And We’re Off!

And we’re off!

On Thursday, June 2, 2021 Ryan and I left our home into the unknown and what would be the biggest decision and adventure of our life.

We arrived at the Winnipeg airport with everything in order, Negative Covid-19 tests in hand only to find out that 15 min prior to boarding our documents for our Covid-19 tests were  not meeting the minimum requirements.  We were missing the date the sample was collected, our documents only stated the date the results were received.  Thankfully our sister-in-law Leona works for the company who did the tests for us.  We called her in a panic and she was able to have a person in her office resolve it quickly.  The plane was starting to board, when finally the email came through with the amended document.  We owe all the thanks to Leona for helping make this happen or else we wouldn’t have been allowed to board the plane!

From there the trip was pretty smooth sailing.  The biggest challenge was wearing our masks for about 24 hours straight.  Whether you were in the plane or at the airport, masks had to be worn at all times.  The only breaks from wearing your mask was if you were eating or drinking.  So we took advantage of meal time by eating extra slow.  The flight from Toronto to Frankfurt was empty, literally only a handful of people, so it was really nice being able to stretch out and get up to walk around with ease.

Once we landed in Kiev our facilitator and translator Inna was waiting for us just outside the airport doors.  From there we were headed to a Notary’s office to sign some additional paperwork for the application to adopt.  Then finally we arrived at our apartment in downtown Kiev overlooking the Maidan Square.  It was beautiful and we were excited to finally get some rest.  By this point we were running about 30hrs with little to no sleep.

Over the next couple of days Inna walked us through our next steps of the adoption process and what to expect.  These days of waiting for our appointment at the ministry office were a flood of emotions, nervousness and excitement all at the same time.