Strike one- we`re back

Good morning Comrades,

We are back in Kyiv after another 12 hr train ride back. We left Kyiv friday night to go see the 4.5 yr old girl that we had mentioned earlier. As we said, we had narrowed our 11 files down to two and decided to gamble on the younger one, going on our translator`s opinion. We arrived at Donetsk at 7:00 am and had a driver waiting to take us 2 more hours by car to the Sunshine orphanage in Mariupol. When we arrived at Mariupol we had to first go to "inspectors" office to get official referral for orphanage. After about 1 hr. we were on our way. In the directors office we got to see a more recent photo of Elena. The picture sort of took us aback a little. She did not look well at all. After an exchange between our translator, Dr. Yuri and the director, the child was brought in to see us. At this point things were not looking good. We went to a different room where the doctor tested a wide range of skills. He checked motor skills, speech and cognitive abilities. His conclusion: not just delayed as the file had said but severely delayed to the point of retardation, permanent disability etc, etc. With our unprofessional eyes we felt the same. Why the file said what it did and the misdiagnosis is anybody`s guess. At the inspectors office we typed up a letter of refusal that had to be notarized locally to be submitted at the SDA office in order to receive our next appointment. We had a chance to go to a supermarket like "HyVee" with a deli and what not. We ate various Russian type foods due to the closeness to the Russian border. The food was very good and the 4 of us ate for about $8.00. From there back to Donetsk to board the train back to Kyiv. In the last 36 hrs we have been in a train or car for about 28 of those hours. The other file that we almost chose had a very bright eyed 9 yr old girl with dark hair and very pretty eyes. We didn`t choose this one due to the age and wondering why she had not been adopted earlier. In hindsight we probably should have selected her anyways but we cannot dwell on this or it will eat us up.

The SDA will be notified tomorrow about the issues on the first child and why we turned her down. We can then get our second appointment which can be from 3-5 business days later. Hopefully the next one will turn out better.

Dr. Yuri was wonderful. He is a very well read individual who is current with the world political scene and many other interesting topics. We chatted with him many hours about everything. He particularly took interest in Collin and Tory and how good of kids they are. He said as we have been saying, we need to take care, so that their life will not be disrupted due to an unhealthy adoption. He seemed particularly surprised that we had never before travelled by train.

The train ride is a story in and of itself. The train station is like something out of Dickens in a way. It was kinda surreal the many 100`s of people and the languages flowing. We were shown to our "berth" and we got in. The berth was approximately 6.5 ft wide and maybe 7 ft deep. Both sides had two bunks and that was it. They supply a little mattress type thing you unroll and cover with a clean sheet and you have a pillow that you put a new case on. Then you climb in with two somewhat strangers about 2 ft away and fall asleep. Well that`s what supposed to happen in theory. What really happened in reality is Gail and myself pretty much stared at the ceiling for the next 12 hrs as the train rocked back and forth, groaned, creaked and lurched. This was nuts!! The best analogy for this whole thing is: take one little red wagon with a 16 in wide plank about 6 ft long strapped to it. Hook this wagon unto a lawnmower and have someone drive around your yard at night in the pitch black darkness as you lay on it. Just for good measure have someone put a light in your face every 2-3 minutes to mimic the lights along the tracks. Now the fun part- FALL ASLEEP! No way, no how did it work for us. We survived but boy was it a long night. Oh, I forgot about the bathrooms. They were down the hall way at the far end. They did have an actual toilet- not that anyone who used it actually hit it. Take that plank on the little red wagon that I told you about and stand on it instead of laying on it. Put a 3 lb. coffee can on end of plank. Now have your driver start pulling little red wagon across yard once again. Guys- now all you have to do is hit the coffee can as the wagon is moving. The toilet was nasty to say the least. On a brighter note- the train ride home was a new style car with better everything and rollup shades etc,etc . We were actually able to get a little sleep this time. Exhaustion does wonders to make you able to sleep.
We now have a different apartment about 2 blocks from the square and it is very nice. We continue to have internet so we can stay in touch. We hopefully will hear tomorrow when our appointment is. We will spend much of our time this week visiting the Cathedrals and the museums which are said to be great. Till then take care and we`ll stay in touch with any further developments. Gail and Craig