Our Ukraine Adoption (Love will find a way)

Let's roll

2010-03-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

Big brother Wayne came over and took care of the kids while Teresa & I went to a parenting seminar. He did a great job. This was the first time that we left the kids alone other than at school.

Friday the training wheels came off of Nadia and Alex bicycles. Look out world.

Two months home today

2010-02-28T20:30:00.001-08:00

Two months home today. The kids have made great strides in just a short time. More English every week and the bonding/attachment is better than I expected at this point. The kids have been to the doctors several times. Most vaccinations need to be updated. We love doing stool samples. Okay the kids had great timing and I've only been home to do one of them. Yes the kids have some parasites that need treating/killing. The dentist should do just fine this year if she only has a couple more families like ours. In other words the kids teeth are in pretty bad shape. Luckily they are mainly baby teeth. We couldn't love the kids any more than we do. Call it the honeymoon period if you like.

... and a wedding!

2010-02-20T08:52:00.001-08:00

Well Wendell asked Kelly so there will soon be a wedding. She is a really nice girl so we are excited. They are very good for each other.

This is starting to look like a pattern so be warned if you adopt three kids and have older kids you may get a wedding in the same year.

Veloseepead Budlaska

2010-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't quite make it to post for the one month home anniversary. It's amazing how kids who haven't had one on one time with parents really seem to need alot of it. Okay I know that is not surprising at all.

We took Wayne's old bike and lowered the seat and handlebars. It was a pretty good fit for Ivan. Of course then I spent the rest of the day listening to the two younger ones beg for a veloseepaed budlaska (Bicycle, please, Pleeeeeaaseeee) We held out until about 4 pm. Then went and bought a couple of bikes with training wheels. They road until dark and then wanted the cars moved out of the garage. I figured fine a few minutes in the confines of the garage and they would be tired of it. Silly Dad. Except for supper they spent the rest of the evening until worship riding in the garage.

For worship we decided that at least until they understand more English that we would do videos. I figured Adventures in Odyssey would be good. They liked those but they really love the "Love Comes Softly" western series. They will cheer when the good guys do the right thing or when the bad guys get tripped up and caught. It surprised me that they liked the western. Maybe it helped that school took the kids to the National Western Stock Show. Proud Papa here, I have to add that Ivan got an award (ribbon) for being one of the fastest on the peddle tractor race. At the end of worship we have what the kids now call Heysuss, tank you, tank you. I know they are listening because that is pretty much how I always start prayer. Dear Jesus, thank you....

When we were raising Wendell and Wayne we would always rotate who had prayer that night. This round the kids think it is an election and they vote. I tried a few sentences in Ukrainian which they found terribly entertaining, probably because they were too informal or baby talk like. Anyway I am now elected 90% of the time. Ivan and Alex have each tried a time or two in Ukrainian, I'm not sure what was said but I am sure that there was someone who did and loved it even more than Teresa and I.

We went to the airport to meet Richard and Anastasia (Cindy had come back earlier.) Unlike our evening at the Roge's our kids were much more relaxed and interacted with other Ukrainian kids. We had eaten together with Richard, Cindy & Anastasia in Kyiv when we were all there. When I showed them pictures from church of all of us together they were very excited to go to the airport. Nadia wanted to hold the little bag with a small gift for Anastasia and be the one to give it to her.

There are challenges but I think we and the kids have done really well together. The damaged items list continues to grow but nothing as expensive as the first couple of weeks. We have key locks for the master bedroom, office and basement. We also invested in about a thousand paper plates and half that many paper cups. We won't win any environmental awards but it sure makes life easier.

We are still hoping and praying for Felix and others who are currently in Ukraine trying to complete adoptions. Ukraine has again changed the rules and now requires that prospective adoptive parents also get Interpol police clearances which may take up to 40 days to process.

Ukraine also completed their presidential election today. Victor Yanokovich won by about 4 or 5 percent. Interestingly he was the one who the Ukrainian courts ruled had fraudulently stolen the election five years ago. So it looks like Ukraine will probably drift back toward closer relations with Russia and will be unlikely to be looking for NATO membership. Ivan was very surprised when we were watching Internet TV from Ukraine. He said he didn't know many people in the part of Ukraine where he lived who would have voted that way. He gave thumbs down to Yanokovich and also to current president Yushenko.

Enough rambling for tonight.

Two weeks home

2010-01-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

Well, well two whole weeks. Some of the newness is wearing off. School has gone well and all of the kids are adding more English words. Conversation is still 90% in Ukrainian. They are now challenging to find out where the limits are. In other words typical kids.

We ventured out for our first visit to another home on Friday. Heidi and Felix opened their home to many of the adoptive families. We were surprised that they did not seem more interested in some of the other kids who spoke Ukrainian. They clung to Mama for the first half hour or so. Then played chase/hide and seek with big Nadia. By the end of the evening they were climbing all over Jim V and Felix just like they do with Papa at home. These are great, safe guys, just something for us to watch and consider in other settings.

Sunday the kids enjoyed getting on Skype with Grandma and Grandpa J and also with big brother Wendell and Kelly. Also built a snow ramp with rocks for traction between the levels of the back patio to play with the remote control cars. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B.

This weeks damage report. One DVD recorder, DVD's slammed in half way will break both the machine and the DVD. The old digital camara lens no longer will deploy even with new batteries. New lock for Mama's office door. The hole punch is very facinating no matter what documents are being punched. The 50 state quarter collections that Mama carefully put together from both the Denver and Philadelphia mint is scattered who knows where. Probably not damaged but certainly flatter than any gym or exercise program has been able to get Papa's stomach in years.

Two kids are sleeping in their own room, one is still sleeping with us in the master bedroom. That will change soon!!

Hey we love our kids, these are the problems we have worked so hard to have.

Please pray for Richard & Cindy and for Heidi & Felix. Both are adding to their families over the next few weeks. And remember there are many children who need parents and families.

Pictures Part 2

2010-01-10T15:21:00.001-08:00

The first picture is Ivan in Ukrainian costume for his last class play.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures Part 1

2010-01-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Our kids from November and the best ad against drunk driving I've seen.

One week home & belated Thanks

2010-01-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

We have now had the kids home for one full week. They are doing really well. English usage is increasing daily although still just a little bit. Nadia was helping with dishes and had a dish in one hand and a sponge in the other we have foaming soap at the sink and she said "Papa shampoo that" for me to put soap on her sponge. Alex shook the soda and then opened it three times in one day. He cried all the time he was helping wipe it up the third time. We also have implemented a food is only eaten in the kitchen rule. He regularly violates that one and when asked if he wanted us to throw out food he had taken out he said "No Thank You" Ivan's new words for today included Tennessee and France. Tennessee coming from his class studying the civil war. All of the kids can count to twelve now.

Today was the kids first day of school. Nadia who has usually been the most overwhelmed by things told the translator to tell me to go away she was a big girl. Ivan waived and said "It's okay Papa" Alex who is usually our most out going child cried when Mama left and Papa took about 30 minutes to ease him into his group. All in all no major blow ups or crisis and pretty good at getting to bed at a reasonable time.

We really do have a great host of friends who have supported us in this journey. Thanks Donna and Larry for looking after the house. Thank you Shawn & Yvette for getting the driveway and sidewalks shoveled. Thank you Darla and family for decorating the house for Christmas and the food and gifts. Thank you Kari for coordinating communication among the adoptive families with all our last minute changes. Thanks Heidi, Felix and family for the gifts, clothes, food, welcome stuff at the airport. Thanks to the Barretts, wow even a new vegetarian recipe. Yes Teresa and I are and we did okay in Ukraine. Some of the things at the airport I'm not sure we could tell who brought what but we do thank you also. Thanks Matt for the description of the whole gang following my family around the parking garage. It was only important to get to the airport who knew we would leave it. And whoever coordinated half my office showing up for the welcome home at the airport. And the gang from the church staff. I'm probably leaving someone out and for that I am sorry.

In the first week damage report: One garage door opener. The emergency release to operating it manually proved too tempting. Evidently trying to get it locked back in caused some type of binding. One chair with wheels rolled down the stairs. Plastic wheels do not survive the landing.

Most fascinating items around the house. The treadmill, Mama now holds the key so no kids operate it without supervision and fly off the back end. Mama's can opener. Papa using his electric shaver in the morning. And the nerf guns. Yes I've shot my kids already. Trust me I lost that battle.

It's great to be home. America has lots to offer each of us and our kids. Who knows I may even get some pictures up this weekend.

Wow

2009-12-29T06:52:00.000-08:00

WOW! I'll say that backwards Wow. We had an amazing group of friends, family, coworkers and fellow adoptive families meet us at the airport. Thank YOU! Yes the kids are already into the clothes, toys and food. What awesome friends you all are.

Home!

Even made me (Jim) cry thinking about it all this morning.

If we are this excited to bring the kids to our home I can only imagine the celebration when God brings all of (us) his kids home.

Race to Freedom - Three new Americans

2009-12-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

We are in America at Teresa's folks. Relieved to be out of Ukraine with our children. Teresa was able to sing I'll be home for Christmas with only minutes left. The kids were good on the flights. They went from orphans to spoiled Americans in less than a week. The final tally: 4 trips a total of 91 days in Ukraine over 14 months. Blessed with three wonderful kids.

Recognized Grandma and Grandpa from their pictures and took to them right away. Little slower when big brother and girlfriend arrived. We are managing pretty well with communication. Tomorrow in our own beds.

The idea of giving kids gum to help with take offs and landings should include the warning to take the gum in about twenty minutes. Sasha decided it should be saved for later by putting it in his hair.

If it weren't for bad luck....

2009-12-23T22:01:00.000-08:00

I'd have no luck at all.

Another one day delay. Ukrainian passports are only allowed one western european city per flight. Ours had two. The travel agency says that they were aware of this just not the agent that booked ours. They will have us on a new flight tomorrow at no additional cost.

Almost Done

2009-12-23T00:51:00.000-08:00

We have all our documentation. The kids are legally ours. Just in case we didn't think so they have been taking more than two hours each night to get to sleep. We will be able to fly soon but due to the holidays and the snow storms on the east coast we will only get to the US, home will still be a few more days. Teresa's folks will have all of us at their house for Christmas while we wait. They are excited. Just wait until we have a long bed time. The pictue is Alex (Sasha) he is the youngest and seven years old.

Plays well with others

2009-12-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

All five of us had a very good tuesday and everyone was in good spirits/played well together. All of us but Teresa like being on the floor, Nadia and Sasha both think Papa makes a good pillow to lay on while watching videos. Can't wait to post some pictures, just waiting until it's official and we check them out of the orphanage. Each day now I am saying this will be the kids last Wednesday in an orphanage.

Please keep Richard and Cindy (another Colorado couple adopting in Ukraine) in your prayers. They are getting the court delay/run around just like we did. For more information you can check out their blog from the blogs I follow.

Some great lines that they have added to my adoptive parents lexicon.

Radiator Roulette-Drying your clothes after washing them in the bathroom sink.
Wheel of Torture-For the Ukrainian adoption process (We've all bought enough vowels, and I'd like to solve the puzzle)

We have seen the sun on two days this week. Not bad after two whole weeks without seeing it at all.

Music for a meltdown

2009-12-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

Well both of us parents and at least one of the kids reached a mini-meltdown day. It just gets tiring. So this morning I decided it was music time. I started with some comfort/inspirational music. Some Amy Grant from 20 plus years ago. “Love will find a way.” (Which I do believe) “Angels” (Beyond the walls an endless prayer is being lifted for us) “In a little while” (We’ll be home) and “Ageless Melody.”

For no particular reason other than we like kids and cartoons I put Chris Rice’s “Cartoon Song” on (What if cartoons got saved)

Then I needed a little more irony. Yesterday for the first time in two weeks we saw the sun. Don’t worry, today it is cloudy again with a dusting of snow. So what could be more appropriate than John Denver’s “Sunshine on my shoulders.” And as long as we are playing Denver why not “Rocky Mountain High.” Sticking with the weather theme we moved on to America’s “Horse with no name” (It felt good to be out of the rain wandering the desert, the desert was also a good metaphor for our emotional feelings)

Then “Yellow submarine” never thought the song made much sense but then again we are in Ukraine. The Rolling Stones “Start me up” because, well nothing ever seems to get started around here. “Magic” by Kenny Chesney, we could use a little and hey I needed something other than Rock.

ELO’s “All over the World” because we are. Supertramp’s “Take the long way home” I think we made that choice when we picked Ukraine. And Chicago’s “One more day” (NOT)

And last, but not least, Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” since I will be the only one of the five of us when we get home that can say this.

Feel free to toss us some of your favorites.

3 1/2 hours in Court

2009-12-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Some families get through Ukrainian adoption court in 30-45 minutes. Ours lasted 3 1/2 hours.

We have three kids!! We are now starting our 10 day waiting period for the court decree to become official.

We still haven't seen the sun since 10 minutes before we landed last sunday. But it is about as bright a day as we have seen.

One (Last?) delay

2009-12-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

Our court has been delayed another four hours. We will be in court at 3 pm tomorrow. (Tueday, December 8)

Teresa is feeling a little better but is still coughing and afraid she'll get kicked out of court.

Tomorrow with the kids, Monday in Court

2009-11-28T11:45:00.001-08:00

Well we are on the move again. We will be able to see the kids late afternoon on Sunday and then we will be in Court Monday morning. Stay tuned. I think this has been one of the longest "paper pregnancy's." And I've told Teresa that the weight of the three kids in this case is about equal to hers. No numbers! my head is still recovering from the frying pan therapy (behavior modification.)

Waiting again

2009-11-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well we are home for a little more than two weeks. Court is scheduled for November 30. While we are gone our facilitator has visited the kids and taken them care packages Teresa made for them.

Ukraine seems to be unwinding from the Swine Flu scare so in a few days we should be with the kids again.

It is giving us a chance to get caught up on work and do a few things around the house now that we have an idea of what the kids like.

Parenting, We asked for it.

2009-11-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

Well our youngest is in the hospital with a fever of 101-102. Even the orphanage staff were not allowed to see him to take him some fruit. They are still letting us visit the older two kids even on the weekends. Today they finally let some of the kids friends join us. Our daughter showed some jealousy today. Kind of nice except for kicking & hitting her friends. Ahh parenting, what we've been waiting for.

As for finding a location with fast enough internet speed to use our skype webcam we are still unsuccessful.

We are lucky in our location to be in one of the few oblasts (states) in Ukraine where there have been no deaths reported from swine flu. Interestingly here they are referring to the strain of swine flu as the California strain.

Lights Out

2009-11-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

Well our power is out not just for the motel but as far as we can see in all directions. Since we still have internet access I'm assuming somewhere nearby has power. So with battery powered laptops and windup flashlights we have another of those Ukrainian moments like internet access on the train where the toilet empties onto the tracks below. I guess it's about time to sleep anyway.

Do po bach ne ya (Goodbye)

Birthday's Weird Coincidence

2009-11-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

When we were looking at the kids documents Teresa said oh look N's (daughter) birthday is the day after mine. I'm thinking good that helps with remembering important dates.

Then she says I's (oldest son) birthday is the day after her Dad's. So I'm thinking kind of spooky and then we see the S's (youngest son) is the day before Teresa's sister's birthday.

So much for spreading dates around the calendar.

Under Construction

2009-11-05T05:53:00.000-08:00

We are waiting for the State Department for Adoption to handle the paperwork. Thinking they should have plenty of time now that they have cancelled/postponed other family's appointments.

Just curious if anyone else has noticed that construction remodeling seems to follow us where ever we are staying. Is it just to annoy my nap or our we providing the funding for it when we rent the motel room?

Funny thing what the mind comes up with to think about at times.

The diaper

2009-11-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

Ukraine is in the middle of paranoia over swine flu. In order to visit the kids at the orphanage we are now required to wear face masks. The aptika (Pharmacy) are sold out of them so Valentin, our facilitator made us some on his daughter's sowing machine.

I was going with the idea that it made us look like taliban but thanks to our friends John & Felix it has taken a new direction. John thought it looked more like a diaper and Felix reminded us that the diaper goes on the bottom not the face.

Anyway we have a judge assigned to our adoption case we should know our court date tomorrow. The state department for adoption has a few more pieces of paperwork for our file to be complete, but we are moving forward.

Ukraine has closed all schools and theaters for three weeks to try to prevent the spread of swine flu. The state department for adoption has postponed anyone who had an appointment for the next three weeks. Our case is moving forward but there are other families, some already here that this is really messing up their situation. Please pray for a quick resolution for all. There have been some deaths due to the flu but the news reports that it really isn't any more than in a regular flu season.

Our nephew Kenton will be happy to learn that all three of his new cousins are younger than he is.

Anyway here's a picture of the latest fashion trend sweeping Ukraine. Join us if you wish.

It's so easy to fall in Love!

2009-10-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

We met with the kids yesterday. They are definitely easy to fall in love with. S the youngest has a huge amount of energy he's not yet in school. N is very territorial, even of her match box car. She looked through the picture album 3-4 times. I think the house and family passed inspection. She is in first grade. If she's afraid her brothers are going to take her stuff it quickly goes up her skirt. I the oldest has freckles and loves to play ball. He is in third grade. We got all three of them blow up beach balls that are a world globe. They now can identify where Ukraine is and where Colorado is. Ivan also gets extra brownie points for being able to identify one of my favorite places - Australia.

Snug, All Highway no train

2009-10-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

If you are following our trip on a map or with google earth, we are heading west from Kyiv toward Zhytomyr, and then south toward Berdychiv. Picture to follow later. Our driver has a new Suzuki and we can fill the trunk and part of the back seat with our luggage plus four of us fitting snugly.

The good travel news is that the trip will be all on four lane highway with no shake and bake on the train.

It's a play date.

Go West (Young?) Man!

2009-10-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

We have our referral letter and will be heading about 90 minutes west of Kyiv to visit with two boys and one girl. Of course since we worked hard trying to learn Russian this is a Ukrainian speaking area.

Eleven hours of sleep. Aahh!

2009-10-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

I feel almost human again. Sleep a good shower and everything looks better. Only problem so far is I can't get onto my office email or log into work software. I'll work on that some more later. If there is something that I need to know right away use the yahoo email account or the skype phone number.

Kyiv, What recession

2009-10-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

We are safe in our apartment in Kyiv. Flights were basically uneventful. They have poured alot of cement around the airport since april and there are still many cranes building apartment or condo developments on the ride in to the city. The rest of the country may be hurting but the capital is still growing.

Our appointment in tomorrow morning. Please pray the God will lead us, our facilitator and those at the state department for adoption.

Thank you all.

PS: Teresa has timed it well again. We leave and it starts snowing at home. Maybe they'll get more than a foot?

On the road again, Just can't wait to get on the road again!

2009-10-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks Willie Nelson,

Actually waiting is about all we get to do for this trip. Currently sitting in the Denver Airport. You guessed it...waiting.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. We will keep this updated as we can.

October 29 - New Appointment

2009-10-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a loooonnnnggg time and I haven't done any updates.

But.....We just learned

We have a new appointment at Ukraine's State Department for Adoption!!!
and it's coming fast. We have less than two weeks to get ready to go.

More to come

Or should I say the Best is yet to come!

Dead End

2009-08-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well we got information back on the UOO kids and one of the boys that we were interested in seems to like orphanage life in Ukraine. We've been down that road before and so we have decided not to pursue him.

UOO (Ukrainian Orphan Outreach) Camp

2009-07-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, long time.

We are still figuring out what we want to do. Friday we went to our friends Heidi and Felix's home. They are part of an organization that brings kids to Colorado for a cultural exchange/summer camp. There are eight orphans visiting this summer. They are a nice group of kids and have been enjoying their time here. Events have included a trip to Miller farm to pick food, camping, the race track, shopping Walmart, crafts, church and the Zoo.

Check out their website for yourself: http://www.ukraineorphans.org/

I'll try to post a little more regularly. Teresa's folks 50th Anniversary is in about a week. Teresa is also doing two VBS programs this summer so we aren't going to be bored.

Click your heels three times-Home

2009-04-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Actually it was three flights but the ending is the same. We are home. Where do we go from here. We really don't know. Any thoughts?

We do appreciate all the prayers and support from family and friends both old and new. Thank you Donna & Larry for picking us up at the airport. Thank you Carol, Thom, Donna and Larry for the flowers and food that was so very thoughtful. Also to anyone else who was involved.

Thanks also to Eileen and Rolan the internet device was great. Very Helpful.

Also we appreciate so much in so many ways Kari, Jim, Heidi and Felix. You guys have been wonderful throughout.

I thought I was ending with the last post but I think I will still do a few more with what I learned.

The End???

2009-04-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

We have been on a rollercoaster over the last four days as d changed his mind at least four times. In the end we believe someone was influencing/pressuring him, Teresa may write more later. We are accepting the last answer he gave which was no. We are taking the train back to Kiev and heading for home.

A Day Away

2009-04-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

D is still at the hospital. We have permission to visit him both Saturday & Sunday. When we leave Sunday we are going to Kherson which is a little more than an hour away. We get to spend some time with some American missionary/church planters. It will be good to have a little break from the schedule we have been on and be with some people who share our outlook and background. The majority of Ukrainians have been as helpful and friendly as possible. (Just don't expect any acknowledgement of your existance when walking down the street)

More of the same

2009-04-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

We are waiting and/or helping with the processing of paperwork. There is no such thing as a fast speed on that. It is frustrating.

The sun has been out almost everyday on this trip. That is a nice change and it means that we get to play outside with the guys. This is a good thing it helps us stay out of trouble with no mats that we are supposed to stay on. Also the other kids can come around and play also. D is doing well with Roller Blades. There is a nearly destroyed pair with plastic wheels that cuts into his ankle but he got to put the good pair on with real wheels and he does well. We were surprised that most of the kids had not seen play-dough. All enjoyed that activity our boys as well as the rest of the kids. It was another good reason to be outside, we might be just a little messy.

The boys missed out on school to go to the doctor and be checked out for some of the forms. These are not the ones for the US Embassy so they will still need those later. They said going to the doctor was better than going to school anyway. We think they might be developing short timers disease. The realization that they will be leaving in the middle of a school term and so how they score in classes doesn't matter.

They are adding new words in English faster than we can in Russian. New words today include Very Good, monkey, come. Teresa is going to have competition on who can take the most pictures. She has over 500 on this trip. The boys took about 200 in just two hours yesterday. We hope that we can build a good file for them of their friends and where they lived for a few years of their life.

Teresa has a birthday we're so Glad

2009-03-30T10:20:00.001-07:00

Yes today is Teresa's birthday and she's how many years old? OUCH THAT HURT!

We got to spend three hours with the boys today. Even without a translator it was pretty good. One of our boys does really well with a perfect pout if he doesn't get his way. Another is always trying to trade for something we have. Little does he know that it is all his with parental supervision in a few days.

We are now on daylight savings time here. So we were an hour late for everything and overstayed our welcome at the orphanage. And unless it causes problems later we are not sorry. Bad Americans, and we still don't keep the boys bundled and zipped like it's winter. It was nearly 60 today, that would be t-shirt and shorts weather for Denver.

The guys now know how to work the Ipod, mp3 player, camera and so forth. Yes I posted the ipod picture twice. Teresa's crash up cars were a big hit. We are still not sure that we are allowed to post pictures of the guys so all you get this time is an unidentifiable picture.

Plus three makes five Sons

2009-03-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Teresa, here. The journey of Life takes so many twists and turns. It has now been three years since we decided to adopt children from Ukraine and we still don’t have children.

Our first trip to Ukraine was unsuccessful. We met and fell in love with three brothers. It seems a lifetime ago now. Just a few weeks ago we got a call from Ukraine saying the problem has been solved and the boys can be adopted now. What a roller coaster ride. Here we are back in a small town named, Kahovka. It is a place that brings back great joy and great pain all in one. It is very familiar as if nothing has changed but every thing has.

We first visited the inspector’s office. There we found out the orphanage director is sick with the flu. Oksana spent time talking to the inspector, Tatiana. When last I saw her she had tears in her eyes as I asked her how it is fair to the boys. She still has a red outfit on but it is not the red sweater we saw her in every day the last trip. Finally we were told we could see S and V in about 1 ½ hours. But that D would be Monday or Tuesday. At 1:30 pm we picked up Tatiana from her office and we are off to the orphanage.

My mind races as we get closer and closer to the orphanage. What have they been told? Will they be mad at us for just not coming back (even though we were not allowed to see them before we left)? I love them will they believe us since we left before? Will they be glad to see us? What do we tell them? There are hundreds of question and no answers.

As we waited in the orphanage computer room, I remember the last time we were here. Getting in trouble for getting off my mat to help the boys with something. I was brought back to reality as S comes running into the room. The joy I felt when S came running into my arms was overwhelming. He was happy to see us. Even V after a few minutes warmed up to us and we had a great visit. We gave them crash up cars as their Christmas present since we were unable to send them anything. They make noise. Lots of noise. Maybe the orphanage director will kick the boys out of the orphanage early to get peace in the orphanage.

I believed S and V missed us as we much as we missed them. Oksana was able to convince the orphanage director to let D come back to the orphanage tomorrow (Saturday)if we pay for the driver and nurse to pick him up. D was the one I was really worried about. The last time we saw him he really took his role as the oldest very seriously. We met with all three of the boys yesterday. We spent time explaining why back in December we didn’t come back and see them. It seems that every day for a month the boys asked why we had not come back and they were never give a reason. D comment was it really doesn’t matter why. The important thing is you are back. All three boys said they are ready to come home with us.

It will be Tuesday before we can start the paper work. I really hope and pray there are no more surprises as we work on the paper work. I am not sure I understand why everything happened the way it did but, God does have a plan for us all, we just have to trust.

Photograph of Oksana by Raymond S. Jensen

It doesn't matter!!! Oh yes it does!

2009-03-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Dennis is back at the orphanage. The nurse went and picked him up this morning. She said he was very excited to learn that we were back for him. We had Oksana our translator talk to him about why we suddenly quit coming to see them and He said "It doesn't matter they are back now" She asked whether anyone had told them about the situation and he said no. She tried to put it in terms that they could understand but I think all three of the boys were only listening half way.

It really does matter to us but at this point we are just happy to be back to the point where all of the boys say they want to come home with us. We won't be able to see the boys again for about 48 hours so there shouldn't be any major news for a few days.

I'm sure this trip will have it's moments but right now it seems like we are all picking up right where we left off.

Teresa's Dancing Eyes

2009-03-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

We had a safe trip to Kherson. The train was actually pretty comfortable this time. Temperature was 70-72. We got our referrel from the State Department for Adoption and were allowed to meet with S & V today. V was a little hesitant but warmed up pretty quickly. S came running when he saw us. D is at a Sanitarium for precautionary measures and should be back at the orphanage tomorrow.

Teresa is as happy as I have seen her in months and it is good to see her sparkling/dancing eyes. All in all as good a reception as we could expect.

The inspector and many of the orphanage staff were very friendly and helpful. Two of them are even going with us on their day off so we can see all of the boys tomorrow.

Tired but safe

2009-03-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

Just wanted you to know we are in our apartment in Kyiv. Need sleep and a shower.

2, 1, 0

2009-03-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

We are now under two days. No not everything will get done. Kari and Heidi came by today with stuff for us and to take to some of the kids. It is amazing to me how quickly many of the adoptive families go from meeting each other to good friends. It's especially good to know there are family and friends praying for us and the boys.

We now have more family with more communication stuff. Wendell (Oldest son now has skype and webcam) and visited with us and Wayne (youngest son) today. Aunt Ruthie who was the first family member to contact us through skype with a webcam while we were in Ukraine called us today. She has inspired Mom & Dad to get high speed internet so maybe they will be able to see and talk with us this trip. Uncle Bud also called with good wishes.

We have also been collecting a small amount of stuff for some of the mission families that we are aware of in the area we are travelling to.

Anyway here we go again.

Never Give Up

2009-03-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

We got word on Thursday morning that the boys little sister had been officially adopted by her foster family. As part of this process they had to get the kids officially seperated.

This means that the three boys who we visited in November and December are available for adoption. After waiting and waiting we are now in panic/rush mode. Our new appointment with the State Departement for Adoption (SDA) is March 26. We expect to be with the (our) boys again on the 27th.

We are concerned about what they may have been told when we were no longer allowed to see them without any explanation. Hopefully they still want to be adopted. We will still have the court date and the 10 day waiting period. Yes we are wary of the many problems that still could come up but...

Teresa can't wipe that big grin off her face.

Stay Tuned - Here we go again

2009-03-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

We have survived closing the books for all four organizations we are involved with. And we got a call from our facilitator Valentine today. More news to come in a few days.

Waiting and learning

2009-02-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well we are still waiting for the response to the letter sent by Ukraine's State Department for Adoption attorney. Within the next 2-3 weeks we should know how to plan.

We came out of our anti-social mode at least long enough to have a small superbowl party. Yeah I know the wrong team won but at least it was a good game.

I've now finished the first 12 lessons of Rosetta Stone's Russian language course. It runs about four hours per lesson with about half of that listening to the CD's on my way to and from work. The interactive software is pretty good and it evaluates how close you are coming to speaking correctly. My worst area is the spelling/writing.

Teresa has also been on the phone with Jim King. He is a terrific Christian. We have been so impressed with how he handles people (us included). If you are ever looking for a good cause to support his ministry is involved in several including the boys orphanage. He added us to his mailing list and Teresa was crying a little when I got home last night. Dennis (the oldest boy) was pictured with what I think is a remote control car. That is what he wanted.

We've enjoyed following the blogs of those recently back home with their kids. The teens that we have leading worship for Children's church are willing to try a couple of songs in Russian. We have been using Hillsong's kids albums. Hillsong is an Australian church that just happens to have church plants in both Kyiv and Moscow. And they have done one DVD in Russian. David (guitarist) should have it easy. Thanks Lexi, Tori, Chelsea and Steve we appreciate you so much.

The Boys are healthy and doing well

2009-01-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

Jim King called yesterday to let us know that the boys are all healthy and doing well. We are still waiting to see what type of answer the attorney at Ukraine's state department for adoption receives. At that point we will have a better idea of how to proceed.

We are both working long hours as is typical for accountants this time of year. Teresa and her team are going to a VBS training.

For Christmas we agreed to buy ourselves the Rosetta stone software for learning Russian. We have a number of other learning products as well. I like this one and it seems to be helping speed up the learning process.

Thank you all for your support. We continue to pray for the kids of Ukraine and the families that are traveling now as they work to bring their kids home.

Not much news

2009-01-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

We had a good time at the Golden Gates Dance program. The kids did a terrific job. They are very talented. Enjoyed the program with our friends Sten & Julie. Probably one of the last times we will get to do that for a long time. Work is taking them to California. Also enjoyed sharing the program with Pastor Udo and his wife Lidia. They lived most of their life in the former Soviet Union and have now been in the US for 6-7 years. Both love music as well as having some cultural ties. We also enjoyed meeting Twyla, John and their kids as well as Matt and his daughter Anya at the program.

Teresa has been concerned about the kids since we were not allowed to talk with them after they told us they were not available for adoption. She emailed Jim King who's church and ministry support the orphanage as well as other ministries. I thought we'd just get a quick can't do anything about anything response. But he was very nice and although he can't promise he'll be able do be of any help. He will check on the boys health and well being. The youngest is the one we are most concerned about. They put on a really good Christmas program and gifts for the kids. When Dennis agreed to come with us he wanted to know if that could wait until after their Orthodox Christmas party. I guess he at least got that wish.

Teresa is now saying that she thinks she has been depressed this last month over the whole deal. Duh (and Da) I love her dearly and she wouldn't be herself if she didn't care for kids so much.

Ukraine's exchange rate is still going higher. Good for Americans travelling to Ukraine but not good for their economy or ability to purchase imported products. It also looks like there is a deal for Natural Gas from Russia as well as transporting it through Ukraine to Europe.

Golden Gate Dance Program

2009-01-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we are planning on going to the Golden Gate Dance program in Broomfield. This program is sponsored by a group many adoptive families join called FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption) We would love to meet in person those who have been on this journey as well. The support from those who have "been there" has been so helpful and timely for us.

Hard to be Scrooge

2008-12-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

Well we've spent the last 10 days trying to get over a cold. Both Teresa & I picked up something our last day or two in Ukraine. Runny nose, stuff running down our throats. Oops overshare.

We usually alternate between our families each Christmas, this year we stayed home. We didn't decorate anything. Wayne (younger son) came over for a few hours and it was all very relaxed. We talked to lots of our family by phone and that made it seem a little more like Christmas.

Where things are with Dennis, Sergei, and Vitali: We have written and had notorized all the information that we thought was relevant to the case and met with the attorney for the State Department for Adoption in Kyiv. They will forward a letter to the director in the town where the kids were born asking that he justify how the current situation is in all of the kids best interest. He will need to respond by February.

We never know how much to believe of everything that we see or hear. If we thought that the kids would all be together or near each other we would leave things as they are now. However we were told that a Psychologist interviewed the boys and they were not aware that they had a younger sister. According to some written reports and some other comments the kids biological father died shortly after she was born. She spent the first 18 months of her life in the hospital (we suspect fetal alcohol syndrome)and then was moved directly into the foster home where she still is. About nine months after she was born the parental rights of the mother were revoked. The record says that she was present in court that day and did not object to her rights for all four kids being terminated. The social worker found the boys with no adults in the home. All of the furniture had been sold, there was no firewood, coal or gas at the home and the electricity had been shut off. It also listed the mother as an alcoholic and living an immoral lifestyle. Sadly that seems typical for many of the children in the orphanages.

From what we were told the father had had three wives and eleven children among them before he died. The boys mother being the last of the three. The boys do seem to remember having some half-siblings. Over the last two years they have only been visited once by a grandmother.

At present the foster family receives a pension (something like what social security in the US would provide a surviving child) as well as payments for being foster parents. When we were first told about the girl we said no problem we will adopt all four of them. Later we were told that she was already adopted by the foster family and finally that they filed adoption papers when they heard we had a referral for the boys. At each step along the way we asked if that would be a problem for us adopting the boys and were always told it would not be. Until the last time when we learned that the papers had not been filed until after we arrived.

The inspector is following Ukrainian law about not seperating children however that same law says that you must do what is in the best interest of all of the children. It appears to us that it is in the foster family's financial interest to never complete the adoption of the girl. They have already said they can't adopt all four kids. The problem with this scenario is that it means the boys will never be adoptable and will remain in the orphanage system until they age out somewhere around 16-18 years old.

So for now we are willing to wait a few months and see if there is any possibility that we can adopt the boys.

As Americans we now know that in terms of material things we have all of our needs met and most of our wants. We have a loving and supportive family, we have friends, neighbors and a church that also supports us emotionally and with their time. (Hopefully we can pay it forward) Why were we born Americans when most of the people born on this planet are just barely getting by? I don't know.

Even in our personal finances we are much better off than we thought we would be just a few weeks ago. Our facilitator itemized the actual expenses of the trip and sent us home with the rest of the cash that had not been spent. Some of our time off was understood to be unpaid and yet employers provided Christmas bonuses that covered the time we were off.

We have been very angry that everything did not work out the way we had hoped and yet for the last few days I've had a song running through my head from about twenty years ago. It's called "doubly good to you"

If you look at the blogs that I follow you will see that Heidi and Felix got home on Christmas Eve with their kids. Join us in Thanking God that they are home and with three new Americans. (Adopted kids become American citizens when they land here) And please continue to pray with us that Jim & Kari will soon have their kids home also.

Our story is not over yet but we will post much less frequently over the next few months. Two accountants, year end reports for four organizations and having been away for four weeks should keep us off the blog for most of the time.

May you enjoy a very Merry Christmas with those who are most important to you at this time of year. And remember to Thank the Lord, He's been doubly good to You.

Home! Time for work and to regroup.

2008-12-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a long 27 hour day but we are home. When we landed in NY we thought we loved the sound of English. However after sitting on the runway for over an hour and then enduring another five hours of flight with your stereotypical loud Americans talking non-stop we may have to reconsider.

Depending on how we sleep I don't know that we will be to work right at 8 but it is good to be home.

Thanks Julie for picking us up extra late when you have school tomorrow. And thank you Donna and Larry for the driveway and walk getting shoveled. BTW it is currently minus 6 Farenheit. And still a couple of inches of snow around the house.

Я американский

2008-12-14T04:34:00.000-08:00

I am an American.

And in just a few hours we will be leaving. We had thought we might make an earlier flight but Delta only has three per week and they were full. So we leave Monday and pick up nine hours in route to Colorado. It will be a long day but we are ready to be home.

Our hearts may be heavier than we expected at this point but we've lost about 85 pounds of luggage. That's about 1/3 of what we brought.

Embassy Email

2008-12-14T04:31:00.001-08:00

We don't see it on the Embassy's web site either but here is what they sent.

Dear Friends and Wardens,

The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy will be closed to the public starting December 24, 2008, until January 9, 2009. During this period, assistance will be available in emergency situations only. For emergency assistance on December 29, 30, 31, 2008, and January 5, 6, 8, 9, 2009 please contact the American Citizens Services Unit directly at (+38 044) 490 4445. For the rest of the time, emergency assistance will be handled by the Embassy Duty Officer at (+38 044) 490-4000. Emergency services include: medical emergency, victims of violent crime, destitute Americans, detention or arrest, U.S. passport loss. Routine ACS services will not be provided from December 24 to January 9. American Citizens Services Unit will resume its regular working hours and services on January 12, 2008.

US Embassy Closure Dates

2008-12-11T23:56:00.000-08:00

For those of you in Ukraine working on adoption we just want to make sure that you got the email from the US Embassy in Kyiv. They are closing from December 24 and not reopening for normal business until January 12. They are also planning to close at noon on December 19.

Thank You All

2008-12-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

Thank you family and friends for your support during this time. The phone calls, emails and blog comments have been very valuable to us. We feel especially blessed with our new friends from among the Ukraine adoptive families.

Thank you Jim & Kari for the evening together it was just what we needed.

And still be willing to hang out after our instant backseat cramming still smelling direct from the the train ride shake and bake.

In case you haven't read it elsewhere the trains are HOT. In the hall outside our bunk room I found a thermometer that read 75. The room was hotter I'm thinking close to 80 with no way to open any window.

It's Not our plan

2008-12-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

We haven't said much during the last week. We definitely fell in love with the boys, however they are not going to be our boys. When we were at the SDAPRC we were not told that there was a fourth family member. A three year old little girl. The short story is that after we were informed of her existance each official said it shouldn't be any problem to adopt the boys as she was already placed with a Ukrainian family. In the end the children will not be split up, we understand, but it isn't easy.

Now we get to practice what we have taught and said for years. It is not our plan but we trust that God does have a plan.

We will leave for Kyiv tomorrow. We could ask for a second referral but today we don't feel like thinking of anything. We could be leaving for home anytime from Wednesday through next Monday.

Learning how money works in Ukraine

2008-12-08T00:12:00.000-08:00

At this point we feel it better not to comment on our situation with the boys. So since I haven't posted for a few days I thought I would talk about our experience with money in Ukraine.

First if you are bringing cash to exchange make sure that they are new uncirculated bills. Some banks or exchange companies have machines to verify that the bills are good but the safest method is new bills not folded.

Traveler's checks are not worth the hassle. If you have ever tried to pull out more than $10,000.00 in cash in the US then you are assumed to be a drug dealer and get to fill out extra forms and prove who you are and what you are using the money for. This is the same basic idea with traveler's checks in Ukraine.

Credit cards are accepted in some locations but are rather limited. Also make sure that you tell your bank the dates that you are traveling and where otherwise they will put a fraud block on your card. When I set up Skype I put an automatic refill from the credit card. However I told our bank we were traveling to Ukraine and Skype was billed from Sweden. Yes they stopped the payment. It's fixed now.

ATM cards. We were warned not to use these but they have been one of the easiest methods to use. Again make sure you have communicated to your bank that you want to use it outside the US. Also being slightly paranoid we limit the amount in the account and it is not our normal checking account card. We opened a new account with a bank that we have not used before. Then we left deposit slips with a neighbor and they add deposits as needed. There are still some catches to this. It has taken me an average of four ATM machines to get money. Sometimes they are not using a network that the card does. Sometimes the machines are out of money and sometimes they to not have enough for your request. Pulling out US $300-500 (2,000 - 3,500 Hryvna) is the equivelant of the average Ukrainian's monthly salary except in maybe Kyiv. So our plan is always to be pulling out what we need a few days in advance. Still I don't like carrying as much US currency as people told us too. ATM machines are very available in even small towns.

I assume this would also work with credit cards as most of the ATM's have Visa or Mastercard logos. Just haven't tried that yet.

The exchange rate was stable for most of the last two years that I have been watching it. Since we have been here it has really moved in our favor. We got 5.75 Hryvna (Greevna) to the dollar when we arrived and are now getting 7.50. Even including the fees it looks like we get the best exchange rate by using the ATM cards. ATM machines here are called bankomats.

This is clearly still a cash economy. And after hearing some stories I understand why. One person talked about a relative who bought a car taking out a loan. The bank wrote the note that said it had to be paid in hard currency. (Dollar, British Pound or Euro) As the exchange rate as gone up we have also noticed that the spread to buy dollars is now between 5-10%. This individual is now really hurting due to both the exchange rate and the extra cost.

Enough for now hopefully we can soon fill you in on more of the story. As my Aunt told us last night, whatever happens God is still in control. It's just easier to hear than put into practice.

Keep Praying

2008-12-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

We have made some progress and are hopeful that we now have the right people involved to resolve the issues that have come up. We appreciate your encouragement and prayers.

The last four posts include pictures from the orphanage. Including something that I think is false advertising. We have only seen the sun two days since we've been in Ukraine, I'm not sure how one would know how to draw it ;-) Yes I miss my Colorado sun and blue skies.

The computer lab at the school is quite good they have one machine for about every six kids. It's not brand new but it is a good lab.

All of the buildings here including the orphanage are not too appealing from the outside. Many buildings are pretty decent inside. All parts of the orphanage are always clean.

Bureaucracy!!! Argh.

2008-12-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

We know every country has it but we are frustrated right now. It seems that some paper work in dealing with the boy's family was not properly filled out. Now no one wants to take responsibility for it and simply fix it. So we have spent the last two days driving to the town where they were born (about 75 kilometres away) and talking to various administrators. Then they pulled a committee together we appeared before them and they have said that they will recommend approval of fixing the paperwork but they want to pass it on to a higher official in the state (Oblast) capital of Kherson to actually sign off on the paperwork. Hopefully that will happen today and we can get on with going to court for the adoption.

We have been able to visit Vitali at the hospital each day. He is doing well and is supposed to have his chest X-ray done today. Since he has not been coughing the last few days his Doctor expects that the X-ray will be good and that he is over his Pneumonia and will be able to go back to the orphanage.

Since we have been traveling we have not seen Dennis and Sergei for four days. I told Teresa it was a good thing we left them with picture albums so they will remember us. She alternated between slugging my arm and almost crying.

Hopefully good news and a timeline for this trip by the end of today.

Mothering Mama Teresa

2008-11-30T23:09:00.000-08:00

We have been asked not to come to the orphanage or the hospital on Saturday or Sunday. Essentially we have no rights to see or be with the children until after we have been to court. Right now we are allowed to be with them because we are with either the Director or the Doctor both of whom are not working this weekend.

I’ve been too entertained. Teresa is usually in charge in most situations. When we were at the orphanage we were getting ready to leave and the director asked Teresa where her scarf was. It seems it was too cold to be outside without a scarf and having her coat buttoned all the way up. Teresa said she had left it at the hotel. The director offered to loan Teresa a scarf. We finally managed to convince her that Teresa would survive the walk to and from the Taxi.

For Internet access I go to the lobby of our hotel and have a hard wire connection. Teresa walked out to see what was going on and the lady at the front desk pointed at her feet and walked her back to the room to put her slippers on. Socks are not acceptable for walking down the hall.

We have been disruptive at the orphanage. All the kids want to see what new activity Teresa has brought for the boys to work on. So we have been moved from the game room/gym to the computer lab. In the lab we have been given little pieces of carpet to sit on. Teresa always seems to be off her carpet when the director checks in on us and gets scolded and told to sit here.

The director really is good hearted and cares deeply for the kids. We were entertained by one little thing. It may just be our perception but when we brought Jim King Ministries newsletter that we had printed out it seemed that she did not want to ask if it was for her to keep or if we wanted it back. It was carefully moved and covered in a stack of papers. We had printed it for her and are glad that it was meaningful to her.

We have picked names for the boys and our paperwork was completed and notarized. As soon as we get word back from the State Department for Adoption in Kyiv we should be able to get our court date.

Thank You Jim King Ministries

2008-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

Some of our friends and family have asked about helping the orphanage.
The simplest way can be found at the sponsors of this orphanage.

http://www.jimking.org

They have done an outstanding job of creating, staffing and funding this orphanage.

If you want to see the orphanage web page itself

http://www.houseofjoy.com.ua

We don't want anyone to feel pressured but did want to honor those who have helped our boys. This page is in Russian but if you look in the top right hand corner and click on the letters En it will convert the page to English

"Da" (Yes) It's Really Thanksgiving Part 2

2008-11-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

Teresa here:

First we want to apologize to those who have been waiting to hear more information about the kids. This week we have been on an emotional roller coaster ride.
After we got off the train, Monday, we had an hour ride to a small town called Kahovka. This town is on the Dnipro River. In fact the hotel we are staying in is a little more than a block from the river. The even more interesting thing about the town is our translator, Oksana, grew up in this town. Our hotel is across the street from her school and about three blocks from where she lived. She said it hasn’t change in twenty five years.

The first thing that happened when we got to town is to visit the inspector for this area. In this meeting we were told “Dennis said “NO” to two foster parents. In case you are not aware of the rules here, at the age of eight or nine the child has to give their consent to an adoption. The inspector said it will be our job to convince Dennis, who is nine years old, that he wants us as his parents. She did give some encouraging word by saying she liked us but didn’t like the foster parents. About 3 hours later we were on our way to the orphanage. We were also instructed not to tell the boys why were there for the first meeting.

The orphanage was in the middle with apartment complexes all around. We were escorted to the Orphanage Director’s office by the Inspector and Oksana (translator). In there we were told the names of children, why parental rights were terminated, their birthdays, and the health of the children. We were told again that Dennis had said “NO” to two foster families. We were allowed to ask a few questions. We were also told Vitali (five years old) was in the hospital and had been there for about 1 week.

We were given a few minutes to get ready to meet Dennis (nine years old) and Sergei (seven years old). They were very quiet at first. We had a small beach ball and got Dennis to get on the floor with us to play with the ball but Sergei would not leave the table. After a few minutes, I went up and played with Sergei with some cars and a loader. I showed him how he could lift the cars with the loader. Before it was over we had both of the boys on the floor playing. They have such great smiles. They left the room but were back in about 10 minutes. Dennis was asked if he wanted to see the pictures we had brought. He said “NO, I do not want to be adopted.” Our hearts were overwhelmed. Everyone decided to give them some time to spend with us and see if that changes his mind.

Tuesday we got to go to the hospital and see Vitali. He had so much fun with us. He called us him American Mama and Papa. Soon after we left the Hospital he asked the doctor to call his American Mama and Papa to come visit him tomorrow. The doctor, Maria, has been very wonderful and let us visit Vitali every day. She said we have given Vitali the emotional support to help him get well. He is such a great boy. He loves to laugh, play ball, get hugs, and pull Papa’s ears.

Sergei is quiet but loves toys. Dennis said Sergei would say “yes” to whatever as long as toys were involved. He loves playing with transformers, building small Lego sets, and wants to try anything that has to do with snow (like skiing, snowboarding, and Sledding). Oh, my I guess I get to go to the mountain and get cold and wet. OH, BOY!!! I can’t wait.

Dennis is a very caring and responsible young man. He loves taking pictures with the camera. After we showed him how to make video clips he decided to make all the unusual sounds that boys seem to like making. I guess no matter what country the boys are from, they all like to make the same sounds. OH, MY I guess I have moved to Mars for life. Don’t tell Jim but I am glad I have moved to Mars. The boys have snatched my heart.

The authorities decided that Thursday was it. Dennis would have to give his decision or it would be finished. None of the boys will go with us if Dennis says “NO.” Thursday at 3 o’clock will be the deciding moment. The emotions were overwhelming. They are great boys and I pray that the answer will be “YES”. Both Dennis and Sergei were brought to the Director’s office and in front of the Director, Supervisor, Oksana, Jim, and I. They were asked a lot of questions which I am not sure what all of them were. What was the most important was the answer to only one question. IT IS “YES”. THEY WANTED TO GO TO AMERICA WITH US!!! I really don’t think I would have handled it well if they had say “NO.”

God answers pray in very unique ways. To me this is amazing. Most of you that know us, know we have been working on this for about 2 ½ years. We could never figure out why it was taking so long when there were so many children. The boys have been in an orphanage for 19 months. (Children have to be on a registry for 14 months before they are even available for international adoption.) Then if Dennis had said “YES” to any foster parents they would not be available for international adoption. And if that is not enough Dennis said “YES” to go to a country where they have never been and we use a different language which they really don’t know. The boys fit our family so well (Rabbit Ears and all.) This really makes me know “God takes care of us; all we have to do is trust.”

“DA” – Now it’s really Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

We met with the orphanage director, the inspector (Probably about the equivalent of head of a county department of social services in the states), the two older boys and our translator. The boys were asked if they wanted to be adopted and go with us to America. And they both said “DA”

We haven’t written much over the last few days because there is a lot more to the story. But for now for us it really is Thanksgiving.

And this story is: To be continued

Electronics, Tools and Toys

2008-11-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are about to make this journey we have decided to talk about what has worked for us and what hasn’t. First get a Ukrainian cell phone. They are very cheap. The total for the cell phone itself and about 150 minutes was $64.00. In this plan you get free incoming calls and free calls to anyone else with the same company.

The second thing that I would do is get a Skype account for online phone calls. If you are calling computer to computer there is no charge. We decided to get US phone numbers for our family and work to be able to call us for free. These accounts cost $15.00 for each line for three months. In addition we set up the account so that when we are on the computer we can answer the phone and those call cost two cents per minute. When we log off the computer we set Skype to forward the calls to our Ukrainian cell phone. These calls cost about 15 cents per minute. In our opinion that is worth it to have the support of our families. With this you will need a headset that also has a microphone.

We brought a laptop but you can use internet cafes. They are plentiful even in small towns. If you are not bringing a laptop go to an internet cafe once you have your cell phone and forward your Skype account to your new number.

It’s heavy, it was the one thing at customs at the airport that got lots of questions but we have used our 500 watt converter many times. We got ours through Magellan’s travel magazine. Not the least expensive place to buy one but it is good quality.

I’d also say don’t bring your blow dryer or curling iron (Teresa disagrees) these will not work unless you have the above converter. And for the $12-15 each I’d buy them here. Fox Mart carries them but is a little more expensive than at something like a hardware store. Teresa just didn’t like the time and effort it took that was also the day I ran the hot water out of the shower before she got one. Our current hotel has a blow dryer just like many in the US would. Most adoptive parents seems to rent apartments rather than at a hotel. Generally this is a better way to go. But in the small town we are in the hotel seemed the better option.

If you are bringing lots of electrical items get 2-4 of the little adapters. These are not converters but seem to work well at charging electric razors, cameras, ipods, mp3 players and computers. Most laptops are built to handle electrical current worldwide.

Do get a little hand held camera/video recorder. The one we bought was about $120 plus we bought a 4 gig card for extra memory. We can record about two hours of video plus thousands of pictures. It really is no bigger than your fist. I hadn’t been shopping for a while and was shocked at the size and quality that is now available.

Being a tech junkie I brought an external hard drive to store all the pictures on. It is probably over kill but I like it. And it takes a small amount of space and weight compared with much of what my wife brought.

We also bought some devices called empower that are supposed to work in the handle of many planes so that you are not operating on batteries until they go dead on the flight. The plane that we were on was older and did not have these even though the airline had assured us that it would when we called them.

The last items are probably not needed but we are justifying it by calling them scream insurance for the trip home, a personal DVD player with a ten inch screen. We also ordered some Russian language DVD’s, some online and others at the Russian bookstore in Denver. Mostly cartoons.

We brought at least five set of earphones/earbuds. Several splitters so that multiple people can watch either the DVD or Computer together.

Several of the USB/Camera cables, always have a backup in my opinion.

We also brought a small color printer (3 inches high by 6 inches deep by 12 inches wide, loaded the computer with plenty of games and clip art/coloring books that can be printed out each day for the kids. It also makes it possible for us to print out an additional copy of any item in our dossier. We had this advice from a family that traveled about four years ago. They said don’t tell any official that you are making a copy, just tell them that you left it at the motel/apartment and go print it out. This won’t work on items that were apostilled with a raised seal.

We also brought a variety of paper in a box about the size of a ream of paper. Labels for the photo albums, picture quality paper as well as plain white. Many of these are available just in slightly different sizes.

And we also bought a small scanner that is just barely 9 inches wide and about the size of four pencils wrapped together. With this any of the documents that we are transporting but not allowed to keep we will have for the kid’s records later in life.

I’m not advocating doing anything illegal. Just hoping to speed things along and keep all records for when the kids have questions when they are older.

I’ll post pictures of these items in our attached photo album.

So much to say and no words

2008-11-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

The title is both when we try talking with the boys and for writing tonight. We met with the youngest at the hospital. He seems to be nearly over his Pneumonia. Teresa brought a number of items for him to play with. The banana was downed quickly but the big hit seemed to be the finger puppets. All three of the boys seems to be well adjusted considering what they've gone through. We were allowed more time at both the hospital and the orphanage than we had been promised yesterday. This orphanage is one of the smallest and they have never done an international adoption before. The director is very much loved by the kids. While we were at the hospital one of the other girls from the orphanage saw the director and came running for a big hug. The orphanage is sponsored by a Jim King from Oklahoma and is well maintained on the inside. It also means that Americans are appreciated for helping the orphanage. We have brought fruit and sweets but the boys are not very hungry. That is a good thing. They have been well cared for it terms of food for the last year and a half.

All the boys have their own personality and it is starting to show. We bought robots for them to put together. Something like Legos. We working on building them and Teresa asked if he wanted the instructions he told her to keep them he just wanted the blocks. The room we are allowed to play with the boys in has windows on two sides and we had an audience with half the kids looking in just before it was time for supper.

We are already starting to fall in love with the boys. I am probably not keeping a straight line of thought tonight but here it is anyway.

Train ride and orphanage visit

2008-11-24T23:50:00.001-08:00

We had a safe comfortable 12 hour train ride from Kyiv to Kherson. The sleeping compartments are really pretty decent. And in the toilet reporting department they were not nearly as bad as had been described. They didn't even get messy on the floor until the last couple of hours.

We continue to be spoiled. Our hotel in Kakhovka is very nice. Full shower plenty of closet space a small refridgerator, satellite tv 300 plus channels but only 6 in English.

We met with two of the three boys and they are wonderful. The third boy is currently in the hospital with Pnemonia. We will get to see him in about an hour. The two older boys health and attachment to one another is excellant, they did want to make sure that their younger brother got some of the candy we brought for them. We blew up some beach balls to play and they quickly got the idea that it was okay to throw it at someone's head. Including Teresa and mine. Oops I probably started that one. The orphanage director took it well. That means she didn't send me home immediately.

There are a couple of items of concern with some of the oldest boys comments but at this point we hope and pray.

I'll write more tonight. Motel staff and I haven't figured out the wireless but they have a desk with hard wired connection in the lobby. I haven't been able to get on the office email account today.

More about our Appointment

2008-11-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

Thursday when we had our appointment we were surprised to learn that our facilitator/translator could go in with us. Everything that we had heard/been told in the past was that the State Department for Adoption (SDA) wanted only their translators present with the parents.

We were shown into a small room with a table and a semi-circular couch on one side that we sat on and the SDA's social worker/Physcologist on the other side. Valentin our translator had a chair to right of the couch and their were two desks behind the social worker with computers on them. An additional SDA worker sat at one of the computers.

After asking us some brief questions about why we wanted to adopt and what kind of work we did they opened a binder with maybe 20 sets of siblings in it. We were a little disappointed that with as many kids needing families that none of the options in their book matched what we had requested. We had wanted at least one boy and one girl. There were only three groups of kids with any girls in them. One of those groups had five girls and a brother and our home study only approved us for a maximum of three. All of the groups had at least three siblings in them. We were never shown any smaller families. Mama Teresa was pretty happy with that part of things. Nearly all of the family groups had kids that were 11, 12 even 16 years old. We had requested kids between the ages of 2-8.

Each of the files had a photo of each of the kids. Most of the pictures were 2-4 years old. Some files would have written updates about the kids but most were just the original intake report. The reports would have 1-2 sentences about their medical condition. Another sentence or two about why parental rights had been revoked and not much more information.

After talking about nearly half the family groups we started narrowing the list down to two or three families. In the end we selected the group of three boys that we are going to visit. We had used the full hour and they were ready to have us out and the next family come in. They did call the orphanage director to see if there was any more information. The social worker was very pleasant and smiling but was not going to budge in terms of letting us look at any of their other books.

It is definitely a weird feeling to know that our lives and the lives of our kids will be based on that quick of a meeting and that little information. We were praying while looking but still felt unsettled as we left.

OH MY GOODNESS

2008-11-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

Leave it to Jim to JUST show bathrooms when there are some great sights in Kyiv. That’s males, for you!!! They look at things so differently. I must be nuts because I will soon be out numbered in the house once again. Oh, well at least I have experience with Boys. All I know is they’re all nuts. Just like today Jim decided we should meet some other Adoptive Families in Independence Square and of course, we should take the Ukraine Metro where you go underground and can’t see where you are going and NO ONE speaks English. He is really nuts because the other day when we found the Metro he almost got in trouble with the guards because he was trying to go in the out door. He actually did great. We got tokens and went the correct direction. Not One Mistake. (But don’t tell him that, because it will go to his head.) It was actually great to get out and see others. Oh, by the way this is Teresa, the one who hates to write.

We met with our Facilitator, tonight and he gave us train tickets (Another Great Adventure with more bathroom experiences for Jim to Document) and the packet that allows us to see our kids. Well, we pray that they are ours. I am a bit nervous the oldest can say no, “I don’t like them” and that’s the end of that. When it comes down to it we really want our kids, whoever they are. We just have to trust in God. We leave Kyiv Sunday Night and will arrive in Kherson on Monday morning. Then we have about an hour or two driving to get to Kakhovka. There is a Power Plant in this city.

This whole trip, so far, has been an eye opening experience. So far the people at least most of them have been patient with Americans who don’t speak Ukrainian or Russian. They walk by you as if you are tied to a pole (Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get somewhere). Crossing the street is like taking your life in your hands (some cars stop but not all of them. There is no rhyme or reason, how you cross a street.). We follow behind a Ukrainian crossing the street (and he or she waves their bags just right and the cars stop.

Well, Jim thinks I am writing a book so I guess I better stop for now.

What we've been waiting for...

2008-11-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

No not the squat toilet that Teresa got to use for the first time.

WE HAVE OUR REFERRAL

We will be traveling by train about 300 miles south of Kyiv on Sunday to Kherson and then about 50 kilometres to the orphanage. Oh yeah the WHO part of the question. There are three brothers we will be meeting with. This is not a done deal yet but we are very excited and hopeful. They are 5,7, and 9, years old.

Lost and Found

2008-11-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

We've had some sleep and are almost starting to feel human again. When we went through customs they were really only unsure about one item. We bought a converter that will handle 500 watts. It has been worth the extra hassle. It runs the blow dryer and is the only converter that works with our little printer. (Um yes we are traveling light, yea right)

As I mentioned we got in early and waited a little for our driver. His name was Sergei and he had a sign with our name on it. As soon as we got settled in and had lunch I got the password for our secure wireless internet and logged on. Only to find that our facilitator said his driver was still waiting for us at the airport. Luckily our internet Skype phone worked and I was able to talk with him. It seems that our Pastor's friend here at the office decided that we needed a ride from the airport. Both driver's name is Sergei and both had signs with our name on it. I guess two rides are better than none. We owe Sergei big time for waiting around the airport for about three hours and talking the airline into confirming that we were on the flight.

Then we went shopping. Tried my Russian to purchase some banana's. Evidently I wasn't getting the numbers right. Finally both sides gave up trying and we left with a kilo for 10 Hyrvna. I think I ran the hot water out this morning and Teresa got a cold shower. Not a good way to start off to make a happy Mama. I also suggested that rather than bring her curling iron we just buy one here. One of the ladies from the office went with us looking for one and we were unsuccessful. Luckily this afternoon when we were walking I saw a store that looked like it might have one, it did and for only about $13. So I am now at least back to even in the score and a good husband again.

Here's a picture of our bathroom. As you can see it's tough and it has heated floors. Now Teresa has a new idea for when we get home. argh.

Safely in Kyiv

2008-11-18T04:01:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note. We had an uneventful trip and are safe in Kyiv. The biggest surprise was our flight was about an hour early thanks to strong tail winds and we even cleared customs before our driver arrived.

We have been given a very warm welcome at the Union Conference office. Thank you very much Pastor Udo, it's great to have friends with connections. They fixed a great lunch of borsch, salad and mashed potatoes. The new rooms that we are staying in our less than a month old. We are the second people to have used them.

More later when I can think straight.

Packed and Dangerous

2008-11-16T23:43:00.000-08:00

It's just a matter of hours now until we board our flight. About ten hours to be more precise. We are most dangerous to my poor arm muscles that haven't had a workout carrying this much weight in years. We had to take a few items out of two bags as they were each at 50 pounds. We are taking enough cords for cameras, computers and dvd players that I'm sure TSA will search us thoroughly.

Thank you to everyone for your well wishing and prayers.

63 Hours

2008-11-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

Okay I'm really an accountant so we have now switched to hours rather than days. We have set up two phone numbers and a voice mail box on Skype. If you are in Denver or the Baltimore/Washington area these are local calls for you. We believe that when we get our Ukrainian cell phones that we can forward the calls from Skype to the cell phone.

Denver Area: 720-324-7950
Baltimore/Washington Area: 301-476-0927

Please notice the Kiev time gadget on this page.

Also our email address is now available in my profile.

Test Video

2008-11-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

Test Video of Teresa's Office. Takes a little while to load but I think we will be able to show some videos. They won't be of the kids until after the 10 day waiting period after court.

If anyone has problems let us know and we will try to work out the details. If you are using dial up internet you probably won't be able to get the video. Sorry!

Countdown at 5

2008-11-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

We've been really busy trying to wrap up all the loose ends of our jobs. Even our weekend was busy. Teresa is in charge of Children's church this happens once each month. We appreciate the team being willing to take this on while we are gone.

We very much appreciate all the encouragement from all our friends and family.

We also bought a new little HD video camera. I'll try posting a little video clip before we go. We have been playing with lots of toys and have decided to put more of our information here this weekend. We have added local phone numbers in both Denver and Maryland that will go to our Skype account and hopefully be forwarded to our Ukrainian cell phone.

I'll try to be a little more regular at posting. And hopefully Teresa will add a female perspective soon.

In the countdown 12 (Minor news America elected a President)

2008-11-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well we are trying to wrap things up at all of our jobs and the pressure is probably starting to get to us a little. We are thankful for each item we can check off our list. About two years ago we got a new associate Pastor at church. He and his wife met and married in Ukraine. We are thankful for all the extra help he has been able to provide. They have been in the states for about 6 years now.

Yes, America elected a new President tonight. We are still more excited about our trip to Ukraine and meeting our kids. Okay, my candidate did not win. I'm sure my sister is happy about the results.

Also I've put a new picture in our profile. Needed a better picture of my beautiful wife.

Picture here just for a day or two.

US Embassy Email

2008-10-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Just thought our friends might be interested in the type of information that the US Embassy provides prospective adoptive parents. This one includes some of the most specific information about the kids available for international adoption that I've seen.

Notice on SDAPRC Unused Quotas October 23, 2008 Ukraine: Unused Quotas On October 14, 2008 the Ministry for Family, Youth and Sports published official Order #3899 approving revised procedures for submission of new adoption dossiers from foreign citizens in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The annual adoption dossiers quota for 2008 previously had been set at 1,453. Although all of these were booked within the first months of this year, not all of these families actually submitted dossiers. As a result, the SDAPRC (State Department for Adoptions and Protection of the Rights of the Child) has now opened the unused slots for new adoption dossiers. These slots are not an increase in the annual quota; rather they still fall under the annual limit of 1,453 dossiers. This number is not subdivided by country or by specific categories of children.

The SDAPRC resumed acceptance of new dossiers on October 14th, 2008 and will continue accepting dossiers for 2008 until November 27th, 2008. Order #3899 includes two attachments, one of them presenting the number of children available for intercountry adoptions, sorted by age and health condition, as of September 1, 2008. Please note that these statistics are independent of annual quota set by the Ministry (noted above), but provide a useful overview of ages and health condition of children available for adoption. The second attachment is the schedule for submission of adoption dossiers from foreign adoptive parents. Both documents are below.

Attachment 1

Analysis of the numbers of children available for intercountry adoptions according to their age and health condition(based on the information from the central databank as of September 1, 2008)

Under 3 Year olds
Healthy 0
Serious 551
Total 551

3-5 Year Olds
Healthy 109
Serious 1,215
Total 1,324

6-11 Year Olds
Healthy 3,011
Serious 2,397
Total 5,408

12-17 Year Olds
Healthy 11,337
Serious 3,081
Total 14,408

All children
Healthy 14,457
Serious 7,244
Total 21,701

Healthy=Healthy/Correctible medical conditions
Serious=Serious probably not correctible medical conditions

Ludmyla Volynets, Director of the SDAPRC

Attachment 2

Schedule for submission of the dossiers from foreign adoptive parents in the IV-th quarter of 2008
Day of the week Recommendation for the child’s age from the competent authority of the country of residence of adoptive parents*

Monday: Dossiers for children under 6 years old and those that have no specific limits for the child’s age

Tuesday: Dossiers for children 6-11 years old

Wednesday:

Thursday: Dossiers for children 12 years and older

Ludmyla Volynets,Director of the SDAPRC

*For U.S. citizens this is the recommendation of the social worker in the homestudy

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions. Sincerely, Adoption Unit/Immigrant Visa Section Consular Section American Embassy Kyiv, Ukraine
Tel: 38-044-490-4422
Fax:38-044-490-4570
Kyivadoptions@state.gov
http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html

In accordance with E.O. 12958 this message is not classified.

Parents Visit

2008-10-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

My folks (Jim's) are here for a long weekend visit. Part of the reason that I took a job in Colorado was so that we could be closer. Now they are only a five hour drive away. However I am still unforgiven from the in-laws in Maryland. Just kidding we get along well however Teresa is no longer close enough to pick up mail and check on the house during vacations. It's good to have family, part of what we want to provide for the kids.

Ukrainian Politics Again (We want to be Italians)

2008-10-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Okay this post might get me in trouble.

Since I've had several years to follow Ukrainian politics I've reached the conclusion that they really want to be Italians. Italy has had a change in which coalition is ruling the country nearly every year or two since World War II. Now Ukraine's President has set their third election since the Orange Revolution brought democratic rule to Ukraine in December 2004.

Ukraine's President Yushenko disolved parliment (Rada) and has set snap elections for December 7, 2008. Prime Minister Tymoshenko has appealed to a court in Kyiv which has ruled the President does not have the constitutional authority to call the elections. The President responds that the judge that made the ruling had already been fired.

What does this mean for the adoption. Probably nothing. Even if the elections take place on December 7, it is unlikely that any party will be able to quickly form a ruling coalition. We are hopeful that we will have the kids home in early January and can follow the politics from a safe distance.

http://www.wwitv.com has a good English language channel under the Russian section. Also there is often either a channel in English or English subtitles running under one of the news channels in the Ukrainian section. I also enjoy http://www.kyivpost.com for newpaper coverage as well.

We have our plane Tickets

2008-10-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

It was much more frustrating than I had planned on but we are ticketed. We checked online web sites a couple of brick and mortar travel agencies and airline web sites. No one wanted to give us in writing what the actual change fees on an international flight would be. We looked at more flexible tickets and their costs. In the end we found a flight that was shorter more direct (only one stop) less expensive and who would give us the actual change fee in writing.

Kudos to Kayak.com for doing the best job in showing comparisons. I do like the fact that we fly non-stop from JFK in NY to Kyiv.

The flight will still be shorter than the LAX to Auckland, New Zealand, flight I took a few years ago.

Happy, Happy, Happy Dance...

We are going to get our kids.

Я НЕ ПОНИМАЮ

2008-10-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Доброй Ночи, (Do-brey no-chee, Good Night)

Well I've been playing around with the computer for a few months and have been pleasantly surprised to learn that Microsoft includes other languages, alphabets and keyboards. I have reached the conclusion that my learning Russian or Ukrainian is much slower than most of the kids we've met. They pick up English in a matter of months.

The title of this post is a phrase I'll probably use alot. Ya nye pa-nyi-mai-yu means "I don't understand."

Being a little on the cheap side I printed out the Cyrillic alphabet on sticky paper and pasted them on the keyboard. Here's a picture of part of the keyboard. Sorry the lighting is on the poor side.

До Свидания (da sveeyi-dan-ya, Goodbye)

Jim

A Softie

2008-10-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well I guess it's official, I'm a softie with requests from kids. We've made it a habit not to buy anything from someone doing door to door sales unless it is kids from our neighborhood.

A week or two ago some of the kids came by selling frozen pop sticks. I got one for Teresa and one for me. (she was too slow so I eventually ate hers too) Listening to them talk as they left I realized that they had raided the family refridgerator and were collecting money to buy a video game that their parents didn't want them to get.

I guess I've been too good of a customer because today they wanted to sell me a fifty cent pie for $10.00. I declined and they'll have to figure out another way to buy their games.

I'm not planning to toughen up too soon after the adoption but I know I'll have to draw the line at some point.

Planes, automobiles and hopefully no trains

2008-10-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well we're working on our plane tickets and it's been more challenging than we were planning on. Because we will not know about our return trip until a few days beforehand we will probably go with tickets that we can change rather than the lowest available fare.

We have found a discount airline in Ukraine called Wizz Air that does really cheap fares between about five cities in Ukraine. Just the name gives me interesting thoughts and as long as we are on the topic Teresa is hopeful that this will help her to avoid the infamous train rides with their bathrooms.

We are planning to arrive a couple of days early to get our bodies readjusted from jetlag. Teresa is threatening to give a female perspective soon.

Paper Pregnancy

2008-09-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well Teresa has been acting kind of strange the last few days. Using my superb male logic I figured it out. We are pregnant. No not that kind everyone please calm down. In adoption we've learned the term paper pregnancy, anyway I decided that we were and that was the problem.

Sooooo a couple of nights ago when she went to bed I ran down to the kitchen and prepared.....

yes a bowl of ice cream with some dill pickles on top.

At least she was smiling and laughing. No she didn't take a bite, said it looked and smelled gross.

Talk with our employers

2008-09-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

All went well in our talks with our employers. I celebrated with donuts, hopefully slightly more healthful than cigars. Okay I've always loved donuts.

Teresa had her talk with her bosses and they are supportative.

You may notice that we have been very careful not to give out too much personal information. That is intentional. If you have interest in more detailed discussions please email us. We are not trying to exclude our friends and family, we just don't want to give too much information out on the web or that can be picked up by the robotic crawlers that search websites.

We have our Appointment! YES!!!

2008-09-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well after nearly 2 1/2 years we have an invitation. We will be at the Ukraine State Department for Adoption (SDA) on November 20 at 10 AM.

Does this mean we really have much more information? No. Ukraine handles adoptions differently than most other countries. At our appointment we will be interviewed and then shown pictures of kids who are close to our request in the dossier.

The SDA will then give us a letter of invitation to an orphanage and we will travel to meet the kids. You do not get to look at all the kids at the orphanage only those you pre-selected at the SDA. After meeting with the kids, the orphanage director, and reading the kids files at the orphanage we will need to make a decision as to whether we want to adopt the kids.

I can't picture Teresa doing anything other than holding them and claiming them forever.

Then we will schedule a date with the court. That usually takes another 7-10 days. At court we hope to be named the kids parents. Usually there is a 10 day waiting period at this time to allow for an appeal. At the end of the waiting period we will be the kids legal parents. At that point it usually takes another 10 days to get the kids new birth certificates and their US embassy appoved medical physical checkup and their Ukrainian and American Visa and Passport.

Many families have been able to give their Facilitator/Translator power of attorney to carry documents around during this time. We may also fly home and catch up on some of our work during the two waiting periods.

Every family seems to have had a different schedule and there are no guarantees but, from November 20, the most common time frame seems to be about 6-7 weeks until we will have the kids home.

It looks like Teresa will miss out on the coldest part of winter and those squat pit toilets she was so looking forward to.

Why Ukraine

2008-09-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to copy everything from a prior blog but here are a couple of sections that might fill in some gaps.

The Journey So Far

I really should have started this blog at the beginning but thought at the time that the interesting part would be our actual travel time. As many of you know the paper chase part of adoption and the wait time probably have more twists and turns than the travel time. At least that is what we hope.

We have been married for nearly ten years and were pregnant for a few short weeks three years ago before losing a baby. Teresa's doctor was extra rude and said we were getting too old for that.

In March of 2006 we decided to try adoption. Both of us love kids and have been involved with children's activities at church for years. We were listening to our local christian radio station and there was a group putting on an adoption seminar at one of the churches in the Denver area.

We liked much of what we heard at the seminar. The organization was really pushing adoptions from China but also worked in a few other countries. We decided that we wanted to adopt more than one child and that we would like to adopt siblings with at least one boy and one girl. At that point it became clear that China would not be an option as nearly 98% of all children being adopted from China are girls.

Just as we felt that we had a good start on the process Ukraine decided to shut down international adoptions while they reorganized the various cabinet ministries for the new government. This was in 2006 and they remained closed for eight months. The adoption agency that was handling the international part of things called our home about six weeks after the US embassy had emailed us to let us know this was going on. I would recommend that PAP (prospective adoptive parents) sign up for the embassy's email to PAP. http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html

Out of the countries that our original agency worked in we chose to start working toward adopting kids from Ukraine. Ukraine is a country in eastern europe that used to be part of the Soviet Union. It lies between Russia to the east and Belarus and Poland to the north and Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the west. It also has a large southern coast on the Black Sea.

Ukraine still had communist leaders until the Orange Revolution in December of 2004. So it's journey toward democracy started much later than many other eastern European countries.

Part of the reason I liked the idea of adopting from Ukraine is that my family on both sides comes from the midwestern US, Nebraska and Illinois. Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of eastern europe and that seemed comfortably familiar.

New Friends

2008-09-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

We believe that God does bring the right people into our lives at the right time. The last couple of weeks have been like that. A team arrived at my (Jim's) office to complete a financial audit. One of the auditors was working a similar job in Moscow four years ago. They decided to adopt and found it easier to adopt from Ukraine instead of Russia. They adopted three boys and gave lots of good advice. One of the things that we had not given any thought to was the fact that multiple kids from the same family often end up in different orphanages. This may require seperate court cases for each of the kids.

During the second week of the audit we had an additional auditor who grew up in Moldova, a country that borders Ukraine and also was part of the former Soviet Union. He tipped us off to a great web site for online videos in Russian. Here's a couple of our favorite sites: http://etvnet.ca/ and http://www.wwitv.com/.

Teresa continues to collect alot of things for the trip. I'll supply a picture soon. I keep repeating a couple of lines we've learned from other blogs. "When packing less is more" and "Remember you are going to take your children to America, not taking America to your kids" I don't think she hears me. She just bought one of those hand held things that you can weigh your luggage with.

If you have advice for things to take on an international trip we'd love to hear from you.

Dossier Submitted

2008-09-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well after nearly two years of working and waiting we have updated all of our dossier documents and it has been submitted and accepted. We have a registration number and should hear about our appointment date within four weeks.