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