Home Bound

Well today Thursday we have made it to Kiev. We have Visas and are flying out on Friday AM. We are very tired as we traveled 12 hours by train and slept very little but we are very very excited to be coming home. Pray for our travels. God has been really showing us how much his hand is in everything. We have experienced ups and downs from the first day we arrived and he has not let us down this far!!!!

We were at the American Embassy in the final process and the lady helping us said, "Oh we need two copies of birth certificates, decrees, etc. and they need to be translated in english". I thought we did not have them in all our paperwork and was about ready to cry but we found them in some paperwork that was given to us for our own personal use. Praise the Lord. They would have needed to admit me to a sanitarium!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are now finishing up some final shopping for gifts and then plan to have a picnic type of snack night with the kids and then to bed for a few hours along with laundry and some repacking, then up at 2 for departure from the apartment at 4 A.M. We will be a tired bunch but happy to be home.

Wendi the girls would love some clothes/toys from Anya. We will be in touch when we get a chance to sit and relax for a few. Hope and pray to see you soon.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. It has meant so much to us knowing that people care.

See you on the other side in AMERICA.

The Kochaneks.

The Taxi Driver

This is the taxi driver Uri who took us around Kotovsk and drove us to Odessa. The girls, Bruce and I spend about 6 hours in this taxi on the way to Villamikili to get the new birth certificate and then to odessa for the tax id number. He was great and he enjoyed helping all the families who were adopting. Thank You Uri.
The Kochaneks

The Facilitator

This is our facilitator Victor. IN the beginning he was a normal Ukrainian man but after dealing with all our families he was a little frustrated and wanted to jump in the Black Sea. VICTOR Come back DONT JUMP!!!!! See all of us adopted girls which totaled 4. All the estrogen on the trip made him a little crazy. He was great and we appreciated all his help. He has one son of his own and I am thinking he will not ever want girls. :) LOL LOL

Peesit (PEEPEE)

Ok guys I am going to tell you about an experience you need to sit down for. The picture is of a normal toilet in Ukraine. My experience started when I had to really go one day and was just learing the pants down balancing act to hit the hole and not my boots. So as I was squatting and attempting to bend over and observe the stream something wet splash up on my forhead. Now I am not sure if it was mine or the pile located to the side but I assume the exposure wont kill me but make my immune system stronger. FYI dont shake my hand when I get off the plane. If anyone needs tutoring on the squat pee balancing stance I can give you my notes. :) :) LOL
Chris

Day with the Dolphins

The girls went to see the dolphins yesterday and had a wonderful time. I do not think they had ever seen one. We were able to get our pix taken with two of them. At first I think that they were unsure of what they were watching but the dolphins started jumping and their eyes lit up. Bruce and I had a bet to see if the trainers would come out in bikinis or wet suits. Wet Suits it was. I guess they were American Ukrainian. :)

Day of Fun

We are having a lot of fun. Right now we are sitting at a bar eating dinner. I know we are not to be exposing the children to this atmosphere but it seems like one of the nicest ones. LOL. The food is good. I am going to attempt to download some pictures. Hopefully we are able to know on Tuesday when we might have our passports. I plan to come back to this bar for further meals tomorrow.The name is Kanhmah.

Some interesting things have occured today. As walking down the street I look into an alley and see an older woman releasing urine. Oh the experiences you will see in Ukraine. I will try to bring back some interesting pictures.:)

Until Zaftra (tomorrow)
Love Chris

Odessa

WE ARE IN ODESSA!!! We applied for the passport on Friday the 9th and they say anywhere from 3-7 days to get it. We are praying for the 3 day wait but who knows what will happen. Only God knows. This town is very clean and nice. Our facilitator, Chris and Laurie Passon walked about five miles today and tomorrow we will go see a dolphin show by the Black Sea. Bruce stayed in the apartment with our girls and Laurie's girl Yana since they did not want to go out. When we got home they had him tied up while throwing grapes at him but he would not budge. I told him next time he will not be so gullible to say yes at staying home. They needed to get out and walk to burn off energy.

Odessa has been fun and we have taken a lot of pictures. When I am able to use my own laptop I will attempt to download some pix for everyone. The streets are cobblestone, no snow, and a tad bit warmer than Kotovsk. I, Chris will be heading home on the 19th regardless since I have to be at work on the 21st.

Well we need to get back to the loft before the girls tie up Laurie. Hugs and Kisses to all.

Love Ya Chris

Barbie's are Awesome

I am at the internet cafe with Noel and she says DaDaDa (yes yes yes) Barbies!!! We are getting excited to travel to Odessa to get their passports. They miss everyone and can't wait to see the family and friends they did not meet while spending time with us. We appreciate everyone's prayers. It means so much to have good friends and family going to God on our behalf. When I get discouraged I just think that God has not let us down so far and that if we just give him total control he will work out all the details. Maybe that is what God has been trying to teach me (Chris) at least.
I keep everyone at home in my prayers. It feels like we have been gone for soo long. We would like to have a party eventually to celebrate our new family of 6 when we get home. The girls can't wait to get to school and want to spend some time with Mackenzie Skeens. They have picked her out of pix and seem to be drawn to her. (You go Girl!!!). So if anyone sees Sammie or Kim let them know we will be sending the kids over soon!! :0.

Three more days to go until we travel. People ask if we will come back to Kotovsk but we do not think so. There are some others issues I will discuss when I arrive home but not here and not right now. I have little eyes watching.

Well take care everyone we are off to the market, paper store, clothing store and where ever else we can spend time. Blessing from two Kochanek Girls Chris and Noel

Oh Ted wanted to let you know I took out the teeth candy you sent because of all the rumors going around the orphanage that Americans were adopting and cutting up the kids. I figured that would not go over well. The girls ate the candy at the flat just not all the kids.

A Message From Noel:
HOME HOME HOME. I want to eat Pizza when I come home to America. Thank You Sue Sue, Theatte,Jim, and Grandparents for painting my room. Hi to Zoe and Lucky. Hi to Aunt Marti. (They kiss your picture by the way). We will be home SSSOOOOONNN!

Day What????

Ok so now every day seems to be running together. I am not sure of the date but I know it is Saturday. Most of you are just getting out of bed but we have been up for a while. Bruce and I have decided to come in town to the internet cafe to just get away by ourselves. Mark and Yegor (the Burrits) went to another region to visit some missionaries and Tammy with Nadyia stayed with us at the flat. Noel (Svitlana) and Christine (Iryna) are having fun. They love the jackets from the Clevengers. They fit great!!! We did have to take Noel shopping for pants because she grew tall over the last couple of months. They are still skinny little girls though. We have discovered that the kids at our orphanage seem to be on the thin side when compaired to others in the region. It makes me wonder why and what might be going on behind closed doors??? Maybe it is best we do not know.
Oh and tell Pastor Mick we changed the girls names to ones he can pronounce.:):) LOL!!

I think we are becoming more Ukrainian as each day goes by. Bruce is still wearing the same jeans since last week. The Febreeze is becoming ineffective!!! I will need to write a brief letter to the company when we return.LOL!! We had the opportunity to visit the open market again yesterday. People in America need to experience all of this to appreciate their freedom and opportunities they have. I bet a lot would change their way of life quickly.

We are hoping to take the girls to see sisters Tonya and ULia sometime after getting the official birth certificate. We pray all goes well with this reunion. If anyone is interesting in adoption they are on the international list and are very sweet girls. Anyone just let us know. Maybe our experiences have helped to pave the way, it might be easier on others we know. If anyone is interested let us know as we have made some contacts here in Ukraine that would help with facilitating.

We cant wait to share our pictures and multiple stories. The girls ask over and over again when are we going home. Which makes us feel good and reconfirms our decision about splitting up the family.

Please pray for the other families that are here with us as each of us have our own special stories and situations to overcome. Laurie and Keith Passon adopting Yana as well and Mark and Tammy Burritt adopting Nadyia.
We will be home sooon!!! Love on the boys for us.

Love Ya
Chris and Bruce Kochanek

New Years Day

Hi to all we were able to access some internet. We survived New Years Eve the traditional Ukrainian way. We had lots of food, ice cream, cake, and gave gifts to the girls. I can't wait to show all the interesting pix we have. Well from what we can guess we will attempt to be on a plane to America on the 19th. Not soon enough for me!! The girls are also getting inpatient about getting back home. :) There are most days that I even forget the actual date and day of the week. I miss my schedule and we are getting tired of living out of a suitcase but we do have the girls and that is what matters. We have made good friends with some of the taxi drivers and they seem happy we are adopting. Uri has even showed us pix of his family. I will be getting photos of him and his awesome taxi. It reminds me of something my aunt Zenith drove when I was in High School. Well until later. Please keep praying that we are on a plane coming to America on the 19th of Jan or before. We miss everyone and the girls Noel (Svieta) and Christine (Iryna) Kochanek miss their family and send their love.
The Kochaneks