Thursday - Meeting New Friends...

This post will be about a day behind but my plan is to catch up tonight! 

Our second full day in Ukraine was busy once again.  We met with Dave and Darci who just got back to Kiev from Kherson where the orphanage is located.  They have been here for three weeks and are adopting a little boy named Stauss who is ten years old.  We sat down at a little coffee shop near our apartment and talked for about 3 hours!  It was great to talk to a couple who is going through a very similar journey.  Their new son lives in the same orphanage as Mariia, they hosted through New Horizons as well and they are using the same facilitators.  Given that they are about two weeks ahead of us in the process, they gave us great guidance on what we were to face the balance of our trip.  It was extremely encouraging to spend time with a couple following the same calling!  We even talked about creating some type of "mentorship" program to help families who adopt from here in the future...no reason why we all can't learn from each other!

After leaving Dave and Darci, we then went with Natalia to get our release from the SDA.  The picture below is taken right outside the gate of the SDA office.  Kelly and I also joined the other tourist in taking a picture with this statue that is of two Ukrainian movie characters...touching the spider is supposed to be lucky (not sure why).

We spent the remainder of the day touring a small part of the city and took several photos of what were called "landmark spots" on our map.  We only walked about a mile so Kelly will have plenty to see when she returns!

 An old Theater...not sure of the name!

 "Golden Gates" - Ceremonial Gate to the City

 National Opera House of Ukraine...Brittany Spears playing here this month for $2000 a ticket..Not on the agenda!

 This was a large group of elderly men playing chess against each other...just like in the movies.

 Main University in Kiev

 Unique walk way/park that runs in the middle of one of the main roads

Monument of Taras Schevchenko that sits in huge park across from the University that is named after him.

The weather was great once again as we walked for about 2 hours.  September 1st is a considered a special day as it is the day that all the kids and university students return to school from summer break.  It was a big deal in the city and all the students were dressed up for the first day in class..black and white seem to be the traditional school colors for this day.

We checked out of our apartment in Kiev at 9pm to catch the "red eye" train to Kherson.  Pictures of our studio flat in case you were curious what $70 a day gets you in the city...

Steele door entrance to lobby of building

Stairs leading up to nine floors of apartments...lights on every other floor!

 Living room with the bed just over the wall behind Kelly.  The inside is much different than the outside.  We are told that many of the owners renovate the living space but the outside and common areas are not maintained very well.  This building was probably over 100 years old.

Kitchen with eating area, sink, clothes washer, stove, and full size refrigerator.

Our train car..two beds and space in between.  The cabin was about 7 feet by 5 feet.  The twelve hours went by rather fast as it was over night.  We arrived in Kherson at 10am or so.

The toughest part of the day was that we did not get to speak to the kids as much as we would have liked.  We miss them very much and it is the hardest part so far!  For those that know them and are comfortable, feel free to call and say hello!  We are in this as a family and we know they are doing their part not having mom and dad home for a long time.  We know that Larry and Sandy are doing a great job keeping up with them...we are so fortunate to have friends who are making this type of sacrifice!