Finally Kiev!

This morning we were told to be at the orphanage at 9a.m. and that another facilitator would meet us there and talk to the doctor with us and get her medical records. He had an apointment at the court before that and they were suppossed to have the documents ready for him to pick up. They didn't and he had to wait almost an hour and then got to the orpahage to meet us around 10. Then we had to go to a hospital down the street to get a final physical on Marina before the orphanage would release her. So, we did and then we had to go to another doctors office building to get the paper stamped. Then back to the orphanage to meet with the director, inspector, lawyer and facilitator. We signed so many papers it felt like signing to buy a house! Then we were done and ready to go. They gave us medicine for Marina - two kinds, one enough to last for 20 days and the other only enough for 7 days. We have to go to a pharmacy to get more of that before we leave to carry us through until we get to our pediatrician. Then it was time to go and we asked to have Olga and Natasha pulled from class so we could say goodbye. That was so hard to do!! The girls all were fine, or appeared to be and I was all choked up and having a hard time walking away. Maybe they are used to the reality of it all and we are not. I don't know. Anyway, we took off and went to pick up our bags at our house and say goodbye to Olga and Constantine. Then we left Novaya for good and headed west. We left at noon and it should take about 6 hours to get to Kiev, but since we stopped for some lunch, got pulled over again!!!, and the van overheated, we didn't get to Kiev and into our new apartment until 8p.m. I must say this apartment is VERY NICE. We are very comfortable here and Marina seems to like it too. It is newly remodeled and has a huge bathtub and very comfortable beds, etc. We are also in the heart of downtown within walking distance to everything - sweet! Our American friend is here also because he had another appointment this morning in Kiev and he goes back to Novaya tomorrow evening, but we are going to meet with him tomorrow afternoon and bumm around Kiev together. He is quite the adventurer and has been all over this city and knows some good restaurants etc. and he can show us where to go and what to see for the rest of the time we are here. We have been very fortunate to have many people looking out for us and helping us communicate and navigate. And now we have our own translator with us 24/7. So, we have been told that the US Embassay will only take us 2 days now instead of 3 and we will see if it is possible to catch a flight later this week - maybe Thursday or Friday. Please don't tell the girls this because if we can't it will only bumm them out. We will look into it tomorrow maybe. Well, since I have high-speed internet now I can jump on anytime and blog my heart out. So, more later.