GOTCHA DAY AND MORE.......

YES! We have our daughter living with us! It has been a few busy, hectic, emotional, and great few days. Sorry for not posting, we were without internet our last few days in Dnipro. We will try to write one post and catch everyone up. Kallie is napping right now so this post is priority!

Svetlana arrived Monday night and we began everything Tues. morning. Our driver picked us up before 8 am and we were off. We went to the court to get the court order. Then we headed to the orphanage to get some papers. We had to go back to the courthouse. We went to a different office and had a new Birth Certificate made for Kallie. We stopped at the first Passport Department but she was done for the day and off on Wednesday. Each stop meant us waiting in the car. At around 5 pm we were back a the apartment. We knew things were getting done, we were just a bit frustrated at how long everything was taking.
Wednesday morning again we were off at 8 am and continued the paper chase. We went to the Notary Office first thing, then we had the papers legalized, we had to go to a Bank and close the account that Kallie had and donate the money to the orphanage. No passport headway today - we were disappointed again!
Then came Thursday morning and things were looking up. We headed right to Passport Department #1 at 8 am. Then by 9:30 we were heading to the orphanage to get Kallie and heading to Passport Department #2 where they would scan her. We returned Kallie at 12 noon and she would eat and sleep and then we would be picking her up and heading to the train station to continue our journey back to Kiev. Three days sitting in offices that have no lights or heat, or sitting in a car were longer than you can imagine. Poor Kaiden! But thanks to Gameboy, our son was a real trooper. Now we have a Nintendo fanatic! Svetlana has nicknamed him the "The GOLDEN Boy!". We were pleasantly shocked too, at how good he was through all those appointments. After being away from home for 53 days we were REALLY thankful to start the next chapter of our lives as a family of 4.

Now for the important stuff!

We arrived to get Kallie at 3 pm on Thursday! She had just woke up from her nap. We handed over our bag of clothes, they dressed her and handed her to us! What an emotional time! This is a great blessing to be given such a precious child to call our own! We headed for the train. Svetlana mentioned the 'first class' tickets on the express train and it was great. According to me (Jeremy) a MUCH more pleasant experience than the overnight - not first class ride out to Dnipro! We left Dnipro at 5 pm. For the first 3 hours we played, we ate supper (we packed food from our apartment), had our first diaper change, and put on the p.j's. At 8 pm both our kids fell asleep and Darryl and I just enjoyed our time. At 11 pm we arrived in Kiev. A driver picked us up, took us to a grocery store (Darryl ran in to pick up a few items for the morning), and then to the apartment that we've always stayed in. Both kids were wide awake and ready to play. We took some time to get them settled and then we put them to bed. Surprisingly they both fell asleep fast. They slept right through until about 8 this morning. We got up this morning had a bite to eat and headed to the mall to buy a stroller. After purchasing a stroller we went and picked up some groceries. We came back to the apartment and had lunch. Kallie is having her afternoon nap and Kaiden is getting in some Gameboy time. It has almost been 24 hours and "knock on wood" things are going GREAT!
Kallie is doing remarkably well! The only time that we have had tears is when we put her in the bath. Kaiden got in the tub first, and as soon as she was getting undressed her bottom lip came out. We went really slow but she still didn't want to be in there. That must have been one of the quickest baths on record. Hopefully tomorrow or tonight she will be more calm about it. When we put her in the stroller she looked at us funny but once the stroller started moving she was fine. She has eaten everything we have given her. She has fiqured out how to turn the lights on and off and that is a huge novelty for her. We are looking forward to the next few days so we can learn more about her.

Now that we are back in Kiev we only have the cell phone. We now have high speed internet so we are able to Skype anyone who is available (so leave your computers on people). We have Mario's restuarant that we can eat at. If only we had our P.E.I. friends to join us the time would pass by more quickly!

As for our travel plans home, we need a lot of prayers! We have been told that if all the documents were completed properly Kallie's passport would be in Dnipro on Wednesday! Our driver will then take it to the train and send it to us here in Kiev. On Thursday we will go to the Canadian Embassy and get Kallie's Visa. That means that our plans of leaving here on Friday February 13th are very possible - with prayers of course! Then we will be back in Saskatoon on Valentine's Day! We have an overnight stay in Toronto.

No pictures today,SORRY! It has just been a bit busy! We are hoping that on the weekend we will get some posted.

Thanks for being with us on this fantastic journey we feel truly blessed!

Love,

Darryl, Jeremy, Kaiden, & Kallie Deck