Tuesday Time...

We walked to the school again today. We made it in 33 minutes!

And today I saw Masha!! (I’m sorry Jen, Nastia is sick and still with her grandma, I asked if she’d be there soon and no one could give me an answer so I went ahead and gave Masha your package. She was very shy about looking at it so I tried to show her and get video-I'll send it to you directly-I told her through my great sign language skills to take pictures and bring me the camera’s and I’d take them on the airplane back to you. I'll keep asking about Nastia and try to get pictures of her before I leave. I did post a video of Masha at the bottom of this post. I found the translator to help-I hope you can hear it!)

I also got to take pictures of two darling children…

This little girl (with very short hair) is Karina Sotnikova she is 10 years old and likes to draw, read, write, play games, fairy tales and act. She is tiny, very petite and has a beautiful face. I'm not sure why her hair is so short. But her eyes just sparkle!

This is Eugene Lesnyak age 10. He likes to read, draw, construct things, puzzles, football and tennis. He seems very serious. This is him attempting to smile. He's also seems on the short side as my Alex is a head taller than him and roughly the same age. Both children were shy but who wouldn't be with this crazy Amercian woman snapping your picture and asking you questions?

At one point I was told there were seven children, then four and when it came down to it, they only brought these two. Maybe later they'll let me take more? For more info contact Elliana @ elliana@adoptionway.com

Lex was super excited to see us again today, but it was a short day as Lex had to do homework at five. James and I thought we came up with a fabulous and fun way to work on English. We had the kids draw simple pictures in duplicate on small pieces of paper and write the English word under them and then we played Concentration. We thought that would be such a great idea but they didn’t like it too much. Then we played a little more Hot Dice and took Lex too the store to get treats to share with is class.
(I brought him new clothes and switched out the Sunday clothes so I could launder them before court on Friday. I figured if I supply his clothes and take them back and forth with me, they won’t get lost in the orphanage? And besides, he looks so cute in clean nice clothes.)

After a rip-roaring session of pelt the parents with tennis balls I got lap time with lots of hugs and snuggles before he had to go do his homework.

James and I walked to the train station to see if we could figure out how he gets on the train tomorrow but although we were successful in finding it, we couldn’t make heads or tails as to what train he gets on, we’ll have to get Constantine or Oleg to help us.
Then we successfully took a bus back home. Yea for us!
While walking home from the bus stop we saw these eight dogs just lounging around. Stray dogs run rampant here. At least once a day you hear a dog fight. I heard that the rabies shot series here is a forty shot series here so we steer clear of the dogs around here. And they steer clear of us too.I thought it was kind of ironic that they were sitting under a cat food advertisement!

So tomorrow I’m on my own. Straders are heading to Kiev too and it will just be me without any facilitators or translators. However, James will be back that night as well as Oleg so it will be a good practice for my ten day wait when I'll be alone for part if until the Rast’s get here. (Hurry Amy!)
Miss and love you all. Especially my four back home!

Monday Musings.....

(This post was delayed due to our Internet outage yesterday!)
Well, once again we are lacking an Internet connection. I guess we’ll have it again on April 1st. We paid 120 grivnyas on Friday and it lasted through Monday morning.
Straders invited us to lunch and we had homemade chicken noodle soup. It was delicious! On the way James and I stopped at a different market and finally found GOOD bread. Buy the bread not in the wrapper-it’s made fresh each day and select the one the lady before you selects. That’s how we figured it out!
Then James and I got brave and walked to the school! Each time we’ve been driven it seems we’ve gone a different way but after nine day’s we felt we could figure it out. It was a great walk. About 35 minutes with a great hill climb. I finally feel like I got my heart rate up. It was invigorating! With school not out until 2:00, why not walk? Plus it will cut down on transportation cost which we added up today and it is our biggest expense. We took a bus home with Straders and it felt wonderful to be in charge of our own transportation and not dependant on others or infringing on their schedule. (Not to mention the HUGE savings! It cost us 2.5 grinvya’s for the bus for both of us, roughly 30 cents?) Public transportation is the most economical way to go, you just need to figure out where you’re going and of course you don’t want to be walking at night. (It’s a little creepy –the broken up sidewalks or lack of them-the protruding roots and stumps-the sawed off polls sticking out of the ground, the huge man holes missing their covers, lack of streetlights and shady characters drinking and smoking only add to the adventure of walking at night! James suggested we carry beer bottles to blend in with the locals. I mentioned as a plan B we could use them as weapons!)
We also discovered that the train is incredibly cheap and a 1st class trip is less than $20 to get from here back to Kiev. And it’s an express route without a need to swerve to avoid potholes. James is going to take the train to Kiev on Wednesday and go to the embassy to sign all his documents and ride the train back and be here for court on Friday so he can jump on the train again Friday night and head back to Kiev to catch a plane Saturday morning. He should arrive Saturday night at 7:56. I’ve never ridden a train and hope to ride it back to Kiev with Alex after our ten day wait. I’m thinking if it’s an express train it can’t possibly take longer than the car and it’s got to be more comfortable and economical.
Alex was a joy today! He went back to the school last night in his Sunday clothes and although I told him to save them for court. He showed up in them today. He told me through the translator that he didn’t have any other clothes. James made the point that he should look like an orphan at court! He’ll probably wear these clothes every day until then.
We were put in the faculty room as the broken table in the exercise room was blamed on the kids. It was broken to begin but there was no arguing the point. James could fix it if they had any tools around here. I hope they’re not super mad about it. It really was broken to begin with-I don’t think the room is used often and our kids are being blamed for something that was probably broken and overlooked a long time ago.
I kept asking about Masha and Nastia as I understand they should be back today. Alex said they were still gone.
I taught Alex hot dice and we played that while the others played Skipbo. He really got into it and figured it out quickly. James was worn out so I was the “fun” parent today and Alex and I wrestled and played all day. It was so muggy and hot in our room. We went out to get some fresh air-Alex and I-and he saw all the children on the grounds and stopped me on the sidewalk, made a fan motion like he was fanning me off and then turned me around and took me back inside. Nope, he didn’t not want to share his Mama today.
Lezlie was drawing pictures and writing English words next to them and Julia and Alex were reading them. He’d turn to me and write letters asking me what sound they made.

Later I wrote the whole alphabet on the chalk board and we went over sounds and Alex wrote words. Most were spelled phonetically and I’m reminded just how hard English is-but he did awesome. He was listing on his fingers the ten things he knows how to say (let me see if I can remember)

I want to:
Drink
Eat
Sleep
TV
Computer
Music
Play
Bike
Hug
(I can only remember nine) And hug, he does. Today he was just cuddly. He’ll just sit on my lap and lay his head back and grin up at me and let me kiss his forehead or cheeks. He doesn’t even care if Julia sees or anyone else.
We also tossed the ball back counting to 100, I’d have to start him each time we started a new set of tens (like twenty, thirty, forty) but he did it all the way to 100. (I’m just proud of myself for catching the ball that many times!)
Naydia stopped in to say goodbye and I asked her about Masha and Nastia and she said tomorrow. So Jen-tomorrow!! (Although by the time I can post this it will be the day after that!)
Dinner is served to the children at seven so our time ends at seven. We raced with kids to a little store on the corner (and when I say little it’s about a 6 foot by 4 foot building with bars over the windows. And that’s bigger than some. The phone card stores are about 3 foot by 2 foot. Someone sits in these stores all day and they’re everywhere! There is no way these stores have bathrooms or even running water. What a terrible job!) right before seven and for what would be fifty cents Alex bought three bags of chips to take back with him. I hope he’s sharing. I bet he is. He gave me a “Thanks Mama” for the chips. And then pleaded with us to be there tomorrow at 2:10 (as lunch is served at 2 and he only needs ten minutes to eat!) and then we got I love you’s, both of us! Great Day!
He waved from across the street and said “bye-bye” I’ve noticed that whenever he say’s this he sounds like he’s laughing or making fun. Our translator explained that “bye-bye” is the word used here for what would best be described as a boogie man. Mothers tell their children if they don’t behave (or whatever) that the “Byebye” will get them. How funny-no wonder he looks so mischievous when he says this.
On that note…I’ll say to all of you…bye-bye!

Sunday in Dnipropertrosk!

The day started early due to the time change. We were up at 6:30 (which was actually 5:30) so now we are again nine hours ahead of Utah.
We went to the school and Alex slipped on his new Sunday clothes and we were off! Dnipropertrosk is WAY better than Dniprozerzinsk!! Very modern, much cleaner and it looks like GREAT shopping. (Still bad air quality-just like here!) It’s about a 30-40 minute drive from here.
After some walking and Constantine asking questions we located the church but at nine am it was still locked.
(Us walking to the church)

The branch is located in an office building on the third floor on the back side of the building.

(Us posing for a picture by the sign-at this point we think this might be as close as we'll come to going to church!)

We walked around a bit and found a café and had some pastries and herbal tea

( Alex with some statue on our way back to the church!)

( James with Lex in a headlock-walking back to church!)

When we got there around ten, people were there! The services didn’t start until eleven but I was so excited. We quickly located an Elder Winegar from Clearfield Utah and we were in heaven! Church and an English speaker….what more could we want! Elder Winegar sat behind us and translated the whole meeting. We also met a missionary couple from Logan. They think there is a group that meets here in Dniprozezink and they took my number and email. I’ll let you know what I find out. It would be nice not to have to travel so far for church.

One of the oddest parts of church was hearing the familiar hymns but not understanding the words. I realized just how many choruses and choruses only I know.

(The chapel)

The sisters that spoke had just returned from a temple trip and they bore testimony of the importance of families and getting to the temple. One mentioned if you pay your tithing and save your money you can make it to the temple. I felt so ungrateful. At home we have three temples within 10 minutes of us and do I make it a priority to go? Here the folks scrimp and save ever penny to travel to German to go to the temple. What a lesson for me.
Lex fell asleep with his head on my lap. It was rather warm in the building and being like a normal ten year old boy, church didn’t hold his attention very well.
We only stayed for Sacrament meeting as we were trying to make the most of this trip and visit Ivan and Snezhanan too. Not to mention Alex kept saying "no church-Ivan"(Only it's pronounced Evon)
We stopped and bought flowers and with the help of Lex and once again Constantine pulling over for directions from a Babushka (grandma) on the street we found it! Alex was so excited that before we could even get in the door, he was trying to give Ivan the web-cam we bought for him. It was a nice, modest home with tall ceilings and very clean. Snezhana had already prepared Borscht so she gave me verbal instructions and promised to email me an exact recipe. We had Borscht with fish and it is by tradition served cold. We also had a cold slaw type salad with cabbage, corn, crab and mayo, sautéed mushrooms and chicken-prepared just for us as they too are fasting and do not consume any meat or dairy until Easter. Then we had Bellini’s (crepe like pancakes) with homemade strawberry jam, there were so yummy! They were made just for us too as milk is one of the ingredients. Snezhana sent them all home with us with an unopened jar of strawberry jam. That’s what I’m having tonight after I post this!


We had great visit and Ivan gave me Alex’s little birth tag from the hospital. After looking up a few conversion charts I have determined that Alex weighed 7.5 pounds and was 20.5 inches long at birth. Ivan also allowed us to take digital pictures of the few pictures he had of Alex as a baby and toddler. Keep in mind he was only 15 when Alex was born so I was impressed he had anything at all. These pictures are priceless and Ivan…thank you so very much!!

Get ready to fall in love with my cute boy….

Ivan (age 15) & Alex (six months?)

Ivan, Alex and Mom-Anya

Ivan (when he joined the Army at age 18) with Alex (age three)

(Probably around three here too!)
We then all piled in Constantine’s car and we were off for some sight seeing. While driving out you couldn’t help but notice HUGE well kept houses. Nothing like we’ve ever seen here. Snezhana told us one belongs to a man that owns a wallpaper company and he has his own helicopter and landing pad on the roof of his house. (Wallpaper IS very popular over here and obviously the business is doing well!)

(All of us on the porch before we left)

W first went to a government park that has a bridge over the Dnipr river to a small island with a small church. While walking over the bridge there were all these locks hanging on it, each represented a couple that got married, it’s a symbolic gesture of their love. I’d never seen anything like that before.



We saw this huge statute of a famous Russian poet but unfortunately I can’t remember his name.

Then we visited the little church on the island and Snezhana and I had to wear a scarf over our heads to enter the church. (They had extra scarves hanging on the door handle to the church.) It was very pretty and very small.

Then we strolled through the park where we rode the Ferris wheel and visited an indoor aquarium and once again I had the choice opportunity to pay for and use one of those hole in the floor toilets, I did much better this time as one of the teachers here at the orphanage had given me some pointers. (The trick is to squat, not stand up straight! Sorry if I grossed anyone out!)

I asked Lex what he wanted to do next and his vote was ice cream so we went to this beautiful indoor shopping mall. Seriously, it put our malls to shame! Lex headed straight for McDonalds and got a cone and fries, James and I split a small ice cream from a little stand but it wasn’t half as good as the ice cream Alex had the other day during our shopping trip.
There was a bowling alley in the mall and Ivan, Alex and Constantine had never been bowling. So we went. The cost was roughly 20 dollars for all six of us and we played for an hour. Ivan did very well for his first time. Constantine had his moments, James did the best, Snezhana and I bowl about the same…not so good. And Alex struggled but I think he still had fun.
It was 6: 30 by now and time to get Lex back to the school. He said goodbye to Snezhana as she will not be able to go to court with us on Friday but Ivan will be there. Lex just waved and waved until he couldn’t see them anymore. He didn’t act sad but it made me a little sad. You can tell that he really loves Snezhana and that she really cares for him and has been a substitute mother for him since she’s been married to Ivan. As we drove off I couldn't help but think maybe he'd never see her again-in person that is because we know we'll at least see them with our web-cams. But what a loving family Lex has to give him up-knowing we can offer him so much more-so many other Ukraine families struggle with letting children be adopted and yet they can't provide for them but rather than support the adopting families they tell them things like "Americans just want you to harvest your organs" or to cook and clean. When I count my blessings Ivan and Snezhana are one of the biggest blessings we have. Their support and love have made this so much easier for everyone involved-even though I know it's so very hard for them.

On the way home “the boy”-as James calls him affectionately-ate 2 banana’s, 1 apple, a half full sized bag of chips and a 1/4th of a full sized chocolate bar and then proclaimed to be full. Hurray! I don’t often hear this phrase-it seems he just can’t get enough to eat most the time.
He laid his head against me and I smoothed his cheeks in quick kisses-telling him these are Mama kisses-he giggled and wiggled but he didn’t move away. Then he told me he was tired and cuddled up against me while I tickled his face and he rested.
When we drove up to the school, I heard him give a despondent sigh. I patted his hand and told him not for long…

Speaking of Saturday...

Well, we were so excited to have Alex for the weekend. We had invited the Straders over for the day so we cleaned the apartment and had plans to make dinner and play games and watch movies all day. Constantine, our driver arrived at nine (but wasn’t suppose to be there until ten) but since this is his house, he just made himself at home while we finished cleaning. I had plans for James to go get Alex with Constantine and I would stay here and get ready.
What’s that saying about the best laid plans? Well, despite the fact that we signed some document stating we would be responsible for Alex’s life while in our care and this document required our passport numbers, the director told the translator this morning that we could not take Alex to the apartment. (What the heck??) She evidently had called someone that told her that this is a big no-no. So, we could pick him up, take him anywhere but our apartment, bring him back tonight and pick him up again tomorrow and take him again anywhere-except our apartment.
I was so ticked!! I had my heart set on spending time OUTSIDE of the school with a clean boy in new clothes, in an apartment where I can cook food but what made me the angriest was that Alex was so excited (We didn’t even tell him it was happening until we had it secured in writing!) and I just knew he would be so disappointed.
So, now I hurried and got ready. We had to stop at the store as we were out of snacks and by the time we got to the school the situation had already been explained to Lex. He frowned as he came up the car, shaking his head and saying “no da doma”. I frowned too and showed him how sad I was and said "no da doma". He had packed his toothbrush in his coat pocket and was so looking forward to coming with us. (Remember yesterday, the try to pick Mama up-I'm so happy-hug?)
So I was in a pretty pissy mood for the first half hour. The idea of spending the day at the school was so unappealing. In fact Lex seemed more okay with the situation then I did. I complained for a bit and then we started playing Skip-Bo with the Straders and that helped pull me out of my funk. (Luckily, no one of any importance could hear my complaining and if they could-it wouldn't matter because they can't understand me!)
At one point today Alex kidded with us telling us-in Russian mind you-“I don’t know Russian- I only know Americanisky!” Which is his made up word for English-I guess. It was very funny.
The weather was much milder today and it was actually pleasant to be outside. Julia and Alex took the bikes out and I’m happy to say that all though they defiantly dominated the bike time, they did share and give turns to the other children. The kids here flock to you like you’re a celebrity. They talk like you can understand them and the just repeat over and over what they’re trying to tell you. Despite how many times they repeat things, I still don’t get it. They were jumping rope but they were using some kind of weed/reed. I tried to jump but was too tall for such a short weed-they thought that was funny. Jump ropes would be a great thing to bring for these children.

We were told it was Lena's birthday so Lezlie and I sang Happy Birthday to her. The kids thought that was funny too. Later, I had brought out the picture directory of last falls hosting program and every child had to see all the pictures. And they LOVE to take pictures with your digital camera and then crowding around to see it on the little screen.

(Note: Some of the children are wearing bright green or pink medicine on their faces-I'm not sure what it is and why some is green and some pink-I can see a little sore but the bright colors make it look 10 times worse than what's there. I don't know what's up with this?)

And as promised...a picture of sweet Sveta!



James was wearing his sunglasses and many of the children had to try them on.

We sent Julia and Alex to eat lunch with the other kids at 2:00 and thought we’d walk somewhere and grab a bite to eat but were told there is no where within walking distance, so we were locked in the school where we ate bread with roasted garlic & red pepper cream cheese. (I had bought this, this morning hoping I could find lunch meat and make sandwiches-now that we were stuck at the school-but after stopping at two different stores that either didn’t have a meat slicing machine or it was broken, I gave up.) Straders had cake & chocolate and we had three different kinds of chips. So we had a very junky lunch.
Alex and Julia ate in about 5 minutes flat. And came and buzzed the buzzer and tapped on the windows but we couldn’t let them in until the lady that sits in the lobby came back from lunch. She wasn’t gone long.
We played more cards and then decided to go on a walk outside the school.
Lezlie and I were hoping we’d find a store or an establishment with a normal toilet as the school only has the hole in the floor kind. I was trying to tell Alex and Julia we wanted a toilet we could sit on and they thought it was hilarious. For the most part I think they just think I’m funny. Unless I’m asking Alex to study English, then I’m not funny and he’s not enthused.
We found all kinds of stores and even a café-we think. We’re going to try that out another day. Lex asked for some dried fish, I figured at least it wasn’t candy, he wanted James and I to try them and they were disgusting, even James thought so. I don’t even know if Grandpa Richhart could eat these. Lex ate the whole bag.
Alex is showing some of his stubbornness, when things don’t go just his way he whines and say’s “no” like when I suggest we work on his English. He’s always telling me he doesn’t understand (which is the one phrase I DO understand in Russian.) what I’m saying when I suggest we study English.
We had a little talk through the translator as I’d asked him repeatedly to stop kicking the soccer ball while Lezlie was on the phone. I explained in a nice way that it’s rude to make so much noise while someone is on the phone and that I know he’s a good boy but to please try and act like one. For the most part he is a good boy. We did learn the word “crap” today as in "that toy is a piece of crap." For the most part he doesn’t ask for a lot and when he does ask for something like candy, he makes sure he buys us some too.
Despite his moodiness today we got awesome tight cheek to cheek hugs. I think it's just as hard for him to be out of his routine and to try to stay entertained with us. Right now he just wants to have fun, fun, fun and he'll think about English later? I don't know, I know the more we learn the easier transition he'll have. He sure is cute-even if he does sulk sometimes.
I told him we’d pick him up tomorrow at 7:30 to make the trek to Dnipropertosk. I told him to be clean (his hands are filthy from putting the bike chain back on about five times and there is no soap or hot water in the bathroom here) but it was translated back to me “I don’t have any clean clothes”. I told him I’d bring him clean clothes. Yep, still in the Winnie The Pooh sweatshirt today. I think this is day #3.
We’re home now. We stopped at the store to buy a few groceries. Constantine is a big help. He doesn’t speak English but he understands us somewhat. He’s very protective of us and he’ll be our driver tomorrow. We’re hoping he’ll come to church with us.
Money is easy to spend here as it feels like Monopoly money and you have so much of it because it takes eight of their dollars to equal one of ours. Transportation cost the most and that’s probably because we have inside people carting us around in their personal cars. Groceries are incredibly cheap and today we bought things just to be brave and try them. The chicken we had tonight had a green wasabi looking marinade and we made fried potatoes but they were nothing like the potatoes we had at that “dead animal” restaurant and all the sweets (or sweeties as our cute Hanna called them) are so tempting that we find ourselves trying different kinds every time we go in a store.
Alex has his heart set on Snezhana teaching me how to make Borscht. So I’m bringing my apron (Yes, I packed an apron!) and I hope I can master the technique. Every time we mention visiting Ivan, Alex says “Snezhanna-Mama-Borscht” and gives me a thumbs up.
Here’s a cute thing I forgot to blog. On Friday Julia and Alex were talking with Olec comparing the sizes of the families they were being adopted in to. Julia holds up her fingers indicating there will be eight, Alex that there will be seven. Then he says something and Olec laughs. I asked what did he say and he translates, Alex say’s “Yes, but we have a grandma and grandpa too!”

Finally Friday!

One more day down! Today we went to pick up our “conclusion” at the social workers, sign, then Oxana ran yet again to Dnipropertrosk to pick up the clarification about the birth mothers middle name. Then she and Olec went straight to Keiv (5 hours away) in hopes to get our papers turned into the SDA today! I hope they made it.

I got on the Internet with a satellite connection on my laptop which made it possible to communicate with Snezhana and we’re on for Sunday to visit her and Ivan.

I’ve tried to get a hold of the mission president but so far no one is answering. I’m assuming church starts at nine? Anyone have a better idea?

The day was pretty uneventful, James and Alex took the bikes outside and no, they did not ask permission, soon everyone was taking turns. Alex was riding so fast James had to stop him as he only has front brakes and of course no helmet. The Soderburg’s Julia came looking for James for a game of catch and they played for an hour while Lex rode the bike. They then had a game of soccer with a tennis ball and James scored the only two goals. By the end of the day James just had to sit, he’d been played out!

Bill Strader tried to get permission for us to take Soderburgs Julia with us to lunch but the director had already left and Julia very graciously declined the invitation.

We’ve enjoyed hanging out with Straders and their darling Julia, if they weren’t adopting her I think we would have too. She’s really a sweet girl and she and Lex play like brother and sister. It’s amazing how giving and fair these children are. If you’re handing out gum or treats, they make sure everyone gets some and equal amounts. I had given Lex a little Matchbox Car (thanks Kara) and he told me the next morning (through a translator) that he hopes it was okay but, he gave his car to another boy who’s birthday was yesterday. Okay? Are you kidding?

Bill Strader had heard there was a restaurant with live animals so we all went there for lunch. There were animals all right, three hundred to be precise but they were all dead and stuffed and hanging on the walls. More pelts and heads then I have ever seen! Lex and Julia loved pointing out the more graphic ones’ to me, like the owl clutching a dead mouse, the headless birds, the boar’s head an- the grossest in my opinion-horse head. We were told that the small and domesticated animals died of natural causes and were not shot. (Yeah, whatever!) Apparently we were dining in the most expensive restaurant in Dniprozerzhynk! However the food was fabulous! The bill for all 7 of us was 737 grievna’s which is roughly 90-95 dollars and this was with drinks, soup, salads, main courses and juice refills three times for both children. Then we found out there ARE live animals, they’re behind the restaurant so we went out to see. Two very sad looking bears in very stinky cages, some chickens, a wolf, some goats and some ducks. Yuck. The Humane Society would have had a hay-day with this operation.

We went to the theater tonight, and it was very well done. We didn’t understand a lick except for the American pop song in the middle. Why it was in there made no sense to us at all. James has been wearing sweats and a t-shirt each day and I think the other adults were worried he’d wear that to the theater but we had actually brought him nicer clothes and when he put them on they clapped. Alex however attended in dirty jeans and a Winnie The Pooh sweatshirt that has seen better days.

We’re picking up Alex in the morning to keep him with us through Sunday night. When he heard he was going “da doma” with us, he squeezed me so hard and tried to lift me off the floor. He’s really liking his Papa but likes sitting by and laying his head on his Mama.

He asked me how old I was and I asked him to guess and he said 59! 59??? The translator told me he was teasing. Great, just what I need another teasing boy-I’m afraid what he and Austin will come up with when they are together.

We have the apartment to ourselves tonight and tomorrow we’ve invited Straders over for the day with Julia. Their apartment is pretty bad, I haven’t seen it yet but from what I heard, I feel bad about complaining at all about our place. In fact our apartment has really grown on me. Nope, don’t want to stay a minute more than necessary but I’ve realized that things could be so much worse.

Here’s something we’ve learned. Do not lean against the walls. If you even brush the walls on your way up the stair well you’ll get white dust on you. Today Bill was leaning against the red building and a child came up and told him not to. Then Lezlie noticed he had a red strip across his back. What’s with that?

I tried again to get pictures of kids but without a translator, I just couldn’t get them to understand what I was wanting. It’s frustrating me. The kids go back to school on Monday so I don’t think we can visit now until three. I’m hoping after court, they’ll just let us keep Alex but whatever will I do with this bundle of energy in this little apartment? James is heading back and he is his source of entertainment, wrestling buddy and soccer pal.

The first thing I’m going to do is get him in the shower and dressed in new clothes! I will have to post pictures!!

Love to all. Happy weekend. Thanks for your comments and emails. They keep us going.

Thursday Thoughts...

It's 5 am and I think 9 pm at home. I’ve been staring at the ceiling for over and hour. After a week I can say last night was the longest stretch of sleep I’ve had since I got here. I don’t know what time zone my body’s in but it’s not here.

So, my great plans of taking pictures of children yesterday never happened. Oxana (bless her) spent the day running documents for the Straders and waiting to talk to an obstinate judge for us. In this business of adoption it’s about who you know, and how fast you can talk and convince government officials to listen to you. Oxana is amazing and has somehow secured us a court date of April 3^rd. Unheard of in this region as far a time goes, I guess. We still need our “conclusion” from the social worker, and then those documents rushed to SDA for their approval and recommendation, and we still need documents from Dniproertrosk fixing the birth mothers middle name so many pieces still need to come together but we have a date!! Hurray!

James will need to go to the embassy before heading home after court so we have to find out embassy hours before we can rearrange his flight but with any luck he’ll be home on April 5^th and back to work on the 6^th. He should be home to relieve my parents on the 15^th and I thought Alex and I might be home around the 17^th or 18^th but that is still very much unknown as securing Alex’s passport is now an unknown time frame.

Last night Oxana-I hope just telling me worse case scenario-told me to plan on the10 day waiting period after the 3^rd and another 10 for passport and embassy. Yikes! That’s putting me home on the 23^rd. I just can’t worry about that right now. It seems like an eternity.

Yesterday we had plans for Lex to play computer, take pictures of kids, help Amy talk to her girls and none of that happened. Normally we go to the exercise room but today they put us in Naydia’s office and then felt they needed to entertain us. We went upstairs to two amazing rooms, the fable room and the history room. I’ll post video when I can actually get online.

The power was out at the main building and the computer battery died so no computer game. Alex and James played chess and Tamera (a music teacher that speaks some English) offered to take me on a tour of the orphanage. We went to the same building where I had my informal tour with the children. They wanted me to meet the children so I went right into the rooms where everyone was laying on their “little seven dwarf beds” for their afternoon nap or rest. The made each child stand and tell me their name and then she would pick certain children and tell me what wonderful students they were, other children they sort of brushed off and said “invalid” or “mental deficiencies” this did not sit well with me and I made it a point to talk to and say hello to every child. Beautiful children. Children of our Father in Heaven and I keep giving myself an inner pep talk to smile and look happy and not lose it! I got more and more depressed as we toured the building, the wash room where they wash their hands and feet and do their laundry is like something out of Little Orphan Annie only more depressing. Again, I know they’re doing all they can given their limited resources, the walls are brightly painted, the floors were mopped, the place was warm and tidy but the building is just so old and smelly. I asked if I could see the kitchen and it was clean but ancient and I don’t know what they were making (probably soup) but the kettles were huge!

I just had this incredible impulse to take Alex and run, run from this place where no child should have to live. I tried to picture him lying in that little bed with rows of other little boys, eating in this HUGE cafeteria (with music piped in “to help the digestion”) going to class, taking a shower (which I didn’t see) and washing his clothes out in the trough like sink in the wash room with ancient pipes protruding from the walls and I just wanted to weep.

On the way to the building I saw the girl the Love’s hosted in some sort of headlock with a much smaller boy. Another teacher was already yelling for her to stop but the ladies with me ran to her yelling and I could hear her say “American’s” like don’t fight in front of the American. This girl just wouldn’t stop until they physically pulled her away from the boy. I could tell the adults were very embarrassed about the situation.

That made me think about how much bullying and pecking order must go on and again it made me sad and want to get my boy out of here just as fast as possible.

The Straders got back from swimming so we were finally moved to the exercise room where the kids and James could play. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.

Alex every day says “no da doma-seven” meaning don’t go home until seven. They eat at seven and then get ready for bed and so that’s as long as we can stay. I tell him okay but then sometimes the driver wants to get home and I have no control-no control is a feeling I’m getting used too but I hate ever minute of it!

Alex asked yesterday to please, please come today at ten, we’d been coming around noon each day and staying until 6 or 7. He started with eight but then settled on 10. Its sweet he wants to be with us so much, I just wish we had more to do. I crochet an entire dishcloth yesterday while sitting in the exercise room.

Last night after going out to eat with Oxana and Olec on the way home, we got back to the apartment and no Internet. Apparently when our landlord hooked us up he only paid for so much time? And we’ve exceeded it. I’m hoping to get online today at the school and at least check emails. I’m worried as I’d arranged a phone call for Amy with her girls and Oxana and Oxana was stuck at the judges office and not at the school and even though I told Naydia Amy would be calling at four and that she wanted to talk to each of the girls privately, no one came to get me and I was right next door! I could have at least explained the situation to Amy.

I did learn that this is a government sponsored boarding school and the largest in Ukraine. Although there are 500 children here only 107 are orphan’s. The rest have parents and just come for the week and go home on the weekends. They probably have speech issues. So despite my revulsion of the living arrangements parents actually send their children here. I would send my children here for a day or two just so they could appreciate all we have at home, but I think I’d have to stay with them in the next bed so I could fight off the bullies and make sure they were okay. That’s the only way I’d let them stay.

That Julia of the Straders is a sport. It’s nice that Alex and James have someone else to play with now. I finally put down my crocheting and kicked soccer balls with them and they thought I was hilarious and I witnessed them imitating me to Olec and laughing. Can I help it that they kick both balls to me at the same time and I yelp? Julia is a cute girl and a fabulous soccer player. It seems that if you just give a minute of your time to any of these children you see their great potential and just fall in love.

Alex and Julia did a great charades act of trying to figure out when Alex would leave for home. The motion for court looked like a chopping motion and I just couldn’t figure it out until I realized they were making a judge hitting the desk with his gavel motion. Finally, I got it! Who knows my dear Alex? Who knows when we’ll go home?

Each day Alex uses more and more English. We packed up to leave as our driver was ready but then we switched drivers to go home with our roommates Olec & Oxana and had to wait for about a half hour. Alex laid his head in my lap and let me tickle his face and just sighed with contentment. He’s warmed up to James considerably, they rough house and both work up a sweat playing and when Alex hugs James at the end of the day they always end up in a big wrestling, laughing bear hug!

So today, we’re at the boarding house at ten, hopefully we’ll get pics of kids, call the mission president in Dnipropertrosk and find out what time church is, call the embassy to see what their hours are so we can rearrange James flight home, and then we’ve been invited to the “theater” at six with the children. I don’t know if that means live theater or movie or what, but we’ve got nothing better to do then hang out.

We hope to have Internet later tonight. So if you’re reading this…we’re once again connected!

A day in Ukraine...

We’re waiting for our driver to pick us up to take us to the school and thought I'd post a few thoughts.

Apparently the driver is driving Straders to the swimming pool. We were invited but honestly, when packing, I thought a suit would be the last thing we would need so I didn’t pack either of us one. So, people coming later…bring a swimming suit!
The other things we wish we would have brought:
An AMERICAN football for the kids. They know how to play but don’t have a football.

(Anyone coming have room in their luggage?)
Rain resistant coats with hoods & water proof shoes
And if you bring a leather jacket James suggest a water treatment on it.
Tin foil, quart size Ziploc's and plastic wrap-I did bring gallon size Ziploc's and they have come in handy. I’m glad I brought my ice cube tray so I can make ice and have COLD water!
We’ve been looking all over our little apartment for a broom. We finally discovered two on the balcony. These are actual brooms, not décor or collectibles. We’ve yet to see anything more in the way of brooms then actually twigs tied to sticks. I even looked for one in the store, nope, no brooms. Why buy a broom when you can make one right?

James suggest bringing a exercise elastic as he’s been having a hard time getting his work outs in. This is him pumping the bar stool for his morning work out.

I on the other hand have given up. Kiev was great because we could walk a lot but here it’s so muddy and the drivers drive so crazy. (We were driving 90 kilometers in a residential area the other day. That roughly translates into 55 miles per hour. No seat belt, just holding on to the “oh crap” handle in the back seat!) And there are not many sidewalks in residential area’s and the city is so packed (and when we went so wet!) that walking briskly was impossible. I’ve not seen a jogger and in Kiev we saw ONE bicyclist.

The milk, and yogurt are so rich and creamy and I can’t determine the fat grams so I happily consume them with no guilt whatsoever! So between the dairy, chocolates, apple dumplings and lack of cardio-I seriously doubt I’ll come back weighing any less in fact, I’ll probably weigh more! (However, the scales are in kilograms and the number looks anorexic when I weigh myself! Teeheehee!)

Well, time to pack up. George is on his way to pick us up.

OH! News from the home front! Kambree got asked to Prom!! I'm sad I won't be there but thrilled for her! Please take lots of pictures and send them to me!

The Rain in Urkaine...

...stays mainly all day long!
Today we went to the orphanage around noon and found the Straders. They were patiently waiting to see their Julia. We talked for about half an hour and then they were taken to another room for lunch. We were invited but declined as we had just had breakfast. Sleeping late is one of the perks of having nothing to do but visit one little boy in an orphanage each day.
Because it was too wet to play outside we went to the exercise room where James and Alex broke a sweat playing catch, ping pong without a table, kicking the soccer ball and then finally I secured a pump and James and Alex pumped up the tires on the two bikes in the room and road them around in little circles trying not to crash into each other.



I tried to find Oxana as we were planning to get pictures of waiting kids today to post but she had left with the Straders to the inspectors so I asked Lex if he knew where a store was? Yes. Can we walk? Yes. So we went to the director for permission to take Lex off the premises and got it but, not permission to walk. George came and dropped us off at what appeared to be a cinema and we arranged for him to pick us up in a few hours.
Freedom at last! Alex’s idea of shopping is looking at expensive cell phones. After three stores, I said “nett telephones” and started picking my own stores. We wanted to eat something-like in a sit down restaurant but managed to only find a café where they sold coffee and ice cream. We had previously stopped at a grocery store and bought (you guessed it) banana’s, Starburst for Lex, Skittles for James and Lex insisted on choco-late for Mama. We let Lex have ice cream and he ordered us herbal tea-or at least we hope that is what it was-he was so proud to order for us that we would have drank it no matter what is was. So along with candy, chocolate and ice cream he had a banana. Are we good parents or what?

James and Alex at the Cafe (Notice James gruff-don't mess with me-face!)

(Yum, ice cream and candy for lunch...I'm going to LOVE living with these parents!)

Then off to more shopping and hopefully find some real food. I found a lovely shoe and purse store much to Alex’s dismay and I bought a great purse with lots of outside pockets. Then we found me a nail file (I had forgot to pack one) and Lex asked for some sort of man’s body spray. I’m all for good smelling boys so what the heck? I laughed as he imitated the characters on the bottle that showed a cartoon man showering, wearing body spray and getting the girl. Alex did the same and then pretended to put his arm around an imaginary girl. Too funny!
I went to a perfume store and Alex and James went next door to a computer game store. I ended up in their store as well and the prices were incredible. Like 50 grinva’s for a computer game. Which is roughly $6. After many “netts” to the violent mature games he wanted we settled on one that didn’t look too mind altering. He’s so excited to play it tomorrow on the laptop.
We finally found a bakery that sold little pizza’s. Or what we thought were pizza’s. It was more like chicken salad on a pizza crust with cheese. It was okay, really mayonnaise-y. We also had a lovely fruit tart.

Alex is still wearing those dumb too small cleats of Rylee’s. I know they hurt his feet but he won’t admit it. I tried to find him a new pair but couldn’t find child size cleats anywhere. Tomorrow I’m bringing the new shoes I brought and getting a translator to explain we’ll get him new cleats that fit in the States!
Alex was so very protective of us, watching for cars, opening my umbrella, telling us not to talk in the stores as to not draw attention to our foreign-ness. He paid for everything (with our money of course) and the best is he would walk next to me and lay his wet head against my shoulder and sigh. Ahh…to have parents.
He told us he wanted us to stay with him until seven but our driver had other plans and we had to leave around 6:15. He remembered I had left my bag in the directors office and made sure I got it before I left. He’s just always looking out for us.
We’re roommates with Oxana and Olec now. (Olec being the one and the same as Alec that drove us here-obviously we’re having issues remembering and pronouncing names correctly here!)
Everyone is watching movies on their laptops and I’m of course blogging. I have pictures and video of Alex and James riding bikes in the exercise room, at the café and our lovely pizza but can’t post until a laptop is free.
Tomorrow we go over our statement to the court. Oxana picks up the corrected papers in Dnipropetrovsk and meets with the judge here-who happens to be a personal friend of Naydia the director.
Our papers go to the SDA with Oxana on Friday and then we wait for them to come back to schedule a court date.
I’ll attempt to post pictures of kids tomorrow, if anyone melts your heart, contact Elliana or Yuri for more info.
One more day down, who knows how many to come but, so far, so good!
I love and miss my children at home. Last night I got a little weepy thinking of them. But I’m so glad we’re here getting this child to complete our family. My heart soars when he calls me Mama and lays his head against my shoulder. And more than once-when he thinks no one is watching-he’ll climb on to my lap and let me hold and cuddle him. But not for too long!
He has started teasing James which is certainly a sign of father/son affection. Funny how that can translate in any language.
And as little orphanage Annie sings, I’m hoping the sun will come out tomorrow!

Video of James and Alex on bikes!

This is the post some of you have been waiting for!

Today I saw Liuba, Lena, Julia & Katya! I wanted to present each girl their gifts separately and of course without other children around but all four girls came in at the same time and I didn’t know how to get out of the situation. It really is frustrating to not convey exactly what your plans and ideas are.
First, I gave each girl a big hug and said that was from their Mama & Papa. (See video #1) Then I gave them each their gifts and James took their pictures.

I then got this wonderful idea to video each girl and let them send a message home. (See video #2, #3 & #4) I apologize that the sound is so bad and that you can hardly hear the girls let alone hear Hanna translate what they’re saying but at least you can see their cute faces in action!?
Liuba does not have a video. She was just too shy and after the other three went, I turned to her and tears were leaking out of her eyes and down her checks. I quickly went to her and wrapped my arms around her and told Hanna to tell her it’s okay, it’s no big deal she doesn’t have to make a video. Then Alex saved the day by wanting to make a video himself. (See video #5) By the time I had filmed Lex, Liuba had stopped crying and was smiling again.
Svetta had been lurking outside the door. I invited her in but she wouldn’t come. I asked Alex if Svetta was sad and he said no but he went out to check on her. He came back in asking me for gum for Svetta I had him give her a whole pack. My heart just hurt for this little girl. Here all her friends had gifts and American families coming for them and she did not. She has a little sore or something on her face and they’ve spread some red medicine on it making it look even worse. Someone thinking of adopting more needs to think about this Svetta. (UPDATE: THE RAST'S ARE COMING FOR SVETTA WITH LENA! HURRAY!!)

We then went to tour the grounds and buildings. Julia wanted James to play football and like the Pied Piper that he is, he soon had a flock of children around him I witnessed the glass game-see James post below-and then Alex not liking to compete for James attention, offered to take me on a tour of the children's living quarters.

(Playing the "Glass" Game)

The building, although old and in need of updating, was clean and compared to the Inspectors building it was in much better condition. The first room was the TV room where the children were watching Desperate House Wife’s only it was dubbed in Russian-that was weird to see Carlos & Gabby speaking Russian.
Then we went upstairs where the door to the sleeping area was locked but there is a window in the door looking in and I was able to get video of wear Alex sleeps. Then we went downstairs to the cafeteria.
I took some video of the grounds and all the while Hanna-who you might hear on one of the videos-wanted to go back to the main house. She did not like this. I asked if she had ever been to an orphanage before. No, and it was breaking her heart. “Look at all these children. They all want homes and families and Alex is the only one getting one.” It really bothered her. She has a very tender heart. I told her the orphanage was better than I had imagined and better than many I had heard of and researched. She was appalled.

Don't get me wrong. It's not wonderful by any means-but given what resources are available it's clean, it's warm and the children are cared for. I was questioning Oxana about how can children who have never been through a hosting program just say yes to adoption to parents they have never met? Even our inspector/question session seemed stressful for Alex-she said that perhaps because anything is better than what they currently have? I can see that now. This in no way meant negative about the staff or teachers of our orphanage. I think they do the best that they can. It's the idea that these children eat, sleep, study and play as a herd or group, how can a few teachers and staff nurture and love 500+ children? It's no way to spend a childhood. No way to learn values, and life lessons. Anyway, I digress...

I kept checking on James but he appeared to be having a wonderful time outside with the kids-and he so needed to burn off some pent up energy-so I went back with Hanna to see what the plans were for Alex this weekend. He mentioned that Ivan was picking him up on Friday. Naydia clarified that only James and I can take Alex out of the orphanage now as we have permission to adopt and so we're hoping to check him out on Sunday and go to church in Dnipropetrosvk (if we can figure out where it is-anyone have an idea about this?) and then to see Ivan and Snezhana. (If the weather is good and they actually want us to come. I need to talk with Snezhana but I don't have access to my ICQ account on this computer.) We will not have a translator so it will be an adventure, I'm sure.

I asked Alex (again) for the English books I sent-mostly so I could have the dictionary to help us communicate better-so we went back to the building where he eats and sleeps and his teacher gave him the key to the class room where the books were. I was able to talk with his teacher briefly. She said she had helped Alex with his letters to me and that he had waited so long for us to come and was so excited. The morning after I had called from Kiev he announced to her excitedly, "My parents are in Kiev!" She said she would meet with us later this week and give us his school papers and awards.
We were sitting at the back of the TV room and upon Alex returning with two of the three books I sent-the dictionary and the child dictionary-she moves people over so he and I could have the table. I guess she thought I wanted to work on his English right now! I got the book out and soon had Lena, Katya, a couple other girls and of course Alex working on English. I would read the name of an item with a picture down the side of the page and they would repeat it and find it in main picture. Then all of a sudden Alex and I are whisked away to a private class room by the teacher. I guess the teacher thought it was too noisy for us? It was more fun with a group but at this point, Hanna has left to return to Kiev and there's no way I'm going to be able to tell her I would rather study as a group.

We study for about 20 minutes and then I think, "Wow-how boring am I? Here James is out playing and I'm in here making Alex study!" I asked if he'd like to go out with Papa? No, he wants to stay with me-he really does well one on one with Papa but I think he thinks he needs to be the best and brightest to get Papa's attention-which isn't true-and just like when he was with us in October he sort of shuns being with the other children. In my heart I think he's just a little possessive and worries we'll fall in love with someone else but we won't. Well, we might-who knows- but that doesn't change how we feel about him or that he's the one we came fore. He's ours and we're not changing our minds but how do you tell a child this? Especially when you don't speak the same language?

He asks to play games on my Ukraine phone and tries to show me how to lock it but then can't unlock it! He fixes it by taking the back off and battery out and then it works again.Whew!

He has his own phone and has downloaded many pictures mostly of cars-lots of cars! But a few of not so nice pictures of girls-uh-women actually-which concerns me.

We go out and all the boys playing with James run to Alex and tell him "Papa" and give him a thumbs up and shout out other things. James has obviously been a hit and everyone is telling Alex how cool and fun his new Papa is. Alex grins.

We head back to the main red building-James sweating from playing so hard-and then were invited for dinner-again! I said yes, but insisted on paying today!

We had a nice meal with George, (Naydia's husband) Oxana, (she's back from Dnipropetrosvsk where she met with Ivan and got his statement about being supportive of the adoption as well as got the wheels in motion to correct the middle name of Alex's birth mother) James, Alex and I. Potatoes w/meat and carrots, some brown bread with liver spread (yuck), cucumbers, olives and juice. Then Naydia brought a chocolate bar! Yum.

Constantine was there but didn't eat. He never eats with us, just drinks tea and talks and talks.

Afterwards Constantine asked James many questions-through Oxana about his job.
Alex climbed on my lap and we go through his photo's on his phone and I "da" the cars & silly cartoons and "nett" the half naked women and marijuana plant and he deletes them for my benefit. (Later, I have Oxana tell him how much I appreciate him deleting those photo's. Who knew I'd be mothering him before it was official?)

Alex and I played a few hands of the Russian card game, me actually winning a hand and he ate a banana we brought then he pulled out my crochet and wanted to learn. He did pretty good! And he showed it to Oxana boasting that his Mama taught him!

Someone was sent for Alex around 7:30 and we got great departing hugs and told him we'd be back tomorrow. I actually got lots of hugs today and about a 1 one minute hand hold but then when he saw other children he dropped my hand. No worries, my Austin would do the same thing!
That was our day at the "boarding" school. It didn't start until late (3:30?) as our driver was with Oxana so we slept late, read and watched movies and walked to the little market before leaving. (I finally got some video of the exterior of this place!)

Later Oxana went over Alex's medical report and it all came back healthy except for his delayed speech. He can't say his S sound correctly. That's okay, we can work on that.

It looks like blogger will not allow me to post all these video's on one post so I'll add them to the next one and post if after this one-with any luck they'll be in the correct order!

Note later: I am really having a hard time uploading all these videos. I will for sure get every one's girls on but I don't know if I can get the rest on. I had four uploaded, tried to publish and they disappeared. Sorry!

Video #1

Video #2

Video #3