8/1/07

Since I will be on my own for the next few weeks, I will provide a brief synopsis for those of you whose time is precious. For those of you that have nothing better to do, I will provide more detailed explanations further in the blog as I will have the time to indulge in additional rhetoric. Read at your own risk!!

The synopsis of the last four days:
Not a lot new from Kivorograd. I have been visiting Marisa at the child house for the past few days. She continues to wow me with her aptitude, curiosity and carefree attitude. I really enjoy spending time with her. I get to relearn what a precocious four year is like. She has lots of energy and constantly wants to run around. But I mentioned in my last blog, I am establishing my boundaries and limits with her. I am glad to see her challenge me. At the same time, I am holding her more, reading books, humming to her as my singing will most likely help her develop premature hearing loss. She enjoys that.

In between my time with Marisa at the orphanage, I continue to try to pin down the in country coordinator as to my impending departure date. He told me yesterday he believes he can obtain a passport by this coming Monday or Tuesday. Of course, he mentioned it may cost a little more money to do this. In other words, he is pulling in a favor and the favor will require me to dig into my pocket. As The Wheel Turns. Yes, the wheel needs to be greased and who better than those rich Americans. So if this happens on Monday, then I can head to Kiev with Marisa on Tuesday and visit the American Consulate for her required medical exam and Visa. They may be able to turn this around in a day, but suggest at least two days. If that happens, I can come home on the 9th or 10th. I really hope so. I am so ready to get the h’ out of here.

If I am unable to get the passport early next week, then I may still come back to the US without Marisa. Then I will need to come back later to get her after she receives her passport from Ukraine.

Further Insights and Comments:
The time with Marisa Luda is a precious time, an important step in integrating her into our home back in Boulder. Her history is sketchy at best. We have her birth date and some medical history, but we know little about her emotional and physical background before she went into the child house at two years and three months. Everything I have read says that for every 3 to 4 months spent in an orphanage, their physical, emotional and intellectual development is stymied by about a month. So she has been there for roughly 7 quarters, which means she is behind by about 7 months from a normal child. After spending time with her, I am encouraged. I believe she is on target or maybe ahead intellectually. What she lacks is knowledge. No one has spent individual time reading to her, cuddling her or embracing her strengths and weaknesses. She learns fast. Emotionally, she is sweet as can be and strong willed. She challenges me and when she does not act appropriately, I have to use my deep “Papa” voice to reprimand her. She will stop her behavior and come over with a defensive smile and giggle. Clearly she has learned to use this technique to deflect anger. Because of her curiosity and independence, Molly and I will need to keep a close eye on her in public places. She has lived for two years in the closely monitored and structured environs of the orphanage. Once she is out of here, she will not know of safety, appropriate behavior etc. Because of this, I will spend more time holding her hands and cuddling with her. I also need to strengthen and encourage her willingness and necessity to come to me when I call her.

Physically, she has decent weight and height, in the 25th percentile. We will have plenty of time to nourish this aspect of her development. Her head circumference is also in the normal range.

We talk with Molly and Madison each day. It is so cute; she is all girl in this regard as she takes the cell phone and struts with the phone while talking with them. I have no idea what she is saying, but Madison with a keener ear says Marisa talks in some English phrases to her.

See the Picasa Link for pictures of Marisa on the phone:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Mcubedpictures/MarisaThePhoneGirl

Again, she understands more English all the time, but speaks just a few words. I constantly show her pictures of “Mama” and Madison. She will tease me when she sees these pictures by calling me - Mama, Madison – Papa, Molly – Madison or any combination. Then, she waits for me to tickle her and correct her. She can do this for a good ten minutes. There are a couple other families at the child house and when she sees them she will call them Papa, Mama, Sistera (sister), and family. I think she knows Molly is home with Madison, but I am also pretty sure she lacks the context to understand what this truly means.

Since Molly left, I find myself missing her tremendously. I have more angst about not seeing Madison as well. So some times, my spirits wane. I had an interesting event happen which angered and upset me. Last Saturday, I was playing with Marisa in the gym room. There is little wood platform with a short slide on one side and steps on the other. This homemade contraption lacks any of the safety features we expect in America. In addition, the craftsmanship and design lacked any real forte. So as I had done for countless times, I was chasing Marisa up the steps, down the slide and then give her a big hug. This little foray was entertaining for both of us. However, on my last trip around, my daunting weight cracked the supports for the platform and down it came. So I moved it so no one could get hurt. I picked up Marisa and went down to the office and had the lady follow me back to the gym room. I told her in English I broke the platform. Of course, she understood it was damaged, but I doubt she understood that I was taking responsibility for the damage.

See the link of the gym room and platform:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Mcubedpictures/GymRoom

So, on this past Monday morning, I show up at my usual time, 10:00 am and they take me up to the music room. Normally, they would bring Marisa into the room and we would interact for about an hour and a half. However, 30 minutes go by and no Marisa. After waiting until 11:20, I start to pack up my stuff. I am feeling great angst. Is she sick? Did something bad happen to her? What is going on? As I am ready to go out to meet the taxi, I am intercepted by the stylish and pretty woman who I believe is the Directors secretary. She shoos me into the director’s office, has me sit in a chair much too small for any average adult, and tells me to wait. She also says I need to call Kirill, my translator, and get him on the phone. For those who have known me well, know that for twelve impious years (my choice), I attended a Catholic school. Again, those who knew me well also knew I was not the best behaved altar boy in the school. In fact, I became very proficient in writing with two hands on the school chalkboard, “I will not put earthworms on the overhead projector”. I believe having to write this a 1000 times along with the other nefarious chalkboard incidents contributed to my poor handwriting! So anyway, I had my share of incidents with the nuns and teachers while in school. While most of the time they were justified in their reprimand, there were several times when I was singled out unfairly. All in all it was a wash. When I was incorrectly chastised however, I remember how angry I got, how unfair this whole incident was to me. It was just not right!!

Well, here I am in the Directors office, sitting in my little chair. The room felt like a principal’s office with the big desk littered with papers and walls peppered with religious memorabilia. I sheepishly sat there and listened to her scold me for breaking the platform. Suddenly, I jettisoned back to 5th grade. Poor Kirill had to translate this to me through the phone. She also tells me that Kirill will need to come with me on all the rest of the visits with Marisa. I so appreciate Kirill and how helpful he is and has been while in Kivorograd. But I did not need him with me at the orphanage. I am trying to build a bond with Marisa and Kirill just by his presence weakens the melding process. Plus, he is working on his PhD and translates English articles to Russian on high tech stuff for a Russian magazine. So he is busy. The last thing I wanted was the guilt I felt for taking time away from his dissertation and job because I was being punished for a mistake I took ownership for with the director. I put my seething smile on which fooled no one including me. I was livid. I headed out of the orphanage angry, distraught and forlorn.

So the taxi picks Kirill and me up in the afternoon and we go to the orphanage to meet with the head nun, I mean Director. We had an appointment at 3:30 pm. She is not there. So I go into another room and wait. After 15 minutes, she returns. So at this point, I am ready to do battle, but also understand fully I am in a very inferior position. I am in a foreign country with strange customs, different language and no control. So I sit in my too small chair with Kirill next to me. She starts again. I feel I am being chided for my mistake. I say I am sorry. Still no repose from her. I explain I broke the platform by mistake….. and I will pay for it. I am not sure if I have ever seen such a dashing emotional change - anger to solacement in no time. Finally, I found her ear. I said what she needed to hear. Money, cash, the US Dollar, the universal understanding. Suddenly, her demeanor softens. I ask how much? $50 USD. Fine I say and hand her $20 to cover the materials. A smile ekes forth from her previously pursed face. Then, we start to talk about incidental things. I tell I want to buy the orphanage a tricycle as the other four they have are pre WWII vintage and barely roll anymore.

See link of pictures of tricycles:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Mcubedpictures/Tricycles

I was sincere in my gift. She almost started to float away. A nice gesture she says. What she really means is I am willing to spend more money. Suddenly, we are best friends. (Not quite) I believe that if I had whipped out more money, she might have given me the keys to the child house!

So we talk about this and that. After we are done, she says Kirill does not need to come with me. So I was served my punishment and came out relatively unscathed. However, as I was to find over the next few days, I was not to be completely trusted. Now I may sound a little paranoid, but after this incident, I have not been allowed back in the building with Marisa. I am swayed outside which I prefer anyway to get away from the stifling temperatures in the rooms. However, I also noticed that suddenly there are lots of nurses, caretakers and others walking by me much more than before. I catch them watching me and they sheepishly look away. So I guess I have been labeled someone to watch. Now it is getting kind of funny as I will go up to them and say hello. I offer to take their picture. This is working as they slink back into the interior to be replaced by yet another person. I never realized I am so interesting! I guess when you run a place with lots of children, when they misbehave, you tend to remember those children and watch them with a closer scrutiny. So good, back in grade school again!

So that is enough about this. I will continue to hope and pray I can come home with Marisa in a week or so. Take care everyone and thanks for your support.

Michael and Marisa (Marooned in Ukraine)

So what is the latest with Marisa…?

Since I will be on my own for the next few weeks, I will provide a brief synopsis for those of you whose time is precious. For those of you that have nothing better to do, I will provide more detailed explanations further in the blog as I will have the time to indulge in additional rhetoric. Read at your own risk!!

The synopsis of the last five days:
We went to court on Monday July 23rd. WE WERE GRANTED PERMISSION TO ADOPT MARISA LUDMILLA AND TAKE HER BACK TO THE UNITED STATES! Since we have been here over five weeks, Molly needed to get home for our seven year old daughter Madison and for her own sanity. On Tuesday, we got a cab from Kivorograd to Kiev as we had to get some papers signed by Molly at the US Consulate enabling her to return home early. Michael will stay in Ukraine as he awaits the 10 day waiting period as well as the issuance of Marisa’s Ukrainian passport which will add an uncertain number of days to the wait. By their law, Marisa will have dual citizenship in both the US and Ukraine until she is eighteen. Our visit to the US Consulate took about 45 minutes. They were very helpful. They explained when I come back to the Consulate to fill out the rest of the paperwork I should allow two business days to get her required medical exam along with her American visa. So after spending a couple of days in Kiev, eating, drinking, shopping and hanging out, Molly boarded a plane at 6:45 am on the 26th to head back to Boulder. She used the VIP service at the airport which was worth every penny. She was whisked into the terminal and cleared all the airport hurdles in about 10 minutes! I in turn got a taxi back to Kivorograd. I have visited Marisa for the last two days. She wore a giant smile when she saw me. I received a very enthused hug from her. It was heartwarming. I plan to visit her twice a day for the next week. Then, depending on the remaining time waiting for her passport, I will either stay several days in Kivorograd or head up to Kiev with her.

More detailed summary (I am warning all of you to read at your own risk.):

Well it finally happened. After weeks or was it months, maybe even years, on Monday the July 23rd, we went to our Ukrainian court hearing. This was the next step in a long and convoluted process to adopt a child from Ukraine. The first, which took four and half weeks, was to locate this wonderful sweet girl. If we got permission, then Marisa will join our family. If not, who knows? We drove with our translator Kirill to the court house with Andre, our taxi driver in Kivorograd. Originally we were told our hearing was to be at 3:00 pm. But unlike what we have found in this country, the judge agreed to actually see us at 1:00 pm. We were shocked. Something was actually done before a commitment. So we weaved our way around Kivorograd and turned on a non-descript road. We look at each other and think this cannot be right. Finally, we pull up to a stern building with dusty old windows laced with bars. We witnessed a motley crew of people on the outside wondering who these people are and why they are here. It was a warm and humid day, made more oppressive by our anxiety, dress clothes and general uncertainty as to the outcome.

We get out of the taxi, sweat exuding from us laced with our trepidation. Will we be given approval? What is going to happen in court? After reading about other’s hearings, we brace ourselves for a battle. After waiting a few minutes, our attorney, who adopted a four year girl from the same orphanage as Marisa Luda, pulls up in her leather trimmed Honda CRV. She and another woman, with one of the best poker faces we have ever seen, get out of the car. We have no idea who this woman is and why she came with our attorney. Our translator, who is on a need to know basis, has no idea who she is or her role. So the two of them walk up to us and we exchange salutations. Our attorney, who is an amiable bulldog of an attorney, preps us on the format. She tells us the judge has agreed to see us over his lunch hour. We give each other a knowing glance….. someone forked over a little cash. Nonetheless, after weeks of getting glanced off of our quest, we do not mind. She tells us they will go through a general reading, followed by questions such as “Why do you want to adopt a child from Ukraine? What is your income? Will you give the child the necessary medical attention?” as well as some other innocuous questions. It does not sound too bad. Yet, we wonder will there be other surprises?

We go inside and find a daunting sterile building badly in need of a remodel with a sundry of sorted characters inhabiting the hall. It turns out this is a general court house where criminals are tried as well as where naïve foreign families hoping to adopt a four year old girl intermix with these potential criminals. After waiting a few minutes in the hall, scrutinized by the natives and local police, we go into the court room. It was warm outside, but much warmer in this room. Off to the right sits a metal cage painted a faded dirty white to hole up the worst of the felons with a clumsy large padlock to lock the cage. We sit down on a bench opposite the judge.

After waiting about ten minutes, the door from his chamber opens. We stand up as coached, and the judge walks in with two witnesses and the recorder. He was an amiable man, about 45, thinning dark hair with a mustache, but enough humor and intelligence in his eyes to help us relax. After exchanging formalities, he spends about an hour reading through the paperwork. Our interpreter Kirill was very nervous translating for us, but did a superb job. He was even able to translate some of the bantering occurring in the court room.

As the judge went through the reading, he occasionally asked questions more to satiate his curiosity about how things are done in the US than about our specific case. For example, he asked about drinking and driving laws, who is fingerprinted and how is it done in the US. He asked about doctors and medical facilities and insurance. Specific to our case, he asked why we want to adopt from Ukraine. Were we aware of Marisa Luda’s medical issues? Do we have pictures of our house, family etc? (We did) He wanted to know our annual salary. After telling him, it was interesting to see the reaction from the people in the court. In a country where an average annual salary is about $2400, our “rich” American income must be shocking to them. After the court took pause on the salary information, the judge continued to talk and threw in a few jokes to reduce our obvious angst.

After finishing with the reading of the paperwork, he leaves with his entourage. We sit nervously as our lawyer chats with the other people in the room. They tell stories of their children and this banter becomes almost painful as we wait the decision of the court. After about 40 minutes, the judge returned in formal robes and read his decision. We are approved!! It was such a relief, a shock, but almost surreal. Did he really say what we thought he said? We were elated and relieved, yet unsure. After weeks of waiting, this most important decision almost felt anticlimactic. I am not sure we have yet fully allowed the pent up energy to escape.

After court, it is off to the notary to get some documents signed making the court decision official.

We were completely spent. We head to the apartment and pack up Molly for our trip from Kivorograd to Kiev so we can complete paperwork at the American Consulate. There is no easy way to get from Kivorograd to Kiev, so we opt for a taxi. After our tortuous bus ride from Kiev to Kivorograd a couple of weeks ago, we want no part of a bus. Our friendly and punctual taxi driver Andre drives well, but his shocks should have been replaced about 3 years ago. The rural roads in Ukraine are often similar to a roller coaster with potholes. Needless to say, the ride went well, though our insides will need to be rearranged back to normal when we return to the US.

We arrived into Kiev on the 24th and our in country coordinator’s right hand man by the name of Anatoly meets us and takes us to the American Consulate. Anatoly is a smart man from Russia who refuses to speak English. Although, Molly and I suspect he understands English quite well when he needs to interact in areas related to money, money or money. We are not sure what he actually does or what his role is in the big picture. I mean a really big picture as there is no minutia, just a broad stroke on getting things done. Anatoly always seems to be around, taking care of this or that. He has power of attorney for us on all our legal documents. He represents so much of Ukraine. The uncertainty, the wheeling and dealing, the lack of a process or cogent program that is so prevalent in our dealings in this country. Anatoly fits right into this mindset.

So after arriving at the American Consulate which had about 50 or 60 people milling outside an unpretentious white building with bullet proof glass and guards, we are schussed inside. Once inside we go to the adoption section. Since we are American citizens we jet ahead of all the natives. They explain to us Molly must sign two forms in front of the diplomatic officer, and then she can leave. That allows her to head home and me to stay to complete the rest of the process.

After that, we decide to get back into the electronic world. We have to find a phone cord to connect the laptop to the internet at our Kiev apartment. The thing that is interesting in this country is there is no such thing as one stop shopping. If you want a phone cord, you cannot go to a Wal-Mart and find one. You must go to a computer store and be told no. Then off to an appliance store we go, no. Most everywhere we went we witnessed a true entrepreneurial marketplace. Most shops completely specialize in one small product area in most likely 100 to 200 square feet. There is no stock in the back room. If you do not see it, they do not have it. We go from store to store, no phone cord. Finally after checking around this rather large underground mall with several hundred shops, we see a store selling lighting and extensions cords. They have a phone cord. Why here when appliance, phone stores, or computer stores did not have the simple phone cord made no sense. Who cares? We found what we needed. If Target or Wal-Mart were to come to this country, thousands upon thousands of merchants and their owners will be out of work. It is ripe for the plucking.

So we plug in, check email and then promptly crash with a power nap after only a few hours sleep the night before. The apartment we stay at has satellite. While Molly is working on the computer, I start scanning through the channels and find they had 999 channels on this satellite. After doing the “guy thing” with the remote, I realize more than half of them are feeds from the Middle East. It was such a shock to see women on these channels fully clothed discussing something or another. Then the next channel is an Arab porn channel selling well, what porn sells.

The next day it is off to the expensive Italian shoe store. In previous blogs, I have talked about the shoes the men and women wear during their daily strut. However, Molly has learned from other reliable sources that most of these shoes are junk and do not last long. She wanted to get some expensive, interesting and tasteful shoes. Hence, where else but in Ukraine can you find an expensive Italian shoe store? After spending a gazillion dollars it is back to the underground mall for a few books, chocolates etc. So I managed to grab some photos of these shoes for both men and women. After you see these pictures, I must tell you these women can most likely run a marathon in them. It amazes me to their dexterity on any type of surface while walking, running or whatever in their 5 inch heels. No Nike or Puma here. No way.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Mcubedpictures/Shopping

We get back to our apartment and get everything ready for Molly’s trip home. We must get up at 4:00 am to meet Anatoly who is our ride to the airport. We signed up for a service at the Kiev airport that is call the VIP Airport Service. We found this through a gentleman based out of Tennessee. In this tangled and bureaucratic environment where a greased palm gets more done than following the lack of rules, it only made sense to pay the fee. This man Alex meets us at the information booth and before I even have a chance to kiss Molly goodbye, Alex is walking, I mean running through the airport with our overweight and quite large bag. Molly tells me after she is home that she almost had to run to keep up with him, but she breezed through check-in, security, passport issues is about 10 minutes. Molly says it is worth every penny. Clearly this man who had an airport badge on his shirt pays off the system. It must be lucrative for him. I wish DIA had such a service.

Molly gets home with no problems. I miss her already. I get back to Kivorograd to resume my twice daily, one and a half hour visits with Marisa Luda. Before Molly went back, we granted Marisa lots of freedom. After all, we are strangers, speak this weird language and do not know the rules. She tested us which was okay. On my three hour taxi ride back to Kivorograd, I decide to start to reign her in a little bit by giving more structure on each visit. After four visits with her, I think it is helping with her boisterousness. Children from these orphanages or child houses as they call them here in Ukraine live in a very rigid environment. Each day is the same; same time to get up, eat, potty, exercise, play, naps, showers and bedtime. They need structure. So I am setting up some structure within each hour and a half I have with her twice a day. Start off with snack which she devours. While she eats, she must sit with me and I read a book and show her pictures of our house, Molly, Madison and TJ. Then, it is play time by Papa’s rules. I resent the alphabet to her, drawing, modeling etc. After 30 to 45 minutes or so, I allow her to pick the games. So far it is working.

Today, we called “Mama” and Madison. When Marisa heard “Mama”, she lit up and started jabbering into the cell phone. I am not sure if Molly heard all the talk, but after we lost the call, Marisa talked about Mama and Madison who also spoke to Marisa. Marisa was clearly elated!

I warned all of you of the lack of brevity in this blog. But I am about done here. Like Marisa, I am going to establish some structure for myself to keep me sane. Walks, internet and phone calls along with the occasional beer should keep me in good spirits.

Finally, I do not know when I am coming home. The Ukrainian passport department reorganized to become more efficient which means it will take longer with more hassles. I will keep you informed as I gather more information.

Hello Everyone,
Molly here the right to the point part of the family. We heard from our in country cordinator that our court date maybe as soon as Monday or Tuesday. If that is the case I-Molly will be on a plane flight on Thursday after a few days in Kiev for paperwork with the US Embassy. It is very exciting to be able to consider coming home in a week. Michael and Marisa will be two weeks after the 24th. Poppa will stay and finish the paperwork. After that, we are trying to get a clarification as to how much longer it will be. It is possible one or both of us will come back to Colorado without Marisa and then one of us will return to bring her back later. They have installed
some new rules for waiting after the court date, issue of a passport for Marisa from Ukraine. This can take up to 30 days. Then we need to get a Visa for Marisa to come into the United States and that takes a few days. Marisa is required by the Child Adoption Act (this is a worldwide standard) to maintain dual citizenship in Ukraine and US.

Plus Poppa will visit Marisa Luda everyday. Yes, we all know Michael is more suited to stay here alone than I am.

We will know more on Friday and will update the blog then. We are visiting Marisa Luda two times a day and she has settled down quite a bit.

Love to all,
Molly and Michael Parrot
OXOXOXOX

Dear Family and Friends,

We started our adventure again – two days ago.

Yes, after almost a month, we finally got permission to visit a relatively healthy 4 year old girl. We spent yesterday with her for about 3 hours and plan to spend a few hours with her each day over the next week.

Her name is Ludmilla. We are calling her Luda right now and will formally change her name to Marisa Ludmilla Parrot when we go through the legal issues.

She has already captured our heart. She is calling us “Mama” and “Papa” and understands she is being adopted. She has a 10 year old sister in another orphanage and a 12 year old brother who is living with his grandparents.

Luda is in pretty good shape physically; a little small for her age but that is normal for orphaned children living in “child houses” (These are what they call orphanages here in Ukraine.) She has sandy brown hair, brown eyes, and a big smile. She also has strabismus (cross eyes) which occurs in about 10% of orphans. Despite her happy demeanor and intelligence, she was most likely put into an orphanage and not adopted earlier due to the strabismus. The average Ukrainian couple cannot afford to fix this relatively minor health issue. We have researched this fairly extensively and before the age of seven, this can be corrected most of the time. So if get her back to the US, we can give her the eye care not present or affordable here.

The heat has finally come to this central part of Ukraine. Though we are sweltering in 100 degree heat with 70% humidity, we are not affected by the sulfur spill that occurred in western Ukraine. We are about 800 miles from that area. We are in the middle of the country both longitudinally and latitudenaly.

So let’s get back to Luda. She laughs all the time. Some of that is nervousness we are sure. We are told she likes to dance and has already exhibited her musical interest on the piano and drums. We have given her several tasks and she does very well for both her age and situation. Despite her eye issues, she has good balance and sees well up close. She is very active, very kinetic. We will watch this closely but think some of that is due to the newness of the situation.

So when are we coming back home to see our wonderful daughter Madison, who we miss so - so - so - much? We do not know. Ukraine has centralized many of their processes for adoption, visas, passports etc. As a result, the timeline to get these documents completed has gone from a few days to maybe as many as four weeks. So our in country coordinator says he is trying to pull some strings to get us back sooner. Plus we have some additional legal hurdles due to the fact that Marisa Luda has siblings. Under Ukrainian law, their files must be obtained and coordinated in the system. So that may add another week to the process. We want to get home so much. So depending on what we are told, after the official court hearing next week, one or both of us may return to the USA. If we both come back, one of us will need to return after the paperwork is all completed to bring Marisa Luda back to Boulder.

As usual, we have included pictures at the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Mcubedpictures/MarisaLuda071720071stDay

Thanks for your inputs and support. We greatly appreciate all your kindness.

Molly and Michael
XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from Ukraine! We are no longer in Kiev! Can you believe it? We are in a smaller farming-manufacturing town about 300km southeast of Kiev. It is a lovely quaint little place. We arrived on Saturday after a 6.5 hour bus ride with the locals. Our bus ride was another lesson in patience as we stopped several times for smoking breaks, bathroom breaks (generally using the trees or bushes along the road) and some trinket stands breaks. (When we head back to Kiev, we will be taking the Mercedes van). We noticed hardly anyone spoke to each other on or off the bus. People seemed protective, cautious and nervous. We of course looked liked the loud Americans we are accustomed to being labeled.

My Dad would love the travel here in this part of Ukraine. Each town has everyone selling their vegetables, fruit and nuts on the side of road. The soil is almost black and rich with nutrients. There were no irrigation systems and Mother Nature took care of the rest. We saw rolling hills of corn, potatoes, sunflowers and wheat. Farmers were hauling there goods via horse and wagon right alongside our big Greyhound-type bus. (Okay, maybe not a Greyhound bus, maybe a wanna-be Greyhound bus.) Then you would see an extremely large farm with all the latest equipment cutting wheat or hay. It is such a country of the haves and have-nots, with little in between. They are developing country and being able to own land/property will continue to help the middle class come into their own. It was magnificent to be out of the city and viewing the countryside. It reminded us of Minnesota where a bunch of you are right now with Madison.

Once we arrived in town at the bus station, our interpreter and attorney took us to our apartment. As we were driving up to it, we were nervous of our digs from the outside appearance. It appeared run down, so typical of what we see in this country. We unload our overweight and large luggage and go through a metal door into a stairwell, expecting some seedy character to greet us. After climbing four flights of non-OSHA approved stairs, we come to a beautiful wood door that is totally out of character with the rest of the building and stairwell. We go in and here we are in a very nice apartment. Our apartment here is quiet, recently remodeled and modern.

We have included a few pictures at the Picasa Website http://picasaweb.google.com/Mcubedpictures/NewApartment

After getting settled in we walked around town a bit. The electric buses here look like they are from the 50’s and so surreal makes you think you are at the movies! The town has about 250,000 people, but the downtown area has the quaint feel of a Midwest town.

On Monday we go to the orphanage to meet the little girl with our translator and attorney. In addition we are to meeting the orphanage director, doctors and her caregivers. She is 4 years old and we not sure how long she has been there or the exact details of how she came to live there. We know she has a slight correctable health problem and need to find out more information about her. We are incredibly excited and very cautious at the same time. Last Friday (the 13th) we received our official permission from the SDA to visit her. It all happened so fast, and we have many questions yet to be answered.

Thanks to all of you for your kind responses, emails, and support. We look forward to more positive news, updates and photos. We miss Madison!!! Thanks to the Malone gang for taking Madison to Minnesota for the family reunion.

Love to all,
Molly and Michael