Timing Is Everything

When you are working with government officials, a delay of a day can mean several more days waiting. Our SDA appointment in Kiev was on a Thursday. The paperwork they prepare afterward is ready the next day, for us, on Friday. But because we had to travel to Odessa, the earliest the next step could have happened was Monday. Because of other delays with our facilitator, we weren't able to get in to Orphanage #4 until Thursday.

Also during this time, our facilitator was making arrangements for us to visit Valya's orphanage, which is in a town north of Odessa, called Andreyevo-Ivanovka. Finally, last Monday we thought would be the long-awaited day to meet her. As it turns out, a person who needed to sign a document, the mayor of Mikolaevka, was sick on Monday and wouldn't be able to sign until Wednesday (today). Now we are heading back to Andreyevo this morning at 10:00, when, we are assured, we will have "first contact" with Valya. We have learned more about her siblings. This situation may be a little complicated. We still do not know if she will be adoptable.

It was a 330 km roundtrip to Mikolaevka and back. Mikolaevka is what we would call the county seat. Don't know what they call it here. We drove a long time, stopped at this large office building, visited the Inspector for awhile, then came back to Odessa. It seemed like a colossal waste of time and expense. Can't people call ahead?!!

We try again today.

Here are some pictures from Monday. I just have a few. We were in the car most of the time. I do have some others but it's best that I not show them here.


Before we left for Andreyevo, we needed to stop at the Inspector's office in Odessa to get some paperwork for Sergey's adoption. This is the government building in Odessa, which is the next block south of our apartment.



This is our taxi and driver. He charged 3 grivna per kilometer.



On the way out of town, we passed by the back side of Orphanage #4. In the distance you can see the wall and the dorm. We are west of it here. I didn't realize there is a large park behind the orphanage. When you are inside, you can't see much outside except for the tallest buildings.



This is the governement building in Mikolaevka. It is the only multistory building in town. It is obviously soviet-era. It still has a communist hammer-and-sickle logo. The building looks as bad on the inside as it does on the outside. If you can imagine green floors, walls, ceilings, crumbling tile and concrete, peeling paint, stenciled lettering, all of the things you may have seen in movies about the cold war, you would have a good idea of what this building looks like inside. The bathrooms were abysmal. It's hard to believe people put up with it. For example, in the men's room they had normal-style commodes, but no seats on them. You may say the squat-type style is worse, but this seems worse to me.