Praise the Lord! We found our sons!

Praise the Lord! We found our sons!

God is so Good! We are so blessed to have found such wonderful young and healthy boys. Thank you Lord! We are so in love with these boys that we are moving forward to adopt them.

This morning was an early one since Alla and Sasha stopped by our apartment in Kiev at 6:30am to pick us and our belongings up to travel to the city of Cherkasy (about a 3 hour drive from Kiev) to meet the boys Stephan (5yrs old) and Ivan (3 yrs old). The weather here is cold (about freezing temperatures) and the roads and sidewalks are a bit icy from the melted snow last night. Sasha, our driver took it slow and about 4 hours later we made it to Cherkasy. We met with the inspector of the orphanages first to show her our approved documents from the SDA stating we can visit the boys. We introduced ourselves to her and when she spoke to us she spoke in English which surprised us. She said we are very lucky (blessed) to be able to possibly adopt these two boys. She said that she knows these boys from visiting the orphanages and both boys are very nice, healthy boys, which is very hard to find in Ukraine. After talking with her briefly she gathered her paperwork and all 6 of us and our luggage stuffed into Sasha’s BMW to escort us down to the baby orphanage to meet Ivan.

As we entered the orphanage, the inspector told us that this orphanage was the best in Ukraine and we would soon see why. Once we entered the orphanage director’s office I could hear a piano being played and children singing in a room down the hall. The orphanage director invited us in her office and introduced herself as Valentina. She sat us down and told us all about Ivan and his health. She said that he is a very sweet boy and other than him being sick with bronchitis and pneumonia when he was 18 months and being delayed with his speech a bit he is healthy. I asked Valentina if he is talking at all and she replied that he is but some of his sentences are not formed correctly. They then brought Ivan and his groupa leader into the room. Ivan is about the size of a 24 month old. They had him dressed in a cute overall shorts outfit with a long sleeve shirt and leggings underneath. He reminded me of the Von Trapp children out of “The Sound of Music”. He has sandy blonde hair with the biggest blue eyes and the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen. He just stood there as everyone was looking at him. I was very conscious of Andrew’s feelings, therefore, I didn’t jump up to go pick up Ivan. I also didn’t want to scare Ivan, therefore, I squatted down to his level and was talking with him at first. I gave him the small car that we brought for him. I then gave him a cookie and he was just looking at it until I motioned to eat it. As I was down at his level the director and Alla were asking him questions and he was answering them in Russian. He said that the cookie was very tasty and then he started saying a children’s poem. He held up 3 fingers when they asked him how old he was. The inspector was observing me talk to Ivan and she said that I can take him in my arms if I want. I then held out my arms to see if he wanted to be held and Ivan immediately threw his hands up in the air as his face lit up with a bright wide smile and he ran into my arms. The emotions and tears started flowing from my eyes as I held him and he immediately rested his head on my shoulder and seemed quite content to be held and loved. I rocked back and forth as I rubbed his back. I was certainly taken back by how lovable Ivan is especially since he was standing next to me for a while just answering questions as he was eating his cookie and didn’t pay me any mind. Ivan then pulled away a bit and then hugged me again and kissed my cheek. From then on I was in love with this child. I didn’t want to let him go, but when he was ready to get down I of course put him down. Andrew then came over and was helping me give him some cheerios and some fruit nugget snacks that Andrew’s teacher, Miss Debbie gave us for our trip. Thanks Miss Debbie! They are a big hit with the boys and it’s great that they have vitamins in them as well!

It was sweet to see the boys sharing with each other. Ivan then went over to Papa and sat on Robert’s lap. The orphanage director, inspector and Ivan’s groupa leader were surprised that he went right up to Robert since there are no men in the orphanage and it’s very unusual for this to happen. Once he sat on Robert’s lap Ivan planted a kiss on Robert’s cheek which made Robert smile. After he got down from Robert’s lap Ivan was still talking and answering more questions and following their directions as they asked. As I was talking to him squatting down to his level again, I started singing the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song in Russian to him and pointing to the different body parts as I sang. Ivan smiled and the orphanage director thought it was cute and a she was a bit surprise I was singing in Russian. Ivan then hugged me again and then he took hold of my hand as they were leading us down the hall to visit his groupa room (where he plays, eats and sleeps). Robert went to take hold of Andrew’s hand to walk him down the hall and follow us, but Andrew pushed Robert’s hand and body out of the way so he could grab hold of my other hand. Robert went to stop him from taking hold of my free hand, but I told Robert to let him be and that he could hold my other hand. Andrew was fine after that and Mama Karrie walked both of our boys down the hall to see his groupa.

I was quite surprised and glad to see many toys in his groupa room that were accessible for the children to play with. Andrew and Ivan made a bee line to the toys and were happy to play a bit. There were only about 5-6 other children in Ivan’s groupa which also surprised me. I guess I am comparing this orphanage to orphanage where Andrew was living in when he was a baby. We then took a walk down to the main teacher’s office, which gave us all a chance to play with the boys for a little while. Ivan immediately went over to the small two wheeler bicycle with training wheels and hopped right on it and started pedaling away. I was very surprised at what good coordination he has for riding this bicycle on a carpeted floor. His legs must be pretty strong. Of course since there was only one bicycle, Andrew wanted to ride it when Ivan was riding it. I told Andrew to play with some of the other toys until Ivan was done riding the bicycle. Once Ivan was done riding the bicycle, the teacher asked him to put the bike back where he got it from and he immediately followed her directions and put the bike back. Andrew then got on the bicycle and started to ride the bike, therefore he was a happy camper.

We then had to take Ivan back to his groupa so we could go to meet Stephán. As we were walking down the hall, we stopped in front of Ívan’s groupa room door and started playing ball with the boys in the corridor while we waited for Alla to finish her conversation with the orphanage director. Let me just tell you that Ivan surprised us with how coordinated he is with a ball. Once the ball hit the floor, Ivan kicked the ball with power behind it. Robert and I looked at each other and said that this boy is going to be our athlete. We all had fun bouncing the ball back and forth to each other. It was so sweet when I was motioning to Ivan with my hands to come away from the radiator. When he saw me move my hands toward myself, he immediately dropped the ball, threw his hands in the air and had the biggest smile and sparkle in his eyes as he ran over to me and threw himself in my arms again. I laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then embraced our lovable son. I then told him in Russian that “I love him” just as I released him from our embrace. He heard and understood what I said and then embraced me again and gave me a kiss on the cheek. As he pulled away again he told me in Russian, “I love you.” Can I take him home now I thought. We then had to say Paka Paka (Bye, Bye) to Ivan for today so we could meet Stephan and make our final decision (but in my heart I had already made up my mind). When saying goodbye to Ivan I told him in Russian, Da Zaftra (see you tomorrow). He smiled and said, Da Zaftra to me and then he went into his groupa room happy as can be.

We traveled about 15 minutes to the older children’s orphanage (2-11 yrs old) to visit Stephan. We went into the orphanage director’s office and sat down to speak with her about Stephan. They told us that he is a handsome boy that looks just like a French actor Aldono or something like that. They said that he is very healthy and has somewhat of an enlarged thyroid gland. They said that there is no need for surgery and that it’s not a big deal. He did have a bit of a cold over the past few days so after meeting with us he will go to visit the clinic to get examined by the doctor. They said he is an active boy and likes to paint and likes to play with letters (I guess they are teaching him his alphabet to get him ready for school. They start the kids in school at the age of 6 yrs old). When Stephan entered the room he was dressed in dark colored pants with nice black formal shoes, a zip up vest that was over a long sleeve shirt. Stephan has dark brownish black hair with very bright blue eyes that really stand out because of the contrast to his dark hair. They were right. He is a handsome boy for sure. He is about 4 inches taller than Andrew and he looks very healthy. They boy doesn’t look like he is starving that is for sure. He looks as if he is solid, not fat, but solid in size. If I were to guess on sizes I would think he is about a size 5-6. He was very polite and thanked us when we gave him the motorcycle toy that Alla got for him and one for Andrew as a gift from her. Both Andrew and Stephan got on the floor and started playing their motorcycles with each other. Both boys were interacting with each other and happily playing. I got in on the fun and so did Robert. We didn’t have as much time to spend with him as we did with Ivan. We only spent about 15 minutes with him since they needed to go and take him for his appointment at the clinic. Stephan is very smart and interactive and social. I told him how handsome he is and what sharp he looked in his formal clothes. He looked like he was ready to go to church in his formal clothes and shoes. He made it known to Robert before he left the room that he like toys that you can build things with (I guess like legos or Lincoln logs) and bananas. Robert smiled and said, “No problem.” I can handle that request. Stephan then shook Robert’s and Andrew’s hands as they smiled at each other and then Stephan gave me a hug goodbye. What a wonderful boy he is. It’s cute to hear him talk in Russian. I will have to video tape them both talking in Russian as much as possible since they will quickly learn to speak English, from what I understand from many other families that have adopted from Ukraine. From my understanding, it only takes a couple of months before they understand English much less speak it.

As you can tell, both Robert and I are in love with these boys and are in the process of adopting them. Alla has already amazed us by doing 3-5 days of paperwork in one day here in Cherkasy. This region is much easier to get things done than Dnipropetrovsk. We are hoping and praying we’ll be home on or before Christmas. Alla doesn’t know for sure but she is doing everything she possibly can to get the adoption completed and us home before Christmas. Once we know when our court date will be, we will have a better idea as to when we could possibly be home by.

We can’t wait for all of our family and friends to meet our sons. Alla asked us today what names we are giving them. We decided to give them the English version of their given names which will be Steven and Evan. We gave Steven, the middle name of Thomas after his great grandfather on Robert’s Dad’s side (it was a nickname of his) and we gave Evan the middle name of Daniel, which is Robert’s middle name and was Robert’s grandfather’s name on his Mom’s side of the family. We are not allowed to post pictures until after court, therefore, once court takes place I will certainly post pictures of our new family members. Doing the happy dance right now and are looking forward in spending more time with both of them tomorrow.