Looks Like I'm Going Home Sat.

I was jumping up and down in my hotel room this morning while you all were fast asleep in the U.S.  My facilitator called to tell me me that he could get my passport quickly in Odessa and that I could go ahead and make my appointment at the U.S. Embassy to submit my paperwork for John's visa on Thurs., Mar. 3-YAHOO!!!  What awesome news!!!  So I booked my flight to arrive home at 5:00 p.m. on Sat.  Oh, I hope that it happens!
I went to visit John in the morning and we played outside in the freshly fallen snow for about an hour.  The snow was great for packing snowballs for a change.  This afternoon, we had a going away party for John.  I was told to bring fruit, caramels, and biscuits (like cookies).  The kids were a little amped up to say the least.  After they finished eating (and some of them throwing their food), they danced around to music, then I got out balloons and bubbles and they really went wild.  I tried to take pictures and a little video of it, but I was busy blowing bubbles.  Tonight I'm packing so that I'm ready to go in the morning.


If I understand everything about tomorrow correctly, first I will go to court to pick up some documents at 9:00 a.m, then head to the Social Worker's office, then to John's birthplace about an hour away to pick up his birth certificate.  Next I go pick up John from the orphanage (I gave them his clothes today so he'll be ready), go back to the Social Worker's office and police station, I think, and drive to Odessa, about 2 hours away, by 5:00.  Pray that we can get all of this done!

Only 1 Day Left of the 10 Day Waiting Period

I can't believe that I am only one day and two short visits away from picking up John from the orphanage.  Tuesday will be a whirlwind, but I'm hopeful that I will be able to collect all the documents needed to get him.  Honestly, I'm nervous about how he's going to react to leaving all his friends, caregivers, his schedule/routine, his home, all that he has ever known!  While we are waiting to get back to the U.S., we will be in apartments with the same toys that I can tell he's getting a tired of.  Our visit wasn't even over today and he heard the TV go on in their living area.  He got up and said "good bye" to me and went to watch the show.  He'd never done that before!  Well, at least I know he likes TV if I need to resort to that when we are in the apartment and if truth be told, my boys at home would do the same thing also.  If anyone reading this has ideas of fun things to do with kids in Odessa, please let me know!

It's been snowing the last couple of days

Today I went to church and then out to lunch with the American couple who is staying in this hotel.  They are very nice and we had so much to talk about with all that we're going through, adopting boys from the same town.  I just wish that they had arrived here sooner.  I hope that the judge rules in their favor on Wed. and that they will be able to return home soon too.  If they win their case, the wife will go back to be with their 5 kids and the husband will stay to get their boy's passport and visa before returning home with him.  I know that I keep asking this but please be praying also that I can get a passport for John sooner than later so that we can make a flight on Sat., Mar. 5th.

Answers to Prayer

God is so faithful!  I ended up not even changing my return flight that left today.  United wanted to charge me a change fee that was through the roof (because my ticket was only good for one month...who knew?) and then John's ticket was going to be over $2,000 because they wouldn't book him on a round-trip ticket (that was a lot less) since he was only 4 yrs.old and didn't have an adult travelling with him on the return portion.  I was going to have to pay close to $3,000 for a reservation that I was probably going to have to pay to change again!!!  OK, so I called this travel agency called Golden Rule Travel, that specializes in international adoption, humanitarian, and missionary travel.  A woman who adopted with our agency told me about them months ago.  Golden Rule quoted me less than $500/ticket for Sat., Mar. 5 (I'm remaining optimistic) with only a $150 change fee.  How awesome is that?  Plus, the agent told me that he'd hold our reservations until Mon., in case I learn anything about how long it will take to get John's passport.

I was then able to get the type of room I wanted at the Odessa Executive Suites for Tues.  One of the families we know that's adopting there recommended them.  There are only 2 one bedrooms in the building so I was happy to receive the e-mail back from them saying that they had reserved one of them for me.  I thought it would be nice to have a separate room for sleeping instead of getting a studio, which was only $5 less. 

Yesterday I came across Karen Spring's blog, who has been working with Orphans Promise, a ministry of Christian Broadcasting Network, in Kiev since 2004.  Orphan's Promise (orphanspromise.org) was started by Terry Meeuwsen, the co-host of CBN, when she adopted three sisters from Ukraine.  Karen just started a Hospitality Ministry, which serves to help adoptive families who are in need of housing while in Kiev.  We've e-mailed back and forth so I hope I can stay with her when I go back to Kiev. 

Lastly, an American couple is staying in this small hotel.  Yay...people to talk to in English!  Their story is unreal.  They hosted a cute little boy two summers ago (who is now 8).  They have 5 biological children and this little boy is the first one that they are trying to adopt.  Their very first court ruling was appealed on the last day of the waiting period.  I think they said that this is their 4th trip to this small town due to all the court dates that they have had to attend.  This is their last round of court sessions.  Please pray that the judge in Odessa (it's had to go to the next level) would rule in their favor.  I don't know if they would want me to share their names.  Boy, meeting them sure puts things in perspective.  What a tough road they have been on!

John with his groupa (there are 3 girls & 1 is missing)

John with his best buddies 

Prayer Requests and a Praise

This was taken Feb. 13.  We miss Papa!

I need to change my return flight that's departing tomorrow morning.  Apparently there are holidays coming up this Fri., Mar. 4-Tues., Mar. 8 (I think he said it was Woman's Day?  I can't understand his heavy accent very well).  He said that it's a half day on Fri. so no one will be working, Mon. everything's closed, and Tues. is a half day so no one will be working then.  If anyone out   there reading this knows what the holidays are, I'd love to know. Would you please pray with me that I can get his passport as soon as possible?  Then I can go to Kiev and get his visa and he can have his physical exam and we can return home.  I have been here since Jan. 30 and miss my kids so much!  They will be on Winter Break next week and it would be great to get home at the end of it.  Also, please pray that John gets over his chest cold or whatever he has.  I hope that they'll let me take him out of the orphanage on Tues. even if he's not 100%!  One more thing, I just got off the phone with the National Visa Center and they said that they would be transmitting our updated USCIS approval electronically sometime today and the Kiev office should have it by Tues.  Thank you Lord!

Some Photos

Out and About Today

Last night my internet connection fell when I had just started to talk to Scott on Skype.  I was so disappointed that I couldn't get it to re-connect.  It was late so I went to bed and hoped it would work in the morning.  Well, after many attempts, I couldn't get it to work this morning either.  Panic set in a little because I don't know what I'd do without getting to see the kids every afternoon!  Thankfully I can send/receive e-mails on my Droid so I e-mailed Paul to pray that the internet would come back on.   As I was leaving for the orphanage, I asked the hotel owner's wife if the internet connection was up and running.  I was so relieved to learn that the owner had already left to pay the bill and that it should be up and running later.  Thank you Lord!  I'm so spoiled to have internet access 24/7.

Well, I went to see John in the morning and afternoon again.  I don't know why I even write that because that's what I do everyday.  He still has something going on in his chest so we can't go outside.  It's bitter cold anyway with snow on the ground so playing inside is fine with me. We played in the same little area outside his living quarters.  His favorite thing to do is definitely to bat around a balloon or small blow up beach ball.  

Between visits, I ventured in to town to buy him a jacket, hat, and gloves.  Since I can't read any of the signs, I just looked in the windows to see if they had advertisements with kids on them.  I was surprised that I was able to find four stores and even more in the open air market that has booths set up one right after the other.  The one store that had the most inventory was without power so eventhough the saleperson was desperate to show me the items with her tiny flash light, I had to move on.  I don't know what I'd do without my Droid with the Google Translate app.  Every time I walked into a store, I'd show them what I was looking for and they'd bring me right to the merchandise.  I bought the cheapest one I could find that looked decent.  Once we return to NC, it will be warm and he'll probably never wear it again.  I brought it to the ophanage for him to try it on and it fit him perfectly.  Then I realized that the elastic on it was shot.  I forgot to check it!  I've learned that the clothing here isn't super well made or has been sitting on the shelves a long time so I should have been better about looking it over.  It will still keep him warm.

After our second playdate, I walked to the Wal-Mart type store, bought him a hat and some treats for tomorrow and ate dinner at the cafeteria.  I have no clue what I ate and I still can't believe I ate it because it didn't taste very good.  At least, it had cheese and a tomato melted on the top so it masked the flavor a little.  I sat at the table in the non-smoking section where I used to sit with Paul:(  Since he's been gone, I haven't taken many pictures and haven't had any taken of the two of us until today.  One of the caregivers took this one.  The other photos are of John playing with his Zsu-Zsu pet and gulping down a juice box I brought him.  He inhales any food or drink I give him.  As you can see, he is no longer wearing the Tom and Jerry sweater and his hair is growing out a little more each day.  Tomorrow I'll post some of the photos that Paul took.  You can't see his face very well in these.  Only 6 more days until I can take him out of the orphanage!  Bed #5 will be empty!

Paul's Office

I want everyone to know who wonderful the people who work at Paul's office are.  They have been so supportive of us and have filled in the gaps while Paul was gone these past three weeks.  His Office Manager, Liz Parrott, skyped with us so many times to keep Paul in the loop on things, re-schedule patients, and just encourage us.  Paul was in the backseat skyping with Liz as we were speeding to Odessa after court last Friday.  A big thank you to those people who are following our journey and rejoicing with us.

Also, I wanted to let you know that John is back in the swing of things.  He definitely had his energy back.  Unfortunately we were still not able to run around outside, but at least no doctors caught him running around the room that we were allowed to play in!  I think we played with every toy in the back pack between our two playdates, one in the morning and one in the afteroon.  It's still quite cold outside and was snowing today so I hope that it warms up and we can go outside tomorrow.

Lastly, I am still in need of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services updated approval.  As of now, I can only bring a child home who is less than three years old.  Please pray that Paul will receive this in the U.S. and be able to get it to me before my appointment at the U.S. Embassy before I have to leave. 

Got to See John Today

Well, I got to visit with John today eventhough he's still under the weather.  We were instructed to play at at small table outside their main living area.  We sat and colored, read books and then started playing with the Zsu-Zsu pet on the floor.  The doctor walked in when we were sitting on the floor and we were immediately told to go back to the table.  Bummer!  It's hard for me to sit at a small table for an hour and a half so I know it must be that much harder for a 4 year old.  It was good because we were able to make a lot of eye contact.  From what I've read, this is important for bonding.  I also fed him his snack, which is another good way to promote attachment.  I had him sit on my lap when we read and rubbed his back.  I think he liked that.  Another thing he learned today was how to color within the lines of a coloring book.  Whenever I gave him crayons and paper in the past, he would just scribble all over it.  After watching me color in the lines, he started doing it today.  I hope that he continues to pick things up quickly.  I could tell that he wasn't his energetic self, but he still laughed and we had fun.  I didn't take any pictures today so these are from a few days ago.  

As I write today's entry, I can't stop thinking about our friend, John Nicholson, who passed away yesterday unexpectedly from complications from pneumonia.  He left his beautiful wife and two precious young boys to go be with the Lord.  He had recently e-mailed us and encouraged us while we were in Ukraine and I can't believe that he is no longer with us.  He was a great Christian man.  Please keep their family in your prayers.

Missing Papa

Paul barely made his flight Sat. morning after a white-knuckle ride to Kiev on Friday night.  Normally the trip takes 5 hours, but because of a snow storm it took 8.  At one point, our driver told Paul to put on his seatbelt since the driving conditions were so bad, which was quite unusual because most people in Ukraine don't wear seatbelts in the back seat.  They eventually made it to the airport, exhausted but safely.

The kids are so glad to have their Daddy home and his parents are too.  They have been watching our children for three weeks.  We are so thankful for Grandma and Grandpa!  We are also very thankful for Sherry Ball who brings Jimmy and Nicole home from school everyday and for Sims McCorkle, Kathy Miles, Erin Webster, and Katie Koon who drive Scott to or from school every week.  Thank you also to the many people who drove our kids to sports or weekly events like Kathryn Gerber, Suzanne Rice, Paige Marsh, Leigh Ann Watson, Louise York, Mary Nell Thompson, and Wendy Wright.  Also a big thank you to all the friends that have had them over or taken them somewhere fun like Elizabeth Feeney, Jennifer Taylor, Sharon Wiley, Calvin Carr, Suzanne Rice, Paige Pearce, Debbie Haile, Paige Marsh, Kathy Miles, Sims McCorkle, Cristin Harvey, Eli Pennington, Katie Koon, Terry Jones, Katherine Lea, and my parents.  There are others that I'm sure I've forgotten to mention.  Please forgive me!  We couldn't have done this without you!       

I played with John twice on Sat.  Paul and I would swing him most days and sing "Jesus Loves Me" among other songs to him.  So yesterday he said "mama" and pointed to the swing.  I got on and he started pushing me while singing "Jesus Loves Me".  I couldn't believe it!  He's been so shy about imitating us, but has obviously been asborbing it all.  I've started singing the ABC song also so I can get him ready for pre-school in the fall:).  Now that Paul is gone, I can tell that I'm going to speaking to him much more.  Before I would speak to Paul a lot, but now I'm talking and naming everything John and I do together.  In addition to playing on the swing, we did a lot of slipping, sliding, and falling on ice, which he loved.  We also chipped ice off of stuff and made snowballs.  It wasn't the same without Papa though.  I could tell that John was missing him.   

Today I went back to the church where we know the pastor, his wife, and the American missionary.  Once again the pastor's wife sat with me and translated the entire service (except the singing, of course).  Then I took the three of them out to a nice meal.  We were the only people in the restaurant for the entire two hours.  People here don't go out to eat a lot.  Then I went to the orphanage to see John and was told by hand gestures that he had a temperature and that I couldn't see him.  Please pray that this isn't anything serious.  Our facilitator is going to call the orpahange in the morning to see if he's better and if I can go visit him. 

  

It's a Boy!

Meet John Vadim Riske

Born October 23, 2006

Welcomed into our Family February 18, 2011

We had court today without any problems and have a new son!!!  We plan to call him "John", but during this transition time, we are calling him "John Vadim" (pronounced Vadeem).  He is named after my father and younger brother.  He is a sweet boy and a lot of fun.  He is also 3 years and 5 months younger than Scott, the same number of years and months that Scott is younger than Nicole and Jimmy.  We are so excited that he has joined our family and cannot wait to bring him home so that he can meet everyone.  Scott is especially excited because he will share his room with John for a little while and will get to have bunkbeds. 

We woke up to a blanket of snow covering the city.  We were concerned that our facilitator would not be able to make it from Odessa and that court would be postponed to another day because the snow was not letting up.  Thankfully our facilitator arrived without any problems and the court time did not change.  Since court was at noon, we were able to go to the orphanage with our facilitator and ask the caregivers questions about our son.  We got to see where he sleeps, eats, everything.  Up until today, we were only allowed in the waiting area.  We took a lot of pictures and asked a lot of questions.  He sounds like he's such a good kid (says his mama).  Then we went to court, which was actually quite brief and the judge didn't ask us many questions.  The judge then pronounced us as John Vadim's parents and we hugged each other!  Yahoo!  Thank you Lord!

The next step was to obtain the appplication for a passport for John Vadim, which required both of our signatures.  Since Paul was leaving for Kiev tonight, it had to be done today.  We went to three different notaries (they are like attorneys) in town, but they were unable to complete it, as they were unfamiliar with the process.  So at 4:00 p.m., our facilitator decided that we should go to Odessa to get the documents.  Our taxi driver sped through a snowstorm and got stuck in some traffic jams, but we made it to Odessa 3 hours later.  Fortunately the notary stayed open for us and we were able to obtain the much needed application for his passport.  We then turned around and drove back to our small town.  I was dropped off at the hotel and Paul grabbed his suitcase and headed for Kiev to make his early morning flight to Munich.  Our hero of the day was our taxi driver, Serge, who made two round trips to Odessa and a trip to Kiev, which is 7 hours one way, all in one day.  

God has been so faithful through this journey and we are very thankful that He has placed John Vadim in our lives.  I can't wait to pick him up from the orphanage on March 1st and bring him home during the 1st or 2nd week of March.  Thank you for your prayers and encouraging e-mails and comments!  

Court is Tomorrow

Court is tomorrow!  It was going to be at 10 a.m., but now it's at noon.  Apparently the witnesses couldn't make it at 10.  Please pray that it all goes well and that there are no problems.  We will hopefully be able to introduce you to our new son tomorrow!  We have been trying to take photos of him this week without all of his snow gear on so that you can see his face. 

We woke up early this morning to get the Home Study Addendum document scanned to a flash drive in order to e-mail it to our Case Manager in the U.S.  After many e-mails and conversations back and forth with her, we hope that Paul can get all the necessary documents overnighted to the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) on Monday when he is back home.  Please pray that they will turn around and send the updated USCIS Approval to him quickly so that he can overnight to Ukraine.  I want to leave with our new son as soon as I'm able to!  

Between visits with our little guy and our conversations with our case manager, we went shopping for new clothes for our son and took a tour of a nearby historical fort.  I was so glad that Paul could see it before he leaves tomorrow night.  It was well worth visiting and very interesting.  It's over 700 years old and it's amazing that it's still standing.

Before court, we're going with our facilator/translator to the orphanage to ask questions about our son, like what are his likes/dislikes, what's his schedule, where does he sleep, etc.  Thank you to the friends who have given us great suggestions about what to ask.  If anyone has any other suggestions, please let us know.  I hope that I can gather a lot of information.  Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow!  We will update you as soon as we can.   

Trouble in Paradise

We called the U.S. Embassy this afternoon to find out what documents Paul needs to fill out in order for me to complete the final steps in the adoption without him, as he returns home to be with kids and get back to work.  In the process of the inquiry we found out that a much needed document was not in our file.  Our USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) Approval, which is needed to get the visa for our son and to leave the country, was for  2 children from 1-3 years old!  YIKES!  We were then told that approval needs to be amended in the U.S.. After talking to our Case Manager in the U.S., she said that she doesn't have a copy the amendment for the Home Study (which the USCIS is based on), which says that we want to adopt up to two children between the ages of 1-5.  Plus, the Social Worker that prepared the Home Study is in New Zealand enjoying her retirement.  Thankfully, I have an original that Paul can take with him back to the states on Sat. and send to our Case Manager.  Please pray that this will not hold up my being able to leave this country with my new son!  Has this happened to anyone out their in the adoption world?  Is this something that can be resolved quickly?  It took me so long to get the USCIS Approval.  I hope that it can be amended quickly! 

Are We There Yet?

 Everyday Paul asks me if we've hit the "Groundhog Days", like in the movie when Bill Murray lives the same day over and over.  Paul thinks that we have hit them, but I keep instisting that each day is a little different and that I have too many days ahead to start thinking that way!  Paul was under the weather today so we just went to the orphanage and back to our hotel room, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  Paul thinks it's nice that we live and sleep in the same room so that we're together all the time.  We spent Valentine's Day at the local Wal-Mart type store (again) having dinner at the dimly lit cafeteria that is decorated with large screen TV's and modern comfortable chairs.  There were some men playing jazz with a sax and keyboard in the corner which resonated over the din of the large grocery store.  It was definitely a memorable Valentine's Day dinner. 

Well, I should be updating you about our funny soon to be son.  Paul calls his backpack the "magic bag" because it's full of toys, candy, books, and photos for our little guy to play with.  Now, every time we are with him, he goes over to the bag and says "Majic bag, majic bag"!  We let him open it himself and pull out whatever he wants to play with.  He found one of those punching bag type balloons this morning and he must have played with it for at least 30 minutes.  This morning we stayed inside so Paul could lie down, but this afternoon we ventured out in the 20 degree weather and he immediately took the balloon out.  Unfortunately, it broke it on a twig right away.  I was so bummed because it was the only one I had.  I'm going to try to find a new one in town.  In just three days, the little guy will be our son!  Please pray that our Friday court session will go well. 



A groupa of younger children



I've Decided to Stay

Thank you to those of you who e-mailed or commented and gave me advice about whether to stay or go home during the 10 day waiting period.  It was very helpful and I truly appreciate your thoughts.  I've decided to stay here until the waiting period is over so that I can spend more time with our son.  We will then go to Odessa for a few days to get his passport and then Kiev for a few more days for his medical exam and visa.  Hopefully, I'll be home during the first week of March.  I can't wait!  Paul is going to fly home on Sat., Feb. 19 and boy, am I going to miss him!

 

Today was a lot of fun.  First we went to the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) Church in town.  They were celebrating their 15th anniversary so they had lots of cake and desserts afterwards.  The missionary nurse who lives in town, Adeline, was there, as well as, the missionaries from Odessa that we'd met last weekend.  We all, as well as, the pastor and his wife went to lunch to Adeline's and had a great time.  We then went straight to visit with our little guy.  It was pretty cold, but we decided to play soccer outside anyway.  We had a great time and he laughed for much of it.  He's getting pretty good at kicking the ball!  When we got back to our hotel, our electricity was out so we went to the local Wal-Mart type store for dinner.  They sell everything you can imagine and have a cafeteria too.  It's so popular, at times it's hard to find a seat.  A rogue taxi driver tried to take us back to our hotel, but I realized we were in the wrong taxi and yelled "nyet, nyet" and jumped out of the taxi before we left the parking lot.  We then got in our usual taxi and made it back to the hotel.  Well, this week we will be back to visiting the orphanage one time in the morning and one time in the afternoon.  We pray that our times with our son will be special.  I just read the entry for today at http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/.  I don't know this woman, but I love reading her blog.  You may want to check it out.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

We are happy to announce that the last set of documents are going to Kiev this evening. Yipee!  Today, we met with the vice-mayor of the town where we are staying.  She wanted to know if we had been treated nicely here, which was a suprising question for us.  We hadn't been asked anything like that before!  Then she thanked us for taking our little boy into our home.  She was the nicest official that we've met so far.  Now these documents go to the State Dept. of Adoption in Kiev for verification or authentication or something and then they are sent back here so we can go to court next Friday!  Paul was supposed to leave this Sun. so we need to change his flight to next Sat.  The big question is whether I should stay here for the 10 day waiting period or go home.  I miss our kids terribly and would like to get some things done like buy the much talked about bunkbed to put in Scott's room and some clothes for our little guy.  If you have adopted in Ukraine and have made a decision to stay for the waiting period or go back to the U.S., we'd love to get your feedback.  We've been told that the caregivers tell the child that his mama and papa will be back soon and that they are going to prepare his room for him, or something like that.  Then they tie the small photo album of our family around his neck so that the caregivers can remind him of our return for him.  I just don't want him to think that we are abandoning him!  Our visits with our little guy have continued to be good.  He runs to us with open arms every time we come to visit.  We have spent every visit outdoors so we get a lot of fresh, cold air and exercise.  He is laughing almost the whole time we are with him.  I'm not sure I've met anyone that laughs as much as this boy!  We think that he is going to be a wonderful addition to our family and praise the Lord that He has given us the chance to be his parents.

View from our side hotel window

These are the goats and dog that keep us up at night - view from our back hotel window

We Got the Document!

We finally received the much needed document today. Yesterday, in the town where our son was born, a committee of local officials affirmed that the adoption process could proceed (meeting was held in building on left).  Although a member of the committee brought up a Dr. Phil episode in which a Russian adopted child was disciplined with hot sauce and a cold shower (which is all the news here in the Russian speaking world over the last few days) and wanted to know how we are planning to discipline our new son.  After a satisfactory answer, the commitee recommended continuation of the adoption process; however, the town administrator (who had to sign off on the document) was against the adoption in part because of the episode of Dr. Phil and refused to approve the committee's recomendation.  Today, after a valiant effort by our facilitators, the administrator eventually signed off on the document (after each of the ten committee members had to come back and sign off on the intial meeting and after the administrator spent much of the day looking for errors in our dossier).  Our facilitators told us that it was the most difficult administrator that they have had to deal with in their 10+ years of experience in Ukrainian adoptions.  Our facilitators are our heroes!  We also set up a preliminary court date for Friday, Feb. 18 at 10 a.m.  We can't believe that it's all coming together!  We thank God that He has allowed us to be a part of all this.  Please pray that everything will continue to go smoothly.  There are still more documents to be gathered and verified!  We had fun with our little guy today, we did the usual ... sat on old tires, played chase, hide and seek, read books, and chased the barking sobachkas (little dogs) away. 

Still Missing A Document

This morning we went to the small town about an hour away where our little guy was born and met up with our facilitators there.  We spoke with many different town officials and showed them photos of our family and explained to them why we want to adopt him.  Then our facilitators told us to go back to our hotel and wait for their call.  Well, they just called us to say that they are still waiting for this document and now they will have to spend the night in the small town to try to get it tomorrow.  We hope that there is a hotel there for them to even stay in!  Apparently, there is a lady at the town hall who is making things very difficult for us.  Please pray that our facilitators will get this document tomorrow so that we can move forward with our adoption...without it, we are just stuck here waiting.

If you want to read a truly inspirational story, go to http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/ and read her latest entry on Feb. 7 called Redeeming Love.    

Breakthrough Today and Big Day Tomorrow

We were a little late getting to the orphanage today because we had to pick up some documents (among the hundreds of other documents it seems like we have collected) from the social worker in town. Our little guy was already outside with his group (9 in all, I thought there were more before). When we opened the door to the outside, he ran for us:) That made us very happy. We played on the equipment, looked at books, chased each other, the usual. Then we went to meet the American missionary for lunch at her apartment. She had made a delicious Mexican dish for us. She was very nice. She's lived here for 10 years and oversees the medical clinic in town that was started by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). She had the pastor and his wife from the PCA church over for dessert (brownies and heart shaped frosted sugar cookies-yum!) and it was great to hear about the history of their church and of this area. The church is celebrating it's 15th anniversary this weekend so we plan to go. We had a big breakthough at our visit with our little guy this afternoon! He said his first word in English and it was "Nicole". We cheered and clapped and gave him some M&M's. He's said "mama" and "papa" every time we look at our family photo album, but he had never said our kids names or any other things that we had named in English. Please pray for us tomorrow as we travel about an hour to this little guy's hometown to meet with a committee of city officials there and ask to adopt him. If that goes smoothly, then we can set up a court date and Paul can return home!

Here are some photos of and around our hotel:

Di in front of our hotel

A view down our street

The world's ugliest dog

Fun at the Playground

We got to see the little man twice today. Almost all of the snow has melted so we were able to play on the old, rusted equipment. We were playing on things that were so old, we weren't sure what they were meant for in the first place. Paul wanted to get on the swing, but it was so rusted, I was sure it would break! Again, I think that if we had chased him and scooped him up in our arms the entire 2 1/2 hours, he would have been great with that. Here's another spotting of him. The caregivers don't worry if the boys are wearing Barbie pants, like these. They just make sure they are dressed with warm clean clothes. You should see how they are bundled up to go outside with hats, gloves, scarves, etc. They look like Ralphie in A Christmas Story. At this orphanage there are over 100 children so it's amazing that these children are able to be fed, clothed, and have a roof over their heads at night.

We were able to get in touch with the American missionary nurse who is living here in this small town. She invited us over for lunch tomorrow. We look forward to meeting her and hearing about her medical clinic.

To the Orphanage and Odessa

Yesterday we went to see the little guy before heading to Odessa. He wasn't expecting us so he wasn't all dressed up in his usual jacket, hat, scarf, and gloves. I peeked my head in and he came running from across the room yelling "mama" and ran into my arms. It was so encouraging to see that he's bonding with us:) We helped him get dressed into pants (we was wearing blue stockings, kind of like long johns with feet) and his "outerwear". We walked around the grounds and I was bit by one of the annoying little barking dogs. Thankfully it only tore my jeans and didn't break through my skin. Paul told me to kick it next time. After that, we played with a ballon under the shelter, looked at photos of the family and said our good-bye's. Since we aren't allowed to post his name or photo until after court, we thought we'd give you glimpses of him. Here he is in the photo to the right. We were picked up by our driver and drove about 1 1/2 hours to Odessa. It took longer than we thought it would, but I slept most of the time. What a great city! You can tell that it will be beautiful in the spring and summertime. Now all the mounds of black, dirty snow are melting and creating huge muddy puddles everywhere. It was good to check in to a nice hotel and get away from the bleeting goats, barking dogs, and rooster that wake us up in the mornings (and nights!) at our hotel where the orpanage is. We had a woman who facilitates adoptions in Odessa give us a walking tour around the city. Her English was perfect and we were able to see the city and ask questions about adopting in Ukraine, which was a bonus. We saw the Opera House (see photo to the left and photo on the right at night), the White House (where the mayor lives, photo is on the bottom right), statue of Catherine the Great and walked down the famous Potemkin Steps that lead to the Black Sea, among other things. Then we went to see the ballet, Giselle, (see photo of Paul on the left) and out to a steak house for dinner. It was nice to have a long meal and talk about all the events that have happened in the last week and how this adoption will impact our family. As much as we thought we wanted a girl, we've learned that, more importantly, this boy needs a home and will be a wonderful addition to our family. Scott is very excited to get bunkbeds and share his room! This morning we met up with a couple that we'd met through their internet blog who are adopting a teenage girl from Odessa at church. It was great to hear the familiar worship songs that were sung in Russian and to hear the sermon translated simultaneously through headphones in English. We met two other American families who are missionaries in Odessa. One of them told us about an American missionary, who is a nurse, living in the small town where we're staying! We will try to get in touch with her. It would be nice to have this connection especially when Paul leaves and I'm living here alone for about 2 weeks. No one speaks English here and it would be nice to have someone to talk to without using Google Translate (or the latest app. that Paul just downloaded on my Droid called Talk to Me that actually speaks Russian instead of just writing it). Well, this week we will visit the little guy in the mornings and afternoons, so we hope that these times are meaningful.

More Fun at the Orphanage

Here are some photos of the day

The entrance to the orphanage

Di getting ready to see our little guy at the orphanage.

Paul at the market

Di walking around town

We are able to go to the orphanage from 10:00-11:30 a.m. and from 3:30-4:30 p.m. everyday. Serge, our driver, takes us back and forth to the orphanage which is about 10 minutes away. We will do this everyday except this weekend. We are going to Odessa to do a little sight-seeing. This weekend may be our only time to see Odessa. Our visits with the little boy were a lot of fun today. He is really coming out of his shyness and its great to see his personality emerge. He is definitely all boy! I think he would run around the entire time if he could. He loved when we each held a hand and would swing him in the air at the count of three as we walked or chased him until we caught him and spun him in the air. We were outside during both visits except for the last 15 minutes at the end of the first visit. We took him inside to color. He was thrilled to see new crayons! He could hold the crayons and pen correctly, which was nice to see:) Everything he has and probably plays with is old. His jacket is way too big on him, his pants are falling down, and his big toe pokes through his snow boots. I can't wait to get him some clothes that fit him and feed him some fattening food. Thankfully he is average weight and height for his age, but he could use some meat on his bones! Well, we will miss seeing him this weekend, but we told the caregiver to be sure to tell him that we'd be back on Monday (thanks to Google Translate). Please pray for us as we become his new mama and papa, that he may love us and we love him more deeply than we could imagine. Thank you to all who are praying for us.