This morning at 5:58 a.m. I was woken up by Marina ready to wake everyone else up to open gifts! James was crabbing that it wasn't even day-break and that she should go back to bed, but by that time she had already woken up the girls and things were on their way. Then we had an issue of not being able to find a blank video tape to record the first Christmas, but eventually we got it all together and had a good time opening presents. Marina was so thrilled with everything and kept saying how much she liked everything. I think it was a good first Christmas!
Right now she is on the phone with her best friend Julia who was adopted two weeks before we adopted Marina and she is in Italy. We are trying to exchange email addresses, but trying to speak English to her father who speaks Italian and a little English, is not so easy to do. However, I do have their mailing address that the counselor at the orphanage gave me, so we will mail them our information so that the girls can continue corresponding even though they are miles apart. I still email and mail a friend of mine in England who I haven't seen since pre-school when we lived in Belgium! We have been pen pals all these years and I hope Marina and Julia can do the same.
Later this morning we will go to my brother Pete's house to have Christmas with the rest of my family and then on Friday we will head to So. IL to have Christmas with James side of the family. Marina just thinks this whole idea of multiple Christmases is the BEST!!!
Last night my sister and her family came over and brought our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of cheese fondue and raclettes for dinner. We all ate until we were totally stuffed and it was delicious!! I look forward to that meal every year. We first ate fondue and raclettes when we lived in Europe and our entire family loves it. I think the we ate raclettes in Switzerland and I'm not sure where we tried the cheese fondue the first time, but it is very good. We get the cheese at The Cheese Place in St. Louis, but there are other stores that carry it too. If you have never tried Raclettes, you can rent a raclette oven or grill at The Cheese Place as well as buy the cheese there. We have two raclette ovens that my sister bought in France last time she was there, because you can't buy them here, or at least we couldn't at the time - you can now.
http://www.jill.net/recipes/recipes/raclette.html or http://www.raclette-suisse.ch/home.html?l=en
This past weekend we went over to see some friends of ours who had never met Dillon or Marina and I have been friends with them since I was 15 years old. Anyway, they enjoyed meeting all 4 kids and then we went to Columbia IL to a Christmas party in honor of the 4 girls who just came over for a hosting program during the Christmas break. Marina is friends with one of the girls, Natasha, who we spent every day with while we were in Ukraine. The other girls she does not know, but we enjoyed seeing them all and talking with other families who either have already adopted or who are interested in doing so. Everyone was so amazed at how well Marina speaks English already.
After that, we went to Bellville IL to Our lady of the Snows to see The Way of Lights, which is a Christmas lights display that you drive through. There was also camel and donkey rides, a petting zoo, food to buy, a puppet show and Christmas tree display from around the world. We didn't see it all, but the kids did ride camels and enjoyed that. Hannah and Marina rode one camel and Dillon and Jordan rode another. I wish we had remembered our camera so that we would have a picture of it! They also saw the animals in the petting zoo - all of which were animals that may have been in the manger where Christ was born. The girls hung out the window of the car to see the lights - all 3 of them crammed out one window. Dillon was then complaining that he couldn't see out that window and I let him know that there was a HUGE long window right next to him in the 3rd seat of the car as well as ALL the windows on the other side of the car to look out of. Why they all thought they needed to look out one little window is beyond me??!! Crazy kids.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year too!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Looking Brighter
Okay, I think we are headed in the right direction. We are seeing improvement now with the way things are going at home, and are beginning to loosen the reigns some. She now knows I mean what I say and that if she doesn't listen up and DO what she needs to do, there will be a consequence that is less than favorable. Hallelujah!!! Anyway, she has improved her behavior and I am so thankful for that. The key words now are, "Your not listening to me" and then she snaps into shape :) Today I am taking her to spend the day with her new friend Piper while I go take the little girls to a class at our science center and go some other places as well. She'll get to spend a nice long day with her and I hope they form a wonderful friendship. Both girls are homeschooled, both are from Ukraine, they are 12 and 13 years old, and I think this could be a really good thing for her. It will help her to feel less homesick and more comfortable here.
I have contacted an international adoption clinic here in St. Louis out of Children's Hospital and we will probably set up an appointment to meet with them in January. What they offer is a host of professionals (doctors and social workers, counselors, etc) who specialize in dealing with kids adopted internationally and their families. What my hope is, is to be able to meet with a psychologist when needed to discuss her feelings and her actions, and to be able to better understand what she is going through and have another PROFESSIONAL opinion of how to best deal with her actions. However, I do believe we are on course now and things are improving. It's just nice to have a support system of people who "have been here and done this" before.
This is our last week of school now until January 7, when we will start back into things. I am ready for the break as I am sure the girls are too. Yesterday Marina was doing her math work and on the LAST problem she had a complete meltdown and couldn't finish. She was three steps away from being done and gave up all hope, started crying and couldn't pull it together. So, I told her that was fine and suggested she take a nap and rest and try to finish it later in the day. So, around 4pm she came back to it and finished her work without anymore problems. It's not that the work is too hard . . . she can do it, maybe it's just more than she was used to before, I don't know. I only gave her one worksheet to work on and it only had maybe 8 - 10 equations on it . . . not a lot at all. Anyway, I was glad to see her come back to it and finish. I just have to learn how to "deal" with these breakdowns the best I can. I think being sympathetic AND still requiring her to finish her work is the best thing I can do. I can remember getting very frustrated while doing schoolwork in certain subjects and so I can empathize with her. But, I don't want my little ones to see this either and decide, "Oh, if I cry and say I can't, I won't have to do my work" because then we'll never get anything accomplished. I hope Marina doesn't have many of these meltdowns. I have seen 4 or 5 of them thus far.
Well, everyone is waking up and I can hear their feet above me so they will be coming downstairs any minute. That is my cue to wrap this up for now.
I have contacted an international adoption clinic here in St. Louis out of Children's Hospital and we will probably set up an appointment to meet with them in January. What they offer is a host of professionals (doctors and social workers, counselors, etc) who specialize in dealing with kids adopted internationally and their families. What my hope is, is to be able to meet with a psychologist when needed to discuss her feelings and her actions, and to be able to better understand what she is going through and have another PROFESSIONAL opinion of how to best deal with her actions. However, I do believe we are on course now and things are improving. It's just nice to have a support system of people who "have been here and done this" before.
This is our last week of school now until January 7, when we will start back into things. I am ready for the break as I am sure the girls are too. Yesterday Marina was doing her math work and on the LAST problem she had a complete meltdown and couldn't finish. She was three steps away from being done and gave up all hope, started crying and couldn't pull it together. So, I told her that was fine and suggested she take a nap and rest and try to finish it later in the day. So, around 4pm she came back to it and finished her work without anymore problems. It's not that the work is too hard . . . she can do it, maybe it's just more than she was used to before, I don't know. I only gave her one worksheet to work on and it only had maybe 8 - 10 equations on it . . . not a lot at all. Anyway, I was glad to see her come back to it and finish. I just have to learn how to "deal" with these breakdowns the best I can. I think being sympathetic AND still requiring her to finish her work is the best thing I can do. I can remember getting very frustrated while doing schoolwork in certain subjects and so I can empathize with her. But, I don't want my little ones to see this either and decide, "Oh, if I cry and say I can't, I won't have to do my work" because then we'll never get anything accomplished. I hope Marina doesn't have many of these meltdowns. I have seen 4 or 5 of them thus far.
Well, everyone is waking up and I can hear their feet above me so they will be coming downstairs any minute. That is my cue to wrap this up for now.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Honeymoon Is Over
Well, the time has come that the blissful honeymoon stage is over and now we have to get down to business. There has been a great testing of the waters and now we have reached our limit and feel that the time has come to draw a line in the sand and get things straightened out a bit. There are no huge problems to report, but the constant testing and bending of the rules for her and not the other children needs to end. I now realize we gave too much too soon. Somehow she thinks the rules in our house do not FULLY apply to her. Every rule we have established is challenged on a daily basis and it becomes maddening. The bad part is, I don't feel like I have the energy at this point to be as consistent and strong as I need to be. I know this is what is needed, I just wish we didn't have to go down this road. What we are seeing is a 12 year old who acts like a 3 year old much of the time and yet thinks she should be treated as if she is 12. She is very bull-headed and so, we are in a place of taking away all privileges and when she earns them back one by one with obedience and respectful behavior, our hope is to have smooth waters most of the time. She still exhibits no respect for James in that she doesn't seem to think she needs to listen to him or even talk to him kindly. Most of the time she shrugs him off like a pest of some kind and he has been so patient with her. I need to talk with some other souls who have trotted down this path before and can help with suggestions and support. I need someone to say, "Your doing the right thing".
Thursday, November 29, 2007
First Thanksgiving
Last week was the week of Thanksgiving. We studied all week about the first 13 colonies and the first Thanksgiving. We even checked out movies from the library about it. By the time Thursday rolled around we were confident that Marina understood what the holiday was all about. She was a bit nervous about going to a big dinner with a lot of people there, but she seemed to really enjoy herself. In fact when we left and got into the car, she announced "I like Thanksgiving!" After we left, we took the girls through the Christmas lights display in Eureka. http://www.eurekajellystone.com/santa/info/ The little girls enjoyed it and Marina said, "not so much". Oh well, we tried. I want to take them all over to Bellville IL to see the lights at Our Lady of Snows??? . . . I can't remember, but I have heard they have a really nice display with a petting zoo, nativity scene, gift shop and a place to get hot cocoa or hot spiced cider. Sounds like fun to me. http://www.snows.org/Events.aspx?path=root/english/Events/events
It is frustrating to me to take Marina places that I think should be really enjoyable, only to find out she doesn't appreciate it. Most places we say we are going, she doesn't want to go, but more than not, she ends up enjoying it. The times she doesn't though, is kind of a let down. I want her to experience so many things that we enjoy doing, and she doesn't always have the same appreciation that we do. I guess I think she should enjoy everything, because I don't think she got to go and do very much when she was in the orphanage, and when she doesn't like something, I think . . . it has to be better than doing nothing!!! Maybe she enjoys doing less and being at home?? Oh well. Maybe she'll appreciate things when she is older.
So, now we are back to the regular schedule of doing school each day in the morning until early afternoon and it is going fairly well. There are days where she whines and pouts because she doesn't want to do her work, but for the most part, she gets her work done quickly. The only area that is a bit of a struggle right now is math, and that is because of the language barrier. Word problems are hard to to if you don't understand exactly what they are asking. So, for now we are drilling multiplication and division and learning about measurements.
Marina has quite the Christmas list going - almost as long and Jordan's!! I told her the biggest gift she got this year was to come to the states and have a family of her own. She looked at me like I was crazy!! I think she even replied with a "what?!" Hannah on the other hand has not asked for anything! In fact she tells the other girls "your not going to get everything you want". Good ol' Hannah - always the realist!! Gotta love that in her!
We set up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and then a couple days later, we took Marina to the store to pick out her own stocking. She wanted one that was pink with Cinderella on it, but I asked her if she thought she would like that when she was 16 or 18 years old, and she changed her mind. I tried to tell her that we keep our stocking and don't buy new ones every couple years. She finally picked out a cute one with a snowman holding a sign that reads, Let It Snow. Speaking of snow, we asked her how deep the snow gets in Ukraine and she motioned that it gets neck high. We told her we only get a little snow here, but when I used to live Iowa, we got a LOT of snow . . . she said, "lets go!" I told her it would take 8 - 10 hours in the car to get there . . . she said, "that's okay". I said, not today :)
It is frustrating to me to take Marina places that I think should be really enjoyable, only to find out she doesn't appreciate it. Most places we say we are going, she doesn't want to go, but more than not, she ends up enjoying it. The times she doesn't though, is kind of a let down. I want her to experience so many things that we enjoy doing, and she doesn't always have the same appreciation that we do. I guess I think she should enjoy everything, because I don't think she got to go and do very much when she was in the orphanage, and when she doesn't like something, I think . . . it has to be better than doing nothing!!! Maybe she enjoys doing less and being at home?? Oh well. Maybe she'll appreciate things when she is older.
So, now we are back to the regular schedule of doing school each day in the morning until early afternoon and it is going fairly well. There are days where she whines and pouts because she doesn't want to do her work, but for the most part, she gets her work done quickly. The only area that is a bit of a struggle right now is math, and that is because of the language barrier. Word problems are hard to to if you don't understand exactly what they are asking. So, for now we are drilling multiplication and division and learning about measurements.
Marina has quite the Christmas list going - almost as long and Jordan's!! I told her the biggest gift she got this year was to come to the states and have a family of her own. She looked at me like I was crazy!! I think she even replied with a "what?!" Hannah on the other hand has not asked for anything! In fact she tells the other girls "your not going to get everything you want". Good ol' Hannah - always the realist!! Gotta love that in her!
We set up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and then a couple days later, we took Marina to the store to pick out her own stocking. She wanted one that was pink with Cinderella on it, but I asked her if she thought she would like that when she was 16 or 18 years old, and she changed her mind. I tried to tell her that we keep our stocking and don't buy new ones every couple years. She finally picked out a cute one with a snowman holding a sign that reads, Let It Snow. Speaking of snow, we asked her how deep the snow gets in Ukraine and she motioned that it gets neck high. We told her we only get a little snow here, but when I used to live Iowa, we got a LOT of snow . . . she said, "lets go!" I told her it would take 8 - 10 hours in the car to get there . . . she said, "that's okay". I said, not today :)
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Good News!
Friday we went to Children's Hospital in St. Louis to have an ultrasound done of Marina's kidneys and we learned that her kidneys are very small - about the size of a 3 year old. So, why are they small? Was she born with small kidneys and they are growing, but still small? Or are they shrinking due to them diminishing in function? This we don't know. We then saw a nephrologist (kidney specialist) who said she does not think she needs surgery at this point, which is what we had been told. She said she thinks that if we make sure to monitor her blood pressure, make sure she is drinking the correct amount of fluids and emptying her bladder every two hours, she should be able to avoid any surgery for at least 5 years. Every year she will have an ultrasound to see if the kidney's are growing, and if they are not growing, we will be faced with dialysis/kidney transplant 5 years or so down the road. We were just pleased to hear that she does not need the surgery right now as we were told. If they are growing, she may not need a transplant until she is well into her twenties or beyond. Her blood pressure is much better than it was, now that she is on new meds, and she seems to feel great! Praise God for excellent medical care and technology!! God is good and he will provide for her needs and make them known to us.
This weekend we got to spend some time with James sister and her husband as they came up to St. Louis for the weekend to catch a concert Sunday. They came into town on Sat. and we went with them to Herman, for a couple hours and we couldn't have asked for better weather!! It was a beautiful day and we were able to sit outside, enjoy a bottle of wine, food and some good conversation. After that we went back home and later went out for a late dinner at Hawthorn Inn, one of our favorite restaurants in the area, and had a great dinner out. While we were in Herman, the girls went to hang out with my sister and they had a great time with her. She spent time with them all, teaching them how to paint and they all brought home a beautiful painting. My sister has taught art for many years and is very talented in that area. They also went to the park and to Dairy Delight, which is a little hot dog/hamburger place in Washington. They all seemed to really enjoy their time with their aunt and we enjoyed visiting with Crystal and Shawn. I hope they enjoyed their time with us as well . . . even though I am a stick in the mud :)
This weekend we got to spend some time with James sister and her husband as they came up to St. Louis for the weekend to catch a concert Sunday. They came into town on Sat. and we went with them to Herman, for a couple hours and we couldn't have asked for better weather!! It was a beautiful day and we were able to sit outside, enjoy a bottle of wine, food and some good conversation. After that we went back home and later went out for a late dinner at Hawthorn Inn, one of our favorite restaurants in the area, and had a great dinner out. While we were in Herman, the girls went to hang out with my sister and they had a great time with her. She spent time with them all, teaching them how to paint and they all brought home a beautiful painting. My sister has taught art for many years and is very talented in that area. They also went to the park and to Dairy Delight, which is a little hot dog/hamburger place in Washington. They all seemed to really enjoy their time with their aunt and we enjoyed visiting with Crystal and Shawn. I hope they enjoyed their time with us as well . . . even though I am a stick in the mud :)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Eventful Week
Well, this past week was quite eventful! I finally felt like I could resume our usual schedule of school and every day running around, etc. This would have all gone fairly smoothly if we hadn't had a couple other things thrown into the mix! This week we had to have one of the horses put down, which was such a bummer, because this was the one horse Marina really loved. (Me too) His name was Ice Man and he apparently had cancer, which we didn't know about until the last week of his life. This was one of my nieces horses and she is away at school. We were watching him become sicker and sicker before our eyes and the vets finally came to the understanding that he had cancer. By the time they realized this, he was wasting away and not eating any longer. We couldn't let him go on suffering, my niece decided it was time to say goodbye. He was buried on Friday and on Sunday, Marina bought flowers (3 roses) after church to put on his grave.
Aside from that, the week went pretty good. Marina did very well with school and we are not having any problems to speak of. She is doing remarkably well with her English and has been working not only in text books to learn English, but also on the computer. She is improving very quickly!!! Good for her!!! Some of the things I try to translate for her just so I know she understands what we are learning about - mainly in history, science and bible. The rest of it is no problem for her. She is doing great with spelling, grammar and English. She loves art and we found out today . . . she hates the song "Yankee Doodle"! Hahahaha! Jordan loves the song and since we are learning patriotic songs along with US History, we listened to it twice today until Marina ran out of the room like a mad woman :) She couldn't take it anymore :) It was quite funny. Tomorrow we are going to go see BodyWorlds 3 at the St. Louis Science Center! I am very excited and so are the girls. Marina is a bit concerned that it will be "yucky", but I think it will be fascinating and a great learning opportunity for everyone. We are going with other homeschoolers and I think it will be great. We printed out the education sheets of the website and I translated all of it for Marina so she knows what to expect and can answer some questions about the exhibit and what she learned. If you don't know what BodyWorlds 3 is, go to: http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html and check it out. I wanted to see this 2 years ago when it was in Chicago and missed it. Now we get to see it here and the best part is, we got FREE tickets!!
Friday we take Marina to the specialist to find out more about her health conditions. We are looking forward to that, since it should shed some more light on the issues and how we can remedy them. I hope and pray for good news. I know God is good and He has a plan for her, so we are not worried.
We got word that one of Marina's friends from the orphanage is coming for a visit this December for a couple of weeks, so she is extremely excited about that!! We will be sure to get together with her while she is here. Marina said she would speak English to her - she must be feeling more confident in her ability now. We also know another friend of hers will be here with a host family too, so we hope to see them all.
She wrote her friend Olga a letter and printed out some pictures for her. We typed it up in English and she said her teacher would read it to Olga and her class and translate it for them. Then she also emailed her friends through the school counselor, who said it would be fine to use his email address since the kids don't have access to email themselves. He in turn sent her some pictures of himself and she enjoyed getting those.
Yesterday, we went to a Thanksgiving Homeschool dinner. The kids did various crafts and we all ate turkey dinner together and I think she had a good time. They surprised her with a "welcome home" gift. It was a pink, leather bound journal, some organizing totes and to her delight . . . another $50 gift card to Target! She is ready to shop, needless to say :) Maybe I can take her to Target after BodyWorlds tomorrow.
Aside from that, the week went pretty good. Marina did very well with school and we are not having any problems to speak of. She is doing remarkably well with her English and has been working not only in text books to learn English, but also on the computer. She is improving very quickly!!! Good for her!!! Some of the things I try to translate for her just so I know she understands what we are learning about - mainly in history, science and bible. The rest of it is no problem for her. She is doing great with spelling, grammar and English. She loves art and we found out today . . . she hates the song "Yankee Doodle"! Hahahaha! Jordan loves the song and since we are learning patriotic songs along with US History, we listened to it twice today until Marina ran out of the room like a mad woman :) She couldn't take it anymore :) It was quite funny. Tomorrow we are going to go see BodyWorlds 3 at the St. Louis Science Center! I am very excited and so are the girls. Marina is a bit concerned that it will be "yucky", but I think it will be fascinating and a great learning opportunity for everyone. We are going with other homeschoolers and I think it will be great. We printed out the education sheets of the website and I translated all of it for Marina so she knows what to expect and can answer some questions about the exhibit and what she learned. If you don't know what BodyWorlds 3 is, go to: http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html and check it out. I wanted to see this 2 years ago when it was in Chicago and missed it. Now we get to see it here and the best part is, we got FREE tickets!!
Friday we take Marina to the specialist to find out more about her health conditions. We are looking forward to that, since it should shed some more light on the issues and how we can remedy them. I hope and pray for good news. I know God is good and He has a plan for her, so we are not worried.
We got word that one of Marina's friends from the orphanage is coming for a visit this December for a couple of weeks, so she is extremely excited about that!! We will be sure to get together with her while she is here. Marina said she would speak English to her - she must be feeling more confident in her ability now. We also know another friend of hers will be here with a host family too, so we hope to see them all.
She wrote her friend Olga a letter and printed out some pictures for her. We typed it up in English and she said her teacher would read it to Olga and her class and translate it for them. Then she also emailed her friends through the school counselor, who said it would be fine to use his email address since the kids don't have access to email themselves. He in turn sent her some pictures of himself and she enjoyed getting those.
Yesterday, we went to a Thanksgiving Homeschool dinner. The kids did various crafts and we all ate turkey dinner together and I think she had a good time. They surprised her with a "welcome home" gift. It was a pink, leather bound journal, some organizing totes and to her delight . . . another $50 gift card to Target! She is ready to shop, needless to say :) Maybe I can take her to Target after BodyWorlds tomorrow.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Traveling Again
This weekend we left on Friday for Southern Illinois to visit family and see Dillon who we haven't seen in over a month and a half. We left Friday afternoon and got here around 7pm and met James mom for dinner at a little BBQ place. Dinner was okay . . .we have eaten there before and it was much better then, but Friday night it was just so-so. On Saturday we hung out and the girls baked cookies with Grandma and then we went to the park. While we were at the park we got a call to come get Dillon and so we did that and then came back to Grandma's house and made dinner. Hannah and Marina helped me make the salad and Grandma made the spaghetti and then Hannah helped put garlic bread in the oven. Dinner tasted good and then we packed up to go see Pawpaw and Nanny at their house. The girls and their cousin Josi all had a sleep-over on the family room floor and it took quite a while for them to settle down. Finally all were asleep and we fell into bed as well. Today the kids played hard all day outside. They rode 4-wheelers, swung on the swings, played soccer in the front yard, jumped on the trampoline, rode the zip line over and over again and played in the tree house. They even chased the poor horse around the pasture on the 4-wheelers!! They had a great time. Then pawpaw grilled out some pork chops and nanny made some mixed veggies and pasta. All the kids ate really well and finished their plates except Marina who refused to eat the two teaspoons of veggies I put on her plate. I told her she had to eat them just like all the other kids or she couldn't join us outside for the bonfire later and roast marshmallows, and she couldn't watch TV while we were outside. She said fine and went to our room to hang out by herself. It was a battle of wills and I left her plate of veggies out just in case she changed her mind . . . she did not. So, while we all enjoyed the fire she sat inside and pouted. Very strong will she has, but she can't expect the rules to be any different for her than the rest of the kids. It was very hard to stick to our guns, but it would have been a mistake to give in. Besides, I think a 12 year old can gulp down two teaspoons of veggies without too much difficulty. It's not like we were asking her to eat a plateful of liver while the rest of us ate ice cream . . . good grief. Oh well, at least she is learning boundaries and that we will do what we say we will. Now they are all in bed and tomorrow we will head home in the morning. James has to take Dilllon at 6:30 though so he can be at school in time in a neighboring town. He'll come back and get us after that and I guess we'll leave around 9 or 10ish.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Halloween
we went trick-or-treating last night and Hannah was a dalmation, Jordan a pumpkin and Marina a Geisha and James was a cow and I was a pumpkin also. We had a good time and Marina didn't want to go either. She kept saying, "I scary" because she was afraid people would want to talk to her in English. Once she figured out that all she had to do was say "trick-or-treat", hold out her bag and walk away, she was into it!! She even was at the head of the pack going from house to house and then didn't want to quit :) On the way home she said, "I like trick-or-treat!" It was fun to see her, once again, do something for the first time. They don't celebrate Halloween in Ukraine.
I think everyone is adjusting well, and the girls seem to be having a great time together. We haven't started school work yet, but I will next week. I wanted to take a week off to relax and get adjusted. I still feel a bit brain-dead myself. It seems I have forgotten how to cook and have been burning things and I can't seem to multitask yet. I guess I'll get back up to speed soon. (I hope)
Marina's English is getting progressively better and we are not having to use the translation books or websites very often at all. She seems to understand most things pretty well. So far it has been like a big sleep over for the kids. I wonder when the newness will wear off??
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Home Sweet Home
We have been back now for 5 days and it feels great! Everyone seems to be settling in fine and we have just been resting, unpacking, doing some grocery shopping, etc. Today I took Marina to the doctor because I only have enough meds for the next 5 days for her and they did some blood work and tomorrow we will know more about her health. They will be sending us to a specialist at Children's Hospital soon and so we will begin that journey within the next week I think. That will be good, so we have a clearer idea of what her health status really is.
We are still feeling jet lagged and like we are in a fog most of the time, but it is getting better. The kids seem happy and are having a great time playing together and Hannah has said repeatedly that she is so happy we adopted Marina! Someone new to play with :)
The other day we went to eat out Mexican food and Marina went to dip a chip in the salsa and then exclaimed "hot ketchup, hot ketchup!", which we thought was funny. She liked it though and continued to eat it and eventually stuck her drinking straw in it and was trying to drink it. I guess she REALLY liked it! When we left there, everyone had their seat belts on except Marina and we told her to put it on. She then told us in Ukraine, no one wears seat belts and we told her that here it's the law. Then James told her she could go to jail if she doesn't wear it and Hannah corrected him by saying, "actually Dad, YOU would go to jail, not Marina" . . . brat! Then we were talking about the colors of the different holidays, like orange and black for Halloween, red/green for Christmas, etc. and then Hannah wanted to know what holiday was represented by "heliotrope". Heliotrope, we said?! We told her we'd have to look that up and find out :) So, for those of you wondering . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotrope_(color)
We are still feeling jet lagged and like we are in a fog most of the time, but it is getting better. The kids seem happy and are having a great time playing together and Hannah has said repeatedly that she is so happy we adopted Marina! Someone new to play with :)
The other day we went to eat out Mexican food and Marina went to dip a chip in the salsa and then exclaimed "hot ketchup, hot ketchup!", which we thought was funny. She liked it though and continued to eat it and eventually stuck her drinking straw in it and was trying to drink it. I guess she REALLY liked it! When we left there, everyone had their seat belts on except Marina and we told her to put it on. She then told us in Ukraine, no one wears seat belts and we told her that here it's the law. Then James told her she could go to jail if she doesn't wear it and Hannah corrected him by saying, "actually Dad, YOU would go to jail, not Marina" . . . brat! Then we were talking about the colors of the different holidays, like orange and black for Halloween, red/green for Christmas, etc. and then Hannah wanted to know what holiday was represented by "heliotrope". Heliotrope, we said?! We told her we'd have to look that up and find out :) So, for those of you wondering . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotrope_(color)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Future Plans
Our plan is to continue blogging maybe on a weekly basis because this has been great from a journaling aspect. I have never kept a diary of any kind, but I have enjoyed this so much and to be able to have it later to look back on, I think is great! Plus, I don't get carpal tunnel trouble from typing like I do when I hold a pen to write :)
Inspired and Uplifted by . . .
Chris Tomlin http://www.christomlin.com/index2.html
We have been listening to Chris Tomlin's 2004 cd entitled "Arriving" while here and if you can get a listen, it is so awesome!!! It has been so applicable to us this whole trip and is worthy of my mention. I think everyone should hear his music and REALLY listen to his lyrics.
Great . . . Marina and James are having a boxing match!
Here's a link to You Tube where someone has put Chris Tomlins Music. They made a video clip for the song "Indescribeable" and others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTvr755V8s'
We have been listening to Chris Tomlin's 2004 cd entitled "Arriving" while here and if you can get a listen, it is so awesome!!! It has been so applicable to us this whole trip and is worthy of my mention. I think everyone should hear his music and REALLY listen to his lyrics.
Great . . . Marina and James are having a boxing match!
Here's a link to You Tube where someone has put Chris Tomlins Music. They made a video clip for the song "Indescribeable" and others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTvr755V8s'
Better Late Than Never
I finally got the post up about the flight here. It is dated Sept. 30th named appropriately "The Flight" if you want to read it.
Ready, Get Set, Go!
So, we've had our dinner, packed our bags and are settling down for the evening.
We ate our first "american" meal tonight at TGI Friday's and it tasted pretty darn good.
A taste of things to come :)
We went to the Embassay at 2, and they finished our paperwork right then and we did not have to come back at 4pm like we originally were told, that was nice. They said as soon as we touch down in NY, Marina will be an American citizen!! She is quite excited!
She and James have really seemed to bond more since we've been here, so that is great. They wrestle and pick on each other relentlessly! So much so, that I have to tell him or her to quit - that's enough :) It's nice though.
After we were done at the Embassay, we went to a store to get the rest of the gifts we wanted to bring back and then ate dinner and walked home. The whole time with Marina begging or being a nag as it is, to take a taxi, that she couldn't walk anymore. She can say that very plain "mommmm, I caaaaan't walk, pleeeeease taxi". It's just heartbreaking isn't it? hahahaha :) Somehow, she managed to make the climb up the hill to our apartment - which by the way, is a BIGGER HILL than the one behind the orphanage!! We probably walked about 6 miles today. I think that is about average for the last couple days. It's a lot more than we are used to, that's the truth. I really do not know how the women manage to climb these hills in 3 -4 inch heals!! I would die - quite literally! Most of Kiev is VERY hilly, to our surprise. It seems the main streets are fairly flat, while the side streets seem to go up hill to another main street. Some of the streets are cobblestone, which I think is neat. I like the sound of the tires on the car running over the cobblestone. There are some things here I would have liked to have seen - monuments and sightseeing kinda stuff, but I am also glad we are headed home. I am ready. I hope Hannah and Jordan will let us rest some though, we are very tired too. We just realized today just how worn out we are. Now that everything is done and approved and final, it hit us how drained we really are. It will take a while not only to recover from the trip, but also to get used to the time change again. That took us about a week and 1/2 to fully switch over when we came here.
I had told Marina that she could go trick-or-treating this year since we'll be back in time and she said she would stay home. Hmmmm, I wondered why??? Today I had Natalie ask her why and it was because she can't speak English. I had Natalie tell her that all she needs to say is "trick-or-treat" so she practiced that and said "Okay!" So, now she has plans to wear a "pink" costume. I am wondering what pink thing she intends to be???
Well, please pray for safe travels, no lost luggage and no problems for us.
We'll see eveyone soon. Love to all!
We ate our first "american" meal tonight at TGI Friday's and it tasted pretty darn good.
A taste of things to come :)
We went to the Embassay at 2, and they finished our paperwork right then and we did not have to come back at 4pm like we originally were told, that was nice. They said as soon as we touch down in NY, Marina will be an American citizen!! She is quite excited!
She and James have really seemed to bond more since we've been here, so that is great. They wrestle and pick on each other relentlessly! So much so, that I have to tell him or her to quit - that's enough :) It's nice though.
After we were done at the Embassay, we went to a store to get the rest of the gifts we wanted to bring back and then ate dinner and walked home. The whole time with Marina begging or being a nag as it is, to take a taxi, that she couldn't walk anymore. She can say that very plain "mommmm, I caaaaan't walk, pleeeeease taxi". It's just heartbreaking isn't it? hahahaha :) Somehow, she managed to make the climb up the hill to our apartment - which by the way, is a BIGGER HILL than the one behind the orphanage!! We probably walked about 6 miles today. I think that is about average for the last couple days. It's a lot more than we are used to, that's the truth. I really do not know how the women manage to climb these hills in 3 -4 inch heals!! I would die - quite literally! Most of Kiev is VERY hilly, to our surprise. It seems the main streets are fairly flat, while the side streets seem to go up hill to another main street. Some of the streets are cobblestone, which I think is neat. I like the sound of the tires on the car running over the cobblestone. There are some things here I would have liked to have seen - monuments and sightseeing kinda stuff, but I am also glad we are headed home. I am ready. I hope Hannah and Jordan will let us rest some though, we are very tired too. We just realized today just how worn out we are. Now that everything is done and approved and final, it hit us how drained we really are. It will take a while not only to recover from the trip, but also to get used to the time change again. That took us about a week and 1/2 to fully switch over when we came here.
I had told Marina that she could go trick-or-treating this year since we'll be back in time and she said she would stay home. Hmmmm, I wondered why??? Today I had Natalie ask her why and it was because she can't speak English. I had Natalie tell her that all she needs to say is "trick-or-treat" so she practiced that and said "Okay!" So, now she has plans to wear a "pink" costume. I am wondering what pink thing she intends to be???
Well, please pray for safe travels, no lost luggage and no problems for us.
We'll see eveyone soon. Love to all!
Food, books and friendly conversation
This morning was just great! We met a friend who was the translator for the kids in the summer hosting program 2006. Her name is Natalie and she was so nice to see and to meet us and spend time with us. I think Marina was very happy to see her too. We ate a light breakfast and then took the metro to a shopping district where we found several books for Marina because she loves to read and until her English is better, I wanted her to have something to read. They had all the classics like Mark Twain books and to my surprise she has read most all of them already. She loves to read - must take after me, huh?? Hahahaha! Anyway, she bought books, movies, and a really nice map of Ukraine - some things we thought were important for her to have to remember her country by. Some of the books she bought are about Ukrainian culture and traditions, holidays, etc. and another one is all about geography, what grows here, arts, etc. Those will be nice for her when she is older or for when she has children of her own, to teach them about where she came from. Natalie teaches children English so she bought some books too for that and then we headed back home. I was so happy to see her and have her show us around. It was great!! So, now we are leaving again to go to the Embassay again, we have a 2pm. appointment and then we will have to go back again at 4. Then we should be totally done and we will pack our bags tonight for our trip back home tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Early Arrival!!!!!!
Yipppeeeee! We are going to be home early! We will get into St. Louis at 8:55pm. Thursday. Can't wait! Maybe you all can make some arrangements to have the girls at the airport??? Also, can someone call Teresa and let her know she won't need to keep them Monday and Tuesday next week? Can't wait to see everyone and be home again :)
Worn Out
Hey All, well our day is done for now. We left around 9:45 and went to the doctor for the US Embassay. There was a lot of people waiting and as usual, we breezed in and out in about 30 minutes and again just like at the passport place, a woman got mad that we came and went while they were waiting. Our facilitator said most of those people there are not for adoptions and they give adopted children priority. So, from there we went to the US Embassay and applied for her visa to travel. That took about 45 minutes and then we were done with paperwork stuff until tomorrow. We have to go back at 2pm and 4pm tomorrow to answer a few more questions and then pick up the visa.
So, after we finished there, we went and got the medicine we needed for her and then we went to Delta Airlines main office here in Kiev to see if we could change our flights. Well, because we got a special rate for an adoption, they could not change our flight here, but told us our travel agent in the states probably can. So, we have emailed him and left a message for him to check on this and let us know. We want to fly back on Thursday, Friday or Saturday if possible. If we can't then I guess we'll do some sightseeing.
So, after that we went to a children's store to buy Marina some clothes. She got a new pair of jeans, a top, a fleece jacket/pant set, underware and socks. Then she took off for the shoe department and tried to suck us into buying new shoes too, but we stood firm and made our way to the checkout. She of course wanted skinny jeans with gold embellishments all over them as that is what is in style here, and she thought the pair she bought was too big, but we told her she would gain weight when she gets back to the states and that she needed growing room. Anyway, they look great on her - not too big.
After that, we headed back towards home with one more stop to make - the grocery store. The whole way Marina begged and whinned for us to carry her bag of clothes for her, but we were already worn out and I had my big purse which is a catch-all for everyone elses stuff and I was not about to carry that too. I told her I'd carry her coat. Then she thought she'd outsmarted me by telling me to hold her bag while she put her coat on . . . this was taking forever and once the coat was on and zipped . . . the shopping bag "slipped" out of my hands and I kept walking. She quickly picked it up and didn't ask me again to carry her bag :) She knows how to nag and nag until you can hardly stand it anymore. We'll have to put a stop to that - it gets old FAST.
We also rode the subway here today to get us to the children's store and that was an experience in itself!!! I had read that the subway system ran DEEP underground, but let me tell you that it is SOOOO DEEP underground that the escalators that take you down there are so steep that I kept feeling like I was going to fall forward down the escalator!!! It was a very bizzare feeling. I don't know if you've ever gone skiing in the Colorado or anywhere like that, but if you have ever gotten onto a slope that was just too steep to ski and you get what I call the "pucker butt" syndrom - where you don't want to face the "fall line" . . . well that's the feeling I had going down this escalator!!!!!!!!! I have never seen and excalator that long either! Our facilitator said this wasn't even one of the deepest ones either!! When we got off the subway we had to go back up and this time it took 2 escalators to get to the top. You can not even imagine how deep these subways are. By the time we got home, my feet hurt and my legs hurt on the backs of my knees and I am just worn out. I felt like everywhere we went we were speed walking and I was having trouble keeping up! It's no wonder everyone is so thin . . . . they speed walk everywhere they go and do a lot of it at that!
Well, we are pooped out and James is . . . taking another nap :) Marina is watching tv and drinking Fanta (orange soda) and eating crab meat sticks (only they aren't immitation like the ones at home) and sausage. I am sipping a Coca-Cola and resting my weary body. Oh, now she is trying to call her girl friends at the orphanage. She is really going to miss them. Okay, that's it for now.
So, after we finished there, we went and got the medicine we needed for her and then we went to Delta Airlines main office here in Kiev to see if we could change our flights. Well, because we got a special rate for an adoption, they could not change our flight here, but told us our travel agent in the states probably can. So, we have emailed him and left a message for him to check on this and let us know. We want to fly back on Thursday, Friday or Saturday if possible. If we can't then I guess we'll do some sightseeing.
So, after that we went to a children's store to buy Marina some clothes. She got a new pair of jeans, a top, a fleece jacket/pant set, underware and socks. Then she took off for the shoe department and tried to suck us into buying new shoes too, but we stood firm and made our way to the checkout. She of course wanted skinny jeans with gold embellishments all over them as that is what is in style here, and she thought the pair she bought was too big, but we told her she would gain weight when she gets back to the states and that she needed growing room. Anyway, they look great on her - not too big.
After that, we headed back towards home with one more stop to make - the grocery store. The whole way Marina begged and whinned for us to carry her bag of clothes for her, but we were already worn out and I had my big purse which is a catch-all for everyone elses stuff and I was not about to carry that too. I told her I'd carry her coat. Then she thought she'd outsmarted me by telling me to hold her bag while she put her coat on . . . this was taking forever and once the coat was on and zipped . . . the shopping bag "slipped" out of my hands and I kept walking. She quickly picked it up and didn't ask me again to carry her bag :) She knows how to nag and nag until you can hardly stand it anymore. We'll have to put a stop to that - it gets old FAST.
We also rode the subway here today to get us to the children's store and that was an experience in itself!!! I had read that the subway system ran DEEP underground, but let me tell you that it is SOOOO DEEP underground that the escalators that take you down there are so steep that I kept feeling like I was going to fall forward down the escalator!!! It was a very bizzare feeling. I don't know if you've ever gone skiing in the Colorado or anywhere like that, but if you have ever gotten onto a slope that was just too steep to ski and you get what I call the "pucker butt" syndrom - where you don't want to face the "fall line" . . . well that's the feeling I had going down this escalator!!!!!!!!! I have never seen and excalator that long either! Our facilitator said this wasn't even one of the deepest ones either!! When we got off the subway we had to go back up and this time it took 2 escalators to get to the top. You can not even imagine how deep these subways are. By the time we got home, my feet hurt and my legs hurt on the backs of my knees and I am just worn out. I felt like everywhere we went we were speed walking and I was having trouble keeping up! It's no wonder everyone is so thin . . . . they speed walk everywhere they go and do a lot of it at that!
Well, we are pooped out and James is . . . taking another nap :) Marina is watching tv and drinking Fanta (orange soda) and eating crab meat sticks (only they aren't immitation like the ones at home) and sausage. I am sipping a Coca-Cola and resting my weary body. Oh, now she is trying to call her girl friends at the orphanage. She is really going to miss them. Okay, that's it for now.
Waiting
Goodmorning!
We are waiting to go to the Embassay this morning - we were suppossed to have left over an hour ago, but we are online and watching tv and of course James is taking a nap now that he is done teasing Marina and being an overall pest to her. After we finish at the Embassay we are going to take Marina shopping to get some clothes. She only has one pair of socks - that don't match, one pair of underware, no long sleeve shirts - only the sleeveless ones she had from last summer and three pairs of dirty pants. We are doing laundry of course, but she needs some warmer clothes too. Then we'll try to meet up with our friend for lunch and a look around town.
We had a great night sleep last night - very comfortable and we didn't wake up looking like smurfs, so that was nice. James said he didn't sleep very well because the washing machiene kept him awake until almost 1:30 a.m. and then the alarm went off at 6 am., but he is catching up on his beauty rest now while we wait :)
Yesterday, when we got pulled over again, the facilitator told us that the cops here only get paid $150 US/month (that's about $500 here) and they of course can not live on that. So, they have to pull people over to collect money, so they can make ends meet. They don't take your information down and it doesn't go on their driving records, they simply are looking to get some more money in their pockets to make ends meet. So, our driver paid his "fine" and we were on our way again.
When the car overheated, neither the driver or the facilitator knew what to do or what to look for, but thankfully James knew what to look for and saw that there were no hoses off or leaks, etc. and it was simply that the driver was driving the heck out of the van and it needed a rest. After it cooled down James suggested that he drive a bit slower and we had no more problems. I was glad he was there to make sense of it all. I guess he's good to have around sometimes :)
Okay, nothing else to say for now.
We are waiting to go to the Embassay this morning - we were suppossed to have left over an hour ago, but we are online and watching tv and of course James is taking a nap now that he is done teasing Marina and being an overall pest to her. After we finish at the Embassay we are going to take Marina shopping to get some clothes. She only has one pair of socks - that don't match, one pair of underware, no long sleeve shirts - only the sleeveless ones she had from last summer and three pairs of dirty pants. We are doing laundry of course, but she needs some warmer clothes too. Then we'll try to meet up with our friend for lunch and a look around town.
We had a great night sleep last night - very comfortable and we didn't wake up looking like smurfs, so that was nice. James said he didn't sleep very well because the washing machiene kept him awake until almost 1:30 a.m. and then the alarm went off at 6 am., but he is catching up on his beauty rest now while we wait :)
Yesterday, when we got pulled over again, the facilitator told us that the cops here only get paid $150 US/month (that's about $500 here) and they of course can not live on that. So, they have to pull people over to collect money, so they can make ends meet. They don't take your information down and it doesn't go on their driving records, they simply are looking to get some more money in their pockets to make ends meet. So, our driver paid his "fine" and we were on our way again.
When the car overheated, neither the driver or the facilitator knew what to do or what to look for, but thankfully James knew what to look for and saw that there were no hoses off or leaks, etc. and it was simply that the driver was driving the heck out of the van and it needed a rest. After it cooled down James suggested that he drive a bit slower and we had no more problems. I was glad he was there to make sense of it all. I guess he's good to have around sometimes :)
Okay, nothing else to say for now.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Finally Kiev!
This morning we were told to be at the orphanage at 9a.m. and that another facilitator would meet us there and talk to the doctor with us and get her medical records. He had an apointment at the court before that and they were suppossed to have the documents ready for him to pick up. They didn't and he had to wait almost an hour and then got to the orpahage to meet us around 10. Then we had to go to a hospital down the street to get a final physical on Marina before the orphanage would release her. So, we did and then we had to go to another doctors office building to get the paper stamped. Then back to the orphanage to meet with the director, inspector, lawyer and facilitator. We signed so many papers it felt like signing to buy a house! Then we were done and ready to go. They gave us medicine for Marina - two kinds, one enough to last for 20 days and the other only enough for 7 days. We have to go to a pharmacy to get more of that before we leave to carry us through until we get to our pediatrician. Then it was time to go and we asked to have Olga and Natasha pulled from class so we could say goodbye. That was so hard to do!! The girls all were fine, or appeared to be and I was all choked up and having a hard time walking away. Maybe they are used to the reality of it all and we are not. I don't know. Anyway, we took off and went to pick up our bags at our house and say goodbye to Olga and Constantine. Then we left Novaya for good and headed west. We left at noon and it should take about 6 hours to get to Kiev, but since we stopped for some lunch, got pulled over again!!!, and the van overheated, we didn't get to Kiev and into our new apartment until 8p.m. I must say this apartment is VERY NICE. We are very comfortable here and Marina seems to like it too. It is newly remodeled and has a huge bathtub and very comfortable beds, etc. We are also in the heart of downtown within walking distance to everything - sweet! Our American friend is here also because he had another appointment this morning in Kiev and he goes back to Novaya tomorrow evening, but we are going to meet with him tomorrow afternoon and bumm around Kiev together. He is quite the adventurer and has been all over this city and knows some good restaurants etc. and he can show us where to go and what to see for the rest of the time we are here. We have been very fortunate to have many people looking out for us and helping us communicate and navigate. And now we have our own translator with us 24/7. So, we have been told that the US Embassay will only take us 2 days now instead of 3 and we will see if it is possible to catch a flight later this week - maybe Thursday or Friday. Please don't tell the girls this because if we can't it will only bumm them out. We will look into it tomorrow maybe. Well, since I have high-speed internet now I can jump on anytime and blog my heart out. So, more later.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Westward Bound!
This is the last post from what has been our home for the last 18 days.
I am so glad our time is up and we are able to head home starting tomorrow.
It will take us a while longer before we are all the way there, but at least we are headed back west!!
The girls are expressing that they don't want us to leave. Olga sat next to James today, holding his hand, and asked over and over for us to stay and bring Hannah and Jordan and Grandma here, so we wouldn't leave. Tomorrow will be an emotional roller coaster indeed! Glad to head west - sad to say goodbye to these sweet kids :( We are going to find out if Marina can email her friends here via their teachers or the school counselor, as that would be much nicer to communicate faster rather than snail mail. Marina doesn't seem to be sad to go AT ALL. She can't wait to get going! She doesn't even want to spend the 3 days in Kiev at the Embassay - she just wants to "go America".
Today we at lunch with the girls here at the house and they ate more than I did. I don't know where they put all that food in their little bellies!! They said it was sooooooo much better than the food at school. Then we took them shopping at center and got a few snacks for the road tomorrow and of course ice cream for them all. We bought a few more gifts here - yummy ones, hint, hint :) Then on the way back home the taxi had to stop for a cow and it's chain was across the road, so we had to honk at it to get it to move. It was funny - how often does that happen at home? Hmmmm, NEVER! We exchanged addresses and phone #'s and email addresses with Olga and Constantine so we can keep in touch. They are wonderful people and made our stay here very comfortable (except for the blue sheets, hahaha)
I am wondering if when we get home if we'll know how to speak normal English again. We've spent so much time speaking broken "simple" English with a little Russian here and there, that it will seem strange not to have to edit your statements to make them easier for someone else to understand. A nice change though :)
Well, it may be a couple days or so before I am able to post again. We won't have connection at the apartment most likely, so be patient and we'll post a.s.a.p.
Love to all!
I am so glad our time is up and we are able to head home starting tomorrow.
It will take us a while longer before we are all the way there, but at least we are headed back west!!
The girls are expressing that they don't want us to leave. Olga sat next to James today, holding his hand, and asked over and over for us to stay and bring Hannah and Jordan and Grandma here, so we wouldn't leave. Tomorrow will be an emotional roller coaster indeed! Glad to head west - sad to say goodbye to these sweet kids :( We are going to find out if Marina can email her friends here via their teachers or the school counselor, as that would be much nicer to communicate faster rather than snail mail. Marina doesn't seem to be sad to go AT ALL. She can't wait to get going! She doesn't even want to spend the 3 days in Kiev at the Embassay - she just wants to "go America".
Today we at lunch with the girls here at the house and they ate more than I did. I don't know where they put all that food in their little bellies!! They said it was sooooooo much better than the food at school. Then we took them shopping at center and got a few snacks for the road tomorrow and of course ice cream for them all. We bought a few more gifts here - yummy ones, hint, hint :) Then on the way back home the taxi had to stop for a cow and it's chain was across the road, so we had to honk at it to get it to move. It was funny - how often does that happen at home? Hmmmm, NEVER! We exchanged addresses and phone #'s and email addresses with Olga and Constantine so we can keep in touch. They are wonderful people and made our stay here very comfortable (except for the blue sheets, hahaha)
I am wondering if when we get home if we'll know how to speak normal English again. We've spent so much time speaking broken "simple" English with a little Russian here and there, that it will seem strange not to have to edit your statements to make them easier for someone else to understand. A nice change though :)
Well, it may be a couple days or so before I am able to post again. We won't have connection at the apartment most likely, so be patient and we'll post a.s.a.p.
Love to all!
Sweaty Beating
Yesterday was a fun day. It started out the usual way . . . Olga and I went to center to buy food, etc. Then we ate lunch around 1p.m. and then we usually head to see Marina around 2ish. However, James said he needed a short nap first, so I went outside to listen to my cd player and enjoy the sunshine. A few minutes later Olga came out and asked me to go mushroom hunting with her in the woods. Great! I thought. So, off we went with very little sucess. I found one good and edible mushroom, but we found tons of "bad" mushrooms that would make you sick if you ate them. While in the woods we saw some goats being herded by an old woman and her dogs. Olga told me the only animals they have in the woods besides birds of course, are wild boars!!!, rabbits, and fox. She never mentioned that we'd pass a herd of LARGE goats with BIG horns. I was glad to see there was someone with them guiding them along. I would have been really freaked out if we saw a wild boar! Well, while we were out there, the girls came down from the school for a visit and James was looking for me with no idea where I was and I guess begining to freak out a bit. Once he realized Olga was missing too, he calmed down. I guess he's worried about lossing his wife in another country - hehehehe! :) I asked him if he thought aliens had taken me . . . he didn't think it was funny.
So, we visited with the girls and then after dinner Olga and Constantine invited us to use their sauna and pool behind the house. They have a sauna in the house with a very large bathtub/small pool, but this one is a LARGE sauna and LARGE pool out back. So we said that sounded great and they gave us instructions on how to experience the full effect. There is three rooms in the sauna: one where you enter and can add wood to the fire that heats the sauna, one that is hot, but not REALLY hot, and then the REALLY HOT ROOM!! Let me tell you, I have been in saunas before, but NEVER ONE THIS FREAKING HOT!!!!!!! They also gave us raw honey to put all over our skin while in the sauna and that was to make our skin soft as silk. They also have a huge bowl with boiling hot water in it that had what looks like a bunch of oak branches and leaves tied together - like a little broom, steeping in the boiling water. We were told to take turns slapping the oak leaf broom on one another while the other person lays down in the really hot room. Well, I managed to get the oak leaf tincture on James a little bit, but he had entirely TOO MUCH FUN beating me with the oak leaves!! I think he was getting me back for running off in the woods earlier that day and making him worry :) I finally yelled at him to stop the oak leaf beating and he did. So back and forth we went between the two hot rooms, as instructed. We were both sweating like NEVER before!!! I could feel my heart beating in my back and could hear it in my ears! I thought I better get the heck out of there and on top of that, it makes your body feel that it needs to cleanse all toxic material from you which means you also feel that you need to run for the bathroom!! Great . . . so we went outside and James was feeling sick by this time and like he needed to get to the restroom fast, and I said that there was one more thing we needed to do . . . jump in the pool. Remember, it has snowed here and that water is VERY cold. So, he said he just couldn't and I said okay, but I need to experience this in it's entirety, so wait a minute. I couldn't get up the nerve to dive in the deep end and swim to the other end where the ladder is, so I went over to the ladder which is still about 6 or 7 feet deep, and jumped in! OMG!!!!!!!!!!. . . . I could not get up the ladder fast enough! Holy Cow!!! That water was ------- cold!! I got out freezing and then this sensation of burning began to creep up my legs from my feet up and then I was warm and comfortable. We did feel really good once we were cooled off and our skin was very soft as they said it would be.
The girls just showed up - gotta go, more later.
So, we visited with the girls and then after dinner Olga and Constantine invited us to use their sauna and pool behind the house. They have a sauna in the house with a very large bathtub/small pool, but this one is a LARGE sauna and LARGE pool out back. So we said that sounded great and they gave us instructions on how to experience the full effect. There is three rooms in the sauna: one where you enter and can add wood to the fire that heats the sauna, one that is hot, but not REALLY hot, and then the REALLY HOT ROOM!! Let me tell you, I have been in saunas before, but NEVER ONE THIS FREAKING HOT!!!!!!! They also gave us raw honey to put all over our skin while in the sauna and that was to make our skin soft as silk. They also have a huge bowl with boiling hot water in it that had what looks like a bunch of oak branches and leaves tied together - like a little broom, steeping in the boiling water. We were told to take turns slapping the oak leaf broom on one another while the other person lays down in the really hot room. Well, I managed to get the oak leaf tincture on James a little bit, but he had entirely TOO MUCH FUN beating me with the oak leaves!! I think he was getting me back for running off in the woods earlier that day and making him worry :) I finally yelled at him to stop the oak leaf beating and he did. So back and forth we went between the two hot rooms, as instructed. We were both sweating like NEVER before!!! I could feel my heart beating in my back and could hear it in my ears! I thought I better get the heck out of there and on top of that, it makes your body feel that it needs to cleanse all toxic material from you which means you also feel that you need to run for the bathroom!! Great . . . so we went outside and James was feeling sick by this time and like he needed to get to the restroom fast, and I said that there was one more thing we needed to do . . . jump in the pool. Remember, it has snowed here and that water is VERY cold. So, he said he just couldn't and I said okay, but I need to experience this in it's entirety, so wait a minute. I couldn't get up the nerve to dive in the deep end and swim to the other end where the ladder is, so I went over to the ladder which is still about 6 or 7 feet deep, and jumped in! OMG!!!!!!!!!!. . . . I could not get up the ladder fast enough! Holy Cow!!! That water was ------- cold!! I got out freezing and then this sensation of burning began to creep up my legs from my feet up and then I was warm and comfortable. We did feel really good once we were cooled off and our skin was very soft as they said it would be.
The girls just showed up - gotta go, more later.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Correction
Okay, I'm back. Well we should be able to upload our photos after all.
The other guy/man living here has high speed connection on his phone and he let us upload the pics to another site and soon I will give you the link to view the images. We didn't put all of them up there for sake of time, but there are over 150 to look at.
Anyway, I need to correct an entry I made about the guy who is staying here. He apparently has been here before, but only to submit his documents - NOT to try to adopt a child. He has NEVER been denied as we were told, and seems to be doing everything by the book and unfortuneately for him, seems to be getting more of the run-around than we have experienced. I admire his patience and heart for these kids. I pray that he has success as we have, and can provide a good future for two more children.
So, anyway, dinner was good and I feel better with some food in my tummy.
We really did have a good time today despite the police scare. Olga explained to us that the police pick out Americans here and ocassionaly give them a hard time in order to get "some money" (paid off) by Americans with "big money". Not too comforting is it? We also got stopped at the gas station by another officer who made the taxi driver open up the trunk and Olga thought then that we would have to pay the police, but God is good and they let us go without any trouble :)
We managed to get Marina's passport and her picture looks so cute and of course it was neat to see her name on something official and spelled in English. We'll show it to her tomorrow. Now the only thing left to do is wait and on Monday we will go to the orphanage with another translator, the one who first brought us here, and we will meet with the doctor at the school and get Marina's full medical history. After we get back to Kiev, we'll get it translated so our pediatrican can go over it and at least know some history on her. They'll tell us what vac's she has had and all the illnesses and diagnosises (sp?) she's had, etc. So, that will be nice to know all that kind of information. Up to this point, no one has told us any of that. It would really be nice to know some background on her parents, but of course that is unknown by the school. Oh well, I know God has a plan for her life and that he will guide our steps regarding her health.
Here is a link to our photos Finally!!!
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=514191192822705091/l=312539488/g=81290099/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
The other guy/man living here has high speed connection on his phone and he let us upload the pics to another site and soon I will give you the link to view the images. We didn't put all of them up there for sake of time, but there are over 150 to look at.
Anyway, I need to correct an entry I made about the guy who is staying here. He apparently has been here before, but only to submit his documents - NOT to try to adopt a child. He has NEVER been denied as we were told, and seems to be doing everything by the book and unfortuneately for him, seems to be getting more of the run-around than we have experienced. I admire his patience and heart for these kids. I pray that he has success as we have, and can provide a good future for two more children.
So, anyway, dinner was good and I feel better with some food in my tummy.
We really did have a good time today despite the police scare. Olga explained to us that the police pick out Americans here and ocassionaly give them a hard time in order to get "some money" (paid off) by Americans with "big money". Not too comforting is it? We also got stopped at the gas station by another officer who made the taxi driver open up the trunk and Olga thought then that we would have to pay the police, but God is good and they let us go without any trouble :)
We managed to get Marina's passport and her picture looks so cute and of course it was neat to see her name on something official and spelled in English. We'll show it to her tomorrow. Now the only thing left to do is wait and on Monday we will go to the orphanage with another translator, the one who first brought us here, and we will meet with the doctor at the school and get Marina's full medical history. After we get back to Kiev, we'll get it translated so our pediatrican can go over it and at least know some history on her. They'll tell us what vac's she has had and all the illnesses and diagnosises (sp?) she's had, etc. So, that will be nice to know all that kind of information. Up to this point, no one has told us any of that. It would really be nice to know some background on her parents, but of course that is unknown by the school. Oh well, I know God has a plan for her life and that he will guide our steps regarding her health.
Here is a link to our photos Finally!!!
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=514191192822705091/l=312539488/g=81290099/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Jail?!
Where do I begin with our adventure today?
Let me start by saying it was very nice to get out and do something different for a change. We left at 9a.m. this morning and just got home at 7pm. - long day. Anyway, we had an extra person along with us, because when the other man living here heard we were going he wanted to tag along so he could purchase a round-trip ticket to Kiev and back again, as he has to go for another appointment there. So, we said come along and off we went. First we went to a HUGE open air market that apparently was the "small" one of the two in Kharkov. We were amazed and even the man with us from NY was amazed and said there's nothing in NYC that even compares to this!! There was anything and everything to buy - from zippers to zebras. Well, okay I didn't see any zebras, but we didn't see it all and there probably was some! Really, you could easily get lost in the maze of rows and rows of STUFF. So, eventually James found a coat and we found one for Marina, and Olga found one as well. Then we went onto the BIG open air market and found a couple more things we were all looking for and then headed to pick up Marina's passport. After that (which again was somewhat of a runaround) we got lunch at a really nice restaurant and everything was great, as was our service. They are very BIG on customer service and the nice thing is, once they know you speak English, they give you a menu in . . . ENGLISH!!! Happy are we :) So, after lunch we headed for the internet cafe, while Olga took the other guy with us to the train station to buy his ticket. Well . . . what can I say . . . the internet cafe got us online and then lost their connection!!!!!!! AAAAAAAArrrrggggggg! Can you even believe it? I can and you would to if you could experience things here - hahahaha!
Oh yeah, your probably wondering why I titled this entry "Jail"? Well, that's because while we were at the open-air market, James said I should get a picture of what we were seeing, because it was truely amazing. And I did as my husband suggested only to be IMMEDIATELY approached by two police officers demanding to know what I thought I was doing!! Thank God, Olga was near by trying on jeans and heard the commotion and came to our rescue. Apparently this is a "private" market and we were not allowed to take pictures in there. Hmmmmm, could it be because they are worried about copy-right laws????? There is so much that is a rip-off the real brands, that maybe that is the reason. Anyways, they let us go and nothing else was said about it. I should also add that people just try on the clothes right there in the open - no big deal. We saw both men and women in their underware trying on different things and tried not to stare :)
Ooops, dinner is ready . . .more later.
Let me start by saying it was very nice to get out and do something different for a change. We left at 9a.m. this morning and just got home at 7pm. - long day. Anyway, we had an extra person along with us, because when the other man living here heard we were going he wanted to tag along so he could purchase a round-trip ticket to Kiev and back again, as he has to go for another appointment there. So, we said come along and off we went. First we went to a HUGE open air market that apparently was the "small" one of the two in Kharkov. We were amazed and even the man with us from NY was amazed and said there's nothing in NYC that even compares to this!! There was anything and everything to buy - from zippers to zebras. Well, okay I didn't see any zebras, but we didn't see it all and there probably was some! Really, you could easily get lost in the maze of rows and rows of STUFF. So, eventually James found a coat and we found one for Marina, and Olga found one as well. Then we went onto the BIG open air market and found a couple more things we were all looking for and then headed to pick up Marina's passport. After that (which again was somewhat of a runaround) we got lunch at a really nice restaurant and everything was great, as was our service. They are very BIG on customer service and the nice thing is, once they know you speak English, they give you a menu in . . . ENGLISH!!! Happy are we :) So, after lunch we headed for the internet cafe, while Olga took the other guy with us to the train station to buy his ticket. Well . . . what can I say . . . the internet cafe got us online and then lost their connection!!!!!!! AAAAAAAArrrrggggggg! Can you even believe it? I can and you would to if you could experience things here - hahahaha!
Oh yeah, your probably wondering why I titled this entry "Jail"? Well, that's because while we were at the open-air market, James said I should get a picture of what we were seeing, because it was truely amazing. And I did as my husband suggested only to be IMMEDIATELY approached by two police officers demanding to know what I thought I was doing!! Thank God, Olga was near by trying on jeans and heard the commotion and came to our rescue. Apparently this is a "private" market and we were not allowed to take pictures in there. Hmmmmm, could it be because they are worried about copy-right laws????? There is so much that is a rip-off the real brands, that maybe that is the reason. Anyways, they let us go and nothing else was said about it. I should also add that people just try on the clothes right there in the open - no big deal. We saw both men and women in their underware trying on different things and tried not to stare :)
Ooops, dinner is ready . . .more later.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pillow Fight
Goodmorning to you all in the US!!
It's 8:15am there, and 4:15pm here. The girls are here and watching Kim Possible and eating grapes so I thought I would hop on here and write a little bit.
Today we managed to get the form we needed, finally and tomorrow we are going to Kharkov for the fun of it and hopefully to an internet cafe where we can upload some pictures. We are going with the lady we are staying with Olga, and she was more than happy to go along as she has some errands to run in Kharkov as well. I told her we wanted to go shopping and site-see, etc. so she arranged for a taxi to take us and spend the day with us taking us here and there. We could have taken the bus, but then it takes two hours to get there and two hours back - twice the time if we go by car. Plus the busses look pretty gross and they are packed with people . . fogging up the widows,etc. It doesn't look pleasant. It is so cheap to travel by taxi with the exchange rate, it seems worth it to us to go by taxi. So, with any luck, we'll get the pictures posted :)
We hope to find James a coat and also one for Marina. She wants one that is black with pink on it. Everyone here wears black. Everyday, top and bottom, shoes . . .it's all black all the time. I wonder if their underwear is black also . . .probably not, it's probably hot pink or red with gold bling-bling on it!! That's what their shoes and purses all have . . .gold decrotive do-dads all over them - belts too!! The more bling the better here!! The other thing we've noticed is that no one wears glasses! Only a couple people have we seen wearing glasses. . . well, except for sunglasses. That probably makes us stand out right there. You only see a very FEW people wearing tennis shoes too. Most women ware what I would describe as knickers or short pants that stop just below the knee and then they wear tall boots with stiletto (sp?) heels. ALL OF THEM - no kidding. Well, the old women don't, but young women to late middle aged all wear them! Some are so pointed that I wonder how they keep from sinking in between cracks in the sidewalks etc. It's crazy! Women dress very feminine and even dare I say . . . tramp like? Their skirts are worn VERY short (with the boots that come above the knee), and everything is skin tight leaving not a whole lot to the immagination :) However, most have the body to pull off such a waredrobe, since they are all skinny as a rail!!!
I just looked outside because the dog (with 3 legs) was barking and there are people coming out of the woods with bicycles that have baskets hooked on either side of them FULL of wild mushrooms. Today the orpahage even had the kids in the woods collecting mushrooms. I'm not sure what kind they are, but they are delicious! Even James likes them and he's not a huge fan of the fungi family :)
Earlier the girls got into a huge pillow fight with James. 3 on 1 and they did a number on him!! The pillows are very heavy since they are feather pillows and about 1/3 larger than our pillows at home. They are huge square pillows and very heavy. Anyway, at one point they grabbed hold of the sheets and blakets and pulled, ultimately sliding James right off the bed and onto the floor! It was quite a scene and they had a blast! I took some pictures of him trying to defend himself against 3 little girls, but I'm not sure if they will be blurry since I was laughing while I was trying to take the pictures :) They had fun and so did he. In fact they wore him out and he fell asleep while they were watching Kim Possible and then they went up and attacked him again!! I love it! If I did that he'd yell at me and wonder what the heck is wrong with me! They can get away with it.
Okay, well enough for now. I may post again tomorrow after we get back from Kharkov - probably around 9 or 10am. your time.
It's 8:15am there, and 4:15pm here. The girls are here and watching Kim Possible and eating grapes so I thought I would hop on here and write a little bit.
Today we managed to get the form we needed, finally and tomorrow we are going to Kharkov for the fun of it and hopefully to an internet cafe where we can upload some pictures. We are going with the lady we are staying with Olga, and she was more than happy to go along as she has some errands to run in Kharkov as well. I told her we wanted to go shopping and site-see, etc. so she arranged for a taxi to take us and spend the day with us taking us here and there. We could have taken the bus, but then it takes two hours to get there and two hours back - twice the time if we go by car. Plus the busses look pretty gross and they are packed with people . . fogging up the widows,etc. It doesn't look pleasant. It is so cheap to travel by taxi with the exchange rate, it seems worth it to us to go by taxi. So, with any luck, we'll get the pictures posted :)
We hope to find James a coat and also one for Marina. She wants one that is black with pink on it. Everyone here wears black. Everyday, top and bottom, shoes . . .it's all black all the time. I wonder if their underwear is black also . . .probably not, it's probably hot pink or red with gold bling-bling on it!! That's what their shoes and purses all have . . .gold decrotive do-dads all over them - belts too!! The more bling the better here!! The other thing we've noticed is that no one wears glasses! Only a couple people have we seen wearing glasses. . . well, except for sunglasses. That probably makes us stand out right there. You only see a very FEW people wearing tennis shoes too. Most women ware what I would describe as knickers or short pants that stop just below the knee and then they wear tall boots with stiletto (sp?) heels. ALL OF THEM - no kidding. Well, the old women don't, but young women to late middle aged all wear them! Some are so pointed that I wonder how they keep from sinking in between cracks in the sidewalks etc. It's crazy! Women dress very feminine and even dare I say . . . tramp like? Their skirts are worn VERY short (with the boots that come above the knee), and everything is skin tight leaving not a whole lot to the immagination :) However, most have the body to pull off such a waredrobe, since they are all skinny as a rail!!!
I just looked outside because the dog (with 3 legs) was barking and there are people coming out of the woods with bicycles that have baskets hooked on either side of them FULL of wild mushrooms. Today the orpahage even had the kids in the woods collecting mushrooms. I'm not sure what kind they are, but they are delicious! Even James likes them and he's not a huge fan of the fungi family :)
Earlier the girls got into a huge pillow fight with James. 3 on 1 and they did a number on him!! The pillows are very heavy since they are feather pillows and about 1/3 larger than our pillows at home. They are huge square pillows and very heavy. Anyway, at one point they grabbed hold of the sheets and blakets and pulled, ultimately sliding James right off the bed and onto the floor! It was quite a scene and they had a blast! I took some pictures of him trying to defend himself against 3 little girls, but I'm not sure if they will be blurry since I was laughing while I was trying to take the pictures :) They had fun and so did he. In fact they wore him out and he fell asleep while they were watching Kim Possible and then they went up and attacked him again!! I love it! If I did that he'd yell at me and wonder what the heck is wrong with me! They can get away with it.
Okay, well enough for now. I may post again tomorrow after we get back from Kharkov - probably around 9 or 10am. your time.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
What? Did you say something?
Well, today has been very quiet around here. James slept for 14 hours last night . . . got up at noon today, ate lunch . . .and went back to bed. So, at 2:30 I tried to wake him up to go with me up the hill to the school and he wouldn't budge. I left and made my way up there and waited for quite a long while for Marina and the other two girls. Once they were ready, I told them I needed to get a document from the lawyer at the school - a request for the international passport. Anyway, as things seem to go there, the lawyer wasn't there and the school counselor said he could get the paper for me. Well, he couldn't find it, then got on the computer to print out a new one and didn't have any paper in the printer, then the nurse demanded his attention, and when he finally got the paper printed, he told me to get the director's signature on it as well . . .he was gone for the day!! This is the way things operate around the orphanage, and I have about had my fill. So, tomorrow I have to go back and try to locate the director to get his john hancock. Anyway, the girls were frustrated because they wanted to get the heck out of dodge and all this waiting was eating into their time before they had to be back for homework at 5p.m. So, we came back and Marina wanted to listen to the music she had copied onto the disk she bought and . . . it wouldn't work. I think she must not have finalized the disk and the cd players and computers we tried it in wouldn't recognize it. So, she was frustrated again and didn't understand what the problem was. I called the translator and she told Marina how to try to fix the problem. Marina thought she should just go buy another disk, but the translator (who also is named Marina) told her no, just put it back into the computer and close the disk. I hope she understood. So, James got up around 4:30 and hasn't said a word to me, well maybe one or two, and we ate dinner and now he has dissapeared again. I suspect not sleeping with the CPap is making him extremely tired and it will be nice to get home . . .enough said about that.
Today was much warmer feeling outside, maybe because the sun was out. Anyhow, it was nice and I didn't even need my sweater. Oops! I was mistaken . . . James is in the room behind me watching "fooootball" with Constantine. It's a game with Russia against England. Must be big rivals, because Constantine was very excited for the game to start!
Olga was excited today, because today is the day she get's a shower at school! One shower per week is what they are allowed, and believe me . . . little girls can generate a big stink given only one shower a week! Poor kids!! Olga told me she thinks they are "crrraaazy" for not letting them have more than one per week. I agree. The other thing I have noticed is that while Marina has had a few different pieces of clothing to change in and out of, Olga and Natasha have worn the same outfit since we got here!!! We have been here almost 2 full weeks and they are still in the same clothes! Natasha has changed her shirt once and Olga just put new jeans on yesterday, but the rest of their clothes are the same. It's not that they don't have more clothes, because I have seen the teachers open up these big closets in the hall, which are full of clothes. I think they don't want to do the laundry. Of course if I was in charge of that . . . I might do the same :) Just kidding . . . .well maybe not.
When I got to the orphanage today there were many kids busy gardening . . . or should I say, putting an end to the flower gardens for the year. They had them out there with rakes and they were working away to pull out and rake up the foliage and leaves that have fallen. Then there were kids with brooms, sweeping the sidewalks and cleaning up more leaves. This was the first time I have seen the kids busy doing "chores". I asked if they all had assigned responsibilities, and I didn't get a good answer. Marina told me that she wasn't feeling well today and that is why she wasn't working. She said she was being lazy. Although when I got there, she and two other girls were carrying in a huge bag full of laundry off the line. Maybe that is their job?? Well, not much else to say, except that we miss our babies and can't wait to see them. Oh, by the way, Mom, Nanny and Pawpaw, we realized it is cheaper for you to call us on the "866"# than it is for us to call you, so maybe you can call us in another 2 or 3 days. Maybe once a week. Also, we'd like to hear from Angie . . .we saw one post on the blog from her, but we haven't been able to reach her on the phone. I am wondering if she has our phone #, so maybe Crystal could find out and give it to her if necessary. Just remember we are 8 hours ahead of you, and most nights are asleep by 9:30. Okay, love to all!!
Today was much warmer feeling outside, maybe because the sun was out. Anyhow, it was nice and I didn't even need my sweater. Oops! I was mistaken . . . James is in the room behind me watching "fooootball" with Constantine. It's a game with Russia against England. Must be big rivals, because Constantine was very excited for the game to start!
Olga was excited today, because today is the day she get's a shower at school! One shower per week is what they are allowed, and believe me . . . little girls can generate a big stink given only one shower a week! Poor kids!! Olga told me she thinks they are "crrraaazy" for not letting them have more than one per week. I agree. The other thing I have noticed is that while Marina has had a few different pieces of clothing to change in and out of, Olga and Natasha have worn the same outfit since we got here!!! We have been here almost 2 full weeks and they are still in the same clothes! Natasha has changed her shirt once and Olga just put new jeans on yesterday, but the rest of their clothes are the same. It's not that they don't have more clothes, because I have seen the teachers open up these big closets in the hall, which are full of clothes. I think they don't want to do the laundry. Of course if I was in charge of that . . . I might do the same :) Just kidding . . . .well maybe not.
When I got to the orphanage today there were many kids busy gardening . . . or should I say, putting an end to the flower gardens for the year. They had them out there with rakes and they were working away to pull out and rake up the foliage and leaves that have fallen. Then there were kids with brooms, sweeping the sidewalks and cleaning up more leaves. This was the first time I have seen the kids busy doing "chores". I asked if they all had assigned responsibilities, and I didn't get a good answer. Marina told me that she wasn't feeling well today and that is why she wasn't working. She said she was being lazy. Although when I got there, she and two other girls were carrying in a huge bag full of laundry off the line. Maybe that is their job?? Well, not much else to say, except that we miss our babies and can't wait to see them. Oh, by the way, Mom, Nanny and Pawpaw, we realized it is cheaper for you to call us on the "866"# than it is for us to call you, so maybe you can call us in another 2 or 3 days. Maybe once a week. Also, we'd like to hear from Angie . . .we saw one post on the blog from her, but we haven't been able to reach her on the phone. I am wondering if she has our phone #, so maybe Crystal could find out and give it to her if necessary. Just remember we are 8 hours ahead of you, and most nights are asleep by 9:30. Okay, love to all!!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Warm wearings
Well, today we took the 3 girls to center again for ice cream and a blank cd for Marina. She only bought one cd . . . this is so strange to us that they don't buy anything in bulk. Even the blank cd's are sold as singles. NOTHING is sold in bulk - quite different from our culture of everything in bulk and the more the better! I think they would be shocked at our stores like SAMS where everything is big.
Well, I found a really nice coat. It's brown leather with fur trimmed hood and cuffs. The inside is also lined in fur . . . but it's fake :) I think the fur on the hood and cuffs is real though . . . it looks like fox. Anyway, it's a beautiful coat and I was very happy and WARM after I bought it. James considered a couple coats, but wants to look around some more. He saw one in the open-air market the other day, but of course the vendors that were there 2 days ago, weren't there today. Maybe they'll be back later in the week.
So, the other things Marina wanted were, milk and water. We asked her, didn't they have milk and water at school and they all three told us the milk is warm (yuck) and the water can't be drunk without first boiling it. We asked what they drink then and they told us tea. No wonder Marina never wants tea when she is at our house! She's sick of tea. Tomorrow the other two girls can not come to visit for some reason. Their teachers told them no, so I guess it will just be the 3 of us. That's okay, because it forces Marina to talk with us more rather than her friends.
Well, the last two nights sleeping on white sheets has been great . . . but today Olga decided she needed to clean our room and change our sheets. I felt like begging her to leave our sheets since I just changed them 2 days ago, but I didn't and we ended up with . . . . THE BLUE SHEETS again. Oh, to be rid of the blue sheets - it's a fantasy of mine now.
Today we had water again, but we have been told that tomorrow we won't have water again as they continue to work on the line. Well, at least I won't have to drip dry due to my new, non-absorbant towel :)
So, that's about it. Not much else to report. Oh yeah, we will have to buy Marina a coat too, as her teacher told her the winter coat she wears here, stays here! That's okay, it's BLUE and given our situation, I'm sick of blue . . . we'll look for a PINK coat I'm sure (her favorite color).
Well, I found a really nice coat. It's brown leather with fur trimmed hood and cuffs. The inside is also lined in fur . . . but it's fake :) I think the fur on the hood and cuffs is real though . . . it looks like fox. Anyway, it's a beautiful coat and I was very happy and WARM after I bought it. James considered a couple coats, but wants to look around some more. He saw one in the open-air market the other day, but of course the vendors that were there 2 days ago, weren't there today. Maybe they'll be back later in the week.
So, the other things Marina wanted were, milk and water. We asked her, didn't they have milk and water at school and they all three told us the milk is warm (yuck) and the water can't be drunk without first boiling it. We asked what they drink then and they told us tea. No wonder Marina never wants tea when she is at our house! She's sick of tea. Tomorrow the other two girls can not come to visit for some reason. Their teachers told them no, so I guess it will just be the 3 of us. That's okay, because it forces Marina to talk with us more rather than her friends.
Well, the last two nights sleeping on white sheets has been great . . . but today Olga decided she needed to clean our room and change our sheets. I felt like begging her to leave our sheets since I just changed them 2 days ago, but I didn't and we ended up with . . . . THE BLUE SHEETS again. Oh, to be rid of the blue sheets - it's a fantasy of mine now.
Today we had water again, but we have been told that tomorrow we won't have water again as they continue to work on the line. Well, at least I won't have to drip dry due to my new, non-absorbant towel :)
So, that's about it. Not much else to report. Oh yeah, we will have to buy Marina a coat too, as her teacher told her the winter coat she wears here, stays here! That's okay, it's BLUE and given our situation, I'm sick of blue . . . we'll look for a PINK coat I'm sure (her favorite color).
Monday, October 15, 2007
Hurry up and wait
Today was extremely boring and a very long day! We left our house at 8 a.m. and met our sit-in facilitator (someone who our facilitator paid to help us get Marina's passport application submitted), picked up Marina and the school lawyer, only to figure out there is not enough room in the car for all of us! They weren't expecting the school to insist on the lawyer coming along, but because we don't have FULL custody until after the 10 days are up, we could not take her without him . . . even though they let us this past weekend without problem - go figure!! I think the director was just being a bit of a jerk, for the heck of it. So, we ended up having to hire a taxi to follow us all day so that we could all go. Then the rest of the day was spent driving to this place and that and waiting here and there. It was cold and even snow flurries were falling. Tonight it is supposed to get below freezing! We will have to buy winter coats for sure!! When we got home, we were informed that the main water line to the house broke and they are hoping to have water restored by morning. Good thing we got a shower before we left today :) Poor Constantine has been digging all day to get to the water line break and just now called for a professional to come finish the job (it's almost 8p.m here). We did manage to buy a blood pressure cuff today while in Kharkov, which is good since we will need one to monitor Marina after we leave Novaya. We also looked to see if we could by Olga and Constantine a faster modem for their computer, but since NO ONE uses dial-up anymore, you can't find them in the stores here. So, that blows our great gift idea. Oh well. Tomorrow, we will see Marina in the afternoon and she wants to go get ice cream and buy blank cd's for her friends so that they can copy music off the computer at school. So that's it. Nothing else too new and exciting to tell you.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Misled
We realized today that we were misled in believing that this was a father and daughter we are staying with. It is in fact a couple with a great many years between them. We started to wonder when we noticed them being a bit more snuggly than most father and daughters . . .morning kisses and the clincher . . . they share a room :) Our translator told us they were father and daughter, but maybe he just assumed. She told us today that she is 20 years old and her mother and sister live here in this village, but her father drives a bus for a living in Moscow. We asked her how long she has lived here at this house and she told us 5 years . . . hmmmm, that would mean she was 15 when she moved in with him - don't know if they are married or not. At least it all makes a bit more sense now :) We were starting to feel a bit creeped out by the arrangement! Anyway, Olga took us to the center today and helped us buy some Christmas gifts - we couldn't have managed to buy what we wanted without her! Thank you Olga!! Then we bought a few more groceries to hold us over for the rest of the time we are here. We figured out what to buy them as a gift for their hospitality . . . a FASTER modem! It won't cost hardly anything here, and it will make a HUGE difference for them. Tomorrow we go back to Kharkov with Marina to get her passport done and we will have our driver take us somewhere to buy it then. Marina can be our translator :)
Well, after last night I decided I have had my fill of turning blue from the sheets and I found clean sheets and changed the bed. Then, feeling good about that, I went to take a shower . . . flushed the toilet (as needed to get the water pressure up enough to run the shower), got in took my shower and noticed Olga had put clean towels in the bathroom for us :) How nice of her! . . . They too are new and wouldn't absorb the water!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAArrrrrrrGggg! So after ultimately drip drying, I got dressed and we were on with our day :) Should I make due with the non-absorbant towel for another couple days or tell her they need to be washed/request a different towel. I think she would be mortified if I told her the problem. She gets very embarrassed if things are not perfect for us.
Last night after dinner we were in our room and we had the nicest conversation! I can't remember the last time I heard so many words come out of James mouth!! He talked my ear off! Eventually my eyes began to roll back in my head as I struggled to stay awake and keep listening (hahshahha), but eventually he realized I was fading fast and let me go to sleep :) It was nice to be able to have a conversation though without being interrupted every 2 minutes by someone yelling "mama!" I'm starting to miss that though. Grass is always greener on the other side, eh?
Oh yeah, Greg, James told me to tell you that Marina is NOT your sister :) (People at Citi will appreciate this comment) Hahhahahaha!!!!!!
Today when we went to center we were comfortable in our sweaters/fleece jackets, but by the time we finished shopping our hands were freezing and even James was contemplating buying a new winter coat! It had to have dropped 15+ degrees in just a couple hours! I need to check the forcast, but I think new coats are in our future!
Well, more later.
Well, after last night I decided I have had my fill of turning blue from the sheets and I found clean sheets and changed the bed. Then, feeling good about that, I went to take a shower . . . flushed the toilet (as needed to get the water pressure up enough to run the shower), got in took my shower and noticed Olga had put clean towels in the bathroom for us :) How nice of her! . . . They too are new and wouldn't absorb the water!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAArrrrrrrGggg! So after ultimately drip drying, I got dressed and we were on with our day :) Should I make due with the non-absorbant towel for another couple days or tell her they need to be washed/request a different towel. I think she would be mortified if I told her the problem. She gets very embarrassed if things are not perfect for us.
Last night after dinner we were in our room and we had the nicest conversation! I can't remember the last time I heard so many words come out of James mouth!! He talked my ear off! Eventually my eyes began to roll back in my head as I struggled to stay awake and keep listening (hahshahha), but eventually he realized I was fading fast and let me go to sleep :) It was nice to be able to have a conversation though without being interrupted every 2 minutes by someone yelling "mama!" I'm starting to miss that though. Grass is always greener on the other side, eh?
Oh yeah, Greg, James told me to tell you that Marina is NOT your sister :) (People at Citi will appreciate this comment) Hahhahahaha!!!!!!
Today when we went to center we were comfortable in our sweaters/fleece jackets, but by the time we finished shopping our hands were freezing and even James was contemplating buying a new winter coat! It had to have dropped 15+ degrees in just a couple hours! I need to check the forcast, but I think new coats are in our future!
Well, more later.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
It's a Girl!
Whew! Where do I begin?
Yesterday, we went to court at 3, and after about 1 1/2 hours we had an immediate decision by the court that it was in the best interest of the child to be adopted . . . our adoption was approved by the court. There are three ways things can unfold:
1. You can go to court, wait 10 days and then get a decision.
2. You can get an immediate decision and still have to wait the 10 days, but with this, you can proceed and get paperwork processed.
3. You can get an immediate decision and they can waive the 10 day wait.
We got the 2nd choice with a promise to buy the court house new doors! Crazy system!! Anyway, because of this, we were able to leave last night and we drove to Kharkov and stayed the night. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was probably the nicest place Marina has ever eaten and it was quite upscale. We stayed at Hotel Kharkov. It was like any 4+ star hotel in the States. We got a room with a king sized and a roll-away for Marina. There were'nt any rooms with two doubles/queens, just that or a two bedroom suite and since we are trying to save $$$$$$$ whenever possible, she got the roll-away. She seemed thrilled to stay there and made sure she was first in line to take a bath in the BIG bathtub. We got to sleep around 11p.m. and then had to be up at 6a.m. and we left by 6:50a.m. It was a cool rainy day and not the kind of weather you want to go out in. We drove like mad-men to her birth city, which was really a village in the middle of NOWHERE. It was beautiful though, and when Serge slowed down to around 80 mph, I could see a bit more. When your driving 100+mph things are a bit blurred!! He somehow managed to avoid the cows and geese that locals were driving down the roads and across them to pasture I guess. It's mainly old women and men who are out with these farm animals. The soil here is so rich - it's black, literally black! So, when we reached the center of the village we went inside and they wrote up a new birth certificate naming James and I as the parents of . . . Marina Dawn Fisher :) We chose the middle name Dawn, because it is a new begining or a new day, new start for her, plus James sister Crystals' middle name is also Dawn. Marina seems to be happy with her new name although she would have preferred Elizabeth, like Jordans' middle name. So, at 9:30a.m. on October 13, we officially became her parents. After we got the certificate, we drove back to Kharkov and ate lunch. Then Serge had another man meet us in Kharkov and drive us back to Novaya because since it was Sat., we couldn't get her picture taken for her passport. Monday or Tuesday we will have to make another trip to Kharkov to get this done. Then we return to Novaya and wait the remaining days. On the 22nd we will leave with Marina to Kiev and then go to the US Embassey to finish up getting her Visa, etc. This will take another 3 days and by then it will be the 25th/26th, so we will just stay in Kiev until the 1st, because it isn't worth the expense to change our tickets to retun only a few days earlier. This will give us a chance to see the city with our new translator Marina in tow, and we can work on buying some gifts to bring back.
One really neat thing happened on the way back to Kharkov after we got the birth certificate . . . we were crossing a HUGE lake that is really a resevoir, but we saw two swans with 4 babies with them. Serge pulled the car over so we could take it in and take a picture and he remarked a couple of times how rare it is to see this. I said maybe it was a sign for us because now we have 4 children of our own! It was really neat anyway :)
So, Marina can stay with us now or stay at school, but she is being closely monitored for her high blood pressure, which luckily we were able to borrow a blood pressure cuff from the people we are staying with, but anyway, she has to take medicine 4 -5 times a day and we think it would be best for her to stay at school for now until we can buy a b.p.cuff for ourselves. She will be better monitored and being in school will give her something to do. Here there isn't much for her to do except watch tv and she may as well be there for the routine.
We will still visit her every day as we have been though.
One thing I wanted to tell you is that the reason Serge gets away with the way he drives is because a friend of his who is the head of security for the government in Kiev, gave him one of his cars wich is a black SUV - Lincoln Navigator, with black tinted windows and special license plates that identify it as a government car, so he is seen as exempt from the laws of the roads. That's the way he told us anyway. He runs red lights, speeds faster than the spedomiter can register, does U-turns where he feels like it even in the midsts of bumper to bumper traffic, and all the while people are stareing, but seem unalarmed. We have gotten a kick out of all of it! It has been an adventure for sure.
Well, I am going to make another entry about our flight here, only because I am using this as a journal for us to remember and I didn't get to post my thoughts about it earlier. I also want Marina later to be able to read this and understand all that happened while we were here.
Yesterday, we went to court at 3, and after about 1 1/2 hours we had an immediate decision by the court that it was in the best interest of the child to be adopted . . . our adoption was approved by the court. There are three ways things can unfold:
1. You can go to court, wait 10 days and then get a decision.
2. You can get an immediate decision and still have to wait the 10 days, but with this, you can proceed and get paperwork processed.
3. You can get an immediate decision and they can waive the 10 day wait.
We got the 2nd choice with a promise to buy the court house new doors! Crazy system!! Anyway, because of this, we were able to leave last night and we drove to Kharkov and stayed the night. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was probably the nicest place Marina has ever eaten and it was quite upscale. We stayed at Hotel Kharkov. It was like any 4+ star hotel in the States. We got a room with a king sized and a roll-away for Marina. There were'nt any rooms with two doubles/queens, just that or a two bedroom suite and since we are trying to save $$$$$$$ whenever possible, she got the roll-away. She seemed thrilled to stay there and made sure she was first in line to take a bath in the BIG bathtub. We got to sleep around 11p.m. and then had to be up at 6a.m. and we left by 6:50a.m. It was a cool rainy day and not the kind of weather you want to go out in. We drove like mad-men to her birth city, which was really a village in the middle of NOWHERE. It was beautiful though, and when Serge slowed down to around 80 mph, I could see a bit more. When your driving 100+mph things are a bit blurred!! He somehow managed to avoid the cows and geese that locals were driving down the roads and across them to pasture I guess. It's mainly old women and men who are out with these farm animals. The soil here is so rich - it's black, literally black! So, when we reached the center of the village we went inside and they wrote up a new birth certificate naming James and I as the parents of . . . Marina Dawn Fisher :) We chose the middle name Dawn, because it is a new begining or a new day, new start for her, plus James sister Crystals' middle name is also Dawn. Marina seems to be happy with her new name although she would have preferred Elizabeth, like Jordans' middle name. So, at 9:30a.m. on October 13, we officially became her parents. After we got the certificate, we drove back to Kharkov and ate lunch. Then Serge had another man meet us in Kharkov and drive us back to Novaya because since it was Sat., we couldn't get her picture taken for her passport. Monday or Tuesday we will have to make another trip to Kharkov to get this done. Then we return to Novaya and wait the remaining days. On the 22nd we will leave with Marina to Kiev and then go to the US Embassey to finish up getting her Visa, etc. This will take another 3 days and by then it will be the 25th/26th, so we will just stay in Kiev until the 1st, because it isn't worth the expense to change our tickets to retun only a few days earlier. This will give us a chance to see the city with our new translator Marina in tow, and we can work on buying some gifts to bring back.
One really neat thing happened on the way back to Kharkov after we got the birth certificate . . . we were crossing a HUGE lake that is really a resevoir, but we saw two swans with 4 babies with them. Serge pulled the car over so we could take it in and take a picture and he remarked a couple of times how rare it is to see this. I said maybe it was a sign for us because now we have 4 children of our own! It was really neat anyway :)
So, Marina can stay with us now or stay at school, but she is being closely monitored for her high blood pressure, which luckily we were able to borrow a blood pressure cuff from the people we are staying with, but anyway, she has to take medicine 4 -5 times a day and we think it would be best for her to stay at school for now until we can buy a b.p.cuff for ourselves. She will be better monitored and being in school will give her something to do. Here there isn't much for her to do except watch tv and she may as well be there for the routine.
We will still visit her every day as we have been though.
One thing I wanted to tell you is that the reason Serge gets away with the way he drives is because a friend of his who is the head of security for the government in Kiev, gave him one of his cars wich is a black SUV - Lincoln Navigator, with black tinted windows and special license plates that identify it as a government car, so he is seen as exempt from the laws of the roads. That's the way he told us anyway. He runs red lights, speeds faster than the spedomiter can register, does U-turns where he feels like it even in the midsts of bumper to bumper traffic, and all the while people are stareing, but seem unalarmed. We have gotten a kick out of all of it! It has been an adventure for sure.
Well, I am going to make another entry about our flight here, only because I am using this as a journal for us to remember and I didn't get to post my thoughts about it earlier. I also want Marina later to be able to read this and understand all that happened while we were here.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Smurfs
Well, we are officially turning into Smurfs - remember those little blue characters from the 80's? We are becoming them . . . Olga bought new sheets for our bed which are royal blue with big daiseys on them. The only problem is that she didn't wash them first before we put them on the bed and the blue is rubbing off on us. Every morning we wake up as blue as blue can be and our knuckles and feet look almost purple! It's very attractive I must say! And if you forget a spot while washing yourself in the shower, the blue just stays with you all day. Last night I got to laughing so hard to the point that I was in tears, because I was looking at James from behind while he was putting a movie on for us to watch, and I noticed the backs of his arms were blue :) We were both laughing, although he was laughing more at me laughing at him than anything. All I could imagine was us showing up to court today, dressed up with blue faces, hands and ears and having the judge wonder what in the HECK?! Oh well, it gives us funny memories to think back on and laugh at!
This morning we went to "center" to buy a few things and get the girls (Natasha and Olga) the things mentioned that they needed. It was kind of neat because there were many other vendors set up in an open-air market that haven't been there on any of the other days that we have gone to center. So, we were able to find everything we wanted and will give the girls their things later today. We also bought Olga here, some flowers - an odd number of course, because they view an even number of flowers as bad luck or something to that effect. She was very grateful and surpised! I was actually surprised at how surprised she was!! I also gave her the package from you Ruth, and she will call the lady in Kharkov (sp?) and get her address and mail them to her. I don't think we'll make it to Kharkov, so I thought that would be the best solution. Olga speaks a little English and said she didn't learn it in school, but from American and Canadian families coming to stay with them. There is a family in Canada that has adopted 8 children from here and stays with them each time.
Remember the other American I told you about who is staying here? Well, he went to the orphanage and they asked the boys if they wanted to be adopted by him and the one boy said, no. Olga told me this is because he has a younger sister who didn't give him her blessing to move to America or at least was wishy-washy about it. Finally she said yes, he could go and then he said no. What a dissapointment for everyone involved! I doubt he'll have this opportunity again, but everything happens for a reason, right? The director told him he could choose another boy, so I guess he will - not sure. He is very upset about it, needless to say. I would have been terribly upset had Marina said no after all it takes to get this far! There are so many cute kids here though that it would not be hard to find another that would want a family to call their own. However, when your heart is set on one in particular, it would be terribly hard to leave them behind or have to choose another!
Well, I guess that's all for now. Not sure if I will have time to post another comment after court or not, but if we can't we WILL CALL someone (maybe the one who loves me the most :) and then you can play phone tag to spread the news. I said"the one who loves me the most" because my brother tried to convince me to call him first by saying that this was the case - ahahahaha! Keep praying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
This morning we went to "center" to buy a few things and get the girls (Natasha and Olga) the things mentioned that they needed. It was kind of neat because there were many other vendors set up in an open-air market that haven't been there on any of the other days that we have gone to center. So, we were able to find everything we wanted and will give the girls their things later today. We also bought Olga here, some flowers - an odd number of course, because they view an even number of flowers as bad luck or something to that effect. She was very grateful and surpised! I was actually surprised at how surprised she was!! I also gave her the package from you Ruth, and she will call the lady in Kharkov (sp?) and get her address and mail them to her. I don't think we'll make it to Kharkov, so I thought that would be the best solution. Olga speaks a little English and said she didn't learn it in school, but from American and Canadian families coming to stay with them. There is a family in Canada that has adopted 8 children from here and stays with them each time.
Remember the other American I told you about who is staying here? Well, he went to the orphanage and they asked the boys if they wanted to be adopted by him and the one boy said, no. Olga told me this is because he has a younger sister who didn't give him her blessing to move to America or at least was wishy-washy about it. Finally she said yes, he could go and then he said no. What a dissapointment for everyone involved! I doubt he'll have this opportunity again, but everything happens for a reason, right? The director told him he could choose another boy, so I guess he will - not sure. He is very upset about it, needless to say. I would have been terribly upset had Marina said no after all it takes to get this far! There are so many cute kids here though that it would not be hard to find another that would want a family to call their own. However, when your heart is set on one in particular, it would be terribly hard to leave them behind or have to choose another!
Well, I guess that's all for now. Not sure if I will have time to post another comment after court or not, but if we can't we WILL CALL someone (maybe the one who loves me the most :) and then you can play phone tag to spread the news. I said"the one who loves me the most" because my brother tried to convince me to call him first by saying that this was the case - ahahahaha! Keep praying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Come to order
Good news! We will be going to court tomorrow at 3p.m. - that's 7a.m. your time back home. If we get an immediate approval (no 10 day wait) we will pack Marina immediately and leave to go to her city of birth. Sat. is a working day here, so we will still be able to change her birth certificate even though it's Sat. I am guessing after that we would head back to Kiev - drive through the night??? If we don't get immediate approval, I don't know what the plan will be . . . I guess stay here for another 10 days :( Hopefully not.
Today the girls came to us and brougth their photo albums with them to show the gal here - Olga. She really enjoyed looking at all their pictures and then they goofed around taking more pictures and even video with our camera. We had to put a stop to that though or they would use up all our space on the camera. Then I made them a snack of hard salami and cheese . . . then some more . . . .then some Pepsi. .. . . then milk . . . . then cereal! Will they eat dinner tonight at school - I dunno :) We also played tic-tac-toe and hang man. A good game to play and practice English! Marina spelled apple - e-p-p-l-e. Close, but it left me guessing and ultimately I lost because I couldn't guess what started with e --le??? Anyway, we had fun and it gave them something else to do besides watch tv. Then at 4:45 they realized they better get going and took off running for school so as not to be late.
Looking forward to tomorrow! Hopefully/prayerfully it will be all finalized tomorrow! Please be in prayer for us that all goes smoothly and quickly:)
Today the girls came to us and brougth their photo albums with them to show the gal here - Olga. She really enjoyed looking at all their pictures and then they goofed around taking more pictures and even video with our camera. We had to put a stop to that though or they would use up all our space on the camera. Then I made them a snack of hard salami and cheese . . . then some more . . . .then some Pepsi. .. . . then milk . . . . then cereal! Will they eat dinner tonight at school - I dunno :) We also played tic-tac-toe and hang man. A good game to play and practice English! Marina spelled apple - e-p-p-l-e. Close, but it left me guessing and ultimately I lost because I couldn't guess what started with e --le??? Anyway, we had fun and it gave them something else to do besides watch tv. Then at 4:45 they realized they better get going and took off running for school so as not to be late.
Looking forward to tomorrow! Hopefully/prayerfully it will be all finalized tomorrow! Please be in prayer for us that all goes smoothly and quickly:)
sweet treats
Yesterday we went up to the school and met the 3 girls again and told them we thought we should walk to "center" to get an ice cream. "Center" is the center of town where their little stores are which by the way they call "magazines". So, they thought that was a good idea and we set off on our way. We kept passing other stores here and there which usually have just one word on the outside of the building, indicating what they sell there. Most stores don't have windows, so it's hard to SEE what they sell. I would ask Marina as we walked along, "do they sell ice cream" and she would say no and tell me what they sell. It is quite a walk to center, but fortunatley it it mostly down hill. We finally found a store that had ice cream and then the girls wanted a sucker each and then I wanted a chocolate bar and some Pepsi, then Marina wanted Fanta orange soda . . . so a few purchases later we left there and continued our way into center, because Marina wanted to look around and didn't want to go back to school yet. We did and then she decided she wanted to buy a bag of chips - potato chips that were cheese flavored. We got those and then decided to get a taxi back to the school. She was afraid that we were going to put just the 3 of them in the taxi and say goodbye, and she was quite relieved when she realized we were going too. When we got back to school, we still had another hour to visit so we sat in the sunshine and visited some more and took some more pictures and then it was time for Olga and Natasha to go do their homework. They left and we visited a bit longer and then it was time for Marina to go in, so we said goodbye and she told us today we didn't need to come get them, but that they would come to us here. Whew! No excersise today :) I told her we would work on making some goodbye cards for her teachers today while she was here and she thought that sounded like a good idea. I asked her if she was going to make cards for her friends and she said no "to big", which meant there are too many of them. She said she has 10 friends and can't make that many cards. We'll see. I think it would be nice if she could make each of them a little something.
It's 10:15 here now and we have had our breakfast and are watching CNN and just heard about the high school shooting in Ohio. Olga just walked in from going to center with a few bags and one has two fish tales sticking out of it and . . . they are still wiggling!!! I wonder if that is lunch or dinner? I'm sure James is hoping neither :) Maybe we'll go to center this morning and get Natasha some of the things she said she needed. It's sort of hard because then you feel like you should get the same things for Olga as well. They are never apart from one another. In fact I thought Olga would be with Dennis most of the time, but she isn't. Mostly she is with her girl friends. We've only seen him once since we've been here. The other thing we have seen a lot of is kids even LITTLE kids smoking at school. They think it's really cool - not all of them, but the boys do. We asked Marina where they get the money for cigarettes, and she told us that they work for women outside of the school and earn money and that is what they spend it on. Everyone smokes here - well, okay not everyone, but I would say MOST. The other problem here is the pollution. It seems none of the cars are running with catalytic convertors and they emitt tons of smog and stink! In the city of Kiev there were times I felt like I couldn't breath and tried to hold my breath as long as possible. It's a big problem here.
Well, I'm going to check email and so is James. He's practically falling asleep waiting for me to finish this so he can check his mail :)
It's 10:15 here now and we have had our breakfast and are watching CNN and just heard about the high school shooting in Ohio. Olga just walked in from going to center with a few bags and one has two fish tales sticking out of it and . . . they are still wiggling!!! I wonder if that is lunch or dinner? I'm sure James is hoping neither :) Maybe we'll go to center this morning and get Natasha some of the things she said she needed. It's sort of hard because then you feel like you should get the same things for Olga as well. They are never apart from one another. In fact I thought Olga would be with Dennis most of the time, but she isn't. Mostly she is with her girl friends. We've only seen him once since we've been here. The other thing we have seen a lot of is kids even LITTLE kids smoking at school. They think it's really cool - not all of them, but the boys do. We asked Marina where they get the money for cigarettes, and she told us that they work for women outside of the school and earn money and that is what they spend it on. Everyone smokes here - well, okay not everyone, but I would say MOST. The other problem here is the pollution. It seems none of the cars are running with catalytic convertors and they emitt tons of smog and stink! In the city of Kiev there were times I felt like I couldn't breath and tried to hold my breath as long as possible. It's a big problem here.
Well, I'm going to check email and so is James. He's practically falling asleep waiting for me to finish this so he can check his mail :)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
optimistic outlook
Yesterday our translator/2nd facilitator called to see how we were doing and we said everything was fine, but wanted to know if he could ask the director if it would be alright to take Marina on a day-trip to Kharkov (a major city about 40 miles away) this coming Sunday.
His response was, "you may not be there on Sunday". I said, okay???? and he then told us that we may end up in court this Friday! He said he'd talk to the judge again today and then let us know. If that happens AND they waive the 10-day waiting period, we could be back in Kiev by this weekend and at the Embassey by Monday and finished with everything by the middle or end of next week!! Wouldn't that be awesome!
So, yesterday Marina, Natasha and Olga came home with us for about 1 1/2 hours and they had a snack and watched a Russian/Ukrainian version of "Married with Children"! It was pretty funny to look at since the set and everything looked almost the same and the characters were presented in the same way (ie. dressed alike, etc) Even the expressions on Al Bundee's face were the same - but totally different people playing the parts. Funny! They also brought some things with them to keep them busy . . . Olga brought coloring to work on , Marina brought her English homework (gotta like that!) and I'm not sure what Natash brought - she just wanted to watch tv. So, when it was time for them to leave they told us we didn't need to go with them, that they were fine to walk back together and we agreed. I need to have Marina make some cards for her teachers and friends today and tomorrow in case Friday is the last day here :)
Nancy and Rick, I asked Natasha if she needed anything and she mentioned a few things . . . toothpaste, an umbrella, colored pens and markers, and lined paper or white paper. At first she couldn't think of anything and James told her whenever people ask him if he needs anything, he tells them "money" :) I don't know if you want us to try and pick up these things for her here, or if you want to send them to her . . . I'm not even sure we could find the markers and paper here in Novaya?? Anyway, let us know if you want us to try. I also passed on the messages to Olga and the other kids from everyone.
Right now as I am blogging, James is watching CNN on tv and getting briefed on what is happening with the race for the presidency in the US. It's nice that here they can turn their satalite and get European channels as well as some English speaking channels. We can see CNN, Discovery, National geo and a couple others, but that's about it. Well, not much else to say right now . . . more later.
His response was, "you may not be there on Sunday". I said, okay???? and he then told us that we may end up in court this Friday! He said he'd talk to the judge again today and then let us know. If that happens AND they waive the 10-day waiting period, we could be back in Kiev by this weekend and at the Embassey by Monday and finished with everything by the middle or end of next week!! Wouldn't that be awesome!
So, yesterday Marina, Natasha and Olga came home with us for about 1 1/2 hours and they had a snack and watched a Russian/Ukrainian version of "Married with Children"! It was pretty funny to look at since the set and everything looked almost the same and the characters were presented in the same way (ie. dressed alike, etc) Even the expressions on Al Bundee's face were the same - but totally different people playing the parts. Funny! They also brought some things with them to keep them busy . . . Olga brought coloring to work on , Marina brought her English homework (gotta like that!) and I'm not sure what Natash brought - she just wanted to watch tv. So, when it was time for them to leave they told us we didn't need to go with them, that they were fine to walk back together and we agreed. I need to have Marina make some cards for her teachers and friends today and tomorrow in case Friday is the last day here :)
Nancy and Rick, I asked Natasha if she needed anything and she mentioned a few things . . . toothpaste, an umbrella, colored pens and markers, and lined paper or white paper. At first she couldn't think of anything and James told her whenever people ask him if he needs anything, he tells them "money" :) I don't know if you want us to try and pick up these things for her here, or if you want to send them to her . . . I'm not even sure we could find the markers and paper here in Novaya?? Anyway, let us know if you want us to try. I also passed on the messages to Olga and the other kids from everyone.
Right now as I am blogging, James is watching CNN on tv and getting briefed on what is happening with the race for the presidency in the US. It's nice that here they can turn their satalite and get European channels as well as some English speaking channels. We can see CNN, Discovery, National geo and a couple others, but that's about it. Well, not much else to say right now . . . more later.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
sorely missed
Today, I have woken up sore again from the "bed" we are sleeping on. It amounts to a platform with a piece of plywood on top of it, topped off with a piece of low-density foam about 3 inches thick. This doesn't do our hips and backs any favors. Our memory foam matress will feel wonderful when we return. I can only dream of what it will feel like :) On top of the sore back, my head is achey as well. I can't tell if it is sinus pressure alone or if I have been clenching my teeth in addition to being congested or what, but my temples are sore and all across my forehead feels like a tight band. My back is very sore as well and I need desperately to see Dr. Kim - our chiropractor. Okay, enough complaining . . .
Yesterday we went to get Marina and Olga's teacher said she could come with us as well. We left the school around 3ish and had to have Olga back by 5 and Marina by 6pm. We didn't want to make the trek up the hill twice within that hour, so we took them both back at 4:30, so they would be back in time. The girls didn't want us to have to walk them all the way back, they wanted to run ahead, so Marina told us we didn't need to come with them, that they would be fine to go on ahead without us. We said okay, and after they dissapeared over the hill be kept walking on and eventually could see them making their way up the big hill to the top. They turned around at the top and waved to us. There is actually two hills we have to walk up and down to get to the school. Anyway, once they reached the top of the big hill, we turned back because their school is at the top up there. We felt comfortable that they had made it back safely. Earlier while they were here, I got out my fingernail polish and let them paint their nails together and when they were done with that they came downstairs to watch tv. Constantine found a couple of "kid" shows - one being spiderman. Then they wanted to watch "music tv" so Constantine found Mtv for them, but every video they showed, has nothing but drinking and sexual content in them, which made me uncomfortable letting them watch. So, we found a "fashion" channel and we watched that for a bit and made fun of the outfits the models were wearing and commented on how sickly the girls looked on the runway. Then it was time for them to go back to school. I told Marina to bring something with her today to do - I hope she understood. She asked if Olga could come again and we said that was fine. I hope they bring something to occupy their time today, because there isn't much on tv for them and I am afraid to change the channels because there is a lot of XXX rated shows on and I don't want to stumble upon those programs with them sitting here. Maybe today we'll keep the tv off. Marina is suppossed to bring her book of pictures along to show Olga (who lives here), so maybe she can spend some time doing that. I also brought the English/Russian textbook and workbook with me, so maybe Marina and I will start working on a page a day out of that.
Last night for dinner we ate chicken and mushrooms (of course), buckwheat, and for the first time here - cooked veggies, which Olga called "hot salad". Everything was delicious again as usual and after dinner she brought out a cake like Angel Food Cake with homemade plum jam to spoon over it. Again . . . very yummy. Before she made dinner she asked me if we ate buckwheat and I said yes, that was fine. Then I went to get my Eng/Russ book to find the word "liver" to tell her we don't like it and before I could even look it up, she asked me if we ate liver. I told her no . . . I had to draw the line there. I'll eat most anything else, and we know where James stands . . . "I'm willing to try anything", but even he was glad I told her no liver.
After dinner James went to take a nap and I read for about an hour then I had to go to bed. The problem is that I am tired at 7p.m. here and then only sleep about 6 -7 hours, when I wake up in the middle of the night. So, when that happened last night I listened to a CD by Nichole Nordeman which I love, ate a granola bar, because I was hungry again, and then went back to sleep an hour or so later. Then I woke again around 4:30 and again aroud 6:00. We both woke up then and now it's 11:23a.m. and I feel ready for a nap. Maybe I'll take one today and be able to stay awake longer at night and then actually be able to sleep all night. I just can't sleep 10 - 12 hours. When I do wake up, I get transfixed on James' snorring, which just stresses me out. Every now and then, I poke him and wake him up for a brief minute until he starts it again - aarrrggg! Well, maybe I'll make another entry later today. Right now, I'm going to try to take a nap.
To Mary and Kern's - I will pass your messages on to the kids.
Please email us or submitt your comments on the blog - it's nice to hear from people :)
Yesterday we went to get Marina and Olga's teacher said she could come with us as well. We left the school around 3ish and had to have Olga back by 5 and Marina by 6pm. We didn't want to make the trek up the hill twice within that hour, so we took them both back at 4:30, so they would be back in time. The girls didn't want us to have to walk them all the way back, they wanted to run ahead, so Marina told us we didn't need to come with them, that they would be fine to go on ahead without us. We said okay, and after they dissapeared over the hill be kept walking on and eventually could see them making their way up the big hill to the top. They turned around at the top and waved to us. There is actually two hills we have to walk up and down to get to the school. Anyway, once they reached the top of the big hill, we turned back because their school is at the top up there. We felt comfortable that they had made it back safely. Earlier while they were here, I got out my fingernail polish and let them paint their nails together and when they were done with that they came downstairs to watch tv. Constantine found a couple of "kid" shows - one being spiderman. Then they wanted to watch "music tv" so Constantine found Mtv for them, but every video they showed, has nothing but drinking and sexual content in them, which made me uncomfortable letting them watch. So, we found a "fashion" channel and we watched that for a bit and made fun of the outfits the models were wearing and commented on how sickly the girls looked on the runway. Then it was time for them to go back to school. I told Marina to bring something with her today to do - I hope she understood. She asked if Olga could come again and we said that was fine. I hope they bring something to occupy their time today, because there isn't much on tv for them and I am afraid to change the channels because there is a lot of XXX rated shows on and I don't want to stumble upon those programs with them sitting here. Maybe today we'll keep the tv off. Marina is suppossed to bring her book of pictures along to show Olga (who lives here), so maybe she can spend some time doing that. I also brought the English/Russian textbook and workbook with me, so maybe Marina and I will start working on a page a day out of that.
Last night for dinner we ate chicken and mushrooms (of course), buckwheat, and for the first time here - cooked veggies, which Olga called "hot salad". Everything was delicious again as usual and after dinner she brought out a cake like Angel Food Cake with homemade plum jam to spoon over it. Again . . . very yummy. Before she made dinner she asked me if we ate buckwheat and I said yes, that was fine. Then I went to get my Eng/Russ book to find the word "liver" to tell her we don't like it and before I could even look it up, she asked me if we ate liver. I told her no . . . I had to draw the line there. I'll eat most anything else, and we know where James stands . . . "I'm willing to try anything", but even he was glad I told her no liver.
After dinner James went to take a nap and I read for about an hour then I had to go to bed. The problem is that I am tired at 7p.m. here and then only sleep about 6 -7 hours, when I wake up in the middle of the night. So, when that happened last night I listened to a CD by Nichole Nordeman which I love, ate a granola bar, because I was hungry again, and then went back to sleep an hour or so later. Then I woke again around 4:30 and again aroud 6:00. We both woke up then and now it's 11:23a.m. and I feel ready for a nap. Maybe I'll take one today and be able to stay awake longer at night and then actually be able to sleep all night. I just can't sleep 10 - 12 hours. When I do wake up, I get transfixed on James' snorring, which just stresses me out. Every now and then, I poke him and wake him up for a brief minute until he starts it again - aarrrggg! Well, maybe I'll make another entry later today. Right now, I'm going to try to take a nap.
To Mary and Kern's - I will pass your messages on to the kids.
Please email us or submitt your comments on the blog - it's nice to hear from people :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Shopping with Marina
Yesterday, we went up to the orphanage and Marina had to take her medicine (for hypertension) and then she asked her teacher if she could go with us to our house . . . the teacher said that was fine as long as we had her back by 8 or 9 p.m.. So, we left and came to our house and tried to work on a puzzle I brought with us of the Capital and Washington Monument, but it was a 1000 piece puzzle and we would need a table set aside in order to keep working on it from day to day. Eventually we all gave up on it - which is not in my nature and I hated to put the pieces back into the box after just begining to make progress, but I knew there was no way to get it done before dinner and we had it all over the dinner table. After that we decided to go to the store to get some more water and other things (you can't drink the water here because of Giardia (sp??) which is a parasite that will cause a terrible case of intestinal problems . . .enough said. Thank God, we have had NO such problems so far :) So, we went to the store in a taxi and Olga told the taxi driver to wait for us and show us where the store was. In stead of having one big store they have several little stores each specializing in something different - maybe it's housewaress, food, toiletries, baked goods, deli fixings, etc. and we went and bought some more things to eat for breakfast, like cereal and yougurt and we also bought milk (it comes in a bag here), water, Pepsi, Fanta for Marina, and every time they needed to give us change back, they paid us in peices of candy, which Marina just loved!! She boughts three suckers for her and Hannah and Jordan which I thoughts was sweet of her. She told me the candy here in Ukraine is VERY good in comparison to the US and from what I tasted, I would have to agree it is superior! Then she wanted to buy a watch for a friend of hers at the orphanage - a boy named Deema (sp??) whose birthday was 4 days ago. I was not so crazy about having to buy some kid a watch because I was afraid to start something with other kids wanting this and that, but the watch wich would have cost in the states an easy . . . $50-75, was only $5 US here!! Not too bad. When we got home we realized it needed a battery and we would need to make another trip to town by taxi to get one, but then we realized that the battery in my watch was the same size, so we put it in his watch and we'll make due with James' watch and the time on our phones for now. Marina had on the little Tinker Bell watch Nina bought her and she offered me her battery, but I told her that was okay, I'd buy another one. She is so sweet and giving:) When we left the orpanage yesterday, little Olga seemed so sad that she could not go . . . I don't know if the teacher would have let her or not, but Marina told her no, and I could tell she was bummed about it. We saw her brother yesterday too, and he was all smiles and we took some pictures of them with some other boys who all hammed it up for the camera. They want pictures taken of them . . . maybe they hope someone else will see their picture and come for them??? Maybe they just like the attention - I don't know.
So, after we got back from the store we put our groceries away and went upstairs to put together some little gifts for Marina to take back to the orphanage to give to her friends. Thank God I had just the right amount of gifts for each of her friends both girls and boys. I bought things like fuzzy socks and gloves, pencil and eraser sets with Tinker Bell and Spider Man on them, sidewalk chalk, super balls, stickers, etc. and I had little gift bags and boxes that we divided all the items up and put them in. Each child got a few little things in his or her own package. I hope they liked it - I'm sure they did :) I think Marina felt grateful to have something to GIVE to her friends as well. She didn't ask for any of it for herself which surprised me! I guess she feels she will not lack for anything now in comparison - that must feel so good to her:) We as Americans have so much - we don't even realize how MUCH we have. People here have just enough to make do with, and even in their homes nothing is matching or coordinating . . . like at home we have coordinating furniture, towels, plates and glassware, etc. They do not. The other thing they don't have that I noticed are fitted sheets for their beds. They put a flat sheet down with big SQUARE feather pillows and then a blanket that is fit inside a sheet-like cover (duvet) for your top sheet and blanket. In the morning we wake up and the flat sheet under us is all bunched up somewhere. They could stand to have those elastic bands with the clips on them to hold their sheets on the corners of their beds. That would seem like a luxury item here! I woke up around 4 am again this morning and studied some more - glad I brought my booklight! It was raining again, and I had heard that today was going to be raining all day, but so far the sun is out. I would say they are about a month ahead of us as far as the "fall" is concerned. The leaves are yellow and red and falling when the wind blows. Marina told me she likes the yellow leaves the best. It's very peaceful here with only the sounds of animals in the countryside. It's no wonder Marina has told me before when she was at our house she prefers the country to the city - it's what she is used to. I guess our house will be a perfect fit for her in that respect. This morning, I was telling Olga about Hannah and Jordan and showed her a picture of them with Marina. Then she asked if we had a big house and I told her it was about the same size as this maybe a bit bigger. I realized that Marina has her photo albumn at the orphanage with pictures of home, so I told her I would have Marina bring it here this afternoon after school so she could see where we come from. She asked if we lived in the city and I told her no - the country SOMEWHAT similar to here. She seemed excited to see the pictures and when we watched the weather on CNN this morning and they showed the US map, she wanted to know where we lived. We showed her and she said "ahhh, in middle, yes?" (middle of the US) She seems very sweet and Constantine is just great too. They are very hospitable and we want to get them something nice before we leave, but what??? (a dog with 4 legs? - hahahaha!) I'm sure we'll figure it out :) They really have a pretty cool set-up here, behind their house is another 2 buildings and an in-ground pool (probably 15+ feet deep!) They just drained the pool for the season though. Anyway, in one building behind the pool they have a dry sauna and our translator told us that was very common here, and in the other building or behind it I guess is a place to have an outdoor bbq which is big enough that they hold wedding receptions here. From what we understand, weddings here run about 3 days of parties and wishing the couple well. They just held one here the weekend before we arrived. I think there is a guest house or rooms in that other building back there by the bbq area.
Well, don't know what else to tell you. More tomorrow :)
So, after we got back from the store we put our groceries away and went upstairs to put together some little gifts for Marina to take back to the orphanage to give to her friends. Thank God I had just the right amount of gifts for each of her friends both girls and boys. I bought things like fuzzy socks and gloves, pencil and eraser sets with Tinker Bell and Spider Man on them, sidewalk chalk, super balls, stickers, etc. and I had little gift bags and boxes that we divided all the items up and put them in. Each child got a few little things in his or her own package. I hope they liked it - I'm sure they did :) I think Marina felt grateful to have something to GIVE to her friends as well. She didn't ask for any of it for herself which surprised me! I guess she feels she will not lack for anything now in comparison - that must feel so good to her:) We as Americans have so much - we don't even realize how MUCH we have. People here have just enough to make do with, and even in their homes nothing is matching or coordinating . . . like at home we have coordinating furniture, towels, plates and glassware, etc. They do not. The other thing they don't have that I noticed are fitted sheets for their beds. They put a flat sheet down with big SQUARE feather pillows and then a blanket that is fit inside a sheet-like cover (duvet) for your top sheet and blanket. In the morning we wake up and the flat sheet under us is all bunched up somewhere. They could stand to have those elastic bands with the clips on them to hold their sheets on the corners of their beds. That would seem like a luxury item here! I woke up around 4 am again this morning and studied some more - glad I brought my booklight! It was raining again, and I had heard that today was going to be raining all day, but so far the sun is out. I would say they are about a month ahead of us as far as the "fall" is concerned. The leaves are yellow and red and falling when the wind blows. Marina told me she likes the yellow leaves the best. It's very peaceful here with only the sounds of animals in the countryside. It's no wonder Marina has told me before when she was at our house she prefers the country to the city - it's what she is used to. I guess our house will be a perfect fit for her in that respect. This morning, I was telling Olga about Hannah and Jordan and showed her a picture of them with Marina. Then she asked if we had a big house and I told her it was about the same size as this maybe a bit bigger. I realized that Marina has her photo albumn at the orphanage with pictures of home, so I told her I would have Marina bring it here this afternoon after school so she could see where we come from. She asked if we lived in the city and I told her no - the country SOMEWHAT similar to here. She seemed excited to see the pictures and when we watched the weather on CNN this morning and they showed the US map, she wanted to know where we lived. We showed her and she said "ahhh, in middle, yes?" (middle of the US) She seems very sweet and Constantine is just great too. They are very hospitable and we want to get them something nice before we leave, but what??? (a dog with 4 legs? - hahahaha!) I'm sure we'll figure it out :) They really have a pretty cool set-up here, behind their house is another 2 buildings and an in-ground pool (probably 15+ feet deep!) They just drained the pool for the season though. Anyway, in one building behind the pool they have a dry sauna and our translator told us that was very common here, and in the other building or behind it I guess is a place to have an outdoor bbq which is big enough that they hold wedding receptions here. From what we understand, weddings here run about 3 days of parties and wishing the couple well. They just held one here the weekend before we arrived. I think there is a guest house or rooms in that other building back there by the bbq area.
Well, don't know what else to tell you. More tomorrow :)
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