Part 9 The Adventure

The Theme of this post is One of the best moments in my life in possibly the WORST Day of my Life!

So we left Mcdonalds and went to the train station. Oh My! Filth beyond Filth. Loads of people, unorganized and Unsafe. The longer we are here the more unsettled I feel about leaving Heidi and Jackie here alone.
There was a mass of people going up and down stairs to navigate the train station much like cattle being corralled into a barn. It is painfully obvious that we are Americans, Not only do we have the vague disposition of being clueless and lost we have enough luggage for a dozen Ukraine's. So in the mass of people I had two large suitcases and a backpack and my Ipod was stolen out of the pocket of the Back pack. So many people pressing against each other it was impossible to feel the back pack unzip. Well we learned some lessons and at least it was only an Ipod could have been worse.

this all before we got on the train. Let's talk about the Train, we were very excited since I have never been on a train and it was very reminiscent of Harry Potter. Oh and I must say minus the bathrooms it was much cleaner then I expected.

But... that is where the fun ends. The Train was over 100 degrees and never got cooler even once the train started moving. No exaggeration it was like sitting in a sauna with your clothes on. Sweat dripped off the end of our noses and our clothes were soaked through with in min. eleven hours was a long time, I have never sweated that much without trying.

Seeing the countryside go by and the cute villages was nice. It was like stepping back in time. Due to the heat and the other passengers of the train drinking and listening to music in the corridor it was difficult to sleep plus after the Ipod got stolen I was Leary of sleeping and taking my eyes off our things.

The Bathrooms on the Train Whoah!!!
Dirty and smelly is one thing but not the oddest. you can only use the bathroom when the train is moving because? The toilet consist of a hole in the bottom of the train so what ever goes down the toilet falls on to the train tracks and they don't want that kind of goodness sitting on the train tracks in the station areas. When I was growing up we lived for a period of time right next to train tracks if this happened in america it would of made that living experience a little different Ha!

So finally the eleven hour sweat fest ended and we got off the train and into a van for the 4 hour ride to Berdyansk. The van was cooler then the train but on that note so is the surface of the SUN!

We had no time or opportunity to shower or freshen up so after the eleven hour sweat fest we smelled and felt pretty great for the trip to berdyansk.
An 8 hour round trip in America sucks but it is worse here, riding on the roads is like riding on an old wooden roller coaster, you know the ones where you are bounced around to the point of brain damage and you feel like you could fall off the tracks at any moment. Although the driver was one of the nicest people we have met. By this time we were exhausted but it was impossible to sleep in the van.

Before we left Zaporishia we had to pick up the inspector, A woman in her early 30's( I could not understand her name) So it was Victor, the Inspector, Jackie, Heidi, the Driver and I. Jackie has made the comment several time that this could be a movie some type if Indiana Jones movie she says so now I can't get the theme to Indiana Jones out of my head.

On the trip to Berdyansk we got to see the countryside and villages and it truly is beautiful. Although the traveling was difficult it really gave us an appreciation for a few things.
This was the same trip that Illiah had to take to get to us when we hosted him over Christmas and he is only eleven.
Victor has been on the train 8 out of the last eleven night for his work as an adoption facilitator!
Life hear in Ukraine is so much more difficult then in the states, it gives you a better appreciation for our lifestyle and what it is like for people here on a daily basis.

when we got to the Orphan's summer camp it was not what i expected. It is hard to explain, without children present it would be like a cross between an old military base and state hospital. Something from the 1930's.

Now to one of the best moments of my life.
We got to see Iliah!
It took a while to see him, we first had to meet the director of the summer camp and then they called to his teacher to bring him to the office. We waited a half hour and still no sign of him so Victor took me on a walk to look for him, with in mins we ran into Illiah and one of his friends. I said Hello Illiah. It took him about half a second then he realized who I was and ran up to me and gave me the biggest hardest hug. I took him to Heidi and Jackie and he did the same to them, What a relief and blessing to see him.
We showed him Pictures and Victor was able to translate for us. After the initial hugs Iliah was shy for about a half hour very much like when he first visited us in the states. Then he started to come out of his shell. He looked just the same just a little taller.

One of the Obstacles we have found here is that Illiah has 4 siblings. Two of them are older, out of the orphanage and have guardians but there are two that are in a different orphanage than Illiah. the law in Ukraine states that a family can not be separated but there are exceptions. they want people to adopt all the siblings so in order to just adopt Iliah we have to go through some extra steps. One of those steps is to get the siblings to agree with the adopting and to sign off that they are okay with Iliah being adopted without them.

The Inspector had to go with us to the Camp in order to witness our interaction with Iliah and to witness him writing a letter to the SDA saying that he wanted to be adopted by us. he did and the letter was so cute!

the good news was that the two siblings that we have to get permission from were there at the camp so we got to meet Iliah's older brother Vlady(13) and his older sister Liza(15) They were so dear. We showed them pictures of Iliah's time with us they loved looking at them and talking to Iliah about them. They were very excited about Heidi being pregnant and wanted to know if it was a boy or a girl. It is easy to see how you could adopt more than one child, they are so sweet and it was difficult to see Iliah's siblings and to not adopt them as well but we are here for one not three. Besides this story is about the Berlin's growing from 3 to 5 not 3 to 7.

Victor helped us talk to the siblings he told them about what was happening and that we wanted to adopt Iliah and that we needed their permission. They both said they agreed with the adoption and were happy for Iliah. Although they were happy for Iliah you could tell that they were sad. Sad to lose a brother and not to be adopted themselves. We agreed to let Iliah call and write them and for them to do the same. Also that when they were older if Iliah wanted to come and visit that we would let him. OF Course!
They looked like siblings all very cute and it was nice to see them interact with each other. They certainly love each other and it is obvious that the older sister is some what of a care taker.

They verbally agreed but next week we have to bring the inspector from their orphanage to witness them write letters to the SDA that they agree with the adoption. We need this for the SDA to agree to break the family. After about an hour at the camp we left for the 4 hours back to Zaporishia. Before we left Bedyansk we stopped by the Dipiazzo's Apartment another family from our church adopting. It was so awesome to see them , I can't wait until we are back in Berdyansk to see them and Iliah Daily.

When we arrived in Zaporishia we went to the notary to file official petitions to the city of Zaporishia and to the SDA asking for permission to adopt Iliah. Once permission is granted we will then get our first court date. After the notary we went to the apartment which was much nicer then the one in Kiev.
When I paid the Driver for the days driving I gave him a tip of 20% like we would do in the states, you would have thought I bought him a new car. He was so unbelievably grateful.

So our Marathon 24 hours was over. I have no Idea how Heidi did it, Victor is very sweet and caters to Heidi being pregnant always telling her to take a rest and not to pick up any bags.
I know this was a long post Sorry.