One Month Home!

(Sarah here.) Today marks one month home for our Ukrainian Princess!

Grace is doing well. We are over the "honeymoon" phase if there was one, there are many things we are still working on (you can't erase 8.5 years in an institution with a couple weeks of love), but over all she is doing pretty well.

She eats well, she sleeps well, and for the most part gets along with her siblings, esp Rachel. She is slowly gaining weight and her hair is slowly growing, but both will take some time yet.

Tonight she let me paint her fingers. She is fine with them being clipped (unlike her brothers!), and I knew she would want them painted if she watched Rachel's being painted. Sure enough, after Rachel's first finger, she had her hand in there wanting hers done too.

(Side note about her tongue here: Grace has very good oral motor control.. her tongue doesn't hang out unless she is stimming or very focused, in this picture, she's focused!)

She wasn't sure about holding her hands still but decided it was okay. (If she decided not too... there was no way we could keep them open!)

 And now our girly girl is rocking PINK nails for the first time in her life!!

Happy 1 Month Home Miss Grace! We love you and can't wait for many more months and years with you!

We are home!

Elijah ate some GF soft bread (w/o crusts) and a bit of soft fruit late afternoon. All of his vitals were good. The ENT cleared him to come home!!!  We arrived home just after 6pm. Woohoo!!!

He is definitely still not himself though. That's to be expected.  But I'm just so proud of him! He did great and tolerated everything so well (except the wristband which ended up on his ankle in the OR and his hand wrapped for the IV). Great job, Elijah!!!

Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers!  A big thank you as well to PD who came to the hospital to pray with us before surgery!

Elijah is doing great!

Medically, Elijah is doing wonderfully.  Surgery went well.  His tonsils were huge, but his adenoids were not too bad. Most likely, the tonsils were the cause of his sleep apnea.  He only has a tube in his right ear as the left one had a small perforation in it under a whole mess of wax.

So, it looks like we may go home tonight. The nurse sees no reason to keep him as he has drank 48 oz  + of water, eaten jello, applesauce, and the sweetest "yogurt" he's ever had (pudding). We are going to try some noodles here in a bit and see how that goes.

The only issue now is his inability to decide which DVD to watch, and once he does, then to stick with that decision for more than one minute. Patience, Mama, he just had surgery. :-)

I'm so thankful for all of those that prayed. The Lord is SO faithful!  Praise Him! (I'd appreciate continued prayers for his healing and pain management. Thanks!). And good news, he just watched a whole episode of MacLarry. Yay! Love Veggie Tales!

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!