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