We finally are able to post on our blog-- so sorry for the delay but we didn't have internet access. We will add in pictures soon....
Monday, April 20, 2009
A post from Haylee:
We made it safely to Kyiv today. We were very tired as we slept only 2 hrs. on the plane (over night). We got into Copenhagen at 2 in the morning (US time). And then, there was a 2 hr. layover. We then got a flight at 4 a clock our time for Kyiv, Ukraine We met Anatoly and he brought us to our driver (Yuri). Yuri drove to the mission house and dropped off the luggage,us kids and Mommy while Yuri and Daddy drove to the market to get some food. We took a nap meanwhile..We got bread, fruit, fish, eggs, cereal, and juice.
Tomorrow is our appointment date, so please pray for us as we take another step forward to bring these children home!! We will post more updates on the blog as soon as possible.
Thank you! We look forward to seeing Slava and Ludmila in a couple days. ( :
Haylee Adamson
A Post from Traci:
We are so happy to finally be here after an exhausting couple of days. At Dulles we were concerned we’d miss our flight, because we were told to go to two different places (on opposite sides of airport) to check-in our luggage, and then there was a long security check line. Thankfully, though, we made it. It was very difficult saying goodbye to Elsie and Annabelle, but they did better than I expected and even kept waving and saying “Goodbye!” many times.
Our 8 hour flight to Copenhagen went well. We left at 5:15 pm. Thankfully they were able to get us some seats together (we didn’t have it previously since our tickets were gotten just a couple weeks prior when we found out our appointment date)…I sat with the girls and John with our son. The enjoyed watching a movie, listening to music and reading, while I tried to rest after not much sleep the last few days. The kids enjoyed getting juice and dinner and a treat, as well as just being on the airplane. We ate dinner around 7 pm and then at 12:00 in the morning (US time) they served breakfast! We did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep but needless to say, we were all very tired when we got to Copenhagen.
We had just gotten better with security checks (had our liquid bags ready, knew what to take out and off) but in Copenhagen our money belts set off the buzzer so I had to go in a room and show her it and how much we had for the adoption. The 2 ladies seemed not sure what to do and of course spoke Danish primarily so it was rather stressful…but after showing our adoption paperwork they said we could go on. So that is one more reason to bring a copy of your dossier with you!
Our flight there was quick and less English friendly as most of the crew did not seem to speak much English and no drinks etc. Once we arrived we went through Passport Control—we just had to fill out a form (including name and address for person receiving us—which we put our facilitator) and show our passports. We were approached by 2 young men about getting our luggage, but we didn’t feel comfortable with it (not sure if they worked there or not) so we said no thank you and did it ourselves. WE thought there would be more to customs but that was it. We went through the door and more men approached us I think asking if we need help to get a taxi (do we stand out here or what?) but thankfully our facilitator Anatoly walked up and said our name so we followed him. He does not speak much English so it was a bit uncomfortable as there was not much communication but he brought us to the van where Yuri and Sveta waited for us to drive us to where we’ll be staying.
The Dickinson family told us of an American missionary here (Jamie) who helped them and of Yuri who they hired to drive them, who is a Christian and trustworthy. We inquired the week before we left about if it was possible for him to drive us to the orphanage and Jamie replied right away that she was going out of country but had met with Yuri and that he could pick us up at the airport, bring us to the guest house we could rent, arrange transportation to our appointments and we could hire him to drive us to Izmail. We’re so thankful to Jamie for arranging this and for Chris Malone helping us by contacting her for us, and Meghan for sharing about htem. So, even though we could not communicate much, we know we are with people that others know and trust. In the van ride, Jamie called on a cell phone and talked to us about what was going on and translated to Yuri and Sveta, trying to work out a way we could call home; we were not able to get our Ukrainian cell phone to work yet or access internet, but thankfully, Jamie called my parents for us and left the house number here, so late Monday night my mom called from the US and we made contact. Praise God! It was a great comfort—in the midst of a different language and culture and no way to call home—for Jamie to call check up on and help us and then to hear the voices of those we love. We’re hoping to get the phone and internet working soon (that is why this post is late) and look forward to having our translator tomorrow.
Monday, April 20, 2009
A post from Haylee:
We made it safely to Kyiv today. We were very tired as we slept only 2 hrs. on the plane (over night). We got into Copenhagen at 2 in the morning (US time). And then, there was a 2 hr. layover. We then got a flight at 4 a clock our time for Kyiv, Ukraine We met Anatoly and he brought us to our driver (Yuri). Yuri drove to the mission house and dropped off the luggage,us kids and Mommy while Yuri and Daddy drove to the market to get some food. We took a nap meanwhile..We got bread, fruit, fish, eggs, cereal, and juice.
Tomorrow is our appointment date, so please pray for us as we take another step forward to bring these children home!! We will post more updates on the blog as soon as possible.
Thank you! We look forward to seeing Slava and Ludmila in a couple days. ( :
Haylee Adamson
A Post from Traci:
We are so happy to finally be here after an exhausting couple of days. At Dulles we were concerned we’d miss our flight, because we were told to go to two different places (on opposite sides of airport) to check-in our luggage, and then there was a long security check line. Thankfully, though, we made it. It was very difficult saying goodbye to Elsie and Annabelle, but they did better than I expected and even kept waving and saying “Goodbye!” many times.
Our 8 hour flight to Copenhagen went well. We left at 5:15 pm. Thankfully they were able to get us some seats together (we didn’t have it previously since our tickets were gotten just a couple weeks prior when we found out our appointment date)…I sat with the girls and John with our son. The enjoyed watching a movie, listening to music and reading, while I tried to rest after not much sleep the last few days. The kids enjoyed getting juice and dinner and a treat, as well as just being on the airplane. We ate dinner around 7 pm and then at 12:00 in the morning (US time) they served breakfast! We did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep but needless to say, we were all very tired when we got to Copenhagen.
We had just gotten better with security checks (had our liquid bags ready, knew what to take out and off) but in Copenhagen our money belts set off the buzzer so I had to go in a room and show her it and how much we had for the adoption. The 2 ladies seemed not sure what to do and of course spoke Danish primarily so it was rather stressful…but after showing our adoption paperwork they said we could go on. So that is one more reason to bring a copy of your dossier with you!
Our flight there was quick and less English friendly as most of the crew did not seem to speak much English and no drinks etc. Once we arrived we went through Passport Control—we just had to fill out a form (including name and address for person receiving us—which we put our facilitator) and show our passports. We were approached by 2 young men about getting our luggage, but we didn’t feel comfortable with it (not sure if they worked there or not) so we said no thank you and did it ourselves. WE thought there would be more to customs but that was it. We went through the door and more men approached us I think asking if we need help to get a taxi (do we stand out here or what?) but thankfully our facilitator Anatoly walked up and said our name so we followed him. He does not speak much English so it was a bit uncomfortable as there was not much communication but he brought us to the van where Yuri and Sveta waited for us to drive us to where we’ll be staying.
The Dickinson family told us of an American missionary here (Jamie) who helped them and of Yuri who they hired to drive them, who is a Christian and trustworthy. We inquired the week before we left about if it was possible for him to drive us to the orphanage and Jamie replied right away that she was going out of country but had met with Yuri and that he could pick us up at the airport, bring us to the guest house we could rent, arrange transportation to our appointments and we could hire him to drive us to Izmail. We’re so thankful to Jamie for arranging this and for Chris Malone helping us by contacting her for us, and Meghan for sharing about htem. So, even though we could not communicate much, we know we are with people that others know and trust. In the van ride, Jamie called on a cell phone and talked to us about what was going on and translated to Yuri and Sveta, trying to work out a way we could call home; we were not able to get our Ukrainian cell phone to work yet or access internet, but thankfully, Jamie called my parents for us and left the house number here, so late Monday night my mom called from the US and we made contact. Praise God! It was a great comfort—in the midst of a different language and culture and no way to call home—for Jamie to call check up on and help us and then to hear the voices of those we love. We’re hoping to get the phone and internet working soon (that is why this post is late) and look forward to having our translator tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the big day we’ve been waiting for---our SDA appointment when we will Lord willing receive our referrals.
This is a picture of the house we're staying in --outside of Kiev. It is nice and roomy as we're the only ones there right now. A bit chilly at night but we have plenty of blankets.
No comments:
Post a Comment