Our facilitator had the meeting on Monday and it led him to ask us to prepare a letter regarding our second referral. Here's the letter we just faxed to our facilitator in Ukraine:
We, David Lee Holland and Gina De Ann Holland, petition the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Children’s Rights of Ukraine to grant us a second appointment when a child or children who match our specific request are available. We are requesting, specifically:
• Girl with minor, correctible medical needs
• Age 14-36 months
We respectfully ask that you do not invite us for a second appointment until a child matching this request is available. We already traveled to Kiev for our first appointment at the State Department for Adoption on December 5th, 2007, during which we were shown only unhealthy children that did not match our request. We incurred multiple thousands of dollars in cost, spent much time and energy preparing for and being away from our employment, and expended much effort to prepare our child to be out of school to travel with us during our first visit. We do not want to incur further cost and effort for a second referral if we will not be able to adopt a child that matches our request.
Thank you for considering this request as you schedule our second appointment.
Our facilitator will be requesting a meeting with the director of the State Department of Adoption to explain our situation and hand this letter off to him/her.
Here's a verse that captures the heart of what we're praying for in regards to this second appointment: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.
Would you please join us in praying that everything goes even better than we could ask or imagine during the meeting, for our second referral, and for our second trip to finally go meet her and finish up the process to complete the adoption so in the end it's obvious that God did an amazing work and we all look to Him and give Him glory?
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you're reading this, it's a huge encouragement to us to read your comments. It helps us know who is tracking with us. It's easy to sign up for an account so you can post responses. Thanks!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
New Info
Here's the latest from our family coordinator at the adoption agency we're going through. Continued "good news" from Ukraine!
Dear Ukraine Families,
America World received an initial reports today based on a meeting that occurred at the SDA that the previously announced 2008 quota would be abolished in it’s current form. Currently the 2008 quota is broken down by country and by age of children. The quota may be changed to be one total number for 2008, without specification for how many dossiers any one country can submit and for any particular age range. The total number for 2008 may be 1500. I would stress that this is initial information and is subject to change at any time, especially as new leadership is expected within the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports.
I would continue to expect potential difficulties and delays for families seeking to adopt children under 6 years old due to availability. There are currently 125 families reported to be waiting for second appointments, the majority seeking to adopt children under age 4. It is anticipated that these families will be invited back to the SDA for a second appointment between January 14, 2008 and February 29, 2008. This again is initial information.
I would stress that this is information as of today. We do not know what the future will look like in reality. We would strongly encourage families in the Ukraine program to consider their flexibility in the age and health of children.
Keep praying for us. We're supposed to find out more info on Monday when our in-country facilitator meets with some officials at the State Department of Adoption. We'll keep you posted regarding what we find out!
Dear Ukraine Families,
America World received an initial reports today based on a meeting that occurred at the SDA that the previously announced 2008 quota would be abolished in it’s current form. Currently the 2008 quota is broken down by country and by age of children. The quota may be changed to be one total number for 2008, without specification for how many dossiers any one country can submit and for any particular age range. The total number for 2008 may be 1500. I would stress that this is initial information and is subject to change at any time, especially as new leadership is expected within the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports.
I would continue to expect potential difficulties and delays for families seeking to adopt children under 6 years old due to availability. There are currently 125 families reported to be waiting for second appointments, the majority seeking to adopt children under age 4. It is anticipated that these families will be invited back to the SDA for a second appointment between January 14, 2008 and February 29, 2008. This again is initial information.
I would stress that this is information as of today. We do not know what the future will look like in reality. We would strongly encourage families in the Ukraine program to consider their flexibility in the age and health of children.
Keep praying for us. We're supposed to find out more info on Monday when our in-country facilitator meets with some officials at the State Department of Adoption. We'll keep you posted regarding what we find out!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Delta Flight #89, 137, and 4923
We started the journey back home on Saturday @ 12:30 Kiev time (4:30 a.m. central). We touched down in Omaha about 30 hours later at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We did have a 6 hour break in there and were able to catch some Z's at the ATL Embassy Suites thanks to our good friends the Giambattistas cashing in some hotel points to give our heads a place to rest (thanks guys for your extreme generosity...we were weary travelers to say the least and that helped clear the fog! You guys are amazing friends!).
It was rough getting out there, rough getting back, but we're home now and will begin the wait for the second appointment. We were told at the SDA that there were about 100 families ahead of us awaiting a referral for a child in our age range and could expect to wait 1-3 months. Not the most ideal situation, but that's what we've been dealt so we'll deal with it. The second appointment is supposed to match us up with a child that more closely resembles what we put in our documents (14-36 month old girl with minor, correctable health issues). So, we'll be praying hard for this to be a good referral.
We're all wiped out right now. Davi went to bed this evening at 4:45...we're headed that way right now even though it's only 6:30. We're all excited that we get to spend Christmas at home, but really wish that we had our other little girl with us to share in the memories. Next year, I guess. Davi is also anxious to go to school tomorrow and see her friends. Plus, they're having pancakes for lunch...one of her favorites!
Before I sign off, let me leave you with a few things we learned along the way in our travels:
* Your weight limit on luggage is 50 lbs per piece of luggage...domestic or international. We made it through Omaha and Kiev with no problem, but the fine Delta reps in Atlanta slapped us with a $50 charge for our ginormous bag. They wouldn't cut us any slack! My advice, take it or leave it, take smaller suitcases and use your 2 checked baggage limit. Your wallet and your back with thank you for it in the long run anyway!
* Don't forget your cell phone at home when you're traveling...ever! My discovery during this trip is that pay phones at airports have a horrible tendency to make you think they work. If you must use a pay phone when traveling...call the operator first the make sure the handset works before you dial in with your phone card. That nifty little trick just saved you $1.56 surcharge for using a pay phone!
* If your traveling to Kiev don't ask for too much ketchup at McDonald's! They don't just hand it out there or allow you to squirt it in those little buckets like here. You pay for it there...about a quarter for the equivalent of 2 little packets. Oh, they don't do refills either.
Well, guess that's it for now. We'll keep you posted on what's going on. Check back soon for a little video of the trip! Until next time...
It was rough getting out there, rough getting back, but we're home now and will begin the wait for the second appointment. We were told at the SDA that there were about 100 families ahead of us awaiting a referral for a child in our age range and could expect to wait 1-3 months. Not the most ideal situation, but that's what we've been dealt so we'll deal with it. The second appointment is supposed to match us up with a child that more closely resembles what we put in our documents (14-36 month old girl with minor, correctable health issues). So, we'll be praying hard for this to be a good referral.
We're all wiped out right now. Davi went to bed this evening at 4:45...we're headed that way right now even though it's only 6:30. We're all excited that we get to spend Christmas at home, but really wish that we had our other little girl with us to share in the memories. Next year, I guess. Davi is also anxious to go to school tomorrow and see her friends. Plus, they're having pancakes for lunch...one of her favorites!
Before I sign off, let me leave you with a few things we learned along the way in our travels:
* Your weight limit on luggage is 50 lbs per piece of luggage...domestic or international. We made it through Omaha and Kiev with no problem, but the fine Delta reps in Atlanta slapped us with a $50 charge for our ginormous bag. They wouldn't cut us any slack! My advice, take it or leave it, take smaller suitcases and use your 2 checked baggage limit. Your wallet and your back with thank you for it in the long run anyway!
* Don't forget your cell phone at home when you're traveling...ever! My discovery during this trip is that pay phones at airports have a horrible tendency to make you think they work. If you must use a pay phone when traveling...call the operator first the make sure the handset works before you dial in with your phone card. That nifty little trick just saved you $1.56 surcharge for using a pay phone!
* If your traveling to Kiev don't ask for too much ketchup at McDonald's! They don't just hand it out there or allow you to squirt it in those little buckets like here. You pay for it there...about a quarter for the equivalent of 2 little packets. Oh, they don't do refills either.
Well, guess that's it for now. We'll keep you posted on what's going on. Check back soon for a little video of the trip! Until next time...
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Rebook!
OK, our suspicions were right. Our facilitator, Yuri, called the orphanage where the little 2 1/2 year old is and she does have fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and two other families had visited her in the past months and declined to take the referral. The other little 4 year old was referred to a couple from Spain this morning. We were relieved b/c we did not think she was healthy either and we didn't want to load up for an 8 hour train ride each way to discover what the medical report revealed anyhow (she had FAS and micro-enchaphaly, etc. in her file).
So, we met with Yuri today and wrote out a letter requesting a second referral clearly spelling out what we're looking for in a child. The current trend has been that families get a child that closely matches their request with minor, correctable health issues on the second referral. But, if you reject the second referral (whether a good one or not), that's your last shot. The expected wait time is 1-3 months. The sticky part is Ukraine is apparently not allowing families to update paperwork any longer which means we would have to travel before March b/c that's when the paperwork starts expiring.
So, we went to the Delta office a few minutes ago and we fly out of Kiev on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to New York. We have a flight to Atlanta from there, but have to stay the night in ATL and then we head home to Omaha and arrive @ 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
So...the wait continues. We'll keep you posted on what's up. Back to trying to find what's acceptable to eat and brushing our teeth with bottled water for another day!
So, we met with Yuri today and wrote out a letter requesting a second referral clearly spelling out what we're looking for in a child. The current trend has been that families get a child that closely matches their request with minor, correctable health issues on the second referral. But, if you reject the second referral (whether a good one or not), that's your last shot. The expected wait time is 1-3 months. The sticky part is Ukraine is apparently not allowing families to update paperwork any longer which means we would have to travel before March b/c that's when the paperwork starts expiring.
So, we went to the Delta office a few minutes ago and we fly out of Kiev on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to New York. We have a flight to Atlanta from there, but have to stay the night in ATL and then we head home to Omaha and arrive @ 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
So...the wait continues. We'll keep you posted on what's up. Back to trying to find what's acceptable to eat and brushing our teeth with bottled water for another day!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
To Mrs. Sweetman's Kindergarten Class
Hello from Davi!
She is starting to feel better from her cold but sure misses you guys! We're not as fun to play with as you guys are. I'm sure she misses eating lunch with you, playing on the playground, and all the Christmas fun things you guys are doing. When we get a chance we'll try to send a postcard from where we are so you can see what it's like here. The weather is like Omaha except it has been cloudy and foggy the whole time, along with the colder weather.
Here's one crazy fact for you...she was on ONE plane ride for the same amount of time from when you start school until you get out. That plane ride was from New York City to Budapest, Hungary! I'm sure Mrs. Sweetman can show you where those places are! Have fun!
She is starting to feel better from her cold but sure misses you guys! We're not as fun to play with as you guys are. I'm sure she misses eating lunch with you, playing on the playground, and all the Christmas fun things you guys are doing. When we get a chance we'll try to send a postcard from where we are so you can see what it's like here. The weather is like Omaha except it has been cloudy and foggy the whole time, along with the colder weather.
Here's one crazy fact for you...she was on ONE plane ride for the same amount of time from when you start school until you get out. That plane ride was from New York City to Budapest, Hungary! I'm sure Mrs. Sweetman can show you where those places are! Have fun!
The SDA Appointment
Well, it went about as well as everyone else seems to have experienced before us. Lots of sick children with extreme delays, one that will be 4 in a few days with microenchaplitis (small head) and fetal alcohol syndrome, and a little one about 2 1/2 who apparently has a medical condition she's grown out of. We saw a picture of her and we've got some serious questions b/c from the picture it seems like there may be fetal alcohol syndrome, but it's hard to tell.
There are many frustrating parts, but right now we're going to wait and see if our facilitator can get a hold of the doctor in the region where the 2 1/2 year old is to diagnose her medical condition. It's possible that we'll head out to the region tomorrow, but neither of us is at peace with that and we expected God to be a little clearer. I, David, had been praying over specific Scriptures dealing with wisdom, discernment, peace, and God's leadership so you could imagine the frustration and weariness after the events of the day.
So, we'll see what tomorrow morning yields. It's possible we head out to the SE part of the country via an overnight train ride to see the child. After all the travel junk we've dealt with I'm sure you can appreciate our tentativeness on heading out to some outlying area in the country "hoping" that what they (state dept. of adoption and docs in the region) said is true. That coupled with seeing a child and if she has obvious issues then having to walk away rejecting that child...something we have not been relishing at all during this whole process.
So, we'd continue to appreciate any prayers you can fire off for us. It's been an ordeal so far...we were hoping it would yield some more fruit at this stage in the game, but I suppose we'll have to see. If we do not choose a child this time around it looks like we would be coming home this week and would have a second referral anywhere from 1-3 months from now that SUPPOSEDLY matches our request.
We'll keep you posted as events unfold as quickly as we can. Wish we had more good news to tell you, but now we're still in a holding pattern.
We know...
* God has a plan
* He's calling the shots
* He can speak clearly
* We'll wait on Him to do all these things so we know what step to take!
There are many frustrating parts, but right now we're going to wait and see if our facilitator can get a hold of the doctor in the region where the 2 1/2 year old is to diagnose her medical condition. It's possible that we'll head out to the region tomorrow, but neither of us is at peace with that and we expected God to be a little clearer. I, David, had been praying over specific Scriptures dealing with wisdom, discernment, peace, and God's leadership so you could imagine the frustration and weariness after the events of the day.
So, we'll see what tomorrow morning yields. It's possible we head out to the SE part of the country via an overnight train ride to see the child. After all the travel junk we've dealt with I'm sure you can appreciate our tentativeness on heading out to some outlying area in the country "hoping" that what they (state dept. of adoption and docs in the region) said is true. That coupled with seeing a child and if she has obvious issues then having to walk away rejecting that child...something we have not been relishing at all during this whole process.
So, we'd continue to appreciate any prayers you can fire off for us. It's been an ordeal so far...we were hoping it would yield some more fruit at this stage in the game, but I suppose we'll have to see. If we do not choose a child this time around it looks like we would be coming home this week and would have a second referral anywhere from 1-3 months from now that SUPPOSEDLY matches our request.
We'll keep you posted as events unfold as quickly as we can. Wish we had more good news to tell you, but now we're still in a holding pattern.
We know...
* God has a plan
* He's calling the shots
* He can speak clearly
* We'll wait on Him to do all these things so we know what step to take!
The Luggage Has Been Liberated!
OK...we finally made it to an internet cafe!
So, here's the scoop:
Day One: The previous blogs update what happened for us to get to Kiev.
Day Two: We landed in Budapest only to find that our luggage was not on the plane and they could not locate it. When we finally arrived in Kiev it was not there either so we had to file a lost luggage report. That's quite an experience when the people behind the desk don't speak very good English, let me tell ya! After about 1.5 hours we cleared that hurdle feeling like we'd never see our stuff again.
When we landed the experience busting through customs in VIP status...Ask me about it all when we're back home...quite interesting.
When we cleared customs we finally met Yuri and he took us to our Kiev crib (heartlanders...hopefully there's a video to come). It's pretty nice and we feel safe there. We ended up crashing about about 8 p.m. Davi had a little bit of a rough night as she is still battling a cold. She's feeling much better, but it made it much harder. We set her up with a movie (there's a TV with a DVD player) and went back to sleep. After her stint with High School Musical 2 she came back to the room and we slept until....ready....2 p.m.! After about 15 hours of sleep we felt a little better! But, still no luggage!
We got a call from Yuri saying our luggage had made it and there was someone who could bring it by the apartment...we declined and asked if we could go out and get it so there were less hands touching it and we could just head out there and liberate it from the hands of the airlines! Going out there to get it was another slick story that I'll have to tell you about when all is said and done...quite interesting!
When we got back we met another family adopting with Yuri @ TGI Fridays in the middle of the city. We hung out and talked for a while and then headed back to the apartment to hug our clothes and meds! We seriously thought that our bag would be AWOL the whole time and we'd have to make some kind of claim and figure out what to do next.
TODAY: It's just about noon (4 a.m. Omaha time) in 3 hours we head to the SDA. If you're reading this before we go, pray for these specifics:
* That Yuri can come to our appointment with us. They have not been letting the facilitators come, but in a conversation last night with him he asked that we insist that this happens.
* Pray that our little girl is at this appointment. Pray that God would unload unbelievable amounts of wisdom, discernment, and peace during our time there.
I guess that's it for now...we'll head back another time soon to keep everyone up to date on what went down at the appointment.
So, here's the scoop:
Day One: The previous blogs update what happened for us to get to Kiev.
Day Two: We landed in Budapest only to find that our luggage was not on the plane and they could not locate it. When we finally arrived in Kiev it was not there either so we had to file a lost luggage report. That's quite an experience when the people behind the desk don't speak very good English, let me tell ya! After about 1.5 hours we cleared that hurdle feeling like we'd never see our stuff again.
When we landed the experience busting through customs in VIP status...Ask me about it all when we're back home...quite interesting.
When we cleared customs we finally met Yuri and he took us to our Kiev crib (heartlanders...hopefully there's a video to come). It's pretty nice and we feel safe there. We ended up crashing about about 8 p.m. Davi had a little bit of a rough night as she is still battling a cold. She's feeling much better, but it made it much harder. We set her up with a movie (there's a TV with a DVD player) and went back to sleep. After her stint with High School Musical 2 she came back to the room and we slept until....ready....2 p.m.! After about 15 hours of sleep we felt a little better! But, still no luggage!
We got a call from Yuri saying our luggage had made it and there was someone who could bring it by the apartment...we declined and asked if we could go out and get it so there were less hands touching it and we could just head out there and liberate it from the hands of the airlines! Going out there to get it was another slick story that I'll have to tell you about when all is said and done...quite interesting!
When we got back we met another family adopting with Yuri @ TGI Fridays in the middle of the city. We hung out and talked for a while and then headed back to the apartment to hug our clothes and meds! We seriously thought that our bag would be AWOL the whole time and we'd have to make some kind of claim and figure out what to do next.
TODAY: It's just about noon (4 a.m. Omaha time) in 3 hours we head to the SDA. If you're reading this before we go, pray for these specifics:
* That Yuri can come to our appointment with us. They have not been letting the facilitators come, but in a conversation last night with him he asked that we insist that this happens.
* Pray that our little girl is at this appointment. Pray that God would unload unbelievable amounts of wisdom, discernment, and peace during our time there.
I guess that's it for now...we'll head back another time soon to keep everyone up to date on what went down at the appointment.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Ahhhh!
The snow has followed us to New York! We can't outrun this storm! Please pray for wisdom for us as we'll likely have to make some decisions on what to do next and how we can get over to Europe. Our flight from New York arrives in Budapest and then we have an 1.25 hour layover and head to Kiev. If we're late out of NY we're going to miss the flight for sure. Maybe they have other alternatives to fly into Paris, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam. We'll see! Thanks for praying!
We'll keep you posted as best we can. It was nice to have a great nights sleep at the hotel here in Boston.**MANY THANKS to our brother Curtis for putting us up with your Hilton points...you have no idea how thankful we are! You're awesome!**
We'll keep you posted as best we can. It was nice to have a great nights sleep at the hotel here in Boston.**MANY THANKS to our brother Curtis for putting us up with your Hilton points...you have no idea how thankful we are! You're awesome!**
Saturday, December 1, 2007
We're Here!
Well...we're not in Kiev, but we're staying the night in Boston at the Hilton thanks to my brother-in-law cashing in honors points for our stay!
Anyway, we sat at the gate in Omaha for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of that lovely ice storm and were finally cleared for takeoff. When we finally arrived in Cincinatti we missed both possible options for the next leg to New York and then on to Kiev. So, we were re-routed and now tomorrow we head to NY, then the Budapest, then to Kiev.
There's one small piece that I forgot to mention...our bag is lost and no one knows where to find it! I'm heading back to the airport in the next few minutes to file a claim for lost baggage. Apparently the first time around the lady didn't follow procedure and was supposed to do this, but didn't! So, now I'm a little lit up for having to go back to do what should have been done in the first place! Everyone on the phone is so assured that our bag will arrive in Kiev. Me and Gina...not so sure.
Please pray for us...this has been a hard day of jockeying around trying to figure out how to get where we need to go. We were going to come home and hit it again on Monday with the same itinerary, but couldn't get a flight back to Omaha. We were going to go to Paris and then Kiev and then they re-routed us when the ticket was re-issued. Now we fly all over planet earth to get to our destination somehow hoping our bag catches up with us at some point!
So, hopefully it does. All our meds, clothes (yes...including underwear) are in there and we'll have to wear the same thing over and over until our stinkin' bag gets there. Which, based on our current luck on the trip could end up being about when we're ready to leave!
Oh...and when we left our house I forgot my cell phone so there's no way for us to get a hold of anyone! How'd we ever get along without cell phones?
Anyway, we sat at the gate in Omaha for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of that lovely ice storm and were finally cleared for takeoff. When we finally arrived in Cincinatti we missed both possible options for the next leg to New York and then on to Kiev. So, we were re-routed and now tomorrow we head to NY, then the Budapest, then to Kiev.
There's one small piece that I forgot to mention...our bag is lost and no one knows where to find it! I'm heading back to the airport in the next few minutes to file a claim for lost baggage. Apparently the first time around the lady didn't follow procedure and was supposed to do this, but didn't! So, now I'm a little lit up for having to go back to do what should have been done in the first place! Everyone on the phone is so assured that our bag will arrive in Kiev. Me and Gina...not so sure.
Please pray for us...this has been a hard day of jockeying around trying to figure out how to get where we need to go. We were going to come home and hit it again on Monday with the same itinerary, but couldn't get a flight back to Omaha. We were going to go to Paris and then Kiev and then they re-routed us when the ticket was re-issued. Now we fly all over planet earth to get to our destination somehow hoping our bag catches up with us at some point!
So, hopefully it does. All our meds, clothes (yes...including underwear) are in there and we'll have to wear the same thing over and over until our stinkin' bag gets there. Which, based on our current luck on the trip could end up being about when we're ready to leave!
Oh...and when we left our house I forgot my cell phone so there's no way for us to get a hold of anyone! How'd we ever get along without cell phones?
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