May 18, 2008

First Leg of our Trip Home

We knew today would be a difficult as it was time to say good bye to Mariya, Sasha and Svetlana.  We are choosing not to say good bye but see you later.   They came to take us to the airport around 1PM for our 2:20 flight.   We said good bye and thank you to Svetlana.   She is our lawyer and friend that helped guide us through the legal and paperwork maze.   We had 5 large luggage bugs and a computer bag and they did not all fit in the trunk so one had to ride shotgun in the car.  This left room for Julie, Mariya and I in the back seat.

Mariya got our bags checked and all the communication necessary to get us through security and on the plane

We are not good enough with words to express how thankful we are that we had the opportunity to get to meet and know Svetlana, Mariya, Sasha and their family.   They are very special people that make this world a better place to live.   We could not have made it through this process without their love of the children, guidance, passion, experience and expertise.  We are forever grateful and indebted to them for helping us adopt these 2 beautiful children.  This was another good bye that was very difficult.  We miss them already.

Several weeks before we were scheduled to travel to Kazakhstan we received a referral and a picture of the girl we would be traveling to adopt.  The girl’s name is Angelina.  Four days before our flight left for Kaz we were notified that another couple was at the orphanage and had chose to adopt Angelina.  We spoke with our agency and made the decision to keep our flights because there would be children available when we arrived.

It was amazing as we were waiting to board the plane a little girl came through security that Julie and I both recognized from photos.  We asked the woman she was traveling with what her name was.  It was Angelina.  We asked if she was from Poludino and she said yes.  During the flight we showed her the pictures from court and we could hear her telling her caregiver the names Alyona, Kristina, and Victor.   We were glad to see her so happy and being adopted.   We were not able to get any more information as neither of them could speak English.

We had a short flight to a small city we can’t pronounce.  We all got off the plane and re-boarded about and hour later for the remaining 3 hour flight to Almaty.

We all deplaned and went to a bus to take us to terminal.  The fight attendants had to come tell the Americanskis to come get their 5 bags of luggage off the plane and put them on the bus.  We had no idea.  You should have seen us trying to get all the large bags down the narrow, metal stairs at the back of the plan and across the tarmac to the bus.  As all the other passengers stood on the bus and watched and waited for us.

We were picked up by Oleg, our representative in Almaty.  He had us sign many documents in preparation for our visit to the US Consulate on Monday.  That will be our final paperwork hurdle in Kaz before departing for home.

We will never forget our experience with all the wonderful people of Petropavlovsk.  It changed us for the better.  We will not say good bye but see you later.

We took pictures of the apartment again to show everyone how much greener it has become in Petro.

The Hrenko Family

Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan

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Poludino Orphanage

Apt in Petro

Apt in Petro

Mariya