Dossier Submitted, sort of...

It's clear as mud, but I'll try and explain it. Now stay with me here...

We received an e-mail today from our facilitator saying that he submitted our dossier. In his broken English he wrote that there were no problems with the dossier and that the SDA has it. Our next step would be an appointment notification. He said the SDA would look to see if R was available in October but that if she isn't available until November, he would have to come back with the dossier then...but they still took it.

I think that they want him to submit our dossier the month that she is available, but that they took it in case she is available in October, a fact the "dossier taker" wasn't sure about. He subtly reminded us that he has "unofficial" knowledge that she is available in October, something that the "dossier taker" didn't know.

So what are we saying? Yeah, we were confused too until we reread the e-mail several times...still are!

1. The SDA accepted our dossier
2. If R is available in October, the SDA will send us a date
3. If R isn't available until November, they will give the dossier back to our facilitator and he will resubmit in November, or December, or whatever month she's available.
4. Our facilitator is certain that she is available in October.
5. This is Ukraine, anything can happen...or not happen!

~ Felix ~

4 out of 5

The flu has descended upon the Longmont Internat. Four of us have caught it and are various stages of recuperation. I, Felix, started the fun on Saturday with a fever, chills and feeling like crud! I'm on the upswing now. Next to fall victim was Heidi on Sunday, with much the same symptoms. Kole followed on Monday morning and he has had three days of 103 to 100 fevers with a nasty cough. Nadia called home Monday afternoon from school with a fever and we went to get her. She's also had high fevers a couple of days, but she is doing much better than Kole. All four of us have been home for three days while Julia, the only one not sick, attends school. Today, Julia tried to convince Heidi that she was sick too by taking her own temp four times. No dice, 98.6! After a couple of hours she called home, feinting illness to which Heidi told her to report to the school nurse. If the nurse said she was sick and had a fever that would be proof enough for us. The phone never rang! We had a talk with her tonight about 'crying wolf'! Unfortunately for her, she probably will share in the fun eventually.

We are supposed to get our dossier submitted tomorrow, which will be tonight while we sleep. So, please keep our girls in your prayers. Also, special prayers continue to go out to little Natalie, who has been at the forefront of our thoughts since last Friday night.

~ Felix ~

Zina news, It's Official!!

God read my last sentence in yesterday's post and he sent us the following message today, as if to say, "Hey Felix, here's your itinerary. Now get off my back!"

Hello Heidi,

Rxxx, the lawyer from the orphanage, happily informed me today that the court decree on the termination of Zina's bilogical mother's custody became effective. The inspector from Kxxxx called him today and she is going to send him a copy of the court decree in order he could prepare the file for Zina for SDA in Kiev. Rxxx will do it as soon as possible. About this time next year you'll be able to adopt Zina.

O

Needless to say, we are ecstatic all over again! By the end of 2010, all of our kids will be home! Three consecutive winters in Ukraine! Now that's an itinerary!

~ Felix ~

Dossier Submission

Hi everyone, sorry it’s been awhile since our last posting. I wanted to hold off until Heidi got a chance to write about her trip. She’s been terribly busy catching up at work since taking off to go to Ukraine. She simply never has the time to stop, and neither do I. I usually write these posts over my lunch break or when I can’t sleep. Hopefully, we will get you a trip report soon.

We were notified yesterday by Oleg, our facilitator, that we can expect a dossier submission on October 15th! This is good news and I couldn’t wait to update our timeline over on the right side. If Rimma is eligible now…by all indications of other blogs and the SDA friendly stance on older child adoptions…we could get a SDA appointment around the middle or end of November! If Rimma is not yet eligible, we will of course, wait the month or two until she is. Oleg says that the SDA will time the appointment appropriately. Nothing says commitment like a Ukrainian adoption in winter. Here we go again!

We have been prepping our old house for sale since our renter moved out this past weekend. We spend every evening painting, running kids to practices, painting, cooking dinner, painting, doing homework and parent-teacher conferences and oh yeah, painting. Here and there I manage to hang a light fixture, too. So, sorry again for not getting a trip report out yet. Thanks for the understanding.

My dad has been with us for a week and a half. He arrived the same day as Heidi got back. Grandpa has been a great help to us and immediately bonded with all the kids. He too has a heart for the fatherless children of the world and gets teary when he hears the answers to his questions regarding our kids pasts and the status of R & Z. Now I know where I got it from! Dad has been helping with homework, fixing our old house, and even a little upholstery. We have been in need of getting our dining chairs and stools recovered forever and he just jumped in and knocked it out in a couple of days. Thanks Pop!

Heidi arrived with a case of food poisoning from the Air France flight. She and Carol apparently ate some bad French chicken. It also took Heidi a week or more to get over the time zone difference. She was going to bed way early and waking up at three in the morning. She seems to be sleeping better now. Heidi does all the painting at the old house after work and crashes once the kids are in bed. She’s a trooper!

Nadia, Julia & Kolya are all doing well in school. They each have surprised us in their learning ability. Mid-term reports came in last week and both girls had 2 A’s, 2 B’s and 2 C’s. Nice job! That’s not to say that we don’t have our bad days and each kid tests our patience from time to time. Julia continues to struggle with organizational skills, Nadia’s teachers are coaching her on not coming across as arrogant and know-it-all, and Kole gets a little whiny from time to time.

We miss R & Z terribly. There will be a day soon where we have all the kids under one roof. I don’t want to end on a bad note, but the orphanage lawyer is arguing that Zina is not registered yet and that this is the month that they go to court to fix it all. Our facilitators’ people (can’t explain here) tell us that she is registered. Who knows who is right? All we know is that we are forever committed to Zina and we will bring her home one day. We’re not upset by this information and after all, it is not up to us, but God’s timing. I do wish he would fill me in on it, though (lol)!

~ Felix ~

Good news in 3's

It's beautiful day here in Colorado, unlike the past few days we have experienced. Since Monday it has been overcast and rainy, with snow falling in the mountains. The front range is but 15 miles or so away and we have a good dusting on the peaks and especially Longs Peak, for which our town is named.

What makes the day even better is that I have good news...three pieces of good news, in fact!

1. Heidi comes home tonight! Right now she is somewhere over the Atlantic.


2. My Dad flies in tonight too and will be with us for two weeks!


3. The Bahamian marriage certificates with apostiles arrived today!

So this completes our dossier, which is in the hands of our facilitator already. We were missing just this one document. I've forgotten how long ago we sent off for it, I think it was last month. What took it so long, do you think? Perhaps it's the pretty lace and gold embossed seal they put on it. All of our other documents are plain, black & white papers from Colorado, but these really stand out!

~ Felix ~

No time to blog in Ukraine!

No time to blog - but having a great trip! Had lunch with the DeYoungs and McE's today. Please pray for the McE's second appointment! DeYoungs are headed to K-town tonight!

Felix talks to Galina

So, OK, my sweetie has been on a whirl-wind tour of Kherson & Kiev the past week and hasn't posted as much as she would like. That's alright. I'm sure she will catch us all up when she gets back, which will be Friday night around 10:30-ish MST.

I've skyped with Heidi and got to hear, not see R, Z & Vika this past weekend. They could not get skype to work correctly at the Bible House. They could see me, but could not hear me, so we spoke over the land line while I took them on a video tour of Internat Longmont. Heidi and I have talked three times over the phone and the reception has been crystal clear like she was in the next room, an oddity for Ukrainian telecommunications. Welcomed, but odd.

I called Heidi this morning as they were driving to the Boyarka orphanage where our kids lived. We talked for five minutes before they got close, then I told Heidi that I would call her later to see how the reunion went. About 20 minutes later as I climbed out of the shower, the phone rang. It was Heidi saying that she had someone who wanted to talk to me. I could hear champagne pouring in the background. It was Galina, the orphanage director, saying...

"Prevyet Felix, Kak de la? Felix, blah blah blah Kherson, blah, blah blah dee-yet-ty blah blah Diet-ski Dom Boyarka, blah blah blah!" (Of course, the blahs are something in Ukrainian and the rest is a phonetic sounding of Ukrainian words that I understood.) She was telling me that we don't need to adopt kids from Kherson, we need to adopt kids from her orphanage in Boyarka.

How sweet is she! If you have read my posts from our first adoption trip, you will remember that Galina is super-pro-adoption and will go out of her way to help you with the process, even letting you take the kids home after the first couple of days. In her words, "Children belong in a family, not in an orphanage or Ukrainian foster care."

Although pre-selection is a no-no, this doesn't stop Galina from asking us for families for her children. She does have some cuties there! Perhaps couples not finding the children they are seeking should go see her. Tell her, Felix sent ya. And don't forget the champagne, Galina likes her champagne!

~ Felix ~