A few whirlwind days!

So far so good with the kids! Though they've only been home since Wednesday, it actually feels like they've always been with us. The kids are really settling in well and enjoying things, though they have been jetlagged. The first couple of days, they woke up pretty early - 4 and 5 am. Today was the first day they've been in bed until 7 am - a semi-normal time (we'd prefer 9 am on Sundays!! :) We have noticed that they get tired easily. I'm not sure if it's the altitude (we're at 6000+ feet here) or if they just don't have the energy because they're so thin. We've been getting them outside everyday to do a little something - a walk, playing soccer, etc - to build up their energy.

Their appetite has been great, they want to eat often, but they don't eat alot at a particular setting. They mostly want fruits and veggies, so we're having to force protein and carbs into them. Though, they do love eggs, so breakfast time is easy. Knock on wood, but we are having a really great experience so far. They are really well-behaved kids. Scott set the line early while he had them in Odessa for appropriate behavior, and they really do listen well. I'm amazed at the communication that we're able to do with them, without us able to understand each other's language. They may not understand what we're saying, but they "get" what we're saying. Whether we're telling them to make their beds or brush their teeth, to asking them if they're cold or hungry or want to play, somehow it's all been working out. There has been only a few times that they weren't able to tell us something or vice versa.

We had a busy day yesterday. Scott's family came over yesterday to meet them, and I think that was a bit overwhelming for them. Later, they met a few of the kids in the neighborhood, who have all been very excited to meet their new friends. I think yesterday was a bit overwhelming for them, but they handled it very well. We've had no blowups or tantrums, or really even any fights. Every now and then they'll squabble over something (usually over choice of movie to watch), but otherwise, they're great together, and we think, really good for each other. They will chatter on and on to each other in Russian, and I really wish we knew what they're saying. I'm half tempted to tape them and take the tapes to an interpreter. Right now, I'd love to be inside their heads to understand how they're viewing everything so far.

They do only like to go out for a bit at a time - one or two stores, then they ask to go home. We think they just want to make sure that home is still really there for them. Tomorrow I'm going to take them for their first day trip (to go tubing at one of the ski resorts), but so far we've just kept them around the house or neighborhood, except to go to a few stores. We think it's helping them with their comfort level - this is "our house", "our bedrooms", "our clothes". Neither one is particularly clingy, though Daria gives me lots of hugs and kisses and keeps saying "my mama" in Russian.

This week, I'll take them to school for testing and enrollment. They've actually had a lot of their vaccinations done at the orphange, so I think we'll be able to start them in school in a week from tomorrow. Logan is really looking forward to going, Daria not as much. Once she's made some friends though, that will change.

I will admit to being a little overwhelmed (mostly because I haven't had as much sleep as usual) with the suddenness of everything. But I know we'll get into our family groove here very soon. The good news is that the kids are completely comfortable with us, and seem to trust us. That will really help.

I still haven't had time to pull photos off my camera, but promise to do so very soon!

They're Home!!

It feels so great to finally be able to write that! Scott, Logan and Daria arrived in Denver at 1pm this afternoon. I'm so happy to have everyone together! Scott said all last night they kept saying "America" - they couldn't wait to come. On the flight home, they kept asking him how many more hours to go.

I got tons of hugs and Daria held my hand almost the whole way home (I was NOT driving :). I'm sure not having mama around while Logan had papa was hard for her. It was fun seeing their reactions to our house and their rooms - their very own rooms! They kept saying "wow!". Not that our house is very big or anything, but I think they just can't believe they actually have their own rooms. Especially after sharing a bed for so long after getting out of the orphanage and waiting for the passports.

I think our dogs were a bit overwhelming for Daria, but I kind of expected that. They're both young - 2 and 1 - and are very "enthusiastic" (as one friend graciously put it). Meaning, they jump and lick A LOT. Logan really liked it, but not so much Daria. In a few days, they'll all be best of buds, and I predict that Dozer will be sleeping with Daria and Tasi with Logan.

Most importantly, we can finally relax from this roller coaster of a trip and settle in to being a family. We'll take some pix tomorrow of the kids in their new home and post them.

Passports Finally Arrive!

Hi everyone (if anyone is still following this). I'm sorry it's been so long since the last posting. Scott applied for the passports on March 13th, and it has taken this long to get them. They finally arrived this morning, but apparently it took about twice as long as most people's. Needless to say, by Friday of this past week, Scott was really worn down mentally and panicking because his time off comes to an end this week. We thought that I might have to go back over so that he could come home and go back to work. Fortunately, everything worked out just in the nick of time!

Scott has been keeping the kids busy and entertained as best he can. He's my hero - staying over there by himself and taking care of our kids. It sounds like they've figured out how to communicate back and forth pretty well, and he says they are just awesome and very well behaved. They even make their beds in the morning without being asked!

We had purchased a Leap Frog system for each of them before we embarked on this journey. We were going to save it for the plane ride home, but Scott finally had to break down and give it to them this weekend. He says they absolutely love it (hint hint to those of you adopting kids old enough to understand them). He said they caught on and figured things out pretty quickly, and there are plenty of learning games that come with the base system in addition to the add-on games. We got a good deal on ours at Costco in the fall, but maybe they still have some.

Scott has been taking the kids with him every day for the last week to check to see if the passports arrived. The kids know what the passports mean - they can finally come home to America. On Friday when they went, the lady told him the passports had arrived. He got so excited, but apparently they were for some other kids. Today when they got there, the lady told him the passports had come, but he didn't want to get too excited in case they weren't his again. Finally she had the kids come back around and Scott said they went crazy when they saw them. They are so excited to finally be coming home!

I have to be honest - I've been worried that they'd forget me after I left. After all, I was only with them for 2 weeks before I came home, and it's already been over 3 weeks since I've been back. Scott said our translator today had a long conversation with Daria, and that she really misses me. She was able to describe what I look like: "mama has red hair and a nice smile", which made me very happy. I cannot wait to see my kids again. I've really been missing them since coming home.

We're hoping that they can finish up everything that they need to do at the Embassy tomorrow, and then fly home on Wednesday. It's sometimes possible, and easier with one child than two. But, I know the Embassy people will do they're very best to get everything finished tomorrow. If not, the worst case is that they will be home on Thursday. I will know in the morning when I wake up. Finally, something worth getting up at 5am for!!

Meanwhile, our friends Peter and Charlene have finished their 10-day wait. They adopted 2 children from the same orphanage that we did, and their daughter and Daria are friends from the same class. We are looking forward to keeping the kids in touch when we're all back home and settled in.

Picked up Cout Decree

Today we completed our ten day wait period and was able to pick up the court decree, which was big step in finalizing the adoption. We were hoping to get the children's birth certificates changed today as well; however, the orphanage director was not in town and we will have to spend one more night in Balta and hopefully pick them up tomorrow.

From there, we are off to Odessa to apply for their new passports. We still have not made up our minds if we are going to stay in Odessa while the passports are developed. It could take up to ten days and the hotels are much more expensive their than in Balta. We should know tomorrow exactly how long the passports will take and will make the decision then.

Either way, the children will need to travel to Odessa to get their photos taken for the passports. They (Odessa Region) have re-organized how they give out passports and the children from the Odessa Region now have to be in Odessa to have their pictures taken, rather than have their photos brought into the agency. The good news is that if all goes well tomorrow morning, the children should be able to leave the orphanage for the last time tomorrow. Which will make tonight their last night.

Even though we were not as productive today as we wanted to be, we still feel very fortunate to be in the position we are in and have high hopes that we will be back home within two weeks.

Several lessons learned over the past week have been;
If only one spouse is going to remain in country to finalize the adoption after the court hearing, ensure that a Power of Attorney is left with the remaining spouse.

Confirm with orphanage officials that the paper work (birth certs, etc...) needed to complete the adoption process is available on the day after the ten day wait and that an official will be able to access and give you that paper work on that day.

Bring plenty of medicine. If you thought you brought enough, take some more. I ran out and it made for a very uncomfortable week unnecessarily. The majority of the children and people we have come in contact with have colds, respiratory infections, etc... and the chance of catching multiple colds, etc.. is high. If at all possible get with your doctors and see if they can prescribe some antibiotics in case you need them.

Fingers crossed, tomorrow will be a productive day and we will be one step closer to coming home.

Photos of the kids

Random thoughts

For those of you getting ready to travel over, I wanted to share a few things we've experienced on our journey. It is much warmer than we expected, and apparently warmer than usual. Generally, the weather has been sunny and between 40 -60 degrees during the day. Until we got settled in to our apartment in Balta, we survived on peanut butter, oatmeal, fruit and bars. You may or may not have an apartment in which you can cook, so prepare accordingly. Once we were settled in to an apartment with a kitchen, we were fine with food. Lots of fresh fruits, some fresh veggies, lots of frozen veggies, and lots of lunch meats, eggs, and perogies.

We bought bottled water to drink, but I brushed my teeth with the tap water and have not gotten sick. Neither has Scott. Knock on wood. Also, I have been making tea, coffee and hot chocolate with the tap water, and we've been fine. Our water has not been brown and dirty though. Every place we've been has had a hot pot for boiling water, which has been great.

Bring more books and magazines than you think, because it won't be enough (unless you're traveling with your child). We ran out - I have one book left for the plane. It's really difficult to find anything in English. Scott has a video iPod, and burned lots of DVDs to it before we left, so we had 30 or so movies and tv shows to watch. He brought an AV connection and was able to run the movies through the televisions. We have not had any English tv since we've been here, and in Balta, there were only 3 local channels. Regular Kyiv television is better. We brought cards, and I brought an electronic crossword game as well as electronic soduku. Life savers, let me tell you.

The apartment building that we were in did have a washing machine, but charged $10 to do one load. We ended up washing most of our clothes in the apartment. You can buy laundry detergent anywhere. We bought a cell phone in country that was internet capable, but the charges for phone usage were outrageous. Don't do this if you think you'll be anywhere with an Internet cafe. It's only about $1- $2 U.S. dollars an hour at the cafes. The phone charges were also more than we thought, but we think there is some sort of glitch that we can't figure out with the phone and it's sucking down money. There are no cell phone charges for incoming calls, so provide your number to people so they can call you. Calling after 8pm also minimizes phone charges.

Hope some of these things help!

Back in Kyiv

Well, this will be, sadly, my last post from Ukraine. We arrived 3 weeks ago today, and the time has just blown by, despite all the downtime we've had. I hate leaving Scott and the kids here (I missed them yesterday when I left!), but hopefully the next couple of weeks will blow by just as quickly.

Thursday night after court, we celebrated with our new Balta neighbors, Peter and Charlene. They're a lovely Canadian couple who are also adopting a sibling group, sister and brother, from the same orphanage. Our kids know their kids, and in fact Daria is in the same groupa as Peter and Charlene's girl. The boys are in 2 different groups, but know each other.

While we've enjoyed being immersed in the Ukrainian culture, it's been great to actually be able to speak to people again :) Peter and Charlene started their process over 2 years ago, while the NEC was still around prior to its dissolution and before the SDA came into being. Canada also has traditionally had a much, much smaller quota from the Ukrainian government for adoptions (like 24 dossiers vs. 1400 for the U.S.), so that has also had an impact on timing (the SDA in early 2008 got rid of the country quotas).

To us, it's always interesting to hear other people's stories about what led them to Ukraine and how long it's taken them to get to this point. For those of you who haven't or aren't adopting, let me tell you, it's not simple, it's not easy, and it's a real emotional committment to see this process through. There is very little predicting what can happen in this environment, and it's really a testament to those who see it through over all of the ups and downs that people actually make it to the end and leave with their children. We know of a few who, even while we're here, are having a very difficult time getting an appropriate referral.

Scott and I feel very lucky that we had the flexibility to take children who are a bit older than what we wanted, because those wanting younger children are finding it quite difficult in many cases. I can't remember if I posted about this already, but after we had our appointment and got our referral for a 9 and 8 yo, I was quite apprehensive, and not very happy. I really wanted younger children (4-6 yo), thinking that would be easier and they'd have less emotional baggage. It also occurred to us that with older kids, we'd have them for much less time before it was time for them to go to college. Scott was comfortable with their ages, but I will admit that I was very torn. But, we were not shown any sibling group with a child younger than 6 (who had a 12 yo brother) during our meeting with SDA. Of course, as soon as we met Logan and Daria, I knew they were ours. There wasn't any doubt about it. But, for those families who already have kids and are trying to find another to fit into their family, it can be a tough process.

Sorry for the side bar there. Anyway, so we celebrated with Peter and Charlene on Thursday night, and we wish them the best of luck on bringing their children back to Canada with them. We were hoping to have some time with the kids after court, but court took longer than we thought, so they had to go directly back to the orphanage. Olga told them that I'd be leaving to get their bedrooms ready at home, and that papa would be staying with them to bring them to America. I think they both wanted to leave right then and there. Daria wasn't thrilled that mama was leaving - she wanted papa to leave to get the rooms ready and mama to stay.

BTW, another sidebar about court for those of you who are getting ready to come here. Our court hearing was pretty typical, and nothing that really deviates from what you read about. In addition to the judge, there was a prosecutor, 2 "jurors"/"witnesses" from the town, the Inspector, the Orphanage Director, us, our translator and the kids. The first part of the hearing was a lot of legalese - reading our petition to adopt the kids, reading the laws governing adoption, etc. Scott and I were both asked questions, nothing unusual at all (why do you want to adopt from Ukraine, how did you learn about these children, why do you want to adopt these children, are you capable of taking care of two children, etc). The Inspector and Director were both asked to say some words. The kids were also asked if they want to be adopted by us.

I will say one of the things that we weren't happy with was that the kids histories were read while the kids were present in the room. Some of it was pretty sad, and I hate that the kids had to hear all that again. But, it's part of the process. We just weren't prepared for it.

The judge called a recess to then consider the case, and the prosecutor and jurors left. About 10 minutes later, everyone was back with the final paperwork. The judge then read the decree that the court accepts our petition to adopt the children, change their names, and be listed as their parents on their birth certificates. Then, court was over. The judge was very nice, and everyone - including the judge - commented on how much the kids look like us :)

I processed out of the Embassy yesterday afternoon, that was quite easy, and am now waiting for my flight out early tomorrow morning. I'm not in a great part of Kyiv, and there's not much to see here. I've tried to get some photos to upload, but that's still not happening. I'll post photos of the kids when I'm home. In the meantime, Scott has promised to blog when he is able, and I'm really going to miss them until they get home. It can't be soon enough!