We picked up our referral letter!

This afternoon, we went back to the Adoption Center and picked up our referral for Katya. We were surprised at the large number of people waiting to be helped outside the center. Most were not waiting for referral letters, but for an opportunity to get back inside to get matched with children because their initial appointments did not either yield a match, or they wanted a different match. We were surprised when talking to people that most of the people there were looking for very young children. One couple was asking for two children under the age of three, one boy and one girl. And they had already seen some children in a region and were looking to get new referrals. I feel bad for them because they are probably not going to get it done in April. We had been under the impression that Americans were not being given appointments for children younger than 10, but these people may have had appointments from a long time ago. It did seem strange that so many people were still there working the system despite the Adoption Center limitations on children older than 10 or special needs.

The referral letter was ready to go and we were in and out in a short period of time. Our original time table was that the referral letter would take two days to get, so having it the same day as the appointment puts us one day ahead of schedule. The sooner we get back, the better as we are going to miss the kids and work.

We are packing once again and soon our driver will be here to take us to the train station. We will be taking the overnight train to Kharkov. We leave Kiev at 10:40 pm and roll into Kharkov about 9:30am tomorrow. From there we will check into our apartment and then get the necessary local permissions to visit the orphanage and see Katya. We expect to be at the orphanage around 1:00pm. Friday. The important thing is that Friday is still March. And Katya has had it in her mind that we were coming for her in March. It is important to her and us that we are able to be there to see her in March as planned. Waiting a year is hard enough, and if it rolled into April before she saw us it would probably seem like an extra month to her.

I have pre-arranged for dial up internet service in Kharkov like I have here in Kiev, so I should be able to log on tomorrow night to check email and send another post on the days events.


Wade and Julia