Wet day

Hello everyone, today David and I went to an out door market. It was a semi warm day, the snow turned into packed ice and water puddles. Big water puddles! Here in Ukraine there isn't much on the way of drainage systems, and the pot holes are huge pot holes. If your not careful when walking through a water puddle you might have it come up to your calf. They are deep! We managed through the slush and water to the out door market. They sell everything from food to clothes to house hold items well you get the point it was big! We walked for a while and enjoyed the time out of the apartment. We went into an indoor market which sold a lot of different meats, eggs and cheeses. I personally didn't like the smells. Piles of liver, hearts, pig feet etc. Not my thing but it was interesting non the less! We had a good time. Well we are back in the apartment watching TV nothing else going on. We appreciate the phone calls we are getting on our Ukraine number and the e-mails. For those of you who want our Ukraine number ask any of the family we would love to here from you and my e-mail is the same if you would like to e-mail! God Bless
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Normal life

Hello! I have not posted any comment lately probably because I have became a custom to life here so all the different things are now normal plus I can not remember what all I have wrote about before and don't want to bore you with repeat info. The day we went to court for alena was a big holiday here it was mans day or I think formerly military day it is a day when all males are celebrated they had a special program at alena orphanage that we got to watch. Unfortunately freda did not show me the special attention I deserved as a male and said maybe on fathers day in america now that I am a father. Went shopping today and I find that there is a lot of selection at the shopping centers here aspecialy clothing. We had Olga with us today but yesterday me and freda explored a little bit on our own and it is very difficult to find interesting shops on your own when you can not read most of the signs. Went into an appliance shop, unfortunately we can not fit a refrigerator on the airplane because some of the fridges had a lot of "bling". Most of the stores her have heavy store security so their is some one watching your every move and with the prices being lower than the US I almost feel like I am stealing.
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Shopping day

Hello friends, today we went shopping! Yeah! After being on our own for the last 5 days not including court or the couple of days Alina was with us, we were ready for a day out. We went to what Olga called a department store, it sold a little of everything. We told her we were looking for gifts made in Ukraine to take back for our family members! We found some but its hard finding souvenirs believe it or not! She told us this sunday she will take us to a shop that sells nothing but souvenirs. Hopefully we can finish up then. Of course there were a couple of things still on my list of things I wanted for myself that I was able to find today a BIG purse made in Ukraine and a cool hat! Yes love it and they were cheap! Here the women wear nice hats and carry large leather hand bags. Now I look like a Ukrainian woman! Not really but I don't stick out as much! When we were in Novamirgrad David asked about some sandwiches that street vendors were selling, Olga said her grandmother made really good ones and she would have her make some for us. Yes today she brought us 2 bags full! They are stuffed with potatoes and another kind with cabbage. They are really good, but so many! We did go see Alina today the social worker talked to Olga she told her she was worried about Alina. Alina is not acting like herself and she wanted Olga to make sure Alina wasn't changing her mind about leaving. She said Alina needed to be with us we are good for her. While Olga was in with the social worker Dave and I were in a room visiting with Alina. I was unaware of the social and Olga's conversation but I knew something was a wrong with Alina so being me I asked her do you want to go home with us? Do you want us as parents? I told her she didn't have to be with us if she didn't want to, and we would leave. The choice is hers! Well holding my breath she said yes she wants to be with us and yes she wants to go home with us and she has not changed her mind. Good glad that's all clear! Before this was a dream she wanted to come true and now it is and now she just wants to spend her last days with her friends. Its sad for her to never see them again. I completely understand but Dave on the other hand still wants to go see her. Daddy's! So she gave us a time frame that we can visit. I say let her be alone with her friends, but we will probably be going to see her during the time she gave for David's sake. Olga came in to the room and told me of the conversation with the social worker I told her that I already asked Alina questions about what she wants but, so there's no confusion please ask her again. She did and the answers were the same, she just needs time with her friends. We will be leaving on Monday to pick up Tanya who is waiting for us. I had Olga to call and check on her. She said she is waiting patiently but hurry up! How funny! Well nothing left to report on so until tomorrow have a good day and God Bless!
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All is well

Hello everyone, yesterday and today are down days. Yesterday Alina was with us but all she wanted to do was stay at the apartment and watch TV. So we did, although I read a book instead. Today it has just been Dave and I alone! This morning we cleaned the apartment which was fun for me. That's what I do when I am bored. I looked for laundry to do but we didn't have much. David and I then decided to go out. It is snowing again and cold but we have cabin fever! We walked around a little not to much to see where we are, but we went into a store that sold washers, refrigerators, hair dryers etc. It was a nice store but nothing we needed. We found a park that had a tank in it, so Dave climbed the hill and I took a picture. There is also a statue of a man who Gorlovka was named after so being tourists I took David's picture by it too. Alina wanted to go to school and hang out with her friends so we backed off. Dave and I understand she probably will never see her friends again and that reality has set in for her. David is having a tougher time with this then me. He misses her so much and thought once we got here they would always be together and she would show him around town. He has dreamed of this happening for a year now. Me well she is pre teen now I expect her not to want to constantly hang out with her old folks! Out of all seriousness I think this is hard for her, this is something she wants very much, but she will miss her friends. You all know she is a social butterfly! I hope we can go get Tanya soon we know she is counting down the days, she on the other hand could care less about friends, she just wants to go home! Olga is going to take us shopping tomorrow, yeah! So hopefully we will have something neat to talk about. Hope all is well with everyone and we hope to be home soon. Time goes by slowly when you not busy! I miss my little Basil very much! God Bless
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Alina

Hello everyone, well today was the last of our court trials. Yes we do have 2 daughters now! After court we went out for a celebration lunch. Afterwards we rushed off to the orphanage because Alina was in a play. Today is Man's day! All men and boys of all ages are honored. So the concert/play was in honor of the men. We took pictures and short video clips. Everyone had a great time including Dave and I. The director got up and danced with the children, this is a cute side of her! Andre was the man of honor, he too was very funny. The play was over at 4:00 so we thought we would go ahead and leave. Alina was gonna watch a video that we bought her with her friends and we know her days are numbered with her friends. So we came back to the apartment so I could change, then walked to the grocery store for some drinks and snacks. Now we are in the apartment resting. I will start some laundry though. Have a good night the worry is over (sort of) and the wait begins. God Bless
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Cold and White

Good evening everyone, Dave and I slept late this morning. We were very tired for some reason. We went and picked up Alina brought her back to the apartment for awhile. We had lunch then went out for a walk through town. Alina wanted to go into a clothing store so we did. This store had very good prices! We bought Alina a shirt and jacket, I got a warm dress coat and David got a pair of pants, shirt and a nice warm coat. All for 400 greivnas or 50. American dollars. Very cheap! My coat from home is a waist coat with NO hood. My Ukraine coat goes to the middle of my legs and has a hood, and yes has fur! Not real fur but nice none the less. We then took our findings back to the apartment and went back to the grocery store for some groceries. Then we came back to the apartment and I prepared dinner. We took Alina back to the orphanage at 5:30 so she would be back at a good time. We have court at 10:00am in the morning. We will be picked up at 9:20 then go pick up Alina and meet Angelina at the court house. Hopefully things will happen quickly! We don't know yet what we will be doing about the children. At some point we need to decide rather to split up or wait out Alina's 10 days then travel as a family to Novamirgrade. We will let you know at a later time. God Bless
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Snow day

Hello friends, we had a good nights sleep. We got up had coffee ate breakfast and then got ready to go see Alina. We went to the orphanage about 10am David stayed in the cab while I ran in to get her. Then hurried up and when we got to the guard shack he won't allow Alina to leave without a note. So Alina runs back up to the orphanage to get a note! She comes back and we're off! It is snowing here and has been since yesterday, everything is covered. The roads are slippery but our driver didn't mind, he still drove fast! Once back to the apartment we went inside for Alina to look around, then we bundled up and headed out to explore. Its very cold and white but we went out anyway. We found the fun center where I took Alina the very first time I was in Gorlovka. This time they had more arcade equipment, many are the same as JayDees. We spent some time there played and had lunch. Then headed back out into the blizzard. We stopped at a store that was like our dollar store, but much smaller. Then we stopped at the grocery stop for a couple of things. Here you go to the store just about everyday. You can only get what you can carry, its only a couple blocks walk, but when you are carrying big bottles of water it gets heavy. We had help today so the bags were light! We will take Alina back about 7:30 tonight. Hopefully the cabs can drive in the snow! Alina says Hi to everyone and wants to go home as quickly as possible! Me too. Have a great day. God Bless!
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Gorlovka

Hello everyone, sorry it has taken so long for us to update you on our day. Our train arrived at 9:30am by the time we arrived at our apartment it was after 10:00am. We didn't have our coffee yet and we needed to get some things from the store and let's not forget A BATH I needed one! So we had coffee, then walked about 5 minutes to the grocery store. Once we returned home David started lunch and I got a bath. David made us spaghetti it was very good. We haven't cooked a meal this whole trip! The apartment is very nice, we stayed here before but I am not used to the way some things work here so I worry a lot here! They use gas which we do not have so I am afraid of the gas stove. I know ha ha my sister is probably laughing right now! When the pilot light went out in the water heater unit, what do I do PANIC. David goes to look at it I freak out and tell him don't touch anything, then I say I have to get out of here I can't take it! Come on what a sissy right! Why am I over reacting! The land lady comes over she is very nice, shows us to fix the problem and says not to worry. Well I think that is what she said I didn't understand a thing she said, but her body language told me this. This apartment has a washer so I was able to do 2 small loads before sun down. Its a very small washer I will do some more tomorrow maybe. We are very thankful to have a washer! Ok finally we are off to see Alina. Today we are on our own sort of. Olga some times Angelina other times need to call us a cab to and from for obvious reasons. The cab arrives and now to the orphanage. Alina greets us outside in the cold without a coat hollers mommy poppy! Very warm welcome! I scold her for not having a coat on, (how rude) then we go inside. I asked her if her class was there she said yes and we had her ask if we could give gifts to the class. Of coarse we could we went up and pulled out our goodies(now our suit case is much lighter) and handed them out. Some of the children were still at camp so the teacher said when they came back she would give them their gifts. That's nice. We went back down stairs to the sitting room with just Alina to spent time with her. She poked fun at her momma and won't let me take any pictures of her because she had a pimple. Ok my little girl is growing up. We said our goodbyes and headed home. Now tomorrow we get to pick Alina up in the morning and she gets to spend the day with us. We plan to walk in town and see what's there. Hopefully Alina will have a good time! Well until tomorrow. Thank you all for being such a big part of our forming family. God Bless!
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Our daughter

Hello everyone, we are happy to say that we are proud parents of Tatyana Grace Quinnam. We are at the train station now and should board about 9pm. We are off to Gorlovka for Alina's hearing. It is hard leaving our daughter behind, but by Ukraine law we have to wait 10 days to allow family members to come forward and contest the adoption. We are not worried, no one has ever went to the boarding school to see her. Well we are very drained and very tired, so I will say goodnight for now. Oh yeah by the way I had to turn my phone off for court and now its asking for a pin number. We hope to figure it out soon, but until we get it worked out don't waste your money trying to call. We will e-mail you all when you can call. God Bless!
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The big day

Hello everyone, well today is the big day. It is snowing here and its very beautiful! Today is the last day we will see Tanya for a couple of weeks. We are sad about that but we are happy to see Alina. We are sure she misses us like we miss her. We will be glad once we can always see both our girls! David and I will have lunch before court today, we don't know if we will have time to eat before we catch our train. We will try to let you all know how court goes. We have court at 2pm. We will update you later.
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Adoption Process

Dear readers,

This is Julie writing - I thought some of you might be interested in the details of the process David & Freda are going through during this adoption journey.  Here is a brief outline of the basic steps they must take for each child, as I understand it.  I'm sure there are additional steps between these that I do not know about!  (They have pretty much finished steps #1, #2 & #3.)  Some of the steps will be done simultaneously to help speed up the process:

1. Appointment on February 4, 2009 at the State Department for Adoption (SDA) in Kiev, Ukraine, to request a referral for two children, Alina & Tanya.  This referral allowed them to pursue the adoption of these girls.

2. Travel to the child's region where a government-appointed inspector (similar to our child advocates), had to document their first meeting to make sure the child is comfortable with them.   :)

3. Get approval from the director of the orphanage, the local city official over adoptions, and from the child. These approvals must be cleared with the SDA in Kiev.  Normally, a "disconnect" paper needs to be obtained from any existing siblings.  Alina has none, Tanya's sibling's whereabouts is "unknown", so I'm not sure how that works.

4. Have a "trial" set with the local court in the town of the orphanage where the judge must approve the adoption.  At this point, I believe they become the legal parents of the child, but they may not have custody until after the next step.

5. Enter a 10-day waiting period.  (This is a legal requirement that is usually imposed by the local judge to allow for a final notice to known relatives, etc., although their whereabouts are often unknown.  In Alina's case, both of her parents are deceased.  This 10-day wait can occasionally be waived for medical purposes, if applicable, but from what I've seen, it usually isn't.)  At the end of the 10 days, they can pick up the official court papers, complete more paperwork at the orphanage, and then...

6. Take custody of their new daughter!!  Praise God!!  Now they will need to

7. Get a new birth certificate with their names on it as the parents!  This is done in the city each girl was born.  They will also need to take care of any property issues the girls may have.

8. Travel back to Kiev.

9. Both girls must have medical physicals.

10. They will each need a new passport with their new names.

11. They will have to visit the US Embassy for more paperwork.

12. And once all this is done, they get to FLY HOME!  We can hardly wait!!  The girls will become US citizens when they arrive on US soil!  (Ukraine requires them to also remain Ukrainian citizens until they turn 18.)

Please join me in praying that these requirements don't drag out, and that they are able to keep the same pace they have had so far!

I haven't received the photos that Freda tried to send me, I will post them when I get them!  

In the meantime, please leave comments for Freda & David - I know it will be very meaningful to them!

Pre trial

Ok we went to court. Today the trial didn't last very long, he had us state our name, address, place of employment. He said we made enough money to support a child. He asked the social worker if she objected, she said no. He asked the guardian counsel inspector does she object she said no, so he said this is enough to have the actual trial tomorrow at 2pm. Tanya will be there tomorrow as well as others, so it will take more time. After court we went and picked up Tanya and took her out to eat. Now she is in our room with us. We will take her back at 6. She is so cute, she is always looking at me smiling, so I asked Olga to ask her why she is always looking at me smiling she says because she likes me very much, and because I am very beautiful! I don't think I have ever been told I am very beautiful. Love is blind I guess. Well this is all we have to report for now. Tomorrow is the big day, we won't see Tanya for at least 10 days, we miss her already. God Bless!
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Olga retuns

hello everyone, last night I told you that we had some problems with some paper work. Olga headed off for Kirovagrad at 6am she just returned at 12:30pm. She said she got the paper work taken care of and SDA faxed over the conclusion. Tomorrow the originals will arrive by train for our actual trial. David and I were very happy to hear this. Thank you for your prayers! When she came to us she had a bag from Andre, in this bag there are 4 stuffed animals and a letter. Andre is a 15 year old boy who likes to talk about America. Now I wish we could take him home to. He is running out of time. So for those of you who are looking to adopt a young man Andre would make a good son! But you have to hurry once he turns 16 this won't be possible. He is determined that he will go to America. He asked us for our address and phone number so once he arrives he can contact us. How sweet is this! We will let you all know how court goes. Olga feels everything will go good! Talk with you all soon.
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Shopping

Today was spent mainly shopping. Me being one for a good deal I loved the out door market. In Keiv we went to some street vendors next to sda building that was geared for souvenirs for tourist I bought a wool Soviet soldiers hat the guy threw in a Soviet pin for the front of it I tried on many styles of hats their that would get strange looks in the US but you see many men wearing here. I asked our driver In keiv if I wore the hat with the Soviet pin if I would be laughed at or would they think I was cool he laughed and said most would probably think I was cool! The market we were in today was not geared for tourist probably because they don't have tourists here. Their is one hotel in town here. It has stores on the first floor a cafe/bar/dance floor on the second and rooms on the third. One is ours the americans the other is our ukrainian facuilitator, an Italian couple here for adoption and a business man from spain here for a leather plant. So I am sure the lady that runs the place has a time interpreting. During the week it is very nice here the cafe closes at 11 but on the weekends the bar stays open till 2 and the dance music is very loud.
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The day before

Hello everyone, well its the day before court and first thing this morning Olga was running around trying to get some paper work straightened out before court. Yes things have gone very good for us, so I guess its time we have a little set back. We decided to go to the open market. Its close by and it seemed to be a big one. Olga says this is where you can get really good deals and they have everything! David wanted me to buy a pair of Ukrainian boots, they had many to choose from. I found a pair that we all liked. Then we decided I needed a new outfit for tomorrow. So I got a shirt and skirt to go with my boots. I like it very much. David bought a hat and a pair of shoes. Then we went to see Tanya. She was in a play so we were happy to see her in action. Afterwards we took Tanya to a late lunch, we waited a long time for lunch but it was ok. We were at the restaurant at our hotel. After lunch Olga rushed off to get more paperwork. We went up to our room where Tanya listened to the I-Pod for awhile, and she looked around for a while. I noticed she was getting bored so we went down stairs to the store. Its a grocery but it has a lot of different things including toys. Well Tanya's eyes lit up when she saw head bands. She has one in her hair everyday, then there were some clips and other stuff. What she flipped out about was a cheap barbie that had pretty dresses. We said yes this made her very happy! She is very easy to please. (So far) we played with her barbie and ate sunflower seeds, then it was time to take her back. The assistant director met us down stairs to give Olga paper work she needs for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning at 6:00am Olga will head off to Kirovagrad to get the birth parents documents of some sort, fax this to SDA in hopes to get the conclusion for court! So here is what we need everyone to do. Pray! This is very important and I believe in the power of prayer, so everyone can help us out by praying. Thank you and have a great night.
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Dryrless

It is hard to believe their is a country anywhere in the world that does not have a dryer Ukraine may have one but I have not been able to find it. Went to a store the other day that had some appliances and their looked like a washer dryer combo, I got excited but it was a washer with a separate spin compartment. We washed some clothe in th bath tub and wringed them out by hand and hung to dry. Wash and drying clothe is a several day task. I asked our facuilitator if their is laundry mats or dryers here and she said no. Their is a lot of concrete here the buildings are made of concrete houses, fences and even the electric poles.
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Not sure yet

Not sure of subject yet but killing time before bed. We noted boys smoking in the bathroom it is located out side the school as we left one day we asked tanya how the kids got smokes she told us and said she did not smoke or drink but she liked sun flower seeds so today we bought a few bags of sunflower seeds and spent the afternoon eating them. I thought my brother jon might be interested as he is fond of sunflower seeds. Sun flowers are a big crop here and that is the oil used here for cooking. Sounds like most of the farm land is owned and operated buy the government the soil is as dark and rich as freda said. I have not seen such dark soil in US. The town we are in it is common to see flocks of chickens running around outside houses i saw a poor chicken the other day that found his fate to a small pack of stray dogs, freda said it was ok cause they need to eat too but wouldn't be ok in US. Most of the dogs running around here are small compared to gorlovka a guess small town small dogs. Yesterday was a holiday here. It was 40 or 50 days from the day they celebrate as the birth of christ and is the day that mary took the christ child to the temple it is said that it is a day u should refrain from physical work. Tanya said it is also the day that winter and spring fight and who wins determines the weather. It snowed yesterday but melted by days end and today is cold so I am not sure who won.
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Another day

Hello friends, today we ran a couple of arands. First thing this morning we went to pay on our room for four more days, then we went to the bank since we spent all our money on our hotel stay. The exchange rate two days ago was 8.25 this morning it was 8.05. It changes all the time. We got our money and headed for the internet cafe in hopes to put some pictures on our blog. We were unsuccessful because I couldn't remember our password and even if I did we can only send pictures through the main computer. So we asked the lady to e-mail a couple of pictures to Julie. Hopefully Julie will receive them and she can post them for us. They consist of Tanya and Dave Tanya and myself and Tanya writting her consent for adoption. The same applies for Alina. Her and poppy and her and mommy, then her writting her consent for adoption. After this Olga needed to make a quick stop at the court to speak with the judge. Now we are off to get Tanya. We picked her up and took her to lunch, then we took her to get her picture taken for her pass port. Then she wanted some things from the store like: sunflower seeds, gum and candy. We took her back to the boarding school just in time to catch a play that the younger children were putting on. We spent time eating the sunflower seeds then we headed for home. David and I just finished some laundry. Yep we washed our clothes in the tub with some soap powder. At least we can pretend that they are clean! I don't know if we will go for dinner yet, maybe, maybe not. Tomorrow we want to explore the open market. We might find some good deals. Tanya is already saying I would like a camera, I would like an I Pod and so on. These are the first english sentences that she has learned. We told her when we get back to America we will get her something for her birthday and some of the other things at Christmas time. I do want to have her a birthday party when we get home because her birthday is on Monday and we will miss it! She will need a lot of things so for you who want to get her something she wears a size 1w shoe at least that is what her boots are and size 6 pants. Her 8s are to big. I don't know if they make 7s that might be good to. This is just for those of you who were asking about her sizes. Well we will talk to you later. Phone calls and e-mails are welcome! God Bless!
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Just thinking

Hello friends, today was a very relaxed day. We went and picked up Tanya took her for lunch. We were at the restraint for an hour and a half, then went back to the boarding school. The one thing I noticed was the children had nothing to do. They don't have a wreck room. Children need to have ping pong and other activities to do! I told Dave maybe we can go and buy some kind of craft and invite the children to do a craft night if you will. They either watch TV or play outside. Today it was cold and snowy. The Italian family brought in a table net and ping pong paddles and ball. Some of the boys came and played and they had a good time. What a great idea. This is what they need. We take for granted the fun stuff that can do when the children here really don't have fun things to do. We did find out from Olga that there president has an american wife. How interesting is that! And there president wanted to meet with Obama but he declined. Apparently he had a good relationship with Bush but so far no contact with Obama! When I was told this all I could say was Really! Surprise! In any case I thought this was very interesting. We have a few things to do tomorrow, but unfortunately not to much until wednesday court day. Will keep you informed! Sorry we don't have more to report. God Bless
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The good, bad, and ugly

This post may not be suitable for the squeamish!!! The Ukrainian bath rooms. In ukraine most things are kept as clean as possible and this is true for most bath rooms as well. But they can be different than what I am used to. As far as the good their are toilets similar to the ones in th US, but they are a little different. Some of the toilets have a half flush feature and some times that is all you need and then you use full flush when needed. The toilets are not a bowl of water like the ones in the US this eliminates splashing which can be nice. So it depends on were the "drain" is if it is in front it creates a viewing platform to evaluate your fiber intake before you flush it off into the drain. If the drain is in the rear who knows? As far as the toilet paper and what to do I am still not sure but I am following the advise of our drive in Kiev. He said he never understood this wastebasket thing and who knows what you do with your toilet paper any way. We were told by him before our train trip about a family who went to the bathroom every time the train stopped at a station and it was closed. The train toilet flushes and dumps the waste out side the train so you don't want to dump it at the station were people are. Most public restrooms are pay they have an attendant that collects the money. At the fun park we were at you purchase a card and put money on it for the rides and arcade games you also use this card to enter the restrooms. Their is a restraint in the town we are staying in that is said to be the best in town, we eat their often. The other day I had been petting stray dogs that were very dirty prior to going to lunch when we arrived at the restaurant I thought it may be wise to wash my hand, our interpreter was on the phone but I felt I could handle this on my own so I asked the guy at the bar were the toilet was in russian they took me outside and hand signaled to go around back, at this point I did not know how to say I just wanted to wash my hands and I had a feeling I couldn't were I was going. Sure enough it was an out house it had a tile floor with a hole in it. I figured since I was their I might as well use it. When I went inside I told Olga I just wanted to wash my hands and she found me a sink inside.
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Trip

We got to see some of the country to day as we went on a road trip to the center of the region, each region has a city in the center which shares the name of the region, each city has a city center which has some sort of park with some type of monument. I asked Tanya if she ever got to leave the orphans she said she went to camp, it sounds like camp is very similar to the orphanage as far as the activities they do their. They also go to the cemetery around easter. It is tradition for the towns people to take baskets of food, cakes, candy etc to the cemetery and pay their respects to lost loved ones around easter. In some cities the homeless will come to gather the food that was left, in this town they take the kids from the orphanage to gather the food that was left. We ate lunch at a very fancy restaurant in the park we went to, it was the type were the waitress replaces your silver wear with every course etc. I told Tanya not to get spoiled because once we hit america mc donalds is going to be as good as it gets. She ordered ice cream with candy I expected maybe it would have chunks of candy bar but when they brought it had peeled orange wedges around the top almond and the candy was rosel well I'm not sure the type but it is the expensive type. It made me wonder if she had ever eaten in such a place. She had fun play on the playground equipment. Went on a ferris wheel and had several rides on the bumper cars. Their was several other rides that were closed, probably for winter. It was the first time she had done such things and I look forward to taking her to Hershey Park. We took Alina and Vika their last summer and they had a blast.
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Valentines Day

Hello friends, today was just a relaxing day. We picked up Tanya and headed off to Kirovagrad for a few hours. It is an hour drive, but a very nice drive. Just country land. The sun was shining and we were all happy just to be together. We went to a nice park where we all played, then we had a nice lunch in a beautiful place. Then we played some more. It was time to go and it was getting cold so we headed back. On the drive back we received a call from grand daddy and grand mommy. They wanted to here their grand daughters voice. At first she was being shy but Olga convinced her to say something in Ukrainian and then Olga translated. It was so cute! Then my friend Maggie called us, this was very nice. It is good to here familiar voices. Once back at the school we decided to go in for an hour. While we were there Colleen who has a little girl at Tanya's school called us and we were able to get her child on the phone so that she could visit. This made me happy to be able to connect this family! After wards there was a 15 year old boy who asked if he could talk with us about America. Of course we were delighted. We talked with him for a little while then it was time to go. Now we are back at the hotel, we will have dinner at 6:30 then return to our room for the night. We are tired! Hope all is well with all of you. God Bless!
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Novamirgrad

The town we are in now is one of those towns you could see your self living in it may resemble I town in the mid west but has a large statue of stalin in the center of the city. Their is very few cars on the streets, mostly taxis and delivery trucks a few motorcycles etc. You go about a mile or two from city center and it turns into bicycles and horse drawn wagons. I was told the population is around 9000. I looked out the window this morning and saw a procession of people walking down the street their was police officers and people carring a wreath, I thought it was a funeral,l but when we spoke with our driver he said it was in memory of the troops return from afhganastan it is interesting how not many years ago they were their and now we are there we are in the heart of Ukraine now and the people here speak Ukrainian. Another neat thing about Ukraine is they have many music video channels on tv one is mtv but not like in america it actually plays music videos. American music is played frequently here. Every one we have spoke with is very nice and helpful on the streets people look and whisper thing like tourist and americanski. Our faculty says they are not used to seeing forienors and they think of us as being from another planet. The kids at the orphanage are about the same staring. And saying things such as america or hello not sure at first if they were making fun or what but it seems they are curious and want to get our attention and hear about america. The school here were Tanya is at is very nice it is clean and the kids talented
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God's timing

Hello everyone, today has been such a great day! We went to buy train tickets this morning for thursday night departure. Then we had lunch, then went to see Tanya. We visited for a while then we went to a Valentines concert put on by some of the children. It was very nice. The children here are so happy and the staff really cares about them! After wards we visited a little more with Tanya then the assistant director came in and said the director wanted to meet us! She hasn't been there do to poor health. We didn't know what to expect, I was a little frightened but ok we have to do it. So we went to her office. You see the director is the final if she doesn't trust you then that's it no adoption and we know this. Things have been going great up until now. Ok so we sit down with her and she asks us some questions then she says I like you and Tanya is very happy I hope things go well with this adoption. Thank you God! She told us of a family a couple of years ago who she didn't feel good about and she refused there adoption! She said she reads people very well and is happy to meet us! She said she likes our president and encourages us to adopt again very soon. Maybe some boys! She also commented on Tanya looking like her papa! Yes Tanya looks like her papa I get it. LOL! We have Tanya's trial on Wednesday and Alina's on Monday. Then we are off to Keiv for final appointments. We will be home soon it looks like! This process so far has been wonderful! We are going to spend the day tomorrow with Tanya for Valentines Day how great is that! Thanks again for your prayers! God Bless
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David- Hello all. I wanted to add some more info on our stay here the city we are in is a nice small city of around 9000 I think. The taxi drive we have been use most here drives an old soviet era car which I really like that was one of the things on my to do list. I was very excited to be able to close my door. Their is a trick to lifting the handle when you close the door to get it to latch properly. The car is very old and the driver said he would by a new one if he had the money. I like it and most of the other vehicles here. in america people would buy them and restore them as collectors items but here they keep them running. Our facuilitator seemed surprised when I said we only keep our vehicles for 10 years which is probably a stretch for most. Their is a lot of neat old trucks and evan motorcycles. Another neat thing is the taxis and buses in Gorlovka run off of natural gas. They have tanks in the trunk which make it tough for luggage but is cheaper
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Great news

Hello friends we are happy to report that we have Tanya's court date it is on Wednesday! We witnessed her signing her consent for adoption today! We spent a lot of time with her today while Olga worked on our behalf! This girl is amazing! She doesn't waste any time. She has taken such great care of us! Today we asked Tanya a bunch of questions, played games and helped her with her home work, but the best part of the day was when I just held her on my lap and she cuddled to me. It was an amazing feeling for both of us! She needed to be held and I needed to hold her! We found out through all the questions that she not only looks like her papa but they like and dislike the same things! It is wonderful! We hope to leave for Gorlovka at the end of the week to get Alina's court date. If things continue to move like this we will be home very soon. Tomorrow we will go to get train tickets. We will continue to keep you informed. E-mails and phone calls are welcomed. Have a good night we will. Thank you Lord for making our dreams a reality! God Bless
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Great day

Hello everyone, this will be my last entry for today unless something interesting happens between now and bed time. We just got back from visiting Tanya again. We spent time making bracelets, playing checkers, coloring and taking pictures. Olga worked of course! Have I mentioned what a great team we have working for us? And have I mentioned how great the assistant director is? Things are moving right along here. Tomorrow Olga has more meetings so we will have a better idea where we are at, the only thing we know for sure is everyone is very helpful here! We will go have dinner then relax a little then turn in. We have an early start tomorrow and hopefully have good news to report! So until tomorrow God Bless! Remember to please continue praying for us.
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Kirovagrade

Good afternoon everyone! Sorry it has taken so long to update you all on our trip. We took a 12 hour train trip, it was very hot on the train! The assistant director picked us up at the train station and took us to our hotel. So we arrived at our hotel at 4:15am. We were very tired so we went right to bed! Then we got up at 8:00am went to get permission from the inspector to go see Tanya. We did go to the boarding school to see Tanya! She was happy to see us and we spent several hours with her. The assistant director is so very nice she had breakfast prepared for us then David and I went into a room to visit with Tanya by ourselves while Olga and the assistant went to do some paperwork. When Olga came back we went to Tanya's class to give out gifts. The children and the teacher was very appreciative. We had Tanya hand out candy and we put the toys on the teachers desk! We told Tanya what her name was going to be and she liked it very much Tatyana Grace Quinnam! We asked her questions like does she want to be adopted? Does she understand she will go to America and live with us forever? You get the point. We wanted her to know what will be happening and we wanted to make sure she wants to go. She said yes she understands she knew when she met me in April that I was her momma! She has been waiting on me ever since! How great God is! I told her I was very sorry, had I know she felt that way I would have had her stay with us the time while in America, but I didn't know. I started to cry because I felt bad for not knowing. You see I felt something special for this child when I first met her and I find out she to had the same feeling! So let me say for all of you who has this feeling in your heart, go with it! It was time to say goodbye for now, but we told her we would be back later. So we went to have lunch and now we are in our room just for an hour. We will go back to the boarding school while Olga goes to some places to do some paper work. This city is very small but is very nice and quiet. Our hotel is very nice and things are much cheaper here than in Gorlovka! David and I like it here very much! We will be here until at least Sunday. So we will visit Tanya several times! We will post something later. God Bless
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Train ride

Hello friends, its 5:00pm here and we have been on the train now for the last 2 hours! Our train is due to arrive at 3:00am. Unfortunately I am in a cabin with people I don't know, but I'm ok now. I was afraid at first, but I am fine now. I don't have to much to report today since most of the time we will be on the train. I will try to get some sleep! I will report in tomorrow. God Bless!
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Hurry up and wait

Good evening everyone, we left our apartment at 9:45am this morning. We needed to go to hope orphanage to have the director sign some paperwork that pertains to Alina's adoption. She was running late for the meeting, it turns out she had to stop and pick up a 3 year old boy and take him to her orphange. He has a 2 year old brother also, but his brother went to the baby orphange. The boys don't have a father and the mother left the young boys in an apartment for 1 month by themselves, no one knows where she went. So the boys went to the orphange! This is what was told to us. He is so cute! How? why? These are questions I always find myself asking. All the staff came out to meet him and comforted him. We had a nice visit with the dirictor, she voiced concern for Alina, and was very happy that we came for her. She signed the paperwork and we were on our way. Next stop the court house. Olga had us wait down stairs and said wish me luck and hurried up stairs to summit our dossier. She came back about 15 minutes later full of smiles and said it was excepted! Now we are off to have lunch. Lunch was good as always. We had time we didn't have to be to the notery until 2:00pm. After lunch it was time to go purchase or train tickets. We tried to get a train car all to our self but they only had 4 upper seats in 2 different rooms. This is disappointing for now David and I will share a room with 2 strangers. Oh well what do you do! now its time to meet the notery. She to was running late, she went to see her son in the hospital. Once she arrived there were many interruptions, but finally the documents were notarized! Finally we had to take our documents to the assistant inspector so she can write up our consent forms! She told us to bring them to her house so she could work on them tonight so that our paperwork would not be held up, so we got a cab. We got home and packed up our things for our long journey tomorrow. In the morning we will go back to the notery to have Tanya's paperwork notarized, which was smart thinking on Olga's part.! That way this part will be finished a head of time! Our train leaves at 3:30pm tomorrow and it will take us 12 hours to get there. The assistant director will pick us up at the train station at 3:00am and take us to a hotel. How nice is that, she is happy that we are coming. Tanya told her her parents are coming for her. How did she know this you ask? We never said we were coming for her. She just knew! Well have a good night. God Bless!
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Rainy day

Good morning everyone, it's 7:15am and I just set down with a cup of coffee and read the comments that everyone has left. I do want to apologize for not having pictures up on the blog. Here's the thing I only have my black berry. My phone is acting as my computer. So when we return home we will put pictures up. We do want to thank everyone for there prayers! We want to say hello to our 2 nephews Durrell and Denver who are our youngest followers. We love and miss you! We want to thank Julie for making the blog happen and keeping us updated. We want to thank Jamie, Julie, and Dad for the phone calls and e-mails! We want to thank Mom for taking such good care of Basil and the girls. Today it is raining so we will be running around in the rain. Its ok! Well I will go for now, need to get David a cup of coffee. Peace and God Bless!
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Early drip

Good afternoon everyone. This morning we got up at 6:00am which is really good since I haven't been sleeping that late. Which means we got a good nights rest! I made David and I some coffee and we relaxed and talked, well some time about 9:00am I noticed the toilet kept running, so I told Dave about this and he looked at it, well he fixed that problem then he noticed that the valve at the toilet was leaking. Well let's just say my nerves at this point got the best of me! I felt sick, here we are in someone's apartment and the pipe is leaking. I was worried that the ladies floor was gonna get ruined, so I called Angelina and she called the land lady. She came and started talking to us and of coarse we didn't know what she was saying so I called Angelina again to get her to translate. The land lady said don't worry it's not our problem. Which means it's not our fault. She was very nice and said someone would come to fix it. Angelina told us to go ahead with our plans to see Alina and someone would come while we were out. So we did. We had a nice visit with Alina. She was surprised to see us. She didn't know we were coming! She surprised us also yesterday while in the hospital she got her ears pierced by another child there! Well I guess she didn't feel the need to ask her parents. It's ok it just surprised me! We talked for about an hour then we had to go. Our driver was waiting and the meter was still running. Ha Ha! After we got back into Gorlovka we went to New York Street pizza place. American pizza place sort of! We ate then came back to our apartment. Once we arrived the door to our building was locked and the key that we are to use isn't like a normal key. So Dave kept trying to open the door but no luck! Well here I start to panic again. Before I knew it the door opened and at the door was a little older woman who so kindly tried to tell us how to unlock the door. I think I understand now, but time will tell. Once we get up to our apartment then we have 2 doors to unlock which takes awhile to do! Now we are back in our apartment for the rest of the day. Ooh wee my nerves are crazy! Dave and I wish Alina was here with us then we would feel more comfortable! In any case tomorrow we will do more paperwork and hopefully successfully accomplish some things. Take care and God Bless
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Moving day

Hello everyone, we don't have a lot to report today, but here is how our day has gone. We moved into an apartment today, by the looks of things someone lives here but is renting it to us for 4 days. It is a very nice apartment in Gorlovka. I don't really know where I am but its ok. Angelina's husband picked us up then picked up Olga then took us to our apartment, then took us to an Ukrainian restaurant dropped us off and went to pick up Angelina. We had a nice lunch. We talked for a while then Angelina and Nick left to celebrate Nick's birthday. Dave Olga and myself got a cab exchanged some money and headed off to the grocery store. After that we came back to our apartment and here is where we will stay until tomorrow morning. We are going to see Alina tomorrow. Yeah! Monday we will be busy running around doing paperwork. Then hopefully on tuesday taking a overnight train to see Tanya on Wednesday. We hope things will go as smoothly with her paperwork as Alina's has. We will keep you informed.
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David- Hello all
I figured I would try posting a little message. Have a few little stories about how God has watched out for us one occurred when we went to the SDA due to politics and the hurt on ukraine by the worlds economic crisis some one shut off the electricity to the SDA building due to payment issues we had our meeting anyway but they could not find tanyas documents and could not use the computer to locate them. While we were in our meeting they got a call that electric was back on and they were able to find them. Another was on our way to the train station we had a few hrs to kill so our drive asked us what we wanted to do we decided to go to a mall and eat and walk around. It was a few min from train station. We walked around and ate when we returned to our car their was men hooking a sling to our car and a few others. There was 2 crane trucks and a few flat bed trucks they use the cranes to lift the car and set it on the flat bed trucks. Had our car with all our belongs been taken we would have missed our train. Our drive spoke with the men and they said luck was on our side that night and unharmed our car. A new law states that if you catch them before taking it they have to give it back. The drives here have meet my expectations they due use every bit of road and acceleration their cars can give. They also use their bumpers to speed pedestrians across the cross walks. Ukraine could have saved some money painting the lines on the road. But it makes going exciting
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Keeps getting better

Ok let me start by saying I love Ukraine! Our day started at 4:00am, we had breakfast at 6:30am, then left the hotel at 7:00am. Olga picked us up and took us to the Minors Affairs Service where we met with the head inspector. During the meeting she asked us a lot of questions pertaining to children. What made is want to adopt, how did we meet Alina, how do we feel about Alina's condition, are we still interested in adopting her knowing that her condition is serious and so on. We answered honestly of coarse. We told her we love Alina and we will take care of her and as soon as we return home with Alina we will get her to the doctors, she said she would be interested in know what the doctors in America say. She feels American doctors are very good. We were in her office and talked for about an hour. At the end she said that she liked David and I very much. She feels that we are very good people and admires us for still wanting to take Alina in spite of not knowing what her condition is. We said she is our child and we won't turn our back on her. she told us of the apartment that Alina has and said we needed to decide what we wanted to do with it and she told us Alina has some money in a bank account but she doesn't know how much. We said we would talk to Alina on both accounts and see what she wants to do since these things belong to her! She gave us the approval to go to the hospital to see Alina, and her assistant went with us for her observation. We went in to the hospital and Alina came running out and gave us the welcome we had hoped for! She looks really good. Her face is back to normal and her speech is much better. Our little girl was very happy to see us! We hugged a lot and cried. She was sharing a room with about 7 other children whom she was so proud to introduce her parents to. Then before I knew it the assistant inspector pulled out some plain paper spoke to Alina in russian and Alina began to write. I asked Olga what was going on, she said Alina was giving us permission to adopt her! So long story short they gave their consent for adoption! How great is that! We did speak with the doctor and she said Alina had something a wrong with her muscels and would have to take medication for a long time, but her condition is cure able. We had to say goodbye to Alina because we had other paperwork to be done. So we went to her orphanage to get the paperwork done there. The director won't be there until monday so the social worker will do the paperwork and have the director sign them and Olga will pick them up on monday have them notarized and go to court to get a court date. So hopefully this will all be done on monday so Tuesday we can head of to see Tonya. Alina should return to her orphanage on Tuesday. So this is good news! We then went to have some lunch and David and I are now back in our hotel room. It is only 2:00pm so we will just relax for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we will get moved to an apartment, then I don't know right now what we will do for the weekend. Olga hopefully will do something with us. Maybe we will visit Alina again this weekend. So that's all to report for now. Today was another successful day. Thank you for your continued prayers. God Bless! The Quinnams
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Glorlovka

Good Evening everyone, we are in Gorlovka now just got settled in our hotel. I stayed here in April when I came it's a very nice hotel. Tomorrow Olga will take us to meet with the inspector, Olga feels that the inspector will go with us to see Alina. For those of you who do not know what an inspector is, it is required by law for an inspector to go with you to see your child for the first time. She will see how you and the child interact with each other. The inspector will then say yes you can proceed with adoption or no you can not. I don't feel we will have a problem for we all know that Alina wants to come home! Then we will go to the notery to have 3 applications drawn up and notarized. Hopefully we will see Tanya on Tuesday. Olga said she spoke to deputy director and told her we are coming for Tanya, she said Tanya asks every day when is her Momma and Papa coming for her? The deputy director said she didn't know what she was talking about, but now it makes since to her. Dave and I were very happy to hear that she is waiting for us to come. I did find out she as an 18 year old brother. The SDA says this is not a problem, he is to old to be adopted and they don't know where he is anyway. I also found out that in 2006 Tanya's mom left her in the apartment by herself and never came back, and has never been heard of again. So social services came and put her in the orphanage. Well this is all I know for now, David and I are very tired from our 17 hour train ride. We will write some more tomorrow. God Bless.
Quinnams
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success

Good Morning all, I am happy to report that our appointment went very well. I am finding that Ukraine is a very nice Country. The land is beautiful, the people friendly, and the food is the best I ever eat! David and I are off on a train to Donesk to see Alina. I know some of you would like to know about Alina's condition, but all we know is she keeps having her blood cleaned and is doing better as of Angelina. We will know more later when we go to see her. So far this trip has been incredible! God is truly looking out for us and has put an amazing team together for us! It's early in our trip, we are aware things could not go as smoothly as we would like, however we also know things happen for a reason. We will report more later. Keep praying for us!


David- We toured keiv very beautiful place went to park of unknown soldier there is a large flame like in the usa while there newly weds came it is custom for them to place flowers at the flame and take pics it was very cold and icy we also went to WWII park went in large working cathedral, very beautiful went to the fanciest mall I have ever been had supper their. Lunch was also at a very fancy "fast food" restaurant cafeteria. We have tried many new foods since our arrival all very good so far. DQ
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SDA

Good morning everyone. Today is our appointment at SDA. We have to be there at 11:00am our driver will be here at 10:30am to pick us up. There is snow on the ground so this will be interesting our driver drives very fast! I am worried because Angelina won't be with us, but she called me last night and said someone will be with us. She is taking care of our sweet Alina today who is still in the hospital! We will hopefully see Alina tomorrow. I will let everyone know how things went at our appointment. God is in control! Until then peace.
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Good morning

Good morning everyone, David and I just returned from having breakfast at a very fancy cafe. This cafe served a very good breakfast. After breakfast then we decided to walk around a little just to look around. We went underground where one would catch the metro and the people down there were moving very quickly about. They have all sorts of stands set up selling different things. We were looking for a big fur hat for Dave but didn't see any. The exchange rate is very good right now. Our driver took us to a stand that had a good rate. My sister called me last night she misses us and we miss her. It was so nice to here her voice. Thank you sis! Well I will write something a little later. Have a great day and God Bless!
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Re-arranging the luggage at Dulles

Kiev

Hello everyone,
Our flight to Kiev was good. We had vip services so we didn't have to do anything but walk through and pick up our luggage. Our guy took care of all paperwork. Then Angelina had another guy waiting for us to take us to our hotel. Being in Ukraine before I was spoilled with the places I stayed. Not so much with this one. Its ok just really run down. We will make the best of it, this is part of the experience. David and I went down the street to the market and bought some food and drinks. The people where very helpful. I am looking forward to hopfully a good night sleep. I am very tired. If anything intereting happens between now and then we will let you know. God is with us I know this.
We will talk to you all soon. If anyone would like to call us Julie has the number.
Freda and David
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A new day

Hello Friends,
Today we start our journey. Mom and Dad Q took us to the airport this morning. We arrived on time and had some time to spare. We checked on our suit cases and well David did such a good job packing his suit that it weighed 17 pounds to much, what do we do with David's stuff? Well we stuffed our back packs and the other 2 suit case until the seams were busting out! We got that taken care of the off to catch our flight. I tried to update everyone before now, but time got away from me. So we are at JFK now the flight over was good. Now we are awaiting to board our flight to Kiev. Hope all is well with all of you. Please keep us in your prayers, our dreams are finally coming true. God Bless you all!
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