We have a referral

We went to the state dept. of adoption yesterday at 4pm for our meeting with the govt adoption folks. It went very well. As you all know, we were hoping to see at least 5-6 viable profiels, and we actually were able to look at 8. One boy was too young, another was too old, and a few had some health concerns. So, we had two to choose from and ended up picking a little guy named Yevgen, but they call him Jhenya (jshen-ya). He is six years old, born March 2001, is "friendly, sociable, and a bit stubborn," according to the profile information. Sounds like he'd fit perfectly into our headstrong family! The profiles are very sparse on info, just two pages with an attached 1/2 page medical report. So, here we were, sitting in this little upstairs office in the old part of the city, in a hot, stuffy room with three smiling Ukrainian officials looking at you while you try to decide between two little boys' pictures, with the rest of the profile written in cyrillic! It felt like something out of one of Fellinni's more bizarre films. Sweat's pouring down our heads, and of course at first Suz liked one little guy and I liked another, but after about 10 minutes of private time (we asked to be alone so the officials went in the other room to drink lukewarm coke), we both agreed that \yevgen looked very good. The other little guy had two siblings still living with the mother, and we felt that might get a bit complicated, whereas Jhenya has no siblings with the mother (he has a younger sibling that has already been adopted out to a UKR family). jhenya has a cute, miscievous little grin, brown eyes, dirty blond hair.

So, I am just grabbing some "internet cafe" time before heading back to the apt. to help the gals all pack. We will leave in about 2 hours for the airport and will be flying as there were no overnight train compartments available on such short notice. We will be travelling to a town on the Azov Sea (on a map that's the body of water just east and north of the Black Sea) - the town is Mariupol, and the oprhanage is located just outside this town. Yuri, the Kievite who has been so helpful, actually became a hero to the girls yesterday when he suggested we eat at TGIF's - yes, that's right, rife with chicken fingers, french fries, English menus and lemodade! uri will not be going with us, but an associate named Igor (yes, that's correcvt, an assistant named Igor!) will be taking us to Mariupol, and will serve as our red-tape cutter, coordinator, translator, etc. And no, he does not have a hump! He actually looks like a model (according to the girls!).We should get into Mariupol this evening by midnight, as we have to fly to Donyetsk, which is about 60 minutes van ride from Mariupol. Tomorrow we hope to be able to see Yevgen - that is why we are in sort of a rush: if we don't see him tomorrow, we will have to wait til Monday as they don't do visits on the weekend. We are very excited and lookingforward to finally moving into this next phase. And just because we have accepted this referral does not mean tha we necessarily have to adopt this child. We will see - need to meet him, spend time with him, etc. and because we are near the sea, we will probably be able to have some R&R this weekend at a beach about 50 minutes from Mariupol - Igor says the water is beautiful there, whereas Mariupol is sort of like a Long Beach or San Pedro - port city.

The girls are all doing well. No sickness or any "bad" things of any sort, which has been a real blessing. Emily is so helpful, and has really been a trooper, watching the girls yesterday for about 3 hours while Suz and I went to the SDA.

I hope to post over the weekend. Thanks for your lvoe an prayers as we go to visit Yevgen tomorrow!

Das Vy'Danya
Kyle