Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Boy we have a lot to be thankful for this year. The boys are so precious and over the last two days their personalities are starting to show.

Each morning we spend a couple of hours with playing with Evan (3 yrs old) at the baby orphanage since our apartment is within walking distance to where the orphanage is located. It is so sweet when they groupa leader calls Evan’s name he comes running toward me with a big smile on his face. He practically knocks me down once he throws his arms around me and then kisses my cheek. He then runs up to Andrew and hugs him and then runs up to Papa and hugs and kisses him as well.

We take him down to the teacher’s room to play with him since there is an Italian couple playing with their son that they are adopting right outside Evan’s groupa room. Evan seems to really enjoy riding the bicycle and playing with cars, trucks, balls and play cell phones. He is already starting to understand me at times. He understands when I ask him if he wants more banana or cookie or cheerios. He’ll respond by saying “Da”, which means yes. I have him sit on the sofa next to me when I give him some snacks. When I put the banana, cheerios or cookie up to his mouth to feed him he practically swallows my hand with it. After he takes the food from my hand he will sometimes lay back to lay down on the couch to be silly. The past couple of days when he does this I will put my hand behind his back to lift him to sit up and when I do I say,”Up”. Today, all I had to do was say the word “UP” and make a motion with my hand and he sat up without me lifting him up.

Sometimes there is a teacher in the room that knows a little English with us and occasionally she will chime in and tell Evan what the English word is for dog, car, cat, cookie or whatever. She gets him to repeat the English word which is good. He will repeat the English word clearly.

We all are bonding well with Evan and him with all of us. It’s cute to see Andrew and Evan play so nicely together. Robert and I are very conscious for not giving Evan too much attention without giving Andrew some attention as well. We notice a difference in Andrew’s behavior when we do. Once in a while when Evan runs up to be to hug and kiss me, Andrew will be embracing me at the same time.

On Tuesday when we visited with Steven (5yr old) this was the first time we got to play together. Monday we only met and briefly played with him for about 15 minutes. After our meeting with the boys on Monday Alla took us to a toy store to purchase some toys for the boys. Since Steven requested toys he could build with, Alla and Robert bought him some Legos toys that were a bit to advanced for him not knowing what age the toy was for.

When we first met with Steven on Tuesday, Robert broke out the Legos and Andrew, Steven, and Robert all jumped into the project. Both Robert and I were surprised to see how Steven was putting the race car together so precisely. After about 30 minutes of putting the car together, Steven completed about putting half of the car together. He seems to be a perfectionist since when he or Robert couldn’t figure out how to complete the car he started crying. Alla jumped up and tried to figure out what was wrong but he wouldn’t say. We figured it was because he couldn’t complete the car so we changed activities. We were a bit concerned and found out later that he wanted to be with his group since they were doing Christmas activities. We also remembered how Andrew acted on our second day of meeting him. He was crying for about 20 minutes and we didn’t know what was wrong.

The next day we brought some fun activities for Steven and Andrew to do. We remembered in our first meeting that Steven likes to paint, so we brought our paint brushes and wooden Christmas ornaments to make with Steven. Well the painting was a big hit and Steven seemed very happy to be painting. He was talking to us in Ukrainian from what Alla says. It’s so precious to see and hear Steven talk in Ukrainian to us. I’m not sure what he is saying but we just agree and say “Da, Da” or yes, yes…..like we understand. I hope he is not asking us for a BMW for Christmas or something like that since we are agreeing with him. Once he finished with his ornament he wanted to paint another one. So we let him paint one more. We told him in Russian, “Bravo” and “Duche dobre” which translates to Good Job. He was much more animated today and much more relaxed and himself. After the ornaments we played some ball and Velcro tennis ball.

We also showed both boys our photo album. We have pictures of our home, bedrooms, living room, kitchen as well as pictures of our family and friends. One of the orphanage workers that speaks some English was helping us to explain to Steven who everyone was in our family. When we got to the picture of Evan and Steven’s bedroom the lady explained to him that this will be Steven’s and Evan’s bedroom. Steven smiled and seemed happy about that.

Steven is a very active boy and loves to play ball and Velcro ball. Andrew, Steven, Robert and I all had fun playing ball with each other. Robert and I were so glad to see that Steven was having fun and bonding with us all especially after Tuesday.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving with our first Perogies with sauted onion since we’ve been here, ham slices and bread and butter. Whooo Whoo!.

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.

Wondering about the boys

Eating Ukrainian food

Happy Birthday Michael and Oliva! Wish we were there to celebrate you second birthday with you!

The past few nights I have had trouble sleeping. Between the beds being almost as hard as bricks here, saxophone players, diarrhea spells in the middle of the night and wondering about the boys we will visit on Monday, I haven’t slept but a few hours each night. There are so many things that keep going through my mind about these boys. We do know that they both have been in the orphanage for eighteen months. So that would make the older boy around 3.5 yrs old when he entered the orphanage and the younger boy about around 18 months old when he entered the orphanage. Since the baby orphanage only goes up to 4 yrs old, the older boy transferred to the older children’s orphanage once he turned 4. That means he has been separated from his brother for a year now. I wonder if they remember each other (possibly the older one remembers his younger brother). I wonder if they remember their biological mother and if they do if they will accept me as their mother. I’ve read a couple of blogs where the children thought their biological mother was coming back for them to take them home and when the family adopts them the child was upset with the adoptive mother for a while since they were mad at her for taking them out of the orphanage because they thought their biological mother was coming for them.

From what the psychologist told us that each of the orphanage directors told the boys was that a Mama and a Papa will be coming for them soon. Okay, that was it for me. My eyes welled up with tears and I just wanted to ball like a baby, but here we were still in the office in the SDA and I had to fight back my emotions and maintain composure. As we were walking out of the SDA, Alla and Valentina wanted to make sure I was okay since we agreed to visit these boys instead of a girl. Here I am still trying to keep from balling regarding these boys that they thought I was upset since they weren’t girls. I told them that health is more important than gender and if these boys are okay and we decide to adopt them, I was kidding them when I said, “Maybe we’ll come back for a girl another time.” They both laughed.

Andrew and Daddy playing in apartment

It will be interesting since these boys are speaking in Russian already to see how we will bridge the communication gap. We have a children’s book called, The First Thousand Words in Russian”. Each page shows a picture of a room in a house, school or outdoor setting that has different objects pointed out and it has the Russian word written in the Russian alphabet along with the phonetic pronunciation underneath it so we can help teach the boys English by pointing and pronouncing it in Russian and then speaking the word in English. I’m sure if all goes well on Monday and there are no surprises with their health, that I will be calling on my friend Boris to help me with the language barrier.



Inside underground mall - Fish tank

We’ve been telling and preparing Andrew for what to expect on Monday. This morning we told him that we will be visiting the boys and they will possibly be his brothers. He’s been expecting a baby, therefore, we told him that these boys will be better than a “baby” brother because the boys will be right around his age so he will have someone to play with. He then interjected and told us how they can learn how to skateboard with him (don’t know where that came from since he doesn’t have a skateboard….I guess from seeing the older boys on the streets of Kiev skateboarding and doing tricks). We told him that they will be doing just about everything together. He seemed happy about that and then I told him that it’s very important for you to help Mommy and Daddy and share his toys with them. He was a bit apprehensive about sharing his toys, therefore, I took him back to last Christmas when he gave away a bunch of his toys to a boy that didn’t have any toys. I told him that these boys do not have any toys of their own either, that is why we bought them a couple of small toys to give to them on Monday. After hearing that Andrew seemed more willing to share his toys with them as well as his Mommy and Daddy.

Penthouse Suite

View from the penthouse suite after the bit of snow we had

Another view from the penthouse suite

Alla told us yesterday after our appointment that we needed to move again right after Robert pleaded with both Alla and Valentina, “Please, No more moving”. Since we will be leaving Monday instead of Sunday we needed an additional night stay and the 3rd apartment couldn’t provide that for us. So they moved us to the other side of town a bit further from Independence Square than we were. In a way after sleeping there last night we were glad to move since someone decided to practice their saxophone at 11:30pm for about 45 minutes or so. It sounded like they needed a lot of practice and less vodka.



So now we are on the top floor (5th floor) which is the penthouse suite. It’s a very spacious apartment with a nice view of the street. After checking out the apartment and putting a load of laundry in the washing machine (we’re loving the washing machines this time around) we ventured out to get some lunch and to find a toy store to purchase a couple of small toys for the boys and Andrew of course. We couldn’t find an internet café and since we didn’t have access to the internet in our 3rd apartment or in our penthouse suite we haven’t updated the blog. Sorry, I know there are many of you that are waiting to find out how our appt went. I have been typing the blog at night on our laptop after Andrew goes to bed and when we find an internet café we just cut and paste it in the blog to save on time.



There is a park about 3-4 blocks from our apartment, so tomorrow if the weather is nice we will take Andrew there to have some playtime.

Our Second Appointment at the SDA

Andrew picture taking

Sorry, we've moved a fourth time and don't have internet in our room. We just now found an internet cafe about a 40 minute walk from our apartment.

Alla stopped by our apartment around 1:30pm to meet with the apartment personnel where we are staying to help us move to an apartment upstairs. Okay we are in our 3rd apartment since we’ve been here. It’s getting a little tiring being shuffled around, but from what I understand we are not the only family that has moved 3 times since they’ve been here as well. After we moved all of our belongings upstairs to another apartment we were on our way to the SDA.

As we approached the building where the SDA is in (right next to St. Andrew’s church), we saw Valentina our facilitator for the first time since we’ve been here. She was sick last week and didn’t want to pass the cold onto us. It is so nice to see her again. We gave her a big hug and she was taken by Andrew and how he has grown and how much he has learned in the past 3 years. We shared with her our photo album and she wanted Andrew to tell her who everyone was in our family, his school and events that we took pictures of.

Our appointment started right on time, which was 3:00pm. I was happy to see that the psychologist Maria, whom we had in our first appointment was taking us into her office again. She is a friendly woman who seemed favorable towards us and Andrew.

She showed us 2 files that were just released from the ministry yesterday. One was a 5 year old boy and the other was a 3 year old boy. We didn’t realize at first that the two boys are siblings. They both have minor health issues therefore we asked Maria to call the orphanage about them to find out more details. The orphanage directors confirmed that the boys are available and their medical reports were true therefore we have accepted to visit these boys on Monday. They are in a region called Cherkasy that is a 3 hour drive South from here off of the Dnipro river from what we understand. We will travel by car early Monday morning to meet them. Please continue to keep us and these boys in prayer for all to go well on Monday. After meeting them we will make our decision from there.

Health is more important to us than gender, therefore we decided to meet these boys. We will call Dr. Yuri this weekend to see if he can either travel with us or meet us on Tuesday to give his prognosis after his exam and evaluation. Please pray and agree with us that there are no major health issues that were not listed in their files.

My Soccer shirt

After our appointment we stopped to buy Andrew a Ukrainian futbol or what we call soccer shirt in his size. I promised to get him one if he was quiet and sat still in our appointment. As we were purchasing one Valentina had Andrew pick out a Ukrainian nesting doll for himself as a gift from her. You can really tell that both Valentina and Alla have a real heart for children. They were giving him so much attention after our appointment that he was starting to get a bit silly.

Watdhing the painters from our 3rd apartment

Chilling out

Both Robert and I are praying and hoping that everything goes well on Monday, so we can move forward with this adoption and get home as soon as possible.

Prepareing for our second appointment

Yesterday Alla came by our apartment to take us to get a new sims card for the cell phone since it hasn’t been working the last day and a half as well as to prepare us for our second appointment today. It was nice to spend the afternoon just hanging out with Alla having fun walking around town and she was enjoying playing and talking with Andrew. She was happy to see that Andrew is eating meats, fruits and vegetables and that he wanted to eat from the Ukrainian food place rather than McDonalds. Every time he put his fork down she would pick it up and pick up some pork from his dish and feed him. He has been eating real good since we’ve been here, which I’m very happy about. I was a bit worried that he would have an issue with the food being a bit different and all. But he is doing well with that. It seem like every time we turn around he wants to eat again. Maybe it’s from all of the exercise.

When we got back to the apartment yesterday, Alla sat us down to talk with us and prepare us for our second appointment. She then shared with us some pictures of many of the children that she has helped to adopt. She showed us pictures after picture and as she shared them with us, Andrew perked up and recognized a picture of himself (the picture of him on the blog holding the Ukrainian flag). Alla asked him,”Who is this?” Andrew laughed as he replied,”That’s me! How did you get a picture of me?” So I explained to him again how Alla helped us adopt him so we could be a family.

After Alla left yesterday we spent the evening after Andrew was in bed preparing for our appointment. We went through different medical conditions and researched on the internet to learn more about each medical condition that we were willing to accept, so we could ask pertinent more in depth questions to the orphanage director or orphanage doctor so we could make a decision as to whether to visit the child or not. So we didn’t have time to update they blog last night. Sorry.

Independence Square & Under Ground Mall

Under Ground Mall Stores

Today we went down to the Independence Square again today to walk around some of the stores. I am very surprised at the prices for items in the stores around here. Robert wanted to buy a pair of Levi 505 jeans since he only brought 2 pair of pants (1 pair of jeans and 1 pr of dress slacks). In the Levi store we went to find his size jeans which is 36"w x 32"l although he likes to wear them loose so he gets 38" waist. Well around here with all of the stick figures walking around in Kiev he had a hard time finding a pair of 38" waist. He looked and looked and finally said he couldn't find any fat boy jeans. Even so, he wasn't going to pay over 600 grivnas($100.00 US dollars) for a pair of Levi jeans he can get for $30.00 back home. All of the stores in the Under Ground Mall are high end stores with high end prices. Where is a Walmart when you need one. The closest store to Walmart around here is the outer mini markets on the outskirts of the under ground. They are the local merchants selling their goods, flowers and some little convenient stores with a walk up window where you tell the lady what you want and she gets it for you. Here is a picture of one of the mini marts in the under ground. Andrew is crying because I'm taking a picture instead of picking him up so he can see the lady in the window.

Under Ground Mini-Market

Since our apartment only had 2 mugs and no other glasses but wine glasses, we bought a couple of mugs (for $5.00 each)for us to use and keep for a rememberance of our journey at the under ground vendors. We also found a store in the under ground mall that had towels. Since we didn't bring any towels and have been using the ones in the apartments we bought 2 bath towels for $20.00. Those were the cheapest they had. Those prices weren't as bad as the jeans and other designer stores we went in.

When we eat at the food court in the under ground mall we have eaten at a Ukrainian cafeteria style place, a McDonalds, just like home, and a Papa Johns pizza. I took a picture of the Papa Johns sign since we noticed it's not the typical Italian face you would see on a Pizzaria back home. Check it out.

Papa Johns Pizzaria in the Under Ground Mall Food Court

Here are some other pictures we took of the buildings and stores in and around Independence Square. During the weekend the city shuts down the major road and some side streets off of the major road around Independence Square and local merchants set up their canopies to sell their goods, fruits and vegetables, clothes, fish, honey, toys, Ukrainian souveniers. It was raining last weekend, therefore we didn't take many pictures. We wanted to move through the crowds as quick as possible.

Stores off of the main street near Independence Square

Street Near Our First Apartment

Every day I think we shed about a couple of pounds a day just walking up and down the stairs to go in and out of the under ground to cross the street or go to the mall/food court. You certainly don't have to pay for a gym membership around here. Thats probably why the people are so skinny here. I don't know how the women do it here with their spiked 4-5 inch heels/boots. I've noticed each day Andrew's legs are getting stronger because of all of the walking and climbing stairs. He tries to get us to carry him but it is getting less and less. He is getting more and more used to walking everywhere instead of being escorted by car everywhere back home. Here is a picture of him passed out in our apartment after our venture out walking around Kiev today.

Our Sweetie. So peaceful.

Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO!

Daddy abd Andrew in Independence Square

Today we moved to another apartment. I guess they had rented this apartment to someone for this upcoming week, therefore, Alla and Sasha came by to help us move and take us to the next one. The new apartment is a little smaller, but is a bit cheaper and has all the amenities as we had in the first apartment(microwave & washer) as well as it has free internet access and we are closer to the SDA and Independence Square. Fancy that. Now we don't have to be jammed into a bathroom size stall to do blog updates and check email, we can have bathroom access with a western style toilet (LOL) close by as I update our blog and catch up on emails.

Mom and Andrew standing on the street of our 2nd apartment

Sorry we haven't been able to respond to some of your emails, but that is why. Along with having our little wiggly son that is anxiously waiting for me to finish what I'm doing on the computer. Now that we have access to the internet in our apartment it makes it much easier to answer your emails.

I thank God for our families, friends and our Ukrainian Angel families whom all have been so kind and gracious with sharing your support, prayers, wisdom, and experiences. It has help us stay strong and be confident that the Lord will provide and give us the desires of our hearts exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think.

I was reading this morning in Psalms 107 which really ministered unto me. I noticed as I read a few chapters in Psalms that many of the chapters started out Praising and thanking the Lord and telling us to give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercy endureth forever. In Psalms 107 verse 2 it goes on to say that,"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." The chapter goes on to talk about how when the Isrealites were in the wilderness, in need of food, drink, habitation etc. that WHEN they cried out unto the Lord he provided for them and delivered them out of all of their distresses.(Psalm 107:20) The Lord sent His word and healed them and delivered them from all of their distructions.

I have also have found strength in His word in Mark chapter 11:22-26. Jesus is telling us in verse 22 "To have faith in God".23-"Whosoever shall SAY unto this mountain be thou removed and cast unto the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but BELIEVE those things which he SAYS shall come to pass; he Shall (Not might but SHALL) have whatever he SAYS. 24 Jesus tells us that "What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them and you shall have them." Then in verse 25 Jesus tells us to forgive anyone that we might have ought against them. If we can't forgive those we have ought against, why should he forgive us of our sins?

I remember Kenneth Hagin Sr. ministering on Mark 11:22-26 which was very powerful. In one of his preachings he talked and revealed that it says in Mark 11:23 that it says to first believe what things in which you SAY and it shall come to pass. In verse 23 Jesus says to SAY (verbally speak to your mountain or obstackle,challenge) and tell it to be removed and cast into the sea. Then he tells us to Not doubt in your heart but BELIEVE those things which he SAYS shall come to pass, then he shall have whatever he SAYS. The verse says the word believe once, where it has the word SAY 3 times in the same scripture. We need to speak forth what we believe which is the answer and result instead of speaking forth our obstacle/problem/
challenge/mountain. Just like back in Psalms 107 it says,"Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO! Therefore, I've been speaking forth and thanking the Lord for our daughter. I've been casting forth the voice of the enemy and I open my ears unto the Spirit of God to hear and be led by him to reveal to us our daughter in Jesus name.


What are your challenges, have you been speaking the problem or the answer lately? Cast your mountain into the sea and believe those things you desire when you pray and you shall have them. Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO!! SAY IT and don't stop SAYING IT until it comes into existance.

We were also blessed and thank God for our church, Victory Christian Fellowship in New Castle, Delaware www.gwwm.com to be able to listen to the Sunday morning service Live over the internet in our apt today. Thanks Pastor Gary, Pastor Faye and for your sermon today Pastor Gregory. It made us feel right at home.

Funny story & Dr.Yuri

Today was a cold and rainy day in Kiev. We all bundled up and made our way to the internet cafe in the post office near Independence Square. As I was checking our emails and updating the blog with the three of us jammed in this little stall-like size computer station Andrew suddenly had to go poopy REALLY BAD. I told him just a couple more minutes but he said he couldn't wait and that he had to go REALLY BAD. So Robert said he was taking him back to the apartment(about 8 blocks away), took him out to get him to a bathroom. Since Andrew said he couldn't wait he had to go REALLY BAD, Robert took him into a mall and found a water closet as they call it here. After he paid his 1 grivna to use the bathroom he then whisked Andrew into the stall and put him up on the porcelain floor with a 5 inch hole in the floor and feet tread marks around it. Robert wasn't thrilled with this and didn't know how Andrew was going to react. Andrew said, "Where's the toilet, Daddy"? and Robert responded right there as he pointed to the hole in the floor. Andrew replied,"I'm not going in that". I think the whole thought of going poopy in a hole without anything to sit on totally scared his poopy back inside him because he said that he didn't have to go poopy anymore. Robert asked him if he had to go pee pee and Andrew replied, yes. So as Andrew stood on the left foot tread, Andrew asked Robert to hold onto him. Andrew said,"Hold onto me Daddy so I don't fall into the hole". Robert laughed and we both laughed when he told me the story that evening. Too Funny.



After Andrew went to the bathroom we decided to walk around the malls to get some exercise. We went into a toy store and bought Andrew a plane and some cardboard dominoes. He was a happy camper of course after that. Here are some pictures of him playing with it in the apartment.



After we got back from walking around the malls, getting a bite to eat and updating the blog we went home to get ready to meet up with Dr.Yuri. We contacted a local doctor who helps adoptive families by traveling with them to evaluate the child/ren or he also will sit down with you to get you more knowledgable about the different medical conditions that are listed on the children's files, what they mean in Ukrainian terminology, whether it's treatable, whether it's serious or minor and some of his experiences from evaluating over 250 orphans in the past. He was a very nice, sincere and professional man that is very interested in helping families adopt with a peace of mind. He gave us much better insight as to what to look for, what steps we should take next and we feel much more prepared for our next appointment.

Playgrounds, Churches & Food Markets

Daddy giving Andrew a Piggy back ride in our apt.

Today we did some laundry, watched movies in the apartment until just after lunch. Then we ventured out to 2 different playgrounds both on either side of St.Michael’s Church. Andrew was excited since the playground yesterday didn’t have swings and these two did. Here are some pictures of the playgrounds and of St. Michael’s and St. Sofia’s Church. There were a couple of couples getting married today at St.Michael’s church(a beautiful blue and white church that has an arch in the back of the church where couples get married under.


Teeter totter behind St. Michaels church


Mommy on castle slide-LOL



St.Sophia's Church Bell Tower


Andrew & Mommy in front of St. Michaels Church

Wedding Arch in back of St.Michaels church.

The weather here is in the twenties today and overcast. No wind or precipitation. Today must have been some sort of holiday kind of like Valentines Day. There were many people walking around with flowers in there hands (that they were holding upside down) or balloons and many men and women holding hands and kissing in the city. Or maybe since it was a Friday it was like date night or something. Any thoughts or insight, Boris??(my Ukrainian born friend from work)


Daddy & Andrew in front of St. Michaels Church

After the park we went to the Underground Mall food court to get an early dinner. On our way home we discovered another internet café at the post office. So we stopped and updated the blog since we didn’t have time to do it yesterday. We also came across a large market that was like a huge produce, fish and meat store. The produce was beautiful so we bought some cherries, which were way overpriced even for home standards but since they looked so beautiful and were the size of ping pong balls Robert opt to get them. We also bought some grapes and pistachio nuts. The pistachio nuts were really good and had a different salty flavor to them. The meats were surprisingly out in the open on a table with people behind them trying to sell them to you. One guy had all of the meat laid out and had his newspaper laying overtop the unwrapped meat. He was reading his paper with it laying over the unwrapped meat. How’s that for sanitary and quality assurance Catelli Brothers? (a veal and lamb manufacturer where I used to work.) www.catellibrothers.com A great selling feature…ehh? Most of the fish vendors were the same in the way they presented the fish except for one. One fish vendor out of all had their fish on ice. All of the other meat and fish vendors didn’t have the meat or fish on ice at all. Very surprising. The shrimp here were huge though. The shrimp was larger than an average size banana. You could make a meal out of the shrimp alone.

On our way back from the produce and meat market we there was a line of about 40 or so people standing outside a mini restaurant that sold Ukrainian hot dogs with another 15 or so people standing around eating the hot dogs. From what Alla says it’s a cheap meal from a fast food place (about 3 grivnas which is about .50 cents). That’s all for today. Until tomorrow.

Our Appointment at the SDA (Adoption Center)

Today we had our appointment at the SDA at 11:00am. We arrived about 10 minutes early and had to wait about 20 minutes before they took us into the room to meet with the psychologist. She was very nice and ask us to tell us a little about ourselves. We told her a little bit about ourselves and told her we adopted Andrew from Ukraine in 2005. We also showed her copies of our 3 annual reports that we sent to the Ukrainian Consulate each year since we’ve been home with Andrew, which tells about Andrew’s development (a requirement when adopting in Ukraine). We then showed her our photo album and she loved seeing the pictures of Andrew with our family so happy.

She then asked us what we were look for. We explained to her that we wanted to adopt preferably a girl under the age of 4 years old as young and healthy as possible. We told her we wanted to have the child be younger than Andrew. She explained that most of the young children had some serious illnesses. She then looked into the books and pulled out some files and immediately Andrew perked up to see the files of the children. The psychologist smiled and giggled to herself to see how interested he was in seeing the children. We explained to her that Andrew has also been looking forward in having a sibling and is very excited as well as us to complete our family.

We spent an hour or so in the meeting looking at file after file. We asked the psychologist to call about a couple children to get more updated details about them, however, since we didn’t find our child today, we have requested to have another appointment next week. So next Thursday, Nov 20th will be our second appointment at the SDA to look at more children. Please keep us in prayer. There are many sick children here and we definitely need discernment, favor, and for God to reveal us our blessing from above to us next Thursday. Andrew file became available the day of our second appointment in 2005 and we were blessed to be the first couple to see his file. There were many families waiting around all week as we were and the psychologist took us into the meeting room first to see all of the new children just released from the ministry to be open for international adoption. I believe that next Thursday we will have supernatural favor as well and find our child or possibly children that are meant for our family.

After our appointment we had to make copies of our documents to take back to the SDA. When we returned to the SDA we were waiting in the corridor waiting to hand in our documents, when I noticed Andrew was jumping up and down with his hands in the air as he was singing the song,”As the praises go up, the blessings come down.” You know, I think Andrew teaches me more than I teach him. Andrew is so right. In the middle of our adversities we need to Praise the Lord for the blessings are already on their way down. Just like in Acts chapter 16, when Paul and Silas were in prison, they praised and worshiped the Lord through their adversity and late in the midnight hour (when it seems to be the worse it can be) God turned their situation around and caused an earthquake to shake open the prison doors and loose their bands around their legs and freed not just them but all the prisoners. Therefore we Praise you Lord for You are Good and Your Mercies Endure Forever. You Lord are No Respecter of Persons. You did it before by opening the doors to our blessing Andrew, and You will do it again. Late in the midnight hour, God’s going to turn it around….He’s going to work in our Favor. Hallelujah! Thank you Lord.



After our appointment, we took a walk to the park to let Andrew play on the playground for a little while. So Robert and I played with Andrew as Alla made some phone calls. Andrew had fun burning some energy on the playground as we were trying to find a playground yesterday in our travels. Now that we know where the playground is we can come back tomorrow. Alla said that if the weather is nice on Saturday we will either take Andrew to the Zoo or the Circus.

Day out at Independence Square

Ukrianian Flag in Independence Square



Our first day in Ukraine was spent exploring Independence Square. We walked through the under ground markets where they sell just about anything from flowers to Ukrainian shirts, watches, cell phones etc. The under ground markets are also under ground malls, actual stores with clothes, jackets, and sometimes a food market.

Underground Markets

In order the cross the street the safest way you walk through the under ground markets/malls to get to the other side of the street. Pretty smart if you ask me. Our apartment is about a 10 minute walk to Independence Square. We got some of our money changed at a money exchange and the rate is actually better for us this time rather than last time we were in Ukraine. For every one U.S. dollars in Ukraine exchanges to 5.83 Ukrainian grivnas. Last time we were here in 2005 we received 5.4 grivnas for every U.S. dollar. Alla said that in recent past the exchange rate was down to 4.3 grivnas to every U.S. dollar.



We found a free internet café located in a restaurant not far from our apartment. So around dinner time we came back for some Ukrainian borsch soup (warm beet and cabbage and beef soup with a dollop of sour cream on it) and sent a message to our family and updated the blog. That internet was much faster than our connection at home. The soup was wonderful, just like we remembered. I liked the way we could get the internet within the restaurant since it gave Andrew and Robert something to do while I updated the blog and checked our email. It was much better than using the internet café where the computers needed a thorough cleaning and there was nothing else to do but go on the computer.

Independence Square Buildings


Fire Twirler

The weather here is around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, clear with no wind or precipitation. A little brisk but not bad. We went out after dark for a quick walk to find a market to buy some more yogurt, water and bread for tomorrow. As we were looking for the market we came across a street entertainer that was twirling a baton that the ends were lit of fire. After twirling them around in the air and under his legs he then put some alcohol in his mouth to get the crowd excited and he spit the alcohol toward the fire to see a burst of flame coming from his mouth. After that he took his bottle of vodka and drenched a rectangular piece of card board with the vodka and lit it on fire as well. He then in his bare feet walked across the board several times until he put the fire out. Andrew said that “I bet his Mom wouldn’t want him to do that, Not Good.” After the show was over and as we were walking home Andrew kept asking us, “Why was that guy walking on fire?”. We explained to him that was his way of making money, however, it was very dangerous and that his feet are probably sore with burns on them, as well as that is not a good thing to do because you could get seriously hurt or even die.



We had a wonderful day out on the town and when we got back to the apartment we explained to Andrew that tomorrow is a very important day where we will meet with Alla, Valentina and some other ladies who will show us pictures of different children that we could possibly adopt. I told him how important it was to keep quiet while the ladies tell us all about the children. We all are looking forward to tomorrow and are wondering what child God has in store for us. We are believing for a girl that is healthy and is as young as possible, preferably younger than Andrew(who is 4 almost 5 years old). Please stand in agreement with us for God to reveal to us and make it ever so clear the child he has for us. Thank you and love to you all.

Hooray we made to Ukraine!

Andrew on the plane with pooh bear sleeping next to him.

We made it to Ukraine! Hooray!! We had 2 great flights. The first one landed in Rome, Italy on Delta Airlines and the next went to Kiev, Ukraine on Ukrainian International Airlines. Andrew was so excited to travel by airplane. We had a delay of about an hour before we even left JFK airport. We waited on the airplane for about an hour for our turn just to get onto the runway. Andrew was very anxious to get up in the air as the rest of us were. He kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe I’m on an airplane”. When we finally got up in the air it was dark and we could see all of the lights from the buildings and bridges. He thought it was cool to be in an airplane.

I brought a sliced apple with us in a Ziploc bag which I’m glad I did. Andrew was so hungry since it was around dinner time when we were sitting on the airplane waiting for it to be our turn to take off. He ate the whole apple and also ate all his chicken, salad, roll and a brownie that they served us on the plane. I was surprised he ate all his dinner since he ate the whole apple right before. Andrew was very good on the plane, the only trouble we had was trying to get him to sleep. He just wanted to play with his blanket rather than sleep. He finally fell asleep about an hour and a half before it was time to land in Rome.

When we arrived in Ukraine, Alla was there at the airport waiting for us. It was wonderful to see her again. It felt like we were just here yesterday. She surprised me with some flowers. I am so glad that we have Alla again! She’s the best! She gave Andrew a kiss and a hug and then we were on our way with Sasha in the car to our apartment. It was funny watching Andrew’s eyes move back and forth as he was watching Alla and Sasha having a conversation in Russian. He was quietly listening and watching the two of them talk. I wasn’t sure if he understood them or recognized the language or just was trying to understand what was going on. I asked Andrew quietly, “What are they saying?”, just to see if he could understand them. He quietly whispered back, “I don’t know.” I smiled and giggled to myself. Alla says hello to everyone!

We stopped at the market to get some food for dinner and breakfast before we went to the apartment. We had roasted chicken, bread and butter and chicken patties that were dipped in egg and juice. I love the Ukrainian juices here. We are in an apartment that is different from the apartments we were in before. This one is located in the heart of Kiev. We are near Independence Square and the Opera House and lots of high end department stores. There is even a Friday’s Restaurant nearby.


Our Bathroom

Our dining room

Our Kitchen

Our living room

Anyway we slept good last night. We all slept for 13 hours straight. We were a bit exhausted and are now caught up on our sleep. Alla says that our appointment with the SDA is at 11:00am on Thursday. Please keep us in your prayers for Godly wisdom, knowledge, understanding, discernment and supernatural favor and for God to reveal to us the child he has for us. Thank you and we’ll be in touch.

Preparing for Take Off

There is much to do in this month and a week before we travel to Ukraine. We are actively doing something everyday to prepare for our departure and return with our new addition to our family. First thing on our list to do was to book our airline tickets. So after 4 days of looking at different scenarios of flight patterns and dates on the computer we booked our plane tickets to leave out of JFK airport in the evening some we can sleep most of the flight (I hope) and in the morning we will change planes in Rome, Italy. This way we will get a chance to stretch our legs and get a little exercise before we get onto the flight that will take us to Ukraine. Whew, I'm glad we finally decided and booked our trip.

Next I needed to get all of our documents updated again so we have a spare dossier to take with us just in case something gets lost from the one they currently have. Then we need to purchase all of the travel supplies, medications and things we will need to travel with.

We also have been getting the room ready for our little girl since that room was currently a guest bedroom. Andrew has been helping us with that. He wanted to take part in the preparing for his baby sister and jumped in to sweep the floor after we moved the guest bed down in the basement. He then took an interest in playing with the the allen wrenches while Robert and I were putting the crib/toddler bed together. Andrew insisted on using the allen wrenches to tighten up the bolts that hold the crib together, therefore, Robert guided him to help him use the allen wrench to tighten the bolts together. He was so cute how he wanted to be a big boy and use Daddy's tools to help put his sister's bed together.

We've been preparing Andrew for all aspects of the process as much as possible. We have been reading the book written by Fred Rodgers from Mister Roger's Neighborhood called, "Going on an Airplane" to Andrew to give him a better idea of what to expect and what will be expected of him once we are on the airplane. I just love Fred Rogers and have always loved Mister Rogers Neighborhood. I remember when I was a little girl, that was the only show my sister Marli would watch. Fred Rogers always knew how to relate to children. It just so happened that we found this book out of one of the storage unit auctions we purchased.

Another book we've been reading to Andrew to prepare him for what to expect in relation to the whole adoption process is a book called, "Borah and the Burps". This book focuses on an Eastern European adoption experience but in a children's book. Borah is a baby in an orphanage in Eastern Europe (Ukraine or Russia) and it tells the story of what Borah experiences in his daily life in the orphanage and what his life is like after a family called the Burps adopts him. This book will help him understand what to expect when we travel to adopt his sister and what she might be experiencing once she comes home with us.

Andrew has been full of questions and excitement over our trip to Ukraine to adopt his sister. When are we going to Ukraine? How big will my baby sister be? I told him tonight that I don't know what she looks like or how big she will be, but I can tell you that she is going to have the Best Big Brother in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD! He just beamed the biggest smile and glowed with excitement.

I pray that the adoption of our new child will be a smooth transition for all of us including Andrew. I know he will be a wonderful big brother. He loves to be around young children and I know he will bond quickly with his sister and her with him as well as us.