Mom, I was thinking about something for you to do and thought about calling Mimi, Na, and the rest of the family. They always ask about you when I see them. The numbers are in the black book on the top shelf of the computer room by the window. Na's number is on a scratch piece of paper in the book. You will have to look for it.

Alison, Happy b-day, soory I missed it. Love ya lots and miss you.

Mikie, Please go visit Grandma, she misses you. Love ya.

7^th day:
Today I have been missing home. I miss my son, friends and family . I know he is in good hands but I miss being able to talk to him and pick on him. (Hi Shawnie!! I love ya). We miss the food, ice cream, MOUNTAIN DEW, having water pressure in the shower, washing machines and many simple things we take for granted everyday. The only thing we don’t miss is the cold weather, it has been in the high 40’s here with some sun.
Jack, Yes the kids like dogs. They seem to be very interested in Bella because they have never seen a white German Sheppard. Pavel wants a cat. Jack and Noah be prepared Maxim is very good at legos and loves the build new ones that he has never seem before.
We got up at 7:00 am to go to see Vera (Executive of the Department of Children) so we could pick up some documents she made for us. Last night we got a call from Sedgwick FMLA about our claim. They want documents we cannot give them until the end of the adoption as proof of what we are doing, they also want papers on placement date of the children. We do not know any of these things. Like we need any more stress! We explained to George our situation, that without these papers Shawn could loose his job because none of the time he has had off will be excused. He called Vera at home and asked if maybe she could help. She started working on the document from home and we agreed to meet in the morning to review and hope that she could find someone to sign the document. George left about 8:00, we left at 8:30 to meet him in Vera’s office. When we arrived they were still reviewing the document and trying to word it properly, there are words in the Ukraine that do not translate to English and vise versa so if a document needs to be translated it can take some work to make it work out. When the letter finally was done Vera had to see if she could find someone to sign. When she returned we had to wait because she had left the letter with a favorite and trusted employee of her Chief so we could guarantee that the letter would get signed. When she received the letter we found that there were mistakes and the letter had to be rewritten and signed again. This process took 2 hours and that was very fast for them. They have no fax, e mail, and things are walked from building to building for signatures and approvals. Things can take a lot of time. Now we needed to find a place to fax the letter. In the city square there was a “store” that was set up with booths that had phones, wifi and a fax. George explained what we needed and the letter was faxed to Sedgwick as well as Shawn’s HR department. Thank you Mike Andrews for getting us the fax numbers we needed! Next we were off to court to drop off some more documents and then home. George has to catch a bus at 11:15 to make it to his train so he can go to Kiev and finish paperwork at the SDA for court for us. He also has to help finish up another adoption he has in process. He hope to only be gone for 4 days but as you can see nothing has any definite time line. We will visit the children as scheduled with the driver and see some sights until George gets back to Kerch. George dropped us off at the apartment left for the train about 11:00. We decided to walk to the internet café so we could e mail Mike Andrews and Kim DeForest about the fax they should be receiving and that a copy was sent to Sedgwick. We also explained what has been happening and asked if maybe they could help us. Back to the apartment to get a snack and take a nap. We had until 4:00 before the driver (Andre’) would be here to pick us up to go see the children. When we woke up and was getting ready to go for lunch Kim DeForest called and said that she received the fax and was going to fax it to Sedgwick and talk to our caseworker’s boss about the situation. She said not to worry she would take care of the problem. Thanks Kim! Now we can relax again, it is hard to think about bringing home 3 children and having one more at home and not having a job. Went to lunch and used their wifi to post.
Just to let everyone know, the pictures are all from different days but the children always wear the same clothes. I think they bath and change clothes on the weekends. We bought legos for Maxim and a small doll dressed as a bunny for Sasha. We also found a book for Russian children to learn English. They are always very happy to get gifts. They are so surprised and happy it is amazing to see their faces. Maxim is very interested in the electronics. They go to the library with their class rom time to time and do know how to use computers. He spent most of the night playing mine sweeper and solitaire. He is very good. English #’s and Ukrainian #’s are the same but with different names 1 is adeen 2 is dva… They look the same, add, subtract etc. the same, just different names. Sasha spent a lot of time taking pictures, at the end of the night she worked in the English book we bought. She was tracing the letters of the alphabet very well and saying the names of the pictures in Russian and then in English. Shawn and Sasha spent quite a while on this project. They also worked out of a book on colors we bought. After the computer ran out of battery Maxim put together his lego fighter plane. He was so interested in this that he refused to go to dinner with his friends. They looked very sad but left without him. It was a really big project and very confusing (to me) and he had it finished before we left. We were very surprised because in the beginning we thought it would be too hard for him. One of the caregivers came in to tell us thank you (in English) for the gift we bought for Sasha’s groupa. It was very nice because she does not speak English. When we left Pavel was waiting to tell us good bye. We are assuming that he is not able to come into Sasha’s groupa because he is sick and we hope he can return to us soon. We are happy to see that he is out of the hospital, but we do not know about Vitaly. Pavel was very happy to see us and seemed to want to tell us something, this language barrier is so hard sometimes. We said good night and left for home.
On the way home we got a call from Sedgwick FMLA stating that our claim had been approved, the paperwork was sufficient. They gave us until the 26 of December to return to work. They stated that they did not get the fax from us but did get the information form Kim for the approval. Thanks again Kim! Now we can sleep.

2 years home!!

It has been a lot of work this year. The children are trying to deal with their past and learn about who they are and how to be an active part in their new future. It has been a lot of work for all of us. It is amazing how much trauma these children have witnessed and think is just a normal part of life and the huge adjustment that they have to “Americanize”.  Many times a week we wish we were not out numbered 4 to 1 in the day time and 2 to 1 after 5. Adopting three and already having one at home has been crazy but we love it. It has all been worth it. We cannot think of anything better we can do with our lives.

The best advice we can give is to prepare yourself for all of the issues that you may have with your children. READ, READ, and READ more. Talk to other parents that have adopted older children and learn from their mistakes. Listen when they give advice. Even with experience in parenting my own children, trauma, and psychology of abused children I struggle with decisions on what to do many times. Keep them busy... very busy! Sports, school activities, good friends to visit, ect.

Always keep in mind how great of a thing you have done (or are thinking about doing) by giving a child or children unconditional love and a home. They may have never known this blessing that YOU have given them.

Our blessing for the new year is a new daughter. We hope to travel to bring her home in April, 2013.

Merry Chistmas and many blessings to you and your family for the new year.

One year today that we met Rey, Maxim, and Sasha!

Today is our one year anniversary of meeting our children. It seems like Rey, Maxim, and Sasha have been a part of our family forever. They have learned so much and changed so much it amazes us. You would never know that Sasha has ever lived anywhere other than America. They are doing so well at everything that is expected of them. The busy summer I had working on teaching English, getting used to having three more children, figuring out what they would eat and getting them to trust us enough to try new foods, learning ways to communicate until we learned enough of each other’s language, figuring out that toys are to be played with and not put on display, stepping into arguments that I only understood two words of, …  all seems worth every minute of it. At the time I never thought I would survive but now look at all of them. Rey is doing well in school but like any other teenager he can think of one million things he would rather be doing. He is going to school, making friends and getting good grades. He is working on an adjusted curriculum but he is able to do more work every day. Learning to speak and understand English has been easier for all of the children. Reading and comprehension is the hardest. Sash knows her ABC’s and is reading small books. She tested at the 50% range for her first grade class. Maxim is reading at a 3^rd to 4^th grade level. Rey is reading at a 2^nd grade level. He is speaking very well but reading is hard, understanding what he reads is even harder. They now love to play outside, can be trusted to get along most of the time, are eating us out of house and home, have a since of humor, rarely have temper tantrums, and are so full of love and happy it makes your heart explode at times. They are still normal children and with that comes all of the great wonders and joys of motherhood (and fatherhood) that I would never trade for anything.

Update, almost 3 months at home!

It will be three months on June 28, 2011 that our children have been home from the Ukraine! So much has happened in this time that I am not even sure where to start!

From the very beginning the children seemed to fall into place in our family. I am not sure if this is because they had some time to adjust to us a little over the two weeks we waited for their passports and visa plus the time that we spent on the first trip (it was 28 days).

They were a little quiet the first few hours and were not very excited to see the house. We walked them around and showed them things in the house that they had seen in the video we had brought with us of the house, bedrooms, the house and their brothers. At first they did not even want to look in their rooms. I am not sure they understood that they were for them. After a few hours they would sneak to the rooms and run back to us and ask questions or bring us things to see. By night time they were very excited and happy to go to sleep. Maxim and Sasha wanted to sleep together but we said we would spend time with them until they fell asleep. They all did well and continue to have no problems through the night.

We are amazed at how quickly they are learning English. They already knew words when we arrived back home and their vocabulary increases each and every day. It is easier for Sasha than any of the other children. It progresses in amount know from youngest to oldest. School has been the best learning tool for the younger children. They love school and are so proud to show us what they learned each day. Rey does not like school. He has a hard time with all of the talking and not understanding most of what is being said. He says he feels like all day he hears nothing but “bla, bla, bla” and it is very hard to deal with. Rey and Maxim are only in school for three hours a day and classes are simple things like art, gym, and math (the universal language). We hope that this year would just be for socialization and learning of language because of their late start in the year. We have used many programs online, children’s workbooks for kindergarten through first grade, and children’s reading books like Bearinstein Bears. We used Pimseular Russian to English CD’s for the car, their room and Rey even has them on his MP3 player. The best learning tool that all the children like and agree on using is the Rosetta Stone English program for the computer. It really is worth the money.

It is amazing at how many things still stop them in their tracks when they see them. Airplanes, Semi trucks, animals of almost any kind. They say that the animals that they have in the Ukraine are almost gone, they very rarely see any. Women driving buses and trucks get a lot of attention too. We never had any problems with taking them shopping or any other place with large crowds. We read several articles and books that mentioned this as being a big problem; we think it just depends on the child and their past experiences. They are very shy around strangers still. I do not mind, it is a lot better than having no fears and worrying about them staying with us in public.

Doctors appointments went well. The children are all healthy as we were told. The children did very well and even tried to ask questions. We had a translator come with us so they understood what was being said and so the doctor could ask specific questions to the older children. Next week are dental cleanings. This seems to be the one they are scared of. We will see how it goes.

Each child has jobs that must be done each day. They were so used to having something to do every second of their day while in the orphanage they get bored very quickly and will start to argue with each other. They are not very good at playing by themselves. Every toy we buy ends up on a shelf and the watch it to make sure no one takes it. We have to get the toy and play with it to make them want to do what we are doing and then the next time they do not want to play without us. With the passing of time this is getting better.

The children are very eager to try anything. Sasha was angry because we would not let her drive the big farm tractors that we use to plow fields. Papa gave in and she was just as good as the “big boys”. They have swimming down to a science already, riding bikes, and flips on the trampoline. They must have built 20 bird houses out of every scrap piece of wood they could find on the farm the first two weeks they were home. They had to hang each of them up by themselves with no help. We did give a few away as gifts. They planted a garden so “they do not have to go the store everyday”. They want to do whatever we are doing from laundry and dishes to mowing grass and planting flowers. We are very busy just trying to find new things for them to try.

I do not want everyone to think life is perfect, it is a lot of work and there are troubles but we have not found anything to be too much to handle. Most things have to do with cultural differences and lack of communication because of the language barrier. We have also learned that all words do not translate or translate in the same way that we use them. For example we tell Sasha she is silly all the time. When Rey looked silly up in the Russian to English dictionary it met retarded/ unable to be taught. Of course he told Sasha and needless to say the rest of the night was not a good one. Some other examples are pushing in lines at stores, taking things from other children (the biggest/ strongest get things in the orphanage), oldest child get things first, wanting everything in the store because people who adopt are rich. Like I said nothing too hard to deal with. After a few times of saying no they learn fast what you will and will not accept as good behavior.

We are a little tired but very happy. As I look back on all of the work in the past year to get our children home and our children that were at home prepared for their new siblings I would not for even the slightest second change anything. I cannot imagine life without them.

We are home!

Yeahhh! I never thought it would happen, but we are finally home. The flight went well. We actually got there on time. The children were great. They got right up and got dressed and were ready to go. They were a little nervous on the ride to the airport but when we got in line Ray and Maxim got really nervous. Ray grabbed my hand while we were waiting in line to board but they did well. Sasha was ready and excited; she watched everything and did not seem scared at all.

Immigration was the worst. We were very tired and the line was very long. When it was finally our turn it took forever for them to check us in. We thought we were done but they ushered us off to another line. We waited between the two lines close to 2 hours. The children were good but not happy at all. They were so excited to be Americans but they did not think they would have to wait in line so long. By the time we got checked in and OK they were not feeling well and it was a very quiet. Ray dozed off and on the whole trip, Maxim slept through most of it and Sasha sat wide eyed taking it all in.

Cheryl met us at the airport and surprised me with a big (almost a tackle) hug. It was great to see a friendly face.

Mikie met us outside with the dogs so he could introduce them. Sasha was a little nervous but quickly warmed up to them. Maxim and Ray liked playing with them. They seemed to like Bella the best. They did not seem to excited about the house or their rooms but they were not upset either. I think it is  lot for them to take in.

I will write more later and post more pictures from our trip and coming home. We are very tired tonight and will be going to bed soon. Thank you for every one’s support through our adventure. Ray, Maxim and Sasha are definitely the children of our dreams.

Up at 3:00 am to fly out at 6:20 am (kiev time)

Sunshine!!! It is a beautiful day today. It is the first sun we have seen since we have been here in Kiev. It is supposed to be 40 today and warmer tomorrow.

Yesterday we went to the war museum. It was very cold but I think everyone enjoyed being able to see and play on the tanks, airplanes, and cannons. The museum itself was closed but there was still a lot to see. The statues and carvings were amazing. The children did well listening. Sasha was making me nervous in her boots climbing on the tanks, the bottoms are very slippery.

We ended walking to the store two times because there is nothing close enough to be able to buy enough food to make it through the day. The children are getting irritated with not getting what they want but are surviving. I needed to spend a lot more time on my Russian. It is not always east to get the to understand that it was the store that did not have something and not that I just did not buy it for them.

We fly out at 6:20 am on Monday (12:30 am Monday morning for you). We have to be ready and out on the street at 3:45 am. Sounds like fun hugh? We have to carry suitcases and make 3 children ready to move down 4 flights of stairs when we all should be sleeping. Should we make bets on how we do? We are so ready to be home. We miss everything about being home. We should arrive in Detroit at 1:10 pm. We have to go through immigration and they have to review all of the children’s paperwork before we can enter the US. No one knows how long it will take but we sure hope we have everything we need. Cheryl is picking us up at the airport in Shawn’s truck. After that we are on our way home!

3 more days!

Hi Cheryl- no the children have never flown. I think the only time the younger two had even been in a car was when they were taken to the orphanage. Maxim was carsick the first ride but does better every time. They did very good on the train and all are excited about flying but we will see when we make our first transfer if we can get them on the next plane (ha, ha).

Today we stayed in the apartment until 2:00. It has been raining and snowing off and on all day. The kids were getting very rambunctious so we took them for a walk. We thought we would try to find the souvenir row. Nothing is as ever as easy as it seems. We walked way out of our way to find landmarks from the last time we were here. It was worth it but a very long walk. It is a whole street of nothing but things for sale. Most of the vendors spoke English so it was very nice. A lot of items were hand made and very impressive quality. They had beautiful nesting dolls, jewelry boxes, chessboards with detail I have never seen before, pewter/lead figurines and much more. We needed more money! (and space) The kids wondered down the street looking at everything. We tried to get them to pick something special but Sasha wanted jewelry and hair ties, Maxim couldn’t decide what he wanted. Ray was the only one who understood and he shopped for the best price on the items he wanted. They each have such a different personality. The walk home was much shorter now that we knew the way.

The rest of the evening we spent home mostly playing cards and just spending time together. We are out of food again and have to go to the market first thing in the morning; it is only about 3 miles. No big deal right? We are ready to be home, this trip has been quite an experience.

All I can say is that I no longer question if God is watching each of us every day because if it was not for Him there would be no way we could ever of accomplished what we did in the time we had. Thank You!!

Crazy 2 days

“FIFTEEN hours on a train, very little food, kids with tons of energy, not much time for visas, almost out of money, pray harder, and call in the angles. As I am praying for more resources my brother Lynn calls. It is like he is reading my mind from 5,000 miles away. After I talked to him I felt much better.” Shawn  

Wednesday morning we finished packing and cleaning the apartment. Sasha and Shawn are working buddies now. She even went with him to walk and take out the garbage. The children waited and waited and waited. We played rummy with Pavel to pass the time while Sasha and Maxim played games on the telephones. George met us at 3:00 so we had time to pick up the children’s passports and make it to the train station on time for our train. The children and I waited in the car with Victor and Shawn and George went in to sign for the passports. When he got back to the car he had a very serious face, we all thought it did not go well. When we asked if it went OK Shawn says “no problemo” and Victor asked if there really was a problem. Sometimes the language barrier can really be funny. Everyone had to take turns looking at the passports and then we were on our way. We arrived at the train station with plenty of time to get situated before the train was on it’s way. The children were very excited, giving high fives and running from room to room. Maxim and Sasha were out of control exploring everything, climbing on and off the beds, running and comparing on room to the other, finding light switches… they looked like some kind of leapfrog/ high wire/ trapeze act. They were having a blast!  OK, so it got old really quick. We were ready for them to go to bed by 7:00. We finally got them to settle down and lay in the beds about 9:00 and soon after they were asleep. The train ride was much cooler this time and we all got some sleep. Ray was dozing on and off soon after we left the station. We all woke up feeling pretty good, but not quite ready for the day. When Shawn woke up and looked up at Maxim, Maxim told him to go back to bed.

We walked to find our bus to take us to the hospital for the children’s physical. We waited for quite a while especially since we did not get dinner (just junk food) and no time for breakfast. The kids waited their turn without any complaints. The visit went well. They were measure for height and weight and given a quick physical. Everyone passed and got compliments on how well behaved and how good they looked. The doctor was very impressed. She said God was looking out for us. Poor Ray and Maxim had to get a shot but they did very well.  We had about ½ before the van came to pick us up so we hurried to the café’ for something to eat. We felt much better after lunch, it was very good.

 This is when things started going crazy. We were a little late getting to the US Embassy. No big deal, the guards asked us why we were here and we told them we were Americans and were adopting. They let us in the front of the line to go through security and right in for our appointment. When we got in the Embassy at the adoption department they took our documents and started looking through them. After dividing them out per child she informed us that we did not have enough copies of some of our documents. We told her that was all that we had. Then she wondered when we are leaving for home. We told her Monday. That is when the big problems started. It seems that they are closed on Friday and that we need to have all papers in today and even then we were not sure it could be done. She did not think that it was possible; there was not enough time. We do not have the money to reschedule tickets so we left and asked George for help. We had to be back by 2:00 and it was already 12:30. We had to find out if George had more copies, get them notarized, rent an apartment, find it, drop of luggage, fill out about an inch of paperwork and get back to the US Embassy before 2:30. Just in case you are wondering… we were late. George had no copies, he thought he had made enough. It took forever to get the paperwork completed, Shawn was praying for a miracle because we just spent the last of our money on the visas and we had no idea how to pay for plane tickets if we did not get the visas or pay for the apartment or feed our hungry crew. It was about 2:15 and we were just about to go crazy and give up when the phone rang. This call helped us calm down and refocus. As Shawn prayed for help his brother called. Shawn was pacing the floor wondering who he could call to help us when the phone rang in his hand. Lynn (Shawn’s brother) called to see if we needed help. As Shawn said earlier it was like he was reading Shawn’s mind. We called a taxi to help things move faster but it got stuck in traffic, then lost on the way there. We walked into the Embassy at 2:45 and was again greeted with a warm welcome at the gate, not inside. The lady at the counter was not happy we were late and said she was not sure she could help. She accepted copies of originals because there were two other true copies and made me copies for the immigration at the airport and told us to wait to see if someone will see us. They did and all went well. We got the visas and off we went. It was a very crazy, emotional day. The US Embassy got what normally takes 3 days done for us in 1.

We celebrated by eating a big meal in a nice restaurant, buying ice cream bars and eating them all before bed. After all of the worry, it ended up being a very good day. The next step is home. See everyone in 4 days!

One step closer to home.

I have found out that it is very hard to enjoy a movie when you do not understand what anyone is saying. We took the children to see Rango. It was really cute. Maxim and Ray seemed to really like it but Sasha was tired and did not seem to care about watching it. It was a nice walk to the theater. The kids like getting out and walking especially when it is nice weather. It is about ½ an hour walk to the theater.

George stayed after the movie to talk about what is going to happen in the next few days. He tried to find out if the children’s passports were done but could not get any one on the phone. He is going to walk to the office in the morning and see of he can get some information. If not they told us they would be done by 4:00. Our train leaves at 4:20. It is going to be very close. He arranged for our apartment in Kiev and talked to Konstatine (Larissa’s partner) about our appointment in the American Embassy for immigration for the children. Konstatine sent us an e-mail for conformation of the appointment request.

We are starting to see the children’s personality show through more day by day. We are very lucky. They really are great. Shawn was trying to vacuum the floor today and Maxim and Sasha were arguing over who gets to help. We had to make them take turns. Sasha is a little mommy. She folds blankets and sheets and puts them away and is always picking up after everyone. Tonight she helped us make dinner and do the dishes. When she heard Shawn in the kitchen picking up later on she pointed to the kitchen and wanted to go in and take over the work. Ray is getting bored and will pick on the others to pass the time. We will play with him or give him some work to do to learn English to try to distract him. Maxim bounces between wanting to be one of the “big boys” and a young child. He likes to be on his own and watch what everyone is doing.

George told them that we would be leaving tomorrow and they all started packing up their things. Every suitcase, picture and toy was picked up and packed in less than an hour. They are really ready to go home.

Cabin Fever

We stayed inside most of the day today. It was very windy and we thought it would be a good day to just enjoy each other. Shawn and Ray did walk down to the store to get eggs and a few other things. I am glad we found something with protein that they all will eat. It was a very quiet day most of the time. We worked on the English alphabet. Maxim and Sasha worked on coloring sheets, they were very proud and we hung them up around their beds. Pavel and I worked on writing the alphabet and reading flash cards. He wrote both alphabets and compared the two; matching letters and sounds of each. He is picking up on words quicker than the younger children!

George stopped in with good news. Our passports will be ready tomorrow and we should be on time for our flight home. Victor (our host) got us train tickets for Wednesday to Kiev. We got two sleeper cars with 4 beds each to fit us all. It will also be nice to separate if Maxim gets carsick. He has been doing better with each trip he takes but we are still nervous. It is a 10-hour ride and once you are on your way there is not turning back.

We had another wrestling match tonight. I think Ray was rather surprised that I joined in and actually was able to hold my own. The look on his face was worth a million dollars. Sasha was not happy about it so it was very short lived.

The children are starting to get in a routine and know what we think is acceptable as far as what they can eat and bedtimes. Things are getting better everyday. We cannot believe how great they are.

I am getting very homesick and cannot wait to be home. 6 days and counting.

A Day at the Circus

Hi Cheryl, the ladies in the picture are Maxim and Sasha’s groupa leaders (teacher/ Mama).

We got to sleep in today! The children slept in until 8:00. We all needed it. Today is circus day. George came about 11:00 to walk with us to the circus. Sasha wanted toys the venders were selling and Maxim wanted us to find juice. It is a very long walk and it was very nice here today. We were all hot and ready for a rest and juice. The circus is inside and it was very crowded. I am always worried about getting separated from the children. We had to check our coats before we could go in, push in through the lines and then out again. The circus was really good. The building was a big dome room almost like a circus tent. We all set around a center stage. The children seemed to really enjoy it. There was a strong man, dancers, clowns, rope/ high wire acts, trapeze (sort of), baby bear, snakes, dog tricks, baby alligators and more. They even had a harness rigged up so the children could be raised to the height of the trapeze platform. They had choreographed water with lights, pyrotechnics and a fog machine. It was really great. Sasha saw children in front of us with popcorn and wanted some. Shawn and I had just asked if the children had ever had popcorn, I guess that answered our question. During the intermission we got everyone popcorn. There were so many things for sale Sasha could not stand it. Balloons (her favorite), pictures with the dogs, She has a hard time hearing no but did very well, not so much pouting today. On the way out we got her a humming bird that lights up, the boys did not want anything.

It was a beautiful walk home. I am really enjoying the nice weather. We had eggs and sausage for lunch. George stayed for a while so we had him go through a list of things with Sash to see if there was anything she likes to eat. It was a very long list. No eggs, no meat, no cereal, no cheese, no yogurt…. We were just about to give up when George asked about an omelet. It worked! So we made an omelet out of eggs with meat and cheese and she ate about half. Go figure, we are just glad to see here eat. They have been so much better about what they eat and understanding that snacks are for snacks not dinner. They did not ask for any chocolate or their chocolate cereal at all today.

Ray and Shawn worked on learning more words today. They went through more flash cards. Ray really wants to learn. He worked on some word searches in the afternoon and his alphabet with Sasha and I latter in the evening. His is picking up on more things every day. All of the children are surprising us with words that they know.

There was a huge wrestling match in the living room today, it was just like WWE. Ray wanted to wrestle so the match was on but Sasha felt that she needed to help Ray so she would sneak in and tickle Shawn or poke him. That would give Ray the chance to wiggle out of the hold. After all the noise Maxim had to see what was happening so he joined in. He felt safer with a little distance between him and the big boys. Ray would not give up until Shawn was pinned. They both were ready for a nap when they were done. It was very fun to watch.

Before bed tonight we snuggled up in bed and watched movies on the computer. The children have a hard time sitting still but really enjoy the time together. Maxim lay against Shawn and barley moved for the whole movie (that never happens). Sasha and Ray would stay with us and then go and lay in their beds and then would come back to use. Bedtime was easy tonight. Everyone just got in bed and said good night with hugs and kisses for us. I am so glad; it is hard to leave them alone when they are upset/ wired.

"one out of 3 ain't bad"

Today has been a pretty quiet day. We hung out at home spending time together in the morning. After lunch we went to the market. We are trying to get the children to pick out things they like and ask to put them in the cart. It is not going very well. All they do is shake their heads and make funny faces. Maxim only wants chocolate and Sasha wants sunflower seeds, other than that we are on our own. Ray will try anything but Maxim and Sasha are not very excited about anything. Maxim will eat something George calls baby meat sometimes, but yogurt, tangerines, and cocoa puff looking cereal is about all they want to eat. They will refuse to eat if they do not get what they want. They have very strong wills. They get mad at us a lot.

After lunch we went for a walk to try to buy Sasha boots. We were about 4 sizes too big with the boots we brought her. At least we tried. We found the first store with children’s boots and Sasha refused to even try on one pair. She wanted sandals and we told her it was too cold. The Lady in the store kept trying to help her decide but Sasha would have no part of it. We went to 2 other stores before we found a pair she would try on. She wanted boots that looked like an adult’s with heals and such. After all of the shopping for girls shoes and his help asking directions we thought we would get Maxim a toy (it also helps pass the time). Most of the walk home all Sasha did was complain and pout about the fact that she did not get a toy and Maxim did. On the last trip we said that we were thinking they might be a little spoiled but we did not have a clue. I will ask again… how can children for a country that is poor; have grown up in an orphanage that has very little turn out to be sooo spoiled?? They will go in the other room, into the bathroom, to their bed, and pout and pout and pout. It is almost too cute, we usually end up laughing and that just makes it worse. They get really mad when we laugh. They are starting to drive Ray crazy, he is always trying to get them to behave. We have been getting him to just let them pout and ignore them; they will be OK when they are ready.

Bedtime was a little hard tonight. Maxim and Sasha did not want to go to bed. They tried to run around and hide. Ray went to be and smiled and then made a “aren’t you glad I am good” look. After we turned out the lights Sasha was crying a lot so I sat with her until she calmed down. I think they are finally asleep.

I think we may have bitten off a little more that we can chew. Really, they are great kids. We just need to figure out something to do to pass the time. We are all getting cabin fever and we end up picking on each other.

Simferopol day 4

I guess we have a schedule now wheather we like it or not. Maxim and Sasha wake up at 6:30 and they play for awhile, eat and then it depends on what we have planed on for the day. If the kids don't wake Ray up we have to so he has time to get ready before we go. Today George came about 10:00 so we could take the children to a puppet theater. We decided that the circus would be over too late (10:00) pm for walking home in the dark. It was a very long walk but the children did great. Ray seems like he has been here before but he must just have a good sense of direction. When we arrived at the theater todays show was over. It starts at 10:00 on week days and 11:00 on weekends. We decided to see if the circus had any shows earlier in the day. Sunday they have a show at 12:00 so we bought tickets. It is inside building so it should be good rain or shine. On the way to the circus we walked by a movie theater so we thought it would give us something to do. George and the boys decided to watch a movie about the destruction of LA (I forgot the name).
We hope to be in Kiev late on Wendnesday. Our passports are supposed to be done and then we will catch the train (we hope). All we have to do them is get 3 doctor appointments and our visit to the US Embasy for visas on Thursday, have them completed on Friday and then we are done and on our way home on Monday. The train ride is about 10 hours and Maxim get car sick and the heat is about 90* so it will be a long day. We are hoping to be able to catch up on sleep on Saturday and Sunday because the flights home will make for another long day.
The kids are a blast, they are always talking back and fourth about everything. Maxim always trys to involve Sasha in everything he does, Ray is playing with her a lot. She has them wrapped around her little finger (Papa is next). Ray helps alot and is learning the most English but they all are doing well. We have picked up a few words ourselves.
I have pictures to download so I will write more tomorrow... enjoy!
Love and miss you all.

Simferopol day 3

Today has been a long day! The children get up at 6:30 so not only are my days and nights mixed up because of the time change but just about the time I feel like I fall asleep they wake up. They wake up, make their beds and wait for us to wake up, of cource we hear them and are up as soon as we can get dressed. George was here at 9:00 to try to get us an appointment for passports for the children. We were not able to so we went for a long walk in the park. The park has woundering sidewalks, river and some small amusment type games and rides. Ray and Maxim played a game but Sasha was scared. They all road a train and we took a buggy ride ride (poor horse). Most of the rides were shut down. They were just starting to get them running for spring. The children walked the whole time, even Sasha, and never complained. On the way the way home we stopped at the market for food... again. After lunch we went to get the photos done for the passports and ended up waiting for over an hour in the car because when George went in to talk they were not ready for us yet. Everything went well and finally we are one step closer to getting everyone home. Pictures are done, passports filed and now we wait for them so we can go to Kiev for Visas. Victor went to the bakery while we were in for passports he bought freash bread and filled the whole car with its wonderful smell. We were all starving in just a few minuets. The children (we helped) at the whole loaf on the way home! We cannot get them full no matter what we feed them.
George says that there is a circus in town and maybe we will try to go tomorrow. I hope it is nice, I worry about the animals.
The children are great. They are picking up on words already. Sasha like to copy what we say and make a game of picking on us. We are trying to learn some russian but it is not going well. Ray is trying to help us pronounce words but it is more funny than anything, it is impossible! Shawn and the children pass the time with rubber band fights. I am so glad that he is so mature for his age (ha ha). Things are going great. I love that we are here and no one has to go to work, it is a great time to bond and learn about each other.
We miss you all and can't wait to be home.

We have the kids!

On Tuesday we drove to "Leena" to pick up the childrens birth certificates. It was very exciting to finally have everything happening. After this we went to the orphanage and meet the director. She wished us well and good luck and many blessings on all of us. We left a donation for the children left behind, signed paperwork that we agree to take the children, that we received the children, and a promise to keep the children in contact with their older brother. We took in clothes for the children to change into, said good bye to groupa leaders, and were on our way out to Simferopol. The children said good bye to their brother at the car. A few friends came to say good bye. It was one of the hardest parts of the adoption. We all loaded into a oversized Mercedes Benz minivan and off we went. The children did very well. It was a little sad for awhile but everyone was excited to see the sites and things soon cheered up. Sasha was very excited to see what was going on, Pavel was too but he soon fell to sleep. Poor Maxim was car sick and he was miserable. He never threw up but he was not feeling well, very green and very sweaty. He fell asleep eventually and seemed to be comfortable.
When we arrived in Simferopol we went to immigration and things did not go well. They said that all of our paperwork was not complete and we needed to fix it before we are able to file. We had to find a notery and do more paperwork. Immigration only sees visitors on Tuesdays and they closed in a hour before they closed. If we cannot get this we will have to wait until tuesday to file. This is not good news. George said maybe we can file on thursday if we can get support from friends, so far that is not working out. Geoge is having a very hard time with the fact that this is happening. He is working very hard to get things fixed.
Victor (our host) invited us to his home for a celebration drink and dinner. His wife is a great cook and their vodka is very strong. We are renting our apartment from Victor and he was also our driver. The apartment is very nice and has great water pressure and a washing machine. It has been great having a nice home to get to know our children in.
They are doing very good. We let them stay up late because it was a very busy day for them. We enjoyed watching them unpack their suitcases and folding up everything we got them. They acted like it was christmas. We are a little worried about our gracery bill... they never stop eating! They went to bed without any problems. They wanted to help make their beds, they are very independant. Maxim and Sasha were up at 6:30 am and ready to go. They have a lot of energy. Pavel was trying to sleep in but it was hard due to the noise. All children made beds without being asked, what a change from home.
Ray found the Pimsleur Russian Language programs on my phone and is doing great (and seems to be having fun) with them. He really is trying hard and doing very good. He is a huge help with the children too. He is a very good boy, we are very lucky.
Around our is very busy because there is a college nearby. It is not much fun or very easy to walk around or shop. We will be happy to be on our way to Kiev.
We cannot find our camera cord and hope to find one tomorrow so we can post some pictures. We are all doing great and cannot wait to get home.

We have landed!

We got in without any troubles. Everything went well and we are safe and sound. Got to see the children and they were very happy to see us. We will write more and send pictures soon. We pick the children up from the orphanage tomorrow and are off to Simferopol and hopefully closer to internet service. We will give an update then.

Time to go and bring our children home!

We are on our way to getting everything packed and and ready to go. We have a long trip trip ahead of us. 22 hours by plane and car. It makes for a very long day. Our tickets got changed so all of the long layovers are gone. So far things are going well. Our plane takes off at 10:00 pm and we will try to post on the way if we have the time on our layovers to check in and update our travel. Uncle Mel will be bringing us to the airport and seeing us off again.

We got as much as we could done around the house. Most of the construction is done, just a few touch ups left. We have cleaned as much as we can. Mikie is watching his brother and taking care of the house so he will have to finish all of the touch ups.

This is so exciting we miss seeing the children and cannot wait to get them home. It has been a very long wait. We get to talk to them on Saturday morning to let them know we are on our way. They always ask first thing when we are coming to get them, finally we can say today.

23 hours to take off!

T minus 13 Days, 10 hours, 26 mins and counting!

We got to talk to the children today and we asked them if they were ready to come home? We asked about flying, train rides and long car rides and they just said they are very excited to be able to see us again. Shawn told them Christmas is in 12 days!

We have our tickets, have spent a lot of time shopping for clothes and items for their rooms and getting the house moved around so everyone has their own rooms. Everything is looking good except for the new bathroom, it is coming along and we hope it will be working if not done by the time we leave for the Ukraine.

We are getting so excited to finally have them home....
(we have a lot of stuff to do, gotta go)

Got our travel date!

We were notified today that we will be able to travel to pick up Ray (Pavel), Maxim and Sasha. Larissa said to plan on being in the Ukraine on March 14, 2011. We have our tickets and plan on leaving on March 12, 2011.

Its' time to start following us again because today we start another countdown. This time we are counting down the days until we get to bring our children home!

Russia's local government requested an amendment to the court decision.  George (facilitator in Kiev) has done it, judge requested  at least several days for this amendment to become "in power" (sort of a short after-court waiting period), which will be done next week, then we will send it to Russia.  I hope this will be Russia's final request and if so - the new birth certificate will be ready in Russia in 2 weeks, by the time it gets to Kerch - about one more week.  So we should probably be ready to travel towards the end of February, IF WE DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER ISSUES WITH RUSSIA!

We have been able to talk with the children the past couple of Sundays. Larissa (our adoption facilitator) does a three way call and translates for us. It is great to hear their voices again. The first question they always ask is, " when are you going to come and get me?" Ray (Pavel) says he is ready to come home now. It has been a long wait for all of us.

We are keeping busy working on the house. There is always something to do. We hope to get the new bathroom working before the 3 new additions to the family arrive. 6 people and 2 bathrooms may get a little interesting at times. We have been shopping and trying to get enough things for them to make their rooms look lived in without buying too much. We want them to be able to pick out what they like.

We are waiting for the call...

Still waiting...

Larissa sent us some new news:

 " I spoke with Konstantin about your case. He said that things are moving along. They have found an attorney in Russia who is working on your case. There is only one paper to finalize and then the birth certificate will be allowed to issue."
Hopefully we will be traveling soon. Originally we were told the beginning to the middle of February so we are still on track.

We are working on the remodel of the basement. The two bedrooms are done mostly, some trim work and closet doors. The beds are set up and curtains hung. The family room is at about the same place. A couple of more weeks should put us completed with all rooms including repainting the 2 bedrooms upstairs and putting up new beds.

Thanks to everyone who have donated items for the children.

We are home!

We made it home Christmas day about 2:00 pm. Uncle Mel met us at the airport and brought us home. It was nice to have someone drive us home because after being awake for 32 hours I am not sure how safe it would have been for us to drive. Mom had the house all decorated and had gone shopping for treats for us all and had been cooking the family favorites for the holidays. It was great coming home. We are very grateful to everyone that has been there to help and support us through this past month (and much longer in some cases).

The trip was long and there were a few issues, like there being no tickets for us in Kiev and having to wait in long lines to try to find someone who spoke enough English to help us so we did not end up staying in Kiev for the night. We rode in the car for 1 ½ hours to get from Kerch to Simferopol, got on a plane and rode for 2 hours to get to Kiev, waited for 2 hours for the ticket booth to open and check in at the airport to open. We tried to check in to the flight and found out we did not have tickets, waited in line to get tickets, found out they did not take US dollars, waited in the line to exchange money, waited in line again to get tickets and then checked in for the flight to Amsterdam. This flight was 2 ½ hours or so and then we had a 12 hour layover. The airport was amazing! It had a mall, many stores, museum, play house for children, hotels, sitting areas for TV. We arrived about 15 mins before it all closed. So we walked around, tried to find a place to sleep which was impossible because of the overhead announcements, bright light and people cleaning and talking. We wanted to stay in one of the hotels but they we all booked. It seemed like forever but we were finally on our way home. This flight was about 8 hours and we dozed off and on throughout this flight. We were so happy to be home! It was great seeing a familiar face, hear English being spoken and to see Mountain Dew for sale.

We hope to return to bring the children home the end of January to the middle of February. We have no idea on how long we may have to wait. The paperwork to send to Russia to request the birth certificate will not even be ready until January 5^th. George is going to stay in contact with the children and send them letters and pictures while we are gone. Vitaly has a cell phone that he shares with Pavel so George will be able to call and give them updates. As I get more information I will post to keep everyone updated.

Stay tuned!!

It's two boys and a girl!

We feel much lighter as we have "given birth" to 3 new McClurg/ Fountain children today!!
Pavel Raymond McClurg
Maxim Allen McClurg
Alexandra Marie McClurg

It has been a great day! Court went well, our judge was very compassionate as well as everyone else involved in this decesion. She had many questions but all were about our ability to care for these children. Pavel and Maxim got to attend court and tell the judge how they feel about us and the adoption. They were very excited when it was announced that the adoption was approved. George took many pictures of everyone. There were hugs and congratulations from everyone in the court. We will be on our way home tomorrow and be home on Christmas day. We will post pictures on Sunday after we are home.

It is an odd feeling. We are happy to get home but not very happy about not bringing the children.

Love and miss you all, have a great holiday, and we will be in touch soon.

We have lost track of time!! What day is it?

We finally had the time to go shopping for the kids. We wanted to find some books to help us with language but we walked the whole shopping district and so no book store. The office supply store has a few children’s books but not much of a selection. I have to get a Russian to English dictionary that I can look us words both way, in Russian and in English. I bought one for Ukrainian but too many words are different. The toys stores here are very small with mostly baby toys. There are a few books, dolls and Lego type stuff. We found an activity book, some 3-D wooden puzzles that you could paint, (a Santa and a Christmas tree) and a Snow White sticker book. They really like stickers! We stopped at the newspaper stand and got Maxim a marvel comic book that had Spiderman cards attached. He really likes Spiderman. His favorite colors to wear are red and black.

We are sitting quietly eating lunch and posting on our blog when we look at the table beside us to see what they are doing because they are just sounding like they are having too much fun. They are all having shots with lunch, my guess would be Vodka. Must be that you can bring anything that you want to drink in with you. They were all doing well but one tall skinny guy, he was pretty buzzed. The waitress was keeping sharp eye on them. She is the grandma type. She always tells me I am not dressed properly, “where is your hat, no sleeves on your shirt, put on your coat…”

George called today. He said that Pavel and Vitaly were both in the medical building at the orphanage. I asked him if we would still be able to see Maxim and Sasha if we went to visit them. He told me to call from the medical building and he would ask to make sure. He said he was at the airport and then he would be in a car for quite awhile. I take it he was not on the way here from the train station. I hope he is here soon. Court in on Thursday and we leave to come home after that. I really would like to take the children out in public once before we leave to see how we all do before we come home.

We got to see Pavel and Vitaly. She said we could stay for 5 to 10 mins. We ended up staying for about a ½ hour. Vitaly looked and sounded good. We are not so sure he even needs to be in there. I guess better safe than sorry. Pavel still has a bad cough. It is very harsh and deep in his lungs. He was very happy to see us, he gave us both big hugs and grabbed Shawn’s arm, pulled him down beside him on a bench and put Shawn’s arm around his neck. Vitaly was a little shy. He offered Shawn his hand to shake which he did but then Shawn gave him a hug. Vitaly just turned to hug me. He had a smile on his face so I think that helped him relax. It was nice getting to spend some time with the older boys together. We could see how they interact with each other. I pulled out my book to find the words for “how are you feeling” and Vitaly was looking at the book over my shoulder so I gave it to him. He pointed to “where does it hurt” and looked to me and then to Pavel and pointed to his heart. They exchanged words and Pavel bowed his head. Both boys gave me the thumbs up to my question and then we tried to move on to something else. We attempted some Russian which always gets a laugh and then I remembered that I had down loaded some pictures of his namesake and opened them on the computer. Pavel and Vitaly both laughed and said that Ray Mysterio (from WWE) looks like superman but that we had the right person. We have to download the translator on this computer so he can read the article. Pavel showed Vitaly all of the pictures from home. He had them all memorized after only seeing them the one time. He explained them all.

Maxim and Sasha were happy to get gifts again. They sat for about an hour putting their puzzles together and painting them. Sasha just happily worked away talking the whole time. Maxim is a little perfectionist and is very independent, he wants no help. He gets very pouty if he cannot do something. He ended up breaking on of his pieces and was almost the end of his project. I cannot get him to understand that it is OK. I fixed it for him as best I could, glue would have helped. He perked right back up and finished his Santa and proudly put it on his teachers desk as a gift. They really need to get outside and burn off some energy. The last hour of the night turned into a giant wrestling match with not only our children but with others from Maxims’ groupa. I wish you could have seen Shawn. He was throwing kids up in the air, had them climbing on his back, throwing balloons and hitting each other with balloons. It was total chaos! The pictures do not do it justice. Maybe we can get them paired up with Bella and they all can burn off some energy.

Fri:  Today “grandma” from the café asked us if we were here for a baby. I guess I should say first that she knows no English and I know very little Russian. This whole conversation was held through pantomime, funny noises, and an odd game of charades. She asked about the children and was surprised at the number of children as well as their ages. She was happy to know that our daughter’s name is Sasha because that is also her name. She looked at pictures of the children, picked on Sasha’s ears, pictures of our home and asked about the weather at home. She asked about school and that no one spoke the language of the other. We talked about our older children and the animals. It seems that we have made a new friend. She wants us to bring them in so she can meet them. I hope we get to take the children out once before we have to leave to come home.

We did a little shopping for gifts for the last caregiver. We ran out of the ones we brought. We decided on perfume and chocolate. Everyone here seems to like perfume and it was a hit in the other gifts and every woman loves chocolate. Shopping is always and experience here. The people are usually tolerant of our lack of language but some really try to “talk” to us and it becomes a very fun time. The lady at the perfume counter was definitely one that was fun. We walked out laughing and with me smelling of perfume.

Pavel (Ray) was waiting for us with Maxim and Sasha tonight. It was a great surprise. He looked good and sounded much better. They played with the computer mostly, it seems the be a real hit with all the kids in the orphanage. After dinner Pavel came to see us a little late but he had Vitaly with him so it was another nice surprise. We got hugs all around and then they walked us out to the gates. Vitaly seems like a good boy. We gave him our address and e mail address so hopefully we can keep in touch. We want to invite him to visit the US sometime so the kids can see him again.

I called George tonight to find out when he would be coming back to Kerch. He said that he will have all the translated documents on Monday and then will be on the train putting him here on Tuesday. He said that he has all the paperwork translated that he needed for Russia and is just waiting on the court decision so that can be translated and sent for the birth certificate to be issued. This is good and bad news. Good because now we know it can be done, bad because it has taken too long to figure out and get the process moving so the children will not be coming home with us. We will have to return after Russia issues the birth certificate and it arrives at the Kerch City Building. Court is on the 23^rd and we hope to fly from Simferopol on the 24^th direct to Kiev. We have tickets to fly out of Kiev on the 24^th and we should be home for Christmas dinner. We want McDonalds and a Mountain Dew, maybe a Hinkley’s doughnut and people who can understand and speak English. Merry Christmas!!

Sat:  We have officially lost track of time. We thought today was Sunday and was pleasantly surprised when talking to Cheryl that it is actually Saturday! That is good in that we get to spend and extra day with the children, bad because it just feeds into the whole theory of us not knowing what is going on. We get to do the day all over again… Groundhog’s day?

We are really getting frustrated with not having a translator. It is one thing when we cannot communicate in a store or a restaurant but not being able to talk to a caregiver or our children is getting old. Sasha’s caregiver is trying to tell me something about Christmas, I know they are working on a play and I think she is telling me Sasha is going to be the Snow Princess. This is a big deal here (bigger than Santa Clause). The problem is she is describing a crown and a flowing blue dress and I am not sure if she is just getting me to understand who she is talking about or if she is describing a dress for me to buy. We cannot seem to get the other to understand the main question. Or like on the day that Maxim runs into our room and is crying, grabs his coat and leaves. No one knows what happened or where he went. He had still not returned when it was getting close to time for us to leave so I started asking if a caregiver could help me find him. He was in his room crying in his bed. Vitaly, Pavel, Nicholas (a friend of Vitaly) were all in the room with him trying to get Maxim to talk to them. We were not able to talk to him and no one in the room could understand that we wanted to know what happened to make him so upset. We could not get him to even let us hold him like we did the last time he was upset. We had to leave with him still laying in bed crying. When we left we still not have a clue what happened and he had been in his bed crying for about ½ hour. We are very unsure of his personality and we are trying to figure him out. “will the real Maxim please stand up” He has a fine line between having fun and anger with few warning signs. He starts getting angry fast. If the anger is interrupted by anything the anger turns to tears. I know he is going through a lot and has come from a troubled past, but this is a personality that is going to take a lot of patience and work to help him see his “warning signs”.

While playing around in the room we keep calling Pavel… well, Pavel. At some point he stands straight up, puffs out his chest and points to himself and with a huge smile on his face says, “Ray”. I guess that finally answers that question! It was really funny but you probably had to be there.

Sunday we got to go to a Christmas play that the children put on for the Orphanage Director (maybe it was him). He made a big speech at the beginning but as we all know I did not understand and we had no translator. The play was awesome!! I wish we would have know where we were being taken because it was the best show of customs, native dance, and the odd blend of pagan and Christian celebration that we have seen since we were here. We did not have our camera!! Some of these children are very talented and I can not believe the show they put on. I am so glad we were able to get a hold of our driver and stay late and go. They are such beautiful children and they all have been through so much but they still all shine.

Sunday night Vitaly and Nicholas visited with the children. They had a blast and we got some pictures of Vitaly. Vitaly was watching the children deep in thought as Nicholas played with them. Vitaly mostly held them and had them set on his lap. He was very quiet tonight. I think he thinks we are taking them with us when we leave this trip and he is trying to say good bye and spend some time with them. He also keeps sending them to us to do things like hug us or tickle us, I think he wants to see how we interact. We had a good night, playing football (soccer) with a stuffed soccer ball, picture searches on the computer, wrestling around and such. It is a very small room for 4 adults, 1 teen and 2 children to play. I wish there was something we could do to help Vitaly. We are going to have George talk to him when he returns on Tuesday and try to tell Vitaly that if he wants to come to the US we will look into a visa for education and what it takes to get him to the US after he is released from the orphanage. We gave him our email address and home address so we can stay in contact. We have been told he does not want to come to the US but maybe for a visit to see all is well with his brothers and sister and to see America.

Shawn’s family called tonight. They all were together to celebrate Christmas. It was nice to hear from everyone. They just passed the phone around so that Shawn could say hi to everyone and catch up a little in their lives. It made us feel like we were there as best as we could be from 5,000 miles away. They invited my Mom and little Shawn for dinner which was very nice. It made my Mom feel like she had family to celebrate with even though she was away from home. Thanks guys!! We took a picture of us right after we got off the phone so we could write our memory of the night in our journal and add the picture.

King of the mountain!

Today was a nice sunny day so we decided to walk to stairs to the Russian monument for the fallen soldiers of a battle. The site that this monument was put on is the ancient ruins of a Greek city and there has been excavation so you can seen most of the foundation and some walls. This city dates 5,000 years before Christ. This is the place we have been wanting to visit but the weather and the number of stairs has kept us waiting. Today is a great picture day and the view has to be awesome so we had no choice but to try it. The rise on the steps are not very high so you can take a million baby steps or take two at a time (our choice). We walked up 3 flights at a time and would rest at the platforms and take pictures. We forgot to time the actual walk up but with all of our stopping to rest and taking pictures it took about 30 mins. It was definitely worth the view. We got a nice view of the black sea and two ports. In the distance we could see Russia but the sky was hazy in the distance so the picture is not clear. The monument was surrounded by a patio with walls of black marble. On different sections of the wall there were stars placed with what I believe to be the names of towns the soldiers were from. The only one I could read and knew the town was Odessa. I could be wrong, it is just a guess. We stood at the top of the hill and took pictures all the way around to capture all that we saw. Our favorite part was the ruins. It was amazing to think that something has stood that length of time. We walked around as much as we could to see what was left. We could see an old pillar, part of an entrance way, but mostly the foundation. There were others walking up to see the monument and take pictures. They were not even winded when they got to the top. We are so out of shape! The walk down was much easier.

We ate at the café’, posted, and read our emails. We wanted to stop and look at things to do with the children so we needed to find a place to exchange money. We had tried twice at the place we usually go but they were not working. After the third try we went looking for a place George showed us earlier in our stay. Everything worked out but it just adds to our walk and we are always a little worried about getting lost. We were running out of time to make it to the market and home in time to meet Andre’ (our driver) to go and visit the children so we decided to shop for the children tomorrow.

The visit today brought up many questions of what we are going to do when we get home. They like to fight and wrestle which is fine, but both have tempers and want to win so they can get a little rough. We try to get them to understand we want them to be easy but still can play but they seem to think we want them to stop. When we look up words Maxim is the only one who can read but at times he does not seem to understand what he is reading. Maybe it just doesn’t make sense to him. I do not know what the definitions say in Russian so I am at a loss. The other issue is Sasha’s pouting. She wanted a piece of gum and knows where I usually keep it. She was looking for it and of course it was gone. When I told her “nyet” she wanted me to look and I did. Of course we were still out. She climbed up in my lap and curled up like a baby and refused to move. OK, that is her choice. We continued the day as normal. So then our camera’s memory card was full and we needed to delete some pictures that we had already downloaded. She recognized the noise and ran over to see what Papa was doing and started saying “nyet” over and over. Shawn stopped but again she went to my lap and continued to stay and not interact. We just continued the day as normal. Maxim finally tried to talk to her and that was no good, so he tried to show her a toy he had. She just reached out and grabbed it, and went back into her pout. Maxim finally got her to let him show her, and then she was mad because she could not do it. She took it into the other room with the other family that is adopting and you could hear her giving them grief in there so I went to get her and bring her back to our room. She was this way most of the night. We are in so much trouble. Normally I would just let the child sit where they are until they are ready to be an active part of the family but we do not have the language to tell Sasha or Maxim what we want and his nature is to help her so she does not cry or pout. This is going to be fun when we get home!
　

Waiting.....

No new news. Just a waiting game. We are hoping George will return soon with some good news but we still have not heard what day he will be back. Tomorrow is one week until our court date and we are starting to try to figure out our adoption story for the court. They want to hear from both parents. It sounds like there will be quite a few people in the court and I do not do public speaking. Hopefully our translator will make what we say sound better than we can.

The children are getting a little more relaxed every day. Tonight they started hiding behind a big chalk board and tickling each other and then playing keep away with little dolls. I started tickling both of them and they quickly caught on to the fact that I like to wrestle. They can get a little too wound up and get a little rough with each other but it was really fun. I bet they slept well last night. It is nice to see that they are just normal children.

It is still a little rainy today,, maybe tomorrow will be better. We want to walk up top the top of the hill with the war memorial (442 or so steps) so that we can get a picture of the port and Russia. Russia is very close with a ferry between here and there. Maxim’s town of birth is supposed to be just over the border of Russia. I think it would be a nice picture for his life book to see how close Russia is to where he grew up.

Notes to family at home

Mom, I was jsut thinking about something you could do and thought that you could call Mimi, Na, and the rest of the family. The numbers are in the black book on the top shelf by the window in the computer room. Na's number is floating in there somewhere on a scrap piece of paper. They always ask about you when they see me.

Alison, Happy B-day! Sorry I missed it. Love and miss you!!

Mikie, please go and visit your grandma, she misses you. Love and miss you.

Holly P., Happy b-day and last day of school. I sent you an e mail. Miss you and the boys.

Angels are with us!

As you can see from the picture, Shawn's angel is with us. There is no possible way that the light is from the outside, no streets, no people, and not from the flash (we did not use one) because you can see the light goes behind his head. This picture was just timed perfectly as our angel was showing!

Catching up after bad weather!

7^th day:

Today I have been missing home. I miss my son, friends and family . I know he is in good hands but I miss  being able to talk to him and pick on him. (Hi Shawnie!! I love ya). We miss the food, ice cream, MOUNTAIN DEW, having water pressure in the shower, washing machines and many simple things we take for granted everyday. The only thing we don’t miss is the cold weather, it has been in the high 40’s here with some sun.

Jack, Yes the kids like dogs. They seem to be very interested in Bella because they have never seen a white German Sheppard. Pavel wants a cat. Jack and Noah be prepared Maxim is very good at legos and loves the build new ones that he has never seem before.

We got up at 7:00 am to go to see Vera (Executive of the Department of Children) so we could pick up some documents she made for us. Last night we got a call from Sedgwick FMLA about our claim. They want documents we cannot give them until the end of the adoption as proof of what we are doing, they also want papers on placement date of the children. We do not know any of these things. Like we need any more stress! We explained to George our situation, that without these papers Shawn could loose his job because none of the time he has had off will be excused. He called Vera at home and asked if maybe she could help. She started working on the document from home and we agreed to meet in the morning to review and hope that she could find someone to sign the document. George left about 8:00, we left at 8:30 to meet him in Vera’s office. When we arrived they were still reviewing the document and trying to word it properly, there are words in the Ukraine that do not translate to English and vise versa so if a document needs to be translated it can take some work to make it work out. When the letter finally was done Vera had to see if she could find someone to sign. When she returned we had to wait because she had left the letter with a favorite and trusted employee of her  Chief so we could guarantee that the letter would get signed. When she received the letter we found that there were mistakes and the letter had to be rewritten and signed again. This process took 2 hours and that was very fast for them. They have no fax, e mail, and things are walked from building to building for signatures and approvals. Things can take a lot of time. Now we needed to find a place to fax the letter. In the city square there was a “store” that was set up with booths that had phones, wifi and a fax. George explained what we needed and the letter was faxed to Sedgwick as well as Shawn’s HR department. Thank you Mike Andrews for getting us the fax numbers we needed!  Next we were off to court to drop off some more documents and then home. George has to catch a bus at 11:15 to make it to his train so he can go to Kiev and finish paperwork at the SDA for court for us. He also has to help finish up another adoption he has in process. He hope to only be gone for 4 days but as you can see nothing has any definite time line. We will visit the children as scheduled with the driver and see some sights until George gets back to Kerch. George dropped us off at the apartment left for the train about 11:00. We decided to walk to the internet café so we could e mail Mike Andrews and Kim DeForest about the fax they should be receiving and that a copy was sent to Sedgwick. We also explained what has been happening and asked if maybe they could help us. Back to the apartment to get a snack and take a nap. We had until 4:00 before the driver (Andre’)  would  be here to pick us up to go see the children. When we woke up and was getting ready to go for lunch  Kim DeForest called and said that she received the fax and was going to fax it to Sedgwick and talk to our caseworker’s boss about the situation. She said not to worry she would take care of the problem. Thanks Kim! Now we can relax again, it is hard to think about bringing home 3 children and having one more at home and not having a job. Went to lunch and used their wifi to post.

Just to let everyone know, the pictures are all from different days but the children always wear the same clothes. I think they bath and change clothes on the weekends. We bought legos for Maxim and a small doll dressed as a bunny for Sasha. We also found a book for Russian children to learn English. They are always very happy to get gifts. They are so surprised and happy it is amazing to see their faces. Maxim is very interested in the electronics. They go to the library with their class rom time to time and do know how to use computers. He spent most of the night playing mine sweeper and solitaire. He is very good. English #’s and Ukrainian #’s are the same but with different names 1 is adeen 2 is dva… They look the same, add, subtract etc. the same, just different names. Sasha spent a lot of time taking pictures, at the end of the night she worked in the English book we bought. She was tracing the letters of the alphabet very well and saying the names of the pictures in Russian and then in English. Shawn and Sasha spent quite a while on this project. They also worked out of a book on colors we bought. After the computer ran out of battery Maxim put together his lego fighter plane. He was so interested in this that he refused to go to dinner with his friends. They looked very sad but left without him. It was a really big project and very confusing (to me) and he had it finished before we left. We were very surprised because in the beginning we thought it would be too hard for him. One of the caregivers came in to tell us thank you (in English) for the gift we bought for Sasha’s groupa. It was very nice because she does not speak English. When we left Pavel was waiting to tell us good bye. We are assuming that he is not able to come into Sasha’s groupa because he is sick and we hope he can return to us soon. We are happy to see that he is out of the hospital, but we do not know about Vitaly. Pavel was very happy to see us and seemed to want to tell us something, this language barrier is so hard sometimes. We said good night and left for home.

On the way home we got a call from Sedgwick FMLA stating that our claim had been approved, the paperwork was sufficient. They gave us until the 26 of December to return to work. They stated that they did not get the fax from us but did get the information form Kim for the approval. Thanks again Kim! Now we can sleep.

8^th day:

We woke up to rain, rain and more rain. We can only shop for a day or so at a time because the shopkeepers sell the food until it is bad. If you buy enough for several days it can be spoiled. So it is pouring rain, we have very little food and we have to walk to get every where and we have no umbrella. What a great start of the day. We waited for a break in the rain and walked to the internet café to send out some e mails. It is not possible to post unless we have wifi and they do not. It is too far to walk in the rain to get to that café. We stopped at a small market on the way home and picked up a few things. The lady at the counter was laughing because we were trying to order and she was trying to talk and it was not going so well. Usually they just wave us on. We were supposed to go see a castle and ancient ruins that are dated 5,000 years BC but it was raining, so we stayed home and waited to go see the children. We spent some time trying (the key word) to learn more Russian, just so basics for the ride home and to help with the visits. Some  words you may want to know:

                Da/ Tak                 yes                                                                          da-dush-ka           grandpa

                Nyet                       no                                                                           ba-bush-ka           grandma

                Po-zhaowl-sta      please/ my pleasure (after spa-sea-ba)           uncle                      da-da

                Spa-sea-ba            thank you                                                             aunt                        toe-tya

                Po-ka                     see ya                                                                     friend                     droog

                Zos-twitch-ya       hello                                                                       brother                   brat

                Men-ya  za-voot    my name is…                                                     sister                       ses-tra

Good luck and have fun!

George called and let us know that things are moving a long with our documents. He said Vera has documents that he needs and that it is good news but he didn’t have time to talk. He was waiting in line at the SDA and will talk to us later. George needed us to pay Andre’ (the driver) to travel to Vera’s office, pick up the documents, take them to the train station to give to the courier so the documents will be on the train tonight and get to George in Kiev. Sounds kind of like the pony express?  Any way George says good news so we will keep you updated as we know.

I am not quite sure how it happened, Sasha may be the only case in the world but some how she has ended up very spoiled while living in the orphanage. She will actually curl up in a ball against a wall and tuck her head down and pout until her brother gives in to her. As soon as he does she is all smiles and off she goes. We were trying to play cards and she was off doing what ever and when she came in and saw we were playing without her she sat in my lap and tried to put her feet where the cards were. She would laugh and mix them all up. If I gave her my card to play she was OK but when she was not paying attention and noticed the game was going on without her she would start again. She is very strong willed and too cute, that is a bad mixture!! HA HA! Be prepared for some trouble when we get her home. Maxim played games on the computer and when it was time for dinner I think he may have been gone for 10 minuets. He must have ran there, eat as fast as possible and ran back. His sister leaves 15 minuets before him and she was still not back. The dude eats fast. Maxim is really trying to talk to us, he is trying to learn new words and he seems to remember them well. He is getting really good at hand gestures and helping us figure out what he is trying to say. Luckily I usually know one of the words he is trying to get us to understand and we build from there. He also uses the books we brought to find words or pictures that help us. He is a very smart boy. Tonight they acted like they did not want us to leave. Usually we will get up and put on our shoes and they will start picking up their toys. Tonight they started getting out more toys and not wanting to get ready to go. Maxim was just dragging his feet but Sasha was not wanting me to put her down, she was whispering in my ear (I have no idea what) and kept giving us more hugs. Tonight we even got kisses! We have never gotten kisses before.

When we left it was snowing and raining. The streets are all flooded. It was a very interesting ride home. Winter has finally found us. It is getting very cold. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

The kids cloths so far as we can tell are Sasha size 6 pants and tops and size 3 shoe, maxim size 10-12 pants and tops no know size shoe and Pavel is still not able to join us. We will let you know.

We got our new plane tickets. We should arrive in Detroit on December 25^th unless things change and we get to bring home the children. Then it would be the next week.