One Year Ago Today - July 7/8 - Kyiv

Ok, so I'm a day behind...we had a wonderful family reunion on Saturday in beautiful weather, Sunday just got away from me, and today I spent my extra time pulling weeds!  I realize this is probably a lot more detail than most of you care about, but I'm just putting them in for our family's sake. Feel free to skim (or ignore completely) if you want.

So, Thursday, July 7th, we got off the train all well-rested (not). We had breakfast and Vanya's driver picked us up and brought us to the consulate/embassy for my 10:30 appointment. It is pretty fun to walk to the front of the line with my USA passport. :-) Or did we go to the medical appt first? I think so. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I got the paperwork turned in to the consulate's office.

Just off the train - breakfast at "McFoxy" (or something like that - a McDonalds knock-off)
Vanya was great at snapping pictures for me. I was working on THIS short post.

 Then, my blog post from Thursday night, July 7th:

"Today at the US Consulate's office, I got all of my forms and documents submitted and ready to go.  I had to remind them that I needed to pay the second I-600 fee of $720 though. :-) He didn't mention it but I told him we had already used one approval on our I-171H and since the boys weren't biological siblings, I owed them another $720. It was the right thing to do. They would have caught it tomorrow and it may have delayed things, so it was best to just take care of it now.

The medical exam went MUCH quicker this time. It helped we didn't have to wait for 2 hours for the doctor to get out of a "meeting" like last time. It was still a joke, still costs $110, but hey...I gotta do what I gotta do to get out of here. :-)

So, tomorrow, I go back to the consulate's office at 2pm for the final visa processing. I know it will be a HUGE relief when I finally get it.  Then, the driver will pick me up at 2:45AM - yes you read that right - for our journey home. Please continue to pray all goes well, esp for J's ears on the plane."

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After the paper chasing was done for the day, we set off to find an apartment for J and me to stay in for a couple of days. Vanya knows a landlord that rents pretty high-end apts. He gives Vanya a good deal when he knows he can't rent the apt for the weekend. It was a very "swanky" apartment! 

View of the street from the living room

Ok, this bathroom was none like I had ever seen before...
The shower had a remote control! I kid you not. It had sprayers and misters and nozzles from all different angles. I just used the regular shower head. LOL
And yes, it even had a bidet! :-)
The one thing it didn't have? An outlet...go figure.

Nice sized kitchen

The spacious bedroom

Living room with Jonathan laying in the middle of the floor

This apartment did present a problem though...what do with the little man when I'm not holding him?  I could sit him on the couch, but he could easily lean forward and fall. The floor is very hard tile. His blanket really wasn't thick enough to protect him if he rolled over and bumped his head on the floor. He definitely couldn't sit up on the floor.

This was one very quick, temporary solution...

....He wasn't overly thrilled with it though....

What I ended up doing was taking one of the older looking, thick bedspreads/comforters from the closet and laying that on the floor for him to play on. I felt bad it was going to have to be washed, but I really had no other option.

View out of the kitchen window. For a while, I couldn't figure out what the sand and the brick area was for.  But then, I saw an owner taking a dog for a walk...ok, got it. :-) Not much grass around.

But take a look at that "parking lot". The entrance was at the back left of the gray building. Hmmm...talk about being "parked in"!

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Jonathan's first bath!!!

While he was not overly crazy about it, he did not shriek in terror like Elijah did for his first bath. It took a month or so home before J enjoyed his bath. I would not say that he LOVES them now, but tolerates them. Elijah on the other hand - he LOVES LOVES LOVES water! :-)

Naptime! I slept right next to him at night. He slept great!

Vanya left town Thursday evening, and J and I slept in on Friday morning. My embassy appt wasn't until the afternoon, so we hung out for a while. With no computer, I watched TV, or tried to anyway. I think the only thing I watched was "English 911" or "English Club" or something like that. The show was teaching Russian speakers how to speak English. Hey, at least I could understand it!  After teaching a few of my children phonics, I realized how incredibly difficult English must be to learn as a second language. But one thing I never thought about until watching this show was the difference between homework and housework. Big difference, but oh so confusing to a non-English learner. Something to think about...after spending so much time in Ukraine, I have learned languages, and the ability to understand them, are a true gift.  It also gives me a whole new appreciation for Vanya and Kostya, my facilitators, and the work they do. Their English is absolutely perfect and never once did I not understand something they said. They were a joy to work with.

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FRIDAY, JULY 8

TWO big things happened on this day:

1. I got Jonathan's VISA so we could go HOME! Praise God!

2. Dariya was sprung from her orphanage and I got to meet her!!! YAY! (You have to check out her Gotcha Day video HERE.)


Pat and I met Jason and Rochelle Cannon at the beginning of our trip. We dined together and then we stood in the hot sun together waiting for our referrals at the SDA before leaving for our regions. What a joy it was to follow their journey in country via their blog and then get to meet Dariya in person! How fun! We had supper at the Ukrainian Buffet together. I'm sure I had borsch and I think she had vereniki. :-) She did a great job at the restaurant after the exciting day she had. What a precious little girl! We hope to be able to see the Cannons again someday.

  

And where was Jonathan during all of this? He was snuggled in the Ergo sleeping away. He might have woken up at the end, I don't remember. We were both a little lot sweaty by the time we got back to the apartment. It was over a mile walk uphill both ways...ha ha. But if you look at the picture below, you'll see the road going back up a hill far in the distance. My apartment was up there...somewhere. 

Coming up next....the trip HOME!  Woohoo!!!

One Year Ago Today - July 6 - GOTCHA!

One year ago, I posted this from Vanya's apartment: (I added some notes in yellow.)

"Today went great so far!!! Right now, we're hanging out at Vanya's apartment (since he conveniently lives in the same city as the passport office and the train station) while we wait to leave on the overnight train to Kyiv in a few hours. So, yes, that "we" is Vanya, me AND Jonathan!!!!! Our day went great with obtaining the court decree (This took a bit longer b/c we needed about 10 copies, and they only made seven. Thankfully, Vanya usually requests the court decree to only have 2 sides, thus one piece of paper, so they don't have to sew the 2 sheets together. If you've never been to Ukraine, you are laughing. But it's true - any official document containing more than one sheet of paper is sewn together with a string. No, I'm not joking!), his new birth certificate, closing out J's bank account and getting the one-day red passport! Praise God!!!! The Lord worked out all of the details with everything. He is SO good to us. Oh ya, the "Gotcha" part of the day went great too. We got photos of his crib and his play area, as well as group photos with the nannies and one with the director. The Lord also gave us favor with the director to let us see and take photos of one of the very special little ones here, so I'll be passing those on to his mama as soon as I get home. 

Jonathan is doing well. He wasn't too crazy about his bottle at first, but managed to drink down 6 oz of it. Right now he's laying on the couch next to me, cooing and smiling at me. He's a little love. :-) I'm going to try and give him some cereal here in a bit before we get on the train, so I'd best sign off and get back to being a mommy. I'll post photos when I get home too. (While I typed this, Vanya had run to the grocery store to buy some baby food for him. Love it! Vanya went way above and beyond. I couldn't carry any over as I didn't check any luggage, and I had no opportunity to stop at the store. Vanya did a great job with his selections, as I think this may have been the first time he bought baby food. :-))

Thank you to everyone for praying about this day. God is faithful and has blessed me tremendously today. Please continue to pray for a smooth train ride tonight, smooth processing at the embassy Thurs and Friday, and of course, a quiet, uneventful trip home with no cancelled flights! Love to you all!!!"

Ok, here's the photos! (This post is a bit picture heavy as I nearly lost all of these photos shortly after we arrived home due to an "operator error". But we recovered them and I'm SO thankful!)

A shopping mall near the apt

Outside of the HUGE market

Front of the city Social Worker's office

J's "locker" just outside the main grouppa room.
I'll give a special gold star to the first one to  leave a comment  with the English pronunciation of Jonathan's last name. :-) I'll give you a hint - his first name was Kiril, thus the initial K at the end. Oh, and it's Russian, not Ukrainian...

The nannies working this day. The lady on the right was the "head" nanny as we usually saw her doing paperwork and bossing around the young one in the red. :-)

Every single time we came to visit Jonathan, we was laying in this play pen - flat on his back - if he wasn't eating. :-(   There is no padding, it is just hard wood. :-( :-(  No toys to play with, just the ones hanging in the air to look at.

The wall of toys...

It was actually nap time when we came, so you can see the babes in  the cribs. J's was in the back left corner. 

Jonathan's crib!

As I mentioned above, the director gave us permission to visit this precious little one...his story is not mine to tell, but his mama tells it so very well here - http://savenathaniel.blogspot.com/2012/05/one-year-ago-today.html . My heart breaks completely in two for him...I debated about posting these or not. But I feel it's important for us to be reminded of what the lack of medical care for orphans really means...his condition is VERY treatable..

Ok, it was time to pull it together and sign off with the director (right). I have no idea who the lady on the left is, this was the first time I saw her.

Leaving Antoshka!

Oh...my poor baby's eyes...you know, once he got home and they cleared up, he's never had a single problem with them since!

This is how we traveled via taxi to Donetsk. Yes, no carseats...just LOTS of prayer! This is still his favorite cuddling position.
Some of you Ukrainian veterans may have noticed how big this car looks, and it was. Funny story...when Max came to visit us, this same taxi brought us to Celetano's. The driver was astute enough to give Max his number in case we needed a taxi again. :-) He pointed out he had AC. Sold! We saved his number and Vanya called him for our trip back to Donetsk. I can't remember exactly what we paid, but we figured it barely covered his gas, esp since he had to drive back 1 1/2 hours to Kramatorsk. Nice guy!

 Cuteness!

On the train!!!
When I look at this photo, I'm shocked at how skinny his legs look. His legs are NOT skinny anymore!

FREEDOM!

He conked out like this shortly after we got on the train about 8pm I believe. By the way, he still sleeps exactly like this - always the first 2 fingers on his right hand - in his mouth. I figured he would wake up in a couple hours for a bottle. Nope! He slept like this until 2 or 3AM. I tried to sleep with my legs around him so he wouldn't roll off. Have I ever mentioned I hate sleeping on the train??? But a sacrifice WELL worth it!

Tomorrow - our first day in Kyiv!

One Year Ago Today - July 4/5, 2010

(This begins a series of posts about Jonathan's "Gotcha Week", which I never blogged about as it was happening. I chose not to carry over a computer since it was going to be such a short trip, so I didn't blog as I went.)

Gotcha Week Planned Schedule:

July 4 and 5 - Travel to Donetsk
July 6 - Take bus to Kramatorsk, GOTCHA DAY, obtain one-day passport and overnight train to Kyiv
July 7 - Arrive in Kyiv, have first consulate appointment
July 8 - Second consulate appointment and obtain VISA!
July 9 - Fly HOME!

By the Lord's grace, this is exactly how it worked out. :-)

On July 4th, 2010, I left our little local airport to begin my journey to bring our 7th child home. Pat and the kids dropped me off at the airport "on the way" to the parade. I was a little teary as he pulled away as I stood there with my carry-on suitcase and backpack (I determined to pack light and I did!).  The Lord gave me His peace and strengthened me. If this had been my first trip to Ukraine, it would have been very different I'm sure. My first 2 flights were uneventful.  The Lord blessed me with an aisle seat on the long flight as I was seated right between 2 siblings, so I switched with one of them. Yay!

I was very fortunate to fly directly from Munich, Germany, into Donetsk instead of Kyiv. I LOVE the Munich airport!!! It's so quiet, clean and small compared to the huge, confusing, maze-like airport in Frankfurt. The flight from Munich to Donetsk was delayed over an hour. The plane was late due to a storm in Rome. I have to say, going through customs in Donetsk was a little scary. I saw a few people sent to the side for some reason. Not too many people come into Donetsk to adopt, but it worked out fine. The baggage claim was hilarious. Go around a corner back outside and pull your suitcase off of a trailer. Love it! :-) In Munich, I started talking to a man from the States traveling to the south of Donetsk, so it was nice to stand in the customs line with someone who spoke English.

A driver was still waiting for me at the airport and took me to a very nice little hotel that Vanya had arranged with a friend of a friend. I felt very safe there. These photos below are actually the next morning. The friendly cat looks just like our "Tiger" at home, so I had to snap a few photos.

Well, just in case you felt bad for the kids having their mother gone on a holiday, don't worry about it! The wonderful Gibson family sat the parade with them, and then invited Pat and the kids over for a swim party AND a birthday party to celebrate Anna and Jake's birthday. Here a few of the many photos Auntie Crackers took for me. :-) I'm SOO very grateful for the love they have shown us over the past 2+ years.


Elijah's first Independence Day! Freedom on so many levels!

Elijah looks SO young! All of the kids have changed so much in the past year. 

Once Elijah learned he didn't have to throw the candy back at the people throwing it to him LOL, he did great picking it up and filling his hat.

Looks like the kids are really missing their mommy, doesn't it???

This would be Carter's Daddy!

 Ashley was so sweet to spend time with the girls and braid their hair.

Sarah and her BFF Rachel

What sweet innocence....

The birthday buds!

My wonderful parents came for the week while I was gone so Pat could go to work. They had a nice party for Anna on her real birth-day. :-) I was so grateful for the sacrifice of their time to help us bring both of the boys home.

I do know that Anna missed me on this day. In 2010, Pat and Sarah were in Ukraine on a mission trip. She was very glad this year that all of us were home together.

Tomorrow - GOTCHA DAY!

One Year Ago Today....

...Jonathan Kiril became an official member of our family!!! An Ukrainian judge granted us our petition to make Jonathan our 7th child. What an answer to prayer! The Lord has been so faithful to us. Jonathan has been a blessing to our family in so many ways. Each and everyone of us have grown to love him, and dare I say, he has grown to love us. (He's exhibiting a pretty good dose of separation anxiety when his mama leaves, so that's a good thing from an attachment standpoint!) I have learned a lot about feeding and sensory issues over the past year - things we are still working on overcoming. I have also learned not to underestimate this precious boy.

One year ago, he was not sitting on his own yet. He was very "floppy", and still had some head control problems. Well, this child is floppy no more and took 10 steps yesterday! He will be motoring on his own by his 2nd birthday in a couple weeks. I'll get a video posted soon of him walking. I also never posted the photos from the week I spent in Ukraine by myself bringing Jonathan home. (Ya, I got a little busy when I got home.) I do plan to do those as "One Year Ago" posts the beginning of July. Sarah is also working on one year home video. But for now, here are some recent photos of our beloved "Chubbles", a nickname coined by Sarah. :-)

Oh, that tongue...yesterday he fell and hit his chin on my parents' coffee table (we permanently removed our coffee table when Sarah was 9 months old) and bit into his tongue pretty deeply. He seems fine today, but please pray it doesn't get infected. Ouch! It looks so sore.

Tears, auctions and huge successes!

With tears today, I read about a precious little one now in the arms of Jesus.  She died alone. Just think about that for a moment...she died with no one to hold her or comfort her or to kiss her. Imagine one of your own children dying alone...I can't even let me mind go there.  And as Shelley said in this post, "She died alone because Christians make excuses for why they “weren’t called for that” or why only “special people” can parent “those kids”."  I'll tell you what...Pat and I are not "special people". We simply said "YES!" to the opportunity to parent "those kids". What are YOU waiting for?!? Susanna had a great post the other day about fear in adopting. It is definitely worth the read. Church, we need to pray, pray, pray!!!  (I did not post this directed at any one person or family. I just get angry when I hear about kids dying when they don't need to!)

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Well, I sat down to do this post about a very fun and wonderful opportunity to help a family adopting a precious little girl from Pleven, where children are existing in horrible conditions.

I've mentioned the Hidden Treasures Blog Auctions before. They are so much fun! Anna, our 9 yo daughter, made a couple of items to donate to the auction. She is VERY excited to be able to help. Here are the links to her items:

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/annas-hotpads-1.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/annas-hotpads-2.html

Don't need any hotpads?  Please click HERE to see all 74 items. It is super easy to bid and you don't need a google account to do it. Just follow the instructions on the sidebar. But you'd better hurry as the auction ends Thurs night at midnight EST. Go check it out!

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/summer-family-journal-kit.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/fun-lunch-packing-bonanza-bundle.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/weighted-lap-blanket-5-pounds.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/art-photo-with-custom-imprint-2.html

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HUGE PT (physical therapy) successes for both Jonathan and Elijah!!!

During PT on Monday, Jonathan took 2 steps unassisted at 3 different times!!! Woohooo!  Last night he took about 3 or 4 steps! This boy, who could not sit up just about a year ago when we met him, has come SO FAR in the past 11 months since he's been home. He continues to amaze me each and every day!  It seems like he may just be walking before his 2nd birthday in mid-July! (Video pending if he cooperates. :-))

Also on Monday, Elijah walked all the way up the stairs without holding on to anything!  Great progress for him too!  I watched his last PT session at school last week and he is doing great developing his core strength. I'm so very, very proud of him too!