Thursday, January 24, 2008

1/24/08 Here comes the sun!!!

What a beautiful day in Ukraine. Ok I know tomorrow I will be kicking myself for saying that. Today we finally saw the sun. It was a nice crisp day with a blue sky. So much nicer than the never ending gray we have had since we got here. Kiev is much nicer than Kryvvy Rig. The streets are clean the buildings have color and there is no industrial waste in the air. We started our day by finding a grocery, a pharmacy and the American Consulate. Juliyana has a cough that continually wakes her during the night so we tried some cough medicine but it does not seem to help. We went to the Consulate to drop off a photo of Juliyana so that on Monday we can get rolling on paperwork. At the Consulate we met an American woman who was wrapping up her second adoption. She has been in country since December 5th. I guess I have nothing to complain about. The smile on her face when she was handed her sons immigrant visa could light the world !

After that we went to the Soho Pizza and Steak Restaurant. For those of you on Ukrainian Angels Kathy and Matt Johnson are here and we caught up with them this afternoon for lunch. It was great to have others who understand what your doing and saying to chat with. They have a referal but will not head out for a day or two so we will see them again soon. It was very weird when we went to Matt and Kathy's flat, Juliyana started to cry as we were talking inside the door. I think she thought we were going to leave her there with them. It is the worst feeling in the world as a parent to not be able to explain to your child that you are their Momma for life and you would never leave them behind.

It was a long walk from the consulate back to our flat but Juliyana was a trooper. Little did we know she was working off the Coca Cola Light she had stolen from her momma's glass. Oh my god I did not think she would ever burn out this evening. From now on we will be verry stingy with the cafinated drinks.

Finally it seems we have light at the end of the tunnel. Juliyana's passport should be done on Monday and we have tickets out for Thursday. We can't wait to get her home and in to some type of routine.

P.S.
Christy,
Thanks so much for posting comments. It helps to hear from family and friends. We always have room at the Lebsack Inn and we would love for you guys to come visit. You changed email addresses send me your new one. I'll give you a call when I get home.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

HEY!!!!!!Hope you guys get her passport so you can come on home and Juliyana can see her new family
~Olivia/Lulu :):):):):):):):):):)
WE MISS YOU GUYS!!!!
~Bubby,BozyBo(Zoe)and Lulu

Amy said...

Yippee!

You are so close! Can't wait to see pictures of your little angel when she gets HOME!

Best wishes!
Amy

Anonymous said...

You all will have a lot of company over the next couple of months. Save room for us to meet our granddaughter and be with the boys and Michael and you! What a joy that will be.
Love
Ray and Anne

Anonymous said...

I am so happy today today went better then yesterday. It will be so nice for everyone to have this journey be complete and Juliyana to be with her whole family. You have been on a wild ride!

Helen, what a good friend you have been for Donna. You can truley say you would go to the ends of the earth for her!!!!

Take care and I hope you are all home next week.

Amber

Anonymous said...

I am sooo glad that Julianna's passport is on the way. You ladies are needed at home, but I hope you enjoyed your 14 hour chauffeured tour of the Ukrainian countryside (highlights: toilet seat). Hey, I have some dirty laundry.... I love you gals, stay safe, the "Nurse's Husband"

Kathy and Matt said...

It was great to meet with the three of you yesterday. Wonderful to talk with others who are in this process (and who speak English).
Juliyanna is a gem! She's such a sweet little girl. You're blessed!
Talk with you soon.

Staci and Damon said...

Glad to hear that things are moving along - we've been following your blog since you left. Best wishes on your last week in Ukraine - hope all goes well!

I am so pleased to hear that Ukraine has Coca Cola Light! I am a devoted Diet Coke drinker, and I had heard before that Regular Coca Cola was all that was available in Ukraine. YAY!
Staci

Anonymous said...

Hi my friend! Its such a treasure seeing your pics! I know it is all frustrating, but from this end, it sems like it is coming right along, and we will see your wonderful 40 year old self and that sweet little girl of yours before we know it!

All is still going okay, but I am missing you more at work, it will be nice to have you back, whenever that will be... Emily, April and I have been working hard on the toddler room, with some success, I believe!

I set up the shower for Jill and Trevor, but we decided to delay it until Sunday, Feb 17 mostly to give you more time to get back and settled. But, we can go back to the 9th if you need to. I plan to call Michael tomorrow to see if he knows of any problems with that date.

You will have to let me feed Juyiana some American hippie-type food (maybe some Minnesota wild rice...) Maybe she will like it better than Mac and Dons. No, maybe she will EAT it better. Anyway, I hope the flight back goes well in case you get a miraculously speedy wrap up of all of this and I don't get to commenting again.

Anyway, see you both soon!!! Laurie

Anonymous said...

Hello! Man, what a trip so far for the three of you! I hope since your last blog was on the 24th that you are so busy with finishing up details that you haven't had time to post anything! We are all on the edge of our seats to hear what your next adventure will be.
Marissa has some things she would like to send out to Juliyana when we have a chance to go through her things. I had to show her a picture of Juliyana today to prove she isn't a baby.
You guys hang in there and know that everyone here is rooting for you! Love to you, Helen and Juliyana!

Darian