VICTORY DAY!!!!

Today is Victory Day in Ukraine. The Ukranians celebrate the defeat over the Germans (WWII), much in the same way as we celebrate 4th of July...parades, fireworks, and some memorials. But for us it was a VICTORY because we got to see the girls for the first time since Christmas of 2005!

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went to the SDA in Kiev (the gov't authority over adoptions), and we were interviewed and told we would get our referral to see the girls. The interview was easy and it only took 15 minutes. For those of you who are getting ready to come over, it was a piece of cake, not an interrogation at all (although, they knew who we were wanting to adopt before we got there, and did not have to go through the different catalogs). They were very kind and encouraging. So, we got our referral and after our meeting we ran to the travel agent to get a plane ticket to Mariupl, a town just 1 hour drive from Berdyansk. If we caught a plane Tuesday night, then we could be in Berdyansk by the end of the day, see the girls on Wednesday, and start our paperwork on Thursday. Otherwise, because of the holiday, if we didn't leave until Wednesday or Thursday, we would have had to wait until Monday to start our paperwork. Needless to say, we got the tickets, and we saved 4 days of our trip. That was a blessing. The trip went well. The plane was 'vintage', and the road to Berdyansk was well...'vintage', too! But, we made it by 11pm, and got settled into a room that was well...'vintage'. Ha, ha...you get the idea. We got a good night's sleep, and looked forward to today...Victory Day!

We went to the orphanage around 11am and it was a gorgeous sunny day. When we arrived, the first one to see us was Sveta (the oldest, 18). She came running and crying and hugging us. And she started yelling something, and then along came Lena. She was more shy about it, but was obviously happy and hugging us, too. Then they took us by the hand and we went around the corner to the playground, and then Olya saw us and came running. She did not hide her enthusiasm, as she basically knocked me over, and then got up quickly to run over and hug Janet!!! I guess she's ready to be adopted and come to America!! It was a happy time. We visited briefly at the orphanage, then we took them to lunch at our hotel, and then hung out at the room, and talked for hours. They were obviously interested in what their new lives would bring. We had an interpreter, but we were surprised to find that Sveta can read and understand a lot of English. She says that she has not been studying much and picked up a lot when she was in America, and has since just sort of self taught herself. That's good news, as it might be easier to teach the girls English than we had first thought.

Tomorrow, we visit the orphanage with the director of the orphanage and a social worker/inspector type person, who will watch us interact with the girls, and maybe ask some questions, and then give the go ahead to start the paperwork process. Hopefully, we will get the approval without any hitches and get the ball rolling immediately.

A number of Ukranians have mentioned that they think it is a good omen that my name is Victor and that we first saw the girls (on this trip) on 'Victor'y Day. We pray that they are right. At least for now, it has been a great start.