SDA Appointment Report
It seemed a bit surreal to me to sit in this room with Maria, a Ukrainian child psychiatrist, and Dima our facilitator. A bookshelf of three ring binders labeled by the year in which, I'm assuming, are files of children waiting to be adopted, pictures of children and families on the walls above two desks, Russian/Ukrainian banter between Dima and Maria, and Bill and I sitting with a couple of pages on one Kateryna Grabchenko. 
After Maria reads Katya's medical history from a thin file and then briefly leaves the office, Bill turns to Dima and says "We probably know more about Katya's medical situation than she does." And, he's right. To us, she's not just a few pages in a binder, she's our daughter. We've taken her to our family doctor, we've talked with our optometrist, our dentist, and a family friend therapist about her. For months now, we've loved her, considered her to be our daughter, and now we're ready to bring her home.
The appointment went well, even the raised eyebrows, the smile, and the slight shake of the head when we answered "Yes, six" to Maria's question, "Do you have biological children?" She simply asked their ages and where in the line-up Katya falls.
There is one slight glitch. We have been assured that it will cause no problems, however, we would still love your prayers. Although Katya is registered, the SDA is still missing a letter from Odessa confirming the court order in which Tamara, Katya's grandmother terminated guardianship. The SDA has the court order in hand; they just like to have this letter as well. Maria, the child psychiatrist, tells us there is no problem and we are set to pick up our referral tomorrow afternoon. Pray that this is the case.
Following our SDA Appointment ...
Bill and I walked to beautiful St. Michael's Monastery...
first built in the 1100's...
...but destroyed by the Soviets in the 1930's and reconstructed after Ukraine gained its independence. 
And then climbed 315 feet to the top of the Bell Tower of St. Sophia Cathedral...
the foundation of which was laid in 1037.
From the top, we could see much of Kiev and the stunning St. Michael's Cathedral.
Tomorrow, we will hit the U.S. Embassy to sign some paperwork and then visit a few more sites before picking up our referral at the SDA ...
... and flying to Odessa to start the next leg of our journey to bring Katya home.