~Worn out but excited!~

We left at around 8:30 a.m. this morning from this district to go to Gabby's birth district (about an hour from here).  When we got there we found out the office that registers birth certificates also registers marriages.  In Ukraine it is tradition to get married on Friday-Sunday so that family and friends can stay throughout the weekend to celebrate.  This being said, lots of marriages needed registered today.  We had to wait from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to get Gabby's brith certificate but we got it! We now have her official birth certificates listing us as her parents!!!!!! During the wait period we went to make some copies of paperwork, went to lunch at a pizza cafe (delicious by the way), went to the maternity house where Gabby was born, and even got to see something else that was a special part of Gabby's history (the apartment building that Gabby's birth parents lived in at the time of her birth and still may live in).  I will not share the photo of the apartment building (even though it is not necessarily revealing)...I want to be fair to all people involved.  However, it was wonderful to see Gabby's birth place and get to experience that!  It was a great experience to be able to see and know what life would have been like for her as compared to what life will be like for her.  The crazy thing is...I feel this odd connection to the town.  I suppose it is because I know our daughter was birthed in this place but I had alot of mixed emotions looking around...that is for sure!  I can't wait to be able to share the photos and memories of the place with Gabby as she gets older and if all goes as planned...hopefully we can bring her back here in a few years down the road to get a brother or sister :)

After we got the birth certificate we headed back to Kherson. When we arrived, we picked Gabby up from the orphanage, went to the notary's office, and then the passport agency (where we waited for so LONG).  It ended up being worth the time & energy though because WE WERE ISSUED A RED PASSPORT for Gabby that we will pick up in the morning!!!!  This means tomorrow the plan will be to go get the passport, do some gift shopping for the orphanage, and then go bust Gabby out of the orphanage!!!  We will then stay our last night in Kherson before heading back to Kiev on Sunday.  Thankfully this will be by car this time (8 hours) instead of the train (13 hours).  On Monday and Tuesday we will go to the necessary appts. before finishing up and we will have Wed & Thu. free to do nothing (hopefully) before leaving for home on Friday the 12th!!!!! We will arrive home (well technically in Knoxville) on the 13th! THANK YOU GOD!!!!


Now for a few treats :)

The Dnieper River (from Nova Kakhovka Ukraine)

Don't ask me why I think this tree is pretty...it just is, haha.

 Our baby's birth district (Nova Kakhovka of Kherson Ukraine)

 This is just a random picture of a guy fishing at the Dnieper (the other guy, not fishing...is our driver & has come to be a wonderful friend )

Our sweet princess was born at this maternity house!

 This is just a picture I took in front of the maternity house.

I will try to post after we get Gabby out of the orphanage tomorrow (with Gotcha day pics) but I don't know if I will get to do this or not.  It depends on how well she sleeps, haha.  Again, we will be traveling back to Kiev on Sunday so I don't know when my next post will be exactally (maybe tomorrow) or maybe Monday.  If you would like to see our little Gabby (live)....get a free skype account and assuming I know you, lol....I'll add you and let you see our little angel tomorrow (maybe).

~The end of the 10 day wait~

The mandatory 10 day wait period is now over! THANK GOD!  During the 10 day wait that started after court there was nothing we could do as far as making progress towards coming home because you do not get the court decree until 10 days after court.  The plan for tomorrow is to wake up VERY early and go to the court house to get the court decree, travel about an hour or so to Gabby's birth district (Nova Kakhovka, Ukraine), which is still in the region of Kherson but is a seperate district to get her birth certificate and some other paperwork...I'm going to do my best to see if our driver and facilitator will drive us by the maturnity house where Gabby was born and stayed for 2 months prior to going to the orphanage, if they do I will take pics :), and then come back to this district and apply for Gabby's passport. The passport is a tricky thing and could be the one thing that holds us up here.  Apparently there use to be a passport here that was a "red passport" and it is rarely used anymore and there are limited amounts of them. The wonderful thing about this passport is it is issued the same day.  The blue/new passport takes 4-7 days to issue.  If tomorrow we get the red passport then on Saturday or Sunday we can bust Gabby out of the orphanage & travel back to Kiev (another 8 hour drive...but thankfully we do not have to take the 13 hour train ride back) and then go to Gabby's mandatory medical and embassy appts.  We would be able to leave for home on the 12th.  If we don't get the red passport then we can add another 4-7 days onto our stay :(  so lets pray for a red passport to be approved for us tomorrow or no later than Monday.

Now...onto some good news.  Yesterday we were able to take Gabby out of the orphanage and go with our driver and facilitator to have Gabby's visa picture taken!  We were able to dress her in some clothes we had bought and she was an absolute doll! We were afraid that she would be scared of the car ride because we had been told by caregivers at the orphanage that this is often the case for the children but not for little Gabby. She was amazed! She was watching everything and boy do I mean watching..nothing gets by her!  She was smiling & laughing and it was wonderful.  We got to take her for a walk down town up a beautiful old street (no pictures of this because we forgot the camera in the car at that point) and she loved it!  Gosh I can't wait to take her out of the orphanage and bring her back here with us...AND OBVIOUSLY TO GET HER HOME.  However, we must do this when we are close to traveling back to Kiev because until then we will be busy paperchasing and running back and forth and it would be very hard on Gabby. All of the changes will be a big enough adjustment to have to deal with but then to be traveling so much with her would really do a number on her...I'm sure.

Now...onto what you really want to see...THE PICS :) 

Who knows...maybe next time I post will be "Gotcha Day" and she will actually be out of the orphanage. We can hope & pray!

This is a picture of when I was getting her dressed for her visa picture :)  Look at those little jeans how cute!

She was literally trying to climb the walls here, lol.  She is ready to get outta there, haha.

She loves doing this. She laughs so hard she almost cries, hahaha.

Getting ready to go get her visa pic. taken

But first she had to give mama some lovings :)

Gazing out of the car window in amazement at all of the new things!

Nobody...and I mean nobody..loves spaghetti like this girl, LOL

Thirsty girl :)

Hope you all enjoyed the update. I have some videos that I need to post but blogspot is being a pain and not letting me right now. Hopefully soon though :)

~Because~

Each day here in Ukraine, we wake up, get ready, and take a 10 minute drive

to arrive at this orphanage/baby house.....

to walk down this hallway......................

to walk up these stairs.............

to open this door...............

to enter this "groupa" room..........

to get to spend a couple of hours, twice a day, with this little Ukrainian princess.........

because she is worthy. In fact she is one of the most deserving people I have ever known. She is smart, loving, innocent, beautiful, funny, spunky, sassy, and every little thing that is wonderful! She has so much potential that she continues to show us daily and that she is just waiting to share with the world! She needed a chance, a loving family, we needed to give back some of the blessings we have been blessed with, and a daughter.  God paved the way and we did the work.......it is that simple!

PLEASE consider adopting! It will change your life in more ways than you will ever imagine. You may be thinking you can't do it, you can't afford it, you don't have the extra room or the patience to see it through. We thought all of the same things. You may be thinking you don't even know where to begin.  Start here and now...we will help you in any way that we can.  If you have been wanting a child, or another child, this is the perfect way to get one.  Their are so many children that are waiting here for mama's and papa's! Most are children with "special needs".....children who have not been given a chance because they look different or learn different.  Children here are thrown away like trash to be forgotten about and hidden just because they recieved an extra chromosome.  Allow us to be the first to tell you....Gabby has been the BIGGEST BLESSING we have EVER recieved and she reminds us with each visit that we should take a step back from our daily life and be thankful for all that we have and how easy we really have it compared to alot of people. She reminds us what innocence and genuine love is! She reminds us to reach out to those in need without judgment.  She is worth wayyyy more than any amount of money we have had to pay to get to this point or any amount of work that had to be done.  She is a real baby, with a real heart, a real soul, real feelings, and real needs. Thankfully Gabby's needs will be met! There are many more that will not be.  Sadly, all "special needs" children at Gabby's orphanage will be transferred to a level 4 mental institution where they will be confined to a crib for the majority of their short lived lives.  Even more sad is that most will die in those cribs within a few short years due to lack of medical attention/care, loving and nurturing parents, and nourshiment.  Again, PLEASE if you can find it in your hearts to share some of your blessings with one of these children...act now...don't wait. You can message me on here or find me on facebook (Sylvia Middleton).