Building Forever Family

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary!

2009-03-07T11:33:00.014-05:00

Yesterday was Rymma's 15th birthday and the anniversary of our returning to the U.S.

I surprised Rymma at school with a birthday card and a BIG choc chip cookie to share with her friends at lunch and I also gave a card to Julia to celebrate the anniversary of their coming to America - it's hard to believe that it's been a whole year!!! We celebrated last night at Aunt Connie's with pizza, cake and ice cream.

Last year on this date, we had the biggest snowstorm ever!! If you recall, we were on delay after delay for our flight from JFK to Ohio. God finally opened a 2-hour window for us to finally get home. Today, we are going ice skating and having a sleepover with friends. Go figure ... a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we are going somewhere cold! :o)

Pics of celebrating Rymma's birthday in Ukraine last year, first picture in U.S., homecoming at airport.

A 2-Year Anniversary!

2009-01-01T12:12:00.003-05:00

John asked Rymma if she remembered what happened on New Year's Eve two years ago. She said she didn't remember and when he reminded her that it was that night that we asked her to be our daughter, she smiled from ear-to-ear and said, "Oh, yeah!" My, it has been a long - yet feels like it flew by - journey since then. It is just amazing that it will be a year on January 29 that we had our SDA appointment for Rymma and Julia. How time flies! And John and I swear it goes faster as we get older!

On New Year's Day, the girls visited the home of their teaching assistant, Iryna. She is from Ukraine and they got to make some authentic Ukrainian dishes with her and have a taste of "home." We are so grateful for Iryna's friendship and her spending time with Julia and Rymma! :o)

The menu was borscht and blini (pancake) with meat. They brought some home for us to taste and I loved them both! John is not much of an adventurer in the area of trying new foods but he liked them too. Rymma and Julia tell me that Krystina knows how to make borscht so I am looking forward to having her show me how to make it! Click here to go to Krystina's Blog.

The pictures are the girls with Iryna and posing with Iryna's boots (love the brown ones!) - of course, those of you who followed along when we were in Ukraine before know that I LOVE Ukrainian boots and coats! (Can you tell how much Julia has grown?)

2008-12-25T06:57:00.000-05:00

Enjoy!

2008-12-16T15:44:00.007-05:00

Rare Picture, Indeed!

2008-12-16T15:39:00.002-05:00

I just had to show this one off ... it is a rarity that Derek smiles for a picture! It's hard for me to believe I have a son who will be graduating from COLLEGE in May!!!

More Pics from Julia's Birthday

2008-12-16T15:27:00.005-05:00

As we said in our previous post, we celebrated Julia's, Shauna's and Timmy's family birthday parties together.

As a joke, we wrapped Julia's digital camera in a box from an order of chicken and jo-jo's from a local take out. Don't worry! I wrapped the camera in a baggie before putting it in the box!

Great Job!

2008-11-10T09:50:00.009-05:00

I meant to make an entry the other day about this but time got away from me ... does anyone else have that problem or is it just me?? :o)

The girls recently finished their first 9 weeks of school this year. Here is an e-mail we received from the 8th Grade Team:

Hello parents! I am hoping that some of your children came home yesterday and bragged about being recognized as having good character or great effort towards academics. Each 8th grade teacher chose a student that exemplifies character and 2 students who have shown great effort towards academics. We rewarded these students with a dessert bar during their lunch period yesterday.

Rymma came home all excited!! It was awesome to see the sparkle in her eyes as she explained the award and the dessert bar to me. What a confidence booster! We are SO PROUD of her and Julia!! :o)

2008-11-07T14:01:00.008-05:00

Rymma and Julia are doing SO well in school!! They are getting good grades, making friends and are becoming more independent when doing their homework.

The school district has hired a former teacher from Ukraine who speaks Russian - what a blessing! They have also provided the girls with an online program to help them with conversational English that they can access at school and at home. They even went to far as to order access to the program for Krystina in preparation for when she is finally home with us. We are so pleased with how our school district has provided for Rymma, Julia and Krystina. :o)

Here are Julia's and Rymma's fall school pictures! Aren't they beautiful?

Oh ... and get this! I took the girls shopping the other day. Rymma went looking for a cool t-shirt and came back with a bright green one (like the color in her school pic - she looks gorgeous in this color!) with a neon pink peace sign and glitter. Turns out it was the SAME one I bought her a couple of weeks ago and saving for her for Christmas!! I told her that she couldn't get that one and to pick another. hehehe "Why?" I ended up having to tell her that I got that one for her for Christmas. So much for the surprise! But the good part is ... I actually picked out something that she likes!!! :o) When I told her that I had already bought it for her she grinned from ear-to-ear! :o) But I also told her that she has to wait till Christmas to get it! I know, I know ... "Mean Mom!" LOL

Priceless....

2008-10-19T18:42:00.008-04:00

5 Bottles of Ketchup - $1.19 ea

6 Tubs of Whipped Cream - $1.99 ea

2 Dozen Iced Cupcakes - $1.99

1 lb. Cooked Pasta - $.89

Having a food fight with 3 of your friends and your family ...

PRICELESS!

Julia's friend birthday party

2008-10-19T18:00:00.003-04:00

2008-10-18T12:44:00.000-04:00

I just love these pictures of Julia and Rymma and wanted to share ... :o) Gotta love b/w and sepia photos!!

Lucia

Football, Friends, Flag Raising

2008-10-17T22:48:00.000-04:00

Tonight the girls went to their first American high school football game. Of course, being teens, they didn't want to sit with Mom and Dad. But in this case, it was good! It means they are stepping out and making friends!

John and Tim participated in the flag raising with Boy Scouts! The scouts got to welcome the team out on the field (I was too far away to get a good pic :o(

We froze our butts off but it was worth it! We won 60-14! WOOHOO!!!

Happy Birthday to Our Julia!

2008-10-14T07:10:00.005-04:00

Yes, today our Julia turns 15! She has grown so much since coming home in March. She does not like to hear that she is getting taller or that she continues to grow. I tell her she is petite ... just like mom! :o) and that being petite can be fun! I was talking with one of her friends yesterday (Yes! She has made a couple friends at school! WOOHOO!!) and Ashley said that Julia told her that her pants from Ukraine are too small. She is having a birthday sleepover next Saturday with Ashley and another friend, Taylor.

Dad and Mom woke her up with the "Happy Birthday" song! Aunt Connie and Ariel called and sang her "Happy Birthday" on the way to work and school. She just beamed from ear-to-ear. :o) Timmy gave her a birthday kiss before she and Rymma left for school.

She received a text message from Krystina this morning: How r u? Happy Birthday Julia. LOVE you!:-) She also received a package from her family in France this afternoon - a photo album of pictures of her stays in France, her personal belongings and a card. They even wrote a little bit of English in her card! :o) She said that everyone at school told her Happy Birthday and she got tired of saying "thank you." LOL

We had a big family birthday party on Saturday to celebrate Julia's 15th, Shauna's 21st (10/31) and Timmy's 8th (11/8) birthdays. (We will post some pics later - I PROMISE!) Julia asked me all day on Saturday, "What you buy me for birthday?" I would tell her, "Nothing." She'd just look at me and smile. I didn't lie to her - John picked up her present! :o) You should have seen her when she opened her new digital camera! She ran right over to me and hugged me so hard she could have cracked a rib! And then she ran to John and gave him just as hard a hug. She was SO excited!!

Rymma and Julia went to their first American friends party last night! Ashley's birthday was yesterday. She turned 14. They were SO excited and did all the primping that girls do (I was quite experienced at that myself in junior and high school, thank you very much!) They looked beautiful! ... And they had a good time! :o)

Fireproof

2008-10-01T00:22:00.004-04:00

Where has the year gone??? Lucia and I cannot say enough good things about the movie Fireproof. If you are married... GO SEE THIS MOVIE! Then contact us afterwards for more information about Marriage Encounter to further make your marriage 'Fireproof'.
Agape,
John

A New School Year

2008-08-20T10:14:00.010-04:00

The kids started school today. Rymma and Julia weren't all too happy about it but they got up, dressed, ate a small breakfast and actually smiled when they got on the bus. :o) They did a great job clothes shopping (and I must say that John did a great job with them too - he took them by himself! What a great dad!) The girls will be split up a little this year to prepare them for high school next year. This will also force them to speak English and hopefully get them to come out of their shell a little bit and make some friends individually. They will have Language Arts, Math, ESL, gym and lunch together. They have separate homerooms, science and social studies. We think this will be good for them - they will be able to start finding their own identity. (UPDATE 8/26/08: They girls are doing very well in school. They doing homework with minimal questions and one assignment opened doors for great conversation betwen all of us. :o)

I was really impressed with the district in how they prepared for their English this year. They will have an ESL teaching time once a day. Then they will have that same teacher in Language Arts and Math with them 3x a week to assist them. This is like 1000% better than last year!!! I am eager to see how much more progress they make. They are doing VERY WELL with their English - they understand more and more and try to communicate back more and more. Even Rymma tried very hard to tell us what she wants without consulting Julia so much - and we haven't had to use the pocket translator or call our friend but maybe once a month.

Rymma has decided that she wants to take hip-hop. We found a studio about 10 minutes from home and north of Dover (just before you enter New Philly). She seems to want to break away from Julia a little - which is a good thing! I want to get Julia involved in extracurricular stuff too - perhaps piano. She loves our keyboard and I would like to see her pursue a personal interest of her own as well.

We went to the open house at the new school for Timmy on Monday - they took three elementary schools and combined them into one. WOW! It's really nice! They have pods for each grade. What color is Timmy's pod you ask? Yellow, of course! His favorite color! LOL He is all excited about school starting again. He really missed his friends this summer.

The new JH/HS will not be ready until after Christmas. We are hoping to have Krystina home by then! We are still waiting to turn in our dossier but hope to do so within the month. If we do, there is a good possibility that she will be home with us before the holidays! :o)

Mamma Mia!

2008-07-21T11:16:00.007-04:00

Oh My Gosh!

The girls and I had a chick flick afternoon yesterday and went to see "Mamma Mia!" If you haven't seen this movie yet, GO!!! It was awesome! Meryl Streep is hilarious and really outdoes herself. Her two sidekicks are a hoot and a holler! LOL If you don't go to see it for Meryl Streep's performance, it's worth it just to hear Pierce Brosnan TRY to sing! LOL

I was amazed at how the writers of this musical took the ABBA songs and made them work for this musical! I think you will be impressed too!

Girls are official U.S. citizens! + 120 miles per hour

2008-07-20T21:38:00.004-04:00

Greetings all!
July 8th the girls were sworn in as US citizens :-)
For those of your reading this blog who are yet to adopt just an FYI: If your child is 14 years or YOUNGER when they arrive on U.S. soil, they are naturalized U.S. citizens and nothing else other than paperwork you complete at the Embassy is needed. HOWEVER... if your child is over 14, like Julia and we arrived on Rymma's birthday (March 6th), they will need to be sworn in. So both of the girls had to go to the Federal Building to be sworn in as citizens. It was kinda funny because I believe the oath they took was exact oath I took when I joined the army. So once they finished taking the oath, I had a huge grin on my face and shook their hands and said, "Welcome to the Army!" (OK, perhaps you needed to be there to appreciate the effect of my humor).

Two down, one to go! :-) We are finishing up some last minute paperwork before we submit our dosssier for Krystina. This time around is totally different because for this adoption we are 100% raising the funds through "donations only" to complete the adoption of Krystina. We will be posting more about the fundraising shortly ... and if any of you have suggestions we are all ears!

120 miles per hour! Below are photos from our recent trip to Cedar Point. I really missed Shauna coming along this time again and Sammy ended up having to work so it was mostly Rymma and I on the roller coasters. The pic is from Top Thrill Dragster (video from CP website). 120 miles per hour in under 4 seconds! WHAT A RIDE! Rymma is in yellow and I am beside her. What a hoot! Not only is this ride fast but a reminder of how life goes by sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fast! We have been home a little over 4 months now! Goodness! You blink and a day passes by you. I find myself wondering at various times what Krystina is doing. Thank God we can send her text messages and call her.

Today was Ukraine day at our house to the max! Rymma talked to her best friend, Julia, who was adopted by a family in Iowa. She got to call Krystina in Ukraine and as I type this, Lucia, Rymma and Julia are heading to Akron to meet Alena from AZ who happened to be passing through Ohio today. I stayed home because Sam wasn't home from work yet. So I took advantage of the moment to blog a bit.

SO, at this point, we are just praying to raise the funds for Krystina. The world is telling us we are crazy for taking in 2 girls so far and we are nuts to go for a 3rd daughter. This will put us at 8 kids. But the more I pray about it, I still believe this is meant to be. For me the decision is simple. James 1:27 sums it all up and tells us to take care of the widows and the orphans. It's sad that the world is blinded and follows a different direction. When I die, it won't matter much how much money I have in the bank or how many customers my business has. What matters most is if I chose to follow God's directions for my life. Did I love enough? What kind of seeds did I plant in my own family? Some of these seeds I have already seen grow and some of them I won't live to see. But I want my legacy to be that I forever changed lives for Christ; that Lucia and I took 3 young ladies out of hopelessness and gave them a clean slate for their future. Just like Christ has done for us.

AGAPE,
John

120 miles per hour- US Citizenship

2008-07-20T21:33:00.001-04:00

July 4th Weekend with the family

2008-07-09T07:00:00.001-04:00

"Hi, Mom!"

2008-07-07T10:57:00.007-04:00

Okay, okay ... I know ... I personally haven't posted ANYTHING since we got back. My bad! Hopefully, I can now keep up ... at least a couple times a month or so. :o) I will attempt to catch up over the next few weeks. Be patient with me! Remember, God isn't finished with me yet either! ;o)

First off, I quit my job of over two years - my last day was June 27. I really enjoyed my work - and more imporantly, the people I worked with. I will miss all my "peeps" terribly! But, it was getting to be too much with the commute, keeping up with the house, the cost of gas and ... more importantly, keeping up my energy for the family. I am now working for my husband for 10-12 hours a week. Talk about a test of your marriage! LOL Another advantage is the shop is only 17 minutes from home - not the 35-40 minute one-way commute to my old job.

The girls and Timmy are happy that I am home with them more. The girls have really begun to open up to me more and we are getting closer every day. :o)

On Thursday (July 3), I went to work at the shop and on to a doctor's appt. I came home and Rymma walked in the kitchen. "Hi, Mom." WOW!!!! I looked at her and said, "What did you say?" "Hi, Mom." I went over to her (ok, ran to her!) and kissed her and hugged her and told her thank you!! You see, that is the first time she has called me "Mom" and this was a very special moment for me! All weekend, she called me mom and it just made my heart sing! She even asked me "When dad come home?" We are bonding and building trust, people!! And it's great!!!

Julia is still processing and it may take her some time before she feels that I am "mom" and John is "dad." She still calls by our first names ... but that's ok. We know she loves us and she will call us "mom" and "dad" on a regular basis when she is ready.

Grandma Speaks To Me

2008-07-07T10:24:00.007-04:00

On the day John and the kids went to Cedar Point, I was able to spend a day doing what I wanted to do - no kids, no husband. I took full advantage of it! :o)

I got up and spent all of the morning and until about 2:00 cleaning. (I am one that cannot clean when there are others in the house and it actually relaxes me when I can look at my house and go "Aaaah!" Anyone else like that out there?) I got cleaned up and went to a scrapbook store in a little town called Strasburg. Next to the scrapbook store is an antique flea market. I decided to go in and take a look around - I like antique furniture, depression glass and knick-knacks. As I entered the store, I told my grandma (I called her "Nana") that if she approves of what John and I are doing with our girls and with our lives to show me in something that reminds me of her.

I walked down a couple of aisles and perused the pretty depression glass in blues, greens, oranges and antique tables and such. As I turned one corner, there was a chest of drawers and on top, smack in the middle, was a platter that matches the dishes that I inherited from my grandma when she died - 8/25/91.

My Nana made sure that I knew she approves and it made my entire day! I was on cloud nine the rest of the day.

I did get to the scrapbook store and had a great conversation with the owner about what happened next door and she told me a little about her mom and a good friend of hers. We must have talked for an hour or more after I finished my purchase! :o)

John and the kids got home around 11:00. They were SO excited! They told me about the rides and showed me the stuffed animals dad had won for them! Julia told me that she was going to go on the Demon Drop but she chickened out - "I go. I see. Whoosh! I no go!" It was too funny!

Fathers Day 2008

2008-07-03T21:46:00.001-04:00

Father's Day 2008

2008-07-03T19:28:00.003-04:00

Greeting's all,

Just a quick post. These pics are from Father's Day I spent with 4 of my girls at Cedar Point. Check out pic of Rymma's first Magnum Roller Coaster ride!

Dossier is almost done!

2008-06-10T08:59:00.002-04:00

Greeting's everyone,

After waiting over 2 months we finally got our amended home study in our possesion yesterday! So now we have to get it certified and apostilled and it should be going to Ukraine before the end of the month!

So now its turning it over to God to provide and allow us to bring Krystina home. We are hoping that it will be submitted and accepted right away so we can travle over the summer months to get her. So we kindly ask for your prayers that God's will be done and that we can bring Krystina home soon!

Agape,

John and Lucia

Camp Tippecanoe Spring Campout

2008-05-12T09:12:00.001-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T18:41:00.002-04:00

Where do I begin?
We have been home now over 2 months.
So many things to share and I don't know where to begin!
Let me start with the news and walk backwards.
We are going for a THIRD young lady! Krystina is 15 years old.

We fell in love with Krystina while seeing Rymma and Julia our first trip.
She fits in well wit the rest of the family. She looks like me (John).
And the funny part is we both have dents in our heads from childhood.(Long story!)
It is amazing how the choices we have made have the same exact effects of if
we have had the child ourselves they would have same appearance.
So we know God's hand is in all of this!

So we are awaiting home study revision and then we will submit our dossier again for Krystina! :-)
So at this point we are hoping we can travel during the summer months to get her. However, one hurdle
is another large financial expense and this time we are turning it over to God.
If it is to be then he will provide a means for this to happen. :-)
We will be putting up a paypal support page shortly and humbly ask for your help
for us to bring Krystina home soon!

So if you are new or lost track. We currently have 7 children. Derek 21, Shauna 20, Sammy 16, Julia 14, Rymma 14, Sabrina 13, and Timmy is 7. Krystina just turned 15. So it will be 8 then. :-)So how do we handle all this? Actually working on total transformation program now! (very good resource btw)
Considering writing a book soon. hahahahaha So where are we now?

Julia and Rymma have been in school for a month now and their English is growing quickly. Total immersion except for a Harry Potter set of books in Russian the have been reading. We thought about Russian programming on satellite but are holding off till their English is normal conversational. Today is Mothers Day and what better way to celebrate with 2 new daughters?

We have been totally blessed. For being home 2 months we have had very little issues.
No, I am not joking! Probably biggest issue is getting into Lucia's craft stuff without asking. But all in all we cannot complain. Hardest part is being consistent and fair with the new daughters. Then spending time with our other kids. So again, so far so good. But if you are reading our blog for advice.
It is something to consider in advance of choosing non-siblings. Something that we didn't do but we are very lucky that this has worked out well so far. Hoping it continues once we get Krystina.

It has been fun to watch over the past 2 months and seeing the girls adjust. The dinner table has become a place for
laughter and mini food fights. Hopefully this summer we can have a full blast food fight out on the picnic table. We will wait for a weekend when al the kids are home for sure! Julia is the sneaky, smiling one. Rymma is the quiet, planning one!
Rymma is the vocal she doesn't like something. Julia tells Rymma and Rymma tells us. So it is funny watching it all unfold!

So perhaps your asking yourself this question. You have 5 biological children and decided to adopt 2 girls. Why in the world would you adopt a third child? I know what you are thinking. We are rich, eh? Well we are very blessed but far from rich. We have had to make a lot of sacrifices to make this all happen. But how can you put a
price tag on forever changing a child's trajectory of their life? A stark reminder was this past week.

Rymma and Julia had to pick 5 things they would like to be when they grow up. It was a struggle to come up with a simple 5 choices! These girls have the ability to become anything they set their heart too. And having dreams of a future that is completely unwritten has not sunk in yet. Both girls suffer from poor self esteem and we are constantly encouraging them and building them up. We can’t save them all but we can save 3. If all my children grasp this and adopt 2 children themselves. Then 16 more are saved. And so on and so on…..

So we will try to update more often. If you are considering adoption and have questions. Please fire away! We will share everything openly and hopefully prepare others!

God Bless and Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Agape,

John and Lucia

We're still alive and kickin'!

2008-04-14T19:21:00.003-04:00

Sorry for not posting since we got home. I hope to get something online in the next few weeks. In a nutshell, things are going well! Stay tuned for highlights ...

3-19-08 Recent pics

2008-03-19T13:17:00.001-04:00

Home!

2008-03-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

Good morning!
Just a quick note to let you know we did make it HOME! Ahhhhhhhhhh what a great feeling! So much to say and upload some pics later. So check back as we update on how things are going.

Thanks for your prayers!

John and Lucia and girls

On the plane!

2008-03-07T20:59:00.000-05:00

Hey all
Its 9pm and we are almost loaded. Has to be the quickiest load I have ever seen. So those of you are coming to airport should be there around 10:30pm

ALMOST HOME! Yeah god!

John and Lucia and girls

Sitting in New York

2008-03-07T19:44:00.000-05:00

Its 7:45pm and we just got notified that our plane should be 8:02pm. So I am guessing we will be heading home before 9pm and into CAK yet tonight. We know the roads are bad so please don't put yourself at risk to see us at airport! But at least we should be home tonight!

Love you all,
John n Lucia and the girls

Flight info

2008-03-07T11:54:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

If you are meeting us at airport here are ways to check flight status. Thanks to Bob Ray.
Those who will be meeting you at the airport can check your flight
status at either
http://www.airtran.com/flight-schedules/flight-info.aspx or at
http://flightaware.com. They would need to enter your flight info,
Airtran Flight 213 in order to check status. The flight aware website
won't list anything until the aircraft actually takes off. The airtran
website will list flight delay info once the time gets closer.

So we plan on going to airport in case it takes off on time. So hopefully we'll be sleeping in our own beds tonight.

Love you all,

John and Lucia and the girls

Back in the Good Ol' USA!

2008-03-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

We made it! We arrived in NY at 6:45 this evening. It was wonderful to be able to read signs and hear "Next!" at the US Citizen line! :o) We went through immigration with no hassles and are now in our hotel room for the night. We have been told of the storm expected at home tomorrow and have opted to still take the evening flight. We are absolutely whipped and grumpy and there is no way we will be able to get the girls up and moving to be on the road to the airport by 8:30 am.
There is more to post -- just not tonight.
Good night from New York!
Lucia

Homeward bound!

2008-03-05T16:59:00.000-05:00

Greetings all,

Today was just a wind down day in our final whole day in Ukraine. The girls just stayed in pj's and we watched dvd's together and they listened to cd's on my laptop.

Girls had time to talk to friends one last time and was just all in all a very relaxing day. Once Lyuda go home from work she and I went to local store and got chicken, crab salad and such for our farewell dinner. Lyuda brought home a kiev cale and we sang our first happy birthday to Rymma tonight here since tomorrow will be spent flying.

The really cool thing is Rymma will become a US citizen (julia too!) On her 14th birthday the moment she touches USA soil. So it will certainly be a birthday for Rymma never to forget.

So here's the deal...
Tomorrow March 6th we fly 1pm ukraine time and arrive in JFK at 4:35pm est. We will stay in hotel there and take Friday afternoon Airtran Flight 213 LGA to CAK departing at 4:50 pm arriving at 6:28 pm at Akron Canton airport Friday evening. We wanted to fly straight through but getting that late tomorrow would be around midnight and hard on kids with school and such. So we picked Friday afternoon and hopefully late enough that people can meet us there. I'm counting on 400-500 people being there- ok? Hahahahaha I hope you can come see the girls and celebrate with us on this great day!

So some last minute thoughts and reflections.
1- I will be posting TONS more pics when I get home and settled in.
2- been here 5 weeks and NEVER seen a single cow or a active farm with animals. (Really)
3- that the last 5 weeks has humbled me that God is in control and not me. 4- that when you are following God's will you just know your doing the right thing when the rest of the world tells you are wrong or crazy to do this.
5- I have not regretted one millisecond of the past 5 weeks here. I am certain it was God's will and his purpose for us to be here this long. I surrender all.
6- that because of our posting and photographs there are other children at detsky dom that people have contacted us about getting more information about. THAT'S A HUGE YEAH GOD!
7- Rymma only has the photo's we gave her and a handful of friend's photos. We got 3 school pics from her school file. Other than that she has no pics. :-( So if you are reading this take pics of kids there and not just yours. Take memory stick to local photo shop and run off some pics for the kids there. One of the neatest and humbling sights of being here 5 weeks and seeing hardly no photos in any other room expect Rymma's was looking around our final day. I saw snapshots we had given out in several of the rooms and it really made me happy that these kids who have nothing so have something to hold onto.
8- that being here 5 weeks I never ONCE saw the kids not share every drink, chocolate, crab and when we went to local store the kids only bought things they knew everyone liked.
9- that a simple thing like a hug or a kiss on the cheek makes a difference in a young ladies life here. Its the simple things that mean the most here. That escorting our girls or one of their friends to the cafe or corner store was a big deal to them ( and me too!)
10- that Krystina, Marina, Nastya, Alena, Vika so many more here have touched my heart and changed me in so many ways. That for most of them I have been a dad to them this past 5 weeks and that's most contact they have had with a father figure, period. This simple truth is heart breaking to me.
11- that I can see already before I leave of the need here and that I expect to be back here again.
12- surprisingly even before we have left the girls are asking me to be able to return to see there friends. My first thought would be to leave and never come back but it makes me realize how much these kids are family to each other and they want to stay in contact.
13- taxi's in Kiev are double to triple to what we paid in Gorlovka.
14- that Lucia and I have been humble to follow God's will and complete the adoption of Rymma and Julia.

So please check back for photo's and updates as we now focus on getting home and being all together as a forever family.

Thanks for your support and your prayers. We could not have done this by ourselves. And last is first, first is last may GOD be glorified in this and that he is magnified! Glory to God to use us in this.

Agape,

John and Lucia

Cleared to go! No plane ... :-(

2008-03-04T17:54:00.001-05:00

Privet from Ukraine!

Girls are cleared! Yeah God!
We got their visa's today and went shopping for a bit. While at embassy another couple there from VA said they had to fly out Thursday because tomorrow's flight was full. They weren't joking. :-( So as soon as we got back to flat I tried to book flights on my laptop but connection wouldn't hold up so I winded up at internet cafe for the evening trying to get flight. I found one combination through a web site a friend gave me here. But it was through singapore and once I completed all the stuff I found out it mailed paper tickets. So when I tried going to the 3 airlines direct a simple fare turned into a nightmare and costly. So I had to stick with aerosvit on thursdays flight. So as of this post we arrive the 6th in Jfk at 4:35pm. I have to staighten out issue of entering the passport info in morning and then see what flight I can get into CAK. Right now its like 11pm to 12 midnight arrival at CAK. So we might stay at New york and head home Friday. Will let all you know tomorrow. Its almost 1am here now and I am whipped!

Also before I forget we got quite a surprise at breakfast this morning.
Rymma told us about her sister! Yes, you heard me right. She has a 10 year old sister. She was abandoned by her mother at the hospital because she had heart problems and other medical issues. Her mother just left her and never came back for her. So a nurse there adopted her and Rymma knew nothing about her sister till 1996 when she was told about her and met her shortly after that for the first time. We also found out that the family asked to adopt Rymma AFTER they heard we had hosted her and she told them no. So we are grateful that she picked us to be her parents. So its been a another long day here. Finding this out, waiting at embassy and then some shopping.
So will post tomorrow about when we get in so everyone can sing happy birthday to Rymma at airport ;-)

We are so eager to get home!!!

Agape,
John

Painful Goodbyes...

2008-03-02T23:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings everyone,

As I punch this in my blackberry it is 05:30 and we are sitting in main train station in Keep waiting to go to Lyuda's flat at 7am. Julia is sleeping against my shoulder and Rymma is laying on her lap sleeping. It is comforting that papa is a nice pillow :-)

I don't think any of us slept well on the train. Julia told me her mattress fell off the top bunk at some point in the night. The bad thing she was laying on it at the time! Ok I am backing up to Sunday's events now.

We got up early Sunday and finished packing up our stuff. Julia stayed with us again and Rymma spent last night with her friends. Olga picked us up at 11am and we planned 2 hours at orphanage but ended up with only an hour :-( so our final goodbyes were rushed to say the least. We let Rymma take the camera so she got lots of pics.

2 years ago when I came to Ukraine on missions trip in 2006 when I left I did not shed any tears unlike when I left Ecuador or Peru. I was ready to go then, mission accomplished. God has a reason for everything and I know why I didn't cry then because I was saving it for this time.
I do not think words can accurately describe what took place but I will try.

When we arrived we found all the girls gathered in Rymma's room. Tears were already flowing then and it just continued the entire time. We just spent the entire time going from girl to girl hugging and kissing them. The girls just kept constantly rotating between Rymma, Julia, Lucia and myself. I would hug and kiss Krystina, Lucia had Marina, Rymma had vika and Julia had Nastya. Then we would switch and the process repeated over and over.

I saw Jesus everywhere in that room and I truly feel I felt a glimpse of what heaven is going to be like. Everyone loving each other and praising our savior all day. One of the things that truly broke me was that these beautiful daughters of ours were leaving the only family that they had for the past 7 years together and that they willingly chose to be with Lucia and I. Wow! How brave these girls are. I can't honestly say I could make the same choice of leaving my family for another. You can pick you friends but you normally can't pick your family. So I was just broken watching these girls cry.

it is hard to imagine the bonds that were created in a month here. Lucia and I both have marks on our hearts from these girls and we know that we have touched Krystina, Marina, Nastya, Vika, Alena hearts very much.
I can honestly say I would lay down my life to protect these girls just as I would my own daughters Shauna, Sammy, Julia, Rymma and Sabrina. Oh how we miss these girls so much! The other stark fact is that Lucia and I would not hesitate to add any of these girls to our family. However, the painful truth is that we cannot save them all. :-( and this simple fact just breaks my heart. :-( Nastya is already 17 and through odd circumstances is one of the few that stays beyond 16 here. Her birth date is Dec 25th and will turn 18.
So once we said our goodbyes upstairs we all headed downstairs and out to front gate in a huge group hug walking together. Lucia and I were with Krystina. This beautiful young lady has really touched us both.
So we got to the taxi and it was honestly just a mess. Was very painful and I just saw broken young ladies on both sides. Going and staying. As we pulled away I watched julia console her sister and hug and love on Rymma. I am so glad we decided to go with two girls! Time has flown from that point. Took taxi to our flat and loaded bags and met up with Angelina and her husband. Drove to Donetsk to get our train.

Our train ride was quiet and peaceful for the most part. Spent time talking to girls and different things and just being silly. Girls both love being massaged and I relaxed them both to fall asleep so that was nice to watch.

So here we are in train station. If we were playing survivor I would be the winner. All three of the girls are crashed and I playing security guard watching all our stuff. So later this morning we meet up with Angelina and start processing out. Medical exams and visa's today.

So until I have tickets in my hands I am not sure if we will make flight Tuesday or Wednesday. Once we have our tickets will post so everyone knows when we return to usa.

Thanks!

Agape,

John and Lucia

Mixed Emotions

2008-03-01T13:08:00.002-05:00

Greetings all,

First off, I want to apologize to my still-youngest daughter for not making it back today to see her show. Knock 'em dead Sabrina! And secondly to my oldest for not making it home so Shauna could meet her new sisters.

Ok-with that off my chest, I need to clarify something. No, we did not adopt Julia's younger brother! Sorry for the confusion. He was adopted 7 years ago when he was a baby to a family in Italy or Spain. It caused an issue because our judge was concerned about something coming back on her decision so an investigation was summoned into why the earlier court allowed Julia and her brother to be separated.

So that's all behind us. We have our decree and passports. Rymma and Julia are OFFICIALLY ours! So tomorrow we leave Gorlovka at 2pm and head to Kiev and arrive at 5am! Fun-fun, does the fun ever end here???

We apologize for falling off updating the blog. We have spent every minute we possibly can with the girls and their friends. Rymma spent last night and her last night tonight with her friends.

Julia, on the other hand, spent last night with us for the first time in our flat. Was soooooo nice having her with us. She helped Lucia in the kitchen cleaning and cooking dinner. Julia and Lucia had a little slumber party out in living room and Papa had the bedroom to himself. I have been lucky to get 4-5 hours and then its hard for me to go back to sleep.

Today was our last full day here and we hoped to end on a nicer note but that didn't happen. We did take the girls and Krystina out for dinner. Oh yeah, Rymma had school today due the school having closed last week for the flu epidemic so she and Krystina took pics and Julia passed on going to school one last time :o).

Tomorrow is coming with happiness and sadness all rolled into one. We are happy about leaving with our girls. However, we are literally dreading saying goodbye to Krystina, Nastya, Marina, Vica, and so many other friends we have made here. God is at work here and I am certain we will be coming back.

Another thing I forgot was we got to meet one of Julia's caregivers tonight. Julia has spent a lot of time with her and it truly meant a lot to her that we took her tonight to say goodbye. We took Julia shopping earlier today to buy her caretaker a needlepoint. We got so see a lot of Julia's paintings and drawings. She loves art! It was nice to meet someone who has looked out for our Julia till she could become part of our family. :-)

Oh, one more thing before I forget to mention -- Rymma's birthday is Thursday, March 6th, and she will turns 14. So if we happen to return that day, it would be aweome to see Happy Birthday signs for her as well as Welcome signs-k?

Unless we blog on the train tomorrow night, this will be it till monday night.

We love you all!

Agape,
John

P.S. I will update with a more detailed post of the last few days as I am able. Back to packing! :o) - Lucia

In Kiev

2008-02-27T08:14:00.001-05:00

Greetings all,
We are running into some snags here which required us to come to Kiev to try to straighten out so we can get out of here. I can't go into all the details now. One issue we have encountered is Julia having a younger brother who was illegally separated from her 7 years ago and is causing issue with court decree. So it was our hope to be out of Kiev today and back to Gorlovka today but now need to stay in Kiev again tonight. Has been nice to see Lyuda again. One praise report is that Sergeia's baby is ok and goes home this weekend. It has been nice here but we miss our kids and everyone back home! We are ready to come home!

Also received alert from us embassy to avoid Kiev saturday due to expected violent protest. So we will watch this situation accordingly and might delay our return till after the weekend if needed. Have had zero security concerns here thus far and do not intend pushing my luck.

We love you all and miss you!
Agape,
John and Lucia

So we ask for your prayers that we can wrap things up this week.

2-24-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-25T02:59:00.001-05:00

Ukrainian Disneyland

2008-02-24T13:42:00.002-05:00

Greetings All,
This is for Saturday. First off, I want to dedicate this post to my wife for it was a day she probably would have had more fun staying at our flat or shopping. My hat is off to her for hanging in there all day.

Today was like taking the girls to Disneyland. Julia decided to visit with one of her caregivers/teachers this weekend to say goodbye since we will hopefully be home next weekend (crossing our fingers!). So Rymma got to bring Krystina and Marina along today.

We took 2 taxis this trip to Donetsk. Rymma and Krystina with me and Chia had Marina and Olga with her. First stop was ice skating. These girls LOVE to ice skate! Krystina has been to Donetsk before but this was Marina's first trip and it was a first time to ice skate at an indoor rink for both of them..

Ice skating was fun for the girls, Lucia took some pics and video & then went to cafe for a cappuccino. The entire time I had Olga and Marina with me. Olga did so much better this time and actually did a couple laps all alone! Rymma and Krystina did very well and skated by themselves the entire time. Before you knew it, our 45 minutes were up and it was time to leave.

Next, we stopped at a mall that had bowling. Marina and Krystina both dropped their jaws when we walked into the mall. The first thing Rymma did was turn around like a hostess and said, "Welcome to America!" in very good English. It was so funny. We went up two escalators to the 4th floor. As I watched Marina, I realized by her hestitation to get on the escalators that it was her first time. All I heard from the girls as they were eyeing all the stores & things was "Kloss!" "Kloss!" and more "Kloss"

We found the bowling alley (on the 4th floor!) but-like at home-no open bowling till after 10pm. So we passed on bowling. Next to bowling was a food court with Sbarro Pizza. Yes! We ate pizza there and decided to go next door to a video arcade.

Arcade was a blast for the girls. Lucia would have enjoyed shopping but that would have opened game on a shopping safari so she just watched. I played one game of air hockey with Krystina and one cool fighter game that you strap in and the seat pivots in direction of flight and shakes on impact. It was "kloss!" :o) Girls raced, danced, basketball, etc, and had a really good time. Only spent 200 gryvna ($40) in the arcade for 1-1/2 hours so that wasn't bad.

One of the neatest things about there was when I watched the kids pool their tickets together and buy little trinkets for their friends back at the orphanage. It was odd not to have Julia with us. Lucia and I missed her a lot.

As our time winds down here, it's getting harder and harder to say goodbye to the girls and all their friends. It will be very hard to say goodbye to Krystina, Marina and Nastya! I truly cherish every experience with them and especially knowing that today was our last ice skating and Donetsk trip with them. So it is sad for me. But on the other hand, I miss my girls and son at home!

So like I said, today was Disneyland for the girls. I am sure it will be a memory that they will always cherish and recall with a smile. I am so used to being called "John Crazy" or "John Crazy Ballerina" by all the girls here. I am truly going to miss them very much when we leave.

It's truly strange that the fact was when I left here after a missions trip in 2006, I didn't shed a tear-unlike my trips to Ecuador and Peru when I cried leaving those places. However, I know I am going to miss these children we are leaving behind. I already know I will be coming back!

Again, my love and thanks to my wife for hanging in there today. Today would have been easier for her to send Papa off with the kids for the day and Mama to relax at home. I love you, Lucia!

Agape,
John

2-23-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-23T15:57:00.001-05:00

2-22-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-23T15:53:00.001-05:00

Better Than Yesterday

2008-02-22T16:24:00.003-05:00

Can you believe that it has been 4 WEEKS since we left home?? We are hoping to be home next weekend. We'll let you know when we know!!

***************
Today was MUCH better than yesterday. :o)

We started our afternoon by walking to a Soviet tank monument near our flat, to an outside vendor to purchase more movies in Russian-it will be fun to see how they dubbed Men in Black!-and to our market for a few things for "home" and snacks for the girls. We came back to the flat & ate lunch before heading to the orphanage to visit with the girls.

When we got there, Helen told us that Julia was spending the weekend visiting with a caretaker who used to take her for weekends & had been ill for 5 mos. (Ironically, Julia picked out pics yesterday to give her from the stack she helped to sort.) We got to see Julia for about 5 minutes before she left. We got hugs and kisses & we told her to have fun. "Yes. Bye! Bye!" as she went out the door. (I am glad that Julia is getting this time with her friend before she leaves as Julia has told me that she is very close to this caretaker.)

Rymma & Krystina came down dressed for a program that was put on for the boys today. They looked beautiful in their eye makeup! They ate some of the snacks we brought them & we headed upstairs for the program.

The program lasted about 1-1/2 hrs. It consisted of a competition b/w 2 teams (from what I gathered). For each event, different groups of kids that were pulled from the audience. They did rope-pulling, arm wrestling, who could make up a bed the best and fastest, peel 4 potatoes the best and fastest, who could down a bowl of something (soup, I assume-I couldn't tell) and a drink the fastest ... and the best competition was who could carry 3 other boys to the back of the room the fastest! Lucky for me, I was paying attention & got out of their way before the chaos-I had been videotaping from their direct path! "I'm sharp! I'm on it!" LOL

Rymma, Krystina, Nastya & Vica, another friend, did a dance to a Brittney Spears song-I think it was "Piece of Me" (?) They did VERY well.

When the program was done, the chairs were stacked & another dance party started-complete with LOUD music & boys running. When I asked Krystina why she wasn't dancing she said that she was too hungry to dance. We asked her if she wanted to eat at the cafe and she said yes. Rymma said she wasn't hungry & wanted to continue to dance. We ended up taking Marina, Nastya & Krystina to the cafe. We had a lot of fun and got the girls back after 7:00pm. Oops! ;o) The girls didn't seem too worried about it so I guess we're ok! :o)

Tomorrow we're taking Rymma, Krystina & Marina ice skating in Donetsk-if the rink hasn't melted there too!! :o) If so, we plan to go bowling (sorry, Sam!) & to the Toys-R-Us/Chuck E. Cheese. Pray that our taxi ride goes better than last time we went to Donetsk!!! ;o)

Feelwin' Fwustwated!!

2008-02-21T23:56:00.002-05:00

First of all, Krystina's great grandmother is feeling better today! :o)
**********
Today was a very frustrating day for me-and I can honestly say it has been the first day that I have felt frustrated. I don't know if it's because of my sinuses, having gotten to bed late last night (2:30am-I couldn't sleep this time!), the devil seeping his way in, being away from home for 4 weeks as of tomorrow :o(, I am just cranky or-most likely-ALL of the above!!

There were a few times today when someone had a "look" on her face, an attitude was displayed or words were said that hurt another's feelings. I know we are all happy to be together but the scenery is pretty much the same day-after-day, the days are starting to blur together & boredom is starting to show it's ugly head.

We got to the orphanage this afternoon & the girls quickly asked to go to the pizza shop with friends. We stopped at a PhotoExpress to pick up prints we ordered this morning & to get the girls' passport pics. We bought Marina a frame for herself and one for Oksana for a beautiful 8x10 pic we had printed for each of them. She was VERY appreciative as was Nastya for whom we bought an additional frame.

We then headed to eat pizza & play air hockey-AGAIN. (Honestly-you are NOT reading a repeat post!) The girls had fun with Nastya, Marina & Krystina today & they all ate very well. :o) While they all had ice cream for dessert (Olga included :o), I had a nice, warm cappuccino. Mmmmm!

While waiting for our food, the girls looked through the photos, COMPLETELY taking them out of order as they did so. Ugh! And, as they looked thru them, they just didn't comprehend that you don't put your fingers all over them! Double Ugh!! (Thankfully it was before the pizza or chips!)

As we were putting on our coats to leave, Olga told us the girls wanted to go skating-AGAIN. I had her tell the girls that I didn't think it was a good idea since they already had sinuses & taking medicine for it; that we could watch a movie. They wanted NOTHING to do with a movie and were determined to go skating. I told them I wasn't going & would stay back at the orphanage & watch a movie on the laptop-Olga didn't want to go either & agreed to stay back with me at the orphanage while they went.

John took a taxi back with Rymma, Krystina & Nastya while Olga and I took one with Julia & Marina. We stopped at the courthouse on the way for Olga to do something for A & while waiting for Olga, Julia said she didn't want to skate either & would watch a movie with Olga & me.

When we arrived back at the orphanage, John & the girls came in behind us. John said some of the boys had told the girls that the rink was melting but they had to walk down to see for themselves ... and they were NOT happy!!!

The girls were upset that they couldn't go skating, said they didn't want to watch a movie or stay in the playroom. They decided to go to their rooms instead, said bye, & Julia & Marina stayed with us in the playroom.

Julia, Marina & Julia's roommate helped us sort the pics & Krystina joined back up with us about 10 minutes later. The photo sorting was a frustration in & of itself-too much to detail here-but we FINALLY got thru it and all was well in the world again.

The girls got silly-Marina more than usual :o) - and soon it was time to go pick up the passport pics before closing. We said short & sweet goodnights and headed "home."

Tomorrow will be a new day!

2-20

2008-02-21T16:35:00.001-05:00

Our Little Timmy with a BIG Heart!

2008-02-21T04:25:00.001-05:00

His voice and words keep playing in my mind. It broke my heart when I talked to Timmy on Monday and he asked, "When are you coming home? I miss you a lot." :o( I told him in the next two weeks. "Ok."

Pastor Gary from church sent us an email on Monday telling us that he observed Timmy's Sunday School class last weekend. He said that Tomas' and Shirley-friends of ours who are with Compassion International in Ecuador-were visiting his class, there was a dialog going on and that Timmy was doing most of the talking! Who knew!!?? LOL He went on to say that TIMMY was telling THEM how they could go to the Welcome Center to sponsor a child!! How cool is THAT!!??

Timmy has such a HUGE heart and love for all people!! God is using our little boy to change the world NOW and I can't wait to see how God uses him for bigger things in the future!!!

Psalm 40:5

2008-02-20T19:20:00.002-05:00

Today was a very emotional day for all of us. John has recapped a lot of the details in his post. Here are my (lengthy-Sorry, Bob! :o) additional comments & thoughts:

As John mentioned, per our request, Helen arranged for Marina to visit her younger sister, Oksana, in a nearby boarding school today. Oksana will be 8 in May & has some developmental delays due to neglect when she was younger. The boarding school has programming for children with mild-to-moderate developmental & mental disabilities. When we arrived, we were surprised by the size of the facility but the kids live & go to school there.

We entered one of the 3 buildings & were lead to a main hallway-again, much like a deck hall from "Titanic." There were a lot of children of all ages & sizes walking & running by us - "Who are they?" "Why are they here?" ""Are they here for me?" is what I imagine they were asking themselves & each other.

I did not see the entire scene John describes of Oksana with the woman. :o( I looked over when I heard "Oksana!" and saw her running to Marina. It was like in slow-motion when she ran into Marina's outstretched arms, they embraced & the tears flowed - from all of us. I cannot explain what I felt at that moment: a combination of joy for Marina & Oksana, sadness that they were separated in the first place, thanksgiving that we were an instrument in making this happen for them, and blessed to witness their reunion.

During our visit, the love between Marina & Oksana was obvious from the way Marina tenderly touched Oksana & tended to her to the way Oksana looked into Marina's eyes when she spoke to Marina. I too did not need an interpreter to know she asked Marina if she was going to America. :o( Olga told us that Oksana told Marina that she wants to go to the orphanage with her [to be together]. I don't know Marina's response; perhaps I don't want to know. :o( Unfortunately in this system, this will never happen. Oksana will never be able to "advance" to a "normal" orphanage. Though she is receiving special programming, it is not enough to bring her to the level deemed sufficient to graduate her out of the boarding school. It is truly sad that Marina & Oksana will never be together again until they are aged out-and that is not for certain-or they are brought together in a forever family.
:o(

We stayed maybe 1-1/2 hrs and it was time to go. We took some pics of Marina & Oksana and watched as they said goodbye-not knowing how soon they will be seeing each other again.

In the van, Marina (thru Olga) told us, "Thank you for taking your time to take me to see my sister." I told her, "It is our gift to you and Oksana." She smiled her big, beautiful smile!

We took the girls out for pizza & air hockey. The girls got to the point where they didn't want to go up against John any more because he always won! LOL The girls wanted to go shopping for what I thought was for a couple of things so I agreed. First, it was laundry soap and tissues for the orphanage. Then it was a purse for Krystina. Marina got a hair clip. Then the "grab what you can" phase ensued with Rymma. By the time it was all said and done, there was a whole basket full of stuff! OY!

Krystina had been complaining about a headache since yesterday & she & Rymma have congestion. I took Julia & Marina with me back to the orphanage while John & Olga took Krystina & Rymma to the "chemist" [pharmacy] for some OTC meds & then they met up with us.

When they returned, Krystina called her grandmother & was told that her great-grandmother has become very ill & is not expected to make it thru the night. Krystina is very close to her & is just devastated by the news. I wish I could have stayed the night with her or brought her to stay with us in case she got word of her passing. John told me later that he saw Jesus yet again today when je saw the compassion for Krystina in Rymma's eyes when she learned the news. I am sure that Rymma, Julia & Marina will stay close to her. I told her to call or text us if she heard anything. Please keep Krystina and her family in prayer!

So many emotions/feelings came over me today. The most prevalent were:
* Joy-the reunion of Marina & Oksana; watching John being "John" as we all know & being silly with the boys & bringing smiles to their faces
* Sadness-for all the children at the boarding school & their possibly separated siblings. Seeing all the younger boys today made me realize just how mich I miss my little boy waiting for us to come home.
* Thanksgiving-for another day with the girls; for Helen agreeing to & arranging today; the love in Marina's eyes when she told us "thank you," & that Krystina was able to visit her great-granmother this past Saturday.
* Love-for my God for today and every day, for my husband & all the girls, for my Timmy and our other kids at home, for our family and friends, for the children we saw today ... For my Julia, who told me "I love you" back in English when I hugged her goodnight. :o)
* Awe-the knowledge that God knew of the events of today before time began and placed each of us at these precise moments to experience His presence
In awe of Him,
Lucia

Psalm 40:5
Many, O Lord, My God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount them to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

God's Hand...

2008-02-20T15:28:00.003-05:00

Sorry about a late post yesterday. Lucia's 3rd cousin passed away & it took time trying to do a tribute online for him. This is my 2nd try blogging tonight. I did it once & somehow lost it so here goes again!

Backing up to yesterday for a second-we ice skated & were prepared this time w/warm clothes. I skated this time & was given an almost-new pair of skates to which the girls responded "Kloss". I soon felt guilty after seeing how bad the skates fit the girls & thought how Julia was going to break an ankle or both. We had fun & went to cafe for dinner.

We learned the girls didn't have school today due to a flu outbreak. We emailed A if we could surprise the girls' friend, Marina, and take her to see her sister today. It worked out & we left early today for the orphanage. Julia came down first & asked Olga all sorts of questions. Where were we going? Who is going?. You should have seen the look on Marina's face when she learned she was seeing her sister!

Marina is 14 and Oksana is 7. Oksana was separated from her sister this past Sept & they haven't seen or heard from each other since then. Today while waiting to leave, Julia was telling Olga about my skates & that I got the best because I was an American. She was absolutely right! I was given the best & my daughters had been given the worst! And today happened because an American asked to take a young girl to see her little sister and I used that advantage to be a blessing to Marina!

We all loaded up in orphanage van. Helen, Olga, Rymma, Julia, Krystina, Marina, Lucia & I. We completely forgot about bringing something for Oksana so we stopped by a market on way & let Marina buy her things. She bought her bananas, chips, cookies, pop, cereal & chocolate.

On the trip there, 2 things happen. We were out toward the country & a new direction we hadn't seen in the past 2 weeks. I looked up into the clouds & saw a cloud formation of an outstretched hand. It was AWESOME! I could see the thumb, fingers & the palm perfectly clear. It was as if God's hand was outstretched over us. I was completely overcome emotionally at the sight & truly took it as the simple gift it was-God's blessings for the day. OUR GOD IS AWESOME! The 2nd experience of the trip was coming up on some high-rise apartments that we've seen from distance the past 2 weeks. Getting closer to them, you could see most were vacant and not-so-nice. It reminded me that God looks at our hearts & not the outside. Appearance isn't everything; it's what's on inside that counts!

Our little group arrived to the orphanage: 3 large buildings - 1 school, 1 housing and not sure about the last one. But were soon swarmed with children coming out of the woodwork! All seemed eager to know why we were there & we were pelted with 'privyet' or good afternoon in Russian. We were lead to a long hallway on the 2nd floor.

After a couple minutes of waiting & TONS of little kids walking by, we saw a lady walking a tiny girl down the hall approaching our group. I could see confusion in her eyes as to why was she being brought to see our group. Marina finally saw her & yelled "Oksana!" & she immediately heard her.& dropped the hands of the lady into a dead-beat run to her older sister's outstreched arms. I cried watching this reunion as well as Lucia and Krystina (I couldn't see the other girls' faces from my place). They just held onto to each other, crying tears of happiness and disbelief. Then Marina let go & looked up & our eyes met. I cannot explain the look- all I can say is I saw Jesus in her eyes & they were full of love.

Our visit wasn't as long as I had wished. Oksana wolfed down chips and a banana with some pop. I watched Marina fix her hair, look at a mark on her ear & pull up her socks. You could just see Jesus in her & how much she loved her little sister. We got to take some pics & see some of the rooms near us - 8-12 kids per room average.

When Marina introduced Lucia and I & said we were from USA, I didn't need a translater to tell me what she said. Oksana said she wanted to go with Marina & didn't want Marina to go to USA! This poor little girl thought we were adopting Marina & leaving her behind & that Marina had come to say goodbye! :-( Yet another thing that broke my heart!

I was so glad to take our daughters along to experience this. We soon said our goodbyes & Oksana left down the hallway waving goodbye as she left. I was overcome with emotion for I imagined my 2 youngest - Timmy & Sabrina - being separated like that and it just broke my heart to leave her there & take Marina back with us.

Oops! I had it straight in the post I lost. Oksana was separated from her sister because she has some learning problems so the reality of them ever being together as a family is slim to none unless they are adopted. It is a sad system, to say the least.

Once we left & got back into the van, Marina thanked me & Lucia for taking the time to take her to see her sister. Again, its the little things that mean the most! On the trip back I asked Helen for permission to take the girls for pizza - "Of course!"

So off to get pizza we went. Ate pizza, played air hockey and shopped a bit. Power went off for 1/2 hour so that was fun to chat in the dark. Time flew & it was time to take the girls back.

Upon getting back, Krystina called her grandmother to learn the news her great grandmother is dying and isn't expected to live through the night. Heartbroken again!

"Tomorrow we skate?"

2008-02-19T23:58:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up with sinus crud. Ugh! I have NO idea why? LOL

Olga wanted to come with us today but didn't want to go skating for fear of becoming ill again.

We dressed appropriately to go skating (we both wore thermal underwear this time! Sexy. NOT! LOL) and walked to the market to get a few necessities for the girls-you know, the usual: bananas, crab, chips, Sprite. LOL

Nastya went skating with us this time :o) Still no Alena nor Marina today. :o(

I was able to stay outside a little longer this time-my feet stayed warmer because I wore a pair of John's wool hunting socks!!! John skated too and they all had a good time though Krystina complained there was too much snow to skate. She would go out for a round and sit down and repeat. Julia is a trip. No, really! The girl spends more time on the ice than skating on top of it!! At one point, she took Papa down with her! She says she likes to skate but she hasn't quite caught the hang of it yet & trust me when I tell you it's painful to watch her! Especially when you see her ankles go from side to side onto the ice because there is no ankle support whatsoever on the skates - I am VERY surprised she hasn't gotten hurt yet. Rymma and Nastya did fairly well.

We were there about another 2 hours - half of which I stayed inside. As we left, Rymma said, "Tomorrow we skate?" To which Krystina and I replied at the same time, "No!" LOL

We went to the cafe for dinner where Krystina ordered for all of us. :o) By the time we ate and walked the girls across the street, the guard was getting ready to lock up for the night (7:00). We walked them inside and said quick goodnights.

The girls don't have school tomorrow because of a quarantine due to a flu epidemic. YUCK! Please pray that none of us gets it!!!

Not sure what we"ll do tomorrow but I know one thing for sure ... we're not ice skating!! LOL

2-18-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-18T18:26:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

President's Day in UA

2008-02-18T16:15:00.001-05:00

It was another COLD day in Gorlovka. Who knew??? But a least the sun was shining!!!

Olga couldn't be with us again today. Her mother and grandmother came down with what she had and she is now nursing them back to health. :o(

When we arrived at the orphanage today, Natasha (the volunteer), let us in the playroom. We hid in the plastic balls and surprised the girls when they came into the room.

Rymma, Julia and Krystina were in rare form today! They were giddy and giggly from the get-go!!! (Alena, Marina nor Nastya joined us today. :o( Julia who started out REALLY shy is showing more and more of her personality every day! She said her new name with a HUGE smile and then put her arms up in "Ta da!!!" fashion and just giggled!! :o) and she has joined in on the prankstering (is there such a word? LOL).

When were at the other market last night we got them more crab and found their lemon cookies and Skittles. When Rymma saw them in the grocery bag, her eyes got REAL big and she said, "THANK YOU!" Then she dug right into the cookies ... then the crab ... then the Skittles - passing each around to all of us. They were eating machines!!! Too funny!! The Skittles were really hard to chew and Rymma looked at me and said, "Lucia. Skittles Ukraine No; Skittles USA Yes." :o)

John asked if they wanted to watch a DVD. To our surprise, they said, "No. We go ice skating. 3:00." (Krystina can read and speak enough English to get by :o) My thoughts: AGAIN??? In this COLD?? Couldn't they text us ahead of time to let us know??? You guessed it - within the hour, we trekked down to the rink where I took some pictures and video for about 10 minutes then headed inside ... and froze some more. Ugh! (I honestly don't know how much more my toes and fingertips can take!!!) After about 1-1/2 to 2 hours later!!!, they finally called it quits.

We invited them to the cafe for dinner and at first Rymma didn't want to go but some time between the conversation and walking up the street, she changed her mind. John asked her via the PT if we needed to call Olga to order for them. She said, "Yes" and after Rymma spoke to Olga, she handed me the phone. Rymma had thought that Olga needed to order for US. I had Olga explain to Rymma that we could order our own food and when I recited it to her, her and Krystina' eyes got REAL BIG and Krystina giggled and said in an excited voice, "Oh, Lucia!! Good!!" :o) The waiter came over and Rymma took care of ordering for all of us-which included, of course, chips and chocolate for them. :o) Dinner was "the usual," with Julia and Krystina adding shrimp as an appetizer - with eyes and all!! BLAH!! Rymma snarled her nose up at them too.

We walked the girls back to tell them goodnight and they told us they want to skate again tomorrow. UGH! But, hey!! At least we have a warning to dress warm enough this time!!!

Sleepless in Ukraine

2008-02-17T19:53:00.003-05:00

Greetings, everyone,

Slept 2 hours and now I can't sleep so now the ramblings begin! :-)

Some thoughts or things I've noticed (or haven't seen);

- Fast food restaurants- saw a McDonalds in Kiev and Donetsk and that's been it. There isn't a Subway, KFC, Burger King. Not one, zip, nada or oop-chana here!

- The reason for this? There doesn't seem to be a hurry for food. We always wait forever to get our meals and it never comes out together. There is no rhyme or reason either. You might get your ice cream before the main meal or your salad after the soup or things like that.

- Taxis- Very good service here and quick to respond to call. The road to the orphanage has a water main break so it's a river of ice and is blocked off. Not a problem-they just drive on SIDEWALK!

- If I had to estimate, I would guess that 80 to 90% of the people here don't own a car and mostly use the bus and tram for transportation.

- Youth do not drive till 18 here. (Sorry, Sam!) Very uncommon to see woman drivers.

- I see more people out when it's colder than when it's warmer? It was-as Dr. Evil from Austin Powers says-"friggin freezing" today and we saw people everywhere ... especially at ice skating.

- Dogs-n-cats are everywhere but you can't get near them.

Now to things about the children here
.
If you are adopting... GREAT!
If you aren't ... Why not!? :-)

If you have not hosted or have a child picked out in advance this might not apply, but something to consider or at least be aware of. Just some simple facts that we have just recently discovered;

Just because you hosted a child does not 'reserve' or put that child on 'hold' in the system. Unless I am mistaken, a child over the age of 8 has the right to say yes or no to ANY opportunity. Meaning what? Meaning if you hosted a child and you're from the USA, there is no stopping a family from another country from seeing the child's profile at SDA and selecting that same child! The key here is COMMUNICATION!!! With our Rymma, we e-mailed and sent letters and gifts every time a family traveled so she knew we loved her and she knew we were coming for her. So if by chance another family selected her, she knew we wanted her and that she would say no to the offer.

I cannot say for other orphanages, but the teenagers here are allowed cell phones. Had I known this before, I would have purchased a prepaid phone so we could send text msgs. Phones here are fairly cheap and incoming calls or text msgs are FREE. So even if the child uses up all the air time, you can still call or txt them. They just couldn't respond. Now, having said that ... If you give them a phone with talk time on it then that phone is passed along to the friends to share calls. That's just the way it is. So you might only want to add minutes every now and then. It's like .10/min here talk time and .05/min to send text msg to USA. One thing I would recommend is getting a phone with email and only feeding email side of phone plan (data plan). None of the kids here use computers and don't have email so they would only be emailing you. Just a thought. Kyivstar.net and hope.com.ua are 2 decent providers here. With Kyivstar, I know you can add time online so you could add time from home in USA for your child in Ukraine.

I honestly HATE seeing young kids with cell phones ... just ask mine-they have to pay for their own! But in this case, it gives you a chance for DAILY contact with your child and at least they know you are working on homestudy or paperwork or what have you. But most importantly, it's COMMUNICATION with your child. I have never heard this subject mentioned before on any other adoption blog. So check with your adoption agency or your Ukraine facilitator FIRST before buying a phone!

Also before I forget ... to txt your child, you can txt msg for FREE from the Kyivstar's or Hope's website. The girls got a call from a friend now living in USA and the entire ROOM lite up. So what I am saying is they will want to call back to the orphanage once they are home so plan on an int'l phone plan or something ahead of time!

If you are reading this and have any questions, feel free to ask or perhaps I can point you in the right direction.

Blessed in Ukraine,

Agape,
John

Antarctica or Ukraine??

2008-02-17T13:47:00.001-05:00

*SORRY. THERE ARE NO PICS FOR TODAY.*

We got to the orphanage later than we had planned (close to 3:00). A stopped by our flat after lunch to discuss our next steps and then we went to "our market" to grocery shop for the girls. We have been calling Olga when we need a cab but today we were able to get one on our own just outside the market thanks to a Russian/English phrase book Krystina gave us! :o)

While waiting for the girls to come down, some boys were playing ping-pong. I went over & said "Pryvet" or "Hello." They motioned to me if I wanted to play and I told them, "Nyet spasiba" or "No thank you." I wish I understood what they were saying as they talked, looked my way and smiled a lot. Me paranoid? Yup!

We were greeted by Rymma, Julia & Krystina. Rymma looked really cute in a skirt and when I pointed to it and said, "Nice!" she beamed! We joked around with them and showed them pictures from yesterday that John PhotoShop'd. Every so often you'd hear, "Aaah, [kloss].!" meaning "classy or very nice." They all use this phrase when they REALLY like something.

When were done looking at all the pictures, they told us they would be leaving in 10 minutes to go ice skating down the street. My first thought was "Are they serious? It's below freezing out there!!!" And John and I certainly weren't dressed warm enough at all!!

Next thing we know, we're at the rink!!! and I am freezing my fingers off videotaping!! (Julia wasn't going to wear gloves and I made her go get a pair.) I finallly couldn't stand it anymore (fingers and toes were stinging again) and headed inside. John and the girls cont'd to skate for almost an hour, I would guess. I stayed inside standing and waiting the whole time but I didn't mind. I could still see them when they passed the door; I got to paople-watch; and, it was warmer than outside!! When John and the girls came in they were all completely red from the cold. I KNOW John had to be freezing-he wore lighter clothing than me!

Some of the kids didn't get skates because they ran out of smaller-sized skate (Yes, there were that many people there. Crazy!) so they would walk or run beside their friend(s) on the ice. And then the kids would trade off the skates so his or her friend got a chance. :o)

By the time we walked back to the orphanage, I was completely frozen-my legs, my toes, my hands (with gloves!), my face. Even the PT was too cold to work again. And you know it's cold when John complains it's cold!!

We hung out and defrosted in the main hallway with Rymma, Julia, Krystina and Marina until we were told they needed to go to supper. We called Olga for a taxi - which lately our taxi rides have been a lot better! - and stopped at the our other market for food for "home."

Olga sent us a text msg this evening that she is feeliing better and will join us again tomorrow-the girls ask for her every day.. But I have to admit-it has been nice to have this time alone with all the girls. We have made strides in our communication with all of them since their attention has not been divided between us and Olga and there has been a lot more interaction between all of us. At the same time, it will be nice to see Olga's smiling face and hear her, "Good morning" when we see her. :o)

2-16-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-16T20:04:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Day 23 - Silly Saturday!

2008-02-16T16:42:00.003-05:00

We spent the morning relaxing around our flat, headed to the orphanage after lunch, and spent the afternoon watching the last half of Tomb Raider 2 and just "hangin' out" with the girls in the playroom.

They all loved seeing the pictures of Ohio in the book we brought-"Ohio Impressions." They ooh'd & aah'd about the nature and cityscape pictures.

Alena used the pocket translator a lot to speak with us-way cool! When I showed her that I knew how to spell all their names in Russian, she told me I did well! :o) She was pleased to learn that John and I want to learn Russian.

Marina joked around more today with all of us - she chased Nastya around with the big bear making kissing sounds! Too funny! Nastya was her happy-go-lucky self. :o)

Julia & Rymma kept busy with the camera and video camera-who knew? (Those of you adopting older children, we suggest bringing a digital camera with extra memory devices & batteries. They run our battery out every day!!) Krystina (correct spelling-LOL) joined us after a visit with her babushka and great babushka. It was one big party after that! LOL

These girls are SO much fun! They chase each other, pounce & pile on each other, and dance with each other-just like real sisters! They all get along so well-it's amazing!! And they have a new game! Cannonball into the plastic balls. They jump into them one at a time up to three at a time. It's a hoot!!

While we were hangin' out, a call came in on Alena's cell phone. The girls squealed & said, "Julia in Iowa!!" In English. The girls took turns talking with her but Rymma spent the most time. We will definitely need to look into an unlimited long distance provider!!!

After hangin' out & goofin' off for well over an hour, we headed to the market for the infamous snacks. This time we got an ice cream cake-vanilla ice cream w/chocolate coating & cherry in the middle. When we returned, the girls invited us into another piece of their world-"their kitchen." This is where they can cook snacks with an oven and microwave & kitchen essentials.

We all sat down at the table & the girls had me cut the cake. I felt like I was serving my kids dessert as I handed a plate to each of the girls. The girls all waited till everyone was served. We then all held hands and thanked God for our time together and for the cake!! :o) It's ok that they didn't understand the words; they know we are Christian and know that we were thanking our God. There was a little cake left over & two caretakers came in & the girls offered some to them. They were very appreciative & said they recognized us from photos. :o)
It was neat to see all the girls working together to clean up & wash the dishes we had used. They smiled at me when they saw me help, too. :o)

Before coming "home," John & I ate dinner at the cafe. I ordered our dinner without Olga-who is still ill :o(-and it came back right!! YEAH!! OK-so it helps to know the menu too. But it's still another milestone!!

Tomorrow we head to "our market" for another grocery run for "home" and to shop the girls' grocery list. This time they asked for Sour Skittles! When I asked Rymma what she did with all the candy she bought yesterday, she said they shared it with all the other kids! Another lesson - 1 Timothy 6:18: "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share."

Oh! And by the way ... Julia can say her new name perfectly!!! She's been practicing since court yesterday and telling everyone!! :o) Rymma is still working on McLaughlin. :o)

******

We got a surprise phone call from Shauna this evening, too! :o) Love ya,' Shauna!! We love and miss you, too, Derek, Sammy, Sabrina and Timmy!!!

Mamachia

It's a girl(s)!

2008-02-15T14:26:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

It' A Girl(s)!! - A Double Blessing

2008-02-15T14:24:00.001-05:00

We are PROUD to announce the addition of our newest daughters:

RYMMA HOPE McLAUGHLIN
and
JULIA MELINA McLAUGHLIN!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!

We appeared in court today around noon but the proceeding didn't start until closer to 12:30ish. In Ukrainian law, there must be two disinterested witnesses and our second one didn't show up until then. Present were the judge, a prosecutor, a rep from the General Counsel (she witnessed our first meeting with the girls), the social worker from the orphanage, the two witnesses, our facilitator (Angelina) & the four of us. Usually a rep from. SDA is there too but instead their letter of conclusion was read into the record. Poor John was completely outnumbered-it was a room full of women!

The hearings used to be 10-15 minutes long but since Jan 1, 2008, all court proceedings must be tape recorded. Our hearing lasted about an hour once it got started.

The girls had to sign a paper that they understood a law or something and then the judge began by reading the parties' names & the purpose of the hearing. She went on to explain how the girls are eligible for adoption according to Ukrainian law and the process of the court. We were then called upon individually to answer questions posed by the judge who then asked if anyone had further questions: Name, birthdate, address (this was a fun one to hear translated!), occupation, why do you want to adopt these children?

The prosecutor asked me a couple add'l questions: How have you kept in contact with the children? Are you ready for the stresses of adding 2 more chldren to your family? Describe your home & how you will accommodate 2 more children in your family.

We were then asked to confirm the names we chose for Rymma's and Julia's new birth cert's.

Next, it was the girls' turn: Do you want to be adopted? Do you want these individuals to be your parents? Do you accept your new names? There were a couple other questions that weren't translated - all to which they answered, "Da."

Everyone then gave their opinion & whether they thought there were any obstacles to Rymma's or Julia's adoptions. No one believed there were any-the social worker even pointed out that there is a bond b/w us & the girls & that they would be lucky to have us as their parents. :o)

We were asked to leave the courtroom so they could make a decision. After about 20 minutes, we were called back in, told there were no objections and congratulations on the addition of our new daughters!!!

The judge congratulated Rymma & Julia, told them to be good to their parents & have a wondeful future!

As much as we originally wanted the 10 days to be waived, we are thankful for the extra time with Rymma and Julia and their friends & the add'l time for them to prepare leave their friends to go home to the USA. The final decree will go into effect.on Feb 26th.

To celebrate, we went to a nicer pizza place with A & our new daughters!! The pizza was really good. It made us both hungry for Cross Roads Pizza back home. (We have agreed this will be our 1st meal when we get home!!! :o)

We stopped by our flat to change before heading to the orphange & to get a DVD to watch. The girls gave themselves a tour & seemed relaxed-a good sign!!

At the orphanage-after all the girls looked at ALL the pics on the laptop, we watched about 1/2 of Tomb Raider 2 before it was time to go & say our goodbyes. Have we mentioned how much we LOVE our hugs and kisses???

We can't thank you ALL enough for your prayers. Our God is an awesome God and we praise Him for our wonderful, new daughters & the love, prayers & support of ALL our family & friends!!!

Love,
John & Lucia

Feb 14 - "...better than any flowers."

2008-02-15T12:38:00.002-05:00

PLEASE READ JOHN'S POSTS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY FIRST.

The gifts we received yesterday can only be described as "indescribeable." John has recapped the day and his thoughts - most of which are my thoughts as well. However, here are a few of my personal thoughts of yesterday:

The day started with waking up to my hubby surprising me with ... not flowers ... not a Valentine's Day card. ...not breakfast in bed ... but a clean-shaven face!!! The girls all make frowns when he kisses them because of his whiskers so he decided - without consulting with his wife, I might add!!!! LOL - to rid of his mustache for the girls. And, I must say, he's still rather handsome, don'tcha' think?? (See pics from 2/15)

John describes many of the details in his post so I won't bore you with it all a second time, except to say...

At the dance, all the girls were dancing like crazy!!! I remember being like that at all my high school dances but that was wayyyyy back in the day! I would stop long enough to cool down and tell Christina, "Lucia sta'-ray." (Lucia's old.) She would get so mad at me and say, "No!" :o)

And may I just say that my hubby can bust a pretty good move!! He was out there dancing each song with the girls too and having the time of his life!

A song was finally being played that was slow enough that it could have been considered a slow song so I grabbed my hubby and began to "slow dance" with him. (The song was "To The Left" by Beyonce-not your typical "love song" for a husband and wife but it had the right speed for a slow song. :o) When the girls first. saw us, it was one LOUD, "Oooooh." LOL There was a whole room of kids watching Rymma and Julia's parents dancing together! :o) Next thing we know, there is a parade of girls holding hands and skipping around us in a circle, going faster and faster! And then they would close in on us with their arms raised again and again. As John said, "Time stood still." I whispered in his ear, "This is WAY better than any flowers."

I thank God for the present, for the presents of my husband, ALL our children, the children who blessed us yesterday and for the memories of yesterday that will be with me ALWAYS!

Valentines Day

2008-02-14T14:51:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Valentine's Day in Ukraine

2008-02-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

Valentine Greetings from Ukraine!
First off to our children at home, we love you and miss you so!

Again, I slept 2 hrs & now am sleepless in Ukraine. Sounds like a movie perhaps? (Grin) Tomorrow is court but before I move ahead I would like to look back over today first.

Today was one of the most unforgettable days that in my life as a father. It must have been one of those days like in Tomb Raider where all the planets lined up in a row every 5000 years or something like that! :-)

First thing this morning I received an AWESOME email from my eldest daughter, Shauna. Instead of divulging details, I will just say I am soooo proud of her and encouraged from her. I love you Shauna! So that started my day off GREAT and we went for a walk to market at the corner.

We had brought gifts for Rymma & Julia for Valentine's from home but after meeting all the other girls here too decided to go get things for seven other girls. So we went up to the corner market this morning.

We found some really cute teddy bears that had a white shirt on them & embroidered words. Somebody Loves You... Those words are so simple, yet so powerful. I don't think we could have found anything else to describe how we feel for these other girls than these simple words. So we purchased 7 bears, 7 gift bags and 2 bags of hearts on a string for a door decoration that we cut apart to tie a heart to each bag.

We came back to the flat and assembled our gifts for the girls. Each girl got a bear, a heart, 3 pieces of candy (m&m, snicker & twix) and Rymma and Julia got Valentine cards in with their bags. I forgot to mention that Olga was sick so we were on our own today.

When we called Olga for the taxi, she sent her friend, Gary, who drove us to Donetsk, to pick us up & take us to exchange money and get flowers for the girls. So that really worked out well and we were at orphange before 3pm. Soon the girls came down and this time they brought Christina along too. First things first- we were greeted with our normal hugs and kisses. However, the girls had one hand behind their back. And right after the hugs n kisses, we got the cards they had made for us (see photos!) Christina isn't ours yet she took the time and effort to make us a card like Rymma and Julia did. So the day just kept getting better!

It was a riot to watch Rymma peeking into the grocery bags to see what we had brought & the bewilderment in her eyes trying to figure out who all the bags were for. When we told her that mama n papa had not only brought gifts for her & Julia but also for 7 of her friends you should have seen her eyes light up!

We brought an extra rose for the director and 2 BIG bags of Valentine candy to be handed out for the other children. Rymma and Julia presented the rose to her. The director speaks english (yeah!) And thanked us for the gifts and wished us well for court. She also thanked us for becoming Rymma and Julia's parents and said that her wish was all the children there would find loving parents. She invited us to a Valentine program that started at 4pm.

So off upstairs we went to hand out gift bags. First, it was Rymma, Julia and Christina. Then Rymma went to get the rest of the gang. She found them all except Alena who was in the program. It was hello and hugs and kisses from each girl. Then it was fun to watch them open the bags. The girls all went awwwwwwwww to the cute little teddy bear. They all smiled over the candy and the next thing I knew every girl would come over and tap a couple m&m's into my hand to which I would reply spasiba which is thank you in Russian.

So off upstairs to 4th floor. Never been to 4th floor and something new. The girls whisked us to our seats. All the children around us kept turning around to see what all the commotion was about. What was it? Yep! An oddity... Parents

It was a feeling that hopefully I will never forget in one aspect and and then in the same breath, I hope you never experience the empty feeling I felt. It was a sense of pride for Rymma and Julia of a kinda " hey, check out my parents and they came to watch the program." And then I saw it in some of the other kids eyes of a look that I cannot describe but other than to simply say " what was wrong with me? Why couldn't you have picked me?"

Don't get me wrong-it was a very happy occasion and it was fun watching the program. All the children seemed happy for Rymma and Julia. It was just things I picked up on or felt personally. Several of the girls' friends were in the program and every time we made eye contact, they would smile and wave to us. Originally we had planned that after the program we would take the girls across the street to the cafe. But there was something I didn't know...

A DANCE! Yeppers, pilgrims! You heard me straight up. Within minutes of the program ending, the next thing I knew benches were pulled back, chairs pushed out of the way and then music started blaring. Oh my! It was like jr high all over again! This COULD NOT be happening! Lucia and I just kinda were like the 'chaperone' couple in the corner just swaying with the music & tapping our toes. Then next thing I know the girls are grabbing Chia and her grabbing me and off to the middle of the dancefloor we went.

So for the next 1 1/2 hours we ALL danced. Yep, even me! I told you all the planets lined up! But one of the neatest experiences in my life happened next. I can't recall the song but it was kinda of a swing dance where Chia & I were dancing together. oops see next...

Valentine's Day-Part II

2008-02-14T13:30:00.002-05:00

Sorry ran out of field on blackberry and had to to another post.

So like I was saying ... I am dancing with my wife and the next thing I know we are SURROUNDED by at least 8 girls who formed a circle holding hands. Then they proceeded to skip around us and they started circling faster and faster. I felt like the prom King dancing with his prom Queen. I felt like I was in the movie Titantic or something. ("I'll never let go Jack, I'll never let go." But she lied!) Hahaha

Time stood still! That memory will always be with me. Once they stopped circling us, they all closed in and rose their hands above their heads and then back out again to a large circle and then back in again and again. Chia and I were just kinda dumbfounded and numb-mostly shock! All the kids there wanted us there. Our girls wanted us to dance and dance with THEM. That's why I danced the entire time because I saw the moment for what it was and it took it!

Watching Rymma and Julia dance is indescribable to me to explain. Simply put-when I watch Sammy dance and sing, I cry every time because she looks so free and careless when she performs. It is the same for Rymma. I just cried watching her dance. She dances just like Sam. ;-) Julia really came out of her shell today and it was nice to see a side of her we hadn't seen before.

By the time we thought about going to cafe, it was getting late. Christina was really bummed that we couldn't go to dinner. She is really growing on us both and it's REALLY going to be hard to tell her goodbye when we finally leave. :-(

I am so thankful for today. I only wish all our children were at the dance! It was a day I really didn't want to end but it was time to go.

Leaving here every day gets harder and harder for all of us. Rymma and Julia soon will be leaving their friends and their family for ours in the USA. And the other girls know that they are staying here. Waiting. Perhaps praying for mamas and papas. The girls want to come back someday and I have promised them I will bring them back. but for now I cherish every hug, every kiss. It is now a habit for Julia to keep getting back in line to hug Chia and I. Today, some of the other girls started that with me.

As I said in the beginning, today was awesome as a father. It has been one of the most memorable Valentine's I have ever experienced. My thanks be to God for allowing me today to enjoy this day with the girls and hope that I have many more Valentine's with all my kids in the future.

Lucia and I thank for all for your love and support and PRAYERS while we are here. My prayer has been to waive the 10 days. My new prayer is for God to use me here. If 10 more days is what He wants then let me use these 10 days somehow to glorify Him. Everyday is a gift. That is why it is called ... The Present.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing Lucia and I here now. Thank you for giving us the eyes to see the little things and appreciate everything you provide for us. Thank you for blessing us and allowing us to have an AWESOME day.

With Love from Ukraine,
John

2-13-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-13T17:02:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

A Loving, Caring Heart

2008-02-13T16:05:00.001-05:00

Greetings, everyone!

Sorry we are getting a day behind. This is for Wednesday's events.

I again have not been sleeping well. I am lucky to get 3 to 4 hours then I am up for 3 to 4 hours. So we slept in and were taking our time when we got a call that we needed to leave in half hour to go do passport application.

So we got the applications for the girls passports done at the notary and came back to the flat for lunch before heading out to see the girls as usual each afternoon. Also as usual, we hear the girls coming and running down the steps to see us. Olga couldn't come with us so we brought the laptop and the Russian DVD we were given by Anya and Andrei.

Using our pocket translater, we asked them the normal round of questions: How was school? Good. What did you learn? Nothing. So it's pretty much the same hear as at home when we talk to Sam and Sabrina about their day. :o) We asked if they wanted to watch a DVD and they said yes. Things got interesting when we asked if there friends could come watch it too.

Rymma is getting used to reaching for the translater when she needs to communicate now. (Yeah, God!) she typed in her answer and we got our first answer- "actions beside them" - which we told her we didn't understand. So she said "director" and we understood that. Then she typed again and we got "contest between them." So we thought that the friends were fighting. We decided to call Olga. She explained that the girls were at a program with the director. We decided to wait for their friends before watching the DVD.

We brought groceries for the girls and told them to take them upstairs and then said we wanted to go to the market. Rymma was puzzled since we just brought them food that we needed to go to store again. When I explained it was for snacks for the movie she agreed very quickly it was a good idea. :o)

Off to the store, slipping and sliding on the ice we went. Rymma really got a good laugh out of me nearly losing my footing. I imagined myself being perfectly parallel to the ground, hanging in mid-air to only hit the ground squarely and having the air knocked out of me. Thank goodness it didn't happen. But when Rymma slipped a few seconds later and I got to laugh ... oh, how the tables turned!

Our trip to the store was an event in itself and a lesson for papa as well. These beautiful daughters show so much compassion and caring for others that just amazes me. They never seem to pick something for just themselves but something they know everyone will eat. Rymma picked bags of chips and some other snack (sounded like crunchy croutons). While in the store a cat snuck in to get warm. Julia asked if we could get the cat some food. Another lesson of caring. I found this request odd from her because she said she didn't like cats. In the photos you can see what happens. The cat went berserk when Julia tore open the packet, trying to get out of Rymma's arms. Once I saw the cat was fed I said, "OK, let's go." Rymma's face scowled, "No." Another lesson learned. They wanted to wait for the cat to eat so that they could put it back inside the warm store. Boy! Am I in trouble with our 4 outdoor cats at home! LOL It makes papa proud that they have caring hearts the same as our other children. :o)

With snacks in hand, we went back and found their friends to watch a movie together. Oddly enough, they picked Tomb Raider, Laura Croft to watch. Rymma, Julia, Nastia, Christina, Marina, Alena, Vika all watched the movie with us and they watched the whole movie this time because it was in Russian.

After the movie, we went downstairs to say goodbye to ALL the girls. The girls form lines to give us all hugs and kisses. Julia has started every time now to get back in line and give us both more hugs and kisses. So we left 7 smiling faces waving goodbye to us. It gets harder and harder each day to say goodbye to all of the girls there.

As I said, this post is for Wednesday and it is now Thursday here - the day before court. To be honest, I am no longer praying that the 10 days be waived but now that it is that I can follow God's will for us here. The girls are expecting the 10 days yet and if we leave early next week I don't think they are ready. So my prayer is to continue building relationships here and to prepare them to leave their friends.

Agape,
John

A Lesson in Love <3

2008-02-13T16:00:00.001-05:00

I know that John has written about his feelings today. I wanted to add just a short post of my thoughts of today as well-I promise to be brief. :o)

What you may not understand is all these kids have HUGE hearts. Every day they do something that proves they are shining examples of Philippians 2:4: Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.

When asking the girls if they want anything, they think not only of themselves but also their "family" at the orphanage. I told Rymma at the market that I love her big heart and she just smiled her big, beautiful smile that she has that just melts Mama's heart.

As John mentioned, Julia says she doesn't like cats. (We will have to work on that! :o) But she set that aside today to ask for food for a hungry kitty, carry it outside, help to feed it and carry it back inside to the warmth of the market. I know God was smiling down on her!!

While eating snacks during the movie, rather than keeping the individual bags of chips or a whole candy bar to themselves, each girl passed her bag around to share and they split the candy bar amongst themselves, offering each to John and me as well..

We could ALL learn a lesson from these beautiful children: Set aside your personal wants & desires, jealousies, prejudices, hatred and fears and look for ways to bless others as your brothers and sisters in Christ and as creations of one God.

What a great lesson in love for Valentine's Day! <3 I can't wait to see what lessons unfold tomorrow!!!

Mamachia

Day 19 - A Visit From Friends

2008-02-12T15:27:00.000-05:00

Andrei & Anya arrived around 9:00 this morning after traveling all night by train from Yevpatoria.

We discussed world events, Russian history & adoption in Ukraine. They asked a lot of questions about America and our home. I showed them my scrapbook and a book called "Ohio Impressions" that has great photos of our state. Anya said that she wants to build a home in the woods. John told her he could PhotoShop her into one! LOL

They also spoke of the team from RiverTree who did demolition of a pool room at their home in October 2006. They said that our guys were the best team!! Anya talked about Bob R., Sr., & how much he proudly spoke about Natasha :o)-his granddaughter who was in the process of adoption from Ukraine at the time-her adoption was final in May 2007.

A while back Andrei had sent his camera to John for repair. When John received the return pkg, he found that they had actually replaced it with a newer model. John presented it to Andrei-and some other nifty gadgets for his PC-and he was like.a little boy at Christmas! We presented them with some family gifts and a few gifts for Anya-OTC meds (adult & kids), baking soda, spices, two big jars of JIF peanut butter!

They brought us some English CDs to help with the girls and Narnia and Signs DVDs in Russian. :o) They wanted to get out a little bit and see Gorlovka so took a little walk and when they returned brought us gifts! Crab & shrimp chips, a DVD with the Mummy, Pirates & Tomb Raider movies in Russian and Turkish Delight! Thank you, Andrei & Anya!! *HUG*

We saw the girls this afternoon & Andrei & Anya went with us. The girls were very shy & Rymma was not feeling well. We went to the cafe for a late lunch-Julia went with us but Rymma stayed back to lie down. John asked her if she wanted us to bring her back fish pizza and we got "the look." LOL

At the cafe, Julia told Olga that she understands what we say but can't talk back in English. A breakthrough!! After that, she was very cuddly with me. She is learning how to handle John's pranks too! We are all growing closer every day!! :o) John took Julia to the little market afterwards to get Rymma some Sprite-and crab!!! They LOVE it!!

When we returned to the orphanage, Rymma & Christina joined us and Rymma was in a much better mood. We joked around with them and had a lot of laughs. We asked them if they wanted us to bring them anything tomorrow and they asked for-of all things-a bag of potatoes to fry! We asked them if there was anything else & they gave us a grocery LIST! LOL What is great about these girls (all of them) is they don't ask for just themselves but for their friends too. :o)

They all three asked if we have to wait 10 days after court if we would be leaving and coming back. I wish I had had the camera ready -- they all three grinned from ear-to-ear when we told them that we will be staying!! It melted my heart to see that they were so happy!

All too soon it was time to say good night and get Andrei & Anya back in time for their return train. We all stopped at the grocery store on the way back "home." Andrei and Anya bought snacks for their train ride & we played "personal shopper" for the girls. :o)

Andrei & Anya visited with us in our flat a little more before they had to leave (we misunderstood their departure time). John & Andrei talked about computers and "manly stuff" in the living room (they did fairly well with John speaking in English and Andrei in Russian :o) while Anya & I talked more about adoption over tea in the kitchen (in English).

We really enjoyed our visit with Andrei & Anya today!. Before they left, they made us promise that we would come to Yevpatoria the next time we are in Ukraine!!

Packing Hints

2008-02-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

To those of you gals who will be traveling soon, my advice to you is to pack light! It IS possible to survive on 5 pairs of pants (I have 2 blue, 1 black and 1 khaki pairs of jeans and one pair of black dress pants), 4-6 tops, a heavier sweater, a couple light sweaters to layer, a pair of boots and a pair of sneakers. I do have a skirt and blouse for court as well.. Basically, if you choose outfits that can be coordinated in several ways, you are good to go! And, believe me when I tell you no one will notice you wore the same thing a few days before!

Some other things you will want to bring:

1. Slippers - Our flats have been pretty warm but slippers help too.
2. Can opener - Our flat has the ration can type that resembles a bottle opener. We have not been able to find any other kind in the stores. :o(
3. Baggies! - There are NO Ziploc baggies here. Bring them with you-you won't regret it! Great for leftovers when cooking at "home."
4. WARM gloves - These are essential

5. Mini-flashlight - To help when a breaker has tripped (Yes! It can and did happen thanks to yours truly. Found out the first day in our flat in Gorlovka that I can't run the washer and hot water pot at the same time. Ugh!)
This will also help when lighting the oven. There are no pilot lights or electronic ignition on the stoves. In our current flat, there is a gas valve you turn on when you want to cook and then you turn it off when you're done. And I have only seen one microwave at Slavik's at DCU.
6. Heavy socks - I have been wearing two pairs of socks at a time every day since we've been in Ukraine.

If I come up with any other suggestions, I will let you know!

Mamachia

2-11-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-11T13:27:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Another Day in Madagascar

2008-02-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

Today we slept in till after 10:00. I straightened up the flat a little bit, washed a load of clothes & re-organized my suitcase. I just had to give in to my cleaning bug. LOL

Before long it was time to go see the girls & we were put in that "little room" again. Ugh! (I finally got a picture of it today. Looks inviting, huh? Yeah. My thoughts too.)

We texted the girls this morning to have a good day at school but didn't get our usual reply. :o( When we asked if they got our message, they said they had and just looked at each other. Rymma then fessed up that Julia had called a wrong number to add a ringtone she wanted & used up her time on the phone card. We did get her another one later this evening & she was a happy camper-she has the right number to call for the ringtone now. :o) John told her that he had scratched the number on the back of one of his cards too hard that he can't read the first 3 numbers to use it. They both got a kick out of that!

John asked what they learned in school today. Their answer: nothing. Typical. LOL The girls thanked us again for the market run last night & said they had a great dinner with their friends. I can't even begin to imagine how much they are going to miss having dinner with their friends when we return home. They are one big family.

After much "small talk" and asking if there was anywhere they wanted to go or anything they wanted to do., Julia finally asked to go to the pizza shop. Rymma & Julia decided to try a different kind of pizza this time-with crab & fish! YAK! And that is what Rymma thought of it too after she saw it & tasted it. The look on her face was priceless. Snarled up nose & all. (It had crab, shrimp & some other kind of salty fish. I imagine we'll get the same look when she tries new things when we get home too.) She told Olga that the crab tasted different warmed up & she didn't think it would smell so fishy! Olga told her, "You ordered it!" LOL John told her to take the pizza ouside to cool the crab! LOL Both girls ate one slice each and John ate 3 slices. The girls then ate a piece each of our pizza &, of course, chips.

Julia and John played a game of air hockey & Julia threw in the towel when he beat her. She then asked me to play. Maybe she thought I would be an easy win for her! I beat her first game & she beat me second game. Both were good games-no holds barred on either one.. But she definitely hates to lose!!
Before leaving, we shopped for a gift for their hairdresser & bought them some Valentine cards for their friends. When we got back to the orphanage, we got to see Christina for just a minute. :o) It was good night hugs & kisses all around.

Tonight we texted the girls: "Good night, Rymma & Julia. Tell Nastya, Ilena, Christina, Marina, Ina & Vica good night too. Love Mama & Papa." (Vica is Rymma's roommate. We just found out today that she has been in the hospital with measles and being released today. This explained why we haven't seen her since last week.)

We stopped at the grocery store on the way "home" for some essentials-TP, bath soap, bath gel (for me!), dish soap, bread, pop & some other misc foods (i.e., sweets. Shhhh!)

We are having company tomorrow so I cleaned the bathroom, swept the floors & vacuumed the rug. It felt like home-in a good way-& I had a feeling of accomplishment when I was done. "Consuela"-what John calls me when I get on one of my cleaning frenzies at home-took the rest of the night off and took a nice hot shower. Ahhh!

Our company tomorrow is Andrei & Anya from. Yevpatoria where John & several men from our church met them while doing missions work at Dyetsky Dom in October 2OO6. We are looking forward to spending the day with them & Helen has given us permission to bring them to the orphanage to meet Rymma & Julia. :o) Andrei & Anya have 6 adopted children from Ukraine & 2 biological children so they have a heart for kids too!! :o)

2-10-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-10T16:02:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Standing In The Son's Light

2008-02-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

When we got up this morning we didn't know just how much the Son was shining on our day. And we got a little bit of the sunlight too!! YEAH!!

I know that God is hearing all your prayers and it is so neat to see Him at work answering them. John got a full night's sleep last night! Amen! He really needed it. Thank you!!

My husband surprised me this morning by making me breakfast. He makes a wicked omelet and it was yummy! And he did a great job cleaning up afterwards. Thanks, Honey! :o)

We ventured out in public without Olga again this afternoon-going a little further this time to the grocery store and then to the pizza shop. We were on a hunt for a movie in Russian for the girls to watch. We did find Rambo and Die Hard - not so great choices. No movie but we took advantage of getting a few groceries while we were there and heading "home." (We did end up finding more of the awesome lemon cookies at the pizza place! Mmm!)

When we returned from the stores, we texted Olga to call us a cab. She told us she slept well last night (she watched a scary movie the night before and had nightmares-silly girl!) and that her body was aching all over. No doubt from trying to stay up on her ice skates yesterday!!

We met up with the girls around 3:00. Julia was all smiles and full of hugs and kisses today! :o) She was another ray of sunshine in our day!

We asked if they wanted to watch a movie with their friends. We got permission to use the playroom and soon Nastya, Ilena and Marina joined us. Whille waiting for John to set up the DVD, the girls took all kinds of pics. We had fun with the pyramid one!! We all laid on the floor to watch Pirates 2, shared a bag of chips and crab, and John gave Julia one of his infamous back and leg/foot rubs and she LOVED it (Sorry, Nieci! :o).

About 3/4 of the way through the movie, Christina joined us. The movie was secondary after that! LOL It was girly silliness from then on! :o)

After much frustration in Rymma trying to tell us something about going to the little market up the street, we ended up calling Olga. We got it all straightened out and took all the girls to the market with us. The girls bought snacks to eat together after we left. Christina and I walked back arm-in-arm and pointing to the ice on the street she asked me, "You have in America?" "Da. We have in America." :o) This is just one example of the innocence of these girls.

Earlier, Christina had come from her room with a photo album (our girls had bought it for her). On the front, she has a small picture of her mother, a pic of a friend in America and our first pic with Rymma and Julia. WOW ... What an honor to be on the cover. She showed us pictures of herself when she was younger, family pictures, ones of trips she has taken to Odessa (another area of DonetsK) and Italy where she was hosted a couple of years ago, and pics of friends who are now in America. We are truly honored that she shared these with us..

At the market, she got a sad look on her face and asked me if Rymma and Julia would be going to America in February. I told her that we have court on Friday, that we don't know when we will leave but it looks like it will be in February. She simply looked down in sadness. :o( It is going to be bittersweet for ALL of us when our time to leave comes. All of the girls are very special to us.

As we said our good nights to all the girls, Julia totally surprised me! She gave me a big, bear hug and kiss and would cut back in line for more!!! And all the while smiling and giggling! It was GREAT!!!! I loved it!!!

Christina gave me a huge hug bye and looked at me with such sadness in her eyes that I had to look away to hide the tears that welled up in my own eyes. I know she feels a strong connection too. It's very obvious in her eyes, her smles, and her hugs.

God is at work here in Gorlovka with these girls who have become so very special to us. We don't know His plans but we do know that He is definitely in our midst and He is calling on us for a purpose here.

Just for Uncle Bob! :o)

2008-02-10T13:22:00.000-05:00

Since we know you don't like my "too much to read" recaps of what happens from day-to-day, we leave you with our Cliff Notes version:

Today was good. (add manly grunt!)

LOL
John Boy & Mamachia

Religion & Ice skating

2008-02-10T06:08:00.001-05:00

Greetings all,
I did not notice before yesterday the parallel between Christ and Ice skating. How's so?

I see it this way...
That Christ is always around but too many times we only reach for Him when we are in need of Him instead of simply reaching out for Him at anytime.
Every time I skated around the rink, one of my daughters or Olga reached for me, yet they didn't want to let go of the wall. How many times do we do this ourselves? We want to follow Christ but are too afraid to get off the wall and go with the Father. Wow! What a simple, powerful lesson a simple thing as ice skating can be? That we can have fun with our Father and let go of things we don't need to hold onto any more and have our faith through Him! What fun! :-)

As I skated yesterday I was truly thankful for simples things: 1- a simple coloring from Julia that said she and Rymma loved mama n papa. 2- Yesterday was the first time Julia kissed me on my cheek time on her own. 3- that I take for granted too many simple things that I don't appreciate enough. Things like playing with my kids. My girls have not had opportunities like our other children. Yesterday at pizza @ the mall, Helena asked what was wrong with the girls.. I think they were on overload because they never done things like that before. 4- a simple thing like a bumper car ride I had done 100 times at least. Rymma had no clue how to get the car going. The lady told her to spin the wheel and she did but pretty much just staying in a small circle the length of the ride. They don't know how to swim or ride a bike.

This is a blessing in one respect. The aspect of being able to show them and teach them these simple things. I look forward to spring time and getting out on bicycles. It's almost like the opportunity to relive part of their childhood and form some great memories. I lie awake at night sleepless over wondering what has happened to them in their past. Rymma has bite marks on her cheek from being attacked by a dog when she was around 2 yrs old. The majority of the girls here have scars on their faces and it shudders my imagination of how they got them.

The most memorable memory for me yesterday was this: On the trip back to the orphanage, Rymma curled up against me to sleep and Julia leaned up against my arm around Rymma and fell asleep. Of course, Chia was already out leaning on Julia.. But it was the first time I truly felt that everyone was comfortable and was FAMILY.

Yesterday was also a painful day to me. For Anya it was her 15th birthday. I wanted nothing more than to sneak her home with us. I wanted to make her birthday something special. Yet, she was not allowed to go with us for something-she got in trouble the other day. :-( But it was so painful to me for this reason. A birthday is a time to celebrate ... not so for Anya. It is a clock ticking louder and louder that she is now 364 days and counting down to her ability of being adopted prior to her 16th birthday. This is something I truly wish that no more children here have to experience! We have already met 2 other friends of Rymma n Julia who are 16 & 17 and have missed a chance at forever family. And what even saddens me more is the fact that they are great young ladies! They are special and I know it is not their fault! It breaks my heart and I know how much more Jesus loves these girls. My prayer for them is to rise up out of this and have a bright and safe future.

Thank you to our Lord, Jesus Christ. He has brought us here for His purpose and His reason. I am humbled that I can follow Him and reach for Him at ANY TIME and not just when I am on the wall and afraid to let go!

Agape,
John

2-9-08 Pics of the day- Donetsk

2008-02-09T14:34:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Day 16 - Not your typical taxi ride-unless you're in Ukraine!

2008-02-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

Today started out rushed. Olga told us last night that she would be picking us up around 9:35-9:40. She texted us around 9:20 saying she would be here in 5 minutes!! I told John, "She can't do that to an American girl!" He just rolled his eyes and said, "Better get movin'!" LOL I still needed to fix my hair, brush my teeth, get dressed and put on my face paint. But I did it and we got out to the cab in record time. :o)

Every morning John texts the girls when we reach their street to let them know we are arriving. They are usually in the main hall waiting for us but this morning we were greeted by Anya and Nastya on their way out. Anya thanked us for her birthday "tort" & said it was delicious. The girls came down within minutes & Julia handed us a drawing of a bear holding a heart & saying, "I love you Mama end Papa." What a special gift! It now joins Tim's cross picture on our fridge but will find a permanent home in a frame on our wall when we get home.

We took a taxi into Donetsk. I am not sure how fast we were going on the highway. I couldn't see the speedometer. All I know is I felt like a participant in NASCAR or Indy!! (John later told me he was going around 120 kph.)

The driver pretty much stayed on the center line the whole way, moving aside only to let other "racers" pass. At one point, he passed a car in the left berm, just avoiding a crater of a pothole. He also loves to swerve (violently) to miss potholes BTW. UGH!

We finally reached DCU & Slavik took us on a mini-tour of the campus. We got to see where Shauna taught last summer. Gail, I took a pic of Slavik at his desk for you! He said you didn't get to see it when you were here. :o)We met his wife, Oksana, & their children, Helena, Alberto, and another son & Slavik's father who is visiting.

We also met Casey-the cat. This cat falls asleep on anyone within minutes. It's too funny! I wanted to keep her but Helena wouldn't let me. (Gail, Slavik also talked of your love for animals & asked about (Abby) and Arizona. :o)

We headed to town to an indoor skating rink-passing "Shauna's AMCTOP." :o)-a store she frequented while she was here.

The taxi ride was very crowded. The driver and Olga were in front. Julia on my lap, Helena on John's lap and poor Rymma squished in the middle. (We definitely couldn't have done this had John and I not lost weight!!!) It felt like the VW loaded with clowns at the circus!

At the rink, John, Olga and the girls skated while I took pics and video. They had a lot of fun. Julia didn't do too bad this time. John, Rymma and Helena did very well. And Olga ... well, this was her first time skating and let's just say that in the hunting world, she would be considered a "tree hugger." LOL She pretty much stayed up against the wall. But, hey! I would be doing the same thing!!

A "guard" kept asking me something and wouldn't you know it ... my PT was too cold to work. Hmph! I finally just told him, "Nyet Russki." (No Russian.) Thank goodness Olga came over and all he wanted was to see my ticket to skate. She told him I was not skating and he was fine after that. I have to say that it was very surreal trying to communicate with the guard and couldn't.

I took pics and video till my toes couldn't stand it any more-they were so cold, they stung. I went to the cafe and ordered a cappuccini (by myself! YEAH!) and defrosted while they finished up.

It was on to the pizza place! (Told you we'd probably go to both. :o) This pizza place was a more upscale Chuck E. Cheese with a Toys-R-Us type store you have to walk thru to get to it. (Can anyone say "marketing ploy?" LOL) This is the same place that Bob and Gail took Natasha. last year. We had 3 medium-sized, thin crust pizzas, 2 side salads, a dessert (tiramisu for me! YUM!), 6 bottled sodas and 4 bowls of ice cream for $154G-or around $40 USD. Not bad, huh? Can you imagine what that would cost at US CEC???

The kids played some games-duck tipping (practice for cow tipping when we get home! LOL), a Duck Hunt type game, DDR, skee ball, motorcycle video game and rode bumper cars. Rymma loved the motorcycle game. I just know she's going to be a Harley girl! LOL (She got big eyed last year when she saw John's dirt bike. She doesn't know we sold it for her and Julia's adoptions.)

The ride back to DCU to take Helena home was quite eventful. According to John (who could see out the right side of the car), our driver cut off another taxi (I think it's part of their behind-the-wheel exam when they get their license!!) and then that taxi cut us off and slammed his brakes. Not fun!! There was no accident-thank God. The next thing we know the drivers are outside the vehicles in each other's face. Our driver yelled something and the other driver walked away and left. Whew! Not something you would want to witness-especially with kids in the car. I am hoping that is what our driver told the other one before he took off.

We dropped off Helena-She is a great girl!! She definitely won my heart! NATASHA, Helena said to tell you, "Hello." Got a couple pics w Slavik's family & left to take the girls back before or on time. It was nice on the ride home. The girls snuggled w/us & we girls dozed off-a wonderful ending to a great day!!

We are now "home" & John is uploading the pics before heading to bed. John hasn't slept well the last couple of nights. :o( It doesn't help that there is construction going on in the flat next to us at all hours. Ugh!). Please pray for him to get some well-needed rest.

2-8-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-08T13:17:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Day 15 - A Lot on Mamachia's Mind

2008-02-08T13:15:00.001-05:00

I apologize in advance for the long post - I have a lot on my mind today as you will see toward the end..

I have to share this first - a couple of mornings ago, John looked out our bedroom window and said, "I wonder what the forecast is for today. Oh, look! It's 'drismal' again." I wonder if we could copyright it or whatever as a new meteorological term meaning "dreary and dismal." We have not seen sunshine since arriving in Gorlovka last Weds. :o(

************************
Today was a relaxing-and thought-provoking-day. It started out with a visit from Slavik to our flat. We have spoken to him on the phone and e-mailed but just met him today. He is a very nice man and we had a great visit with him and his friend, Alexander. We exchanged a gift for his daughter and gifts for his friends back home. ;o)

We arrived to see the girls after school and got to wish Anya a happy birthday-she turned 15 today. When we showed Rymma the cake we got her, she told Olga, "That is the exact cake I wanted." :o) Anya gave us a BIG smile and said, "Thank you," when we presented it to her. The girls had given her her gift earlier in the day-nail polish, mascara and a candle.

There were a couple boys playing table tennis in a back hallway and we ended up playing for a while. Julia has great hand-eye coordination. She did great! I think Rymma, Olga and I chased the ball more than we hit the doggone thing!
Even Helen played a couple rounds-she's the blonde in the pics.

Anya brought all of us some unshelled sunflower seeds. She about went nuts when she saw me eat the shell and all. "No!" She had Olga tell me I could get appendicitis from eating the shells. Don't know if it's an old wive's tale or true but I continued to eat them anyway. The rest of them only ate the nut inside!

We were able to give Helen her gift today. We told her it was a thank you for taking such good care of our daughters. She liked it very much and said she would use them for tea - green tea is very popular here.

We wanted to take Anya to dinner at the cafe to celebrate her birthday but Helen said no. :o( Not sure why. Not our place to ask. Anya was not a happy camper, let me tell you! We did bring her back some chips and chocolate.

We had a nice dinner. We all walked away with full bellies. The funny part of it is that Olga asked us if we wanted ice cream with fruit for dessert. We told her, "Let's wait until after we eat dinner" meaning "Let's see how full we are after we eat our dinner." The next thing John and I know there's a bowl of ice cream and fruit in front of each of us! Rymma and Olga had already had a bowl each so they couldn't help us out. Julia helped me a little with the fruit but John and I were stuck eating our two bowls. Olga was very apologetic for the misunderstanding. :o) They were very good but we were completely stuffed at the end. Needless to say, we have not eaten anything since dinner.

Tomorrow we will be going to Donetsk to visit Slavik and his family at DCU. The girls have a couple of places we can go-indoor ice skating or another Chuck E. Cheese style place. Not sure what they'll pick. Could be both if we have time. :o) Olga told us that the girls will probably get little sleep due to their excitement about tomorrow. Julia told her she wished it were tomorrow already when we took them back. We are excited about tomorrow too!

A few of Mamachia's thoughts:

1. It saddens John and me to know that Anya has basically one more year in the orphanage. We were very disappointed that we couldn't take her to dinner and make this one special for her. I really wanted to have party plates, balloons and cake and ice cream for her like we do at home but it wasn't to be. :o(

2. As I sit here, I am feeling more and more guilty for having enjoyed the ice cream at the cafe. It should have been Anya enjoying it-not me.

3. It hurts me to think that these kids have basically nowhere to go for fun around the orphanage but the sparse playground outside in good weather, the skating rink down the street if there is ice or the small pizza place in town-and both the rink and pizza shop are not places they visit often. Our kids at home have a plethora of places from which to choose and still can't decide or we get the "that's boring" line. They have no clue.

4. As the boys played table tennis, I wondered what other things they do to occupy their time besides study their lessons and then I think of all the toys that Timmy has and what these boys would do to be so lucky.

God has opened my eyes and my heart for these children more than I could have ever imagined and my heart weeps for those we will be leaving behind. I see the neighborhood around the orphanage and I want a life for them with loving families, with beautiful surroundings and more opportunities than they could possibly imagine. I want them to have birthday parties with all the hoopla and to wake up Christmas morning with twinkles in their eyes (not the expressionless eyes of the boys we saw today) and to know the love of a mother and father who love them beyond comprehension. I want them to know their Heavenly Father who watches over them and created them in His image.

For our short time here, we have vowed to our Father and to these wonderful children to love them as He does - to love on them unconditionally and let them know that they are very special to us. We want to be Heaven-bringers!

Court Date. FINALLY-"I have some good news and some not-so-good news..."

2008-02-07T15:03:00.001-05:00

A stopped by our flat this evening to drop off some things. She told us that we FINALLY have our court date-the good news! The not-so-good news is it's NEXT Friday (2/15) at noon. That's 3 weeks after we left home.

She also told us that it is almost next to impossible to get the 10 days waived. Keep praying!!

Agape,
John & Lucia

ESL 101

2008-02-07T14:56:00.001-05:00

"English as a Second Language 101"

God bless Olga!! As soon as we got to the orphanage, she asked for permission to use the playroom!! YES!!
Today we spent some time going over some English words-animals, fruits, vegetables, items in a room (ie, chair, lamp, table ...), actions (sit, play, jump, ...). When they said an animal's name, they had John make that animals sound. They loved his pig squeal and elephant call. Does anyone know the sound made by a giraffe?? LOL

The girls totally impressed us with their pronunciations. Julia even read very short poems. My only question is "does she know what she's reading or simply saying the words?" It seems to me and from watching them today that they know more than they let on. But, as anyone learning a foreign language knows, it will take some time, self-confidence and much studying to learn and feel comfortable enough to use it.

We also did a sort of flashcards. Olga had copied the pictures from the book and made cards of each picture. The girls then had to name the picture as they were able. Again, they did very well! Olga is going to get us a copy of the same book or a similar one for home.

After studying a while, they-meaning the girls AND Olga! LOL- got restless and decided to exert some pent up energy. So they played a game of indoor soccer with a stuffed soccer ball. Rymma set up goals on either side of the room and they went to town. It was Rymma and Olga vs. Julia and John. We found that Julia hates to lose and Rymma will cheat to win! LOL Rymma would carry the ball to J&J's goal and throw it in to get a point! At one pt, she threw the ball between her legs and got a point! Too funny! These girls are definitely competitive!

The girls have already distributed all their gifts but 3 - 2 for friends and one for a caretaker (it makes me happy that they care enough to gift their caretakers). They told us they distributed them together. Rymma also told us that Anya's birthday is tomorrow and they will give her her gift then and asked if we would get her a birthday cake. Of course! (We got one at the market on the way "home." It's beautifully decorated! Will get a pic tomorrow.)

We went to dinner at the cafe. We were going to take Ina and Anya with us but because they missed school today, they weren't permitted to go. (At home, it's the same-miss school; miss other outings :o) It's nice to see that same rule is applied at the orphanage.). I tried the chicken/mushroom/cheese dish that Julia usually gets and it was YUMMY!! The girls had crab salad and a cold veggie soup. Just about the time Julia was done with her soup, she mentioned that it possibly had vinegar in it. I tasted it and it had a little. Not too long after that, Julia excused herself and got sick. :o( I had noticed earlier that she was pale but she denied that she didn't feel well. -- You can see it in her eyes in the pics :o(

We took them back and said goodnight. We told Julia that we hope she feels better and told them that we would see them tomorrow. I wish we could have brought them home with us and cared for Julia at "home" but that wasn't possible. :o(

2-7-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-07T14:00:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Hurry Up & Wait!

2008-02-07T05:28:00.000-05:00

To those of you asking about our court date:

Lord knows we are TRYING to get it! We were told yesterday that the judge who usually works with A is ill - has been since we've been here!. A has contacted a prosecutor friend hoping to push the docket through or at least get a judge assignment. We are also still awaiting the SDA's conclusion as well.

BELIEVE ME! We are just as anxious to get it as all of you! :o)

Mamachia

Day 13-"Goodnight, Mama and Papa. See you tomorrow."

2008-02-06T20:47:00.000-05:00

As I may have mentioned before, there are a lot of stray cats and dogs everywhere. Just outside of our flat this afternoon while waiting for Olga, there were 15 dogs and 2 cats around the apts and dumpsters. There are at least that many daily as we drive down the road to the orphanage. It's sad really.

We greeted the girls and gave each of them a red carnation. Rymma asked if it was real! LOL They took their flowers to their rooms and we left to go shopping when they returned.

We went to a "dept store" - more like an indoor flea market (vendors with all kinds of wares in their own little area). I imagine this is the same dept store Olga mentioned to that is very expensive. Most areas were women's clothing, boots, coats. (NOT a place to take Mamachia! LOL). I found a purse I liked for $600G/$120USD and a pair of boots for $855G/$171USD. I didn't dare ask the price of the short fur coat I fell in love with. Needless to say, Mamachia did not buy anything for herself.

On the other hand, the girls were able to find some more gifts for their friends. The gifts they picked were not what we "Americans" would choose for a going away/remembrance gift. Rather, they picked bottles of nail polish, mascara, headbands, candles. Rymma got upset at one point when Olga told her no to some expensive jewelry and she didn't have much fun after that. I was able to find a very.nice cup and saucer set-2 each-for the orphanage director and had it gift-wrapped. (about $10 USD total)

We did find "The Mummy", "Cars" and "Shrek 3" DVDs in Russian but they didn't want them.

We left the dept store and went to "our market." The girls were able to finish there shopping there. They got more bath and body stuff, stuffed animals, socks, brushes, boy's soaps and shampoos!, and other things. Julia got herself 2 pairs of socks (she has worn the same pair since last Weds.). After shopping here, Rymma perked up. :o)

We gave them a choice of the cafe or pizza for dinner-PIZZA! Of course. Rymma had crab salad, Julia a piece of fried chicken, I had chicken with cheese/mushrooms and veg salad. We shared a pizza and chips. We all had ice cream for dessert. YUMMY!

As we walked them back inside, Julia told Olga that it was a good meal and that when they eat with us they are too full to eat supper at the orphanage (which is usually around the time we bring them back-7:00).
We said our goodnights and headed "home."

Olga is going to bring some books with her tomorrow to start some English with them. We'll see how that goes! :o)

We are hoping to get permission from Helen to take them into Donetsk this weekend for a day to visit Slavik and his wife at Donetsk Christian University where Shauna taught this past summer and friends of Bob and Gail who helped us get our flat in Kiev with Lyuda. We are also hoping to get in some sights.

8:32pm - We just got a text message from the girls!!! "Goodnight, Mama and Papa. See you tomorrow." How cool is that!!??

Many of the kids in the orphanage have cell phones provided by family. Julia has one from her uncle. We have text messaged the girls several times and they love getting them! As we were leaving the pizza shop, we. bought Julia a phone card so they could text us.. She was one happy camper! :o)

Reflections

2008-02-06T16:35:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Ukraine!

I thought I would mention some things I have noticed after being here in Gorlovka for a week now.

- No new construction have I seen in entire trips around the city. If I would guess the housing and vast majority of the buildings are 1960s or older.

- I feel I am in a time warp. Almost every baby buggy looks like from the 50's. (Back to the Future???) I keep looking for Emmitt Brown and the Dolorean to pull around the corner.

-Haven't seen one sporting goods store, no Gander Mountain, no Lowe's or Home Depot. (In other words, no stores for men here!)

- No peanut butter!

- I have come to the conclusion that the taxi driver thinks 2 things when we get into his car.
1st observation- that the driver believes the faster he gets us to destination, the more we will tip him. This explains why they drive on the sidewalks! (I wish I were joking!) Why do I think this?? Because we are normally leading the pack.
2nd observation-that the driver wants to please us by playing American music which normally is RAP and driver doesn't seem to understand why Johnny is in such a hurry to leave said cab upon arrival at destination.

- Ukraine Chuck E. Cheese- I find it strange and almost amusing that they sell pitchers of beer to the parents while the kids play. Seems like by end of visit, everyone is a little too happy-if you know what I mean. Hopefully they are walking home or taking a taxi!

- Tongue Tied!-Goodness! I find myself mixing Korean, Spanish and Russian words either together or instead of-I think it would be much easier to take my right index finger and rub it quickly on my lips making a mumbling sound!

Now that I have addressed the humorous things, here are practical things I ponder and praise God for...

- I am in zero control! God is in the pilot seat and I am in the co-pilot seat and I am just enjoying the ride with the Father.

- That salami sandwiches every day for lunch for a week gets old. Then I think about my daughters here that have had no choice for past 6 years and I thank God for salami and not something else I have no clue.

- Every day we go outside to wait for the cab. We see people going through the garbage and eating before our eyes. Again, I thank God for salami or a cooked meal in our flat.

- I have wanted to take them bread to feed them but am afraid I will offend them or hurt their pride by approaching them. Have even considered throwing good bread away on top so that they can find it. I find God touching me on homelessness even over here!

- That a simple hug and a smile can melt a man"s heart. The fact that these are from friends of my daughters makes no difference to me. These kids have no FATHER figure in their lives. I will take a hug from them ANYTIME!

- That a simple text message that says- Goodnight, Mama and Papa. See you tomorrow-.makes my heart grow and any communication with ANY of my kids is a blessing!

- There are kids here trapped in a system that they can't do anything about. Meaning-I have seen kids here that can't be adopted because the parent hasn't lost parental rights but they are a ward of the state. So they can't leave! IT BREAKS MY HEART!

- That in one short week the bond is growing between us and Julia. That a simple thing to papa is her holding her hand while we walk to the store.

- That Jesus is on the move and in our midst here. That a simple thing like holding hands at Ukraine Chuck E. Cheese and saying grace as a FAMILY just like we do anywhere we eat out at home has impact on people around us.

- It is my wish to be a blessing to the kids here. It would be humbling to be mistaken for Jesus in loving on these kids.

- It just puts my mind in overload when the other children here see us with Rymma and Julia. I wonder-what do they think? Do we give them hope? Or do we cause them depression because they have not found a forever family? But these 2 things I do know:. 1- That Jesus truly loves these kids and wants them to know Him as their Father;. 2- That God isn't finished here yet with Lucia and I. Here I am Lord, send me.

Perhaps I can open a Home Depot over here.. (Oh, humor from last year's trip here to those who don't know me!)

Agape,

John

2-5-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-06T05:34:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Day 12 - Market Day

2008-02-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, we got brave today. We walked to the market by ourselves this morning! It's about 4 blocks from our flat. The good news ... We survived without incident :o) and I got some AMAZING lemon creme cookies! Yummy!
We headed to the consular's office with Olga around 12:30 to pick up their conclusion to submit to the court and SDA. It was comical to watch as employees went from door to door in the hallway-guess you really needed to be there to truly experience the humor. I also noticed that the "dress code" seems to be black skirt and black boots. I think the Ukrainian dress code is blue jeans or black skirt with really cool boots. :o)
Afterwards, we dropped Olga at home and continued on to see Rymma and Julia. Christina and Nastya joined us in the playroom to watch Pirates of the Carribean and eat chips but they quickly became bored. They ended up having a ball fight with John! All the girls really got into it! As John was putting away the laptop, the girls played indoor volleyball with an inflatable ball. Good times! Of course, I was the one taking pics and video.
We took them all to the market up the street. On the way there, Rymma told us we didn't have to pay. John told her "papa pay" and she got a big smile on her face and said "ok." :o)
The girls got chips and chocolate - of course! - crabmeat, mayo, bread, salami, and 2 big bottles of Sprite to share. They share EVERYTHING! Julia and I shared an ice cream bar on the walk back. Mmmm!
As we approached the building, Rymma noticed a kitten. But of course she immediately went to it-she loves cats! She opened the stick of salami and gave some to the kitten who devoured it. I wanted to bring the kitten home.
We took the girls inside and said goodnight so they could do their homework (we got there just as they returned from school) and so they could eat their snacks. There were hugs and kisses all around! These are so great!!!

P.S. No news on our court date yet. :o(

2-4-08 Pics of the day

2008-02-04T14:19:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Day 11-Chuck E. Cheese Ukrainian-Style

2008-02-04T14:08:00.000-05:00

When we arrived today, Ina and Christina came bounding down the stairs for us to help them with an English paper on "American Families." We helped them with their paper and joked around with them while waiting for Rymma and Julia. They are such great girls!
John hid around the corner and scared Rymma and Julia when they entered "the little room." Ina and Christina cracked up!
Rymma wasn't feeling. She didn't go to school today to go to the hospital for immunizations and they were upsetting her tummy. It was nice to see Julia's interaction with Rymma when she knelt in front her, held her hands and talked quietly to her in a concerned voice. We talked more about school and asked if we could see their school and meet their teacher. Olga said it can be arranged and that we will get a copy of their transcripts when all is done. The room got very quiet when we asked about their grades but quickly lightened up when I told them I got failing grades in PE and math. (no kidding.)
We showed the polaroid pics that John Moores had taken of our youth group. Olga translated the captions-Hello! Welcome to America! We can't wait to meet you! We love you! WAY COOL! The girls enjoyed getting them and I pointed out their sister, Sabrina, in one of them. :o) Thanks, John!!!
We asked the girls if there was anything they wanted to do. Nyet. We mentioned the pizza shop and at first said no but quickly changed their minds-as girls do! So it was off to the pizza shop!
We ate pizza, crab chips, different salads and later shared a jello dessert (1 dessert; 4 spoons :o) John and the girls played air hockey. John beat Rymma but she held her own for a while. That's my girl! Julia is getting better. :o)
Rymma had asked if they could shop for gifts for their friends. There is a little market in the pizza shop-who knew? LOL They picked out a few things-bath and body stuff, hair clips. Rymma got a really cute purse I was eyeing. So now she has the white boots AND the purse I liked! It only proves that she has great taste like her Mama! ;o)
There was a stuffed cow and John couldn't pass up an opportunity to tease Julia. (see yesterday's post) She said she is never eating beef tongue again. LOL
While Olga and I waited in line to order dessert, I watched the girls with John. It was fun to watch them sit on his lap, pose for pics, give him bunny ears. (I see a digital camera in Julia's future-she LOVES to take pics!)
Too quickly it was time to head back. We walked the girls inside and said goodnight with hugs and kisses.
I just can't wait for the day when they won't have to go back to their rooms at the orphanage after a great time!

2-3-08 Sunday

2008-02-03T15:14:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

She's got my eyes...

2008-02-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings all,
It's Sunday and sadly we did not locate a local Christian church to attend today. Other than that it was yet another GOOD day! This is the 2nd night I have actually slept the entire night. Praise God!

Today was a very good day and reminds me of the Visa commercials at home.

Chocolate bars- 28 gry
Dinner- 240 gry
Dinner with your 2 new daughters and FOUR of their best friends...
PRICELESS!!! (BTW that was apprx $50 dollars for 9 people to eat!)

Today was spent with our daughters and their friends. We met up with the girls around 12:30 and took them all out for lunch @ cafe across the street. It was so much fun! It was also fun to see the girls interact with their friends. Everyone really had a good time at lunch. So far every meal we have there the girls ALWAYS order chips & chocolate bars with their meal. Rymma was concerned that they wouldn't have enough chocolate bars for all the girls. We reassured her that if they did run out that we would stop @ corner market for some on way back to orphange.

Watching the girls is an experience in itself. They share everything. So if one gets a different chip they will try one of theirs and give the other girl one of their own chips to replace the one they took. Same thing with drinks; they would try the others and the other had theirs. It was almost comical to watch. The one who stole the show today was Julia. GOODNESS GRACIOUS! This girl can eat! I am thinking about entering her in those hot dog eating contests...IF that little Japanese lady could win so could Julia! She ate her usual chicken, mushroom and cheese, and plate of shrimp and some of Marnina's food, some of Rymma's food, some of papa's food. And the kicker... She ordered a plate of beef tongue that nearly sent Mamachia over the edge. Especially when I tried it! (Tastes like chicken... Hahaha) she didn't eat it all but it was funny watching the other girls eat it. Rymma tried, gagged and said FOO! (Means yucky or don't like) and put it back on the plate. Christina ate hers but you could tell she was not happy with the taste. Some of the other girls ate it and liked it. We told Julia that was probably the last time she would ever have it. That if she wanted it again she would have to chase down one of the cows in the field at our home and cut the tongue out herself if she wanted it. That comment made the table roar with laughter.

The girls ate till they were almost sick and Olga said it is unusual for them to be that full. Another reason to count my blessings: we always have enough food on our table and 5 deer in the freezer. Didn't know I needed to save the deer tongue! (Who knew?) Afterwards we took the leftovers and the tongue.... back for the dog at the orphanage to eat. Was funny because before lunch we saw the dog and it wouldn't come near Chia or me. But AFTER we fed her she came right up to us. Go figure. Oh, before I forget I ran out of color ink printing off pics last night. Changing the ink, I busted the catch that holds it in place. So unless I MacGyver something quick all prints will be black n white. Bummer!

During lunch the girls were all talking about Lucia and me and how excited they were for Rymma and Julia that we were going to be their parents. Then they said something so simple yet the truth that it almost made me lose my composure at the table. Christina looked at me and looked into my eyes. Then she looked into Rymma's eyes. She did the same to Lucia and Julia. She looked at me again and told Olga. "Rymma has same eyes and hair as Papa" then she said " Julia has the same eyes and hair as mama, can you believe this?"

My response was this:. Christina we were meant to be Rymma and Julia's papa and mama,. This simple statement by Christina made me more aware of God's hand in this entire process. We did not choose our daughters over hair and eye color. But I have green eyes (sometimes blue) and light brown hair and Rymma has green eyes and light brown hair. Lucia has brown eyes and dark brown hair. Julia has the same. So it won't be hard for our daughters to fit in. They ALREADY do!

So again, I am humbled and amazed by our Father who has brought on this journey so far from home. To allow us to touch 2 young ladies and to touch their friends in ways thay we cannot imagine. Tonight at dinner Lucia and I were amazed at all these children here. I can honestly say that not one girl here yet we have met would we not add to our family if we have the chance again. Another thing we picked up on at lunch is that the girls trade outfits with each other. We saw girls wearing Rymma's outfit from yesterday and Rymma wearing the outfit the other girl wore yesterday!

So after lunch we went back to orphange and went up to 2nd floor again. 2nd floor is 4-8 year olds, I believe. Just seeing the liitle girls poke their heads out to smile at us going down the hall was a blessing and a heartache all in one. So we got to place little kids again in the boxed-in corner full of plastic balls like they use to have at Discovery Zone like at home. Except I didn't run into these daughters like I did Sabrina when she was younger and split her chin. Sorry Brini! :o( So we played and they buried Christina with the balls. I then got out the laptop and the girls picked the Mummy to watch. So we had a fun time watching that. I had fun teasing Christina at the scary parts ;-) The movie was over and it was time to say our goodbyes. It seems harder and harder each time to say it to them. But bonds are being built and you can feel it in their hugs and kisses that the love is growing between us.

Agape,
John

Doing What Girls Do Best

2008-02-02T13:13:00.001-05:00

Amen! John was finally able to get a full night's sleep! :o)

We left for the orphanage at 10:00. On the way there, Olga asked if we had brought any clothes for the girls. Nyet. We didn't know what size to get and figured we would get them a few things here. She suggested an outfit each for court. She went on to say that when they leave the orphanage, they have only the clothes they are wearing and any gifts or souvenirs from camps or visits to other countries. All other items remain at the orphanage.

We arrived around 10:20 or so and were again greeted with smiles, hugs and kisses! :o) and they were quick to show us their nail stickers.

We went to the pizza shop that was like a Discovery Zone from back in the day-play area, air hockey, place to eat pizza. The pizza was really good-more of a cream cheese kinda sauce and not tomato sauce. Ver different but good. John found Lay's chips in crab flavor. Believe it or not ... They are good! So we ate pizza and John and Rymma whooped Julia and me at air hockey. :o(

It was on to what girls do best-SHOP! We opted to go to smaller shops rather than the dept store. The first boutique had only a small select amount of jeans, tops, coats and shoes. Rymma got some jeans and some AWESOME white boots!

The second boutique had a little market in the same area with everything from laundry soap to fresh fish. Very bizarre. There were only a small selection of clothes and boots. As far as tops, only one of it and only in that size. Rymma got another pair of pants and two tops. Julia found a cute pair of black suede boots. Julia is so tiny. We went to a child's clothing store to get her 2 pairs of pants and a sweater.

We took the girls to get some undergarments. John was a trooper-ah! The sacrifices of a father! :o) The lingerie stores are very different. Everything is kept behind a counter, you tell the clerk your size, and she pulls it for you. No trying on, no measuring for size, nyet.

Needless to say, it was a great day of shopping! I am hoping to get a pair of Ukranian boots myself before we leave. If not, that's ok. :o)

After shopping, we went back to the orphanage and had a great conversation with the girls (thank you, Olga!!) about school, food likes and dislikes. Rymma's favorite subjects are PE and Russian literature; Julia's is algebra. Great-I hated PE and math! LOL We told them a little about their school in America and some of the foods I cook. I told them I would try to learn how to make foods they like but ther is no guarantee how they will come out. :o)

We are planning to take the girls and a few of their friends to lunch tomorrow. This will be VERY interesting!!!

In the words of our dear Sammy ... PEACE OUT!

P.S. Marlea, thinking of you as I watch the front load washer spin! LOL Love ya!

Day 8 - Having a ball & monkeying around...

2008-02-01T15:16:00.000-05:00

Got a warm shower this morning. It felt good! Hot water here is on a demand basis. In order to get hot wate for a bath or shower we have to run the kitchen sink. Weird, I know.
We spent the morning just chillin' in our flat - John on puter and me watching "TLC" and journaling.
We had Olga call us a taxi this afternoon and surprised the girls with a visit. Olga did not come with as she was busy running around for our court stuff so we were on our own for this one.
Again they came bouncing down the stairs with smiles! We gave them the copies of the pics from yesterday to pass out and then headed to a room on the first floor - sorry, no pics of kids getting their copies. We only saw a handful of other children today. :o(
The room upstairs was a playroom of sorts for the younger kids. Rymma and Julia showed us pics of themselves in posters on the wall. I took pics of them but most came out blurry. Will have to try again another time.
We got silly with pics again with stuff in the playroom and had a lot of fun. A lady came in and Rymma kinda rushed us out of the room. Not sure if we weren't supposed to be in there or what. ?? We ended up in the dreaded "little room." Honestly, I hate this room - it's so formal! As far as conversation, we didn't do too bad. Thank God for pocket translators (PT)!!
I brought nail polish and nail stickers (thank you, RiverTree Student Ministry ;o) in hopes of having a "nail party" with all the girls. It ended up being a one-on-one with Julia painting my nails and she did an awesome job!
We offered to take them to the cafe for dinner but they were concerned about translating without Olga. Instead, we took them to a little market up the street. As soon as we walked in, Rymma used the PT to tell us, "not like market in America." Apparently, you pay as you pick items and the clerk pulls them for you. We got a few things for "home" and the girls got some goodies-of course two were chips and chocolate!
The strangest thing I saw there was not any kind of fish or unknown meat. Rather, it was frozen chicken feet! YEP! Frozen chicken feet! BLAH! We guess it's to make chicken stock. OY! Makes me wonder of it was part of my soup yesterday! Not only does John have to worry about kooshka (cat) for dinner but now I have to wonder about chicken feet in my soup!!
We took the girls back to the orphanage and told them we will see them tomorrow for pizza and shopping. We did ask them what they wanted to shop for. They are teenage girl - clothes! Who knew? LOL. Like mother-like daughters! :o) we asked them if there is anywhere special they want to show us and either of them had an answer. :o( Hopefully in the coming years, we can create many special places for them with special memories.

Day 7- A really good day!

2008-01-31T16:51:00.001-05:00

Slide show here

Greetings all

Some observations I have picked up on.
1- not one swimming pool have I seen since being here. Girls said they can't swim. Go figure!
2- Air conditioners ( at least here in Gorlovka) are almost nil. Only seen a handful while riding in taxi.
3- Jumping out of perfectly good aircraft is safer than the taxi rides here.
4- Salting roads / snow removal is seemed to be optional. The put sand on sidewalks that's about it.
5- parking spaces are pretty much anywhere you can park the car and exit without being hit. Sidewalks are a usual spot.
6- The bright solid line down the center of the road must be for emergency landing of aircraft for it seems to have no bearing with the taxi driver.
7- Left turns seem to be the worse spot here for cars line up 4-8 cars side by side all competing to make the same left turn. Fastest guys wins pole position.
8- I seen only 2 extremely large cats since being here. It concerns me when I order beef for dinner and it seems to take forever to get it.(What is here kitty,kitty,kitty in Russian btw?) If I get a hairball later tonight I will update-k?
9- There is only 2 kinds of smoking sections in restraunts. Smoking & Chain smoking.
10- That my wife God bless her she found a decorating channel in Russian. Guessing its named design on a Ghrivina?

Ok, enough!
Today was a very good day. We kinda got off to a late start. We thought we would get picked up earlier in the morning to go to notary to get the court process going. Ended up being after lunch so we just hanged out at our flat. So after lunch we saw notary abd then headed to see the girls. WHAT a GREAT day!

We printed off so pics last night for the girls. One suggestion to anyone coming here to adopt. Either bring a poloriod camera so you take take pics of the kids friends there so that they will have pics of your kids to remember them. Also I believe it gives them HOPE! Since I have my laptop I picked up a used portable printer HP deskjet 460 off ebay and brought a couple packs of 4x6 paper & ink cartridges. Oh my you should of seen Rymma & Julia's eye light up when we told them they could take pics of their friends and we would run off a pic for their friend to keep. So we spent 1-2 hours this aftn of taking pics with their friends. After that we played several hands of uno in Rymma's room.

Oh before I forget...
Other than Rymma's room which had TONS of our pics all over her walls from a year of letters & packages. Almost every other room we peeked into the walls were bare except for a musician poster here or there. These kids have NOTHING! I cannot wait till tomorrow to watch Rymma & Julia hand out the pics :-)

Ok, back to today. After uno the orphange was taking the older kids ice skating. The girls wanted to go so we did. Lucia passed, we've both broke our ankles in our youth. So I gave it a shot but my left ankle only held up to about 10 minutes before I put my boots on. So I spent the rest of the time pulling Rymma or Julia around. It was a fun time only once did I fall and it was falling trying to hold up Julia who looked like bambi on ice. But the girls said it was the first time they ice skated! The only thing that kept running through my mind was I wished all the kids were here!
But that will happen soon enough. :-)

So tomorrow Olga sees our Judge to arrange for our hearing. So PLEASE pray for 2 things. 1- we have our hearing in next couple days. 2- that we can get waived of the 2 possible 10 day waiting periods. We have been told already to forget that and thay never happens in Gorlovka. But I know the power of prayer and mountains can be moved in his name! JESUS! So please join with me in this prayer.

So tomorrow we are on our own. We will have them call us a taxi to take us to see the girls. I will upload some pics below once I get them off the laptop.

Thanks again for your love, prayers and all the support Lucia and I have received. Most all we miss our kids at home! Kotc for our kids.

Love- John n Lucia

Broken but Beautiful

2008-01-30T17:50:00.000-05:00

It is day 6 and thoughout our stay I find myself not sleeping anymore than 2-3 hours at a time. ;-(
But I have found ways to turn this decefit into a positive one. The positive side of this allows me to do powerful prayer time! So when I wake up its time to pray.

For the past 2 days the song "Broken but Beautiful" by Mark Schultz has been stuck in my head. As I laid awake on the train last night a comment by Wes Stafford of compassion international popped into my head. He said he is never farther than 30 seconds away about crying about kids suffering. I instantly thought about the girls and wondered what horrors they had to endure and it truly just broke my heart into bits. I cannot change their past but by the Love of God I can certainly be a positive influence on the future! The thought kept racing through my mind that I just wanted to scream "Hold on Rymma & Julia!! Mama and papa will be there soon, hold on just one more day!"

Another thing that entered my mind on the train that truly made me feel guilty was this... The other kids. The ones left behind. I feel so ashamed that I cannot look them all in the eye and tell the hold on just another day, mama & papa are coming to get you too! So again I am broken, sobbing and yet God's love is beautiful! I know he has a plan for Rymma & Julia. It broke my heart last year when I asked Rymma what she wanted to be when she grew up. She shook her head no and I saw it in her eyes. She said she really didn't think about it. She had no hope! Well my friend that ia about to change! Rymma's new name is: Rymma Hope McLaughlin
It is my prayer for my daughter that 'Hope' always goes with her and that she understands why we have chosen this name for her and the significance if it! Yeah God!

So if your sitting there with tears in your eyes like mine. Then GOOD! What are going to do about it? God doesn't want us to sit on the sidelines. He wants us in the game! After my trip to Ukraine last year and while I was here I learned the age the kids out at 16! Lucia and I were doing great with finanical peace and was on our way to be debt free. We had to make a choice. Be debt free in a couple years or go for 1 or 2 girls now before the aged out. I know God wants us to be debt free. But if we had done that now we would have missed our opportunity with Rymma & Julia. This process has broken me again because it was the first time I have ever sent a support letter out. It made me sell 'stuff' I didn't need and had to let go of. It made me swallow my pride and realize lucia and I can't do it alone. And lastly I was robbing people of the opportunity of being a blessing. So why am I rambling on here???????

GET IN THE GAME! Don't put off the decision if you are able to adopt a child. DON'T LET ANOTHER CHILD SLIP AWAY!
People will help you if you ask. And if you can't adopt then reach out to your friends and others and be a blessing. Lucia and I wouldn't be here now if it weren't for many friends and family blessing (thanks again!) us to be able to be here and to bring the girls home.

The need is great, the time is now! God calls us to take care of the orphans and the widows. James 1:27

So why am I like a wild man here tonight? I can relate on a personal level to Rymma & Julia. When my parents divorced when I was 8, my dad left and never and I do mean never heard from again. So I know what its like to have a parent abandon you and I took a lot of anger out at my mom (sorry mom!).
So I guess what I am saying is that when our adoption of Rymma & Julia is complete that it is not finished! We can't adopt them all but Lucia and I can be a champion for the orphan. To be a blessing to others in the process. This isn't about us, its about sweet loving kids!

I beg you! Listen to your heart... You won't regret it!

One final thought...
Today before we got to see the girls and we had the appt with adoption state dept or whatever. The lady asked this question- You realize these children come from immoral home or home of criminals? And INSTANTIALLY I thought this... Where would Jesus be???

When I hugged Rymma & Julia today I knew Lucia & I are exactly where God wants us to be... loving those 2 young ladies.

Agape, For his children...
John

Day 6 - FINALLY!!!

2008-01-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

We were finally picked up at 1:30 and taken to what is comparable to our “Social Services” where we were interviewed again. The social worker was very receptive and hospitable and asked us very poignant questions about our home, our occupations and our faith. After about 45 minutes of questioning and commenting, she said we were a nice couple and wished us the best in the remaining adoption process. From there, it was on to the orphanage!!!

On the way, I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin I was so excited! We had Oksana from Social Services with us who accompanied us to observe our reunion/meeting on behalf of the state department. We got to the orphanage and met Helen, the director, and were shown into her office. She asked us a few questions (much like the social worker) and told us that Julia was very anxious to meet us and has worried that we would not like her. We both said at the same time, “Impossible” to which Helen smiled. She went on to tell us that Rymma had been asking when her parents were coming for the past 2 months and the latest was yesterday. (We learned that she found out we were there about 10 minutes before we saw her!)

About 15 minutes later, Rymma and Julia walked through the door! It was like Christmas all over again! It is truly indescribable how we felt the moment we saw the girls. It literally took our breath away. I don’t think any two people could have jumped off the sofa as fast as we did to get to them! For those of you who are curious, we did not get any pictures or video of that moment because we were “in” the moment … :o)

John hugged Rymma and I hugged Julia and then we switched. Rymma is as beautiful as ever and Julia is just as cute as can be. We were taken to a small room and allowed to visit for a little bit. The girls were excited and Olga translated for us. We made some small talk and then the girls showed us their rooms (will get pics tomorrow). Rymma has pictures all over her walls of when she was with us last year and drawings that Julia made for her (she is quite the artist!) She has the scrapbook she made on her nightstand and the one I made her on the other nightstand. She showed us pictures of her friends and camp that she has attended. Julia showed us her room which is next to Rymma’s. Afterwards, we headed over to a restaurant across from the orphanage where we had lunch – the same restaurant where Theresa took the picture of the girls in November.

It was a little awkward just because of the language barrier but we had a nice time. John teased Rymma in his usual fashion and we got to hear her infamous “Noooo, John” for the first time in over a year. :o) We went back to the orphanage for a little bit and then told the girls goodnight and we would see them tomorrow. They have school tomorrow and Rymma was getting tired.

Rymma seemed to gravitate to John during our visit while Julia gravitated to me. Julia held my hand through the orphanage and to the restaurant and back. She gives great hugs and gave me a kiss on each cheek before saying goodnight. :o) Rymma gave us both big hugs before we left and was surprised when I told her goodnight in Russian. :o)

We will be attending to some paper work tomorrow morning to schedule our court date and start the process for the girls’ VISAs to home and then going back to see the girls after they get out of school in the afternoon. We asked them if they wanted us to bring back anything special for them – Rymma wants bananas and Julia couldn’t think of anything. We did get some bananas on the way home and got some gum as well to take tomorrow.

It has been an exciting day and we are exhausted from the little sleep on the train, the excitement in waiting to see the girls and then coming down from that adrenaline rush. We are looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Day 6 - On the Midnight Train to Gorlovka

2008-01-30T12:39:00.000-05:00

Our cabin has two bunks - one on either side - and a folding table. Very reminiscent of the old “Wild Wild West” shows. Yes, I am old enough to remember that show too!

A is in the cabin next to us and told us that the bathrooms are at either end of the corridor. The corridor is similar to that in “Titanic.” (Do you catch a movie/TV show analogy going on throughout this blog or what??? LOL) As far as using the bathroom, you are not permitted to use it within city limits, within 5 minutes of a stop or when the train is at a stop. This is because when you flush, it spills onto the tracks. Ew! John was brave and used the bathroom several times – I, on the other hand, was a chicken until about 6:45 this morning. I had read horror stories on other blogs and expected the worst. And you know what? It wasn’t bad at all. And my bladder was very thankful! :o)

Our night was less than restful. The clickety-clack of the wheels on the rails, the swaying of the car (especially on turns), the light coming into the window as you pass light posts, stopping and starting at different stops along the way, did not lend themselves for a restful slumber. John didn’t sleep most of the night. I caught a little shut-eye here and there but not a deep sleep. Needless to say, we are both very tired today.

We got into Gorlovka around 7:00. We had 2 minutes to get off the train so we had to preload our luggage to the doors and wait until the train stopped. It was a mad dash to get the luggage off the train once it stopped. A’s husband met us at the train and brought us to our new flat in Gorlovka. It is amazing how different the buildings appear from the inside compared to the outside. The outside is run down and not very pretty. The inside of our new flat is very nice and roomy. We have a very small kitchen (I will never again complain about having a small kitchen!),

a bathroom with all the amenities, a living area with a desk, TV, wardrobe closet and sofa, a bedroom with a double bed and a vanity. We also have a washer in the kitchen. YES! The fridge has magnets on it from places like Great Wolf Lodge (USA), Michigan, New York, London, Mexico and others.

Right now there is a load of clothes in the washer (there is no dryer so we have to lay out our clothes to dry and there is a heated “towel” bar in the bathroom to dry small clothes on – it is no wonder they wear the same thing many times before washing them); John is napping before A comes to pick us up to go the orphanage at 12:30; the video and still digital cameras are charging.

We are hoping to be able to post pictures later tonight or tomorrow morning but will have to see how good a connection we get. Connection is not like at home!

We are definitely spoiled with all the modern-day conveniences back in the states!

Day 5 - The SDA and On Our Way!

2008-01-30T12:34:00.000-05:00

St. Michael's Church in Kyiv

I lit a candle here in memory of my Grandma Carmela and Aunt Carmelina.

A and her assistant picked us up at 1:00. Thank goodness we had them as our guides. We would have NEVER found the SDA office on our own! It is tucked away behind a gated patio with no signage from the street (not that we could have read it anyway). Once inside, we waited about 10-15 minutes before we were called into the psychologist’s office for our interview. There were two other couples waiting as well – an American couple (didn’t get a chance to ask where they are from) and an Italian couple.

A young lady (who reminds me of my cousin, Joanne! :o) interpreted and she was very good! We were asked to either introduce ourselves or to show our passports. We were asked how many children we want to adopt and if we were approved for two. They asked if we knew the girls and we told them about hosting Rymma. They then showed us their pictures. The first was of Rymma around the age of 7 or 8 then of Julia around the age of 11 or 12. They asked if these are the girls we want to adopt and we said, “Yes.” The psychologist then asked how we knew it was Julia in the picture since we never met her. We explained to her that we had friends here in November who adopted from their orphanage and found out about Julia and sent us a photo. She seemed to be satisfied with our responses. She then went over the girls’ family and health histories (due to confidentiality, we cannot give out this information.) They told us congratulations and that they would have our referrals ready for us soon. It took all of 10 minutes.

Afterwards, we waited outside for A to do her “magic.” We met Mike and Jan from Seattle who incidentally brought some of our paperwork for us when they arrived January 14. They too are adopting two girls and are just finishing up their process and will be returning home in a couple of days.

On a side note … while waiting outside the SDA, we noticed that people park anywhere – and I do mean anywhere (the sidewalk, the middle of the street, blocking traffic) – it’s crazy! Those of you who know John, know that he despises traffic. And traffic is just maddening in Kyiv. As far as driving around here, it’s a game of Crazy Taxi from X-Box. There are no set traffic rules, no lanes, no pedestrian rights, no kidding! We sit on the edge of our seat each time we get in a car.

After about an hour or so of waiting in the cold (my toes were frozen!), we headed back to our flat. We ate lunch and John printed off pics for Lyuda. I packed our stuff, straightened up our room and cleaned up the kitchen. We packed a couple sandwiches, a large water bottle and some bananas for the train trip.

Lyuda came home at 5:00 as promised. :o) She asked us if we needed help to get our luggage to the train station as if we planned on dragging them down the street (NOT! LOL). We told her thank you but rather we needed help to call a taxi. The taxi arrived about 10 minutes after her call. We lugged our stuff to the street and loaded up. She wanted to come with us but there wasn’t any room in the car. We said our goodbyes and off we went. She looked so sad as we pulled away. We are hoping to be able to stay with her on our way home.

We waited for A at the train station for a little over a half hour as we watched literally 100s of people come and go. If there had been a revolving door rather than a hinged door, it would have been scary. In looking at the locals’ outerwear, you are not able to distinguish if they are affluent or not. They take their fashion seriously around here – young and old alike. I am not going to lie – I definitely have a case of boot and coat envy!

We boarded the train around 6:00 and pulled out of the station at 6:35 – on time! – after V showed up with our referral documents.

The Front of the Train Station

Day 5 - "Just Like My Mom"

2008-01-30T12:31:00.000-05:00

Slept well until around 2:00 this morning. We were awakened again by barking dogs and a trash truck just outside the flat. We didn’t get back to sleep until after 3:30 and I woke up again at 8:10. Hmph!

We were able to have breakfast with Lyuda and took a couple of pictures with her. And she took a picture of me and John – our first pic together in Ukraine! But, before getting our pictures taken, Lyuda and I acted like two teenage girls - “No! Wait! No pictures until we get our makeup on!” We acted like sisters fighting over the mirror. Too funny!

Sergey came out of his room and told Lyuda that the doctors are planning Sofia’s surgery for this week and that she is in critical condition. We prayed with him, said our goodbyes (handshakes & hugs) and he was out the door to be with Ira and Sofia. He is a good dad. He comes home every night and washes out the baby’s clothes in the shower for the next day.

Lyuda asked when we plan to return to Kyiv. I told her that we don’t know. She asked if we would come back when she gets married - someday. :o) We told her John could perform the ceremony – only problem is her husband wouldn’t know what he was promising since he would be performing the ceremony in English. She laughed. I told her that if we could, we would be here.

Before she left, she said she would be back by 5:00 to see us before we left. I gave her a big hug, told her to have a good day and she said, “Just like my mom” and headed out the door. :o)

Day 4 - Continued

2008-01-30T12:29:00.000-05:00

Lyuda came home around 7:00. As soon she walked in the door, she said she smelled flowers. It was my perfume. I showed her the bottle and she ooh’d and aah’d over the scent. She went to hand it back to me and I told her, “No, it is yours.” You would have thought that I had given her the world. She got a huge smile on her face, gave me a great big hug and said, “Thank you very much.” She held up the bottle to Sergey and said, “Look! American perfume” and giggled! Shauna, it just so happened to be “Godspell from VS. :o) I plan on sending her a couple new bottles of perfume with her “Walk to Remember” DVD.

We headed to the pizza shop and had Lyuda not been with us to order I would have been very afraid of what we would have gotten! There was no way to make heads or tails of the menu! (I know now how Rymma and Taya felt when they were with us last year!) We ended up ordering 4 pizzas (comparable to a small pizza at home): three with sausage, tomato, cheese and very thin pepperoncini (their understanding of pepperoni!) and one pizza with chicken, pineapple and black olives for Lyuda. Lyuda got a bowl of fruit and I got a salad of cucumber, tomato, black olive and goat cheese. It was very tasty! It cost 200 gryvna, or $40 USD, for all that and 2 pony bottles of Coke, an orange juice and a hot tea. (Yes, I am old enough to know what a “pony bottle” is!) It was a VERY small place with very little seating and we ended up eating on the outdoor patio that had a canopy. It wasn’t as bad as you’d think. At least we could talk to each other without shouting.

When we got back to the flat, Lyuda showed us some pictures of a Christmas party that she and some of her friends put on for an orphanage in Kyiv. Beautiful kids in each photo and even though it was a party, many of them still had such sad expressions.

She baked a cake consisting of eggs and sugar and a raspberry sauce. She said it was her mother’s recipe and it was very good! It still doesn’t beat your raspberry crisp, Gail! :o) After dessert, we told Lyuda that we would see her in the morning before she headed to work because we weren’t sure if we would see her before we leave tomorrow evening.

Once our SDA appt is done, we will be taking the night train (cue “I’m Leavin’ on that Midnight Train to Georgia” – okay, Gorlovka! But you get the idea!) Now, I have been on a train before when I was 9 and my family toured Italy by train. But, I don’t remember it so this will be like a new adventure for me.

We exchanged contact information to keep in touch. Lyuda and I struck up a nice friendship and she holds a special place in my heart. I am going to miss her smile and laughter.

Day 4 - Finally Connected to the Rest of the World!!!

2008-01-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

YEAH! John did it! We have internet connection! He's the man!!

Here is what I wrote before we got connection:

We woke up to a blanket of fresh fallen snow on the trees. Very pretty! We were awakened a couple times during the night by outside noises – cars, dogs barking, snow shovel – but all-in-all we got a good night’s rest. So far, jet lag hasn’t really seemed to be an issue. That’s a blessing!

We ate breakfast and headed to the train station (a couple blocks away) for more internet troubleshooting. This time we went to the one downstairs. We ended up being able to get online and enter a “we made it” post to the blog and check my AOL and John’s work e-mail. We took some more notes and headed back out. We stopped at the Multiplex on the way back to the flat thinking it would be more like a mall. It is actually more of an arcade-type place with pool tables, air hockey, video games, movie theatre, bowling alley (thought of you, Sammy!), a restaurant, and – of course – a bar.

We got a call from A that she is going to pick us up at 1:00pm tomorrow for our appt with the SDA. I am getting nervous but I also know that God is in control. We are getting closer to see our girls on Weds and we are SO excited!!!

Sergei is such a nice guy. He returned from the market and gave us some bananas and a chocolate bar to share. Mmmm! Chocolate!!! It was GOOD! John went back to the internet café by himself while I stayed back to type my entries on Word to save on internet time when we finally are able copy and paste them into our blog. Sergei has left to go to the hospital to visit Sofia and offered me some pierogies and mineral water before he left. Good stuff!

It is 3:10 pm and John just got back with connection on his blackberry. Now he wants try to get the laptop to connect so I gotta give him the puter. :o( We await Luda to come home from work around 7:00 pm and for Sergei to come back from the hospital to go out to eat. Hopefully I can type more later tonight. Wish us luck!

text msgs

2008-01-28T04:22:00.000-05:00

Hi,
Till we get our laptop connecting or email on my blackberry. We can get txt messages on our ukraine phones. John's 380677426678 lucia's 380674507809

You can send txt msg from kyivstar.net on right column you will see ENG click that at it will change page to english. Then click send SMS button our area code is 067 and then enter our 7 digit phone and there is no cost to send to us-k? Hoping to get internet settings correct to connect from my blackberry this afternoon. Love- John n Lucia

Not in Kansas anymore....

2008-01-28T04:14:00.000-05:00

Greetings,
Day 2 and 2nd try at an internet cafe. Yesterday we tried and it kept kicking us off. So this one will be short and sweet.

We arrived safely and are settled in our flat just fine. Today is a free day and going to try to get the internet through my blackberry. So far I have been unsucessful and my blackberry isn't able to email either at this point. (Brian we'll talk!)

The great news is..... JULIA IS AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION! Yeah GOD! So tomorrow at 2pm we have our appt at SDA. Then travel by all night train to Donetsk. So we hope to see the girls Wed!

Ironically, the flat where we are staying is the same one that Shauna stayed when she was in Kiev this summer. Our roommate, Luda, recognized her in pictures we brought from home and said that she is a very good girl. :o)

Please check back as we hope to have the internet up on our laptop soon and will be able to post more details of our adventure so far.

We love you all and thank you for your prayers!
John & Lucia