• We know Daddy is in heaven and was ready to go
• We know he is free of the pain he has been in for years
• We had so many more things we wanted to do with him ... more memories to make.  Especially with Juliya and Nataliya.
• We will miss him.

I am very grateful for the many great memories I have of my Daddy.  Being his only daughter was a wonderful thing!!  I'm glad he touched so many lives with friendship and his friendly ways.

We are FINALLY home!!!!

I know you would love to hear all of the details of our journey home …

We really did have a good trip back. 

The girls were very good at sharing … as they took turns having their breakdowns on the flights!

First flight, from Kyiv to Amsterdam … Juliya made her presence known as she faced the reality of wearing a seatbelt for the first time. 

Second flight, from Amsterdam to Chicago … well they both shared the stage on this one … but their stage time was brief … for which we (and the surrounding passengers) were grateful! 

When we boarded the second plane … which was a huge 747 we were seated in a smaller side section of the plane and Chris made an announcement to everyone “I’d like you all to know that we just left Ukraine this morning with our two little girls we have adopted from there.  We will do everything imaginable to keep them happy on this flight … but there are no guarantees … we do not speak their language and they do not speak ours … so we wanted you to know that up front.”  That was such a brilliant idea on his part … it changed everyone’s attitude towards the girls when they did get fussy! 

Also on this flight God blessed us with a few angels!  Two of them worked for the airline and another was an architect from Chicago.  His name was Chuck and he sat next to Juliya for the entire (9 hour) flight.  He colored with her, talked to her, let her kick him (not mean kicking just swinging her legs) and was overall just so amazingly kind to us.  He got her to wear her seatbelt and even helped Daddy teach Juliya how to blow her nose!!

We arrived into Chicago and after going through baggage claim, customs and immigration (with the two newest American citizens!!) … we headed out to the waiting area.  We were greeted by Grandma (Babushka) and Grandpapa Conrad and two of my brothers Don and Jon.  I was very surprised to see my brother Jon there … since he lives in San Diego, California!  But he changed his itinerary on his return flight home from a business/work trip and he spent the afternoon with us!

Juliya and Nataliya were both really cute with everyone.  At this point Nataliya is pretty much stuck to Mommy … so people can talk to her and such … but no one else can hold her.

After meeting up with family we headed over to a nearby hotel.  The girls were showered with gifts of toys (lots of good educational ones that make noise … Chris’ mom said something about payback!) and adorable clothing from Babushka (or “bushka” as Nataliya says) and Grandpapa.  For those of you who know Chris’ mom … you know she dresses nicely … and she is starting our little ones off on the right foot!!

We spent time visiting before Chris’ parents had to go … then we ordered in ***** for dinner!  I know, unbelievable!!  But it was good pizza … after all … we were in Chicago!!  My brother Jon had never had “Chicago-style pizza” and we didn’t want to take the girls out … so all around it was a good reason to order pizza!

In early evening we were joined by some very precious friends.  The girls played had tons of fun.  They actually both just about stopped in their tracks at one point … because they were so tired.

So … thanks bring you up to date … getting out of  Ukraine and into the US.

Our baby girls are sleeping right now … so the best thing for us is to be sleeping now also!

Much love to you!

Mary :o)  (for all of us)

I keep writing this update in Word ... and I decided I just need to publish it and then I'll keep writing where I left off and post again! :o)

This entry is in blue ... in honor of the San Diego Chargers who beat the Broncos ... again!!! :o)   No, we haven't seen a football game since the end of October (and yes I miss it!!!) but there is ESPN.com to keep us informed!!  I am wondering though ... what is wrong with the Colts ... ouch!

Ok ... here are the details from Thursday - Saturday morning!

Thursday morning Kostya arrived on a bus at 7:00 a.m. Yes, he had been on a bus all night and then hit the ground running to cover several issues that still needed to be taken care of. I don’t even remember exactly when and where we went … it felt a bit like we were running in circles … I think because most of the time we were!! :o)

We received the final court decree and then started working on getting new birth certificates and then passports for the girls. Again, because the girls are in two different orphanages, in two different districts … we had double the trouble! :o)

Oh, and added to that was the situation we still can’t tell you about but that took up precious amounts of our time and mental energy! UGH!

Well, I’ll get right to the interesting part … which was Friday afternoon. We (Kostya, Chris & Mary) started discussing our options about getting to Kyiv. We still didn’t know if we would be able to leave or not because we were waiting on the passports. So we decide to go to the train station around 1:00 p.m. to see if there was a compartment available (rather than 4 separate spots). We found out there were no compartments (just various top bunks throughout the train) until Sunday night. Bummer … since our appointment at the US Embassy is at 9:00 a.m. on Monday … the Sunday night train wasn’t an option. Another option was to drive to Kyiv (that is a 7 hour drive on a 2 lane road … with no car seats or seat belts!!). Max our driver did offer to drive us to Kyiv … for a fairly reasonable price … but it was still 5x more than taking the train … and believe me, by this point in the journey … the money belt … well, we really just need a paper clip! So we started checking other cities near by … thinking maybe if we drove an hour we could catch a train to Kyiv. Nope. No compartments.

So, we decided to buy one ticket for Kostya for Friday night … because his family was coming to Kyiv by train to meet him Saturday morning. We bought the ticket … hoping he would be able to use it (IF we got the passports) and we would figure out some way for the rest of us to get to Kyiv this weekend.

One option was to check back at the train station at 6:30 p.m. and see if anyone had made a reservation but didn’t purchase their tickets … ok, that will be option #1 … IF we get the passports!

So after checking on the train tickets, we had an hour before needing to be back at the passport office. Since we hadn’t eaten … we decided to stop for some *****. After leaving there … Kostya headed to the passport office, I went to the open market (which closes around this time) because I still didn’t have shoes for Grace and Chris headed to the apartment to finish up packing … just in case we would be catching the train … IF we got the passports!

Kostya spend about an hour at the passport office … then he came back to the apartment and told us it looks like a go. He is to come back to the passport office at 5:30 p.m. So now we really kick things into high gear!

One major detail … the children!! :o) Oh that’s right … we need to go get the children! :o) So we decide at this point to go for Grace first. We catch a taxi and head over there (b/c Max isn’t available for ½ hour … we don’t have time to wait). It is now after 4:30 p.m. We still hadn’t had a chance to meet with any caregivers there to get the info we really wanted on Grace … so we asked to speak to someone before taking her. One of her caregivers came down and answered several of our questions. We are SO glad we took the time to do this … even though it was rushed … it was necessary!

Then she took the clothes we had brought for Grace and she went to change her and bring her down to us. She looked absolutely adorable in the pink and lavender sweater we had bought for her. What a honey. But … she wasn’t happy. :o( The caregiver came outside with us (we thought Max would be there waiting) … but she couldn’t stay because she had to get back to the other children.

The caregiver said good-bye to Grace and we start walking out to the main road to meet Max. Grace was crying a little … so I picked her up and carried her … singing, praying, holding her tight. She stopped crying before we were to the end of the driveway. So that was good.

It was now about 5:20 p.m. and the passport office is not close to Grace’s orphanage … but Kostya is supposed to be there at 5:30 p.m. (oh, side note: my favorite person at Grace’s orphanage was out shopping with her husband and we saw her there! We were soooo pleased. We were able to say thank you, take her picture and give her a hug!) A few minutes later Max showed up and we went for a RIDE!! Yes, Max can drive fast!

We got there and Kostya jumped out. So we waited in the car … Max (with the KISS FM ie: Disco Tech music blaring) and we are in the back seat with Grace. She was delightful! We were so pleased! We waited a long time … and Max got out to have a smoke … so we asked if he could turn the music down! He actually turned it off! :o) So we sat in the back with Grace and sang fun songs … mostly Christmas songs!

At about 6:25 p.m. Kostya called Max and told him he still wasn’t done … but asked Max to take us to the train station to see if there were any tickets. So we went to the train station and YES … there was a compartment available. So Chris bought the tickets and now the pressure was really on! We headed back towards the apartment and dropped Chris off a block away … he went to finish the packing. Then we went to pick up Kostya at the passport office and head over to Joy’s orphanage.

Max pulled us up to the door and we went in to get Joy. I was concerned about taking Grace back there … but she didn’t seem to mind. Kostya stopped to talk with a staff person about us taking Joy and I headed to her groupa to get her clothes changed. Grace came with me … and all of the workers remembered her and were really sweet to her. I got Joy all changed, gave the gifts to the caregivers (and a whole bag for them to give to those who weren’t working that night) and we were off and running. It is now close to 7:30 p.m. (oh, I didn’t mention no one there had the authority to let her go … and they wouldn’t call the head doctor … but Kostya talked them into calling the doctor’s secretary at home … she then called the doctor at home and she gave the ok … we had already done everything official earlier in the day).

So now I had two adorable girls in my possession! I was LOVING this moment … cuddling one on each side as we drove along!! You may be wondering what the girls thought when they saw each other. They really didn’t acknowledge each other as sisters. Actually they really haven’t yet. They just play beside each other but they don’t really interact … I think that is fairly typical of the kids in the orphanage.

Now with the girls in hand we race back to the apartment to get Chris and the luggage. Because of our baggage … we hired a taxi to take Kostya and all the bags to the train station while the “Chris Conrad Family” rode with Max.

As we’re driving there I’m telling Chris “we need to feed the girls … they both missed having dinner at their orphanages!” But we also know there is no time to stop … at this point we are really hoping for a little store near by. If not, they will be on a diet of goldfish crackers, animal crackers and cheerios until the morning. After Chris and Kostya got the luggage up near the tracks Chris and I took our girls and ran over to a little shop. We bought yogurt, a loaf of bread, water, Coca-Cola light (for Daddy) and ran back to the train.

We boarded the train with the girls and we were off to Kyiv! The girls were both in awe of the train. They never acted like it was a weird place or anything! We were so glad! We fed them yogurt and cheerios for dinner and then played for awhile. Meanwhile Chris made up the beds for all of us. Around 10:00 p.m. we dressed them for bed and put them on one bed with their heads at opposite ends.

Oh, did I mention that I had to take my little darlings to the scary train bathroom ... yes, I was in there a total of 7 times during the trip and I only used it one of those times!!!! Most children I know would have freaked out at this bathroom ... but my girls were troopers!! Even though I was gagging most of the time! :o)

Ok, back to our compartment ... Joy slept all night … until 7:00 a.m. Grace slept until 3:00 a.m. and then was off and on after that. As I think I mentioned before … she woke up each time the train stopped … which is A LOT!

We arrived safely in Kyiv on Saturday morning (as you already know) and that’s where I’ll end this part of the story! I know I need to post something (you’ve all been waiting so patiently!) … so I’ll give you this much for now!! I’m hoping to post again later today … because I need to tell you all about the past two days!

Our daughters (I love saying that) are both wonderful. We have had lots of laughs and tears with both of them! The craziest thing continues to be the language barrier … but today I taught Joy to say “car, bus and truck” … so she is already speaking English!! :o)

Love you so much! Please continue to pray for us … I’ll give you more specifics later!

Mary :o) (for all of us!)