Summary of last 3 Days
Monday May 14th - Paperwork Week
Today was the start of our major push for paperwork in our attempt to get a court date. Basically, we are putting together a petition that needs to be approved by the SDA, to get a court appearance. Natasha got up early and hit the road at 8am by herself. She visited several places that included the orphanage, medical facility, and the judge’s office. She visited the judge to discuss Sveta’s case and how to present it since she is 18 now. Historically there are not many that get adopted after 17, but it is not unheard of. Natasha presented different legal briefs to the judge to acclimate the judge and thankfully the judge was somewhat familiar with this scenario and how to present the case, so between the judge Natasha, they know how to put it together.
By 11:00, Natasha had put together quite an impressive stack of paperwork to be put in our petition. Then it needed to be notarized. Our appointment wasn’t until 3:30pm, so we had a little lunch at the hotel (salads and mashed potatoes, although this time the potatoes were an instant mix, yuck!), and then a quick visit to the orphanage, to get some more info on Sveta to take to the notary’s office. This allowed us about an hour to visit with Lena and Olya. Then off to the notary’s office. To get a notary is a big deal over here, not like in the States where you can go basically anywhere and get one. Here, the notary has a formal education, and they act in a similar fashion as maybe a lawyer at the DMV. By that, hopefully, you get the jist of what it was like. The whole time he never acknowledged that Janet and I were even in the room. No ‘hello’ or nod or handshake. Just a get the job done and get out attitude in there. He was in a fancy shiny silver, Italian suit, and designer shirt, tie and shoes. Very stylish and en vogue! He looked very serious and busy, and irritated somewhat that there were ACTUALLY people there in his office wanting him to do some work, or at least that‘s the way he acted. Basically, he typed all the different info that we had accumulated into a computer that would jumble it all together and eventually make official summary documents to be notarized and sent to the SDA. The time there was about a half hour. He printed out the official documents, that we signed and he stamped. Done!…and off we went, back to the orphanage. When we got back, the girls were all sitting there, lined up on a bench in front of the orphanage, big smiles on their faces because we made it back. They took us on a walk outside of the orphanage grounds. We walked for a few minutes, working our way through some apartment complexes, and when we came out on the other side, we were on a lookout point that looks out over the city and the sea. It was beautiful. Sveta explained to me that she likes to get up each morning for a short jog to this spot to start her day. I told her that I like to get up early in the morning for a jog, too, so she asked me to show up tomorrow to jog together. :)
Tuesday May 15th - The girls want Chiropractic!
Got up and ran up to the orphanage to run with Sveta. She made it at 6am sharp. It was a short jog, just 10 or 15 minutes all together, but we stood out at the lookout point for a little while talking. It was a sweet time for us. We ran back to the orphanage, dropped her off, and ran back to the hotel to meet up with Janet for breakfast and some browsing at the market (flea market). Then we met with Natasha for a meal, and then went over to the orphanage. Some paperwork needed to be done there for Sveta. While that was being done, we hung out in the playground with the girls, and watched the older boys and some of the male staff play a heated game of soccer. During the soccer match, Janet noticed that her neck was bothering her. So, I gave her a neck adjustment while she was sitting there, and the girls watched intently. The Ukranians are not that familiar with chiropractic, so we explained it to them as best we could, and also explained that this was the job that Papa did all day. They were a little startled by the movement and the noise, but they were not scared. Immediately after the adjustment, Sveta asked if I would ever treat them. “Of course!”, I said, and all three were very pleased that their new Papa would take care of them. And Papa was happy that they wanted it. I wasn’t
too sure how they would perceive it, and it is not anything easy to translate. After the visit, Janet, Natasha and I left and went down seaside for a meal. The sunset was really nice, so I got a quick ride back up to a lookout point next to the orphanage, and took this picture.
Wednesday May 16th - Visiting the Girls’ Birthplace and mother’s grave sight
Today, we had to retrieve some paperwork from the girls’ birthplace. Sveta had the day off, so she went with us. We drove about an hour outside of Berdyansk to the county seat, and picked up some papers on the girls. There we found out that Sveta was probably born at home (in water, in the tub), and Lena and Olya were born at a hospital nearby. Then we drove about 10 minutes to where their home used to be. As we got closer, Sveta remembered where it was, and even started to give us directions. Can you imagine? That was around 12 years ago, and she was only like…6 years old. Pretty good memory!! The house was an old ‘dacha’ (country house
) out on the countryside. It was made of a concrete substance and was basically rubble. The property had been sold and someone had removed a lot of the material to use somewhere else. Only about 4 feet high of all the walls remained. It was about 20’x30’ and divided into 3 sections. Sveta climbed in and started remembering that 2 of the rooms were for sleeping (5 kids and 2 parents), and 1 kitchen, and storage area. Very rural and very tight quarters. There was also a small storage cellar, about 4’x4’ and 5’ deep along side the dacha. An old woman from next door came over to see what we were doing, and when she found out 
who Sveta was, she reminisced a little. Then she told us that the girls’ mother’s grave was not far from here. So Sveta asked if we could go see it. It was only a 2 minute drive from there. (Out of respect, I won’t post the pictures of the actual grave, but here is what the cemetery looked like. With this picture it is hard to see, but there are picnic tables next to the graves. That is a Ukranian thing, to have a meal (and maybe a shot of vodka), in memory of the loved one.) It was a small cemetery, but it was hard to find the mother’s grave. It turned out to not be marked, and to our surprise, there were two tiny graves right beside her’s. We found out that their mother had twins after Olya, but that they died within 1 year of their birth. A reason for their death wasn’t given. Sveta got very quiet then and wanted Janet to hold her. She became a little tearful, but mostly quiet. Then she asked Papa to hold her. You could only imagine what she must’ve been thinking. Not too long and she asked if we could leave. We came back to Berdyansk, and picked up Lena and her boyfriend (Volva), and went off for some pizza and ice cream (Olya had gone AWOL, visiting with a friend). Then Lena was asking if she could see the photos we took right away. So, after dinner, we ran over to the hotel, and put the pictures on the computer for her to see. She did not remember much of the dacha, and she didn’t have much to say about the cemetery pictures.
Nataliya has told us that our paperwork is going very efficiently. So, for those of you who are praying for us…KEEP IT UP!! If all goes well, we may end up AHEAD of schedule! Right now, our appointment for a court date is May 22nd (Tues).
Today was the start of our major push for paperwork in our attempt to get a court date. Basically, we are putting together a petition that needs to be approved by the SDA, to get a court appearance. Natasha got up early and hit the road at 8am by herself. She visited several places that included the orphanage, medical facility, and the judge’s office. She visited the judge to discuss Sveta’s case and how to present it since she is 18 now. Historically there are not many that get adopted after 17, but it is not unheard of. Natasha presented different legal briefs to the judge to acclimate the judge and thankfully the judge was somewhat familiar with this scenario and how to present the case, so between the judge Natasha, they know how to put it together.
By 11:00, Natasha had put together quite an impressive stack of paperwork to be put in our petition. Then it needed to be notarized. Our appointment wasn’t until 3:30pm, so we had a little lunch at the hotel (salads and mashed potatoes, although this time the potatoes were an instant mix, yuck!), and then a quick visit to the orphanage, to get some more info on Sveta to take to the notary’s office. This allowed us about an hour to visit with Lena and Olya. Then off to the notary’s office. To get a notary is a big deal over here, not like in the States where you can go basically anywhere and get one. Here, the notary has a formal education, and they act in a similar fashion as maybe a lawyer at the DMV. By that, hopefully, you get the jist of what it was like. The whole time he never acknowledged that Janet and I were even in the room. No ‘hello’ or nod or handshake. Just a get the job done and get out attitude in there. He was in a fancy shiny silver, Italian suit, and designer shirt, tie and shoes. Very stylish and en vogue! He looked very serious and busy, and irritated somewhat that there were ACTUALLY people there in his office wanting him to do some work, or at least that‘s the way he acted. Basically, he typed all the different info that we had accumulated into a computer that would jumble it all together and eventually make official summary documents to be notarized and sent to the SDA. The time there was about a half hour. He printed out the official documents, that we signed and he stamped. Done!…and off we went, back to the orphanage. When we got back, the girls were all sitting there, lined up on a bench in front of the orphanage, big smiles on their faces because we made it back. They took us on a walk outside of the orphanage grounds. We walked for a few minutes, working our way through some apartment complexes, and when we came out on the other side, we were on a lookout point that looks out over the city and the sea. It was beautiful. Sveta explained to me that she likes to get up each morning for a short jog to this spot to start her day. I told her that I like to get up early in the morning for a jog, too, so she asked me to show up tomorrow to jog together. :)
Tuesday May 15th - The girls want Chiropractic!
Got up and ran up to the orphanage to run with Sveta. She made it at 6am sharp. It was a short jog, just 10 or 15 minutes all together, but we stood out at the lookout point for a little while talking. It was a sweet time for us. We ran back to the orphanage, dropped her off, and ran back to the hotel to meet up with Janet for breakfast and some browsing at the market (flea market). Then we met with Natasha for a meal, and then went over to the orphanage. Some paperwork needed to be done there for Sveta. While that was being done, we hung out in the playground with the girls, and watched the older boys and some of the male staff play a heated game of soccer. During the soccer match, Janet noticed that her neck was bothering her. So, I gave her a neck adjustment while she was sitting there, and the girls watched intently. The Ukranians are not that familiar with chiropractic, so we explained it to them as best we could, and also explained that this was the job that Papa did all day. They were a little startled by the movement and the noise, but they were not scared. Immediately after the adjustment, Sveta asked if I would ever treat them. “Of course!”, I said, and all three were very pleased that their new Papa would take care of them. And Papa was happy that they wanted it. I wasn’t
too sure how they would perceive it, and it is not anything easy to translate. After the visit, Janet, Natasha and I left and went down seaside for a meal. The sunset was really nice, so I got a quick ride back up to a lookout point next to the orphanage, and took this picture.Wednesday May 16th - Visiting the Girls’ Birthplace and mother’s grave sight
Today, we had to retrieve some paperwork from the girls’ birthplace. Sveta had the day off, so she went with us. We drove about an hour outside of Berdyansk to the county seat, and picked up some papers on the girls. There we found out that Sveta was probably born at home (in water, in the tub), and Lena and Olya were born at a hospital nearby. Then we drove about 10 minutes to where their home used to be. As we got closer, Sveta remembered where it was, and even started to give us directions. Can you imagine? That was around 12 years ago, and she was only like…6 years old. Pretty good memory!! The house was an old ‘dacha’ (country house
) out on the countryside. It was made of a concrete substance and was basically rubble. The property had been sold and someone had removed a lot of the material to use somewhere else. Only about 4 feet high of all the walls remained. It was about 20’x30’ and divided into 3 sections. Sveta climbed in and started remembering that 2 of the rooms were for sleeping (5 kids and 2 parents), and 1 kitchen, and storage area. Very rural and very tight quarters. There was also a small storage cellar, about 4’x4’ and 5’ deep along side the dacha. An old woman from next door came over to see what we were doing, and when she found out 
who Sveta was, she reminisced a little. Then she told us that the girls’ mother’s grave was not far from here. So Sveta asked if we could go see it. It was only a 2 minute drive from there. (Out of respect, I won’t post the pictures of the actual grave, but here is what the cemetery looked like. With this picture it is hard to see, but there are picnic tables next to the graves. That is a Ukranian thing, to have a meal (and maybe a shot of vodka), in memory of the loved one.) It was a small cemetery, but it was hard to find the mother’s grave. It turned out to not be marked, and to our surprise, there were two tiny graves right beside her’s. We found out that their mother had twins after Olya, but that they died within 1 year of their birth. A reason for their death wasn’t given. Sveta got very quiet then and wanted Janet to hold her. She became a little tearful, but mostly quiet. Then she asked Papa to hold her. You could only imagine what she must’ve been thinking. Not too long and she asked if we could leave. We came back to Berdyansk, and picked up Lena and her boyfriend (Volva), and went off for some pizza and ice cream (Olya had gone AWOL, visiting with a friend). Then Lena was asking if she could see the photos we took right away. So, after dinner, we ran over to the hotel, and put the pictures on the computer for her to see. She did not remember much of the dacha, and she didn’t have much to say about the cemetery pictures.Nataliya has told us that our paperwork is going very efficiently. So, for those of you who are praying for us…KEEP IT UP!! If all goes well, we may end up AHEAD of schedule! Right now, our appointment for a court date is May 22nd (Tues).
1 comment:
been following your happenings, sounds very interesting. Especially the bullhead-eating. Brought back memories when I was a kid bullhead fishing :-)
hope everything continues to go well and the kids sure seem to be excited to come to America.
Hope to see you soon,
regards,
Sam amd Lori Draves
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