I'm Back Again....

We wandered around aimlessly again today and decided to take some more pictures of the beautiful churches we came across. Not sure exactly what church this was. We think it might be St. Michael's, but we aren't sure. What we do know is that it was beautiful. This was the ceiling on one of the underpasses as we walked into the grounds. This was on the wall of the underpass.

Here is the church itself. Isn't it just beautiful???

It is just amazing how many churches there are here and how pretty they are. They don't make churches like this anymore.

On another note we are still having phone troubles. Our phone does NOT work in the least. So we had to come back to SDA today to pick up some paperwork and since our phone was dead and we were already out and about we decided to walk. We didn't know how to call our facillitators so we ended up going into the British Embassy (we just happened to walk past it) and they let me use the phone to call. Hopefully they will give us a knew phone. We are also hoping to get a modem for our computer so that we don't have to go out to use the internet. This time we are in Cafe du Paris which is right near the SDA building.

Okay...I guess that is all for now :)

Random Ramblings

I am trying to post as much as possible while I have internet access. We are hanging out at McDonald's this morning using their free internet. Yay!! It is MUCH cheaper than Fridays. Although the entire menu is in Ukranian or Russian or something. We pointed when they didn't understand.

Anyway....I posted twice yesterday and this is my 2nd post in a row today. Make sure you check out the one regarding the SDA appt so you can see my little Milana's baby picture. It is adorable!!

Ok...so Chris and I have been doing a lot of walking around all over Kyiv. There is just so much to see. We had dinner last night at Friday's (Thursday night) with the Harpers and then walked around with them. I really loved this carriage. It is just so pretty. I wanted to climb right into it.

These dresses were next to the carriage. Wendy and I were thinking maybe you could pay to have your picture taken in them, but we aren't sure. A man came up to us when we were taking pictures and said something to us, but we had no clue and just said no and he walked back towards the carriage.

Here is a picture of Chris and I near the fountain. We walked past it a few times yesterday on our adventures and I kept standing in it. The water is so cold and it was really nice. Everyone was climbing in the fountains so I figured that was something you could do here.

Here is another neat little fountain that we were walking through and stopped for a picture. There were people all over the place here standing and sitting in this.

We were minding our own business when along came this..........

We didn't ask him to come over and we really didn't want him to come over, but he did. We should have ran away like we wanted, but we didn't. Let me just tell you should you go somewhere and something like this comes over - RUN AWAY!!!

After jumping into our picture he took off his mask and insisted we pay him. He yelled and argued and told us this was his job. We didn't see him bother anyone else. I guess he could tell we didn't fit in. I don't know. We walked away as fast as we could. It was a little uncomfortable. So now at least I know that if I am near the fountains to stay away from those in costumes. If Karissa were with us we would have been out of there long before he came anywhere near us. I guess her instincts about people in costumes are right on :)

All in all it has been just fine. No one has bothered with us and everyone is really nice. One waitress in one of the restaurants we ate in was so sweet. She didn't speak much English, but managed to tell us "See you later" when we were leaving.

I have tons more pictures, but I will post those later. It is almost time to head out and explore some more. We've been sitting here at McDonald's for at least an hour.

SDA Appt

We had our SDA appt yesterday (Thursday 8/12/10). It was scheduled for noon. I had such a difficult time sleeping the night before. Not because I wasn't tired, but because I kept waking up thinking I needed to get up and get ready for our appt. Chris kept telling me not to worry because it wasn't until noon. I told him that they could call any time and we would have to be ready in minutes. Well....eventually I fell asleep and the phone woke me up at about 9:15am. It was Nico telling me a taxi would be there to get us in 10 minutes.

So...I ran to the bathroom to turn on the shower and then realized I hadn't unpacked the shampoo, body wash, etc. So I ran back to look for it. Nope couldn't find where I put any of it. Of course not. Why would I be able to?? In the end I turned off the shower and opted to put on some deoderant and throw on some clothes. Fortunately for me my hair was much better than it is most days. (I don't have the get up and go kind of hair).

We went outside to look for our taxi. At first we got in the wrong taxi. Fortunately Yulia called us because our phone wasn't working. She was able to speak to the taxi driver and then told us this wasn't our taxi. We got back out and saw yet another taxi. Yulia talked to this driver as well. Nope, not ours. So we waited. Finally we saw another taxi, but our phone wasn't working and we couldn't call anyone. The driver did not speak English and we do not speak Ukranian or Russian. He did manage to ask us the address which we had written in Russian. Yay!! This WAS our taxi driver. He let us use his phone "Free" he told us and we got ahold of Niko who told him where to bring us.

He made a stop on the side of the road and we picked up Serge. I knew right away who it was from all the pictures I've seen of him on various blogs. Now we were off to the SDA. He was taking us early to see if both the family who had an early appt and Chris and I could all go in early. This is the sign outside the door at the SDA.
Here we are standing in front of the sign at the SDA after our appt. Which went very well. (We look pretty good for people who hadn't showered since they left the US Tuesday morning don't we)??

At our appointment we were so fortunate to get this. A baby picture of Milana. Don't you just love it?? She is so adorable. Can you believe how dark her hair is??? And look at those pudgey cheeks. What a doll!!! I just want to pick her up right out of that picture and hold her! I just can't wait to meet her on Monday. Oh and look at the outfit. I thought it was interesting it says Bee Happy in English. I just love this picture!!! There was another one in her file, but they would not part with that one. It was a fairly recent one so I am ok with that. I am really just thrilled to have this. What a special gift!!

Wow!!!

I can't believe we are finally here in Kyiv. We left Tuesday afternoon (8/11/10) and started our journey by heading to DC. Then from DC we headed to Frankfurt, Germany. (Or the hotdog place as Peyton and Riley like to call it). From Germany we got on this plane and headed to Kyiv. The flight from DC to Germany was great they fed us twice once at dinner time and then we got breakfast at midnight our time (although it was 6am German time). The flight from Germany to Kyiv was only a couple hours. It was the most difficult flight for me, but I think it was because I was so tired. I hadn't slept since Monday night. (I woke up Tuesday at about 6:30 am and didn't sleep until last night sometime so I was up for about 36 plus hours straight).

Finally we arrived here in Kyiv. This is the outside of the airport. It was difficult to get into the airport. We had a form to fill out to get in and of course we didn't fill it out correctly so they sent us back to fix it and then we had to get back in line. Fortunately the 2nd time we did it right and we were allowed in.

After collecting our bags we headed out where we found Niko waiting for us with our name pinned to his shirt. Niko is so sweet. He was the driver who picked us up and got us situated at our apartment. He helped us change out some money, gave us our phone (which doesn't work very well) gave us his number and was on his way.

We didn't rest much last night. We sat around for a while before heading off to do some exploring and heading to Fridays. (Which is where we are again right now). We don't have internet access in our apartment and we get it here at Fridays which is nice.

All in all things are going great. We had our SDA appt today and we did lots of exploring and took lots of pictures. I'll get to all of that later.

Our Apartment in Kyiv

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

My girls and I were out and about the other day doing some errands and we got talking about the upcoming trip to go get Milana. To say that Peyton & Riley are excited is an understatement. They can not wait for their little sister to come home so that they can meet her, play with her, hug her, etc.

We talked for a bit about how much we will miss each other. I told them how much I will miss them and that I was sorry for leaving them for so long. They both looked at me and said, "but Mom this is the most important thing." At first I guess I heard them, but I don't know I think I missed something. Maybe I wasn't REALLY hearing them.

I told them that they were just as important and they of course being the wise little 8 year olds that they are replied "We KNOW Mom." (In that tone that suggests - DUH). Then they went on to say "But this is the most important thing right now." "It is important for us to get Milana home to us."

In that moment I was so amazed with my little girls. I know how hard this is going to be for them (and me). I have never been away from them for longer than them spending the night somewhere. But here they are telling me all about what is most important here. They just amaze me!

We Got An Appt Date!!!!

What a surprise when I checked my email this morning (for the 3rd time) and had an email from Nancy! We got our invitation to go to Eastern Europe and meet with the SDA on August 12th. That means we need to leave next week. So much to do!!! I'm so excited. I never thought we'd get such short notice. I was really expecting having to wait a month! WOW!!! I think I am still in shock. Did I mention I have SO MUCH TO DO???