Our Journey Begins

Our goal while in Ukraine!

A Russian Orthodox church next to the SDA building.

Mandy & Alex (our facilitator who is awesome!)

Fresh flower vendors are all over!  So this is my creation :)

We made it to Kyiv!  After a 9 hour flight to Munich, a 5+ hour layover, and an additional 2 hour flight to Kyiv, we are now safe and sound in our apartment.  We are within walking distance to a grocery store, coffee house (halleluiah!!) and restaurants.

Our first evening was quite interesting with the language barrier :)  We went to a little restaurant right by our apartment.  The food looked delicious, but we had no idea what it was.  So, we did like Zhenya did in America.  We pointed at a picture and smiled!  The girls helping us were really nice.  There was one that could speak a little English, so we did our best with her.

We also exchanged some American money for Ukrainian money (Hryvnia, pronounced Grievna) at the grocery store last night.  ($1 USD = 8.00 UAH)  Food shopping was quite an experience.  What we thought was milk was actually sour dough.  Didn't figure that out 'til this morning when we were ready to eat cereal.  What we thought was butter, was actually some type of cheese.  We only purchased the basics for now.  We hope Zhenya can help us later this week :)

We have our first adoption appointment today at noon.  It is with the SDA (State Department of Adoption).  Wednesday is the "BIG" day - we get to see Zhenya again!  Can't wait!!

We traveled with another adoptive family from NC who is adopting a sibling set from the same orphanage as us.  We are looking forward to getting to know them better.  What a blessing to have them here at the same time!

We are looking forward to today!  Excited for our first appointment and then having dinner with Bob and Dima Daley.  We met the sweet Daley family during the Christmas hosting.  They also have adopted from the same orphanage as Zhenya. 

We are so blessed to be on this journey!  We appreciate your prayers!  Praying that God is glorified in all that we do and say!