The 10 day wait is over

Yesterday was day 10 of our wait, so our court decree officially goes into effect today. We can't pick up the decree until Wednesday afternoon, but it still feels good to be able to say the wait is over. I guess this means Victoria is officially our daughter (although she has been to us since the day we met her). We will start the running around for the last leg of paperwork on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, depending on what time we have the court decree in our hands. We most likely will be taking Victoria out of the orphanage on Monday, Sept.7th. I'll let you know for sure when we know.

Victoria is doing well. She is really picking up a lot of English words. She likes me to sing the ABCs and already knows up to G by herself, then she chimes in with a few random letters here and there. I am very impressed. She knows that she is going in an airplane and points up to the sky when one goes over head.

I am going to post a few random pictures from the last week or so.

Our first family photo - taken in the afternoon of court. It's not the best, but we're all together!

Victoria and MomMom



My Mom and I had a sightseeing day earlier in the week. We went to St. Sophia's, St. Michael's and St. Andrew's Cathedrals as well as did some shopping. This is St. Andrew's.

We visited an open air museum the other day. It is a very large outdoor area set up with villages that represent the history of different regions of Ukraine. It was very interesting and I'm glad we got to see it. Here are a few pictures.

Happy Independence Day Ukraine

Today Ukraine celebrated it's Independence Day, so Happy Independence Day or whatever they say here in Ukraine!

I haven't blogged much, but I wanted to give you a quick update. My visits with Victoria continue to go well. She is very smart and is picking up quite a few English words already. She will also repeat anything I say, so we have been counting to ten and naming things around the orphanage.

Joe and Morgan left for home on Thursday morning. It was sad to see them go. I will miss them very much these next few weeks. They made it home safely after a very long day of travel with quite a long delay at the airport here in Kiev. I did okay with them not here other than the fact that my power was out for 16 hours that day.

My Mom arrived in Kiev on Saturday to spend the rest of my trip with me. She has adjusted well to being here and seems to be enjoying herself. Victoria took right to her and gave her a big hug and kiss which I know my Mom loved.

We are about half way through our ten day wait. Our eleventh day is a Sunday though and here in Kiev you can only pick up court decrees on Weds. and Fri. So, we will pick up our court decree on Weds. Sept.2. Once we have that we can start the paper chase for birth certificates, tax ID, passport and then on to the US Embassy for Victoria's medical, waiver and finally visa. Then we can leave. We most likely will not make our scheduled flight of Thurs. Sept. 10, but hope to be out by that weekend.

Until we can pick up the court decree on the 2nd there isn't anything we can do except for visit with Victoria and be tourists here in Kiev. Tomorrow we are planning a tourist day to see some of the sights here in the city center and do some souvenier shopping.

I am still enjoying my time here, but do miss home. Especially since Joe and Morgan left.

I'll try to post some new pictures in the next few days.

Marked with an 8

She currently resides at the Berizka orphanage in Kiev, Ukraine. She has lived here since September 13, 2005. She lives with 12 other children in room number 8. All of their clothes, down to their underwear, are marked with an 8. Nothing belongs to them and they belong to noone. These precious little souls that are so deserving of something and someone.



She was born on July 20, 2005 to a woman that had been an IV drug user for at least 7 years at the time of her birth. She was born when this woman was only 26 weeks pregnant. She was considered a miscarriage, they didn't even give her APGAR scores. She weighed only 990 grams (2lbs.1oz.). She was born with a hole in her heart, with one kidney, testing positive for both Hepatitis C and HIV. She needed a machine to breath for her and she developed a brain bleed, as many preemies do.



BUT she was given a name that means victory; conquer. And conquer she did. She beat all the odds. The hole in her heart is completely closed, her one kidney is strong and fully functioning, the bleeding in her brain stopped and left no long term effects. She does NOT have Hepatitis C, she only had the antibodies from her mother's blood. She does have HIV, but her levels have remained consistent and she is healthy and thriving.



Today she is a beautiful, spunky four year old girl. Today she became a daughter, a sister, a grand daughter, a niece, a cousin, a cherished member of our family.



Today she became Victoria Lynn Hosford.

Court tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the biggest day for us here in Ukraine. It is our court date. It is the day when if all goes well our family will officially grow. Please pray that everything goes smooth and that the judge determines that Victoria should be part of our family.

Also, today is my Dad's birthday and mine and Joe's 8th anniversary. Happy Birthday Dad! Morgan says she can't wait to see you on Thursday Stinker! We love you and miss you. Happy Anniversary to a wonderful husband and the best father a girl could ask for! I can't believe it's been 8 years of marriage already.

Day at the zoo.

Victoria had doctor visits and blood work today, so we decided to take advantage of the absolutely beautiful weather and go to the zoo here in Kiev. It was a very nice day. We got to see a lot of animals and they have a fun little area with children's rides where Morgan had a lot of fun.

I really missed Victoria today and can't wait to see her tomorrow. I really can't wait until she can go places with us as a family. There is so much for her to experience and I can't wait to see her learn about the world outside of the orphanage walls.

Here are a few pictures from our day -

This is a little baby horse of some sort - don't worry he/she was just taking a rest.





They had a cute little petting zoo area

These two younger tigers were really fun to watch playing

There was a big ferris wheel in the zoo - this is the view from up there

I felt really bad for the monkey's at the zoo -they definitely had the worst enclosures and living conditions

Court date

We finally found out today that our court date will be next Wednesday, August 19. This is just in time for Joe and Morgan to make their flight out on the 20th!

I don't think I will be able to come home as scheduled on Sept. 10th though. If court goes as scheduled our 10 day wait will be over on the 30th. Usually you can pick your court decree up on the 11th day. However, our 11th day will be the 31st which is a Sunday. It wouldn't be too bad if we were in another region because we could just pick it up on Monday, but in Kiev you can only pick up court decrees on Wed. and Fri. afternoons. So, it looks like we will have to wait until Wed. Sept. 3. We can't get the new birth certificate and passport started until we have the court decree and I'm not sure how long passports take to get in Kiev, but it is probably longer than everywhere else. Once we have all of that I can start the embassy stuff (medicals and visa) which will take at least a week because of the I-601 waiver. I also have to factor in Labor Day when the US Embassy will be closed.

Hopefully I won't be home too much after my scheduled return. I guess I probably won't really know until after the 10 day wait. For now, things are going well with Victoria and we have a court date, so all is good!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!!!!!

Today is my sister Amanda's birthday! I can not begin to tell you how much help she has been to us throughout this process. She is the one currently staying at our house and caring for all of our animals. For those of you that know us, you know what an huge task that is. For those of you that don't - it includes caring for 6 dogs, a cat and fish! I'm pretty sure any other person in their right mind would have laughed at us when we asked them to take care of our pets for at least 3 weeks (hopefully not longer). But Amanda always helps us without even blinking (well, I'm sure she curses us in private but at least to us she says yes with a smile). We could not be here if it were not for Amanda. We love you and miss you! I hope you have a very Happy Birthday! You really derserve the best.

On adoption related news - my facilitator is meeting this afternoon with the judge that will be doing our adoption court. Hopefully today she will know when our court date is and hopefully it will be before Joe and Morgan are scheduled to fly home next Thursday! I'll let you know when we find out.