We managed to sleep okay last night, and we got up, each showered in the little sit-down tub-shower (impossible to explain, but we’ll try to get it so we can post pictures here pretty soon), gathered the few items we needed to take with us, and headed down for our continental breakfast in one of the hotel restaurants. Breakfast was simple but quite sufficient. There were places set out with a plate containing thinly sliced ham, thinly sliced salami, some cheese slices, tomato slices, and cucumber slices. There was butter also for the bread, which was in the center of the table for everyone to share. We also had a glass of orange juice and some yogurt. While we were working on the “cold cuts” a waiter came by and brought us a plate with something like a ham and egg omelette. It was tasty as well. To top it off Steve had coffee, which he says was really delicious, and I had a nice cup of tea. I remember reading another family’s adoption story and they commented that the hotel breakfast was something to skip, but I promise, we won’t be skipping it! It was definitely Ukrainian in style, but we both found it to be generous, tasty, healthy, and quite satisfying. And free, which makes it taste better somehow! 
After breakfast we met up with our translator and took the metro to downtown Kiev. Actually, our hotel is right at one of the metro stops - literally. You can hear the metro from our window because it is not underground in this part of the city. (Think of the EL in Chicago on right at ground level - it is not quiet!!) Still, their metro system is fast, efficient, and popular. It is also cheap. I don’t actually know how much since our translator just gave us tokens, but I’ll found out.
We had our appointment at the National Adoption Center today. We were somewhat nervous going in, though not nearly as nervous as we would have expected. I think God had placed some kind of protective spiritual bubble around us, as we both were pretty much at peace. We did have to wait awhile before being allowed in for our turn. Our appointment was scheduled for 11:00 am, but we didn’t get into the room to look at files until 11:55. Still, from what I’ve heard, that wasn’t too bad!
After we gave some brief introductions, which seemed kind of awkward, we just handed over the book we made for our child and let the NAC worker (called a psychologist, but more of a social worker) look through it for herself (it has Russian translations). She was young, and seemed pleased. She handed it back saying that it had obviously been made with love. That was enough of that, I guess, and we began the process of finding a match for us. They started by showing us two sibling girls ages 5 and 7. We felt these girls were older than what we desired. We were shown 2 other loose files, which represent children who have just become available today, and we also spent quite some time looking through the books of children who have been waiting for various periods of time to be adopted. In the end, we did select a child we wish to meet!
We are actually not going to give the details of the child but ask you to pray for us as we will be going in the next couple of days to meet him to determine if he is the child that God means for us. Until we know for sure, we would rather not give out any details other than that the child is a boy who is about 2.5 years old.
After the appointment, we parted ways with our translator, who had more paperwork to take care of there at the NAC and on the telephone, and headed back to our hotel via the Metro. We bought yet another bottle of water - boy have we been thirsty! - and talked about seeing some of Kiev. Instead, we got back to our hotel room and promptly crashed. I guess the appointment had taken more out of us than we realized and of course we are still pretty jet-lagged. We didn’t even eat lunch, as the heat and humidity seems to sap our appetites.
We will probably be in Kiev at least through tomorrow (Thursday) evening, while the official referral is written up and travel arrangements are made. We will continue to provide updates as we are able, and look forward to reading your comments as well. Thanks and God bless!
Us standing in front of the NAC entrance
PS Sorry for the delay on the post everyone! We were having technical difficuulties back in the states on our server. It had nothing to do with us being in Ukraine believe it or not.
