We Are Alive:)

Wow. Just logging on has been a difficult task. I definitely wouldn't describe myself as computer literate, but this is bad. First of all, all the log in stuff is showing up in Ukrainian. I don't speak Ukrainian (duh) so it's been tricky to just get this page up. Now I can't figure out how on earth to get it to center and it's going to drive me nuts, but oh well. And pictures?! Yeah, right. Don't worry. I'm not giving up. I'll have to get Oleg or Natasha to help us with that tomorrow.

Tuesday
Monday night, actually, I didn't go to bed. I could have laid down at about 1, but decided to just stay up so that by the time we arrived in Ukraine I'd be acclimated to the time change. Good move me. Monday evening we realized we were on a different flight than we had originally asked our travel agent to book us on. I do realize that I should've read the confirmation she sent me, but I was just happy to be going to Ukraine, so I didn't think to double check... until the night before. We just may have the new record for length of time to get to Ukraine.

Tuesday morning, Huz and I had different ideas as to what time we needed to leave the house, he wanting to leave later than I by an HOUR!!! So we had to say good-bye to kids, again (we had said good bye the night before but because we were still home, they got up before we left). I have major anxiety when I fly without my kids because I don't like to think of them without me. I'm sure they'd be fine, but I like to think they really really need me:) Anyhow, after saying good-bye twice, coupled with no sleep and an adding an additional TEN hours to our travel time made me a little stressed. I just kept thinking, over and over, how in the WORLD is an airplane the size of a house supposed to stay in the air for 8 hours over the ocean, no less?!?! I was going through rescue operations in my mind, planning on how I'd survive shark attacks in the ocean-if I survived the plummet from the sky to the ocean. Yeah, there was a little bit of crazy going on there:)

We caught our flight AND I remembered to take the hair elastic out of my back pocket so I didn't even get frisked or swabbed at the airport. It almost felt weird to just stand in the full body scanner and nothing else.

I tend to have bad luck, so I was just waiting for something bad to happen. While we waited to board the plane, they announced that there was a hole in the tire of the plane so they had to fix that, obviously, before we could depart. So we started our adventure being delayed. haha.

Once we made it to Chicago, we had a 7 hour layover. It was lovely. I saw more of the O'Hare airport than I really needed to. I was beginning to feel like Tom Hanks in that movie where he lives at the airport for a long time because he can't get his visa or something. Anyhow...

Our flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was great. It was turbulent, but I don't get airsick and Tyler seemed to handle it ok, so it didn't really matter. We did joke that it was a good thing that neither of our moms were on the flight though because they would not have done well:) The man I sat next to had been living in Denver for a year and had hoped to be able to transfer permanently, but had to return to Iran (and was not happy about it) for two months before he could come back, hopefully to transfer. He has two sons attending university in Denver. We have no idea how fortunate and blessed we are to live where we do! We take so many simple things for granted.

In Frankfurt we had a 10 hour layover. That's right folks. Ten. hours. In Frankfurt. We stored our luggage and bought a subway pass and headed into town. The very first English speaking person we met was right there on the subway and he was from none other than Pocatello, Idaho. He had moved there with the army, married and stayed. He'd been there for 17 years. Tyler commented on how he could now imagine his brother, Todd, living in Germany, now.

Frankfurt was nice and clean and there were lots of people biking and running and just out and about. We walked to the River Mein (pronounced Mine) and ate lunner (lunch/dinner) on a floating restaurant. It sounds like maybe it was really nice or fancy, but it wasn't. Picture house boat in the movie with Tom Hanks, again, Turner and Hooch. BUT we saw the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to figure out how to put the picture on. It was a bicycle bar. Literally a drinking bar that you could sit at and drink, but you were actually peddaling at the same time and the bar was moving and being steered by someone. Hilarious. Back at the airport, I fell asleep until it was time to take-off. Which was delayed because the incoming plane was late. Whatever. (insert eye roll)

The first part of the flight was just lovely. We kind of slept a little. Then, about 1/2 hour into that flight they served us dinner and I decided to ask the woman sitting next to me if she spoke English. I really was hoping she didn't because I wanted to practice my Russian. Lucky me!!! She did not speak English and was darling. Her name was Svetlana and she was born in Ukraine, married a German and lives in Germany. Her mother lives in Ukraine and she was coming to visit. She has one daughter who is 24 and attends university in Germany. Svetlana speaks Ukrainian, Russian, and German. She worked with me conjugating verbs, taught me new verbs, days of the week, months of the year and face parts. I had a great time! Huz thought we were silly because we kept giggling like little girls.

Somehow, probably because of my incredible good luck, we were literally the. last. people. to go through customs. We were not even the last ones in line, but as the nationals lines emptied, they began to call people from the end of our line over to their lines to pass them through. Seriously. The very last. We thought it was pretty funny.

Once through, I spotted Oleg immediately and we loaded our stuff in his car and headed to down town Kyiv. It was like he had just been at our house yesterday. It was great to see him. He had stopped at a grocery store for us and picked us up some food so that we'd be set. Very thoughtful of him as the last thing we wanted to do after traveling for that long, and arriving in Kyiv 3 a.m. their time, was go to the store.

Oleg got us set up in our apartment, which I will post pictures of later. It is a sweet apartment and we had hot water. That was really the only thing that I was concerned with. I love me a hot shower. We were able to be in our apartment and in bed by 4:30a.m.

Natasha called at 10:30 that morning to tell us she'd be by to pick us up for our SDA appointment in fifteen minutes. Good thing she called because I didn't hear the alarm and Huz and turned it off and gone back to sleep. So, we hustled our little buns and ran, literally, to the SDA which was just down the street and around the corner from the apartment.

The SDA appointment, which we wait for with baited breath for months, lasted all of ten minutes. We knew it would be quick, but it was sort of anti-climatic. We waited on the stairs of the SDA for about thirty seconds (typical procedure to wait on the stairs) to be invited into the office where we sat. The lady meeting with us was named Ivana and was very kind. She seemed pretty young, but I am a really bad judge of age. If I know you, I think you are my age, 33. I have recently found out that some of my friends are in their forties and twenties and I'm so surprised. I just thought we were all the same age. Part of that is I can hardly remember how old I am, so how can I possibly keep track of anyone else. Anyhow, Ivana went over our boys files. Their pictures were cute. BoyTwo looked about the same, just a little chubbier because he was so little and his hair was grown out a little. BoyOne, same thing, a little chubbier, but his hair was much shorter than when we met him.

We did find out one thing that we previously were unaware of. When the boys mom lost her parental rights, BoyOne was taken into custody before BoyTwo by a few months. It is assumed that the mom was hiding BoyTwo so that she didn't have to give him up. This made me sooooo sad for the mom. Life here is not easy. I think that she did the best that she knew how.

After the appointment, we ate at Pizza Celantanos, the famous restaurant that every person that adopted from Ukraine eats at following their SDA appointment. Because it was sort of breakfast for us, we had crepes. They were yum! Lots of people here and in most countries speak several languages. Our waiter spoke a little English and practiced it on us. I, in turn, tried to practice my Russian on him. Our translator/tour guide/life saver Natasha recognized a celebrity there, a Russian actor and she and our driver/attorney Irina quickly called and texted several people about it. We told her we would approach him and ask for his autograph and picture but she giggled and declined. She then said that if it had been George Clooney, Richard Gere, or Sean Connery, she would've taken us up on the offer. :)

So, I've heard lots about these cobblestone roads that are so hard to walk on. Let me tell you when you think cobblestone, those are the nice parts of the Ukraine roads. We've been to Europe before so I thought that I knew what to expect. Yes, they're hard to walk on with heels, when it's wet, etc, etc. But the cobblestone here, in certain places, is crazy!! I will post a picture. Think of what a regular cobblestone road would look like after a size 8 earthquake and you've got the picture. So glad that I didn't break any bones!!

After brunch, we went back to the apartment and laid down for an hour until Oleg and his wife Oksana picked us up. We met Irina and another family, the Ceran's who just finished adopting three kids from the same orphanage we are going to, at an outdoor museum of old Ukraine. It kind of reminded me of the This is the Place Heritage Park that we have in Utah. All these old houses and supplies. Very cool. We met a darling babushka who took a picture with us. Again, will post it later.

After the tour, we sat at the museum's park and the Ceran's and we ate ice cream while the Ukrainian team ate sunflower seeds. I wonder why the Ukrainians are all so much thinner...

We said our good-byes to the Ceran's and Natasha and Irina and Oleg, Oksana, Huz and I set out to buy shampoo and go to dinner. We ate at a restaurant that is new in Kyiv that Oksana and Okeg had wanted to try. It featured ancient Ukraine artifacts and decor (sort of) and traditional Ukrainian food. I was so. proud. of Huz. He tried something authentic. Salo, which is lard spread on bread. I wouldn't even try that. I had borscht, a traditional Ukrainian fruit drink that I can't remember the name of, and a pork dish. Our waitress there spoke English to us, and again I practiced my Russian.

After dinner we walked to our apartment and made plans for tomorrow. We had a wonderful time hanging out with Oleg and Oksana. She's a lot of fun and I'm so glad that I got to meet her. We had so much fun:) And she has the most beautiful curly red hair.

Anyhow, that's what has gone on. Nothing too extraordinary (except the fact that we are in a foreign country that is only 20 years old adopting two boys from an orphanage), and that is a good thing. We just skyped with our kids and now, it is time to go to bed. Huz is already asleep:)