So now we are on our way to Kiev - as we sit on our Ukrainian Airlines flight waiting to take off, we are both filled with excitement and anticipation as we start phase two of this adoption process. It all seems very familiar this time, as we now know what to expect when we arrive into Kiev. We know that Irina or Lesya will be there to pick us up and we know that we will be taken care of. Emma bought some nice perfume at duty free for the woman, as well as candy for the boys. So here we go - Ukrainian Airlines has taken off from London to Kiev...
We arrive in Kiev about 5pm and breeze thru customs. Lesya is waiting for us with her husband and they take us to a different flat just off of Independence Square. It's a modern one bedroom flat with US cable TV (with baseball playoffs!!!) and a fireplace. Before we say goodbye for the night, Lesya explains what she has been going thru the past four weeks. Apparently the old government has been in debate with the current regime about the pros and cons of International adoption. Some of the old school politicians wanted to put a moratorium on adoptions and had scheduled a parliamentary vote on the ballet for September 21st. If passed, this would've put a three month hold on all adoptions, including ours, until a final decision was made on how they would proceed in the future! Can you imagine what she has been going thru the past few weeks? She didn't want to tell us about it so that we wouldn't worry, but she has been frantic the entire time wondering what would happen. Her husband is a lawyer, so the both of them have been lobbying with the powers that be to make sure that wouldn't happen. Little did we know that our adoption would've been postponed until 2011 if these minority ministers had achieved their goal. They felt that too many foreigners were taking healthy Ukrainian children away from their homeland, and that the foster family system should step up and take more of these kids - even tho the foster home process was very temporary and unreliable. Lesya was so upset about how this might affect this perfect match of Dannemillers; so obviously she was very stressed the entire month of September. As the date for the vote approached, it was challenged by many people in the industry, so it was postponed until October 8th.
OMG - what was she going to tell us when we arrived on 10-10-10??? Luckily, they ran out of time and didn't address the issue and postponed it again...who knows where it will end up now, but we just need to get this over with and get these kids out of here!!!
I am so glad she didn't tell us about all of this while it was going on, as it was tough enough waiting at home for our return visit that it would've been quite stressful wondering what would happen next! Lesya tells us that all will be okay and since we are here, it shouldn't be a problem...who knows what will happen next eh?
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So - they drop us off at the flat and we head back to our favorite Crimean restaurant that we visited last time, have a nice meal and wander around Independence Square, taking in the atmosphere of kids skate boarding around the fountains with the cold chill driving thru our winter coats. What a difference six weeks makes - when we left in late August it was hot and muggy, and now its cold and windy with temps near freezing. We stop at the grocery store to pick up a few provisions (coffee and wine) and return to our flat. Emma climbs into bed to read while I watch the Phillies knock the Reds out of the post season. Tomorrow we visit the SDA to officially start the process of adopting sweet Vanya. It feels nice to be back in Kiev - we feel like we are welcome here and it feels like we are part of the culture, as we look forward to taking our boys home with us and start our new life with them. As much as we love it here, we just want to get the boys and go home! Good night Kiev.
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