S orphanage visit

Sumi is a long drive. Bumpy roads all the way. Masha and I sat up front to enjoy the drive.
Haley agreed to take her medicine last night and this morning.

We drove up to the orphanage and Ir was walking between buildings. I was amazed she was wearing the same jacket and jeans we saw her in last year. It was easy to spot the red jacket. As you get closer to the jacket you see how old and worn it is. She jumped up and down and called to me and ran to me. Then the others piled out of the van. Hugs for all. She said Ri, Ri so we went in to find her. We chatted for awhile. It was good to see them.

We asked to take them to McDonalds. Last year it was suggested we do this. This year we had to take the whole class. Only 3 would fit with us in the van. The driver had to make 2 or 3 trips. This was a fincial surprise to take them all. Milkshakes are not common in Ukr. I wondered how many had one for the first time?

This was Ir first time to the McDonalds in S. She has lived there awhile. Ri had been with older friends.

When the first group left, a few of us went across the street to get bananas for the kids and chocolate.

Often we meet one kid that sticks out to us. The same one stuck out to the three of us awake. I'd love to bring him on the hosting program and he would love to come. We have not worked out the finanaces for hosting. I do good to take a deep breath some days. The boy reminds me of my new son. Cute as can be. He told us alot about himself. Sad, he is too big for my suitcase.
Ok, I added and it disappeared. Trying again...
Pray for the orphans....their life stories....our heavenly dad knows all.
Reality: Ma, Ra and I are sad. It is hard to say good bye. I wish we had more time in S.

I don't know how long we will be in Ukr. We will try to leave this city Mon and go to Kiev. We have some paperwork to do to leave this city. Waiting on passports, etc. I scheduled tickets for May 7. Ire says passports will be in Kiev May 5. Troy may have his birthday here too...May 6.

Party night and passports

This morning we went out to eat breakfast. We went to the Botanic. My favorite place. It is a cafeteria and we can point at what we want. Masha helps us by telling us what some of it is.
After breakfast we walked to the flea market. Jeans and shoes for Troy, shoes and a skirt for Anna and we bought a volleyball for a teacher. Then to the food side of the flea market. We bought bannanas, cookies, candy and other fruit for their parties.
We went home to drop off some things and pick up the chips. Someone called and we were needed for the paperwork. We went to one office and picked up some papers. While we were working on this the taxi picked up Haley. We went to another office and someone did paperwork. Then to another office. The children had their pictures taken for their passports.
The taxi drove to the other side of town to take the worker home. We decided we were so close to McDonalds that we would eat there before going to the orphanage. By this time it was 5 and we had only had breakfast at 10. No lunch today...we were too busy.
The children kept asking if we would go and do their parties. I said yes. I also told them the sooner we did the paperwork the sooner they would get to go home.
We arrived at the orphanage and asked permission, again to do the parties. We then asked permission from Anna's teacher to do her party. We explained we planned to be there earlier but had to do paperwork. Anna passed our bananas, apples, cookies, candy and the others passed out chips and Sprite. After they finished drinking we passed out stickers and baloons. (I hate to blow up baloons after someone. I'll probably be sick. I blew up a lot after the kids tonight.) We know several of the children well, in her class. We had fun hitting the baloons to eachother for a long time. I would have 6 baloons coming at me at once. I hoped I would not accidentally hit someone while trying to hit them all back before they hit the floor. (It was good upper arm exercise.) Heather started playing and it made it much easier. We had a good time, Anna did too. She mentioned some children that were not in the same room. Anna, Masha and Rachel went to give them all the goodies while Heather and I stayed with her class. Masha had told Anna, when she was upset in the park from not getting something when we gave things to others, that she had better surprises at home. Tonight Anna told Masha she did not take their bananas and cookies because she had better surprises at home. I love it. She is learning to share and give. I really have such a heart to give to others. I want them to have this heart too. I don't want them to just think of themselves.
Earlier, as we were leaving the market we saw a homeless man sleeping on the bench. I asked Troy to take him some of our bananas. He was surprised at the request. He did obey. You could tell this man had nothing. He was so tired he was sleeping on a bench in the middle of the day. There are beggers on many corners in this country. Most are grandmotherly types. It is hard to pass them by. Amy is the one that I usually have take them money. She is small, loving and nonjudging. She has love in her eyes and joy to give to them. Some of my other children have different attitudes. I wish we all had the childlike loving attitude of Amy.
I digressed: After Anna's party we had a few minutes before Troy's party. We talked with some of the children. Rachel and Masha went to buy bananas and more cookies. We went up to his class and started the party. All my girls were passing out food. Troy just enjoyed being served and playing video games. We stayed in a room until his class had come to eat. We were invited into the girl's room. They told us about themselves. Two of them have been there for 11 years. I hope my face did not reveal the shock and sadness I felt for them. Music was talked about. I told them we listened to alot of Christian music. One said she did not used to believe in God but that she was starting to believe and pray. I encouraged her to read at least a little of her Bible every day. It was such fun to be with them. All of us had lots of questions and answers. They told me that they would really miss Troy. They said he was sweet and hugged them when they were down. I love that about him too. I know they will miss that. They had asked when we would leave, I said "when they kick us out". It was time. They wanted to lock the doors.
We walked home. Anna sat on my shoulders for awhile. She is so light, ok, not after a mile or two, but compared to others her age. Troy then carried her on his shoulders home. (Part of my tiredness is from carrying her so much. It is so worth is to be tired to have that bonding with her.)
We are now finished with most of the paperwork in this city. We will go to Kiev soon. Tomorrow we plan to go to Sumi to visit the children we will host this summer. We are all looking forward to seeing them.
Sunday we plan to visit the orphanage one last time. We will either leave Sunday or Monday for Kiev. We don't know when we will be home, yet. We will keep praying.
I am so thankful to my heavenly Father for allowing our time to be done here. I truly believe this is what is best for my children, all of them. We look forward to seeing the children Sunday. I do not look forward to telling them bye. I had a harder time tonight than Anna did saying bye. She is ready to leave and be with us. We had a great time shopping with Anna and Troy today.
It will be good for them to have a little bit of normal in Kiev.

A hard day

Yesterday the kids did not want to go to school. Anna woke us all up at 6. I did not get to go back to sleep. They had stayed up late the night before, because of the excitement of being the first night here together. We did a little with the flash cards to work on their English. Finally. This was my first attempt to teach them. They have been in school 6 days a week. They were tired when we get them. I had decided to wait until we had them all day to start working on the alphabet.
Haley started the morning off being mean to her sister. (The side affects from seeing family yesterday.) Later they were using inappropriate language. I firmly told them to stop. Haley decided she wanted to go to the orph. Unfortunatly she told Anna she would not be back. Anna cried and cried. Haley came back to rescue her? I had told Anna she was coming back. Haley stayed mad and told the orphanage. She told the workers she wanted to sleep there. I said I thought that was best and that she wanted to skip school today but if she was going to sleep there she should go to school. Later she found out that she had to go to school and was not happy with me. I have very little ways of punishing them here. Her punishment is school. I also think she needed the time to say bye to her friends.
We took Anna, Troy, a freind Tan and Oksanna (V) to pizza and ice cream. Tan was having trouble in school and I had hoped for time to just be with her. She was about the only one outside yesterday. She is in Haley's class but they do not like eachother. I had met her in 07 and pray for her. She has hung out with Rachel and I alot. I was glad they gave us permission to go. We had a good time. Nice day for a walk. Troy did use bad language at dinner. I told him to stop. He said he would sleep at the orphanage and I said ok. (Ok, do they really think them sleeping at the orphanage is hurting me?)
On the way back I asked him where he would sleep. He did no know. Masha and I went to make sure Anna's teacher knew she would be sleeping with us. Troy had disappeared and reappeared. He was going home with us.
We had a nice quiet evening. Much needed. My sinus drainage and headache are not making things easier. I was glad to see Troy draw. It is the first time I have known him to sit still that long. Anna played quietly. We started watching a movie. Anna fell asleep. It is after 9 and they are still asleep. A quiet moment.
Today we will buy pants for Troy and Anna, a soccer ball for a teacher, and have a party for their classes. Troy made a long 9 item wish list of things for the party.
They are awake.
Yesterday we did some paperwork. There is a new rule. A new 10 day waiting period. We are hoping this can be waived. The papers we filled out were different from the ones Vicki filled out. We will know more this afternoon. Passport paperwork will be filled out today.
Yesterday, waiting on the van, I prayed it would hurry up and pick us up. God said "Is not my timing perfect?" Again I started praying for something. Again God repeated "Is not my timing perfect?" Many of you know I have prayed specifically for God's perfect timing. When they told me we would not be leaving in the next day or two, I admit I was not thrilled. But then I remembered: God's timing is perfect. I have to be content where I am. I am to be content in His timing. I am praying about whether the children will go back to the orphanage at all after today. Anna will not go back to class. The other 2 are older. Seeing their friends is important. But saying goodbye over and over is hard on them and me. So we will pray and party today.
Tomorrow Sumi!!!! We are glad to have this worked out.
Sunday the children have free time at the orphanage. That is a good time for them to hang out with their friends. We must decide when to end the visits there.
Thank you for your prayers. The journey is a little longer than expected. We are all getting a little weary. I am glad we did get enough sleep last night.
Masha is translating for us and translating documents. She is busy. We try to give her the time she needs. Please pray for her to be rested. She is such a blessing to us all.

All adoptions are different

We went to do paperwork this morning. We had to go to make copies. I needed to exchange money.
I had always wanted the 3 to go with us to their birth city. I had hoped to find their older sister there. They have said they did not want to go until last night and then asked to go with us. We called them this morning to confirm they still wanted to go with us. Yes.
We called a larger taxi, a van. We drove to the city where we needed to do paperwork. The driver found the office and we took the paperwork in to be done. A two hour wait. We ate lunch in the building. It was good. Simple Ukrainian food and cheap.
We all piled back in the van to go look for the town they lived in. 15 minutes later we were there. A few minutes after that we were at their father's fathers house. The door to the house was open. The gate was locked. We called out. No answer. We looked around. There were 2 people in the back yard working in the garden. We thought their grandfather was dead. He and his second wife were working in the garden. We talked a little. He offered to show us the home. I asked to see any pictures of the children. They showed us some and I took pictures of the pictures. They called to see where the other grandaughter was living.
We drove another few minutes. Stopped. There she was. I knew we were to try to find her. I never thought it would be so quick and easy. Many told us it would not be possible. I felt God saying to try. We talked a few minutes. Marina and Haley cried.
I wanted her to have the opportunity to tell her sister goodbye. We gave her our address. Haley cried for an hour or so. She now has a picture of her sister, mother, and father. Anna asked to go back and see her sister again. It was a shock for Marina to find out they had been adopted and were leaving for America. I am glad we went.
Marina is about 21. The children had heard that she went to the night clubs and dressed well. They were mad she had not come to see them. I told Haley I knew she was mad at her. I also told her it would be years before she would be back in Ukraine. This was her opportunity to say bye.
We went back to the city to sign and pick up the new birth certificates. Another step accomplished. Great joy to see the smiles on their faces.
Our driver was so touched by our story he gave us a discount on the fare. He was surprised we had children and were adopting 3. I was surprised by his generosity. We had met him a few weeks ago. We called for a taxi and a van came. Some were planning on walking back to the orphanage that night. We called them to all pile in. The charge was a little more but it was great for us to be all together. We told him we might need him for other trips. Nice van, nice man.
The children are here spending the night. They want to go back to visit their friends. So good night I must put them to bed.

10 Day Wait Over

We received the court decree today. Tomorrow we will go to their birth city to get their birth certificates. We need one more paper signed in the morning before we go.
We had offered to take the children to see their older sister. They have said no for months. Just before they got out of the taxi tonight they decided they did want to go with us. Now I'm praying about what to do. Travel arrangements were made already without them included.
We took them ice skating today with Vicki, Den and Oks. Vicki had a hard day. She needs extra prayer. Vitalik's passport was not ready today. They will take the train tomorrow. We pray they get their paperwork done in Kiev by Friday and fly on Sunday. We went to their apartment tonight. Rachel and Masha went to get us some bread and cheese for dinner. We prayed with them before they left. Vicki is ready to go home.
We have been blessed to spend time with many of the children. God's timing has been amazing. One of the graduates I wanted to spend time with was at the mall with 2 others. We paid for them to ice skate with our kids. It was good to see them having a great time. They were so happy when they left.
It was hard to watch Vitalik say bye to his friends. We know several of them. They all came out and waited for the taxi. It came in the gates. He hugged them all bye. The boys ran out the small gate and lined up and saluted him as he left. It was very touching.
Tomorrow I will go to sign for the children, at the orphanage. They will then be our responsibility. Their attitudes were finally as if they believed it was real...today. The loving smiles are back. The confidence that they are ours. It is good to see.
They have been told that the process is hard. That it will not be easy. I have been told the same. But reality is I have rested in the arms of my Lord and Savior. Knowing His timing was prepared before we arrived. I do not know when we will be home. Guessing around May 3rd. Possibly sooner? I am trusting in God to work out the details. This includes the transportation problem tomorrow and other little things that come up. After birth certificates we will get their passports. This takes days.
We are sad to leave so many of the children we love behind. We will miss their smiling faces and their hugs. Some hugs are long sweet hugs. The younger kids all call me Mama Hollie. It is sweet music to my ears. Anna has been careful to let them know, at times, that I am her American. They accept that fact. They usually call for Anna when they see me. Then come to say hello.
We hope to go to Sumi on Thurs or Fri to visit the 2 we will host this summer. We will have to wait until we have the birth certificate work done to make the arrangements.
God is good. His blessings are amazing. I did not sleep much last night. It was not worry that kept me up. I did not know why. I read the Bible. Listened to my Christian WOW cd. I woke up this morning had breakfast and again lots of Bible and music. God was preparing me for Vicki's news. I cried with her. "Savior you can move this mountain" and Scripture came to mind. I was honored to cry and pray with her. When she called back to say they would help her on Friday, at the Embassy, we prayed again, thanking God for hearing our prayers and moving the mountain of the Embassy being closed to adoptions this Friday.
I did journal while not blogging. We will see what God wants me to post. God answered so many prayers during our wait. We prayed who to give jackets to; those are the kids we would see that day. We prayed to see children on certain days and we would. God is truly amazing. We are loving being with the children.

Bought train tickets

The kids watched a movie before school this morning.

Another long day. Masha and I met a friend at the train station to buy tickets for Ricky, Andrew and Amy. They leave at 9 in the morning. They leave Kiev and Ukraine at 12 Wednesday. Masha will go with them, by train to Kiev. She will stay there until after Easter on the 19th. We will probably see her on Monday the 20th.

Rachel, Heather and I will stay here with no interpreter and no computer. So I will not be blogging for about a week. I will still get my emails on my Blackberry. My responses will be short so don't take offense. I am not quick at texting. I can not reply to Facebook on my Blackberry.

I am glad Masha will get to spend Easter with her family. I know her husband misses her. I want her to spend some time with him. Her sister is getting married soon. I'm sure she will want to spend time with her too. (To me Easter is a family time. I did not want her to miss that because of us.)

I asked Andrew what he wanted to do his last day here. He wanted to go to the mall ice skating. Masha and I arrived there first and went to the grocery store there to buy some movies. We bought snacks for the kids. After eating fruit they went ice skating. Vicki and her 3 came in time for skating. They waited on the train and rode it around the mall.

Our crew went to Burger Club for dinner. After that Ricky and Andrew took the kids back, one last time. Haley was not feeling well.

We had company over for tea and cake. We enjoyed spending time talking. They brought us cany, cookies and a new hazelnut carbonated drink. We like it. We did not like the bread drink we had bought earlier in the week.

Prayer requests: for safe travel for Ricky and the kids. For our safety here. For wisdom in getting around on our own. (We may have to call Masha in Kiev to order us a taxi!)

On a sad note: Ricky and the 5 kids were walking back to the internot to get the older 2 today. Rachel noticed a man lying face down on the ground. She called Ricky's attention to him and asked if Ricky was going to help him. He was blue. Many people just kept walking by. This was on a small children's playground. We walk through it almost every day. Ricky guessed the man was in his mid 40's and that he had been dead for awhile. Ricky had trouble trying to find someone willing to call the police. Finally, someone did call them. I was glad Masha and I were buying the tickets and missed seeing this. But 5 of our kids did see it. They didn't understand why people were not willing to help. I'm sure this subject will come up again. We don't know if the man had family or anything about him.

Anna has made friends in the neighborhood. She loves attention. These girls enjoy playing with her. Ricky has been tagging along while I cook or clean. Things will be different with one adult here.

We live in the country at home. I like the country. Here we live in a concrete jungle. There is apartment building after apartment building. Tons of them that are all around us.

Easter

We packed the eggs and gifts for the day. We all dressed. No fancy Easter dresses here. We did good to find clothes that were not dark. I asked everyone wear something with spring colors. I shuddered as I put on my blue jeans. No girls dressed in new dresses for church this year.
We gathered on the bed and read about the last few days of Jesus' life. We ready about His resurrection and return. Jesus came back to talk with and encourage the disciples. I like that he especially asked for Peter, the one who denied Him 3 times. I find comfort in God's forgiving Peter. Our church this year was in the bedroom. God's Word is worth reading. I could not have Easter without hearing His Word.
Two taxi's and off to the egg hunt. When we arrived the children were cleaning the area outside. They stood on the porch and turned their backs while we hid the eggs. We had a few from the older group come help hide the eggs. It was done in no time at all. We gave the kids the boundaries. And they were off. They had a blast. I told my 4 to make sure they all found at least one. They would come up to us to ask where they were hidden or some every time they found an egg brought it to us to show it off. They were told, by workers, not to eat the eggs and to save them for lunch. We all walked around looking for lost eggs. We enjoyed being around their excitement and smiling faces. They emptied the plastic eggs and ate the candy. The 6 cleaning went back to their cleaning the grounds and the others went back inside.
We walked over to the next playground and hid eggs behind it. Now little Anna was getting into it. She hid the same egg five or six times while waiting on the kids to arrive. Troy, of course, climbed a tall tree to hide and egg up high. The group arrived. We gave them the boundaries. They were older and the eggs were hid better. It took them awhile to find all the eggs. I don't know if Troy told them where the egg was or if one of them spotted it. I did see a boy climb the tree to get the egg. We counted them. At least 10 missing. They hunted the missing eggs. I told them that was about all of them. I slipped Rachel and egg and she took the only boy not to find one yet to look for it. What joy he had when he found it. We thought they were hid to well, at first. I realized they were finding them and hiding them in their pockets. They all wanted to find more. It was fun to watch them.
We stayed at the playground for awhile. We love to be there and hang out with the kids. We saw most of the children we know. Some of the kids were vising with family. The older girls were playing a game with a soccer ball. The boys were on the stadium, playing soccer. Andrew, Troy and many others were on the court playing with balls. The younger girls played a kind of "your it" game. They were all having fun enjoying the sun.
We went to eat lunch. There is a restaurant by the park. We played outside waiting for the food to be ready. Anna spotted that the rides were running in the park. I told her several times, "after lunch". Four of us walked back to the internot to meet the group. The rest stayed in the park playing.
The worker went to get the younger children. They had been sleeping. We walked to the park. They played on the playground for awhile. Then the rode a mini roller coaster, swings, and bumper cars. Troy was aking for more. We decided to give them their gifts. Little Anna was upset she did not have anything. I explained none of my children had received a gift. She pouted a few minutes. The boys received plastic airplanes and flew them awhile. We went and ordered pizza and had them set up the tables. All the kids came, washed hands and sat at the tables. Everyone was smiling. Nat cut up And's pizza, just as Haley had the year before for Anna. I loved to see that. We had to order ice cream because we had done it for the older group. On the way back through the park we bought cotton candy. We had another great day in the park in Ukraine.

Haley had asked permission to go to her friend's house for the day. We saw her only for a few minutes in the morning. We did not see her that night.

Anna had been asking for her present, several times. Troy had disappeared to play with friends as soon as we returned. We took Anna to get her "Easter basket". All 7 of them had goody bags. Because 2 are leaving soon we let the 5 have theirs last night. Rachel's favorite is Hershey's peanut butter eggs. Yes, I surprised her by bringing them here. I had hidden them in my suitcase. Just a little something to dull the pain of missing our family Easter at home. My mom's sisters, my cousins, their kids and others were all together for the annual Easter egg hunt. My kids were missing their cousins.

Decisions: Andrew and Amy will return home with Ricky. Plane reservations are for Wednesday. They will probably take the train tomorrow. Ricky must get to Kiev before one to do paperwork before he leaves.

Happy Easter from The Holmes

Andrew's 14, Congrats Cake and Dinner

I made an attempt to make pancakes for Andrew's birthday this morning. We ate them. I think they are the worst I've ever made. We could not buy syrup here. So I made strawberry syrup. That will make any pancake better.
We worked on teacher's goody bags today.
We boiled and decorated eggs, tons of them. We have about 100 decorated and ready for the egg hunt in the morning. We are all excited about it.
Masha and I ran errands. Sasha wanted us to have a celebration cake. We sent the kids out of the house and went to pick it up. It was beautiful.
We went to the orphanage and confirmed times for tomorrow. We will wait and take the goody bags next week when they celebrate Easter. We wanted to do the egg hunt while Ricky is still here.
For Andrew's birthday we went to let them drive the race cars. I was thrilled when Amy said she did not want to drive. They are big cars and go pretty fast. Troy, Dennis and Andrew went first. Dennis was a little short to drive. I was glad they allowed him to drive. Haley and Rachel drove next. Little Anna wanted to drive, she was too little. Heather and Oksanna chose not to drive.
All of us went back to the apartment. Masha and I had made ham salad for our lunch so we fed it to the other kids for their lunch. They had it on bread with cheese. They also ate nut brittle, bannanas and apples.
The cake: They were all ready to eat the cake the minute they saw it. Everyone was very excited. It was huge. Between the 14 of us we ate half of it. Everyone enjoyed it. It was a nice treat from Sasha.
The 4 had dyed eggs earlier in the day. Now it was time for Dennis, Oksanna, Haley, Troy and Anna to dye eggs. Vitalik came later. Vicki bought Vitalik a new phone and he needed to show it off to his friends. They all had a great time with the eggs. Vicki was included in the fun. She called it therapy. She loves painting and drawing. We used crayons when the eggs were hot and they just melt on the eggs. Our typical design is a cross and flowers. Later after they cooled they dyed them. We also had some wrappers to put on the eggs and put in hot water and the mold to them, beautiful.
The kids went back to the orphanage and we cleaned up part of the mess and headed off to dinner. We had finally located a restaurant we had eaten at last year. We were glad to find it. We thought Andrew's birthday was the perfect reason to go there. Sasha drove 8 of us in his car. Do the math. Ricky holds Amy, Hollie holds Andrew and Masha holds Heather. Rachel was between Masha and I. I think they stepped on her feet a few times. Family togetherness, nothing like it. I was glad to hold my 14 year old boy. Boys that age don't usually sit on their mother's lap. We had a great dinner. The bread was as good as Masha and I remembered. We thanked Sasha and he is on his way home to Kiev tonight.
Another packed day. Another good day. Egg hunt in the morning. Pizza in the afternoon.

Good Friday - Court Over

We had our court date this afternoon. All went well. The judge asked Ricky and I several questions. The prosecutor asked questions as well. They asked the older 2 children questions. It took about an hour and a half. Everyone present had to get up state their name, position, date of birth, before we began. There was a person from the orphanage there, one from what we would call child services, the prosecutor, the judge, 2 witnesses and one I don't know who she was she never spoke, Masha, Ricky and I and the 3 children. We were glad we did not bring the other 4 children. The room was small. They had to bring in chairs for the witnesses. There would have been no room for 4 more children.
We ate M&M's, Haley's favorite, bannans, Troy's favorite, those sweet corn puff things, Anna's favorite with cookies, a Russian drink and sandwiches (sausage on buttered bread). This was their lunch. The rest of us had eaten chicken soup hours before.
Time slipped away. We rushed to cook and eat dinner. Little Anna was late getting back to the internot. She took 2 bannans to eat with her. Haley had spent the afternoon on the phone calling her friends to let them know how it went. The boys went out to play soccer. Ricky took the 2 younger girls to play on the playground. Masha, Rachel and I went to look, again, for the glass that was broken to try to replace it. I'm about ready to give up on finding it and just offer the landlord money. There is a "you break you buy policy here".
We all have been discussing the day. We have been talking about what we have learned. What our plans are for the next few days and how we will accomplish them.
Yesterday, I spent hours trying to figure out what class gets what toys or candy. We plan to take them to the orphanage tomorrow or Sunday. We plan to have an Easter egg hunt with the younger children Sunday. Yes, I flew here with plastic eggs. I probably did not bring enough. Heather has filled them with jelly beans. They do not hunt eggs here. The orphanage has had and Easter egg hunt before. We decided to boil and decorate some too. We hope the children will want to eat them.
So a good day. Court over. Now 10 days of waiting. Then after that we go to their birth city to get paperwork, work on passports and after another week or so we will get to come home. Looking at it now the soonest we could be home is in 2 weeks. We are hearing things will go slow here in Poltava and they will take a week here. There is at least 2 or 3 days work to do in Kiev. We will keep praying and see. That adds up to 3 weeks of waiting and work.
I was able to honestly tell the judge that when we started working with the hosted children we had no plans to adopt. But after meeting them and spending time with the children, we began praying about adoption. It has been almost 2 years since we met Troy. It has been 18 months since I met the girls. They have all changed. It is sad we missed out on that time with them. We could not do anything to get them faster. Nothing was in our control. We waited. We will be waiting again, for weeks. I am glad for this waiting period we can spend time with them.
James 4:4 You do not have, because you do not ask God.
We did ask God. We asked for His timing and His plan. We are now several steps closer to having the children. We ask God again for His plan and timing. Our plans and timing are just not that important.
Ricky is trying to a flight to come home as soon as possible. He has to do paperwork in Kiev before he can leave. There are no flights on Tuesday. He is trying to arrange a flight on Wednesday. He is having a hard time leaving us.
I am so thrilled Masha is with us. She is a great interpreter. Most of all she is a great friend. She has made this whole process much easier. I am blessed to know she will be with me as Ricky is leaving. God's provision is perfect.
On this Good Friday: Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus author and perfecter of our faith. His sacrific was so great. His love for us amazing. Easter blessings to all.

Prayer needed today

I should have posted last night. We were too tired. We were trying to go to bed early. We did not end up in bed until after 10. With 6 of us and 1 computer, computer time is divided. My equal share is after they go to bed. Ricky usually has it the morning. Last night we had the giggle hour, pillow fights included. The kids tell me my rule is not to sing with headphones in. Well after trying to get them to sleep for 30 min. I decided I needed to sing to them. I'm thinking ok when we add 3 more to these 2 bedrooms I may be up every night trying to get them to sleep. Oh what fun? The laughs are fun....the lack of sleep is not.
Yesterday was a hard day for us. Most of us were tired. The littlest threw her second tantarum. The oldest did not like us putting her to bed for it. I gave the oldest permission to put her to bed next time. She did not like that either. The youngest was over the situation in a few minutes. She knew she had was wrong in her behavior. The oldest, well it took her a little longer to get over it. (This is one of those choices to handle it now or at home. I think the other 4 would have had a littly mutany if I had let this go. They know my rules.)
At dinner the oldest asked if she could pray. This is the first time for her to pray at a meal here. She prayed we would work out our problems, thanked God for us and the food. I loved it.
I'm sharing this because the reality is everyone who adopts will have challenges they face. They will all be different. It is hard for these teens to leave their friends. Their friends have become their family. Our oldest 2 have bonded. The boys have bonded. Ricky and I get our hugs every time they see us and when they leave us, but they are not yet bonded to us like they are our children. We love the hugs. We also see them hug others. The littlest has allowed me to comfort her in her time of sorrow. I'm surprised we are to that point already. The oldest thinks she is to old to be parented. The boy, well he will do what it takes to get to our home. He is quick to respond, with words, to others telling him what to do. He takes it well when I remind him we must be respectful of adults and listen. I do not want them giving the workers a hard time. I want him to be respectful. I'm glad he is listening.
The 3 have not had any chores. They are at school most of the day. The 4 are doing some. We do not know how much time we will have with them after court. We do not know if they will continue to go to school or not. Praying over this.
How much these children eat amazes me. The littlest had and apple, bannana, chicken burger, tons of these cheese puff type things, and another apple. She was too full for desert. Every day they ask for chocolate. So I try to buy a chocolate bar cut it into squares and the whole family gets a square or 2 a day. I think they like going back and saying they had chocolate. We figure a square a day won't hurt them. With 10 of us that's all you get from one chocolate bar.
So today we have a meeting. We hear we are lucky to be this far. We pray all goes well today. We know that we are doing what God called us to do. Therefore we believe we have God's favor in this matter. Therefore God will do things in His timing and in His way. To God be the glory.

Green beans and dust?

Today was jacket weather. It surprises me the dust or sand storms that come all the sudden. Often we are walking and we hold our breaths or our mouths get filled with sand. Buses pass by and the dust flies. I did not expect so much sand to be here. Interesting.
We walked to the grocery store this morning. I spent more money today than ever. We tried to buy for a couple of days. We have bought so much here we had enough for a 10% discount. Lots of stickers. We probably were the first to get enough stickers for the discount! I don't see any other families walking around with 7 children. There are workers in the store to watch for stealing. Just about every grocery store we go to has them. I think these get a kick out of watching us shop. They have decided that we pay and are ok. There are lockers at the door to put your bags in before entering the store. I think Amy likes to bring a bag just to lock it and get the key. Some stores charge for this demanded service. Usually Ricky gets to hold the bags at these stores.
We have had a discount on the taxi service. We have called them 6 times and the 7th is free. They keep up with it for us. We have to call from the same number to get the 7th free. Those of you who know me know I think it's fun to get a deal. We usually surprise the drivers by tipping them. One kept telling me it was one copec and not grievna or one of the smallest coins and not the one in paper. Our taxi rides typically cost less than $1.50U.S. Tonight we went to the internot, took Vicki home and then to our home (big triangle) all for $23.70g, we gave him $25g and he was happy. Total trip $4.20 U.S.
More pictures for the kids today for passports. They were not thrilled about having to have them taken again. We are trying to find anything we can do that might help the process go quicker. So we are doing them now and not waiting till Kiev.
We were able to spend a little while at the internot with the other children today. We enjoyed spending time with the children we had met before. It was Masha, Rachel and I that were able to stay there. Reality is 7 of us is too many. They are ok with 3. It was a nice day. The older boys had a soccer game going. The younger children were playing outside on the playground. A few of the girls sang for us. It was great.
We were able to spend some time with both of the workers that we had met with our hosting program. It was good to see them and talk with them. One of them brought us Easter gifts. I have a woven basket, mother hen. She gave each of the 6 of us something. What a nice surprise. The other, from summer, is not feeling well, some serious health problems.
Toby Mac sings "When love is in the house the house is packed" well it was packed again today. We had Vicki, O and D over for dinner. We all packed in around the table all 13 of us!
Finally the grocery had in some frozen green beans. We don't see many greens here. I was thrilled. My 4 ate them without complaining. The new ones were testing the water a little with company. Showing off. So no desert for him. The littlest came back to eat a little later. I gave her the plate of food. She protested. I showed her the apple and cookies. She ate some of the food and then the apples and cookies. Being here you would understand. To me it was expected. For them they were surprised I had rules with company. I told Vicki if they were coming often I had to nip it early. Some things I don't try to tackle, yet. Other things, like skipping dinner and thinking you will eat desert only, I have to handle now. Many things we use the diversion tactic. The other adult usually takes them out or gets them away from whatever. I'm going to miss the other adult diversion. Masha is getting to know them pretty well to. She has decided not to translate, for the kids, unless it is important. She is trying to encourage them to listen and learn.
The boys played soccer outside. They had a good time. I think my 2 middle kids are getting homesick. Little pricessa is happy if she is with us. She does not care if we live here or at our other home. She just wants to stay with us. Love it.
The oldest could have stayed a little later here with Vicki, Ricky and the other kids. She chose to go back with the little one early. She wanted to talk with her friends. I was glas to see some of the little ones. We did get to say hello to a few. Serg is so sweet. He hold on to me forever. He just smiles and holds on. I love to see how they light up when we visit.
In Ukraine adults are called by 2 names. It is formal to show respect. It is a little confusing to me. My understanding is it is not their last name. It is their father's name with child of, included. My Ukrainian name is Hollie Dollie. One of the teachers did finally explain that was not my name. I laugh and they continue to call me it. It sounds more like Hah lee Dah lee. It has grown from one class to several now. It started with kids in jr. high age. So that is now my formal, fun Ukrainian name.
It's late. I need sleep?

Flea Market Again

Rachel only brought one pair of shoes. I was not happy about this. We went to look for her shoes a third or fourth time. I told her she would find something today or I give up. Spending hours for days looking for her shoes was no fun. Yes, she bought shoes today. No, we did not make it to the muesum. The shoe search took awhile.
We bought the littlest a ball and Amy had to have one too. Ricky and 2 kids went to look for something. Forty minutes later I finally found him.
So, if at all possible have 2 cell phones in another country. You'll have a way to find your spouse. We have wished several times that we both had a phone.
We went to the Concord mall to the grocery store to pick up some drinks. Nothing is cold here. You get it out of the cases but the drinks are never cold. We should have brought an ice tray! I have not seen one for sale. We took our drinks up to the top floor to sit by the windows and rest. We did order some Sushi. Those that like Sushi agreed it was good. Freshly prepared for us. There is also a cafeteria style place to buy food - good too.
The oldest did not come with us today. She was tired. I think she wanted time with her friends too.
The youngest has been hugging me all day. She just left. Again begging me to let her stay here to sleep. There is nothing I can do about this. She was a big help with dinner. I chopped and she threw it into the pan. She did eat 2 bannanas, a cucumber and whatever she could get her hands on while we were cooking dinner. It did not stop her from eating her meal. She also managed to eat the small frozen cheesecake bar and cookies. We played ball outside. We seem to get in trouble no matter where we play. Not near my car. Not near my kitchen. We even had someone fuss because we were in a muddy field. We just smile and move. They know we are Americans. So we try to be Christian in our attitude.
Hebrews 4:14b-15 let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way.
We are excited about some things we will be doing the next few days. We pray for God's wisdom and blessing. We pray we are a blessing to others. We are praying about our court date and Ricky's return. He does not want to leave us. We assure him we will be ok.
Had to stop a minute to clean up a mess. I smelled the littlest ones hands. I knew the smell, Ricky's shaving cream. I did not think much of it an hour ago. But now I'm informed it's on the bathrug. I go to look, not just the rug but all over. Cleaning time again.
We talked with mom and my nephew last night. Good to hear voices from home. We usually only listen to Christian music at home. Sorry to say I'm thrilled in the taxi's to hear American music. I had a good time with the Elvis song today while eating Sushi.

Going to history muesum

Today our plan is for a traditional Ukrainian breakfast. Andrew pointed out if they eat whatever is left from last night, why do we have to go to a restaurant? Well at this home restaurant there is not usually enough left for breakfast.
We plan to visit the history muesum.
Our landlord is coming to inspect our apt. I think she saw us leave here with 2 suitcases yesterday and wants to see what we were up to. It could look strange to some. We are not leaving yet. Why are we taking off suitcases? Blankets and houseshoes to the children was the reason.

A week of waiting

Yes, we have a week of waiting. No appointments.
Studying Paul last year, he had a lot of waiting, his was in prison. We ended up hosting because of waiting. We wanted to serve God in our waiting. The same again. We hope to serve God in our time of waiting. We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us.
We all miss our beds at home. We miss our personal space there too. The kids have watched every movie we brought, most more than once. Occasionally tv will have something American dubbed, but it is not fit for the kids to watch. Last night was the first time I had time to turn the tv on.
The kids want to be here in the apartment. So I spend alot of time cooking with helpers. The ones of us living here do the cleaning.
Yesterday we walked again. We found a map of the city. We bought, a much sought after, wedding albumn for Masha's sister. Heather a tea cup and me a spoon. We took the kids to a nice park to let them play. We went by the dumpling statue and a church. Thankfully we figured out a shortcut back to the apt. Time to cook dinner again, eat and back to the orph. After returning we watched a movie.

Shopping for a dress is hard

Masha and I had a plan. We were going to have Ricky do school with the kids. We would go to the mall to get her a dress for her sister's wedding.
We called the taxi. He took us to a restaurant instead of a mall. We requested a mall. He said there was a new one on the other side of town. Off we went. We were early. We walked to the street market to look for flowers. They had only funeral flowers. Then we walked in the market, just to get out of the cold.
Back to the mall. It opens, it is really new and many of the stores are still empty. We covered all the stores looking for a dress. Most dresses are too short and not appropriate for church, much less a wedding. Most stores have maybe 5 dresses. By this I literally mean 5 dresses. This is not in each size, just 5. We did find a a couple of stores with maybe 40 dresses. This store did have up to 4 of a dress in different sizes. The mall had been searched and we decided to eat at Burger Club there (Canadian).
We knew it would be hard to spot stores from a taxi so we began walking. We were at the opposite side of Central Street from the orphanage. We went in lots of doors. You never knew what kind of stores would be inside. Most of the time there would be about 6 small stores. Each specific to mens, collectibles, children's, undergarments or purses and shoes. We walked all the way to city center. My feet were starting to feel it. No luck at the underground mall either. We kept walking.
We were called and told to be 30 min later to orphanage. We stopped to let our feet rest and had a cappuccino. We walked the rest of the way to the orphanage. We met the kids. Spent a few minutes with the other children and walking again? No way.
I had told Ricky to start without us. He took the kids to get their pictures done. Our kids wanted to leave and we wanted to speak to a few of the other kids. They were finished, with pictures, as we were leaving the orphanage. Masha called us a taxi. Best $1.50 I spent all day.
We did find movies for the kids in the mall, some in Ukr/Rus/Eng. We bought several for future gifts. Most stores have people watching for shop lifters. They were alarmed that I had 4 movies in my hands. He tried to speak to me. I gave my "I'm American" line and he laughed. So then he starts pointing out good movies to me.
I bought some books for them to read. It is hard to choose books, because I am not able to scan over them. We found one book with the Ukr alphabet to help my children with the sounds.
Yes, we ended up with hours of looking and no dress or wedding photo album. Yes, I did buy stuff and she did not. Yes, we did come back and make the kids dinner and hang out as much as we could here. Glad to sit and rest. The oldest played the High School musical game, birthday present, it plugs into the tv. The younger 2 went with the other younger 2 to play soccer outside. The littlest loves to change clothes when she arrives. Then she finds it necessary to walk around the neighborhood so that all can see she is wearing nice, new, clothes. Sometimes we just walk. Other times we thrill her with a stop in the candy store for a handful of her pick. She is quick to share with the other 2. Not yet so quick to share with the other 4. Time.
Ricky asked if I wanted to walk back with them. I told him it was not possible. My feet hurt too bad. I think Masha's too. Again, he walked them back and I did dishes.
I came up with the idea of her getting a dress online from the U.S. We looked for a long time. Reality was that in the first few minutes we had seen more acceptable dresses than looking all day. Now comes the task of narrowing down the choices. I'm just thrilled she has the options! We have covered all 3 malls here and found no great dresses.
The best part of the day: The oldest rushing up to me and giving me kisses and hugs as I arrived. (The littlest always follows after her. She must get a hug too.)

Yes, we had the meeting

We had our meeting today. All went well. We hope to get a court date soon.
We started school this morning. We found out that 2 from Lifeline would be coming with Sasha. So we cleaned house! I ran to the store to get essentials; toliet paper and cookies. They arrived and very shortly after we left. We left them here with the 4 kids and Masha. We went to the orphanage to get the children. The person had requested that all 3 children be there so he could ask them questions. All the children were in their school uniforms. It was break time and they were enjoying the sunshine. So we were able to see several of the kids. The English teacher was in charge of watching them on break so we talked to her a few moments.
I think the most important question of the day was to the kids. He asked them if they wanted to be adopted. They said yes. I think he truly wanted what was the best for the children. He wanted to know that they wanted to be adopted, firsthand.
The Carter's day went well too. They had their court date. Kelly will be leaving to come home. Linda will stay with Vicki a few more days. Vicki sounded very relieved. Ricky talked with Kelly awhile.
After we returned from our meeting Ricky explained that if they made it to Kiev in time they could file our papers. So off they went. Short visit.
Ricky played soccer with the kids. We watched the movie "Amazing Grace". I had given it to Ricky for his birthday. We were looking forward to watching it. I cooked dinner. The kids had to go back so off in the taxi. They rest of us took a walk to see what was near. Not much. Not that we need anything. It's just fun to get to know the area. We are on a edge of Poltava. We are 15 min walk to the city, uphill. There is a large wheat factory here. We, on certain streets, have a great view of one of the churches. It is the one near the columns.
So good news. Progress for both families.
God is good. His grace is amazing. We are praying for wisdom to know His plans for us here. We still see this as a grand adventure. We have submerged ourselves into the culture as much as possible. I've gotten myself into conversations that I have no idea what they are saying. Sometimes a little of the language is not a good thing. Some of the store workers know me now. They know I have no idea how many kilograms I want and will show them with my hands. It is getting easier. Yes, I do go to the store without Masha sometimes. Other times I'm thrilled she is with me!

The flea market

We needed to get out some today. We took a taxi to the flea market. No livestock there. We walked for hours up and down the rows. Andrew bought a soccer ball, my idea. The boys needed something to play with.
We walked to the Carter's place. We sat and talked for awhile. They went to meet some of the kids that returned from camp. We walked over to a mall and ate lunch. It was a very pretty mall. A large contrast between where we had been all morning. It is just a block away from the flea market.
We walked to the orphanage. It was said to be a 15 min walk. It took about 30 min. Our 20 min walk, uphill, is not as far. We were tired when we arrived. We had to wait a few minutes for the kids classes to be finished. We were glad to sit. A few of the kids stopped by to say hello.
We saw the English teacher. She showed us her class. Her husband had done some of the painting in her room. She showed us the books we had donated and said how proud she was of them. She took us to show us the math class. We knew the teacher and 4 of the boys in there.
After gathering the children, we walked back to the apt. Lots of walking today! We gave the kids a snack and watched movies. The kids watched a kid movie and the girls watched a girl movie.
I realized there was not time to watch the end of the movie. We had to eat dinner soon. We cooked fried potatoes, chicken with salad. Heather and I had stopped by the bread store to get bread for dinner. It was still hot. We decided we could not wait for dinner and ate it at snack time. We did save the dessert we bought for dinner. It was also still warm when we bought it.
The oldest just called to say good night. Her sim card had not worked for months. We bought her a new one yesterday. She has called us 3 times in the 24 hours the phone has been fixed.
We gave the boy the jacket that we had bought him for his birthday. He did not wear one again today. He was so pleased to have it. I'll be glad if he wears it. He tends to not bring a jacket. Maybe now that he has his own he will bring it.

Waiting for meeting

Waiting day. We waited the morning hoping to hear our appointment time. Instead at lunch time we find out we will not have a meeting today or tomorrow. Reality is the waiting is not bad if you have an idea of when you will have to do something. But yesterday and today we were afraid to leave the apt thinking we would have a meeting. So tomorrow we will find something to do. Hopefully Friday we will meet.
Now we are hearing we may not get an court date until next Thursday. Ricky has been here 2 weeks. That will mean that he will have to leave after court and I will have to do the rest of the work without him. So we are still praying for an earlier meeting and court date.
I worked with 2 on school while the others walked to get the children, after thier school. We have hung out here at the apt and gone for a walk.
Leftovers tonight. Our 2 packages of American spagetti. A few of the children were afraid on not having their pasta while they were here.
The weather is cool and gloomy. We must get our tomorrow to brighten our spirits. Finding something we all agree on doing can be challenging. We know of little here to do. We have been ice skating twice. Once by the park where it is very bumpy and once in the mall where it is much smoother.
They have started a movie, in English.
It is hard to say why we have not had a meeting. I think it is basically waiting on several people to be available on the same day. It is not just waiting on one person but on several to be available.

Pizza

We slept late. Then we spent the morning hoping for a meeting. The children did school.
We cooked hot dogs and took them to the 3 at the orph at 2. We ate there. As usual it takes about an hour to round up the children. The wanted to come to the apt, so we came. At least a 20 minute walk. One of those things that you knew had to be done to make them happy. We were here 20 min and it was time to go. Thankfully the orph worker was late and called us. So we had about an hour.
We called a taxi to go meet the other children. They sent a van so we all piled in. We dropped everyone off at the park and continued back to the orph.
They are having guest on Wed. So all the children had been working to prepare for them. The older girls class was cleaning antiques for a museum for the orph. They worked for hours scrubbing the items.
We had permission to take the children but there was some confusion. They older girls were still working. They did not go with us to the pizza place. It was good to spend some time with the children. They decided we should have desert, so we ordered ice cream.
They had to return so we all walked them back. Our children were sent to their groups also. This was the earliest we had left. We did get to see the littlest ones class. It was good to see some of the boys we knew.