Friday, February 13, 2009

Finished!

Embassy of the United States of America
Kyiv, Ukraine

Congratulations on your successful adoption!


Superstitions are for pagans. Today, Friday the 13th, is a day that the Lord has made, and we rejoice in it!

In July of 2007, we started on our adoption of these two great kids. Today, Friday, February 13th, we completed everything. We are done. All that remains is to come home.

We were able to get the kids' American visas today. I must give credit to the personnel at the US Embassy, Officer Egli at the DHS/USCIS office in Bloomington, MN, our social worker, your prayers, and the Lord, for a speedy resolution to our problem.

Due to an oversight on my part, I did not provide our updated homestudy to the Dept. of Homeland Security. Incredibly, I was able to get another updated homestudy from our social worker, and get it processed and approved by the US Government all within 24 hrs.

We lost a day here in Kiev due to my screw up, but as it turns out, we would have lost a day anyway because the machine that prints visas at the Embassy was broken down on Thursday.

We fly out at 5:35 AM from Borispil airport. Ugh, we have a 2:15 AM wakeup call. We will fly into Chicago and stay overnight, then continue on to Sioux Falls on Sunday afternoon. If you'd like to meet us at the Sioux Falls airport, we are coming in on United flight UA5965 on Sun. Feb 15 arriving at 2:30 PM. We would love to see you there.

This will be our last blog post from Ukraine. What an adventure this has been. Our SDA appointment was on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 2008.


Here's a few pictures.


Valentina and Sergey waiting for our ride to the US Embassy to pick up their American visas. We were also moving from our apartment to a hotel. We had to stay a day longer than anticipated.



The kids playing with $8500 that I paid our facilitator today. This was our 3rd and final payment. They were quite amazed, it is equivalent to 69,700 grivna.



All the running around in Kiev caught up with the kids.



Each child has a sealed envelope that we received from the US Embassy today. We have to keep them in our carry on bags on the airplane and must present them unopened at our US Port of Entry. It contains all of their official immigration documents. The US visas are affixed to a page in their Ukrainian passports.



We also received instruction sheets from the US Embassy that tell us what we need to do at this point. The sheets are very helpful, and start with the quote that I have above.

15 comments:

Olya said...

Congratulations!!!!!!!!! We are so excited for you. I bet the kids can't wait to get to their new home. Hope you will come visit Rapid City some time soon. We sould love to come to the airport, but we have a 6 weeks old baby, so our travelling is very limited. But our hearts, thoughts and prayers will be with you
Mark and Olya

Diana said...

Congratulations!! And now your real journey begins...

Happy travels and wishing you a pleasant flight home. We all looked out the airplane window cried when we landed in New York. "God Bless America" has never had more meaning than it did at that moment. And who knew the tap water in Queens, New York could taste so good??

Debora Hoffmann said...

Hooray! Can't wait to see you all at HOME!!

Conethia and Jim Bob said...

I am clapping as I write congrats to you all!!! I am very overjoyed that your life together is now to begin! Friday the 13th is truely a wonderful day! My grandmother's birthday was today. Praying for a fast and safe trip home.

ArtworkByRuth said...

Congratulations! Godspeed home!

Nataliya said...

CONGRATULATIONS AND SAFE TRAVELS!!!

Julie said...

Wooo Hoooooo ! I knew Friday the 13th would be lucky for you too! And how! Safe journey home!
Love and hugs,
Julie

Anonymous said...

praise God - you are coming home - with my other two kids!!!!What a long haul - now only to look ahead and be blessed by the gifts God has given us in Valya, Sergey and Mark. Oh, God, help us to be faithful to you as we (continue) to show them YOU and your faithfulness in their lives.

See you at the airport on Sunday - with a "few" people to welcome you all home.

I love you

Nancy

MoserUpdates said...

I'm almost in tears with excitement for you! Congrats and welcome home!!

Natalie

The McEacherns said...

Congratulations! We got married on a Friday the 13th, so we always look at them as a very special day! Obviously it was a great day for your family! Safe travels on your way back to SD!

Carrie said...

Congratulations. I am teary eyed looking at those two folders. They hold the future of two very special children. Have a safe trip.

Kari said...

Congratulations! You have had an amazing attitude through this L-O-N-G process! Praying for God's blessing on your new family.

Anonymous said...

Yahooooo! Can't wait to see you all here at home!!! Praying for a smooth return. God's timing is perfect, even your little oops wouldn't have made a difference due to the US embassy having difficulty printing the visa's yesterday. Noticed that yesterday on a comment from another family in Ukraine. Friday February 13th is truly God's day, even Satan can't take credit for that day!!!
Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us all! I feel as if I have joined you in this journey too and I know that this detailed journey diary will be a real precious memory for your family to read years later! Blessing to you all!!!

Heather H.

Lou said...

Congratulations! Bring those kiddos on HOME!!!

Ashley said...

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!