First Kisses for Mama

We know how you all love the pictures of Andrew so here is a few more: click on the link below. http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=73262753209



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

More Picture of Prince Andrew. Click Link below:



http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=52246233209




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

More photos of Andrew - just click the link below: http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=75868082209



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

CLick on the link below to view some recent photos of Andrew.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=75868082209&photoid=65868082209

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)

Our Silly Little Boy

What a wonderful day it was today. The weather was a bit cooler than it's been and it was quite windy, which helped cool things off today. It was a nice change from the last week being hot and humid with no A/C. For those of you that are planning on coming over to adopt any time soon, make sure you bring insect repellent. They don't have screens on their windows here and to keep cool you must keep the windows open when you sleep. We've been coating ourselves with bug spray before we lay down to go to sleep or else we won't be able to sleep.

We were tired of crouching on our blanket to visit with Andrew so we stopped at the store on the way in to visit with him to purchase a plastic bench and a couple of chairs to sit on to make it more comfortable. We were thankful to be able to spend time with Andrew on Sunday (which is usually not allowed). As you can see from the picture that he was quite a silly little boy today. As each day goes by his personality is blossoming. The caretakers told us in the orphanage that before we came he was such a serious and quite little boy which rarely smiled. Now they can see a definite change in him. Much more happier and more energetic. They say he has happy eyes now. Today the doctor of the orphanage came over to sit down and talk to us regarding Andrew. She said that she has been caring for him since he was 6 months old. She gave us some parenting advice and told us the change she has seen in him this past week as well. Alla then picked him up out of my arms and stood between the doctor and myself and spoke to Andrew in Russian saying who do you want to go to the doctor or Mama? Andrew looked at the doctor and then looked at me and immediately threw his arms out towards me to hold him. The doctor was very impressed and glad to see that Andrew is attaching well to us. That is exactly what she wanted to see. The doctor then asked if we could purchase some allergy medicine for another child who got stung by a bee today and is all swelled up. They didn't have enough allergy medication for the child so we went out and purchased it and brought it back to the orphanage during our afternoon visit. When we were through playing with Andrew later in the day, I saw the doctor in the hallway of the orphanage and she gave me a big hug and kiss for bringing the medicine for the other child. I told her that we were happy to help. I then asked her how the child was doing and she brought me down to see the child. I told Alla that I just wanted to make sure that the child was doing fine and she wanted me to see the change in the child from getting the medication. The child is doing much better and most of the swelling has gone down. The doctor is such a sweet lady. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart for taking such good care of Andrew. She threw her arms around all of us and hugged both Andrew and I. She told Alla for us to come back to the same orphanage next year for a little girl. I told her we just might.



Andrew today was being his silly self. He was sitting on Daddy's lap straddling his leg while I was taking a few pictures of him. He got into it and started posing for Mama. He laid down on Daddy's leg and looked at me in a silly way, as you can see. The he would get up and lay back down and give me this silly smerk. What a ham he is. Everyone says how happy of a child he is and his playfulness is really starting to show.



Today we were reading a baby book to him and showing him pictures of the babies in the book. Each page had a baby and baby supplies. Each page I would point to the baby and say "Baby" over and over again. Then I would ask Andrew, "Where's the baby", and he would immediately point to the baby and he said, "Bab Bab! What a smart little cookie he is. He is like a sponge just absorbing everything. Hallelujah!! God is soooo Good!!





Robert wanted to add that our spiritual training has given us strength to use each and every day. Today, coming home from the orphanage we had the green light and were proceeding through the intersection while in the other direction to our left another car was speeding in and around other cars to speed through the intersection before the light turned red. The light turned red for him, however, the car didn't even slow down. We saw him and if we proceeded any further through the intersection we would be in the hospital right now. We thank God for the angels that surround us each and everyday giving us protection from all evil. The car slammed on his brakes because he finally woke up and slid right by us by a hair and through the intersection he went and kept going. We noticed that there were 8 adults piled in the car the size of an escort. "We don't need to crash test any 30 year old Russian cars while we are here". As Alla says, Life is Life!!



Tomorrow, the paperwork trail starts again. We will be meeting with the judge to see when we can have a court date. We will keep you all updated on our progress and as soon as we find out when court is we'll let you all know. Until then Dasfidanya!! (Goodbye)

Butterflies & Tickles

It is so good to be connected again to everyone back home. We appoligise for keeping you all in suspense so long. This week was a whirlwind week of legalities once we found our son. In between visits with Andrew we were running to get all of the paperwork (red tape) together as quickly as possible so we can get court scheduled as soon as possible. Alla has been doing backflips getting the paperwork done. Our paperwork was approved by the inspector on Friday and is in the process of being approved by the NAC and hopefully on Monday we will get a court date for the end of the week from the judge. As you know we want to bring Andrew home as soon as possible, that is why we were out of touch so long.



We've been told that the region where Andrew is in does not waive the 30 day waiting period from the time of court. That means that after our court date we would either have to come home for 30 days before bringing Andrew home or stay here for another 30 days before we can all come home. We will see if this is really the case. Please keep it in prayer that the 30 day waiting period is waived so we all can come home as soon as court has taken place. We were aware of this when we accepted the referral to meet Andrew, however we felt he was worth the extra 30 day wait if that were the case.






We are so in love with our son, Andrew. He is such a cutie! This morning Andrew fell asleep again on my shoulder. The orphanage has just moved him into an older group of kids (therefore he is the youngest in his groupa). They are trying to keep him up in the morning to visit with us, instead of getting a morning and afternoon nap and therefore we are able to spend 2.5 hours with him twice a day instead of 1 hour twice a day. Our little prince couldn't hang this morning though and passed out on my shoulder. It was pretty funny watching him get all sleepy as he was trying to stay awake. And then he was sleeping propped in my arms like he was still awake. Like father like son. Robert can sleep sitting up as well anywhere and any time of the day. Hehehhee!! I finally laid his head down on my shoulder to make it more comfortable for him. Such a sweetie he is! And I'm not just saying that cause he is our son. Everyone is saying that we got the best kid out of our groupa.



Today, Andrew was walking around with me as he was holding my finger on the orphanage grounds and we saw a lot of butterflies flying around. So when we got real close I pointed to the butterflies and repetitively said the word butterfly over and over again. About a half hour later when we were feeding him outside on our blanket, Andrew pointed to a butterfly nearby and said "But" "But". We were amazed at how quickly he picked that up.





Also today we were tickling and playing with Andrew...just being goofy to make him smile. He is showing his silly personality with us. He loves to be held up in the air over your head. He laughs and giggles so much when we do that.



Well, that's all for now. We appreciate all of the prayers in the past and future prayers. We believe that God is blessing you of your hearts desire as well. Thank you all for thinking of us and joining in with us on our excitement of our son, Andrew.

Day 4 with Andrew

Day 3 with Andrew

This morning’s visit with Andrew went well. We took him outside and played with him a bit and gave him some juice with his vitamins mixed in. Boy, I tell you, once he latches onto the sippy cup he never lets go. His strength is mighty when it comes to his juice. He drinks it so fast that he starts choking on it. We try to pull the cup away from him but he hangs on for dear life. He is becoming more relaxed and friendly towards us as each day goes by. He is such a sweet little boy. He loves to give Robert a slap on the hand like he is giving him five….and then he laughs. After we were done feeding him this morning and wiped him down, I stood up to pick him up off of Robert’s lap and stretched my arms out to pick him up. To my surprise he immediately outstretched his hands towards me for the first time. I squealed with delight and picked him up and gave him many hugs and kisses. Towards the end of our visit, he outstretched his hands to his daddy for him to pick him up as well. Robert was tickled pink that Andrew has attached to him so quickly.



In between visits with Andrew, Alla had us running around town doing errands to prepare the paperwork for court. We stopped at the police station, for paperwork regarding his birthmother, then we went to the notary to sign a petition to adopt Andrew which will go to the city and the NAC, we stopped by the birth certification building to make a petition that when we adopt Andrew we will change his name to Andrew Lawrence Millilo. We found out that his name isn’t actually Andrew, it’s Andrey (in Russian) but the caretakers at the orphanage call him the affectionate nickname of Andrey which is Andruska. So since that nickname is close to Andrew, that is what we’ve been calling him and decided to change it to Andrew as his first name. We gave him my father’s first name as Andrew’s middle name, Lawrence in honor of my dad. We then went to make some copies of some documents, went to the inspector’s office, Alla spoke with the orphanage doctor regarding his blood tests which came back today all negative!!! Praise God!! There were some other specialist doctors which also checked him out today and said that he is healthy boy. The only delays are in some physical with walking for his age and speech. He said just to work with him regarding talking to him and teach him certain words. He also has a heat type of rash on his back, chest and neck, which, Robert and I have been putting ointment on him, and has helped a bit. We checked to see if his bottom had the same type of rash and it didn’t. So it’s probably from being out in the heat (which it has been quite hot here) and sweat and dirt etc.



During this afternoon’s visit, Robert and I gave him some more juice with some fruit. He doesn’t seem to chew very well so we are sticking to baby food for now with some soft fruit. Andrew has 12 teeth, however, most are in the front and a couple new molars are starting to break through. Andrew has surprised us both by not being the type of baby who chews or sucks on his hands or want to put anything in his mouth (except food or juice of course). I found his ticklish spot today, by his upper portion of his legs and got him smiling big with teeth and all. I’ve been taking photographs day by day and will update with photos when I can. Towards the end of our visit, Robert and I brought him back to his group and gave him hugs and kisses before we put him back with his group. When I put him down, he started to get upset that we were leaving. Then the orphanage doctor came over and spoke to him and diverted his attention from getting upset to blowing us kisses goodbye and smiling. Ohh how precious our Prince Andrew is. He blew us 3 kisses goodbye and gave us such a cute little grin. Be still our hearts, Andrew has captured ours forever.

Day 2 with Andrew

Today we got to visit with Andrew twice, once in the morning for about an hour and once in the afternoon for about an hour.



Morning Visit:



When we arrived the orphanage was getting ready to draw some blood from Andrew and the other children that were about to be adopted for some testing and they weren’t allowed to eat until after the blood test. He was a little cranky during and after the blood test since the little guy was also hungry and hadn’t eaten anything yet. They gave him a little something to eat when Robert and I waited to visit with him in the waiting room. When they brought him out to visit, he still didn’t reach for me to pick him up, however, I took him in my arms anyway. He would give me this look as if he were checking me out and then I’d give him a big hug and kiss. Robert was afraid to hold him right away, since the children are not used to being around men and he didn’t want Andrew to start crying. Robert figures for Andrew to get used to me first and then by the end of the week he’ll hold him. I put him down to see how strong his legs were and to see how good he could walk. I held his hands and he was trotting around me quickly a couple of times. Then he stopped abruptly and started crying. So I then picked him up and started humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He then calmed down and Robert and I sat him on my lap to feed him a banana. Robert pulled out the banana and broke off a little piece and handed it to me. I put it up to Andrew’s mouth and he gently bit into it and ate it. When he was finished with the first little piece, Robert broke off another piece and handed it to me and Andrew grabbed it and fed himself. Boy the shyness wore off quick. We then gave him a little water from a water bottle we had and he sipped a little bit down with no problem at all. Robert thought that was enough banana he folded up the rest of the banana and was about to put it in our bag. When he moved the banana toward the bag, Andrew opened his mouth real wide like to say…don’t put it in the bag, put it in my mouth instead, can’t you see I’m still hungry? So we gave him more banana and a little more water and all of a sudden this loud burp came out of him and surprised us all. We all had a good laugh and then took Andrew outside to be close to his groupa (the group of children in his age group). We went outside and since Andrew didn’t have any shoes on, I held him in my arms as I sat in a chair near his groupa. He was babbling to his playmates as I held him and then he got real sleepy. He fell asleep in Mama’s arms for the first time on day 2. How precious he is. Robert got a few quick pictures of our precious prince sleeping and then the caretaker took him inside to sleep in his crib.




Afternoon Visit:



When Alla brought Andrew out of his room into the waiting room, we both gave Andrew a big hello. He seemed much more pleasant even from the start of our visit. Alla held his hand and guided him over to Robert as Robert took his picture. Since he had sandles on we took him outside and played with him near the monkey bars. He was wearing a cute little hat on his head. One of the orphanage caretakers and doctors greeted Andruska with a friendly hello and he about pulled me over as he was running to go and greet them. He responds happily and affectionately to all of his caretakers and orphanage doctor when they greet him by name. He tries to bolt over to them with a cheerful and playful laugh. As I help him walk or bolt over to them when he sees one of them approaching and they cheerfully call his name, I literally have to keep up with him since he is holding my hands to help him walk. I am glad to see that he is loved here by his caretakers and he loves them.



As I was on one side of the monkey bars and Andrew was on the other, I told Robert to take his hand until I get on the other side of the monkey bars to help him. Well, Robert took a hold of Andrew’s hand and Robert was helping him walk down the path to Mama. I snapped a few photos of Andrew and his Daddy and then we sat down to feed him. I told Robert to pick him up and put him on Robert’s lap as I get his food ready. When Robert placed Andrew on his lap, Robert stuck out his hand and Andrew immediately gave him five (slap on his hand) and laughed and looked at Robert. We all laughed at how Andrew is warming up to us and us to him. Such a beautiful moment…of course I got out the camera for that Kodak moment as well with his Papa. Andrew seemed much happier, stronger and more active during this visit. When I fed him he had no troubles putting down a jar of peaches and apples and some carrot and apple juice. Towards the end of his feeding time with us, Andrew started closing his mouth real fast to squish out the food all over his mouth. And then you see this big smurk appear on his face. He did that a few more times and we all laughed. His personality is starting to show and we’re loving it. We walked him around some more and then gave him lots of huggs and kisses. He is becoming much more receptive towards us and more relaxed as the day went on. I could see that Robert is falling in love with him as much as I am after today’s visit. When it was time to leave I gave him more hugs and kisses and then put him in his outdoor groupa room with gates all around it. After we said our goodbyes and walked away we turned around to wave goodbye again and he was walking to the end of the gate near us and looking through the bars as to say where are you going??? Don’t leave so soon. It was a splendid day with Andrew. We are so looking forward in taking Andrew home with us as soon as possible. We are thrilled to have the privilege of being Andrews parents.

We Found Our Son!!

August 2, 2005: Day 1 with Andrew our son!



Today we found our son in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine! He is a precious 18 month old little boy as of yesterday, August 1, 2005. He is approximately 18 pounds in weight and 68 centimeters long. He was born premature at 7 months gestation, however, is developing more and more, day by day. His name is Andrew or as they call him in the orphanage Andruska.



We traveled by train overnight to visit the orphanage today and didn’t get much sleep due to the movement and noise of the train. It was an interesting train with 4 cots to a room. Robert, Alla and I all stayed in the same room and finally turned the lights off around 1am. The train arrived in Dnipropetrovsk around 7:00am. Since it was too early to meet with the city inspector and then the orphanage inspector we had some breakfast at McDonalds. I was looking forward to a McGriddle breakfast sandwich, however, come to our surprise they didn’t have breakfast food, only cheeseburgers, French fries and Mcnugguts. So we had McNuggets with orange juice for breakfast. Once we met with the inspector of the city and then the inspector of the orphanage we traveled to the orphanage to meet the orphanage director and then meet Andrew. Since Ukraine is switching ministries of who will oversee the orphanages the orphanage director was in an all day meeting with some city officials until 4:00pm. We waited for 4 hours along with 3 other couples waiting to meet with the orphanage director for the first time. Once she got back from her meeting, we were all hoping and praying she would let us see the children for a bit before they closed at 5:00pm. Well, Praise God, she saw all of us waiting couples and brought in the children we were waiting to visit with.



When they brought Andrew into the room to see us he was shy, hesitant and not sure of who these two new people were to him. They let me hold him and he just looked at me and didn’t know what to make of what was going on. I tried to get him to smile but he was very serious. I was bouncing him in my arms as I was standing and started softly singing “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine”, however, I was starting to get choked up with just singing the first few lyrics. As I was holding him, Alla and the orphanage director was quickly giving us Andrew’s medical history. Andrew is perfectly healthy little boy. Since it was the end of the day and the other couples were waiting to meet with the orphanage director we had to say goodbye for today to Andrew. The caretakers took Andrew back to his groupa and changed him into his summer wardrobe for outdoors….his undies. We saw him again before we left outside and got to hold him and get a quick couple of family photos with Mama and Papa Millilo. Robert and I are so excited about our new son Andrew.

Our Second Appointment at the NAC

National Adoption Center Emblem 




Today we went down to the NAC and we waited for them to call us into their offices. We went in and met with a different much nicer psychologist that showed some loose files of children that just came off of the ministry and now available for foreign adoption. Our translator went through the individual files with us and their medical records. We selected to meet one of them. It is a boy that is 18 months old as of today and has some normal orphanage delays. The picture of him is his newborn picture when he was all bundled up with his eyes closed. He has dark hair (looks like a typical Millilo baby). Robert and I are both excited that we are moving forward and praying that this child is our little boy. When we selected him the psychologist took his file and held onto it to put it with our dossier and to get our paperwork ready to travel to see him tomorrow. When she took the file out of our hand the tears of happiness and relief started to well up in my eyes. Valentina and Alla saw that I started to get emotional and motioned for me to stop. I guess because we still have to visit him and THEN give our final approval to adopt him. The psychologist just smiled as she knew they were happy tears. So I controlled myself and stopped crying. Please keep praying for his health, and for God to continue to give us wisdom, direction and discernment on the decision of this little boy. REMEMBER NOTHING IS GUARANTEED YET!! We waited for our referral letter to give us permission to visit him on Tuesday, Aug 2, 2005.



This highlighted region is where we will be traveling to. 




Once we got the letter and all of our documents we went to the travel agent to get train tickets for late tonight. Alla said that it takes approximately 5-7 hours by train to travel to Dnipropetrovsk region where the orphanage is located. This region is SE of Kiev. If you look on the map I highlighted the region where we will be visiting the little boy. We then went back to the apartment to collect our belongings, and got drenched from the major downpour of water after getting off of the taxi bus. We should arrive in Dnipropetrovsk around 7am and will then meet with the inspector of the city and of the orphanage. After that we will meet with the orphanage director, orphanage doctor and then meet the little boy. We will keep you all informed as much as we can on the outcome of tomorrow. We know that you all are just as excited for us as we are in becoming parents. We hope and pray that our internet service will be as good there as we have here in Kiev. Until we blog again, keep us in prayer for safe travels. Love to you all!!

Our Weekend in Kiev

Robert & Karrie Sitting Next to A Famous Russian Writer 




Saturday, Robert and I enjoyed our time to relax today and take it easy. We knew it was going to be a hot day today we stayed inside for a majority of the day. We exercised to our Tae Bo Billy Blanks Ab Bootcamp dvd and caught up on some emails, caught up on our paperwork and watched some movies. Around 4:30pm Dima came over to take us out on the town. He took us to a wax museum where they had some Russian Olympic figures, Russian actors, poets, Russian Presidents such as Lennon, Breshnif, Stalin and Arnold Swartzineger & Britney Spears. Dima then took us up one of the 7 hills in Kiev to the Russian Parliament building where all of the diplomats and political figures meet. We then climbed another hill to walk through Maritzzio Park that over looks the Dnipro River and Kiev. He then led us through the park where the first Prime Minister built a magnificent home where other countries presidents and diplomats stay while they are in town. Behind the gates of the Prime Minister home and building were approximately 15 tents that were set up close to each other with protest signs. Dima said that these people are still protesting the Orange Revolution that went on last winter. This is just a very small percentage of the people that were camped out protesting for 3 months last year when the elections were going on last fall. We then continued through the park and saw a lot of monuments of Russian composers, politicians and historians. We walked a little further and came to a free outdoor classical arena where people were playing their instruments. The arena was packed with an interested audience. We stayed and listened for a while as we overlooked the city and watched the roller bladers weave in and out of their cones on their toes. This city has some huge parks. If you are planning on coming to Kiev to adopt or visit, you must walk through some of these parks. A little further down in the park was a huge playground and a couple of ponies for the kids to take a ride on. Seems to be a common thing here in the city for people who can afford it. Robert didn’t want to pay for me to ride on the pony so I wasn’t a happy camper. =) I could see that he wanted to ride the monster toy trucks by the way he was watching the little kids drive them around. I said, “No not today…maybe next time”. =) By that time we were tired, our feet hurt and were dripping with sweat. Dima hailed the taxi bus and we went home. It was an exhausting day between exercising in the morning and climbing the hills in Kiev and all the walking we did. By the time we got back to the apartment Robert’s Mom & Dad called and chatted with us for a while. I was too tired to blog last night, so we just relaxed when we got home.



Sunday: In the afternoon we went out on the town ourselves. We took a taxi bus to one of the malls and did a little shopping in the wonderfully air conditioned mall. Of course we took our time to enjoy much of the cool temperatures as possible, have lunch and nosing in and out of the shops. When we were in the center of the mall in one of the shops a funny thing happened. All of a sudden out in the center of the mall this loud up beat music started blasting and disco lights were flashing to get everyone’s attention to come out of the stores and into the center of the mall. When we walked out of the shop to the center of the mall we saw this red carpet go up this ramp and around the corner along with this red velvet rope that bordered the red carpet. Well they started announcing something in Russian over the loud speaker like they were introducing the President of Ukraine or something. Then when we heard female names being announced Robert turned to me and said that he thought that it was going to be a fashion show with models walking down the red carpet. Well wouldn’t you know it that there were these 5 ducks…yes I said DUCKS that were running down the red carpet, flapping their wings like they were waving hi to us and running into the fountain (where the carpet led to). They were so FUNNY!! They were playing around in the water climbing on top of each other, flapping their wings real hard to get everyone wet and then got up out of the fountain and ran down the carpet the opposite direction and waved goodbye with their wings as they squaked Dasfidanya…or goodbye!!! One of the most hilarious things we have seen yet. Robert just shook his head in disbelief. Well that was our exciting day out on the town in Kiev today. We hope you had a good laugh about it as well.



Tomorrow will be our second appointment at the NAC. We are anxious to move forward with our adoption of our child, so please pray and be in agreement with us to have favor in finding our forever child. Once we select our child we will travel to the region where the child is located. Depending on the region and how remote or not it is will depend on if we will be blogging regularly or not. We will do what we can to keep you all informed as much as possible. So if you don’t hear anything from us in the next few days, don’t be alarmed. I will get a message to my mom if necessary to update our blog as soon as possible. As you know there are regions in Ukraine (like we have experienced last week) that their phone lines are not working or up to speed. So we’ll see where and if we are able to keep in contact with everyone. We love you and thank you all in advance for the agreement of our forever child.

Deciding To Adopt One Child Under 4 Years Old

This morning Robert and I felt a prompting in our hearts to speak to Alla about pursuing one child instead of a sibling group, since the sibling groups that we pursued last time were all out of country on sponsorship programs. We didn’t want to waste anymore time to see if the sibling groups are available to visit and proceed with the adoption or not. We’ve been here in Ukraine a week already today and at the NAC for 3 days in a row with no outcome as of yesterday.



So this morning we invited Alla over to the apartment where we are staying to discuss the matter and to let her know we are ready to move forward with the adoption of one healthy child under the age of 4 years old. We stressed to her our concern of pursuing a sibling group again since the 6 sibling groups of kids we looked into were all on sponsorship programs either in Italy, Spain or USA and wouldn’t be back for a few weeks to a month. She understood and saw my emotional level was about to break. We told her that we came here for a reason and that was to adopt a child or two. As of yet we are still in the same standstill as we were when we arrived in Kiev a week ago. Alla reassured us that they will do the best they can for us to proceed forward with our adoption.



Since we submitted our letter of petition to get a second appointment with the NAC to look and select from the files again, we waited to see when our appointment would be. Praise GOD!! We were given an appointment for Monday, Aug. 1st to go through and select again. We are so thankful that we don’t have to wait 5-7 days for a second appointment. HALLELUJAH!! The favor of God is definitely upon us and all of our prayers have been effectual and continue to avail MUCH!!! Hallelujah!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!



Robert and I are hopeful about our upcoming appointment on Monday and we believe that God will reveal our forever child on Monday, August 1st . A new month for new beginnings.



We feel like this has been a soap opera story and you all have been the viewers….As the World Turns….or …and this has been “The Days of Our Lives”…Just trying to keep a sense of humor throughout this wonderful week at the NAC.



Anyway…that is the saga for today. We are hopeful about our appointment for Monday, and would appreciate all of your prayers for favor to be shown a healthy child under the age of 4 years old and that the child is available to go and visit with either Monday or Tuesday.



We love and miss you all very much. Feel free to email us at rkmillilo@msn.com . We feel out of touch with everything going on at home and would love to hear what everyone else has been up to.



Until tomorrow…same time…same station….same channel. =)