WE HAVE A VISA!!

I forgot to mention that little detail here. I posted it on facebook. Sorry for those of you who don't have facebook. The approval came the next day like we had hoped and the Embassy called to say everything was ready to be picked up. We stopped by the Embassy and within a few minutes - no joke, we were on our way with the Visa in hand. Yipeee! They couldn't have been nicer. We had our own little cheering section there I think!

Sumy in Wwwwwinter!

We arrived in Sumy after 7 1/2 hours on the bus from Kiev. Suffice it to say that the roads were not good. We were tired and cold while waiting for the taxi to come take us to our apt. After arriving at the apt., there was some disagreement with the landlord(yea, you guessed it. Bill and Leslie's old "friend") He wanted a deposit that was more than the rent, and I didn't want to give it to him! He asked us to leave, so we did. I'm sure he thought I wouldn't, but he was wrong. Now we were out in the cold again with all our luggage. I called Tanya, and she saved the day! She got a hold of the owner of another apt. we had stayed in during our last visit. He was willing to come down at 9:00 at night, last minute, and rent us the apt. Boy were we glad. Unfortunately, we could only stay one night because he had the other nights booked. We paid for the night and he said to leave the key on the counter when we left in the morning. No contract, no deposit! Now that's my kind of renting. We are now in a hotel because all the apts. are booked for the holiday. I would have thought the hotel would be booked but it's not. I went with Marina to "officially" sign Zhenya out of the orphanage. We tried to take care of things at the bank, but they weren't very helpful. They said to come back Tues. because they are closed Monday. We are still trying to figure things out and how long we will stay. We will make the best of it. I forgot to mention that the missionaries came and unlocked the church so we could store our luggage until we found somewhere to stay. Jesse, Tanya, and Zhenya went looking for a place to stay while Marina and I took care of business. Divide and conquer! Things are working out. Nothing is open tomorrow, so that won't be much fun. I will return to the orphanage tomorrow with the boys to deliver the gifts and packages.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Hey everyone, it's COLD out there!!!

Jesse couldn't help with my blog problem either, so I'm doing this through his somehow. He said it would work and I believe him. So let's bring you up to date.

Vlad and Natasha were at the airport to meet us. It was sure good to see them again. They told me that they had sent for Zhenya and he would be there shortly. He was about 15 minutes behind us. What a great surprise! It was so good to see him again. Not the first meeting Jesse was expecting, but it was great none the less. Zhenya has an escort with him. It was the only way they would let him go. He didn't care, he was so happy to come.

They have redone the Frankfurt airport since we were here last. It is beautiful now. Real high end store like Rolex and Versace etc. Security is ridiculously long. We had over two hours there and as we sat down by our gate, they announced that they were ready to board! We had to go through two security check points, each one taking longer. I got pulled over and had a pretty thorough pat-down. They took my money belt and walked off with it. I didn't let it out of my sight and it made for some tense moments. Dawn Soper was telling me tonight that she got pulled aside too - behind a screen and was as close to being stripped search as you could get. Maybe they are singling out American women, I don't know.
Today we woke up to a lot of snow! We had so much to do, how dare it snow so much. Well, we weren't going to let that stop us, so we bundled up and ventured out. It was so bad that even Vlad couldn't make it, so Natasha called a taxi driver she uses sometimes. We walked some of the way as there were too many cars that were stuck and our driver couldn't get around them. We went to get Zhenya's medical done and then to the Embassy. Both went quickly and smoothly. It was so great. The Embassy people were very nice. They took all of our documents, gave us the interview, and will have Zhenya's passport ready with his visa so when the approval comes they will just call me and have me come to pick it up. We are hoping for tomorrow. The Embassy sent off an email with a copy of the tracking document I provided saying that they(NVC)had received the approval from the USCIS on Dec.23rd. The Embassy said the NVC has had plenty of time to send it to the Embassy, so where is it? Hopefully they will go look for it and send it. Sorry this is so lengthy, but it is mostly for the family who have been following our every move with much anticipation. We will head to Sumy tomorrow to take our escort back and "officially" take Zhenya for good. Boy is he happy. He has asked me several times if he has to go back. I told him, "never again".
Tonight we met up with the Soper's and went out to dinner. It was fun for all of us. The airport closed down today, so they are praying it will open tomorrow and they won't have any problem getting out. They are so ready!