:: Our Adoption Journal

09/23/2003 - This is the date we officially decided to move forward with the adoption. It's also our wedding anniversary; but it served well as an opportunity for us to both be stress free and stay focused on our marriage and future family. We went to a seminar with Jewish Family & Children's Services who ended up being our choice for conducting the homestudy.

10/20/2003 - The homestudy went well. Our social worker, Stacy, was in and out within 80 minutes. Just before she got here, however, we let our dog run around in the baseball fields in hopes that she'd be tired and not be too rambunctious when Stacy came; but she chose instead to roll around in another dog's waste 20 minutes before Stacy got here. But it did go well. We're still working on our medical clearance, but once that's done our homestudy is complete.

10/26/2003 - Today, we held a yard sale to raise funds. Thanks to all who have been able to donate items to be sold. We raised about $230. Praise God! We're still a long way from affording the whole process, but the Lord has gone before us to prepare a way. While we don't always understand and see how He is providing, we know He is there and has opened many doors including this one that has brought us enough to pay half of the fee for the INS I-600a form.

11/08/2003 - We're coming to realize that deadlines don't always mean "due date". We're still making great progress (should have our homestudy completed and certified by next week), but some forms that we should have initiated are only now being processed - namely the INS I-600a form (for the official dossier that gets stamped by D.C. and sent out to Kiev). Also, just got word that our facilitator, Oleg, is not doing so well and is expected to be unavailable for the next couple of months. Still, we move in faith, believing that our steps are ordered of Him and that the necessary doors will be opened. We're praying that Oleg, a man dedicated to serving so many (especially those orphans in Ukraine) will get well soon.

11/14/2003 - We'd like to share the lyrics to a wonderful song that warms our heart every time we hear it. "When Love Takes You In" is a song about adoption - but so much more!

11/17/2003 - Just spoke with Andre Litvinski, a professional acquaintance of mine at the Russian Market newspaper. He's been very helpful in this process as he comes from Ukraine. He just now mentioned to me that he'd like to interview my family to share our story. Wouldn't that be a neat item to include in Jonathan's "life book"?! Still, after careful thought and prayer, I think we'll pass on this opportunity.

11/26/2003 - The homestudy arrived in the mail today. What an exciting milestone! The homestudy is a packet put together by the social worker that came to our house and interviewed us and looked over our home. It's a complimentary document, many pages long. The next step is to mail one certified copy to the INS on Friday with some other supporting documents, namely the I-600A form and $460. After couple of weeks, we'll receive an invitation to get our fingerprints done by the INS and after about a month or two, we should receive in the mail the I-171H form which becomes a piece of our "dossier" and authorizes us to adopt internationally. The dossier gets stamped by D.C. and then goes to Ukraine. It's translated into Ukrainian and becomes the document that the Ukrainian government reviews prior to inviting us out. So, we're expecting that we'll get that invitation by about March - or it could be as late as June. Keep us and this process in prayer.

11/28/2003 - Our "petition to adopt" was sent to the INS office today. Only about a month or two before they send us our "approval". Then we send our dossier to DC.

12/06/2003 - We received confirmation from our facilitator, Oleg, that we can expect to travel this April/May.

12/13/2003 - Because it can be so valuable knowing where your roots reach, we've put the beginnings of Jonathan's family tree online. 

12/19/2003 - Less than a week before Christmas and we're finally getting the final documents that we need. We're getting them notarized and ready to send to Harrisburg for a state apostille. Then off to Ukraine they go! Then, we just wait for the invitation to travel.

12/20/2003 - In yesterday's mail, we received our appointment with INS to be fingerprinted. We're going to the Philadelphia INS office Monday, January 5th. We expect the I-171H form will be in our hands two weeks after that. Another interesting development is that of Ukraine's recent change in joining the Hague convention. That is, they'll not require us to have our dossier "legalized" since they now (eff. 12/22) recognize an official state apostille from any American state. This is likely to save us a few hundred dollars as well as time.

12/31/2003 - We got our letters from the Pennsylvania State Police today. This was another obstacle that proved ineffective in keeping us from our goal. God is so good! The letter is out of the ordinary for Pennsylvania since they have a form response to inquiries on criminal background checks. It's a letter that states "no record found" with a notary seal. It's amazing how simple it sounds but how difficult it was to obtain. Next step... we get finger printed Tuesday, January 6th at Philadelphia's INS office. Then, Friday, January 9th, we're getting a state apostille on our New Jersey documents (namely our marriage certificate). Then, we continue to wait for our INS approval (form I-171H).

01/07/2004 - Yesterday, we took the train to center city Philly for our appointment with the Immigration & Naturalization Services office. We got our finger prints scanned for FBI review. Today, we're mailing a document to Trenton, NJ for a state apostille on our marriage certificate.

01/17/2004 - Earlier this week we received our marriage certificate from Trenton with the state apostille authenticating the document. We also got an e-mail from Oleg stating that we have a new medical form that needs to be completed. I suppose with all the changes at the NAC, we'll have more changes coming down the pike. If not, we should be in Ukraine within the next two - three months.

01/25/2004 - We've been working diligently on the baby's room. Kathie brought over the rest of the toddler's bed last week, and we've been accumulating things for his room - both things we've purchased and gifts from friends and family. We got our medical release forms signed, and Luisa's is already notarized. (Mine will be soon.) We're just waiting on the I-171H form. After we get that, we'll go to Harrisburg for the day and ship the "dossier" out to Ukraine. Then... more waiting - for the NAC invitation.

02/02/2004 - Got my medical release form signed; still waiting for the INS approval to move forward.

02/09/2004 - I'm sure many would like to hear about the "reason" we decided to adopt... and why Ukraine. So here's our testimony.

02/19/2004 - Still waiting for the INS approval.

03/02/2004 - Yes, we're still waiting for INS approval - but we're hanging in there. The Monday before last we drove down to Center City Philadelphia early in the morning. We stood outside in a line with lots of Russians and Hispanics seeking to renew their visas. We didn't get inside the building except after being in the cold for a good 20 minutes. We passed through the security check point only to wait in another line for 15 more minutes. At the end of that line, we got a ticket with #28 on it. We sat down and looked up at the board; it said, "Now Serving #2". And so after 30 minutes, we took another look, "Now Serving #2". So, because we didn't plan a full day off from work (because that's what it seems it'll take to get an answer to our question of the month... How much longer?!?!), we had to call it a day.

And Luisa's girlfriend, Marinely, hosted Luisa's first baby shower last Saturday. It was in our basement (I tried so hard to get it ready in time - but Marinely had to be creative with keeping it presentable). Luisa was so surprised! Yes, she probably knew something was up - but she couldn't have imagined that it'd be in our small house. This shower was an opportunity for all of Luisa's friends from our home church to show their support and encouragement.

03/09/2004 - We found out that the INS office in Philadelphia (actually now known as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the post-9/11 era) is processing paperwork from late November. We sent our's in late November - but they didn't acknowledge receipt of it till late December. So, we're not expecting to receive our "approval" till late April.

Still, we continue to prepare (nothing else to do!) - and we recently found another family that went before us and saw that they have a link for web cams up in Ukraine. Check them out here: Ukraine Web Cams

03/22/2004 - We just learned today that INS is now working on paperwork received in late December; we sent our petition to adopt on 11/28/03 - and they confirmed receipt of our's in mid-December. So, it could be a matter of days or weeks that we receive our approval. This puts us at possibly traveling around May.

AN ADOPTION IS LIKE A PREGNANCY WITHOUT A DUE DATE.

03/29/2004 - God's blessings aren't always so obvious to us - but during this adoption, they are very evident! We take many things for granted in this life, but God continues to be faithful. Last week we had our income tax forms prepared and found that we will be getting a refund for the first time in years. Yes, having the house for a full year, and other deductions to benefit from have helped us - but we believe strongly that it is God. He has been so faithful to bring us through this adoption - both spiritually and financially. To date, we have spent over $3,000 on paperwork. And soon, we'll have to spend another grand or two to keep the ball rolling once we receive INS approval of this adoption. When we get to Ukraine, we'll end up delivering another $10,000 plus to handle all court costs, lodging, translation fees, etc. It's quite a bargain compared to other options that exist for us. But here's my point in revealing all of these costs... God has made a way for us to meet every cost so far - and I see Him lining up things to meet the future costs. Like I said, we're getting a return from the IRS this year; I just got a bonus payout from my employer; I just got a more in depth understanding of the U.S. Federal Adoption Tax Credit and it's benefit to us; and my employer will refund $3,000 of my adoption expenses once it's finalized later this Spring. To God be the glory! 

All in all, we have had to worry about nothing. Not because we're well off financially - because we're not. I could complain about the things we go without because we can't afford them, but I won't. God has been too good to drown out what He's done for us. We thank Him for keeping us in a place where we are continually dependent on Him for His leading, and for Him to supply all good things.

04/13/2004 - We're still waiting, but we learned that the INS office is now working on petitions received on 12/22. Next time we do this, we'll use the Pittsburgh office to process our petition; they're on March '04 now.

04/14/2004 - Beginning April 19, 2004, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev will start processing immigrant visas for orphans adopted by U.S. citizens in Ukraine (immediate relative visas - IR-3 and IR-4). Previously, upon completion of the Ukrainian adoption, all American families had to travel to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, for issuance of the immigrant visa to their child(ren). The opening of adoption immigrant visa processing in Kiev should represent a significant savings in terms of time and resources for American families.

The U.S. Embassy in Kiev will be among the first U.S. Embassies worldwide to obtain the most recent immigrant visa technology - machine-readable immigrant visas. Although the documentary requirements for the orphan immigrant visa will remain virtually unchanged, the actual immigrant visa will be put in the child’s passport. Accompanying documents will be hand-carried in a separate packet for presentation to immigration inspectors at U.S. ports of entry. The only change for parents will be that a frontal facial photo of the child will now be required in addition to the three-quarter photo.

04/29/2004 - We recieved our first call from the Bureau of Citizen & Immigration Services (INS) after sending our petition to adopt back on 11/28/03. It's timing is less than two weeks after writing as a plea for assistance to our Congressman. While it may have just been a coincidence in the timing, I believe God used even our politicians in an answer to our prayers.

They claimed that our petition was held up because the author of our home study (social worker) approved us for the adoption of only one, while our petition to adopt was for two. We wrote two in the event our baby boy has a sibling. Our social worker, after being contacted by the BCIS, quickly submitted an addendum, approving us for the adoption of two.

In speaking with Marsha at the BCIS, we were very happy to hear that she was finalizing the petition today and that we can expect to have the I-171H form (their approval) in hand by Monday. Praise God! So, we're looking to travel by early to mid-June.

05/04/2004 - The U.S. government finally got around to approving the adoption of our baby boy. The I-171H letter came in today's mail. We're off to Harrisburg tomorrow morning for the state apostille. It'll be in a FedEx package along with lots of other paper that, together, make up our "dossier". Wahoo! It feels so great! Time's gonna fly by now. We're hoping to get out there and be back by June 18th because Luisa's in the bridesmatron in her friend's wedding; and my boss goes on her maternity leave in late June. It's gonna be tight. I'm planning to take paternity leave (unpaid, of course) in early August.

05/07/2004 - Our day trip, on 5/5, to Harrisburg went well. We left for the state capital at around 8:30am and were on our way back home at around 1pm. We came straight to the FedEx distribution center in our neighborhood and are now able to track where the package is at any given time. You can track it on FedEx.com via tracking #8439-1172-9760.

The dossier package will be translated by our facilitator's team and will then be forwarded to the National Adoption Center. We expect to hear from them within the next two to three weeks as to our travel appointment.

05/11/2004 - It's there! Our dossier has been delivered to our facilitator's team. It now needs to be translated into Russian and reviewed by the National Adoption Center (NAC). The NAC will send us our appointment to travel sometime within the next few weeks. A bit more waiting... but it gets more exciting by the day. Here's the itinerary the dossier took via FedEx:

05/19/2004 - We've been e-mailing like crazy, trying to get ready. At this point, our dossier is likely still being translated and will soon be getting reviewed by Ukraine's NAC. We expect to be hearing from them in the next week or so with an appointment date and invitation. We'll be applying for our Ukrainian Visa soon. At this point, we're hoping for a June 20th departure date.

05/27/2004 - On Tuesday, we got an e-mail from Oleg, our facilitator in Ukraine. We thought we had NAC approval--but not yet. He asked us to reword our letter to the NAC, asking for specifics in getting our appointment. So, we quickly retyped our letter based on Oleg's suggestions, scanned our signatures in blue ink and e-mailed the letter to Oleg by the end of the day. We got confirmation from Nastya, our translator, that she received the revised letter. So, we'll just sit back and wait a bit more. Still hoping for a June 20th departure date.

05/31/2004 - It's Memorial Day! We're waiting for word that the NAC has approved our adoption request and for an confirmed appointment date. We're hoping to travel Father's Day (6/20) to be in Ukraine for a 6/22 appointment date. Today we're going to get our photos taken again for our Ukrainian Visa; we'll mail our applications for the visas tomorrow. We continue to prepare by buying things for the trip and getting support for while we're away.

06/05/2004 - Yesterday, we mailed our application for our Ukrainian Visas to New York's Ukrainian Consulate office, still hoping for a 6/22 appointment. We got our photos taken at the local Walgreens, saving us about $5. 

06/18/2004 - In today's mail (and via e-mail from our facilitator), we have confirmation that the National Adoption Center in Ukraine has reviewed and approved our request to adopt. There's still much to do before we have our son in our arms. We are waiting for the NAC director to designate our appointment. Once we have that, we'll be ready to travel. It's been very emotional for us lately. We are trusting the Lord to work out all of these issues we're facing. 

Last Saturday, we were on our way to a pool party (life goes on while we wait!), and we ended up getting in a car accident. Luisa got a little banged up, and JC (one of the youth from our youth group) hit his forehead pretty hard - but THANK YOU, LORD that we are all okay. The car just got appraised for damage yesterday: $6,000 worth of damage - and that's just our vehicle. I pray that the other party involved is more fortunate than us. Anyway, just thought we'd add a note of excitement to our Adoption Journal. God has a plan, and He works all things together for the good.

06/23/2004 - In last Friday's mail, the USPS attempted to deliver what we ended up picking up at the post office on our own this past Monday... our passports returned to us with visas to travel to Ukraine. One step closer.

Still no word on our appointment date. Latest we heard was maybe this week we'll know.

06/26/2004 - Wahoo! We received word yesterday that we'd be going to Ukraine at the end of July. We'll be buying our plane tickets on Monday. More updates will be posted here.

07/02/2004 - We bought our plane tickets. We're flying Lufthansa Airlines. I'll post the full itinerary later next week; but here's the gist: flying out of Philadelphia at 5pm on Monday, 26-July with a two hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany; arriving in Kiev, Ukraine at about 1pm the following day. It feels good to be able to have confirmed things such as the appointment letter and plane tickets.

It actually took Lufthansa all week to confirm pricing, etc. We called on Monday and didn't hear till this morning what the actual price would be. So, now that we know, we booked and are ready to go - at least with tickets purchased. Lots of packing and preparing to do yet.

07/05/2004 - Here's our travel itinerary. Tentatively, we are returning on flight #LH5279 out of Ukraine (terminal B) to Munich, Germany at 6:55am 13-August. We expect this date will change.

07/13/2004 - We have less than two weeks to go, and so much to do! The long list is dwindling, but we still have lots of packing to do. Took care of the normal stuff... got a house sitter, put the mail/newspaper on hold, and secured a dog sitter, bought some things for the trip. But we still are wrapping things up. 

We plan to spend our last night (7/25) in the States at Chris' mom's house in Vineland, NJ. If you'd like to see us off, stop by.

07/15/2004 - With just 10 days to go, we're getting more and more excited to go! We'll be in Ukraine soon.

Last night, after youth service, our friends from church gave us some authentic Ukrainian food. There was some homemade Borshch (beet soup); homemade Varenyky (perogies filled with cottage cheese); cabbage-based salads; a potato salad with eggs, pickles, peas, and small sausages, and some great desserts. There was a meatball type of dish, too. We ate some as soon as we got home. It was yummy. I ate some more today. Luisa was a bit hesitant, but she did try some and ate everything on her plate.

07/21/2004 - Only 4 days to go. We're getting everything packed and ready to go. This will likely be our last journal entry while still here in the States. Look to the Ukraine Journal for updates while we're out there.

Also, we finally got the New Nursery & Family Rooms completed. Check out the pics.

07/26/2004 - The day is finally here! We're on our way to Ukraine today. The road has been long, but God has brought us through. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to seek His will in this whole process. We will do our best to continually update you all while out there by updating our Ukraine Journal.

07/27/2004 - Touchdown! It's our first day here in Ukraine. And, needless to say, we're beat! The plane ride was okay. We had comfortable seats, good food, and we made it here alive. Flying Lufthansa was a good idea. There were some difficulties, however. Our flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt, Germany was 90 minutes late. We just made it to our connecting flight to Kyiv. Luisa is NOT feeling well. She's very nervous. Please pray for this need. When we arrived at the airport, the VIP service, Alex, hurried us through customs (very quickly!). We met one of Oleg's translators, Nastya, and her boyfriend, Alex. They helped us with our luggage, and drove us from the airport into downtown Kyiv where we are now. At the bottom of our apartment building, I found this computer room that charges $1 USD per hour. (Good deal!) So, I jumped at the opportunity to update our site. Check back again often while we're out here. (Our return dates are undetermined at this point. Please check back later.) And send us an e-mail to keep us encouraged, or if you have any specific questions. God bless!

07/28/2004 - Still a bit jet-lagged. But we got out and about today to see some sites (not many). We're fighting to stay awake and fed. The food isn't too bad, but we're a bit culture shocked. We found an American restaurant (or maybe it's Italian), Momento. I had lasagna, and Luisa had meatball soup. We'll be more brave later, I'm sure. The apartment is quaint and clean. We have photos and video to show when we return. We're dreaming good dreams and look forward to our very important meeting at the National Adoption Center tomorrow morning. Ps. Luisa is feeling better today, but still very nervous.

07/29/2004 - He's a bit more than 14 months old with the birth name of Nakita. The appointment at the NAC went well. We are going to the Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, tonight. (Our train leaves at 10:25pm, lasting eight hours.) Pray for safe travels. We may not have access to the Internet when out there as we hear the regions lack the same 'luxuries' we have here in Kyiv, the country's capital. We finally found some PEANUT BUTTER! Praise God for peanut butter. We're packing staple foods like this one for our time out there. We are hoping to have everything completed by the end of next week, i.e., bonding with him, confirming his 'healthy' diagnosis on file with the NAC, and the court proceedings. Then, back to Kyiv to see the American pediatrician, and then to the U.S. Embassy for his Ukrainian visa for entering the U.S. We pray that this boy is God's will for us. He's very young (bd 05/19/03). And interestingly enough, that's about the time (possibly the exact time) that we had our first meeting with the Schultz family, a family that preceded us in this journey. His mother was also young; she was only 20 when she gave birth, and she 'abandonded' him at the hospital, giving no father's name. Irena, the psychologist at the NAC was very friendly and helpful while we agreed on Nakita. If we're able to, we'll post updates in Kharkiv. Otherwise, look for an update here when we return to Kyiv.

07/30/2004 11:30am - We made it! The correct English spelling of this city (yes, it's a city!) is Kharkov (pronounced 'Har-Keev'). Dima, our translator, has an appointment with the social worker now. Hopefully, we'll be able to see Nikita today. The NAC director, yesterday, was too busy with inspectors to sign the referral that we needed to get into the orphanage today. Still, by faith, we got into a very tight car with our luggage and drove to the train station. We waited for a bit, and got onto the overnight train to Kharkov. (We bought our tickets earlier yesterday, after the meeting at the NAC.) We expect to hear from Dima soon, and hope it is to say that we can go to the orphanage today. Also, we're expecting Oleg, our facilitator, will be able to get the signature and 'air' the referral this morning. Right now, we're in the Mir Hotel (kinda spacy). It's costing us $250 grivna (spelling?) for 1 night (about $50 USD), and it's lacking the charm we took for granted in our apartment in Kyiv. It's sooo hot! And there's no air-conditioning in the hotel. The water stinks, really nasty. And we're tired from last night's train ride. The compartment we stayed in was 'neat'. Very tight, but neat. Luisa knocked out almost immediately, but I stayed up till midnight, reading; and then slept to 12:30am only. I couldn't get back to sleep till 4am, and we arrived in Kharkov by 6:35am. So, I'm on my second wind... again. Oh, and right now I put the night stand in the window to prop it open, trying to let the wind blow through in our 7th floor room. Breakfast was interesting. Dima invited us to join him downstairs for roasted chicken leg, mashed potatoes, some kind of tropical fruit, some old cheese, bread & butter, cucumber/tomato slices, and hot (Lipton) tea. Pray for us. Help us (me!) to have better attitudes.

07/30/2004 6:00pm - We met him today, and he's wonderful! We got a knock on our door at 12noon. It was Dima, and he said, "let's go!". Seeing our boy was no comparison to the pre-Olympics soccer matches - in Russian. We left the hotel and got into a taxi. We arrived to the orphanage (not what we expected). A big beautiful building, lots of flowers, bright painted building and clean. We were greeted with warm, welcoming smiles from the orphanage house director, Ella, and the orphanage house doctor, Dr. Tamara. We were escorted to the doctor's office where she pulled out our son's medical file. She proceeded to state all the tests he had and how all are negative, and that he is HEALTHY! He has dirty-blonde hair, and big, beautiful, dark hazel eyes. He was born May 19, 2003, 8lbs. 4oz. There was limited family history. The doctor described our son to be a "small, curious, alert, smart, good boy". He gets physical exams every six months, and all his vaccinations are up-to-date. After she explained everything she called someone to bring the child in. I was the first to see him come into the room. He was held by an orphanage worker who truly loved him. This little boy is loved by everyone there. I said "Hi" to him. He was quiet, shy, but he did not cry. Shortly after he came into the room I held him. I could tell he was scared but he didn't cry. He is small, and today he has a cold; running nose, small fever blister. Chris was standing by this time and he was staring at Chris. The orphanage directed stated that these children don't see many men. However, he took to Chris. Chris picked him up without any problems (except his shoes kept coming off and Chris had problems putting them back on). Dima asked us if we wanted to spend time with him alone for another 10-15 mins. We agreed! Chris carried him down the hallway to a large bright, beautiful play room with toys (and forgot his passport in the Dr.'s office). We had to take off our shoes before stepping on the play rug. Little Jonathan didn't want to sit right away, so Chris held his one hand while Jonathan stood (he has strong legs, stands with little assistance, any day now he should be walking). Jonathan had a cookie in his hand that he offered to Chris but then wanted it back. He's attentive to detail because when a crumb fell, he looked for it, picked it up, and ate it. The orphanage personel stated that he is a good eater. He eats at 8am, 12pm, 4:30pm and 8pm. The children play outside three times a day and they also have organized play inside. There was a toy drum infront of Chris. Chris played with it a few times, then Jonathan picked up the stick and started to tap on it. The first time he smiled was when I was pretending to bite his feet. He has a beautiful smile! Jonathan, as mentioned earlier, is small. He only weights 17lbs. He is a tall boy. This does not concern us because some American milk can do wonders for these children. While we were visiting with him, we told Dima to proceed with the adoption paperwork. "This is our son!" Well, once we said that, away we went. We said bye to Jonathan (we will see him everyday, three times a day, till court) and off we went to apply for "Petition to Adopt". When we went to the government building, we found that the person who files our paperwork is out of town until Tuesday. What will happen on Tuesday, assuming there are no other delays, is the government official will sign our petition and then we send this back to the NAC for a second approval. If all goes well, we should be in court by 6-Aug. After this, we go to the U.S. Embassy for his passport and a mandatory doctor visit. We are moving yet again! Tomorrow we will be moving next to the orphanage. We are staying at the house director's apartment. We don't expect to have access to the Internet, so the next time you may hear from us is when we're back in Kyiv to finalize everything. However, please check our website in case we can get to a computer lab.

07/31/2004 - At home I have a 4Mbps connection; here it's more like 23Kbps, or about 1% of what I'm used to. Patience is a virtue. We moved into our new apartment (lots of moving around here). It's a 5 minute walk to the orphanage where Jonathan is. Our telephone number, in case you don't mind calling us (not sure how much it'd cost you) is 011-38-057-711-0352. Of course, because we have a lot of "down time", we'd love to hear from you. We cannot call out as the city we're in doesn't sell international phone cards anywhere. We've looked. The phone card we have only works from Kyiv. So, we'll be able to call out from there to a select few. The orphanage is a brand new one; it just opened 3 years ago. The outside is beautiful. Jonathan is beautiful. You have no idea! He has beautiful eyes, light brown hair, and a wonderful appetite. We didn't get to see him today as we expected. The reason being, is that our petition to adopt wasn't accepted as "official" and won't be till Monday. The referral we received from the NAC was only a faxed copy, and they needed the original to make it official. We went to a market today and saw lots of things we'd like to buy for our trip on Monday. We'll buy them tomorrow evening. I will try sending in a separate e-mail, some pictures to "test" sending some pictures of Jonathan for later in the week. Dima has been a wonderful friend to have while out here. He's been so helpful. Ella, the same. She made us some dumplings for breakfast. First, asked us to sit, and she presented us with some sliced, fried sausage with some ketchup and mayonnaise. Mmmmm. Then, the entree... seven (notice I didn't say six) dumplings (like a ravioli) with cherries inside and sugar on top. They're somewhat superstitious out here. If we were to offer flowers to someone, we should give them in an odd number (not even; that's for funerals only), and never over the threshold of a doorway. Only outside, or once inside. Also, I was corrected in that I shouldn't be whistling. Whoops. So many other things, but for the most part, all is okay. I wish I brought some shorts. It feels like it's at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It's sooo hot! The icon on my website that shows the temperature is wrong! They go by Celsius here anyway. That's all for now. We may have to resort to the fellowship we have between the two of us only tomorrow as there is no protestant churches around here. I met a Christian man at the Mir hotel yesterday who was only somewhat helpful in saying that he only goes to church when invited (not too many meeting places). We are now on the other side of this huge city. It's about the size of Philadelphia with lots of apartments (no row homes). Spa Koy Noy Noche! (Good night!) Send e-mails. We'd love to hear from you.

08/02/2004 - Of course the hi-lite to today's update is that we just got back from spending the last 90 minutes with him. He's such a joy! He's like to be held and carried around. In fact, the only time he cried (and yes, he was alone with us; no one around), was when we tried to put him down. Not that we want to put him down. He's wonderful. He knows that he can get around faster by crawling. Boy he's fast! He's not trying to walk yet; but like we said earlier, he can stand on his own. He interacts with us well, rolling a Mickey Mouse ball we bought for him. This evening, we're going to color with him. His cold is getting better. His fever blisters are almost gone. He's still nasally congested. He eats a lot! We fed him yogurt, a banana, and some apple juice using a regular cup. However, he was crying when we gave him what we were told we could. He uses his own hands a lot. We'll give him some more food when we get there around 5pm. We got lots of pictures! We are having some trouble uploading the photos as I'm dealing with a computer that doesn't support it. Although, it may be a software issue. We'll try just before leaving here this afternoon. (Sorry. It looks like you'll just have to be teased with our written descriptions. But I wonder if a photo would be even more of a tease. He's a good looking, smart kid. Luisa was showing him to play the piano. He got a kick out of that. :) We know some of you are alarmed at his size/weight; but Luisa is confident that he'll catch up real soon. We'll get some American milk in him, and he'll be set. (The milk here is room temperature when you buy it. You refrigerate it, and it's ready to go; tastes okay.) Food is getting better for us. The clothes we brought for him is too big. Shoes and all - even the hat. :( There are plenty of stores in Kyiv, and there's a market here that we can look around for clothes. Diapers are plentiful here. They cost about $5 USD for 22 (size 3) diapers. We haven't changed him yet. Don't want to push our luck. Maybe tonight we will. Pass the word all around that we cannot update the website here in Kharkov. The connection just isn't going through. When we get back to Kyiv, perhaps we'll be able to. By the way... Kharkov (pronounced Har-Keev) is a large city. A bit larger than Philadelphia. The section (i.e., district) we're in is pronounced Saltofka. They're celebrating their 350th anniversary near the end of the month. Too bad we'll miss that. So, there's lots of construction and preparations for that celebration under way now. Ukrainians take a lot of pride in themselves. They're dressed very respectfully, regardless of what financial situation they're in. We're impressed. No trash (mostly) anywhere. Roaches didn't visit last night. :) Oh, and Chris did get his passport back on Friday. Sorry if we left you hanging. :) On the way back from the orphanage, to our apartment, we met an American 9-year old boy, Ghenna. He's from Boston, visiting his grandparents. The weather is HOT! We've been here for a solid week, and there's been zero precipitation. Not even morning dew. And the fan, that frankly we're blessed to have, doesn't work very well. It goes around so slow that you can watch the blade as it rotates. Can you feel the heat? Please continue to send your e-mails. We enjoy them so. It's good to hear from our friends and family. Granted, we cannot reply to them all, but we enjoy reading them.

08/03/2004 - We just got back from another visit (2nd one today) to see Jonathan. We spent most of the trip outside in the shaded yard of the orphanage. Some time was spent with Jonathan's friends. (A girl named Dasha took a sincere liking to us.) Jonathan will miss them. He likes (even cries for it) to be held. We've picked up the obvious fact that he's spoiled by the staff. They love and will miss him. Some have asked in their e-mails about clothing size. Our best guess for his clothes would be 14 to 18 months. Yes, he's too small for 18 months now, but our pediatrician (communicating via e-mail) mentioned that based on some information we were able to provide, he should catch up rather quickly. Currently, he's in the 5th percentile for height and weight for his age. But everything else is in good shape. Our pediatrician said that it's largely nutritional. His shoe size would be size 3. Each time they bring him to us, he's in clothing for a bigger boy - but he's very presentable. He looks cute in a baseball cap. We're feeling fatigued. Sleeping well, but we have walked lots while out here. I don't know many Americans that could make it. Each day (last Friday, yesterday, today and till we bring him home with us) we have to walk to and from the orphanage. We also need to walk to the Internet lab, grocery store, and more. When we have long distances to go for things like notary and records for the court, catch a taxi. Well... really we just wave down someone who's willing to bring us where we need to go, and negotiate (via Dima) a price. And back to Dasha, Jonathan's friend... while holding him, Dasha wanted me to hold her too. Jonathan bopped her on the head, making his jealousy known. We told him that Vanessa Rose and Arianna are tougher than that. Either will take him down any day. :) We signed a request for the court to waive a 30-day waiting period to finalize the adoption. It's normally accepted, so we don't expect any problems. Dima's on the case. Still not a drop of rain (it's been 8 days). But it was less hot today (only about 90-95 degrees F). This is mostly due to the wind picking up, causing intermittent sand winds. Close your eyes! The water was off completely late last night into early this morning. It's back on this afternoon, but it's a bit brown. Oh well... the bottled water is cheap (only about $1 USD per 6 liters.) We just have to use it for washing our bodies as well as drinking and brushing our teeth. Some notes we forgot to mention yesterday... We got a call from Chris' mother on Sunday night (around 7:15pm our time). Again, it's good to hear from you, whether by phone or e-mail. 

We went to center city Kharkov on Sunday. We had lunch at McDonald's. (Mmmmm!) We walked through an Orthodox Monastery. Wow! What detail and beauty. We took some pictures. But the truly amazing sites there couldn't be recorded as they don't allow photos (not even video) of the insides. The murals are amazing. It's so solemn in there. We walked through a park with arts and crafts. Pretty neat. We bought a plaque commemorating the city's upcoming 350th anniversary. Well, we continue to enjoy seeing where Jonathan is from; and, of course, we look forward to spending time with him. We know that going through the "torture" and getting through all the red tape (no pun intended), was for a reason, and well worth it. If we had jumped ahead of God's timing, Jonathan wouldn't have been available for us to adopt, or even see. As you may know (not sure if we mentioned it already), he just became available through the NAC the day we had our appointment. God's right on time, as usual. I know you're all looking forward to seeing us, and Jonathan. We look forward to our return soon. And for those that don't live near Philadelphia, we'll send photos as soon as we return home with access to Chris' PC at home.

08/04/2004 - Well, the rain came... finally! It's actually a bit chilly. But we welcome it. :) We walked this morning (in the rain) to see him for our regular 9am visit. (We visit with him 9-10am; 1-3pm; and 5-7pm daily.) It was fun. We fed him some warm oatmeal. He liked it. He's wearing the bib okay (was putting up a fuss before). We went to an large outside market today (similar to Columbus Market in New Jersey). It was wet, and there were lots of leather and fur coats, and thousands of shoes. Alas, finally, we found the baby clothing. We didn't get much as sizes weren't as varied as we needed. We'll get some more when we get back to Kyiv. We're making tentative plans to take the overnight train back to Kyiv this Friday night. That is, if everything goes according to plan, and if we have court this Friday. We found out that his birth mother's name is Natasha. At the risk of reinforcing the stereotype of adoption, I'll admit that she was a twenty year-old, single woman. (Not all adoptions are from single, young ladies. Often, they just can't afford to give the child the life he or she deserves, and they realize that. It takes a lot of love to do what Jonathan's mother did; he is a healthy, beautiful boy.) We're going to buy some more bananas, juice and diapers before our 5pm visit. Our petition (and other paper work) was sent by way of train yesterday. So today it likely made it to Kyiv. Tomorrow evening we'll know when court is. Hoping for Friday. After court, we RUN to get other things accomplished... i.e., get paperwork notarized, visit the local government building for his post-adoption birth certificate (talk about being born again!), his visa for entering the U.S., etc. Then, hopefully, we'll make the 10:30pm train back to Kyiv. Once in Kyiv, we need to visit with the American pediatrician's office, and then to the U.S. Embassy. Oy Veh! We're moving and stopping often. (Hurry up and wait!) Paka (Bye!)

08/05/2004 - Went to see him again today. He seems to be getting bigger before our eyes. He's starting to push our buttons, e.g., trying to hit our face occasionally. We've corrected him, and I think he understands that it's "not nice." He's opening up to us more. He sits quietly in Luisa's arms as she humms to him. And he throws up some food when Chris throws him around (kidding, sorta). We should know tonight what's going on tomorrow. If tomorrow is our court date, we have to be ready to go by 8am (that's 1am in Philly). It's warm again, no more rain. Not a whole lot to update about today as it is still early. Some updates we forgot to mention yesterday...
1. I bought a nice Italian suit (3 pc with a tie) here yesterday... for $450 grevnas ($85 USD).
2. Jonathan's favorite caretaker is Oxanna. She's been very nice to us, and to Jonathan. We have a picture.
3. Jonathan's birth mother's full name is Natasha Alex Gaponenko. The middle name, Alex, is traditionally the Father's first name in Ukraine - as is this case. The Gaponenko name, Natasha's last name, is the same as the father's - at least what's on the birth certificate. The thing we don't know is (a) whether she was married (we assume not); and (b) whether the father's name on the birth certificate (i.e., Sirgay Victor Gaponenko) is or isn't the actual biological father, or the biological grandfather. The latter is the case when the mother is not married. We hope to send another update later this evening as we expect to have the court's answer as to whether we'll they'll hear our case tomorrow, or not. We're praying that they do.

08/06/2004 - No court today. We expected to have court today and take the overnight train to Kyiv tonight; but instead, we now have to wait till Tuesday to have court, and take the train back to Kyiv that night. So... we may or may not be able to fly out as planned this Thursday. If we make it, we'll be in Philly that afternoon because we fly against time, saving 7 hours. If we can't catch the Thursday flight, we may have to wait till the following Tuesday, 18-Aug. (Stay tuned.) Chris has a small cold (probably the change in temps.). We have some medicine and will be fine. Dima, our translator/facilitator, left us for the weekend, and is heading to the Kraymeer (spelling?). He has parents down on the Black Sea coast. He offered for us to travel with him as we now have all this extra time, but we opted to stay put. It gives us more time to spend with Jonathan. Besides, it's not a vacation. We've been visiting at the same time as another prospective adoption couple. They're names are Robert and Anna (from Naples, Italy). Robert speaks some English, and so we're able to share our experience in this whole process with them. They're adopting a 15-month old boy, they're re-naming Jenardo or Jenni. Our landlord, Ella, is asking that we take her picture back to America in hopes that we'll find a husband for her. Who knows? And yesterday evening, we met an American. His name is Eric O'toole. He's a Mormon from Utah, here on a two-year missions trip. This morning, when we went for our 9am visit, we couldn't find anyone. So, we went outside and around back and up the stairs. (We noticed that yesterday, he came from there.) And so, as Luisa stayed at the bottom of the stairs, I knocked on the door. There was a translucent curtain in the door's window. After knocking just once, I saw Jonathan in nothing but a diaper; he came crawling over once he noticed it was "Pappa"! Eventually, the caretaker came to get him dressed for us take him outside. But before she could, he was smiling at me and banging on the door for me open it and let him free. What a joy! It's getting hot again (around 90 degrees). We're hanging in there... waiting. I miss KFC, and Luisa misses Pizza Hut. It's funny. We don't normally patronage those restaurants when in the U.S. Oh, and we miss our dog, Lady, too. She's with Luisa's father. In case you're able to call, we'll be in our apartment between 12:30 and 4:00pm (Philly time) each day till Monday night. Dial 011-38-057-711-0352.

08/07/2004 - Well, gaining access to the website is not possible today. But I still wanted to send an update. At the end of the day, yesterday, when we say "Paka" to Jonathan, he actually showed an yearning to stay with us. I hope he's not too confused. At least, he's beginning to prefer us. He doesn't cry when saying goodbye, but he loves us, I'm sure. Got a call at 8pm last night. Dima said he'll be returning to Kharkov Sunday night because Monday morning we need to scramble to get an official letter from the court to send to the NAC before they approve it. I know it seems like we're constantly looking for approval. But hey... it's how it goes. This is the latest and greatest change to NAC's requisites. Ella came over to make vareniky (spelling?) for us... again. It was good. Cherries in a ravioli with sugar on top. Luisa and I had a good time in our conversations with her. She speaks broken English, and she said she has a foreign passport. I asked her, "you have a phony passport?" She said, "yeah." We cracked up - secrate. That's Chris' humor for you. This morning we went to see our boy again for our daily 9am visit. It went well. It's raining again, but not too hard. Wish I packed a rain jacket, or light sweater. We bought a cheap umbrella for $25 greevnas ($4 USD and change). And the most exciting news... our friend Michelle has joined us this morning. She traveled 3.5 hours early this morning to meet us. She's staying with us till Monday. She's helping us with the American perspective. She's been here since last October and is in the Peace Corps, teaching English. Paka!

08/08/2004 - Well, again, the Internet access I have won't allow me to update the page. But I will when I can. We took the Moddashuka (small mini-van/bus) into center city Kharkov last night. It was nice. We strolled through their "central park". What a nice, family atmosphere. As I said earlier, they're gearing up for the 350th anniversary celebration here in Kharkov. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant at "Freedom" Square (previously we called this Institution Square but learned last night differently). It's apparently the largest square in Europe. It's headed with a huge statue of Lenin ("grandfather" of Communism). So many people don't realize what horrible things he did, and many still yearn for the former communism days. What a shame. We learned (finally!) that while greevnas are somewhat like what we'd refer to dollars (although the exchange rate is $1 USD per 5.27 greevnas), copaks are somewhat similar to what we'd refer to cents. Neato! It costs 50 copaks ($0.09) to take the moddashuka to center city (about a 10 minute ride). We bought Xanna, Jonathan's primary caretaker, a gift. It is custom here in Ukraine to give gifts when saying goodbye. And Xanna has had the sweetest smile and a sincere concern for the children at Orphanage #3 (the "official" name of Jonathan's orphanage). The famous Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko, is wildly popular in Kharkov. Like, the famous Russian poet, Pushkin is among Russians. Jonathan was happy to see us this morning. Yesterday, when we had him, he began to suck his thumb and hold his left ear. It's how he comforts himself when tired. Here in the orphanage, he puts himself to sleep. No one to rock him to sleep. No one to sing him a lullabye. They put him in his own crib, and off he goes to dream land. Well, we will update tomorrow (Monday); but Tuesday (court day!) will be a very busy day, we're told. (We won't have time to eat, Dima says.) And so, after tomorrow's update, we'll have to wait till Wednesday to update again. By that point, we'll know our return date, if not tomorrow.

08/09/2004 - Short and sweet... went all over town, looking for Internet access. Have GOOD News! Court is on for tomorrow. We have to be ready to go very early, and expect to be busy all day. (Hope to have time for lunch, etc.) We met a couple, Nancy and Alan. They're from Connecticut. Jonathan is eating meat, and loves it. His digestion of it will take some getting used to, I'm sure. He's doing well, and we're excited to be able to go pick him up as our new baby boy tomorrow night. He'll be Jonathan Lawrence Ranson. Bravo! Look above in "Announcements" for our return flight information. We'll be home soon!

08/11/2004 - We'll be home this Friday! Wahoo! Everything has gone well. The court appearance went well, and all paperwork was quickly gathered, notarized, and authenticated. We caught the express train from Kharhov last night instead of having to take the overnight train. Thank you, Jesus! You've taken care of all things to bring this to a conclusion. You've been with us the entire trip. Thank you! Just before we caught the train, we picked Jonathan up. He's ours! We have his Ukrainian passport, and he's in our company (slept with us last night). We arrived in Kyiv late last night, and are in a nice apartment close to center city. We brought Jonathan to his pediatrician visit (a requisite of the American Embassy). The U.S. Embassy wouldn't give us an appointment (the final step in this whole process before we fly out), but after calling them twice (after Dima's initial call), they offered for us to have a 12pm appointment tomorrow; that is, instead of the Monday appointment they wanted us to take. We'll be on the flight as indicated above. If you would like to meet us at the airport, it will be okay. (Jonathan is very resilient.) However, we plan to go straight home to sleep. Perhaps we'll plan a "welcome home!" party in early Autumn.

            

    

    

08/14/2004 - We left our apartment yesterday at 5am (Ukraine time) and arrived at home by 7pm (Philly time)... 22 long, arduous, painful traveling hours later. Jonathan was wonderful. He slept some of the time, but even when he didn't, he was a joy. The difficult part was the politics of travel. When we arrived in Munich, Germany for our connecting flight to Frankfurt, Germany where we planned to catch our final flight home to Philadelphia, the German officers wouldn't allow us to travel in country because Jonathan's passport was that of Ukraine; and they require a visa to travel in their country. We didn't even think of this. And so, they helped us get a direct flight to the States (Boston, Mass.). How wonderful it was to step foot on U.S. soil. Our connecting flight to Philadelphia was delayed an hour, but we finally made it to Philly. We were greeted by Luisa's sister, Carmen and her family; Luisa's friend, Janet; and my mother's parents. We came home and found our house decorated with balloons and a banner welcoming Jonathan home. Neighbors came over to see the new addition, and friends from church made it over to see him as well. Then a swarm of youth paraded into the house to see the boy that stole our hearts. Thank you, Jesus. The boy you've given us has blessed our hearts, and will bless many hearts to come. We give you all the honor and the glory.