Our Family is Complete - Picking up Evan

First Family Photo

Before picking up Evan we had a few errands to run, so as we were doing our errands we took Steven and Andrew to see a church in Cherkasy just to take pictures and also to the WWII Lady of Victory Monument that was on the highest point of a large hill overlooking the Dnipro river. We all got out to take some pictures of the monument as well as climbed the hill in 5 degrees F weather. The boys were thrilled to climb the hill and seeing the statue up close. It was a beautiful view overlooking the river and the city below. Too bad it was so cold out. We didn’t stay long, just enough time to take a few pictures and climb the hill. Mama was getting a bit nervous being up so high and having to climb down a rocky hill to get down, but we all made it down in one piece. Here are a few pictures.


Lady Victory

After Evan’s nap we went to pick him up from the orphanage. When we got there Evan didn’t want Mama to dress him therefore, his caretaker dressed him for us and snapped some photos for us. I figured he was still a little sleepy from his nap. One of Evan’s teachers, Miss Oxona is such a sweet lady. She has such a soothing voice and always is so sweet with the children. You can tell she really loves the children and Evan especially loves her. She gave him a stuffed toy for him to take with him to remember her by. She told him to be a good boy and to hold Mama’s hand. We thanked them all for taking such good care of Evan and Miss Oxona and another caretaker walked us out and said one last goodbye.

Just then, our family of five walked to our apartment building, which is the building next to the orphanage. Evan didn’t want to hold my hand therefore, Andrew, Steven and I walked behind him as Papa took some pictures.

Paka Paka Orphanage

Once we got back to the apartment, we had a little party to celebrate our family day. We broke out the balloons, juice, cookies and candy. Surprisingly the boys didn’t like the cookies but ate the piece of chocolate we gave them and chugged their juice (both Evan and Steven). It’s funny, no matter what liquid you give them, they won’t pry it away from their mouths to take a breather, they’ll chug the whole glass like they are in a contest. We discovered that Evan is our little eating machine. He will eat and eat and then just when you think he is done, I’ll ask one of the other boys if they want a banana and before they could answer, Evan says, ”Da” or yes. Both Robert and I have to laugh because he is like this all day and night long. If I’m in the kitchen cooking something, Evan will be the one to come in to see what Mama is doing and hoping I’ll give him a snack or a drink. He is too cute.

Steven and Evan getting reacquanted as brothers

We all played together in the apartment and it was sweet to see Evan and Steven chat away and giving each other their opinions about whatever. Evan discovered the light switches in the apartment and all night long he was turning them off and on over and over again. If there were anyone looking at our window from outside I’m sure they thought we had a few screws loose. Steven also was playing with a crank up flashlight of mine that we brought with us. He played with that flashlight for the past two days, turning it off and on and taking it everywhere he went. I made some memories on video of them talking about their balloons and the light switch of course.

The last couple of days it’s been a bit over stimulating for the two of them, since everything is new and different from what they were used to. Now we understand why at the orphanages the light switches are about 6 feet from the ground on the wall. LOL…it all makes sense now. Steven was cute how he was making Evan laugh by acting goofy every time the Leap Pad made a goofy sound.


Mama and Evan

Steven figured out how to work the remote control and wouldn’t give it up, Evan is very possessive about his tooth brush and wants to hold it and guard it from Mommy putting it in the bathroom….he walks around the apartment brushing his teeth, both Steven and Evan keep playing with the microwave, the wonderful light switches that turn off when you don’t want them too (while I’m cooking, bathroom time, or blow drying my hair in the bedroom)….and this is just a simple one bedroom apartment….I know what you all are thinking…just wait until we get home. Our family memories that will last a lifetime.

As I was getting Steven’s bath ready, Evan was in the bathroom with me wondering what I was doing. I showed him the water and asked him if he wanted to get a bath. At first he said yes, therefore, I started to take off his clothes and then he kept saying in a nervous voice, No Vada, No Vada, No Vada…..over and over again. Since it was his first night, I didn’t want to scare him by giving him a bath (they are used too just a quick rinse off with a shower nozzle). From what I’ve read, some newly adopted children get scared when they have their first bath, so I didn’t want to push it the first night. So Steven got in the tub and was having a good ole time flipping around in the tub as I washed him. Evan was watching from a distance and smiling and the next night he was all into getting a bath with his brother Steven. They had a ball splashing around and getting wet and Evan screamed bloody murder when it was time to get him out. He carried on until after he was dressed and in the other room.

Slumber Party

Bedtime was a blast as well. One memory we won’t forget of our first night together as a family. Let’s just say the boys (all 3 of them) didn’t want to go to bed. We didn’t have any issues the last 2 nights with Steven and Andrew but, OH WHAT A NIGHT WE HAD. I’ve been using the phrases out of this book we purchased to help us communicate with the boys called “Ukrainian Phrases for the Adopted Child”. So when it came to bedtime, I found out how to say, “It’s time to sleep”, which is “Para Spát”. I told them that it’s time to sleep and was going to put them down in the bedroom, until Evan was so upset he was crying so loud, “No Vada Spát” over and over again. Oh my goodness, what a persistent little boy we have. I told Robert to take him in the living room to put him down while I put Steven and Andrew to sleep in the bedroom. Well it was over after I did that, because then Steven and Andrew started crying and refusing to sit or lay down on the bed. I guess they figured since Evan was causing a scene and got his way out of the bedroom, they will too. After about an hour and getting no where, we took them all out of the bedroom and they all wanted to lay on the floor and watch some television. We figured maybe if they keep calm they might go to sleep, but this didn’t work either…the 3 of them were soon up bouncing around again, so back to the bedroom they went and finally fell asleep around 1:30am.