WE ARE NOW A FAMILY OF 4 AND BACK IN KIEV HORRAY

Ok where to start, it has been a very very busy 3 days and now we are on day 4. There has been a lot of emotions going on, all in one day plus even more stress.

Monday March 29, 2010

Our day started a little early as Natasha our facilotary had come on the overnight train and arrived at the apartment at about 7am. Now I know for some of you this is not early but we did not get to bed till 1am as I was busy packing. We both woke up feeling excited and worried that the other shoe would drop at court. We got the bus for the last time, to go see Ethan. He was excited when we arrived and it was outside for a little play time. It was strange to think that in a few hours this little boy would be ours. We put Ethan down for his nap and left him for the last time. We walked from the orphanage up to the court house. We sat in the court room waiting for the judge to come in as our time was 4:00 but like most things they did not start in time, and Laura started to get bored. Just as the judge came in at around 4:20 Laura was getting into full noise mode, and Martin and I started promising her the world to keep her quiet, she was playing her DS but it was not helping too much. The judge then started to go through the paperwork and Natasha translated for us. Then they asked Martin to come in front of the judge and asked him some questions, like where he worked, year he was born, if he understood Ethan medical problems and if we would sooner adopt a perfectly healthy child....his response was we want to adopt Dmitro with a big smile. Then it was my turn, I was asked similar questions, but also did I have help to look after Laura, and would I be able to look after both children. Then they asked if we had anything to say and at this point Martin took the pictures of home up to the judge to show him. This was a really good moment, escpially when he saw Martin on his motor bike and asked him if he rode a sea doo as well, they then talked about fishing as well and the judge was asking what fish we get back home and added that the Dnipro river used to be full of salmon in the Zap city region and in typical Martin fashion he motioned to the judge that he and Martin go fishing then and there with a hardy laugh from the judge. Then the judge and 2 jurors left the room for no more than 1 min to make their decision, when the judge started to say our names and I knew that he was saying yes we could adopt Ethan well my flood gates opened and 7 weeks of stress started to come out. It truly was a great moment.
That evening we went out for supper and had pizza to celebrate.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

This was to be a very busy day more than I knew. It was up at 6:15am to be ready to leave at 7:30 by taxi, we went to the town were Ethan’s Bio mum was born to get his birth cert. (In Ukraine you are supposed to register your child’s birth in the city you were born in that is why even though Ethan was born in Zaperasha she registered him where she lived.) This made a nice change to see some country side and was surprised to see it flat like home. This took 40 mins to get the cert. It was then back in the car to the city to pick up some papers that Natasha had left at the apartment by 9:30. It was then to the main licensing office known as the wedding palace to drop paper work off, we first went to the wrong office so off to the correct one. They said we needed a photo copy of his birth cert. but I find it strange they did not have a copier, so it was off to find a copy place, then back to the building and they said the paper work would be done in an hour. We sat in the car all this time. It was now 10:25 and off to the police station down some very bumpy roads to change Ethan’s tax # this is like our social insurance # got there at 10:45. Sat in Car.
Left station at 10:50 and told to come back in thirty minutes. Went to pay taxes of some sort and then back to the wedding palace by 11:05 to pick the birth cert back up. Left the palace at 11:20 and back to the police station to pick up paper. I got to get out of the car this time and go in to sign the paper work. While in the office a song came on the radio called “I’m Blue” some of you may know it, but all I could think of was David and his version of that song.
11:45 on our way again for 5 mins drive to the Notary office, we all got out of the car this time which for Martin was the first time since 8:45. They had done a statement letter for the police station for the passport. (You go to the police station to get passports in Ukraine)
12:30 back in car and off to the lawyers across town, by this time we are all getting very tired and cramped in the car. 12:40 got to lawyers; Natasha went in again without us and came out with some good news. It turns out that the government gives all children when born money. Ethan’s money was in a bank account and there was over $1000 CDN. The director of the orphanage said she would write a letter up saying we had donated this money, but Natasha felt it was our decision as to what to do with it. We then went to the orphanage to pick up the paperwork so we could get the money from the bank. We then found out that there was over $2000 in his bank account. This put us in a bit of a struggle as we do not begrudge the orphanage to buy things for its up keep but this is also Ethan’s money. In the end we did donate some of it and the rest we will put away for Ethan.
It was then back to the main police station and this time we sat for a very long time in the car I fell asleep in the car as did Nicoli, our driver. At 3:30 Natasha then came out at to say that we had just over an hour to get back get Ethan and be back at the police station so we could get the passport picture done otherwise we could not get the train that night. So it was to the grocery store to buy diapers/nappies for his room, 2 bottles of champagne for the workers and the director, and some water for us as we still have not had lunch. Then it was to the orphanage to pick up our little boy. It has to be the fastest pick up ever. In we went they washed him down, I got him dressed in the mean time Martin took pictures of the room with the cribs and Natasha videoed me getting Ethan dressed. It was a very quick good bye with a picture of the workers before we left. Then over to the director’s office, but she was busy so we left the champagne with the secretary and we were on our way again back to the police station. We got his picture taken which like most children was fun getting him to look were we wanted him too. It was then a big dash back to the apartment pack the last few things, no time for a cup of tea which I so much wanted to have, then across town to the train station to buy our tickets in an extremely packed car. Natasha was to leave us at this time as it meant she could take a train straight home to her city to be with her family, but before that she came to the grocery store to help us get food seeing as none of us had eaten all day, then over to the train were she helped us get settled on the train and then we said our good bye’s to a women who became super women to get this all done in 1 day. We will be forever grateful to her for all she has done for us, she is truly amazing. Just a little note she is a mother of a 4 year old little boy and during this day her husband was home very sick, she had a great understanding of Laura and her difficulty and took it all in stride and understood why we wanted to get back to Kiev.
Now it was just the 4 of us, and oh what a feeling. We all had some food and then it was time to get the children down for a sleep. This went very well and Ethan was asleep in 20 mins with no tears. Martin and I enjoyed looking at the children sleeping and looking out the window. It was then time for us to go to sleep well sort of, I slept with Ethan on a very narrow bench and a couple of times when the train stopped I almost ended up on the floor. Ethan woke up at 4 am and that was it he was up till we got into Kiev at 5:45am. Martin said that he didn’t get any because of the rattling of his cabin.. we paid for two cabins and Martin had to sleep with the luggage. We were picked up and driven to the same apartment we had left, but neither child was ready to go to sleep.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Martin took a walk to the grocery store to get us food, and then we had a very quiet day with me and Ethan taking a nap Laura never did take a nap. Ethan was getting used to his surroundings and us. He is doing well at taking new foods, but we are feeding him baby food still as he does not like lumps just like Laura did not. He went to bed really good for us. We really did nothing else as we were all just too tired to do anything.
Well this has taken me a very long time to type and I really should spend some time with my family.

Love to you all

Jennifer, Martin, Laura and now with us Ethan