tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36149163728608010682011-04-21T15:34:12.755-06:00Our Ukrainian Adoption JourneyMiche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-44280317014164997502008-07-07T21:06:00.003-06:002008-11-12T18:20:08.364-07:00

Here are some photos taken of the kids in the last week. You can see how happy they are. They really enjoyed their first July 4th holiday (America's Happy Birthday - is how we explained it), doing sparklers and little fireworks in the neighborhood, then joining friends in Grand Lake, Colorado for boating and fireworks over the lake. Today was their first day for the new school year. Logan is now

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-49533096808733444662008-07-02T21:23:00.002-06:002008-07-02T21:49:42.844-06:00

I don't know if anyone is still checking this out occassionally, but for those of you in the midst of the adoption process, I want to post to let you know how things are going after 3 months with the kids home.It's actually been an amazing experience and has gone much better than Scott & I could've imagined over a year ago when we started the paperwork. To recap for those of you new to our blog,

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-3231656039807964032008-04-09T14:27:00.002-06:002008-04-09T14:42:42.654-06:00

At least not for Logan. Actually, both kids did very well sitting for the dentist, having their teeth cleaned, etc. The hygenists demo'd everything on me first so the kids knew what to expect. They especially liked the cleaning instrument - she put it on their fingers so they could feel it vibrate and they both laughed at that. We knew Daria's mouth was a wreck, and it is. The dentist took one

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-45631888674322419102008-04-07T20:55:00.003-06:002008-11-12T18:20:10.056-07:00

The kids braved their first day of school today. They've been so excited, everyday asking how many more "zafthras" (sp?? tomorrows) until school. Last week we bought lunch boxes (Spiderman and Princesses) and school supplies, which they kept looking at every day. I think reality kicked in a bit this morning when they finally realized they really were going - it wasn't a theoretical thing. You'll

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-71516511439053800282008-04-01T20:32:00.002-06:002008-11-12T18:20:10.660-07:00

Yesterday morning I made the call to postpone our tubing trip until today, because of the winter storm warnings for the ski resort areas. Thank goodness I did. There was a 60-car pileup on I-70 that had the interstate closed for most of the day. I'm really glad we didn't have to sit in that, or worse yet, be one of the cars involved in the collision. As you can see from the photos, the storm

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-42673215596217969652008-04-01T20:20:00.001-06:002008-11-12T18:20:11.635-07:00

Here are a couple of photos from the kids' first few days home.

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-61126669244167833992008-03-30T15:56:00.002-06:002008-03-30T16:15:37.627-06:00

So far so good with the kids! Though they've only been home since Wednesday, it actually feels like they've always been with us. The kids are really settling in well and enjoying things, though they have been jetlagged. The first couple of days, they woke up pretty early - 4 and 5 am. Today was the first day they've been in bed until 7 am - a semi-normal time (we'd prefer 9 am on Sundays!! :) We

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-27630650808537595652008-03-26T19:48:00.002-06:002008-03-26T20:03:11.547-06:00

It feels so great to finally be able to write that! Scott, Logan and Daria arrived in Denver at 1pm this afternoon. I'm so happy to have everyone together! Scott said all last night they kept saying "America" - they couldn't wait to come. On the flight home, they kept asking him how many more hours to go.I got tons of hugs and Daria held my hand almost the whole way home (I was NOT driving :).

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-873248794257194742008-03-24T19:27:00.002-06:002008-03-24T19:42:54.865-06:00

Hi everyone (if anyone is still following this). I'm sorry it's been so long since the last posting. Scott applied for the passports on March 13th, and it has taken this long to get them. They finally arrived this morning, but apparently it took about twice as long as most people's. Needless to say, by Friday of this past week, Scott was really worn down mentally and panicking because his time

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-40411902215653343342008-03-11T09:56:00.002-06:002008-03-11T10:36:33.087-06:00

Today we completed our ten day wait period and was able to pick up the court decree, which was big step in finalizing the adoption. We were hoping to get the children's birth certificates changed today as well; however, the orphanage director was not in town and we will have to spend one more night in Balta and hopefully pick them up tomorrow. From there, we are off to Odessa to apply for their

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-63080280384256725532008-03-03T11:16:00.002-07:002008-11-12T18:20:13.184-07:00

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-46310395808264612082008-03-01T03:16:00.002-07:002008-03-01T03:28:04.343-07:00

For those of you getting ready to travel over, I wanted to share a few things we've experienced on our journey. It is much warmer than we expected, and apparently warmer than usual. Generally, the weather has been sunny and between 40 -60 degrees during the day. Until we got settled in to our apartment in Balta, we survived on peanut butter, oatmeal, fruit and bars. You may or may not have an

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-48706943357125655832008-03-01T02:40:00.002-07:002008-03-01T03:10:33.269-07:00

Well, this will be, sadly, my last post from Ukraine. We arrived 3 weeks ago today, and the time has just blown by, despite all the downtime we've had. I hate leaving Scott and the kids here (I missed them yesterday when I left!), but hopefully the next couple of weeks will blow by just as quickly.Thursday night after court, we celebrated with our new Balta neighbors, Peter and Charlene. They're

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-15047774544652775102008-02-28T07:51:00.002-07:002008-02-28T07:54:02.597-07:00

I just have time for a quick post, but will be able to blog more when I'm back in Kyiv tomorrow.We had court today and we are now officially the parents of Logan Dmitri and Daria Antonina Casey. I'm back on the computer that won't allow me to upload photos, so I'll do so when I'm back in Kyiv. Logan is 9.5 yo and Daria is 8 yo, and we are just thrilled and honored to be their parents.More

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-9334819125842606482008-02-26T02:28:00.003-07:002008-02-26T02:47:56.337-07:00

I'm sorry that the first set of photos yesterday didn't show up like they did on my end when I posted. I'll try to fix that the next time I'm here at the Internet cafe with our thumb drive.Yesterday it was close to 60 degrees and sunny here, so we took the kids outside to play soccer and tag. They had a blast and we had lots of other kids from the orphanage join in. We're not allowed to take the

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-88249533559727173242008-02-25T01:48:00.002-07:002008-11-12T18:20:14.523-07:00

Here are a few more photos of Balta. The first is the beautiful orthodox church, which is next to the orphanage. You can't see them as well, but the back of the church has the traditional onion domes. The second photo is the orphanage itself. It resembles a boarding school, and is in much better shape than we anticipated. According to our translator, it also doesn't have the awful smell that

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-23020723084307316482008-02-25T01:37:00.003-07:002008-11-12T18:20:15.444-07:00

Finally! I think the computer that I've been trying to post on didn't have ActiveX or something installed. Anyway, here are some photos from Balta. From top, the Administration building where we go to meet with the Inspector. The statue is Lenin. The second is a typical street in Balta. Other than a couple of the main streets, most are unpaved. The third photo are some typical soviet-style

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-85740388091895049762008-02-23T03:36:00.002-07:002008-02-23T03:49:11.397-07:00

It's Saturday afternoon here, and the weather the past few days has been pretty decent. I actually went out for a run on Thursday, which must be quite unusual because I got lots of stares. It was sunny and around 50 degrees, which felt really good after the last week of things being so cold. The kids are both still recovering from colds, so we decided to give them a break today and not visit

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-30777421009292036822008-02-21T01:32:00.003-07:002008-02-21T01:40:01.918-07:00

We have a court date of February 28th, at 2pm. This is the formal hearing in which we'll all go in front of a judge who will make the final determination on our adoption of the kids. The orphanage director, Inspector, the kids themselves, and us will all testify at the hearing. The judge has the final say, and can say no for any reason. We don't really think we have anything to worry about but,

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-43425965487647681842008-02-19T03:01:00.002-07:002008-02-19T03:27:42.523-07:00

Yesterday (Monday) we had to give our official answer as to whether or not we want to adopt D & A. Of course, we said yes. We had a meeting with the Inspector, the Orphanage Director, Olga (our translator) and Victor (one of the social workers/care givers at the orphanage). D & A were also present and had to also give their consent to be adopted by us.The kids were quizzed by the Director, and of

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-76840607982132359642008-02-17T05:46:00.002-07:002008-11-12T18:20:16.257-07:00

The top picture is of St. Andrew's church, which is now solely a museum. The picture doesn't do the color on the domes justice. They were the most amazing teal color. The bottom photo is Independence Square, which is one of the main areas in Kyiv for events, political rallies, etc. There is a mall that sits below the entire square area, and many restaurants, etc skirt the perimeter. This is kind

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-6393433315230467422008-02-17T05:41:00.002-07:002008-11-12T18:20:16.733-07:00

Dima (short for Dmitri) was our tour guide to get us over to the Pechesky Lavra and walk us around Kyiv a bit. Without him, I don't believe we would have made it! The second picture is just one of the streets where many of the souvenir vendors set up shop. This street is actually near the SDA, where we had our official appointment to choose the kids. Scott ended up buying one of the traditional

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-73344887072654736892008-02-17T05:34:00.002-07:002008-11-12T18:20:17.397-07:00

These three photos were taken at/around the Pechersky Lavra compound in Kiev. The Lavra is a group of churches (and now museums) on the upper level with a series of underground caves/monasteries below the ground. We were able to tour part of the caves, which was really cool. There are bodies of saints in glass caskets in various parts of the caves. You buy a wax candle to use to light the way.

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-59230736640185226492008-02-17T05:30:00.001-07:002008-11-12T18:20:17.806-07:00

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-72436015772993056262008-02-16T08:39:00.002-07:002008-11-12T18:20:18.028-07:00

Olga, in the middle, is our translator, and Valentina is our facilitator. They have been great to work with and Olga has been amazing!

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-9111391361532078872008-02-16T07:51:00.002-07:002008-02-16T08:25:33.125-07:00

We just came from the orphanage, where we got to spend some time with D today. A is sick, so we only got to see her for a couple of minutes on the way out. We went to the open air market (a big flea market) this morning and bought a puzzle and a lego-like kit that can do a shuttle/plane/robot. Yesterday when we were there, D was very inquisitive about Scott's watch, pushing all the buttons,

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-12303941635374955832008-02-14T08:37:00.002-07:002008-02-14T09:05:10.522-07:00

Hi everyone, we're sorry we've been off the grid for awhile, but things have been a bit crazy. We arrived safely in Kiev this past Saturday, and met with our new facilitator and translator. Our appointment with the SDA to choose children was on 2/12, so we had a couple of days to get adjusted and play tourist.We both really enjoyed what we saw of Kiev. The city is still obviously in transition,

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-58966932474712217082008-01-29T19:35:00.000-07:002008-01-29T19:43:49.400-07:00

We received a call last evening from our adoption agency. Apparently the SDA gave them the wrong appointment date for us. Instead of it being Feb. 15th, it is Feb 12th! We are really excited that we're going to be able to get in sooner. I was worried though that re-booking our tickets at this late date would cost us a fortune. However, our travel agency (Golden Rule Travel - I highly recommend

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-877146018881155722008-01-21T15:39:00.000-07:002008-01-21T15:56:31.226-07:00

Our countdown clock today says 21 days to go - 3 weeks! Now we're down to the nitty gritty, but we've had more than enough time to prepare. I've never done this for any major trip/vacation before, but we actually purchased travel medical & evacuation insurance for this trip. It really wasn't that expensive, but most of all it provides peace of mind.Scott's insurance is fairly good about what

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-80505878648797519882008-01-09T20:09:00.000-07:002008-01-09T20:31:10.502-07:00

We are at just under 5 weeks and starting to get pretty antsy. We really just want to be on the airplane at this point. I'd rather have had only 3 weeks to get ready instead of 3 months!We've purchased most everything we think we're going to need for the trip. I've never taken so much non-clothing items in my life. In doing research on what other families do to pack for 4-6 weeks (esp. in the

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614916372860801068.post-53965249681609836832007-12-25T18:13:00.000-07:002008-01-04T07:43:52.326-07:00

Since we've started telling people what we're doing, we've gotten lots of great questions about international adoption and adoption from Ukraine in particular. So, we've put together a FAQ post that will hopefully help everyone catch up with this whole adoption process.Why Adopt from Ukraine?When we started researching international adoption, we considered a number of countries, including Brazil,

Miche and Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02483518269647823267noreply@blogger.com4