Pictures

One of the few time she slept on the plane!

I'm an American citizen!

The man with the ukulele

Getting to know her brothers

Hanging out with her brothers. She has enjoyed them!

Playing wtih Matroyshka dolls with Clayton

After seeing Evan in here she had to check it out. What a blast, it's like having my own car!

Meeting Bella. She loves her...from a distance! She still won't touch her but will come right up to her.

There truly is no place like home....

Everything is so precious. My boys. Oh how I've missed them. My towels that I haven't seen in so long. They are soft and fluffy because they've been properly washed and dried. My pajamas. After over 6 weeks in the same pajamas you miss the rest of them. I picked them up and held them by my face because I so appreciated the opportunity to wear them. Does that sound crazy?! Let me back up a bit to share how I finally got back HOME. This will be long but I need to remember this. If you do nothing else go to the part where we get to the US and see what God did for us.

Tuesday night in Ukraine we packed up and went to bed knowing we'd be up at 3am. We hardly sleep all night. Anticipation and a child who flips and flops in bed are not a good combination. We actually got up early and got ready. At 3:30 we scooped Oksana out of bed and went to meet our driver. At the airport we got settled in and prepared for what we knew would be a difficult journey. I was petrified. I had no idea how Oksana would do. I prayed and prayed and prayed that the Lord would help us. Our first flight was decent. We managed to keep any major catastrophes away but just barely. She even slept for about 1/2 an hour. Thank you Lord!

Once in Amsterdam we had a 6 hour layover. She wouldn't let us put her down. We couldn't even sit or she would think we were putting her down and freak out. I understand because I can't imagine how overwhelming it all was but we were dying. 6 hours of carrying around 35 lbs. We'd trade back and forth and back and forth. It was about this time that she also decided that we both had to be in her sight or she would start sobbing and yelling for the person she couldn't find. Makes going to the bathroom pretty hard. About 4 hours in I prayed...please God give us physical strength to do this. We were walking around and saw a children's play area. We decided to let her watch the other kids. She saw a balloon and immediately asked to be put down. We were shocked. She crawled around and played for quite awhile and then I think it all started to get to her and she started to go downhill so we left which didn't go over very well. Still, our bodies had some rest. Thank you Lord.

6 hours later we boarded what would be our longest flight already exhausted. We gave her some Melatonin and thought for sure she would sleep the whole way. She was out quick and we got her comfortable just as the fasten seat belt signs went off. We were hungry so we decided to wait for dinner to be served and then use the restrooms and sleep. Because of her sudden need to have both of us right near her we knew that if one of us went to the bathroom she would go crazy and she would think we would be able to walk her around the plane in which case that is what we would be doing the whole flight. Dinner was served....then Oksana woke up....2 1/2 hours into the flight with 6 hours left to go. No sleep, no restroom break. We couldn't believe it. I had no idea what we would do. Our first flight was only 3 hours and we barely made it. I prayed, please God get us through this flight. She did great. For 6 hours we played and she stayed happy. Our bladders made it. We just drank less. Thank you Lord.

After this flight we were in the USA! We got off of the plane and used the restrooms, fast! By the time we got situated and over to customs the line was a mile long and looked like it would take hours to get through which meant us holding her the whole time. To top it off we were quite sure we would miss our connecting flight to Little Rock. I prayed, please Lord help us we can't do this. Larry found someone and explained our situation. He bumped us over to the wheelchair line with only 4 people in it. We rushed (well after getting through customs because no one there was rushing) to re-check our baggage for our next flight to find out it had been delayed from 7:45 to 8:30. What a relief! We'd be home later than we hoped but we'd go home still. We had plenty of time. Thank you Lord!

We got up to the gate and suddenly all she wanted to do is crawl around. We followed her all over and she found herself a seat to climb up on right between a man and a woman. The man pulled out a ukulele and serenaded her! She loved it. We started talking to the woman on the other side of her about our journey and another man sitting next to her asked us some questions as well. It turns out he and a friend were coming home from Turkey doing work with orphans and they were headed home to Little Rock. Next thing we know the lady at the gate announces that the flight has been moved to 9:30 and the gate has changed. Now we're getting a little nervous. That's a long time to wait around with a very tired child and would get us home rather late. The lady that we met said she was going to the new gate to get info. She came back and said the flight had been moved to midnight. We became frantic. We decided to see if we could get a flight out in the morning and just get a hotel and get some sleep. We found out that the only way to get to Little Rock in the morning was to fly to Atlanta first. That meant 2 more flights, we'd likely be charged, would have to find and pay for a hotel room, we were almost out of diapers, and only had what clothes and few items were on us. That was it. I LOST it. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed in the middle of that airport. Now are you ready for this? While all of this was happening the man who went to Turkey and his friend were discussing that they had to get home that night for a morning meeting. The man's friend has a private jet so he called it to come get them. They had been talking to the other woman we met and offered to take her too. She said "If it means giving up a seat home I'd rather you take home that family with the little girl from Ukraine". He said "We have room for everyone". They approached us and told us the situation. They could get us out of there but it would be late. We'd only buy ourselves about an hour but we were guaranteed to be home. We finally took them up on their offer. Then I can't remember what the man said to me but I remember saying "You're a believer?" He said yes and asked where we went to church. He and the man who own the jet go to our church! The husband of the woman in this scenario is the pastor of a local church that we have friends at as well. We were SHOCKED! Thank you Lord!

We went to the smaller airport and hung out and this is where it got sticky. Oksana had at this point been up for over 24 hours with only 5 hours of sleep and she was WIRED and getting cranky. If we did every single thing she wanted she was fine but the second our plans didn't mix with hers disaster struck. We tried to keep her happy despite how exhausted we were but we did have one meltdown. Even this flight was getting delayed and we were all going down hill fast. Finally the plane arrived and luckily all 3 of us slept on the way home. Larry and I got about an hour and a half and we pulled her off of the plane sleeping at 12:30am. We were in a small private airport near the main airport so they drove us over to meet our family. Oksana had woken up at this point but was obviously still sleepy. It was SO wonderful to see our kids and our parents again! Oksana was half asleep so she just kind of looked at everyone. She cried on the way home because she was SO exhausted. We got her in, put her in PJ's (which she was NOT happy about) and put her to bed at 1:30am. We spent a little bit of time with our family and then we all crashed. Thank you Lord!

Pictures soon.

Going Home!

As of this afternoon we have all of the documents we need to leave the country!!!!!! Yesterday we went to the embassy to drop off our paperwork and we had to answer some questions about how long we had been here, etc. I don't know what it was about those questions but I started crying. I did everything I could to hold back tears so I didn't look like a total fool but it wasn't working very well. I guess the embassy felt as close to home as I was going to get and yet our trip home still seemed so far away! I just wanted to go home so bad. When I walked out Nadya looked at me and said "Have you been crying?" Then I really lost it. She freaked out and thought something had happened that would keep us here longer. Once we assured her that everything was fine and I was just letting go of 6 weeks worth of emotion she and our driver were so sweet and understanding. Nadya told me that we are one of the most patient families she has ever had. That fact that she felt that way is in itself is a miracle from the Lord because if you know me, patience is not my strong point!

Today we went back to the Embassy and they were playing a video about America. There went the waterworks again! The lady at the Embassy thought something was wrong, but when I explained she was very sweet and said she was glad they were tears of joy that we get to go home. We ran into another Reece's Rainbow family at the Embassy too! For you RR people it was Cindy Allen adopting Irina. She is beautiful!

I have so much more to say and more pictures but as you can imagine we stay very busy since Oksana's arrival. We are packing up now and putting her to bed soon. We will be picked up at 3:30 am to start our journey home. I have no idea how she will do but we are certainly praying! I'll update again on the other side.

GOTCHA DAY!!!!!

We have her! All is well so far. She definitely understood what was happening today. The staff at the orphanage had prepared her well. They told me that when ever they would ask her something she would say "It's OK because my mama says it's OK!" Cracked me up! Here are some pictures from her big day!

Here are all of our gifts to the orphanage and our stuff for Oksana:

Changing into her new clothes:

Ready to Go!

Telling the orphanage workers "Paka!" They were SO excited and a big crowd of them hung around until we left:

All of the kids combs. Oksana's is the yellow one:

Oksana's bed is the little one in the corner:

Leaving the gate of the orphanage for the last time!:

She had to hold onto one of each of our hands the whole time. She did great in the car and would look up at us and smile:

Checking out her new books at the apartment:

She climbed up on the bed right away and started arranging the pillows while she laughed hysterically. Then she plopped down to check out her comfy new spot:

Tomorrow is the day!

If you are on our Facebook page you probably already know this but we just got a call that we will be picked up tomorrow at 10 am by Oleg to go get Oksana for good!!!!! She is sleeping right now and it is her last night in an orphanage! I can't believe it. I'm so excited and so scared! Pray, pray, pray! We'll update as soon as we can.

Going Public Again/Things We'll Miss About Ukraine

First of all I wanted to say that the blog is now public again.

A few days ago Larry and I were discussing what we would miss about Kiev and Ukraine and I took the time to jot them down. The ups and downs have been hard...very hard. Sometimes I've wanted out of here so bad I could hardly stand it but now that I'm actually leaving I'm remembering some of the most amazing experiences we have had here. We are forever changed because of our time in Kiev. I can honestly walk away saying I love this city. It's the city that our Ukranian princess was born in and I truly think that is something for her to have great pride in. We will share so many wonderful things with her about her birth place but here are just the the top 10 (in no particular order)

1. Walking everywhere! I love walking to the grocery store, restaurants, sight seeing, etc. We have walked miles and miles around this city. Our friend Lyndi calls it Ukranian buns of steel and it just won't feel right anymore to get in a car to go down the street (although in 90+ degree weather the novelty does wear off really quick!)

2. Ice Cream on Khreschadyk. When you walk that much you can spare an ice cream and Khreschadyk (the main drag in the city) is the place to get it and it is GOOOOD!

3. Our "compartments". Some have been better than others but they have all been our home away from home. A place where everything becomes safe and familiar.

4. Sightseeing. Kiev has some amazing things to see and the history behind it is fascinating. The churches here have definitely been favorites. They are amazing!

5. Souvenir shopping by the SDA. Every Matroyshka Doll known to man and some! Specifically we will miss our friend (he is a friend of our translator) who was so sweet to us and always gave us a discount on our souvenirs. He is one of the sweetest people we have met here.

6. The satisfaction of realizing that you can communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language using hand gestures and facial expressions! You'd be surprised how well it works!

7. Platform stilettos ;) I had myself convinced for awhile that I couldn't continue to live here without them...but I got over it!

8. Nadya and Oleg. I never did get to say goodbye to Oleg officially. We were at the medical appointment and it was taking too long so he had to leave. It's probably a good thing because when I said goodbye to Nadya I cried...and cried. I've done a lot of that the last couple of days but I will really miss them. They will always have a place in my heart.

9. Finding out what we can live without. I found out that I could survive without a washing machine or dryer. In fact I can even wear my clothes more than one day and I won't die! I could get very creative with a kitchen that consisted of a refrigerator, a pot, and a burner. I wouldn't die if every place I went didn't have A/C (although I came close a couple of times). But I am thankful that I never had to go without internet. That might have been a major catastrophe!

10. Larry had to point out that this list would not be complete without adding the spaghetti carbonara at The Patio. That was his favorite meal here and he had it often! I promise you he will be talking about it for years after we leave here!

Now I just want to add a couple of things that aren't really specific to Kiev but that we will miss about our time here. First, is our time together. We had one or two days where the stress got to us and we could have used some alone time but other than that we have enjoyed every single moment together. I adore my husband and there is no one else I'd rather be in this city with for so long! Second, is our friends. Oh we have met some of the most amazing people. I can't even list them all but you know who you are. There is something about the common bond of being an American and experiencing adoption together in a foreign country that creates immediate friendships. We love you all. I can't begin to tell you what you have meant to us and we will miss you SOOO much!

Ok now I need to stop because I feel the lump forming in my throat. Good night!

Answering a Commonly Asked Question

A question we get asked frequently is "Where does Ellen live?" and "Will Nina and Oksana get to see each other?". Ellen lives in Iowa, we live in Arkansas. We aren't exactly neighbors; however, St. Louis is our hometown and is about equal distance between both of us so we've discussed meeting up there someday. Right now we aren't sure when that will happen. Ellen and her family will be in St. Louis early in September but that might be a bit early for us to make the trip especially since I think Larry has used up his time off of work for the rest of his life :)! So nothing is in the works right now but it is a goal of ours to get together and it will happen as soon as we can make it happen....until then we always have skype!

Just another update

We did all of our running around this morning and I was thrilled that there was quite a good amount of money in Oksana's bank account. We went to the director's office to give it to him and found out that his office has no electricity. It was shut off because they couldn't pay the bills. We were told they barely have enough money to keep electricity on in the houses with children and to buy them food. This explains why they are on a 2 diaper per child, per day limit as well. The doctor wasn't in at Oksana's baby house so we had to leave and didn't get to see her. Oleg told us that as soon as his car started pulling away from us yesterday she was crying "Mama! Mama!" That kills me. A few more days and she won't have to worry about it anymore. In fact she very well may be ready for us to go away for awhile!

When we got back we moved into our previous apartment and we couldn't be more thrilled. The A/C in here is so much better! Then we picked up our friend Sherry White and met the music teacher from her orphanage at the Chernobyl Museum. We were very disappointed to find out that the guides in English were all being used so we walked around looking at stuff that we had no idea what it was. Still, we got enough from it that I want to get a documentary of some sort on Chernobyl and put the pieces together. It really did look interesting. After getting through the museum we ate dinner, walked in the rain to the metro, and the CRAMMED in with way too many other people to head home. It was a busy day which is good since we have a lot of time to kill before next week!

Before I wrap this up I wanted you to see the message I got from Ellen yesterday. It warmed my heart and I think you will appreciate it too.

Had to tell you what Nina said yesterday (keep in mind we do pray for you guys often) She said, "Oksana have family. Nina pray for Oksana, I pray Oksana happy to have family, I pray Oksana no scared when she goes family, and I pray THANK YOU!"
And she wanted to pray right then! So she did.
Funny, we have never said anything about Oksana being scared, and she had never told us she was scared, but she remembered and she is praying for her friend :)

It's a good reminder that no matter how much these kids like you it can still be very scary for them to make this transition....and understandably so. Nina, I know your prayers were heard...thank you!

Mixed news...

First the good news. We got the tax code today! Nadya picked us up this morning at the same time that Oleg was picking up Oksana and one of the orphanage workers (Ellen, it was Ira). We all met up at the passport office and when we walked up to Oksana, her eyes lit up and she started smiling, laughing, grabbing our hands and putting them on her face, etc. She was SO excited to see us! We were equally excited to see her, and surprised that they had given her a dreaded orphanage haircut. She now has a mullet, which will be quickly fixed when she gets home! We went into a lady's office for quite awhile while Oleg talked and talked to her about our passport. I have no idea what was going on but Nadya looked frustrated with what was happening. It turns out they are asking for another document. I don't really understand but we are going to get it tomorrow and it does not delay the passport. We went to sit with Oksana and Ira in a waiting room and the next thing we knew we were told that the staff was going to lunch and we would have to wait! It was about 100 degrees in that building and we now had to entertain Oksana through their hour long lunch break! It actually went amazingly well though. Larry would walk her around, then I would walk her around (my arms are still feeling it!), then we got out the camera and took pictures of each other, our feet, the furniture in the room etc. Ira explained to Oksana that she was going to say "Paka (goodbye) Ira" and go on an airplane with us. She seemed a bit confused about all of that! She was very good, and just when I thought I'd die of heat stroke they told us to bring Oksana in for her picture.

She loves to experience new things and she had us laughing the whole time they were trying to get her picture. We sat her on the chair and she laughed, sang, clapped, and smiled the whole time (in the video)! She was too short to reach the white background so Larry had to sit under her and lean back out of the way of the picture. It was quite funny to get that picture. You can see in the video that the lady would hold up a bird to get Oksana to look forward but in each picture she was leaning over or looking around and it took forever to get a good shot! You can see in the video we are trying to get her head right. They say "up" she looks way up...they say "down" she looks way down! She was getting a bit frustrated with us crazy people! At one point she shot the picture RIGHT as Oksana turned and looked away! When we finally got the picture she went with Ira and Oleg back to the orphanage (with no complaint because she was excited to get another ride in Oleg's car :) and we took a cab back to our apartment.

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So what's next? Well, this is where some of the bad news comes in. There is a story behind this that I don't have the time or finger strength to type out but basically we can not get a flight out of here until Wednesday. At first we were DEVASTATED. Once we looked at every possible option, and had a good cry, we realized there was nothing we could do about it and we decided that at least we now have a DEFINITE date. No more hoping and praying to get things that will get us out of here faster only to be disappointed again and again. We are coming home Wednesday.

So tomorrow we go get this other document, then we go to the bank to get the money out of the account that the government has for Oksana (each child has one and it is customary to donate that money to the orphanage which we will do), and I think we are going to the orphanage to do some paperwork which means we'll probably get some time with Oksana again. We'll get the passport on Thursday or Friday, suffer through the weekend, and then break Oksana out and take care of all of the embassy stuff early next week. Even if there is some unusual delay and the passport does not come until Monday we still have time. Now I'm off to bed. This day has been physically and emotionally draining and I have to be ready for tomorrow.

Nothing

Another useless day. Nadya said she would know by 10 am if our tax code was ready. At 11:30 we found out that it wasn't but she was told to check again at 3. We sat around hopeful but no luck. Now we try again tomorrow. I don't feel like wallowing in self pity right now (to be honest we've done that all day :). You can guess what this means for our chances of getting home this weekend. Still not impossible but nearly.

Yesterday we went in search of a Matroyshka doll for Larry's mom. The place to go is right by the SDA and St. Andrews Church, which we got pictures of when we first arrived here. Vendors line the street on the other side of the church selling all kinds of Ukranian souveniers. We were excited to see a wedding party coming out of the church, then after they left we noticed tourists going inside. This is one of the only churches that we had not gone in yet so we were excited to check it out. We were surprised to see not only that a baptism was in progress but also that you could take pictures!
If you look close you can see the bride and groom at the bottom of the steps:

Inside the church built in 1747:

Throughout all of the churches here they have various places set up where people come to light candles and pray:

The baptism:

We thought the baptism was very interesting. I got some video but let me give you a disclaimer before you watch it. The video starts with the priest doing something to the baby (their backs are to us so you can't see but I think he was putting oil on the baby) then in the shot comes a friend or family member of the parents baptizing their baby. Here's where the disclaimer comes in. You may be shocked to see that she is in an Orthodox Church where Orthodox women are still required to wear a head covering (as you can see on the mother and another lady in the background) but this woman is wearing a completely see through dress with a black thong! Now, we've seen a lot these last 5 weeks and this is actually not uncommon on the streets but in CHURCH at a BAPTISM?!?! Anyway, I digress. After the shock of that you see the priest chanting something in what I think is Latin and then sprinkling holy water on everyone and then the parents celebrating. These are just a few short clips, but actually the whole baptism was rather long. It was 90+ degrees outside and there was no AC in the church. Still, it was very neat to witness.

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And just for fun we thought we'd show you what happens to your clothes when you wash and air dry them here. They are like cardboard!

All of my white clothes are also now a lovely shade of white/gray. There will be some clothes that will be going in the trash before I leave here. I pray that tomorrow I will be writing with some good news!

No Tax Code but New Apartment

First, a quick paperwork update. We did not get our tax code on Friday. Apparently the lady who normally does this and has a relationship with Oleg is on vacation...of course...so she told her assistant to take care of everything and her assistant isn't. Anyway, Oleg and Nadya have been on her case and she has promised it by Monday morning. I won't hold my breath, but at the same time Monday is our last chance to possibly get out of here by Saturday and not have to spend another weekend here waiting while nothing happens. This is our hope for our timeline:

Monday- tax code and apply for passport
Thursday- get passport and spring Oksana from the orphanage
Friday - get Oksana's medical exam and go to the Embassy and beg them to give us her Visa on the same day
Saturday - PAKA (Goodbye) UKRAINE!

Of course we have NO idea what will really happen but a girl can dream, right?! We have peace knowing that we truly are at the end of this journey. This is probably the hardest thing we have ever done and God has carried us through and we know He will get us to the end!

Yesterday afternoon Lyndi, who helped us with all of our dossier prep through Reece's Rainbow, and her family arrived in Kiev. Last year they adopted a beautiful 6 year old boy with Down Syndrome from Vorzel and this year they are back adopting a 15 year old boy from another region in Ukraine. We met up with them to do some of their souvenier shopping and then went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Nadya met up with us there. It was just about at that point that the live band came and set up RIGHT behind us! We had to scream to hear each other so we left and went to a coffee house where we sat until they basically shut the lights out on us. Many of you have asked to see Nadya so here is a picture of her (blonde) and Lyndi (brunette with glasses) at the restaurant.


Today we moved to a new apartment...actually we've started calling them our compartments :). We had only reserved the black and white one for a week. The apartment company provided a driver to take us to our new location. It is right down the road but with luggage and all it would have been a pain to walk. Anyway, he loaded us up and then proceeded to drive BACKWARDS for about a 1/4 of a mile up a busy street (luckily this was the weekend or we would have hit about 20 people) until he was where he needed to be to turn off. I almost busted out laughing. Only in Ukraine! We've learned that each apartment has it's pros and cons. This one is right above a coffee house with wifi which is the only reason I have internet right now. It is a cute little place with a washing machine and a drying rack but the air doesn't blow very cold, the TV doesn't work well, and we have to share our iron and ironing board with the room next door! We are in this new apartment until Wednesday and then we move back to the one we just left until Saturday at which point we will hopefully be leaving! Here's our new "home".




Please pray for Monday. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything.

In this case no news is NOT good news

We've known since before arriving that in this journey you can never trust that the time frame you are given will be accurate. On Tuesday we were told we'd have our tax code Wednesday and at the latest Thursday. Well considering we've heard nothing and it's Thursday night I'm assuming that didn't happen. Are we shocked? NO. Are we disappointed? YES. The novelty of this place is wearing of QUICKLY. We have been there done that and bought the t-shirt...or Matroyshka doll in this case :). We are still hopeful that maybe, just maybe we can still get this thing tomorrow and move forward. Just yesterday we were doing great, settling back in and confident that we'd be out of here soon. Today, not so much.

In our effort to get out of our apartment and try something new we started wandering and found a HUGE underground mall. It goes for blocks and blocks and blocks. You can find anything there...and I mean anything. Do you need clothes, toys, platform stilletos (they have TONS of those), underwear (more than I've ever seen in one place), a couch, a bong (seriously), a doll for your child that is naked and anatomically correct (I even took a picture but I'll spare you), or a sword? That's just the beginning of the things you will find in this mall. We also saw a mannequin that honestly needed a breast reduction. I've never seen anything like it but she was proudly wearing a bikini! Their malls here are different because rather than a few large stores they have MANY small ones. They were about 5' deep and 10-15' wide. The clothing stores had a small area in the corner where a curtain was hung up on a rod for a dressing room. Some areas were set up more like a craft fair where everything is more open but they were still businesses.

We also found a great park area. It was a nice area to walk around with a huge playground, pony rides, a restuarant, and of course a statue (because you need to have a statue everywhere).



I think we are going to try the Chernobyl museum in the next day or two. Saturday we are moving to a new apartment again. It's a different building but still a great location and it's not black and white! Other than that we will wait...and let you know when something happens.

Baby Picture!

Today we started our day with a trip to pick up Oksana's new birth certificate! After that we went to a notary for something that has to do with the passport and Oleg applied for our tax code. Those of you who have done this before will understand the tax code better than I do. All I know is we need it to get the passport. So...our understanding is that when we get the tax code we will take Oksana to have her picture taken for her passport. Once we get the passport we will spring her from the orphanage have her medical exam and get her visa and we'll be out of here. We currently have a flight back on Wednesday. From what Nadya says it is possible we will be going home on Wednesday but not before then. If not Wed. then later. Anyway the cool thing is that now that we have our court decree we were able to go back to the SDA and get Oksana's baby picture and one other picture of her when she is a bit older!


After our stop at the SDA, we did more sight seeing and had lunch with Nadya. We had a funny experience with a menu item that had a poor translation! We ordered something that said it was a "burger with cheese". Sounds good, right? Look at it!

It was a big hunk of cheese, breaded, fried and stuck on a bun with lettuce, onion, tomato, and mayo! It was even cold still in the middle because they just flash fried it! I'm a fan of cheese but this was a bit much for me so I didn't eat much. Lesson learned :)

During our time sightseeing we rode on a little "tram", for lack of a better word, that takes people up and down a big hill that leads to the river. It wasn't any big deal but at least we could say we experienced it!



We're waiting to hear from Nadya regarding tomorrow's plan. I think it depends on the tax code. Right now we're just taking things one day at a time. That's the best we can do. Nadya did mention to us today that when the doctor at Oksana's baby house saw that we had boys she was happy and said "She will do well with them!". We have noticed she seems to be a bit of a tomboy and loves things like cars and dirt.

This picture is for Clayton and Evan :)

Evan's Birthday!

I just wanted to add a few pictures from Evan's 8th birthday:
He asked everyone to give him money so he could get an ipod touch. Mission accomplished. He was thrilled! Notice his shirt...it describes him well!

Ice cream at Fritzs. It's become a birthday tradition for him when we are in St. Louis.

Our neice Kennedie. She and Oksana actually look quite a bit alike!


It was a great birthday. I miss the boys already but rest in the fact that this trip won't be as long and when it's over we're all going HOME!

Back in Kiev

We're back! It's funny how it feels like we never left. We just fell right back in step. Our flights were uneventful. Boy, that trip from NY to Kiev is brutal. You can handle about the 1st 5-6 hours and then it starts to go downhill fast. We're in a new apartment. When we got in we were incredibly exhausted but our apartment wasn't ready yet so we went to a coffee shop to hang out for a couple of hours. Larry got "hot chocolate"...well it was hot and it was chocolate. It was about the consistency of pudding and tasted like cake batter.

When we got back they told us that the last person had broken the sink in the bathroom and a technician was putting a new one in. He had to run to get some supplies but we could go in. We walked in, dumped everything, and fell asleep until he arrived to finish with the sink. We hardly stayed awake while he was here. When he left we fell asleep again until someone came by to bring us some drinking glasses. FINALLY we got some sleep and as much as we wanted to stay asleep we knew that if we didn't get up we would be wide awake tonight. After exploring the room a bit we learned that we have a washing machine and a skillet but no drying rack or dinner plates. Oh well, you take what you can get! Larry thinks they got a 2 for 1 deal on the designer :).


Look! We can do our laundry while we go to the bathroom!


The view from outside. Our last apartment had a better view but it came with the sounds of honking horns and screeching tires all night. This time we are in the back of the building which is much more quiet but not much to look at.



We met up with the Dove's for dinner and met their newest addition, a 5 1/2 year old boy! Their other son is with them and he was adopted from Ukraine a couple of years ago so they now have 2 handsome boys! I will never be able to say enough about what a blessing the other adoptive families here have been to us. They have provided encouragement, laughter, understanding, and English! We all share a unique common bond and the friendships are instant.

We talked to Nadya and she told us that she and Oleg did as much for us as they could without us being present. We love them :)! The next step is to pick up Oksana's new birth certificate which we need in order to move forward with more paperwork. We can't do that until Tuesday so we have tomorrow free. We really debated going to see Oksana but we are struggling with whether or not, in her situation, it is best that we show up after our absence have another visit and leave her behind yet again, leaving her confused and upset, or if we should just show up when it is time to take her out of the orphanage. At this point we've decided to wait it out a bit and see how things progress. We still aren't sure when we will get her out. We have lots of paperwork running to do and she isn't the type of kiddo that will happily hang out while we do that so we will wait. I know many people immediately get their kids out after the 10 day wait but after much prayer and seeking the counsel of others we have decided that this is not the best option for us. Good or not the orphanage is all Oksana knows and we want to minimize the confusion and impact that pulling her out will cause as well as do what we can to increase the chances that her first days with us in this apartment are positive ones for all of us.

So...there won't be much excitement tomorrow. We will head to a children's store to get some gifts for the orphanage, I'm sure we will fit a nap in, and we will meet up with some new families that have just arrived to start their journey as well as more "old timers" like us ;).

Heading Back

I can't believe I haven't blogged since I got home. I take my rest and relaxation seriously :). It has been wonderful to be home. The man at customs in NY has probably never seen someone so happy to see him! We've spent most of our week either hanging out with family or shopping for things we need for the next leg of our trip. I got a sling so I can haul Miss Oksana around a little easier. It's sure been a long time since I had a sling on! I lived in one when my boys were little. We also got her a few more toys, mostly to keep her entertained on the plane, and an outfit to wear home...white capris and a navy blue shirt that says "All American Sweetheart". It was on clearance from 4th of July and I couldn't pass it up!

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to deliver souveniers, show pictures, and tell stories so we don't have to worry about all of that when we are home and adjusting to being a family of 5. I've spent a lot of time thinking about Oksana. I'd be lying if I didn't say there is still quite a bit of fear involved in all of this, but coming home has definitely been the re-charge we needed to move forward.

Today we spent the day celebrating Evan's 8th birthday! We took him to see Despicable Me which was a fantastic movie! Later, our whole family met up at his restaurant choice for dinner, O'Charley's. We topped the day off with Fritz's ice cream and sent a happy 8 year old to bed tonight. My internet connection isn't great right now so pictures will have to come later.

Our flight leaves at around 9 am tomorrow (Saturday) and we will arive in Kiev at 9:10am Sunday their time, which is about 1 am central time. The nice thing about this trip is that everything will be familiar and we won't have to deal with the culture shock. I have no doubt, however, that we will still have the dreaded jet lag. We look forward to meeting more new families who are arriving when we are to start their adoption journey, and seeing some of the friends that we left behind last week who stayed for their 10 day wait. I'm not exactly sure what this leg of the trip looks like except I know there is lots of paperwork and running around so I will keep you updated as usual!