Day 56- Kiev/Embassy Appt

We made it to Kiev- a little stiff and sore after the 8 hour train ride, and kind of sleep deprived...but happy to be one step closer to home!


Niko picked us up from the station and took us to our new apartment on Independence Square.  It's a great location, close to lots of things.  It's a studio, though- we have one room to sleep, eat, cook, and hang out in...which will make for interesting bed times, but we'll survive!  We're grateful to have a new home- but we were definitely spoiled in our last apartment in Kharkov :)


We went to the Embassy after a quick stop to drop our things off and freshen up.  We learned on our way that we weren't going to be able to get Zeke's medical appointment taken care of today, because he needs his passport for it.  That stinks, because it makes Monday a whole lot busier, and also adds a little more stress on the situation, because our flight home is booked for Tuesday morning.  Our big prayer is that we fly through the clinic and are cleared for his visa to be issued on Monday afternoon.


Our Embassy appointment was interesting...I didn't really know what to expect.  Basically, when you go in there, your facilitator can't go with you.  So you go in the door, and then you have to go through a security check point- metal detector, wand, and everything.  Then they scan your bags, and you have to turn in any electronic equipment you have- phones, ear buds, etc.  Also any cosmetics, lotions, lip balms... So, if you are going, just be prepared.  I'd have left a lot of stuff at home, or at least had it ready to hand over.  Instead, we were trying to keep an eye on Zeke, while rifling through the backpack for hand sanitizer and the 3 pairs of ear buds they saw on the scanner (why the heck am I carrying around 3 sets of ear buds??)


Then, we get back to the adoptions area, and we walk up to the window and the lady asks us how she can help us.  Ummm.  We'd like to take this guy home with us?  We had one form printed out- the I-600.  There was some miscommunication somewhere, though, because we were under the impression that we shouldn't fill out any of our paperwork before we got to the Embassy...and the lady behind the counter was a bit peeved that we didn't have all our paperwork done already.  AND we were also told that we didn't need his passport for the first appointment, but the grumpy lady said that she couldn't start the process until we had his correct name and passport number.  GAH!


Well, thankfully the grumpy lady became busy with another person, and we were handed off to another lady, who was MUCH nicer.  I filled out all our paperwork while Bryan earned his Dad of the Year points entertaining Zeke semi-quietly in a government office with an empty Coke bottle for 45 minutes.  The nice lady said that we could use a faxed copy of Zeke's passport if we could get it in before 4pm, and assured us that we could get Zeke's medical exam done Monday morning and still have time to get our 2nd appointment done the same day for his visa. 


Niko picked us up, and we called the lovely Tatyana, who faxed Zeke's passport to the Embassy AND scanned a copy to us so that we could get our flights finalized. 


We all took well-deserved showers and naps- amazing how much better you feel after a little soap and a little sleep.  Afterwards, we braved the Kiev Metro to try to save some walking time to get to dinner.  Unfortunately, Kiev's Metro is gigantic and near impossible to navigate with a 4 year old a lot bigger than Kharkov's, with a lot more stairs and an endless tunnel system.  We rode it one stop, then somehow backtracked and still were a half mile away from TGIFridays...(not much of a time-saver, really!)


And yes...TGIFridays- we had American food for dinner tonight.  Burgers and fries, quesadillas (the kind with a bunch of melted cheese in them- and served WITH sour cream!), chicken fingers and honey mustard sauce- oh MY!  No, we don't always eat like this at home, but it was lovely to have some familiar food surrounding us.  We are already planning our detox diet :) 


Z-man was loverly during dinner, with just a couple incidences of true 4 year old behavior shining through.  All in all, we are so impressed with the way that he behaves.  He sat, he ate, we colored the placemat, and maybe shoved 5 or 6 toothpicks into the crevice of the booth seat (shhh- don't tell!).  No meltdowns, no tantrums.  He's pretty freaking awesome.


Home again now, and he's sleeping peacefully on the pull out couch.  He took a good long shower before getting into his jammies and reading storybooks before bed.  It took us so long to get to these moments, and now every time we hear his little sleepy sighs from across the room, we are reminded of how incredibly blessed we are to be here right now. 

Good night, all :)