Operation: Get that Boy has Begun!!

So we left Tuesday afternoon out of Wichita, KS to arrive in Lugansk, Ukraine about 5:30 pm Wednesday evening.  We skipped the train this time and flew directly into Donetsk and had a taxi driver drive us the 200 Kilometers to Lugansk.  This took about 2 hours, there was a lot of traffic last night and no street lights. 

Anyway, we quickly settled in last night with no sleep for the past 24 hours we slept well.  This morning we awoke bright and early to drive to Blake's birth city to acquire his birth certificate.  We were warned this part of the process in this region is the most difficult.  Our poor translator, Violetta, was met with a gruff, angry voice stating that they were too busy, there were lots of baby's being born, and to come back some other time.  Violetta patiently took that advice and sat down outside the office door with my mom and I.  She said she would wait a little bit and go back in and ask again.  Sure enough, she went back in the office told the lady we were Americans wanting to adopt a child their country did not want, that we were doing them a favor, (as well as a few other things I won't share on here), and things started to move.  We walked out of the office 2 hours later with a birth certificate that stated Blake's new name and listed Jerad and I as his parents.  It was so awesome to see it in writing, finally!  Upon there, Sasha's (our facilitator) wife, drove us and Violetta back to Lugansk to retrieve Blake's social security number.  Again, the two people in charge of this process were gone..but thanks to a lot of prayer and "good luck" according to Violetta, we were able to walk out of there with social security number in hand--only an hour later.  In this country, there are no appointments, there are no guarantees, there are no secretaries who fill in for their bosses...it's sort of an all or nothing kind of deal.  So we planned to go and do a lot of waiting today with no guarantees we would get anything done today...which we did, but not nearly as much as I had planned.  Again, God went before us and prepared the way.  We even got done in enough time to go see Blake this afternoon.  He got to meet his "Mimi" for the first time too.

He recognized me as I was hoping.  He was sitting up in his crib looking out the door when I walked in.  He saw me and it took a minute...then he lunged forward in his crib to stand up, as I walked in he raised his arms up in the air wanting me to pick him up.  His eyes got SOO big!!  Warmed my heart. I think he grew tired of my kisses by the time we left there, though.  Just couldn't give him enough--2 week's worth of making up for!

As it looks now, we will go to the passport office at 9 am tomorrow morning.  From there we will get his passport and buy our plane tickets to leave here and head to Kiev.  We found out there are no flights leaving here to Kiev until Monday morning...which is fine.  We decided to stay here through the weekend, anyway. I know my way around here better and feel more comfortable here.  Violetta said our "Gotcha Day" will be tomorrow!!!  WHOOHOO..can't wait!  Now to go 'baby-proof' the apartment for a weekend of fun.

More to come later.  Please continue to pray for our process to continue to follow in God's plan and favor...we are planning Blake's medical appointment at the US Embassy for Monday/Tuesday.  We hope to get his Visa Tuesday afternoon and fly back to the states, Wednesday.  That's our plan, though, as many of you know, nothing follows a plan here.  So pray that our desires can be met.

 

 

It's crazy to think tonight could be his last night in the orphanage...FOREVER!!!!