We Arrived at the Orphanage

Don...


This was a very interesting experience. We left Kyiv last night at 810pm on an old prop jet from the 1960s. The service was great and the people were very nice. I did have a hard time understanding why one of the pilots kept coming out of the cockpit and sitting in the front row. It must have been too crowded up there.

1960's Russian Prop Jet

Notice the curtains on the windows

   

Welcome to the parking lot (airport)

The only lights on when we landed were from the closed building near the parking lot and the hotel advertisement up on the right.


Once we landed, our driver took us for a two hour drive to the town where the orphanage is located. There was no bathroom at the airport when we landed.  I'm over 50. Come on..., a bathroom stop is a must. Although it is not my intention to gross anyone out, I had to take a photo. This is for both boys and girls. Sorry!

The Bathroom Stop

We made it to the orphanage about midnight. The Director of the orphanage offered for us to stay at the there while we work on all the papers for the adoption. He was very nice and extremely helpful. The apartment in not like staying at the usual Marriott or Hyatt that I use for work. However, the bathroom is a big upgrade from the one we stopped at a little earlier in the evening. Just have to make sure you turn the water on and put the paper in the bucket next to the toilet. I'm not talking about the USA Today either.




I have also included a few photos of the grounds around the orphanage and some houses located across the street.

Our Apartment Entrance

Orphanage

Houses across the Street

We did get to see Roman and Natalia today. I held back the tears and so did they. Roman almost broke my back with the hug he gave me and Natalia was all smiles. We bought them coats for the cold weather. Neither of the coats fit the kids.They both grew like weeds since the last time we saw them and that was only five months ago. I guess we need to get used to it.


Tomorrow we will go to the local market. We went out tonight to get some snacks for Roman and Natalia to have with us in our room. They didn't want to eat the food being served for dinner at the orphanage with the rest of the kids, so we bought some bread and salami. No Subway here. The truth of the matter is that they really were looking for a reason to spend more time with us. We are not allowed to be with them whenever we want. Our time spent with the kids is determined by the director of the orphanage.

Dinner in the Apartment

Their friend Maxim joined us

The adoption translator spoke with the kids about their names being changed. Rocky and I really like the names Roman and Natalia so we encouraged them to keep their first names. At least for the moment, they agreed. Both of them will get new middle and last names as Ukrainian culture uses the first name of the father for both the boys and the girls, It's kind of like saying son or daughter of ___________ whatever the first name is. It was so cute to watch them write their new name for the first time. It's not official yet but please keep praying that it will be.

Roman James Rainville  &  Natalia Marie Rainville. 

Natalia took Rocky's middle name which is Marie (Rocky's mother is Marie, and my mother is Gisele Marie). Roman took my middle name as his own. It was very touching. I took a movie of this but have no stills to add to the blog.


We needed a flashlight to go to the store because there is absolutely no light outside. Only lights turned on at night in this little town are the ones needed to see in a building. It is very different. As I was going to sleep, I noticed last night that there were no noises from cars and no sirens to keep me awake. Then I realized that the silence was keeping me awake.