Flight Info - Preliminary

The plan is for Felix and Rimma to fly home on Wednesday. They will be on the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt which arrives at DIA at 3:50 p.m. Usually it takes an hour to get through passport control and customs. Stay tuned in case something changes. It's Ukraine!

It's been two years and three months since we first met Rimma on our first UOO camp. It's been a long road! It's hard to believe that (1) she is really our daughter even though I haven't seen her for a month and (2) she will be joining us forever in just a few short days.

Please keep Zina (how can I call her Lizzie!?! we'll have to work on that) in your prayers. I talked to her today and she is very upset. Nadia translated a couple things for us and even Nadia started crying. It's hard to console Zina and say, "Honey it will be OK." Because no, I don't think she is OK in the internot. There is little supervision, but there are pregnancy tests. Two girls have recently jumped out of windows of their internot trying to commit suicide. After getting off the phone, Nadia told Kolya, "No, Zina is not OK there. Who wants to be in an internot?"

I held it together until our church service today when I turned into a sobbing baby. (Thanks for the support Heather!) Following along with the message, I was trying to figure out what God is trying to teach us from the pain we are going through. What is He telling us? Is it that we should adopt "blind" instead of "pre-selecting"? No - we really believe God's plan for Zina is to be part of our family. We also believe that God has a plan for Zina to help others in Kherson this year. But the pain? What is the purpose? We can handle it as adults and we will be preoccupied this year...but she will not.

I'm digging deep for forgiveness for our "friend" Big N but it's just not there. Shame on him. What he is doing is evil.

~ Heidi ~

Day 44 - Kiev

Me & Rimma at the SDA, where it all started 43 days ago

Day 43 - Saying Goodbye

I picked up both Rimma and Lizzie this morning at 10:30 am, sharp. Today,a young girl has walked out of an orphanage never to return and she is on her way to a new life, a family who loves her, and to a forever home in the USA. Rimma Roge is an orphan NO MORE.

We had our last day out in the town of Kherson. I held it together for the whole day, right up until the last hour. I had an uneasy feeling all day and at 6 pm I lost it...in front of my girls...at Cafe Monia. I'm sure the staff was wondering if I didn't like the food.

There I sat sobbing like a baby, both girls patting me on the back and telling me, "It's OK, dad. It's OK". Imagine! Them, consoling me! The cry virus spread like a wildfire and soon enough, I had Lizzie crying, unintentionally I assure you.

We just dropped Lizzie off at the orphanage. She sobbed against my shoulder, her tummy trembling uncontrolably. I held her for a few minutes until her favorite caretaker arrived. She took her and "mothered" her. I asked her to stay with Lizzie for the rest of the night, she assured me she would. I left and went outside to compose myself. No dice, I cried the 15 minute walk to the Bible House.

The train leaves in an hour and we are sitting now with our facilitator, waiting on the taxi. Next post will be from Heidi or from me in Kiev.

It was a great day and a hard day. I am taking one daughter home and leaving another behind. Everyone, please pray for Lizzie.

Day 42 - Passport in hand!

Yep, got the passport! All done here but the crying, which will be prolonged into tommorow. There were no train tickets tonight so we will be leaving Saturday night. Got the first-class cabins too! Ha ha! The curse has been broken and I'll get to ride in Volf family style at last!

Rimma was officially signed out and released today after an act of God! I was freaking out around 2pm today. Me, my facilitator, Roman the orphanage lawyer and "Big Nick" met in the lawyers office to sign the release paperwork. "Big Nick" balked when he discovered that I was asked to sign for Heidi. He refused unless she too was present or I had an original power of attorney. It looked like I would have to call Heidi and tell her to book a flight! A faxed POA wouldn't work for them either.

It was resloved when Roman pulled out the Ukrainian statute and read it to him. It stated that the parent or parents had to be present to take the child out of the orphanage. Roman quckly opened the Word document, erased Heidi's name from the document along with her signature line and we all resigned it. This all took and hour and was the longest hour in my life! We had to make a quick trip to the inspector's office to have it restamped by her, a process Roman had already taken care of on the previous voided document.

So, we will arrive in Kiev Sunday morning, go to church with Karen and stay at her apartment. Monday's embassy visit and medical has already been scheduled for us by our facilitator there. We will fly out on Wednesday barring any more unforeseen obstacles. I may not have internet or I may too busy to blog and if so, I'll ask Heidi to keep you informed. Thank you so much for the prayers, we could feel them!

Day 41 - See, I'm not making this stuff up!

While we await word on the arrival of the passport, I thought I would humor you with a few pictures and prove to you that I'm not going crazy. However, having a lot of time on your hands does give one time to pause and ponder the mundane and often overlooked little things in life. But, not to worry, it has been in the 50's this week with lots of sunshine and all the snow and ice is gone except that which is in the shadows. Therefore I have been able to venture out and walk the city with ease. My friends, such as the dangling paint chip that I keep talking about on Facebook, have missed me though. We made a connection, you know!

The Bee Gees singing "Staying Alive" at Oskar

My friend, the dangling and spinning paint chip (over my bed)

The Michelle DeYoung duct tape job is still holding up well!

Lizzie's contraband hamster sleeping in my house slipper. A friend bought it for her after I said "No". Of course, once it is ever discovered, I'm sure she will catch heat over it from the staff.

Me at the Dniper River

How the adoption process makes me feel, sometimes!

Day 39 - My Busy Day

We are done! DONE, I say...with all adoption work in Kherson! The ONLY things left are waiting on the passport and traveling to Kiev for a medical and visa appointment. So, everything "Ukrianian" is done! It's all up the good ole US Embassy once we get the passport. Let's see, today we...

- Traveled 2 hours to the region,
- Worked for an hour there to change the Birth Certificate (BC)
- Traveled an hour back towards Kherson
- Almost hit a car head-on when right front tire blew upon hitting the world's largest pothole
- Almost rolled in the opposite direction when the driver overcorrected
- Changed said tire on the side of the road
- Had the car fall off the jack when a gust of wind from a big rig blew by
- Watched in horror as the driver narrowly escaped falling car
- Searched the ditch for big rock to place behind rear wheel because the emergency brake didn't work in the 80's model Lada
- Jacked up car again, replaced tire, got back on the road
- Arrived in Kherson, safe but soiled!
- Went and received Tax ID # from goverment office
- Made an copy of BC for passport office (PPO)
- Went to notary to get notarization on a copy of Birth Certificate (BC)
- Went to different goverment office to "officiate" the new BC
- Went to a bank to pay for official stamp on BC
- Went back to office to show receipt and get official BC
- Picked up Rimma from orphanage for PPO photo
- Argued with Rimma about pulling hair back for PPO photo
- Won argument, but dealt with unhappy teen for rest of the day
- Took photo and application to PPO
- Went to bank to pay PPO fee
- Went back to PPO and completed everything
- On the road at 6am, done at 5pm!
- Took my daughter out for desset to celebrate!

Our facilitator thinks we should receive the passport Friday afternoon. If that happens, Rimma and I will leave on the Friday night train to Kiev. That will have us enjoying the sites with Karen this weekend and doing the medical & Visa on Monday. A flight on Tuesday morning could occur.

If the passport doesn't arrive Friday afternoon, it will arrive on Monday. We would miss the weekend with Karen, but spend it with Zina. We would board the Monday night train, attempt the medical and visa appointment on Tuesday, with a flight out on Wednesday.

Help us pray for that passport on Friday...and please pray for Zina. She's already crying.

Day 38 - Got-cha Day!

The 10 day wait is over! It is official now. We have Rimma Roge'. Today, our facilitator picked up the court decree and I accompanied her to the registrar's office to sign documents for who knows what. I think it was to get a tax ID number for Rimma, an authorization to change the birth certificate tomorrow, and paperwork to get the passport ball rolling. And then there's that whole registering and de-registering of an Ukrainian citizen, a throwback to former Soviet times.

Tomorrow at 6am, we travel to the town where Rimma was born to change the birth certificate and to get our copy. The last half of the day will be the passport application work. Then it's a wait until we get the passport. Last word is that the passport issue has been resolved and it will take up to four days to get it.

I'm fairly certain that we will not make our flight on Saturday. Everything has to fall into place by Wednesday night so we can get on that night's train to Kiev. Medical & Visa appointments would have to be done before the Embassy closes on Friday at 10 am (note to PAPs: the Embassy closes the last Friday of every month at 10 am for training). Barring a miracle, the passport wait will push us into the weekend.

Fair enough! I realized that during the 10 day wait and it's no biggie. I'm OK with being here a few more days and we can certainly change the flights. Last time we bought our own airfare, this time we went through Golden Rule (Eldo) for the same price and I don't have to sweat the details! We just call him up and he takes care of us.

So, we should be flying home sometime between Saturday the 27th to Wednesday the 3rd. I told Rimma that this will be her last week in the orphanage and Lizzie is getting prepared, albeit sadly. I am attempting to get as much love in as possible and I'm gathering friends to be with her when we leave.

Game on! These next several days promises to be a busy and fun week. Keep reading as we make our eventual homecoming! Here we come!