The train rides themselves were lots of fun. Not quite as adventuresome as the 2-day train trip I Giles) took in China a number of years ago, but an adventure nonetheless. We enjoyed some nice conversation, drank Ukrainian tea, ate cookies, and got to see some of the country and get a little shut-eye at the same time. We were 4 to a sleeper, and of course Ben wanted a top bunk. But with a width of no more than 3 feet, a swaying train, and no safety netting or side rails, that just wasn't going to happen.
Our trip took us to Ivana-Frankov (don't quote us on the spelling), a nice city of about 300,000 in Western Ukraine, not far from the Carpathian Mountains and the border with Poland. Upon arrival, we barely had time to check into a hotel and get freshened up and changed before we were off to the Inspector's office (a'la Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther), which was located on the 8th floor of a rather imposing Soviet-era government building.
After meeting with the inspector, we were given the rather disheartening news that the 5-year old girl we were interested in adopting should have actually been taken out of the adoption database because she had some existing family members, in particular a 18 year old sister, who did not want to give her up. With the way the adoption laws are currently structured in the Ukraine, this would be enough for a judge to refuse to grant approval for the adoption. As a matter of fact, we soon discovered that 5 or 6 families had come and spent time with this girl with hopes of adopting her (including 4 Ukrainian families) only to have the sister refuse the adoption at the last moment. Unfortunately, we had not been given this information in Kiev--had we known, of course, we never would have travelled to try and visit this girl. Fortunately, though, we found this out quickly upon our arrival, before we had used up any more time.
Before we left the city we had the chance to tour the orphanage where the girl lived. This place was NICE. They even had a sauna and a weight room. Zhenia, our coordinator, who has been to most of the orphanages in the Ukraine, said it was probably the second nicest he had ever seen (the first was a private orphanage in Odessa, near the Black Sea). All I can say, is that I would never choose to be an orphan, but if I was one, this would be THE place to live. The reality, as we've learned, is that most orphanages in the Ukraine are nowhere near as nice. Even though most receive government funds, some orphanage directors are better at putting this money to use than others.
So at this point, we're back in our flat in Kiev. On Monday we'll head back to the State Department of Adoption to petition for our second appointment, which hopefully will be later this week (possibly Wednesday or Thursday). Although in some ways we're back to where we started, we are optimistic that this second appointment will be more fruitful. Zhenia feels the same way. We believe that God has a reason for everything, so we're interested to find out what He's up to. We'll keep you posted...
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