Some photos

On the airplane

Airport Shuttle

Waiting on Papa


Meeting Papa






Finally Home

Home Sweet Home

I will post some pictures later but while I had a few minutes I just wanted to say we made it home without incident. Not even a flight delay. I am all for flying Aerosvit from now on between Kyiv and JFK; for the same price as economy on Delta, you can fly business class on Aerosvit and there are no change fees! I am spoiled already. The boys watched about 10 hours of DVDs on their own little personal DVD player and Alexandra and I visited with another family that was returning home with their third older adopted child. You would think Roman would be intimidated by large airports but it is quite the opposite. He is so super confident that I had to play act a kidnapping for him to get him to understand that he could not continue to wander off. We went to sleep last night about 8:30 and the boys woke me up at 4:30AM whispering about what the day would bring. The reunion with Papa was sweet and the boys have spent the afternoon running from X-Box to bicycles to motorcycles to their new rooms and then back again. They have been so busy that I have had time to visit with Luke and catch up on his summer. It is so very good to be home. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging comments along the way. I am so thankful to God for all He has done on behalf of our new sons. Please continue to pray for Gabe and I as the real work now begins!

Coming Home

We will be picking up Visas at 2:00 today. We leave Thursday for New York and will stay there overnight. We will arrive in Atlanta Friday morning where Gabe will meet us. We should be home early afternoon. What a wondrous thought. Feel free to come by this weekend and say hello to the boys.

It has to be possessed

As I mentioned a few days ago, we have been without hot water. This must be a neighborhood-wide thing as a notice is posted on buildings to the effect there will be no hot water until July 29th. When I realized we'd be here another week, I called Sasha who sent the landlady right over. She kindly hooked up the electric hot water heater and we all had glorious hot showers.

That first night after the hot water heater was turned on, I was awakened about 2:30am to this loud whistling sound. I could not for the life of me figure out what it was. At first I thought it was a fire alarm; then I thought maybe it had something to do with the gas. I was having trouble in the dark and in my sleep stupor pinpointing exactly where the sound was coming from. Finally, after going back to bed twice and just praying it would stop, I thought "Aha! The hot water heater." I opened the cabinet and sure enough that little devil was whistling like crazy. So I bang on it and tug on it trying to make the hissing stop. I see this plactic tube attached to it leading to the sink and feel around it. The source of the hissing is discovered! I'll put a stop to this, I think to myself, and give that plastic tube a tug. And water begins to pour forth! And the whistling continues. I put my finger over the spout and, behold, the whistling stops. And so there I am about 3:30 in the morning down on my hands and knees, my head stuck in a cabinet, with my finger over the spout of a hot water heater thinking about Hans Brinker who put his finger in the dyke to prevent a flood. Realizing eventually I can't keep this up all night, I remove my finger and the water flows once again and I begin to pace wondering what I am to do. Well, a mini-flood and numerous towels later, I am able to reattach the hose and the hissing stops. I go back to bed and am able to sleep. Until the next night.

Like clock work, the little water heater begins whistling at 2:30am. This time Vitalik gets up to see what all the commotion is about. I try removing and replacing the hose like the night before but it doesn't work this time. I unplug the hot water heater from its power source yet it continues to hiss. Finally, we discover that if we turn the water on in the kitchen sink, this little demon will shut up. And so we go to sleep with the sound of running water in the background.

Next day I am ahead of the game. The hot water heater remains unplugged, and we choose rather to endure once again cold showers. I look forward to a good night's sleep before our early day at the clinic and Embassy. Alas! It was not to be. From 3:00 to 5:00am I am fighting with the hot water heater from hell, with periodic commentary from Vitalik. Adjusting the hose does not stop it; leaving the water running does not stop it. Maybe as the sun came up, it just hissed its little self to death but the quiet finally came and with it, sleep.

I don't know what I will do tonight to stop this craziness. I am dreading the sun going down. Perhaps I need to call in an exorcist; or maybe I just need my engineer husband. Help, Gabe!!!!!!

We Got the Passport Today

So tomorrow we go to the clinic first thing and get Vitalk's physical; then its off to the Embassy. We may get the visa by Wednesday but right now we are planning to fly out of here on Thursday.

We spent a fun and busy day with the Hall's. Right now we are without electricity. (By the way, we have been without hot water for several days and that is a story in and of itself.) I will share more when I can see.

Presbyterian Church of the Holy Trinity

We did go to church today and sat by the window even though the air conditioner was on and the window was not open as it was last time we attended. For those of you traveling to Kyiv in the future, the church is located at 50-52 Shevshenko Blvd, near the University metro stop. If you are staying anywhere near Kreschatik, its within walkable distance but you are going uphill. Give yourslef 40 minutes if walking. The service is translated into English; sit near the back so you can hear the translator. The service starts at 11:00.

They sang some worship songs that Roman knew from camp. He loves to just belt out songs. Its so wonderful to hear him singing "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" in his deep Russian voice. Vitalik, too, has learned this song and though it is a little more subdued, it was a joy this morning to hear him singing on one side of me while Roman sang out on the other.

After church, we had lunch at Kafka, as we always do on Sunday. It is true that adopted children thrive on routine! We sat at our usual table and the kids ate a club sandwich, like they always do. Or, rather, Alexandra had 3/4 of a club sandwich, Roman had 3/4 of a sandwich and Vitalik had 1 and a half sandwiches! I decided to try something different and had a chicken sandwich with my usual salad. Whenever I order a chicken sandwich here, it is sliced chicken as opposed to a big chicken breast, and it is always good. At least in restaurants, the only way to get vegetables is in a salad but they are always good and always fresh. (Cathy, that was for you!)





After lunch we walked back to the apartment to change clothes then headed back up the hill to Shevshenko Park. It is such a lovely park. Then we shopped a bit for Vitalik some new shoes. The boy is growing! As always, there were interesting sights on Kreschatik which I must include in my photo journal of the day.






After watching Vitalik chow down on some spaghetti for dinner at El Patio, we headed over to the supermarket to buy our daily ration of sausage, bread and eggs. For those of you who have never shopped at a supermarket in Ukraine and may be coming over soon, the first thing the cashier will ask you is if you need a bag. Just say "da" and you'll be safe. I usually have to ask for more bags than she estimates I will need. Also, you bag your own groceries. The kids enjoy this job. Both Vitalik and Roman insist on carrying the bags for me; only on rare occassions will Alexandra or I be allowed to help with this job.




I sure hope we get that passport tomorrow or Tuesday and can head home. I think that even Alexandra is now ready to move on. She has been such a trooper all these weeks. She and I are as much best friends as we are mother and daughter and I know this has been a sacrifice for her. She is the best daughter, friend and sister in the world and I am so thankful for the MAJOR part she has played in bringing our boys home. She has become quite the translator!

Happy 20th to My Firstborn!

Colton is out in California this summer working on a film entitlted "How to Save a Life." Yesterday the filming of the movie was reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080718/news_1mc18movie.html
Colton is an intern on this particular project. He is an extremely talented young man in the field of cinimatography and I know that soon his name will be at the top of the credits. Happy Birthday, Colton, from your family on the other side of the world! Can't wait to spend the rest of the summer with you!

Happy 16th Birthday

We started the day somewhat slow and lazy before we all had a major misunderstanding that almost put a damper on our big birthday celebration. But we weathered the storm and Vitalik chose to go out to Terminal to ride go-carts again. Terminal is sort of like a mall except it has more entertainment than stores: laser tag, cinema, ice skating, to name a few. Carting there is exceptionally cool. We went once when Gabe and the boys were here and they were all impressed with these carts. Liability issues in the US prevent them from going this fast. We also had lunch and went bowling. Vitalik is actually not a big fan of bowling but he felt sorry for Roman because he is too small to ride the go carts so he wanted to do something that Roman could participate in as well. Roman had never been bowling before today. He told me several times, in English, "This is my first time to bowl and I like it." Both of the boys are using English more and more and I am very proud of them. I understand more and more of their Russian everyday, too. It's really a miracle that we are able to communicate as well as we do. Many of our issues, however, arise from a breakdown in communication so I am trying to use my facilitator more lately for dealing with misunderstandings before they get out of hand. It has helped. Whereas pouting sessions were sometimes lasting a day or more, they have been reduced lately to minutes or hours. I have seen Vitalik in the last several days really making an effort at being a good big brother. He asked for spaghetti for his birthday dinner but when Roman whined about spaghetti, he asked for Pelmini instead. And he is really good with him out in the city, helping him across the street and around the metro. I smile sometimes when I see Vitalik trying to cheer Roman out of a pouting episode. He acts toward Roman the way I act toward him when I am trying to cheer him up. After we left Terminal, we had the cab driver drop us off at Kreschatik and we walked around a bit. It was quite the carnival atmosphere this evening and the weather was unbelievably cool for late July. If this is our last weekend here, it was certainly one to remember. I love it when they have Kreschatik closed to street traffic and everybody is outside just enjoying life. I was so thankful to be able to spend this day with a son for whom I had prayed would be ours by now. I was hoping we would be home before today, but what really matters is that Vitalik officially had a family before his 16th birthday. For those of you who might be resistant to the idea of adopting an older child, please know that these children are all delayed somewhat in their development. It may seem weird to many people that we would adopt a boy already turning 16. But were it not for his physical size, I would never feel like I am parenting a 16 year old. These older children need families as much as any other child. Not only that, but it is now or never for these kids. A matter of life and death for many of them. Maybe there are some of you who have not yet heard the statistics on older orphans in Ukraine:

-Children usually graduate from the internats between 15 and 16 years old and are turned out, unprepared for life outside the home.
-About 10% of them will commit suicide after leaving the orphanage before their 18th birthday.
-60% of the girls will end up in prostitution. Those who run prostitution rings target orphaned girls, who are especially vulnerable due to their lack of options and lack of people who care what happens to them. Though promised good jobs, they end up on the streets and brothels of cities across Europe.
-70% of the boys will enter a life of crime. Many of these will die young of violence or end up in prison. Most inmates contract TB in prison.

Many times throughout today, I looked at Vitalik and these statistics ran through my mind. While it is true that he may never appreciate being ransomed from these potentialities, I will never be able to forget what could have been and what God did for him. I am just so thankful. A few days ago, we were shopping at a small Christian bookstore and there was a young lady working there that Vitalik knew. Unfortunatley, she did not speak any English, but Vitalik explained to me that he used to go with her on the weekends to church or Bible Study when he first was placed at the orphanage. I wondered if she had prayed that he would find a family; I wondered if she had planted the seeds of the gospel in his heart that we are now watering. Perhaps even his own mother prayed for him before she died. Vitalik and Roman both have been so blessed by God. (I was about to say and they don't even know it. I stopped right here to go tuck the kids in for the night and Vitalik was expressing his desire not to go to church in the morning. So we are discussing it and I say "God has been so good to you, Vitalik. We should be thanking him everyday for what he has done. Its a miracle really." Now, I said this all in English and this stubborn boy who was just telling me why he wasn't going to church tomorrow says to me in reply and in Russian "Can we leave at 10:00 and ride the metro to church so we can get there early enough to sit by the window?" So maybe they do understand just a little of what God has done.)

Well, its late here and I feel as if I am just rambling so I think I will post a few more pictures and call it a night.

Still Waiting on the Passport

The passport did not come today either. Now they say maybe Monday but "for sure" Tuesday. I think we will reserve a flight for Thursday to be safe and so that we don't have to rush around like mad once the passport is ready. I will try to keep the final days as stress free as possible.



We have been without hot water for several days. I was willing to stay put when I thought we might leave tomorrow. I just called Sasha to say we would have to move and he called the landlord who said she had an electric water heater she would come hook up tomorrow. Wish I 'd called 3 days ago!



We had a nice lunch today with Randy Hall and his children, Kristina and Connor. Oleg was also there as was Veronica, Katia and Ira.



Yesterday when Vitalik was in a bad mood, he "lost" a couple of bracelets I had given him. When we were out today I said "Maybe your bracelets are still in the park." "Maybe, Mama, big, big, maybe," he replied and took off running to see if they were still there. I was shocked when he found them.



I am trying to figure out something special we can do for Vitalik's birthday tomorrow. So if anybody reading this has any ideas, leave me a suggestion.

Pressing on.

No Passport Today

MAYBE, if we can get it Friday morning, we could still leave on Saturday but its not looking good. However, God is no less awesome and mighty; and I am so thankful to be here doing what I am doing. What mom can complain when she is waiting on a passport that will allow her to take two of her sons home forever? If I just didn't miss the other two so bad!





We had an interesting day souvenier shopping. We found the flags we wanted, among other things. We had fun; just not all at one time. Roman spent the first half of the day in a bad mood; Vitalik spent the second half in a similar mood. And I really can't tell you why. But at present happiness reigns and they are playing hide and seek at "home". There is no computer tonight as a result of today's behavior. One is accepting of that; the other continues to beg.





I could show you pictures of the moody behavior; they like to catch each other in the act. But I'd rather show you how they look when they are having fun. I would die if my family ever broadcast pictures of me when I am having a bad day!




For those of you who are interested, we have been in Ukraine 52 days but that includes the week we came early for graduation. It has been 45 days since our SDA appointment.