Birth Certificates

We got internet back on at the apartments again. I updated yesterday's post with pictures, so take a look there if you haven't already.

Tuesday, we had a very successful day as we obtained both Sergey's and Valentina's birth certificates and we have them in hand. It was a very long day, however, that lasted from 8-5, all of it waiting either in lobbies or the car. We were in Rozdilna for Valya's and Odessa for Sergey's.

The only thing left here in-region is Valya's property issue and passports, then we will be free to go to Kiev. We may be done by Monday. It is a little too soon to tell. We will sign out Valya from her orphanage today and try to get passport photos done in Odessa yet today.

We are all very anxious to get home back to Nancy and Mark, and the new life in America.

I said goodbye to the Swinney's last night. They leave for Kiev today while we'll be on the road. Friendships with other American families is a great support while you're here. As far as I know, I am the last American adopting in Odessa right now.

Here are some pictures from the day.


Sergey helps make breakfast at the start of a long day on the road. He got to see what the other side of the adoption process is like.



Waiting in the car in Rozdilna while our facilitator goes to meetings. Our driver, Sasha, reads his Bible, Sergey plays Gameboy, and I post to the blog with my cell phone internet.




Here is a Lada hoopty I saw in Rozdilna. Lada's are soviet era cars made in Russia. Once in a while you will see one that is tricked out. Americans call them Lada hoopties. They're kind of humorous but hey they're doing the best with what they have, which isn't much here. The economy is a mess in Ukraine.



Here are some workers trimming trees next to a park in Rozdilna. These are women trimming and pitching branches into the wagon. It was very cold and windy this day. When we walked around the wagon, we saw that it was hitched to a tractor with an enclosed cab and there was a man in there working on a crossword puzzle. Sasha said this is sexual discrimination the Ukraine way!



Over lunch hour we had time to kill while waiting for the government office to open again. There is an enormous outdoor marketplace in Rozdilna. This picture shows only a very small part of it. It goes on for blocks. You can find everything here. I was able to buy a new coat for Valya here for the equivalent of $33.



This is the government Registry office in Rozdilna, where we got Valya's new birth certificate. We left the old one behind and they would be destroying it.



Waiting outside the official's office at the Registry office in Odessa for Sergey's new birth certificate. It was on this same bench that by chance Nancy and I met Louise Puderbaugh and Mattea a couple of weeks ago.