From Odessa to Kiev

Okay, I have a few minutes before I leave to my second US Embassy appointment.  Let me give a quick synopsis of the happenings since Gotcha Day:

Tuesday: Went to the orphanage to bust Darya out.  I got to play with her as usual during visiting hours, then they took her away to feed her some lunch.  While they were feeding her, I went into the director's office to sign some final paperwork.  I was told her general feeding/sleeping schedule. Unfortunately they would not let me see her room :-(  About 1:00pm they changed her outfit into some adorable duds I brought her (thank you Franciscos!) and she was officially in my arms to keep!  We left there and had to do a little running around.  My sister, Darya, and I were dropped off at our apartment.  We went to McDonald's to have a quick bite to eat. Then while Janene stayed at the apartment with Darya, I ran around to finish up the final paperwork (birth certificate, passport, close her bank account).  When I got back, we went to Bob and Andrea's apartment (some of the American missionaries from the Odessa church) for our last dinner in Odessa.  We had a great time and hope that this isn't the last time we'll see them.  Here's Darya with their girls:

Then at 10:00pm it was time to head to the train station.  Our translator, Alyona, and her husband Slavik picked us up.  I will miss them a lot, too! Alyona went above and beyond as a translator and we are so thankful for her kindness.  She and her husband truly have hearts for the orphans.  Anyway, here is our train cabin.  Notice the bunk that Janene slept on!  We couldn't stop laughing!  It's amazing she got some sleep and didn't roll off.  I got to snuggle with my bug on the bottom "shelf".

"Cozy" Cabin

Sleep tight Janene!

At our apartment in Kiev

WEDNESDAY: Arrived in Kiev around 8:00am.  Niko, our driver, dropped us off at McDonald's because there was no apartment available yet for us.  Janene and I enjoyed two large coffees each!  We then went to the US Embassy for our first appointment to give them some paperwork and finish filling out some things.  We where then taken to an apartment, which happened to be the same one that Joel stayed in when he left through Kiev after court.  No, we didn't dare go on the "death closet"!  Since I started catching a cold and it's so cold outside, we quickly went to grab some dinner and groceries and hibernated in our apartment until Thursday.

THURSDAY: I woke up feeling really bad and not sleeping very well from this annoying cold.  We had our second US Embassy appointment where we ran into two other RR families!  Colleen Herrick and Max, and Jenny Brown and her three new additions.  But the officer there, I was asked if we went through Reece's Rainbow.  I guess RR is well-known for all the special children they are helping find families. What an awesome impact that the people in Ukraine are seeing.   We went for dinner at the cafeteria one more time and then have been hanging out in our apartment since.  Did I mention how cold it is here?  I'm sure I did :-)