Our Adoption Journey and Life as a Family of Four

One Year together as a Family!

2009-02-26T21:33:00.003-06:00

Today marks our one year anniversary of arriving home from Ukraine with Leeza!

Matt and I were SO ready to get back to the US we were practically kissing the ground when we landed at the airport. Poor Leeza was so tired since she barely slept the entire flight.

Here's a shot of us from last year, shortly after we landed and had just been greeted by Sarah.

We're thrilled to be home, but Leeza's still not sure about all of this!

Time flies when you're having fun and overall, it's been a fantastic year. We've had lots of ups, a few minor downs and for the most part Leeza continues to transition beautifully.

Here are a few recent photos.

She's helping prepare her Valentines for her preschool friends in this first one.

Here she is the morning after she lost her first tooth. She's now lost 2 and has a couple more that are wiggly! The girls are pretty competitive in that area.

Here's a funny one. They were studying space at preschool and then had an alien day. I was working at a client, so I asked Matt to make sure she had some type of costume to dress up for that day. He couldn't find the face paints, so he used their regular paint to give her the green face! Thankfully it's all washable, so she wasn't any worse for the wear. I actually have to give him credit since he did pretty good making those antenna!

The year has gone fast. And our lives have been blessed by this little Ukrainian angel!

We Knew It the Minute We Saw Her

2009-01-29T21:07:00.004-06:00

One year ago today (Jan 29, 2008) we met Leeza for the first time!

WOW! In so many ways it's hard to think of a time when she wasn't in our lives. But it so many other ways, that day that we first met this shy, sweet little girl with pretty dress and hair pulled up in fancy pompoms is vivid in our memories.

Click on this link to read our archived post from that day:
http://johnsonsadoption.blogspot.com/2008/01/shes-one.html

Leeze continues to do quite well in school and with her other activities. She enjoyed the excitement of losing her first tooth last week and was thrilled to have the Tooth Fairy visit!
She and Sarah continue to ride the roller coaster of sisterhood -- love each other 80% of the time, fight like cats and dogs 20% of the time!

What a difference a year makes!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T23:43:00.006-06:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We hope you are experiencing the joy of the season!

I'm long overdue for a post, but it's been very busy around here, so I'm just going to include a few pictures from some of our seasonal activities:

Here are the girls before and during their Christmas concert at church.

Decorating the tree was lots of fun!

Sarah turned six in early December, and we asked for donations to Toys for Tots instead of gifts. We felt like Santa's elves when we delivered this van full of toys. Ho! Ho! Ho!

We are so grateful for the blessings God has bestowed on our family this year, and we joyfully celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!

Nine Months

2008-11-30T20:15:00.010-06:00

As November ends, we have been home with Leeza for 9 months!

It has been an amazing blessing to have her in our family and we're so happy with how she's adapted to life with our family and so many other new things.

Look at how she's changed physically.

Here is the photo from her SDA file, and another from the first day we met.

Here are some photos of Leeza during November.

We just got back from a weekend visiting my family in Iowa and a comment was made by someone who met Leeza in late spring/early summer that they were amazed at how she's blossomed!

We've just recently had her 5 year old check-up, and she's grown nearly 3-1/2 inches and gained 3 pounds in the past 9 months! Unlike many adopted children, she wasn't really thin when we brought her home, so I'm not surprised that her weight hasn't increased more, but the difference in nutrition has definitely impacted her height. Her hearing test was normal and we only have one month left in the medications she takes for the elevated TB probes. Our pediatrician was very pleased with how well Leeza is doing and how she was able to respond to questions that the doctor typically asks kids at this age. She also felt that Leeza was appropriately shy with her and well connected with us, which was great to hear her say.

Leeza also had another follow-up eye exam last week, and her vision in the right eye is 20/20 with her glasses and 20/25 without them. As you may recall, she was 20/60 with her lenses when we first went in March. We stopped patching at the end of October, so her doctor feels like there is a strong possibility that she may not need the glasses at all, at some point in the future. We'll go back in January to check again to make sure there is no regression after several months without the patch, but then we'll just have annual eye exams.

The past 9 months have flown by and I honestly can't imagine life without Leeza in it. I won't go so far to say that it's all be easy. We've had our ups and downs, and we still have some behavioral issues we're dealing with, but compared to some adoptive families' challenges, ours have been minimal. I will certainly admit that our parenting skills have been tested and our reactions to situations may not always be the best. But we love her dearly and work hard to show her that even while providing boundaries and discipline. For the most part, we've been able to work through any difficulties and feel like our family has been incredibly blessed.

We Give Thanks

2008-11-26T15:22:00.009-06:00

We have so much to be thankful for this year.

This will be our first Thanksgiving with Leeza, and we know we're blessed to have her as part of our family. She's excited, but she doesn't really even know what the day is about. We try to help her understand that we should be thankful every day for the blessings God bestows on us, so I'm sure having a special day for being thankful is confusing to her. But she will be thrilled with the food!

Here's a card Leeza made for us at preschool.

And here's what Leeza wrote that she is thankful for:

I think she did an amazing job writing this, but in case you can't read her handwriting, it says:

Mom, Dad, cat, Sarah

Love Leeza

(She obviously didn't know how to spell Boscoe, our cat's name. LOL!)

I am thankful for:

- My dear husband and my precious daughters

- The opportunity to be with almost all of our family this Thanksgiving (both sides)

- Good health

- The ability to work from home

- My dear friends (including many blogging buddies)

- Jesus, my Lord and Savior

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Blessings!

Happy Birthday, Leeza!

2008-11-17T11:26:00.005-06:00

Leeza celebrated her first birthday in America when she turned 5 on November 12th!

The week was very exciting for her. We went out to dinner on Tuesday night at Champps, one of our favorite family restaurants. On Tuesday's, kids eat free and they have a magician who wanders from table to table doing magic tricks for the kids. It's a very family friendly restaurant and the girls love it. Since we had Awanas on Leeza's actual birthday, it was a perfect night to go out.

On her actual birthday, Sarah and I woke her up singing "Happy Birthday." She took cupcakes to preschool to share with her classmates. She got a special crown at school and picked out a ball from the birthday grab bag. That night we had our family celebration, and she was very excited to open her presents which included a Domino game Sarah picked out at the Dollar Store, plus a new dress & sweater, a sparkly purse and a baby doll from us. She also got great gifts from her grandparents, and aunts & uncles & cousins. As I tucked her in that night, she told me she really liked birthdays. From what I can glean from her, she's never had a birthday celebrated before, so it was wonderful to explain that we celebrate the day she was born because she is so special.

We had a small birthday party at home yesterday and invited the girls from her class. Luckily, she has a fairly small class, so there were 6 friends plus Leeza and Sarah. I also asked Samantha, one of our 5th grade neighborhood friends, to come and help with the crafts and games. She did an amazing job helping keep the girls on task, helping with clean up, leading games, etc. Thank you, Samantha!

Leeza's party had a princess theme so all the girls wore their favorite princess outfit. They looked so cute, and there was a lot of pink! LOL! We decorated crowns and a picture frame I made for each girl. I took their picture as they arrived then we sent them home with the decorated frame and photo from the party. The girls played a few games and then decorated cupcakes. I think Leeza included every kind of sprinkle and candy we had on hers. They ate them with pink lemonade and pink mint ice cream picked out by Leeza.

After treats, Leeza opened presents which was very exciting. Then Samantha read the girls some princess stories while we waited for parents to pick them up.

When I asked Leeza later if she had fun, she said, "I LOVED IT!!!"

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

2008-11-09T22:40:00.003-06:00

Leeza decided she needed a new look.

Well, not really. Yesterday, I was out running errands and Matt was home watching the girls. (I think he forgot that watching them includes, ...watching them) Anyway, they were coloring and cutting out paper in the kitchen and he was in the sun room. As I walked in the door around 5:00, I hear him say, "What is all this hair on the floor?"

Sure enough, Leeza had cut her own hair!!! She now had short bangs and a large chunk of hair was cut from each side. The end result was a lopsided mullet look. Very attractive...NOT!!
Needless to say, we were not happy because we have talked often about how scissors are only for cutting paper, never clothes, hair, toys, etc. I guess she felt she should test that theory. And she was not happy when we told her we'd have to go get it cut shorter in order to even it all out.

So today, we trotted on over to the local kid's hair salon where they were able to salvage her remaining hair into a fairly cute, albeit very, very short hair style.

She's smiling here, but she is definitely not into this cut! I'm not thrilled about it and Matt hates it, but it could be worse and it will grow out. In some ways, I think it is a good lesson for her, and she's definitely learned it the hard way. She told me tonight that she's never going to cut her own hair again, even when she's grown up!

I told her I thought that was a good idea. LOL!

Spooktacular Fun!

2008-11-03T20:00:00.004-06:00

Happy Belated Halloween! We were very fortunate to have incredibly nice weather. Since we're in Minnesota, it's not uncommon to have snow as early as Halloween, but this year it was a beautiful fall night. The girls had a great time!

Leeza loved getting dressed up and was a really cute little bunny. She was delighted after visiting the first house and walking away with some candy for her efforts! She then proceeded to call out "Happy Halloween" all throughout the neighborhood. Halloween is one of Sarah's favorite holidays, so she had a blast. I found an inexpensive Supergirl costume at Walmart, and she really liked it, so the night was a hit. After about 90 minutes of walking down our street then back up around the block behind us, the girls had me carrying their candy bags (they were too heavy - LOL) and we headed home for some hot chocolate. Leeza wondered if we could go out again the next night, and was visibly disappointed when she learned we only did this once a year. We have so much candy, I think it will last until next year!

Earlier in the day, I helped out a the Harvest Party at Sarah's school. It was fun and a bit chaotic, but the kids enjoyed it. I find it somewhat amusing that they are so politically correct about calling it a harvest party, but they let the kids wear costumes and have a parade around the school.

On Wednesday last week, our Awanas group also let the kids wear costumes. Sarah wore her Supergirl costume both times, but Leeza dressed up as a Viking cheerleader on Wednesday. She would've been too hot in the bunny costume. Both girls looked cute!

I've been swamped with work (a good problem to have), so I'm really behind in keeping up with personal life details. Leeza's birthday is in 2 weeks and I almost forgot to send out the invitations. We're going to have a Princess themed party at home and have invited the 6 girls from her pre-school class, so it hopefully won't be too overwhelming for her. She's excited!

Pumpkins and Progress

2008-10-28T20:59:00.003-05:00

I've been so busy with work lately that I haven't kept up with my posts. We've had lots going on including Gramma coming to visit a couple weeks ago, going to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch, special days at school, etc. Here are a few photos from the orchard/pumpkin patch!

I thought these gourds looked like snakes! Two pumpkin heads!

Sitting on pumpkins. Leeza's first time picking apples! Yum!

Sarah in the wagon with the pumpkins.

Also thanks to all of you who have posted ideas here or emailed me directly about some of the behavior issues. We have seen much improvement during the past week or so and the only things I can credit right now are prayer and a simple change in focus. From negative reinforcement to positive. Duh...parenting 101!

I made a simple chart where Leeza gets a pumpkin for every day that she does a good job listening, being obedient, etc. She needs to get 12 to go trick or treating. Yes, we did reach that point where we said it was uncertain because of her consistent misbehavior. Maybe we're too tough, but she's clearly motivated to make this happen, so it shows me she can control her actions fairly well. Two more pumpkins and she's on her way.

I'm still looking into some evaluation options because there may be some underlying things that could be helped if we knew how to better work with them.

I've got a ton of photos to post, so I'll try to update again in the next couple of days.

Challenges

2008-10-17T12:24:00.005-05:00

We have been having a rough few weeks with Leeza and I'm struggling to figure out what's causing the behavior, how to parent differently to help her through it or if there is something more going on that we're just now uncovering. I'd love to hear any insights some of you other adoptive parents have on this.

Let me just preface this by saying she is still the same sweet and happy girl most of the time.
BUT for the past 3-4 weeks, we have noticed a definite increase in disobedience and general "naughtiness." This hasn't been anything really horrible, but just a marked increase in things like:
- Telling her 2, 3, sometimes 4 times to stop doing something, and then she does it again (and again)
- Asking her to come help with basic chores (toy pick up, clothes in hamper, set the table) and she ignores us or goes and does something different
- Letting her help pick out an outfit, but then she throws a fit if she doesn't like one part of it like the shoes we tell her to wear, or a shirt being bigger than she wants, or it's not as pretty as she wants
- Telling her to stay with us or Melissa (our nanny) and then she runs off while in crowded places like the zoo or the mall
- Reminding her we "don't touch things" while in a store (3 times) and then she knocks something off the shelf and breaks it, because she reached for it when we weren't looking.
- Telling her to stand still multiple times while brushing her hair, only to have her continue to
squirm all over, step up and down off the stool, etc.
- Knowing she is not supposed to put anything from the ground in her mouth, and then she takes a piece of gum out of a garbage can at the library and puts that in her mouth. Then when asked what was in her mouth, she swallows it and lies.
- Grabbing something from Sarah because she wants it, rather than asking if she could have it or waiting her turn.
- Talking back to us and to Sarah about everything.
- the list could go on...
I realize that none of these things in isolation is super serious and some are not that unusual, but the increased consistent misbehavior has been noticeable.

It's not a situation where she doesn't understand what we're telling her. She can tell us what she is supposed to do and what the consequences will be if she doesn't. She can also tell us what she's done wrong when she's been naughty. So she's understanding what's right and wrong.

We have progressed to regular time-outs when she does something wrong, just as we do with Sarah. Depending on the situation, Leeza may get a time out or something of value (i.e. favorite toy) may get a time out as a result of bad behavior. Her time outs are always in a corner of the room where we are (so still visible) and generally last for 5 minutes. We're also trying to motivate good behavior by recognizing and rewarding her when she's had a good day.

A couple of other behaviors that aren't necessarily naughty, but sometimes do lead her to trouble because she doesn't listen when told to stop:
- touching or reaching out to feel everything around her
- constantly moving - it's not a hyperactive type movement, but rather a need to constantly be moving from foot to foot, moving arms/legs around when sitting, never standing or sitting still, etc.

We're trying to figure out if she's acting out because:
- developmentally she's more like a 3 year old, instead of her chronological age (nearly 5), including never having gone through tactile learning like most toddlers do
- she's just testing boundaries like other kids, only they do it earlier in life
- over stimulation in certain situations (i.e. family gatherings) may cause her to get out of control
- other underlying factors (yet to be diagnosed) may be causing the behavior: ADD, FAS, etc.
- all of the above
- none of the above

If I was the only one noticing these things, I would just chalk it up as my problem due to a busier than normal workload and other things, but both Matt and our nanny have commented on the difference in her behavior lately, and we're working on the best way to help get her back on track.

Any thoughts or suggestions on what we might try differently?
We appreciate the feedback.

Getting Back on Track

2008-10-06T20:30:00.006-05:00

Yes, I'm still here!And like the rest of you, I'm sick of reading about what I was doing for the last 20 years, so let's get this blog updated!

It feels like September just flew by! We've been busy adjusting to new routines, meeting new friends, and looking for new work (the last one just refers to me!). Since I haven't posted for so long, this may be a bit rambling, but here's a snapshot of life as we know it.

Here's a cute shot of the girls from Sunday. Such loving girls. Who would think that minutes later they'd be fighting over a toy???

Leeza is excited about Halloween. She has no idea what it means, but she likes the idea of wearing costumes for any occasion. The other day she was trying on some of Sarah's old costumes. Here she is as a little flower (that has outgrown her stems). This is not what she plans to be for Halloween, but I thought she looked really sweet.

The girls are big nature lovers. Sarah especially LOVES flowers, butterflies, rocks, animals, etc. and Leeza's grown more interested in it too. We had some beautiful weather in September, so the girls were outside quite a bit. In this photo, they are showing me a big brown and black caterpillar they had just found. (not that leaf hanging from Sarah's forehead...the fuzzy thing in their hands!) The next photo shows his close-up!

Both girls are loving school. Sarah's biggest challenge has been to be somewhat immobile due to her cast. If she had her way, she'd still be climbing on playground equipment, playing tag and participating in gym, even with the boot cast. Thankfully her doctor agreed with me that those things were not such a good idea. Hopefully she'll be at 100% in a week or two.

Preschool has been awesome for Leeza! She loves going and comes home from class bursting with all she wants to tell us about what they did and learned. They've been studying various animals and today she came home explaining how beavers build their house from sticks. Then she proceeded to mimic how they chew down the trees to make the dams. LOL!

Her preschool is great and they try to have lots of extras for the kids. Last week they had Pony Pals and all the kids got the chance to ride a pony. Here's Leeza riding. Note the sparkly dress-up outfit she's wearing over her hooded sweatshirt!

The week before that they had Crazy Hair Day. Leeza was very excited about that and even helped me put some of her extra pony-tails in. Then we added a little color for some extra fun. Too bad I couldn't find that distinctive shade of red that is so common among women in Ukraine. Those that have been there, know what I mean!

We've enjoyed being a part of the Children's Ministry at our church. Matt and I each help teach a Sunday School class every other week. I work in Leeza's class and he works in Sarah's. Our family is also busy with AWANA (Cubbies and Sparkies) each Wednesday. Matt helps in Leeza's Cubbie class and I work with Sarah's Sparkie class. Both girls work hard at memorizing their Bible verses and understanding the stories. I need to figure out how to video tape Leeza saying her Bible verses and then how to post a video here (yes, I'm technically challenged). She's doing such a great job and it's so cute to hear her little accent quoting scripture. Thankfully she's really asking a lot of good questions about what she's learning and taking it into her heart as well.

Our church recently had a fall festival for families. There were lots of jumping and climbing apparatus, plus dunk tanks, music, face painting, food, a petting zoo plus a couple of fire trucks and police cars to check out. We couldn't take part in some of the activities due to Sarah's ankle, but we had a great time. Here are the girls as they learn more about fire fighting and police work.

Leeza's right eye continues to improve. We now patch just 2 hours every other day and will stop all together at the end of the month. At her most recent eye exam, her vision was nearly 20/20 in both eyes with her glasses. When we first had her checked in March, her right eye was 20/60.
She's also continues to improve in several of the behavior areas that have been challenging in the past. We've talked a lot about appropriate affection with others, especially strangers and we're seeing some improvement there. She still does a fair amount pushing the boundaries related to obedience, but I think that's more typical of where she's at developmentally, not something more serious. We are working hard on helping her understand the importance of obeying her parents, nanny & teachers. We are definitely still challenged by mealtime behavior. She will often play around or daydream, and not eat. However, this is not true of the meal includes lots of meat. LOL!

Well, enough of my rambling thoughts....
I'll try to be more consistent with my posts in October!

And now for something completely different

2008-09-25T20:45:00.010-05:00

I was "tagged" today by my blog friend Jennifer and I'm supposed to tell somethings about myself...basically give an account of what I was doing 20 years ago, 10 years, 5 years, 3 years, 1 year ago, etc. So here goes:

20 years ago: I wish I could say I was only 10 or in my early teens, but I wasn't. Remember, Matt and I are "elderly parents" as defined by Ukraine's laws last year. LOL! Twenty years ago, I was in my late 20's, single and living a fun life in Minneapolis. I was a Marketing Manager at a software company. I loved my work, the company and the industry. Probably too much so because I became a bit of a workaholic. Matt and I hadn't met yet, but we were about to at the end of October. My how time flies.

10 years ago: By now Matt and I had dated (for a long time), gotten married and were trying to start a family. However my career was still a primary focus. I was EVP of Marketing for another educational software firm. We were the largest educational software publisher in North America, and my life during that year (1998) included commuting from Minneapolis to the San Francisco area on a weekly basis. I'd fly out on Monday and return home late Thursday or Friday. I often had to fly to our headquarters in Boston or to one of our European divisions, as well. The company went through a huge period of growth by acquiring about 12 other companies, and I was responsible for figuring out how to organize the people, which products to market, etc. It was an exciting time, but also exhausting and I was very happy when Mattel made an offer to buy the company. When they asked me to move to the West Coast on a permanent basis, it was an easy decision to thank them, but bow out gracefully via an exit plan.

5 years ago: After a couple of failed invitros and one miscarriage, we were overjoyed to be the parents of Sarah who was nearly 10 months old at this time. She was a delightful baby with a happy personality and was beginning to walk. With the hopes of adding another child to our family, we had gone through another round of invitro in early August of that year, and because of the early monitoring done, we were thrilled to be about 9 weeks pregnant at this point. Unfortunately, I would miscarry again in about 3 weeks. We tried two more in vitros after that, but neither worked. At that point, it had been about 6 years of infertility treatment and I felt that I just couldn't take more of the hormones, shots, plus the emotional toll of losing another child. So we decided to investigate adoption as a way to expand our family.

3 years ago: I had begun my consulting business and loved the flexibility of working from home. Fortunately there seemed to be plenty of interesting work available and I was able to make a decent income and stay busy, yet still had time to be home with Sarah at least one day during the work week, plus I could have lunch with her most days or take a break and visit with her when I wanted. We had a great nanny help us out 3 days a week and Matt stayed home another day (he's also self-employed). Life was good in many ways, but we were still praying for more children.

We had begun our quest to adopt internationally with a focus on Russia. By this time in 2005, we were working on our homestudy and were interviewing agencies with Russia programs with the hopes of finding our child or children quickly. Oh how naive we were! As I've stated back in my initial post, we ended up spending 18 months trying to adopt from Russia, only to have 3 referrals fall through. By Dec 2006, we decided to switch our focus to Ukraine.

1 year ago: Our dossier had been submitted to the SDA at the beginning of September. We were waiting to hear if it had been accepted and when our appointment date would be. We started working with Ukrainian Angels in January 2007 and our dossier had been in Ukraine since April of that year. During our wait, Ukraine's government went through much turmoil regarding international adoption. Thankfully their Parliament had disbanded over the summer and it was about this time when they were starting up again. We were hoping to get our appointment before they had time to change any laws related to adoption. Thankfully, we'd learn in mid-October that our appointment was in January 2008. You can check out our posts from January 19 - February 26 to read about our expereinces in Ukraine, but the outcome was clearly worth the wait. Leeza has been a wonderful joy to our family. We can't imagine life without her!

Besides adoption, I was focused on Sarah's activities (preschool, Cubbies/AWANA, BSF, dance), plus involved with BSF, a Career transition ministry at church and our children's minstry program. I continued to consult as well.

Yesterday: Wednesdays are our long days. I got both girls up, made them breakfast and then got Sarah off to school on the bus. Melissa, our nanny arrived about 8:30 so she and Leeza went to the park. I spent the day working on a large training project for a client, plus making calls and setting appointments for some potential new business. Sarah got home at 4:00 and I spent a half hour with her going over her day and hearing about preschool from Leeza. That was followed by a conference call. Dinner at 5:30 then off to AWANA (Cubbies for Leeza & Sparkies for Sarah). I teach in Sarah's class and Matt helps in Leeza's. It was 9:00 when we got home, so we put the kids to bed, I finished up a little work, then watched one of the home design shows on TV (one of my weaknesses).

Today: Matt tries to spend Thursdays at home, so he got the girls breakfast. However because Leeza had an eye appointment at 9:30, I got them up and dressed, plus made sure hair was combed, teeth were brushed and Sarah's cold lunch was made before they left to take her to the bus. I then spent the day reviewing multiple chapters in this training guide that I'm working on for a client. Fortunately since I work from home, I was able to throw in a few loads of laundry during the day as well. While Matt made dinner, I spent time with both girls hearing about preschool and school and gave them each a bath. It was my night for reading so I spent time reading some favorite books. Leeza is really into the Dr Seuess books these days -- she loves the silly rhyming. Sarah's hooked on The Magic Treehouse series. We usually read about 3-5 chapters a night. I've sent a few emails for work and will go work on my BSF lesson and then to bed.

Tomorrow: My day will probably be much like today and Wednesday. I'll have breakfast with the girls and will walk Sarah to the bus. Melissa will be here to take care of Leeza and since she doesn't have preschool, they will likely go someplace like the park or the zoo. I'm meeting with my client at 4:00 to go over some things on the training project, so much of my day will be spent preparing for that. I may try to go over to Sarah's school to join her for lunch. We'll see if I can work that in! By Friday night, we are all pretty tired, so we often have a low key dinner and make it a movie night. The girls pick the movie, so we watch a lot of Disney and Pixar stuff, but it's fun to pop a big bowl of popcorn, cuddle up on the couch together, and watch those Princesses overcome all hardship!

Enough about me. I'm supposed to tag a couple other folks so, Michelle and Donna, you're next!

My next post will include some fun pictures of the girls from the past few days and weeks!

Busy Day for Leeza!

2008-09-09T20:57:00.005-05:00

Today was a really busy day for Leeza.

It started with a trip to Sarah's school this morning so I could talk with her teacher about what happened to Sarah's ankle yesterday (see 2nd post below to learn about her last couple of days).

Then Leeza and I went to Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), a great Bible study program. This is my 5th year. I love it both for the great teaching I get out of it, but also the wonderful children's program offered. Sarah went with me for 3 years and Leeza attended for a few months last year after we got home. She'll go with me this year, too. She loves it. It is amazing how much kids can retain, especially when they've got some excellent teachers. We have been blessed by it.

After BSF we had a picnic lunch, then I dropped her off for her first day back at preschool. She was SO excited. She had such a good experience for the few months she attended last year, so she's really been looking forward to it. I could tell she was very proud to be going to "her" school. When I picked her up, she was a non-stop chatter box, telling me all about the day and a lot of the things they did. I think it will be a great year for her.

It was a beautiful fall day here, so we spent some time outside once Sarah got home from school. I took the girls on a wagon ride around the neighborhood. Both girls were pretty tired out tonight. Come to think of it, I am too! LOL!

Our Rough & Tumble Kid

2008-09-09T20:43:00.004-05:00

Sarah has had a tough couple of days.

On Sunday, as we left her Grandma's house, Sarah pulled the gate to the chain link fence open and the latch whacked her in the face. It hit her right below the eye. Fortunately, it has not affected her vision and it seems to be healing, but it hurt a lot when she did it.

Yesterday, she got off the bus and was hopping on her right foot, not wanting to put any weight on her left one. She had me carry her home from the bus stop - definitely not her normal active personality. Apparently she either twisted her ankle or hit it against some playground equipment while playing tag with some of the other kids at recess. Anyway, it was fairly swollen so I took her in for x-rays and it turns out she has a Salter II fracture, which I understood to be one of the growth plates on her left ankle. She actually had two small fractures on each side, poor thing. So she will be wearing a "boot" cast as it heals.

Sarah is a constant, on-the-go kid, so being somewhat sedentary will be tough. But she's got to do it to allow the ankle to heal. Last summer she broke her wrist. Now her ankle. I hate to say it, but I think this may not be the last time we visit the emergency room with her for x-rays. Sigh!

Off to Kindergarten!

2008-09-02T20:34:00.006-05:00

Sarah started kindergarten today! She was so excited and had her outfit picked out days ago, plus her backpack ready. It cracks me up to see these huge backpacks on these little kids.

Sarah rides the bus and even on the first day, they prefer that parents have their children ride to and from school (Harder on mom than it was on Sarah).

Here's a photo of her getting on the bus, followed by the image that brought tears to my eyes!

Sigh...my first born is growing up fast!!

We met her teacher last week, and she seems like she'll be really good. After Sarah got home today, I asked how her day was and she said, "G-R-E-A-T!!!" She also sang a song she learned in Spanish class to her grandparents tonight. Cute!

There are 6 kindergarten classes at Sarah's school...4 are all-day classes (including Sarah's) and 2 are half-day classes. That's just one school in the district! It seems like they have a great curriculum with many special classes including computers, Spanish and things like art, music and gym. They also have a beautiful library, so she's very fortunate. Guess our taxes are hard at work!!!

Leeza was definitely lonely at home and missed her big sister. I tried to keep her busy with activities, puzzles, computer games, etc. but she's used to having a built-in playmate. Some how Mommy doesn't compare to Sarah when it comes to playing! Thankfully she starts back to pre-school next week so that will help fill her time 4 afternoons each week.

We ended summer with a whirlwind weekend trip to Iowa to visit my family. My father received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Varsity Club at the University of Iowa, so we were able to be a part of several of the activities where they were recognizing him. He was quite athletic in his younger days especially in football and baseball. He also spent years as a referee in the Big 10 and then the NFL. It was quite special to have him recognized not only for his involvement in athletics and sports, but more importantly for the volunteer work he's done over the years with many, many groups and organizations. He's a pretty modest guy, so he felt very humbled by the attention. Dad, we're very proud of you!

We also spent Labor Day at the Minnesota State Fair. The girls loved it and we all had fun. I'll share some pictures on another post.

As we head into fall, we look back on a wonderful summer that was filled with fun! Here's to a great fall and a super year at school!

Six Months!

2008-08-27T21:00:00.015-05:00

Six months ago, on February 26, 2008, we returned to the United States with our new daughter, Leeza. It's hard to believe the time has flown by so quickly, but I also can't remember what our life was like without her. Leeza is doing incredibly well. She has learned so much over the past 6 months and she's brought such joy to our lives. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

I thought it might be fun to post some pictures of Leeza, so you can see how she's changed.

(Sorry about the long post, but hopefully the photos will make it interesting!)

Some Photos from Ukraine (January & February)

The first day we met Leeza!

Using the phone with Daddy and playing outside with Mommy.

Playing with Post-it notes at the orphanage (you have to get creative when you've got limited space and few toys)!

She loved the cell phone and all gadgets! Her she is cuddling with a stuffed cat.

Some Photos from the Past 6 Months

February 26 - We're Back!!

One tired, but excited and happy family!

New sisters, getting to know each other!

March

April

May

June

July

August

I've got a lot of great photos of Leeza and Sarah together, but I'll post those another day since this is so long. I have to say, their relationship has truly grown and they are the best of buddies. Yesterday, Leeza told me that "Sarah is my best friend." So cute! Now if they'd only remember that when they are picking on each other over dumb toys, etc.

We're busy wrapping up the summer, but excited about what the fall brings. Thanks for following our journey for so long (for those few of you who still do) and thanks for your prayers and comments. They continue to mean so much to us!

Fancy Fingers

2008-08-21T12:27:00.005-05:00

I took the girls in for a haircut the other day and promised they could also get their nails done while there. The salon we went to is a "teaching school" so haircuts and manicures are cheap. Even though we paint nails here at home quite often, the girls were very excited to get it done at a salon.

I told them they could pick whatever colors they wanted, except black. I'm not ready to let my girls go goth! Anyway, Leeza picked out a dark sparkly midnight blue (nearly black) and Sarah chose to go the multi-colored route. Pretty fun!

This and That

2008-08-09T09:23:00.005-05:00

I don't really have anything big to report, but here are some of the things happening in our lives.

Here are the girls playing with one of Sarah's friends at one of our local parks. We are really blessed to have so many incredible parks in the Twin Cities area.

I love this picture of the three of them holding hands as we walk back to the car!

Thinking about Back-to-School
Leeza will go to pre-school 4 afternoons a week and it looks like she'll have the same teachers Sarah had last year. They were delightful and Sarah loved her experience, so we're excited Leeza will enjoy the same.

Sarah starts kindergarten this fall, so we've bought some initial supplies. She was adament about picking out a beautiful, pink back-pack with a picture of, what else, Disney Princesses!

Speaking of the princesses, here's a shot of Belle (Sarah) and Cinderella (Leeza) one day as they played dress-up and danced for me in the living room.

Tooth Adventures

Leeza got two fillings for her cavities this week and she did beautifully. When Matt tried to get it done about a month or two ago, she got hysterical and they couldn't do anything. However when I took her this week, the hygenist did a wonderful job of showing her everything and how the tools worked, plus explained everything so calmly. I was able to hold Leeza's hand has the dentist worked on her teeth, and she didn't fuss at all. Maybe she was better prepared this time or maybe she had just worked herself up the first time. Who knows? I was very proud of her and told her so when we were done.

Sarah has been wondering when she's going to start losing her teeth. She's very excited to see this happen. Last Friday, she told me she had a cut on her lower gum. I looked at it and noticed that she actually has her first permanent tooth coming in, even though her baby tooth in front of it hasn't come out. Our dentist says this is not uncommon and that the baby tooth will likely fall out soon, so she's excited.

Minor Challenges

We continue to work on appropriate levels of affection with Leeza. She is starting to get it, but still can be over clingy with some people, so we continue to talk about why we do and don't hug certain people, and why we don't hang on them once we've hugged them, give kisses, etc.

We're also working a bit on the importance of telling the truth. Leeza is not a malicious liar, but she's at the age that she will sometimes not want to be honest when she's done something wrong (and knows it). We have made it very clear with both girls that lying is not acceptable, so she does experience the consequences of this behavior when it happens.

Funny Faces!

I had to include this photo of the girls after they had been painting their faces. Aren't they beautiful! LOL!!!

Continued Progress

2008-07-23T16:02:00.004-05:00

Leeza had her 3rd eye appointment yesterday and the vision in her right eye continues to improve! At our first appointment in March, her vision in that eye was about 20/60. Yesterday it had improved to about 20/30!

So we'll continue patching her good eye for 2 hours a day for another month. Then go to 2 hours every other day for a month. Then another check-up. Her ophthmalogist is very pleased with her progress and feels there may be a good chance that she won't even need her glasses in another year or so.

Praising God for His many blessings!

5 Months

2008-07-15T20:35:00.003-05:00

Today we hit the 5 month mark from when we returned from Ukraine. It's really hard to believe how fast the time has gone. The photos below are from a recent outing to one of the many great parks we have here in the Twin Cities where the girls played in the splash pad. Great fun on a hot summer day!

Life continues on in much the same ways I've described before. Leeza is doing very well in learning so many things. Her ability to both understand and speak English is quite good. She's made tremendous strides in her gross motor skills.

The challenges we face at this point are primarily behavior based and they aren't too bad for the most part. The three key areas we're focused on lately include:
Mealtime challenges - playing around plus changing eating habits like chewing with her mouth open

Obedience - doing what she's been told and/or doing what she knows is right

Appropriate Friendliness - understanding personal space plus knowing when it's ok to give hugs or kisses.

The last behavior caught me by surprise because she has bonded well with us and has shown an appropriate level of hesitancy with people. However, lately we've experienced her being a bit too friendly with people when we're at places like the beach or park, or she's a bit too clingy with our friends -- and not just close friends. We've talked with her about how we give hugs and kisses to family and very special friends like our nanny or a special teacher, but not everyone she meets. We're also working on helping her keep her hands to herself instead of playing with people's jewelry, decorative elements of their clothes, their hair, etc. If any of you other adoptive parents have dealt with this, we'd love to hear tips for curbing it without taking away her friendly nature.

Overall, though we feel very fortunate with how well things are going and just how close the girls have become. They run around the house all day making forts, playing make believe games, playing dress-up, coloring, etc. As I've said before, we have our moments of arguing or fighting over things, but for the most part they get along quite well. God has truly blessed our family.

Summer Fun

2008-07-08T21:15:00.004-05:00

Seems like the summer is just flying by! While we haven't had any big plans, we've been having fun just enjoying the beautiful weather and fun activities here in the Twin Cities!

We had a great time on the 4th. Both girls loved the fireworks!

4 Months!

2008-06-17T13:40:00.003-05:00

Today officially marks the 4 month anniversary of arriving home with Leeza! Somedays it is hard to believe how fast the time has flown by and other days it is hard to remember what it was like without her in our lives.

Here is a recent self-portrait Leeza drew, signed by the artist herself.

Note that she's included her glasses, plus a red bracelet (the ball at the end of her arm). No body, hands or feet, but she's got the accessories included! LOL!

All in all, we continue to feel incredibly blessed with the gift that God gave us in this little girl. Leeza is doing so well in all areas and is so happy almost all the time. Here's a few highlights of things that we've all learned in the past 4 months:

Some of the things Leeza has learned
- She can recite/sing the ABC song
- She can recognize and write the alphabet from A - L (we hope to make it through Z by the end of the summer)
- She can write her own name and spell it when asked
- She can usually respond when asked to say her full name
- She is learning her address
- She can count to 20 although 13 seems to be left out somewhat frequently
- She can write 1-5
- She can sing lots of songs
- She can ride both a trike and a bike
- She can hop on one foot (something she couldn't do when we first got home)
- She has learned to jump on a trampoline
- She has learned that being naughty will result in a time out or in a loss of privileges
- She has learned to play some basic games like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders and hide and seek
- She speaks quite well in English, although her sentence structure is often mixed up, and she understands nearly everything said to her
- She knows how to make her bed (something they did at Solnichka) and knows to put her clothes in her hamper when she takes them off.
- She has learned to love our cats and is very good at being gentle and kind with them
- She has learned to play a few educational games on the computer

Some of the things we've learned about Leeza
- She loves many foods: most any meat, most any fruit, bread, potatoes, tomatoes,carrots cucumbers, pizza, spaghetti, popsicles, ice cream, tacos, soup, pancakes, eggs, etc. The main foods we struggle with are vegetables, but many kids do.
- She loves playing with her sister
- She loves Melissa (our nanny)
- She loves music of all kinds and it is one form of learning that comes naturally for her
- She loves Backyardigans, Arthur and Max & Ruby (kids tv shows)
- She loves playing dress-up and also playing with dolls
- She is very good a putting puzzles together
- She loves it when we have family movie nights with popcorn
- She loves playing with all her cousins (old and young)
- She loves going to pre-school and Sunday school
- She loves to sleep and is very hard to wake up in the morning
- She loves swimming, both in a pool and at the lake
- She likes to swing more than any other activity at the park
- She loves getting candy or gum as a special treat
- She loves having her fingernails and toe nails painted
- She likes living in America, but also seems to have fond memories of Solnichka (her orphanage)
- She likes to learn new things and seems to be learning at a fairly good pace
- She doesn't like to run
- She doesn't like thunderstorms (we've had a lot this spring)
- She doesn't like being told what to do by her big sister and will hold her own with her when they argue
- She doesn't like being put in time out.
- She's shy when she first meets people, but then warms up quickly as she gets comfortable
- She's happy and a very good girl most of the time, but does have her moments of disobedience
- She enjoys coloring, painting, and other craft activities
- She often carries around a purse filled with her latest "treasures"
- She loves all clothes with glitter, sparkles, fringe, etc. (same with purses, jewlrey, etc)
- She's very opinionated when it comes to her clothes, and can get upset if she's very unhappy with an outfit, or pair of shoes or hairstyle selected for her
- She's a good helper when it comes to picking up and cleaning things
- She seems to be a very healthy little girl
- She's a very loving and affecionate little girl

Some things we've learned about ourselves
- We make mistakes as parents, but we keep trying to do better
- We need to work on patience, often with each other
- We are fortunate to have a great nanny
- We are blessed to have such dear friends and family who have been so wonderful in accepting and loving our new daughter
- We know we can trust God to help us through all the ups and downs

Hometown Heartbreak

2008-06-14T19:56:00.003-05:00

I grew up in Cedar Rapids, went to Coe College there and even got my first job after college there before going to grad school at the University of Iowa. My dad was born in CR and has lived there his entire life. As I sit here in Minnesota watching the news and the videos online, it breaks my heart to see the devastating impact that has happened in the past few days as the Cedar River flooded the city. Here's a recent news clip:

For those not familiar with Cedar Rapids, it is the second largest city in Iowa and has a population of about 120,000, so it is not a little town. It is home to a lot of businesses and was a beautiful city filled with great parks, schools, churches and neighborhoods.

The girls and I just visited my family there about 2 weeks ago. It's incredible to see the photos and videos of what this flood has done to this vibrant community. Thankfully people were evacuated safely and the water has begun to recede a bit, but now this city of 120,000+ has to live with limited drinking water and electricity. From what my folks have shared and what I've read, it seems like everyone is working together to get through this catastrophe and focus on the next steps to clean up and rebuild, but please keep the people of Cedar Rapids (and surrounding communities) in your prayers.

Gymnastics!

2008-06-12T22:17:00.004-05:00

The girls both started gymnastics lessons today and they loved it! Leeza is in a class of 4 year olds and Sarah is in one for Beginning girls 5 and up. Most of the girls in her class looked to be about 5.

Here are Sarah and Leeza before class.

Here's Leeza near the end of her class.

While neither girl appears to be a gymnastic prodigy, they both had a lot of fun and are excited to go again next week. Anything they learn will be more than their mom can do, so I'm excited to watch their progress!

Special prayer request!
Cedar Rapids, Iowa is my hometown and the city has been flooded to unbelievable levels in the past couple of days. From news reports, nearly 4000 homes were evacuated and the downtown is under water. We're fortunate that our family members are ok, but many others have been severely impacted. Please keep them in your prayers and pray for dry weather so the river can subside.

Road Trip

2008-06-02T17:41:00.004-05:00

The girls and I made a road trip to Iowa to introduce Leeza to my dad (Grandma had already come here to visit her) and my sister's family. We had a great time and everyone welcomed Leeza with such love. She adored her cousins and is still talking about them today. She also loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa.

We had lots of rain on the way down, but then some great weather Friday afternoon and Saturday. When playing inside, the kids enjoyed non-stop dress up plus playing school and computers. Outdoors we spent time at the park where we fed the ducks and played at the playground, plus we enjoyed a lot of bike riding (check out Leeza in the photos!), scooter riding, chalk drawing, tennis ball hitting, chasing, etc. It was a lot of fun! Matt and I feel blessed that we have such great family on both sides.

After 5 hours on the road (each way) with two little ones, plus 4 days as a "single" parent, I will say I'm glad to be home and glad that we are now two parents for two kids. My hat is off to all you single parents out there.

Wrapping Up Spring and Ready for Summer

2008-05-23T10:40:00.005-05:00

We have had a busy couple of weeks.

Sarah was part of the Preschool Praise choir at church on Sunday. The children did a nice job and she really enjoys it. When they were done, Leeza asked if it was her turn to go sing! LOL!

Both girls finished preschool this past Wednesday. They had a concert for family and friends and it was great. All the staff is wonderful and we've been blessed to have Sarah there for the past 2 years and now Leeza since March. Sarah will be heading to kindergarten in the fall and Leeza will be back at Wooddale for afternoon preschool. Both are very excited already.

Leeza had her first dental appointment yesterday and overall it went well. She has 2 cavities, but Matt said that only one probably needed a filling. Considering we've heard horror stories about the dental issues that some of kids from orphanages have, we are happy with these results and she thought it was fun to go. She was busy flossing away today!

We also had a follow-up eye exam today. Leeza's right eye has improved dramatically in the past 6 weeks. At the last appointment, the vision in her right eye was 20/60 with her glasses on. Today it was 20/30 with her glasses and 20/40 without the glasses! Her left eye is basically 20/20 so it's the right eye we'll keep working on. For now, we'll continue to patch her left eye 2 hours a day and then see how she's doing at the end of July. Her ophthalmologist was very pleased with her progress.

One bummer...Matt mistakenly lost my digital camera! I asked him to take it to the dental appointment to get a photo of Leeza's first visit. He set it on the trunk of the car as he buckled the girls in their seats, then accidentally drove off without putting it in the car. Even though he backtracked shortly after trying to find it, we've had no such luck. Fortunately, I've downloaded most of the pictures, but we lost those we had from the last day of preschool and didn't get the photo at the dentist. Oh well, mistakes happen and it could be lots worse. If I can figure out how to transfer the video footage he shot at the concert, I may post that later.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Finally - A New Update!

2008-05-14T13:35:00.013-05:00

Where does the time go? And you may ask, what happened to my blog posts?

It's hard to believe, but it's been 3 months since we got home. The girls are starting to wrap up a lot of their regular year-long activities and we're excited for summer. Hopefully we'll eventually have summer weather, since our spring has been fairly cool.

So here's an update on life with Leeza:

New Outlook on Life - New Glasses!!

She has two new pairs of glasses that she helped select. Her favorites are the pink ones above (no surprise being the fashionista that she is), but she happily wears either pair. We are still patching her left eye 2 hours every day so we hope that the combination is helping to strengthen the vision in her right eye. We have another appointment next week, so we'll find out then.

Eating: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Leeza has tried lots of new foods and some she really likes include: tacos, popsicles, popcorn, steak, hot dogs. She is very good at eating most any meat or fruit. She loves things like tomatoes and cucumbers, but really resists things like corn, green beans or peas. We always tell them they have to eat at least a little of whatever vegetables are served with their meals.

We do struggle a little with how long she takes to eat some times, mainly due to playing and daydreaming or just not wanting to eat a certain food. When she's had a realistic amount of time to finish her meals, we then tell her she's got 15 minutes to finish and if she doesn't we'll save the food so she can finish it at her next meal. This has worked for the most part.

One other behavior thing we're definitely trying to halt is the fact that she'll pick up a piece of candy or chewed gum off the ground and put it in her mouth. Gross! She's done this a couple of times at the park and we've had to have some serious conversations about it. She understands that it is NOT ok, and has experienced some consequences when she's done it after we talked about it, so we hope we won't see any more of this activity.

Learning and Growing

Leeza can now ride her trike fairly well, even with one eye patched (see above)! She is also pretty adept at getting around most of the playground equipment. Leeza's also learned to balance and hop on one foot (things she couldn't do when we first got home) and she's starting to learn to play hop-skotch. We definitely plan to keep looking for activities that help develop gross motor skills and we have signed up both girls to take a gymnastics class this summer.

Leeza is communicating amazingly well in English. Of course, she tends to speak in broken English, but she can generally get her point across. For example, she might say something like, "Mama, helpa Leeza vadi please" meaning "Mama, please help me turn off the water." We try to repeat the correct way to say the thing she's stated to help her hear the right way, but she's doing great. She knows her colors in English and can nearly count to 20 plus say her ABC's. Her ability to recognize the numbers or letters is still limited, but that's something we'll work on this summer.

Music is definitely a favorite of Leeza's and it is clear that she picks up things via songs. I can often hear her singing along with the radio or one of her favorite TV shows. Both Leeza and Sarah will be singing in their preschool concert next week, so I've had lots of previews of their favorite songs.

I was blessed to get Leeza into about 4-5 weeks of BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). This is an incredible non-denominational bible study that is offered all over the world, and the group I attend offers a children's program for moms with kids ages 2-Kindergarten. Sarah has gone with me for about 3.5 years and has loved it. Anyway, with her limited English and the short amount of time in the class, I wasn't sure how much Leeza would get out of it, but I knew she'd have fun and enjoy the class activities. We've been studying the book of Matthew and last week, she came out of class and said to me, "Mama, Jesus died." I told her that she was right and that God sent him to die for our sins because of his love for us. Later she pulled out the children's bible we have at home and turned to the page showing Jesus on the cross. This time she said, "Jesus died...cross." And since then she's asked us to read bible stories nearly every night. Last night she told me, "Mama, Leeza like-a Jesus." How sweet! Considering she had little or no exposure to anything about God or Jesus, it is wonderful to know that even in a few short weeks and with limited English, she's starting to understand some basic truths.

Some additional firsts:

Attended a classmate's birthday party - thank you Lulu for inviting Leeza!

Climbed into a cool tree house...thanks Olivia for helping the girls get up there!!

Visited both the Minnesota Zoo and the Como Zoo here in the Twin Cities (that's Leeza up close and personal with a puffin at Como Zoo)

I enjoyed my first Mother's Day with my 2 girls and they both made beautiful cards for me plus got me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. Our family enjoyed dinner out that night as well.

In Leeza's preschool class, the kids drew a picture of their mom and answered some questions about us. Here's what she knows/thinks about me:

In case you can't read it, Leeza says I am 5 years old, I like to eat sandwiches and my favorite color is green. My job is to play and her favorite thing that we do together is reading books. Ok, so she got 1 out of 5 right (the book reading) - it's fun to hear what she thinks of me and I'm delighted to be 5 again and I'll take her advice and try to make more of my work feel like play!

8 Weeks!

2008-04-22T21:39:00.007-05:00

As of today, we've been home with Leeza for 8 weeks! On the one hand, it's hard to believe how fast the time has gone, but it's actually harder to remember what it was like without her in our lives.

Here are a couple of shots of the girls. They came down dressed as ballerinas and performed for me in our living room. Note the lovely hair accessories and lip gloss they both selected!

Our weather has been great so the girls have been outside a lot. They love it and we love to have them active. I'm amazed at how grimy two little girls can get, but it's great. This weekend we had chalk drawings all over the driveway, plus an extra long hopscotch game. Leeza is finally learning to hop a little, so she had fun trying it. She's also attempting to ride a tricycle. Both are skills we'll be working on this summer.

We made the girls ice cream cones last week and I think it was the first time Leeza had eaten ice cream in a cone. At least she didn't seem to know that she could eat the cone or how to do it until we showed her. Tonight she tried corn on the cob and a root beer float for the first time. She loved them!

I also finally convinced her to go barefoot. The staff at the orphanage always had them wearing shoes and socks and I think they must have told the kids they'll get sick if they let their feet touch the floor. So when I told her she could go barefoot both inside and out on the deck, she couldn't grasp the concept. Then she just started giggling about walking around in her bare feet. Really cute!

Melissa painted their fingernails and toenails the other day and Leeza loves showing them off.

Some other memorable firsts:

- Leeza got her first invitation to a birthday party from a little friend at preschool. It's coming up in May, so it will be fun to see how she does at the party.

- She's also experienced her first time out for naughty behavior last week. Since then we've had a couple more visits to the time out corner in the kitchen.

- The one vaccine Leeza needed was for chicken pox and she got it about a month ago. This weekend, we noticed a small rash on her lower torso. By today, it had spread a fair amount so Matt took her to the clinic. Sure enough, she's got a mild case of chicken pox, but not contagious according to the doctor.

- We went shopping for new glasses last weekend and she loved trying on all the pairs, or at least the ones she selected. Sarah added some chaos to the process as well. But we ended up selecting 2 new pairs (2 for 1 special) so we'll show photos of Leeza in those when they are done!

Here are a a few more photos from the past few weeks:

Leeza and Sarah with a dino friend, then sharing the anchor desk with their cousin Scott, at the Science Museum. Look closely in the TV screen to see them!

Leeza and Sarah "loving" Boscoe. The girls adore our cats, and Boscoe being the younger and bigger of the two, gets most of the love. Poor guy! He really is quite tolerant and actually loves the attention.

Catching Up

2008-04-14T10:37:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted for awhile, mainly because it hasn't felt like there's been any "news" to report. I guess that means we've comfortably settled into life and its routines, which is a good sign that things are going well with Leeza's transition.

We finally got Leeza's Certificate of Citizenship from the US government (plus a welcome letter from George Bush), so I was able to get her social security number ordered. Amazingly, we got her card this week. With that done, I've sent her documents to the Ukraine Consulate in Chicago to register as required by Ukraine law. They ask that adoptive parents register the children within 30 days of arriving in the US. I sent it at 6 weeks, so I'm hoping 42 days will suffice. According to Fed Ex it was delivered on April 14, so we'll see how long it takes to get Leeza's docuements back. At least I feel like I've got a couple post-adoption item crossed off my to-do list.

At the recommendation of our pediatrician, I took Leeza in to our school district for the standard pre-K screening. Our doctor felt this might help us identify if there are any services offered by the district that could be beneficial for Leeza. I've mentioned before that she's a bit delayed in some gross motor skill areas so we thought it might be helpful if occupational therapy services were available. We arranged to have a Russian translator there to help explain things so that Leeza could respond to her best ability. However, I think she's been away from her native language long enough now, that it caught her off-guard to hear fluent Russian, so she didn't respond to it. Not surprisingly, her performance on many of the tests, including things I know she can do and/or knows was not as high as one might expect. None of us including the test takers felt this was indicative of her true abilities, rather it was likely a result of inability to answer due to her limited English, her resistance to speaking Russian again, shyness, and just some things we haven't even started teaching her. For example, she can sing the alphabet song, but wouldn't do it while we were there. She can count items and knows her numbers up to twelve, but wouldn't do it there. She did fairly well on identifying colors, shapes and sizes (largest, smallest, longest, etc) all in English. She also did well on the basic identification of body parts (eyes, hair, mouth) but we've never talked about wrist, knee, forehead so she didn't know those. The net result of the day was that her gross motor skills are somewhat delayed, but they didn't feel we'd qualify for any of the services offered by the district because she'd have to be diagnosed with multiple things like a learning disability and delayed gross motor skills. I think for now, we'll just try to work on developing her abilities by doing lots of things like running, jumping, dancing, swimming, climbing, etc over the summer and see how she's progressed by next fall.

We have been patching her left eye for 2 hours each day to help strengthen her right eye. She has been great about wearing it...calling it her "pirate patch." It doesn't slow her down a bit. It's very probable that some of her gross motor issues are related to her vision challenges in her right eye and the impact that's had on depth perception, etc. We go back to the eye doctor at the end of May and we'll see how her eye is doing at that time.

My mom came to visit about a week ago, so Leeza has now met both grandmothers. So far, she's been very comfortable with all our extended family and really enjoys being with them. While my mom was here, we went to the Science Museum with my sister-in-law and nephews. Even though the boys are quite a bit older, they were wonderfully accomodating of their young cousins and they had a great time. Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip to Iowa soon so Leeza can meet my sister's family and my dad.

All in all, we continue to feel really blessed with how well the transition has gone. I'm probably having the toughest time due to the new parenting role I've assumed as referee. It's not that I didn't anticipate sibling rivalry, it's just the constant level of it that's making me crazy. Since the kids are so close in age (1 year apart) and the same gender, it may be magnifying the issue. Also, they seem to come to me with their constant bickering over things instead of Matt so I deal with it all the time. Others have told me this is normal, but we've had it dropped in our laps full force vs. evolving into it over time. If any of you experienced adoptive parents have suggestions for parenting through this, I'd be delighted to hear them. It truly is the only aspect of our transition that wears me down.

Now that we're having some spring weather, the girls are spending much more time outdoors. I'll try to post pictures soon.

When Life Gives You Snow....

2008-04-02T13:12:00.004-05:00

Make a Snow Lady!

After our heavy, wet snowfall, the girls and I spent some much needed time outside yesterday. They opted for a snow lady because they wanted her to wear a hat and necklace. Always thinking about those accessories!

Last Day of March

2008-03-31T15:59:00.008-05:00

You would think after living in Minnesota all these years, I'd be used to the cruel tricks that Mother Nature can play on us this time of year. We've had several days of really nice, spring-like weather so naturally we start getting bikes out, doing a little spring cleaning, going to the park, etc. We woke up today to a blizzard, and it hasn't let up all day. Granted the snow is very slushy and will likely melt quickly, but c'mon enough already!!!

We have now been home 5 weeks and we continue to feel very fortunate on how well things are going with Leeza. We met with a pediatric opthamalogist today and he felt the surgery done in Ukraine to correct her crossed right eye was done well. He also tested her vision, and while the right eye is weaker than the left eye, he felt that it might be possible for her to outgrow the need for glasses after a few years. He did recommend getting new glasses with a better perscription for her so we will do that soon. He also wants us to patch her left eye for a couple hours each day so her right eye becomes stronger. All in all, it is a really good prognosis.

On Friday, Melissa took the girls to the Children's Museum. They had a great time starting with face painting. Look at Leeza's reflection in this first photo. I love her concentration as she applies her make-up!

Here's Leeza's close-up and then a shot of the girls together. Lovely!!

Leeza also got to surf and be in a rock video (don't worry, it's not your computer, the image is blurry due to all their dancing).

She even got to try out life as an ant. Here she is in her ant vest and then she's emerging from the ant hill down the slide.

The girls continue to both bond and tease, like normal sisters.

I do see more and more examples of Sarah trying to help Leeza with things and truly showing her love for Leeza like asking her if she can read her a story or helping her buckle shoes. Of course, there are also those moments where Sarah is taunting or teasing her. Just the other day, I asked where the Leapster Princess game (Leeza's favorite) was, and after a moment of silence, Sarah sheepishly pulled it out from under the sofa cushion where she had hidden it.

Most of the time, Leeza seems to adore Sarah and imitates just about everything she does (plus takes everything that is Sarah's). I love hearing Leeza call out with her little Russian accent, "Sarah, come on!" when she's in her room and wants Sarah to come play. However, Leeza also has her alter-ego and yells "No" at Sarah if she tries to help Leeza without her requesting it or she pouts if Sarah touches anything she's played with earlier that day (as if prior use suddenly made it hers).

So as we wrap up March, life at our home now includes lots of fun, chaos, love, teasing, sharing, pouting, laughing, scolding, hugging, tattling, giggling, noise, etc. Add to all of that lots and lots of prayers from mommy (mainly for me to be more patient).

Has it all been easy? No. But compared to some of the challenges we were mentally prepared to take on, we know we are truly blessed with how well things are going.

We are ready for April showers - not snow storms!!!

Easter Memories

2008-03-24T15:13:00.004-05:00

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter!

The girls woke to find Easter baskets with the first clue to an Easter egg hunt! They spent the next 30 minutes running from room to room following the clues to all the goodies. It was a lot of fun. Here they are posing with their baskets full of stuff.

We went to church where both Matt and I helped at Sunday school. It is so much fun to work with the 4 and 5 year olds. We were especially blessed because one of the families volunteering in Leeza's class had adopted from Ukraine several years ago. In fact their daughter was helping in there as well. They told me afterward that Leeza was doing incredibly well and they were very surprised to hear we had been home just over 3 weeks. After Sunday school, we went to the worship service which was a wonderful celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

We had a ton of snow this weekend. I think it's the most we've had in one period all winter. So we went from spring-like weather last week, to another complete snow covering. It's a little hard to be dressing the girls in summery Easter dresses and then putting on parkas and boots to go to church, but that's Minnesota!

Matt's mom hosted Easter dinner, so Leeza got to meet more of the family. One of our nieces, Katie, brought nail polish and gave both girls a sparkly manicure. They were both very excited. Leeza and Sarah both love animals so they had a lot a fun playing with the dogs as well. I'm not sure the dogs enjoyed it quite as much, but I guess they didn't mind too much as there were lots of doggy kisses given out.

We are still enjoying the chocolate left behind by our bunny friend, but we're busy starting another week. Hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

Amazing Progress

2008-03-21T14:12:00.005-05:00

We have had a big week.

Leeza started preschool on Monday and she LOVES it! She had been asking to go when we'd drop off Sarah, so I talked with the director and they had openings for the two and three day schedules. I also had Svetlana, the friend I mentioned from church, explain more about it last Sunday and she felt Leeza was very excited and confident about going. Here's a photo I took right before we left for school.

Leeza goes for 2-1/2 hours in the afternoon on M-T-W. She was a little upset yesterday when we took Sarah and she (Leeza) couldn't stay. I tried to explain that she goes 3 days and Sarah goes 4 days, but I'm not sure I communicated it effectively.

It was really cute to see some of the little girls in her class come around her on Monday to help her learn where things were, how to do certain things, etc. I stayed for about 45 minutes, and when she seemed totally comfortable, I left for the rest of the duration. On Tuesday and Wednesday, she didn't need us to stay with her at all.

She absolutely loves going to school. By Wednesday night, she was already singing the days of the week song, plus she talks about playing and knows where to hang her coat and her school bag (they have assigned hooks). Leeza's teachers - "Mee-sus Kreee-stie" and "Mee-sus Kah-fee" (Kristy and Kathy) both commented on how well Leeza did her first days and how quickly she's jumped right into doing things with the class.

Some other firsts this week:

First time out at a restaurant - well at least the first time to some place other than McDonalds! We had dinner at a very family-friendly restaurant so it was a fairly safe first attempt at eating out. When I ordered chicken fingers for Leeza she initially said "No Mama" and fanned her hand in front of her mouth indicating "icky". However, when they arrived and she tried her first bite, she exclaimed "UMMMMMMM" and proceeded to finish all three plus fries plus all the walnuts and fruit off my salad.

First time at a pet store - after dinner we stopped by Petco. Sarah always loves it, so we knew Leeza would too. She and Sarah ran from the gerbils to the guinea pigs to the bunnies and Leeza kept saying, "Mama or Daddy, look at this!" She was really interested in all the birds and the fish too.

First time swimming - we don't honestly know what experience she has swimming, but Melissa took the girls swimming this afternoon at one of the community center pools. Leeza seemed to be very excited, so I'll hear the details soon about how it went. I'm sure Melissa had her hands full.

First time coloring Easter eggs - we did this last night and both girls had lots of fun getting the eggs and themselves colorful.

We were also blessed to get the remaining reports from our pediatrician. Leeza's blood work indicated immunity to everything tested but chicken pox so her immunizations appear to be up to date. We will have to get a chicken pox vaccine and we do have to start her on a 9 month treatment of medication for the positive TB results. I had thought the clear x-ray meant no additional treatment, but according to our pediatrician, the Department of Health requires all positive TB tests at a certain level to be treated with this process.

In my opinion, Leeza has already made tremendous strides with her English. She seems to understand most everything we say and if not, she'll generally respond with "Eh? or What?" She is communicating quite a bit with 3-5 word sentences...things like:

"Daddy, look at Leeza's bolshoi (big) tummy" (after a big meal)

"Mama, come here, see Leeza"

"Leeza et Sarah school-a" (Leeza and Sarah's school)

"Leeza is a big girl."

Considering we've been home just over 3 weeks, I'm really amazed at how quickly she's adapting to life here and the language change.

Pirates and Princesses

2008-03-19T21:35:00.006-05:00

I mentioned that I had taken the girls to McDonald's last week. They each had a Happy Meal. Leeza wanted the princess version, but Sarah opted for the pirate version. What happened to my girl that loved everything princess?? Anyway, the prize in Sarah's meal was a pirate scarf.

When we got home, she put it on, came up to me and said "ARRGGGH! " while striking the pose below with her spyglass. I cracked up, so Leeza decides to demonstrate her version of the pirate face. You can see her results below as well.

The next morning, while I was making breakfast, I could hear Leeza rummaging around in the dress up clothes in her closet. We have a huge bin of clothes and accessories in there, primarily of the princess variety. Shortly after, she came down wearing a sequined crown headband and bracelets on each arm, telling me, "Mama, Leeza preen-cess."

Life is fun!

Weekend Blessings

2008-03-16T20:45:00.002-05:00

Just a short post to share some of the blessings God has bestowed on us this weekend:

- Leeza's first flu shot with very little drama.
- The girls getting along fairly well on Saturday and even better today.
- Sarah doing an awesome job of sharing toys and playing with her sister.
- Leeza going to Sunday School on her own today.
- Sarah getting to see one of her best friends, Sara Jo in her Sunday school class...she hasn't seen much of her for quite awhile since we were gone and now Sara Jo is moving to Colorado.
- Beautiful weather so we could get the girls outside.
- An awesome worship service today.
- A visit from Svetlana, a Russian friend of another family we know from church...she came over to help us explain a few things to Leeza. When she got her, I realized I knew her from when we volunteered for MOPs years ago. She is a delightful woman who came here several years ago with her husband and 4 children after suffering physical attacks and persecution as missionaries in Russia. It was so helpful to have her visit and she felt Leeza seems very happy and well adjusted already. That was great to hear from someone who could truly talk to her.

Friday Night Update

2008-03-14T21:43:00.002-05:00

Matt and I just put the girls in bed, so I've finally got a few minutes to update the blog.

It's been a busy week. Our wonderful nanny, Melissa, took a week of well deserved vacation, so we were trying to cover the time as much as possible ourselves. Luckily our old nanny was available to help for part of the day Monday and Wednesday, but Matt and I kept busy. We have had a taste of spring in the Twin Cities this week, so we tried to get outside with the girls whenever possible. I took them out for a long walk through all the puddles on Tuesday. We were out for about 90 minutes and even though they both had on snow pants and boots, they were soaked when we got home. There were lots of great puddles to jump in that day!

We had Leeza's first appointment with our pediatrician on Thursday and she did a really thorough check-up. Their staff follows the protocol used by the International Clinic at the U of M, so we know all the important bases were covered. Leeza did wonderfully during the appoinment. They had to draw quite a bit of blood so they could test her for various things plus see what she tested immune to which would then identify what vaccines she'd need. Not surprisingly, she cried a lot as they drew blood, but I couldn't blame her. We're waiting to get all the test results back, but we've had a lot of good news so far:
- Her hearing tested fine.
- Her chest x-ray was clear so the elevated TB probes reported in her original diagnoses are not an issue and she doesn't need further treatment.
- We don't have all the blood work back, but based on what they had received, it seems like her vaccinations were fairly up to date and done according to western standards.
- She did test positive (more on that later) for giardia, which is common with many children from the orphanages and very treatable. We've started her on medication as of today and will be done within 5 days.
- Our doctor agreed with us that she's somewhat delayed in her gross motor skills and she suggested we contact the school district to get some occupational therapy.
- She also referred us to a pediatric opthamologist so we can follow up on her eyes.

This next section is somewhat graphic, so I apologize if I offend anyone, but it was also so funny that I have to share it.

When evaluating children adopted from other countries, doctors will generally analyze their stool samples to check for various parasites, disease, etc. One of the most common things they look for is giardia. Basically they give the parents a collection kit which includes a large plastic container that fits over the toilet seat (they called it a "hat"), plus several vials with various chemicals, in which we are to deposit samples from the sample. In our family, the role of collecting the samples somehow fell on my shoulders (funny how that happens), so I'm supposed to collect samples from 3 different bowel movements. Anyway, we were trying to explain to Leeza what this plastic "hat" thing was and how we needed to collect her poopka (as Matt kept saying) to give to her doctor. I don't even know the right word for it in Russian, but she seemed to understand as she kept laughing and saying "nyet"

So I put her down for a nap on the afternoon after her appointment and left the "hat" on her bathroom counter. About a half hour later, I'm in the office working and can hear her via the monitor moving around in her room. I go up to tell her to get back in bed and try to sleep for a little bit. As I'm doing so, she says, "Mama, poopka!" and points to the bathroom. I walk in there and sure enough, sitting on the floor in front of the toilet is the plastic hat with her first sample!
I started laughing so hard, I was crying!! Somehow she understood enough of what we were saying and then put the hat onto the toilet when she realized she was ready to provide a sample.
Smart kid!

The girls are definitely comfortable with each other. In fact, we've moved from the getting to know you stage to the teasing and picking at each other stage. I can't count the number of times a day I hear, "Mom" and "Mama" as they each want to tattle on the other. Sarah really does try to share, but she also wants whatever Leeza has, including attention. Leeza on the other hand seems to think everything of Sarah's is hers and she's always taking stuff out of Sarah's room. We've tried to divide some things so there are Leeza's, Sarah's and then Leeza's & Sarah's, but I still haven't figured out how to ensure Leeza understands that she needs to share as much as Sarah. All my friends tell me this is normal, so I guess we're in a good place, but there are days when I feel like my skills as a referee are maxed out!

I took them to McDonald's today for lunch and afterwards they chased each other all around the climbing towers and slides in the play area. We got there after the lunch crowd had departed, so they had lots of room to move around. Sarah liked helping Leeza through it for the first couple of times, and then Leeza couldn't get enough of it. It was fun to watch them scramble after each other and hear them calling out to each other as they found different spots to hide.

All in all, we've had another good week and continue to be amazed at how well Leeza is adapting, plus learning to speak and understand English. God is so good!

Life As We Know It

2008-03-07T13:01:00.008-06:00

As we wrap up another week, it's amazing to see how much progress Leeza is making (and I guess we all are making) as we adjust to our new family dynamics. I've included a few photos from everyday life:

Leeza is quickly picking up a lot of English and even constructing short sentences. For example, she'll point out at the snow and say, "Outside, cold" or talk about one of our cats and say, "Boscoe soft." Last night she was playing with an old cell phone of Matt's (remember, she's the gadget girl) and she held it sideways like a camera and said, "Smile Momma," and then proceeded to click and pretend to take my picture. When we pray, she has learned to say Thank you, God and Amen. We've worked a bit on primary body parts (eyes, mouth, hands, ears, etc) and she seems to have those down. Our nanny comes three days a week and when she arrives, Leeza will run and give her a big hug and shout, "Ma-leee-sa". That little accent is so cute!

I don't know when Matt took this photo, so I'm not sure why Leeza has that "outfit" on. We do actually heat our house, but it's not apparent from this photo. LOL!

Leeza is also very inquisitive, always pointing to something and wanting to know the word, then repeating it. She'll do this with food, clothes, household items, etc. It's amazing how fast kids can pick up a new language. Far better than we did while trying to stumble over a few Russian words.

The tantrums at night have virtually disappeared. Letting the girls each have their own room has definitely been one of the better decisions we've made lately. Matt and I can both spend a little time with each girl and they can go to bed in a way that's most comfortable to them. I think it's also helping them to have a little space of their own. While we're encouraging sharing, we're also seeing that it helps them to each have something they can call their own.

We are still having an occasional tantrum related to something Leeza isn't happy about and probably frustrated she cannot communicate about. She's learned that we aren't going to give her much attention when these happen, so most are short-lived.

As I've mentioned, Leeza has not been too picky when it comes to eating, but we're pleased that she's now drinking milk and eating more vegetables. If she had her way, we'd have ham for every meal, but she's been good about eating most any meat and trying most other foods.

It seems like Sarah is feeling better about things, too. Like most kids with a new sibling, she is still having good and not so good moments of sharing, teasing, etc. But we're working hard to focus on being kind and loving. We've also pointed out to her how much Leeza copies everything she does, so Sarah can see how important of a role she has as big sister.

Today we decided to try Sunday school with Leeza. Sarah went to the class with Leeza (even though she's so much older as she told me) and helped her while there. It sounds like it went well and we told Sarah we were very proud of how she helped Leeza, the teachers and even us, by letting us go to church.

Some other firsts for Leeza this week:

- First trip to Edinborough - an indoor play-park here in the Twin Cities with a huge climbing tower, slides, jumping castles, etc. Sarah has always loved it and Leeza did too.

- First play-date with neighbor friends - one of Sarah's friends has a little sister who is 3-1/2. They came over to play for a couple of hours on Saturday. I felt like I was herding cats...the two older kids would move from painting, to Barbies, to computer games, to other crafts, while Leeza wanted to mainly work on painting and beads and the other little girl just wanted to check out all our toys. Not a bad couple of hours, but mom felt pulled in a few too many directions.

- First trip to church and Sunday school - it was great for us to get back to church and see so many people who had been praying for us and supporting us through this journey. And as I mentioned above, Leeza seemed to enjoy the hour at Sunday school.

Matt has been busy with 3 properties that he had going before we left. Thankfully he got a signed purchase agreement for one of them this week. Now we'll just hope the other two move as well. It has definitely been a challenging time to be investing in real estate.

I've jumped right back into my consulting business. My partner did a great job of maintaining everything while I was in Ukraine, but he did get an offer to go to work in a corporate setting and he's already started his new role. I knew he was considering this, so it wasn't a shock, but it has made for a few busier days than I was quite prepared to handle. However, clients have been great. They are all excited to hear about Leeza and our trip. One of my clients even gave me some beautiful flowers the other day to say congratulations! And because both Matt and I can define our schedules, we've been able to have at least one of us around home most of the week, plus Melissa coming in on her three days.

We continue to feel amazed and blessed by the way God brought this little girl to our lives.

Getting To Know Each Other

2008-03-02T16:35:00.006-06:00

In the five days since we've been home, we have primarily spent time at home letting Leeza explore and just getting to know each other better. Overall, I think things have been going fairly well, but we've had our share of "moments."

Things we're learning about Leeza

- Leeza continues to love ham, but also likes Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, pizza, waffles and grapes. She's still not crazy about milk or most vegetables, but is learning to drink or eat a little with each meal.

- Leeza loves all the new clothes she has access to, both dress-up and all the hand-me-downs from Sarah. They are actually close in size so much of what Sarah is wearing now could fit her. Her daily attire has often included dress up high heels, several necklaces and sunglasses.

- Leeza really likes music and toys that make music or sounds. She's often singing or humming along with them.

- Leeza loves our cats (perhaps too much for their own liking) and she's constantly walking around saying "meow" plus petting them and hugging them.

- Leeza, like Sarah, likes to watch movies and tends to favor "scary" ones like Monster House.

- Leeza is quick to pick up English words. She's already saying things like outside, cold, juice, cookie and seems to know what she means.

- Leeza loves Sarah and is quick to give her a hug, but also will tell her "NYET" when she doesn't like something.

Leeza and Sarah have enjoyed playing with each other quite a bit. We've had decent winter weather so they've been outside several days playing in the snow and even sledding a bit. We've enjoyed lots and lots of art projects, beading (note the necklaces in the one photo), dress up and playing with dolls. Of course there's the ever present request for TV - but we're trying to maintain our limit on TV time.

While most days have been good, we have had some behavior challenges from both girls. In each case, we anticipated the behavors so we're not completely surprised, but they still add to the emotional ups and downs of each day.

Leeza - The pout and tantrums

At least she's consistent. We aren't seeing the pout quite as much and she definitely knows she doesn't get much leverage from it when she does it, so it's not as much of an issue. Her tantrums have been a bit more problematic, especially at night. When she has one, she screams and she is one loud child. Comforting her does little to calm her down, in fact it sometimes aggravates her so that kicking and hitting start. We've moved her to her own room to keep Sarah from having to listen to them. With the move, we're keeping her door open (which appears to be one catalyst for the tantrums) and playing music for her as she goes to sleep. These seem to help.

When she throws one during the day, it's generally over something minor, like not liking the socks we put on or not wanting to wear boots outside. At those times, we generally try to remove her from the situation and sit with her in another room while trying to calm her down. In my poor Russian, I've been able to communicate that ni plach (no tears) will get her back doing what she wants, but plach (tears) won't. She seems to be getting that and calming down a little quicker, plus letting me hold and hug her while she does.

Sarah - sibling rivalry and needing attention

For the most part, Sarah has surprised us at how well she's sharing her toys, clothes, etc. and she shows many examples of caring, love and concern as she helps Leeza do things. But we have definitely noticed little signs of jealousy when Leeza has certain toys, or one of us is paying attention to her, etc. On Thursday Sarah was really down so I sat down with her and asked how she was doing with all the changes. She broke down in tears and basically said she wanted me to spend time with her. I think the toll of the 5-1/2 weeks apart and now our attention being divided is really sinking in. Plus she was getting stressed out when Leeza would throw a tantrums. Matt and I are trying to figure out how to schedule specific time with each girl so they don't feel left out.

I keep reminding myself that we're all still operating on less than optimal sleep, plus communicating with limited understanding and hand gestures. Given those challenges, we are pleased with how things are going so far. We're also very appreciative of the ways family and friends continue to support us. We've had meals dropped off, emails and calls of support and a general outpouring of excitement for our family. Thanks to all of you!!!

I feel like I've done more laundry and run the dishwasher more than ever before. And with two of them, I am constantly finding toys all over the house. It's amazing that one small child can create this much change. But I'm not complaining!!

I do hope to continue to post somewhat regularly because I'd like to keep track of Leeza's first year with our family, but I definitely won't have time for the daily updates. Please feel free to check in and drop us a note if you're so inclined! Thanks for following our journey thus far. Now the real fun has begun!

A Family of Four

2008-02-27T21:56:00.009-06:00

Since I was too tired to think last night, I couldn't even begin to transfer photos to post. So here are a few from last night.

First family photo. Matt and I are very happy to be back on American soil. Sarah is excited to meet her little sister. Leeza is very tired and overwhelmed, poor thing!

Here are Sarah and Leeza playing dress up about an hour after we got home. Leeza got a second wind, but clearly she's lost all sense of fashion. Like many of the Ukrainian women we saw, she must like her sparkly clothes if this is the outfit she chose out of all the princess dresses in Sarah's dress up gear. Note the socks and the princess high heels. Nice accessorizing!

We spent today just getting acquainted, letting Leeza explore the house and playing. I made the girls pancakes for breakfast and then they played dress up for awhile again. Our nanny Melissa came over and she and the girls played with the balloons that had been decorating our house. We also got out some beads and spent a long time stringing beads and making some jewelry. Sarah got out a few new games - Don't Break the Ice and Ants in your Pants. Leeza didn't understand the concept of either but had fun breaking all the ice and flipping the little ants all over.

We drove Sarah to preschool and she wanted to take Leeza in to meet her teachers, so we went in for a few minutes. It was cute to see Sarah walking down the hall holding her hand. All her classmates were very excited to meet Leeza. When Sarah got home from preschool, the girls and Melissa went outside to playin the snow a bit. Leeza has probably seen snow, but not as much as we typicially get in Minnesota. It's melting a bit here, so the snow was not soft and fluffy, but still fun.

The girls then spent the rest of the afternoon getting nearly all the toys out all over the house, doing some art projects and watching a little TV.

It was fun to hear Leeza repeating some of the English as we talked about different things. She can now sing along with Pinky Pony's them song (Come along! Come along! To a place that's magic and full of song!) she knows Melissa's name and also said, America, Good job Mommy, OK and a few others.

She's had her first bowl (make that 2) of Kraft Macaroni and cheese and loved it! However turned down hot chocolate for tea?!?

I loved this photo!

There's No Place Like Home!

2008-02-26T21:36:00.002-06:00

We are home at last!

I'm too tired to write much about our journey home, but will feel in any interesting details when I can think straight. Overall, our flights were uneventful and Leeza did beautifully traveling. She had one tantrum around 3:00 pm CST when we were about 2 hours from Minneapolis. Considering that was 11:00 pm Ukraine time, and she had not really napped all day, we felt the tantrum was not completely out of line.

Sarah, Melissa (our nanny), Gramma Deeda and Uncle Mark were waiting at the airport to meet us. Sarah and Melissa ,ade a welcome home sign. We got home and one of my good friends, Karla had our table set, plus a complete dinner cooking in the oven. Another neighbor family had left a cake. It was incredible.

I'll try to write tomorrow when I am more coherent.

Just wanted to say thank you for your prayers throughout our journey and to recognize the unbelievable blessings God has done during this time.

More to come!

God Bless the American Way!

2008-02-25T16:47:00.002-06:00

We are coming home!!!

Our day started early since we wanted to get to the US Embassy to apply for Leeza's visa. We left around 8:15 but because we're staying at Olga's, the drive is fairly long especially during rush hour. The roads at this time are crazy. People literally drive down the off-ramp to then turn right and enter the main road because there is such a long line on the real on-ramp. It took us about 50 minutes to get there and unfortunately we experienced another round of car sickness. Not a pleasant way to start the day. I had a large ziplock bag with me, but couldn't get it out fast enough.

For those of you that are adopting in the future, plan on car sickness. It is common with these kids partly because they haven't grown up experiencing car riding and partly because roads are rough, drivers are swerving and the children are going through a lot of stress. Anyway, we're hoping the ride to the airport and the plane ride home are uneventful, but I've loaded my purse with the large ziplock bags just in case.

It was WONDERFUL to get to the Embassy. As American citizens, we got to go right to the front of the line to enter. I felt a little rude doing this (only for a minute) then felt great that we were experiencing American-type service. And everyone spoke English so we understood them and they understood us. That alone felt great and just reminded me again of the confusion Leeza must feel being with us all day.

We were directed back to the area where adoptions are handled and they looked over our documents. We told them we hoped to fly out Tuesday am so if they could do anything to expedite the process we'd really appreciate it. They told us they couldn't promise anything but they'd do all they could to make it happen (and they didn't even ask for an expediting fee, something adoptive parents get all too familiar with over here). They had us wait in a room that had lots of toys for kids to play with, just another example of customer service we are used to in the. US. Around 10:30 they told us everything looked good and we should come back around 2:00.

It was a beautiful day here so we decided to head down toward the SDA where there are lots of souvenir stands and then to Independence Square. We made a "pilgrimage" to the McDonalds on Independence Square. After 5+ weeks with no fast food it tasted great and it was nice to be able to order and then get something that you expected. While we try to limit the trips to McD's at home, we felt it was somehow appropriate to introduce Leeza to the Happy Meal as she is about to become a US citizen.

We went back to the Embassy at 2:00 and were interviewed briefly by the Consular. However the visa had still not been processed or approved in the US. We went back to the room with the toys and waited. While there we met another family - Joy and her son Calleb (dad had gone home a bit earlier). Like us they were waiting for a visa to travel on Tuesday. At about 4:10 we were called to the window and the young man briefed us on some materials and then said, "Here is your visa. Please check to make sure the name and birth date are correct." I actually got teary eyed. We were going home!

One other example of service offered at the Embassy: I noticed that all the waste baskets were lined with plastic bags. Knowing we had another long taxi ride and were out of ziplock bags, I asked if they had a couple I could take (unused of course). A young woman immediately went into another room and came back with 3-4 bags.

Leeza fell asleep on the ride home so thankfully the bags weren't needed. We started organizing our luggage for the trip and she bounced around laughing and playing. She was in a great mood even though she was tired after walking a lot downtown and then skipping a real nap. I gave her a bath and let her play in the tub for about a half hour. Then when Olga and Sasha got home, Leeza played with Sasha for a long time. The tears started again at bedtime, so Sasha offered to read her a story. Then Olga told her that if she was going to cry again, we would all have to go into the other room, or she could stop and Mama (me) would lay down in the bed next to hers. She cried for awhile so we did all go into the other room. A few minutes later, I hear, "Mama, para spat" which means something like time for bed. So I came in and said "Ni plach...mama para spat" Ok so my Russian is lousy, but she got the idea - no tears and mama will go to bed.

So here I am, blogging in the dark as my new little daughter sleeps blissfully. Our bags are basically packed, we have a new visa in hand, we have re-booked travel (thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law Karen) and tomorrow around 5:50 central time there will be one new US citizen when our plane touches down.

Welcome to America, Elizabeth Grace Johnson. You're going to like the way things get done here!

Counting the Days

2008-02-24T15:20:00.001-06:00

Today was pretty low key. We got up and made breakfast. After cleaning up we took Leeza to one of the playgrounds nearby. We spent an hour pushing her on the swing. She loves it and would've stayed longer if she had her way.

Came home and had lunch. Once again she amazed Matt and me with the amount of food she eats, especially meat. It's funny because the orphanage care givers said she didn't eat much. Maybe she just didn't like what they were serving! LOL!

After last night, Leeza and I took a nap this afternoon. It felt great to catch up on a little sleep.

I took her out for a walk and another round at the playground for about 45 minutes this afternoon. It was a beautiful day here in Kiev so it was great to get outside.

Olga's daughter,Sasha was here tonight and she played with Leeza for a long time. She's 11 yrs old so she helped Leeza make something on the computer then got her all dressed up. Cute pictures.

We had another major meltdown at bedtime, in fact this turned into a full blown kicking and hitting tantrum. After I tried calming her for about an hour, Olga came in and told her we couldn't go swinging tomorrow if she didn't stop and that we weren't interested in listening to her yell so we were all going in the other room. At first Leeza kept going. Then she came out and told me she had to go to the bathroom. When I walked her back to bed, she got right in and pulled up the covers. I told her I loved her and she said, "I love you."
Go figure!

While it's incredibly frustrating to deal with every night, I feel really bad for her and can actually understand her frustrations. All day she's got Matt and me talking to her and most of it sounds like "blab blab blab" or like the adults always sounded on the old Charlie Brown cartoons. Anyway, when she's around Olga, Sasha or any other friendly Russian speaking people, it's got to be a huge comfort to understand what's being said and have them understand her. So when we say it's bedtime, she doesn't want to leave the people who have made her feel that comfort.

We are going to the Embassy first thing tomorrow morning and we're hoping the US government can come through for us. We have booked our return flight for Tuesday morning at 11:55. We need Leeza's visa before we can leave. So our primary prayer is to get the visa by tomorrow end of day (Monday, 2/25) or at the latest by first thing Tuesday. But it would be a lot less hectic to have it Monday pm. Please pray for us about that.

Assuming all goes as we hope, we'll be back in Minneapolis by Tuesday around 6:00 pm!

A Great Day Until....

2008-02-23T17:05:00.001-06:00

We had a great day today. Leeza went to bed very easily last night and woke up with a smile on her face. We had breakfast and boy this kid can eat! She had a banana, half an orange, a few bites of oatmeal, a boiled egg, some bread and 3 pieces of bacon. Oh yeah, and a cup of watered down tea. It cracks me up to see her with her little cup of tea.

We went walking around the neighborhood and found a small playground not far from the apartment. The equipment was fairly nice and it was intact, unlike many other playgrounds. We spent an hour, mostly pushing Leeza on the swing. She loved it!

We came back for lunch and once again Leeza polished off a huge meal. She ate some ham and cheese slices, 3 apple slices, tomatoes, 2 pickles, 1/2 a banana and then half my ham and cheese sandwich. Our cute little girl is definitely a meat eater!

Leeza and Matt both took a nap this afternoon and I tried to rebook our flights. Getting through to the local KLM # is impossible so I'm still working on it.

Tonight we met another adoptive family for dinner. It was great to meet Drew and Rita and their son Aiden after we've been communicating online for about a year. They are going to visit a 4 year old girl on Monday. It's their second referral so please keep them in your prayers. From what the SDA file said, she looks promising.

So we get back to the apartment after this great day and everything is fine. I help Leeza get her pajamas on. She watches about 10 minutes of TV. She's tellling Matt and me, "I love you very much!" In her cute little accent. Then when it's time to go to bed she goes in to say good night to Olga who is in her room working. Leeza wouldn't come when I called, so I walked in and took her hand and said it's time for bed. She wouldn't come. Olga told her to go with Mommy. She still wouldn't come. Finally I had to pull her away to let Olga finish her work and to get Leeza to bed. Then the tantrum began.

Without going into details, I'll just summarize by saying, it's after 11:30 pm and I finally got her to go to sleep after 2 hours. Most of that time she was crying and calling for Olga. At one point I even had Olga come in to find out what was making her cry so much and tell her it was time to go to bed. Even she couldn't get her to stop. I finally tucked her in one last time and laid down on my bed to type this post. Maybe having me in the room helped. Or maybe she just got worn down, but she's finally asleep and I'm exhausted.

When we're together, just our family, things are going well and I really do feel she's bonding with us well. As many of you experienced adoptive parents have said, everything will be fine once we get on the plane. For so many reasons, I couldn't agree more.

Well, tomorrow is a new day.

First Days Together

2008-02-22T14:24:00.007-06:00

My post last night was written in a haze. Sorry it was so rambling. Today's may
not be much better. Leeza is definitely having some struggles adjusting, most of
which are probably driven by fear of being in a completly new and strange
environment and frustration with two adults who are responsible for her, but
can't communicate with her effectively.  She had a major meltdown at bedtime and
it took me about 40 minutes of rocking her and then rubbing her back until she
fel asleep. She woke up crying in the middle of the night and I spent another
30-45 minutes getting her back to sleep. It reminded me of the first few
days/weeks after bringing a newborn home.

Leeza is also very attached to our translator. It makes sense because she's been
around her a fair amount, plus Olga can communicate with her. The downside of
staying at Olga's apartment is that Leeza tends to go to her for everything and
doesn't want to do what Matt and I try to get her to do. We've talked with Olga
about this and she's talked with Leeza, but it continues to be a challenge. This
morning we experienced another major version of "the pout" when we made Leeza
wear a seatbelt.  We got it again when Olga had to leave to go downtown for some
meetings. Leeza had another meltdown when it came time for a nap, but she really
needed one since it's still part of her routine and she got so little sleep last
night. Once again, she finally fell asleep after about 30 minutes of rocking and
lullabies. I know this is a natural reaction because she's in a strange place
and I'm sure it will get better. For now we just pray for Leeza to feel more
comfort and peace with us and her changing surroundings.

On the plus side, it was great fun to see the joy she had playing in her bubble
bath this morning and once she had her nap, everything seemed fine. We also
played outside a bit at a small playground near the medical clinic. It was a
beautiful day in Kiev so it was nice to get out.

We were able to get her medical exam done for the Embassy today and we'll go
for our appointment with the Embassy on Monday morning. They will take a day
to get her Visa ready, so we hope to change flights and head home Wednesday!
Gotta contact NWA/KLM to figure out our options. Please pray we can switch
our flight and book a seat for Leeza with no problems.

Counting the days!!!!

Late Night in Kiev

2008-02-21T21:27:00.006-06:00

Well as the title indicates, it is about 11:30 pm and we are back in Kiev after a LONG day! Let me start with a thank you for all your prayers. God has been so faithful throughout our journey and once again our prayers were answered.

We left our apartment in Mariupol around 7:50 am and went to the courthouse to get the court decree. From there we went to the orphanage to give the court decree and to get Leeza's original birth certificate. We got most of the paperwork done at the orphanage and headed directly to the inspector who was on the other side of town going into court at 9:00. We got there just in time to get his signatures. We then went to get the documents notarized.

Now in America, getting documents notarized is no big deal. Nearly every bank offers notary service to the bank customers and the wait is usually just a few minutes. Not so in Ukraine. We stopped by a notary who had helped us earlier in the process. She couldn't even start on it for an hour. So we decided to go to the grocery store to get treats for the orphanage. Right next to it was another notary. Our translator went in and he said he could help us in just a few minutes. She suggested that Matt and I go take care of the shopping while she got things started. We completed our task and went to the car and waited. And waited~and waited. Finally after about 70 minutes we're called in to sign the documents. Then the notary wants to talk real estate prices and interest rates with Matt! Finally we head to the orphanage to get Leeza. Because we were so much later than we had planned we basically went in, changed her clothes, took a few photos, hugged her caregivers and left. The Orphanage Director had been called away to a meeting and we had already met with her earlier.

We raced out of Mariupol and headed for Leeza's birth town to get her new birth certificate. The town is about 3 hours from Mariupol. A 3 hour drive in Ukraine is very different than a 3 hour trip in the US. There are not places to stop and get a quick bite or use the restroom like in America. Se we brought some things along to eat knowing we wouldn't be stopping.

We made it through Donetsk in record time and I started feeling good about our schedule and how well Leeza was traveling. Big mistake! Literally in the next few minutes, we hit the rougher 2-lane road. Traffic slows down and we're swerving and bouncing. Leeza suddenly gets carsick (I feel like I'm officially passed initiation as an adoptive parent!)

After we got the birth certificate we raced back to Donetsk to get the passport. For once I was glad to be riding with a Ukrainian taxi driver. He did an awesome job and got us into town right around 5:00. Thankfully, the passport person agreed to stay until we got there so about 6:15 we had every thing we needed.

Then we hurried to the airport to see if we could still get tickets to Kiev. The last flight left about 7:10 and we arrived around 6:45. But we got tickets and got on the flight. We landed around 8:30 and are staying with our translator.

The apartment we were going to use is still being used by another family, so we made these arrangements at the last minute. This is the nicest apartment we've stayed in, but it will be different as we're sleeping on her fold out couch with Leeza in a roll-out bed. It may get to be close quarters, but will survive until early next week.

Leeza had a few meltdowns tonight but that's to be expected. This day has been very stressful, long and scary for her. All in all she's done well.

We're exhausted but grateful to be here. Ready to start wrapping things up with the Embassy.

Our Last Day as Visiting Parents

2008-02-20T15:49:00.000-06:00

Today was our last day to follow the twice a day visiting schedule. Tomorrow we will start early and take care of some paperwork, then go to the orphanage to take custody of Leeza!
Please keep her in your prayers as this is bound to be a very stressful and emotional time for her. They have told her who we are, and how she's going to have a new family, but how much of that a 4 year old can understand is hard to know. No matter what, she's leaving the home she's known and people who have loved and cared for her. It will be hard, even as we are very excited.

We then have to go to her birth city which is about 3-1/2 hours from here to get her birth certificate. We had hoped we might get this in Donetsk, but they said no. From her birth city we'll go to Donetsk and get her passport. Depending on when we get all this done, we will still try to see if we can fly to Kiev tomorrow night.

It's going to be a long day, and Leeza will be thrown way off her normal routine. No nap, meals at odd times, etc. We may all be a frazzled mess by tomorrow night, but we'll be that much closer to coming home!

We had a great tour of the orphanage today. It's amazing what they offer here to help these kids heal, grow stronger and develop as normally as possible. I will provide more details in another post this weekend.

We are packed and ready to leave Mariupol. We've enjoyed our time here, but we're ready to reconnect our family back home!

Hoping tomorrow's post will be from Kiev!

Taxi Cab Adventures

2008-02-19T12:02:00.001-06:00

I couldn't blog about Ukraine adoption without at least one mention about the adventure of riding in the taxis here.

First of all, no one wears seat belts and they are often difficult to locate in the cabs. Also, for some reason, many of the cab drivers don't want passengers to get in and out of the left rear door, so these often don't work. (At least that has been our experience in Mariupol).

We learned in Kiev that the primary driving rule they all seem to follow is survival of the fittest and believe me, this can create some white knuckle adventures. Cabbies think nothing of passing on the left and sometimes it feels like they're playing chicken with the oncoming traffic. Thankfully they always manage to squeeze back into the correct lane.

Another rule that seems to be followed is the option to drive where ever needed to get to the desired destination. We've heard of cars driving on the sidewalks but did not experience this thrill - yet. However we did have one taxi driver realize he'd pulled into the wrong side of the apartment complex and there was no direct way over to our building. So he proceeded to drive up over the curb and the playground area separating the buildings. Matt and I were just glad there were no children out in the yard that day. Another driver took a similar approach with the median separating the divided road when he realized he had gone past our desired stop.

All the cars drive very close to each other and it's amazing how they can squeeze through tight spaces, especially when driving between 2 buses going in opposite directions.

Inside the cabs, the music is generally blaring and most often it seems to be a Ukrainian disco type of song. Some of them even have DVD players in the cabs. We haven't seen this but it wouldn't surprise me if some are watching movies as they drive!

All in all, we've gotten where we've needed to go and it's been fun.

We have one more day of visits, then we get to pick up Leeza on Thursday! We hope to finalize everything related to her birth certificate and passport either here or in Donetsk, and ideally get it done Thursday so we can fly back to Kiev by Friday. There are still some things that have to fall into place for us, so the timeline is not final. Also, we're actually having a blizzard of sort here today. Wouldn't you know that this would happen when we need to bet able to travel. In Minnesota, they wouldn't blink at the snowfall. Here in Ukraine, I have no idea what they do for snow removal. If it is anything like what they do for street repair or general clean up of litter, we're in trouble.

Here are some specific prayer requests if you're so inclined:
- that we are able to pick up Leeza and get all needed work done in the region by Thursday
- that we're able to fly back to Kiev either Thurs pm or Fri am and ideally get Leeza's medical exam at the Embassy done Friday
- that we're able to complete all remaining Embassy meetings and paperwork by Tuesday
- that we're able to rebook our flights and one for Leeza to leave for home by next Wed or Thurs

We'll keep you posted as our schedule comes together. Thanks for your comments and your prayers!

Bonding via the Hokey Pokey

2008-02-18T13:23:00.005-06:00

I mentioned "the pout" in a prior post. Well our visits for the past couple days
have seen a lot of this. As I said before, we can generally get past it by
continuing play, but a couple of times it's been challenging to get our happy
girl back. I'm sure there's an underlying cause beyond just not getting her way.
Most likely it relates to frustration with our inability to easily understand
each other and potentially confusion on her part as she starts to trust us, but
then has doubts due to past experience with adults where the trust wasn't there.

Our time together this morning was especially challenging. It was a beautiful
day here so we asked to take her out and they agreed. Generally she loves to
play outside, however for the past several days we've had a balloon we've been
bouncing around inside and she wanted it outside too. We tried to explain we'd
play with it inside and use the ball outside, and got "the pout" in response. We
tried heading over to the slide. We got "the pout". Next we tried bouncing the ball.
More of "the pout." Finally we decided we'd go ahead and use the balloon outside
just to get some life in her. But just as we anticipated. It popped within 5 minutes
when she hit it upinto a pine tree branch. So then she wanted another one.
We said no and then we got a major version of "the pout."

We decided to go in thinking yogurt might cheer her up. It helped some, but she
was grumpy all morning.

This afternoon when she came into the parent visiting area, the balloon was
immediately requested. We bounced it around for quite awhile, then I pulled out
a jigsaw puzzle. She seems to enjoy putting these together and it's a fun thing
we can all work on a little. We then started playing a silly game of balancing
the puzzle box lid full of puzzle pieces on our head. The fun came as the lid
tumbled and all the pieces fell all over the floor. It's amazing how much fun
she had doing this.

Matt stepped outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air. While he was gone,
I started to teach Leeza the Hokey Pokey. She loved it. I think she
was particularly amused with Mommy dancing around with her. Anyway, at one point
I picked her up and was singing the song as we danced around together. She laid
her head down on my shoulder and hugged her little arms around my neck. She's
hugged us before, but most often as we first arrive or are preparing to leave so
it's not always clear if it's something the caregivers have told her to do. This
time it was of her own volition and she seemed to just relax in the moment of
comfort.

For the rest of the afternoon she seemed more interested in sitting in our laps,
hugging and generally being more naturally affectionate.

Clearly, we'll need much more time to really connect and I know we'll get to
experience "the pout" many more times. But for today, here's to the power of the
Hokey Pokey.

More on What to Bring

2008-02-17T14:12:00.002-06:00

In addition to all the tangible items I described the other day, there are some other less tangible things that are equally vital to have with you if you're adopting from Ukraine. In my opinion some of these are more important then most of the things on the other list (ok, maybe not the blackberry - LOL). Here's my suggested list:

1. Faith
I'm talking about faith in God and His plan for your life. No matter how much organizing and preparation you do, be prepared for things to unfold differently than you had planned. I have continually found comfort and peace in knowing God is loving and He wants the best for us. So no matter what the outcome, I can trust He intends good to come from it.

2. Patience
Ukraine timing and procedures are different than the way we expect things to work in the US. It often feels like we hurry up, to wait. Getting frustrated doesn't speed things up. You also need patience to ride out the process. This is especially hard if you've got other children at home because it is a long process. Plan on at least a 6 week stay and if you're fortunate to leave before that, feel lucky.

3. Gratitude
We have found that it helps tremendously to show appreciation and express gratitude for good service, an extended kindness or a job well done. Sadly, this usually generates a surprised reaction, so it needs to happen more.

4. Flexibility/Adaptability
Ukraine is not America. Duh! Responding graciously and trying to do things the Ukrainian way not only shows a respect for the culture, it can be kind of fun.

5. Prayer
This clearly relates to #1 on my list, but approaching every aspect of this with prayer has made the whole journey that much easier. And I'd suggest having everyone you know, who is willing, to pray with you and for you. It has been incredibly humbling and uplifting to have so many prayers offered for our family, but we're tremendously thankful because we know the power of prayers.

6. Trust
Whether you are adopting independently like we are or working with an agency, you have to place your trust in people who initially are complete strangers. We're talking about trust that they will help change your family forever, trust to navigate a crazy always changing adoption system, trust to help you as you travel with large sums of cash in a country where you can't speak or read the language. If you can't establish that kind of trust, or you don't feel the people you're working with can be trusted - make a change! It will never work otherwise..

7. A Sense of Humor
Some things will make no sense and you can either laugh at the craziness or it will make you cry (or crazy yourself). If you get out and experience the culture you will also find that you may be the source of humor as you try to explain what you're looking for, either with limited Russian and your phrase book or through pantomime. Either way, it's entertaining for the locals.

8. A Positive Attitude
This is a challenging, long, difficult, stressful trip. It also offers great joy, new friendships, interesting experiences, and opportunities to grow closer to God. There will be times that you feel down. That's ok. That's normal. I just encourage you to try to keep a positive attitude as it will make the trip easier and you'll enjoy it more.

9. A Support System
I cannot express how valuable it has been to us to have people at home who are supporting us in so many ways. Our biggest concern obviously was Sarah. We have been able to be gone this long with little concern (other than when she was sick) because of the loving family and friends who are helping to care for her. My sister-in-law, Karen, is the angel who gets my blog updates by email and posts them in the blog (when I'm surviving by Blackberry alone). Both Matt and I have people helping with our businesses at home. We also have many who send us encouragement via this blog or email. All I can say, is don't leave home without your support system in place.

10. Focus on Your Goal
There will be confusing circumstances, frustrations, and possibly set-backs. When they happen try to stay focused on the goal you've been working toward for so long. You will get through it and be that much closer to your goal.

That's it. Now, next time I'm griping about something about this trip, feel free to point out the items above that I'm not remembering!

Signing out on a Sunday nght in Mariupol.

The Pout

2008-02-16T16:57:00.002-06:00

We enjoyed two good visits with Leeza today. We had hoped to get outside this morning because it was bright and sunny and didn't feel too cold, but the orphanage ladies said no. Don't they realize we're taking her home to Minnesota? This weather is nothing compared to the cold and snow she'll experience there. But for now they set the rules. So we spend our time coming up with various new ways to play with the ball, play hide and seek, do puzzles, draw pictures, blow bubbles, etc. Most of the time it's pretty easy to keep her interested and having fun, but every once in awhile, we get "the pout."

Somehow in her little short life, Leeza has learned to pout if she doesn't get what she wants. We'll be playing and everything is just fine, then suddenly she doesn't like something Matt or I do, or we tell her no about something. She immediately loses her smile, drops her gaze to the ground and if sitting she'll either put her head down on the table or she'll rock slowly back and forth in her seat. I'm really not making fun of this as it is probably a method of coping she's learned along the way. However, it happens so often lately and she changes her demeanor so quickly, we find ourselves laughing every time it happens (silently of course). We don't show any reaction and go on playing and soon she realizes she's not getting the results she hoped for, so she usually laughs and acts like she was trying to trick us. I guess overall it is good that we're seeing various aspects of her personality now and that she's feeling comfortable enough with us that she's showing some of the naughty behavior along with the good.

Some people have asked what we do with her and if we use orphanage toys, etc. At this orphanage they have a small room for adoptive parents to visit their child/children. I think it's actually a room where sick kids can rest while waiting to see the doctor because there are 2 cot-like benches in small cubicals. The whole room is probably not bigger than 15 x 10 and each cube is about 4-5 ft x 6 ft. When multiple families are visiting we each get a little cube area, so very little room to play. When we first started visiting Leeza there was a family from Spain and one from Italy so it was pretty crowded. Both those families have completed their adoptions so now it's just us.

We don't get to use the orphanage toys except for playground equipment. Since we didn't know what age to plan for we didn't bring many toys from home. We did bring Play-doh, some board books and a couple of small stuffed toys. When we got here we bought markers, a drawing tablet, coloring book, some lego like blocks, a little doll, a ball, and a puzzle. She's also played with things from my purse like my calculator, blackberry, flashlight, cell phone (locked), post-its, etc. In hind sight I wish I would've brought some basic flashcards with numbers, colors, etc to help as she learns words, but we'll get by. We try to bring different things every day so she doesn't get bored with any of them. We bring stuff daily rather than leave them there. The few toys we have left have not been seen again.

In general, they don't want us interacting with the other children. I think this is both for our benefit so Leeza has a chance to bond with us and so the other children don't get distressed when they don't have a "momma and papa" there for them.

Our two hour visits generally go quickly and we try to think of creative ways to keep them fun and interactive. I can only imagine how overwhelming our houseful of toys will be for her.

Things We Couldn't Live Without

2008-02-15T08:28:00.017-06:00

Now that we've wrapped up 4 weeks in Ukraine we've had several people ask us
about what to bring when they travel to adopt. I'll start first by saying what
everyone told us - pack light. You will not need dressy clothes for your SDA
appointment or your court date. You'll want to look respectful, but think
business casual. If you are traveling soon I'd suggest a good, comfortable pair
of waterproof boots. I don't wear anything else. It may not be snowy, but it
will likely be slushy, rainy and/or muddy. It's not super cold, but we're glad
we've had gloves and hats.

Here are some of the things we are really glad we brought:
- Blackberry
Internet access can be variable here and even internet cafes may not be
convenient. I have had access to emails and the internet via my Blackberry
everyday except one. And on that day, T-Mobile's PDA support spent 40 minutes
with me on the phone figuring it out. I have been using T-Mobile's service
(which then gets service from one of the Ukraine providers) because my brother gave me an old T-Mobile BB of his
and my cell phone service was already with T-Mobile. I was able to take the SIM
card from my phone & put it into the BB. Then T-Mobile set it up for worldwide
internet and email service and we coordinated my emails from home to link here.
And it's not that much more than my prior monthly plan. I've also heard that
AT&T's service works well here too.

- Laptop
We had hoped to be able to use the computer for our internet, etc. And we did
have good access in Kiev and when we stayed at the hotel here in Mariupol. They
had free wireless internet access. We have used the laptop to watch DVDs every
night plus I load the digital photos we take daily and keep an expense log.

- DVDs
There are very few, if any, tv shows in English, so you'll want something to
help fill the down time. We brought a few different tv shows (i.e. Season 2 of
24) and lots of movies.

- Bible
To me this has been another critical resource to turn to when we felt stresses, uncertainties, needed guidance, etc. I've also tried to keep up with my BSF
lessons from home.

- Phrase book & map of Ukraine/Kiev
We've used the phrase book more regularly, but it was helpful to have the map
early on. A Russian phrase book is more helpful than a Ukraine phrase book.

-Books
You will have some periods of down time so you may want to read

- Digital Camera
You'll want to capture lots of photos of your new child/children, plus there are
some great photo opportunities throughout your trip.

- Multiple outlet adapters for recharging your electronic stuff

- Food
There's really not anything you have to bring, because you can but most things
here. We have been glad to have a small jar of peanut butter for quick lunches
and we also brought a small bag of ground coffee. Neither is easy to find here.
You may also want to bring some snack type food for those days you are running
between meetings or in long car rides and don't stop for lunch.

- Zip lock bags of all sizes
The big bags were great for packing. We've used a lot of the small ones to take snacks to the orphanage,
etc.

- Basic OTC meds
We didn't bring a ton, but it was helpful to have cold tablets, pepto bismal
tablets, etc.

- Clothes pins and a line for drying
Remember my earlier post...no dryers here

- Flashlights
We've had the power go out several times here at the apartment, plus many of the
hallways and streets can be dark

- Small calculator
Great to use if you don't understand how much something is. Just ask the person
to type in the amount owed.

- Spiral bound note pad
Great for taking notes at your SDA appt, the meeting at the orphanage, etc -
Small notebook (approx 4x5)
We use this daily and have key info in it written in both English and Russian
such as the orphanage address, our apt address, asking a cab driver to take us
to exchange currency, etc

Several of the above items have also been things that Leeza has enjoyed playing
with, more so than some of the toys we've bought.

I can't think of anything we wish we would've brought for our use..

Of course Matt would love to have access to ESPN for his various sports!

Nearly halfway done with our 10 days!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T11:05:00.001-06:00

No exciting news to share today so just wanted to say a big thanks to all of you who are following our journey. I wrote yesterday about the kindness of strangers and didn't mention the kindness we experience from people reading this...many of whom are strangers we will never have the opportunity to meet.

It means so much to us as we read your words of encouragement, tips on getting through the process and your prayer support. We have been blessed in so many ways.

We hope you and your loved ones are enjoying this Valentine's Day. We shared our day with our littlest sweetheart and hope to talk with our sweetheart at home a little later.

The Kindness of Strangers

2008-02-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

Our daily visits with Leeza continue. She talked with Sarah again tonight and said, "Hi Sarah," "I love you," and counted a bit. Sarah was very excited to hear her talking more. It was fun to watch Leeza's face and hear Sarah's excitement.

Since I've highlighted some of the frustrating and crazy aspects of adopting and general life in Ukraine, I thought it only fair to highlight some of the really nice things we've experienced.

One of the first things that came to mind was the fact that we've crossed paths with some really nice, caring people who have gone out of their way to make us welcome, help us get around and generally feel comfortable in a strange environment. It has been a great reminder of the general goodness of most people that one can encounter all over the world. Here are just a few examples:

Dima
He is a 19 year old student in Kiev. His mother is a translator for adoptive families and he makes some extra money by serving as a sort of tour guide/family assistant. He took us around on several days when we first arrived in Ukraine. He was amazingly well informed about many historical aspects of his country and served as an excellent "tour guide." Additionally, he came to the apartment several times to help with minor problems we dealt with during our first few days. He was also always very concerned and watching out for our safety and security.

Vitali
He is a taxi driver in Mariupol who we hired when we first arrived. He picked us up from the airport and then drove us during a few of the days when we had lots of appointments and meetings. Beyond that he calls the taxi service for us every time we need to go to the orphanage or back, and he is not usually the driver. He just speaks enough English and knows our needs so he makes sure we get taken care of daily. In fact the other night a cab was late and he called back several times until he knew we were on our way home safely.

Olga
This is the woman who owns the apartment we're renting. First of all, she rents it for just $30 a day. Granted, that's a lot in grivna, but it's very reasonable by US standards. Plus she comes in on Saturdays and changes the bed and does all our laundry. The other day she even stopped by and gave us a jar of pickles she put up last summer.

Shop Owner
I don't know the name of the woman who owned the children's clothing store, but they were very helpful as we tried to figure out clothing foe Leeza. I think she had 4 sales people running around for us. Then as we were paying for our items, she came over with a little gift of clothing and a couple of toys for Leeza. We didn't purchase that much so it was really sweet of her to do that.

There have been others, but these examples will give you a good idea. While many of the folks in Ukraine can come across as serious and even, unfriendly at times, it generally just takes getting to know them a bit to see the warmer side.

I guess it's a good reminder to all of us to think about the positive impact we can have on the lives of others, especially those who might be from another place or in a challenging situation. A smile, a kind word, a helping hand can make a huge difference.

Signing out after another good day in Mariupol.

A Productive Day in Mariupol

2008-02-12T13:08:00.000-06:00

We had a good, productive day today. Started by taking a cab to the orphanage where we picked up Leeza and one of the women that works there. We then went to get Leeza's photo taken for her passport and visa. I assumed it might be an all morning activity based on how long most things have taken, but we were in and out of there in 15 minutes. We'll stop back tomorrow to pick up the printed photos.

We went back to the orphanage and played outside for about an hour. It was pretty cold here today and a little snowy, but it's always nice to spend some time outside. The space they have for visiting parents is fairly small and there isn't much in the room.

After lunch, Matt and I walked up to some shops near the grocery store. We bought some clothes for Leeza at a couple of them. Shopping for children's clothes is challenging. The sizes are all different from the US and they aren't consistent. A size 4 was huge on Leeza, and other things are in sizes like 104-110 or L-3XL. And selection is very limited. I found a cute pink sweater but it was too big. Sorry no other sizes. Finding plain shirts without some crazy saying or cartoon character was nearly impossible. And we still have not found shoes. They seem to have one size of each style. Unlike some of the food, the prices weren't always that great. Where's Target when we need it? For those of you traveling to adopt in the future, I strongly recommend bringing a tape measure and taking down your child's measurements so you can use those to help with sizes. Also, trace their feet to help with shoe sizes.

We also picked up a few items at the grocery store then walked back to the apartment just in time to head back to the orphanage for our afternoon visit.

Leeza continues to mimic a lot of words. We realize she's not yet mastered their meanings, but she will count with us to 10, says Daddy, Mama, please, thank you, I love you, Sarah, apple, banana, yogurt, juice, computer and probably a few more I'm forgetting. All are said with her cute accent! Considering it's just been a couple of weeks and we really haven't tried to practice a lot, we think she's doing great..

We'll post more tomorrow!

Meet the Newest Member of Our Family!

2008-02-11T15:39:00.001-06:00

We have officially become the legal parents of Elizabeth Grace Johnson! And as promised here are a few photos of our darling new daughter.

These photos are from the first day we met Leeza.

Here she is having some fun outside.

Her Ukraine name was Elizavetta which means "vow to God" and they call her, Leeza. We had been considering Elizabeth as a name prior to coming, so it was a great fit. We continue to call her Leeza, but have not finalized on whether we'll spell it that way or maybe Elisa.

Our court experience was somewhat long, but not difficult. We were told to meet the Inspector at 9:30. Now in the US this would typically mean we all get our own transportation, but remember, this is Ukraine. As we're driving there, our translator tells us she'll drop us off at the building where court will be held and then they need to go pick up the Inspector and the Orphanage representative. Why everyone can't find their own transportation is still a question, but I guess it's our adoption, so we foot the bill. Anyway, we get dropped off and are told to wait on a bench in the hallway. We sit for a half hour watching people going in and out of the offices and finally our translator and crew arrive. They all go down to the judge's office. We wait some more. Then they come out and say a new judge is handling the case so we should go down the hall and wait outside her office and courtroom. We all troop down there and wait. Another 20 minutes or so goes by and we're told to go back down the hall again. Finally around 10:30 we're led into a small courtroom along with our translator, the Inspector, the Orphanage representative, the judge's assistant and 2 "jurors." Our judge was a very pleasant woman and she tried to make us feel at ease. Things went along quite smoothly, but then I guess she realized she hadn't really had time to familiarize herself with our case, so she spent a fair amount of time reading aloud from our dossier documents! Every once in awhile she'd ask a question or two about something she had just read, but nothing was hard to respond to or unexpected. At the end, she and the jurors left for about 15 minutes and then returned with her judgment! Elizabeth/Leeza is our girl!

We're now officially in the 10-day waiting period. This is required by law and offers the opportunity for someone to appeal the ruling. While it is possible that someone could appeal, it is rare. We'll continue to use the time to bond with Leeza and get ready to take physical custody of her (at the end of the 10 days). We bought a few items of clothing today and will do some more shopping during this period. When the children leave the orphanage, they don't take anything, so we'll buy enough clothes to get through the remainder of our trip.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! We have felt God's presence and His guidance throughout this journey and we have been uplifted by your prayers. Join us as we give thanks for this incredible blessing God has provided today.

Our prayers going forward:

- Continued bonding with Leeza
- A comfortable transition for her when we do get to take physical custody so she's not too frightened
- Fast processing of all additional paperwork related to her birth certificate, passport, etc. at the end of 10 days
- Continued comfort, peace and safety for Sarah until we get home

One more prayer request...no more power outages at our apartment complex. We've had 3 during the past couple of days and while none has been too long, it does limit us, especially at night.

It's a good night in Mariupol.

A Great Sunday

2008-02-10T11:32:00.000-06:00

We started the day with a change to our normal routine. We had the great pleasure of attending the service at the Church of Christ, a local church here in Mariupol. A young couple from the US, Brandon and Katie, are here and Brandon serves as the youth minister. Katie's mom was here visiting so we sat behind her and the young woman translating for her. It was wonderful to experience a worship service with other believers here in Ukraine. The service started with people standing and giving praise for things God had done in their lives. Then the pastor read from Psalm 71 and as we read along in our English bible, it felt like such an appropriate passage for us to focus on. The hymnals included both English and Russian versions of songs, so we were able to sing along to some degree. The church is small - approximately 80-100 people, but it sounds like they are making an impact.

The people were so warm and gracious to us. All were very curious about why we're here and it's not clear if they all understood the concept of adopting a child, but it was a very welcoming environment so it was a nice way to start the day.

After church we went to lunch with Brandon, Katie and her mom. It was great to have an extended conversation with other Americans. Plus the meal was quite good. We will likely connect with them again while we're here.

We walked home from the church and it felt good to get some exercise. It was a bit cold today, but nothing compared to what the weather has been like in MN.

At 4:00 we went to the orphanage and spent a couple hours with our little one. Matt bought her a pair of wool gloves and she LOVES putting them on. Surprisingly, with all the bundling they do with the children when they go out, they never wear gloves. No one seems to here -- hats yes/gloves no. Anyway, she loves putting them on and is very particular about getting them just right. It's fun to watch her intensity as she works to get each finger accurately into each glove. We don't leave them at the orphanage as the things that we have given her keep seem to disappear. I'm sure they just get lost in the other toys and stuff of her group, so anything we hope to hang onto comes home with us and then we bring it back each day. She wasn't happy with us when we wouldn't leave the gloves so we experienced the pout again. Looks like we'll have to work on that a bit with her.

We have court tomorrow so we appreciate your prayers for a positive outcome and efficient process.

Also, thanks for your prayers for Sarah. She is finally getting back to her good health and had a fun weekend. Sounds like she had a bit of a sad night Friday, but that's probably a combination of feeling under the weather, missing us and knowing we'll be gone another 3 weeks. Being away from her is definitely the hardest part of this experience. Hopefully the next few weeks will go quickly.

The Adventure of Daily Living

2008-02-09T14:00:00.000-06:00

We don't have any real news regarding our adoption. Our visits with our little one continue to go well. We're seeing a bit of her real personality now as we've had a couple of pouting sessions when she didn't get her way. But she seems to come around if we don't make a big fuss over it, so we're having fun.

So I thought I'd share some details on everyday life here in Mariupol. In Ukraine there seem to be little kiosk type shops on every corner selling pop, water, cigarettes, snacks, phone cards, etc. However, from our apartment, it is about a 2 mile walk to stores of any real size so that's what we do - we walk. It's not a bad walk until you do it with both hands holding grocery bags or large containers of bottled water. Add walking up 4 flights of stairs once we get home and it's a bit of a workout.

Something as mundane as shopping can be a bit of an adventure when you can't read the language and packaging often looks quite familiar. Is that a bottle of conditioner or lotion? What kind of meat are we looking at? Is it milk or butter milk? The other day I had my handy-dandy phrase book out as we were trying to figure out bottles of vinegar. According to the book, I had a bottle in hand, but then a store clerk told me "no" and insisted we buy a completely different bottle of something. We'll see what it tastes like. We bought a container of what appeared to be mustard, and while it is mustard, it's not the everyday kind we're all use to back home. It's more like the hot mustard you get from a Chinese restaurant only thicker. I had one spicy ham sandwich today! And of course certain items like peanut butter are just not found here.

Because drinking the tap water is not recommended, we buy a lot of water. Matt is braver than I am and he brushes his teeth with the tap water. I'm sticking with the bottled stuff. I find that when we run low, I start to feel a bit nervous about needing to get more. Kind of goofy, I know. Let's hope we're never in a situation at home where we have to live this way as it's an unsettling feeling.

For those traveling, don't feel you need to bring lots of snacks, toilet paper, etc with you. They have regular toilet paper here, plus many kinds of snacks chips candy, etc. If there is some food or snack that is a special treat and will remind you of home, bring some for a pick me up on the down days. But otherwise, take an adventure through your neighborhood grocery store!

Bye for now (or as they say here: "paca paca")

A New Day

2008-02-08T12:21:00.000-06:00

Things are looking up! Our translator got the documents from the SDA and we are on the schedule for court on Monday. The inspector told her we should be there by 9:30 so we're assuming we get in around 10:00. We'll hope for an quick and uneventful meeting with the judge. Just a positive ruling that we are legally her parents.

After a good night's sleep and lots of cold tablets. I'm feeling better too. I'll keep taking the OTC meds and will knock this thing out soon.

We haven't talked with Sarah yet, but hope she's doing better and that Gramma is doing ok too.

We took our laptop to the orphanage today and it was fun to watch our little one study all the family photos, especially those with Sarah and her friends. She was actually upset to see us leave tonight. We don't want her feeling bad, but it's nice to know she's sad to see us go. Hopefully that means we're starting to build a connection.

We are very grateful to have our court date set and while we wish we didn't have the extra days, we know God will use that time for a good purpose.

Please keep Sarah in your prayers.

Discouraging Day

2008-02-07T12:27:00.000-06:00

There's a children's book titled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. That's what it felt like here today.

I woke up feeling lousy. I've been fighting a cold for the past few days and it seems to have won the battle. Nothing serious, but a scratchy throat and headache don't make me great company for a 4 year old. We did visit with her this morning and had a good visit, but then did not go this afternoon because I was sleeping.

We also still don't have the paperwork back from the SDA so we won't have our court date until Monday at the earliest, and that's assuming we get the documents needed tomorrow and that there's an opening on Monday. The paperwork is supposed to be done within 5 business days, so there should be no issue tomorrow, but this is Ukraine so all bets are off. As I mentioned yesterday, our frustration relates primarily to the fact that we have just added another 3 days to this trip with the delay and it's hard enough now.

Adding to that is the fact that Sarah, our 5 year old at home, has been quite sick all week with the stomach flu. We thought she was better, then learned that she was up again all night getting sick. We just talked to her and the poor thing sounds so weak and sad. As you might guess it's heartbreaking to not be there for her. Matt' mom is helping with her today, so she's in good care, but I still wish I was there with her.

Sorry to sound so negative today, just wishing we were closer to coming home.

Some prayer requests:
- Sarah's speedy recovery
- SDA returning the needed documents tomorrow and court on Monday a.m.
- me getting rid of this cold so I don't expose Matt or our little one to more germs

Thanks for your comments, emails and prayers. We appreciate them so much!

Ups and Downs of Adoption

2008-02-06T12:15:00.000-06:00

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I had technical difficulties with the Blackberry not connecting. This has been my lifeline back to reality so it was a bit of a rough day. But after about 40 minutes on the phone with TMobile's PDA team, we got it fixed! Life is good again.

On to today's subject - ups and downs of adopting, specifically from Ukraine. The bottom line? Plan for both as you'll experience many of each, both while waiting to travel, and while you're here. For me, my faith and trust in God has helped me as I've dealt with both.

Our most recent example of a downer came today. Our translator called to tell us our court date is not going to be tomorrow as planned since she was not able to get the signed paperwork returned from the SDA. She's hoping to get it tomorrow so we might still have court on Friday, but it may be next week. Now that may not seem like a big deal, but if we had court on Thursday as planned, our 10 days would have been done a week from Sunday. If we don't have court until next Monday, we basically push our our return home by another 3-5 days Trust me, as we're hitting the 3 week mark here, we are counting the days to get home. We'll obviously do whatever has to be done, but we are hoping for sooner, rather than later.

OK, enough on the downs, let's talk about some positives. Besides the obvious of finding our daughter, this experience is also a great way to get to know each other better (if you don't kill each other in the process - just kidding) and it is an incredible reminder of how great we have it in the United States.

We've had some really fun days especially since we've had great weather and were able to be outside with our girl. She's also surprised us by repeating a few words in English including: "please" "dada (for daddy vs. papa)" and "I love you." Talk about a great moment! Today she said "Sarah" and we called home from the orphanage so the girls could say hi to each other. That was another really fun moment.

Hoping for good news regarding our court date. More updates later!

Our Daily Routine

2008-02-04T11:19:00.000-06:00

The past couple of days have gone well and it looks like they represent the pattern of what our daily routine will likely be until we leave Mariupol. I have been waking up around 5:00 every morning, mainly because my internal clock is off. Since I don't seem to be able to get back to sleep, I generally have used the time to do some Bible study, check emails and read.

We head to the orphanage at 10 am and stay until noon. Then we come home for lunch and either hang out at the apartment or go walk around a bit. Then it's back to the orphanage from 4-6. Then home for dinner and DVD watching on the laptop. The hardest part of this is the downtime between visits, but the end result will be worth it.

It feels like we are making progress in building our relationship with our girl. She's all smiles when she comes out to greet us and we get hugs and kisses when she goes back with her group. I know we still are in a honeymoon period and there is much bonding to do, but every little bit of progress feels great.

More observations from our Ukraine experience Things you don't see or will rarely see:
- Charmin or other TP as we know it - however the stuff they have is not so bad
- Condiments (ketchup, butter, etc) - they are available for a price, but you have to ask for them
- Paved roads - of course there are paved roads, but there are many, many potholes and the drivers constantly swerve around them and in many parts of Mariupol there are muddy, dirt roads.
- Clothes dryers
- Mini vans or SUVs
- English in any form (tv, signs, menus, newspapers) - a few speak a little, but much communication takes place with hand gestures and our phrase book. If you are coming here and can learn some Russia you'll be at an advantage.
- Street signs
- Ice cubes
- Smiles - the people seem to be quite serious, however as you get to know them, they warm up a bit

More as our journey progresses!

Solnichka Orphanage

2008-02-03T15:03:00.000-06:00

Since we aren’t sending any photos of our little girl, I thought it might be good to send some of the orphanage.

Solnichka Orphanage (means little sun) is in Mariupol. There are approximately 55-60 children here and my understanding is that they include babies up to young children (age 7?).

We have been very impressed with the orphanage and its staff. It is clean and compared to images we’ve seen of other orphanages, it is well maintained, pleasant to be in, etc. Adoptive parents have limited access to the whole facility as they don’t really want all the children to see us, plus they want us to spend time with our prospective children. So we have not seen the whole place, but the rooms we have been in have been nice and we did take a peek into one of the “classrooms” while looking for a bathroom the other day. The classroom appeared to be similar to many preschool rooms in the US.

The staff seem to be very loving and caring with the children here and from the children we’ve seen (our girl, plus 2 sibling sets that are being adopted by couples from Italy and Spain), the children appear well cared for and healthy. Our little girl seems to have a positive relationship with all the caregivers we’ve seen her interactive with while here.

Based on what we’ve heard from other adoptive parents and our own experience thus far, we feel lucky to have found our child at this orphanage. For those of you that are adopting, if you get a referral to Solnichka, look at it closely as the environment and care given seem to be very good.

Fun with Our Little One

2008-02-02T13:14:00.000-06:00

Today was a really fun day with our little girl. When they brought her out at the orphanage she was all bundled up to go outside. We were thrilled, because they haven't wanted us to go out with her yet since she's had a slight runny nose.

Let me just say that Ukranians really bundle up their children. It was about 35 degrees today,... so cold but not that bad, especially for those of us from Minnesota. Anyway they brought her out in this big furry coat, a big furry hat, a scarf around her neck and winter boots. She also had on jeans a shirt and a sweatshirt underneath. The poor thing looked like a little teddy bear. We spent about an hour outside walking around and playing on the few pieces of playground equipment they have. She seemed to love it. We all had fun. Then we went inside for another hour before her lunch.

Our second visit was also nice and Matt continued to connect well with our girl. She seems to be more comfortable with each visit. We had little more room than usual. The orphanage has one small room for parents to spend time with the children. There has been 2 other families there, 1 from Italy and 1 from Spain. Fortunately for us when it has gotten too crowded, the staff has moved us to another room and generally these have been bigger and more comfortable.

Tonight Matt is making dinner (thank goodness I have a husband who likes to cook) and then we'll probably watch a show from 24 and a movie.

Some general observations from our experience thus far...
Things one sees a lot of in Ukraine:
- hats - everyone wears them
- boots with stilleto heels
- beautiful women, all with perfect make-up and styled hair
- fur coats and hats - PETA must not be in Ukraine yet
- overly bundled up kids in giant puffy snowsuits, even if it's not that cold
- lots of ornamentation on clothing
- cell phones - everyone has one and they are all talking on them anytime, any where, plus they'll take a call no matter what they're doing. This may be due to the fact that incoming calls are charged to the caller not the recipient
- crazy driving - scarier in Kiev than Mariupol, but still some nutty driving here
- stray dogs and cats everywhere
- little retail kiosks on nearly every corner selling various items
- pollution - lots of litter plus industrial pollution depending on the location
- people walking
- old Russian style buildings - scary on the outside, but often not bad on the inside
- bottled water - gotta have it
- cigarette smoking
- cars that need to be washed

More observations later!

On Our Own

2008-02-01T12:49:00.000-06:00

Our translator left for Kiev this morning so we're on our own until our court date. We are currently scheduled for next Thursday, 2/7/08, assuming we get all the necessary paperwork back from the SDA. Our translator did a great job getting everything done here very quickly.

Our apartment is very comfortable and a very short taxi ride each way. I don't know why I was so uncertain about it. Guess I let myself get carried away with needing the creature comforts of home.

Today's visits with our girl were mixed. She started crying again this morning, but the staff let me handle comforting her. After about a half hour she was fine and then we had more fun.

Thankfully she's starting to warm up to Matt. It seemed like she was afraid of him (and any man) initially. She and Matt played hide and seek and bounced a balloon around.

She also enjoyed shining our flashlight all around, found my post-it notes and put notes all over the wall and then used the measuring tape to measure everything in sight. For those of you who are adopting, many of these everyday items are as interesting to them as toys. Our girl loves playing with my calculator and blackberry, using my scarf to dress up with and writing notes on post-its.

Staying home tonight as we fall into our routine.

A Tough Day

2008-01-31T14:12:00.000-06:00

After several great days we had a bit of a down day today.

We checked out of the hotel, which is good from an expense standpoint, but a bummer since it offered hot showers and free internet. We then went to the Inspector's office to get some paperwork plus stopped by the courthouse to sign some documents. It was great to get those done, but it took so much time, we didn't get to visit the orphanage.

After that we decided we better find a place to live. Our driver took us across the river to look at an apartment recommended by another adoptive family. It was nice, but quite a ways from our orphanage. We decided it wasn't worth the long commute. Next stop lunch.

It was a little frustrating to find out over lunch that our translator hadn't done any calling so we didn't have any other options. We called a few ads in the paper, and set an appointment to see another apartment on the other side of the city. When we drove up, Matt leaned over and said "It looks like the projects" and it did. Many of the buildings here are very old cement or cinderblock construction with dark stairways, but once you get inside the apartments are generally nice. Anyway the one we saw was more expensive than we felt it was worth, so we passed.

By now it was about 3:30. We decided we'd rent the apartment that we looked at first. Pros? It is only $30 per night and the apartment itself is clean and cozy. Plus it's a short ride to the orphanage. Cons? Dark, old building, no internet access and there doesn't appear to be a lot around like grocery stores or internet cafes.

When we finally got to the orphanage they were busy with a group program so we had to wait about 30 minutes to see our little girl. She came in with a smile on her face, but it was clear she felt distressed. She broke down and couldn't be consoled for the longest time. It's especially tough when all the staff is speaking Russian to her -- trying to help, but not letting me have much control. She finally warmed up and we had some fun.

Here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Getting to Know One Another

2008-01-30T22:53:00.000-06:00

Let me start by responding to the requests to know a bit more and/or see photos of the little girl. Because she is not going to be legally our child until after court, we are not comfortable posting any photos or her name, etc. until then. We hope you can understand. Having followed numerous adoptive blogs myself, I can totally relate to the desire to see those photos to make the story more real. They'll come, I promise.

Yesterday our translator had to drive to the town where the girl was born for some paperwork. She left around 8:00 am, so Matt and I were on our own for the day. Right now, we're in a hotel, but will be leaving today...hopefully to an apartment that will be "home" until we're ready to go back to Kiev. After breakfast, we spent some time in our room, primarily catching up with emails, calls back home, etc.

We are able to visit the little girl twice a day: from 10-12 and from 4-6 and that will be a main aspect of our routine while we're here in Mariupol. We got there yesterday morning and she came out with a big smile for us. We brought some markers and a tablet, Play-Doh, a photo album from home, some books and a little doll for her. She seemed to enjoy playing with all of them. She's also very interested in little "gadgets" like calculators, cell phones, blackberries, etc. And she's pretty quick to understand how to make them work so those are easy things to pull out when she tires of the other toys. She's also a little organizer. When she gets all the things out, she places them on the floor or table in front of her in a very organized manner and if we touch them or pick them up we get a little scolding... it's cute. it's also funny to see her imaginary play...she'll pick up the cell phone and say "Allo" followed by a string of Russian words. Yesterday we were in a room with a sofa and chair and she climbed on the sofa, laid her head on the arm and then pretended to be sleeping and snoring, giggling all the time.

She sat on my lap and let me read a book to her. We also sang a few songs as she seems to like music. I even got a hug and a kiss good-bye! She's a bit more reticent around Matt, especially when it comes to hugs and kisses. That's understandable since she's been surrounded by women and probably not seen too many men during her life, especially while in the orphanage. She has a lot of fun playing and teasing with Matt, so the bond will come.

We also try to bring a little snack each time we come....things that are relatively healthy and won't be likely to cause any allergic reactions, etc. So far we know she likes bananas, wafer cookies, and juice. We'll try yogurt and apples today.

In between our visits, we'll probably come back to our apartment, whenever we find that. We need to get out today and find one because our translator heads back to Kiev in a day to process some of the paperwork there. While we enjoy the comforts of hotel living (hot shower, comfortable bed, free internet access), it is a lot more expensive than renting an apartment, plus we have to eat all our meals out instead of preparing them ourselves. While we were in Kiev, we ended up eating at home for many meals as it was easy to get groceries when needed.
The apartment we've seen here is nice enough inside, but it's in a very old Russian style cement building in a pretty gloomy area. The halls and stairs are a bit dark (although not too different from most places here), but the worst part is the location is a bit out of the way so it would not be easy to walk to the store or internet cafe, etc. We heard about another apartment that a local missionary has here, but another family is using it right now. Depending on when they leave, it may be an option for part of our stay. We're also going to look at another apartment today that another adoptive family told me about. It's farther away from the orphanage, but sounds like it might be a bit more centrally located so we'd have easier access to things when not at the orphanage. I'll feel better once we're in a more permanent place just so we can settle in a bit.

As far as our schedule here goes, we are hoping that we might be able to get a court date next week. Assuming we do, our 10-day wait would start the next day. After that, we are able to take physical custody of the girl and will have a few more days here as we get passport photos taken, get her passport, etc. Then we head back to Kiev for her medical exam at the Embassy plus final paper work for her visa. Then HOME! We'll keep you posted as we know more firm dates (if that's possible here. LOL!)

I don't know what our internet connection will be but will try to post regularly. It's a way for us to maintain a journal of this experience, plus a connection to home. We really appreciate all the comments and emails. Please keep them coming!

Love to everyone back at home.

Sarah, thanks for being such a good girl and helping Melissa so much. Mommy and Daddy love talking with you every day and we miss you very much. We can't wait to be home and have you meet your little sister!

She's the One!

2008-01-29T14:37:00.000-06:00

We've found our Ukranian Angel!

Our day started with an 8 am meeting with the Inspector...at least it was scheduled that way. It ended up being about 9:30 when he was finally able to meet with us. The meeting was brief and we were off to the orphanage. We met with the Orphanage Director and the Doctor plus a few other staff. They all had good things to say about the little girl we were there to visit. She just had surgery to correct her crossed eye in Dec. She is wearing glasses and may need some additional evaluation on her eyes.

Then they brought in this sweet little girl with a huge smile on her face. However that soon turned to tears when she got overwhelmed with all the people. After that she calmed down and we were able to play with her. She has light brown hair and hazel eyes. She seems to be very bright and according to Olga our translator she's using her vocabulary well. The girl turned 4 in Nov. After some discussion, we decided there was no need to wait,...she's the one for us. So we spent the afternoon getting some of the paperwork done. Then we looked at a couple of options for lodging. Neither was great so for now we're staying a couple more nights at a hotel.

We are very excited and know that Sarah will be too. Thanks for all your prayers, emails and kind thoughts.They have been an enormous blessing. Today's prayers:
- thanking God and praising how His plans unfold
- praying for continued bonding with the girl
- finding a decent place to rent in Mariuol

Past Few Days in Kiev and the Week Ahead

2008-01-27T08:35:00.000-06:00

We've spent the last couple of days here in Kiev. Met with our adoption team yesterday to go over some details on travel to Mariupol, and what to expect over the next week or so.

Then we did some site seeing. Visited Independence Square and a bit of the underground mall. We took the taxi-bus out to the Caves Monastery, but it was a bit late to explore much there. So we walked up to the War Museum and toured a bit of those. I'll try to see if I can post some pictures later.

Matt & Dima, our young friend, went back site seeing today. I decided to stay home to catch up on some reading and just organizing of stuff.

We leave for Mariupol at 6:30 pm on the 28th (10:30 am MN time). It sounds like we fly in a relatively small plane, so we'll hope for decent weather. It's not a long flight so it shouldn't be bad. Then we'll probably stay in a hotel tomorrow night and look for an apartment on Tuesday after our meetings.

Here's what we anticipate as far as next steps:
- We meet with the inspector in the region on Tuesday and get a referral to the orphanage from him
- Then we meet with the orphanage director
- Then we meet the little girl
- Depending on what we learn from the director and after meeting the girl, we may choose to have her examined by a doctor. The one we've met with in Kiev would be willing to come to Mariupol, but it's a long trip so it would likely be a day or two later. We may also try to find a pediatrician in Mariupol.

We have been prayerfully asking God to lead us on this journey and we know He will continue to guide us with this ultimate decision. We'd love your prayers as we meet this little girl and decide if she's the child God wants us to bring into our family.

We'd appreciate prayers for safe travel to Mariupol and for a good meeting with the inspector and orphanage director. We also pray for an ability to connect with this little girl when we finally get to meet her in person. Pray for her to not be too intimidated as she's brought to a room with lots of adults, including 2 strangers who are hoping "she's the one"

Thanks for all the emails and comments. It is so helpful to hear from other families who have adopted from this area and/or adopted children with similar diagnoses. Your sharing of experience provides a great deal of comfort and information for us. Thanks also for those of you back home who have been sending love and prayers. Those mean more than you know and we feel the power of your prayers and thoughts.

We are excited to see how God directs our lives over the next few days and we'll share more as we progress.

PS: Some of you have asked where Mariupol is located. It is in the southeast corner of Ukraine on the Sea of Azov. If you look at the map to the right, Mariupol isn't shown, but it is located to the right of Berdyans'k.

A Quiet Day In Kiev

2008-01-25T07:17:00.000-06:00

We haven't done much today. It's rainy and a bit cold outside. We thought about doing some site seeing but then the idea of walking around in the rain didn't sound so appealing. We found a post office and made copies of our letter from the SDA authorizing our visit to the orphanage. Then bought more bottled water. It's amazing how fast we go through that, but then again, we use it for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, etc.

Matt tried to see if we could find any TV shows that had subtitles, but no luck. So we've just been reading and relaxing. He just went to the grocery store for a few basics.

It looks like our trip to Mariupol will now begin on Monday night. There is a direct flight to Mariupol vs. the flight we were considering to Donetsk. The cost of the flight is less, plus we won't have to pay for a driver like we would've from Donetsk. Since we're spending quite a bit more to fly vs. the train, we've got to try and cut costs where possible.

I was excited to hear from a few of you that you've adopted from Mariupol too, and quite possibly the same orphanage.

The Latest

2008-01-24T09:09:00.000-06:00

We had another appointment with the SDA this morning and it started with them apologizing about what happened yesterday. We were then shown 4 files that we had seen yesterday. Now you would think that if we turned them down yesterday, they'd realize we probably wouldn't choose them today, but not here. We politely said "No, we still didn't feel these little girls were right for us. Did they have any additional files?"

They pulled out 1 file of a girl that turned 4 in November. The file indicates that she has one eye that is crossed and needs surgery to repair it, but is relatively healthy otherwise. Developmental delays, etc. but that's to be expected having been in the orphanage.

We were told no other files were available. We said we were willing to look at slightly older girls (up to 5) or sibling sets. None available that were healthier than we saw. We also asked if we might see any little boy files, but they said we had indicated a preference for little girls so they should save the boys for families wanting boys.

So, we have decided to visit this little girl and we're excited about it. The health issues were our main concern and if her's prove to be as the file indicates, they will be things we can deal with. Also her age will allow Sarah to be the "big" sister, but still be close enough in age that they can play together. We'll be traveling to Maripoul which is quite a ways from Kiev so we'll fly vs. the train. It's an 18 hour train ride vs a couple hour flight. Ideally we'd go tomorrow, but there are no flights until Monday, so we'll leave Monday morning, meet with the regional inspector and then go to the orphanage to meet with the director and to meet this little girl.

This has been a roller coaster and we know we are likely to experience more challenges. We are very thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers. We feel them!

On a fun note, we met with Donna Lebsack, her friend Helen and Donna's new daughter, Julianna, today. It was great to talk with others in the process and to see the delightful child they've adopted. She is a JOY!

We'll update more as it comes, thanks again for your comments. Keep them coming!!!

Unbelievable!

2008-01-23T09:16:00.000-06:00

Well we had our appointment today and while I wouldn't describe it as great, it went as we expected. We were shown 4 files of little girls, all younger than 4. All of them had health issues, some more severe than others. We asked to see more and they showed us 5 additional files that had more severe diagnoses. We narrowed it to 3 and then they allowed us to call the Dr to discuss some of the diagnoses.

Finally we decided to go visit a little 4 year old who had a cleft palette and lip. Her lip had been repaired, but surgery would be needed other palette. Otherwise her health sounded pretty good So we assumed we would leave tomorrow for the region.

So here's the unbelievable part.

We get back home around 3:00 and I get a call from another facilitator who we met. The family he's working with had an appointment the day before us and he had encouraged us to talk with them to learn more about it prior to ours. I just spoke to the wife this morning and she told me about the girl they were going to visit and the region. The facilitator called us to see how our appointment went. I said I thought we were going to the same region as his family to see a 4 year old girl. I described her and he said it was the same girl!!
Somehow the SDA gave the same file to us that was selected by this family!! Unbelievable!!!

Right now our translator is trying to confirm next steps, but it sounds like we'll go back again tomorrow morning at 9:15 to meet with the SDA again and look at some more options.
We'll update more as we find it out.

Only in Ukraine!

Tomorrow's the big day

2008-01-22T16:33:00.000-06:00

We spent today taking it easy and preparing for our appointment tomorrow. Slept late (still catching up), made some lunch, then did a little site seeing. At 5:00 we met with a doctor who has evaluated many children being adopted. He provided a great overview of medical conditions we might be presented with and how to assess them. He is also available for calls while we're in the appointment, so this was very valuable time.

I had the chance to talk with 2 other adoptive moms today who are also in the Ukraine right now. They are closer to completion than we are, but it was great to hear their voices and their tips on maneuvering through this process while keeping our sanity. BIG prayers needed!!

We meet with the SDA at noon tomorrow (4 am Minnesota time). We don't expect people to be up praying then, but would sure appreciate an outpouring of prayers for this meeting.

1. Pray that the child/children God has selected for us are in the files presented and that we have clarity in identifying them.
2. Pray that we are guided to follow God's will and that it results in selecting a child to visit.
3. Pray for peace and wisdom as we make this huge decision for our family.

Thanks for your love and support! We feel it all the way over here! We'll update tomorrow night. Hope to share good news!

We're Here!!!!

2008-01-21T14:19:00.000-06:00

We made it to Kiev by 4:30 on 1/20/08. Very tired after little sleep during the days prior to the trip and no sleep while flying. Whatever happened to having some legroom on planes? We used the VIP service to help thru customs and we felt like we were in a race trying to keep up with the guy. but it only took about 15 minutes so worth it in our minds.

We're staying in an apartment near the US Embassy. It's small and simple by US standards, but comfortable and clean. We have no complaints. Much of today was spent catching up on sleep. We also met with our facilitator and translator to discuss what to expect at our appt on 1/23/08. We exchanged some money today and then got some groceries. Ended the day with dinner at a pizza restaurant near here.. Hopefully I'll get the internet thing figured out tomorrow so we' re not solely dependent on the blackberry.

Thanks for your comments and emails. They mean a lot to us.
Keep us in your prayers especially for 1/23/08! Thanks much!

On our way

2008-01-19T11:38:00.000-06:00

We are packed, our ride to the airport just arrived and we're giving last instructions to Sarah & her nanny. We are a mix of emotions, but know we'll be fine once we get on the plane.

Please check out our blog as we progress. And leave comments now and then. We'll need feedback from home!

5 Days, 5 Prayers

2008-01-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

As we scramble during these last 5 days, we have 5 areas of focus for prayer (ours and anyone else's who wants to pray with us - we welcome prayer support!)

1) Safety
- for Sarah as we leave her here and for the wonderful family and friends caring for her
- for the child or children God has waiting for us
- for us as we travel to Ukraine and once there

2) Clarity
- for us to feel we have clarity that we're following God's plan when we meet with the SDA and select the child/children we hope to visit

3) Protection
- for our marriage as we go through what will likely be an extremely stressful period of time and when we may not always be at our best

4) Efficiency
- for God to orchestrate this adoption process to make it quick and efficient (without enormous expediting fees, if possible) so our family can be home together soon

5) Opportunity
- for us to reflect the love of Jesus to all we interact with during this journey

God has blessed our family through this adoption process thus far and we know He will continue to provide blessings. We are thankful.

One Week

2008-01-12T10:11:00.000-06:00

In 7 days, we will be boarding a jet to fly to Ukraine to meet the child or children we've been waiting for and working to find for the past 2.5 years! WOW! It almost seems surreal to think that we will finally begin this part of our journey.

Our to-do list is getting shorter by the day. I told Matt we have to get everything out today and pack so we can figure out the best way to fit it all in our carry-on's and if we need to bring another checked bag for anything. Also, it will be a good way for us to double check if there's anything that needs to be washed, purchased, repaired, etc.

They say that adopting internationally forces you out of your comfort zone and that's true, but it does so in many different ways. How have we been stretched? Preparing for the unknown, asking ourselves what kinds of health issues we might be able to handle in an adopted child, going to a country very different from ours and where we don't speak the language, leaving Sarah for such a long time, being away for the everyday comforts we take for granted, making this work financially when when both of our businesses have had challenging years, etc.

On a somewhat humorous level getting ready with our technology has really stretched me. For those of you who are very technical, none of this is hard, but for someone who is moderately technical, it's been an interesting learning experience. Between the two of us, I'm the more technically oriented so I've taken the lead to:
- purchase our laptop,
- set-up Skype on our home PC and the laptop,
- get my brother's old Blackberry and set it up for international use,
- work with T-Mobile to unlock the sim card on one of our old phones so we can buy a Ukraine sim card once there,
- identify a solution to have good internet access while in Ukraine (thanks Michael & Donna!)
- try to figure out how to download and/or rip movies onto the laptop (this one is still in progress)
- purchase adapters, converters, extension cords, etc.
Thankfully many other adoptive families have offered advice, their equipment and recommendations for what to do in Ukraine. I can't tell you how helpful this has been.

On a different and much more important level, I've found myself forced out of my comfort zone when it comes to my faith and my trust in God's plan. This is a very good thing. It has reminded me of how God is using this experience to strengthen my relationship with Him. We've done all that we can to prepare for the trip and we go believing that God has already selected a child or children for our family. We've prayed that He'll give us clarity as we're in the appointment reviewing files so we act according to His plan. We trust that the child/children God has picked for our family will be perfect for us and if there are any health issues, He'll help us deal with them. I am feeling completely at peace as we prepare to leave and I know it's because I can trust God's plan for us. That doesn't mean that everything will go smoothly But my point is that we know whatever happens, there is a reason and it's part of a bigger plan for our lives. We know that God will help us through whatever comes our way and He will use those experiences for good.

One of my favorite passages from the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11-12 (and one I've read over and over during this roller coaster ride):
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

The Final Countdown

2008-01-07T12:09:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe, but we'll be leaving for Ukraine in less than 2 weeks!

We've got a few last minute things to take care of, but I think the essentials are covered.

The hardest part by far, is thinking about being apart from Sarah for so long. She's expressed some concerns about it, but I think she'll actually be fine once we're gone and she continues with her normal schedule and activities. We're likely to have a harder time with it. I guess it's just a small time apart while we finalize this adoption. Hopefully we'll be able to communicate regularly with Skype, phones, email, etc.

Thanks to several of you experienced families (both with adoptions complete and some in progress) who have provided expertise, insights and advice as we prepare to leave. It has been invaluable to learn from all of you.

Lot's to do, little time...will post again soon!

One Month

2007-12-19T10:42:00.000-06:00

30 days till we head to Ukraine!

What are we feeling? Excited, scared, hopeful, stressed, uncertain, joyful, overwhelmed...you get the picture. Mainly, we've been prayerful. We know God is in charge and we just hope to act according to His will. And we know that whatever the outcome, He will help us through it.

Surprisingly, things are feeling somewhat under control considering we both still continue to work our businesses, plus we've gotten through a birthday for our 5 year-old, prepared for Christmas, and are planning to leave soon. I'm sure it will get a bit more stressful once we start the New Year, but we'll manage!

Priorities and Progress

2007-11-24T14:06:00.000-06:00

Our Thanksgiving weekend has been great so far. It was fun to see Matt's family. We didn't get down to my parent's but will go for a long weekend before Christmas.

We've had some wonderful family time over the past week. Last weekend I took Sarah to Build a Bear and she picked out a cat for us to make. I recorded a message that reminded her how much we loved her, that we'd miss her while gone, and that we'd be home soon. Every time she pushes the cat's right paw, it plays the message. It was fun to make it and I think it will help her a bit while we're gone. Thanks Nataliya for the great suggestion!

Matt, Sarah and I went to see "Enchanted" on Thanksgiving day. It's a really cute movie, especially if you've got a little one that is into the princess stories. On Friday we put up our Christmas tree. This is the first time I've ever gotten our decorations out at Thanksgiving, but we figure we'll take them down right after Christmas, so we might as well enjoy them for a bit longer before Christmas. Sarah was very excited to get it started, so we had fun. Loaded the CD player with Christmas CDs, made hot chocolate and had a great time. Somehow, a lot of our ornaments ended up near the bottom of the tree (hmmmm, wonder how that happened), but it looks great!

Today we've played some games of Go Fish (Sarah's latest favorite) and now she's playing some computer games while I work on our adoption budget. We're trying to finalize how much cash to take, so I hope to get that done soon. Next on our list - address inivitations to Sarah's birthday which is coming up in 2 weeks and then get outside for some fresh air.

I've made some progress on the rest of my to-do list:
- Bought a new laptop last week and will stop by the store Monday to pick it up.
- Planned out Sarah's 5th birthday party
- Got Medjet Assist insurance for our trip
- Started tracking down a few documents that we'll need to get updated, notarized & apostilled
- Finalized plans for Sarah's care while we're gone -- talk about "it takes a village to raise a child" - thankfully I've got a wonderful group of family & friends who have offered to help
- Picked up a few items we'll need for our trip
- Started making my packing list

We've crossed the 2 month window (less than 60 days till we travel) and I know it will go fast. However I'm feeling like we're making good progress and should be ready.

Gratitude

2007-11-22T10:02:00.000-06:00

While I feel thankful for all our blessings everyday, I want to take a minute to express my gratitude on Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for:
- Jesus, and the sacrifice He made so our sins could be forgiven and the opportunity to have eternal life with Him
- Matt, my wonderful husband
- Sarah, our beautiful, smart, and often precocious daughter
- the child or children God has waiting for us in Ukraine
- our family and friends who support and love us
- Cathy H. , Valentina, and all the others involved with Ukrainian Angels who have helped us as we work to adopt our child/children
- all the adoptive families who understand what we're going through and offer advice, encouragement, insights about travel and realistic points of view about the process and life when we return home
- my dear friends that I've come to know through Bible study - I love you all!
- the men and women serving in our military and their families - for the sacrifices they are making for us

I am also thankful for:
- the blessings I've received thus far in my role as "Mommy"
- the opportunity to work from home and have a more flexible schedule to be a mommy
- the fact that I was born in this great country which offers so many freedoms and opportunities
- the way this adoption has reminded me to trust God and His plans for us, and the perfect timing of those plans

Thanks again to all of you who have visited our blog and posted comments. Your words of encouragement and prayers are so greatly appreciated. And I know they will be even more important when we're in Ukraine, so please keep them coming!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Making a List and Checking it Twice

2007-11-15T20:31:00.000-06:00

We've been busy preparing our to-do list for our trip and while it seems to grow daily, it currently includes a diverse range of activities:
- Book our flights
- Check with insurance company about coverage in Ukraine
- Investigate med evac insurance options
- Finalize Sarah's schedule while we're gone (thanks to our nanny, family and friends)
- Plan a birthday party for a 5 year old!
- Organize paperwork and files for the trip
- Hire someone to handle snow removal while we're gone
- Shop for Christmas presents
- Decorate for Christmas
- Get two investment properties on the market, sold and ideally closed before we leave
- Contact our facilitator to book accommodations in Ukraine
- Determine what luggage to take
- Review descriptions of common medical conditions listed in Ukraine
- Finish up marketing projects for clients
- Visit travel clinic to get vaccinations
- Identify parents to sub for us in Sunday school and Wednesday night church classes
- Purchase laptop
- Identify cell phone options
- Figure out how to set up Skype on home PC and laptop
- and the list goes on....

So far, I'm making progress, although I sometimes feel like I'm being pulled in a million directions. But I know we'll get through this and get it all done.

More importantly, I've been reminded by a few of my adoption buddies to find extra time to focus on Sarah before we leave. She's starting to express some concerns about us leaving, so I'm trying to think of fun things to do now in preparation that she can be a part of and I'm also thinking through things to have her do while we're gone. We are very blessed to have a wonderful nanny who will take care of her for much of our trip, plus our families and several friends have generously offered to take Sarah on weekends, drive her to classes, etc.
Thank you to all of you! We are so appreciative.

The Process

2007-11-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

Quite of few folks have asked about "the process" when we get to Ukraine. So here's a bit of an overview.

We'll fly to Ukraine a day or two before our appointment date to allow time for meeting with our facilitator and translator, plus getting acclimated to the time change, etc.
When one adopts from Ukraine, it is considered a "blind referral", meaning we don't get information on a child prior to our appointment. This is somewhat different than other countries where families are sent a file or picture of the child, and agree to adopt the child prior to traveling.

The SDA appointments are generally an hour in length and during that time we'll be presented with a few files of children that hopefully match the criteria we outlined in our dossier and petition to adopt (age, gender, health, etc). The number of files will vary depending on the number of children matching our criteria that happen to be available that day. While they do their best to meet our criteria, we've also been told to be prepared to see files of children older than the age range we've requested and potentially with health issues that are a bit more serious than we might have expected. Like many international adoptions, the information available in each child's file may be quite limited so we may know little about their family history, health, etc. We are praying fervently for God's hand to be on this process and for Him to provide us clarity while in the meeting to know which child/children He's selected for us. By the end of the appointment, we need to tell the SDA personnel which child (or children if siblings) we would like to go visit. This is still not a final decision to adopt the children, but the first step.

Assuming everything checks out with the orphanage director, we will likely travel within a day or two from Kiev to another region in Ukraine where the orphanage is located. We'll meet with local officials and the orphanage director first, then get to meet the child/children we selected in the SDA appointment. We can have a doctor come examine the child and we'll likely do this as one more way of being fully informed as we make this important decision. We've gotten several referrals of good doctors in Ukraine who do this often. We then communicate our decision on whether to complete the adoption. If there are some issues that were not apparent until we met the child (most likely health related), then we may have to turn down the referral and wait for another appointment with the SDA. Obviously we hope this will not be the case. Instead we hope to say "yes" and then begin all the preparation needed for our court date.

There is not a set time on how quickly the court date will be as it may vary by region, but generally it seems to be within a week or two of making the decision to adopt the child. Assuming we have a successful court date ( which most people do), we will then be legally the parents of the child/children, however there is a 10 day waiting period before we can take legal custody of them. Some families return home during this time, others stay in Ukraine. If we stay in Ukraine, we will continue to visit the child/children daily so it's a great bonding period. However, we may fly home during the 10 days and then just have one of us fly back to bring our child home. With Sarah back at home, this may be the best decision, but we'll have to decide once we get there.

After the 10 day waiting period, we get to take the child/children from the orphanage and have them come stay with us for the remainder of our time in Ukraine. This will be a wonderful time, although maybe a bit daunting due to the language barriers. At this point, we'll be waiting for passports for the child/children and continue preparing for our departure to come home. This includes paperwork, medical appointments, getting Visas, etc. During this time we will likely be in the region where the orphanage is located, but will also be traveling back to Kiev.

From what I've learned after reading many families' blogs is that there is not definitive process and everyone's journey is different. Generally, if all goes really smoothly, it is about a 4 week process. More often people's travel lasts 5-6 weeks and I've seen some even longer than that.

Thanks to so many of you who stop by and read this. It means so much to us to know there are others out there thinking about our journey and praying for us. Assuming we can get regular access to the internet while in Ukraine, this will be a regular method of updating folks back home of our progress, so feel free to post a comment or share your favorite scripture or just a hello. I know we'll be hungry for those connections to home while there.

Now back to that "to-do" list (3 pages and growing at this point)!

We have a date!!!

2007-10-17T21:47:00.000-05:00

Got an email today letting us know that our appointment date with the SDA is January 23, 2008! We are SO excited!!

This journey started over 2 years ago and it actually looks like the end is within reach!

Now I've got to scramble to get the pre-travel to-do list prepared and underway.

WOO-HOO!!

Ukrainian Heritage Festival

2007-09-16T16:39:00.000-05:00

There is a Ukrainian Heritage Festival in Minneapolis every year. Who knew? Fortunately, I found out about it from some other families that have adopted from Ukraine and we enjoyed a family outing there today. It was great! They had lots of activities for the kids which Sarah loved, plus food and there were presentations, songs and dancing. There is a Ukraine school which many of these kids attend on Saturdays. The school focuses on teaching the language, culture, history, etc. It sounds like it could be a wonderful resource for us in the future.

We also had the good fortune of meeting quite a few other families that have adopted from Ukraine. They were all kind enough to share many insights and things they've learned. Some had adopted years many years ago, a few in the past 3-4 years and a couple had adopted in the past 9 months. One family had just returned home with their son in August. We really appreciated the opportunity to ask lots of questions, meet their children and learn more about their experiences. Many of the children there performed in the dancing which was done in Ukrainian costume. Sarah loved that.

It was great to leave with a few more contacts in our area who have gone through this process and know what we're going through now plus what we might face when we return.

Sarah asked if we'd come to the festival next year so hopefully we'll be in attendance with our newest family member(s)!

Trying to Plan Ahead?

2007-09-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

We don't have any new information from Ukraine, however several families that submitted their dossiers in July are just now getting their appointment dates. Based on the ones we've heard from, it looks like the appointment dates are approximately 4 months after their dossier was submitted.

In our case, that would put us somewhere between mid-December and early January. Not surprisingly, this hits right during some key holidays, and much is shut down from about Dec 25 through the first week in January. So we'll see what this means as far as travel.

While I had hoped to have this whole process done and our family complete by the end of the year (after 2.5 years in process), I would also be fine being here in early December to celebrate Sarah's 5th birthday, plus enjoy Christmas as a family, then travel in early January if need be.

Time will tell and if I've learned anything thus far, assuming I can plan ahead too much is futile. We'll continue to enjoy the ride.

Submitted!

2007-09-04T08:38:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Got lots done around the house and had beautiful summer like weather so we were able to get outside a lot with Sarah.

We spent much of yesterday at the MN State Fair. While it is not my first choice of how I'd spend the day, I will admit we had a lot of fun. Got drenched on the log ride we went on first so walked most of the day feeling pretty damp - but it was fun. We visited the barn with all the newborn animals...literally many born within the hour. The little lambs and pigs were so cute. There was also a butterfly house there with more than 4000 butterflies. Sarah loves flowers and butterflies so this was incredible for her. They'd come and land on you, walk on your hands, etc. Very cool. Then, my 4-1/2 year old proved to me that she has a need for speed. She and Matt rode the full size roller coaster. She loved it so much the first time they had to go again. Then she wanted to do all kinds of other "big" rides and I said no. They went on the Tilt-o-Wheel which she described as "fun, but too slow." Yikes, this kid is going to keep us on our toes.

Anyway we got home exhausted and found an email from Valentina our facilitator with great news. Our dossier was submitted yesterday! I emailed her back to confirm that this was official since we had the mistake in July and she's confirmed we are officially submitted.

Now we wait (again). The SDA will review the dossier and let us know when we can travel to Ukraine for our appointment with them. They used to get this process done in 20 days, but it has been taking somewhat longer now. We'll assume a month. There is also a possibility that they could reject a dossier, however that is unlikely since it would usually be due to missing files or errors and Valentina's team has checked ours several times.

If our process follows the timelines of some of the other families we've followed lately, it would seem likely that we might travel by end of November/beginning of December. So it may prove to be an interesting holiday season for us. I guess we'll work around those details when we know more.

Anyway, we couldn't ask for better news as we end summer and jump into fall!

Some things the same, while others change

2007-08-06T17:38:00.000-05:00

What's the same? Waiting, waiting, waiting. Our 2nd dossier made it to Valentina in plenty of time so she's in the process of translating it. We'd be thrilled to hear this week that she was able to get our first one submitted today, but don't anticipate that will happen.

What's changed? Previously, there was a 10 day waiting period after the court decreed the child to be the child of the adoptive parents. This was sometimes waived, but generally, people planned on the 10 day wait, then they'd actually get to take custody of their child and then spent a few more days doing last paperwork like getting Visas, passports for the child, etc. before heading home. Now Ukraine has defined a minimum 20 day waiting period for granting the children's passports. It's not completely clear when the 20 days start. I believe it will overlap the 10 days described above, but will add at least another 10-14 days on top of that.

We'll continue to watch this as it may mean that 2 trips are better than going for one or that only one of us goes back for the final waiting period.

Never a dull moment when one adopts internationally!

Our Updated Dossier Has Been Sent

2007-07-29T15:49:00.000-05:00

Our updated dossier is currently enroute to Kiev. We decided to send it via UPS this time. Others who have used them had positive remarks, and for the same price, UPS says they will get it there a day faster. We'll hope this is true. We are just glad to have it all updated and out of here. Plus we have one complete copy in our possession that we'll take with us, should something get misplaced on the one we sent.

We will have spent approximately $500-$600 to update 2 copies of the entire dossier. This includes fees for copies of marriage certificates and our deed plus lab work for Matt and about $210 in apostille fees. It is a small amount in the scheme of things, however there are enough of these incremental expenses in the adoption process that they can add up. We will hope that there is no need to re-do it again.

We're hearing some wonderful updates from families currently in Ukraine. It's fantastic to hear their stories of meeting their children and bringing them home. We can't wait to share our own experience.

The Case of the Missing Documents - SOLVED!

2007-07-26T23:42:00.000-05:00

Friday a.m.:
An update to my prior entry from last night..... I finally found the documents thus saving another long drive into St. Paul! Yea! As expected, retracing my steps from Tuesday afternoon led me to them in my office storage closet next to the Fed Ex supplies. I had sent a Fed Ex that afternoon. So the updated documents are gathered - now to the Sec. of State for apostilling and their on their way to Ukraine.

Thursday p.m.:
Well, no luck finding the missing documents, so I know what will happen. We'll replace them and send the new dossier and then the missing documents will suddenly be right in front of us. That's life! ;-)

I drove into Minneapolis today and got another set of copies of our deed. Matt completed his lab work and got his medical forms. Tomorrow we'll drive back to St. Paul to the BCA and get another set of state criminal checks done. After that, Matt will go to the Secretary of State's office in St. Paul and get everything apostilled. Then we'll do one last check of all documents and they'll be ready to send.

It's amazing how good we've gotten at putting these things together. I guess the 3rd time is a charm.

Progressing

2007-07-25T22:16:00.000-05:00

We have made incredible progress on the updated dossier and it looks like we'll be able to send it to Valentina by the weekend. Our homestudy agency redid all their paperwork in a day, my Dr. was a gem and her staff got my updated med files in 2 days, our CPA redid our income verification letters in a day, Matt picked up copies of our deed, I got our marriage certificates, and we both got our statewide criminal clearances. All of that was done yesterday. Today we got the balance of the documents notarized.

So only two minor challenges so far ...first one relates to Matt's medical forms (the ones that expire first). Originally his clinic said no problem to updating them. Then today his Dr called and said he needed to reschedule the lab work before he could sign them. So Matt quickly got an appt. for tomorrow to re-do his labs and then his Dr. will provide his form and a copy of his license. Now for the bigger problem....I have somehow misplaced our state criminal clearance documents and the copies of our deed. We got them yesterday and then came home, but I can't find them anywhere. I'm literally going through every stack of paper in our office, etc. Worse case we go back to St Paul and get the criminal clearances and then Matt will go get some more copies of our deed. A little more money and more time running aound, but achieveable if necessary. It just infuriates me as I am a very organized person and generally know exactly where things are in our house. I know it's a result of rushing to get this done, plus having a lot of things going on with my business right now. If you're so inclined, say a little prayer for me tonight asking God to help me locate those documents. It would sure mean a lot less hassle on Friday.

Another family that attends our church is in Ukraine now and they are adopting a 6 year old boy. I've been following their blog and it sounds like their trip is going incredibly smoothly and most importantly they are bonding really well with their son and brother (they have 3 girls). I can't wait till they get back to hear more about their experience.

Gotta go find those papers...deadlines are looming!

As Expected - the Unexpected

2007-07-21T10:56:00.001-05:00

Got an email yesterday from Valentina indicating that our dossier was unfortunately not submitted as previously reported.

Our initial reaction - stunned. Next reaction - take action.
We've got a dossier to rebuild in the next 7-10 days!

Keep us in your prayers as we're going into hyper-mode this week to collect notarized copies of the documents I listed previously. Specifically, pray that our doctors are both not on vacation this week and that they will quickly re-do the medical documents. Those are probably the most out of our control.

Our goal is to collect all documents this week. Apostille them by Friday or Monday. Fed Ex our updated dossier to Ukraine by 8-1-07.

This wouldn't be an adventure if it was all easy, right? :-)

Our Dossier was Submitted!

2007-07-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

Great news! Our dossier has been submitted to the SDA.

This is another key milestone in the process and one that took longer than we expected. Of course, we've now learned that one should expect the unexpected when adopting in Ukraine!

Now we wait for feedback from the SDA on acceptance of our dossier and application to adopt and the date when we'll have our referral appointment with the SDA. If our timeline is consistent with others who have recently travelled, we will likely go sometime in mid-to-late October.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We appreciate the comments left here and the emails sent. Throughout this journey we've seen so many prayers answered and we know God continues to guide the process. We have learned to trust Him completely, even as we go through the ups and downs (and the waiting).

As one other PAP (prospective adoptive parent) said: "We're Happy Dancing!"

Updating our Dossier

2007-07-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, as much as we hoped to avoid it, we are now going to re-do our dossier. As part of the process in Ukraine, all dossier documents must have at least 6 months left when they are submitted to the SDA. This means that based on the date they were notarized, there must be at least 6 months before the notary date would be one year old. So while our documents all had about 10-11 months time when we sent them over, we are going to begin hitting the 6 month window in if they are not submitted in July or the first week in August. About half our documents will hit the 6 month window by mid-August and the rest by mid-September.

And because it takes a little time to get all the documents, plus the Fed Ex time has to be factored in, it is time to get the wheels turning on gathering all of them again. I guess the good news is that now that we've done it twice before, this third time should be really easy.

Some of you have asked what goes into a dossier. It differs by country, and sometimes changes over time with a specific country, but right now, here's what we'll be updating for our Ukraine dossier:
(1) homestudy - this is a 7-8 page document summarizing what the social worker found when she evaluated our family and the agency's approval of us adopting 1-2 children
(2) copy of the homestudy agency's license
(3) copy of social worker's license
(4) letter from homestudy agency stating that our social worker works for the agency - sounds redundant, doesn't it?
(5) I-171H approval - government approval for us to adopt
(6) color copies of our passports
(7) Matt's background check from the state
(8) my background check from the state
(9) income verification letter from our accountant - since we are both self-employed we can't get letters from our employers
(10) Matt'smedical results - HIV, TB, and syphilis, general health (physical & mental) - these are provided on a specified form that has to be copied onto the doctor's letterhead
(11) my medical results - ditto above
(12) copy of Matt's doctor's license - copied onto doctor's letterhead
(13) copy of my doctor's license - ditto above
(14) copy of marriage license
(15) another copy of marriage license - are you noticing a lot of multiples?
(16) copy of our home's deed
(17) a petition to adopt - this letter is to the Ukrainian government and it states the list of documents we are sending in and asking for permission to visit an orphanage in the hopes of adopting a child
(18) letter of obligation - a letter stating that we will register our son with the Ukrainian Embassy in the US within one month after adoption, and that we will send in yearly reports. We also have to state that our son will keep his Ukrainian citizenship until he is 18 years old.
(19) power of attorney - a letter giving our permission for our translator and/or facilitator to "carry out all actions corresponding with the adoption of a child or children in Ukraine."
(20) another power of attorney
(21) yet another power of attorney
Because we are open to adopting 2 children, we will get 2 of each item above. All of these documents have to be signed and notarized - either as originals or "true and original copies". Then we get them apostilled by the Secretary of State. Thankfully in MN, we can go to the SOS office and wait while they apostille all of them. In some states it's a much longer process.

So right now, our goal will be to get all of the above gathered, notarized & apostilled by the last week of July and we'll plan to Fed Ex the new dossier to Valentina before the end of the month. This will allow her team some time to translate and have the new documents ready before mid-August.

We'll keep praying that our dossier gets submitted this month. Even if we've collected some of the new documents it would be great to have it submitted as it would mean we'd travel earlier in the fall.

Monday, Monday

2007-07-03T21:26:00.001-05:00

Well, another Monday has come and gone, and we're still in line to have our dossier submitted.

As I've noted previously, American dossiers are only accepted on Monday afternoons. Right now there are over 300 facilitators in line waiting to submit American dossiers. Apparently they've set up some type of numbering system where each can submit a dossier when they get to the front of the line and then they have to go to the end to start over. Since most facilitators are working with more than one family they often have several people from their team in line with dossiers. Valentina has not indicated what "number" we hold in line, but we think we're close to the top of her list of families and trust that she's doing all she can to get ours submitted soon.

We had hoped to be in Ukraine by now or at least before the end of the summer. However, I am once again seeing God's hand over this process and I'm thankful we aren't there now. We're hearing of quite a few families who are over there to adopt young children and they are either having to wait for second or third appointments to get referrals or coming home without a child at this point. From what we understand, the numbers of relatively healthy young children (4 and under) are very limited right now primarily due to the shut down of adoptions in Ukraine last year. While the SDA was shut down, new children entering the system were not officially listed on the registry. When it reopened last fall, these children would've started being entered in the registry, which means there will likely be a greater number of children available beginning in September.

Assuming our dosser is submitted in July or August, we will likely travel between late September and November. Whenever we travel, we're assuming God knows that the little girl He's chosen for us will be available at that point.

Happy 4th of July!

10 Down, ?? To Go

2007-06-19T09:31:00.001-05:00

According to posts on two different Ukraine adoption forums yesterday, U.S. dossiers were accepted by the SDA on June 18. In fact one post stated at least 10 were submitted. Assuming it is true, it's great news because the SDA had stopped taking US dossiers until July 2. If 10 were accepted this week and some are taken next week, it just moves us that much closer to getting ours submitted.

We keep praying that ours get submitted in July which would mean traveling earlier in the fall rather than later.

Two families from MN we know are traveling for their appointments with the SDA in mid-July. Please keep the DeLorenzos and the Duncans in your prayers. Some things you might pray for include: peace as their travel date gets closer, safe travel, good meetings with the SDA, and most importantly finding their children to bring home.

Latest Update

2007-06-17T21:54:00.001-05:00

Valentina responded to my last email asking about the potential for our dossier to be submitted in July. She said she didn't think it would be submitted in July, but that we're near the top of her list of families. She added that she would need updated documents a week before they expire to keep the dossier valid.

With that in mind, we'll plan to Fed Ex new notarized and apostilled documents by end of July/early August as we have about half our dossier needing an update by mid-August. Assuming our dossier can be submitted in August, we would probably have our appointment with the SDA in late October or more likely, November.

Two other families that I know of from MN are traveling soon. I'm very excited to follow their journey and connect with them when they return.

We'll keep praying for our dossier to be submitted sooner, rather than later... July would be great!

Great News!

2007-06-13T12:11:00.000-05:00

The miracle we've been praying for has happened! God continues to open doors for us in Ukraine!

Based on accounts posted on the FRUA board (Families for Russian and Ukraine Adoptions), President Yushenko has sent the law back to Parliament for revisions because it did not conform with an international convention on adoption which Ukraine has signed. He requires Parliament to rework the bill to conform to these conventions.

This means Parliament will have to draft a new law, give it a second reading, send the law to the President and then publish it. Right now, Parliament is still running, but they have accepted 51 deputies resignations, so they are on their way to dissolving. After a certain number of resignations (1/3?) they are automatically dissolved. This will kill all incomplete bills.

Parliament will be gone until after September 30 when new elections are scheduled to be held. At that point, they would go through the steps outlined above.

It is a great day!

We are now praying that our dossier get submitted in early July which would mean we would likely travel in late September or October. The SDA has stopped accepting US dossiers in June as they've reached their quota for the quarter. So they will start accepting them again July 2nd. If ours were accepted in early July, it would likely help us travel earlier in the fall.

If it is not accepted in July, we will have to start re-doing our dossier to meet Ukraine's requirement that all documents have at least 6 months time (12 months after they were originally notarized). About half our dossier will need to be updated by mid-August. To allow Valentina time for translation, we will probably have to Fed Ex them by August 1. This time I'll be sure to not place any value on the package - no getting stuck in customs again!

Specific prayer requests:
1. Praise and thankfulness that this law did not get approved. We know God was in control.
2. Submission to SDA and acceptance of our dossier in early July.
Thanks for your prayers and support. We appreciate them!

The More We Learn, The Less We Know

2007-06-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to the latest update:

http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/index.php/weblogs/us-embassy-in-kyiv-adoption-law-changes

Clearly, many unanswered questions.

As I said earlier today - praying for God to work a miracle.

Adding Insult to Injury (smile)

2007-06-04T10:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's bad enough we're waiting to find out what's going on and this whole opportunity will all potentially slip from our fingers. Now we're being defined as "elderly foreign citizens" by the American Embassy! Actually, we had a good laugh about that and figure, we've got the find the humor in this situation where we can. The info below comes from the American Embassy website:

"Although, the Ukrainian Parliament has already passed the bill instituting restrictions on international adoptions, this bill has to be signed by the President of Ukraine to become law. It is presently not known when the President of Ukraine will sign this bill. Dossiers from single and elderly foreign citizens are still being accepted by the SDA.

The bill will become law, and come into full effect as soon as the President signs it, and it is published in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian Parliament. It is our understanding, that when the law comes into effect, it will have immediate impact on the target group of adoptive parents, and their adoption process will be stopped/ effected regardless of its stage.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
Adoption Unit/Immigrant Visa Section Consular Section American Embassy
Kyiv, Ukraine"

Praying for a miracle - Ukraine's President vetos this law.

Dashed Dreams?

2007-06-01T05:51:00.000-05:00

Once again, we are facing a major setback in this adoption process.
As I've mentioned in the past few postings, the law related to age difference between adoptive parents and children (plus singles adopting) had resurfaced for voting. It's been confusing as to whether the Parliament was actually viewed as legitimate, whether they actually got around to voting on this, etc., but based on this most recent post on the Ukraine Adoption Blog it appears the law was voted on and signed by the President. (see link)

http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/index.php/weblogs/ukrainian-adoption-law-changes

We will try to confirm if this is accurate through Cathy, the woman who has been helping us in the US. She's also impacted by this law, as she is a single parent. She has adopted several children from Ukraine and is set to travel soon to adopt the sibling of one of them. I don't know what this will mean for that adoption.

Assuming the news is correct and the law has passed, our hopes of adopting in Ukraine appear to be ended, as we would have to adopt a 9 year old child (at the youngest) and that is not something we'd want to do with S. being just 4 right now. I am feeling very sad and confused, as this option appeared to be moving along so quickly for us and all doors seemed to open. Now, this one looks like it has closed.

We are praying for clarity about what our next steps should be regarding adoption.