AND HERE WE ARE!

Yes, we made it to Ukraine! We are in the appartment right now and didn't loose any luggage on the way. I can say everything feels surreal becase at noon on Sunday we didn't think we would be here. Our trip started with a BIG bump when they checked our passport at the airport. Now they use kiosks for that. Well, when Bob's passport was checked it said on the screen "no visa required". When my passport was checked it said "visa required". We were in shock!!!I am a citizen of Russia and traveled to Ukraine two years ago without any problems. The guy checked it again but it still was saying "visa required". I felt weak in my knees and sick to my stomach. First, we told our friends who were in the church. Then we contacted Betty who helped us with our dossier who then called our facilitator in Ukraine. Than we called our travel agent. It was Sunday! Everything was closed! I couldn't get a visa in one hour! Our agent, Anita drove to her office trying to find a way. She suggested that Bob would go alone and I would fly to Washington, DC to get a visa. We asked our facilitator if that would work. NO, I would be too late for our first appointment on Wednesday and Bob can't go there alone. We had to cancel our tickets and reschedule our appointment. I already was thinking, "We will have to go to work tomorrow and wait some more. Flower will be SO dissapointed (she already knows that we are comming)!!!" All that time I was praying, "This seems to be absolutely impossible for us, God! PLEASE, help us, we need a miracle!" Then somebody thought of the idea that maybe I could fly to Russia and get my visa there quickly. We went to the counter and asked the guy if he could change my flight. He said it will take time. Then we got a message from Anita saing that NO VISA REQUIRED FOR ME! Right after that our facilitator called and said the same and USA shouldn't hold me in the country if I want to go! At that point I told the guy that I demand that they let me fly and if I have any problems in Ukraine it will be my problem. The guy said he can't let me go. I wanted te see their superviser but he was busy. I was ready to make a scene. Anita was on the way to the airport with a printout of the webpage with info about visa. Then I begged the guy to check my passport again. He did. On the screen, right under my name it said "visa required" but two paragraphs down it said "visa required except for citizens of the Russian Federation". That's ME!!! I stomped my foot on the ground and started crying: I was so stressed out and happy at the same time! Bob thought that I would "blow a gasket". Well, we missed our flight to Texas but there was another one in an hour so we didn't miss our flight to London. This mistake almost gave several people a heart attack. We want to thank our travel agent Anita, our helper Betty, our facilitator in Ukraine Oles and our friends that were praying for us at that moment. We thank you for trying to help us with everything you could. We felt your support and prayers. And we want to praise God that He opened my eyes at the right moment and that there was another flight available.

Our facilitator met us at the airport in Kiev and took us to our appartment. Later he picked us up and we took a walk aroud. Kiev has some beautiful buildings!

Today, on Monday we tried to find out if Bob could get a visa to go to Russia to visit my family. No, it will take two weeks and he will have to give them his passport which is not possible right now. We walked around some more and it started raining. Today we will have some pelmeni (Ukranian dumplings)for dinner.

We have our appointment at the SDA (Dept. of Adoption in Ukraine) tomorrow at 9 AM. Everything should be fine. After, we will try to get together with our friends here in Kiev.

Flower will start school tomorrow. I think she is "not in the mood" to start school because she knows we are comming for her. It is getting closer to the date when this girl will be orphan no more.