Close Call Today

Jim :
Oksana called me at 9 am to give me the good news that our passports were indeed in Kherson and that she would call me as soon as she received them and could fax them to the Consulate office.
Around 5:30 I start to get a little nervous, so I call Valentin who tells me that some official in Kherson is holding up our passports for some reason and would not release them. Oksana persevered though, and called me at 7:30 pm saying she had them, and they have been faxed, and she is putting them on the train.

Tomorrow we pick up the passports, get the medical report completed and go to the US Consulate. I called the Consulate today to schedule my appointment. They said, "Come in before 11, and we'll schedule you for Thursday". I told them that I have already brought my application in, and they said, "Is this Mr. Volf?" Yes, I said, and then she told me to come in whenever, and they should be able to get our visas to us tomorrow. So yes, it pays to take your paperwork in early to the Consulate.

Yesterday (Monday), I took the application into the Consulate office in the morning, then coaxed Josh back to the dentist to get his root canal finished up. He wasn't happy about it, so I stopped for McDonald's fries and a Coke on the way. He said he didn't want any, so I said, "Well, I do", so we went in. I ate about four before he slowly snuck one, then two. Pretty soon we wiped it out, and he asked for more. So I got him a cheeseburger, more fries and some water. I knew it would be awhile before he would be able to eat.

At the dentist he rose up to the challenge again.

When we returned to Eunice's, Rolan and Eileen were there with their new future daughter, Tanya. She's a very friendly and outgoing 17 year old who is very fond of her new parents. Becky and Nadia were there also, but only for awhile, and they had to leave. I had to reintroduce myself to my daughter since I hadn't seen her all day. I received my first kiss from her when I gave her another phone card. I'm not above bribery.

Karen Springs joined us for dinner. It was nice to visit with her. She told us about her ministry, and she met Rolan and Eileen.

After dinner I drove Karen to the metro (yes, that's right - I'm a Ukrainian driver now). Then I went to Lesley's to re-fix her internet that stopped working (the Vonage phone still worked, but somehow the router lost its security and was open again).

When I got home it was time for bed, so I worked until 2 am.

Today I told the kids I wanted to take them sightseeing and got a resounding "Nnnnnneeeeeeyyyyyyytttttttt!" I tried to talk them into it, but they just were not interested. So I decided to go ice skating with whoever wanted to go. Josh was very excited about this, as was Tanya, so the three of us walked about 20 minutes to the rink. Rolan and Eileen walked with us, only to have to leave to catch the metro to their SDA appt to get Tanya's paperwork started. We skated for about 45 minutes. Tanya says she's never gone before, but she did amazing. I held her hand to give her stability, but she was tugging me along. Josh ventured away from the wall on his own today and had his shares of spills and a couple of sore elbows from falling on them. But he had a great time.

Becky and Nadia joined us for Boyarka Chicken for dinner. Becky mentioned something about Heidi being jealous. Becky gave Josh an English lesson, which he thoroughly enjoyed and proudly showed off what he learned. They helped me with a power struggle I was having with Josh. He's a tender guy, but he is persistent in seeing how far he can push me. It's driving him crazy that it's not very far.

Rolan and Eileen are spending one more night with us before picking up Tanya's referral and heading back out to their region tomorrow.

Valentin is picking us up at 8:30 to get the passports from the train, go the the medical clinic, then to the Consulate office where I should be able to leave with our visas. Ashley finally agreed to get her haircut here while she can tell the stylist what she wants. Becky is setting up a 5 pm appt for her tomorrow.

Happy anniversary to us! Today is the one year anniversary from when we officially decided to start the adoption process!

Pray for me to have visas in hand tomorrow!

See you soon.