Later that night, Dima and his assistant,Yurri, came by to prepare me for the next few days and answer any questions I might have. Both he and Yurri were very nice and professional. I felt very comfortable with my adoption in their hands. I paid Dima the fees for translation services and the orphanage donation that Cathy encourages us to offer in return for all the free assistance I received from her and IUFAN. He told me Olga, my regional translator, would be at the apartment early the following morning to take us shopping for a few extra gifts for me to take to the NAC.

Visiting the Adoption Center and Orphanage
Olga arrived promptly on Tuesday morning.She helped me make gift bags for Mrs. Kunko and the ladies at the NAC with some small items I brought from home. We then grabbed a taxi to a department store to purchase a few more items for the gift bags. Then back to the taxi and off to the NAC. I recognized the buiding from the photo's I had seen on family websites. I was so excited and nervous. There were few families there that morning. We only had to wait a few minutes before Olga and I went in to see Mrs. Kunko.

Mrs. Kunko was very nice. I told her my hopes to adopt one or two children, either gender. She warmly wished me luck and sent me to on of the psychologist. The psychologist was also very nice. I told her I would like to see children as young as possible, but that I was flexible. I also told her I would like to go to a region that had Hungarian or Gypsy children. We looked through pictures of children in the Transcarpathian region, near the Hungarian border. The psychologist gave me permission to go to the baby house first(0-3Years), and if I did not find my children there, she told me she would fax the permission for me to go to the older kids orphanage in the same region. We were through at the adoption center by noon.

We were on the overnight train by 6:30 Tuesday night. The four of us shared a sleeping car.The bathrooms were as bad as we had been told, but we were prepared for this.

The baby house was in the small town of Svalyava. The train arrived about 10:00am on Wednesday. As soon as we got off, Olga found a driver, Misha. He became our driver, friend and guardian for the next several weeks. Our first search was for a hotel. We told Olga that the three of us could share a room, but we did want a private, clean bathroom with hot water.We went to two hotels with no luck when Misha remembered his friend was opening a hotel in a nearby village, Polyanna (The Fortune Hotel).It was not yet open, but he thought they would allow us to stay. He was right and it was great.Kelly, Kim and I shared a suite of two rooms and a brand new private bath--all for fifteen dollars per night each including breakfast. We were in Heaven!!

We had to wait until Thursday morning to get permision to visit children at the orphanage. In the meantime, we explored the mountain village while Olga checked out all the leads and people who could possibly help with my adoption. Turns out the owner of the hotel's son in law is an attorney who knew everyone in town, including the judge,.I hired Arthur to help with my adoption and what a godsend he was.In my experience,in Ukraine-like the USA-a complicated process can be made harder or easier depending on who you know.

The next morning we went to the orphanage to see the available children. The orphanage was a huge, clean stone building with well kept grounds. We were taken to a large training room. While waiting, we watched out the window at the children playing in their groups. Many were clothed only in their diapers/underpants and hats. They were precious! They started bringing in children. I think they brought in about six. I know that when the nurse came in carrying Adalbert, I knew that he was my Elijah. He was the little boy I had been dreaming about for years. Because I knew that girls were often difficult to find in Ukraine, I really thought if I adopted two children, it would be two boys. I was not prepared for how my heart would melt when Maria walked in the room holding her nurse's hand. She toddled over to Kim with her arms held out as if balancing every step. I knew she was coming home with me too!I asked to review their health records. Except for a flat foot, Maria had no health problems. However, she was very malnourished. Her spine and rib bones were very visable. Elijah was also healthy except for recurring brochitus. I committed to adopting both children. Olga started the paperwork process and I made arrangements to visit my children twice a day.

After a few days, I started worrying about some of Maria's behaviors. She rocked constantly, compulsively sucked leaves, backpack straps, etc, she was very passive, refused to touch toys and interacted very little with me, Kim or Kelly. I voiced worries to Kim and Kelly that she might be autistic, mentally retarded, etc. Finally, I just had to say aloud to them and myself that I couldn't discuss this anymore. She was coming home with me regardless. Choosing the children, for me, was taking a leap of faith and then making a strong committment.(Just a note--her personality started evolving when we left the orphanage. Most of those behaviors have now disapated. She is now very interactive and far from passive.)

Becoming a Parent
One week after meeting the children, I went to court and the children officially became Elijah Adalbert and Maria Olivia LeJeune. This was also the day Kelly left to return home. After seeing Kelly off at the train, Kim, Olga, Misha and I went to Arthur's house to celebrate my adoption.

It took Olga a few days to get the children's passport completed. We spent our free time visiting the children, exploring the village where our hotel was and visiting with our new friends at the hotel. The owner of the hotel took us on several day trips of the region. He wanted me to tell my children what a beautiful region they were from.
The day before we left the orphanage we brought a cake to each of Maria's and Eli's group rooms.I was very surprised at how excited the workers were about the cakes. The cakes were really a gift to the workers, but instead of dividing it between themselves, they cut the cakes so that all the children in the orphanage could have a piece. Olga, Arthur and I then discussed my donation of five hundered dollars to the orphanage with the Director (I wish I could have given more!).Arthur arranged for a special account for this money to buy wood and fuel for heat for the winter. The Director was very touched and appreciative. The only other thing she asked of me was to purchase a part for their van that had been sitting immoble for months. The part cost five dollars . It made me sad that they had so little money.I continue to worry about how they make it through the harsh winters.

On Wed. after my court date (Fri) we traveled back to Kiev. We stayed in another of Dima's apartments but in the same neighborhood as the first. Olga and I went shopping and searched all of Kiev for a double stroller for my two babies.
I could not get an appointment it the US Embassy in Kiev until the following Monday morning. Yurri, Dima's assistant, booked a flight for us to Warsaw Monday afternoon. He also booked a room for us at the Sheraton in Warsaw. I had a hard time getting the kids to eat in Kiev. I guess they were scared. Eli finally started eating some mashed potatoes and some soup. I tried several formulas with Maria in her Orphanage bottle--the ONLY way she would eat. Finally, I found a can of Enfamil Next Step toddler soy formula in Dima's apartment, apparently left by a former groupie (thank you, whoever you are:) This got her started eating/drinking.

The flight from Kiev to Warsaw was nothing short of a nightmare. Eli was fine and facinated by the whole flying thing. Maria was terrified. She started screaming when I had to strap her seat belt. Then, Kim tried to hold her in her lap;Maria bit her!!The screaming was horrible.It was a bad experience for EVERYONE on the plane. We arrived in Warsaw (exhausted),and easily caught a taxi to the Sheraton.The Sheraton pampered us wonderfully! They already had two cribs set up in my room and tried to anticipate every need. At one hundred forty dollars per night it was a great splurge.We checked e-mail at the Sheraton (a whopping twenty dollars an hour) and found an e-mail from the Waraw Embassy that my apt was scheduled for the following morning. (I had e-mailed them from Kiev)

Tuesday morning we first went to see Dr. Kruk for the kids physicals (and yes I asked for meds for the trip home:)(didn't help too much though!)Next, we went to the embassy and took care of the paperwork and fees. We then headed to the Czech Airlines office to change the return flights. When we arrived, they told us all the flights were booked until our scheduled return in SEPTEMBER!!This was the first time on the whole trip I got upset and teary. I told them my babies were scared and were hardly eating, especially Maria.I lifted Maria's shirt and showed the ladies in the Czech Airlines Office her frail little torso with all her ribs and spine showing and told them"she cannot go two weeks without getting into a routine and seeing a doctor". That is all it took. One of the ladies stayed at work until 8 pm working on the details of our flight with the "powers that be" at Czech airlines. They ended up putting us on a LOT flight on Friday morning because they really were booked. They charged us nothing extra than the one hundred fifty dollar change fee.

After 24 hour in planes and airports-and many more scratches and one more bite mark-this time me on the cheek-we arrived in New Orleans at almost midnight on August 24, 2001. Our friends, Kelly and Jennifer, met us drove us the remaining two hours back to Hattiesburg.

This is a general overview of my adoption story.I have tried to include as much info about my expenses as possible. I did end up pay nearly fifteen hundred dollars in expedite fees (I expedited a city council meeting, court and passports). Many of the fees were double because I adopted two children. Please feel free to email me if you want more details or have questions. I could not have accomlished this journey without the assistance of many families who went before me. Like them,the faces of many orphaned children in Ukraine still haunt me. I would be happy to do whatever I can to help any of these children find their forever families.

****Just a quick update--four months home, the kids are doing great. They are healthy and growing fast. Eli, who had no muscle tone in his legs and could only crawl, is now taking his first steps.They are both in early intervention with the public schools where they get speech, OT, and PT. Neither is talking yet, but they babble constantly. We work on MaMaMaMa every night:).

Email Me!
the young@aol.com