It's there!

Our dossier was delivered and signed for by our facilitator/translator, Valentina! It arrived yesterday, Saturday January 12th. Valentina sent us an e-mail tonight confirming receipt. She said it had one little problem that may or may not be caught by the SDA, but that we shouldn't chance it. It seems our marriage certificate from the Bahamas is the only document that doesn't have "Jr." on it. All docs have Felix Rogé Jr. except this one. We didn't catch it. Good eye, Valentina! We will get to work on it immediately. Valentina seems confident that she can get it in line at the SDA soon. Wow! Things have moved quickly in a week!

We talk to Zina

We talked to Zina this morning for about 30 minutes. Lilya translated. Instead of "Hello"when she answered, she said "Is this my family?". It was a great way to start the weekend and it was so good to hear her voice again. This is the first time we have heard her since she left. We did have that botched phone call to her with all the whispering, but it doesn't count since we didn't really talk and she couldn't speak with us. All the other times, Ellie or Lilya called for us. We set up a schedule to talk to her every other Saturday morning.

In typical Zina fashion, she started asking if her parents were OK and well. She said she has been worrying about us, especially Heidi, since her surgery. I could see her gestures while she was talking, the ones she made while with us. Here is what was on her mind.

• The rest of the children got back from the California trip and she was happy for them that most found families. She feels a connection with them because she now has a family that loves and cares for her.
• I asked her if she needed anything and she said no, please save our money because she "knows the documents and effort to get her will cost lots and that is enough to give her".
• She is worried about Rimma and is concerned that she is throwing away a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a family and a future.
• She loves us and misses us. She only has one of the five letters we have sent her.
• She was annoyed with the inability to send us her letters. Not at us but the fact that no one at the orphanage will help her get postage or mail letters for her. We assured her that we will get postage to her when Lilya's brother and sister come to see her in February.
• She loves us, dearly!

As you can see, Zina is a compassionate and sweet girl that thinks of other before herself. That was how she behaved while here and part of her wonderful personality that makes her a perfect fit for our family. We are convinced that God sent her to us and wants us to do everything possible to take care of her. We hope to adopt her once she gets registered and that may take 2 years or so, or never, if the courts never relinquish her. But make no mistake, we have been charged with her care and we will do so, now and forever.

Zina, we love you. Our extended family and friends love you, and, everyone who reads this blog loves you too! Thank you for your returned love and kind heart.

Dad

Paris, France

According to Fedex.com, our dossier has traveled from Longmont to Boulder to Indianapolis to Paris...and it already left Paris. For where? I don't know. But it's darn close to Ukraine!

Everyone's question to me is, "When do you think you'll go?" We don't know. But I found two other families that Cathy assigned to Valentina, and they have been waiting to be submitted since September 2007 and June 2007. Here are their websites:

http://ukraineforeverfamily.squarespace.com

http://stacianddamon.blogspot.com

Then again, last spring the Abella family had their dossier submitted in 14 days. Yes, 14 days!!! Why the difference? The Abella's requested a sibling group of 3 children, which may have put them to the front of the line. Also, the U.S. met its "quota" for Ukrainian adoptions (set by the SDA) in October and they aren't accepting new dossiers until mid-January. So really three months of their delays are due to bad luck.

Bottom line...it's anyone's guess when we travel. Hopefully in 2008!!!

Dossier Day!

All 21 documents with their apostilles & Heidi sending our Dossier to Ukraine at Fed-Ex




Well, the day has arrived! At the beginning of the week, Heidi finished getting our updated (6 month rule) medical forms and we completed the power of attorney forms. I had to meet her at the notary's office during a busy day at work. Heidi got our dossier down to the Colorado Dept. of State yesterday for the apostille process. Today she went back down to Denver to pick them up and she sorted them at home. We have three copies of the Dossier.

We are excited to announce that WE HAVE SENT OUR DOSSIER!!! Yes, we were shouting there. What seems like an impossible task is done! We will have to keep an eye on our document expiration spreadsheet (6 month rule), but the hard document gathering is complete.

Our US agency, Ukrainian Angels (Cathy Harris) assigned us our assistant (facilitator) in Ukraine. Her name is Valentina. We say assistant because Ukraine doesn't allow facilitators. In Ukraine she is called our "translator", but she "facilitates" our adoption process and represents us in line at the Ukraine Sate Dept. of Adoption (SDA). So, she is our facilitator. Believe me, we were confused too the first time this was explained to us! It is Valentina's job to translate our dossier into the Ukrainian language (not Russian, more on this later) and get it into the SDA. Once the SDA gets it, they have 20 days to accept it or reject it. If they accept it they will notify us of our appointment. This is the official invitation to come to their country to accept a referral. A referral, for those who don't know, are the children we have selected to meet.

About the Ukrainian vs. Russian language reference above. The country has both languages. Russian was the official language during the Soviet era, Ukrainian is the official government language. Therefore, all documents are in Ukrainian. But, most everyone speaks Russian and Ukrainian. The east bank of the country (split by the Dnieper River) favors Russian and the west bank favors Ukrainian. In school, Ukrainian is taught. Confused yet? Nyet?

Jordan went home

Our daughter, Jordan, went home today. We are sad to see her go and we can't wait to have her back for the summer. Jordan lives with her mother in El Paso, Texas. The house is too quiet and we miss her. It sure is a pleasure when she is here. Jordan supports our adoption and excitedly awaits additional bothers or sisters into our family. She may accompany us to Ukraine if she is out of school. Speaking of school, Jordan has maintained straight A's for years now and we are so proud of her. Way to go Jordan! May all your dreams come true!

Pappa & Pappa Jr

Felix's dad, Louis, visited us for the holidays. He helped us construct a built in shelf in the basement for our books. Dad is an accomplished carpenter and has helped us on several projects around the house each time he visits. Hmmmnn, may be we will pre-order those French doors!

Just the facts, Ma'am

First things first, Heidi was released this morning and she is home doing fine. Friends and family, thanks for the visits, calls, and e-mails. Also, thank you for sending flowers to Heidi and donations to UOO http://www.ukraineorphans.org/ .

And now (cue the Dragnet music, Daaa, da, da, dant!) some facts we discovered from today's phone call to Zina.

Lilya is back home. She called Zina for us this morning and has established a time for us to talk with her every other Saturday morning. We had a list of questions to ask her and some clarification on existing matters. If you have been reading the blog, you know what they are. So here is what we learned:

• The cell phone is indeed hers. She said that an Italian organization that sponsors her orphanage gave it to her as a Christmas gift this year. Every year they asked each child what they would like for Christmas. She explained that she needed it to talk to her parents in America and they got it for her. Talk about God's work! She wants us to get her a new one and she wants to give the "Italian" one to Rimma. She also wants the phone to be simple, being concerned of what it will cost us. How thoughtful! As we were concerned about the paying of the phone anyway, we had plans to do this already. We will take care of this through Lilya's family that lives in Ukraine.


• Zina refers to Heidi and me as her parents in all conversations, including those with friends and teachers there.


• Zina said that Vika, Rimma and she cried all the way home on the plane. She told them, "You only left friends behind. I left my family behind".


• Zina said she studied hard for her exams this week (and get this) "Because she didn't want to let her parents down"! What an incredible young lady!


• Zina said "Hello" to us 1000 times during their conversation.


• Zina said she left clothes in the dresser because she plans to come back for them. (I found these clothes the day after they left and bawled my eyes out.)


• Someone (perhaps Ellie) explained to Zina that the adoption process will take two years, so she said she is prepared for the wait. Lilya said Zina was doing the math on how old and what grade she will be in when it happens.

OK, go blow your nose and wipe away the tears and I'll tell ya about Rimma.

• Rimma again apologized a thousand times for not wanting to leave Ukraine. She is afraid that she has hurt our feelings and that we are mad. Lilya relayed that this of course is not the case.


• We found out why Rimma doesn't want to be adopted. She is afraid of new things like new food, new language, new everything. She said she loves to travel and takes part in all the hosting trips so she can get out of the orphanage. She explained that she wishes she could just go on the trips to get out of there. She wishes that everyone would not ask to adopt her. She said she loved Italy, Virginia, and Colorado, but that she wishes they were in Ukraine. She told Lilya that she wants to travel the world and have nice things, but have a home in Ukraine. I think that is very admirable.

Well, that is all for now. Thanks everybody!