Thank you to everyone who was praying for a good outcome to this trip. Since our court date is a month off (Oct. 29, see Jo's post below), it may sound like we got hosed...but really we did quite OK. Getting a court date this week would've been a miracle, but frankly just knowing what our solid (in writing) court date is, is a huge relief. Really we had no hard decision to make, we just come back in a month and finish where we left off, and at least we're not burning through time off or money hanging out in the hotel. Serge also comforted us with the fact that the kids won't be "up for grabs" while we are away, they are going to be ours!
We're REALLY glad we'll be home this week, and looking forward to getting together with all our friends over the next few weeks and EATING A GOOD STEAK!! :-) I'm actually kinda looking forward to being at work next week even, I miss all my MRI buds, A LOT! So please pray for our safe return. In theory we'll be on the 12-hour train to Kiev tomorrow night and will catch a plane home sometime Thursday morning, possibly arriving home on Friday. This of course all depends on the availability of flights, which we don't know yet.
We met with Serge twice today, once before his meeting with the judge, and then immediately afterward. I think he thought the news would dismay us, but frankly we are just happy to have a firm date and a plan in place to work with...not knowing was the hardest. He even took us to dinner this evening and had us try "salo," which is a Ukrainian national dish. It's basically raw bacon, yah, I said RAW! OK, it wasn't so bad, especially with bread. Trying to eat before he caught his plane back to Kiev, he quickly snarfed down several pieces of salo, a bowl of soup, a plate of creamed herring, and pork filet with cream sauce and hash browns...basically heart attack on a plate. We really had a great visit with him today, and thanked him for all the extra work he did to try and expedite our process and get us back home. We have a lot of kid-prepping to do in the next month when we get there (help wanted, apply when we get home).
So, we'll see you all soon. Not sure how much more we'll be able to post after tomorrow afternoon, probably not at all. So, hopefully we'll see everyone on Friday or soon thereafter (please ignore the jetlag).
Da svidanya!!
Papa John
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Scheduling News
Okay, so here’s the update…
Our facilitator Serge blew in today like a tornado, greased some wheels, made some phone calls, met with the judge this afternoon, and got a court date. After all that, he told us we had two options. Our court date is October 29, so here’s the first option:
— Keep that court date
— Go home for almost four weeks
— Come back in time for court
— Wait out the 10-day waiting period, visiting the kids every day
— Pick up the kids, get their birth certificates and passports in Donetsk
— Go back to Kiev for a couple of days, get medical exams and go to the Embassy for visas
— Fly home (so roughly 2 weeks for this whole trip)
The second option is to ask for a new judge, request a new (sooner) court date, and pray that would work. No guarantee of any change, plus more time at this nice but expensive hotel. So, to save dollars and vacation days, we chose the first option. We’re in the process of getting our flights changed, availability of those will determine when we can get home. We are definitely welcoming the chance to get home to prepare for the kids. Not to mention sleeping in our own bed!
We had a good visit with the kids today. There was a little teeter totter on the playground that was a huge hit. Somebody unearthed some ancient tricycles, and those were a hit too, except that the playground is sloped in several places, and there were a couple of minor crashes. We thought the kids were fast when they were running – the tricycles made them nearly impossible to catch. We spent a lot of time blocking off hilly areas so they could keep riding. After one particular crash, Alex Maksim got a tiny little scratch on his hand, and after I cleaned up his little owie, he definitely wanted papa. It was a good bonding moment. Another good bonding moment happened when I walked Vala back to her little group when it was time to go. She didn’t want to leave and we got the big booboo lip and real tears. That’s another good sign. Talia Ira is coming along. She’s very independent, but is challenging us less and less. She’ll even help us get Maks or Vala’s attention when it’s time for treats. That girl is definitely food motivated.
Who knew what was hiding under the red hat!!
Deep concentration. I can see we'll be needing some of these.
They all loved this, it was good for about 20 minutes. Notice the "good job" from Alex Maksim.
This was the big group today. Papa being his regular funny self.
Can you see the "I'm about to cause trouble" expression on Talia Ira's face? This was definitely after the cookies.
Tomorrow will probably be our last visit to the orphanage before we come back for court. And, it’s Vala’s second birthday. I’m not sure if she even knows, I doubt if they make a big deal out of birthdays at the orphanage. I can see where that would be really difficult. We have a small toy for each one of them, plus we’re printing out a photo of the five of us that they can keep until we get back. Four weeks won’t be long for us, but of course it’s a lifetime for a kid.
More later!
JoEllen : >
Our facilitator Serge blew in today like a tornado, greased some wheels, made some phone calls, met with the judge this afternoon, and got a court date. After all that, he told us we had two options. Our court date is October 29, so here’s the first option:
— Keep that court date
— Go home for almost four weeks
— Come back in time for court
— Wait out the 10-day waiting period, visiting the kids every day
— Pick up the kids, get their birth certificates and passports in Donetsk
— Go back to Kiev for a couple of days, get medical exams and go to the Embassy for visas
— Fly home (so roughly 2 weeks for this whole trip)
The second option is to ask for a new judge, request a new (sooner) court date, and pray that would work. No guarantee of any change, plus more time at this nice but expensive hotel. So, to save dollars and vacation days, we chose the first option. We’re in the process of getting our flights changed, availability of those will determine when we can get home. We are definitely welcoming the chance to get home to prepare for the kids. Not to mention sleeping in our own bed!
We had a good visit with the kids today. There was a little teeter totter on the playground that was a huge hit. Somebody unearthed some ancient tricycles, and those were a hit too, except that the playground is sloped in several places, and there were a couple of minor crashes. We thought the kids were fast when they were running – the tricycles made them nearly impossible to catch. We spent a lot of time blocking off hilly areas so they could keep riding. After one particular crash, Alex Maksim got a tiny little scratch on his hand, and after I cleaned up his little owie, he definitely wanted papa. It was a good bonding moment. Another good bonding moment happened when I walked Vala back to her little group when it was time to go. She didn’t want to leave and we got the big booboo lip and real tears. That’s another good sign. Talia Ira is coming along. She’s very independent, but is challenging us less and less. She’ll even help us get Maks or Vala’s attention when it’s time for treats. That girl is definitely food motivated.
Who knew what was hiding under the red hat!!
Deep concentration. I can see we'll be needing some of these.
They all loved this, it was good for about 20 minutes. Notice the "good job" from Alex Maksim.
This was the big group today. Papa being his regular funny self.
Can you see the "I'm about to cause trouble" expression on Talia Ira's face? This was definitely after the cookies.
Tomorrow will probably be our last visit to the orphanage before we come back for court. And, it’s Vala’s second birthday. I’m not sure if she even knows, I doubt if they make a big deal out of birthdays at the orphanage. I can see where that would be really difficult. We have a small toy for each one of them, plus we’re printing out a photo of the five of us that they can keep until we get back. Four weeks won’t be long for us, but of course it’s a lifetime for a kid.
More later!
JoEllen : >
Monday, September 29, 2008
Adoption news: Important day tomorrow
I just spoke with our facilitator Serge (around 7pm), who is flying into town tomorrow to discuss our case with our judge. Apparently there are issues affecting all adoptions in the Donetsk region, so this has thrown in complications for adoptions from all local orphanages. Pray that Serge's meeting with the judge tomorrow goes in our favor and it doesn't cause us a problem with the adoption, tomorrow appears to be a very important day in this process. Serge said he'd meet with us tomorrow after his meeting and fill us in on where we stand...we'll pass along what we find out.
Sunday/Monday outings
Yesterday was another beautiful 60 degree day, so we decided to do a bit of walking around since we have no visits on Sunday. Here are some pictures of that outing:
Here's a view of the Kalmius River from the bridge about a half block from our hotel. There were lots of folks fishing up and down the coast, it was a very peaceful scene.
About 3 blocks from our hotel in the other direction is the McDonald's and rows and rows of shops like you see here, an outdoor market. We likened it to Diagon Alley on Harry Potter, there are so many odd things for sale, from produce to purses and just about anything else you can think of. We've made good use of the market and have purchased a powerstrip that won't explode, grapes and bananas, and DVD cartoons in Russian (somewhat bootlegged apparently).
Today we visited the kids for only an hour, because Sergey was a bit late picking us up...which turned out to be great because they didn't want us to play inside because of some construction going on. We were dismayed at this because we didn't pack any outdoor toys, but God provided with some other new toys laying around that our kids loved, especially the little pushcart you see here:
Alex Maksim pushing Talia Ira, before they hit the curb...
...aaaaand after! It was kindofa "launch the sibling" game. It was probably more fun when Papa pushed them because I didn't hit the curb, I went a LOT faster, and of course I made the requisite "Vrooom Vrooom, SCREEEEECH!" noises, which always brought squeals of delight from the rider.
Grapes were once again on the bribe menu today. It's a great way to teach them to say "please", which we have yet to get Vala to do, and the closest Talia Ira can come is "Pleeesh!" (it's really, yah, cute).
When the smaller kids Vala's age come out every day it looks like this, I call it "The March of the Halflings."
Here's a view of the Kalmius River from the bridge about a half block from our hotel. There were lots of folks fishing up and down the coast, it was a very peaceful scene.
About 3 blocks from our hotel in the other direction is the McDonald's and rows and rows of shops like you see here, an outdoor market. We likened it to Diagon Alley on Harry Potter, there are so many odd things for sale, from produce to purses and just about anything else you can think of. We've made good use of the market and have purchased a powerstrip that won't explode, grapes and bananas, and DVD cartoons in Russian (somewhat bootlegged apparently).Today we visited the kids for only an hour, because Sergey was a bit late picking us up...which turned out to be great because they didn't want us to play inside because of some construction going on. We were dismayed at this because we didn't pack any outdoor toys, but God provided with some other new toys laying around that our kids loved, especially the little pushcart you see here:
Alex Maksim pushing Talia Ira, before they hit the curb...
...aaaaand after! It was kindofa "launch the sibling" game. It was probably more fun when Papa pushed them because I didn't hit the curb, I went a LOT faster, and of course I made the requisite "Vrooom Vrooom, SCREEEEECH!" noises, which always brought squeals of delight from the rider.
Grapes were once again on the bribe menu today. It's a great way to teach them to say "please", which we have yet to get Vala to do, and the closest Talia Ira can come is "Pleeesh!" (it's really, yah, cute).
When the smaller kids Vala's age come out every day it looks like this, I call it "The March of the Halflings."
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday fun outside
We just got back from dinner and I'm posting now, sorry for the delay. I usually post in the afternoon when y'all are still asleep, but I napped all afternoon today after playing "catch the toddlers" on the playground all morning with all 3 kids. I think we'll opt for indoor playtime on Monday, although the weather then is supposed to be as beautiful out as it was today (sunny and 60). Thanks for everyone praying for us to get a court date soon, it can't come soon enough! Hopefully we'll have news tomorrow when the lawyer meets with the judge.
I took a few shots of the kids today, although you can only take so many shots of kids playing in a sandbox before they all look alike. :-)
Today we brought grapes, and they were a big hit. They like them just as much as candy, so this is one healthy habit we'll definitely like to see continue when we get home. We ran out of juiceboxes (aka Red Bull for kids), so we've just been letting them drink bottled water, which they like just as much. Again, another habit to continue back home.
Vala posing for the camera, in her red outdoor outfit. Again, love the stylin' hat. Another girl Vala's age had on the exact same outfit (see video below).
Speaking of hats, check out what they had Talia Ira wearing today...it looks like a pink chef's hat or something. :-)
One of the first English things I taught Alex Maskim was to say "good job!" and give a thumbs up (it's SOOO cute). He knows he did well when mama or papa says "good job!"
I shot this great video of Alex Maksim dancing with one of the other kids (dressed just like Vala). I noticed that the other adoptive parents who were playing the "musika" had taught Alex to do the "Pulp Fiction Dance" you see here, I was laughing so hard I could barely hold the camera still! :-)
I took a few shots of the kids today, although you can only take so many shots of kids playing in a sandbox before they all look alike. :-)
Today we brought grapes, and they were a big hit. They like them just as much as candy, so this is one healthy habit we'll definitely like to see continue when we get home. We ran out of juiceboxes (aka Red Bull for kids), so we've just been letting them drink bottled water, which they like just as much. Again, another habit to continue back home.
Vala posing for the camera, in her red outdoor outfit. Again, love the stylin' hat. Another girl Vala's age had on the exact same outfit (see video below).
Speaking of hats, check out what they had Talia Ira wearing today...it looks like a pink chef's hat or something. :-)
One of the first English things I taught Alex Maskim was to say "good job!" and give a thumbs up (it's SOOO cute). He knows he did well when mama or papa says "good job!"I shot this great video of Alex Maksim dancing with one of the other kids (dressed just like Vala). I noticed that the other adoptive parents who were playing the "musika" had taught Alex to do the "Pulp Fiction Dance" you see here, I was laughing so hard I could barely hold the camera still! :-)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Another day, another week
Today marks the end of our third week in the Ukraine, and we're getting a bit restless to get more progress on the adoption front. I just spoke with Marina (around 3pm) who said our judge will be talking to Serge's lawyer this Sunday, and looking over our paperwork...so hopefully that's progress. We still don't have a court date, perhaps we'll know more after Sunday. Pray for us that we'll have patience (mine's running pretty thin), and that the wheels of progress would continue to grind and maybe even speed up a bit.
Anyway, we had another fun indoor playtime with Alex Maksim and Talia Ira today, no Vala sighting this time. We were shocked that they didn't have us play outside today since it's the first sunny day in a week, albeit a little chilly at around 60 degrees. The next few days should be the same, which is a pleasant change in the weather. The trees are starting to turn, and fall is definitely in the air.
I took a LOT of video on camcorder today of our commute to the orphanage, and of our playtime. Thus I don't have many still shots this time, except for after our visit and during lunch at Cherry Pizza (again). So here they are:
This is our new driver Sergey (SAIR-gay), doing his Schwarzenegger imitation. :-) He's a lot of fun and tries to carry on a good conversation, although he has to call a translator friend of his from time to time to ask us something in English.
A shot of the kids playing "mummy" with JoEllen, which was a pretty good bedtime and "tucking in" exercise. The kids loved it. Talia Ira was the only one relegated to "time out" today, since she has a bad habit of throwing things at others, usually with her McIpod. The other day she nailed a seh-BAH-kah (dog) right between the eyes with it, today papa's chest was the target. While her strong right arm and accuracy will undoubtedly come in handy for softball some day, right now it just gets her into trouble.
The patio at Cherry Pizza, we ate outside today since it was so nice out and a bit smoky inside. It's about a 5 block walk downhill from here to our hotel.
Us at our table. It was a bit of a dark shot in the shade, and just a tad chilly.
After having their awesome thin crust pizza yesterday, we decided to mix it up a bit since their menu has a wide variety of dishes at great prices. To the left is the lasagna Jo had.
I had the shrimp/ham fettucini, which was a great dish, and a bargain at $7. I think our whole meal with drinks and tip was around $18...we'll be eating here more often. :-)
Right next door to Cherry Pizza is this beautiful church (left), which this small clip doesn't do justice. Across the street from the church is this government building with a cool statue out front (below). Not sure who the statue is supposed to be.
Anyway, we had another fun indoor playtime with Alex Maksim and Talia Ira today, no Vala sighting this time. We were shocked that they didn't have us play outside today since it's the first sunny day in a week, albeit a little chilly at around 60 degrees. The next few days should be the same, which is a pleasant change in the weather. The trees are starting to turn, and fall is definitely in the air.
I took a LOT of video on camcorder today of our commute to the orphanage, and of our playtime. Thus I don't have many still shots this time, except for after our visit and during lunch at Cherry Pizza (again). So here they are:
This is our new driver Sergey (SAIR-gay), doing his Schwarzenegger imitation. :-) He's a lot of fun and tries to carry on a good conversation, although he has to call a translator friend of his from time to time to ask us something in English.
A shot of the kids playing "mummy" with JoEllen, which was a pretty good bedtime and "tucking in" exercise. The kids loved it. Talia Ira was the only one relegated to "time out" today, since she has a bad habit of throwing things at others, usually with her McIpod. The other day she nailed a seh-BAH-kah (dog) right between the eyes with it, today papa's chest was the target. While her strong right arm and accuracy will undoubtedly come in handy for softball some day, right now it just gets her into trouble.
The patio at Cherry Pizza, we ate outside today since it was so nice out and a bit smoky inside. It's about a 5 block walk downhill from here to our hotel.
Us at our table. It was a bit of a dark shot in the shade, and just a tad chilly.
After having their awesome thin crust pizza yesterday, we decided to mix it up a bit since their menu has a wide variety of dishes at great prices. To the left is the lasagna Jo had.
I had the shrimp/ham fettucini, which was a great dish, and a bargain at $7. I think our whole meal with drinks and tip was around $18...we'll be eating here more often. :-)
Right next door to Cherry Pizza is this beautiful church (left), which this small clip doesn't do justice. Across the street from the church is this government building with a cool statue out front (below). Not sure who the statue is supposed to be.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Small Adventures
Today we’re supposed to hear which judge our adoption has been assigned to, and possibly our court date. However, it’s after 4:00 pm, so it’s looking like tomorrow is more likely. That’s the number one thing on the prayer list right now, that we would get our court date and that it would be soon.
As John already posted, we’ve just about decided to come home after court. This is very common in other countries, Russia in particular, and is also becoming common in Ukraine. The length of the average adoption process has definitely increased within the last couple of years, from 2-3 weeks to closer to 7 weeks currently. The governmental agency that’s in charge of adoptions was reorganized last year, and this year there’s a new procedure to get passports for the kids that is taking longer than before.
There are several other very good reasons, too. It’s likely that by the time we get to our court date, John will be about out of vacation days. We’re having fun playing with the kids, and getting to know each other, but we’re also very limited in what we can do with them with so few resources. We’ve been working on teaching them English, and they’re picking up a few words, but they have no real need to learn English when they’re surrounded by Russian speakers. I think John said the expenses would be about the same either way.
Also, since we had no clue when we left how many kids we’d end up with, or their ages, it was almost impossible to do much preparation as far as buying clothes, furniture and equipment, toys, etc. By going home during the mandatory 10-day waiting period after court, we’ll have a chance to get car seats and strollers, set up kid bedrooms, and make all kinds of other arrangements. (Not to mention being able to sleep in our own bed!) This is sounding better and better. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here three weeks already.
Today we had a great visit in the playroom, although we didn’t get to see Vala and we’re not sure why. I was going to try to get her measurements for clothing today, so now I’m hoping to do that tomorrow. Last week when I was getting my tape measure out for Alex Maksim and Talia Ira, I just happened to check the label inside their sweaters – and they were both wearing clothing from GapKids, go figure. She’s a 4T, and he’s 5T. Not sure yet about shoe sizes, it’s kind of tough to catch a moving target!
Today Talia Ira kept picking up all the toys and putting them in the buckets. Not sure this trend will continue, but I like it!
This poor little guy will get a complex if they keep dressing him like this - shorts and girls tights that look like elf bloomers.
We had a minor tantrum from Alex Maksim today. So normal, he didn’t want to give up a toy when it was time. Of course, it was one that made music. He’s starting to figure out that Papa and Mama are not moved by tantrums or the big boo-boo lower lip (too many years of training with sad puppy-dog-eyes at home with Mackenzie and Fritz). We’ve discovered that both he and Talia Ira are almost mesmerized when you whisper in their ear when you’re trying to get them calmed down. It’s almost funny. Apparently they hear people yelling a lot, it just makes them laugh and run away. But if you whisper quietly in their ear, you get their undivided attention and direct eye contact. And it really works to calm them down. What a relief to finally find something that does work, at least for now.
After the visit we had our new driver Sergey drop us off at a pizza place recommended by our translator Marina – Cherry Pizza. We are SO sick of everything on the menu at the hotel, plus it’s expensive. After trying to figure out the menu in Russian, we thought to ask if they had an English menu, and thank goodness they did. We split a smallish thin-crust pizza with salami and mozzarella. It was pretty darned good! The salami tasted just about like pepperoni. They have lasagna and a few other things on the menu, so we may stop there for lunch again tomorrow and try something new. It’s a nice break from McDonalds! Yuck.
So that’s the scoop for today. Even though it will probably be a while before we go to court, we’re encouraged by the thought that we’ll be making plans soon to go home. That sounds SO good. After the waiting period, it will be time to come back to pick up the kids – Marina told us that the return trip would only be about three days – and then the real whirlwind begins back home. It will be so nice to have home court advantage – ha!
JoEllen : >
As John already posted, we’ve just about decided to come home after court. This is very common in other countries, Russia in particular, and is also becoming common in Ukraine. The length of the average adoption process has definitely increased within the last couple of years, from 2-3 weeks to closer to 7 weeks currently. The governmental agency that’s in charge of adoptions was reorganized last year, and this year there’s a new procedure to get passports for the kids that is taking longer than before.
There are several other very good reasons, too. It’s likely that by the time we get to our court date, John will be about out of vacation days. We’re having fun playing with the kids, and getting to know each other, but we’re also very limited in what we can do with them with so few resources. We’ve been working on teaching them English, and they’re picking up a few words, but they have no real need to learn English when they’re surrounded by Russian speakers. I think John said the expenses would be about the same either way.
Also, since we had no clue when we left how many kids we’d end up with, or their ages, it was almost impossible to do much preparation as far as buying clothes, furniture and equipment, toys, etc. By going home during the mandatory 10-day waiting period after court, we’ll have a chance to get car seats and strollers, set up kid bedrooms, and make all kinds of other arrangements. (Not to mention being able to sleep in our own bed!) This is sounding better and better. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here three weeks already.
Today we had a great visit in the playroom, although we didn’t get to see Vala and we’re not sure why. I was going to try to get her measurements for clothing today, so now I’m hoping to do that tomorrow. Last week when I was getting my tape measure out for Alex Maksim and Talia Ira, I just happened to check the label inside their sweaters – and they were both wearing clothing from GapKids, go figure. She’s a 4T, and he’s 5T. Not sure yet about shoe sizes, it’s kind of tough to catch a moving target!
Today Talia Ira kept picking up all the toys and putting them in the buckets. Not sure this trend will continue, but I like it!
This poor little guy will get a complex if they keep dressing him like this - shorts and girls tights that look like elf bloomers.
We had a minor tantrum from Alex Maksim today. So normal, he didn’t want to give up a toy when it was time. Of course, it was one that made music. He’s starting to figure out that Papa and Mama are not moved by tantrums or the big boo-boo lower lip (too many years of training with sad puppy-dog-eyes at home with Mackenzie and Fritz). We’ve discovered that both he and Talia Ira are almost mesmerized when you whisper in their ear when you’re trying to get them calmed down. It’s almost funny. Apparently they hear people yelling a lot, it just makes them laugh and run away. But if you whisper quietly in their ear, you get their undivided attention and direct eye contact. And it really works to calm them down. What a relief to finally find something that does work, at least for now.
After the visit we had our new driver Sergey drop us off at a pizza place recommended by our translator Marina – Cherry Pizza. We are SO sick of everything on the menu at the hotel, plus it’s expensive. After trying to figure out the menu in Russian, we thought to ask if they had an English menu, and thank goodness they did. We split a smallish thin-crust pizza with salami and mozzarella. It was pretty darned good! The salami tasted just about like pepperoni. They have lasagna and a few other things on the menu, so we may stop there for lunch again tomorrow and try something new. It’s a nice break from McDonalds! Yuck.
So that’s the scoop for today. Even though it will probably be a while before we go to court, we’re encouraged by the thought that we’ll be making plans soon to go home. That sounds SO good. After the waiting period, it will be time to come back to pick up the kids – Marina told us that the return trip would only be about three days – and then the real whirlwind begins back home. It will be so nice to have home court advantage – ha!
JoEllen : >
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Adoption news update
This evening we spoke with Marina regarding our status and the court date and judge and all, and got a few answers. First, we don't have a judge assigned to us yet, but we should by tomorrow. Second, we should also know our court date soon, our most important milestone at the moment. Finally, we had some questions about whether or not we'd need to be present at the court date, and apparently we both do...which rendered moot our top secret "Plan B". After our court date we have a mandatory 10 day waiting period, and we could both go home and return during that time, or we could stay here. Only one of us would have to return to the Ukraine if we chose to go home, to finish up the 3-day legal stuff and head back home with the kids.
Originally we'd planned on toughing it out and both stay the 10 days here. But after being away from home for 3 weeks and growing more homesick every day, we are now convinced that we'd both like to return home for the 10 days instead. The airfare would be almost a wash considering our current hotel/food/cab expenses, I could save some time off work, and we could do some pre-kid prep work at home now that we know sexes, ages and sizes of the kids. So that's the plan as it tentatively stands now, stay tuned for more Ukraine Adventure details!
Originally we'd planned on toughing it out and both stay the 10 days here. But after being away from home for 3 weeks and growing more homesick every day, we are now convinced that we'd both like to return home for the 10 days instead. The airfare would be almost a wash considering our current hotel/food/cab expenses, I could save some time off work, and we could do some pre-kid prep work at home now that we know sexes, ages and sizes of the kids. So that's the plan as it tentatively stands now, stay tuned for more Ukraine Adventure details!
Wednesday playtime indoors (woohoo!)
Another dreary day here in Donetsk, temps in the high 50s. We both got up feeling pretty good today (my back and Jo's tummy), so we decided to get back on schedule and visit the kids. We now have another regular driver, Sergey (SAIR gay), who is a really nice and safe driver who likes to chat the whole way. He knows just enough English to carry on a pretty good conversation, although we still use Marina for translation on business matters. Speaking of Marina, hopefully we'll hear something about our judge and/or court date before the end of the day...we'll keep you posted.
Anyway, since it was drizzling we got to play indoors with all 3 kids again today, it was a pretty fun time for all. We all seem to be bonding a bit more each visit, and the kids are slowly figuring out that they don't always get their way around mama and papa. So now they aren't freaking out so much when we deny them the desires of their little hearts at every turn...it's becoming a very healthy relationship. I spent a lot of time with Vala today since she's less mobile than the others, she's quickly becoming daddy's little girl. *sniff* I noticed last visit that she liked to sit in my lap and have her hair stroked, so this time I brought a little comb and combed her hair...she woulda sat still for that all day if I let her. Here's a few pics of the day o fun, plus a short video clip of Vala dancing to her McIpod.
To the left is mama coloring with Talia Ira. Ira and Maks looked like they'd had their hands completely tatooed by the end of playtime. Below, papa combing Vala's hair, she REALLY likes it. :)
The "tickle game" was all the rage today, who doesn't like to be tickled (OK, Vala doesn't)?!
The couch got a workout today. Apparently there was a seh-BAH-kah (dog) outside, which the kids are fascinated with.
I took this short clip of Vala singing and dancing. They all love their McIpods and it's always an issue to get them back at the end of playtime.
Anyway, since it was drizzling we got to play indoors with all 3 kids again today, it was a pretty fun time for all. We all seem to be bonding a bit more each visit, and the kids are slowly figuring out that they don't always get their way around mama and papa. So now they aren't freaking out so much when we deny them the desires of their little hearts at every turn...it's becoming a very healthy relationship. I spent a lot of time with Vala today since she's less mobile than the others, she's quickly becoming daddy's little girl. *sniff* I noticed last visit that she liked to sit in my lap and have her hair stroked, so this time I brought a little comb and combed her hair...she woulda sat still for that all day if I let her. Here's a few pics of the day o fun, plus a short video clip of Vala dancing to her McIpod.
To the left is mama coloring with Talia Ira. Ira and Maks looked like they'd had their hands completely tatooed by the end of playtime. Below, papa combing Vala's hair, she REALLY likes it. :)
The "tickle game" was all the rage today, who doesn't like to be tickled (OK, Vala doesn't)?!
The couch got a workout today. Apparently there was a seh-BAH-kah (dog) outside, which the kids are fascinated with.
I took this short clip of Vala singing and dancing. They all love their McIpods and it's always an issue to get them back at the end of playtime.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Atlas Hotel Photo Tour
JoEllen was feeling a little queazy this Tuesday morning, and I'm a little stiff from the rainy weather, so we decided to just stay at the hotel today and relax. Still no word from Román, so we may not get to use him as a driver in the future...he just kinda disappeared, weird. We hope he's OK. Anyway, Marina said that our paperwork has been submitted to the court today, and we should know who our judge is and possibly know our "court date" by tomorrow. That's all the news we have on the adoption front.
I've been collecting a few photos to put together a visual tour of The Atlas Hotel where we are staying, we will have been here 2 weeks as of tomorrow. I've used some of these photos elsewhere, but repeated them here for your convenience.
The front desk in the main lobby.
This is the lounge, which is usually hopping in the evenings, especially Fridays. During the day we use it as our own personal library to curl up in the cushy chairs or couches with a book and a drink, or to make blog posts, check email, or just surf the Internet.
JoEllen waits for our cab at the front entrance, our daily morning routine around 9:30.
The hallway in our small room, leading to the bedroom shown below (yah, there's not much to it). They say it's a Kingsize bed, but I know it's a Queen, and a hard one at that. We try not to spend too much time in the bedroom, it's just too cramped, although it is modern and clean.
An interesting feature/bug of the rooms are the keys to get in. You have a regular key, but on the keychain is a thick cardkey thingy that you have to slip into a slot in your hallway for all the power for the room to come on. An interesting energy-saving device, but it's usually just a pain in the butt if one of us wants to go out and the other stays in (you only get 1 key).
On the left is the breakfast buffet that we look forward to every morning. They have cereal, fruit, eggs, sausage, smoked turkey and ham, and coffee and all kinds of juices. Below is the dining room.
For dinner, borscht is one of Jo's favorite dishes on the menu.
Here's one of my dinner favorites, Grilled Chicken Steak and mashed taters...mmmmmm! Every dish they serve here looks just too pretty to eat. Also, it's really inexpensive for the quality of food (average dinner for 2 around $27 w/tip).
One funny thing about the hotel is the music they play over the intercom. It's almost all 70s disco or 80s MTV hits, but remakes of the originals to sound like elevator music, and in English. It's really weird to hear "Like A Virgin", "Freak Out", and "I Will Survive" converted to piano bar style music. :-) They have flatscreen TVs everywhere, and you can usually count on them being tuned to a soccer game or more often than not, a fashion show of some sort.
I've been collecting a few photos to put together a visual tour of The Atlas Hotel where we are staying, we will have been here 2 weeks as of tomorrow. I've used some of these photos elsewhere, but repeated them here for your convenience.
The front desk in the main lobby.
This is the lounge, which is usually hopping in the evenings, especially Fridays. During the day we use it as our own personal library to curl up in the cushy chairs or couches with a book and a drink, or to make blog posts, check email, or just surf the Internet.
JoEllen waits for our cab at the front entrance, our daily morning routine around 9:30.
The hallway in our small room, leading to the bedroom shown below (yah, there's not much to it). They say it's a Kingsize bed, but I know it's a Queen, and a hard one at that. We try not to spend too much time in the bedroom, it's just too cramped, although it is modern and clean.
An interesting feature/bug of the rooms are the keys to get in. You have a regular key, but on the keychain is a thick cardkey thingy that you have to slip into a slot in your hallway for all the power for the room to come on. An interesting energy-saving device, but it's usually just a pain in the butt if one of us wants to go out and the other stays in (you only get 1 key).
On the left is the breakfast buffet that we look forward to every morning. They have cereal, fruit, eggs, sausage, smoked turkey and ham, and coffee and all kinds of juices. Below is the dining room.
For dinner, borscht is one of Jo's favorite dishes on the menu.
Here's one of my dinner favorites, Grilled Chicken Steak and mashed taters...mmmmmm! Every dish they serve here looks just too pretty to eat. Also, it's really inexpensive for the quality of food (average dinner for 2 around $27 w/tip).One funny thing about the hotel is the music they play over the intercom. It's almost all 70s disco or 80s MTV hits, but remakes of the originals to sound like elevator music, and in English. It's really weird to hear "Like A Virgin", "Freak Out", and "I Will Survive" converted to piano bar style music. :-) They have flatscreen TVs everywhere, and you can usually count on them being tuned to a soccer game or more often than not, a fashion show of some sort.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday/Monday, same ole same ole
Yesterday we just lounged around since there are no visits on Sundays, it was a nice, quiet and lazy day off. Today we got to play indoors with all 3 kids as it's been lightly raining all day and probably will the next few days as well. It's in the high 50s, so fall has definitely arrived here in the Ukraine, it's in the low 50s back in Kiev.
Our attorney popped into the playroom while we were there with the kids, and had us sign a bunch of papers for either the SDA approval which happens today, or for the docs he'll hand over to the court tomorrow. I assume that's what the signatures were for, we may have just signed over our house and cars to him for all I know. :) Anyway, please pray that the process will wrap up quickly and we'll get a court date soon. We're really getting a bit homesick and we're running up a pretty hefty tab here at the hotel...guess I'll need to sell lots of BBQ when I get home. Marina says after the papers are handed over to the court tomorrow, we will be assigned a judge to our case. Maybe we'll find out our court date after that, I dunno. Oh well, we're just in a holding pattern of eating, sleeping and visiting in the meantime.
Sorry but I didn't take any new still photos inside today, I decided instead to get lots of camcorder footage for the trip movie I'll produce when we get home. That was hard enough to do while keeping the 3 munchkins from stealing other kids' drinks and toys. We found that the best currency of discipline for Maks and Ira is probably going to be "time outs," a very difficult thing to enforce in our current surroundings and with the language barrier. But they let it be known that they really don't like it (holding them in your lap for a few minutes), so we'll bear that in mind for when we get back to KC with home field advantage.
Well, that brings us up to date. Eat some BBQ for me this week, I really miss it!!
Our attorney popped into the playroom while we were there with the kids, and had us sign a bunch of papers for either the SDA approval which happens today, or for the docs he'll hand over to the court tomorrow. I assume that's what the signatures were for, we may have just signed over our house and cars to him for all I know. :) Anyway, please pray that the process will wrap up quickly and we'll get a court date soon. We're really getting a bit homesick and we're running up a pretty hefty tab here at the hotel...guess I'll need to sell lots of BBQ when I get home. Marina says after the papers are handed over to the court tomorrow, we will be assigned a judge to our case. Maybe we'll find out our court date after that, I dunno. Oh well, we're just in a holding pattern of eating, sleeping and visiting in the meantime.
Sorry but I didn't take any new still photos inside today, I decided instead to get lots of camcorder footage for the trip movie I'll produce when we get home. That was hard enough to do while keeping the 3 munchkins from stealing other kids' drinks and toys. We found that the best currency of discipline for Maks and Ira is probably going to be "time outs," a very difficult thing to enforce in our current surroundings and with the language barrier. But they let it be known that they really don't like it (holding them in your lap for a few minutes), so we'll bear that in mind for when we get back to KC with home field advantage.
Well, that brings us up to date. Eat some BBQ for me this week, I really miss it!!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Second Week (Long) Wrap Up and New Photos
Hi Everybody –
Not much happened yesterday. Since we couldn’t reach our regular driver Román, we ended up hanging around the hotel, reading and surfing and not doing much else. It rained most of the day, so we didn’t venture out. Román has been very steady and dependable, so we’re hoping he’s okay and he comes back next week. My guess is something happened to his cell phone.
As opposed to yesterday, today was pretty eventful. Our translator Marina had a plan even though she still couldn’t reach Román – she’s really good at handling everything long-distance, since she’s back in Kiev. We got in the taxi the front desk called for us, handed the driver our cell phone, Marina explained where he should take us, and we were off. And I do mean off – this particular driver should try out for NASCAR. He got us to the orphanage in about 12 minutes instead of the usual 20. It’s always an adventure when you get into a car here. Ooops, I mean machina.
When we got to the orphanage, John’s pain pills hadn’t fully kicked in yet, so he was really hoping we’d be able to play inside today. But when the kids came down to the entryway, they were pretty darned bundled up, so we went outside. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring as many toys as usual since we were planning on being in the playroom, but we made do. We did have cookies, apple juice, and the little pretend iPods from the Happy Meals. And wipes – those are a huge hit, too. Usually about an hour after we go outside the littlest group of toddlers all come out in a gaggle to play – they come out holding hands in the cutest little hats. We’ll try to get some photos of that, and I’d really like to find some of those hats if we can. Very stylish.
Anyway, today we got to play with all three kids. We hadn’t seen Valentina all week, except from the window, but apparently she’s feeling much better. You could tell just from looking at her she’s almost back to normal, her eyes are full of life. And she looked like a miniature fashion model in her red and pink outfit.
Little Miss Thang, who turns 2 October 1.
Definitely feeling better.
Saturdays are busy at the orphanage, which you can see a little bit from this photo. Today there were two Italian families and probably 5 or 6 Ukrainian families. And most of the papas get to come on Saturday, since they’re off work. We did pretty well outside for the most part - Alex Maksim and Talia Ira didn’t run off as much as usual, so they must be getting used to us. It definitely changes from man-to-man coverage to zone coverage when you go from 2 to 3 kids. Vala’s not terribly mobile yet, which is a blessing. She did have a couple of minor meltdowns but I don’t think that’s at all unusual for a little girl that turns 2 in a couple of weeks. It was the funniest thing – for Vala every adult is Mama. Very frustrating for John, who spent all morning trying to get her to say Papa. Very frustrating for him, very funny for me.
All kids in an orphanage will have some type of developmental delay, at the very least from the institutional living aspect, but Alex Maksim and Talia Ira don’t seem to have very much of a social delay. Compared to the other kids we’ve seen that have been there longer, that is. I know they’ll each have their own set of issues to deal with, willful disobedience and temper being at the top of the list, but they seem to be pretty good at communicating. Now, if we could only understand WHAT THE HECK they’re saying. Poor kids, we’re really frustrating them by not speaking their language. You should hear the sighs. They do tend to go to any adult that speaks Russian over coming over and hanging out with us. But hopefully they’ll be little sponges and pick up English very quickly once we get home. I’m sure VeggieTales, SpongeBob and the Disney channel will help with that. They continue to be fascinated with any toy that makes sound or music. One of the other couples took a new family photo for us:
After the visit we came back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff, and started the hike up the big hill to – wait for it – McDonald’s. Yippee. Although, it is inexpensive and predictable, which can be a good thing in a different country, I’m thinking I may never eat there again once we get home. John of course is very good at ordering there. Most things are the same, but not everything, plus the menu is in Russian (Cyrillic alphabet).
After lunch we wandered over to a farmer’s market area, which was really interesting. There were dozens of little shops, plus rows of vendors with fresh fruit and veggies. Made me wish we had a refrigerator in the hotel room. All the produce I’ve tried here has been really good and flavorful, most of the breads ehhh, not so much. The kids will usually pick fruit over candy, a trend that I’m hoping to continue at home. You should see them when one of the other parents starts handing out grapes, or cookies – one yells at the other and they both make a beeline for the food. I think their first English word was cookie. The second one, juice.
In the market area we bought an umbrella, a tote bag with lots of zippered pockets, and a (probably bootleg) DVD with kids movies on it (in Russian). We’re starting to plan for the train and plane rides. We’ll be stocking up on snacks, downloading cartoons from iTunes, and trying to find Dramamine just in case. Also, we’re trying to decide if we should try to find a single or double stroller, and definitely child safety harnesses. Getting through an airport with all our luggage when the older two will happily go to any adult will be a trick.
Marina told us today that our paperwork will be approved on Monday, and will be submitted to the court by our attorney on Tuesday. We couldn’t quite figure out if Tuesday will be our actual court date, especially since we don’t have to be there. Hopefully we’ll get more details from Marina soon. She did say previously that the court has recently decided that they only wanted to see lawyers – not coordinators, not translators, not adoptive parents – so maybe this WILL be our court date. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we can find out.
Tomorrow will be another long, lazy day. Also probably laundry day. We got a travel laundry line made of braided surgical rubber – it will really stretch. We hook one end on the inside doorknob, the other on the closet door handle – and pray no one from housekeeping tries to come in when we’re not here. It would basically function as a huge slingshot. And it wouldn’t be pretty.
It seems odd to think we’ve been here a little over two weeks. It seems both longer AND shorter than that. The people here in this growing mining town are very nice, and try to be as helpful as they can. But we’re really starting to miss home and things from home (our sleep number bed being #1 on the list). Hopefully we’ll know more soon about when we might be coming home. We’re so thankful for your continued prayers, emails, and comments on the blog. Keep it up – it’s really encouraging!
Thanks!
JoEllen : >
Not much happened yesterday. Since we couldn’t reach our regular driver Román, we ended up hanging around the hotel, reading and surfing and not doing much else. It rained most of the day, so we didn’t venture out. Román has been very steady and dependable, so we’re hoping he’s okay and he comes back next week. My guess is something happened to his cell phone.
As opposed to yesterday, today was pretty eventful. Our translator Marina had a plan even though she still couldn’t reach Román – she’s really good at handling everything long-distance, since she’s back in Kiev. We got in the taxi the front desk called for us, handed the driver our cell phone, Marina explained where he should take us, and we were off. And I do mean off – this particular driver should try out for NASCAR. He got us to the orphanage in about 12 minutes instead of the usual 20. It’s always an adventure when you get into a car here. Ooops, I mean machina.
When we got to the orphanage, John’s pain pills hadn’t fully kicked in yet, so he was really hoping we’d be able to play inside today. But when the kids came down to the entryway, they were pretty darned bundled up, so we went outside. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring as many toys as usual since we were planning on being in the playroom, but we made do. We did have cookies, apple juice, and the little pretend iPods from the Happy Meals. And wipes – those are a huge hit, too. Usually about an hour after we go outside the littlest group of toddlers all come out in a gaggle to play – they come out holding hands in the cutest little hats. We’ll try to get some photos of that, and I’d really like to find some of those hats if we can. Very stylish.
Anyway, today we got to play with all three kids. We hadn’t seen Valentina all week, except from the window, but apparently she’s feeling much better. You could tell just from looking at her she’s almost back to normal, her eyes are full of life. And she looked like a miniature fashion model in her red and pink outfit.
Little Miss Thang, who turns 2 October 1.
Definitely feeling better.
Saturdays are busy at the orphanage, which you can see a little bit from this photo. Today there were two Italian families and probably 5 or 6 Ukrainian families. And most of the papas get to come on Saturday, since they’re off work. We did pretty well outside for the most part - Alex Maksim and Talia Ira didn’t run off as much as usual, so they must be getting used to us. It definitely changes from man-to-man coverage to zone coverage when you go from 2 to 3 kids. Vala’s not terribly mobile yet, which is a blessing. She did have a couple of minor meltdowns but I don’t think that’s at all unusual for a little girl that turns 2 in a couple of weeks. It was the funniest thing – for Vala every adult is Mama. Very frustrating for John, who spent all morning trying to get her to say Papa. Very frustrating for him, very funny for me.All kids in an orphanage will have some type of developmental delay, at the very least from the institutional living aspect, but Alex Maksim and Talia Ira don’t seem to have very much of a social delay. Compared to the other kids we’ve seen that have been there longer, that is. I know they’ll each have their own set of issues to deal with, willful disobedience and temper being at the top of the list, but they seem to be pretty good at communicating. Now, if we could only understand WHAT THE HECK they’re saying. Poor kids, we’re really frustrating them by not speaking their language. You should hear the sighs. They do tend to go to any adult that speaks Russian over coming over and hanging out with us. But hopefully they’ll be little sponges and pick up English very quickly once we get home. I’m sure VeggieTales, SpongeBob and the Disney channel will help with that. They continue to be fascinated with any toy that makes sound or music. One of the other couples took a new family photo for us:
After the visit we came back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff, and started the hike up the big hill to – wait for it – McDonald’s. Yippee. Although, it is inexpensive and predictable, which can be a good thing in a different country, I’m thinking I may never eat there again once we get home. John of course is very good at ordering there. Most things are the same, but not everything, plus the menu is in Russian (Cyrillic alphabet).
After lunch we wandered over to a farmer’s market area, which was really interesting. There were dozens of little shops, plus rows of vendors with fresh fruit and veggies. Made me wish we had a refrigerator in the hotel room. All the produce I’ve tried here has been really good and flavorful, most of the breads ehhh, not so much. The kids will usually pick fruit over candy, a trend that I’m hoping to continue at home. You should see them when one of the other parents starts handing out grapes, or cookies – one yells at the other and they both make a beeline for the food. I think their first English word was cookie. The second one, juice.
In the market area we bought an umbrella, a tote bag with lots of zippered pockets, and a (probably bootleg) DVD with kids movies on it (in Russian). We’re starting to plan for the train and plane rides. We’ll be stocking up on snacks, downloading cartoons from iTunes, and trying to find Dramamine just in case. Also, we’re trying to decide if we should try to find a single or double stroller, and definitely child safety harnesses. Getting through an airport with all our luggage when the older two will happily go to any adult will be a trick.
Marina told us today that our paperwork will be approved on Monday, and will be submitted to the court by our attorney on Tuesday. We couldn’t quite figure out if Tuesday will be our actual court date, especially since we don’t have to be there. Hopefully we’ll get more details from Marina soon. She did say previously that the court has recently decided that they only wanted to see lawyers – not coordinators, not translators, not adoptive parents – so maybe this WILL be our court date. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we can find out.
Tomorrow will be another long, lazy day. Also probably laundry day. We got a travel laundry line made of braided surgical rubber – it will really stretch. We hook one end on the inside doorknob, the other on the closet door handle – and pray no one from housekeeping tries to come in when we’re not here. It would basically function as a huge slingshot. And it wouldn’t be pretty.
It seems odd to think we’ve been here a little over two weeks. It seems both longer AND shorter than that. The people here in this growing mining town are very nice, and try to be as helpful as they can. But we’re really starting to miss home and things from home (our sleep number bed being #1 on the list). Hopefully we’ll know more soon about when we might be coming home. We’re so thankful for your continued prayers, emails, and comments on the blog. Keep it up – it’s really encouraging!
Thanks!
JoEllen : >
Friday, September 19, 2008
Lazy rainy Friday, no visit today, hotel life
Our driver Román was a no-show this morning for our daily trip to the orphanage, and Marina couldn't reach him on cellphone which is very unusual, so we hope he's OK. We probably won't do the afternoon visit either, since we seem to spend more time in rush hour traffic than at the one hour afternoon visit, so it's really not worth it. It's been raining all morning (and probably will all day) so I'm sure traffic is worse than usual. That makes it a great day to just stay inside and read or snooze, which is exactly what we plan to do.
When I talked to Marina, she was at the SDA office in Kiev submitting some paperwork. They are working quickly to "get us approved" and get a court date for us. She knows we are anxious to hear when that will be, and we'll pass it along when we get word. Please pray that will be soon, it's our next major milestone. The hotel bill is starting to add up, although I don't think we're going to move to an apartment or other cheaper place at this point while in Donetsk...we really like it here.
JoEllen had been lobbying for the last year for us to take a weekend trip to Vegas or Branson or somewhere as our "last hurrah" as a couple with no kids. I kept putting it off, thinking that the money would be better used on this trip. We didn't even really go anywhere special for our 17th anniversary last month, other than to eat out at a couple of nice places. I told her that as a result of that sacrifice, if the opportunity arose on this trip to either cheap out or kick it up a notch, we'd splurge on some aspect of this trip.
So, that's kinda what continuing to stay here at the Atlas Hotel is, it's our "splurge" for the trip. The free breakfast buffet and free WiFi everywhere are major luxuries, and make us feel really like we're on a vacation rather than roughing it like we did at the apartment in Kiev. We wash a few of our own clothes by hand, but we agreed that for pants and shirts we'd use their laundry service here at the hotel. It's not hugely expensive, and they have our stuff back to us in a matter of hours all clean and dry (jeans take forever to dry by clothesline we found). The dinners here are pretty nice too, our usual tab is about $26 with tip which is dirt cheap considering the level of food. They have a bank in the building, so changing money isn't a factor, although we don't even need to carry cash since everything is billed to our room (Visa) anyways. If our room gets to feeling a little cramped, we hang out down in the cushy chairs in the lobby or the lounge, and we can get drinks delivered to us in the lounge and just sit there and surf the Internet or quietly read a book and sip our Cokes or bottled water.
The big feature about living in a hotel is that we have the entire hotel to roam around in and don't have to venture outside to the big scary foreign world. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but in the apartment, when you walked out your apartment door you were entering no man's land where nobody spoke English, and you had to carry cash on you everywhere, which was a bit scary. You had no food or drink in the apartment except what you schlepped up 6 flights of stairs to your fridge from the local store, a major outing in itself. Here you just take the elevator down a floor or two to order whatever you want, and the food is hot and the drinks are cold, and NO DOING THE DISHES! :)
One huge feature of free 24/7 WiFi is the ability to download shows at any time for entertainment. So we've been keeping up on our favorite TV shows which have new episodes now like Burn Notice, The Closer, and Primeval. Before we left, Jo also bought the entire first season of Dr. Who on iTunes, and we just got through the last of those last night, time to download Season Two! I've also been able to keep up with the Chiefs by downloading a 12-minute highlight video of each game, which means I can watch the Chiefs lose in a fraction of the time it used to take! :) The other huge feature of 24/7 WiFi is the cozy feeling of connectedness we have to friends, family, and civilization as we know it back home. Being gone this far from home and for this long, that is a HUGE morale issue. At the apartment we really felt isolated, alone and anxious, not like here with free WiFi. We really appreciate any emails or blog comments we receive, I can't really express how much we look forward to those as a feeling of connection to back home. Without them I really think we'd go nuts. So thanks again to everyone who comments or emails, you are making a difference!
Oh well, I'm done babbling for now, I have some reading and napping to catch up on. :)
Later!
Papa John
When I talked to Marina, she was at the SDA office in Kiev submitting some paperwork. They are working quickly to "get us approved" and get a court date for us. She knows we are anxious to hear when that will be, and we'll pass it along when we get word. Please pray that will be soon, it's our next major milestone. The hotel bill is starting to add up, although I don't think we're going to move to an apartment or other cheaper place at this point while in Donetsk...we really like it here.
JoEllen had been lobbying for the last year for us to take a weekend trip to Vegas or Branson or somewhere as our "last hurrah" as a couple with no kids. I kept putting it off, thinking that the money would be better used on this trip. We didn't even really go anywhere special for our 17th anniversary last month, other than to eat out at a couple of nice places. I told her that as a result of that sacrifice, if the opportunity arose on this trip to either cheap out or kick it up a notch, we'd splurge on some aspect of this trip.
So, that's kinda what continuing to stay here at the Atlas Hotel is, it's our "splurge" for the trip. The free breakfast buffet and free WiFi everywhere are major luxuries, and make us feel really like we're on a vacation rather than roughing it like we did at the apartment in Kiev. We wash a few of our own clothes by hand, but we agreed that for pants and shirts we'd use their laundry service here at the hotel. It's not hugely expensive, and they have our stuff back to us in a matter of hours all clean and dry (jeans take forever to dry by clothesline we found). The dinners here are pretty nice too, our usual tab is about $26 with tip which is dirt cheap considering the level of food. They have a bank in the building, so changing money isn't a factor, although we don't even need to carry cash since everything is billed to our room (Visa) anyways. If our room gets to feeling a little cramped, we hang out down in the cushy chairs in the lobby or the lounge, and we can get drinks delivered to us in the lounge and just sit there and surf the Internet or quietly read a book and sip our Cokes or bottled water.The big feature about living in a hotel is that we have the entire hotel to roam around in and don't have to venture outside to the big scary foreign world. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but in the apartment, when you walked out your apartment door you were entering no man's land where nobody spoke English, and you had to carry cash on you everywhere, which was a bit scary. You had no food or drink in the apartment except what you schlepped up 6 flights of stairs to your fridge from the local store, a major outing in itself. Here you just take the elevator down a floor or two to order whatever you want, and the food is hot and the drinks are cold, and NO DOING THE DISHES! :)
One huge feature of free 24/7 WiFi is the ability to download shows at any time for entertainment. So we've been keeping up on our favorite TV shows which have new episodes now like Burn Notice, The Closer, and Primeval. Before we left, Jo also bought the entire first season of Dr. Who on iTunes, and we just got through the last of those last night, time to download Season Two! I've also been able to keep up with the Chiefs by downloading a 12-minute highlight video of each game, which means I can watch the Chiefs lose in a fraction of the time it used to take! :) The other huge feature of 24/7 WiFi is the cozy feeling of connectedness we have to friends, family, and civilization as we know it back home. Being gone this far from home and for this long, that is a HUGE morale issue. At the apartment we really felt isolated, alone and anxious, not like here with free WiFi. We really appreciate any emails or blog comments we receive, I can't really express how much we look forward to those as a feeling of connection to back home. Without them I really think we'd go nuts. So thanks again to everyone who comments or emails, you are making a difference!
Oh well, I'm done babbling for now, I have some reading and napping to catch up on. :)
Later!
Papa John
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Indoors=good, outdoors=bad
After a tiring, painful and stressful 45 minute outdoor visit yesterday, we played indoors today even though it wasn't raining yet (was supposed to, but still hasn't). We decided that indoors, at least while at the orphanage, is definitely the way to go for playtime. We ALL actually had a great time, except for some of the orphanage workers who use part of the playroom for a conference room on a regular basis...I still don't get that. How can you expect kids to be quiet in a big playroom? I reckon they just don't have any other meeting space, oh well.
Anyway, we had another grand day playing indoors, although it was a bit stuffy till I requested that we turn on the A/C unit. See photos for a sample of the fun:
We discovered the ballpit is a great way for kids to build their abs. It's also good for bonding, because both kids kept asking for help to get out, it became a bit of a parental dependency game...plus it was fun!
Ira really likes the slide as well.
Oksana (below) is our primary contact at the orphanage, she's great with the kids.
Ira has expressed great interest in the piano, and at the end of each indoor session, Jo plays a little and has a little piano lesson. It's usually all over when Maksim or any boy arrives, because they just want to pound on the keys, which Jo is showing Maks below to be a "no-no".
We've talked about Jo starting to give piano lessons again when we get back home, but we haven't figured out how that could work with toddlers running about.
I recorded the following video clip on Monday, demonstrating Ira's musical bent. I don't know what she's singing (Tim, can you translate?), but she sings the same song when I push her on the swing too...it's so CUTE!! :)
Anyway, we had another grand day playing indoors, although it was a bit stuffy till I requested that we turn on the A/C unit. See photos for a sample of the fun:
We discovered the ballpit is a great way for kids to build their abs. It's also good for bonding, because both kids kept asking for help to get out, it became a bit of a parental dependency game...plus it was fun!
Ira really likes the slide as well.
Oksana (below) is our primary contact at the orphanage, she's great with the kids.
Ira has expressed great interest in the piano, and at the end of each indoor session, Jo plays a little and has a little piano lesson. It's usually all over when Maksim or any boy arrives, because they just want to pound on the keys, which Jo is showing Maks below to be a "no-no".
We've talked about Jo starting to give piano lessons again when we get back home, but we haven't figured out how that could work with toddlers running about.I recorded the following video clip on Monday, demonstrating Ira's musical bent. I don't know what she's singing (Tim, can you translate?), but she sings the same song when I push her on the swing too...it's so CUTE!! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
