Life Is Finally Back to Normal. . .

Here we are at home in Kentucky on a Friday night March 27th, a mere two weeks after our chaotic exit from Kyiv, and it seems like it was so much longer ago than that since we were living in Ukraine and wondering if we were ever to be back in America again. Believe me, though, it is still fresh enough on our minds that we thank God daily that we are now safely home, back to our loved ones, and with a special young fellow now as an integral part of our family.

Things have gone amazingly well for Maxim since his introduction to life in America. He still thinks that food is extremely important and he gets very concerned if he sees others have food and not eat it. It's cute but saddening at the same time to observe this. Those of you who have seen Maxim in person know he has been well fed, but still, food must not have ever been readily available before. John and I took Maxim to Kroger for the first time last weekend. My, was he awestruck by all the foods available, but he was even more impressed by the fact that our shopping cart just kept getting fuller and fuller until it was almost full. He looks very healthy and acts very healthy too. Hopefully, the pictures are currently uploading so that finally there will be new photos this time along with this update.

Photo is of Maxim's McDonald's meal in Kyiv. The Coca-Cola light was not my idea!!

Everyone who has met Maxim here has commented on his outgoing, almost gregarious nature. And the family all seem to love him. From Aunt Bonnie (whose name he can now say correctly) to Mamaw and oldest brother Jonathan to the youngest of the older brothers, Kevin, who just spent his spring break from college home with us, to Kelly, who gives up part of each of her week to help out with him, every one of them seem comfortable with Maxim. Now, if we could only get our long distance children, Eric, and Andrea, to get a break from their jobs and come get to know him as well. . .perhaps this summer will offer some kind of opportunity.

Maxim has acclimated himself very well to school. The fact that he can read so well in Ukranian and sound out our English words in Ukranian phonics is of great value. The Ukranian/English picture dictionaries we brought home with us from Kyiv have turned out to be very helpful for Maxim's first grade teacher as well. For me as well, school is almost back to normal. There are of course the usual extra work to deal with when one has been gone from her job for so long, but overall, it feels like I wasn't gone quite so long. Still though, it's probably a good thing that next week is spring break so that both Maxim and I can have a little breather.

The weather here is chilly and to be downright cold this weekend unfortunately. I had hoped to take Maxim to some of the bigger parks around here and just do some simple fun things with him. Maybe we'll try a new kids movie that's coming out. We're also trying to work out a play date with a friend or two who have kids about Maxim's age. Maxim loves all the attention he gets from the adults around us. He has really taken to one or two folks from our Sunday School class as well as from our circle of friends. This class is also hosting a potluck/shower for us this weekend which is very kind of them.

We have blogged before about our new friends from Minnesota that we met in Kyiv, Gail and Craig and their new two year old daughter, Briley. We have now heard from them that they are happily ensconced back at their home with their two boys too. All of us hope that our friendship will continue over the years.

Meantime, we are working on scheduling a time for the adopt agency to do their home visit now that we're home so we will only have one more visit to deal with this summer before we should be able to do the Kentucky adoption.

We also have gotten Maxim's teeth removal I talked about last week scheduled for the end of the week after this one.

The only other thing that I simply must journal about here is about how much Maxim loves soccer or "football" as he still mostly calls it. His team practices once a week, but he asks every single day if he can go to "football." Since this sport is so popular in Ukraine, Maxim is quite familiar with it. He is very interested in scoring a goal, not so interested in passing the ball. Here's a picture of him in Shevchenko soccer outfit I found for him at a street vendor's in Kyiv. For you non soccer fans, he's a famous soccer player from that area.

We hope to continue these sporadic updates for a several more weeks because it will be such a nice history for Maxim some day as well as a facile way to keep everyone updated on our progress here at home with our new son.

Charlene

The Rest of the Story

Sorry not to have finished this segment sooner, but no wonder I was fatigued. I ended up with what seemed like every virus and illness around, but thankfully, I am feeling better today, though still very tired. Good thing since I am slated to return to teaching on Monday. Maybe my students will take pity on me and be extra sweet the first few days I'm back. (Hope you all are reading this!!) Now, back to the story: After the disappointment of not being able to fly on Thursday as attempted, we were put in a hotel for the night and shuttled back to the airport the next morning. After a few hours we were finally on the plane and in the air headed to America! I must mention again how very good Maxim was at the airport for those several hours we just had to stand around waiting to find out what was happening. He was very good at the hotel as well, even sleeping in his own little cot which the hotel staff set up right next to my bed. We are still working on the sleep issue here at home. Maxim is doing better, but we still have a ways to go for him to stay a whole night in his own room. Meantime, I have a pallet on the floor of our room, right next to our bed. It is a method of gradually getting him to spend the whole night in his room. It's making him and me both too tired as it is. But I realize from all the other blogs I've read that this is very normal and very short-lived.

Since landing in JFK and making it onto Louisville where we were met by John's son and sister, we have pretty much kept it low key, not only for Maxim's sake but also for ours. Well, that's not exactly accurate. John did make the long drive to Georgia for his niece's wedding. Maxim and I stayed home to get him acclimated to Kentucky as well as to get his physical and him enrolled in school. We also went to the dentist. Oh, my! That's where a major expense will come into play. His teeth have not been well taken care of at all and we've already had to schedule dental surgery early next week. Poor little guy. He probably does not even know what a pain-free mouth feels like. Again, Maxim was very good at the dentist though. He had to go ahead and get one filling with more still to do. He wasn't happy about the numbing shot, but he handled it like a trooper. Can't say the same for how he reacted for me when I only had to remove a small splinter from his finger! Goodness, is this young fellow strong! He weighs 75 pounds and judging from how hard it was to get him to hold still for the splinter removal, most of that weight is pure muscle. I guess that means he'll do well at "football" or soccer as we call it here in the U.S.

We have Maxim on a little U-8 soccer team called the Kickers. He is so excited by this. He has only made it to one practice so far, but he asks each day to go to "football." He took to it very well; ran after the ball, kicked it far, did great throw-ins. He wasn't so great at passing--he wanted to shoot the ball toward the goal rather. : ) Kelly has been home this weekend and so she's been out practicing with him. Maxim is in heaven with all the attention showered on him by her.

This week my school friends and co-workers showered Maxim with some toys and clothes and some gift cards to help us get him better outfitted and to let him have some of his own things to play with here at home. We are very thankful for their generosity.

Sorry to still not have pictures to post, but hopefully in a few days. There just has been no energy for more than the bare necessities, and the pictures take a long time to download and then upload.

But Maxim is doing very well--he's getting too used to us, meaning that he the honeymoon period has ended. Oh, he's still very good, but he is showing a stubborn streak and tells me no sometimes. He gets mad at me when I tell him no and when I tell him it's time to take a rest or to go to bed. Typical little boy stuff, but I need to figure out some more Ukranian words so I can make it plainer to him that there are consequences for disobeying. . . I might need a little luck to make that clear.

Maxim went to school a few hours two days last week and will try his first full day on Monday. So far, so good. He was curious and did some "exploring" of the classroom when he shouldn't have, but the teacher is very kind and understanding. We are very fortunate to have found such a warm, caring environment for Maxim's introduction to American school.

Wish us luck with all this,

Charlene

The Flying Saga continued

After being told we could not fly out on Thursday as we'd so hoped and prayed, we were told that if we were going to need a hotel for the night, then we were to stand there and someone would come talk to us about it.  Five hours and fifty-six minutes after that final comment, a Delta rep. came out to tell a huge group that they had found hotel rooms and would start shuttling people to the various hotels shortly.  They took one group, then I gather someone complained because the next trip they decided to take people with children and the elderly first.  Once we got to the hotel, they decided they would also feed us supper but to spend no more than one hundred hryvna, but it turned out that the restaurant wasn't prepared for so many people, so they ended up just feeding us one of two dishes and so the cost wasn't a problem.  As usual, the food didn't agree with me, but John and Maxim enjoyed it.

The next day we were shuttled to the airport in plenty of time to get in the lines for baggage and customs checks.  I tried to get in the line for a voucher they were giving for a discount on future flights for our inconvenience, but just as I was about to the front of the line, the other line moved too much, so I had to give up on the vouchers in order to be sure we could get through all those checkpoints in time for the plane.  It's a good thing we allowed a tad extra time because John's passport not having a stamp again became an issue, much longer delay caused by it this time to the point John was saying Maxim and I should go ahead and get on the plane and he'd find another flight, but it eventually all worked out and we made it onto the plane that had been repaired from the day before.  We had been concerned that Maxim's adoption papers, visa, or some such thing would cause a holdup on our exit from Ukraine; who would have guessed it would be John?

No one could ever been happier to land in the U.S.A. than John and I were.  JFK aiport may be a pain to maneuver, but it was a welcome hassle for sure.  The guy who checked us in at customs was the nicest fellow.  It was such a relief to be able to understand every word he said!  Soon thereafter we were able to text or call family members and say we were back in America!

I tell you that until you live in a foreign country, especially one lacking in some of our conveniences, you probably just cannot have the appreciation for our country that we now have, and we've always been very patriotic.  Having said that, I will also say that we will sorely miss some of the folks we met in Kiev.  Sadly, probably the only one we'll keep in contact with is Alla, our bossy translator.  Bossy is a good thing most of the time when you have no idea what you're really doing.  She has been very kind to check on us both airport days as well as to e-mail us to make sure we made it all the way home safely.  I will try to send her some pictures of Maxim in his new home before too long.

Speaking of pictures, when we get some more uploaded from our camera, then we will put a few  more on here as well as on kodak gallery.

Today, Maxim and I met went to his new school and met with the principal and his teacher.  They gave him a short tour of school and introduced him to his classmates.  Maxim was all smiles as all this occurred.  I had been concerned that it would be too much for him since he had been in a cocoon like environment since his schooling has been in the orphanage, but no, he seems very happy still.  We are so pleased with how well Maxim has accepted us and adapted to the U.S. and the new environment.  He also started soccer practice this evening; the new coach was very kind to Maxim.  Maxim was very tired afterward but again mostly smiles.  He loves "football" so maybe he'll be a natural--that would make Kelly very happy.

For those of you still coming over:  it is all worthwhile, but you have to be prepared for the unexpected every step of the way and for delay after delay.  You have to learn to go with the flow and not expect what you thought you could expect.

Charlene

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!

Yes, we truly are home!  Finally!  And the lines from the poem by Henry Van Dyke describes how we've felt the past several days:    "So it's home again, and home again, America for me!  My heart is turning home again, and that's where I long to be."  As expected, we literally did not know until almost the last minute when we'd be flying out and even then, the flight got cancelled.  We raced and rushed the entire week just trying to get Maxim's new passport from the Ukranian government.  In addition to those lovely "expediting" fees, there was a bottle of brandy exchanged.  Why, we don't know.  Just while on an extremely tight time crunch and on our way supposedly to meet up with the man who was hand carrying Maxim's passport, suddenly the taxi pulled over.  Out hopped Alla saying something about she didn't know why but the guy had told her to bring a bottle of brandy.   So she returns with the brandy and we race on to the metro stop where she's been told to meet the man who was meeting the man with the passport.  We get there and surprisingly easily find the man.  Alla and he disappear for a few minutes and she returns to the car.  Then we head exactly back to where we had been before the "brandy" call came in.  The man we met there had to himself carry back the passport to his office and put an official stamp on it.  Finally, it was done.  I signed a piece of paper on the trunk of the taxi and we raced off again.  We were trying to get to the Embassy where John was waiting before they closed.  We barely got there before the Embassy closed, too late to get Maxim's visa printed that day (a bottle of brandy cost us dearly!), but they did agree to go ahead and do our interview.  They also promised to have the visa printed first thing the next day (Thursday) by around 9 a.m.  The plane was to take off at 11:10 so it was cutting it very close for us, but we decided surely luck must somehow be with us since it hadn't been for so very long so we packed all our belongings Thursday night.  We put everything into a minivan taxi Friday morning and rushed to the Embassy.  After sweating it out for thirty minutes I was finally handed Maxim's visa!!!  Yes!! That meant we could now leave the country.  IF IF IF we could just get to the airport and all checked in before the flight departed at 11:10 a.m.  It was a race to the finish line, literally, a race.  We were all three huffing and puffing by the time we finished getting our luggage checked, paying for the change of the flight, going through security checkpoint after checkpoint, getting the adoption documents scrutinized very carefully, and the best part of all, having John almost not be allowed to cross out of their border.  Yes, remember the lost passport incident a couple days after we arrived in Kiev?  Well, it came back to haunt John.   Turns out if you don't have the official stamp in your passport showing you entered the country, they are not going to let you leave the country!  Luckily, John had found the lost passport and was able to prove that he had entered legally into Ukraine.  So, finally, we were on board the plane.  We heard the safety spiel they always give.  We taxied down the runway, well, for a little while, and then the plane stopped.  We passengers all assumed we were just waiting for final clearance for take off, but after about fifteen minutes, the pilot came on and told us we were having trouble getting the right engine to start and that maintenance was coming out to check on it.  After a long wait with no definite decision made and all of us hoping that the plane could be easily fixed and would still fly, we were disappointed to learn that the plane would not fly that day.

There are many other details of the past week, but the fatigue has taken over again.  Our bodies went through so much our entire trip, especially that last week.  On top of that both John and I were sick the past two weeks.  I came home with an ear infection so the ascent and descent of the plane was painful.  The six hour time difference is not an easy thing to adjust to now that we're back home.  What I am trying to say is that hopefully there will be time and energy to blog more in a day or two, but this entry must be short.  I did want to let everyone know, though, that we're home so wrote even though the story must end abruptly for now.

Oh, don't mean to stop without saying that Maxim is doing great!

Charlene

Guess Who's Here!!!

We are very happy to announce that Maxim is now legally our son. It wasn't until another very grueling day was almost over on Thursday that we were able to take custody of Maxim. You cannot imagine how we were sweating it, since we'd been told that we might get to bring him home on Tuesday and there was even a slight possibility on Wednesday and no go. But that stress is now over because Maxim is now living with us here in this apartment in Kiev. We hope to be able to bring him home soon; the actual timing, as I've posted before, depends on how long it takes the U.S. Embassy to process the required paperwork there and issue the visa. That usually is a quick turn around, but we still are missing a vital piece of paper before we can go there as well as Maxim's completed passport, plus, remember we told you that Sunday is a big holiday here called International Women's Day. Some say it is similar to our Mother's Day, but it is far bigger. They get Monday off because it is a national holiday. There are always kiosks and stands and stands of fresh flowers for sale here in the big city, but that number has greatly increased because of this huge holiday. Needless to say, the Embassy won't be open on Monday since they get to close for both Ukranian and U.S. holidays. What a great job! That makes the schedule much tighter. We, and most others who go through this adoption process here, honestly won't know for sure which day we will be able to fly out of here until the very afternoon before. We all want and need to get back home for sure though! Maxim needs to get into first grade there and I need to get back to my students. John has a family wedding to attend and his job to return to as well. So it's not for lack of want or travail that is keeping us here.

Thursday we got Maxim and got to see his groupa--they live in family style units sort of in groups of eight children when they are around his age. There is a teacher during the da, and an aide part of the time; at night someone is there who sleeps in the room with them. There were eight tiny beds that they made up and put cushions on so similar to what we'd call a daybed maybe. The set up was like a small apartment except no doors into the two rooms. You enter into a living room kind of area which didn't look like they much used it. It did have an aquarium (kind of dirty) that Maxim seemed to really like. Then there was the sleeping room that I described. Other than those two, there was a room with desks adjoining each other with storage under the top of the desk as well as a storage cubby for each child around the room. There were a couple others in Maxim's group who looked to us as if anyone would want to adopt them, not that we know if they were adoptable. One girl told us she was also being adopted to the United States, but we have no idea if that is true or not. And of course, we think we got the cream of the crop. : )

How proud Maxim was and is of his new clothes. He is bigger than he looks because the size 8's we got him barely, barely fit him. He is very solid. We are very lucky that he is so physically healthy as well. Most people say there child/ren are underweight and under height when they get them from an orphanage. We found him a denim jacket and denim jeans set that he thinks he looks just, oh, so sharp in! Today Maxim got to wear the jeans and sweater he helped pick out last week and he again was very, very happy. John was asleep when Maxim got dressed; as soon as Papa got up, Maxim ran to him pointing out his new clothes and grinning and grinning. Maxim has been great since he came with us. The only kink that is not worked out is sleep. We have to remember that he's used to sleeping with several other people in the same room with him, so to expect him to be able to sleep in a strange apartment on a sleeper sofa in a room all by himslef was, well, just not a good idea. I stayed up until he went to sleep, but he didn't stay that way. The first night we were all up and down so many times, I don't think any of us got much sleep. So last night we started out the same way, but before long, there was Maxim standing by the bed telling me something so earnestly with such a sad look on his face. Of course, I don't know exactly what he said, but when I motioned to climb in beside of me, he about barreled me over, he was in such a hurry. I did get him to move to the middle of the bed; he went almost immediately to sleep. I figure for the few days we're here, what will it hurt? Poor kid, his whole life has been turned topsy turvy, and I can pretty much guarantee that he'll like his own bed in his own room not very long after we get back home. Yesterday, we took Maxim back to that indoor playland I wrote about last week. He had asked us to go there every day since. He had a great time. We figure he earned it because so much of yesterday and part of the day before were spent in a car and some in a diner just waiting and waiting while Alla ran in and out of several places; sometimes with me, sometimes not. The first night after we finished what paperwork we could, we stopped at an outdoor park to let him run and play. So what if it was flurrying and had mud puddles galore? The kid was in Heaven being let loose like that. Then we celebrated by going to TGIF. One thing we can say for certain about Maxim. The boy LOVES to eat. I had heard from others that they eat like they'll never see another bite for about six months after they leave the orphanage, but since Maxim is such a good size, I was surprised that he, too, is so happy to have plentiful food. It makes us feel good to see him eat like that as well as sad to think what young children must have to worry about when they are orphans.

On a more upbeat note, we finally got tickets to the circus which is just a short bus ride from here. Today we stopped by there to get the tickets because last time we tried (with Gail and Craig sans Maxim) they were all sold out. Try explaining to a young child who does not speak English that we aren't going in to see the fun circus today but will come back tomorrow! Then we tried to take him across the street to a movie in Ukranian, but they do not show children's movies on Saturday! So we went to a toy store instead that had a small play area. Maxim is so very sweet that he just nods his head when we say "tomorrow." But when tomorrow actually comes, we think he will be thrilled to see an actual circus; we certainly will be as it's been years.

We also want to take this opportunity to thank so many people that we'd leave some out accidentally if we tried to mention each one by name, but in general, we want send out a thank you to all of you who read this blog so faithfully, to all of you who picked up the slack at work (including my principal Kathy, my co-worker Heather and John's supervisor Damon), Karen JS who wins the prize for e-mailing me every SINGLE day of my journey, to Becca and Jeanette for helping with the cats and various other items, to all of you who've sent a prayer up for us, to our Family Life class, to our family and friends, and to our children (Jonathan, Eric, Andrea, Kelly, Kevin) for allowing and encouraging us to make such a drastic change to all our lives, especially to Kelly, without whose help back at home with cats and bills and doctors and extra documents we couldn't have done this--we certainly couldn't have stayed the extra time this adoption has ended up requiring.

We know you all will join us in welcoming Maxim Christopher to our family.

Charlene

Stumbling Blocks

Yesterday involved chasing paperwork ad nauseum! And the end result was that we still did not end up with the new birth certificate. All day long there were stumbling blocks all along the way: a two and a half hour wait for the court decree, one error on that decree that caused the first birth certificate to send us back to the judge for a correction, another long wait, visit to the other Kiev district for the other part of the birth certificate to be approved, a trip to something like their regional office for approval of what the district had placed their seal on, and on and on. With much "encouragement" from Alla at least the required forms and seals were getting done by the various offices, until, you guessed it, the last stop. We were back at the original birth certificate office and the lady was just plain mean; I could tell she was yelling at Alla and I cannot even understand the language. Believe me, few people ever yell at Alla, but because she wanted something from that yelling person, Alla kept her cool pretty well. Still, in the end, we did not get the new birth certificate which means we did not yet get to pick up Maxim which also means we couldn't apply for his passport which means we couldn't apply for his new i.d. number. Without all these things, we cannot apply for his visa to come to the U.S. We are hoping it doesn't delay our return home by too much. You may be wondering when will we get this birth certificate? Well, one would think that could happen today, but no, the lady said she had meetings and would be out of the office today and so we can go back and try on Thursday. No way to know if we'll be successful. No one can ever predict when anything will happen over here. John and I (as well as Alla) are both utterly exhausted from all this frantic pace to try to get things accomplished as well as mentally fatigued from trying to figure it all out. So keep those prayers coming our way, please.

A Day Out And About

It's been a while since we've posted. The internet was down for a while, there's been a lot of paperwork stress (be glad, be very glad I didn't moan about that on here!), a touch of illness, plus, there's just not a lot of new things to report most days; just the usual routine of going back and forth to the orphanage to visit with Maxim. The bus ride is tedious and very, very bumpy to say the least. You never know which kind of driver you'll get---the one who stops for anyone who stands by the street and holds out his arm and so drives rather slowly, or the one who thinks he's running a race! The latter kind surely does make for a carsick tummy as well as bounces us out of our seats, if we're lucky enough to even be seated, that is! One day, I lucked out and was able to sit in the very front seat of the bus, the one directly across from the driver. Buses here are not doored like the school buses at home, meaning the door is located two seats back from the windshield. Anyway, the seat gave me a fantastic view of what we see on our ride to and from the orphanage. I will try to post a couple here and more on Kodak Gallery. The first street picture is where we change buses and go up that hill; the orphanage is not very far up on the right.

A fun thing did happen this past week. We were able to check out Maxim from the orphanage for five hours one day. Alla and our driver accompanied us to an outdoor market where Maxim was allowed to try on and choose which boots he wanted and which jeans. We figure it's probably the only time in his life he's been given a choice about his clothing. He liked a sweater I chose for him, and he also selected warm gloves and a cheap police car. Maxim still says he wants to be a policeman when he grows up. : ) It was a very nice change of pace to have Maxim outside of the orphanage. Alla also showed us an indoor playland kind of place, sort of like Kids Place or Chuck E Cheeze back home. Maxim didn't want to get inside the climbing apparatus, though, so he played a few games where you have to insert a token or scan a card. He had no idea what to do with the ticktets the games gave him, so it is safe to assume, he'd never gotten to play these types of games before. Of course, he loved them. He asked several times if we would take him back there tomorrow, but alas, we could not say when we could do that as we are not allowed to check him out again until we take him out for good, which should still happen by Wednesday of this week (we're hoping for Tuesday afternoon, but that's a longshot). We also stopped in at a large grocery store while we had Maxim since we had a taxi and would have an easier way to haul back large jugs of water and some other items. Maxim chose a pear he really wanted as well as a small bag of colorful marshmallow candy; he also enjoyed pushing the cart for us--that is, until we put four huge jugs of water in there, then he motioned for me to take over. After that, it was to McDonald's for a Happy Meal, which I also got the idea he'd never had before. Alla kept telling me that wouldn't be enough food for him, but I insisted that he get his Happy Meal, and of course added some of my nuggets to his small box while John kept refilling his French fry container. Poor kid, then Alla insisted he eat that all! We had just a short time to spare after that before our 3 p.m. deadline to have Maxim back at the orphanage so we brought him by our apartment and showed him where he would live with us for a couple of weeks after we get him from the orphanage. He was pleased to see his puzzles he'd already done, toys he'd played with, and the big red bag here. I sense it made him feel more comfortable. It was hard to leave him at the orphanage after our big day out, but Maxim was very happy. Oh, while we were out we did manage to get pictures made of Maxim for his visa and medical exam; the ones for the Ukranian passport Alla says we cannot do ahead of time--that the passport office must do them when we take Maxim there to apply for it. Sigh. And time goes on and on and on and on and on. . .

It was a very nice and sunny day here yesterday, or at least John says it was. I was so sick that I barely moved from the bedroom to the bathroom to the couch and back and forth. Self-diagnosing a sinus and ear infection, I started Friday on the last vial of antibiotics my doctor had so graciously prescribed for me to bring along. Today, I feel just a tad better but am still very weak so I am writing a paragraph for the blog, then resting a bit, then writing another paragraph,etc., so if the blog is a bit disjointed, now you know why. With John doing all the peeling and chopping, we managed to make some potato/onion soup which those of you who know me know is my cure for any illness. :) It surely did taste good. I figure if I had to get that sick (yes, I'd had a few under the weather days before while here but none this bad), then it was better to be sick now before we have Maxim here with us and definitely before we are on an airplane. Can you imagine the pain with infected ears and flying!!

Today we are both kind of relaxing and we have the landlord over with a repairman again to make the antiquated washer work once more. I tell you it is just one step above washing them all by hand, but if they can just patch it up for a few more weeks, it will no longer be our problem. Sure hope we don't have to do the wash by hand though; that would take forever to dry. Remember there are no dryers, other than the lines we toss the wet clothes on in the kitchen.

John is tired of being cooped up, though he did run out to a small grocery yesterday, so I have promised him that in a little while I will, at the least, walk to the nearest shopping center with him. I figure the fresh air might do me good anyway. The weather today is very different from yesterday's. It came quite a good snow last night--looks like three or four inches. It's beautiful, for a while anyway.

So I'll close for now. Hopefully, in a very few days we will have Maxim here with us, and you can be sure we will be shouting that fantastic news from the proverbial rooftop!

May God bless each of you,

Charlene

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A lot has happened since I got a chance to write. Charlene has covered things real well. The main thing is that we are so excited to be nearing the end of this adoption process; we hope we are anyway. There have been so many hurdles that have come up. I am happy to give my wife a compliment – she has risen and met the challenges. Some things almost blindside you. Like today, we mostly by accident found out that the U.S. Embassy will need a copy of some more of our records before we can file for a passport for Maxim. Duh! As Homer Simpson says, no one thought to tell us, so we find out by sheer accident. (And yes, Charlene thinks it silly of me to like to watch The Simpsons. But I do anyway.)

I really enjoy the time and activities with Maxim. It’s fun to share games, learning, and just plain fun stuff with Maxim. I love his smile and he has a good sense of humor. I have taught a long time, and the only thing I see that Maxim will have a little trouble with is having to learn English. To tell the truth, my old English teachers probably doubted I would ever learn English. ☺

Some other things to mention include a store like Sam’s Club, continuing to learn how to get around town, trying to buy a few clothes for Maxim, cooking and trying to cross-reference measurements, watching for money exchange rates to be in your favor, and last but not least, using Skype to talk to those at home.

Alla went with us to a shopping area we had gone to with another American couple – Craig and Gail. (Hi Craig and Gail if you are reading this. And Gail, you would have loved the store.) With a little direction from Alla, Charlene and I discovered two new shopping areas. And one of them was bigger than the Sam’s Club back home, really, it was bigger than three Sam’s Clubs combined! The only problem I had was that it was huge and the fish area in the food section smelled very bad. All the fish and fish parts were just laid out and it smelled a lot. When I get back home I don’t think I will rush to Red Lobster. But Charlene and I splurged after buying some good bargains on groceries, by getting a taxi. Neither of us wanted to try to carry all our stuff, including huge and heavy jugs of water, on the subway or bus.

Charlene is definitely a Mom. She is an expert at choosing fun activities to do with him daily and in buying the right size clothes, shoes, and stuff for Maxim. I admit she traced his foot. But the rest of the stuff she almost did by instinct. I admit I have trouble with the size system here. But then I have never been good at buying clothes for others.

Cooking is a challenge when you don’t have a measuring cup, proper bowls, or even utensils. So we cheated and bought only what we really needed. I mean after all, we don’t want to take anything that will be extra weight back with us. So anything we don’t take we intend to give either to the orphanage or our translator. But it was not a sure thing when the directions are in Ukrainian. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides if we can’t eat it, there are always hungry animals, birds, or trash cans. We even found $1.00 a piece plates so we got three of them. Yep, this ill equipped kitchen has only flat like soup bowls and large saucers for plates! It made us feel better just to have a real plate to eat from, even though the color is a sickly green.

Since we have been here the exchange rates for the American dollar went down a little and since then has steadily gone up. Great for me, I can buy a cup of American coffee and not feel I’m being wasteful. Of course, I have to be honest and tell you that I had been trying to give up coffee. And since there are few liquids I can drink here, coffee is back on the list. I would love a regular coke but my conscience (Charlene) reminds me that I am diabetic.

And Skype.com. What can I say but WOW! What a cool, cheap way to talk and see those at home. I have been slowly losing my computer skills since I retired from teaching, but Charlene has been helping me relearn. To any of you not using Skype, please try it. It is a free program and free to use – really, no strings like so many things in life have (unless, like us, you have to pay for every megabyte!)

There have been some things happen we have dealt with. I got news that my Mom had had a mild heart attack. I was going to return home but my Mom and family back home asked me to wait and see how she did. I am happy to say she is doing very well. Not quite back to her old self but still ok. And, of course, other worries which I know are like everyone has.

So for now, if you are here – don’t give up. If you are coming – sit back and enjoy the ride.

LOL

and God keep all safe,

John

It's a Red Letter Day

A major hurdle is now behind us. The judge here yesterday proclaimed that Maxim Christopher Spencer will be legally (legal from the Ukranian government’s point of view) our child once the mandatory waiting period ends. (The waiting period is time for anyone to object to this ruling—though this rarely happens, we need to keep in mind that it could.) Following the minimum ten day waiting period on Day 11, we can go look over the ruling to make sure there are no mistakes and that all names are spelled correctly (it becomes a huge deal later on if the names are not spelled correctly). Then, then next day we can go back and pick up these official documents. The day after that, I believe, we are able to pick up Maxim and he will then live with us while we finish up the U.S. documents. After we have him in hand, then we can take him for passport pictures and to apply for the passport. We are unsure how many days it takes to get his passport back, but once we do get it, we can apply for Maxim’s visa. The visa doesn’t take as long to issue, as we understand it, but there is one other Ukranian holiday in this time span somewhere that may cause a day or two delay. We also have a mandatory medical exam to get Maxim here in order to be able to take him to the United States as well as an interview at the U.S. Embassy. Once all these minor hurdles are passed, the U.S. government will also consider Maxim as our child and once his foot hits American territory, he is a legal American Citizen!! We can choose to or choose not to readopt when we get back in Kentucky so he will have a Kentucky sort of birth certificate. We’ll make that decision later; we have way too many pressing ones to make right now to give that more than a passing thought. I realize everyone wants to know when we’ll actually be back home; believe you me, we want to know that very same answer! The best guesstimate is by St. Patrick’s Day, but the way things work here, we may not know our actual return date until the day before we are to fly home.

Maxim was quite nervous at the meeting with the judge, though she was kind to him. She used legalistic terms to ask him questions; some of them confused me when translated, so no wonder the little guy was a bit shaken. However, we were very proud of how Maxim responded to all the questions. The gist of their conversation was that, no matter how she worded and reworded the questions, Maxim kept responding he wanted to live “with them,” meaning John and myself. He walked closer to her to try to hear what she was saying; the judge had bronchitis and so was talking quietly. Other than that move, he stood by my side holding my hand. I started to turn loose of his hand once, thinking he might be tired of standing there like that and was going to just put my hand on his shoulder, but he held on more tightly and so I of course never did let go—I let him take the lead there. : )

Another cute story: The judge and the others in the room—her secretary, the prosecutor, the Social Worker (called Inspector here)—all greatly enjoyed looking at our family album. They took interest in our children and the room for Maxim of course, but they were most impressed by our yard. We had pictures in the album from late last summer when all the flowers and bushes were in full bloom, and from the angle of the camera , it make our yard look enormous—it isn’t , and we hadn’t even tried to make it look so, but I digress. John spoke up and said he did all the flowers and took care of them all. Poor John. He (other than little Maxim) was the only male in the room. The women all kind of smiled and nodded. Alla later told us that none of them believed him anyway. Then John said that I did just a little bit of work on the flowers too, jokingly. They all laughed and it made for a good feeling in the room.

The judge asked Maxim how he would tell us on the plane if he was hungry or thirsty or needed to go to the bathroom. He responded that he would tell us in Ukranian, very matter of factly. She also queried if he knew he now had brothers and sisters. He said yes. She asked how he would talk to them; again, he responded in that matter of fact tone, “In Ukranian.” Of course, he was speaking Ukranian so I am quoting what our translator told us he said. The judge thought that was pretty cute. Guess we’d better work a little harder on teaching the lad English. : )
The judge soon thereafter ruled in our favor, telling Maxim to be a good boy, to be happy, and to do well in school.

Never will I be convinced that just because a child passes his seventh birthday he should be put through this very stressful court date where he or she has the huge responsibility of deciding their future, of deciding where and with whom he or she should live. Can you imagine your seven or eight year olds being given such a daunting responsibility? But this part is past, for us anyway.

Last night, we met up with Chan, another person here adopting, and her two year old new son, Alex. We all had a good time comparing war stories and holding and playing with little Alex. He is small for his age, but, my, did he enjoy eating! Makes a person feel good to see someone appreciate food like that. We greatly enjoyed getting to know Chan in person after following her odyssey online, and we wish her safety on her flight home today and a happy future with her husband and her son.

This weekend we have no real plans, though we might finally get to go see the Chernobyl Museum as well as a larger groc

ery store so we can buy some cheaper food items. After the larger than expected expediting fee for the judge, we have to watch every penny, plus, I like finding bargains anyway. And I need to find so

me food I can cook and eat because I am still losing weight. My belt just doesn’t have room for any more holes to be put in it. The weather is still cold for today, though it is no snowing as it has been the last two days. It’s the largest snow we’ve seen since being here; John says it’s been more like the Ukraine he expected.

Thanks to all of you who are commenting or e-mailing or somehow responding to our blog and our journey.

Charlene

Activities with Maxim

Trains are a favorite of Maxim's as are puzzles. Here's a picture he took of his work today and a cat (another of his favorites) puzzle from a few days ago. Our visits with him include at least one puzzle each time. He's very good at figuring out how to put all the pieces back together. Oh, sure, occasionally we give him a hand, but most of the time, he sees how they pieces fit back together before we do. This past week we taught him to play Trouble, the game where you have to count to get around the board and by landing on an opponents token can send that person back to start. Maxim caught on very quickly to this game. Though he loves landing on us and getting sent back, it makes him just a little sad if we end up landing on him. Maxim has also taken very readily to playing games and music on John's iphone. He's going to be another boy who loves gadgets, much like our older sons. We also played the little wind-up fishing game (thanks, Kelly) this week; Maxim enjoyed the use of the magnet on the end of the pole. John also found this very small remote control car that Maxim remembers to ask us for each day. His word for car is something like "machina."

We're also working on the English alphabet with Maxim. Though many of the letters look the same, their sounds are far different, so it's quite a challenge to learn that the same letter sounds totally different in another language. Still, Maxim is giving it a good effort, but he is far from being able to speak English yet. He is learning how to say a few of the numbers, though. Games like Trouble and Uno are helping as are the math worksheets we ask him to do daily. He gets to choose a pretty sticker for each page he completes; he really likes stickers so this is a good tactic to get him to do this activity. For language we just talk to him a lot and get him to repeat some words. That Memory game I've mentioned before is still a favorite. We are using the one with animals so it should help him know the words for many animals before too long. Maxim was asking us to play Memory with him every single day, but I think we've skipped a day of it here and there the last week or so. Not so, Trouble. I guess it's replaced Memory as his current favorite.

It is cold and snowing here and blustery. A couple of inches of snow are predicted overnight with maybe another inch tomorrow; I think it's predicted again on the next day, too, but I'll try not to think about that right now. I hate the cutting cold winds and very wet blowing snow; they chill you to your very bones! But overall, I still think we've had fairly good weather considering where we are and the time of year it is. Of course, spring couldn't get here too soon for me.

Finally, last night I got the peanut butter cookies made. This apartment came with very sparsely supplied kitchen utensils, etc. With no cookie sheet, no mixing bowl, no mixer, no sturdy stirring spoon, no measuring cup, no measuring spoon, and all the ingredients having the writing on them in English, maybe I should just be glad that the cookies are at all edible. Margarine here is not sold like at home. That means we buy it in a block and there were no numbers on it to indicate how much weight was in it so I tried to guess. I guessed that since it was only a little bigger than our 4 sticks of margarine that I should cut off 3/4 of the package and use it for the one pound of butter. Then I took a small glass and estimated how much would equal a cup. Alla helped me find vanilla the other day and baking powder. Both are sold in little tiny packets. The vanilla was not liquid but powder too. The flour I couldn't figure out if it was self-rising, but I assumed it wouldn't be. So I added in the amounts of flour, sugar, brown sugar (much bigger grains here and much more expensive), eggs, etc. and mixed all together. It was way too liquidy. So I added in one more cup of flour and the sugars. Then I figured I'd better put in another egg. Even after all that, the dough just wasn't like dough but more like a thick paste. But I decided to try baking one pan full. So I put them into a roasting pan (we had to buy one of those in order to be able to cook anything in the oven) and put them into the gas oven. Then the real fun began--trying to figure out how far to turn up the gas in the oven in order to be at 325 degrees. Even though I checked on them every two or three minutes, somehow the bottoms got just a little too dark and the butter just oozed from the tops. So into the rest of the batter I added in another round of all the dry ingredients and another egg. Of course by then, I'd run out of vanilla and especially baking powder. After using up most of the bag of flour and bags of sugars, I decided it would just have to do and, thus, gave the oven another shot. John and I thought they weren't too bad, though quite rich from all that butter and sugar. But the real test came today when I nervously handed one to Maxim. He took a bite and I asked him if it was good. He nodded his head, smiled and circled his palm over his tummy. What better compliment could any Momma want? : )

For some reason today the bus driver on our ride back from the orphanage pulled over to the side of the street and started handing back the bus fee money to each rider. So John and I just went with the flow and took our $2 Hrvna and exited the bus. Luckily, it was next to a McDonald's and indoor shopping area. So we split some fries for a snack and then found a toy store where we were able to locate a gadget that says the English alphabet and sounds aloud. We hope that will help Maxim learn how to say the letters a little better than we alone can do.

We had planned to visit the Lavre Cathredral today; it's the one Craig and Gail blogged about going to that has tunnels underneath it where you can see the people buried there from years ago. I'm not sure I really want to look at dead people; even John doesn't seem too interested in that part, but then again, we can't imagine being here and not at least going to look at the cathedral. Since our day today was taken up otherwise as mentioned above, the cathedral visit will have to wait for another day--would be nice if the sun smiled on us for that anyway.

The other picture is of that red bag I mentioned last blog that John totes for us back and forth to visit Maxim every weekday. It is jam packed with all kinds of different activities, plus snacks and a camera or two, so it gets kind of heavy. But boy, do Maxim's eyes light up when he sees it; he always wants to look in it and see what new or different activity we might have for that day. Fun.

Lastly, the shoes. Don't think we need to say what caused John's shoes to get so worn out that we bought him a new pair yesterday.

Well, that's about it from Kiev.

Keep those comments and e-mails coming, please.
Charlene

Dreary Days

A bakery with real bakery items--they actually have a normal, sweet taste.
(Thanks Craig & Gail, and Alla.)

This is the outside view of the circus. Sorry, we have no

inside views, but still hope to get to go one day.

Another dreary Sunday afternoon in Kiev. Wonder if the lack of sunshine is why everyone walks around with a gloomy look on their face and why the locals don’t bother with common courtesies? Recently, I read an article in an English language Kiev newspaper by a native to here who strongly suggested that Russians (she included all of those who used to be part of the Soviet Union in that label) all learn to behave more nicely, more like their neighbors in the European Union. Her point was that when they then become tourists in the E.U. or elsewhere, for that matter, then their boorish ways wouldn’t make all Russians unwelcome guests. She specifically pointed out things that we Americans take for granted. “Excuse me,” when someone knocks into you on the street or a simple “I’m sorry” are phrases rarely heard here in Ukraine. The locals here love to cut right in front of you in line, by simply shoving your or nudging you out of their way. The author also chided Russians for how they let alcohol control them—how rowdy they think they are allowed to become just because they have a bottle of vodka for example. The list goes on and on. . . Again, we are thankful to be Americans!!

Speaking of liquor reminds me of riding the bus last week. One day, this sweet faced girl of about thirteen or fourteen heard us speaking English and after a few half turns to check us out, she turned around and started up a conversation with us. Her English was very good. She told us that she and her seatmate were headed to school—an English school. She responded that she thought it would be good to know English for her future when I asked her about why she chose the English school. The conversation was brief but had a lasting effect on me, not because of the words spoken, but because as she exited the bus I noticed what she was drinking. I thought it was a cola of some sort, but no, it was a beer she was swigging! And at 10:00 in the morning!!

Something I admire about guys here in Kiev: they are not hesitant to carry their wife or girlfriend’s purse. It always amazes me when I see that here as it is so uncommon in the U.S. It doesn’t make them seem less macho for doing it either. To be fair to John here, I must mention that the red bag (thanks, Alesia) we used for a carry on on the plane and now as storage for all the workbooks, puzzles, games, cars, snacks is toted daily by him back and forth to the orphanage. It is just too heavy for this gal. But I’m talking about men carrying the lady’s shiny, black purses for them when they need them to, and they seem to do so readily. Just an observation.

We went to the Museum of Russian Art today. We would post some pictures here for your enjoyment, but seeing as there were large signs indicating no cameras, John decided he didn’t want to get kicked out of another place (referencing St. Vladymir’s Cathedral incident) and so didn’t try to take any pictures. The museum was okay but not all what most of you would expect an art museum to contain. Most of the paintings dated back to only a hundred or so years ago. Still, there were a few amazing works.

Other than that and shopping (just looking) at a couple of stores, there’s really not much going on here. On weekends, you all will recall, that we don’t get to go visit Maxim. John and I both enjoy our time spent with him, plus, it gives us something worthwhile to do with our days, so we are both looking forward to seeing the little guy tomorrow morning. He continues to impress us with his sweet disposition, his sheer pleasure in just seeing us, and his fortitude for doing puzzles. : ) We hope to have more pictures of him posted soon as well as the missing post from last time re-established.

Alla did show me how to buy vanilla flavoring and baking powder because I have been wanting to bake some homemade cookies to take to Maxim one day. Can you imagine living in a large city like this and there not being any cake mixes, cookie mixes, refrigerated cookie dough, self-rising flour, etc.? Even peanut butter is hard to come by and expensive. And chocolate chips you just cannot find at all—not even cocoa! So I will try my hand at either sugar or peanut butter cookies. Wish me luck because the very ancient gas stove has no way to know what temperature you turn the gas up to, and there is no baking racks inside it—just the bottom pan which we have started using as a rack. Ah, the joys of pioneer life.

You’d think with some extra time on our hands, we could write novels or come up with great philosophies, etc., but I tell you, my mind is so frayed just trying to decipher the adoption process and finagle everyday life that a bit of crocheting and listening to a book on tape are about all I can handle. And an occasional blog of course. : )

We didn’t realize how much we craved hearing their native tongue spoken until last night while standing in line at TGIF’s for a real treat of dinner out with an American menu we overheard American English being spoken. So we started a chat with the guys and gals and learned that they were from all over the United States here working for Peace Corps. On our long walk back to the apartment, all John and I could talk about was how good it was to hear English; we even knew exactly how many different speakers of English we’d conversed with—8. We also overheard two other couples there speaking English. Like I said, you have no idea how much better just hearing our home language spoken made us feel.

John's RamblingS

Well, Charlene is trusting me to write again. I have a lot to say before I start writing, but when I start my minds gets fuzzy. :) I hope it is just being here and not that last birthday catching up with me.

First, let me say that Maxim is really COOL!! We are getting really attached to him. And it definitely seems that he is getting attached to us. When we visited him today Charlene was sitting in a chair and could not see him as he came into the room. He saw that I could see him, and he gave me a sign to be quiet. He sneaked up and surprised Charlene. He got a big kick out of doing that. The little rascal has a good sense of humor. And he gives great hugs to us. Of course we give them back to him.

We played some games today, plus Maxim did some fun work sheets that actually give us a better idea of his working level. So far he seems to like all the things we get him to do. But his favorite things to do are to play Memory, Connect Four, do dot to dots, color and take pictures. Seriously, he seems to have real talent. :) Charlene is too polite to point out that it may be that I have little talent with the camera. :( Whatever we do, our time with Maxim goes by too fast. I will be glad when this is all over and we ALL get to go H-O-M-E!! Home really is where the heart is.

Oh my! Saw something today that is very unusual for here. We saw Sunshine. By my count today has been only the fourth day of sunshine shince we got here. But the weather is changing. Went for some water bottles earlier and it was either raining or sleeting a little. See, playing the song "Sunshine on my Shoulder" did some good today.

Got to tell you about the ducks. We went with another American couple to a nice shopping mall (or building), Ukrainia. When we went in there was red carpet on the floor coming down the stairs to a large fountain in the center of the entrance. There were even ropes set up to keep back the crowd. And there was a lot of people gathered. So of course the four of us waited to see what was going to go on. SURPRISE - young men in Tuxes led out a group of ducks. Just plain grey-like typical ducks. They herded the ducks into a large fountain and being ducks, they swam around in the fountain for a few minutes. The crowd and kids clapped and cheered, then the ducks were herded away. (I got some pictures.) And that was it. We think it was to celebrate a weather or calendar date for after their Christmas. Never seen so much pomp and cere

mony given to ducks. They weren't even white, pretty ducks but just ordinary old gray ducks. Whatever it was for, the kids and everyone in the crowd loved the ducks.

What else should I include? That I got us lost? No! About getting caught taking pictures in a church? No. How to lose a passport? No. I know! How much fun it is to have a young one to shop for again. No, really. It is so nice to have the chance to shop in toys again. And see his eyes light up. He really has nothing to call his own. When we get him from the orphanage, he even has to leave the clothes he has worn. Amazing the things we take for granted.

You know something I am looking forward to??? Getting a drink of water out of the tap. Simple I know. But what a pain to have to buy bottled water. Not to mention not having a car. See, said I wouldn't mention that. Something else I look forward to is using the phone without worrying about how many minutes are on it. Newspapers! Other people using English! I can go on but you get the idea. I miss home and the people there.

I guess, though, that with fewer distractions around it is easier for Charlene to keep me out of trouble. But when you get the chance, ask her about what happened at church. Enough said.

This apartment promised internet and we thought it would be unlimited like the others. Guess what. It isn't. So we are trying to use our on-line time wisely. I guess we either need to use an Internet cafe or see about getting more time on our account here.

I think I am restless. Charlene is too. And we are tired of all the walking or waiting for a bus. For some reason the first Bus # 18 passed us right by today and then we had to wait about 45 minutes to catch one later. Thank goodness it was on our return and not going to the orphanage.

I do have one worry. I think I am becoming addicted to espresso. I had actually almost given up coffee, but since it is a choice here between bottled wated, soft drinks, coffee or juice - I am on a caffiene high. I do not really care much for the juices. And I am lactose intolerant- at my age.
The program Skype.com is very nice. It is great to talk and see those back home. But the video part is very slow and unreliable if you have the old fashioned dial-up. It has been nice to see those at home, and them to see us.

We still want to go to the circus. But we are putting that off until we have Maxim. I am sure he would enjoy it. But Charlene and I are going to try to go to a couple of museums later this week.

A suggestion to anyone who plans to come here, buy a cheap MP3 and fill it with lots of music. Also bring yourself movies. If I had thought to do it, I would have recorded the morning news shows so that in the morning I would think I was home. And be sure to have pictures of home and people. Nice to look at them. And if you like Kool-aid, be sure to bring it. I have not found any for sale here. Glad we brought some.

I guess I have typed out enough. See, being a Special Education teacher means I can spin it out. But Charlene says it is just natural talent. LOL

To everyone, take care of each other, keep on reading and responding to our blog, and those of you still to come, be sure the money you bring is clean and new. It is hard to exchange any old money.

Well, my brain is getting tired of coming up with cute things to say about Ukraine. Time to recharge. More ramblings another day.

Apartment, etc.

Our new apartment is spacious (separate rooms for living, bed, and kitchen) with tall ceilings that have intricate, beautiful scroll work on each corner of them. The hardwood floor boards are diagonally placed and attractive. We also have an elevator this time. Now, now, before you all think we are living the life of Riley, here's the real scoop. There are no rugs anywhere, not a one. The elevator is so old that it rattles and shakes and makes such noises that we wonder each time we use it if we will have a sudden drop of three floors! The facilites are a bit lacking too. The shower can only be turned to a certain point or something happens--we couldn't understand the man's Ukranian enough to figure out what that might be and decided we'd better just stop at the halfway point on the shower. The commode here, if you need to flush it, you have to turn on the valve and flush and then don't forget to turn the valve right back off because it leaks.


Apartments here also come with washers; a very antiquated one is with this particular one. That same man drew little marks on it to show us where to start a cycle and where to twist it to to make it spin. We never have figured out rinse though. But the washer leaks too. Want to know how we found out? There was such constant ringing of our doorbell yesterday morning. . . The people in the apartment on the floor below came up to tell us in very broken English and lots of hand motions that the water from the washer was leaking down the wall into their apartment! Alla to the rescue. She called the owner of the apartment for us and someone came and told us to unplug the washer and today at 11 someone is to come repair the washer. I think this washer is probably the first ever made once wringer washers went out of fashion--it is that old--so I don't know how long a repair will last, but at least maybe we won't have to keep sopping up the floor with the few towels that are in this apartment.


This apartment was to have come with a couple English t.v. channels and to include internet, but you guessed it, when we got moved in we realized there was neither. Alla to the rescue. She called the owner and demanded that these two items be realized. So two days later the owner came and had the cable guys come and fix it so we had both. Yes, I meant to say "had" not have. Because guess what? Today, (Sunday morning) John got up to check e-mails only to get a warning message stating that if he wanted to continue using internet, he had to pay the bill. Alla to the rescue. She called the owner who said she would pay the bill later today. Depending on if/when that happens, you will be reading this. I am typing it and saving it to uplaod to the blog once we have internet restored.


We got lost the other day. Bus # 18 brings us back and forth from our neck of the woods to the are of the orphange. Trolley Bus # 18 does not. We obviously didn't pay close enough attention and got on the trolley instead. They look exactly alike except that the top of one of the cars of the trolley bus has the wire mechanism that hooks it to the trolley line. Anyway, after standing out in the shivering cold for about twenty minutes, we were so excited to see the # 18 that we just hopped aboard. Imagine our surprise when ten minutes later it stopped and a bunch of people exited. We didn't realize that not just a bunch but every single other person had gotten off! The bus started moving again and the lady who takes tickets came and talked to us in Ukranian. I guess she was telling us that was the end of the line. Anyway, yes, again, Alla to the rescue. We finally got off when the trolley stopped again, and Alla got a taxi and came to rescue us. Man, we are going to have to give her a very nice gift when this is over to thank her for all the rescues as well as to thank her for helping us find Maxim.


When we heard the word translator used before we came, we assumed it meant just that she or he would translate Ukranian into English for us; however, the translator serves as much more. So those of you still to come--be sure you make friends with your translator. She is of course a translator, but Alla has also served as a negotiater, an advisor, a tour guide, a secretary, a lawyer, a food buyer, a moderator, and a ton of other things as well. In addtion to all that, Alla realizes we are on an extremely tight budget (getting tighter with every delay) so on the rare occasions when she agrees a taxi is necessary, she will negotiate with the driver and get the cost down to what she considers reasonable. She can argue up a blue storm with the best of them. Taking a bus is far cheaper than a taxi; walking is even cheaper, and Alla's attitude is why ride when you can walk? We have walked our legs and knees off this past month though and are quicker to say isn't there a bus somewhere near or maybe even a taxi to her. A couple blocks to her is about a mile to us! Anyway, Alla's been great to us. I asked her once if she'd ever been to visit the U.S., but she said it's about impossible to get permission from Ukraine to go visit the United States because the government thinks people will leave and not return back here. She has indicated she would love to come and visit and get to see some of the many families she has helped adopt, but that without an official invitation from a senator or someone like that, she would never be given permission and that she'd just waste her money paying the fee to go to her government and asking.


We do not get to go visit Maxim on the weekends; we don't really understand why, but do not want to shake the boat by arguing about it since we still need papers from that director in order for this adoption to progress. Pictures of Maxim that she hopefully has taken over the last few years we are also hoping to talk her into letting us make copies of, so we are trying to stay on her good side. Tomorrow is Monday, though, so we should be able to see the little guy around 11 a.m. We are both looking forward to that. He continues to impress us with his eagerness to learn and his open affection. It is very humbling to realize that he is willing to leave the place he knows as home as well as his country and come with us, people who were total strangers to him just one week ago, Would any of us have that courage?


John and I both detest the games the government plays here; we equally detest waiting. When there is no visits to Maxim nor any adoption work to be done, then it is quite boring so we have to work hard not to get depressed about it all. Having had only three days of sunshine in the month we've been in Ukraine has not helped our spirits either. I even have a few of those "sunshine" light bulbs at home so I really need to have some more sun. This week the forecast is for cloudy days and then later in the week for snow, so I guess we'll have to wait a while longer to feel the smile of the sunshine.


Not this week but maybe next, we are hoping that the court date might occur. That's a huge step forward, whenever it happens. That's when the court system in Ukraine starts declaring Maxim as our adopted son. Then there is a ten day mandatory waiting period before we can start the U.S. part of the paperwork which also takes several days. Nothing yet has moved quickly for us so we aren't expecting any of this to either. We thought our documents about the adoption would be processed and ready to submit to the SDA by last Friday, but the birth mother had gotten married sometime so the papers that had her name on them all have to be redone reflecting her current legal name. Alla says it's better we found that out now before it all started moving forward and then it would have taken even longer to backtrack and get things fixed, but it surely felt like a big setback to us. The court date cannot be set nor occur until the SDA gets our documents and processes them. We are hoping this starts happening this week.


It's been kind of a rough weekend for me; a queasy or nauseous stomach that just won't go away. All I want to do is lie around on the couch, but I am going to try to make myself get out of the apartment today so John doesn't go too stir crazy. I traced Maxim's feet the other day so maybe we'll go buy him some shoes. I think I've journaled before that when the child leaves the orphanage for the final time, they get to take nothing with them, not even the clothes on their back. So we will also do a bit of clothes shopping sometime this week. I am going to take my measuring tape tomorrow and hope to be able to get a better idea of his sizes. Of course, the sizes here aren't the same as those in America, though he had on a sweater from the U.S. the other day because I peeked and it said 7/8. It was a snug fit, but it was also over a couple of layers, so I thought it might work better if I get at least a chest and leg measurement. I can't wait to get this child out into the sunshine. He is blonde so pale by nature, I suppose, but a little sunshine would get a little color into those cute cheeks. I can't figure out eye color. It seems to change. One thing for certain is that he is not brown-eyed like the rest of our kids. His eyes are more similar to John's which change color depending on what color he wears.
We have some pictures of other churches, etc., that I will try to put a few of on this entry if the internet starts working well enough for me to do that. So for your enjoyment:

This is a picture of a Catholic church near our second apartment. We weren't brave enough to go in, after our experience at that other cathedral, since it appeared to be a very active church.

Here's Andrea, another of the kids we left behind in the U.S. Just need to find a picture of one more. . . : ) We miss them all so very much.

We do not know the name of this church/cathedral, but can tell you that it is in the same area where the Chernobyl Museum is that we could not find last weekend for the longest time; then, we finally found it after paying a taxi to drive us two blocks only to discover it is closed on Sunday's.