We're here...and SDA appointment

The flight over from JFK was not bad at all...Lance watched movies and I snacked, took a Tylenol PM and slept! We had a 4 hour layover in Paris so we grabbed breakfast and coffee and waited for our flight to Kiev.

We landed in Kiev and Yuri picked us up-sporting his American flag t-shirt! He was great-took us to exchange some money, ran us by a small grocery store and then to our apartment. We ventured out for dinner...thought we were headed to a pizza place. Didn't find the pizza place and ended up in a place that served traditional Ukrainian food (the sign looks like it has pizza!). So Lance got his first taste of Ukrainian food-perimini-noodles with meat and/or potatoes inside. He approved. And of course he got some window shopping in-stopped in a sports store and the Nike store...leave it to Lance to come to Ukraine and shop!

 

We came back and tried to crash early. The team had told us our appointment with the State Department of Adoptions (SDA) was today at noon. About 8 am our Ukrainian cell phone rang and Julia was calling to tell us there was an earlier opening and that she'd be at our apartment to pick us up in 10-15 minutes! Scrambled to get ready (we were still trying to wake up from jet lag) and off we went!

After months of waiting for our appointment, it was here. The SDA is actually through a very plain non-descript door. And what was crazier for me, is it's right by a church that we visited often when we lived there. St. Andrew's is a place tourists always like to see, and it has a hill of vendors set up selling souvenirs. Just crazy to think that behind that door so many lives are changed and there's stacks and stacks of important paperwork.

 (SDA door is through the gate at the bottom right of the church picture)

We met Serge in the hallway, shook hands and walked right into an room with a desk, couch, and coffee table...oh and an adoption official (who looked to be our age). It was straight down to business. She showed us a file of the little boy we had known about, and we got to see a baby photo of him (which they let me snap a picture of before we left-I think it's the only normal, clear-headed thought I had the entire time we were there-I asked if we'd get a copy of the photo later and they said I could take a picture of it...the photo of the photo might be the only baby pic we'll get). I don't think I was prepared to get as much info as we got at the appointment. They went over some of his information (medical terms, family info, etc) and we signed in the log book saying yes we wanted to go visit him. 

And that was it-in and out and done in less than 10 minutes. It felt a little bit like a whirlwind...between jet lag, the back and forth of English and Ukrainian mixed in with everyone in the office and trying to fully understand his file, it was a little bit of a fog and overwhelming. We walked across the street with Julia and Serge, got some breakfast (although neither of us were very hungry, we made ourselves eat), I spotted a street vendor selling poppy seed bread that I knew I liked from when we lived here so I jumped out and bought some, and then Serge brought us back to our apartment. It was definitely an emotionally charged morning for us and the jet lag wasn't helping. We're both anxious to meet him, and I'm ready for my nerves and stomach/nauseousness to settle down.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping, Face timing with Tanner (although if I can't stop crying after I talk to the kids, Lance might be cutting me off), and then went out exploring again. Thought we were headed to TGI Friday's for dinner...but it has apparently closed. We ended up at The Burger (I was voting for American food)...and then got ice cream Snickers for dessert. And of course, Lance decided that the Ukrainian meal was way better-hands down-than the American burger! 

Early to bed tonight and then headed to the region where the little guy is on the early fast train...our driver is picking us up at 6 am! Thanks to everyone for the emails/FB messages and for praying-not sure we'd be making it without the prayers! Definitely an anxious day for us, but we're excited to meet him, find out more about him and are just praying for clarity and wisdom. Please keep praying!!!

What's Next?

We had an early flight to NYC this morning (nothing like getting up at 3:50 am) to bring the kids to hang out with my parents. So what's next...

Lance and I fly out Monday for Kiev. We arrive Tuesday afternoon and then have our appointment Wednesday with the State Department of Adoptions (SDA). That's where we'll get our referral for a little boy we hope to make a Bailey. Either late on Wednesday or sometime Thursday we'll go back to the SDA to get the official letter we need to visit a little boy in his orphanage. We'll take a train to wherever his orphanage is in Ukraine and then most likely go straight from the train station to his orphanage to meet him! So that means we'll potentially be meeting our son Thursday or Friday!!!

Once we meet him and decide that yes, we want to adopt this little boy, the process to get a court date will start. We'll get to visit him each day in the mean time-while our agency is working on all the paperwork and details that go into court. We'll have our court appointment and then the plan is to head home. There's a mandatory 10 day waiting period after court before we can pick him up and bring him home. Once that waiting period is over, we'll fly back, pick him up and then it's appointments in Kiev getting his passport, medical exam, visa, etc. So that's Ukraine adoption in a nutshell!

Thanks to everyone for praying for us. I'm not going to lie-leaving Monday is going to be hard. Last night bedtime involved lots of tears (Tanner and mommy included). The kids will have so much fun with grandparents and aunts and uncles, but anticipating missing us (and them) is hard! So please pray for them!

Tomorrow we're spending the day hanging out with my parents and then it's go time!

Ready...Set...GO!

We went to the lake house with friends for the 4th of July weekend and Monday afternoon I checked my email and saw an email from our agency. Happy 4th to you…and can you travel Monday for an appointment in Kiev on Wednesday?! EEK! So this week has been a whirlwind to say the least!

Tuesday we hit the ground running. I cancelled almost everything we had planned for the week. Monday night Hadley was up with fever and complaining of her head/ear hurting. So Tuesday morning we were off to the pediatrician. Got meds for her ear infection and then headed back to Dallas with Tanner for his two back to back doctor’s appointments we had scheduled (scheduled for months-not the kind you easily move). It was a long day of doctor’s appointments…all while trying to book plane tickets for Ukraine, details for getting packed and out of town, and figuring out logistics for the kids while we’re gone. But by Tuesday night tickets were booked!

The rest of the week was crazy spent running errands…oh and having a lemonade stand. Tanner has been begging to have a lemonade stand so we thought it’d be fun to do to raise money for the adoption and he’s ready to buy some things for his brother’s orphanage. His cousins and the Hunton boys were excited about helping and were ready to sell lots of lemonade and sweet treats! Kind of a crazy week to have a lemonade stand, but I knew if we didn’t do it Thursday like we had planned, it might not happen…so lemonade stand it is! And oh my word-we were blown away by the love! We raised more than $900 by the end of the day. We really truly have the best friends and family, and this is one loved little boy!

It’s all kinds of crazy emotions…I think they’ve run the gamut for me this week. Excitement it’s finally happening and getting to meet the little boy we’ve seen pictures of…sad about leaving the kids for so long…anxious about what’s coming and getting everything done…and beyond thankful for our friends and family helping us out! And exhaustion…sleep hasn’t been coming easy between Hadley being sick and then me waking up at crazy hours and my brain turns on and starts thinking through things.

I’m not sure thankful is even the right word…we have felt so loved this week-in the midst of my head feeling like it’s spinning! Fun pics of friends wearing their t-shirts, so many offers asking how people can help this week, keeping the kids (although I’m not willing to let them go for long knowing we’re leaving them for 2 weeks), feeding us, running errands for me, baking for the lemonade stand, and then more texts/emails/calls volunteering to do whatever they can to help…and that they’re praying. It’s slightly overwhelming in a good way…but thank you a thousand times to our friends and family. We’re definitely not in this alone and having sweet friends to carry the crazy with us this week has been huge!

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Tom Petty had it right…waiting is hard!
Our dossier…all 106 pages…made it to Ukraine earlier this week and was submitted to the Ukrainian government yesterday! So exciting!

So now literally there is nothing we can do but wait on our travel dates. Based on what our agency has told us and posts I’ve seen on a Ukraine adoption group, we’re thinking/hoping we’ll get to go sometime in July and meet the next Bailey!

I’m trying to soak up these weeks of summer with Tanner and Hadley…knowing that soon our family dynamic will change! At the same time I can’t help but wonder when we’ll get to travel and meet the little boy on the other side of the world that’s soon going to become a Bailey! Tanner and Hadley ask almost daily when we’re going to get their new brother. We have lots of conversations about what they think he’s going to like (Hadley is convinced he’s going to like Paw Patrol and Star Wars) and they argue over who he’s going to have a slumber party with (they both want him to sleep in their room!). Tanner’s pulled out one of his children’s Bibles to send with us when we go.

It’s definitely getting real and we’re just praying that little guy’s heart is being prepared to join our family. It’s so exciting, but heartbreaking at the same time to think that we’ll be taking him from everything familiar to him and all he’s ever really known. I’m so anxious to get to know him and I sure hope he’s ready for a very excited brother and sister! I’m so ready to know for sure who the little guy will be joining our family…hopefully next month!!!

T-shirts and Homeland Security

Last week ended up being a HUGE week! We had our homeland security fingerprints last Tuesday and launched our t-shirt fundraiser. It was so encouraging getting texts, Facebook messages and emails with people wanting to help bring Bailey kiddo #3 home! We’re still taking orders through this weekend for sure, so let us know if you want one! :-) 

Adult tshirts and tanks are $20, kid tshirts are $15...and $5 shipping if you need it. These are the nicer, soft tshirts so will be great for summer! If you want one, just text or email me (kalibailey28 @ yahoo.com).

After the emotional up and down of the previous few weeks, I was ok going back into “work” mode to get the last few steps done for our dossier. Then on Wednesday afternoon, I got a text from our agency’s director. That’s all I can say because of the way the system in Ukraine works (ie you can't share pictures) but it ended up being a really good weekend and I’m ready to get on an airplane soon! :-) 

God reminded me that His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways! We’re trusting that and have such a peace! Much of the weekend was spent thinking about future kiddo…what he’s doing, what his story is, what he likes to play with… and how long until we get to actually meet him! We spent dinner Sunday talking about different names with the kids…Tanner is quite excited about “helping” pick out a name and Hadley insists she already knows his name. I can’t wait to see all 3 of them playing together!

We went to the lake house this weekend and came home Monday morning. I had planned to email USCIS on Tuesday to check in and ask if we’d been assigned a case worker…at the earliest, absolute best case scenario, I thought we still had at least 2 weeks before we got our 171H (the last form needed for our dossier to go to Ukraine). The thought of the 171H already being done never even crossed my mind-it hadn’t even been a week since our fingerprint appointment. But when I went to get the mail, there was a Homeland Security envelope on top. I was in denial-no way this was IT! I opened it up and had to read through it twice (and email it to our agency to confirm) to believe it. But YES-we were approved 2 days after our fingerprints and got the letter 2 days after that! That’s 3.5 weeks from submission to done…record time! Go God!

So it’s headed to Austin for an apostille and then to our agency so that the ENTIRE dossier can go to Ukraine! It looks like we might get to take our first trip in July!!! Wahoo!