#15 - COMPLETE!! Mon, April 20, 2009

BACK HOME!

We are back home in NY since Thursday - boy are we glad!!!
Things were nice in Kiev with the YWAM missionaries, and got Stas' visa at the Embassy - everything went well.
Stas cried a bit when we were on the 6-hour train ride to Kiev, he started missing some people at the orphanage. His caregiver - but mostly, for some reason, a cleaning lady. He had her picture and cried over it, so she must have been nice to him. The tranlator and I distracted him after a bit and he was fine.
But when we got to the YWAM boat to sleep at 11pm, I came out of the bathroom and he was crying in bed over the cleaning lady - but I just rubbed his arm and said "I know, it's okay" and he went to sleep. He was quite active at night for the nights we slept there - he was dreaming a lot and sitting up and moving - not good dreams I think.
Stas really enjoyed being in Kiev and met a new friend, Daniel, the son of our missionary friends - he is also 11. They hit it off and had a great time.
So when we left the airport, he was sad about Daniel too. He cried a little when we took off.
Then he was excited and we had a 9.5 hour flight from Kiev to NY.
Stas was very excited to get to NY and to get going to see Daddy.
There was a huge crowd for immigrations, backed up in the halls of the arrival gates. Wow.
It wasn't too awful when we were able to get to the U.S. side - we had a big yellow envelope to give them for Stas and they processed it and in a month we'll receive a letter of citizenship.

We found our bags and took off to see Michael - he was waiting and Stas jumped in his arms. He was talking to Michael a mile a minute and in the car having show and tell. We were both happy to be in America!!!
We drove home and Michael had balloons tied to the mailbox - "Welcome Home", "We love you" and "It's a Boy"!!!
Stas was anxious to see Peace, the cat, and then see his room which we painted. He was excited about it and unpacked immediately!!
It was a beautiful day and after a while, Michael took Stas to see his Ukraine friends Arthur and Sasha at the park and Stas brought them candy, he was really excited to see them.
I rested and Michael and Stas spent the rest of the day together, went to the grocery store and such and worked on Stas' room. We all went to bed early, maybe 8 or 9pm!

Michael had a flight the next morning for 2 days, so Stas and Debbie did some organizing and went big food shopping and errands, and had a visit to the park again to see the boys and had pizza at their house - fun, fun for Stas.
Stas has said in english "I love America", "I love mom, I love daddy" - so he is very happy.
He is learning english fast and has decided he wants to so he can understand his friends when they can't find their russian words. SO he's been doing Rosetta Stone on the computer.
Stas got to see daddy land and help him with the airplane - OF COURSE HE WANTS TO BE A PILOT.
We took Sasha with us yesterday to the airport to see Michael take off and they enjoyed the airport. Then the boys spent the rest of the day together and Stas passed out on the floor at 9pm.

I will have to post some pictures shortly!!!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS!!!!
BUT MOST OF ALL.......THANK YOU GOD!!!!

#14 - Easter Sunday, April 12th

LAST DAY IN NOVO VODOLOGA!

Can't believe I am writing that it's the last day, wow, it's finally here.
Today was a nice sunny day, but not Easter Sunday here - next week.
I took Stas and a girl named Luba to town, we walked and they had ice cream. I had the two tiny cups of machine coffee. I gave them some money to shop. They ate the imitation crab and some cheese. We looked around. I bought some hot dog sausages for the dogs around here for a treat.
We took our time walking back to the orphanage and sat outside there a bit.
We walked to the guesthouse and Stas played a computer game while I packed a bit. (Packed!!)
In the morning, the translator will come and we'll go get the court decree, documents from the orphanage, and go to Kharkov to get Stas' passport - and then get on the evening train to Kiev!!
Stas is excited about going, but we still need to say a final goodbye to his caregiver.
I have his suitcase and clothes ready, and I will finish packing tonight! YAY!
We will be staying at the YWAM missionary facility which is very comfortable, clean and just a nice place to be in Kiev, and everyone speaks english there. And maybe I can get a decent cup of coffee!
This may be the last post until I can get to a computer. We have tickets to NY for Thursday!

#13 Sat., April 11, 2009

Saturday in Novo

Well, another day - went to the orphanage to pick up Stas, but ended up sitting in his classroom watching cartoons, he said to wait for some reason.
We finally went out and another girl, Luba, wanted to come with us to town, but still we had to wait for something and I couldn't figure out what. There was some grass on fire, so the kids all went over to try to stomp it out and bring water, kind of futile. They burn dead grass and brush here in the spring, and kids end up playing with the fire.
So then Stas was ready to go, but it was too late - we had to go have tea at his caregiver's house. We had tea and cake and communicated on the computer with the translator program. Wow, I am tired of trying to communicate!
Stas was sad about saying goodbye to Lyudmilla and cried, so we left and said we would see her tomorrow, which we will. It will be sad for him to say goodbye, but then he'll be excited to be on our way.
It is a nice day today, we are about to have dinner. We did not get to go to the town today, and Stas and I both like to go to stores, so we will go tomorrow. Not anything to buy, just something to do.
It is NOT Easter here tomorrow, it is next Sunday.
I am amazed how frazzled I feel these last days....I'm sure it would be worse to be in China though!
One more day!!

#12 Friday, April 10, 2009

Friday in Novo Vodologa

Well, today I had to encourage myself to get up, and get through another day. Walked to the orphanage at 2pm and was able to speak to Alexander, the social worker, he's been gone and is now back. He's the only one who speaks english!
Not sure how we've gotten by this whole time with just words and gestures, but it's nice to speak to someone in english. He's a very nice person.
Stas and I walked to Olgas and called a taxi to go to town today, I needed to buy minutes for my cell phone and Stas was my interpretor! He did a great job asking for what I needed and the lady put the minutes on my phone. I got coffee in the machine for my treat, and Stas got ice cream.
Stas told the taxi driver everything and told me how much - he did a great job!
We had dinner and now it's time to go back to the orphanage in 30 min.
Made it through another day!
Stas tells me every day "I love you" in english - things are great.
So two more days until Monday - tomorrow we are having some tea at Stas' caregivers house, Lyudmilla. It will be sad when he has to tell her goodbye.

#11 Thursday, April 9, 2009

Waiting, Waiting.....

Today is a hard day for me for some reason, I am struggling to stay positive.
I don't know why it is so difficult to wait, but I have been here a while now and it's hard to be away from familiar surroundings. I feel like I'm stuck in purgatory or something.
I am tired of having nothing to do, hearing Russian, seeing so many stray dogs roaming around, the poverty of life here......Please, PLEASE be grateful for what you have in America.

Today I took Stas and Natasha to town again, we walked, it is sunny and nice today. We had a purpose today - the social worker asked if we could buy some computer paper. Sure, no problem.
We went to the store that had paper, closed. We asked around if someone knew where to get computer paper, they looked at us like we were strange.
We went back to the store where we have been every day where we bought the soccer balls - yes! they had computer paper. She gave me one package - I asked for more. She got a box of paper and was getting another package out, and I said stop, I want the whole box.
So we took it and I told the kids we would take a taxi back to the orphanage. We sat outside and had something to snack on, more ice cream - and I got a coffee from a machine, woo-hoo. You can't get a decent cup of coffee here!!! Everything is instant! The machine one was better than instant, so I had two tiny cups. I felt a little better.
We took the taxi back and brought the paper to Nickolai, the social worker, he was astounded!
He was so grateful for the load of paper, we had bought him two ink cartridges last week for the computer - he is so happy.

It is now 5pm and we will eat dinner soon - Olga makes wonderful food. Stas is watching a cartoon on t.v. I will need to watch a station in English later so I can hear some English and find out what is going on in the world, I have no idea!
I am running out of books to read - I brought 6 books, and I am on the last! I just read Slumdog Millionaire and it was very interesting, must see the movie now.
We are waiting until Monday - that should be the day we can get the court decree and passport and go to Kiev.

#10 Tuesday, April 8th, 2009

Back in Novo Vodologa

So I have been waiting the 10 day waiting period out in Novo Vodologa - it was great to go to Kiev for a few days, nice to be in civilization and with friends. I was feeling terrible, sore throat and such, so I slept Sat/Sun at the YWAM boat after Michael left Sat. morning, and just rested and felt much better.
It takes some stamina to be here, with the traveling and change in time/food/surroundings, waiting for court and documents, etc - it's a little stressful! It gets to you after a while.
I took the train back to Kharkov by myself at 6am on Monday and had our familiar taxi driver there pick me up and take me back to Novo Vodologa, and then I walked to the orphanage to get Stas for the day at 3pm. I was soooo tired.
We have walked to town two days in a row with another girl, Natasha, who is being adopted by a friend in Missouri - she is a sweet girl, 12, who speaks english pretty well. It has been nice to have her along, her and Stas chat while we are walking and she translates for me!
We buy ice cream and they love to buy the imitation crab sticks, and we get chips and drinks and hang around town a bit. I bought them each a soccer ball for their classes, theirs are broken. There is not much available in this tiny town, it was exciting to buy pump soap for the sink, woo-hoo!
Yesterday was such a nice, warm and sunny day - today was a little cool and windy. We hurried back to the orphanage and Natasha went back and Stas and I went to the guesthouse.
We will eat dinner soon and I will walk Stas back tonight at 7:30.
The ten day waiting period will be up on Saturday, but we will have to get the court decree on Monday and probably leave here Monday evening to go to Kiev. We have to pick up Stas' passport in Kharkov also. When we get to Kiev, we will go to the U.S. consulate on Tuesday and get the visa on Wednesday - and we could possibly fly to NY that evening, or Thursday morning.
Wow, that will be exciting!
So for now, we are waiting, I can check email so that helps.
Will update again - nothing much to write about right now! More to come....

#9 - I'm Home! (This is Mike)

Nope - Debbie is still in Ukraine, but we're making great progress. I went to the US Consolate on Friday the 3rd of April and signed the last of the documents that needed my signature. Debbie and I spent Friday looking around Kiev with Oles and Nadya, the wonderful Ukranian missionaries that have helped us so much. Kiev was beautiful on Friday, a nice warm Spring day. Kiev was surprisingly pretty - especially on a nice day! 

Saturday I caught an easy non-stop flight from Kiev to JFK. Debbie, of course, is jealous that I'm back. This morning, she caught an express train from Kiev back to Kharkov and then had a driver take her back to Novo-Vodologa to see Stas.

Our waiting period began on our court date last wednesday and ends on Saturday the 11th of April. Debbie will pick up Stas and take him from the orphanage permanently on that day. We just learned a few days ago that he can't take anything from the orphanage (clothing, etc), so Debbie has been doing a little shopping (she never minds that!) to get the clothes that he will need for traveling back to the United States.  

Then Deb will have just a couple of days of chores at the Embassy in Kiev and will probably return to the US with Stas on about the 15th of April. 

Mike

Pictures:

The YWAM (Youth With A Mission) boat we stayed at in Kiev

A Russian McDonald's in Kiev - they got mad at me for taking this picture! Wierd. 

St. Andrews church in Kiev - almost totally destroyed during the USSR, now fully restored

Debbie shopping at a flea market in Kiev with Nadya

Other kids from the Orphanage who REALLY want to be adopted - so so sad.

Helping Stas Keep up on math skills on www.ixl.com

Hanging out in Kiev with Oles and Nadya

#8 -Done with Court!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Have to get a blog in today - we have been busy!  

We had court yesterday in Novo Vodologa and we were all nervous - they asked us a bunch of questions and also asked Stas, he was nervous, but they chuckled at his answers.

It wasn't too long, and then we were done..yay!

We were kind of hoping the judge would waive the 10-day waiting period, but she did not. 

So after that we drove to Kharkov to get a head start on Stas' birth certificate and stuff - we made it in time and got home later, it was a stressful day. Also had to ride in a cigarette smelling car and it made me sick, and then the driver ran over a dog - which was horrible to me!!  Awful.  This picture is of the car we have spent so much time in - we're looking forward to our decent cars in America....

Today we got going early to Kharkov to get passport stuff done for Stas - we were gone all day and we met up with Stas and the social worker to get Stas' passport picture taken. It went well.

No problems.

So we hightailed it to the 4:30 train and made it - to Kiev, we have to go to the U.S. consulate tomorrow early and then Michael leaves to go back home to NY  Saturday, lucky dog!!!

After the consulate, the missionary friends of ours will take us into Kiev a bit.

I will stay here and leave Monday to go back to the boondocks for the rest of the waiting period, Stas is waiting for me to come back - I can take him out of the orphanage for good on the 11th!  He is so ready to go he can't concentrate at school and keeps getting in trouble!

Okay, have to hit the sack, early day - will write again tomorrow.

#6 COURT TODAY!

Thursday, April 1st 2009

We are going to court today - things are moving along. 

We will pick Stas up at school on the way. Hopefully we will have no problems with the officials.  They like to add roadblocks every time.

God has just opened it up every time, amazing.

Stas keeps asking when he will be leaving and we give him an estimate.

Michael actually has a ticket back to NY on Saturday!

We will do paperwork tomorrow for Stas (passport, birth certificate) and hopefully get it done in one day, and be on the afternoon train to Kiev for Michael to do some paperwork at the U.S. Consulate on Friday and leave Saturday!

Debbie will stay a few days in Kiev (in civilization!) and take the train back to Kharkov and a taxi back to the orphanage for the waiting period.

So that's it for now, will come back with the court results!

#5 - Waiting around

We have been waiting for days for our court date, it should be tomorrow!

We definitely miss our life at home, we don't have much to do during the days.  We pick up Stas every day at the orphanage and some kids gather around and say hello, we give them candy.

We walk back to the house and spend time outside with Olga's dogs and cats, Stas likes to play with them. We walk around and come inside and use the computer, Stas plays some computer games and we eat.Stas doesn't like to go back to the orphanage, he is anxious to leave. 

 So tomorrow we have court, then Michael can go back to Kiev and go to the Embassy on Thursday/Friday and leave on Saturday!  I don't want him to leave me here!  I must stay for the 10-day waiting period and do things like get Stas' birth certificate and new passport. 

We were hoping for a shortened waiting period, but probably no chance of that.  Our case has been expedited so far, so no complaints.

We miss our creature comforts of having a car (nice car) to drive places, brewed coffee (I'm using coffee singles) and nice surroundings with stores and conveniences!

It is so dreary here, very sad - no wonder people don't smile.  

We are ready to move on with our life and get Stas back with us!

I will post more pictures later - trying to figure out how to do it on this blogger.

#4 - Here in Novo Vodologa

Life in Novo Vodologa :

Picture #1 This is what we see around the orphanage - we walk by this house every day and night. 

Most people have old houses with plots of land to grow their own potatoes, tomatoes, etc.  They eat a lot of potatoes!  You will see people selling potatoes by the road in buckets hoping to make some money.


Picture #2 Here are some boys that followed us                home from the orphanage. The eldest is Dima, the smallest is Cola(Nickolai) (a boy we were interested in long ago) and another boy.

Dima made us a picture and we try to give them candy and attention.

Picture #3 Here outside the orphanage, there are swingsets with no swings.....

nothing to play on.

The kids wander around climbing trees and burning brush. There is a soccer field they play on during the day though.

Nothing much to do here.

Picture #4 Here is Stas' sleeping area - they have to keep it clean and tidy, it is pretty comfortable.

The classroom is downstairs.

They make a note on the corner of the sheets in ball point pen the date the sheets were last washed.

#3 - Mon, Mar 30

Here is a picture of  our walk to the orphanage, we walk back and forth to get Stas - a little spooky in the dark!

We had the morning to ourselves and picked Stas up at 3pm after school - he was not having a good day.  He has "Short-itis", he is ready to get out of here, so it is hard to feel that doing schoolwork is important right now. Also, he didn't get a shower or something  and did poorly on his math Lyudmilla said, so he was upset.  

We walked to Olga's and decided to get a taxi(which is a run-down car here) and go to the village to do something different. Stas was happier already - we got some ice cream, even better - then Stas wanted some imitation crab sticks, he loves those. He ate about seven. Ugh, ice cream and crab, gross. We walked around - the stores are teeny-tiny and look like they aren't even open, it looks like it's just after a war, so dilapidated.  We were all in a better mood though.  I actually found a little store with cell phones and jewelry, and bought a little charm to remember Novo Vodologa by.

The taxi took us back and Stas continued eating....we had coffee and tea and hung out and then had a nice dinner of fish and potatoes.  We are stuffed.

We have to walk Stas back in a couple of hours.  Maybe we'll lounge on our bed for a while.

A boy that follows us sometimes, Dima, made a glass picture for us, very nice. He is making another one - very sweet. They actually do well in arts and crafts.  We gave the kids that always come around some candy today.  Need to get more American candy and chips when we go to Kiev.

We are able to use Skype on the laptop to make phone calls - it is great to have internet.

We are continually more grateful for what we have at home though compared to this country.

It is a sad state of affairs here and it's a downer - so glad we live in America!!!!

Entry #2 Mar 29 - Summarizing the Week

Catching up from one week - to summarize, we had to pray about our paperwork being signed so Tania could bring it back to Kiev and submit it - and she had success, and went back to Kiev on the night train a few days ago and our attorney submitted it asap to the SDA.

We will just wait for the court date, which they think will be this Wednesday here - Tania will come back for that.  

So we are just waiting here at Olga's gueshouse until then and checking Stas out of the orphanage every day from 11am-8pm.  

It is sad to see all of the children longing to be the one to go with a family.  The orphanage is on the picture, there is nothing outside but inside is clean and comfortable.  When we go, the children are watching and come to say hi, they ask if we are American or Italian family.

We have good food at Olga's house and we have had a couple of nice days after we first had snow and rain, today was beautiful and sunny and felt like spring.

Some boys followed us to the house and we went outside to give them some candy and chips.

It is so poor here, we are in a small village and it is completely run down.  It reminds us of being just after a war and things are in disrepair.  People go and get water in buckets, they take a bicycle into the woods with a chainsaw to cut down trees and put them on the bike to transport back home and cut up for firewood.  

We are in a decent house, the only thing that bothers us is the toilet!  They are fine except they don't put the toilet paper into the toilet after use, you put it in the trash next to the toilet.....Yes, it is icky!

Michael can't wait to get back home, this is not his thing. It does remind me of Norway and my grandmothers home and village, but not as nice.

It really is strange to be like going back in time, yet talking on cell phones and computers.

We are trying to take a lot of pictures, I will try to include them when I learn how.

So today we had cake and tea at Stas' caregivers house, Lyudmilla, and it was nice. We used the computer to translate so we could communicate.

We will eat dinner soon and then walk Stas back over to the orphanage by 8pm. It is weird walking over these hill in pitch black, but the sky was pretty last night, lots of stars.

We are becoming familiar with going to and from the orphanage and seeing the children, but we haven't spent much time hanging around there. Maybe I will during the waiting period.

We did take a taxi to Kharkov yesterday to be in some civilization - we ended up on their expensive street of stores and then had the driver take us to "Target". They actually have a store called Target, but it's their version.  Kind of like a Cosco price club on a small scale.  We picked up some snacks like chips and candy and water and bandaids.  Not much, but there is not much in town here in this village.

Sorry I am writing so choppy, but we are communicating with people on a simple level and I end up writing like that!  

We know a bit of Russian words and it really helps.

Okay, that is all for now - I think I am caught up to the present!!

Stas has had spring break, so now we will pick him up after school tomorrow at 3pm and I can write the blog this week.

Arriving Ukraine

Arriving Ukraine Sun, Mar 22, 2009

Well, we did it - we made it to Ukraine. We were picked up at the airport in Kiev by our missionary friend Oles and taken back to the YWAM(youth with a mission) facility, which is a houseboat. Great place, very comfortable - we are renting a room like hotel, it's great.

The language on the boat is english and russian, so it's very nice to have people speaking English. There are a few Americans, so it's comforting.

We crashed for a while, we were exhausted from traveling, and then we went to Oles and Nadya's apartment for dinner and conversation.  It is all becoming real to Michael who has never been here before! It is all new to him.

We slept a little, still a little screwed up from the time change, and our first appointment at the SDA was in the morning and we were picked up and taken there and we had our first meeting and the woman said that since we were NOT able to adopt Stas, did we pick out another child?

Our attorney said we WERE adopting Stas, and she conceded and went to get his file.  For some reason they keep trying to say we can't adopt Stas.  We just keep standing in faith that it works out.  We showed the woman there pictures of us with Stas in NY and it affected her...

So the paperwork was put through and we ended up taking the overnight train to Kharkov a day early!

You can't buy same-day tickets, but our attorney Natalia has connections and she got us some. We got a first-class sleeping car for me and Michael and Natalia's assistant Tania was in the next room. We had two sleeping bunks and a table, everything we needed and a brand new train - it was really nice. Very comfortable. We tried to sleep but still couldn't sleep much. We reached Kharkov at 6am after about 8 hours of traveling, and a driver picked us up to drive us to the orphanage.  We were exhausted.   

We actually drove to the guesthouse where we were going to stay with Olga, first - about an hours drive - and we ate and then went to the orphanage. There was a problem with the social worker not being there, we had to drive back to Kharkov to pick up the social worker and do a notary, then back to the orphanage.  When we saw Stas, he was excited and said "hi" and jumped into our arms.  

We spent time with him while the people worked on the paperwork.

Then Stas had to sit with them in the director's office and they asked him if he wanted to be adopted by us and go to America, he said yes, and if he would miss Ukraine, he said no.  He then had to write a letter saying all this.  He did a good job but he was nervous.

I don't think he thought he would have to wait a while before he would go with us - he has "short-itis" being in the orphanage and is ready to go.

We had a long day and said goodnight to Stas, and we were pooped.