Sunday, November 9, 2008

Ukraine Day 1

It is now 2:20 pm in Ukraine (4:20 am Denver)

Yep, we are here! We arrived safely with no problems. In fact, it was a breeze. There were only about 40 people on the flight from Munich, So when we arrived we didn't have a long line at customs. We had already filled out the paper on the flight and we were only four people deep in the immigration line. Next, we moved up to baggage claim. Heidi filled out the forms for customs while I retrieved the baggage. Our baggage was already waiting for us, just spinning around on the carousel. No one bothered us, no one tried to offer us services we didn't want, no one wanted forty dollars to help us, etc. We proceeded to the empty line at customs, a lady and a man said something to us in Ukrainian and Heidi offered them the forms she filled out. They didn't care, we were bothering their otherwise quiet shift at the customs desk. They handed the forms back to Heidi as fast as she handed them to her. In fact, they didn't look at them. No "let me see the bags", no "let me see the money" at all. We next moved onto the doors separating this area from the airport lobby area. Lots of people were gathered here and they were all looking for someone else...it was dead quiet and I heard someone snicker and laugh at the Anerican with too much luggage. (We bought only two carry-ons for ourselves, but the gifts for the children took up three huge bags). In all, the entire"get off the plane and get to the lobby" took about 10 minutes...a record!

We met Olga (very pretty facilitator) in the lobby. She was a few minutes late because she too thought that we would take an hour getting through customs and immigration. She was there with Sasha our driver and he loaded us up in his nice swank BMW 500 series sedan. (Wow, i'm in the wrong business!). We sped through the streets of Kiev on our way to Karen's apartment. I wondered if we were late for something. I'm not sure how fast 180 km/hr is, but we were doing it at one point. We got to the apartment in fine fashion, though. The haul up five stories with bags like ours was the only hard part of the trip!

We met with Olga, paid her the balance we owed Valentina, paid Sasha for the Indy 500 experience and got down to brass tacks. She said we will do fine at the SDA and that she foresees us getting exactly what we want due to the nature of our request (1-3 kids, ages 4-14). We discussed a few aspects of the appointment and called it a night. Heidi and I went to bed at eight-ish Ukraine time and I slept until 8 am this morning. Heidi said she woke up at midnight and read for a couple of hours before sleeping again. Twelve hours sleep after missing a night's sleep was great!

This morning we went to worship service at Karen's church, navigating ourselves with the instructions left by Karen and our own understanding of the Ukraine transportation system. Boy, did that trip back in April payoff! We took trains and busses and made it to church just in time to see our friends from April. The pastor, Paul, gave a fine message from the book of John and Acts. We met Steve, Karen's uncle and he prayed over us and then he called an orphanage director he knew to see if she had kids that met our profile. How nice of him! We explained to him that we may use that info at the SDA tommorow.

Right now, we are in Independence square using the internet cafe right down the street from McDonald's. We are having fun and are very excited. Don't worry about us at all. We will try and post after the SDA appointment tommorow and let you know something. Oh, one more thing...Aimee, Heidi sucessfully negotioated the bathroom stall at McDonald's. Matt, I was on constant vigilence as my honey was there, noting the time in case I needed to jump to the rescue! All for now, bye!

~ Felix ~

10 comments:

Mayme said...

H&F-Glad to hear your journey is going smoothly so far. You certainly are having your good graces returned to you. I hope the rest of the trip remains on this smooth path. Love Mayme

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Ukraine! We arrived in Kiev Sunday evening seven weeks ago now, it seems like a lifetime ago. So glad you are here! Can't wait to hear the outcome of your SDA appointment.

This ranks up there as one of the most significant events in your life, those few minutes when, strangers really, will make decisions about you and about your life and your future. When you will make epic decisions too.

Cindie and I have seen God's hand in everything that has happened to us here in Ukraine, we pray it is the same for you. You are not here by accident and nothing happens in God's world that isn't exactly the way it is supposed to be.

Tomorrow will be great! As you offer your service to Him, He will be served. I'm excited!

Anonymous said...

Hi Heidi and Felix,

What a great adventure for you. You should have told me this was your intention when I asked you so long ago. I'll be watching your blog to keep up.

Debora Hoffmann said...

We've been praying and will continue to pray. We're so excited to see how God leads you to your kids!

Thanks for telling us of your experiences. We can't wait to follow in your footsteps. Hi to Karen! :-)

Karen said...

Hi guys! Sorry you had a hard time with the stairs :) I call it my daily work-out routine! :) Glad you guys made it to church without any snags--way to go!! I'll see you tomorrow. My flight gets in at 3:30-- so should be home by 5 if all goes well! :)

ArtworkByRuth said...

The code to the bathroom is printed on the bottom of the McDonalds' receipt...glad she figured it out!
What a great arrival! What airlines did you use? Can't wait to hear about your SDA appointment!
God Bless!

Tami said...

Ummmm...180 kph = 111.85 mph. Scary, huh?! :)
Glad to hear you are there safe and sound.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the KMH to MPH don't bother doing the conversion it will just scare you.

Praying for the perfect appointment.

Steve Eimers

adopting2fromUkraine said...

We spent lots of time in that internet cafe in Kiev! You don't want to know what their restroom is like! A glorified hole in the ground. I thought that a modern building like that would have an ordinary restroom. Boy, was I wrong!:0

We met the Eimers just outside that internet cafe last December. Seems like yesterday:)

June

Matt and Aimee said...

So nice to hear that it's going well. It's taxing enough without having it sucked out of on the opening leg! I have a good feeling about this. Way to "man-up" on the bathroom duty!

About Us

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Longmont, Colorado, United States
Heidi loves to play sand volleyball, sail and garden. Felix loves to fly at the local aeroclub, sail and fish.