The Long Wait......Just Got Longer......

Pamela emailed me the note below from the US Embassy in Ukraine. This is extremely disappointing news for all past, current & future Ukraine adoptive parents. I was not pleased (actually pissed) when I read it and feel obligated to post this information here for those that are in the process or planning the process of adopting from Ukraine.

What is this government thinking?? Any government that implements non-productive beauracracy that hinders, delays or discourages the ability to save / help these children needs to evaluate their base principles and priorities regarding adoption policy. Ukraine government cannot effectively support the thousands of children in their system that so desparately need more than what the institution can ever hope to provide. So why implement additional non-sense to discourage and limit?

I have said it before and will say it again - Ukraine government needs to pull it together and learn how to effectively self govern in the post Soviet world. They have had +15 years of independence and still cannot figure it out, not sure they ever will until they rid their government of corruption and implement the proper checks & balances. A perfect example of this is their leadership debacle (the Yushchenko & Yanokovich story) and now the invalid parliamentary elections.....click the link to the right titled "ukraine news" for a view of their wisdom. This additional adoption waiting period will become nothing more than opportunity for another Ukrainian beauracrat to instill bribes and profit off of international adoption. Pathetic.

The price will always be paid in cash, but the real price is emotion. No one wins and the greatest loss of all is the opportunity for these children to find loving parents.

God bless every adoptive parent that has previously, is currenty or will in the future save these children.


Update on Ukrainian Passport Issuance

The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs has informed the Embassy that effective immediately Ukrainian passport issuance for adopted children will take a minimum of ten business days in addition to the required ten-day waiting period after the adoption has been finalized. Therefore, following the court decree that recognizes the American adoptive parents as the legal parents of the child or children being adopted, passport issuance will take a minimum of 20 additional days.

We realize this places a substantial hardship on U.S. parents, many of whom have already spent a good deal of time in Ukraine prior to the adoption. However, this new policy is based on Ukrainian law, and the U.S. Embassy cannot influence the issuance of individual passports in accordance with this policy. We urge Americans adopting in Ukraine to take this additional period of time into account when making their travel plans.

Sincerely,
Adoption Unit/Immigrant Visa Section
Consular Section
American Embassy
Kyiv, Ukraine
Tel: 38-044-4904422
Fax: 38-044-490-4570
Kyivadoptions@state.gov
http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html
In accordance with E.O. 12958 this message is not classified.

Blog Access at Last!!!!......and July 29th

Little Miss Maria Parker, born July 29th, 1999

Little Miss Lila Yee, born July 29th, 2005

Little Baby Hardgrove, born July 29th, 2007

I have a workaround to access and post on the blog from China - I can now see everything unrestricted whereas previously I could only see the dashboard screen in Blogger. Thanks to a fellow colleague, no more excuses about posting info and pics! Thanks to John Rydzweski for the tip!

It has been sweltering in Shanghai, since I arrived on Wed afternoon the temp has averaged from 100-102F and 100% humidity. Yeah, even sweating in the air conditioning is not impossible! On Sunday I go to Dalian for a week and the weather has been much cooler there, 75-85F and low humidity - it will be a welcome weather break from Shanghai.

I am missing Pamela & Angelina and still have 2 more weeks to go until they come back from the US. By the way, a good friend/co-worker of mine had a baby girl this past Sunday(my B-day) in Dalian. This is the third friend of ours to have a daughter on my b-day, cool stuff.

Chicago Update

Check this series of pics out from the Shanghai Airport before we left for the US - A QUICK LEARNER SHE IS!!!






Family with the Godparents (Pam's Sister Tina & Brian's brother Mike)

Angelina with Grandma & Grandpa White




Angelina & Cousin Katelyn

Well, I am at O'Hare and thought I would get a post in before I head back to China this morning at 10:30.

This last weekend was wonderful, it was great having both Pam and my families together for Angelina's baptism. We had her baptized at the Lemont First United Methodist church by the absolutely wonderful Pastor Anne. I am now a member of 3 Methodist churches - Washington, Iowa; Portland, Oregon and Lemont, Il......hmmmm kind of an indication I don't like to stay in the same place too long.

Angelina was pretty squirmy during the service and she never has been able to sit too long, but she did not fuss a bit. Right after she was baptized, the Pastor took Pam and her down front and told the congregation that Angelina likes to sing. Then Angelina began to sing her A,B,C's into the microphone, it was fantastic and she did it with fearless courage looking out at everyone! We have it on video tape and if I can ever figure out how to put video on this blog I will post it - any video buff's out there?

I am off in about 1 hour and want to post some photos so enough on the writing for now. Pam and Angelina will stay in Chicago for 2 more weeks, then we move to Dalian at the end of August.

Brian

We Made it to the US

Wow, just being away for 6 months and it is culture shock coming back here! Couple things I don't miss - the daytime news, watching tv and driving. The only news we see in china is via internet, the only tv we watch is what we download on itunes and well there is no driving allowed for us. We arrived in Chicago yesterday afternoon about an hour late from our original schedule and 13.5 hours after taking off from Shanghai. Angelina slept nearly the entire flight, Pamela about 8 hours and me about 6. Glad to be here and saw some of Pamela's family last night. My parents and brother fly in tomorrow from Phoenix and we will have Angelina baptized on Sunday, July 29th - which just happens to be my 37th b-day. I don't feel 37, only real indicator is everytime I think about the past and do the math on the number of years since.....for instance 1988 does'nt seem like "nearly 20 years ago."

I have been travelling every week since the first of June back and forth from Shanghai to Dalian, but with one trip to Intel in Chengdu, Sichuan Province in mid-June. Pamela, Angelian and I were all sick of me being gone so last week I took them with me to Dalian and they were able to spend some quality time during the day at the beach and in the evenings we were all together. Above are some of the photos from that trip, the beach is about 5 min from where our home will be in Dalian. We move to Dalian on August 30th so this was a good opportunity for the family to spend some time in the area and get a sense for the differences from Shanghai. Our new home is coming along and the concrete is finished, but nothing has commenced on the interior finishes. I did get a chance to walk through and get a good feel for the space - which we could not do when we made our selection back in May. Need to get up and going so enough for now.