Days go by!

Monday June 11, 2007

 

 

What a day it was today!

 

Court was this morning at 9am---actually the judge had 2 hearings schedule for 9am—we waited for the jurors to arrive and by 9:45 we were underway. The judge introduced the juror(s) (we were still waiting for one to arrive), the inspector and the orphanage representative. She asked us if we were satisfied that this would be a "fair court".YES WE ARE! The judge (a red headed typical Ukrainian woman in her mid 40s) read our "petition to adopt" to the court. I was asked to stand and restate why we were here. At that time I asked that due to his medical conditions especially his cardiopathy that the 10 day waiting period be waived. (it is almost never waived anymore—stage 4 cancers, missing limbs and severe heart problems are the only reasons). There was a statement from the prosecutor and the orphanage representative. By this time the second juror arrived (a 50 something man). The judge asked if there were any questions from anyone for us—at first no—then the "late" juror had a flurry of questions..Finally the judge told him to "cool it" (Max's term). The judge told us she would have a decision by the afternoon.

 

It was about a 20-minute hearing and it seemed to go VERY WELL! We felt good about the possibility of getting the waiver on the wait.

 

After court we drove to Kramatorsk to visit Antoshka- the orphanage where Daniil was the first 6 ½ years of his life. They were very excited to meet us and hear the news that "Their little prince", Daniil, was going to be adopted. They had photos of him all over the halls. We visited with the care-takers in his old groupa and tried to learn as much about him as we could form those that really loved him the most. We met with the doctor's wife who was especially close to him and also with the assistant director—tears of joy were everywhere as they talked about what a great kid he was for them and how happy all of us are they he now has a forever family. On a very sad note the workers showed us some other kids who were in his group that had "aged out" Most of the kids went to an orphanage called Torez and many of those precious little ones were dead. It seemed every other page in the photo album with be a bright eyed disabled child who died way too young in this place. They fought hard to keep Daniil out of Torez. For that we are forever grateful! Thank you to the wonderful and loving staff at Antoshka!!

 

A terrible storm hit Kramatorsk with heavy rain, lightning, strong winds. They have no storm sewers here so this typical American summer thunderstorm turned the roads to rivers. Max's friend Sasha skillfully blasted his Daewoo through the torrent and we arrived back in an almost dry Slov'yansk in time to grab a quick lunch. The food was great but it was hard not to be consumed by the looming 2pm court decision.

 

We rushed back to court and around 2:30 pm we are very pleased to announce to the world the newest member of our family Alexander Joseph Stolz… Daniil… is ours!!!

 

Great news indeed! Our petition has been granted, but the court did not find sufficient grounds to waive the 10 days. (Again, a child must be in imminent danger of death – we could not in good faith argue that he was)

 

At that moment we decided it best to take the overnight train to Kyiv to visit with James and Catie's family and for my meeting with the broadcasters association.   The train leaves at 5:10—it's now 3—YIKES. We rush to pack (we will keep a good deal of our stuff at the "bell desk" at the hotel.) We hop a cab and swing by the store for a small gift for the inspector and her office (a box fan and a few packages of paper). We rush to see Daniil (We are still trying to figure out if he is going to be Alex, Joey, AJ or something else). We only get to spend about 30 minutes and we have to get to the train station (Not the normal one but a tiny depot near the "resort") It was soooooo hard to leave him there, but we need to tend to these other duties and we have Max let him know we'll be back very soon to get him ad take him home with us forever.

 

We got the last 3 bunks on the overnight train to Kyiv—all in different compartments, but at least we got on the train.. We did a little trading and at least Mary and I are in the same compartment. The upper bunk on a train is scary. It's thinner than a single bed at home and 5 feet off the ground. I never fall out of bed at home, but I am writing now on the train because I am afraid to go to sleep and roll over crash to the floor and break my neck! I love the motion and noise of the train—it is very soothing, but I'm convinced that I'll tumble out if we stop. Arrgh

 

Hey!! We just found out the train will have a 3 hour layover in Khrikiv (sorry for the spelling). From my Cincinnati civics class I know that that is a sister city to my hometown. We decide to go out and explore on our layover rather than stay on the hot smelly train. We grabbed a cab and got a brief tour. We swung by the Cathedral (a magnificent looking Rocco building) and got dropped off at what the cabbie proudly proclaimed to be Europe's largest town square. It is massive- with Mr Lenin looking out over the ritzy shops as if to say "what is all of this comrade? I did not approve this..). I have seen Red Square in Moscow, St Peters in Rome, St Marks in Venice, Marienplatz in Munich and I could not say that the cab driver was wrong in his assessment of the square.

 

We took the subway back to the train station for a "McBathroom" stop (we deserved a break today) The Big Mac was fine—the bathroom with a real sit down potty was GREAT!!

 

We are now making our way through the night to Kyiv. We arrive at 9:45am. We will head to Max's apartment, get cleaned up, get on the internet, try to make travel arrangements for a short trip to Munich or Crimea, meet at 3 with the Broadcasters Association and get to Catie and James' village by 7 and back to Max's for the night.

 

We will be on our own until next Friday as Max has another adoption to work on.

 

Keeping track of the timeline? So are we—here is "best case"

 

Tuesday Kyiv

Wed-Thur-Fri Munich or Crimea

Sat-Friday Slov'yansk

Friday 8am Get court decree

            9am Notary in Kramatorsk

            11am Birth Certificate

            1pm pick up Daniil from Orphanage

            3:30pm Passport office in Donetsk

Friday night in Donetsk

Saturday finish up passport if we can't do it Friday

Saturday night train to Kyiv

Sunday "free day" in Kyiv

Monday morning doctor

Monday afternoon US Embassy

Tuesday fly home---

Again, this is "Best Case" but we could be home on June 26.

 

 

Thanks for all the nice emails—please do post to the site as we don't always have time to get to the email!

 

Thanks for your prayers--- they have been answered today in our new little boy!

 

Bless you

 

Jim and Mary

 

 

Sunday June 10, 2007

 

Sorry we were not able to get to the internet today--- lots of kids on video games and not a computer anywhere around for posting…

 

We slept in today and grabbed quick breakfast before heading to the orphanage. We had fun playing with the beach blanket (table cloth) and all the usual stuff. We also got to savor some cherries (it was harvest day) from the orphanage yard--- YUMMY way more flavor than from home. Fed and played with Stimpy—colored—and pretty much just hung out.

 

12 noon and we met Lera for the bus rides to the beach. It is a glorious day. Sun and in the mid 80s. I went out and swam—Mary and Lera went later—need to stay behind to watch the moneybelt. Grabbed a couple of Piva and some Pepsis (it's a "no Coke" beach) and hung out talking about Ukraine and Russia and the differences between things here and in the US with Lera while she practices her English.

 

At 2:30 we grabbed the #2 bus back to the hotel for a quick lunch and showers to rinse off the salt and we are headed back to the orphanage for our afternoon visit—

 

 

We played "Papa The Lion" this afternoon—Daniil sneaks up on me-- I make a growling noise and he runs to mama. This and bubbles, sobaka time and the visit was over way too soon.

 

We decided to try the Kazak (No, Borat was not there) restaurant tonight. We are STUFFED! I had Shashlik and some other yummy stuff. Mary stuck with Ukrainian food and got a giant chicken breast smothered with mayo, tomatoes and cheese. There was a 50 ^th birthday party there while we were eating. It was a table of 12 and they had a feast like I have never seen--- bottles of vodka, Champaign, wine and beer. 4 or 5 different platters of different appetizers, shashlik, veggies, cheeses, cabbage rolls and a little roasted baby pig. (I really wanted to join them but Mary did not think we would fit in very well). The best part—LOUNGE SINGERS!! They were singing to tracks (think karaoke). As we were leaving the 50 something Ukrainian women were all up singing and dancing to the Russian equivalent of YMCA--- It was CRAZY. We laughed (at them not with them) for a few songs then slipped out before the vodka shots really started (we have court in the morning).

 

Wish us luck tomorrow!

 

 

PEACE

 

 

Jim and mary

 

 

 

 

Saturday June 9, 2007

 

Not too much to say today. We opted NOT do go to the beach in favor of some time at the internet researching heart problems in children with   Down syndrome. We will present a case to the judge for waiving the "10 day wait", but we do not hold out much hope for success.

 

We bought a tablecloth today to use as a beach blanket for our rescheduled salt lake venture tomorrow. It provided the main source of entertainment for our visit this afternoon (think the parachute games in gym class). We brought ice cream cones for all the kids in his group-- a very happy time for everyone!

 

No new dining experience for us tonight night—We feel a bit uncomfortable out on Saturday nights as alcohol consumption is way above the rest of the week and bands of teen boys parade around with beers in hand looking for "something to do". We'd prefer not to provide them with any entertainment at our expense. So our rule is stay out as late as we please Sunday-Thursday. Friday and Saturday get in before dark. Kazakhstan will have to wait!

 

We enjoyed  an early dinner at the café (Milestone for us! We ordered off the menu in Russian and actually got what we thought we were going to get!!!) and home to do laundry (big load in the shower makes for clean clothes and clean feet!)

 

One more day until court!!

 

 

PEACE

 

Jim and Mary