Ukraine Adoption

Greta's date

For several months, my friend has been waiting and hoping for an appointment at the state department of adoptions in Ukraine. I try not to ask her about it whenever we talk. It's unnerving enough to wonder if you're ever going to get an appointment and go pick out your child. Getting an appointment means everything.

It means that Ukraine is expecting you to show up on this date and you will get about one hour to look at pages of children in the age range that you are requesting; each page will have little outdated photos and some health information. You will be making a decision to visit a child that you might be taking home with you forever.

This appointment is the culmination of months, sometimes years, of detailed paperwork, doctor's appointments, fingerprints, visits to the immigration office, notary publics, and the department of the state seal. Fed Ex and DHL delivery trucks become your best friends. You become an expert on international adoption, but you don't want to talk about it all the time because it just makes you so darn anxious.

OK. So I'm driving to work this morning and my cell phone rings. It's Greta. We've talked a lot lately. She is hoping for an appointment before the end of the year. This time, she gets right to the point.

"I have an appointment! Dec. 15!" she says. I scream with joy. She screams back. We are both elated. I think she is jumping up and down, since she is in her kitchen, but I'm in my car.

She called the adoption center this morning and they told her the good news. Greta is hoping to find a little girl, maybe age 5 or 6. I will post her blog on this site when the date gets closer. We can follow her journey.

For now, I am reminding her to take really warm clothes. And a lot of things to read. And movies. And a laptop. And learn how to say "no sausage" in Russian. (see blog dated Feb. 2005). There is a lot of down time, and travel time, and the days will be cold.

She gets to spend time with Natasha, our fabulous facilitator in Ukraine. She gets to see the really old, breath-taking churches. She gets to visit beautiful, sweet children in an orphange. And she gets to bring her daughter home with her.