Sunday, November 30, 2008

Things did not work out. While there could be a lot to say, at this point, that is about all we feel comfortable sharing on the Internet. We will see you all next week sometime...we would like to ask that you not be offended if we do not return phone calls or emails for, oh....a few weeks! :) OK...maybe not that long, but it may not be right when you call or email. We appreciate you being understanding of this during this time. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Late on Saturday night around 11:00 P.M., the water was cut off in our apartment. It stayed off for 24 hours!! We had been warned about this but hoped it would not happen. Unfortunately, we were almost out of drinking water and the ground was covered with snow on Sunday morning. We walked to a nearby store (not the grocery store we usually go to) and got water. It even got to the point on Sunday evening that we had to go outside our apartment and collect snow to melt so that we could use the toilet! That was a sight to see us, three, out there getting the snow up in kitchen pans. It has been very interesting and very cold over the last few days. The snow actually started on Saturday and continued on through Sunday. A man in the apartment building that speaks some English told us the water could be off for a few hours to a few days. We were thankful it was only 24 hours.

The time of our appointment on Wednesday with the SDA is 4:00 (so that is 9:00 AM GA time.) The days are starting to run together but not running fast enough! It seems strange not to be planning for Thanksgiving, but they do not have it here, of course. We will try to track down something special to eat for that day, anyway. We know everyone is busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, but we'd love to hear from any and all of you!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Woke up to snow on the ground this morning....changed to rain mid-morning...back to snow flurries all day long. We left the apartment later today than usual and went to our new favorite hangout...food is good (not quite as good as the bakery) and it has wi-fi...that is the best part. Thursday when we came here, I ordered hot chocolate. It was written that way on the menu. That was taken very literally...talk about lost in translation. I received chocolate that was hot but way too thick to drink. It was like chocolate fondue. We laughed about that. Tonight I ordered cocoa and it is like our hot chocolate. Yes, these are the highlights of our days, now! We are even glad that Jackie has dishes to wash ~ ha! ha!

Some pics

We have put some pictures on this entry, and we also went back to a few other entries and put some other pictures. So, be sure to scroll down and see some of them. We will have more in the future. We have discovered another coffee house very close to our apartment that has wi-fi, so we will be able to put more pictures on in the next few days. 

We walked at an open market one day that was located in front of the State Department of Adoption. The vendor motioned to us to put on these hats to take a picture. He was very friendly to us and spoke a little English, too. We are looking very Ukrainian!

We walked behind our apartment and discovered these two churches. The pinkish one is a monastery that has nuns living there. The other one is just a really big church that was being renovated.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Things are going slowly for us. We are now going for our third and last appointment on November 26. We really had a hard decision as to whether or not to stay for this appointment. We are a bit discouraged but want to try to go to the last appointment to see if anything will work out for us. You may certainly read between the lines on this 

particular entry. However, we are trying to stay positive.

We are going to try to put some pictures of our trip onto the blog this afternoon if we can figure it out. Don't get your hopes up...it may take a few days for us to get it done. We are continuing to have interesting experiences and look forward to telling you about them.

At our favorite bakery, we had met a man that spoke English and always smiled and made us feel welcome. On Monday, we were purchasing something (again!) and he asked us if we were Christians. We assumed he must have seen us saying the blessing at the meal we ate there on Monday. We said yes. He said he was, too. He also told us he was Baptist. We couldn't believe it. He goes to a Baptist church somewhere...we don't know where yet, but hopefully we will find it before we leave. Tammy reeeeallllyy needs to go to church soon as she is about to spaz out!

Just to clarify...we did say that the people on the streets don't look at each other and don't smile. However, we have met quite a few people that have been friendly and helpful...we have our favorite cashier at the grocery store that always smiles and is patient...we met a customer at the grocery store that helped us at the checkout another time, and actually waited to be sure Todd could pay and that everything went well...the coat check lady at the library is very sweet and friendly to us, and she just talks on and on in Ukrainian to us...so funny (we use the library and the PO to access the Internet).....also at the bakery we have had the same waitress and she has been friendly and patient...we got a picture of her and the man with us...they were all waving to us and saying goodbye as we left...they would fit in well with southern hospitality...the ladies at the library have been very friendly and nice, too. Our translator has been wonderful and gone out of her way to do many things for us.

One last thing...we have had some really good food...pizza is good, McDonald's has been like at home, the meals at the bakery are hot and good, and several other things have been really good, especially the meals that Jackie has been whipping up for us!! We did have one surprising meal at Independence Square one day...the menu was not in English, only Ukrainian...a customer nearby realized that we and the waiter needed help communicating so she helped us order. She told us the items were toast with meat, vegetables (tomato, lettuce), or just cheese. We figured the cheese one would be the least harmful. It wasn't toast with cheese (we thought grilled cheese or something like that)...it was three slices of plain, old white bread with a little bit of cheese and pickles that created a 1/2 of a sandwich. Thank goodness it was only 1/2 ....we couldn't have eaten any more of it. That was so funny to us.

It snowed on Wednesday, 11/19. We had walked to the grocery store and came out and it snowed on us the whole way to the apartment. Keep praying that the last appointment may be the one where we are able to find a child. This is a bit complicated and private, so that is about all we can share right now.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Good News! We received word late Friday evening that our next appointment is Tuesday, November 18 at 4:00 P.M. Thank you, God!!! This is a great relief that it is so early in this upcoming week. This will be about 9:00 A.M. in GA. So please keep the prayers going for this important time.We will probably leave on Wednesday night or Thursday sometime to go to the orphanage, but we don't know which one until after the appointment.

Thank you to everyone for the cards you sent. We have been reading them and rereading them. They are very encouraging and thoughtful. We appreciate the cards!!

Yesterday we walked around town and found the Circus building. We did not go in. It rained (sprinkled) today (Sat.) and this is the real first rain we have had. Plus it is a bit colder today.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wednesday, November 12: Walked all over Kiev...we walked to Independence Square which was very pretty with a few statues and very large buildings....we went to the Underground Mall and it was huge....just like American malls with quite a few American stores (New Balance, Hallmark) and some that were like American stores, like Women's Secret instead of Victoria's Secret. Many stores were very high end and expensive for the fashion-able ladies!! There was a McDonald's underground and above ground...there was a regular food court in the underground mall. We are learning our way around and getting a bit more adventurous, going down a few side streets. We walked til our legs and feet were aching...we don't know how far but we walked over 3 hours, but at least we were not in high-heeled boots. We stopped by a small grocery store to get a jug of water but it was closed. So we had to walk all the way down to the big grocery store. That was even more tiring. But we had a good time seeing these new things.

Thursday, November 13: Still no news about the next SDA appointment and still recuperating from yesterday's marathon walk.

A few more observations/experiences:

• Weather is still tolerable...it is not that cold during the daytime while we are out walking...it is in the upper 30s mostly and has not been too windy
• We see very few people in glasses and even fewer in sunglasses...the ones that have glasses have very thick ones
• We must not look like Americans to everybody because we have been asked something (directions?) from about 6-7 people already when we were walking on the street.
• Very few people smile over here...they only smile at close friends/family...they don't smile when just passing by someone on the street... it was weird at first but we just laugh! They do not make much eye contact..they just cut their eyes over or down at us or anyone, really.
• They cut right in front of each other in lines, like at supermarkets...if there is a little space between people (what we consider the appropriate space between people) they just get right in the line right there...we are learning how to do the same although it is awkward.
• We have to be back at the apartment by 4:30 because it is dark between 4;30 and 5:00. That makes for a long, long evening, but we are doing better at figuring out what to do other than eat!!
• American foods we have seen: Lay's potato chips, M&Ms, Snickers, Nescafe Gold Instant Coffee, Wrigley's chewing gum, Nestle products (Nestle makes Honey Nut Cheerios over here), Coca-cola, Kleenex, and a few others.
• Like buying the t.paper, we have to do hand motions to purchase ham at the deli. But, we have been able to communicate and get what we want, even getting it sliced.
• We love the olive bread at the bakery!! Todd said he isn't sure if man can live on bread alone but a little olive bread sure does help.