Outside Again Playing with Andrew

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We were so grateful to be outside again playing with Andrew. He was just as glad. He didn’t like being cooped up inside one room. He is used to going outside and getting more exercise….and so are we. The caretakers wanted us to keep the hooded sweater on him this morning since it was cool and breezy again so that is why he looks like a little blue smurf in the morning pictures. Cute though.



During this morning’s visit, Andrew was sitting on my lap and I started to talk like Donald Duck to see his reaction. He lean his head back on my arm to look up at his goofy Mommy talking like Donald Duck and started smiling in amazement. When I started to laugh like Donald Duck would I lean in to rub noses with him as I laughed and Andrew thought it was the funniest thing. It was too cute. He of course would lean back again as I continued to talk like Donald Duck and we would again and again rub noses as I and he laughed like Donald Duck. What a precious moment. Robert took some pictures of us during this time that I posted as well.



Andrew seemed more tired today than he did the last two days we were inside playing. I’m not sure if they gave him some medicine that made him sleepy but this morning he slept for a little over an hour before I took him inside for lunch. This afternoon he wasn’t as energetic as he was the last two days as well. Not sure if he was just tired from maybe the other children waking him up early in the morning or if he was still on some sort of medication.



We are very much enjoying our time with Andrew and are meeting more and more couples coming in to adopt from our orphanage. Another couple from USA in Georgia and two more couples from Italy. Please keep all of these families in prayer for a speedy court date so they can move forward with completing their adoptions as well.

One Step At A Time

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Today we spent another day inside the orphanage playing with Andrew. He is such an active boy that doesn’t like to be limited to one room. We were sharing the play room with the Irish couple that is adopting a little girl from Andrew’s groupa. So things were a bit overwhelming for him. He didn’t want to play with his toys much. He seems to especially like inventing games or creating his own toys. Today in the play room the windows have these long sheers over them. Andrew leaned up against them and wrapped the sheers around himself and was playing peek-a-boo with us. We had to be careful he didn’t pull down the curtain rod on his head, however, he was having a ball with that.



While we were in the play room the orphanage doctor came out of her office (room next to play room) and lifted up the piano key cover and brought us out a chair to sit and play the piano with Andrew. Oh, how we both loved that. Kept him still for a while anyway. He was banging on the keys until I showed him to just use one finger. He did that for a while and then went back to lightly banging on the keys. It was fun and we got some cute photos of our little piano man. Who knows maybe he’ll be a famous pianist some day.



Since we were told to stay inside and Andrew was in some desperate need for some exercise we took him over to the stairwell that he is so fascinated with when we walk around the building. So we got him stair climbing 2 flights of stairs two times today. The orphanage has a lower hand rail for the young children to hold onto, so I was teaching him to walk up the stairs with holding onto the railing and me holding onto his other hand. He did great! He really pulled and pulled himself up one step at a time. Now we have to teach him how to go down the steps. He needs a lot of work on that one. He loves those stairs though.



Today we received our care package from our family. Thank you so much for everything and for taking the time to get everything on our list. The NJ tee shirt for Andrew is adorable. It says “New Jersey…Are we there YET??!! Love it!!! Robert says that you forgot one important thing in the care package and that’s a pair of RED RUBY SLIPPERS.



I can’t believe it has been 2 whole weeks since we had court. We are half way through the 30 days as of tomorrow! WHHOOO WHOOO!! These two weeks have flown by. Andrew keeps us very busy and in between visits we are either getting food and water for our hotel room or getting lunch or blogging in the evening. Each day goes by quickly, thank God for that. Thank you all for your continued prayer over us. We appreciate it greatly.

Playing Inside with Andrew

Today when we pick Andrew up from his groupa to play with him inside the orphanage since it was a windy morning and since he is getting over a cold. Andrew seemed fine today, however, we kept him inside and played with him in one of the play rooms. It wasn’t as fun as we normally have playing outside, since Andrew was too busy exploring the room and trying to find new avenues to explore and play. The room itself only had a entertainment cabinet with toys and plants on top and a couple of closed (not locked) doors on them. Of course Andrew wanted to open all the cabinet doors and crawl behind things and keep walking out of the room instead of staying there and playing on the carpet. Most of the time we were running after him to keep him in the room instead of playing with him.



This afternoon’s visit Andrew was still very active, yet he knew not to even try to get into the cabinets and he didn’t try to run out of the room as much. I guess after me running after him every time he took off for the door and picked him up to bring him back into the room he finally realized that why waste the energy. Wore me out though.



Andrew finally played on the floor with his toys for a while this afternoon. When he was at a child size table and chairs he was imitating his caregiver when he took his hand to swat a fly on the table. He saw my reaction to him missing the fly and started giggling loudly. Of course he continued doing it to continue getting a reaction out of me, but the funny thing was his reaction and laughing continually out loud.



Well, we set a date to come home. Our original flight to come home was yesterday. Ohh how we wish we were in our own bed. Oh well, what’s another few days or so here in Ukraine. Since we were originally set to come home on August 24th we had to change the airline tickets before yesterday. We are set to come home on September 21st. YIPPIE!! What a happy day that will be. We are so looking forward to coming home and being a real family. It just doesn’t seem real going to the orphanage everyday to visit Andrew instead of him being home with us. Soon….real soon we’ll look back on this day and THANK GOD he pulled us through it all safely and soundly. We already thank God for everything He has done already and is continuing to do in our lives and in our families. Anyway…just a few more days in Ukraine and we’ll be home.

Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!

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Today, August 24th is Independence Day here in Ukraine. It is the anniversary of the day that Ukraine became a free independent country from the U.S.S.R. Some businesses are closed today, especially government offices. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to visit Andrew in the orphanage. Since it is Independence Day, we brought a Ukrainian flag with us for Andrew to play with. He loved it. At first he must have thought it was a fly swatter because he kept swatting the ground like he was killing flies. Then I took the flag from him to show him how to wave it and then gave it back to him to try it. He imitated me and was having fun waving it.



Also this morning when playing with Andrew we only brought a few toys for him to play with. The last couple of days, Andrew seemed a bit over stimulated with too many toys on the blanket at once that he couldn’t focus on playing with one toy at a time. We worked with him mastering putting the pegs into the pegboard and he is doing very well with that. He has favored playing with his drum, which opens and closes on one end to take out the shapes from the shape sorter. I would ask him to open it and he would and then he would close it when I asked him to and when he shut it real fast he would bust out laughing. Of course whatever he finds funny he keeps doing it over and over again.



This afternoon when picking up Andrew from his groupa, I found him on his potty with the other children in his groupa. I asked the caretakers if I could take a picture of Andrew sitting on his potty. They gave me permission, so I got the camera from Robert and took some pictures of our cutie on his potty. He would scoot over towards me on his pot without getting up and spin around on his pot to turn around and scoot backwards. The children are not allowed to get up from their potty until the caretakers say it’s okay. When he first saw me come in, Andrew started flapping his arms and scooted towards me and at one point start to get up off of his pot. I told him in Russian “Sadeece” which means, “Sit down”. I didn’t want him to get in trouble or spill anything that was in his pot. It’s so funny to see the children scoot across the floor on their pot to get to their destination.



Robert and I have been working with Andrew to speak certain consonant sounds. He is very good with imitating people so we figured if we speak to him certain sounds over and over again he would start speaking them by imitating us. Today we were working with him on the “L” sound. As I was singing “la,la,la,la,la,la,la” Robert would make up his version of “lughb,lughb,lugb…of course Andrew starts imitating Robert grumble some sort of “L” sound by moving his tongue from side to side instead of from the top of the roof of his mouth to the bottom of his mouth. It was soooo funny to see and hear him say this sound over and over again.



We’ve been teaching Andrew to kiss by puckering his lips to kiss, however, instead he curls his lips around his teeth and makes a chewing motion like someone does that don’t have their dentures in their mouth. It looks funny, however, he does lean toward you to put his mouth near you and then makes a kissing sound as he kisses. Since we thought it was funny of course he has no problem with laughing at himself either. He would continue to give us gummy chewing kisses and laugh.

Raspberries & Playing Horsie with Mama

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Another wonderful day with Andrew. This morning we were playing around with him and Andrew was up to his silly self again. Robert was trying to get Andrew to put the pegs into the peg board to see how many he could do on his own (which today in one sitting it was 5). I told Robert to make it fun and then when Andrew wanted him to play with the pegs, Andrew stick one of the pegs in Roberts mouth. Robert would hold it in his teeth to be funny and to see what Andrew would do. Andrew laughed and would take it out of his mouth and put it back into Robert’s mouth. Finally Robert stopped playing with him and closed his mouth and wouldn’t open it again until he blew a raspberry at Andrew. Andrew giggled and leaned in to kiss Robert. Robert was shocked and we both laughed at Andrew. Andrew got a kick out of us laughing at his behavior and he even gave Mama a kiss as well. So silly. I picked him up a bit later and he leaned over as I was holding him and he blew a raspberry on my arm. Too funny.We also entertained Andrew today by me playing horsie with Andrew. I got him sitting on my leg and began to play horsie. He loved it. Robert even made a video of it.



Andrew is really getting brave and wandering off away from our blanket on his own. We wait to see how far he will go without us tagging along. An Irish couple is adopting a girl in Andrew’s groupa and their blanket was a few yards away from ours. So Andrew, being the social butterfly that he is, walked over on his own to visit with them. I caught up to him and chatted with them for a while with Andrew. They are anxious to get home as well, however, they’ve been visiting with the little girl for 2 weeks and still don’t have a court date yet. Since it’s a holiday tomorrow, the judge has been off for the past 3 business days, so that is why they don’t even have a date for court yet. Please keep them in prayer for a court date this week so they can return home to take care of things back home.



Tomorrow is Independence Day here in Ukraine. It is when Ukraine officially became an independent nation from the USSR. We found out that even though many places are closed on the Holiday, that we will still be able to visit with Andrew. I will be interesting to see how they celebrate their Independence Day. Sasha, our taxi driver said that about 300 kilometers from our hotel they will be shooting off fireworks. Not sure if we’ll join in so we’ll let you know tomorrow or the next day what it was like.

Balloons

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This morning when I went into Andrew’s room to pick him up for our visit, as soon as I walked into the room I could see Andrew’s face light up and run happily over to the side of the playpen to come to his Mama. I happily returned the excitement and picked him up. He is obviously feeling better and today was back to his energetic self. So much so that he wasn’t even sleepy in the morning. We are happy his is feeling better and is back to our happy, playful little boy. Thank you for all of your prayers. God is so good!!



This morning Robert started blowing up balloons to play with Andrew. He would blow one up and without tying the end he would give the balloon to Andrew and let him hold it while the air came out of the balloon. Andrew thought it was quite funny and wanted Robert to continue. They went back and forth for a while and then I started blowing the balloons up. I would let the air release in his face to see his reaction, which was quite funny.



Andrew is getting more and more confident with walking without the help of Mama & Papa. He walks about 50 steps without falling down. Pretty good for just starting to walk on your own. He also has been doing a little wandering off on his own since he can get up and move around more easily. I will be losing some pounds real quick just keeping up with Andrew.

Bubbles, Doctor Visit, Little Boy Blue

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This morning Andrew wasn’t as energetic as he has been the last couple weeks in the morning. Robert entertained him by blowing bubbles which Andrew loved of course. We played with him for about an hour, fed him some yogurt and then started to take him for his morning walk like we do every morning. I put him down on the black top to start walking and he started crying and whining and wouldn’t move. He usually doesn’t get tired until 11:00am but this morning I picked him up off of the blacktop and he immediately put his head on my shoulder and slept for about an hour and 20 minutes. Since we noticed a couple of scratches underneath his left eye, we figured that he scratched himself when he was rubbing his eye. That is the eye that has been tearing periodically. We brought a nail file to file the edges of his nails so he wouldn’t harm himself with his nails. When it was time to return him to his groupa around 12:00pm, I thankfully saw the doctor in the hallway and waved her down. I motioned Andrew’s symptoms (since I don’t know how to tell her in Russian) and she followed me into Andrew’s room to give him a checkup. She listened to his heart and lungs and said that they were good with a thumbs up sign (since I told her he was coughing). She also checked his throat and his eye. She wrote down the 2 medicines that she thought would be good for his eye and his throat. As I was sitting in the room next to the desk Andrew was sitting on when he was being checked out from the doctor, one of Andrew’s playmates in his groupa saw me and ran over to where I was sitting and stood in between my legs with his back to me and leaned back to look up at me with a big smile on his face. This was the same boy, Sasha, that when I picked up Andrew this morning from his groupa I squatted down to call Andrew over and said come here Andrew in Russian and motioned with my arms being wide open, Sasha came running over instead immediately into my arms. So many of these children need loving homes and are starving for love and attention. It is recommended not to pay to much attention to the other children in the group, but when you have a child run into your arms and run up to you again to press up against your legs and lay his head back on your lap and grin, how can you not hug them and give them some love and attention. The children are oohhh so sweet. They are just waiting for someone to take them home with them.



This afternoon we picked up the medicine that the doctor wrote down on a piece of paper for me to take to the pharmacist and brought it with me when we returned in the afternoon. The doctor was in Andrew’s room when I arrived so I handed her the medicine. The doctor, one of the care takers and myself held Andrew down on the changing table while she put the drops into his eyes and nostrils. Then she fed him the medicine for his throat and congestion. He seem a bit better this afternoon and his nose was draining some green gunk, so we were happy that he was getting rid of the mucus. Praise God for that.



When we were out at the store we also picked up a couple of different toys for Andrew to play with. When we were visiting with him in the afternoon we brought out the new toys, a snail that can be a drum, a shape sorter or a pull toy, and we also got him some plastic blocks. The blocks he really wasn’t interested but the drum he played with for a while. What he got the most enjoyment out of was this cardboard picture that came with the blocks that was part of the wrapping. He would follow around the orphanage while Robert was holding the cardboard picture. He would play with it and go anywhere that cardboard would go. Robert decided to roll it up lengthwise and make a bugle out of it. He would show Andrew how to blow into the bugle and talk into it. Then Andrew would fight to get it out of Robert’s hands so he could play with it again. Andrew loves to imitate anything you do. Of course he had to play the bugle like his Papa what playing the bugle. He thought that was the best toy yet. It was hard to get it away from him since it was time to take him back to his groupa for the evening. Our Little Boy Blue, Come Blow Your Horn.

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.

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As we were taking our morning walk with Andrew, we came across a kitten that was about 6 months old. It was on the back porch of the orphanage when Andrew spotted it. He walked closer and then stopped in his tracks. I picked up Andrew because the cat was not familiar to me and it looked like a stray that the orphanage workers feed. The kitty was quite friendly even though we didn’t touch it. I was pointing to the cat and saying kitty over and over again. Andrew was just in amazement watching the kitty. The kitten jumped off of the porch and was rubbing her back on my legs as I was standing there hold Andrew. We then took Andrew away from the cat to go in the opposite direction of where the kitten was. Well the kitten kept following us and Andrew was intently watching her every movement. Must be the Winser in him. Robert said to put Andrew down to see what he would do. So I did and Andrew of course walked closer to the kitten. He was about to touch it until I stopped him in his tracks and took him away from the kitty. Soon the kitty made her way to another side of the orphanage grounds and we continued our walk.





Andrew seems to love to climb stairs. Every time that we come close to a stair or step of some sort he desperately wants to step up on it. Even the real high steps. I guess it is like a challenge for him or he might associate it with going in for the day to get dinner. Who knows but if we take him away from the step to continue our walk he gets all whiney and cranky. He loves climbing up and down them and playing behind the door.



We’ve noticed a couple more bite marks on his body. One on his upper belly and the other on his forearm. He is not the only kid in his groupa that has bites on him. Please pray and agree with us that all of the kids (Andrew included) stops biting and hurting each other. It’s horrible to find these bite marks on him and not be able to do anything about it but pray and believe that there is peace in his groupa.



It’s been real breezy this past week and cooler in the mornings. Since the orphanage grounds aren’t mowed there is long dead grass that lays around on the ground and gets on our blanket. With the wind kicking up this week I think Andrew might be allergic to the grass. He has been rubbing his eyes and one of them have been tearing. Also he has been congested a bit. I will talk to the doctor through Alla or through his caretaker about it. Not sure if it’s a bit of a cold or allergies. Please pray and believe that Andrew is in complete health with us.

New Word for the Day....MAMA!!! YIPPIE!!

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Today was the first day since we’ve been in Ukraine that we got the full Ukrainian Taxi driving experience. This morning when Sasha picked us up at the hotel there was so much traffic that no one was moving at all. So Sasha took matters in his own hands and decided to drive on the sidewalk. Robert and I were both surprised and thought it was even hysterical when Sasha blew his horn at the pedestrians walking that were in his way. He has certainly picked up the speed in his driving as well. This is not too good driving at a fast pace since there are holes in the roads that are at least a foot deep or that there are not many covers on the man holes in the road around here. There is also a lot of dust everywhere around here and smoke from people burning their trash and the emissions exhaust is potent.





This morning we also got some wash done. We are certainly missing our washing machine, dryer and stove. Been doing wash by hand in the tub or sink and wringing them out and hanging them to dry. Thank goodness it has been warm enough for our clothes to dry rather quickly. We are certainly learning to appreciate our modern conveniences back home. I miss cooking for sure. Been eating a lot of salami, cheese, bread and butter around here. Seems like if you don’t have a stove and you don’t feel like eating out then break out the bread, salami and cheese. You should see the supermarkets here. Some of them have rows and rows of salami of all sorts, shapes and sizes. I couldn’t understand why salami was so popular here and when I asked Dima (Alla’s son) he said it isn’t popular it is purchased a lot here because it is a cheap protein for the Ukrainians to eat. Now I understand why Boris and Vitali at work always eat salami, bread & cheese. We have acquired a taste for it.





Andrew today seemed tired and a bit cranky believe it or not. He was playing with Daddy a lot today. Wrestling with him and teasing him. Andrew loves to tease Robert by knocking down the stack of cups that Robert builds to a tall tower. Andrew sees the tower and crawls over to it and knocks it down and then laughs hysterically. He seems to crack himself up with the littlest thing. If I or Robert make a face at something he does Andrew will start giggling uncontrollably.





Andrew was fighting going down for a nap all morning. At one point Andrew refused to sit up or stand up on the blanket. He would just roll around on it and laugh. That was when we knew he was getting tired. Then he would get up and walk over to the blue goodie bag and lay on it and zone out like he does before he nods off to sleep. I then picked him up and walked around with him to relax him as I was singing. He finally gave in and slept for about 45 minutes.





This afternoon, Robert was teaching Andrew how to say Mama. Since he hasn’t said Mama yet, Robert was slowly sounding out the word…MMMMMMAAA…MMMMMMAAA. He would repeat it over and over again. Finally about 5 minutes later he said it. It was funny watching him slowly repeat what Robert was saying. It looked like Andrew was exerting so much energy just to say Mama. He would imitate Robert by slowly saying the word….MMMMMMMMMMAA…MMMMMMMMMAAA but with look on his face like he was going to the bathroom or something. I was tickled that he actually said it.





This afternoon the Spanish Adopted Mother that got her 30 days waived came in all excited to pick up her daughter Claudia to take her home. We saw her walk into the orphanage grounds all excited and she told us that she got Claudia’s birth certificate and the passport done in just a couple of days and that she is picking her up to take her home today. I was so happy for her that I hugged her and jumped up and down filled with excitement for her. Claudia is such a cutie. Please stand in prayer and agreement with us that Claudia is completely healthy and made whole from all sickness and diseases in Jesus Name.

First Kisses for Mama

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The weather today got hot again, back up into the low 90’s F. It was breezy in the afternoon which was nice since it kept us somewhat cool playing in the shade on our blanket with Andrew. Things at the orphanage have been quite today since most of the families went home until their 30 day waiting period is over.



Some people have been asking if Andrew is always smiling. No he isn’t always smiling we just post the best pictures of him. He is usually a happy child that is either curious, delighted, joyful or sleepy. He rarely ever cries. Once in a while when he is about to fall asleep he will get a bit whiney until he falls asleep on my shoulder. He has a very good attitude considering his environment (mush for all 3 meals, no air conditioning, rarely any exercise and his screaming, biting playmates that are in his group). He is probably counting the days down as much as we are. It has been nice been given these 30 days to bond with Andrew without any distractions. One thing we feel restricted on is if and what we are allowed to feed him. The caretakers at the orphanage told us not to feed him only give him something to drink if he wants. Alla said that we should give him food with substance and protein since he doesn’t get much nourishment in the orphanage. It’s funny, Andrew knows our blue bag well. He goes over to it at every visit and pounds on it as if to say, “Where are my toys?” And if he sees Robert chewing gum, Andrew walks right over to him and opens his mouth WIDE and sticks his tongue out as if to say, “Feed me too”. Or if he is thirsty or hungry he’ll pound on our bag (since we keep his food in there too) and suck his lips and tongue to make a sound to indicate that he’s hungry. How can you not feed a child like that acts like he’s starving. Sometimes we wonder if he is being fed at all.



Today our little Andrew gave Mama her first kiss from him when we were ready to say goodbye for the afternoon. I was tickled pink even though it was a slobbery wet kiss. Be still my heart. How precious. Andrew was also being silly and laying on the blanket near the edge and wrapping himself up in it and rolling himself up like an egg roll. We kept straightening the blanket back to flatten it out again and he would do it again. What a comedian he is. Andrew also got a kick out of when I would tickle his feet and then bring his foot up to his mouth to blow kisses with his foot instead of his hand. He also enjoyed his new musical bear today. It plays 3 children’s songs. He kept pushing the button over and over to make the music play.

Beach Ball Fun & First Kisses

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Andrew discovered how much fun playing with his beach ball could be. About a week ago we tried to get him to play with it but since he wasn't walking as he is this week he didn't seem interested. It was cute to see him hug the beach ball and roll it back and forth to us. He really enjoyed it today.





Hallelujah, three out of the four adoptive families went to court today and the judge was in favor of all of them becoming their children's parents. Praise God! Thank you all for being in agreement with all of us that their adoption is and continues to be completed. One family even was blessed to get the 30 days waived only because of medical reasons (Hep B positive). That way the child can be taken home to get medical attention. There is 2 more families that are still working on getting their paperwork together to go to court and complete their adoption, an Irish couple and a Michigan couple. Please stand in agreement with us that their adoption is completed as well.





Every day when we visit Andrew and it is time to take him back to his groupa I lean Andrew in to give his Papa kisses goodbye. Usually Robert kisses his cheek a few times and rubs his back as he says goodbye. This afternoon, as I leaned him in to Robert to say goodnight Robert gave him kisses on Andrew's cheek and Andrew kissed him right back. We were all surprised and Andrew thought it was funny so he kept leaning over to Robert to kiss him again and again. How cute is he. Our Prince "Andrewsko" as Robert calls him.

Making Friends with Patrick

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This morning the weather was a bit cooler than it's been since we got here. All of those that have been praying along with us for cooler weather our prayers have been answered. This past week the weather has been a dream. Almost feels like September is here already. That would be nice...then we could all come home. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It helps make the time go by fast playing with Andrew for 5 hours out of the day and coming to the Internet cafe to read all of your emails that you send us. It is certainly a blessing to hear from all of you, while we are waiting to come home with Andrew.



Just to let you know and understand a bit better how all of our prayers have been answered and how the Supernatural Favor of God surrounds us everywhere we go and with all people, our adoption has sped along mightily with the paperwork compared to all of the other families that are here through their adoption agencies that they are using. All of 7 other adoptive families that arrived at the orphanage the same day as we did to meet their children only 3 other families besides us went to court already. There are many document and translator problems with their adoption process. Please pray for them as well for supernatural favor with their adoptions so they can move forward with the adoption of their children as well. We have been truely blessed that we have such a great translator, Alla. All of the other translators were asking her of advice on how to take care of the documents and even help translate to their clients for them.



Today Andrew made a new friend named Patrick. Patrick is a 6 year old Ukrainian adopted child of one of the Italian families that is adopting another son in our orphanage. Each day, Patrick comes over to say hello to Andrew. He loves Andrew and loves to touch his cheeks. He is very sweet and has really taken to Andrew. Earlier this morning, Daddy was showing Andrew how to throw and bounce the small little basketball to play catch with him. Well a bit later Patrick came over to say hello to Andrew and sat down near our blanket to play with Andrew. I told Andrew to throw Patrick the ball and he did. Patrick then rolled it back to him. Andrew kept throwing the ball back and forth to Patrick. I was amazed at how long the two of them kept playing ball. I think Andrew realized today that he has a new friend. In the afternoon, when Patrick would come over to say hello Andrew would crawl over to him to spend time with him.



We also met a new adoptive couple from Ireland that is adopting a girl in Andrew's groupa. They've been at the orphanage for a few days bonding with the little girl and has proceeded to go through with the adoption. We have also met families from Spain, Italy, Sweden, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Harrisburg, PA. We are learining not only a bit of Russian but also a bit of Italian, and Spanish.



Andrew also got weighed today and he has gained a total of 2 lbs since we met him. He weighed close to 18 lbs on Aug. 2 and now he weighs 20lbs. For curiousity sake I also measured him to see if he grew in height and he grew a whole inch already. My how fast he is growing just in 2 weeks. Amazing!! I knew his cheeks were filling out but I'm surprised that he grew a whole inch in two weeks. God is so good!

Mr. Giggles

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Peek - A - Boo!

Last night when leaving the internet cafe we got caught in a thunder and lightning storm. Boy when I tell you that when it rains here it REALLY rains. When we were about to leave the internet cafe it was pouring buckets of water and since there is no drainage in the streets, the water has no place to go. We waited in the cafe until the rain slowed down to leave. Once we left and walked home to the hotel, we discovered that a few cars were up to the hood of their cars in water and they were still plowing through it. We were amazed that the car didn't stall out on them. The streets were flooded out, however the sidewalks were pretty much dry to walk on.

This morning our taxi driver, Sasha was a little late picking us up to go to the orphanage due to the water in the streets from the rainstorm last night. Since he only speaks a bit of English, it has been interesting how we have found to communicate with him and his partner Dima. Sasha when he arrived at the hotel to pick us up put his hands together like he was praying and asking for forgiveness for him being late this morning. We told him no problem. Yesterday morning it was funny when we got into his cab I said good morning to him in Russian as he said good morning to us in English both at the same time. I think we surprised each other that we were speaking each others language. We all laughed and went on our way.



When we arrived at the orphanage to visit with Andrew I went into his room where his group lives and Andrew was ready to go, however all of the other kids were on their pots going potty or sitting their until they go. It's funny to see them sitting on the floor at such a young age (18 - 24 months) going potty on their pot. If they try to get up off of their pot they are put right back on it and told to stay their and do their business. It's funny to watch them all stripped down to nothing sitting on their pots bare naked and just sitting their looking up at you with a blank stare. If they see something across the room that catches their attention, they scoot themselves while still sitting on their pots across the floor to their destination.



Today we played peek-a-boo with Andrew and got him on film laughing. As I held a baby wipe up in the air I would put it on Andrew's head and leave it there. He would then go to remove it from his head and as he pulled it off he would laugh. Robert made a video clip of it which we will try to attach. Hopefully it will work. It will really show Andrew's personality and playfulness. He has really been giggly these past couple of days and really bonding well with both Robert and I. We have been having some issues with uploading pictures recently so hopefully soon we can add some.



I also wanted to add that many people in Ukraine (both Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk) have stopped me on the streets to ask me a question. I guess I fit in well here. It must be the red tint to my hair. Many women have red hair here. When these people stop to ask me a quesition, I just tell them in Russian that I don't understand and that I speak English. They must understand me since they nod their heads and say OOOHHH!! The night before we had court, I went down the hall of our hotel room to use the hotel iron to iron some clothes for us to wear to court. Well the light was on and the door was open to the room I was in and 2 different men at different times came up to me to ask me (I think) if I could iron their pants. They must have thought I worked at the hotel or something. I told them the same thing that I've been telling everyone here that asks me a question that I don't know, that I don't understand and I speak English. I guess I fit in well. Not many people ask Robert for anything. I guess he looks like a tourist. Anyway. got to run and see if I can upload some pictures for you all.

Belly Laughs & Singing

What a Joy Andrew was today. Such a silly boy. The past couple of days, Andrew has been standing in front of Daddy sitting on his bench and lifting up his shirt and staring at Robert's belly in amazement. Then Robert this morning poked Andrew in the belly and started to giggle. Later when we were playing with Andrew on the blanket he thought it was funny to roll around on the blanket and look up at me until I tickled his belly. Well let me just tell you that the largest belly laugh came out of him. He would then pretend like he was rolling away and then he would roll back looking up at me again and wait with this smerk on his face until I put my hands up in the air to get ready to tickle him again. Belly laugh after Belly laugh....such a funny boy he was today. Daddy got into the tickling a little later and was laying with Andrew on the blanket facing Andrew and they would just look at each other until Robert would tickle him again. Andrew got such a kick out of the whole game and we had just as much fun with him as he did with us. We were all laughing hard.



As we were walking around the building again today, Andrew was singing some sort of tune to us. We've been singing to him lately so I think he is just immitating us. WE think he is singing the Sesame Street song. Such a cutie. So we were all singing and humming along together.



Andrew's walking is improving more and more each day. We've been playing the game, "Come to Mama or Come to Papa" and we stand further and further apart to see how far he can walk on his own. His confidence is building as well. He walked far off of our blanket and into the chest high dandilions to Andrew as we were following him close behind. He's been enjoying this game because after he reaches Papa or Mama we pick him up, give him a kiss and toss him in the air.

Andrew takes his first steps!

Yesterday, before we went to court, Andrew took his first few steps on his own walking to Mama. WE were so tickled at the progress Andrew is making in such a short time (less than 2 weeks). Today, Andrew ran about 6-7 steps to Mama on his own. I was so tickled and happy that I picked him up and tossed him in the air to praise his accomplishment. He loved it so much he kept doing it over and over again. He is amazing us more each day. A few days ago, everytime Andrew would see some other kid being pushed around in a stroller and that he wasn't allowed in it, he would wail and cry such big crockodile tears. His caretaker was pushing some of his playmates in a stroller owned by the orphanage, while we were walking him around the building. Andrew saw the stroller and got so excited and pulled Robert and I as he ran over to go near it. His caretaker saw how excited he was and let him go for a short ride. He was a happy kid until we took him out of it. That day and the next day everytime he would see a stroller he would get upset when we told him no. We want him to strengthen his legs and work on his walking before he gets wheeled around in a stroller. Plus the strollers don't belong to us so we are redirecting his attention whenever one comes near us. Today, he has been much better toward the strollers, not paying them any attention at all.



Today, Alla took the 5:00 pm train back to Kiev where she lives with her family. So we are on our own from here. We are well supplied with food, water and baby food for a while and have 2 taxi drivers scheduled to pick us up everyday at the hotel and at the orphanage. We will miss Alla. She is so wonderful and very protective of us. She will be checking in from time to time to make sure we have everything we need and that we are okay.



We are so happy that we are staying the extra 30 days to be with Andrew. There were 3 other adoptive families at our orphanage that had court yesterday and left for home for the 30 days last night. Their children today at the orphanage were looking for them and trying to break free from the caretaker's hold and they ran over to the area on the grounds where they saw all of the other adoptive families spend time with their little ones. When their caretakers collected the children to bring them back to their groupa they kept looking for their parents. I couldn't imagine what they are going through right now. I know that some families just can't swing it staying the extra time here, however, it breaks my heart to see the yearning in the children for their parents love and attention. It broke my heart to think of being away from Andrew after all the progress he has made and we didn't want to put him through the emotional stress of wondering where his parents were.



Some people have been asking if Andrew is in the orphanage still or in our hotel with us. Andrew is still in the orphanage until the 30 days is up (Sept 14). After Sept 14 we can collect his adoption decree from the courts, his new birth certificate, passport, visa, have a medical exam done in the US Embassy and then fly home. All of that paperwork should take about another week to finish before we can come home. Please pray that all of our final paperwork will be completed quickly and that our airline (British Airways) is back up and running by the time we are completed with our paperwork (probably by Sept 20th, hopefully). Love to you all!

It's Official! Andrew is our son!!

WHOO WHOOO!!! God is so good!! It's official, Andrew is our son as of today. We just returned from court today and the judge officially declared Andrew as our son! We are so happy and excited to be parents at last. Andrew is our forever son, at last. How truely blessed we are to have Andrew as our son. It's hard to express what we are feeling emotionally.



Today, when the judge asked me about why we wanted to adopt a child from Ukraine, of course the emotions started to flow. Alla told me not to cry. I controlled myself as much as I possibly could, but when your dream is at the final stages of coming true it's hard not to get excited, emotional and thankful to God for all He has done throughout this whole process. The judge also asked some questions about our finances, home, education and work which then helped to calm me down. And then he asked if I wanted to ask him anything and then I knew it was time to ask him if we could adopt Andrew and to change his Russian name to the name we chose for him. Well, the tears of joy and emotion were flowing again when I asked the judge if we could adopt Andrew and change his family Russian name to Millilo and to change his first name Andrey to Andrew Lawrence. I was surprised at how emotional I was when I asked him this. I was laughing and crying at the same time. Robert gave me a tissue to dry my eyes. The lawyer of the orphanage stated to the judge that she has seen with her own eyes how much we love Andrew and that they were tears of joy. The judge then asked Robert some questions regarding his work and Robert also stated that we obligate to register him at the Ukrainian Embassy after the adoption and understand that Andrew will be an Ukrainian citizen until the age of 18 years old. He will also be an American citizen once we hit US soil when we return home.



As of today we are parents, however, they didn't waive the 30 days waiting period before we can bring Andrew home with us. Robert and I have decided that it would be better for Andrew to stay the extra 30 days here in Ukraine with him to continue bonding with him until we are officially allowed to bring Andrew home. We will be staying at the same hotel, however, we will switch to a larger room with A/C. Alla is setting everything up for us regarding the same driver to take us back and forth to visit with Andrew everyday and take us to the market or pharmacy or whatever we need since she won't be with us during the 30 days. She will check in with us from time to time and visit us once during our stay. Alla has been wonderful through everything with this whole adoption and we've made her as one of Andrew's babushka's (grandmothers). She has helped taken care of us and Andrew and helped us through all the legalities and we praise God for her and Cathy Harris and Valentina and all of the Ukrainian Angel groupies for all of the Godly wisdom that they've provided for us. God directed us to Ukrainian Angels halfway through our adoption process and let me just say that the wisdom and favor we have received through this group has been exceedingly and abundantly far above what we had asked for.



For this child we've prayed and this is the petition which we've asked of Him.

First Car Ride & Bonding with Papa

Today we took Andrew to get his picture taken for his passport along with some other adoptive families. It was interesting holding Andrew in the backseat of a car without strapping into a carseat. With the bumpy rodes bouncing us around I felt like I was Andrew's carseat strapping him down. Of course he wasn't happy sitting still so I kept changing his position to keep him quite. He was finally happy when he was grabbing and tickling Daddy's neck from behind through the bottom space in the head rest from the front seat. Once he tickled Robert's neck, Andrew would lean over to look at Robert's reaction when Robert would turn around and smile at him. In return Andrew grinned happily that he made Papa laugh. Andrew kept doing that in the car to keep himself occupied while I held him.



We all then came back to the orphanage to play with our children until 6:00pm. Andrew loved his new rider motercycle toy that we got for him. One where you sit on it and push with your feet to make it go. At first he was more interested in pulling the stickers off of it than riding on it. (Andrew likes to pull labels off of our bottles). He does better going backwards on it than forwards or he likes to push it as he holds onto it. It gives him balance as he pushes it around. Andrew was also playing with another toy where you put the shapes in the correct holes. He was starting to figure it out with the help of Papa today.



This morning, we were walking Andrew around to get him some exercise and after about 10 minutes of walking he plopped himself down on the blacktop and wouldn't stand when I helped him up. I told Robert that he was probably tired and that he needed a break. Well, Robert picked him up and Andrew started to get sleepy. So I held him and he slept for about an hour on my shoulder. He's been quite the active boy the past couple of days. He finally needed a rest.



Another funny story real quick I wanted to share was when we were going back to our hotel one night we were waiting for the elevator to open when this stray cat that hangs out in the hotel came over to the same elevator to wait with us. When the elevator doors opened the cat immediately walked into the elevator before us and Robert, Alla and I all looked at each other and laughed. We joined the cat into the elevator and Robert pushed floor number 2 and our floor number 6. If anyone knows Robert, knows that he is not too fond of cats since he is allergic to them. He pushed floor number 2 so the cat would get off on that floor instead of our floor and sure enough when the doors opened the cat got off and said goodnight. We all had a good laugh over that one. Too funny.

Balloons, Explosions & Energy

Hello to all friends and family back home. Sorry no pictures today, Andrew was a handful and a half today. I think because of all of the protein and vitamins he has been receiving from his Mama and Papa his was like a freight train today. Just couldn't keep still, even when we fed him. Robert kept him occupied for a while with a balloon that he blew up. Andrew was playing catch with Daddy and then he thought it was funny to hold the balloon in his mouth by the knot. He was giggling and cooing the whole time he was playing with it.



A funny thing happened this morning when we were feeding him his cottage cheese and apple and peach baby food. Andrew was sitting in his yellow chair facing us as we fed him and as I placed the spoonful in his mouth he sneezed and a explosion of baby food splattered ALL OVER Robert and I. Yes we were christened by our Prince Andrew and now we are OFFICIAL parents. Robert and I just looked at each other in amazement and how far the food splattered and laughed. Too Funny! That's one for the books.

Andrew was also speaking more today. He was babbling at everything today. I forgot to mention that on Friday Alla was showing Andrew our family album and showing him our picture teaching him to say Mama & Papa. Well Andrew surprised us all and said "Papa" on Friday and ever since. Todays new word was "Bye" instead of paka (russian for bye). We've been showing him flash cards of animals and different obects and working with his language skills. He is starting to really speak more often now and mimic both Robert and I. Even if I make certain sounds to get his attention or different sounds to identify that I'm about to tickle him he is repeating what I do and that sounds I make. I forgot to mention that yesterday was the first day that he answered and turned his head to me when I called him Andrew. He usually only answered by Andrushka (what they call him at the orphanage) but yesterday I said Andrew to get his attention and he turn his head and looked at me like "you called"?? We weren't sure if he got a nap today because he was so rammy and a bit cranky towards the end of the day.



We went shopping today for new shoes and some other clothes for Andrew. As if you didn't notice, Andrew has been wearing pink sandles, which is all the orphanage has in his size. One of the other adoptive American mothers helped us size his foot to be we think a 4 toddler. Looks right but we'll see how they fit tomorrow. Since he is also getting to be so active we will probably get him a toddler walking car or some type of walking toy to help improve him walking. The pavement and grass areas around the orphanage are extremely uneven and unsafe just for walking. All of the roads, sidewalks, pavements you name it are needing some serious help. You really have to be careful just walking down the sidewalk.



The weather here today was wonderful. Cool and breezy with a bit of sun. The caretakers dressed Andrew in a sweatshirt this morning because it was so cool. We loved every minute of it. It was a nice change from the past couple of weeks. Well, that's it for today. Have a good evening.

Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

We have good news for everyone! Alla got court scheduled for THIS Friday!! Hallelujah!! We were so excited that I gave Alla a BIG Kiss on her cheek. We were one of the few couples that did get our court scheduled for Friday. We are blessed to have Alla and the favor of God on our side.



Boy oh Boy what an active child Andrew was today. From morning till afternoon he just didn't want to sit still. He is getting stronger and stronger as each day goes by and more and more active. Last week, he wanted to sit a lot or be held and walk a little bit. Today he didn't want to sit still much, he wasn't sleepy at all...he was just on the go, go, go. Sounds like Robert, ehhh?? We also noticed that he was testing us today to see how much he could get away with. When we purchased the lawn furniture we also purchased a little chair for Andrew as well. Today was the first day that he actually wanted to sit in it. Of course since it was plastic we had to keep it steady so it wouldn't fall over when he was getting in and out of it. When it came time to feed him we placed him in his chair and halfway throughout feeding him he started to stand up in the chair. I told him to sit and he wasn't listening at first so I firmly said sit and pointed to the chair and as Robert was holding the chair waiting for him to listen to me Andrew (with food on his face) gave us this silly grin like he was saying (yeah right). So I pulled the food away and said for him to sit (more firmly) or no more food. So he sit down and then we continued feeding him. He didn't seem that hungry today either. He ate about half of a jar of baby food and was playing with it instead of eating it. He was really playing with me by putting his tongue in the way so the spoon wouldn't fit in his mouth and then he would finally open up wide enough and he wouldn't close his mouth to take the food, instead he would let me scrap the food off into the roof of his mouth and he would keep his mouth open and let the food drop to the bottom of his mouth and then smile with food squishing out of his mouth. Such a silly happy boy he has become in such a short time. We have noticed that he is getting a bit heavier as well.



Today we noticed that he hasn't had his hair washed in a while so we washed his hair with a baby wipe and Robert thought it was funny when his hair was all spiked up (as you can see in the picture below).






Just wanted to add that tonight I had veal at a restaurant and let me just say that it certainly doesn't compare to Catelli Brothers' Veal. Boy am I spoiled with such quality veal from Catelli Brothers. I miss it as well as all of my family at Catelli Brothers and our family at home and at Victory Christian Fellowship Church! It's great to get emails from everyone while we are here. Makes us feel closer to everyone. Sorry if we haven't responded to everyone's emails, very limited here. Just wanted you all to know that your emails, thoughts and prayers are sooooo much appreciated. Until tomorrow. Paka (Good bye)