Lienna Lynette and Tanya Rebecca Tolly

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
We know you have been praying. Today is proof of that. First the court hearing and then the car ride.

We started the day not knowing if all would fall in place for us to complete the adoption. The judge said Yes! The adoption is approved! Now we wait the mandatory ten days for the decree to be processed and then on for a few more days of paperwork.

We started the day cramming into a Russian made Lada car.  Seroge (and his big briefcase), Jon, me Tanya and Lienna on our laps in the back seat for a 30 minute drive to the county seat. We got there promptly just to stand and wait for over an hour outside the courthouse for the judge. He walked past us to go in, then came out and took a stroll through the park, then came back and finally called us in a while later. We still did not have word from Kiev that our paperwork was signed. The procedure is to have the papers signed, the prelim hearing, and then the final hearing a day later.

The judge had us come in and asked quite a few questions of Jon, me, Tanya, Lienna, another official, and the deputy director of the orphanage. Then he made it official without the papers from Kiev!! Seroge said he has never seen that happen and then to also combine the two hearings!! Thanks for praying! No doubt it was God! Right after the hearing, Seroge received a call that our papers had been signed in Kiev and all was well.

Tanya and Lienna were quite excited but yet bummed that they can’t leave with us now. We can’t go back to get them until after the ten day waiting period. We then left the orphanage at about 2:30 pm. We were given some gifts and had some tearful good-byes already. Our housekeeper was very happy for the girls and was very emotional. She was so kind to us. She works so hard to clean for 70 children in her building and wash all their clothes. She gave Amber and Morgan some little gifts and of course I cried. Next week will be really hard when we say our final good-byes.

Now the ride to Odessa! I have never felt compelled to kiss the ground before but I sure felt like it when we got to the Odessa Theological Seminary where we are staying! Like our trip from Odessa, we had too small of a car again. Only this time it was smaller. It was a sports car with a really nice stereo system. It started bad when he couldn’t even find his way out of Andreyevo. There is only one road out and he had just driven in that way. We did make it to the highway and then the real ride began! Then on down the highway. He used his remote control and his video screen came up. It was pretty cool except that it meant he was going to watch the music videos rather than the road. These were not kid videos and I was glad Morgan had fallen asleep so she didn’t see them. However Amber got to see more of the Ukrainian culture then she wanted. A bit more explicit than our TV. So he had the videos on, was engaged in lots of conversation with Seroge and driving about 150 km/hr! (over 90 mph) We were on a 4 lane highway so we had two lanes and two shoulders to drive on and he used them. We found that the shoulder works when the car in front of you is passing a motorcycle. Then when a tractor mowing the grass is coming at you in the passing lane you can push the other car over to the right shoulder. Many thoughts were going through my mind by now, like “I hope Tanya and Lienna don’t become orphans again today”. Of course, we were praying a lot. This is where I KNOW you were praying because I am alive to tell the rest. There is no exaggeration here. Next time I watch a movie with crazy chase scenes though, I will know what it feels like.

Anyway, back to the road. We had road construction but that doesn’t slow us down. Now there were three lanes with the right lane going south, the left lane going north, and the middle lane being a passing lane for both directions! That meant many games of “chicken”. When it was time to pull over we just cut off the driver to our right. Now I know why the back panel on his car was replaced. I can’t even begin to count the number of passes he made like this. Thirty I suppose. Some on two lane highways, in town, with no shoulder. Then there is the exit ramp under construction. To paint the picture: imagine the I-90 and I-29 intersection. You are coming from Brookings and want to go to Minnesota. The exit ramp in under construction so you go past it a little, take the ditch, and drive up the ramp against the traffic that is coming from Mitchell and turning into Sioux Falls. At the top of the ramp, you turn onto the newly constructed (closed) road and turn towards Minnesota. Eventually we got on the traveled road. That is when we started driving down the middle of the two lane road to pass people. I only wish I would have gotten my video camera out but I couldn’t move because we were so packed and so hot in the car. I would have preferred air conditioning over the stereo. I am still amazed as I write this. But through it all, I did have the peace of God’s protection. Well, until the end anyway. Then I wanted to yell at him, “we can’t pay you if we are dead!”

As you can imagine we were so happy to get to the seminary. We feel like we are at an oasis! We are in a newly constructed dorm and it is sooo nice! We have an American looking toilet! Oh yeah, we never told you about that. We had a meal and met some professors who are here for two weeks from USA! (so we can have a conversation without looking in the translation book)  Vasily, the vice president of the seminary is so hospitable. We are exhausted after today and look forward to rest.

So thank you so much for your prayers! And mom, I promise not to get into a car like that again.

Janell, for the Tolly’s

Faces of Andriyevo

Posted Tuesday, May 22, 2007 8 am but these pictures were taken last week.Tanya's 4th grade class

Our girls and Olya with the housekeepers. Tatyana(on right) gave gifts to Morgan and Amber and will miss Lienna and Tanya greatly

A brother and sister. Nice kids.


Morgan with her puppy, Tanya with her lizard, and friends. Tanya loves nature and kept bringing home a variety of creatures. We saw her sneaking off to the forest a few times rather than going to class.

Siblings.

Just boys being boys. These are their school uniforms.


There was a litter of puppies that Morgan spent alot of time with. This puppies mother was protective of her litter around adults. But the kids could drag the puppies all around. I tried to take a picture of the girls with the dog and she came at me barking and growling. Tanya and the other little girls scolded her, hit her, and got her under control for the picture. There are lots of dogs everywhere in Ukraine. Little packs of dogs that bark alot at night.

Amber's Birthday

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Amber was greeted this morning with birthday gifts from some of Lienna’s friends. She has an assortment of little stuffed animals, bracelets, soap, fresh flowers, cards, colors, coloring book and a big box of candy. Lienna even sang Happy Birthday in English. It was very thoughtful of these girls when they have so little. Seroge found a cake for her when he was in town so we shared that with some of the girls.

We have our preliminary court hearing set for Wednesday morning at 9:00 am. What we need now is our documents signed in Kiev today and delievered to us by morning. We also hope to have our official court hearing Wednesday after the preliminary hearing. This region requires both court hearings and we are hoping they will hold them on the same day. It is possible. Pray for the judge to be in a good mood and open to accomodating these details.

We have lined up housing for the next week and a half at the Odessa Theological Seminary. We are looking forward to having the process move forward and working our way through the official waiting period.

Thank you for the prayers for our health. God has provided very faithfully so far in this process. We would also appreciate prayer for the above details. All for now.

The Tolly's

Passing Time at the Orphanage

Monday, May 14, 2007

This is a picture of the girls and our facilitator, Seroge at the lake by the orphanage. We took a walk there on Saturday. The weather has been very nice.

We have been able to get to know some of the children here in our free time. That is all we have is free time! I hope to be able to capture these children in pictures. As we get to know them our hearts ache for them. They just need families. We have gotten to know some beautiful children. They have been polite, smiling, and full of fun and laughter. They go to class, follow their routines and play in their spare time. The director of this orphanage is very nice and cares for the kids. Lienna says that they are lucky to have him. Most of the staff seems to be very kind to the children and polite to us. A missionary happened to be here one evening and she said this is a good orphanage compared to most. It probably helps that they are in a small village. But the future of these kids is still bleak. They can go through tenth grade here and then they are on their own. Our translator has given us a picture of life here and there are just not many jobs. Driving through this village, we can see for ourselves the level of poverty. He said that when most of these children leave the orphanage they end up stealing to survive and end up in prison. They have a solid routine at the orphanage but no real practical training for real life.

We feel very safe here compared to being in the city. We are thankful for that. Morgan is having lots of fun, until mealtime, that is. She is living on bread alone and the snacks that we brought along! She is now in class with the kids since she just follows them around and the teachers accommodate. I think she is doing well in English class! Amber has been playing soccer (football). She said there are some really good players here. I guess they are quite impressed with her ability. She made a shot and I heard “beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.” I wish I could capture their accent in print for you though. She is also helping me take pictures. They love to have their picture taken and see it on the digital camera. Several have been shy and don’t want their picture taken. I say “just one” and then they light up and pose for another after they see it. I pray that it will somehow make them feel special if only for a moment.

4th grade going to lunch; Morgan joined in with the class (back left, blue shirt)

Sunday we walked into the village with Seroge, our facilitator, and Lienna and Tanya. We visited the open market with all of its items like bath products, clothes, shoes, candy, raw meat, grains and so on. They have the market only on Sundays and only for a few hours. They were starting to close down some of the stands at 10:00 am when we were there. We bought everyone a cold soda for the walk home. We also bought some apple juice for our room since we have hot tea at every meal. It was nice to drink something other than bottled water or tea.

Fresh meat at the meat market.
Landscape looks alot like home.

Lienna and Tanya are very anxious to go with us and they wish we did not have a ten day waiting period after the first court date. We agree but those are the rules in Ukraine. I think it will be good for the girls to prepare to leave and say their goodbyes while we are in Odessa. We have also been able to have some good talks with the girls, translated by Serogue. We have been talking with them about life back in South Dakota and what we hope for them as they join our family. We are hoping these conversations will somewhat ease the transition for all of us.

The Tolly's

Arriving at the Orphanage

Saturday, May 12, 2007

We got to Andriyevo-Ivanakova orphanage on Thursday morning at 9 am. It was an interesting ride.
We left Kiev on Thursday morning May 10, 2007. Our Chevy Aveo arrived at 5 am. The driver proceeded to stuff our luggage in the small trunk. All four of us were stuffed in the back seat with our bookbags in the back window and on our laps. We picked up our facilitator Seroge at the bus station. He had his luggage between his feet and on his lap. I wondered how we would make it four hours like that. I laughed as I think of how we prepare for a 4 hour trip at home: books, games, water, food, comfortable seats. How were we going to make this? The girls did pretty well without much complaining. I was hoping for them to sleep but Amber couldn’t. She said she was too excited to see Tanya and Lienna. I wanted to see the country. The landscape was very similar to SW Minnesota and SE South Dakota.

Andriyevo is a village. I will try to get pictures later. We went right to the orphanage hoping to get to see the girls. They have been very nice and hospitable. God has blessed us with some very nice officials. Seroge started right away on our paperwork and went to the county seat while we were able to stay at the school. We went to the office when he came back and met with some officials and the girls. They asked us a few questions and just mainly wanted to see how we interacted with the girls. They could see how happy and comfortable Lienna and Tanya were with our family. It was a fun meeting with some laughing and they looked very pleased. We found out later that one of the ladies there had a lot of influence on our process. She really went to bat for us the next day and fielded some tough issues with another official. We were also blessed to find the only notary home that day so we got some papers done that otherwise we would have had to take a two hour trip to Odessa to have done. That would have been more cost and time. Also the car we were riding in by now would not have been suitable for our girls. It reminded me of my high school car (’67 Ford Falcon) and it smelled strong of gas fumes. The drivers window was open so I think it was to let the fumes out. Nothing like a trip to Ukraine to increase your prayer life!

Friday was more paperwork for Seroge as we just sat around the orphanage. Tanya and Lienna have been given permission to do what they want while we are here. They can go to class or spend time with us. Guess what they have chosen. Actually Morgan has basically taken Tanya’s place in class! She has found many new friends and just follows them wherever their schedule takes them.

We are staying at the orphanage and that has been a bit of a challenge. We go to meals with them. We are given very large portions but the Ukraine diet is very different and it causes some challenges for our systems. The borscht soup is good. They have tea with every meal but it is not like our tea. They have spices I have never tasted, lots of fat in their food, and interesting cheeses. I think it should be a good weight loss program for me. We have a room with four beds that each function like a metal spring hammock. Our beds in Kiev were extra hard foam, these are extra soft springs covered with a hard mat. No heat here also but they have nice warm blankets. They keep it very clean and do the best with what they have. Today we hope to get our first shower since arriving at the orphanage. The bathrooms will also provide us with some stories once we get home. We are thankful but the many new experiences of a traveler provides challenges. The girls have been doing very well as they are now full-fledged missionaries.

We feel God is blessing our paperwork process. We are praying to have our court appointment Wednesday if not earlier. Seroge, our facilitator/translator has been working very hard. He is very nice and has answered all our questions during this process. He is also great with the kids and has a big heart. We are very thankful to have him in this process.

Please pray that our court goes quickly. We are supposed to have a preliminary court hearing and the first court hearing a day later. We are praying that they will combine those two and we can be done by Wednesday. We would then go to Odessa for our ten day waiting period before coming back for our final court hearing. We are trying to line up housing in Odessa as well as transportation. Please pray for safe transportation. We plan to stay at the seminary in Odessa and hopefully it will be a great chance to connect with our sister church. Please also pray that Amber will have a special birthday. She turns 14 on Tuesday, May 15! We are not sure how they celebrate here. I am not sure whether to ask for a cake.

Today we also took a tour of the facility with the camcorder running. Lienna and Seroge explained everything while filming so that the girls can look back at their home once they move to South Dakota.

Janell, for the Tolly’s

Happy Victory Day!

Janell writes....

Ukraine is celebrating Victory Day here so it is a govt holiday. That means another day here for us. (The holiday party started last night in our apartment building with loud music that kept us awake for awhile) We did visit Independence Square yesterday so saw familiar sites on TV this morning as they televised the parade from there. It would have been interesting to see but since it is raining I am glad we didn't go down there.

Please pray for sunshine quickly (since it is 4:30pm here) We washed socks, etc in the tub this morning and hung everything out to dry on our enclosed sun porch. We hope it drys before we depart at 5 am for the orphanage. We do have a wash machine (I think) in our apartment but it is very different looking and the instructions are not in English.

We need to try to find some more supplies before we head to the country and it has been raining on and off today. We met the other couple who are adopting and had pizza with them. Yes, pizza again. We have had four meals: pizza, pizza, McDonalds, and pizza. McDonalds does not have an English menu and has different items so wasn't as easy as you think it would be. So we are off to the market to find some more labels that look familiar. We did find yogurt (Dannon looking label) and asked a Ukranian born American at Uno Pizza what kind of milk brand to buy. We like that pizza place because we find Americans there who can help us! Yesterday at the market, I told Amber to remember the word for strawberry, Morgan the word for cherry and I had yogurt (because it is the same). That way we could order quicker and not hold up the line.

We leave at 5 am tomorrow packed into a small car for our 4 hour trip to Andriyevo. Try to find it on the internet! It is about 100 miles north of Odessa. Please pray for safe travel since we hear that no one drives slow. We also get a new facilitator (Seroge) and we still don't know where we are staying once there. We probably will not have internet so any posts will be via phone call to my sister Lynette again. That was the first update in case you didn't know who it was.

These are pictures of the old city gate. There was a wall that completely surrounded the city long ago - I think the 10th century. The gate is all that is left and now houses a museum I guess. These are pictures of both sides and you can see how thick the wall must have been. This was across from Pizza Uno but we never knew what it was until the last day here.

It's official - Lienna and Tanya!

Tuesday May 8, 2007

We had our appointment today at 11:00 am. We were asked only a couple questions and they shared some information about the girls. It was over very quickly. Even Dima our facilitator was surprised with how quickly it went. I guess they think we are normal enough. The ladies at the adoption center wished us well with the girls.

We now have official go ahead to adopt Lienna and Tanya. We are not able to go to their region until Thursday as tomorrow is a national holiday and the government offices are closed.

We will spend Wednesday washing some clothes and preparing to travel south to the orphanage. We are looking forward to moving on in this process.



We spent part of the day visiting Independence Square and shopping in an underground mall in that area.

This picture is of Amber and Morgan with a monkey at Independence Square. They had a choice between a few monkeys, an owl and a guy dressed up as Shrek to take a picture with. People are there to make a little money off the tourists. This cost us a 5 grivna (a dollar)

We appreciate your prayers everyday. We can tell that we are not alone on this journey. Please pray for another couple that is here to adopt. Their process has been very difficult and uncertain.

The Tolly’s

Independence Square: Sight of many public demonstrations including the student hunger strike against against the old Soviet socialists in 1990 and the "Orange" Revolution of 2004-2005.

A statue of the legendary founders of the city. Brothers Kiy, Schchek, Khoriv, and sister Lybed.

Morgan at a playground in downtown Kiev.


This was a really cool picture of Independence Square that I took off the internet. Unfortunately, I did not take this one. The underground mall is under the two glass domes. It is three levels of stores and food courts.