Cousins Anxiously Await For Their New Cousins

Tonight, Karen (my sister-in-law) asked me to babysit our neices, Nicole(11) and Christina(7) and our nephew, Billy(9). So I spent the evening with them, chauffering the girls back and forth to their dance classes and then out to McDonalds for some ice cream. It was a fun evening with them as always and I'm finding out how inquisitive they are in regards to their soon to be cousins. They want to know as much about them as possible. Billy is hoping for a boy cousin so he would have another boy in the family to play with. Nicole, I think in someways she would like to have a female cousin her own age to pal around with although I know she would be quite happy with another baby in the family. Christina, I think wants to have a girl cousin to play with.



As we were driving in the car to dance class, they were helping me think of names to name our children. Boy did we all have fun with that one. That kept them busy for a while. I told them that we'll have to select 2 boys names (incase we adopt 2 boys) and 2 girls names (incase we adopt 2 girls). Some of the names they suggested that I liked were Robert Jr., Joshua, Dean, Austin, Daniel, Luke, Alex, Aaron. Some of the girl names that they suggested that I liked were Macy, Emily, Olivia, Emma, Cassandra, Melody, Britney, and Lily. Well they named a lot more, however, there are too many to list.



I explained to them that even though their new cousins might be talking...that they won't be able to understand them at first because they'll be speaking either Russian or Ukrainian. I explained to be patient with them because it will be just as frustrating for you to understand them as it will be for them to understand you in the beginning. I gave them an example and by having a conversation with Nicole by me replying to her question in a language she couldn't understand. She looked at me like I had lost my mind and was frustrated that I didn't respond to her question in English. Then she asked me to answer her again and again I replied in another language that she didn't understand. The whole time Nicole and I were conversing, Billy and Christina were intently listening to our conversation with a smerk on their faces in the back seat of the car. I finally told them in English of course, that is what could happen upon their arrival home until they learn the language. I told the kids that they are going to be just as frustrated as you to understand you as you will be with trying to understand them. So if they don't understand you, help them learn English by being patient with them and teaching them slowly.



All in all, it was a fun night and I'm realizing more and more how grown up Nicole, Billy and Christina have become. I enjoyed their company tonight very much and am happy to see how interested and anxious they are in regards to their soon to be new cousins.

Everything is coming together

I am so excited! We've gotten so much accomplished in the last week. All of our documents have been completed that we needed to get updated. HORRAY!! We received our statewide criminal clearance letters, agency license and doctors forms from our physical. I broke down in tears of joy when I was on the phone with the doctors office and I heard the good news that our doctors forms were completed. OH, how relieved and thankful to God we are for our paperwork being completed. Thank you for all of your prayers. We now have to get the paperwork notarized and apositilled by the state in Trenton, NJ and then sent to Ukraine to get our paperwork translated and then submitted with the rest of our paperwork before we have our appointment on July 26th. Now you can understand why we were getting concerned about getting our paperwork being completed.



We also finished painting our 4th bedroom and laid the carpeting. Now we can concentrate on fixing up our children's rooms.The plumber and Robert finished renovating our shower and surround in our bathroom. Robert and I also attended a CPR & Choking class for infants and children. This class was better than any other CPR class that I've had in the past. It provided a lot of hands on practice for an extended period of time, just like if you were in a real situation. I would recommend it to anyone. It was through Virtua Healthcare in Voorhees, NJ. They have all sorts of classes that you can take. Here is their website if you are interested in checking into it more https://physicianlocator.virtua.org/sfnasp/servicesearch.asp

Robert's Locks of Love

About a year and a half ago Robert started growing his hair to donate to Locks of Love Foundation www.locksoflove.org where they receive donated hair to make into wigs for children that have cancer. Yes, today was the big day to get his hair cut....WHOOO, WHOOO!! Robert donated 10 inches of his spiral brown curls and is happy to have his clean cut look back. And so am I!!! Now I have my BIG HUNK of a MAN back!! YIPPIE!!=)



This was the first time that Robert has grown his hair past a few inches, that so many of his family members gave him such a hard time about it. Everytime he saw them they told him who he looked like. One day they called him a Mountain Man, another day it was, a Rebel, another day it was Antonio Banderez, another was Sean Claude Vandam and the list goes on. Even though I wasn't fond of the idea of Robert growing his hair long in the beginning, I supported his efforts. I kept imagining the look of surprise and gratefulness on the child's face who receives their first wig and what a difference that wig will make in that child's self esteem and confidence. I know I would be excited if that were me receiving my first wig.



It's funny how people judge you by the way you look. We moved into a different home last year and around that time Robert's hair had already grown about 5-6 inches. Well our new neighbors seemed to keep their distance from Robert. In a conversation that I had with both our neighbor and her daughter she told me that she donated her hair that she recently got cut off to Locks of Love. Of course I immediately responded and said that is what Robert is doing. Both her and her daughter looked at each other with a sigh of relief and said in a surprised tone "OOOOOOOHHH"!!...now it all made sense to them......Their "new" neighbor was NOT a crazed maniac after all.



Long or short hair, my babez heart is still the same one I fell in love with...a generous giving man who has a heart for others...even if he has never met the person.

Preparing for our Babies

Robert and I have been actively preparing for our trip to Ukraine and getting the house ready for our new additions to our family. We are in the process of renovating our walk-up attic into a 4th bedroom, which will be our guest bedroom. I gave the attic two coats of primer paint and one coat of a sage green.



I still have to finish the other half of the attic with the green and then we can rug it this weekend and set it up as a bedroom. Once we do that we can move some of the bedroom furniture in the two kids rooms into the guest room where it belongs and then finish off our kids bedrooms. Robert put up some trim molding in the attic after I painted it, which really gave the walls a finished look. Our bathroom is also under renovations right now until the plumber shows up next week to finish the job. I have also been busy working on our little boys' afghan. I am about half way done. Our little girls' afghan I finished last year (which was my first afghan I ever made...thanks to Mama Sherry teaching me). Robert got a book on London that had some maps and hotel reviews in it, which was nice to see how close the underground transportation is to the hotels we are looking into. We will be reserving our hotel probably sometime tomorrow...so that will be done. I've also been reading the book "Supernanny" that my mom gave us for our anniversary. Another thing we've been doing to prepare for our trip is to record on our DVD player movies and sitcoms off of the television so we will have some English TV shows to watch when we have some free time....which there is a lot of from what we hear when we are not visiting the children. I'm sure we won't be just watching tv during our free time, that is why we're bringing some travel games, cards, books, crotcheting & cross stitch projects to do as well as journaling to keep you all informed as well as to create a memory book for our children. We did receive one of our documents that we had to update which was our adoption agency license. We are now waiting on our statewide criminal clearance letters (which we should receive either this week or next week) and our doctors forms from our physicals we had in March (which should be done real soon as well)...I HOPE. We still have to send all of our updated documents up to Trenton, NJ to get them apositilled and then sent to Ukraine to be translated and submitted with the rest of our documents BEFORE we have our appointment at the NAC. Please pray and believe with us that our paperwork is done correctly and SOON so we can send them off to Ukraine before we leave in July. I know I must sound like I'm getting a little on the nervous side about our paperwork and all, however, I have to cast my cares daily over unto the Lord regarding all of this....because the victory is ours because the battle is HIS...not mine. Yeah....as you can tell...I have to keep telling myself that and speaking it forth, because yes, that is the only thing right now that concerns me is our paperwork. This whole adoption has been in God's hands since day one and we have truely had Supernatural Favor in all of the process so far, so I just trust that the Lord will complete His good work exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think and we thank God for His goodness and mercy towards us and our family and friends each and every day of our lives.

Our Adoption Timeline

Here is our timeline from beginning to our appointment date:



Decided to adopt - March 2004



Homestudy Meeting with AFTH (www.adoptionsfromtheheart.org)- May 28, 2004



Parenting the Adopted Child Classes - June 21, 22 & 29



Home Visitation Interview - July 21, 2004



Changed Countries - from Kazakhstan to Ukraine - August 4, 2004



Decided to switch to Independent Adoption (www.Ukrainianangels.org) - Aug 9, 2004



Recieved Final Homestudy Reports from AFTH -September 3, 2004



Sent documents to INS for fingerprinting appt. & approval -September 4th, 2004



Fingerprinted at INS in Philly - September 22, 2004



Recieved approval from INS (2 children-YIPPIE) - November 15, 2004



Sent our Dossier documents to Ukraine - Nov. 21, 2004



Dossier was Submitted to the NAC - Feb. 8, 2005



Dossier was approved & registered at the NAC - Feb.21, 2005



Received Approval letter & Registration # from the NAC - March 18, 2005



Sent Appt. Request Letter to Ukraine - March 21, 2005



Appt. Request Letter Submitted to NAC - March 29, 2005



Appt. Letter from NAC written on - 4/6/05



Appt. Letter received via Fed Ex.- 4/25/05



Our Appointment Date at Ukraine National Adoption Center - July 26, 2005

Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's out there!

We had a wonderful time today spending Mother's day with our Moms and family. We are both truely blessed with two beautiful mothers, Mama Sherry (my mom) and Mama Maria (Robert's mom). We are both very close with our moms and have a wonderful relationship with them. The two women that have influenced our lives the most and molded us into the people we are today. The two people that would do anything for us to help us suceed at anything that we set out to do....the person who picked us up when we fell....the person who kissed our booo boos, wiped our tears away and turned our frowns upside. We thank God for both of our mothers and would like to say........For all the times you stood by us, For all the truth that you helped us see, For all the joy you brought to our lives, For all the wrong that you made right, For every dream you made come true, For all the LOVE we have for you.......We're grateful for each day, Because we LOVE you both so very much. Ok....Ok....I'll stop singing. Yes, we truely love our moms dearly and I believe that if I can be half of a mother as both of our moms have been to us, I know I will be a great mom to our children. Duet. 5:16 - Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary!!

Wow! It's hard to believe it's been 5 years since Robert and I have been married. Time flies when you are having fun. We will be going out to dinner tomorrow evening and next weekend we will be going away for the weekend with my mom, my brother David and my sister, Marli to Lancaster, PA (amish & quilt country) to have a combined anniversary weekend and to celebrate my mom's birthday. David & I wanted to do something special for my mom's birthday so we are going to a bed and breakfast in Bird-in-Hand, PA and spend the weekend going in and out of true amish(on their farms) quilt shops. It should be a fun weekend. We'll see how Robert and David deal with all the quilt shops that we will be going to. It should be interesting anyways.

A TRIPLE BLESSING!

Hooray! We've FINALLY decided on when we will be leaving for Ukraine since we just purchased our plane tickets. Thank God! I'm glad we purchased our tickets so our seats are confirmed on our flights! That's a load off of my mind. Robert and I were going back and forth looking at different options and decided that since we were going on a 10 hour plane ride in coach it would be best to layover somewhere to stretch our legs a bit. Well, it went from stretching our legs A BIT to stretching them for 3 1/2 days in London before we head on to Ukraine. Sounds good to me!!! YIPPIE!! I've never been to Europe before much less London! We might as well since we are going to be there.....you never know when we'll get the chance again. We're going to visit "MY PEOPLE" as Robert calls it (since I'm mostly English). We'll have to visit my "Aunt Elizabeth Windsor....just kidding....she's not my aunt even though my maiden name is awefully close to the spelling of the Royal Families (Winser). After visiting London for a few days we'll head out to Ukraine on Friday, July 22, 2005. We'll arrive in Kiev, Ukraine at 2:45pm in the afternoon (Ukraine is 7 hours ahead of us here in NJ...so it will be 7:45am in EST when we arrive in Ukraine). Our translator will be meeting us at the airport with a driver to take us to our hotel and probably to get something to eat for dinner. Since our appt will not be until the next Tuesday, July 26th (4 days from arrival in Ukraine) we'll hopefully get to tour Kiev (major city and capital of Ukraine) to record pictures and memories for our children and go to church at our pastors' friends church in Kiev. Once we have our appointment on Tuesday with the NAC and select our children we will be anxious to leave Kiev to meet our children in whatever town in Ukraine they are located in. As I'm sure you can understand. That is why we are arriving so early in Ukraine as well as to get adjusted to the time difference before our meeting with the NAC. How exciting...a TRIPLE Blessing...2 kids and touring London with my Babez (Robert's nickname) for a few days. Thank you Jesus!!

91 Days and Counting!!

Yes, that's right we are counting the days until we are in Ukraine meeting with the National Adoption Center. OK...OK...we are on the WEEEEE bit EXCITED side so just bear with us. If you see our heads spinning or have a glazed look in our eyes with a smerk on our face ...you'll know why. There is so much to do between now and the time we leave for Ukraine it can be overwhelming. We have plane tickets to purchase, documents to update (any document over 1 year old when we meet with the NAC in July needs to be updated...such as our fingerprints for statewide criminal clearance, physicals, agency license, doctors license), travel items to purchase, over-the-counter meds for us and the children (just in case we need them while in Ukraine), Medical Evacuation Insurance to purchase, International Cell Phones, Child-proofing the house, Finish children's bedrooms, meet and select a Pediatrician, check into our healthcare coverage while in Ukraine, Coordinate with Dr. Yuri in Ukraine to meet and examine the children while in Ukraine, learn some Russian and Ukrainian, purchase thank you gifts for our Ukrainian Adoption team of people helping us in Ukraine, attend a child/infant CPR & First Aid class, Creating a Registry at Babies R Us, Toys R Us and Amazon.com, cook and freeze some meals for when we return and many other little things that I can't think of right this moment. OK...now you understand what I mean when I said if you see our heads spinning. So many important TO DOs before we leave for Ukraine. In the midst of thinking about all we have to do, I find myself daydreaming and wondering what our children are doing now and wondering how old are they and what gender are they and hoping and praying for their health, safety, nourishment, emotional well-being and for God to comfort them and reassure them that their Momma & Papa are on their way to meet them and bring them home and love them forever. It's going to be an emotional and joyful summer...I can see it now. I just hope I don't flood the orphanage with my tears of joy! I guess I'd better put an abundance of TISSUES on my list to purchase for our trip as well and WATERPROOF Mascara!!!! My Goodness...I can't forget that either!!! Hehehe!

Got to get started on the list so, signing off for now.

Blessings!!

We Have Some EXCITING News!!!!

Robert and I would like to share with you all in our excitement for becoming parents of 2 children that we'll be adopting in Ukraine on July 26, 2005. Our Ukrainian Adoption journey will begin on July 26, 2005 since that is when we have an appointment scheduled with the Ukrainian National Adoption Center. We will be in Ukraine for approximately 21-30 days to finalize the legal aspect of the adoption and then we'll be bringing home our children. YIPPIEE!!! PRAISE GOD!! HALLELUJAH!!! As you can tell we are doing back flips right now and are busy getting things in order for travel and child proofing the house. I feel like we're pregnant in a sense since the emotions and hormones are starting to flow. =)

When we are in country, we will be keeping in touch with everyone mostly by email. So if you would like to be on our group emails to keep a status of our adoption and/or know of any other family or friends email addresses that would like to be included on our updates while in-country please email me their email addresses to add to my group list of emails so we can take them with us when we travel.

As for now and when we travel, we are asking for all of you to keep us and our children lifted up in prayer for safety, peace, wisdom, supernatural favor, direction and for 2 healthy children under the both under the age of 4 years old.

The Gift of Life

I didn't give you the gift of life,
But in my heart I know.
The love I feel is deep and real,
As if it had been so.
For us to have each other
Is like a dream come true!
No, I didn't give you the gift of life,
God gave me the gift of you.

Love ya & God Bless You All,

MOMMA & PAPA MILLILO (As the Kids in Ukraine call their parents)

The Orphans in Ukraine, THANK YOU!!

Thank you for making our Christmas a dream come true!

A sincere heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone that donated toys and clothes to the orphans in Ukraine during our toy drive for Christmas this year. In a combined effort, there were close to 100 orphans whom received a Christmas gift of love this season just from what we sent off. Some of the items that were donated were Barbie dolls, match box cars, nerf footballs, nerf basketballs with hoops, baby dolls, dump trucks, fire engines, kick balls, puzzles, developmental toys, art supplies, and many more. I sent off 10 large boxes filled with all sorts of toys and items for children of all ages to Life 2 Orphans (http://www.life2orphans.com/) to contribute to their Wishing on an Angel – Christmas for Orphans event. Once they receive all of their donations, they take them with them around the holidays and conduct a Christmas party with food, juice and treats to eat along with a present or two per child in many orphanages in Ukraine. Here is a personal thank you that I pulled off of Life 2 Ophans website from the children from Internat Mykolaivka Orphanage for all the donations that they received: “Dear Friends, An enormous thank you to you all, that all of you do not forget about us. Your presents give us such joy and warm our little hearts. We are now able to understand that there are people on this earth who are openly ready to help children who don’t have any parents. We wish you all luck, health and that the fire in your great souls never burns out. With love, the students” Here are a couple of other thank you notes from a couple of orphanage directors that witness your generosity. “Your sincere help made life of our children brighter, more colorful and joyful. Albeit most important is your cordiality and love that makes their small hearts warm, give a sunbeam of light and hope despite all distances. We wish that the little flame of goodness and charity never fails in your soul. May your good deeds fill up your home with happiness and love. God’s blessing to you at all times.” Another orphanage director wrote, “The children will grow healthier and happier, will learn to fantasize and use logical thinking, while curiosity will become the first step on their way of exploring the world and becoming harmoniously developed personalities by means of these toys.” Thank you all for shining your light upon the children in Ukraine. May God bless you 100 fold of your heartfelt donations. Luke 6:38 - Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

Ukrainian Adoption Procedures (Post from old website)

Thursday, December 9, 2004 8:07 PM CST - Ukrainain Adoption Procedures

Hello family and friends! We created this website for everyone to keep updated with our adoption journey. As some of you may know that Robert and I have been planning for a family for about 4 and a half years. Earlier this year God has put on our hearts to adopt 2 children from Ukraine. Yes, I said 2 children. =) We would like to adopt a young sibling group, one child as young as possible (which in Ukraine is around 14 months old for international adoptions) and the other child up to 4 years old. Preferably a boy and a girl, however, we are open to 2 boys or 2 girls.We decided to adopt outside of the USA since it is a shorter wait and because we didn't want the possibility of the birth mother changing her mind on giving her baby up for adoption. Each country has their own set of adoption rules and procedures. When adopting from Ukraine it is required to travel to Ukraine to select and bond with your child/ren while the paperwork in Ukraine is completed and then attend a court hearing where the Judge makes it official. We all then would have an final appointment at the US Embassy in Ukraine before coming home. The average stay in Ukraine is approximately 21 days. Depending on each individual adoption experience, time of year (holidays, elections etc) depends on the length of stay. After the court hearing in Ukraine, we will officially be parents and our children will automatically be American Citizens. They will hold a dual citizenship until they are 18 years old.We submitted our dossiers (a package of original, notarized and apositilled by the state documents) to our translators in Ukraine on November 22nd. They will translate our dossiers and submit them to the NAC (National Adoption Center) in Kiev, Ukraine. So now we wait until we hear that we are approved by the NAC. Once we receive our approval letter from the NAC we will then send them a letter requesting an appointment with the NAC. This appointment we will meet with the director of the NAC and go through binders of orphans available for adoption in Ukraine. These binders contain pictures of the children, their medical reports and what orphanage and region of the country they are located. Then we travel to the region and orphangage of the children we selected to meet with them. While visiting with the children in the orphanage every day, our adoption facilitator will get the children's paperwork in order for the court hearing. We will stay in either a flat (apartment) or motel/hotel somewhere close to the orphanage. We will have a translator with us for the majority of our adoption legalities, however, when we are at the orphanage we are on our own. That is why we are starting to learn a little Russian and Ukrainian to help us during our stay and to comfort and communicate with our children until they learn English. Even if our children are not quite speaking yet, they have only heard Ukrainian and/or Russian and are possibly understanding the language. Imagine yourself as a child, walking away from everything you've known with a stranger that you can't communicate with or understand. We want to make as peaceful of a transition as possible for our children. Thankfully I have 2 Ukrainian coworkers to help me with the language barrier. I'm learning more than Robert is right now...I think he's waiting for our approval before studying the language. I'm still in the weee beginning stages of the language. I'm more focused on learning parenting phrases and directives right now. My Ukrainian coworkers, Boris and Vitali are so generously teaching me everyday phrases. It's been fun and yet frustrating learning two new languages.

This Christmas, I am organizing a toy drive for orphans in Ukraine. If anyone would like to bless an orphan in Ukraine with a toy this year for Christmas (most are fortunate to get as much as a lollipop for Christmas)please email me at rkmillilo@msn.com and we'll arrange for your contribution to be mailed to the person who sends the gifts overseas or you can click on the link below at Life2orphans.org to get the address to mail to them directly. Ukraine celebrates Christmas on January 6th so we still have time. Imagine the impact that one toy could have on a child. Sow the seeds of love to orphans in Ukraine this holiday season. May your seeds of love sown be multiplied back to you one hundred fold in 2005. A child at the Children's Hope Rehabilitation Center in Ukraine stood up and made a comment that the reason they don't run away and live on the street anymore is because they get food and a Christmas present.Let us not forget the reason for the season this year and His name is Jesus! "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Might God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

Please sign our guest book. We'd love to hear from you.We will keep you update as we are updated with any news from the NAC in Ukraine.

From our house to yours, Have a Merry Christmas!
Blessings.Robert & Karrie Millilo