This will be a bit easier for me, because I can blog openly about where we're going and our experiences while we're in Ukraine. Ukraine, yes, that's where we're adopting from, in case you hadn't figured that out yet.
Ukraine is in Eastern Europe. It is an independent country, not a part of Russia. It does border Russia and culturally they are similar. Ukraine is also just Ukraine, not "The" Ukraine. "The" still seems to be lingering from when Ukraine was a part of the USSR.
We'll be arriving in Ukraine on November 21 and we will have our appointment with the State Department of Adoption in Kiev on November 22. This is when we learn what they know about the children we hope to adopt and hopefully get their referrals.
Once we have those referrals in hand, we travel to our children's region. Our children's orphanage is in far Eastern Ukraine... their region borders Russia.
We chose Ukraine because it is a relatively easy and fast program. There are countries which take years to adopt from... I've heard of couples waiting and waiting years for a referral and travel date, and then the country's adoption program shuts down. Our appointment date in Ukraine is less than 7 months from the date that we committed-- very short.
So, there's a bit about where we're headed... questions?
Molly, I'm so excited for you guys!!! What region will you be going to? We'll be in the Donesk region in far East UA. Still waiting on that pesky travel date!
ReplyDeleteSo excited for you! You're right, 7 months isn't too long at all. It's less than a full term pregnancy, and it gives you time to prepare for the children. Can't wait for you to bring them home!
ReplyDeleteSo exciting! And I love the background! Your region seems to be one of the "easier" ones, I have friends there picking up their kiddos this week. They hosted the older child last christmas when we hosted our girl.
ReplyDeleteIm very excited for you! All of the kids in that orphanage have been in my heart since I first saw a blog post about the couple that visited them and shared so many photos of them.... precious.
Just Another Day In Paradise: He he...we're the couple that visited them and blog posted about it :) We are SO happy that so many of the kiddos from this orphanage have families coming soon.
ReplyDeleteMolly: Love the background of your new blog! Cannot wait to see the first pics of you and your children. I hope you have as good an experience as we did at the baby house. And I REALLY hope you can take lots of pictures of the kiddos left behind because That Is The Answer To Finding Families.
I'm so excited for you to meet them! I will be expecting many cuteness updates! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the background!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me follow along. Can't wait till you get to meet them!