In about 1 1/2 hours we leave for the last bit of paperwork. In about 3 hours I hope to be walking Denis down the long driveway into a taxi to his home away from home. He has 4 brothers and sisters waiting to meet him!! Little does he know he has 5 more at his forever home.
Our day to pick up the three kids in Odessa was Tuesday the 29th of June. Things didnt go that way and we were not allowed to pick up the kids until July 5th!!! Then we were told they only had a midnight train back to Simferopol which would put us a day behind getting Denis. So we said no thanks to that and rented a car so that we would be here in Simferopol by Tuesday the 6th, EARLY enough to make the day count!!!
The kids did great considering we just picked them up from the only home they have ever known and put them in a car and drove for 7 hours!!! Ken had just returned from London where he spent the week working. His job needed him so Roc and I assured him we would be fine and to just go. So he was all set to drive the 7 hours. The rest of us though were pretty exhausted from the week, which I will blog about later, so we all ended up just sitting back and relaxing. Dani started to cry at one point so we pulled over for her to go to the bathroom - must be the mother in me that knew that one?!
About 15 min later she started to cry again, this time the mother in me didnt get it! Called Jolene and David to have them talk with her to see what was wrong. All we saw was her shaking her head yes to everthing. Found out she had a tummy ache. Gave her a little motion sickness medicine and within 1/2 hour she was fine!!
I love the drive between the two cities. It is beautiful! I often think what it would be like to live at some of the places we drive through. Some of the stuff we talk about on the long drive is where we would live if we were in Ukraine for good. I found 2 spots that I could live at. One in a city and one in a village. Now to decide which one I like better?!
At around 10:30pm we knew we still had another hours worth of driving so we started working on a place to stay once we got there. Then about 30 min out of town a dog came shooting across the highway (well I call it a highway) at Ken hit it! I of course being a animal lover started crying. The dog actually came from I dont know. It all went so fast. Back home I think to myself how someone could hit a deer. We have lots of dead deer on the side of the road. I think how someone could hit any animal. I have been driving for many, many, MANY years and have never hit an animal. Well thats not true. Once up at my dads we were driving and I hit something, not sure what it was but I hit him. I of course being who I am started to cry. My dad was telling me it was a gopher or mouse or something and it was really no big deal. Didnt help, I still killed it. My poor dad must think sometimes where in the world I came from!!! hehehehe
Anyway, I was crying, Ken was knowing what I was going through so said nothing and felt bad. Not for hitting the dog but for me!! And then there was my girl Roc who tried telling me that we just hit a pot hole or something. Love that girl!!! I told her no, it was a dog. It also gave me the chance to explaine and show her how fast things can happen. She is 15 and going to start driving soon and I wanted her to know and see these things. Both Ken and I have been in terrible car accidents. The one I was in my best friend died. She was driving and hit a patch of ice or something and we hit a tree, going pretty fast. Through this hitting the dog accident it gave us a great opportunity to talk with Roc about how fast things can happen even when you are doing everything right. So one could only imagine what could happen if you were on the phone or NOT paying attention. And of course we had this conversation through my sobs for the poor dog!!! Ken told us the next day after looking at the damage to the car, it was a big dog, that this trip/adoption has cost him WAY TO much money because of all his dog problems!!!!
Okay, I guess we are getting ready to go. One last thing though. We spent the evening with Toby McDonald. He brought us to this great place to try their chicken!! YUM!!! It was so nice just to be with someone who is going through the same thing!!! In more ways than one but that is for another blog!! I will write later today about our night out with Mr. Toby!!! He is something that is for sure!!!
Also post some photos for everyone!
