Matthew and Emma dancing at the wedding
Jack on the airplane home

Alex on the airplane home

another airplane picture (this was the first flight the pictures above were the last flights)

Alex and my nephew Levi

Sasha and his snowman

The first day of school

When we first got home

Home One Week (a week and a half by the time I got this posted)
We have been home one week already. The boys started school on Wednesday, I wanted them to wait until after Thanksgiving but they wanted to go sooner. The school has been great with them. Jack is in seventh grade and Alex is in fourth. They spend most of their time with a very nice teacher who is working on English with them. Jack goes to PE, art and music with his class and Alex goes to PE, music, art and recess with his class. I don’t think it will be long before Alex is put into some classes as his English is improving very rapidly. Jack started wrestling with the 7-12 grade wrestlers, he is really enjoying it. He didn’t even know what wrestling was before Wednesday. He is pretty good at basketball but that doesn’t start for a few weeks. (Plus my family and Jeff’s are all wrestlers). He can try basketball when it starts and choose between the two. They will start riding the bus to school on Monday. Matthew will start preschool at the school on Monday afternoon and go every afternoon except Friday. He did go to Speech yesterday, they taught him how to make the F sound, and he remembers to use it(most of the time).
We have had a few challenges and I am sure there will be more. Fighting between the boys was the first big one. Alex likes to “dish it out” but he can’t take it. Jack tends to antagonize both Alex and Matthew, but he is doing less of it. Alex has a temper and is a pouter. The first day home something set him off and he stomped off to his bed and refused to come down. We didn’t cater to him, when supper was ready I told him if he didn’t come down to eat there would be nothing later. He didn’t come down until the next morning. The next day he had the same pouty fit and I told him the same thing. Two minutes later he was at the table with a smile. He has had less pouty fits since then. Jack doesn’t listen overly well either, but we are working on it. I am sure it will take some time to break all the old habits they have learned.
We went to church last night and the boys were fine-except Matthew who has always had problems with being quiet in church. Then we went to my Cousin Kelly’s wedding reception. It was very nice. I think the boys had fun. Alex even won a couple of dollars in Rock, Paper, Scissors.
The boys have liked everything I have cooked with the exception of pancakes. They ate spagetti, tacos, and macaroni and cheese-three things I have heard that they probably wouldn't like. I don't really like pancakes that much either. They didn't like the syrup at all- Matthew doesn't either, he likes peanut butter on his pancakes. Jack and Alex don't like peanut butter, but I can't blame them. They love milk, I may need to get a dairy cow. =) They also love sausage-especially summer sausage. They both eat a ton of food, but so did Matthew when he first came home.
It snowed on Friday night and both of the boys were excited to get outside and play. They threw snowballs at each other. Jeff and Alex made a small snowman. I will try and get pictures posted soon, it takes forever on our dial-up.
The boys just got on the bus for school for the first time with the help of the neighbor girls. They were excited.

The Trip Home
We waited in line at the airport for 45 minutes or so. When we got to the front the lady behind the counter needed the boys' adoption decree. I gave it to her and she printed out our airline tickets. It is easy to get into a country but alway hard to get out. We first headed through security-you know the deal: laptops taken out, belts and coats off-the US is the only place where I have had to take off my shoes. Then we go through Customs: are you taking anything out of the country like art, antiques etc. Then passport control, show your passports, adoption decree, new birth certificates. She stamps our passports and we go get in line to board the airplane. The first flight lasts three hours, from Kiev to Amsterdam. They served us an omelet and some fruit, Jack and I ate ours, Sasha only at the candy bar they gave us. The boys slept most of the way right on top of me, I couldn't even get my arm out to scratch my nose. When we landed everyone applauded, that's a Ukrainian thing. We meandered our way through the Amsterdam airport to our gate for another security check and more passport controls. This second plane was huge. The flight lasted almost ten hours, the boys were a bit antsy. I watched 3.5 movies-more than what I normally watch in a year. Sasha refused to watch the movies because I told him no rated R. He pouted most of the way. We sat next to a very nice man who worked for Polaris in Minneapolis ( or Many apples as Sasha called it). They fed us an interesting spread of food-of which Sasha ate none except the cake and ice cream. I spoke to a lady who was on her way home from adopting two cute little ones from Ukraine. I guess they were at the embassy when we were, but in the playroom area. She said Jack helped her fetch her daughter out of the men's room when she ran in. We landed in Minneapolis and were pretty tired, none of us slept at all on the long flight. We had to go through Immigration which can take a long time. We handed over the brown envelopes from the embassy, both boys were fingerprinted and declared new citizens of the USA. I think they missed the significance of the event. Then we had to get our luggage and recheck it-something that has to do with Homeland security I think, or maybe customs because they check you for food or agricultural items. We had to go through customs and security again, then we headed for our gate with a stop for a slice of pizza on the way. We were able to use my cell phone so we talked to Jeff, Laura and my Mom. The last flight was an hour, the boys slept the entire time. We landed and were so happy to see Jeff and Matthew. Matthew's first words to me were "Why did you take to LONG?" We talked about staying in a hotel, but Jack and Sasha didn't want to. So we started the two hour drive home. Jack and Sasha slept most of the way, I ran into the grocery store for a few things. That was a mistake, I was so tired I couldn't remember what I was in there for and I felt drunk. When we got home the boys ran all over the house, played with some toys, had a snack and we all went to bed. It was great to be home!

The Embassy
We needed to leave the apartment by 8 am so that we could be first in line at the embassy. Neither boy wanted to get up until I told them that they wouldn’t be able to fly home unless they went to the embassy. They both hopped out of bed and got dressed. Then we had our nutritious breakfast: Cherry pies from McDonalds. I had walked all around the area but couldn’t find a grocery store. So Cherry pies it was. The part I love about the embassy is that Americans can go right in, they don’t wait in line. There are lines of people everywhere. We had to go through the metal detectors then we were able to go into the embassy. I had filled in all the papers ahead of time so all I had to do is give them to the lady. She asked me to sit down and wait. After a while she told me to go pay the bill: eight hundred American dollars for two visas-which I gladly paid. Then she needed to electronically fingerprint Jack because he is 14. This is very funny-they fingerprint him in order to run a check to see if he has a criminal record in the US. He has never been to the US why would he have a record??? On our way out of the embassy they stopped us and told us to go back in. Apparently the lady did something wrong and Jack needed to be fingerprinted again. After the fingerprints we left the embassy and were dropped off at our apartment.
I had a list of things I wanted to do in Kiev and things I wanted the boys to see. So at 10 we started walking. We went to the Metro and rode the escalators down to the subway-these things go underground a very long ways. Then we looked at the trains and headed back up the escalators. We walked to Independence Square and took some pictures. We went under the square to the mall-it is amazing –there is a huge mall under the street in Kiev. We got some food-more McDonald’s for the boys and some rice and chicken for me. Then we started walking to see St. Sophia’s, St, Michael’s and St. Andrew’s. They are beautiful churches. Then to Andrewsky Spusk—it is a street where vendors sell souvenirs. I had a list of things I wanted to pick up. Jack got a Ukrainian soccer jersey and a stocking hat. I got a beautiful hand painted wooden egg and a couple of hand painted boxes for all three boys and one for Jeff. I tried to talk Sasha into getting something but he didn’t want anything. I did get him a key chain and stocking hat that says Ukraine. I also got a t-shirt and a canvas bag that says Ukraine. We didn’t have much time-we needed to be back at the apartment at 1:30 for our ride to the embassy for our exit interview -hopefully the visas would be ready. We made it just in time.
The exit interview sounds serious but it generally isn’t. How much did you spend? How much time have you spent with the boys? Are you aware that you need to fill in post placement reports until the boys turn 18? The man knew we had previously adopted so he skipped most of the questions. He said that they would print the visas soon and we could be on the plane tomorrow. We waited for about a half hour. While we waited we helped a family with their new kids. They were 2, 3, and 4, two girls and a boy-cute! The parents were trying to fill out the stacks of paperwork and watch the kids. The boys helped with the kids while I helped the mother with the tricky questions. The man brought out the two visas and the big brown envelopes for immigration. You can’t open the envelopes, you give them to the officials at the first place your plane lands in The United States. We were very happy.
We went back to the apartment and I started packing. Vanya called and we decided to go to my favorite pizza place for supper. It was just across the street and through an archway-if I had known that we would have been eating more pizza and less McDonald’s. Sasha was very tired and pouting so he refused to eat. We just ignored him and enjoyed our pizza. Vanya gave the boys a talking to about fighting and about staying close to me in the airports. We will sure miss Vanya! He walked us back to the apartment and went to meet his fiancé-she works just down the street. I washed the boys clothes-they each only had one pair of pants so I hung them on the radiators and prayed that they would dry by 4:30 am when the driver came to take us to the airport (they were). We went to sleep early but I never sleep when I have to get up that early. We showered and headed to the airport. Jack was very excited, but Sasha just wanted to sleep. We arrived at the airport just in time to get in line to check in.
Sorry I’ve got to stop there for now… I need to put Sasha and Matthew to bed and Jack needs the computer to practice his English. My mom got the Rosetta Stone, it really works.

Novemer 14th, 2008
We made it home! We are exhausted but home! More later!

I talked to Cara this morning, her and the boys got everything completed at the embassy today! They have their visas and will be arriving in the US tomorrow, late afternoon. Matthew and I will be traveling to pick them up at the airport. I will be so happy when our family is finally together once and for all.
Cara had time to show the boys around Kiev today. They took in the popular sites, shopped for souvenirs and toured the metro system (subway). To top the day off Cara and the boys, along with Vanya our facilitator ate at her favorite pizza place, Cilintinos. To her surprise the restaurant was just a half block away from their flat. She wishes she knew this a couple days ago, they have been eating at a nearby McDonalds for almost every meal since being in Kiev and she is sick of it. You can bet Cara will not want to be eating at McDonalds in the states for a long time to come. No offense Melvin. :)

All for now and stay tuned.

Jeff (papa x 3)

Hello From Kiev, We are two steps closer to coming home. The train ride to Kiev was fine. The boys were pretty excited on the train. They slept on the top bunks and I had one of the bottom bunks. We bought the entire compartment so it was just us. It was a little smokey though, so my head has been hurting today. I slept some but Sasha didn't sleep much. Their grandfather bought him a pepsi before we left. I am sure he hasn't had caffine for a long time if ever, so of coarse he didn't sleep much. He played his gameboy until the battery died. Then kept me awake by looking down at me.
We got there medicals taken care of today. They have to have physicals in order to get their visas. Jack needed two shots and Sasha needed one. The embassy wasn't open today because it is veterans day-or so the guard told me. So we will go back first thing in the morning and beg them to process the visa in one day.
We went back to the apartment and rested before we ventured out to find food. That's when I bumped into this internet cafe. Oh, the boys are done at the arcade so I had better go. If we get the visa we will fly home on Thursday.

We have the passports and train tickets to Kiev tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So tomorrow morning we go to the embassy medical exam then to the embassy. The boys may need blood work so it could take an extra day to get the visas. But we should be home by the weekend.

I've got Sasha! We picked him up around 12:30. He started feeling sick in the car, but some french fries from Mc Donalds cheered him up. The passports are in Odessa but we two more peoples permission before we can pick them up.

I'm off to the train station to meet Vanya. I am more than ready to get things finished here in Odessa. Odessa is a beautiful city with kind people and wonderful architecture. I don't think I would mind living here, but visiting for weeks and weeks is just too long. Please pray that the passports are here, that we get everything done today and can get tickets for the train to Kiev tonight. Also please pray for the Wolffs they are in just about the same spot as us as far as the process and they want to go home just as badly.

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #13 November 9

I didn't do much today, I cleaned out the suitcases, worked on some embassy paperwork and convinced Jack to let me wash his clothes. It can be hard for newly adopted kids to get used to having more than one outfit. He has worn the same thing since Tuesday, but I talked him into washing it today. Then I sent him off to visit his Grandfather and his Aunt in case we don't have time to do it tomorrow. We will hopefully be leaving on the train tomorrow night-that is if the passports are in Odessa and we can get the deregistering thing taken care of. We also need to get Sasha checked out of no.9. I visited him today, he beat me at checkers. We also need to look into some savings account that Jack has. Hopefully, we will get everything done tomorrow. I am meeting Vanya at the train station at 9:17, that's the time he told me. So pray that everything gets done tomorrow and that the passports are here.

November 9th-Three years ago today we met Matthew! He was so little and cute! His name then was Dema (Dmitri) Kaplin. I can't believe it has been three years already. Back then he didn't really speak, was unstable on his feet and had troubles eating solid food, now he talks non-stop, is all over the place and eats anything in sight (just like his brother Jack). If you want to go back and read about it click on November 2005 on the left side of the blog. I miss you Matthew!

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #12 Nov 8
We didn't do much today. Jack went and visited his friends at school and then visited his cousin. I went and saw Sasha. He wasn't mad that he was still there, the director had explained why we couldn't get him. She didn't tell him why I didn't come to see him though. I tried to tell him about the document we got and the new apartment. He had been sleeping so they didn't want him outside. We sat on a chair in the entry way and looked through pictures on my camera. He is so ready to go. He was telling me what to do on the airplane; buckle my seatbelt, turn off my phone, camera, games etc. It is funny he remembered all of that, I don't know when he was hosted-maybe two summers ago. I haven't heard anything from his host family, I thought they might want to maintain contact with him. Maybe they are embarassed about all the hassle they caused. I am also very ready to go home, it has gotten colder here-as it has at home but the boys don't have very warm clothes. Jeff you will need to bring their winter coats to the airport, they are upstairs on the bed. Did you find Matthew's winter coat in his closet-the blue and red one? I just fixed Jack his first American breakfast (it's Sunday morning) scrambled eggs, toast, apple slices and milk. He seemed to like it. They don't eat special foods here for breakfast, it is just like any other meal.

If I counted right there are 47 days until Christmas............................

Go here http://pretreadoptionblog.blogspot.com/ and read their post for Nov. 2 "From Caring Comes Courage." It will leave an impression on you.

Some Pictures from Matthew's fifth birthday-How can my baby be five already?????

Doesn't he look sweet in the birthday outfit my mom gave him, There is a five on the race car for his age! He is standing in front of the door to our upstairs-the same door my parents always took pictures of my sisters and I in front of.

My sister bought these pajamas to take on our trip to Ukraine to adopt Matthew. Before we met him I prayed that we would find a child small enough to fit in them-at the time (and even now) the SDA isn't giving many referrals for young children. God answered my prayers, almost three years later Matthew has just grown into them.

Here’s what happened yesterday.

I woke up, showered and started packing to move to our new apartment. I was about half done what Vanya called and said that something weird happened. The lady from the city building who had told us we had to wait until Thursday to get the document we needed to deregister the boys from their apartment called. She told him that she would process our documents today if we could get their by 11. I thought that is great but Vanya is not here, I can understand some Russian, I can only say a few things and this is a huge city how will I find this building. Vanya decided I should call Julia to translate for me, but she didn’t answer. So Lisa called Sonia, whom I have never met but can translate. He told me to be there is 45 minutes. I remembered the bus number to take, but had no idea where to get off. I figured if I got lost I could just take the same bus the opposite direction back to the apartment. But I found the building, met Sonia and we went inside and waited. The thing with adoptions is that from start to finish you hurry up and then wait, hurry up and wait, over and over. When the lady showed up, she gave us piece of paper to take to the bank. We found the bank and the woman didn’t know how to process the fee since I do not have a tax ID code, after calling a few people she figured out that she could enter my passport number. Then I needed to pay the fee, but I didn’t have enough grivna and guess what she can’t change my dollars for grivna. So we go to the next window, wait in line, exchange the money and go back to the first woman. She gives us a receipt and we head back to the city building. We give the lady the receipt and she tells us to come back at 3:30 for the document.
I went back to the apartment finished packing, had Vasya get his stuff ready, we ate some lunch and Michelle got us a cab. Our new apartment is nice but a little quiet without Michelle, Lisa and Leanna. We got our stuff into the apartment and I had to leave to get the document, I was really unsure how to get to that building from the center. Michelle told me where the bus left from I wasn’t really sure how to get there. I knew the general direction and found it. I was even at the building 15 minutes early. When I walked in I found David who lives near us at home http://doctordavid.wordpress.com/ sitting there. He had gotten the same phone call from the lady. We sat there for 2.5 hours before the lady showed up. She told us to wait a little longer. We followed her downstairs to a notary, we signed the little book and left. God is so great! He moved this mountain for both of us, I don’t think David and I could have been any happier. I was supposed to wait until Thursday for the paper, and he was told he might not get it. I think Cindie was surprised to see us together and with the document. She fed us, we all played games and it was a great night.
Now on Monday, Vanya will come back to take this document to another office who should deregister the boys and give us another document that will allow us to get the stamp we need in their passports. This stamp says something like: This person is cleared to leave Ukraine for permanent residence in the United States.
I finally discovered what the whole register/deregister thing is about. When a baby is born the parents are supposed to register the baby in the place they live. It is kind of like giving them an address but much more. I am told it takes a lot of documents to get them registered. Everyone has to be registered somewhere. So if a baby is abandoned or found on the street they are registered at the orphanage they live in. When they age out of the orphanage the orphanage people try to get the child registered somewhere else, like with a distant relative. I don’t know what they do for children who have no one. So when someone adopts a child registered at the orphanage has to get a “document of origin” paper to deregister them from the orphanage. Matthew would have had one of these but I guess three years ago they didn’t enforce this rule. Now Vasya and Sasha are registered in the apartment where they lived with their mom. There are seven people registered there, two aunts, three cousins (all minors) and them. Their aunt Tonya had all the documents proving that they were registered and that the apartment had been paid for years ago. She and Vanya took all these to the lady who originally said we needed to wait until next Thursday to go before some board and get their approval to change their names on the register thing. The lady says she is protecting the children by just changing their names on the register to their new names so if or when they decide to come back to Odessa to live they will have a place to live. Now I am thinking, they are hear now and even though their names are on the apartment they still don’t have a place to live. Boys have to do mandatory military service. I am told that the army here is worse than living in prison and many of the boys die just in training. So do you think my boys are going to want to come back for that?
So now the plan is to get the last document so we can get the stamp (hopefully the woman works on Monday), get Sasha, pick up the passports (hopefully they are in Odessa, they get sent from Kiev), say their goodbyes and get on the train to Kiev on Monday night, Tuesday night at the latest. In Kiev the boys need embassy physicals, I need to turn in a lot of paperwork at the embassy and pay the fees, the next day I have to do a short interview with an embassy official and pick up their visas. If we can find a flight home we could be home by the weekend.
I remember the interview with the official when we adopted Matthew. They asked: Did you bribe any one? Did you encounter anyone doing illegal things? Are you capable of caring for this child? Is there a risk that you will abandon him? But I have heard people being asked things like: who is your favorite football team? Why Ukraine? Etc. It usually lasts about ten minutes.

This apartment has a huge Jacuzzi tube with a shower. It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to turn it on. It has a remote, that didn’t do anything, I turned all the knobs, pulled and pushed everything, looked all around it. Finally I figured out that one knob goes up diagonally and that turns the water on. Now if I could just figure out the TV.

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #11 Nov 7

Today was a great day!
I started out a little depressed about having to be here so much longer and not getting Sasha. I showered and started packing so we could move to our new apartment. Then Vanya called, he said something weird happened. The lady who told us we had to wait until Thursday to get the document we need. She has decided to do it. So I have it and we should be home by next weekend. I'll fill you in soon.

I just remembered something I saw yesterday and it is a good thing. Amazon.com had a Christmas idea list on-line. They mentioned that they are working with manufacturers to stop selling kid's toys in packaging that could survive a fall from space to earth. They are trying to eleminate all the waste and frustration that comes will the current packaging. Amazon wants all those ties, clips and extra plastic eliminated. Way to go Amazon! I know I needed scissors, pliers and a knife to get some of Matthew's birthday presents out.
I like to shop amazon.com. There stuff is usually cheaper and many times you can get free shipping. I think you can even order groceries-not perishables-from them.

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #10 Thursday Nov. 6

GUESS WHAT NOW????
Why is it that most Ukrainians wait until the last possible minute to do something? This frustrates me to no end. Vanya left on Tuesday telling me he would be back on Friday to get Sasha out of no. 9. I spoke to him last night reminding him he needs to be back here Friday morning. He calls me tonight around 8:30 telling me that the Inspector will be busy all day tomorrow so she can't sign the papers to get Sasha released. The Director won't let him out without the inspector's signature. So here's my guess. Vanya didn't call the orphanage or the Inspector until near closing time today. When both people already had their schedule filled. Why didn't he call on Tuesday? So tomorrow I am going to have one very mad and disappointed boy. Plus that means I have to ride that horrible bus again from the center (until Monday)because we are moving to our new apartment tomorrow. It makes me so mad!!!! The bus ride today was even worse. It was so crowded that I had to stand on the bottom step for about 45 minutes, getting off the bus each time we stop so someone can get off. When I think it is impossible to squeeze another person on, someone gets off and 4 more climb in. There is absolutely no space between people. we are completely smashed together. I had being that close to people I don't know, plus everyone of the has stale beer breath (remember this is the bus full of college students so I wouldn't expect their breath to smell of anything else).

Anyway, today I went to the center to rent our new apartment, I am so happy we will be right next to David, Cindie and the pushes. The reason it was so easy to do this is because it is owned by an American. Vasya went to play soccer again. He wants to know why it has taken so long to go to America. I visited Sasha and he was so excited to leave tomorrow. Anyone volunteer to tell him he isn't?
I did get to talk to Matthew today. He said "Why is it taking so long, come home I need you a little bit." He also told me that the new president is Barak Obama. Who told him that? I just think it is funny that he can remember it.He also talked to Vasya, they took turns teasing each other. They call each other animal names, especially woodpecker. Their grandfather (the one we met a few days ago) called Vasya a woodpecker while we were there.

The second picture is armani junior-anyone think their kids need armani?

Matthew, Michelle is using the new potato masher you picked out for her.

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #9 Nov 5


Today we were able to sleep in, it was nice. Except that I woke up to find that the anti-abortion law didn't pass. After breakfast and showers we went to the center to get some DVD’s in Russian. The psychologist told us that Vasya (like most children who live in orphanages) has trouble making decisions since they are usually just told what to do. I told him to get quite a few movies because that is all he will be able to understand for a while once we get home. There were thousands of DVDs there. He couldn’t make a decision. So I started choosing, I got 144 episodes of Sponge bob, lots of Scooby-Doo and then we found the really good ones. They put 12 to 14 movies on one disk, for example one disk has: Narnia, Prince Caspian (or something, I don’t recognize the movie and it is written in Russian on the case), Madagascar 1 & 2 (yes it just came out at the theatre and they already have it on DVD here), The Wild 1 & 2, and Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5, all for less than five dollars. We got about ten disks. If anyone wants to watch Police Academy (in Russian) we have them all. I don’t think Sasha will be watching those.
After we bought the DVDs we headed to McDonald’s. I tried to talk Vasya into pizza but he always wants McDonald’s. Then we went to Dave and Cindie’s. It felt good to vent with someone who is stuck here too. Then Vasya headed back to no.4 to play soccer and I went to see Sasha. Vasya doesn’t like to go there because the teachers yell at him, even when he is with me. I don’t understand that, but I am not making Vasya go there. The bus I take to Sasha’s from the center goes by the university. It is like riding in a sardine can. Just when you think that one more person won’t fit in, 5 more push their way in the doors. The lucky few get seats; I should have brought Matthew back with me because they always gave me a seat when I had him. This time I stood the whole time with a backpack full of DVDs and two big bottles of sprite. The bus also stops for everybody- not just at certain spots. So it goes about ten feet then stops for someone else who was too lazy to run up to the bus the last time it stopped. I think it took 1.5 hours today to get there-I might have been able to walk there faster. When I got to no.9 the kids all told me that Sasha was inside, he was getting his haircut again. They just cut it last week. So many things here don’t make sense to me. I hadn’t seen Sasha for three or four days. He has been sick with a cold. The teachers made him stay in bed for most of the day. All the kids in his group had been sick; Sasha was the last to get it. I was able to call Jeff’s cell and very quickly tell him to skype my cell. He called me back and he was able to talk to Sasha for a bit. This works a lot better with Sasha than Vasya. I think Vasya is starting to understand but just can’t answer back. The same goes for me and Russian, I am getting now able to understand bits and pieces of what people say, but I am unable to say much back. Anyway Sasha was very happy to talk to Jeff. I also told Sasha that we would be picking him up on Friday-I hope that we get it done; Vanya needs to come back to Odessa in order for that to happen. I will be renting an apartment in the center when we get him. I am hoping to get the one directly next to Cindy and Dave and the Pushes from Omaha are on the opposite side of them. Dave and Cindy have the girls with them and Anya speaks English well enough to help me out with Vasya-it won’t be as good as Michelle’s help but at least she can help and she is such a sweetheart. This apartment is located directly behind McDonald’s. Sasha is ready to go and so am I. If all goes well on next Thursday at two we will have the meeting, hopefully be able to get the document quickly, take it to the passport office, get the passports and stamps and get on a train to Kiev. I doubt we will be able to get everything done at the embassy in one day, we were able to do so with Matthew but there is more work with older kids. So we will most likely finish up on Monday then get a (few) planes home by the end of the next week. Just in time for my cousin Kelly’s wedding. I think the boys (all three) will start school after Thanksgiving. So if someone is at the school please tell Brusseau and the headstart teacher that Matthew, Jack and Sasha will soon become Elk Point-Jefferson Huskies. I hope the school and the boys are ready.
Oh, I just remembered something interesting (at least to me). I brought two pairs of swishy pants for each boy, plus a pair of jeans for Sasha because the have an adjustable waist. I brought 10/12 for Sasha and 14’s for Vasya. Vasya’s were too long, so he is now wearing Sasha’s pants. I will need to go get a couple more pairs for them maybe tomorrow. I think we are going to have a difficult time finding pants for Vasya. He isn’t very tall but his waist is bigger than 10/12 size, I think the swishies fit because they have elastic and a drawstring. That must be why all his pants at no.4 were either swishies or the cuffs were rolled. Tonight I took him to the store while we waited for the pizzas. He got shampoo, body wash, and deodorant plus some snacks-crab, some kind of nuts, and some candy. Vasya has a major sweet tooth, Sasha likes candy but would rather had crab or peanuts, and Matthew also has a sweet tooth but also really likes cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
I can’t seem to figure out what people eat for breakfast here, they have cereal but Vasya doesn’t want it. I ask him if he wants eggs-nope. Today he had bread with summer sausage; I guess it is better than candy. Tory Norby he may give you a run for your money with eating (at least when you were younger), Since 6 pm (it is 9 now) he has eaten several pieces of pizza, a bag of nuts, a kinder egg—chocolate thing, and it now eating a banana, and I have a feeling he will be in soon to ask if he can finish off the cherry ice cream (the one you left in the fridge Jeff).

I just spoke with Vanya, he will be here Friday to help me get Sasha out of no.9 and to help us move to the apartment. Tomorrow I will go and talk to the people about the apartment (they speak English).

I can’t wait to get home, I miss Jeff and Matthew and everybody else. I hear rumor that Matthew is sleeping on my pillow, I hope I can get it back. I still need to post pictures of Matthew’s birthday party that we had before I came back and pictures from Vasya's going away party.

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #8 Nov 4 Election Day



Today was a slow day, at least for me. The plan WAS to meet the crazy inspector lady at the courthouse and take her to no.4 to sign the documents releasing Vasya from the internat’s custody and turn it over to me. But the lady didn’t have everything she needed so she wanted Vanya to get it for her, even though it is her job-this is the crazy lady the judge in court told to shut-up. When he got her all the documents she met us at no.4. She signed a few things, Vanya signed something, the director told Vasya a few things and we talked about his party at 3. The Director said no heavy cream????

We tried to get Vasya's things out of his common room but couldn't find the key, so we decided to get them later. We went back to the apartment, had some lunch, he played on the computer, and played the gameboy. We headed back to no.4 around 2:30 and stopped by the store on the way. We got three big boxes of juice, bananas, cookies, lots of crab, candy, and candy bars. 157 grivna worth or about thirty dollars. Vanya had once again locked himself out of the apartment, that makes twice in two days. So Vasya ran the key back to him while I waited with the food. The party was great, all the kids in his group were there except Andre. I saw him later but he didn't go to the party. As tradition each guest at the party makes wishes for the future of the person the party is for. So each kid said something, I videoed it but I need to figure out how to post that. Then Vasya took pictures with just about everyone in the building. The girls in his group pretended to sob and it was lots of fun. He packed his belongings into less than half a walmart bag and we left. He was very happy "NO MORE INTERNAT."

When we got back to Michelle's Vasya volunteered to help her cook potato soup for supper. He shredded the cheese and washed the potatoes. He then watched a movie in Russian, played on the computer, and played game boy before going to bed.

It would have been a great day BUT we Vanya had to take the aunt back to the de-regester place for the apartment and the lady there said we have to wait until the 13th to go before a council before she will approve the document to get the passports. I was mad, that means another two weeks for us here. What am I going to do for two weeks? We are planning on getting Sasha on Friday, then maybe early next week we can go to the embassy and get their medicals and visa work done before the council thing meets. Then we will come back for that, pick up the passports and go back to Kiev for the Visa's the boys need to get into the United States.

I have Vasya with me, we are going to no.4 soon for his party.

November is National Adoption Month.

Yesterday Michelle went to visit Vera in the hospital. Vera is sharing a room with a three year old orphan boy. Michelle said he was tiny and just laid in his bed. Can you imagine being three, being sick and having no one to take care of you, no one to visit you in the hospital, no one to tell you that everything will be ok? Thankfully the Lord put Vera in this little boys path, even though she is sick herself she has been helping this little guy. Thinking about this little guy puts a lump in my throat and not just because it is a sad thing but because Matthew spent his first year alone in a Ukrainian hospital with no one to love him, hold him or comfort him. Think about all the other kids who are alone right now-not just in Ukraine. I read somewhere that if just 2% of Christians would adopt just one baby, toddler, child or teenager there would be no more orphans left in the world. Adoption is not easy, it is not cheap, and it is can be time consuming, but it is worth it. I could not love these three boys anymore if I had given birth to them. I would love to adopt again. If you are unable to adopt think about supporting family can adopt or sponsor an orphan. I know of several missionaries right now who could use a little help, just e-mail me.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

I love this picture that Jeff sent me of Matthew and his birthday gift from the Erickson's-you guys sure spoil this boy. He love it.
Here's Vasya's new shoes that we brought for him.

Vasya held the camera up and took this picture of us today.

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #7 Nov 3

I didn't do much yesterday (sunday). I didn't feel the greatest, I think the jet lag is getting to me.
I didn't visit either boy, I just sat around and watched Andy Griffith and The Beverly Hillbilly's on DVD.
I am not sure what we got accomplished today- a lot of walking. We went to the place where we deregister the boys from the apartment. The lady was friendly and told us what papers we needed. Then we had to get a notarized application for them to be deregistered. That wasn't too bad, then we went back to the center-we picked up the boys' aunt Tanya at her place and took her to the city council buidling. There are three city council's in Odessa, we dealt with the first with Vasya. The second is where Sasha's inspector was at. Today we hit no.3 for the apartments. The lady we needed wasn't at work today, we waited around for her for a while. Then we went to a notary to have the aunt notarize a document she has stating that the family had paid for the apartment. There are seven names on the apartment, Vasya, Sasha, Tanya, her two kids, and two others. Vanya sent me to no.4 then. I had to drop off some papers and get Vasya's medical paper-a one page paper documenting his health history since arriving at the orphanage. Vasya is ready to go, we are check him out tomorrow at 9:30. I think we will have his party tomorrow after lunch if we are done running around. He wants to go to the store with me to pick out the food for the party. I brought each of the kids in his class a couple pairs of thick black socks for the winter. They have to wear black with their school uniforms. Sasha still doesn't want a going away party, but I brought party bags for his class. The boys get matchbox cars and the girls get girl power bracelets, they all get candy necklaces, candy and some sort of fruit-probably bananas that I will buy right before I go there. I don't know when we will break him free. I am hoping that we will get the passports by the end of the week and then we can go to the embassy early next week and home by the end of next week. But things always move twice as slow as I predict. Please keep the prayers coming that things go smooth and quick so we can go home.

On our walk to the market for Vasya's snack he told me he wants to get to America so he can play:soccer, football, basketball, tennis, volleyball and run. I think we need to introduce him to wrestling Larry, he is small but quick!

Halloween pictures from South Dakota

This little mouse can't chew up much with no front teeth!