Day 13

Friday, April 23, 2010. Nastya picked up our paperwork from the train this morning at 5am. She submitted it to the SDA in Kiev with no problems, and it was accepted! This is a big deal because it is not always accepted if something is “off”, such as a signature that is not exactly as in someone’s passport, a smudge on the paper, a date that is incorrect, or the officials just happen to be in a bad mood that day.

Also, our Interpol report is in, which is the International background check that says that our criminal history record is spotless in every country throughout the world. This is great news because if it were not back yet, we would have to wait (sometimes weeks) to receive it before we could be issued a court date.

If all goes according to plan, our SDA approval could be given as soon as Monday the 26th or Wednesday the 28th, meaning that our court appearance could be as soon as Wednesday the 28th (if we get SDA Approval on the previous Monday). According to both of our Facilitators, most likely our SDA will be approved on Wednesday the 28th and our court appearance will be scheduled for Thursday the 29th… we will get the official court date on Monday… and then the countdown begins…

We will have a 10-day waiting period from that point. This period is intended to allow any relatives to contest the adoption and step in to accept responsibility for the children. Natalia has already gone to the birthplace of the girls to look for anything that could hang up our process (including any issues with birth certificates or passports) and found nothing. She believes that everything will move smoothly for us. Court day counts as Day 0. On Day 11, we receive the court decree that makes Anastasia and Kristina our official daughters! That day is considered “Gotcha Day” in the world of adoption. From the point, we will be running around for the following 2 days getting their new birth certificates and passports before taking a flight to Kiev. We will be in Kiev for approximately 2 or 3 more days so that we can get the girls’ medicals done and all of the US Embassy paperwork. If these things happen with no kinks, we should be flying home on May 15th! We gave the girls the good news and they were thrilled!

Lunch today at "The Chalet" Brewery and Restaurant (no English menu):





We had a rather interesting experience at the hotel in the morning. We were having breakfast, there were several free tables around, and a Ukrainian woman came and sat down right next to us at our table and ordered her breakfast. She didn’t say a word, and in fact, Jerry asked if she spoke English and she did not. She stared a lot, but didn’t say anything. It was very strange. We asked Natalia about it (maybe some strange Ukrainian custom?) but she even thought it was weird. Later in the day when we returned from the orphanage, a large group of people came in from a candy company. I think they were having a convention of some sort. The place was packed! We couldn’t have dinner at the hotel, so we went out instead.

A pro-Communism sign of Lenin that reads "How Do You Like Living Under Capitalism?"



Some random shots (The one of Kristina looking angry is because she was going through ice cream withdrawls):