WE HAVE A DATE!!!!!!!!

Woke up (a mite early) to an email from our facilitator saying that our appointment date is January 21 at 2:00 pm. Wahooo! A little later than we expected. But very do-able, especially to be able to get past holidays and birthdays. This is all getting so real (or surreal?!?!)

We have touchdown!

We got word this morning that our dossier has been submitted. Wahooo!! We got word yesterday that within the last week the SDA had changed their format for the housing verification. Instead of a (on the letterhead, notarized, apostilled) paper with information about your loan they needed to have a paper (of course, on the letterhead, notarized and apostilled) from the county assesor/ appraiser that tells about the house (how many rooms of what type, square footage, ect). We were told we could still submit if we hurried and got that and sent it. So I drove to the county yesterday morning. They were VERY cooperative!!! The worker there typed up a page just like the sample that I made for her, signed it had the notary sign it and even made copies for my records for me. Then the notary took me down the hall and introduced me to a lady who works there who is from Ukraine. So after a quick trip to the state secretary's place to get it apostilled I had the paper ready to send. After DHL's fiasco our facilitator told us to us FedEx. Well, they said they would take 10 days to get it there AND they had to put a value on it (the very thing that held up our dossier). After some haggling the FedEx lady said that in her system we could put $1 and on the paperwork that stays on the envelop we could put 00 NCV (no commercial value). We decided to call our facilitator to make sure that and the 10 day thing was ok. So after calling our phone plan to add cheaper international long distance I called him (hoping I wouldn't be waking him up). He was very gracious and assured me that it was ok they always said that and usually got it there very quickly. So by 11:00 am it was in the mail and once again we are back to waiting.
Apparently, people are getting appointments 1 week after submission (as opposed to the 3 weeks they are allowed by law) and some people are getting appointments within two weeks (or less) of their notification of appointment. So now we are a little stressed about getting everything ready to go.

Ukrainian Orphans

Some statistics that I came across. Those of you following Ukrainian adoptions will know this, but it is interesting anyway.

In a country where the average standard of living has decreased by 80% over the last 18 years, poverty and sickness are brought on by the inability to provide adequate nutrition and healthcare. Least able to fend for themselves are the children who are have been abandoned and orphaned.

90% are orphaned due to alcoholism, abandonment or imprisonment of the parent
10% are orphans because of death of parents
There are over 450 orphanages in Ukraine
There are over 100,000 children in Ukraine orphanages and an estimated 100,000 more children on the streets because the orphanages are full
10% of orphans commit suicide after leaving the orphanage before their 18th birthday
60% of the girls end up in prostitution
70% of the boys end up in crime
Only 27% are able to find work

This is from an official notice put out by the SDA in October 2008.

Analysis of the numbers of children available for inter-country adoptions according to their age and health condition (based on the information from the central data bank as of September 1, 2008)

Age of children <> Number of children (% from the total number)
Health condition : Healthy or with correctable medical issues <> Serious health problems

Under 3 years old <> 551 (2,6 %) 0 <> 551
3 – 5 years old <> 1324 (6,1 %) 109 <> 1215
6 – 11 years old <> 5408 (24,9 %) 3011 <> 2397
12 – 17 years old <> 14418 (66,4 %) 11337 <> 3081

Total 21701 (100,0 %) 14457 <> 7244

Wow! That is a lot of orphans. Wonder what the statistics are for USA.

News from a Far Country

I've spent the last few days being very ansy. Our facilitator said he was going on Monday to the SDA and see where we are in the line to submit our dossier. Well, since Monday I have been expecting news from him. I guess Kiev is quite a ways away from where he lives. Finally, today he wrote and told us that we were #190 in line where they would take 400 under the quota for 2008 so we have a really really good chance of submitting. He also said that because we are open to so great an age range he could submit our dossier on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. (Mondays people looking for ages 0-5 are allowed to submit, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 6-11 years old and on Thursdays 12+) I'm not really sure of the significance of that except maybe we just have more chances to submit. Keith thinks there is still a possibility that we will go in Dec. I think it will be January. We'll see who is right.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

DHL finally gave up our package today. It took inspection and stamps by radiology and sanitation, and hiring a "customs broker" and a translator (They wouldn't let our facilitator translate it, even though he is very capable). At least it didn't take our facialitator a 13 hour train ride to pick it up, only a 1.5 hour car ride. It is still beyond me why they wouldn't deliver it to the intended recipient. Moral of this story is DON'T USE DHL TO MAIL ANYTHING. Anyway, Kostya is going to take our dossier to the SDA on Monday and see where we stand.
Thank Heaven for small sucesses.

Going on day 14. I always thought I was a pretty patient person, but I guess not. I'm not handling this waiting for our package to be out of DHL customs, very well. I guess I do better when I'm busy doing something. And my friend is amazed that I'm getting so many projects done (making bags, crocheting baby booties for baby showers, making blankets, finishing scrapbooks ect). But that is only a sanity saver... even that is fragile, at best.
Oh, and to top it all off the money wire we sent to our facilitator didn't make it through.
The good news is that DHL is working on refunding all of the shipping fee, and sending us a letter stating that they are at fault. That is all they can do at this point, we still have to pay for a customs broker and a translator and who knows how much else for getting it out of customs. But hey, I'll take ANY good news I can get at this point.

Could it really be true?!?!?

After 10 days of phone calls, emails, photocopying and more phone calls, DHL has FINALLY released our dossier package. And all of that hassle because the DHL lady who helped me mail the package put $1 on the value ("It has to have SOMETHING there"). We are waiting to hear from our facilitator to see just how much it cost us to get it out. There was talk of our facilitator having to travel by train 13 hours down to their office to pick it up (why they wouldn't deliver it to the intended recipient is beyond me) and even having to hire a "customs broker" to get it out of customs. Of course, all of that has it's associated costs. And it cost $150 to mail it in the first place. But now, hopefully, we can move on. We'll see what our facilitator says.