Surgery Tomorrow for Elijah!

Well, I never got around to posting the results of the boys' sleep studies. Jonathan's was relatively fine, Elijah's not so much. He has mild-moderate sleep apnea.  So, tomorrow morning he is getting his tonsils and adenoids removed to help make sure he is getting enough oxygen at night. In addition, he will most likely have ear tubes placed (3rd set). The ENT wants to examine his ears more closely while he's sedated. And finally, he is having a frenectomy. Don't know what that is? :-)  I didn't either until a few days ago. The labial frenum is the little tag of tissue in the center of the upper (and lower) lip that attaches the lip to the gum. So, a frenectomy is the clipping of the labial frenum. His top one will be done. His awesome speech/feeding therapist recommended it to help him with speech. I had forgotten about until I was thumbing through my new book from Talk Tools about feeding.

The ENT wants to keep him overnight for observation due to his Down syndrome. I believe it is usually an out-patient procedure.

We would really appreciate your prayers for a smooth and uncomplicated surgery and quick healing for Elijah.  I'm praying he will be able and willing to take fluids will over the next week.

This will be our first overnight at a hospital besides childbirth.  I know this isn't heart surgery like the Warrior Princess Lyla just had, but its still something new for us. Lyla helps me keep things in perspective. :-) Hopefully Elijah will recover as quickly as she did!!! She's a walking miracle!

On a side note, I sat next to Grace last night and listened to her breathing...I believe a sleep study is definitely in her future too. :-( Oh boy...the thought of that makes me shudder. Yes, I know I thought Jonathan's would be awful getting all those things stuck to his head, but wow...Grace can be a lot feistier than him, and she is very strong too. Maybe she'll surprise me like he did.

Speaking of Jonathan's sleep study, I never posted these pictures of him the next morning as they were taking all of the wires off him as proof of the miracle of him not fussing at all.  Sorry, they are so incredibly blurry. The iPad camera and I don't get along, plus he wouldn't stop moving!

For Tonight - You Can Help!

I have a ton of things I want to blog about, but my time at the computer is pretty short these days. Can't imagine why...adjusting to any new child in the home is a challenge, especially one that was been institutionalized for almost 9 years. But really, Grace is doing well for the most part and I'll try to update more later.

Back in the 3rd week of December, two very happy travelers (they had just finished the LAST piece of paperwork to leave the country) went shopping on Kyiv's famous sovenuir street. The elder traveler strapped a tiny 30# 8 year old girl on in an Ergo and the other (much younger traveler) felt a little silly pulling an empty suitcase over the cobblestone streets and sidewalks.  But they were shopping for a purpose.  The purpose was to help bring home FOUR precious little boys to a very special family they have known and loved for years. Their mission was to purchase souvenirs that would bring high bids in a Facebook auction and fill that suitcase up!  :-)

(By the way, the tiny 8 yo girl did amazingly well in the Ergo for a couple of hours.  Her mama's legs...not so much. Her mama is WAY out of shape!)

If you are interested in bidding on some fun Ukrainian souvenirs, or some MILKA chocolate, or some yummy ROSHEN candies, hop on over to the Freedom Auction on Facebook. Please help support the Burman family bring home their precious children!  (If that link doesn't work, please search for "Freedom Auction" on facebook and look for the Ukrainian flag. Thanks for your help!  (I'm sure Shelly would appreciate prayers too. She's been there a long time and has quite a ways to go yet.)

THE AUCTION ENDS TONIGHT (FRIDAY) AT MIDNIGHT!

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Sarah did a much more eloquent post today about our participation in the auction. She even has pictures (because we all know she is a much better blogger than me!). :-)  Our family and the Burmans have ties that go back to before we even knew the other existed. Pretty amazing when you think about it that 6 1/2 years later we were able to meet in Kyiv! Go read Sarah's post!  Thanks so much!

Settling in.

Well... we kinda disappeared for updates since we came home. Don't worry if you aren't friends on Facebook, there was next to nothing there either. Reasons being jet lag, the sickies, and getting used to a new little one around. But here's a long update with lots of pictures to make up for it.

Today is one week home for out sweet girl!

On the way home.. both of us looked pretty drugged from lack of sleep. ;)

So how has Grace been doing? Amazing, and better than we hoped for!

Ball with her siblings the night we got home

Grace fits right in and acts like she's always been here. She is adjusting so well, better than we expected! Rachel seems to be her favorite sibling, and they can often be found hugging. :)

Jonathan could care less, and Elijah isn't too thrilled but tolerating her. Anna, Isaac, and Rebekah are smitten, and I'm just glad she still prefers me slightly over the other kids and doesn't hate me after our trip home. :)

She is still working on the jet lag, but otherwise sleeping well. She doesn't get out of bed, or let us know when she wakes up (orphanage thing, Elijah was the same way), but goes back to sleep when told "spee" at 6am. :) Little Miss has trouble chewing from her teeth being flat from her grinding, but is eating well with more mashed up foods, and is drinking well.

Opening Christmas presents the night after we got home!

Still not liking the hairbows! lol

Grace does have some stimming and institutional behaviors, but nothing like we expected. She grinds her teeth, and rocks and jerks her neck back and forth sometimes. When she's tired or going to sleep, she puts her left arm over her face... that's it, no rocking, no nothing. She pockets food in her lower lip and certainly doesn't refuse food, but she doesn't stuff like Elijah did, nor go scavenging in the garbage like Elijah did. When we were in our apartment in Kiev, I have the garbage out because I was peeling pomelo. I gave her a bite or two of it, and she wanted more so got close and was looking in the garbage. I told her no, don't touch, and she backed off right away and didn't touch it. And that's not the only time she has shown how good her self control is. We had no problems having her tray of food in front of her on the airplane, as long as she was being fed. This is HUGE considering where she was, and how long she was there. God is so good!

She quickly figured out how to open presents and was very neat about it, getting up and bringing every little scrap to mom after she ripped it off. ;)

Many have asked about Grace's language. She understood/understands Russian very well. Unfortunately, our Russian is limited, but we do know the essentials like yes, no, good job, pretty girl, don't touch, chew, sit down, sleep, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, etc. And I think she is starting to understand some English. She is non-verbal, in Russian and English, but gets her point across when she wants or doesn't want something. She has spoken a couple words though, like "Vika", referring to one of the girls in her grouppa during a visit. The other one I can think of right now is "go" in English, which I'm not sure she completely understands, but says sometimes after we say something like "let's go upstairs" or "let's go eat".

Of course learning some Dora Spanish doesn't hurt!

As for signing... not going as well as we hoped. Mom worked on signing more with her every visit when she would give her her snack, with no success. Elijah was signing mama and papa on Day 3 after meeting them. We have decided that it's not inability, or not understanding, she's just choosing not to. She signed more, or something close to it once or twice, but that's it. She just refuses to do anything when encouraged. She is watching her brothers sign, and then get what they want, a lot, so maybe she'll change her mind soon. :)

That's all I can think of for the moment. Happy New Year Everyone!

Gotcha Day for Grace!

We're HOME! More about that later, but first, catch up time!

Gotcha day was Sunday, and I wanted to post about it in a little more detail.

Sunday morning, we slept in some, and then finished packing. Vanya, our most awesome facilitator, got there 11 something and we loaded up. Then headed over to the orphanage to pick up our princess!

The nannies all gathered around to watch her get dressed in HER new clothes which was done by her favorite nanny, Tanya.

Of course we had to have the tights and turtleneck, but it was warm enough the nannies decided she didn't need the snow pants. :) And she kept her flower on! It stayed on for about 2 hours surprisingly and hasn't stayed on since... I think the nanny talked her into wearing it and then she forgot about it. lol

Grace and Tanya, her favorite nanny. Tanya is the one who came with us to get her passport pictures taken too. Since Grace did so well when we went to get that done, we joked with Tanya about her coming back to the US with us so Grace was happy all the time. :)

Not only did Grace love Tanya, the feeling was mutual. Tanya obviously cared about her and loved her. We are thankful that she had at least two nannies who loved her before we could get there to do so!

 Where she slept the past years...

One of the nannies having her say goodbye to her grouppa. Watching her say goodbye and saying goodbye ourselves was the most emotional part of the day (and the trip!) for mom and I. We got to play with almost all of them, love on them, and get to know them. Saying goodbye and leaving them behind knowing they didn't have families was gut wrenching and heartbreaking.

Walking away from that orphanage forever and ever! Tanya walked out with us... and the sun was in a really bad spot for pictures! 

 Saying goodbye to Tanya, and in Mama's arms forever! 

Getting buckled in, and the start of our 7 hour car ride! And going over the Kherson/Tsyurupinsk bridge for the last time. (We stayed in Kherson, the orphanage was in Tsyurupinsk.)

Grace did great for the most part on the long car ride! She only got upset when she had to go potty and didn't want to in her diaper.

We went out to eat once we got to Kiev, and Grace had vardnicki for her first after Gotcha day meal. :) Then we watched some Masha and the Bear in the apartment before bed, she laughed hysterically when mama changed her into her jammies!

Grace Olena, formerly just another of the 147 million, just another statistic. Now a daughter, a sister, cared for, adored and loved.

SHE IS FREE!!

Just a quick update for those who haven't heard on Facebook.... we busted Grace OUT of that stinkin' institution yesterday morning!

Yesterday afternoon we drove up to Kyiv. Grace did great on the trip for the most part!

This morning we did the first of two embassy appointments for her visa and went to get her medical done. Tomorrow we pic up her visa, and Wednesday we fly HOME!

Longer update and more detailed update tomorrow... right now we are both going to bed! :) Thank you for your prayers! Grace is doing well, but keep them coming please!

Christmas Day!

Maybe I'm the first one to post about Christmas Day?!?  :-)  But, you'll never guess!  We have tickets booked to arrive home ON Christmas Day!  WOOHOOO!!! I never thought it possible, but God has done it.

We got Grace's passport picked up and stamped late on Friday afternoon after a bit of running around in a taxi and taking the tram/trolley bus home (fun and cheap).  Our best information right now says that the hospital in Kyiv is still out of the TB skin test serum (shortage exists in the US too). That shortage shaves a couple of days off our time in Kyiv.  We should just have 2 days doing her medical and visa paperwork, and "should" be able to fly out on Wednesday - Lord willing!!!

Unfortunately, the schedule to fly from Chicago to Appleton is greatly reduced on Christmas Day...go figure. We would have had a 6 hour layover there. I think it would have about killed me to sit there for 6 hours when it is only a 3 hour drive. So, I think we will take a bus to the Milwaukee airport and my dearest husband will come pick us up!  This route is exactly what we did when bringing Elijah home. The big difference is we sat in Chicago for hours waiting for our "delayed' flight, which was eventually cancelled.  (Yes, I cried more than once.) This time it will be planned - well, as much as you can plan international travel in winter on a holiday.

So, we won't have a big airport "homecoming" which is fine.  I don't think too many people would have come on Christmas anyhow. :-)  Hey, one out of three adoptions isn't bad! 

Tomorrow, Sunday, will be GOTCHA DAY!!! Right now, Grace is sleeping for the last time in that ol' institution. She doesn't even know her life is about to flip upside down!  We know it is for the better - it just may take awhile for her to realize that. 

We would appreciate your continued prayers for safe travel and Grace's transition to a new life! Thank you so much!

Paper chasing and Passport Pictures!

Jill here...

Let's see...it is Thursday, I think. This week has been a blur, but VERY productive!  We have accomplished eveything we needed to - court decree, new birth certificate, closed two banks accounts, papers signed by Vanya (our facilitator) for Grace to leave the orphanage, de-registration of her living at the institution and more that escapes me at the moment. So, we are just waiting on her passport!!!  It may still come tomorrow (Vanya can't get ahold of the guy) or it may come on Monday. Either way, "Gotcha Day" will be on Sunday!  WOOOHOOO!!!  We will then drive up to Kyiv and do 2 days of Embassy visa processing and then....HOME!!!   But I sure do wish we could "teleport" home.  LOL

I was a little concerned how Grace would do when we took her to get her passport picture taken. She cries when she goes to a different part of the orphanage she is not familiar with. It was about a half hour car ride, and she did great!!!  I asked Vanya to have one of her favorite nannies come along. She agreed and someone else agreed to stay late to cover her position with the other kids. They have been so nice to us.  Grace giggled the whole time they were getting her dressed and walked out that door like she owned the world! She loved the car ride too...I should have known my little sensory seeker would love the bumps and sways of the Ukrainian roads. She giggled away! 

We had a nice visit today with Grace, and Sarah and Grace are getting to know each other.  :-)  

On the way to get her passport picture taken

Pretty in pink!!! Her hat was made by her big sister, Sarah, of course! (Waiting at the office to get her photo taken.)

Sarah and Grace hangin' out

Getting early speech therapy and she doesn't even know it. :-)

I'm trying to get her used to playing on the iPad for the trip home.

As Vanya was leaving the orphanage for the last time, Grace's other favorite nanny, Tanya, was walking in. She asked if we would be willing to buy an artificial Christmas tree for the grouppa for them to remember Grace by.  We were more than happy to get one!  After our visit today, we went to the market and bought one and all the trimmings to go with it! So fun!!  Sarah carried it back to the orphanage for me. :-) The nannies were SOOOO happy!  Tanya gave us both hugs and kisses!  The kids were sitting at the table waiting for their food and were wondering what the fuss was about. LOL I am anxious to see it all decorated tomorrow.

Ahhh, the birth cetificate...So very important!!  The orphanage lawyer had it so we picked it up today along with the deregistration slip. 

I'm so thankful to the Lord everything went so well this week. We are almost there!  Thanks to everyone who has supported us and prayed for us!  A big thank you to Lisa O for holding down the fort at home for me while Pat is working!  We couldn't have done this without you!

We're back!

Sarah here!

Well the 10 day wait is over and we are back in Ukraine! Mom and I that is.

Our flights were long of course, but okay. We were delayed 2 hours on our first flight, but we made the one out of Chicago because that one was an 1 hr late. We made up time in the air and made it to our gate in Germany with literally a few minutes to spare. Then on to Ukraine! Our MAF (most awesome facilitator) met us at the airport and we stayed with his and his beautiful wife last night (it's mid-morning Monday here).

Waiting in Chicago

eMy mom's update last night:
We arrived safely in Donetsk with no issues! Thank you Lord. As soon as we got our boarding passes at the gate in Munich, it was time to board. Whew! We slept most of the way to Donetsk. Our MAF picked us up at the airport and brought us to his apt. We all had a wonderful meal (borsch and a yummy Paleo friendly casserole) made MAF's wife. We have all the amenities of home, including super fast internet. Oh wait, we dont have fast internet at home.  But we are in good hands. Plan is to get some medical stuff done tomorrow morning to prove Sarah doesn't have TB so she can visit the orphanage. Then we'll head off to Grace's city to get the court decree, new birth certificate, tax id number, and then apply for her passport! Once we have the passport in hand, we'll head up to Kyiv.

Anyway, that is the plan. Thanks so much for praying us here. God is so faithful!

One last thing..has anyone ever had "pomelo"? Our MAF just brought some home from the grocery store. It is a very large citrus fruit, kind of like grapefruit but much sweeter and not as juicy. Very yummy!!! Wondering if anyone has seen them in the States? Here's a photo of it. 

Happy Sunday!

++++++++++++

This morning, we went to go get a chest x-ray done to prove I don't have TB and can visit the orphanage (I don't!), and then this afternoon, we drive down to region. Tomorrow we start the paper chase and I meet Grace!!! We'll continue visiting her this week while we wait for the passport. And gotcha day will sometime later this week, over the weekend, or Monday. That's when we will bust her out of that stinky orphanage forever and ever!

Then we head back up to Kiev, to do the embassy and medical appts for her. And then we will go home right after Christmas.


Here we come Grace!

ONE LESS ORPHAN!!!

There is one less orphan today!!!!!  Our God Reigns!

Introducing...

Grace Olena (o-LAY-na) Birschbach

Born in Kherson, Ukraine on March 4, 2005

Forever in a Family on December 5, 2013

Our court hearing went amazingly, AMAZINGLY well today!  Only God!  The judge did not ask any questions, nor did the jurors or prosecutor.  The quickest court case ever according to our facilitator!! Only God could have done this. He gets ALL THE GLORY!  We are SOO very thankful to the Lord for blessing us with our 8th child!  We are also very grateful for everyone who has prayed for us, supported us, encouraged us, given financially to us, and especially for those that have been holding down the fort at home for the past 4 weeks.  THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!  Everyone had a part and we couldn't have done this without you.

Here's are a few more pictures from the day we first met Grace.

So, tonight, Pat and I will take an overnight train to Kyiv.  Unfortunately, the train gets in too late to make the early morning flights out, so we'll spend the day in Kyiv and fly out early Saturday morning, arriving home mid-afternoon - Lord willing. Then, on the 14th, Sarah and I will head back to Ukraine and start the next paper chase for her birth certificate, passport, medical and visa.  It will probably take about 2 weeks. So, yes, I will get to spend Christmas in Ukraine once again! :-)  (I spent Christmas 2010 in Ukraine when adopting Elijah.)  Rumor has the medical facility is still out of  the serum for the TB skin test, so that may save us a few days if that stays status quo.  The goal is to be out of the country before the BIG Ukrainian holiday of New Years.

Thank you everyone for all that you have done for us and our family. I can't wait to have all of us together under one roof! Love to you all!

Giving Tuesday - Can You Help?

Some of you may have seen the buzz about "Giving Tuesday", which is today.  You know, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and now Giving Tuesday.  I think the timing is poor because it should have been the week BEFORE everyone spent all their money over the weekend. :-) Anyway, I have a special little project I'm asking you to help me with.

You may remember a couple weekends ago, I was privileged to travel to Krivoy Rog to visit our friend, Max.  Max's ministry continues whether he has guests or not, and I wouldn't have it any other way!  I was able to tag along on one of his ministry visits out to a village to visit this family.  If you click over, you'll see this family has 12 children and sadly, the single mom is an alcoholic.  The youngest boy prefers to sleep with the dog as he has no bed and it's warmer out there...Max, his team, and I brought lots of blankets, some clothes, and food when we went out. We met the mom and 4 of the kids.  Here's some pictures.

Max is gathering up some of the blankets we took to the family. These are blankets from us, that a very special lady named Betty sewed together for Max!  This is half of Max's storage area - many tubs from our church. :-) It's very well organized and everything is labeled.

Max with 3 of the kids

The room these 3 were hanging out was very warm, thankfully, as it was heated from a wood stove in the next room. But at night, it gets cold when no wood is added.  The smell in this room was like nothing I had ever smelt before. It was all I could do to not gag and leave. :-(  Max and his team hope to take a few of the kids at a time and give them baths and wash their hair. Their hair felt like straw. Totally heartbreaking.

Max insisted I join in too. :-) The kids are obviously not as thrilled to have me there. LOL They LOVE Max though...most kids do.

Since they are in a village, they have a bit of land to grow veggies thankfully and they have chickens and goats.

A man helping her had planted winter carrots that day and garlic was planted too. 

The dog house...where the little 4 yo boy sleeps with the dog :-(

A brick addition has been started for more bedrooms. The windows need glass, and obviously a roof would be great too! Someday Max wants to contrast this photo with one of him looking out the window of glass with a roof over his head. He's a visionary! The rest of the house is built from clay.

I asked Max how he found out about this family. He said the mom had contacted Social Services for help. They have nothing to offer her, so SS called Max as they do almost everyday. Thankfully, not every case is this needy.

This family literally has nothing. Nothing at all. And winter is coming. The kids need protection from the cold. The winter in that part of Ukraine is about like ours in Wisconsin...cold! Unfortunately, Max didn't have any coats or boots in his inventory of donations. His ministry doesn't have the funds to buy them right now either. So, that's where YOU AND ME (and Pat and Sarah too)!  Pat has just safely arrived in Kyiv (YAY!!!) and with him, he has several hats that Sarah (and I'm assuming Rachel too!) made for the girls in the family, as well as most of the boys too!  What she didn't have time to make, they bought. They also purchased gloves and mittens for the whole family. Awesome!

Now, onto coats and boots. If you have a few extra dollars after the weekend :-), and if you want to help keep these kids warm this winter and protected from the cold, please feel free to send me a "personal gift" through paypal to my email - deut4.9@gmail.com. By making it a personal gift, no fees will be taken out. It would be fair to say that if no one helps, which I understand and would be ok, I'm still going to buy coats and boots. In fact, I bought 8 coats today at a second hand store I found.  8 coats for 700 grivna = $85.  Yay me! I still need coats for the 7 yo twin girls and possibly the big boys. I'm using the cash we had reserved for an expediting fee but thankfully we did not need to use it. We are putting that money towards Sarah's ticket to come back with me on the 2nd trip.  (She's excited and so am I!)  The money for the coats and boots will just come out of our family's account.  So, if you want to help, great! If not, that's fine too. I understand.  I'm not sure I'm going to find much for 2nd hand boots. I was glancing at prices at the market today, and new boots worth anything will be at least $25-$30/pair. That will add up. I will probably give Max a call and see if he talk to the vendor and get a good deal for me. :-)  He's good at that sort of thing...really good.

Thanks so much for your consideration.  Either way, I would appreciate your prayers for this family, and esp for the mom. Pray for the Light of Jesus to penetrate her heart!