Bloggin' with the Kelletts

Noah

2011-01-03T20:02:00.000-06:00

October already???

2009-10-29T13:54:00.003-06:00

Well, we are settled in for the school year and it's been a great year so far for all of the kids....and David and Me! Vita has recovered from the travesty of not getting the "right" lunch time, Yana is like a new kid-social butterfly and doing great, Jakob is having a wonderful year with a male teacher and good bus driver, Noah is doing great as well...enjoying physics and reading us out of house and home, and Mr. Levi is doing great with kindergarten and his new independence! Levi adjusted to k-garten better than Mom did...much to Mom's dismay!

The girls continue to adjust and adapt. Yana finally figured out why we are strict and have rules...in her words: we don't want the kids to be losers and strippers. Yup...that sums it up!

Vita is doing art club and has enjoyed football games and dances.
Yana is doing art club, spirit club, and like the football games and dances too.
Jakob does what he does best....play ...he has also enjoyed riding his scooter in the neighborhood next door and visiting his friends.
Noah is our busy guy: Scouts, choir, piano, and wrestling
Levi is gaining on Noah: choir and wrestling...not to mention his steady stream of phone calls and friends coming over!

We will be staying in Springfield for the holidays this year....so if you get out our way, stop in and see us!!

Our Summer Summed up!

2009-08-25T12:41:00.001-06:00

Big. That describes our family, dreams, goals, and vacation! We started out on Saturday June 27 by car with the kids…with Virginia Beach as our first destination! That’s about 18 hours by car. Don’t give us too much credit yet…David’s parents went also and took 3 of the kids with them! We made it as far as Huntington, WV for our first hotel stay…uneventful..nice sunset behind a bridge was our view from our room. Yay. Off the next day to our final destination in VA Beach! There we stayed at the Sheraton right on the beach…for 3 nights. Our first night there we went to the Holiday Inn for dinner…my long lost sister, KT, has a son who works there. So we had a good dinner and the kids played in the pool there before we walked back to our hotel…observing the street peformers along the way. The boys and I split off from David and the girls…and we got to see some amazing fireworks while we walked the boardwalk!
Day 2: David and Yana celebrated birthdays!!! A day at the beach and cookout at KT’s made it a great way to celebrate! I think Yana had a good first birthday in America….with a beach themed birthday cake and getting to hang out with Oksana, you can’t go wrong!
Tuesday was shopping and more beach time. The girls were going to try surfing…but the surf did not accommodate our plans! We ended our night by gorging on seafood at a buffet…yum yum!! Let me just say that Levi has proven himself to be quite the ladies’ man!! He had two little girlfriends from Ukraine that were all over him….and he them! Mira and Yara! I have never seen so much snugglin’ and kissin’ in all my days!! These little twin 8 yr olds were the most affectionate kiddos I’ve ever laid eyes on! On our last night there Mira cried because we had to say goodbye….did that make me cry? Why yes it did! So hard to see them cry….knowing they have so little joy. They were calling us Momma and Poppa, and David’s parents dirdooshka and babooshka (grama/grampa) by the end of our trip. Nadyia was another Ukie cutie who was there…the most beautiful eyes!! I can say that our adventure to go so far to see someone we had never met was a great way to start our vacation!
From there, we went to Washington, DC to do DC in a day….we also got to see my friend Stephanie who now lives/works in the area…been 7 years since we saw her, so that was a nice bonus to our trip! We did the Mall and went to the museum of natural history before heading out on our trip to PA…Frackville, PA actually! Here we met up with David’s brother and his family at Grammy’s house…a nice low key couple of days with a visit to elderly great great aunts, a block party held by the Ukrainian church, shopping, and some went to see Transformers 2. Sunday David’s two cousins, Holly and Jenny, came up with their families and the kids go along famously!
Oh…forgot to mention our stop at Mt Vernon to visit the original GW’s homestead! Great photo ops and fun history for me and the kids! David makes a great tour guide…never missing a beat with either good information or b.s. made up on the fly! Either way, he’s talented!
(finishing this blog in late august….)
We spent two days at Hershey Park…and the girls got to hang out with a friend from NJ who had been adopted a few years ago. From there we met up with my Dad and Step Mom to give the girls to them for a few weeks…the girls had a lot of fun fishing, camping, Cedar Point, and hanging out with cousins. We enjoyed time with the boys for a few weeks…but were ready for our girls to come home and add some drama to our lives!!
A few days after the girls got home, my grandmother passed away. I drove to Michigan and spent a few days with my dad and celebrated my grama’s life. I learned a lot on that trip…I learned how little I knew about my grandmother. I think that’s another blog though.

Time Flies....sorta

2009-06-06T21:08:00.002-06:00

Summer break has just started and school starts back in 10 weeks! Our summer is jammed packed with stuff...David/Girls on a mission trip, David/Noah Scout camp, my awesome niece-Caitlin coming for her annual visit, VA Beach, Hershey Park, Mackinac Island, baseball games, going to see new friends and old friends. My life is pretty freaking amazing! Without my fantastic husband and 5 unique kids, I would nothing.

Vita has been gone alot to her friends house...when she is home, I hear: I'm bored. I mention summer school and the boredom vanishes. Pretty cool trick, huh??? Yana is having a good summer so far...she has been more interested in friends and socializing. This has been quite a process, but she is definitely a child who needs to come to things in her own time. Stubborn? yes. Strong? yes. The day will come when those characteristics serve her well...today is not that day!! lol The easiest to please are the boys. Give them a water hose, some balloons, and a bucket and they are good for hours! The downside to this plan...we get an 80 pound wet puppy!

Jakob turned 10 a few weeks ago...amazing that we have had him for almost eight years! David and I have also been married 10 years! It has really flown by...for me anyway!! David may feel different, but he would never tell me! 23 days until Yana turns 15...she wants to have a party and I am all for that!! The benefits outweigh the torture! She changes her mind about 10 times/day as to what she wants for a gift. Her inability to commit comforts me...maybe she will not have serious boyfriends!! Noah and Levi tried out for the Children's Choir of SWMO and made it...I can hardly wait for them to start performing! Noah takes it all very seriously...Levi takes very little seriously and is a natural born performer!

Our life is crazy, and we wouldn't have it any other way! Sitting still and being bored have never really been my or David's thing...so we have taken care of any opportunity for boredom!

To quote David: The years fly by so quickly, but days drag on forever! (Amen!)

WE ARE NOT DEAD!!!

2009-05-25T11:01:00.005-06:00

So, I realized that I have not blogged in forever! (or two months)

School is out....yay (that's from the kids) I leave for Vegas this Thursday...yay ( I think everyone in my family is saying that!!!) David and I celebrate our 10th anniversary this Thursday and Jakob turns 10 this Thursday!

We have a busy summer planned and school will start back before we know it! The girls are going on a mission trip with David to inner city St Louis. Vita is excited...Yana, not so much. I hope they have a good experience. David then goes to Boy Scout camp with Noah for a weekend. That should be fun for them....wonder how Noah will do being camping without a DS, Internet, and wii! My niece Caitlin is coming for a week...her time with us keeps getting shorter as she gets older and has more obligations...but we are grateful that our almost 20 yr old niece still wants to come hang out with us!

Late June we take off on our road trip: VA Beach--------Pennsylvania--------Hershey Park-----head home and drop the girls off with my Dad and Step Mom for a few weeks. Some time in July, me and boys road trip to Michigan to spend a few days and get our girls. Hoping not to total my car on the way home this time....Jakob will sit up front and that will help ALOT!! Also hope my long lost cousin Jill will come visit this summer with her daughter. Open invitation late July thru early august to whoever wants to come out!

School starts back August 18!! And I will be crying when Levi starts kindergarten this year....my stink bug is growing up and I will miss our lunch dates and hanging out together. But don't think for one minute I am getting a real job.....David has spoiled me far to long for that to happen! Hopefully I will be able to commit more to real estate with not having my day split up! Hopefully I can start doing more at church and volunteering more at school.

The girls did GREAT at school this year! Yana had 3-a's, 3-b's, and one c+ (in English...not sure non ESL kids did much better!!) Vita's grades were about the same as Yana's we haven't gotten hers back officially. She was not thrilled with the final exams. I think they are excited for next year with being at the same school and moving into a new high school during Christmas break.

It's going to be a great summer for the Kelletts!

Current Events!

2009-03-10T19:38:00.002-06:00

If I had to pick one word to describe our life....chaos. But a good chaos...not the burning stuff, police, blood shedding, 911 calls kind of chaos. But the "I need a bigger planner" type of chaos!

It seems that all the kids' dentist appointments hit at once..followed by appointments for fillings, of course! Factor in field trips, practices, meetings, other appointments, shopping for summer clothes (even tho it's not really warm yet...but how else do you get Yana off your hind end about needing summer clothes????)

I am in the process of going thru orientation/processing for a new job. I have tallied it up and have 33 hours of "stuff" to do before I can do training in the clinic where I will work....8 hours/week. Seems like a lot of "stuff" to work just one day/week. Oh well, I will be well "orientated" (I hate that word, by the way...it's not a real word!)

Vita is going to start job hunting soon...trips to the mall remind her that she needs more money than we provide. Good thing to learn early on! She wanted to work at the movie rental place....but I had to explain to her that you have to be 18 to work there. That wasn't good enough, she wanted to know why. She still isn't clear on why she can't work some place, legally, that rents porn, until she's 18. We'll try the movie theater instead....

I was tucking Jakob into bed last night and he was very serious and said: "Mom, I don't know what I would do without you, or Dad. I guess I would still be in the orphanage or dead. If I were in the orphanage at school, it would be bad because I wouldn't understand anything they say because I don't know Russian." Bless his little heart.....

Noah has been stressed out lately....he's having a hard time figuring out if he wants to:

a) not get married/not have kids
b) get married/not have kids
c) get married/have kids

I wish he would relax and think about less grown up stuff...but that's Noah, a planner and a worrier. Not sure where he gets that....

Yana is on a wild rollercoaster ride of moods like all 14 yr old girls...unfortunately, we are all along for the ride! Some times we just cock our heads and look at her...not really sure what to do!

Levi has been on a birthday party frenzy of late! His own and some for his buddies. I am least looking forward to the pool party. Of course it's a single dad who is hosting this for his kid....I have to wonder a little bit about ulterior motives on this one! The party does encourage me to lose a few pounds. It's a tough decision....let Levi get in the pool without me and pray I don't have to jump in fully clothed to save him OR take one for the team, yet again, and don a bathing suit, scaring all the children and providing gossip material for all the young moms, to protect my non swimming child from drowning. Should I wear the one with the skirt????

Through the grace of God and medication I will get through the mom gig!

MIA

2009-02-26T21:00:00.002-06:00

Life here has been full of activity and busyness!

We have celebrated some birthdays since my last blog! Noah turned 7...he had a little sleep over with a buddy. Vita turned 16..WOW!!! She had a party with about 6 girls. We went for Chinese food, bowling, and a sleep over. She was so happy and said it was her best birthday ever. I can tell you there wasn't much left of the heart shaped strawberry cake and nothing left of the chocolate covered strawberries! I think the girls were up until 5am...didn't keep me awake and no one went outside!! Now to get that girl a job!! We went to the mall to spend her birthday money and she realizes that our income can not afford her taste! Today was our baby's birthday...and Levi is 5. When I look at him, I still see a little baby-but he reminds me often of the fact that he's a big boy!

Vita starts running track next week...she's excited and we are excited for her. It's great to see her getting so involved in stuff like art club and culture club. We hope on day Yana will decided to have friends and get involved in more stuff..she just doesn't have the desire right now. Jakob is getting so tall...and still stick thin! I think he burns more calories than he can take in in a day! He still loves Transformers and is counting down the days 'til the new movie comes out in June!

Zoie the dog is getting HUGE...45 pounds at 5 months. As Noah put it, we had her "womanlihood removed"...so life should be better in the long run. The kids all want puppies....I don't think so. And BC our kitty had to have surgery on his backside. He is declawed, but thinks he's an outside cat. Likes to fight...loses, had bites on backside...abcess....rupture....surgery...stitches. After seeing our vet's sewing skills, David commented on how he understands why she chose to be a vet and not a plastic surgeon!

Life is good at Camp Kellett. God continues to bless us and provide for our big family! We look forward to the summer and getting out and doing some outdoor stuff and getting away from the wii and ds!

Where does the time go???

2009-01-18T23:31:00.007-06:00

I sort of dropped off the face of the earth so it seems!

Life has been pretty normal, for us anyway! The kids are all back to school and doing GREAT!! Jakob has not had quality time with the principal this year....as opposed to at least weekly in 2008....I guess all the meds he was on really didn't help (I should have been a doctor......) He is having a much better time in school and I don't dread answering the phone. Noah (who is going to be 7 this week) is under the radar as always...still loves his gifted day of school each week and jumps out of bed on fire on that day! Levi is just growing up too fast...my soon to be five year old spent the night with a buddy for the first time last night. I missed him so much. He missed me too, I think....and ended up in the bed of the buddy's 16 year old sister. That's our boy! Vita has evicted Yana from their bedroom, so Yana is now in her own room...this is a big step for a kid who is use to sharing a room with 5 other people. She seems to like it and I think the time is right. Of all the kids, I fear Yana will be the one to bankrupt us on groceries. She has gone from a tiny little girl body to a 14 year old body...that is liked by a boy named Riley! Thankfully, she is shy at school....not at home though! Vita is enjoying school more and more as she makes more friends. I think she is nervous about the father/daughter dance....she should have asked to see David's alleged "moves" before asking him to be her date!

The girls went bowling for the first time this weekend...and loved it. I think if they hadn't had bumpers, the love would not have been there! Tomorrow is MLK day, so no school. They have no idea who he is, and don't care....all they care about is that he scored them a day off school.

After Noah hits the big 07 this week, we will start figuring out Vita's sweet 16. One thing I can promise with 100% certainty.....there will be no driving/car component to her birthday...but maybe a part-time job is in her future!

The Firsts

2008-12-20T22:35:00.003-06:00

I have heard many people say, "when you adopt older kids, you miss out on their firsts". You do miss some of the firsts....but not all firsts are good! (i.e...the first time they pass gas in public and people think it's you, the first time they say a bad word in public, the first time they _________ on your comforter, etc...)

With the girls, we get other firsts that are pretty cool. This past week I had many firsts with my girls. It was the first time Yana said "I love you" and it felt like she meant it. We got to shop for a dress and accessories for Vita's first real dance...and I had my first time to worry about her being out with friends. I love those firsts! An odd, but cool first was Yana letting me cut her nails. I know she can do it herself, but it's a mom job and she let me do that job....that was huge for me...and her, whether she knows it or not!

Some other firsts with the boys: Jakob was suspended for the first time from school. Levi washed a car for the first time...with a large rock. Noah had his first piano recital.

This week we look forward to more firsts at our house....Yana's first Christmas with us, Vita's first Christmas as a Kellett, the boys' first Christmas to share with big sisters, and the first time the girls leave home to visit somewhere else (going to Dallas with family to see family!), and Zoie's first Christmas at our house...in heaven with new toys to chew on and get yelled at about!

Merry Christmas to all...

Do You Hear What I Hear??????

2008-12-09T10:06:00.003-06:00

It's my fault. I should have known better. I have started putting gifts under the tree. Noah is picking up movie and cd cases and sizing them up against the gifts under the tree to see what is what. Yana is shaking and smelling boxes, followed with, "Momma, what is it? I-Pod? Camera? WHAT IS IT???" She doesn't do well with surprises, secrets, or waiting. Noah is just nosy...he has to know EVERYTHING! Vita has been her and done Christmas a few times with us, so she just hangs back and knows that she won't be disappointed on December 25th. Jakob and Levi aren't concerned about WHAT it is...they want to be socialists and are worried about who has how many and we all need the same or it's not fair. Remembering Christmas when I was a child, I was alot like the anxious ones...unwrapping and rewrapping gifts. Nosing around in the closets, under beds (sorry David...I found the box...you need to be more creative to hide stuff from me!!), and every place else I could imagine! I love being on the Mom end of Christmas. The excitement that's building, the smell of Christmas, the Christmas songs, and the reminder of what Christmas is about....not gifts, but THE gift. The big One! I am thankful for family and friends and for the good fortune that God has given to our family. With news every day of people losing their jobs, the economy sucking, and so on....I am grateful for what we have and the awesomeness of my family and God.

Do you hear what I hear??? SSShhhhhh.....listen........

And then there were 9.....

2008-11-26T14:38:00.003-06:00

This is the newest addition to the Kellett clan!! The girls were promised a dog, by their father, in Ukraine. I put it off and put it off by saying: no fence, no dog. The girls NAGGED David to put up a fence....and he finally did. Then the excuse of, "we are going to KC for a weekend....a dog is something that needs to wait until after that". That was a month ago. We have since been in negotiations about the type of dog to get. True to my flakiness, I INSISTED it would NOT be a big dog....yet I was the one who mentioned the St Bernard. (I knew I wouldn't win on the Schnauzer...) I vetoed German Shepard, Lab, Golden, Pug, Chihuahua. So, we have settled on this gorgeous "little" pup and named her Zoie! She is 7.5 weeks old....and by the looks of her paws....she's going to be quite a big girl! Our cat, BC, seems okay with her so far. Our last pet attempt was a cat who lasted less than 24 hours. We realized fast that she could not live on top of the refrigerator...and BC was giving her no other options!

Oh, we also figured it would kill two birds with one stone....David also promised the girls a horse!!

The Curb...

2008-11-11T14:44:00.002-06:00

One of the things I never really thought much about is curbing. I guess I just thought you can take the kids out of the orphanage AND the orpahanage out of the kids! But not really. So now, we are trying to curb some institutional behavior.

Sharing: Sharing is good...sharing EVERYTHING is not good.

Every man for himself: Well, it's hard for the girls to conceptualize that when you have a friend over or take a friend somewhere...you are somewhat responsible for entertaining them. Our girls seem to think once you introduce them around....they are on their own. From their history...that makes perfect sense to me. However, it leaves American girls a little confused, hurt, and offended.

Table manners: OK....I will be the first to admit that I am a stickler for table manners. No legs hiked up at the table. Cut your meat...don't stab a pork chop and gnaw at it. Wipe food off your face...preferably with a napkin. Chew with your mouth CLOSED. Don't talk with a cud in your mouth. And now that their English is good...speaking it at the table is a good thing!

Bad habits: gum stuck to the headboard...several pieces. Candy wrappers/sucker sticks on the carpet/beds/where ever. Handwashing underclothes.....enough on that topic.

So....there are the things I would like to kick to the curb! I only thought of big, obvious issues before we adopted this time...language, dating, makeup, driving, allowances, chores, etc....

(this is by no means a criticism of the girls, just an observation and things for p.a.p.s to consider when adopting older kiddos!! I'll take this stuff over potty training and diapers ANY day of the week..well, most days....)

Story of the Week...

2008-11-07T14:17:00.002-06:00

Well...we had a pretty quiet week...for us, anyway!

Even our low-light for the week is funny. It started with a call from the assistant principal at Jakob's school (at least it wasn't THE principal!). The a.p. had to go to Jakob's classroom and retrieve him, as Jakob wouldn't go on his own to the a.p. office. Seems that Jakob threw his pencil (at the teacher or at the floor..depends on who you ask...) and was refusing to do work. He then disertated (if that's a word) about how he doesn't get enough respect (questioning if Rodney Dangerfield ever traveled to Eastern Ukraine in late 1998) from anyone. Jakob then spent about 45 minutes, disertating, in the a.p's office..about respect and other things that were not positive (no reason to live, no friends, etc). The a.p. had not seen this side of Jakob and was concerned so he called to see if we had seen these behaviors before. Um, yes...for about 5 years now. We have to find the humor, or all else is lost! This fell on the heels of Jakob giving David 10 days to show more respect or he was leaving home. The process was expedited due to the fact that the level of respect is not changing any time soon. I was unaware of the exchange...I thought Jakob was showering for bed! Imagine my surprise when Jakob comes thru with a suitcase wearing boxers, a hoodie, and sandals!! After some time on the porch in 40' weather, Jakob came in and proclaimed, "I've changed my mind, I'm staying, can I have a milkshake?"

I'll leave you to ponder whether Jakob got his milkshake....

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly......

2008-10-26T20:11:00.002-06:00

Well, there's a lot to blog, but not sure where to stop and start!

The girls seem to be going through a cycle that I'm sure is common with adoption. The honeymoon phase.....done. Vacation clothes: put away. Tan:gone. Shiny: worn off. Reality: here.

There seems to be an expectation of adoptees that they are issued certain things when they land in America. i-Pod, cell phone, Internet in bedroom, cable in bedroom, the school should look as pristine as the one in High School Musical, music coming from the loud speakers, and Troy dancing down the hall with all of his hot friends in tow. Don't get me wrong, the kids NEED alot when they get here....but there is a blurry line between need/want (I think this is true of all teens....?) I would like to take this time to thank Hollywood for sending out a very skewed idea of what life as a teen is like in most of America. Perhaps if Senator Obama gets elected, he can take these items from the Willis, Pitt, Cruise, and Madonna's children and give to my children...as it would only be fair! I digress......

Vita is struggling making friends....as I think is normal for anyone starting a new high school...the language barrier can only hurt. We are trying to get her involved in stuff and try to be more outgoing...but I'm sure a small town school is not so in to opening their cliques. Her sparkle has faded since the first of the year...but we hope it will come back soon. The struggle is Vita's confidence and expressive English confuse the teachers....they think she is more capable than she lets on, so they have higher expectations than she can meet. And she gets frustrated. Hopes: parent teacher conferences this week....

Yana has made alot of friends...but none she sees/talks to outside of school. Oddly, she thinks she needs a cell phone so she can text them at school. That's a different blog!! Her teachers are more willing to be flexible and understanding of her limitations...so her school year is going quite well! Yana struggles with authority at times and I think she also has a hard time figuring out how to be a part of a family. Families are tough enough...but to not be a part of one, try fit into an existing one, and maintain sanity...we are asking alot of Yana!! Vita had visited us 3 times and pretty much had an idea of what to expect and how things work...I think she has tried to tell Yana....but sometimes you have to learn things on your own!

OH...we have some boys too!!

Levi...our little 4 year old is doing great! He loves preschool and is such a big boy. His Grammy and I already are getting teary eyed over his going to kindergarten next fall....he is the last of the last and we need him. I hope he is sad too!!!

Noah...borders on the perfect child....with exception to his sneakiness and mean streak! He loves to learn and is full of questions! (I never thought I would hope my kid wasn't so smart!!!) He has become bored with 1st grade and his favorite day is the day of the week when he goes to his gifted classroom. We are now advocating for him to skip a grade...no one in the district has ever done this, so we are not hopeful. However, I can be assertive when it comes to my kids!

Jakob....is getting ready to have an interesting week!! We are going to try to do a gluten/casein/soy free diet for a one week trial to see if it helps with his autism. Half of me hopes it doesn't work....so he can eat all the things he loves (chocolate...pop tarts...cereal with REAL milk....ice cream...cheese...yogurt) The other half hopes it does work so he can get off all the meds, do better in school, be happy, feel like he fits in, make friends, and just be able to have the same advantages as other kids.

Last Friday we went to the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services for the girls to take their oaths, sign their citizenship papers, and confuse the federal employee. I felt sorry for him....but more sorry for us!! It may have been his first day. He may not be accustomed to English speaking customers. IDK. But we mustered through and only have a few more things to do to wrap up the adoption process!! We will get the girls registered with the Ukrainian Embassy and then get US passports and change their status with social security so they can get jobs!! hahahaha!!!!!

I think our adoption days are over for awhile. Five is overwhelming...for me. David is not a type A person like me.....I hope to mellow soon or at least reach a level of insanity where it doesn't matter any more!!

Been a crazy long time!!

2008-09-24T13:23:00.002-06:00

WOW!! It's almost October!!

All kids are doing good in school...the girls are learning English with great speed and impress us all the time! Not all of it is good stuff...but that will make them well-rounded!

Yana and Vita have spent quite a bit of time at the dentist's office. Jennifer has been a little more lucky on then end of things!! All the girls are excited about their first Halloween! I would have never thought about that....but boy are they stoked!

The girls are getting extra reading in school....which I think will help immensely! Yana just recently added a reading component to her class schedule. It took much pushing on my part to get her OUT of US History and into something she can understand, learn from, and succeed at. Sometimes it's hard for authority types to think outside the box and use common sense over policy and procedure!! Especially in a small, rural district where non English speakers are few and far between.....and more so that the English is the primary language in the home! We love to challenge our school district, help then broaden their horizons, and take advantage all the tax dollars we have invested!

Vita had an incident with a closed minded person.....he said to her and her Japanese friend, "go back where you came from bitches!" Her idea to respond was punch him in the face....and she didn't care about 3 days off from school! We talked about diversity and discussed the meaning of the words "redneck" and "fear of something new". I think she gets it and dismissed him. I also told her she can tell him, " if you think I'm a bitch, you should meet my mom". I think she faced enough stuff in UA that she understands that some people are just that way and we can't all like/be liked by everyone.

This Friday is homecoming and Vita is excited! Not sure if she will go to the dance since her friends are not going, but she will enjoy the game and atmosphere!

Yana has been catching on at home a little better with regard to respect, rules, and cute doesn't cut it. She has lost privileges and learned the hard way that we mean business...and David and I are on the same team....always. Our team is also known as the winning team, the best team, the only team, and always having the home team advantage!

Life here is interesting...and fun...and exciting! We recently had David gone for 3 weeks. He had to do his duty after the hurricanes hit LA/TX. They gave him a chance to stay on for 60 days or 6 months more. Where as we would have enjoyed getting a pool with the money....it's better to have my sanity and no loss of life. I also don't think the 'Farm would pay for his divorce attorney!!

Will try to do better at blogging....in all my free time!!

School has Started!!

2008-08-21T22:17:00.002-06:00

Well... the first day of school went well...I didn't have to physically take anyone in, no one followed me out, and no one cried. Yana didn't eat lunch...I guess her "buddy" failed her on that. So when she got home: Momma, I hungry!! Three pork chops, pasta, and veggies later....she was happy...other than the part where I made her drink milk not coke. She tried school lunch today...and referred to it as "foo". Vita tried bbq rib sandwich...and she foo-ed it as well! Maybe carrying lunch is good!

They also went back to school today willingly!! Vita had words with a boy on the bus....I think he won't be mouthing her any more! The district has little experience with ESL...so it's an opportunity for them to learn and me to teach them....hahahaha!!!

The boys are doing great with school and happy to be back in the swing of things...they are in portable classrooms and both of their teachers are pregnant....should make for an interesting year!!

Levi starts school monday...and he's stoked! We went to open house tonite and he cried when we had to leave.

This time of year is draining on me...the paperwork, getting everyone organized, and getting our new schedule figured out. But I love every minute of it from the time I drag myself out of bed to the time I collapse from exhaustion at night......

Time Flies!

2008-08-17T14:56:00.002-06:00

The kids are all getting ready to start school this week...and boy am I excited!!!!

The boys are ready...no complaints. Vita....go with the flow. Yana....scared, defiant, but will be fine. I think the girls will be surprised at how many people WANT to help them and will take an interest in them. Just in case...I'll be close by on the first day and our friend Oksana has offered to go with Yana on her second day. Jennifer is also ready to go to school...she is a little anxious, but knows that it will be fine once she starts. Anxiety is a horrible thing and no amount of talking will convince the girls that it really is going to be ok...and they will not die from school!!

It amazes me at how Yana has just made herself at home. I think Vita having been here and being so comfortable has helped. I am pleasantly surprised at how well things are going!!

More later.....after the first day of school!!

Wild first week!!

2008-08-09T08:39:00.004-06:00

Well...our welcome home dinner was interupted by me, Jakob, and PopPop going to the urgent care for Jakob to get stitches. I think I took it worse than Jakob...no tears were shed and he complained little about the pain..mostly about having to be still!

The girls have shopped...and shopped....and shopped. Vita and Yana got their cartilage pierced. All girls got their haircut....they asked for a cut they found in a book...but then told her to not cut their bangs or take off any length! The hairdresser did a great job and the girls complaints were shortlived.

Yana has been insistant that she is in the 9th grade....until we went to the high school and she saw how BIG it is. Then she was near tears telling us how she wants to be in 8th grade! We think 8th grade will be best for her...so she figured it out on her own! Vita and Jennifer were put off by the chipping paint on the lockers at the high school....I think they were expecting to see the school from High School Musical and Troy walking down the hall dancing and singing to the music being pumped out thru the stereo system installed in the school! Vita said she wants to go to a different high school. Our response: not an option. This is your high school. We told her that the more people there are, the more friends you will have. They will be fine after a week when the shock wears off. Just visiting the schools helped tremendously.

Monday Jennifer is going to New Jersey to stay with her former host family. She seems super excited and very anxious to be going. She has Ukrainian friends out there who have been adopted and will hopefully have a good time.

Today we are all going to White Water and taking Vita's bffl Jessica. Should be a good time....they girls will need tons of sunscreen on their faces...they got a little pink yesterday!

So long from our busy home!!!!

Wild first week!!

2008-08-09T08:39:00.001-06:00

They are HOME!!

2008-08-03T22:26:00.002-06:00

Everyone is home....safe and sound and tucked in bed.

So a funny story....Lucas Grabeel (Ryan from High School Musical) is from Springfield...and he came in on a flight right after the girls. No one was willing to go talk to him....but I took our 6 yr old over to him. We were going to get a picture....but he thought the crowd of 50+ was for HIM!!! I didn't realize that at first....but he said, "can we do the picture outside after I get my bags? I see there's a crowd gathering"

I wonder if he's still standing outside waiting at the airport....

Good times ahead...hope to keep blogging in all my free time!

I know they got on a plane in London....

2008-08-03T14:50:00.002-06:00

Oddly, I could call any time when David was in Ukraine/London...but now that he's (hopefully) in Chicago....I can't call him!!

This has been such a long roller coaster ride of an ordeal....that it almost seems unreal that it's FINALLY going to be over (the adoption, that is....and life as we knew it!!!)

I think we are ready...or as ready as we can be!!

Will blog once everyone is safe and sound at home!

Life is FINALLY Good!!

2008-08-01T06:40:00.002-06:00

Plan A: Embassy appointment, p/u visas at 3, leave tomorrow for london, leave london sunday to come home

Plan B: The visas were ready in THIRTY MINUTES!!! Get flights out of Ukraine today for London, get home saturday night.

Plan C: no seats on Saturday to Chicago from London. Stay two nights in London and have some fun!!

Plan D: Girls can't stay in London more than 24 hours without a visa. So slow down and see Plan A.

The things my husband does while I'm asleep!!!

The people at the embassy are superheros in my eyes.

I hope Monique and co. have the same good luck! If you are on British Airways tomorrow....look for a frazzled balding/grayish haired guy with three teenage daughters!!!

Baby Steps....

2008-07-31T21:55:00.002-06:00

Today was a great day! Physicals were completed, fingerprints done, and an appointment for 10am friday at our embassy! The embassy said there should be no problem getting the visas by 3pm. The way our luck runs....there will be a bomb threat and the embassy will close down until monday!

Sunday night....Aug 3....8pm....Springfield Airport.....Welcome HOME!!!

Waking Up From A Nightmare!

2008-07-30T20:09:00.002-06:00

So my morning started with a phone call to David that was 30 secs long and consisted of: we are chasing papers, might not make it home this weekend, call me in two hours. My thoughts: here we go again/still...

Then on my way to work I saw someone having a worse day than me (vegetarians....please skip this paragraph) They process a lot of turkeys where we live. Well, there was a little mishap this morning at a busy intersection during drive time that involved a truck load of turkeys. I am thinking someone lost their job today for not securing the turkey cages...resulting in two huge mounds of dead turkeys on the side of the road. And there still more turkeys in cages that appeared to be lifeless from my rubbernecking point of view. It was sad...yet I laughed at the sight of feathers and turkeys all over the place. By the time I came home six hours later, they had cleaned up the turkey piles...but left a mess of feathers. Good thing, as it was in the mid 90's today.

After fretting and making phone calls and waiting for my two hours to be up before I could call David...I was FINALLY able to get a call thru. My AMAZING husband and BEAUTIFUL daughters are leaving Odessa and heading for Kyiv!! As I type this, they are sleeping and will wake up in a few hours to go get physicals!!! And friday to get visas!!! And saturday....first leg of coming home!!! And Sunday they will cross the pond and FINALLY be home!!

Since all of our kids have dentist appointments scheduled next week...there may be a few wishing to be back in Ukraine!!

Thanks to all of you for supporting us, following our journey (which isn't over until we lay eyes on them!!), and for prayers.

I will give updates as the trip wraps up...hopefull all positive and turkey free!

It's Been Awhile!!

2008-07-29T07:59:00.002-06:00

WOW!! I just saw that it has been awhile since we blogged!

So here's the skinny......

They got almost done today...tomorrow will be the passport hopefully and home sunday night. I'm sad about that...but happy.

David thinks it's a comical tragedy in Ukraine.....and it is in a way. They keep changing the rules from day to day with lists of things they need done. They went by Jen's apartment/room today....David refers to it as a fixer upper complex. It seems to be an efficiency unit with a common bathroom to share. Maybe it can be sold to pay for college!

So....here we are. They accomplished some stuff today, but didn't get Jen officially signed out. Of course, that office doesn't see the public on tuesdays! You have to laugh...knowing it didn't matter what day they were there...the office wouldn't see the public on that day! They stalked around the building for awhile to see if they could find someone willing to talk with them as there were people there working, but had no luck.

We will all be glad to wake up from this nightmare. The girls have all gotten "closure" and are anxious to come home...so that has been a blessing of the length of the trip. Hopefully that will help with their transition.

At this rate, I hope the kids make it home for the first day of school!!

The later date will work out best to allow David's parents to be here for the homecoming.

Thanks again for prayers and support. They layed David's grandfather to rest yesterday and he is finally where he has wanted to be for the past four years...with his wife.

A Little Blog from David

2008-07-25T15:37:00.001-06:00

Not much going on…
After a day of much activity Wednesday, we are currently in a holding pattern. We did get news today that we have a meeting with the apartment people Monday morning. Our translator is optimistic that we will be able to get things resolved Monday and finish up our paperwork so we can head to Kiev.****
Yesterday Yana and Jennifer went out with some friends to the park for the afternoon. Yesterday evening Vita, Yana, Yana’s sister and I went downtown for Pizza. We had a good time and the food was good. We did have one funny story about the meal. I paid the bill and was expecting some change. We waited for about 10 minutes and the waiter never came back. Vita then said Yana, her sister and Vita all said Thank you, so he probably assumed I did not need change. You would think he would wait for my thank you since I was the one paying the bill. It was not much more than I would have given him anyway so we did not make a big deal out of it.****
Today was much of the same. Yana and Jennifer went to Jennifer’s aunt’s house to pack up some of her things to take home with us. She apparently has been storing a lot of her items there. They came back with 3 bags of clothes and a big box of misc. She told me that she was giving most of the clothes to her best friend, Luda.****
Tonight we all went to the mall for dinner and then grocery shopping.****
Tomorrow we plan to get together with our friends from Frontier Horizons. We are not exactly sure what we are going to do. We plan on meeting them at 1:00 and decide what to do from there. It appears it will either be a trip to the Aqua Park or the Amusement park.****
On a sad note, my parents and sister left today for Pennsylvania to lay my Grandfather to rest. He was 91 years old and had a long and eventful life. He personally has been ready to leave this earth ever since his wife died in 2004, but God choose to keep him here a little longer. We are all thankful for the time we, especially my kids, got to spend with him during the last few years of his life. It is hard to say good bye, but we have comfort that he is in a better place.****
Thank you all for your prayers of support during this adventure. With any luck we will be heading home next week.

(with any GOOD luck!)

Two down, one to go!

2008-07-23T09:34:00.002-06:00

Well, as of today, we have passports in the works for Vita and Yana! Still dealing with getting Jennifer's apartment issue resolved. The lady who said she would have Jen's stuff ready Monday (as in two days ago Monday) is now all but calling the police (she already called security). So.....here we are! I guess there are FIVE people who need to sign off on the paperwork and this lady is the only one left. Seems there is a lot of chaos and bad feelings in this office due to a scandal a few years ago. Something about using vacant orphan apartments for extramarital adventures..... Sounds like some Realtors in our country...talk about staging a home!

Our translator came in today and kicked butt...and now there are no butts available until next Tuesday, so she can go home to see her family...which helps her stress level.

So for now, the welcome home party is on hold...and I could use a good party! The good part of a delayed return is that hopefully David's family will be back from Pennsylvania to meet the girls when they get off the plane. And that makes it worth a few more days in Ukraine because David's family deserves that day too!

Again, we appreciate all the prayers and notes of support. Also, thanks for all of the kind words regarding the death of David's grandfather.

Progress?

2008-07-22T19:17:00.003-06:00

Not sure if progress was made in Odessa today. I'm hoping so. I think David is done asking because the process is so complex and fluid that the answer won't mean anything, so why ask.

On a sad note, David's grandfather passed away this afternoon to add stress to our already stressful state. Please keep David and all of our family in your prayers as we face the days ahead.

I don't know about anyone else...but I sure could use some good news at this point.

Frustration

2008-07-21T11:08:00.002-06:00

No good news. Won't report bad news....now.

Sent David job openings at embassy as he might want to get a job to pass the time while nothing gets done.

End of our rope...coming soon to a blog near you....

Hopefully the last sunday blog from Ukraine....

2008-07-20T12:58:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I entered a blog so I will take a few minutes now and do it.***

It is currently Sunday here in Odessa. We had a pretty relaxing weekend. Yesterday the girls went to camp to say goodbye to one of their friends. She is going to another city for the next 10 days and they wanted to get her a present for her birthday and say goodbye since I certainly hope we are not here in 10 days.***

I spent the day by myself so I decided to venture out on my own instead of staying in the apartment all day. I have been downtown numerous times and think I have some of the bus lines figured out. I was successful in getting down there and getting back home without much problem. Since I am not exactly sure where busses go I ended up walking about 4 miles more than I needed, but I guess that is not a bad thing. While I was downtown there was a band playing in the main square. There were lots of people and I sat and watched for an hour or so. After that I stopped at the local Irish Pub as it is one place I am sure I can always here English speaking people. I was correct as there were 3 or 4 tables full of them. After that I headed back to the apartment where the girls had already made it home.****

Today was much of the same. Jennifer went with her boyfriend to see her boyfriend's Grandmother. She apparently had not seen her before. Yana and I went to the grocery story again to stock up on essential snack food. Vita hung around the apartment in her PJ’s. This afternoon Yana and Jennifer went with her boyfriend for a walk and Vita and I went downtown to take in the Opera that we have been talking about. We were unable to do so last Wednesday since we had a late day of paperwork.****

When we got downtown we went to the Opera house and discovered they are not open again until August 7th. We were pretty bummed out as it was something we were looking forward too. Again, I certain hope I am not around when they open again. Vita was a good sport and said maybe next time we are in Odessa. Yes, maybe next time…. *****

After that we went to the park where there always seems to be a band playing. I sat there and listened while Vita had her Picture drawn. The artist did a very good job. Vita was pleased.***

This square is pretty amazing. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people around listening and watching. There were about 5-6 couples dancing to the music and they even played a little Scott Joplin. After this we ate and Mario’s Pizza and purchased some writing items for Vita. We made it home around 9 this evening.****

A little bit about this week. As Angie has posted, our Translator had to go back home so we are without her. Jennifer’s Aunt is going to help with the papers this week. If all goes well, we should have the referrals to get the girls out of their residence tomorrow, get their actual release on Tuesday and get passports Wednesday. We hope to be heading for Kiev on Wednesday night. In Kiev we hope to get medical stuff done and visa by Friday. If all goes well, we might be heading home Saturday. There does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.***

Thanks for all the prayers that you have been sending out way. I was talking with Vita today at dinner and she is ready to come home. I think the other girls are ready too.****

(the rest of us in MO are ready for them to come home too!!)

In All Fairness....

2008-07-19T19:24:00.003-06:00

OK...so I have been giving much earned credit to the Ukrainian government here of late. Now, I must give some time to the US government.

On the day David left for Ukraine for the second trip, I received our official I171H from the Dept of Homeland Security/US Citizenship and Immigration Services approving us for the adoption of three children. We had already rec'd a phone call while in Ukraine. THEN today....I get a letter from DHS/USCIS informing me that cannot address our inquiry requesting to increase the number of children approved for adoption until they receive additional documentation from us.

How's that for efficiency??

Edit:

What if David is requesting a number greater than three and he's now been found out???? OMG

David's (edited) email..

2008-07-19T10:42:00.002-06:00

Internet is still not working at the apartment. Not sure if it is a computer issue or provider issue. Had the girls bring me to the Internet cafe down the road. Will try to get here every day if I can't get ours working. The girls are off to the camp.

Vita's friend Ira is leaving tomorrow for 10 days so this will be the last chance for her to see her. Her birthday is tomorrow as well so they wanted to get her something.

I feel pretty good with where we are at on paperwork. We will see once Monday gets here and Oksana takes over.

Nice day here today, but since I am on my own I am not sure what to do. I may try to venture downtown and hang out this afternoon. I think I can find my way down there (and hopefully back to the apartment). I can probably find some English speaking people down there.

The girls are on a crazy eating schedule. They get up at 10, eat lunch, at 3-4 and then eat dinner at 9-10. Everything seems to run late here. Their current schedule should help them adjust to Missouri time.

Jennifer seems to be the cook in the group. She said she enjoys it. She made a good meal yesterday of fried potatoes, crab and corn salad, and tomato and cucumber salad. The Crab and corn salad was excellent. We had left overs last night. They love those little crab sticks. They eat them like candy. I think that is half of my food expense. They would love Hemingway's, but I think we might be a little embarrassed by how much they would eat. Maybe we could sit at a separate table...

Things are sounding good from a Missouri perspective...we are ready for the other half of our family to come home and enjoy what's left of summer before school starts.

Freaky Friday

2008-07-18T10:18:00.000-06:00

Things are looking better after today. Our translator will be gone next week...and Oksana (Jennifer's aunt) will take care of David (for a fee) with Vita as translator (hope Vita doesn't charge David!!). Nice.

I talked to the girls earlier while David was gone and they said everything was good except they needed money for a movie. I asked David if he left any money at the apartment that they could grab to go get a movie and he said he can't leave money in the apartment because they will spend it. Yup..they are teenage girls!

I changed flights for 7/26....getting them home the 27th...but I wouldn't make plans based on that! When I called British Airways, they said they didn't have the girls in the system as ticketed....I can't even imagine David's response if he had gone to the airport this saturday to check in and was told that the girls weren't booked. ugh. So that is taken care of at least! That could have very well saved someone's life!!

Barring any problems monday (hoping against hope here!!) they will be able to finish up tues/wed in Odessa and head back to civilization in Kyiv to wrap things up and FINALLY head home!!!

Some day....a long time from now...we will look back on this and laugh...or at least giggle...maybe just sigh with relief......

It's More Fun to Blog When Things are Good

2008-07-17T16:49:00.002-06:00

OK...so our translator has plans next week, that don't include working on our adoption. However, she found someone to help....for $1000. Hmmm....didn't we already pay for someone to help us with our adoption?? Wasn't aware that it included paid vacations.

Still working on getting the apartment situations taken care of....that is our brick wall keeping us from getting the passports. I think that we need to get the apartments taken care of to get the girls signed out to get the passports to get the physicals to get the visas to get them the hell out of Ukraine. David, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on the chain of events leading up to the homecoming. A miracle would get them home next weekend.....I'm just hoping they are home to start school August 20th. On the bright side, things seem more promising than what another family is going through with property issues there now.

Good news....David has physical and legal custody of our girls. Unfortunately, he may need to become an expat and get Ukrainian citizenship so he can live there with the girls since they can't seem to escape, lol!! Vita's stuff is actually all cleared up and could be home in a few business days. But...David needs her to be his translator!

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel??? Oh, it's just a train.......

Helpless.....

2008-07-16T21:05:00.002-06:00

Things in Ukraine are complicated, not exactly good, and can't end soon enough. Many people need a lot of prayers, grace, patience, kindness, and a hug. "Hugs not hundreds" is my suggestion for a new slogan for Ukraine...to replace the current slogan, "We'll take all your cash from all of your orifices!"

I want to be there with David and the girls....but then again, I'm glad I'm not. Holding my tongue and patience are not even in the top 50 of my attributes...and I'm sure I don't want to see the inside of a Ukrainian prison.

Praying in Battlefield......

Finally Some Work Getting Done!!!!

2008-07-15T21:06:00.002-06:00

I can sum up today in one word….Busy.***
Our translator, Lena got into Odessa this morning about 7:30. We started our day at the first birth certificate office at 9. This was a good sign as they normally do not open until 10. This was the office that messed up everything last Friday so I think they were trying to make up for it. And we did not have to negotiate for anything. We were finished the first birth certificate by 10 am and were off to the second one. We arrived there by 9:30 and gave them our papers. They did not do the birth certificate on the spot, but after negotiating, they said we could pick it up in the afternoon. While we were in the same area, we went by the passport office to discuss getting the passports for the three girls. When I say we discussed, that means I wait outside while Lena talks with the officials. We think we will be able to get the passports in one day once we finish all the other paperwork. This is great news as it can sometimes take a week in this region to get passports.***
From the passport office we went to the third birth certificate office. We were able to negotiate with them to have the last birth certificate at 2 pm. Everything is going very well at this time. After that office we went to both inspectors’ offices and one of the orphanages to drop off the court decree and pick up some other documents. It appears this region requires some paper work to be completed by the orphanage to release the girls to my custody. This was the first snag of the day. Since one of the directors was not available, this will have to wait until Wednesday morning. This means no girls tonight. I made Lena call the girls as I all but promised they would be coming to the apartment. Needless to say this was not taken well.***
From there we had to go back to two of the birth certificate offices. We finally had all three new birth certificates in our possession. This is where our second snag of the day came in. It appears that someone has to sign the girls out of their official residence. In most communist and now former communist countries you are required to register your residence. Yana and Jennifer are registered, but Vita is not. So, we have to get Vita registered so that someone can sign her out……if you understand that you are smarter than me. We went to that office and picked up the paperwork to start that process.***
We then went to the Regional office to have the birth certificates legalized. I asked Lena what this was about and it is basically getting a stamp saying that the person that signed the document is able to do so. Then we have to get another stamp to say that the person that did the first stamp was able to do so. Seems a little redundant, but for every stamp there are multiple jobs and a price.****
By the time we made it to the Regional office it was 5 pm and we had not eaten anything. Now I know how my Dad feels when he is working with me and I do not stop for lunch. We had juice and a muffin at the office to hold us over.****
We called the girls to see if they wanted to eat dinner with us and of course they did. We picked them up at 6:30 and ate at the mall close to the Camp. We had a good dinner and then did a little shopping. These girls go through shoes like you would not believe.****
We took the girls back to camp and made it into the apartment close to 11 this evening.****
It was a very productive day for us. The two snags that we hit should not take long to correct with a little negotiating.***
Tomorrow we will get the orphanage approvals and should have the girls for good by lunch time. Tomorrow night Vita and I are going to the Opera. The other girls have already been to the Odessa Opera house, which is quite famous, and they are not interested in going. No reason to push the issue if they would not enjoy it. Vita and I are very much looking forward to it.****
Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. They are very much appreciated.

Monday in Odessa

2008-07-14T20:54:00.002-06:00

I will try to do today’s blog a little different since the format of yesterday blog did not work out too well. I did not intend the blog to be one paragraph. (Angie's fault....cut/paste glommed it together....I was too lazy to fix)

I am currently sitting in a dark apartment. The electricity has gone off twice over the past hour. Not sure why. We did not have this problem when we were here last month. I am thankful for that as the boys would have freaked out. They are working in the apartment so I hope that is the cause and I am hopeful it will not last too long.

Today was pretty uneventful. The girls wanted me to pick them up at 11. I got there at 11 and Vita and Yana had decided to go the sea. They got to the camp around noon and we headed off to the movies. We took the three girls and some friends. Jennifer’s boyfriend whose name I am pretty sure is Lusha came with us, a friend of Jennifer's, Nastia and a friend of Vita's. We saw the new Will Smith movie, Hancock. Even in Russian I was not too impressed. Vita filled me in on some of the important parts of the movie so it made a little more sense after we left. I doubt I will spend money on a ticket when we get home. Popcorn was even average this time. But, I think the kids enjoyed the time with their friends.

After the movie they kept asking me what are we going to do next and I told them it was up to them. We ended up doing bumper cars and eating at McDonalds again. After that there really was not much time to do anything and I could tell my girls were tired still from the water park so I took them back to the camp and I headed back to the apartment.

On the bus ride to the camp I was explaining to Jennifer what the schedule might look like this week and I told her that if things go well over the next couple days we might be leaving for Kiev on Thursday night. She seemed a little surprised by this and when she told Lusha I could tell he was upset. I think they finally understand that in a few days they will be parting ways. It is my understanding that they have been "dating" for 4 years so I am sure this will hard for them. Please pray for them as we prepare to leave.

We have a lot of paperwork to do this week and other people to see before we leave. We have to go to Jennifer’s Aunt and Uncle's house to get some of her clothes, Yana’s grandmother and sister want to see us again, Vita wants to take me to another lady that is like a babushka to her, cookie party for the groups that the girls are in and the Opera on Wednesday night. Seems like a lot to get done in a short amount of time.

It is hard to believe that I have been here for a week already. It seems like we have accomplished nothing in that time. I am thankful that I came last week. If I had come any later, the judge would have been on vacation until August and we most likely would have not been able to get the process taken care of until after he returned due to the multiple mistakes in the court decree.

Throughout this process Angie and I have felt the presence of God. We appreciate everyone’s prayers and thoughts. Keep them coming until we touchdown in Springfield.

(We love and miss you David and girls!!!-Angie and the boys)

Second Hand Blog...

2008-07-13T13:19:00.002-06:00

Well, it was another Ukrainian day here. As Angie posted in the last blog, I took 10 people to the water park today. We took Vita's friend Ira,Jennifer's friend Luda, Yana's friend Oksana, a brother and sister that a friend of ours knows, Alena and Maret, and one of the teachers at the summer camp,Marina. We also took Jennifer's boyfriend, but I cannot remember his name. I know that is pretty bad that a dad does not remember his daughter's boyfriend's name. Maybe I am in denial that I have a 15 yr old daughter that is dating. It all started out needing to get money exchanged. I know I should not have done this on a Sunday, especially knowing the amount that I was going to need. But I did , and we had to go to 6 different places to get the money. Some of those first places were open, but they refused to accept my $100 bills. They said they were too old. For future travelers I can not stress how important it is to have crisp, new looking, US dollars when you come. (seems as thought Mrs. Kellett mentioned this to Mr. Kellett in the past, but Mr. Kellett poo-pooed Mrs. Kellett......) I think the other thing that scared them away was the amount, so after the first denial we at least got smart and only did $100 at a time. We got to the place where the bus was suppose to pick people up, but there was no bus. We called the number on the brochure and we found out that the bus only picks up at 9 am. We were there at 10:30. Since we had 11 people it was not an easy taxi ride to the park since it is an hour away. So the girls started flagging down cars. (appears he is letting our daughters hitchhike!!) The first several would not take us since it was so far away. We finally found one that would take us for 150 grevna, about 30 US. So five people piled into that car and took off. The rest of us waited and finally found another car to take us. He wanted 200 grevna, but I was more interested in getting there than arguing about the price so we agreed. I think he was surprised that all six of us got into his little car. I was fortunate to ride in the front. We finally all made it to the water park about 11:30. We thought the price dropped at noon, but it actually did not go down until 2:00. So I paid full price to get us all in. This is not your typical Ukrainian attraction. This is very western, with very western prices. Total to get in was $30 each and they did not take credit/debit cards. By this time all the money that I had exchanged was gone so I needed some more. Fortunately one of the workers agreed to exchange some money for me after giving us the normal run around about my money being too old. I can not say enough about this water park. We were there for about 6 hours and the kids (and me) had a great time. There are 10 large water slides, a huge swimming pool and a giant kids area. I wish I would have known about this when the rest of the family was here. The three boys would have loved it. We had a good lunch at the park, fried chicken and french fries. We have a lot of pictures, but those will have to wait until I get home as the laptop is running too slow to upload anything. The park closes at 6 and this is when the bus leaves to go back to the drop off site. We needed our tickets to show that we were actually there all day,or you could not ride the bus home. Vita made it very clear to me that I needed to keep track of my ticket. Guess who lost her ticket....Vita!! She was scared that they were going to kick her off the bus, but fortunately they are not really organized on the bus when they check tickets. They came up one side first and then the other. This gave Ira enough time to pass her ticket to Vita so she could ride home with us. I told her it would have been a long walk. The bus ride was long and hot, just like all of them in Ukraine. We finally made it back to the drop off site at 7:15. Dinner at camp is at 7 so I treated the kids to McDonalds. It was the most I have ever spent at McDonalds in my life. I don't know how to get a McDonald's franchise, but if you are looking you need to consider a foreign country. The prices are higher than the US. They do not have a dollar menu and the lines are long anytime you go. They have to be the most profitable resturants McDonalds has operating. I finally sent them back to camp at 9 and made it into the apartment at 9:30 with about 3 dollars in my pocket. All in all it was a great day. I can't count the times they each told me thank you. I just wish that I had more money so I could have taken more of the kids with us. Maybe next time. Tomorrow appears to be a pretty low key day. The girls want to see a movie. The new Will Smith movie. I have read that it is not very good, but since it is in Russian it shouldn't matter to me. At least thepopcorn is good.

Saturday

2008-07-12T16:49:00.002-06:00

Well, the good news is David didn't have any adoption issues today...I'm sure only because there was not attempts made to get anything done. He and Vita ran errands after some fun stuff at camp. There was a missionary there who was doing stuff with the kids...David enjoyed that and I think the kids did too!

The Ukrainism for the day: David and Vita went to the opera house to get tickets for wednesday for the two of them. Well, they pre sell tickets for every day BUT wednesday. Why? Because that's the day they wanted tickets!! lol. Poor David...I'm sure if they wanted to go tuesday there would be no presales for that day either!!

Tomorrow he's taking the girls to a water park. Well, it was him and the girls...then Yana asked if her best friend, Oksana, could go. Then Vita asked if her best friend, Ira, could go. Then Jennifer asked if her best friend, Luda could go....and her boyfriend. Then the camp director said the extra kids could only go if a camp counselor goes. And there are a few other kids that Carol added on for David!! lol!!! He doesn't care...he seems happy to be going and taking a crowd with him. I'm sure this crowd will be easier to handle than the birth certificate and court people!

New number for David if you want to call him: 011-380-507-22-8267

Thanks for the prayers....keep 'em coming!

The Other Side of Hell....formerly known as Odessa, Ukraine

2008-07-11T17:39:00.002-06:00

So, the first thing discovered was that someone was lazy and wrote a letter saying there is NO father of record for one of the girls....David got to the birth cert office today and they said there IS a father of record....making our court decree wrong....AGAIN!!! Back at the court (term used loosely) they granted a THIRD decree...not for free. Still better than the judge's initial plan...whole new court date....in August when he comes back from vacation...and I'm sure I would need to be there as well. Do I need to say that no birth certificates were acquired today??? All of these thing are GREAT news compared to this: the girls had to go back to camp until the birth certificates are issued...TUESDAY!! He has three unhappy girls and translator going home for the weekend. It is at this point in time that I am ECSTATIC to be home with three wild boys full of energy and car to drive to Wal Mart and food I like to eat and a phone that works in my house (The phone in the apartment doesn't work now, either)

Here are some ramblings from David: Couple of funny things that I have learned. Three teenaged girls eat more than three boys under 10 and they rarely leave anything on their plates. They cooked lunch for me today. Jennifer cooked and Vita and Yana cleaned up. She cooked eggs. Good thing we have plenty of shower space. Of course they do not use the same shampoo, or conditioner, or body wash. The shower looked like a store. It is quiet in the apartment. I am not a big talker, but I have come to appreciate the noise of children, both big and small. It will be a long weekend. I will have to look through the movies to see if there are any good ones. (He also mentioned that he remembers why we took to vodka on our first trip...it makes the nights go faster!)

Pray for David....the girls....our frustrated translator....and anyone who screws things up in Ukraine from here on out that has to feel the wrath of Vita....

The craziness that is Ukraine....

2008-07-10T21:05:00.003-06:00

Well....David was picked up at the airport, which was a surprise. The hotel we where we had a room reserved didn't work out..he got there and they said they were booked and had no reservation for him. The said they don't do online reservations...yet their website has the application to do so. yup. So he found another hotel....where he sat today waiting for our translator to show up, as she was late and he had no phone to call her. So...they went to camp to get the girls and discovered that the court decree was drawn up wrong....listing me as the adoptive parent and him as the consenting spouse of the adoptive parent. There was a couple who used the same court the monday before our adoption and they had that situation since the man is legally too old to adopt the kids. I guess they forgot to change their fill in the blank adoption decree. Vita made it clear that staying another night at camp was not an option...she said they would look stupid if they had to stay another night....she's so funny! Once the decree was corrected, they went for groceries and to get settled in the apartment.

Tomorrow ( as in right now for David!) is going to be rushing to THREE different birth certificate offices to get the girls docs. AND the offices are only open from 9-1. AND they are closed monday. If the birth certs are not done friday, it will add several days to the trip since nothing else can be done until the new birth certificates are issued. (insert prayer) The girls have decided they want to sleep in and not go do adoption stuff. I wish I had that option when I was there!!! lol Should be easier to rush around with just 2 people. I think the girls want to go to camp to visit their friends too. Funny how they couldn't wait to get out of there, but are going back tomorrow!! Jennifer has a list of things she wants to do in Odessa before they have to leave for Kyiv. Both Jennifer and Yana will need to go to family's apartments and get personal belongings and hopefully some family photos to keep.

David attempted to blog....but the text was in cyrillic. So we will do second hand blogging! I will try to limit my artistic liberties.

Good news is I now have a car (read: bus!) that is large enough to haul the Kellett Bunch around the Ozarks! I'm sure the boys will have it broken (in) when the sisters three arrive!

So we are ready to roll......bring it on Mr. Kellett!!!

WOOHOO!!

2008-07-09T19:59:00.000-06:00

David made it to Ukraine...hopefully as far as Odessa by now! We have heard many stories of quickfire second trips that give us hope. Our only stumbling block will be setting Jennifer's real estate issues.

We can't wait to get the girls home and to the doctor and dentist...I'm sure they will be THRILLED to know of our a few of our first outtings!! Of course there will be shopping too!!
Luckily all summer stuff is on clearance so we can get stuff to start the school year in mass quantities!! We will also have a welcome home party at the airport...at church...at home and anywhere else we feel like it. Our girls have waited patiently for a family. I can't imagine the feelings of being happy to see friends get adopted, but sad that they were not. My heart breaks for all the kids that we saw at camp who looked at us visiting the girls and all the fun stuff that goes with the process. If there are pap's reading this...please consider the older kids. This is their last chance. We passed a prison one day while going downtown and Vita commented that alot of her friends are now there. The boys tend to go from one institution to another...at the orphanage/internat they are referred to as inmates. The girls futures are not as bright as the boys, unfortunately.

God has been so crazy good to us with this adoption....it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop some days! The excessive cost involved is far outweighed by the little miracles we have experienced along the way!

The Beginning of the End

2008-07-08T21:53:00.000-06:00

Today David left for Ukraine...and we already miss him! Noah and Levi are excited though because they can sleep in our bed! We have some preparing still to do to get ready for the girls...assuming you can ever be ready to have three teenage girls in your house!! We will have plenty to do, I'm sure!

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that one way flights from Kyiv to Odessa are only about $60. Wish we would have known that before.....it would have been cheaper and faster than a taxi when we were there! Live and learn.....but then again, with Ukraine the cost could have been $300 one way then....lol

More as we know it!

Counting down...again!!

2008-07-05T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well, David leaves July 8 to head back to Odessa...he still isn't over the jet lag from round one!! I talk to the girls almost every day.....and every day I hear, "Mom. When is Dad coming to get us??" I'm sure it's hard for them to see the light at the end of the tunnel of something that is so dream like!

We hope, of course, that David's trip is a short one...but we know it could be up to three weeks depending on how the property issues pan out. I will blog second hand while he's there. It may be a short blog as David isn't one to get chatty!! lol

Saturday/Sunday

2008-06-29T03:50:00.000-06:00

We lost internet at the apartment and gave our phone to the girls, so we have been cavepeople for a day!!

We spent the day shopping for things for the girls, a few things for their friends, eating (of course!), and we went to the movies! I watched Wanted with the girls....and it was good. I listened to my mp3 player and followed the story line quite well. Vita filled in the blanks when needed....she's an awesome translator!! David saw the Hulk with the boys.

Thankfully no one cried when we said goodbye....it's easy knowing we will see them again soon.

We went by Mercedes van to Kyiv today...0nly about 5 hours with one stop. Now we have time to kill at the airport....and cheap internet cafe! The airport is a ZOO....chaos and lack of efficiency, which seems to be a trend in UA.

Will likely post some pics once we get home and updates as the adoption process winds down. Maybe I can get David to blog on his trip.......

COURT DAY!!!

2008-06-27T14:57:00.000-06:00

WE GOT OUR GIRLS!!!!!!

After a morning of getting everyone clean and dressed...and keeping them clean and dressed, we were off to court. Our taxi didn't come, so we got on the hot bus and were all sweaty when we got there! We waited in the hallway for about one hour before we were seen....not unlike the U.S.!! This gave us a chance to talk with the prosecutor and others involved (directors, inspectors, social workers) Once in the court room, and I do mean room, we went thru the formalities of everyone stating name, producing passports, etc.. We had to tell the "court" what we were petitioning for: adoption, name changes, and birthdate change (which we had to justify) We answered a few questions about our jobs, home, income, etc.. The girls were asked if they consented and if we had been in contact. The judge asked if the boys were in favor of.....as the boys had all picked a sister's lap to sit on! After we plead our case and were asked a question by the prosecutor, the judge and two "jurists" (I think just people from the public to sit on either side of the judge and help decide cases?) excuse themselves after our closing arguments (all quite comical, to me). After a 10 minute recess, we are all called back into court for the decision. He grants the adoptions, but not the 10 day waiting period...which was expected, but it doesn't hurt to ask. We were told we could appeal that part of the decision....but I'm sure that would take more than the 10 days~

We left court and had lunch before hanging out at the apartment for some down time. Galya had to go back to camp and clean as today was her assigned day. The rest of us headed downtown to meet Ira Azerlyan who has been a tutor to Vita and Galya in the past for English. We had never met her, but have communicated on Facebook and email! She is a sweety!!! Ira's English is so good, she could be mistaken for an American with a regional accent! We celebrated at Mike O'Neill's Irish Pub! I think it was the best meal we have had since getting here and we wish we had discovered it sooner!! After dinner it was the habitual ice cream and some shopping for necessities for the girls. We got them back to camp, late as always!

We are so sad that tomorrow is our last day with our new daughters before we have to leave them. But we know that this is the light at the end of the tunnel and in a few weeks, our kids will all be home, where they belong, for good....not just a visit.

Thursday

2008-06-27T14:20:00.000-06:00

Today was a lot of fun for everyone! Well, David spent two hours at the tax office after our translator told him what to do and left....that part wasn't fun. But after that....fun!!! We had lunch with the girls and then commenced to shoe shopping at Provost Bazaar. Highly inefficient way to shop...but, it works! If it were our method in the U.S., I would not be much of a shopper! Vita and Galya eventually found shoes and Yana found a pair of shorts she liked. With our mission complete....it was off to the beach!! WOOHOO!!! The boys really liked it...the water was COLD, and I did not get in other than my feet! The girls are all like fish from living by the Black Sea their entire lives. I felt quite overdressed for the occasion in a black one piece. One piece was acceptable for women....as long as it was the bottom piece!! Tops optional here, and there were some two pieces that women wore that it was hard to see the bottom piece for two reasons: it was a thong or the "muffin top" on the women hid their bathing suit bottoms!! It was fun and I am glad we saw the beach. We had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sea.....overpriced, poor food, poor quality, good company and good view! From there we visited Galya's aunt and uncle where the kids gorged on sweets. We were also entertained by Galya's uncle, Yuri, with some magic as he is a professional magician. The kids all loved it and created quite a memory for all of us.

Tomorrow is the big day!!

Wednesday

2008-06-25T12:36:00.000-06:00

Today was what I call a blogable day! We got the girls for lunch and then went so see Kung Fu Panda at the “cinema”. Here are all the GREAT things about seeing a movie in Ukraine:
 The price! You have seat assignments and the cost varies on age, time of show, and seat chosen. For 8 of us, the tickets totaled $25
 Snack prices! For unlimited snacks for all of us….a whopping $15!!!!
 There is a bar in the theater
 You can bring in your own snacks
 There is Baskin Robbins in the theater

The drawback: dubbed in Russian!!!

From there we went to the “bazaar” to look for shoes for the girls for court. Yana, who insisted she didn’t need/want any, is the only one who found a pair acceptable. Tomorrow, we have more shoe shopping to do!

Moving from bazaar to “BIZARRE”. The McDonald’s we stopped at for drinks/ice cream and play place was a plethora of characters tonight! There were about 8 Hare Krishna’s out front playing a drum, dancing, and singing. Appeared they found a good deal on melon colored fabric as it was the color of choice for most. They did their thing for at least one hour….even had mics and speakers! As they were doing their street evangelism there was an old drunk street lady dancing around within their group…she was not a part of the group as indicated by her lack of melon colored toga. She then felt compelled to drag one of the many stray dogs by its’ front paws into the mix. She had the dog up on its’ back legs and she danced with the dog for a few songs until the dog grew weary and she wore out from leading. Eventually, the HK’s called it a night and packed up their gear. As they waited for the marshuka (bus) to take them to their assumed commune, they attempted to hand out propaganda. Of course David was a target and he was happy to tell them he doesn’t understand. David was also handed a Jehovah’s Witness Watch Tower pamphlet a few days ago while we were out walking…it was in English, I think. He must have looked foreign and spiritually lost that day. Shows the insight that the JW’s have! They only got a 50%!! Lol

On a sad sighting…there are stories on the internet with photos of street kids in Ukraine who are drug addicted, dirty, begging, and empty. There were three of them in front of Mc Donald’s tonight begging. I couldn’t help but wonder if they had been in orphanages and were then turned out onto the streets when they turned 16 or 17 with no family, education, or means to support themselves. Then I see our amazing girls and have so much hope for their futures…and feel bad for not being able to help more kids who live lives that are unimaginable to most Americans. It’s not designer drugs like are in America, it’s household chemicals and other caustic things that these kids inject just to escape from the horror that is their life. It’s easy to see why so many people do anything they can to get out of Ukraine or self medicate to escape reality.

On the adoption front…Lena was out doing adoption stuff today and we have a little bit of work to do tomorrow to prepare for our court date on Friday. We are still cautiously optimistic for a waiving of the 10 days…but expecting it to not happen. Lena will leave Friday night from Odessa to go home for awhile until she can come back to Odessa and work on paperwork to prepare for David’s return.

I think we are all very homesick and weary…just ready to be home and get our girls home as well. Jakob’s head looks great…all things considered. He is still running/jumping/spinning all over Odessa…it’ll be a miracle if he doesn’t come home even more battered. Levi is scraped up from his falls on the sidewalk…and where Jakob pushed him down the stairs. Noah is running a fever and didn’t eat much today, so he’s down a bit too. I’m afraid when the judge sees how beat up the boys look, he won’t allow us to adopt the girls!!

Looking forward to the hotel in London as a primer for our own beds on Monday night!!!

No News is Good News!

2008-06-24T12:35:00.000-06:00

We didn't do much today....went and did the applications for the girls' birth certificates then came back to the apartment. I think all 9 of us were tired from all the running and heat, so we took a down day. Lena went to the beach by herself and I'm sure she had a blast! The girls just hung out at the sea and rested. I'm sure tomorrow will be a different tale! Galya is checking with her soon to be sisters to see what they would like to do... and will call us back...maybe!

I think I need to go change my pants....someone just set of fireworks so close to our apartment that we couldn't see the entire explosion out our window. Still not accustomed to it even though it happens every night...not sure what they are celebrating!

Our last monday here

2008-06-23T14:18:00.000-06:00

Today was a fun day!! Vita and Yana started off not speaking, but they were both willing to go with us! We met Lena at the mall and had lunch, then went downtown to do some souvenir shopping….it took Yana and Galya little bit to open up and be willing to let us buy them stuff. Once they got started….holy Lord!! Vita, on the other hand, was happy to buy for herself, Oksana, Sasha, Jessica, Justin, Grammy, PopPop, and anyone else she could remember! We met Galya’s aunt Oksana and uncle Yuri for dinner tonight. Very nice couple…not what I expected. Then Gary and Pat met us for their dinner. The kids ate for two dinners worth…Yana can put away the groceries! Grammy: double the mashed potatoes!!

Some adoption stuff was done today…I wrote a letter to explain why we wanted one court date for two oblasts. We have some stuff to do tomorrow…..not sure what. We just do whatever Lena tells us to do! We are doing all we can do to keep up with six kids!

After shopping a bit, Vita and Yana made up…Vita bought her some earrings and a manicure kit. David and I are going to do some adjusting to the whole rollercoaster of girl emotions! And when you say, “what’s wrong?”. The answer is, “I’m ok” Even though you know it’s not ok…

We are looking forward to coming home…the sooner the better!

Sunday?

2008-06-22T13:41:00.000-06:00

Today we got to see another side of teenage sisters! We got to camp to pick up the girls and Yana was a bit surly. We weren’t sure who she was mad at and hoped it wasn’t us. She said she was tired and needed to do laundry, so she didn’t want to go today. We offered to do her laundry for her tonight, but she insisted on not going. On the bus, Vita explained that she had asked Yana if she could borrow a pony tail holder. Yana said, “no, I’m using it for a bracelet.” Vita, responding as a Kellett, “oh, why thank you.” (add sarcasm…) So, to spite herself, Yana stayed at camp. We took the girls to the mall to eat at the food court….good prices and variety. Lena met us there as well after going to the inspector’s office…yes, the inspector met her on Sunday!! We got our money’s worth with that fee!! There were some little pony type rides in the food court and the boys wanted to ride…so we caved since they had a good lunch. When we were done a woman by the name of Luda came over and asked if she could buy the boys some sweets. I said sure and thank you, thinking it was going to be a little candy from the Mr. Bulky type store in the food court. Instead, it was 7 full sized desserts that she took Vita over to the restaurant to buy! We were floored, amused, grateful, and a little confused! Jakob was the most grateful as he had at least two of the desserts! Much better than yesterday on the marshuka (bus) when a drunk man sat in front of Levi, Galya, and Vita and said: English bad, Russia good. Then he got pissed at Levi and yelled: bad boy!! Bad boy!! This made Yana get defensive so she went and sat in front of the man, then beside him…she had quite a scowl on her face!! Another drunk interlude on the bus….there were two drinking buddies standing (swerving!) in the isle next to David. One fella was so drunk he couldn’t even see the hand rail to grab on and kept just reaching until he lucked out. We were both shocked that he didn’t pass out!! Then his partner in crime lost his balance and nearly ended up in my lap. That’s what riding the bus later in the day will get you!! Another bus experience: David was coming home with Noah and Levi from taking the girls back to camp and a long haired guy started chatting with David about the Paul McCartney concert in Kyiv that was simulcast to the big cities in Ukraine the other night. He was trying to tell David the names of the songs and when he couldn’t think of the name, he would sing it for him….and poorly. From my understanding, the entire bus was amused. I digress….

After lunch we went to an amusement park, Ukrainian style! $5 per ride was the average…a little steep if you ask me!! But the girls had fun and so did the boys. The girls rode the throw up rides….and Vita did throw up after the last one. Galya wanted to, but couldn’t. From there, Lena dropped us by the apartment and took our documents to the train station and David took the girls back to camp.

Not sure what tomorrow has in store for us! Depends on the weather and adoption stuff…we have still have to get David registered for his tax # so the girls can retrieve their pensions and go ahead and start the paperwork for birth certificates!

We are cautiously optimistic that our 10 days will be waived….all three of the girls have medical diagnoses (nothing of concern or reality based) and we will argue that we would need to get them home to get settled, learn some of the language, and get evaluated before school starts for the ESL program. This is the new judge who is doing his first adoption Monday….so we can see it going either way. As much as we paid to expedite our court date, I would think it would be a breeze! The embassy said they would honor it…so we are asking for more miracles, as if we haven’t received enough already!!

More tomorrow!!

Another day....more fun

2008-06-21T13:40:00.000-06:00

We got the girls from camp today around lunch time and went to McDonald's. Then we went shopping...David has made it clear that I will be taking the girls shopping. They had a great time buying clothes for court and bathing suits. After that we took the bus downtown. We ended up walking in the pouring down rain....the kids all enjoyed that! It was a fun family memory. It was great to have Galya with us for the day. This is the first day we have gotten to take her out and have fun. And they are not afraid to ask for stuff!!! Shoes, go to the movies, go to the amusement park, go to the zoo!

Oh, yeah! I forgot about the adoption stuff! Lena did some stuff today...not sure what. I've grown weary of that side of the trip...I have a lot of faith and trust and know that she will take good care of us. She wants to get home as bad as we do!

We have nixed the idea of going to Kharkiv....the train or car ride would be to grueling on everyone at this point and Jakob could care less. He just wants to have fun. Speaking of Jakob...his head looks good! I hope they don't pull my nursing license when I get home and take him to the doctor....

We are also hoping to have our 10 days waived...but the judge is new. His first adoption hearing is monday with Gary and Pat Fry....we'll see how their day goes and gauge our speculation on that! If our 10 days are waived, I will come home with the boys. Should be, um......interesting. We have a night in London on our way home...at least I speak the language there!

Our boys are still the best! They have made this trip go so much faster!

More tomorrow!!

Friday's Dealings

2008-06-21T00:43:00.000-06:00

What fun filled day we had today!!! The Yana and Vita went with us for the day and Galya is still with her family. We met the girls at the Battery Park … named for the now defunct military eqpt that is there on display. The boys like climbing all over the stuff, especially Jakob! From there we went to a Ukrainian version of a mall…it has all different types of departments and services from food to hardware to bank and flowers! We had a good lunch…everyone liked their lunch but David, so he ate the leftover pizza and some of my yummy potatoes! We got an outfit for Yana to wear to court next Friday. While she was trying on clothes Jakob was melting down in toys. He ended up falling on a shelf and cutting his head open about ¾ of an inch. The bleeding didn’t want to stop, so we took him to the hospital where they wanted to call an ambulance and transfer him to the children’s hospital…and be seen by a NEUROSURGEON!!!! He needed stitches…not an MRI or neurosurgery!! People: this is socialized medicine!! So as an alternative, we went to the pharmacy, spent $5 and went home and I shaved a spot on his head, cleaned, and bandaged it. He’s tough and didn’t make a sound. He should thank God I couldn’t get my hands on a suture kit!! What an experience that was! So, after the major head trauma, we went to the dolphinarium. I think that’s a made up word, but the place was cool nonetheless. It was a dolphin and seal show in a little pavilion down by the Black Sea. It was quite impressive with loud techno music and a few American rock songs thrown in for good measure. Well worth the $10 a person.

Our most awesome translator ran around town all day getting our paperwork in order. She has worked so hard on our adoptions… and is meeting our timeline with all the madness and demands thrown in her path. Our applications and other docs will be on the train to Kyiv Sunday night and registered at the center for adoptions Monday. We will have court Friday and head to Kyiv either Saturday or Sunday and fly home Sunday!! Our translator thinks David should return 20 days after our court date for the girls. That being around July 16 and hopefully home on the weekend! Party date: July 26th !!!

We can’t believe how fast time is flying by on this trip. I’m sure time will crawl during the waiting period when we can’t see the girls and they are stuck at the summer camp. I will need that time to rest up for the shopping we have ahead of us. The girls have such few personal belongings they will travel with just a backpack. When Vita’s grandmother sold her apartment, all of Vita’s things were left there and likely thrown out. We will leave our phone for Vita so we can call her and Galya has a phone already.

We only have a few more things to do related to the adoption: David needs a tax number so he can get the girls’ pension for them and we will do some paperwork to get birth certificates, etc..

Keep us in your prayers…it’s not over until the 10 day waiting period has passed after court!!

Update!

2008-06-19T12:36:00.000-06:00

So, we hope to put our docs on a plane to Kyiv tomorrow afternoon and have court date next friday!!! To Kyiv saturday...to HOME on sunday!!! OMG!!!! Let the vodka flow!!

So here is our funny for the day: We are looking for Mario's Pizza and see "Pizza City" with a signboard in front in english. Sounds like a no brainer, right? So, we go inside and they have NO english menus?????!!!!!! Bait and switch. Vita didn't feel like translating the menu, so we pressed on to Mario's.

Our cab driver taking us home said: many people, many money. And instead of him telling us how much, he asked us how much. We said 50, he said 70....we said OK!! It was raining....seemed like a good deal! These cars are the size of toyota tercels...so there are six people in the back seat....me and the driver up front! I think we are bonding as a family! lol

Starting saturday we should be able to do just fun stuff with the kiddos. Will be nice to have some fun amidst all the anxiety, chaos, and runaround.

I keep hearing Third Day singing "There's a light at the end of this tunnel...."

And I might add....my kids rock! R-O-C-K!!!!

Thursday...June 19 th

2008-06-19T07:35:00.000-06:00

So, our only involvement with the adoption today was to show up and sign three letters at a notary. Lena is running all over Odessa in the rain today trying to get our documents ready to put on the night train to Kyiv for Galena to take to the SDA tomorrow.....hopefully getting approved and on its' way back to us within 5 days so we can have court one week from today. Lena and Galena are miracle workers....they are doing stuff that money can't buy.

We got Vita and Yana today, as Galya is with family for a few days. We went to Mario's for pizza again since it was such a hit the other night. We pay only a little more there than if we ate at McDonald's. We have discovered that McDonald's is more expensive here than at home. I guess when you have to buy ketchup.....lol!! However, the ice cream at McD's is cheap..so we treat the kids to that every time! Yana knows more english than she lets on....she leans on Vita as a crutch to translate for her. They already share everything, so it's natural that they share a room. And Galya is older, so she should have her own room.

The rain has kept us in...but the girls are content coming to the apartment to watch tv and hang out. The boys want to go go go go go.

If you have been praying....thanks and keep on! If you have not....please start! If you are not inclined to pray...send happy thoughts our way! Nothing is set in stone until the girls are home. Court is a huge step....but there is still time for problems during the 10 day wait!!

No Kyiv

2008-06-18T08:49:00.000-06:00

OK...so now I didn't have to go to Kyiv. We did get permission to visit Galya, finally. Our corrected documents and approval for 3 kids is coming from Kyiv by train tonite. I now understand what the embassy does for us. Our translator said we are the hardest adoption she has done in the 6-7 years she's been doing it. Not the title I was hoping for. Craziest family? sure Most fun? maybe. Hardest? not so much.

The good news? we are having pyrogies tonite! Well, Levi and Jakob will have frozen pizza...yes, I'll cook it first!

Back to adoption stuff: we are now told that we need to get a letter from Vita's brother (who lives in Moldova!!!) and sister (who is institutionalized in FLORIDA!!!!!) The social worker didn't even know where the sibs are, but I do. Also, she is the social worker who helped Vita's sister get adopted!!! A huge problem here is the lack of taxis...odd since it's a large city. Large city also means our points of business are spread out....using bus/train are not efficient, so it's taking longer and more work to complete our paperwork. I still have a hard time getting my head around why it's so difficult for us to adopt 3 older children. Older kids are not exactly a hot commodity.

At the inspectors office today she claimed our I171H said nothing about adoption,just orphans. How the hell does she think we got this far???????????????? I wish they could cut the bull and just tell us up front what the expedite fee is going to be. We are tiring quickly of the game..or at least I am. I know the boys are not happy about sitting around during these trips....but they are doing great and being good boys. We are very proud of them and glad that they are here to experience this and see where their sisters are coming from. With any luck, and leftover money, we will get to Kharkiv to see Jakob's old 'hood and see his caretakers.

We are enjoying our soviet style apartment...with a/c and high speed. It's amusing to lay in bed at night and listen to the cat fights. There is an alarming number of stray cats/dogs here. David thinks Bob Barker needs to step in and do something!

We will not get to see the girls today....could be best to not push the camp director too much. This way we can get them if we need to do adoption business. So far we are only in for a bottle of cognac to him!

More tomorrow!!

What day is it????

2008-06-18T01:46:00.000-06:00

So.....to straighten out the name on my passport issue, I have to fly to Kyiv today, go to the embassy, and go to the SDA....they want to see my passport. All I can do is laugh at this point and enjoy my flight...catch up on some reading...enjoy the rest. $240 later...............................................

Catching up....

2008-06-17T13:40:00.000-06:00

To sum up our past two days: our translator bought vodka and orange juice for tonight….and she wants “lots of vodka”. Yesterday it rained, so we stayed in with Yana and Vita watching High School Musical 2 and video of Vita on the news at Christmas. After that, we went to Mario’s pizza in the tourist district for dinner and to commiserate with Gary Fry…who has been here for one month and still hasn’t had court. He goes the 23rd and his wife is coming back for that date. We have a court date as of today, but it is flexible and will likely be sooner. As of July 8th, all of the adoption judges have vacation we’ve been told until September. Back to the pizza….between me and the boys, we ate two small and one large….plus bread and tomato/mozzarella salad and lots of Coke.

Starting last night, we have been on an emotional roller coaster…and like all roller coasters, it’s a relief when it’s over and you can look back with a different perspective. Lena and I went to the inspector’s office today to work on the paperwork for Galya. The inspector basically called our dossier crap. I took offense. She also questioned the lack of fingerprinting and lack of “application”…not even sure what that’s about. Also, the SDA looked at my passport and issued referrals using my maiden name…not realizing there is an amendment with my last name changing to Kellett. Note to paps: if there are amendments, make sure that is part of your notarized copy of your passport. Also, bring 1-2 fill-in-the-blank, notarized, power of attorney docs. And with the I171H, copy the second page as well which talks about fingerprints…maybe this will help inspector to realize fingerprints were done. We now have to get a letter from the SDA and embassy to say we were fingerprinted. Make sure wife’s last name is consistent on all docs. Or maybe a same name affidavit for the wife, especially if previously married.

OK…and the inspector was not happy that she did not meet David, so we were suppose to take him in today. We didn’t make it after going to the notary and Yana’s grandmother’s house. Then we went to McDonald’s after feeding the kids chips and coke for lunch with a banana for a snack. Yana’s babushka gave the kids “drunken cherries”….Jakob LOVED them, the other two had to choke them down. No one expected the pit in the cherry!! We took pictures of Yana and her sister and grandmother. And Grandmother wanted one of all of us since we are family now. Grandmother said she wants to eat Levi up…and who doesn’t?? She was very huggy with the boys and they took it well.

Today was emotionally and financially taxing…but we all survived and had a good outcome. BUT….we are in Ukraine and anything can happen. That’s hard for us to get our heads around…I can’t imagine how hard it is for all the kids.

Tomorrow we have to go back to the inspector so David can prove he is real. Hopefully, this will get us permission to visit Galya…but she leaves tomorrow to go visit her family for 3 days. It’s her cousin’s birthday and she is going to celebrate.

We hope to get the boys, and girls, to the dolphinarium, amusement park, zoo, and beach. Vita does not want us to go to the beach because it’s so dirty….she says the beach is “poop”. But the kids are determined to go to the beach…so we will go.

On a funny note, David was being awesome as always today and hung out the laundry. Unfortunately, a pair of my underwear are now on the roof of the people downstairs. I’m not sure if we should go get them, or just pretend they are not mine! Guess it depends on how desperate for undies I get!!

We will see what tomorrow brings our way!!

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-15T11:38:00.000-06:00

Well, our day started with my getting a text.....in Russian, from Galena/Galya. She asked if we could go to Battery Park by the camp and meet them. This way we could spend time with her, unofficially. She seems to have gained understanding about our adopting her and that we do want her....but couldn't take her on outings because of paperwork! She had fun with the boys and we spent some time at the park looking at tanks, trains, planes and the kids took a horse ride...some of the kids, and Lena...our translator! We were able to spend some time sight seeing today, but Galya did not go because she has an exam to study for....what a good sign that she is commited to her education and disciplined! So we had lunch at a cafe...Ukrainian food. Me, being the picky eater, was the only one who wasn't happy with my meat. That's ok....I eat enough bread to make up for it!

We went to Deribvoskaya (totally wrong spelling!!!!) Street, the port of Odessa, and Potempkin Stairs. David bet with all the kids he could beat them in a race up 192 stairs with Levi on his back......he lost to all the kids and had to give them each 10 gryvna! The boys chose that over dollars....David is lucky they don't understand the conversion rate and only ended up with $2 each! Lena and I ate ice cream and walked up the stairs! The girls picked up some souvenirs as did the boys. The boys are being such troopers....I know I say it every day, but they are amazing!

Spoke with Gary _________ (can't remember last name) who is adopting. They are not having a smooth adoption....hoping that our's goes better and cheaper!!

Tomorrow we will be able to do some adoption stuff, but nothing with officials. Tuesday, it's back to running from office to office to office...getting the run around, giving "donations", and hopefully seeing the girls!

We also experienced the Odessa public transportation train today...much cheaper than bus, but you have to be more cautious of pick pockets. Some guy was eye balling Lena's purse, but David saw him. The guy then got kicked off for not paying the fare.

I hope David had a good father's day....he doubled his kids today!!!

We miss everyone and can't wait to get home. Will hopefully have a better idea of a time line once the week of business starts back on tuesday!!

Saturday June 14...I think

2008-06-14T13:53:00.000-06:00

Sorry ! If I could read cyrillic, I would have fixed!

So today I overslept....as usual! We went to the camp to get Vita and Yana. We had to go see Yana's grandmother and sister today to get permission to adopt Yana. It was very emotional as the grandmother was so happy she cried. This happened several times during our visit. Yana and Vita were best friends before going to the orphanage and grew up in the same building...so they are already sisters in a sense! Yana has a sister who is 19 and wants to go to the U.S.....so we will be helping her when she is ready. The grandmother asked us to find the sister, Anya, and husband. She also asked if Yana would be able to get married....14 is a little young!! lol Yana also has to talk with her biological father to be sure he agrees...he is not the father of record, so he has no legal recourse, but the grandmother fears he would hurt her if Yana doesn't talk to him first. He should do that tomorrow...we hope. After that, we went to, you guessed it, Mc Donalds! They have shrimp on the menu!! Sign me up!! We talked to Yana and Vita about names and birthday changes, school, and what life will be like at our house. They are very excited....and the boys are too. The girls are taking care of the boys as we venture about Odessa. We still cannot do anything with Galena....which is hard. She didn't understand that we can't, so she is thinking we don't want her. She felt this so strongly that she said she didn't want to be adopted because we didn't seem to want her. So we have Lena call her tonite and explain why...she seems ok with that now and hopefully we can start spending time with her as well. We will need to take the girls shopping for an outfit for court once we have a date...that will be fun for all of us.

Our only issues we will hopefully face are the apartments that Yana and Galena own...odd, I know that orphans own apartments. And Yana has money we need to get for her. Jakob's adoption was so cut and dry comparatively speaking....Vita's too. But Yana and Galena are a little more work....but worth it!

We are so excited to be getting TRIPLETS.....almost like the Connells!!!

Now that we have high speed in the apartment, we can blog more!!

June 13---the end of our train ride in hell

2008-06-14T13:37:00.001-06:00

Word of advice: no matter how small the people are, NEVER EVER think two can share a bed in the sleeper car of a train with the temps around 80'F. BAD CALL. We will likely get two sleeper cars w/8 beds on the way home, or have a driver drive us back, or take a day train. Thank God for MP3 players or David and I would have pulled our hair out.

Our apartment in Odessa is good....high speed internet, hot water, enough beds, close to stores. Far to get to summer camp where the kids are, but that's ok. Bus rides are cheap.....not comfortable, but cheap. Sometimes it's like being stuffed into a sardine can with wheels...and smells comparable too! The boys have been troopers...not complaining much. Levi wants to go to Battlefield or Springfield....or the beach. The last is most likely to happen!!

once settled in our apartment, we started our adoption work by visiting the orphanage where Vita and Yana are from. The social worker was not very optimistic about Yana, but David and I both felt prett strong about adopting her. After monetary negotiations, things looked brighter! We then went to the inspector's office to get permission to visit Vita and Yana. We were given the major run around there and our poor translator had to hear his sob stories of travelling and how expensive his life is. He said he's more pragmatic than emotional. So we gave a donation to his charity and he stamped his approval on the visits. He had many excuses....we don't make enough money, claimed we didn't have fingerprints done, complained about highway patrol doing our background check. A donation was all it took...we donate alot here. So we were going to try to go to the inspector where Galena's orphanage is...but it was too late after getting the run around from him. So we went to visit Vita and Yana at summer camp. We took the girls and our other "son", Vova, to McDonald's for dinner and then had to return them to camp. We couldn't believe how mature Vita is and how much she has grown!!!

The boys are such troopers and have been enjoying the culture...McDonald's every day!!!

Thursday in Kyiv

2008-06-12T06:23:00.000-06:00

Well...our trip got rained/hailed out to go see sights. But I had a good walking tour of Kyiv looking for an internet cafe...our slow speed came to a screaching halt at the apartment!

Levi is better....he ate two pieces of pizza, ice cream, and m&ms last night....and started tormenting his brothers. He's back on top of his game!

Nothing much new...we leave tonite for our train at 9p and arrive in Odessa at 6am. David has not been sleeping good...the boys have been sleeping in, but staying up later. We did get our luggage last night...had to go to the airport to get it...but they are SUPPOSE to reimburse us for the taxi. Odd system...they will come to our apt to give us a debit card to reimburse us, but wouldn't bring the luggage??? Noah was a big help with customs...rattling off everything in our luggage...until I threatened his life! He is such a talker!!

Will write more tomorrow once we get to Odessa and have a busy day!

2008-06-11T07:43:00.000-06:00

Well....our day was exciting! I forgot my own birthday...but the boys did not! Galena brought flowers to me and she and her grandkids sang happy birthday. She also brought me a dressy blouse to wear with my yoga pants and flip flops for our SDA appt!! At little snug, but in Ukraine....it's ok! Our appt went well...we waited for about 15 minutes at the SDA before being seen. We were told the Vita is available, Galina just became available, and we saw a picture of Yana, whom I met 3 years ago. There was some debate on approving us for 3 unrelated children....depended upon who was in the room at the time. Eventually the director said yes. So, it went from no, yes, no, two sibs and one unrelated, to ok, 3 unrelated is fine with us. So...we will leave thursday night on the 9 pm train!! WOOHOO!!!

Guess we will hopefully have triplets!

We have a cell phone: 380950814972. It's free for us when you call.

We also enjoyed my birthday lunch at McDonalds. Since Levi vomited on my only pants this morning and has been cranky all day, we will just stay in tonite. I picked up a frozen pizza last night and hopefully the boys will like it!

The boys seem to be enjoying the trip. It's hard for them to sit around and wait. They were VERY good at the SDA during our appt.. I can say that there is a huge difference from Jakob's adoption. The SDA (then NAC) is much more organized, well lit, clean, friendly. Felt like humans, not cattle being held for slaughter in a dark hallway! Everyone was helpful. One lady did her best to speak to us in English...our translator could not get a taxi so she ran to the SDA in stilletos...but made it there, sweaty and tired...but she made it!!! A funny thing about the SDA....David didn't talk much, but whenever he tried, the SDA women would start talking like he didn't exist! We were both amused.....me moreso, I think!

The SDA is right across from the souvenir market, so we went over there and did some shopping. Noah got a Spongebob matroyshka and Jakob got a Shrek. Levi was not up for shopping quite yet. They boys enjoyed having Galina's grandkids to play with...her 12 yr old granddaughter speaks a little English and I think there is no language barrier with little boys! Her 6 yo grandson played with the boys. If they can't talk, they can't argue!!

Lena and Galina bought us an apron and oven mitt from the market....they figured I will spend a lot of time in the kitchen and will need those items! So I will think of them often!

SO....that's our day in a nutshell. Tomorrow we are going on an excursion to go sight seeing! Should be fun since David and I never made time for that on our trip for Jakob!

Praying our luggage makes it today!!

More tomorrow!!

Blogging on Dial up!!!

2008-06-11T00:39:00.000-06:00

Our trip to Ukraine was WONDERFUL....the boys were great, flights were great, and our luggage is in LONDON!!! I was smart enough to pack a change of clothes for the boys...but not for me and David. Soooo...we have our appointment for referrals at the adoption center in 2.5 hours....and all we have to wear are our travel clothes!

We went and got groceries last night, which is an adventure! I can't tell butter from cream cheese. The boys are just going with the flow. Well....not Levi. He wants to go get Vita and go to the beach....or go home. He misses his Grammy.

Everyone slept at least 12 hours last night....other than me. The apartment we are in is great, other than the bed. David thinks he might need back surgery after this trip!!! We have only one more night here, so hopefully the bed will be less......firm in Odessa.

Levi drank 3 cups of water this morning...then threw them up...on my only pants as I sit here typing.

Things are good with our translator and facilitator. We feel comfortable and confident with them. I was relieved to be rid of the iPhones that Galena's son wanted.

Well...I have one hour to get presentable in sweats. Wish us luck and we'll check in later!!

So far, my birthday has been eventful...........

We Leave in 5 (FIVE) Days....COUNT THEM!!!

2008-06-04T20:53:00.000-06:00

I think I've resigned myself to not getting everything done! What matters? We are going to bring our daughter home!

Based on what others who have adopted recently have said, Vita will not be coming home with us on our trip. Either one of us will stay and wait the 10 days while the other comes home with the kids OR we all come home then one of us goes back to bring Vita home! Any ideas on how David and I decide who gets to go????? I think I can take him...... Maybe a Scrabble match? Iron Chef competition???? Let Vita decide??

I can't imagine what Vita must be feeling knowing that we will be seeing her in one week!!! We have our appt on June 11 and take an overnight train to Odessa the night of June 12. So...........friday the 13th will be the day we see Vita! Kind of ironic since Ukrainians tend to be VERY superstitous!

We started doing some sorting/weeding out of what to take...Twizzlers and M&Ms did NOT make the cut!

I'm surprised the boys are not more...driving us crazy! They are not asking too many questions, just going with the flow. I'm sure once we are on the plane there will one question....repeated over and over and over and over..... "ARE WE THERE YET?????????"

All that's left to do is pack and pray!

WOW!

2008-05-26T20:13:00.000-06:00

So, two weeks from this very minute....we will be on our way to Ukraine to become parents...again!

There is so much to do to get ready for our trip. We have been waiting for this day for many years, and it seems we will never be ready. The boys are excited, but they aren't really able to get their heads around being on a plane for that long. Going over shouldn't be bad since it will be their bedtime. Coming home may be a different story!

Vita is very excited about our upcoming adventure....this is like a fairy tale for her that she won't have to wake up from. At night the kids talk about how their forever family is going to come for them and what their family is like. For many kids, it's only something they dream of and talk about. I'm glad that for at least on girl, it will come true!

Now I get to busy myself with getting a second/back up dossier together before we travel! As many times as I've done it, it should be easy peasy!

FINALLY!!!

2008-03-30T11:33:00.000-06:00

Our appointment date is June 11 !!!! Not much else to say..... now we just get tickets, plan, and rob a bank to cover the trip!

hhhhhhhhhhhmmmmm......

2008-03-27T09:37:00.000-06:00

For those who know me...you know that patience is NOT my strong suit. I am fresh out of patience. period. I also like control....and with this situation, I have NONE. Not a day passes when someone doesn't ask about Vita coming home. I want to have an answer....I really do! Well, I have an answer: we are still waiting. I would like to have a definitive answer: We are leaving on such and such date!!

I check my personal email from work several times a day when I'm there....hoping to not get caught! Hoping they will buy my excuse if it ever comes up! (if you don't want me on yahoo, then block it...hello???)

So for those who read the updates....still no news. And I just checked my email to be sure we didn't have a date.....

Waiting....

2008-03-24T20:32:00.000-06:00

Well....still no appointment. We did get a second hand email from Vita though with many updates on things happening in her life. It was quite emotional and it's hard being so far away from her and knowing she is alone. At least now she knows we have not forgotten about her and we are coming to bring her home....if the Ukrainian adoption system sees fit to allow us! We need time and patience....and I'm fresh out of both!

Every day brings new hope...I call cautious optimism.

Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Surprise...or not

2008-03-18T18:44:00.001-06:00

Well, March 18th in Ukraine has come....and gone. And we have no appointment date. I was cautiously optimistic....so I am not surprised. Noah wants to try out for a speaking/solo part in his k'garten play...but I cannot commit without knowing when we will travel...and they need to know the 20th. Now this is effecting the other kids and I hate to see that happen

The good news is that Vita knows we are still working hard on bringing her home.....for whatever that does to help her. I'm sure the wait is killing her...as she watches her friends be adopted by their former host families. Her time will come....soon we hope. She is a much stronger person than other kids.....but she is just a kid and shouldn't have to suffer and wait

Until next time....

Closer...

2008-03-14T19:39:00.000-06:00

We rec'd an email that we should have our appointment date tuesday....3/18!! So, hopefully in a few days....we will know when we are going to Ukraine!!!

Earlier this week I received an email from KT at Frontier Horizon, who rec'd an email from Vinny, who rec'd an email from Larisa in Ukraine.....the message was that Vita is wondering if her family is going to come and get her. Talk about heart breaking!!! Hopefully Larisa will be able to get word to Vita that we are getting very close to coming over....and I will pass our date along once we know.

What did we do before the internet...........

Our story of Jakob's adoption

2008-02-27T21:00:00.000-06:00

I have had a few people ask about our adoption of Jakob. I didn't blog back then, but I have written something that I share with families interested in learning more about Ukraine adoption. Like to hear it? Here it goes...

The adoption of our son, Jakob, was an emotional rollercoaster…at best. A short 7 months later, we were on our way to Ukraine to meet our first son!

We arrived in Ukraine 9/9/01 and were quickly settled in to our flat…on the fourth floor with no working elevator. The following day we were taken to our appointment at the National Adoption Center in Kyiv. We had done everything we were told to do….buy nice gifts, have a little photo album of the life ahead for our child, dress modestly, and most importantly…be patient (much easier said than done!) We searched through 10 or more 4 inch binders full of profiles of children waiting for forever families…and didn’t really feel like any were meant to be ours. The psychologist in the office whom we were working with just so happened to “conveniently” have a profile of a child in her drawer that she thought would be perfect for our family. The profile was Jakob’s, and she was right in her thoughts! Jakob was born on the very same day we were married (so if my husband for gets a birthday he also forgets the anniversary!). We took this as our sign to go see this child.

We were in our flat waiting for our translator and car to come take us to the train depot for our overnight train ride to our son’s city. We were watching TV and it was showing stars on the cities of DC, NY, and somewhere in PA. We were not able to understand the words and all they showed were maps. We joked that it was no news that something was happening in DC and NY. When our translator arrived, they told us of the attack on our country. The stress level we felt at this point increased 10 fold, but we were still very excited about meeting our new son.

After finding a place to stay that didn’t have broken glass in the carpet and had windows intact, we were ready to go meet our new son. (Ironically, we stayed at a spa for pregnant women…I fit in, as I was 4 months pregnant at that time! My husband, however, was a little out of place!) We sat anxiously on an old green divan in the toddler house of the orphanage waiting for them to bring Jakob to us. They took great preparations to get him ready to meet us….bathing him and putting on “good” clothes. When they finally brought him in, it was love at first sight. My husband and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes, and reached out for our new son. Jakob had, and still has, the most amazing big, brown eyes with bovine eyelashes…and when we met him, they were very sad eyes. At the age of 28 months, Jakob weighed only 13 pounds and was unable to stand or walk. He was like a plant that needed a new pot in order to grow. Jakob had many diagnoses: rickets, giardia, developmental delays, inguinal hernia, urinary tract infection, and malnutrition…things that are easily addressed in our country. So, we agreed on the spot that we were interested in adopting Jakob. With smiles on their faces, the caretakers informed us that our next visit we needed to bring “pampers”!

In between going for birth certificates, passports, and other documents we were able to get quick visits in with Jakob. We walked to his orphanage, about 20 minutes one way. We had to take our own toys for him to play with, but he was most interested in the bottles of formula and pedialyte that he used to chase down the tasty goldfish crackers! The orphanage had beautiful trees and a garden where the caretakers grew some of the food for the kids. We were allowed to take Jakob outside for some fresh air and sunshine, but only with a snowsuit on! We were quite comfortable in the 70-degree weather, but you can never be too cautious I guess!

The day finally arrived when we were able to take Jakob with us. I was very nervous as we dressed him in a Winnie the Pooh outfit we purchased at the market. It was as if I was being tested to see if I was ready to be a mom as a crowd of 7 watched me change a diaper and dress my new son. At one point I knew I would fail this “test” because the caregivers were scolding me for not having any tights to put on Jakob before we left. We did have a hat, blanket, and shoes that were easily 3 sizes too big for his tiny feet though! The feeling we had of holding Jakob in our arms on the car ride back to Kyiv is one that will never fade. Without saying a word, my husband and I could look at each other and know that the other was thinking, “I can’t believe it…we have a son!!!!”

Our paper chase, court appearance, and travels were grueling as we thought we would never make it home. After a lot of crying-mom included, diaper changes on the plane, and sleepless flights we finally landed in Kansas City where Jakob’s new family were waiting for him with balloons and a teddy bear…and the beginning of his new life with his forever family.

Jakob is now a very active and healthy 8 year old…with a love for Transformers. He doesn’t remember his life in the orphanage, and we are glad for that. As we prepare to adopt an older child from Ukraine, we remember the trials and triumphs we experienced in bringing Jakob to a better life and hope that other people would consider adoption. The blessings your adopted child receives can only be multiplied back to you!

Update....

2008-02-27T20:57:00.000-06:00

Well..our dossier was submitted and now we wait for our date!!! Once we have the date, I will feel MUCH better. Then it's real...and we can start planning! As many of you know....I am a planner! I can start my lists and piles and so on. David will do his part of making the travel arrangments....and I have all the faith in him that he will do a stellar job!

Not much to write....big news comes in small packages!!

I Can't Take it Any More!!!

2008-02-25T08:53:00.000-06:00

Our troubled document got to Kyiv today..and is being translated. Our dossier should be submitted to the SDA (NAC) tomorrow. With any luck/sympathy/good karma/ miracles they will give us an appt date on the spot since we will not consume much time at the SDA.

If you are the praying type....hold us there please! We have alot to do to pull this off on our end...but we have faith that it will happen!!

Pulling our hair......

2008-02-21T20:14:00.001-06:00

OK...so, when I took a call last week it was NOT from the NAC.....my apologies!! I have since learned it was from Lena.....an assistant (?) to our POA. I have figured this out because I was more alert when she called yesterday to tell me that the Sec of States office put 2007....not 2008 on our apostille. I own part of the blame for not checking......but let the SOS office own most of it! Our marriage certs were redone for free out of pity from the county office and the SOS offered to UPS/FEDEX our docs at their expense....and I'm sure not the fastest way possible! So, I took the afternoon off work yesterday and did the third times a charm edition of our marriage certs!! As of 5 min ago....they were in Paris, France! oy vay!!!

As an oldie, I can tell you the roller coaster ride is never easy to handle. Even though we expect the unexpected....it's still a tough pill to swallow!

So, with any luck (good luck, that is) our dossier will be submitted this friday....only a week late and $250 later!

That's all I have.....for now! With any luck we will have a travel date soon and can get on the next ride!

Here we go..........

2008-02-15T22:17:00.000-06:00

So we awoke this morning to phone call @ 6am from the SDA (the governing body over adoptions in Ukraine)!!! I feel so important!!! I thought it was awesome that she called to let us know that our dossier was submitted as scheduled, only they needed more current certified copies of our marriage certificates!! I know it sounds silly, but this was one of the easiest things to correct that possibly could have come up! As far as I'm concerned....this was a baby hoop, as opposed to what could have been a flaming hoop from hell!!!! So, I was able to get certificates from a county office and take them to the state office to be apostilled (proof that the notary is a notary...being the recorder of deeds is not official enough)....all taking less than 30 minutes and costing less than $20!!! FedEx....not so easy, not so cheap!!! BUT...the documents are on their way and we seem to have the sympathy of the one person I talked to!!

Basically, my error has caused us to add a few days to our process...but I think in the big scheme of things, it doesn't effect when we travel. The nice lady even asked when we prefer to come for our appointment!

I've run out of exclamation points....and energy.

I will so post more news....even if it doesn't seem like news to anyone! (I found one more exclamation point)

Speculation...

2008-02-11T20:41:00.000-06:00

As I sit here in the midst of another ice storm, thankfully with power-when all of our neighbors are without, I am thinking that Odessa in the summer sounds good! If we are going to travel no sooner than April...we may as well wait until the kids are out of school! Maybe we can even talk Jakob into going with us this summer! It will also be a better time for our family as well as the kids in Ukraine....they will be at summer camp and we can enjoy time with everyone while we are there! I think the boys would enjoy the Black Sea...I did not go when I visited a few years ago...Vita said it was nasty and didn't want to go. By going late May or later, we can avoid the hassle of having to withdraw Noah from school to go....the only way to avoid the attendance policy ramifications....and him repeating kindergarten.

It's the not knowing that is killing us.....especially me!! I like to have everything very planned out and coordinated well in advance....even after 9 years of being married to David (the opposite of the above mentioned!) I am still much a planner.

4 Days until our dossier is submitted....the end of one chapter and the beginning of another!

Long time acomin'~

2008-02-08T20:40:00.000-06:00

We received word that our dossier will be submitted on February 15th!!! And hopefully 4-6 weeks after that we will have our appointment date set...which will be, by non scientific guesstimation, late march to mid april will be when we go to the good old Ukraine!

Since my last blog, we have also decided to take our now 6 year old with us as well as our soon to be 4 year old! They are both very excited about the trip to go get their sister, see her "house", and meet her friends. It would have been nice to have her home in February...but traveling with little ones, it will be much better to go when the weather is nice and we can enjoy the zoo, amusement park, and Deribasovskaya Street...not to mention the Potemkin Stairs. With any luck, we will be there for the (inserted from site) Every April 1, about half a million visitors descend on the city for Humorina - an annual festival of roguery to mark the beginning of spring. The celebration is marked by comedy performances, parades and various large-scale street shenanigans

I promise to keep up better on the blog...as things are actually making progress!!!

Long time....

2007-08-26T21:24:00.000-06:00

We have FINALLY gotten word that Vita will be available for adoption Feb of 2008. Our hopes are to go over in April....after the boys' spring break and after winter! This trip....Levi is going with us! I think that he and David will come home after court and I'll stay and chase papers and bring Vita home. We want to reduce the amount of time Noah and Jakob are seperated from us. Being in school will help them, and David's parents, stay occupied while we are away!

Our homestudy is to be done tomorrow.....then our I171 needs to be processed so we can get fingerprinted!

Being our 3rd time getting a dossier together.....it's easy!!!

More later!

Home sweet home!

2005-07-23T17:46:00.000-06:00

The trip home was eventful...but all good ones! It was exit rows and aisle seats all the way home! No delays, no bad weather, no reroutes, no bad anything!

Back in Kyiv.....

2005-07-22T05:54:00.000-06:00

We were able to buy soms stuff for Vita and take it to the camp...shorts/notebooks. She got all the stuff that was in my elusive bag....and thought it was Christmas. She wrote a letter to her sister. And said to tell Sasha, Dad, Jakob, Noah, and Levi thank you for the necklace....and she loves you. (Dad and boys...she drew pics for you) I was able to give the package to Tania Scherbachenko. Sorry Amanda, your kiddo is at home with family so I left it at the AAA office, along with Jessica's parcels. I was amazed that everything was in the bag as I remember...there is one thing missing...but I would be more inclined to say I forgot it! Vita's boyfriend brought her a bag of gifts yesterday as well...I was told they were most likely stolen. Sad...
All of Vita's friends were gathered around when she opened her parcels...they are excited because she shared her toys/candy with them and she had pictures to show off. We hung out at the camp and I collected letters, took pictures, and enjoyed hugs/kisses. There are kids who need sponsors.... www.adopt.kiev.ua

Vita thought it was the last time she would see me, but got quite happy when she found out we'd be back in the morning! Ira and I went to Mario's downtown for dinner, went shopping, and just hung out. I had my first experience with the "squatty potty"....in the mall. Very nice bathroom...with a porcelain squat hole in the floor...good place for traction, etc...but I didn't know which way to face. Wish I had my camera with me....I didn't think I would need it in the bathroom of all places!

We picked up Vita this morning and she rode to the airport with us. I held it together pretty good until it was time to say goodbye...when she started crying it just broke my heart. I think it is hard for her to believe that we will come back for her. It helps me to know that Babushka Nina will take care of her while we wait to travel.

I hope to have pics available within a week...there are quite a few!

Be home saturday...miss you boys and love you!!

God is Good!!

2005-07-21T07:06:00.000-06:00

Well....my luggage made it to Odessa!! And I have it!!!! That's the best news of the day!!

We were not able to take Vita with us today...the chief inspector was at the camp, well...inspecting! He wanted to count the kids himself. She was quite bummed about not getting to go with us..but maybe we can keep her later tonite after he is gone. I did have a chance to walk around the camp and take a few pictures of the various buildings and stuff. Vita showed me around. The orphanage is under major renovations so I was not able to take many pictures there...but I have some.

We met an American couple here to adopt a child they sponsored last year. They were adopting a boy and a girl...unrelated, from different regions, and getting one court date!! What a miracle x 3!!!!!

We will go back later to deliver gifts and spend time with the kiddos. I head out to Kyiv tomorrow around noon30...will hang out with Lucy/Yuri/Dima...spend the night at Lucy's and be at the airport VERY early saturday for a 7a flight!! I hate mornings!!! But it will be night at home...so maybe I should just stay up alllll night tomorrow night and sleep on the way home?

I may blog more later depending on how late we are at the camp. Something about two women out after dark doesn't seem like a good idea here!!

Take care!!!

Wednesday....hump day!

2005-07-20T10:23:00.000-06:00

Well...no luggage. And for those who are wondering...Stalin's revenge is my name for the Russian/Ukrainian equivalent to Montezuma'a revenge. And McDonald's is the culprit!! Figures.

We had a good day visiting with Babushka. She put me thru the ringer w/questions to be sure we are a good family for Vita. Do you believe in God? How do you keep your boys in line? Do you like Odessa? Yes? Then just move here. You are a nurse, you can get a good job! She said that I am "sporty", not fat and very simple (mentally??? she can read me like a book!!!)...like "plain folk" I guess. She kept insisting that I take a nap. And anytime we visit Odessa we will stay with her to sleep and eat. She said she wants nothing from us...just to help Vita. She kept the pictures of our family that brought and put them on her shelf. She also wants pics of Vita. This woman is a saint in my book.

The rest of our day was spent doing errands and looking for luggage. No big excitement. Tomorrow is our last day together before I head back to Kyiv on friday morning. I will have dinner with my friends there and leave at 0700 saturday...getting home at 530p...fast flight!! hahahahahahaha.

Take care my friends, and thank you for the prayers and emails!

Stalin's Revenge

2005-07-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

Yup...woke up with Stalin's revenge. I have now ventured into a Ukrainian pharmacy and trusted whatever it is I took. Must be a keeper because the only thing on the go were my legs!! We went to the orphanage and talked to the director...who will not let Vita sleep over....understandable, but worth a try! We spent most of the morning with the cardiologist...who rewrote her notes because the orphanage nurse lost the results. The results: Vita has a little high blood pressure, no heart problems, can fly without concern, needs some medicine (which I will buy tomorrow!). The doctor also let me listen to Vita's heart...perfect! The doctor said Vita is very lucky to have a nurse for a mom and that wants to give her a better life in America. It's unfortunate that not all Ukrainians feel that way. With the recent death of the Russian adoptee in the US, who has an adopted Ukrainian sister, people are skeptical. The Ukrainian press has been reporting on the little girl who was beaten to death by her US mom. Sad story, but I'm sure kids everywhere are beaten/killed by their parents. Not making it right, by any means...but other kids are not given a chance as a result.

OK....enough of that!

After the doctor we went to the old part of Odessa and shopped for souvenirs. Mostly crap...hard pressed to find good things....David will be happy to know it wasn't a big shop fest. More painful than anything!! Had lunch at a "steakhouse"... I had chicken stir fry. We worked on Vita's table manners: chew with mouth closed, wipe mouth, cut food like this....don't pick the whole thing up with your fork. It's fun... she watched every move Ira and I made to see how to do things....use which piece of silver ware, how to cut bread and use the bread plate. I'm sure that table manners are the least of the worries to workers supervising a few hundred kids!

Hung out at the camp with the kids as they had mock olympics and got medals. Pretty fun stuff!!! The kids all ask if I am coming back tomorrow...I love all the hugs and air kisses on the cheek!!!! David...make the house bigger....I have a few more picked out!!!

Still no luggage....I called about 6 times today...I might have to learn to curse in Russian!!

Tomorrow we will visit Babushka Nina and do some odds and ends....have yet to make it to the Black Sea...which I hear is nasty! None the less....I want to at least stick my toe in the water!!!

Das vadania!

Monday...it is monday, right???

2005-07-18T12:23:00.000-06:00

Todya was an awesome day. I hung out at the camp because today was Vita's bible school day. She was singing many popular praise/worship songs....in Russian, of course....a few in English. We played dodgeball, basketball, made t shirts, and did music. We went to Cafe Relax for lunch again...she can put the pizza away!!! After that I went back to camp with her an hung out with her and her friends....we all shared photo albums. The kids that traveled to America just returned and are very happy to show off the pics of their trips....and the english they speak! After that, we went to a waterpark. Safety be damned! They have two slides that curl around each other....now closed after two deaths a few years ago...broken neck and a kid had his arm torn off by a sharp place on the slide. Scary contraptions!! It was a mad house with 140 kids and general public there! Oh...modesty be damned in Ukraine as well!! I feel like a prude!!

We also went to the orphanage to learn more about Vita's health. We were told that the doctor is on vacation...and she showed up while we there...just out of the blue. I have her original medical record so we can copy it and get Vita to a doctor. I may just have Ira (my ever so awesome translator!) take her to Ira's dentist next week....better than a random possibly bad dentist.

Babushka Nina was at the camp waiting for us...she was there 3 hours. Man, she loves this kid!! She brings food, clean clothes, and a big smile. She assured me that she doesn't live in the streets and wants us to come by. She said she is poor, but a nice lady. At 81 she is amazing!! Has great grandkids, and thinks the world of a child who is no blood relation. A very amazing woman.

Tomorrow we are going to the historical district, souvenir shopping, and shop for some of the other kids (Tania!!!!)

Back to Ira...she is a cool girl.... has her masters and leaves next month to spend two years on a mercy ship in Africa doing humanitarian work. She is the only Christian in her family...so her familial support is limited. Check out the webpage for the organization....and please do not hesitate to sponsor her!!! www.mvdoulos.org

Hopefully I will send more tomorrrow!!

David....hope you are ready for a spitfire daughter who likes to rough house and is crazy about thrill rides!!!

Blog deficient....

2005-07-17T11:14:00.000-06:00

Ok...so yesterday I posted a comment instead of a blog....I'm slow. So...read the comment!

Vita is an amazing girl... so much energy!! She is learning some English...and I am trying Russian. We did glamor shots Ukrainian style today, went to the zoo, amusement park, mall, "Relax" cafe, and hung out at the hotel so she could shower....for about 30 minutes!! I can tell she is a Kellett...she ate a huge plate of mashed potatoes and corn for lunch! She loves to draw (and is good), sing, and is learning to play guitar. She loves roller coasters....if you want a thrill, ride a Ukrainian roller coaster sometime!! Safety concerns to be left at home!! Oh...and she rode a camel....and thought it was cool, until the camel peed all over the place!

My first trip to Ukraine I hated it here. This trip I am getting to see much more culture and have fun. Not to mention that Odessa is a world away from Kharkiv/Kyiv...like California compared to Detroit. I am in California!

I was able to spend a little time at the camp tonight. Tomorrow I will be there all day and go to the water park with the kids. If my bag ever makes it...I will give people their gifts!

Vita does have health problems with her heart. She doesn't notice it at all....but Babushka said the doctor said it makes a funny sound. How's that for a diagnosis?? We will go to the pediatric cardioligist this week and dentist...probably not Vita's idea of fun! Don't want to be a Disney mom!! Luckily my WONDERFUL translator's parents are doctors...so I get good referrals! Vita has also had bronchitis. So it does make sense that the director was nervous about sending her to the US.

The kids like summer camp....the food is better there than the orphanage. They go to the beach every day, have a disco at night, talent shows, sports, and the team from the US do bible school in the mornings!

The weather here is much like home...humid. It gets cooler here at night tho. I am getting comfortable with public transportation...it's like hitchhiking, and everyone is a taxi if it means making a few bucks! The busses are the greatest though! It's easy to see why most Ukrainians are so thin...you get more on a bus that way and they walk ALOT!! I am walking more here than I am use to...but I sleep good at night!

It was great meeting Vita's babushka Nina. We will go visit her at home this week. She thanked us for taking care of Vita and said she will be able to die with a clear conscious now knowing that Vita's future is secure. I assured her that she will be able to talk to Vita and exchange letters when Vita comes to the US. We also talked about her sister Olyia who is a year older than Vita. And her brother who now lives in Moldova with his wife and child.

It's hard to stop typing when internet is only $1/hour!! one more quick note...the mall is like a Ukrainian walmart....many floors/departments...only you pay in each department! The security guards randomly ask to see your receipts as proof you paid for stuff. It was funny to me! I was able to buy all 5 Harry Potter books for about $35...hardback!!! I also bought the Mr and Mrs Smith DVD for $5...bootleg, I'm sure!
OK OK>>>>> I'll shut up now!!

Das vadania!

Maiden Voyage

2005-06-19T12:40:00.000-06:00

Not that I think everyone is interested in our wild ride withUkraine again...but for those that are, here is an easy way to find out our adventure status! With the doctor and director of the orphanage in Odessa being paranoid after having a child die last week, they have opted to not let Vita come for her holiday. Where we understand the paranoia in our heads, our hearts still don't get it.

Since her coming here is not an option this summer, I am going to go over and spend a week with her. During this time I can look into her health problems, and if needed get her the treatment needed. Additionally, it will give me an opportunity to look into the status of when she is available for adoption.

I will do my best to post here frequently while I am in Ukraine from July 14-23. Leaving my 4 guys behind will not be easy, but knowing that another one of our kid's heart is broken on the other side of the world pulls in that direction...