SDA

So, for those who want the details ... here you go (with some photos along the way to break it up a bit.

We met "N" at McD's and walked up the hill out the other side of Independence Square. We went around the side of what I assumed was a gov't building, through a street market (photo later), and through a construction area, before we arrived at the very small door to the SDA.

Statues in square before arriving at SDA (Melissa)

Inside was a small standing area and we were told to wait there. There was another couple standing there, so we climbed a couple of steps and waited. The other couple smiled at us and we assumed they were Americans. After a couple of minutes they spoke to each other in English and so we engaged them in conversation. We found out they are from Minnesota and will be going to the same region as us, but a different orphanage. They also leave Kyiv on the Saturday evening train (there are 3 leaving that night, so not sure if we'll be on the same one).

After a few minutes another American couple came down the steps, with a young boy (less than 5). They spoke to the other couple and as as well. We found out they are a military family from Maryland but currently stationed in Italy. They got out pictures to show us, but we were taken to our appt before we could see them. I caught a glimpse of two baby boys and hear her tell the other woman they both have down-syndrome.

Mural outside the cathedral (Brian)

We went upstairs and were taken into a small room with two desks shoved close to each other, a large bookcase, and a sofa/table. A blonde woman greeted us in Russian, but spoke to N instead of us, so I did not respond. N motioned to me to respond, so I broke out my very broken Russian and said Hello, my name is Melissa. She pulled out some pages from her large file and reviewed them. She then began speaking with N. We are not sure what about, but after a very few sentences, another woman who was nearby got involved in the conversation. She appeared to be the blonde woman's supervisor as she took over the conversation with N very quickly.

As Brian mentioned in his post, N's face went pale, so we knew something was wrong. She explained to us that according to their laws, we would have to go to Lutigino and start the process for S & D and then come back to the SDA and get the referral for Y & V. The 2nd woman and N engaged in a lengthly conversation and we could tell that N was trying to convince her of something - we could also see that she was not being convinced!

A famous cathedral, as seen in many of our friend's blogs (Melissa)

N and the 2nd woman conversed for quite some time without any translation to us. Finally N turned to us and said that they were concerned that this was some type of scam and we were tying to circumvent their laws regarding the waiting period for a child under age 6. There is a minimum 6 month waiting period for a child of this age and by requesting the older siblings we had bypassed this waiting period ... so basically we need to prove that our intentions are to adopt S & D and not have them separated off and only take V.

Brian asked if we showed proof that we had intentions to adopt all 4 (i.e. our photo album of S & D or sign something stating as much) if that would make any difference. We were told no. I also told N that we did not know that V existed until 3 weeks after we had met S & D. She said that did not matter and she did not translate back to the other women.

Street market outside SDA

(weather is drizzle to light rain and not nearly as col as we had imagined)

The 2nd woman finally convinced that we understood the rules and how we must proceed, our matter was handed back over to the blonde woman. She reviewed the files on S & D and told us about their parental history and medical conditions. Afterwards N asked if we could take a peak at the photos of Y & V and we were denied. We signed in a large book that looked similar to a notary's book in the US. Some papers were handed to N and we walked with her up the street to a post office to make copies, which she promptly returned to the SDA and took the copies with her.

Outside we spoke with N about the new travel arrangements and how long it might take to get the 2nd SDA appt. She said once the paperwork has been started at Lutigino, she could get us an appt in hopefully 2 days. We will need to come back to Kyiv for this and then take that referral to Severdonesk to start with Y & V. This delay could cost us next weekend and quite possibly our court date before Dec 30th.

Potato House for dinner last night