First Day as a Family of Five - Let's Celebrate!

WHOO WHOO!!! We'll be home for Christmas!! The Dancing Millilo Family.

Celebrate Good Times Come On….There’s a Party going on right here…a celebration to last throughout the years….okay I think you all have figured out how I love to sing….heheehe.

Alla informed us that on December 19th is a special holiday for the kids in the orphanages. She said it is St. Nicholas day where they honor the actual Saint Nicholas. The children in the orphanage wake up to a small gift under their pillow from St. Nicholas. So we surprised the kids with a mid size matchbox car under each of their pillows this morning. The boys were thrilled and happy about their gifts.

After breakfast we got ready to go out around lunchtime to get some exercise and burn some energy. Before we left the apartment we got a call from Alla telling us that the boys’ passports are completed. This is what we’ve been waiting for to get completed so we can get home before Christmas. WHOO!! WHOO!!! Praise the Lord!!! Alla brought up when we adopted Andrew and when back then the passport only took about an hour to process and how after we got it we were dancing in the streets because we knew we could leave for home in the next couple of days. Well she said that we can dance again since the passports are done……Praise the Lord…we are going home next week!!!!! Later this evening we booked flights for Christmas Eve arriving around 9:05pm in JFK. We’re going home…We’re going home…We’re going home!!! Just a little excited…=)


My first french fry

Today after receiving the news from Alla, we then took a ride to the beautiful church we see everyday. We stopped and walked around the grounds and inside the church. It had beautiful murals of Jesus and his disciples all over the inside walls and insides of the domes of the church. Some of the railings and alter were gold in color framing the murals beautifully. After taking pictures and visiting the church we made our way to McDonalds for lunch. All 3 boys were happy as larks when we arrived at McDonalds and received a balloon each on a stick. We get all kinds of funny looks the few other times we’ve been at McDonalds. We stick out like sore thumbs for sure in McDonalds speaking Ukrainian and English to our sons. This was Steven’s and Evan’s first McDonalds visit. They were very happy and ate most of their food and played with their balloons and happy meal toys. After we finished eating, I told Steven and Evan that it was time to go pee pee, “Para Peesit”. Steven and Evan said that they didn’t have to go, however, I was going to take Evan anyway, but he was insistent that he didn’t have to go…”No vada peesit”. So since Andrew had to go I took him and then came back and started putting on my coat to leave. Robert had then took Evan’s coat and told him in English that it was time to go and was going to help him put on his coat. Just then, our first McDonald’s experience for the boys ended in a scene of Evan, crying and persistently saying louder and louder….”No VADA PEESIT”…NO VADA PEESIT”….”No VADA PEESIT”!!!! (I don’t want to pee) Evan wouldn’t cooperate to get his coat on for Robert therefore I took over and tried to calm him down as I quickly put his coat on. He was crying and saying “No VADA PEESIT” very loudly over and over again until we made got into the taxi. The older woman “babushka” that was sitting in the table next to ours was witnessing the whole scene and had a little smirk on her face. It’s funny now that we can look back on it but at the time it wasn’t. We tried to explain to him that we were going back to the apartment in the taxi and that we were not taking him to pee. Too Funny….I’ll never look at McDonalds the same again.

We are happy kids

After we got back to the apartment Robert put on some music and all five of us took Alla’s suggestion and danced, twirled each other around, and the boys had fun bouncing all over the sofa together(our landlord said it was okay). We were determined to get them worn out for this evening and it’s really too cold for playing outside…especially being that Evan was sick last week. Let me just tell you…we all, even Robert were up dancing and having fun.....jamming to the beat and dancing with each other and celebrating our family coming together and that we’ll be home on the evening of Christmas Eve…..God is so GOOD!!! Thank you Jesus!! He is never early or never late…but always right on time.