Saturday, July 12, 2008

We are in Sevastopal, Ukraine

Sorry for the delay, it took us a while to find an internet connection. Once we did it still took a while to figure out how to log onto the site since it is all in Russian. Candace is struggling to remember everything. Now let's get down to business.

First and foremost, thank you for your prayers and all of your comments. We really enjoy reading them and it helps us to know that you are thinking of us. Our train ride to Sevastopal was long and cramped but well worth it. We were glad to get off of the train after being on it for 17 hours and to see the beautiful sea-side city of Sevastopal. After securing an apartment, we drove to the orphanage to meet our future child. There are still obstacles for us to overcome, but should be able to give more information in our next blog. We covet your prayers for our child and for the adoption. Hope to update again real soon.

Love, Dave and Candace

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Busy First Day

First of all, Thank you for all your prayers. We have safely arrived in Kiev, Ukraine. After a few minor mishaps (delayed luggage, 2 hours in customs, etc), we made it to our apartment and made plans for our first Ukrainian meal...McDonalds! After a 20 hour trip over, we were both ready for some sleep. The next day was promising to be busy.

The next day was a VERY busy day. Neither one of us slept well. I guess the anticipation was getting to us. We left the apartment at 9.30 and arrived at the adoption center at 11. We looked at some pictures and the Center started making phone calls to get more information about our selection and to set up an appointment to meet our possible future child. After an hour, we left and started working on more paperwork (copies, notaries, etc).

Back and forth, back and forth across town on the busiest roads we have ever seen in our lives. People were driving in wrong directions on purpose, literally inches from bumpers and at 30 mph. They drove 5 cars wide in only 3 lanes and all the honking made even Dave's driving look tame! Then you add the pedestrians who WILL walk in front of your car doing 30 mph making you stop (even old ladies will run out in front of you...and we mean run!). These drivers will end up giving us both heart attacks before we even get our child! I am glad we are using taxis! The neat thing is that we have not seen one accident, yet.

We got back to the apartment at 7 pm. On a better note, Dave's luggage finally showed up at 9.30 last night, just in time to pack it for our 14 hour train ride to Sevostopal, Ukraine which is on the Black Sea. From what we understand, this is a favorite vacation spot for Europeans. We hope the train ride goes smoother than the taxi rides!

Please keep us in your prayers throughout these next few days as we go through the system of adoption. There are already some obstacles that we have to overcome, and we need a lot of prayer from everyone for Gods Will to be revealed. We will give you more details as we get them.

We love and miss you all.