Days 2 and 3

Dave takes us on our first ride on the Metro (subway). We meet Halya, our facilitator, for the first time in person.  (We have been emailing and skyping for months.) We go to Fat Hut (Ukraine cafeteria) with her and Mike and NJ. Halya helps us order and we actually like it! :) We sit for a while and discuss what will be happening in the coming days.

Today is our MSP (Ministry of Social Policy) appointment!  Halya calls a taxi to pick us up at 7:45 am.  The ride to the office is short and we arrive 45 minutes early for our 9:00am appointment.  We find a bench under a shade tree and watch the street vendors set up for the day. Mike and NJ are also with us as they also have business to do with Halya later.  One thing about Ukraine...there are lots of wild dogs!  Most of the time they are just by themselves, but while sitting here we saw a pack of 8 dogs. They were a bit intimidating. The office for the MSP is right next to St. Andrews church, which is a beautiful building and a landmark in the city. Halya arrives right on time and we enter the building. We are ushered into an office and introduced to some people. Our interviewer finally arrives and speaks to Halya in Russian.  She asks several questions, but never allows Tim to answer. The questions are probably just a formality.  The information is all in our dossier. She tells us what we knew she was going to say - "Bogdan is not available for adoption." She offers to show us other children who are available and we decline.  She makes us sign a book that says we do not want to see other children. We leave there and decide to wait for Tanja, a lady that we met on FB, who is from the States and has a 10am appt.  We greet her as she heads into the building for her appointment. We leave there and head over to the Pizza place across from the office  Yum!  the pizza was good and hit the spot even though it was still only breakfast time. While we were there another FB friend from NC came in with her family. Kinda cool to meet all of these new friends in person! They are adopting from Father's House too (same place that Vova/Justin is from). We leave there and head down the street.  I buy a nesting doll and a necklace. We meet back up with Halya and head toward Independence square.  Halya suggests another Ukraine restaurant for lunch that we enjoyed even more than the first one. The walk is rather enjoyable (especially since we are headed downhill). The buildings are very beautiful and I take a few pictures. We get back on the Metro and head to the Court House with Halya. One marshrutka ride and 3 1/2 blocks later we are there. The pink stucco building is less than impressive! Mike takes us back to the apartment where Elsie and Dave are making homemade pizza!  Yummo!  Thanking the Lord for peace and rest in His sovereignty as we walk this road!