Our trip home via one stop in London. Welcome to America boys!!!




 

After speaking to the immigration people at the UK Embassy in Kiev, we decided to take advantage of the "24 hour layover" rule which will give us the opportunity to stop in London for one night on our way home. Friends and family are notified and we make plans to meet up with everybody at Doug and Terri's house in Weybridge! It was so great to see everybody and introduce the boys to their cousins, and the rest of Emma's family, as well as Mike and Lucinda and of course our dear friends Sarah and Jacob. The visit was too short but I'm glad we did it. Now it's off to America and their new home in Las Vegas!!! It's been quite the adventure. Good night everybody, and thanks for your support!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're finally heading home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew three boys would be such a handful??? ;^)

UK Immigration is keeping us from visiting our friends and family...who knew they needed to wait another 15 days just to visit Mama's country for a few days? That woulda been good info to have before we spent thousands of dollars on flight changes and setting up baby showers, etc. and visits to see grandparents, and great-grandparents (possibly their last chance to meet Emma's grandparents??).

Oh well - we're off. Hopefully Vanya won't change his mind at the last minute, like he did for our final Embassy visit yesterday. A few hours of panic and chaos as it looked like nobody was going home!

But all is well...we are ready to come home - probably a good thing to just head straight home...hopefully, if the creek don't rise, we'll be in Vegas by Saturday night at 8pm.


 

First night in America - Halloween in Vegas!!!

 

Welcome to America boys!!!


 

Bye bye Lesya and Irina - THANK YOU!!!!!

Monday October 25, 2010 - Back to Kiev!!



Today we pick up the boys for good! Victor is driving in from Kiev this morning in his big luxury mini-van and he will be here about 10am to take all of us back to Kiev. We pack our suitcases and say goodbye to our comfy Kirovograd home of 13 days. Gregori arrives before Victor and we have a moment of confusion - is Gregori taking all of us to Kiev in his tiny taxi with luggage and three kids? Luckily, Victor arrives before the panic sets in, and order is restored. We say goodbye to Gregori and give him a bottle of cognac, thanking him for all he has done for us. Quite the character!

 

We load up the mini-van and head to the orphanage to meet Katya and Andrew. This is it - we say goodbye to the boy's teachers and nurses, thanking them for taking care of our little guys until we could get there. We are escorted into the Director's office for our final farewell and signing of the "guest book". We promise to keep in touch and send pictures of the boys as they become "little Yanks". Then it's off to greet the boys and prepare them for their new life. As they walk in with their nurse for the last time, we wonder if they have any idea what is about to happen to them. They have been here for over half their lives and probably aren't quite ready for what's about to happen to them. This becomes quite evident as we start the process of dressing them in the clothes we bought for them. They must leave every stitch of clothing with the orphanage, and leave in the clothes we brought them - which of course is all UofMichigan attire! DJ has a minor panic attack as we start taking his clothes off...not real happy about having two strangers strip him naked. Max, on the other hand, loves the idea!

 

At 12:00pm we walk out of the orphanage for the last time, with our two boys released from prison, escorted by their brother and new parents. Victor takes us to pick up their new Ukrainian passports with their new names and pictures and we start the long drive back to Kiev! Five hours later we arrive in the big city and watch as the boys take in this amazing city with all the traffic and noise, unlike anything they have ever seen. They drop us off at the flat we stayed in the first time, over by the President's house, and we all get settled in for our first night together.

 

Unfortuantely, they are quite scared of their new surroundings, and probably of us! So we spend the next four hours trying to get them comfortable in their bed. This requires both of us to lie in bed with them until they stop crying. Every time we try to get up to go to our bed, one of them wakes up and they start crying all over again. Poor little guys...quite a shock to their system! By 2am they are sound asleep and we are exhausted. Good Nite little guys - welcome to our world!

Sat/Sun October 23/24 - Quiet Weekend in Kirovograd

 

Quiet weekend filled with fun visits to see the boys prior to getting the boys on Monday. Vanya asks to see Natasha every day (the boy is relentless - a harbinger of things to come?). Vanya cooks breakfast (he makes a good fried egg!) and builds a fire in the fireplace while Mama and Papa relax. We go to visit the boys in the morning and just relax in the evening. Vanya is a joy to be around and is quite eager to help with the chores. You can tell he knows how to take care of himself, altho he comes across as being quite baby-like in some of his development (i.e. Natasha).

 

On Sunday afternoon I take Vanya for a long walk into the town center to buy jackets, shoes and hats for his brothers. Vanya gets a new football jersey for his efforts, as well as some quality time with Papa. Its a beautiful fall day, the leaves are changing and the air is crisp. Winter will be here soon! Hopefully we will escape before it gets here.
Tomorrow we get the boys and we all head to Kiev to start the process of getting the boys their physicals and US Embassy visits. Yes, visits...its a two day process with the initial visit to submit paperwork, followed by the second visit to interview the boys before getting their US visas.

 

But first we have the pleasure of one final visit from our friends Goldie and Al, who stop by for dinner and to say good-bye. Somehow we make a feast out of nothing and finish off the remaining wine and vodka. It was nice to share the experience with these guys, but its tough to know that we will most likely never see them again. They invite us to Israel and we invite them to Vegas, as we say goodbye one more time. Good Night Friends!!!

Friday October 22, 2010 - Paperwork Day!

Slightly hungover, we stumble out of bed about 8:30 to get ready for our long day of driving from town to town to get the boys revised birth certificates. But first, its time to reunite Vanya with his two brothers. Today he will come with us to the baby orphanage for our morning visit. After a quick breakfast (and a few aspirin), we pile into the taxi to see Max and DJ.

 

What a great reunion!! DJ immediately remembers his brother Vanya, and before long Max joins in as they hug each other and talk on and on about who-knows-what. Vanya gives them the toys he brought last time and they begin to crawl on the floor, acting like dogs and just having a good time playing with their long lost brother. The morning turns pretty chaotic as they kick balls and throw toys all over the room - you know...playing like boys do! Its great to see how Vanya plays with them and you can sense a change in group dynamics as Max assumes the role of "baby" and DJ just seems a bit more grown up with his big brother in the room.

 

At 11:45 we head out to grab one more lunch at Camellia's before we start the four hours of driving to get the birth certificates. One of the towns we need to go to is the little town where Vanya's school is, so I agree to take him back to see his friends one last time while we wait for the certificates. He is mostly interested in saying goodbye to Natasha. He finds her and starts the process of saying good-bye and tries to convince her to run to the market real quick. But she has to be somewhere, plus we are running out of time with one more town to visit before it closes at 4pm. Poor Vanya - I don't think he realizes that he may never see her again. As she is a bit older, I think she knows...

 

They spend every last minute saying goodbye while Emma and our driver start to get frantic about the time. We need to get going, but Vanya just doesn't want to leave. For the rest of the afternoon, they spend every chance they can talking to each other on my cell phone. Very sweet...

We barely make it to the second town before they close to pick up Max's birth certificate and so we head back to Kirovograd. By 5pm we arrive home, tired and road weary from four hours of bouncing around on those terrible roads. Mission accomplished as we get one step closer to getting out of here and returning home to the States. Emma makes dinner - plimini for Vanya and leftover kebabs for us while Vanya makes the fire and we spend a quiet (and probably boring) evening hanging out reading and watching TV.
Good Night Vanya, DJ and Max Dannemiller!!