really special to be able to share communion with Yarik and know that he could understand what was being said and what was happening.
The sermon was about the church being a body of believers united and caring for one another. It was a really great message and we felt like we were experiencing this in many ways during this trip. Building fast bonds with several other families who are here adopting, feeling welcomed by the church and people there, and feeling so blessed by the prayers of many of our brothers and sisters in America!
After the sermon there was a little more singing and announcements. They have small groups and other things just like we do. We really felt God's presence and were so blessed to see the boys reacting to the sermon and paying attention to what was being said.
We were so thankful for Ira who translated the main points of the sermon for us. She was such a sweetheart! We told her we would pray for her as she is the only one in her family that is a believer. It was a small church, but we could tell that the Spirit of God was truly present!

After church we decided to walk back towards our hotel and try to find a restaurant along the way for lunch. Yarik decided that we did not need a taxi and could find the way for us. The first corner, he tried to lead us the wrong way! We all had to give him a hard time about that.

Tonya, Tressa, Vitaly, Darren, Erica & Yarik at the Restaurant

We did find our way back to down town and after a couple tries, found a neat Ukrainian restaurant to have lunch. There was no English menu, so we counted on Yarik to help us not be too surprised with what we would be eating. We did pretty good, we got some soups, sandwiches for Vitaly, salad for Yarik and chicken dishes for Darren, Tressa and I. It was all very yummy. We then went back to the hotel and to spend some time relaxing. Yarik had to be back at the school that night, so we said good-byes and planned to see him after school the next day.

Day 14 - A Visit to Sergei Saturday Oct 1

Finally a day we could get back to see Sergei. We had to make all the arrangements to get from Sumy to Oktyrka then take the taxi to the orphanage. Yarik was our tour guide this time. Ksenia had given him instructions on how to get us bus tickets to Oktyrka. We had our breakfast and then got ready to go get our tickets. We walked to the first place where they sold tickets, but it was closed. So Yarik called Ksenia and she gave him instructions to take a taxi to get tickets at the bus station. We got to the bus station and Yarik arranged for our tickets. The bus was to leave in 10 minutes so we went out to the platform and found our seats. Another bumpy ride for almost 2 hours and we were back to Oktyrka. Taxi Sergei was waiting for us and loaded us up and made the ride to the orphanage. We got to the orphanage and had to find Sergei.
He was down on the sport field playing soccer. He said he was done for the day and could spend time with us. We teased him that we should go to the river so he could go for a swim. He said okay, and we all walked down together. Then he really did take off his clothes down to his underwear and jump in the river!!

I think the temperature had to be in the 60's!! Even though he was hot and sweaty, it still had to be cold! He did not stay in long and had goosebumps when he got out. I had a couple of napkins in my bag for him to dry his face, and then he just stood around and air dried for a little while. Crazy kid!! He got dressed again and we spiked up his curly hair. He looked so cute with his hair up.
We took some photos by the river and then decided to walk to the little store outside the orphanage gates. We had only had breakfast that day and did not have time to get some food to bring with us. The boys got mini-pizzas, I had a poppy seed pastry and Darren got some type of hot dog baked into bread. We also got Sergei a pepsi...much to Darren's dismay as there were no Cokes to buy. We ate and walked. As it was kind of chilly we asked if his room would be open to get warmed up. He said it was unlocked, so we went up there for a bit. He showed us an "album" of all the letters that I had sent him. He saved all of them in the pages. I had not realized how much it meant to him. Yarik shows all of his emotion right out there, but Sergei is a little more reserved and harder to read. But I believe he really wants a family as much as Yarik. I am so glad we get to be the ones to be blessed with him as a son!
Shortly after we got to his room, one of his room mates came to get ready to go to a concert the kids were putting on in honor of "Teacher's Day." We decided to go check it out.
It was to start at 5pm, so we took our time going over.

Once we got there, one of the teachers told Sergei he had to go clean one of the classrooms. Ugh! We only had an hour left to spend with him and they send him away. We were hoping he would be done quickly, but he did not get back until the end of the concert 45 minutes later. We did enjoy seeing the kids sing and dance, recite and do some drama. They were really cute!
Once he got back we only had a few minutes left. It was so hard to leave him there. Especially after Yarik had told him about staying with us at the hotel and going to restaurants! We are so looking forward to the day we can take him with us!! We told him we would do our best to come back on Tuesday or Wednesday. It cost us nearly $50 total and over 2 hours each way to go to see him, so visiting everyday is not an option. Even so, I am so glad we got to spend time with him again.
Taxi Sergei took us back to Oktyrka and helped us get our next bus. This bus was crazy bumpy!! Our backs and tailbones will never be the same. Many times we were airborne from our seats. I held on to Darren and Yarik so I would not fly off the seat!
We were pretty tired and hungry when we got back to Sumy. We stopped by the grocery store for some food and then went to the hotel to eat. We were looking forward to going to a Ukrainian Christian church the next morning, so we tried to get a good night's sleep.

Day 13 - Notarizing Yarik's documents Friday - Sept.30

It was Friday and we were planning to get our documents notarized for Yarik. We were not sure what time Ksenia was planning to pick us up, so we did not do much that morning. We went to get some more food and ate some breakfast/lunch. We thought that Yarik would be done close to noon, so we wanted to stay close to McDonald's. We also needed some cash exchanged so we went to look for a bank. We found one bank and they turned us away since we did not have a Ukrainian passport, we tried another bank and they would not exchange money either. Darren called Nastia to make sure there was no new law that we did not know about that would keep us from getting money changed. She did not know why they turned us away, so we figured we would try one more bank. This time I went in alone and gave her my passport and the cash. She handed the passport back and gave me the Ukrainian money and a receipt. Next Tonya and Tressa went in and exchanged their money and finally Darren went and got some more for us. We figured we better get what we could while we had the chance.
After we exchanged money we walked around and explored a bit, we had heard from Ksenia and she was to meet Darren and I at the hotel at 1:30. On one street we saw bride after bride with their groom and wedding party. As we got closer to the church there was a bride and groom feeding pigeons and taking photos. We took a few photos as well. The church bell tower also rang out a beautiful song. I got a short video of the music. Then we walked back to the hotel to meet Ksenia. She picked us up and we went to the notary. We had two pages to sign and a log book. It took about 15 minutes. On the way to the notary, Yarik called and was waiting for us at McDonald's. Ksenia let him know we would be back soon. We went back to McDonald's and found Yarik. Then we left Ksenia and the three of us went back to the hotel. We met up with Tonia and Tressa to hang out and then soon go to find a place to eat out. We decided to try out the New York pizza, even though there was no English menu. There was one waiter that did know a little English. All in all, we did not do too bad. We had one mishap where Tonia was trying to ask for 2 peperoni pizzas and instead they got one pizza with double peperoni. The rest of us pretty much got what we wanted. After we were done eating, V was getting restless and playing with his soda bottle. He knocked a glass over and it broke. Later the waiter that spoke a little English came to tell us we owed 5 grivna for the broken glass. (It is 8 grivna for one dollar, so not too much money.)
Yarik was able to stay at the hotel with us, so we all watched "Nim's Island" together. Then got to bed late. With Yarik staying in our room it was pretty crowded, so we were hoping to get a bigger room the next day.

Day 12 - Yarik comes to visit - Thur Sept 29

So the morning started slow, and we needed some supplies, so we decided to go to the open air market. We wandered around checking things out. We thought Yarik would come later in the afternoon. So we were surprised when we got a call close to noon that he was at the McDonald's waiting for us to meet him. Darren walked back to the McDonald's to meet him. I needed to try to find a 220v hairdryer and hoped to find another plug converter to plug in our American chargers to the European outlets. We wandered and found lots of interesting things.
Some of our interesting finds were fresh fish flopping in some tanks, skinned rabbits splayed out on a table. Several whole chickens plucked and gutted setting out on a table...no ice or preservative method around. A duck head next to a body that was processed and ready to be cooked. We did not purchase any of these! We did get some fresh fruit and some fresh dill for our sandwiches. There were also lots of booths with everything from clothes, underwear and socks, suits, wedding dresses, fabric, small electronic appliances, books, toys, shoes, really just about anything you could buy and carry with you.
My purchases were a small bag for Darren to carry our cash and passports, a hairdryer, an outlet converter, some pairs and apples and dill. I also got a mug with the Sumy arch on it. (Sumy is the town we are staying in now.)
Back at the hotel, Ksenia stopped to have us pay for some food donations that the orphanage director requested and some gas money for her to cover the cost of driving around to do our documents.
We decided to try out the New York Pizza place. We got lucky and one of the waiters spoke some English, it wasn't quite perfect as we ended up with one pizza that was a double pepperoni instead of 2 pepperoni pizzas. Yarik had to get back to the school by 9, so we watched part of a movie before he had to get back.