We Are Here!

March 29, 2006 Wednesday

I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!

We have traveled three countries in 24 hours. The flight from Atlanta to Moscow was pretty uneventful. It was long, and cramped, but we made it and that is the most important thing. My fear of flying across the Atlantic, was completely gone. I truly felt the peace that surpasses all understanding. It was from God. And even when there were times I wanted to be fearful, I would stop and say to myself, “You can go there, but if you do, you are choosing to be disobedient and to not accept the gift of peace God has given you.” Thanks be to God for the calm heart and peace. The plane seemed to be a good mix of Russian/Ukranians and Americans. Although, I did hear someone speaking French. Kade did well on the trip over. He had a hard time going to sleep at first but once he was out, we had a hard time waking him up again for breakfast.

The Moscow airport was interesting. We were greeted by some very curt female airport workers wearing army green military style uniforms with a mini skirt and some stiletto heels. (think stereotypical). We eventually found our way through the airport and ended up at the right gate. However, once we tried to check in at the gate, they kept telling us to come back later. They seemed a little put out with us that we would try to get through the gate “early”. Moscow has a lot of little lakes and beautiful evergreen trees everywhere. Some snow had previously fallen and the cool temperatures were keeping it frozen.

We landed in Kyiv with no problems. Made it through passport control and were greeted immediately by a porter who took our bags and led us to the baggage claim. Wonder how he knew we were American?? Maybe we don’t blend in as much as we thought we would. So, we make it to the baggage claim, and we’re not surprised. It looks pretty much like the baggage claim we are used to at home. As we’re watching the conveyor belt for our luggage, it suddenly stops. Then the dread of realization that our luggage has been lost hits us and we promptly begin to look for lost and found. Paperwork, more paperwork, customs forms, etc. and the sweet girl behind the counter tells me that our luggage is still in Moscow and is due to be here tonight at 10:30. They will deliver it to us! Sounds like customer service at its best.

Leaving the airport we meet with Yuri, our facilitator, who takes us to our apartment. We are staying in a relatively nice apartment. It is about 300 sq. feet (big for Ukr. Standards) and has a small kitchen and bathroom. It is comfortable and we are happy to have a nice place to stay. Yuri tells us that he is going to take us to the grocery store. So off we go to the Mega Market. It is an interesting grocery store where everything is separate. You buy your fruits, veggies, etc. in one part of the market. There is another section for electronics. And then Yuri informs us that we need to head upstairs to buy shampoo, toothpaste & deodorant because there is no way our luggage is going to be delivered tonight. Hmmmm, not as great of customer service as I thought. J

Yuri wants to go to dinner to talk about some of the specifics to our adoption. So we tell him to pick the place. He says his favorite is TGI Fridays, but decides on an Italian restaurant next door. The food was good. Kade & Scott ordered pizza and I ordered the equivalent of a breaded chicken breast. It was good. Although I have to warn you, if you are allergic to smoke, Ukraine is not the place for you. EVERYONE smokes here. I told Yuri that smoking was down by 55% in America, and he said, “Yes, that is why American cigarette companies come here to sell.” Kade had a hard time at dinner. He was fighting a cold before we left and had some leftover congestion. He really had a strong coughing fit at the restaurant. Needless to say, we ate & ran! I was considering eating out while we are here in Kyiv and then cooking once we knew in what city we were going to be located. However, I think that has changed. We may be going back to the ol’ Mega Market for some more groceries. I can not put my baby through that again! We are praying today that we will find some street vendors for lunch so we can eat in the open air. And then if we can’t get back to the Mega Market in time for dinner, we have an Uno Pizza (yes Tulsans, a real live Uno) next door to us, so we may get pizza to go and eat it here at the apartment.

There was some confusion with our paperwork. In spite of my best efforts to clarify, it seems as if something fell through the cracks. Our marriage certificate did in fact need to be updated with our other paperwork. So Scott & I will be going to a notary later today to solemnly swear that we are still married. Other than that, we are in good shape. We expected a few bumps, so no big deal.

Well it is 4:00 in the morning here in Kyiv. Scott & I woke up at 3:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep. So we had a little snack and have been trying to get our day planned out. I am journaling on the laptop and am not for sure if we will be able to find an internet café today. Yuri does not know of one in the area we are staying. So we will do our best. Kade is snoozing soundly and seems to be a little melancholy. I am sure it is just culture shock. Scott & I keep looking at each other and commenting to the fact that this is totally unreal! Who else but God calls people to the other side of the world for their children. This is wild.

On the way to our apartment, we did see some “street children” on the main streets of Kyiv going from car to car begging for money. I asked Yuri if there was any Ukrainian endeavor to place these kids in orphanages. Yuri said that by the time these kids are 10 years old, they have lived on the streets many years and already know how to make money. They would not like an orphanage. It just breaks my heart. If you think Oliver Twist with a modern flair, then you will have a picture of the children we saw today. I wonder what Kade was thinking? He said nothing.

Something else that has been interesting has been the language. I have been thinking a lot about the Tower of Babel. And how God separated the people by languages. And here we are in this region of the world where so many languages are spoken, some similar and some completely different from one another. It is cool to me that God came up with so many languages and I am reminded of that each time I hear a different tongue spoken here.

I will go for now, but stay tuned for the continuing saga of “As the Thompson’s World Turns!

Love you all!
Kayla

Hello everybody, it's kind of boring not speaking the language. The smoking is irritating. I miss you all.

Kade

Hi,

We are having quite an experience in Kiev. By the time we found this internet cafe, which is actually in a post office, we managed to get our marriage license notarized. It took over an hour for the notary work, so we ate at a japanese restaurant which was a little expensive but they had a non-smoking section. Yeah! They really don't speak much English here, so we may get pretty good at speaking Russian after all. Well, we still don't know what time our appointment is tomorrow. Yuri has to turn in our paperwork today so we will know tonight. We just found out our luggage should be arriving at our apartment after 6:00pm. I will be very glad when it gets here.

It's time for us to go. Have a great day and thanks for all your prayers.
Scott