Day 5 - Orphanage

We went to the orphanage today and had so much fun. We started off in the "family" area and then moved outside to pull Sergei and Dema/Alex away from video games and to let Max run out some wiggles! Monson and Nick...you guys are going to love running wild with him! Max calls me Mama but I think he just thinks that is my name. He must think I am a big kid who brings him treats and talks funny because he listens to everyone...but me :) . I am working on my Russian TODAY! He makes everyone laugh and he is a happy, happy boy. I think we were breaking all the rules hanging out with the other kids but I think all the bananas I brought today bought us some time. We will post pictures soon (to all the families anxiously waiting back home to catch a glimpse of their kids) I tried my best to get them all!

Sergei made me a beautiful paper swan. I look at his face and kiss his hot head and thought "I can't wait to do this in Utah" (until he is too embarrassed to let me)! He is a gift, his heart is bigger than he is. He loves his brother so much and Max would do anything he ask...so grateful we get them both!

Time goes by pretty fast when we are there and when we left, Kevin came up with a game for them.He wrote something for Sergei in English to translate and Sergei wrote something for him in Russian to translate. After a little time at home Kevin cracked the code....
Kevin wrote:  You are a very good football player.
Sergei wrote:   I love to play football.
Cute that they were thinking the same thing.

We had a WONDERFUL dinner with the Gardiner's who spoiled us with a wonderful meal and even better company. They sent us home with arms full of goodies for the kids tomorrow, sidewalk chalk and workbooks and a DVD in English for us to boot!

We have officially been gone over a week and it is getting harder to be away from the girls. Aunt Sarah called us this morning (PM in Ut) and we got to hear Suzy's sweet voice. To all our family and friends who are loving and caring for them...thank you. We couldn't have done this without you.

Our service is hit or miss so wait for the photos...they are coming!

Day 4 soccer

Day 4

We are here with another family, the Gardniers, family of Dema/Alex. It is so fun to be here with them! They took us to the hot spots of Mariupol; pizza restaurant, pastry and coffee shops and showed us all the local markets so we can fend for ourselves a little bit now. We even met some American basketball stars on a local Ukrainian team while we had dinner with them yesterday!  It is great and calming to be here with another family….we love you guys!

We went to the orphanage today and Kevin, Sergei and Dema/Alex played soccer in the sun. I watched and cheered as they beat up on Kevin…although I think he let them J. I sat with a Babushka (grandma) who worked in the orphanage and we watched the babies of the orphanage walking around enjoying the sunshine. A little girl named Liza came up to me and let me pick her right up. She was about 2 years old and the minute I held her, she cupped my face with her little hands and didn’t let go. I almost lost it. My heart broke as she held me. She is innocent and lovely and in an orphanage without a Mama and Papa. I am crying just writing about her. Ukraine does not allow adoptions of their children under the age of 5 (so don’t worry…I am only allowed to bring two kids home) but it again reminded me of all we have and of what so many don’t have. Hold your families tight and pray that all the children in this world find homes.  I traded Liza a banana for my sunglasses and she took the banana and took a big bite…peel and all! I think I will be buying up all of the bananas today at the market to bring to the kids. (I thought of the Miller’s and how much Yuri LOVES bananas!)

After the boys played ball we went inside and the Gardniers arrived with enough pastries for TWO orphanages! They brought their Uno game and although Sergei and Alex cheated the whole time we all had a great time! We are allowed a short visit every day (1-2 hours) and then we have to go. Max was sleeping while we were there so we only got to play for a little while with him. He is seriously the cutest kid. Sergei showed us these beautiful paper swans that he made…I will post a picture because they are just stunning! He brought me his report-card and showed me his 1^st place award for wrestling! He picked me a tulip during his soccer game and I have to say….I am one proud Mama. I love this boy so much.

We are here without a translator for a few days and so we won’t be figuring out the boy’s history for a least a few more days. The culture here is complicated. It seems logical to just ask what the heck is going on but it just doesn’t work like that. We will figure it all out and with all the details, so our boys know their past and will be forever connected to it, but it will take a little time. I have really fallen in love with this place. The people, the history, everything.

Здравствуйте

A thousand words

And having met the boys.

Waiting at the orphanage to meet the boys.

Let's make some jets.

Maksym holding still for the foto (no really).

Vika with Maksym.

With Yuri (guard who teared up just a bit).

Day 3: We held our boys

We have been waiting for this day for so long….we held our boys today! We sat in Lyudmila’s office (orphanage director) and was told the boys have been there since Sept. 2010. Their Mother has passed away and they have been visited by a relative (Uncle?)  who could not take them. Lots of information to untangle and find out but that will wait until next week. For today it was all about loves and hugs! They let us visit for a while and I cried when my boys walked in! Maksym came in first and ran into my arms and then Sergei came from a door behind me  and I held and kissed that boy and he squeezed me right back! We are together, we belong. As we walked into the private “family” room the secretary said the boys looked like Kevin, I totally agree!

I think there was a mix up in personalities descriptions at the SDA appointment because they listed Sergei  as “active” and Maksym as “reserved”…switch that. Sweet Sergei watched over his brother and painted airplanes with Kevin and refused all the candy I brought. Max giggled and laughed and bounced off the walls. He was not shy to call Kevin “Papa” which made me tear up …again! Sergei has grown a bit and Max is slim but not as short as I thought he was. Probably right in-between Suzy and Pearl…everyone will think they are triplets!

Kevin and I are beaming new proud parents. Sergei never took the St. Michael necklace off that Kevin gave him the day he left and Max obviously feels safe if his big brother is around. I am calm, happy and overjoyed all at once. Life is good…no life is great!

I am listing quite a bit of personal information on the boys/us because I know at home you are hanging on every word. We would not be here without you…this day never would have been if it wasn’t for you. If I could stuff you all in my suitcase to witness this I would have but since I can’t I hope this is the next best thing. This day was joy pure joy.  Your prayers are heard, we are in Ukraine with our boys…a miracle.

We get to see them tomorrow and have a court date coming up next week. We saw Victoria and was able to hand her a package from her family and get a picture!, We saw Ruslan (Murford’s son) walk by and got to talk and hug Dema (Gardnier’s son). “Big Sergei” also passed by the door! We did not pass any other packages out but will try tomorrow and will try to get photos for all the families adopting back home!

I don’t know why Ludmilla has a bad rap because as far as we can tell..SHE RULES! We love her and are forever grateful for her role in getting our sons home. Stayed tuned….tomorrow we go back in the morning for a few hours….YAHOOOO!!!

Day 2: Traffic, Referral and Train

I posted about our SDA appointment yesterday and that I slept for 8 hours…make that 20! I got up long enough to blog and then went back to bed! I think I needed it to emotionally recharge after our 15 min meeting, glad it wasn’t any longer! Today we got up, packed our bags and hit the local market. It was great! Fun to be in the middle of everything and to see the old ladies selling their goods, the teenagers being teenagers. The group of old men who sat next to us, chatted with each other over a flask of whiskey and some perogies! Kevin was a little bummed I did not want to go on the Metro to go sightseeing in fear of missing our referral appointment! We ate in the market and I used the public bathrooms…YOWZER!  We left the market and said goodbye to our Kiev Apartment and then sat in HOT traffic for a few hours! The weather here is super warm (78 degrees) and the hot exhaust and no A/C made me a little crazy. We grabbed our referral (to see the kids at the orphanage) and hit the train station.  The train left at 7:20 pm and it was nice and comfy. We have had enough warnings from other families about the overnight ride so I took a sleeping pill and we both slept like babies!

Offical Day One

Today was our big day, our SDA appointment we have been waiting so long for. We went with our facilitator and had about a 15 min appointment. We saw pictures of the boys when they entered the orphanage (dang cute people) and Maksym is as small as we thought he was...maybe smaller! The file said that Sergei was an outgoing kid and that Max was more shy and reserved. They confirmed that the boys had been living with a relative who passed away, they both were diagnosed with scoliosis, they have an 18 year old sister who was never in the orphanage and their Mother did not pass away but lost here parental rights. Wham!

We were more prepared emotionally for all this news (I think) thanks to all of the families that have gone before us. The blogs we have read gave us an idea that in this meeting you usually hear about a half or full sibling and the true history of a parent. We came home and I slept for 8 hours totally wasting the days I have been trying to adjust to Ukraine time, blah. We should catch our train tomorrow night to Mariupol and get to see the boys Sat. WE CAN'T WAIT!

Kevin was able to see the girls on the webcam watching tv at home and it is nice to see their sweet, cute faces! It is a weird place not being with them and not being with the boys. We are ready to wrap our arms around our kids, like yesterday people!

Our facilitator Sasha really does really does kick bootie, we could not have made it this far without him! We are staying in the same apartment building  (his parents apartment actually) and we feel so safe. We have cooked and eaten every meal here in the apartment since we arrived and know if we need anything he will help us. The outside of our apartment is a little sad looking, as in Soviet rule sad, but the inside is cheery and very warm.

Big day, big news but we are still just ready to get this show on the road! Love you all! XOXOXO

Bonjour Kiev

So I need to pull some of the blogging weight around here. I am more of a Twitter sort of person in that I have a very short attention span #lazy. Well we are in Kiev and Sasha is awesome. He gave us a ride into downtown so that we wouldn't get on the metro and with our great skills in Ukrainian end up lost - forever. We started at St. Alexander Cathedral to go see Jesus and to look for Russian\Ukrainain languge catechisms. We did find some fun coloring books for the younger kids. Next - down the hill to Maidan Nezhalezhnasty (independence square).

Maidan Nezhalezhnasty has a statue of Saint Michael on one side and some pagan goddess named berehynia on a tall pedestal on the other side (I say switch places). There are statues as well to to Kyi, Schek, Khoryv, Lybid, and Cossack Mamay. Under it all is the metro and an underground mall that must be very nice when the weather is cold. Today by the way the weather was perfect.

Tomorrow morning will start with our visit to the SDA and from there we will schedule a train ride to Mariupol for the weekend. If all continues to go as expected we will again see Sergei and for the first time meet Maksym all by Saturday. I should have put an exclamation point or two at the end of that last sentence.

I am nervous and excited to meet the boys - we are very blessed to be able to even consider the chance to be a part of these kid's lives and yet here we are.

спокойной ночи!

KIEV!

We are in our apartment in Kiev, Ukraine! We made it! We are actually here! We have been waiting 9 months (weird right?!) for these boys and we are actually in the same time zone now. It won't be long until we are under the same roof. Tomorrow we rest and Thursday we go to the SDA appointment (offical meeting/court). The boys are in Muripol, an overnight train ride away, so we won't get to see them until next week, BOOOO! Stayed tuned though because that is going to be one awesome post!
To all of you...thank you. For loving our daughters our sons and us. We are on this trip with all of you in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. LOVE YOU GUYS! PS: Larry...You rule!

Paris

We are getting closer!!! Kissed our beautiful and loving daughters bye and cried when we drove away. We made it to Paris - on to Kiev tomorrow! Thank you for your prayers we love you all!

5,000 mile journey starts April 26th!

(Kevin made a traditional Ukraine Easter Egg for his boys)

WE ARE GOING TO UKRAINE!!!!!! We got our call today that we have an appointment in Ukraine on the 26th of APRIL! I know Kevin hates when people use all caps and exclamation points but this announcement calls for an over usage of both...YAHOOOOOO!!!!! This is crazy right?! It almost doesn't feel real. Can it really be this close? Am I only weeks away from holding my sons?! I want to go right now in my jammies to get them out of that orphanage. It is so close, so real, nothing else matters but our children being together. Screw the laundry piles, the unpainted nursery (Kevin thinks my construction room for Max is too baby) the unpacked bags, I just want my children now.

To all of you who love us, pray for us, cry for us, donate to us, thank you. Thank you from the depths of my soul. The Lord has shown us so many miracles through the people around us. Your hearts have been touch by God and you listened and now look, you made a miracle happen. You helped us raise forty-six-thousand dollars . You are bringing two boys, over an ocean, across 5,000 miles to their house...to their home, to their family, to me. Thank you, oh thank you all. My heart is touched and I will never be able to express the love I have for each of you. To bring a mother and her children together in what seemed like impossible odds is a gift, a miracle I can never repay. I love you all so much. May God bless you and your families, we love you!

Put the tissues away because it is time to start packing!