From the soils of America...Tami and Brian write this new post!
As you are all aware, Tami and I arrived in Denver late last night and are struggling with the vast time change as travel was for over 24 hours straight yesterday-YIKES. However, the smiling faces (and tears) of Tate, Reaghan, and Kenzie last night at DIA made it all worth it! We can't express how grateful we are to be back in the US with the constant pit in our stomach of one of our children still being a half a world away from us, but only for another week!
Court on Monday was very successful and and Anastasiya officially became "Anastasiya Taylor Fields"! No one can truly appreciate the joy we experienced on that day unless you have personally experienced an international adoption. Again, IT IS ALL WORTH IT. Monday afternoon we were "allowed" to take our daughter for lunch, alone and celebrate. Nastiya was full of mixed emotions the entire day which was to be expected. We returned back to the orphanage at 3:00 to partake in Anya Garrett's going away party which was truly an emotional and heartbreaking experience as all of the kiddos were crying tears of joy and more than likely tears of "why not me" as Anya made her appearance and departure. Before the end of the ceremony, Nastiya began crying and through our interpreter, was asking "why were her Mama and Papa leaving her?" Of course, this was extremely hard to take. Nadiya assured her that either Mama or Papa would be back the first of November after the "wait" period to bring her to America. Nastiya, being a very strong individual, understood the reasons why we needed to leave but was still very emotional about our departure.
We caught an overnight train ride back to Kyiv and arrived Tuesday morning and immediately were wisked away by our driver straight to the US Embassy to begin our preliminary paperwork and to assure that only one of us needed to return to Ukraine to finalize the adoption. This went extremely smooth and it was a great pleasure to speak directly to an American. Everyone at the embassy was extremely helpful and considerate. Due to limited flights in and out of Kyiv, we had to stay an extra day before leaving for the US.
Now, we're in Colorado for one week before one of us returns back to Ukraine to finalize our "Ukrainian Adoption Adventure" and bring Our Nastiya Home! We'll continue to update our blog once our plans for return are finalized.
A very special THANK YOU to the Garrett's for keeping our blog as current as possible. We both appreciate all that you did for us and the great companionship in Ukraine as we experienced our journeys together. We can't wait until your arrival back in the States with your Anya!
For the Grandma, Grandpa, Oma, Opa and Aunts: Thanks for taking such great care of our kiddos while we were in Ukraine. No, the house isn't quite how we left it but the girls are happy and healthy and that is all that truly matters. We couldn't have gotten this far in our journey without your help. We truly love all of you!
For Heather Carlson...I was unable to read your comment until now but either Tami or I are traveling back to Mariupol in a little over a week and would be happy to have our interpreter find out as much information as possible. We are not clear which child you're inquiring about so send us as much information as possible and we'll do whatever we can to help another child in Ukraine find a permanent and loving home with you. Either respond to this blog or send us your e-mail address. We're happy to help!
IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK HOME!!!
As you are all aware, Tami and I arrived in Denver late last night and are struggling with the vast time change as travel was for over 24 hours straight yesterday-YIKES. However, the smiling faces (and tears) of Tate, Reaghan, and Kenzie last night at DIA made it all worth it! We can't express how grateful we are to be back in the US with the constant pit in our stomach of one of our children still being a half a world away from us, but only for another week!
Court on Monday was very successful and and Anastasiya officially became "Anastasiya Taylor Fields"! No one can truly appreciate the joy we experienced on that day unless you have personally experienced an international adoption. Again, IT IS ALL WORTH IT. Monday afternoon we were "allowed" to take our daughter for lunch, alone and celebrate. Nastiya was full of mixed emotions the entire day which was to be expected. We returned back to the orphanage at 3:00 to partake in Anya Garrett's going away party which was truly an emotional and heartbreaking experience as all of the kiddos were crying tears of joy and more than likely tears of "why not me" as Anya made her appearance and departure. Before the end of the ceremony, Nastiya began crying and through our interpreter, was asking "why were her Mama and Papa leaving her?" Of course, this was extremely hard to take. Nadiya assured her that either Mama or Papa would be back the first of November after the "wait" period to bring her to America. Nastiya, being a very strong individual, understood the reasons why we needed to leave but was still very emotional about our departure.
We caught an overnight train ride back to Kyiv and arrived Tuesday morning and immediately were wisked away by our driver straight to the US Embassy to begin our preliminary paperwork and to assure that only one of us needed to return to Ukraine to finalize the adoption. This went extremely smooth and it was a great pleasure to speak directly to an American. Everyone at the embassy was extremely helpful and considerate. Due to limited flights in and out of Kyiv, we had to stay an extra day before leaving for the US.
Now, we're in Colorado for one week before one of us returns back to Ukraine to finalize our "Ukrainian Adoption Adventure" and bring Our Nastiya Home! We'll continue to update our blog once our plans for return are finalized.
A very special THANK YOU to the Garrett's for keeping our blog as current as possible. We both appreciate all that you did for us and the great companionship in Ukraine as we experienced our journeys together. We can't wait until your arrival back in the States with your Anya!
For the Grandma, Grandpa, Oma, Opa and Aunts: Thanks for taking such great care of our kiddos while we were in Ukraine. No, the house isn't quite how we left it but the girls are happy and healthy and that is all that truly matters. We couldn't have gotten this far in our journey without your help. We truly love all of you!
For Heather Carlson...I was unable to read your comment until now but either Tami or I are traveling back to Mariupol in a little over a week and would be happy to have our interpreter find out as much information as possible. We are not clear which child you're inquiring about so send us as much information as possible and we'll do whatever we can to help another child in Ukraine find a permanent and loving home with you. Either respond to this blog or send us your e-mail address. We're happy to help!
IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK HOME!!!
4 comments:
So good to be home-yes?! We have three days left before we leave so sight-seeing today with the "ever-present" Anya! Good Lord! It was so good to read about the kids reactions-best part of the post. Take care. Matt
Matt here again. We noticed your comment to Heather Carlson. Have her contact us ASAP!! We went through your pictures and realized who she was talking about. We have lots of pictures of "Karyna" and some good information. Heather did not provide a "blog" link or contact information on her comment to you. We have 3 days left here and can use Anya to make contact with Karyna. Heather, if you're following this "blog" and reading the comments, contact me at: ikingsc2v2@comcast.net. We are in Kiev for three more days before we fly out with Anya and we had lots of contact with Karyna. Matt
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSE!
My email is Hermionefan@aol.com
The child is Karyna Stanislavskaya. She is ten years old, but very small for her age.
She is standing in the middle of the three children in the photo titled "Some of the children coming back from school." She also appears way in the background of the photo entitled Up in the Land of the Children--her tiny head is the highest human in the photo and is surrounded by white curtains.
Thank you for any information you can get! Or attempting to ask her if she remembers us and that we say hi! She should have a photo album that we sent back with her.
I am very interested in setting up a pen pal relationship with Karyna as soon as possible. I have the orphanage address, but I am unsure how to include postage such that Karyna could write back to me without putting the orphanage out in any way.
I am glad you have arrived home safely and will soon have completed this "adventure!" Thank you for your time and kindness!
Hi,
I've seen your daughter's picture on another blog and was hoping I would find your blog. I guess I'll have to admit it. I'm a Ukraine blog addict. It is so hard not to be once you have been over there and these children get in your heart! I am thrilled to read of so many finding homes:)
We understand all too well that feeling of leaving your child behind while you are home. Our daughter was born in Russia, so we left her the day we had court. We had initially planned to stay in Ukraine the whole time, but since we were told obtaining a birth certificate from Russia with her new adopted name could take from 2-8 months, we decided to come back. We had two kids, a house, dogs, etc, here that needed to be taken care of. As it happened, it only took two months, but it was the longest two months of our lives!!! It was very difficult when we were able to talk to her on the phone, because she would ask when we were coming to get her and we had no answer.
Congratulations on court going well! Best wishes for the rest of your journey to go smooth and swiftly!
June
PS - I'm sorry. I accidentally put my comment with the wrong post at first.
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