November 30, 2005

Have you seen the movie "Goundhog Day" with Bill Murray? That is what our life has been like here. We do the same thing everyday. Get up, shower (if there is hot water), eat toast and yogurt, go to the orphanage, eat at McDonald's, go to the internet cafe, back to the orphanage, to the mall for supper, buy more yogurt and toast, and back to the apartment. I'm not complaining, we are comfortable here.

Matthew has the flu. At least we think he does. Our translator, Max, went home yesterday to see his wife and 4 month old daughter. He is coming back Friday morning. So we can't understand what the caregivers are saying. They only let us see him for 1/2 hour this morning. He seemed fine except for his runny nose and his "kennel cough". He has had the cough since we met him and I don't think it will go away until we get him out of the orphanage. He is also getting his two year molars.

Yesterday the orphanage people took his picture for his passport. I'm sure it will turn out lovely. They stood him on the radiator in a mustard yellow sweater and tights (no pants). His hair was standing up all over and he was scowling. Oh well, at least he'll have his passport so we can spring him from this place.

The weather has been nice here. It isn't to cold but it has been foggy. I've been here long enough now that I am comfortable using Celsius. Hey, whatever happen to the entire world switching to metric? I remember all my elementary school teachers telling us to learn our metrics for that reason.

Matthew is answering to his name now and is starting to understand us. The couple from Alabama decided to go home without adopting. A new couple from Dallas arrived earlier this week. They are very nice. They have a 4 year old boy and are adopting the cutest little girl. I can't remember her age exactly but she is under two. There is also a couple from Spain adopting a little boy. We need Holly here so she can translate in Spanish for us or maybe Krisi.

We changed our airline tickets (again) and bought one for Matthew. We wanted to fly out the end of next week, but they didn't have any available seats. So we aren't leaving until the week after. They did say to call next week to see if any seats have opened up.

This type of toilet is typical for any place that is not a home in Ukraine. This one is very clean, it is the one for visitors at the orphanage. Ironically you usually have to pay to use these!

Here is Max (with his tongue out), Tanya(who was to be our official court translator), and Stas right after "Court".

November 28, 2005

We are counting down the days until we get to take Matthew from the orphanage(next Monday). We are still visiting him twice a day except on Sundays when he gets his bath, so we only visit in the morning. Yesterday we went downtown and bought him a pair of long underwear so he doesn't have to wear tights (which is what kids wear here). The weather has been nice here lately, I hope it stays that way until after we leave.

Matthew is learning to play hide-n-seek with us. One of us hides and he tries to find us, although it isn't too hard to find us on the orphanage playground. He loves to watch the dogs outside of the orphanage fence and watch the orphanage cats. He has learned to give real kisses with puckered lips. He also likes to run up to us and give us hugs. We bought him some bubbles at the toy store and he could blow them right away, we didn't even teach him. He answers to "Matthew" now, although he is still called "Dema" by the orphanage staff. One of the caretakers told our facilitator that they can tell Jeff will be a great father.

We are hoping to be home the second weekend in December, we can't wait to see everybody!

Happy Birthday to Angie, Laura,Caleb, and Hope Erickson! We wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

Angie-Only 2 more days!

Sandy- Angie says I should start counting down to your birthday next. I decided to be nice and only say: Everyone my Aunt Sandy is having a birthday close to Christmas.

November 25, 2005 In ten days Matthew will be ours!!!

We were just in court. Well actually we went to the courthouse, Stas and the official in charge of the children's welfare went into the courtroom. Less than two minutes later the official came back out and shook our hands. That was it! We got dressed up for no reason. I even had to wash my hair using water from the teapot. The hot water still isn't working well. Yesterday it worked for 45 minutes, but that was it. So today Jeff poured water over my head and I poured it over his. Last night I even gave Jeff a haircut. He really needed one, the last one was in September. It doesn't look too bad. So in ten days (starting tomorrow) we pick up the official adoption papers at the courthouse and go to get Matthew's new birth certificate. We are lucky because he was born in Odessa so we don't have travel to get the new one. Then we have to go to a separate office to get an official stamp. The first office isn't open on Mondays and the second isn't open on Tuesdays. Then we can take Matthew from the orphanage and take the overnight train to Kiev. In Kiev we have to go to the United States Embassy (which isn't open on Fridays) for 1 or 2 days of paperwork. He will have to get a medical exam at the embassy, we have an exit interview, and immigration paperwork. Then we can finally go home. We figure 18 days from now at the most. Another couple arrived here in Odessa this morning, they are from Alabama and are going to see a child at Matthew's orphanage. This is good since everyone else left.

Matthew's new coat

November 23, 2005 We have been gone 7 weeks now!

Sorry I haven't updated lately, it was very cold all weekend so we didn't want to venture out to the internet cafe. Yesterday was nice so we went to the open market and bought Matthew 2 outfits and some slippers. Stas came back from Kiev this morning. He says we should got to court on Friday. We went to the orphanage this morning as usual. Matthew loves to play pat-a-cake and I'm a little teapot. It is funny to watch Jeff try and play it with him, since Jeff can't remember all the words he makes up his own. Matthew doesn't mind as long as he gets to do the rolling action. We are meeting with a schoolteacher today, if her English is good she will be our translator in court. Apparently you can't have your regular translator in with you. All the other couples at the orphanage (2 from Israel and 1 from Texas) are leaving this weekend for Kiev. Their ten day wait is over on Friday. It doesn't sound like our ten days will be waived, but I guess we will survive since we made it this far.

ANGIE-Only 4 days left!!!!

Look he has on a Harry Potter t-shirt.

I hope someone will go see the new HP movie that was released today. I can't believe I'm going to miss opening night.

Angie-only 9 days left.

November 18, 2005 Friday

I don't have any interesting news. We are still waiting for a court date, now they are saying towards the end of next week. We continue to spend from 10-12 am and 4-6 pm at the orphanage with Matthew, mostly outdoors. His new thing is to throw himself to the ground when he can't get his way, but we just step over him and ignore him until he is done. When it finally gets dark we go inside to the play area where we spend most of the time chasing Matthew away from the doors. Jeff says no no to him and now whenever I say no Matthew says "No No NO" back at me and laughs. His favorite toy is an old pop bottle which he carries with him continuously.
We have been without hot water in our apartment for 2.5 days, but it was fixed this morning. Each of us took a long hot shower. We are getting very anxious to go home. All of the couples at the orphanage have been to court but us. We had some problems with some paperwork. His mother had written on two documents that she was single and one that she was married. If she was married the parental rights of his father would need to be terminated. But they discovered he was killed in some kind of accident last March. But that took a couple of days to straighten out. We have been eating at McDonald's a lot and we are sick of it. We usually eat supper in the cafeteria which has several things to choose from.

11 days and counting Angie!!!

November 16, 2005 6 weeks already

I can hardly believe we have been gone 6 weeks already. Our original plane tickets were for tomorrow, it is a good thing I changed them last week. We are still waiting for our court date, possibly the first of next week. Two of the couples at the orphanage had their court yesterday. Neither of them had the 10 days waived. They said it was only 15 minutes long- I think I can handle that. The question is can I handle any more Ukrainian taxi drivers. We took one to the orphanage yesterday and I was horrible. Today we took the bus. Matthew has a chest cold and has been a bit cranky, but he was cheerful today. Now Jeff is getting his cold. We have been working on somersaults with Matthew, he won't do them by himself but if we push him over he giggles like crazy. Jeff wouldn't let me take pictures today because Matthew was dressed in all pink.

Yesterday Jeff washed some of our clothes in the bathtub. It may be a week before our jeans dry though.

Thank you Sandy for reminding me, I forgot.

What do Friday the 13th and Angie's birthday have in common?

Give up?????
The number 13 (yes Angie that how many days left till your birthday).

This is "Sunny" orphanage Odessa #3

I don't know how to turn the picture around, Sorry.

Jeff is touching the Black Sea

November 14, 2005

Thank all of you for the great posts and emails we have received in the last few day. It put a lump in my throat reading them. We are anxious to get home, we have been gone 41 days already. Thanks to all of you who have been looking after our house, playing with our dog, paying our bills, and feeding the chickens and cats. We really appreciate it. Yesterday we went to downtown Odessa and saw the sights in lightening speed. It was so cold and damp there, downtown Odessa is right on the Black Sea. We also went to a large kid's store and bought Matthew some shoes, wool socks, and mittens for playing outside. Not one kid in the orphanage wears mittens or gloves outside. Today we took them to him and it was so cute to see him try to pick up one of his toys with his mittens on.

I think that he eats more food than Ben does. Today he ate an entire banana in seconds. Then yogurt and cheerios with juice. He hasn't quite mastered the sippy cup yet. He doesn't suck hard enough to get much out. He drinks out of a regular cup usually but since we only have three sets of clothes (and no washer) I make him use the sippy cup. He is a quick learner. He has learned to give us five and say "more" using sign language. He also said Mama, fish, barked like a dog, meowed like a cat, and knows the square root of 123,456,789. Ok, enough bragging.

The orphanage director is a very nice woman, she told us today that she has been there for 10 years. When she came the orphanage was in terrible shape. No hot water and the building was so drafty they couldn't keep it warm. She had the windows replaced, got a boiler to heat the place and the water, put down new flooring and repaired all the walls. She wants the place to be as homelike and comfortable as possible. She has done a great job. Our translator says this is one of the nicest orphanages he has been too. She also gave us permission to visit Matthew's "groupa." We will get to see the other kids, the place he sleeps, eats, and plays. We also have permission to take pictures.

We are praying that we will go to court this week and the 10 days will be waived. It is very rare for the 10 days to be waived, but Stas told us we may be able to bring Matthew back to our apartment for the 10 days. I would really like that since they make us stay outside for most of the time at the orphanage. It has been pretty cold lately.

Introducing Matthew Melvin Norby



November 11, 2005

Sorry it took so long to post. I tried last night but the web site was down. We arrived in Odessa on Wednesday. We ran from place to place getting paperwork for permission to see the little boy. By the time we did he was sleeping. The director of the orphanage is really nice. She went through his file page by page. All the health issues they said he had are gone or were never there. He can hear well, is starting to say some Russian words, the birthmark is gone, and he is not cross-eyed. He does have a slightly lazy eye. The NAC had his name mixed up and had us adopting his father. Our facilitator here (the same man who went to Donetsk) said the NAC are clowns. The little guy's name is Dimitri or Dema for short. We got to see him at 4. They brought him in the room and we both knew he was perfect. He was shy but quickly warmed up to me when we took him to see the fish tanks. There really aren't men at the orphanage so it took a while for Dema to warm to Jeff and Max (our translator). The little guy is smart, and the psychologist tested him a couple of weeks ago and said he is right on track, with the exception of being a little small. We told them to start the paperwork. So yesterday we went to the lawyer/notary office and had them make several letters. Stas has been running for two days now getting things done. He hopes we will go to court next week then wait 10 day (mandatory) then head to Kiev for the immigration paperwork at the Embassy. Hopefully we will be home by Holly's birthday (Dec. 9). We get to see him twice a day. Once in the morning from 10-12 and once in the afternoon from 4-6. In the morning they make us go outside, today was cold and misting even Dema was miserable. We bring him juice, yogurt fruit babyfood, and cheerios. He loves to eat and won't play until there is nothing left to eat. Yesterday they told us we had to choose a name by noon so they could apply for his passport. Before we came to Ukraine John Melvin was at the top of our list, but for some reason Matthew fit better. So now he is Matthew Melvin and we are very happy with his name. Today he called Jeff "papa". It was very sweet. He will bring toys to me if Max say give to mama in Russian. We bought him diapers because the orphanages can't afford diapers. They had him in underwear and he got Jeff's pants all wet the first time we saw him. I think they are scolded for going in their pants because when he has to go he gets a really scared look on his face and backs away. We told them to put him in diapers all the time now. He has the cutest giggle and can throw a ball really well.

Angie -Don't worry I didn't forget. 16 days left!

November 8, 2005

We are leaving tonight for Odessa. We are taking the overnight train and we are going to try and sleep the entire time. Hopefully we won't be so tired tomorrow.

Daddy, did you find us any hovaworts yet? We could pick one or two up on our way home in Germany. Did Monica come home from Germany yet? Luv ya

Angie, What does 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+2 equal ? Give up? Your age in 19 days!

ONLY TWENTY DAYS LEFT ANGIE!!!!!

November 7, 2005

It is a miracle we made it to our appointment on time. Sasha picked us up an hour and a half early. But it was rush hour. Normally he is a good driver, but today he was following a guy in a lane that is meant for traffic going the other way. It was a bit nerve-racking. Although when we were in Donetsk our taxi driver drove on the tram tracks between to trams.

We weren't given much of a selection to chose from at the NAC. All but one toddler had a sibling between 11-14. I am not ready for a teenager. So we are going to Odessa tomorrow night on the train to see a boy. He turned two on October 25. We were told he is healthy and normal, except he has what they call "hard ear." It must be missing something in translation because I have never heard of it. They told us he may be hard of hearing, but it might be correctable. Also one eye is slightly crossed, but I couldn't see it in the picture. He has a light red birthmark on his forehead. He has light brown hair and it walking. He was a normal birth weight and height, which is a good sign.

After we left the NAC we went to a book store/coffee house we heard of this weekend. It is called the Babboon. The buy, sell, and trade books, especially English books. We bought three books each, that should keep us busy for a while.

Odessa is near the Black Sea and a tends to be warmer. Odessa was used as a retreat for soldiers and is a popular tourist destination. I am looking forward to seeing the region. We do not know yet if the orphanage is in Odessa the city or not because the region is also named Odessa.

Yesterday we went sight seeing again. We finally made it to the Museum of Microthings. This man does artwork on small things. One was a chess game on the head of a pin. Another one was he made a small golden rose and put it inside a piece of human hair he had drilled out. We had to look through microscopes to see them. We also went to the open air museum. They have different types of homes from different time periods. Also old churches and windmills. Lastly we went to the monument for the 100,000 Jews who were shot and thrown into a pit by Nazis. It was very sad.

November 5, 2005 This blog is now multi-functional. I have decided not only to include news of our adoption adventure but also to use it as a countdown. The countdown is for my sister's Angie's birthday. I am sure she wants everyone to know that in TWENTY TWO days she will be a certain age that rhymes with dirty.

November 5, 2005

WE HAVE AN APPOINTMENT MONDAY MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, you read that right. We have an appointment on Monday morning. Now we pray for a healthy young referral. Last night at 9:30 Sasha called to tell us. He sounded pretty excited. Morning appointments are good, people in the a.m. get to pick first from the newly released files. Although both of our other appointments were in the morning also. I am thinking (and I could be wrong) that Monday is also good because Saturday and Sunday's new releases are there also.

Today we took two other couples on the Metro to Children's World. One couple who is adopting a little boy needed to buy him a coat, gloves, hat, diapers, etc. When you finally receive your child --all you get is the child. No clothes, toys, or even underwear, so you have to buy everything for a few days until you get home. Clothes here are not cheap, they seem to be more expensive than in the states. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Today we woke up to lots of fog. It was very pretty. Someone told me November gets a lot colder. Today was around 50, but there is a chance of snow for tomorrow. Jeff and I have been playing lots of cribbage on a cribbage board we drew on the back of a pizza box. We are getting pretty good at it and may be ready to take on Johny when we get back.

Dnipro River

St. Nicholas

November 3, 2005 4 Weeks today!

We have been in Kiev for four weeks today. Nobody seems to know how long you have to be here to be considered a citizen. Yesterday Oleana and Sergey took us to St. Nicholas's Cathedral. It was beautiful. It is relatively young for Kiev. It is soon to be one hundred years old. It was the first building here built from concrete. They were restoring the outside so we didn't get to see much of the outside. The inside is incredible, very high ceilings with lots of gold and a huge organ. There was a man playing the organ, he was preparing for a concert that night. His son was also playing it. He was only nine years old. They were very good. Then we tried to visit the Museum of Microthings but it was closed for lunch. This was the second time we tried to visit, last time it was closed for a "rest day."

Today we went to the square and ate lunch at TGIF's. Right after we ordered Sasha came in with another couple who were going to their 1st NAC appointment today. They have two young children (biological) with them. Sasha said maybe tomorrow we would have our appointment. But he said that yesterday also. Lots of people give up at four weeks but we are stubborn. With the exception of missing our families, friends, and our poor dog we are comfortable. After lunch we went walking around near the Friendship of the Peoples Monument. We then walked down the hill behind the monument and crossed the pedestrian bridge to an island in the River. There are beaches and a large park. It was easy to forget we were in a huge city while we were there. On our way back across the bridge we stood and watched tugboats pushing huge barges full of sand.

CONGRATULATIONS HUSKIES! We can't wait to hear how the next game goes. Good Luck!