Monday, April 16, 2007
Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...
Those words sum up our trip to Ukraine. We purchased our tickets and will be heading to Ukraine on Mother's Day. Fred will be staying in Ukraine until after our court date and Lisa will be staying until the adoption is complete. Our trip home is scheduled for June 18th, however, we are hoping we'll be home sooner than that. We are excited about our time in Ukraine. Our good friends Mark and Christine are adopting Khrystyna's best friend and will be travelling with us. We are amazed that God has allowed us to have appointments on the same day (which is an absolute miracle) and are thrilled that we will be getting our daughters around the same time. It will also make things easier for Lisa after Fred goes back home to know that she has friends that will be staying nearby. Please keep us all in your prayers as we are frantically trying to purchase the necessities for our trip and trying to prepare ourselves for parenthood!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Exciting news!
After months of waiting and planning, we have finally received our invitation to travel to Ukraine. We have our meeting with the State Department of Adoption in Kiev on Wednesday, May 16th. We will be travelling over Mother's Day weekend and will hopefully be able to see Khrystyna on Thursday or Friday of that week. We are so excited to be able to see her and spend time with her.
There are still lots of hoops to jump through when we get to Ukraine. At our meeting on May 16th, we will be given permission to travel to Khrystyna's orphanage. Once we get to her orphanage, we will petition the local court for an appointment date to adopt Khrystyna. If all goes well, our court appointment will be about 2 weeks after our appointment in Kiev. At this appointment, we hope that our petition to adopt Khrystyna will be granted. There will then be a mandatory 10 business day waiting period which is required for all Ukranian court decisions. Fred will travel home during this time and Lisa will stay in Ukraine. After this waiting period, our adoption will be final and the official decree will be signed and translated for us. Once all the papers are issued, we will scramble to get amended birth certificates and a new passport issued, and then we head back to Kiev for about three days of appointments at the US Embassy for her visa.
Now that we have an appointment date, we will try to post more frequently to keep you all posted. Also, we have been told that we will have access to internet cafes while we are in Ukraine, so we hope that you will be able to follow us on every step of our trip.
There are still lots of hoops to jump through when we get to Ukraine. At our meeting on May 16th, we will be given permission to travel to Khrystyna's orphanage. Once we get to her orphanage, we will petition the local court for an appointment date to adopt Khrystyna. If all goes well, our court appointment will be about 2 weeks after our appointment in Kiev. At this appointment, we hope that our petition to adopt Khrystyna will be granted. There will then be a mandatory 10 business day waiting period which is required for all Ukranian court decisions. Fred will travel home during this time and Lisa will stay in Ukraine. After this waiting period, our adoption will be final and the official decree will be signed and translated for us. Once all the papers are issued, we will scramble to get amended birth certificates and a new passport issued, and then we head back to Kiev for about three days of appointments at the US Embassy for her visa.
Now that we have an appointment date, we will try to post more frequently to keep you all posted. Also, we have been told that we will have access to internet cafes while we are in Ukraine, so we hope that you will be able to follow us on every step of our trip.
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