We had tow really good visits today with Liam.  this morning my mom and Estella came with us.  he ate two banans and sat on my moms lap.  She is over the moon.  Adrian and I took him and Stl for a walk.  They got along great again and Stellie was a good sharer of mommy.  She did not however wnt to share her sippy cup.  This afternoon it was just Ade and I.  Him and Adrian moved soem stuff around the room and he was very serious about it.  It was so cute.  He is calling us mama and dada.  It is so cute.  He wet his pants today and he was very shocked.  WE had to bring him back down stairs to get changed.  They were really good about it.  then we went out side (that is tow times for today) and he was so excited.  It was brief as it was about to rain and our time was up. 

Tomorrow will be a long day.  I hope we can get Estella on the flgiht with my mom, but then I going to miss her so much, so I do not know how I feel about it.  I have not been away from her from more than two nights.  If I knew we were going to be home soon, I would not be so worried.  We will see.  I am going to miss my mom.  She has been a big help.  It will be hard if we have Estella here and my mom is gone.  but she is needed at work.  Well we have to get ready for our big bus trip.  I have a feeling we won't be sleeping much tonight.  Uhg.  Where have all the comments gone.  I need them it keeps us going. 

Sarah 

Today is Saturday and there is not much going on.  It is funny here, it is busier during the week and not much going on on the weekends.  We spoke with Angleina last night.  They still have not got the paper in their hands yet that we need for court.  Very frustrating.  She said the paper is completted but they need the stamp of the director on it.  The applied to another court where we are to get our ten day wait waived.  She says we will know more about that on Monday and that we should definatly at the latest have court on Tuesday.  So there is light at the end of the tunnel.  At least by the middle of next week we should know when we will be home.  If the ten day wait is waived we could be home on the 12, if not then we will probably be home on the 19th.  We will see.   Either way it is earlier than we expected.  Tongith we leave on an over night bus back to Keiv.  We will get there at 5:30 in the mroning.  Then we will go to the airport and see if we can ge Estella on the flight with my mom or see if we can get them on a different day.  We will see what happens.  Right now it looks like she will probably be with us, until we leave.  If we get the ten day wait waived that will not be that big of a deal.  I know people are really missing her at home and would like to see her, but we will have to see.  All of the flgihts are booked.  It is so annoying.  Who is going to the US.  Well yesterday I did not hjave the energy to post.  It is hard not knowing anything.  Those of you who know me, know that I am a control freak and not knowing what is going on day to day and not having a plan is killing me!  So I think I will feel better after court next week. 

I thought I would note some other difference between here and there.  Here it is perfectly accpetable to wear anything in mesh or shear with under pants optional.  I have been so suprised by that.  I mean I always wear underwear and I never wear anything see through.  I also think it has been hotter than normal and they are just not used to it and so they are trying to stay cool. 

Yesterday at the orphange was national childrens day.  They put on a little show, which we saw some of and it was really cute.  They had a little bounce house, a kiddie pool and a tunnel set up outside and Estella and Liam got to play together on them.  They had so much fun and Liam got soaked.  Luckily the orphange workers thought that this was funny and they were not mad.  On our second visit with him, Adrian and I were feeling a little down as we wish we knew what was going on.  Playing with him helped and we had a good visit with him and he is starting to let me hold him for longer periods of time.  Most of the time he wants to go go go.  Boys.  Well I better get going.  We will porbably not be able to post much tomorrow since we will be in transit.  We will let you know whow things turn out with Estella.  Keep your fingers crossed that we can get her on flight with my mom. 

 

I thought it might be fun to write about the differences between here and home.  In Ukraine you can drink deer on the streets and we have seen teenagers drinking openly on the streets.  Adrian is very fond of this and thinks that we should start this back home.  We could have a beer tent in the square in the middle of town. In Ukraine you do not need to stop for people crossing the streets, instead you can beep at them and try to run them over.  Very intresting and dangerous.  Some other differences are that there are internet cafes on every corner and you can get a meal for four people for ten dollars.  What a steal. 

Well we havea had an ok day so far.  I am trying to get EStella booked on my moms flight so that she can go home with her on Sunday.  It looks like our only option is to go to the airport on Sunday and see if we can get her on the flight.  It is crazy.  We will see.  No one will give me answer on the phone or put her on stand by.  This mornings visit with Liam was fun.  We brought two new toys for him and Estella to play with.  He followed Estella around and played.  He had to leave early as he had a doctors appointment today.  He looked so small on the 1970s van that he was in heading out to the doctor.  Estella was not as jealous today and only said my mommy once when he called me mama.  I think she is starting to get used to things.  We have not heard back from Angelina on the paperwork form Keiv yet.  I hope it comes today.  We want to have court tomorrow.  We will see.  I would just like to know when we are going to be able to go home.  After court we will know. 

this is our second visit to the internet cafe.  It is right acrossed the street and when we have nothing better to do we go there and read about the red sox and what is going on back there.  Looks like we are in for some hot weather ahead.  Great I can't wait. 

We bought some clothes today form Liam and some new shoes.  He cannot take anything form the orphanage, so these will be what he wears home.  I think we got taken at the clothing store.  There were no prices on the clothes and it turned out to be quite exspensive, but they are cute and they are all we are going to buy here.  My mom is excited to shop once she gets home. 

Well I better get going. 

Sarah

Well yesterday when we went to visit Liam he was a little grouchy.  We did not have Angelina (Our facilitator and not Angelina Jolie lol!)  with us so he could not understand a work we are saying to him.  So He was just doing whatever he pleased.  It was really funny and gave us a glimpse at what we will be dealing with when we get home.  He Just looks at us and then keeps doing what he is doiing even though we are saying no.  Well Adrian has been keeping up with the REd Sox on redsox.com.  Looks like they are doing great.  We are psyched.  Youk is on a tear.  It is great.  We wish were could watch the games.  Not much for TV here.  My mom and ADrian watche dpimp your ride in Ukrainian the other day.  They said it was really funny.  At least in Keive we had MTv in English, CNN, and the BBC.  Now we have nothing.  WEll Ia mtrying to change Estella's flight without any luck.  So we will see hwo it goes.  Talk to you soon.

Sarah

We are without Angleina today as she is in Keiv doing her best to get the paper we need for court.  Hopefully she will have a fast turn around.  We will see.  Things are going pretty well, but i think we are all starting to get on each others nerves.  From lack of good sleep and deprivation from TV we are all pretty bored.  Yesterday we had the joy of doing our second load of lundry in the tub.  It is great.  We have one more to go tongiht and then we will almost everything washed.  Adrian, mom, and I have played more Uno rummy, and yatzee then we every wanted to.  Adrian has been watching the playoffs for the NBA so that has not been so bad for him.  Sometimes it is the same game twice and it is all in Ukrainian.  Intresting.  Well I need to answer a few questions that people have asked.  Laim is in a "baby house".  There is about 100 or so children in the orphanage.  The or[hange is a combination baby house and hospital for sick children.  he has been there since he was 3 months old and he was abandon at birth.  His month died when he was a year old, but she never visited him before her death.  They said that she was homeless and it looks like she dies of exposure.  Very sad.  They do nto know who his father is.  Liam is in a group with about 15 other children, right now he is one of the youngest in his group.  The orpahange is very nice, clean and the people who work there are very nice.  We have enjoyed visiting him there.

oh, I have a funny story.  So we have found two resturants that have english menus.  One is a pizza place and it makes great pizza. Adrian and I walked down there yesterday to get some take out.  The owner, we think came out from the back and wanted Adrian to do shots of Vodka with him.  They did three shots total.  We did not know what to think.  He was very nice.  He wanted to do more than three and Adrian had to say no.  Adrian is not much of a hard alcohol drinker.  It was a funny situation, but very nice.  Well I have to get going.  We will keep you updated.

SArah

Well we are at the end of our day here.  It is been quite a day.  WE were able to get all of the paperwork we needed and Angleina will be off to Keiv soon.  We are hoping to have court either on Friday or Monday if Angelina can work her magic.  It is crazy.  We have been running around all day.  Though my mom and I were able to get hte best pedicures we have ever had for $9 each.  It was great and I needed it to relax.  Things a looking good and Adrian and I are feeling really positive.  We should be home before we know it.  We miss everyone so much.  Thanks everyone for all of the emails and the comments.  It is nice to know we have so many people who care about us.  Stella and Liam did not get to play today due to all the running around.  Adrian and I did get to see him and he was mad both times when we had to go.  I felt terrible.  I wish I could just take him with us.  Soon, we tell him, soon. 

I was reading Laura and Rob's blog yesterday and I just wanted to add that I would have to agree with them.  The accomendations have been good, we have toilet paper and good bathrooms and the food is excelent.  We still have water for know and Angleina says it might have been just a rumor.  We will see.  On Saturday we will leave by bus to bring my mom and Estella to the Airport.  We are so sad that they are leaving.  We will miss them so much.  Well I have to get going.  Talk to you all soon.

Sarah

Well yesterday we had a little pushing and shoving.  EStella was tired and very grouchy yesterday.  She fell asleep on the way to the orphange.  She was sleeping on the bench with my mom and Adrian and i took Liam for a walk around the orphanage.  It started to rain so we had to go inside so Estella woke up.  She was excited to play with her brother.  They fough over toys and then towards the end i was giving Liam some water in a cup and Estella of course did not want her sippy cup she wanted water from the cup too.  So I tried to alternate.  She pushed him and then he pushed her back and smushed the cup and water went all over her.  No crying just a little stare off as they are both trying to stand their ground.  We are going to have our hands full.  Today is a big day and we will write later to let everyone know how it went.  We are hopful that the orphange director will do the papers this morning so that we can get everything done by this afternoon.  We will see.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Talk to you all later.

Sarah

Well Yesterday after an hour and a half of playing the momment we knew would be coming came.  i was giving Liam some water and Estella came over and needed something.  She sadi "my mommy" and tried to puch him away.  I tried to explain to her that I was his mommy too.  She is still pretty sure that I am her mommy.  We will see how that goes.  When the one of the workers came to get him, she said hopefully is that his mommy.  I told her no.  Ithink it will be easier for her to understand when we are all home.  We saw him again this morning and he was dressed like such a little boy with the cutes sandels on.  Adrian was happy since yesterday her had on girls purple sandles with a wedge on.  We are getting used to our surroundings and finding it easy to get around and get the things we need.  Today though we were told that there could be a possibility that the town will be without water for five days for repairs.  I do not know what we are going to do.  I cannot beleive it.  We will die I think.  Angelian said this is unheard of.  It is a little coller today.  It rained last nigth and it is suppose to start to cool down.  Thank god, since we will not have any water.  Liam said red today and has almost got cookie down.  He is so sute.  But he is so small.  We bring hima snack and water every time we go.  Today we brough some crayons and coloring books.  he really liked them.  He colored with us and was more relaxed today.  Today I think she is the assistant director ask Angelina how we were feeling and if we were disappointed.  She told her no and that we are very excited to adopt Liam.  Tomorrow is a big day.  We need to orphange director to fill out her papers and get them to the guardenship council by the afternoon so tha they can do their paper work.  Then Angleina will take an over night bus to Keiv to submit our paper work to the SDA.  Then they need to give the go ahead for the court hearing.  Then Angelna will be back on Thursday to get us a court date.  Please do whatever you do, pray, corss your fingers, meditate, sound out a vibe, sound out best wishes, whatever that all of this will happen.  If not it could be a long wait.  Also do the same for Jessica and Paul who are waiting for another appoitnemtn and have been told it could be two weeks.  We think of them every day.  Anyways time to go and my mom says i need to watch the spellign erros.  I told her to get over it I do not have a lot of time.  Thanks for everything.

It feels like ground hog day.  We do the same thing every day.  Tomorrow is a holiday so there will be no movment on getting a court date.  WE are hopeful to know something by the end of next week.  It will be good to get an actual time line.  Right now I feel like we are just suspended until things start to move.  It is still very hot here and I am sweating like crazy.  There is no air conditioning anywhere, so you just sweat.  Some times the resturants have air conditioning.  We are going to try a new resturant today.  I am excited about that.  We also found a children's store acrossed the street from our apartment.  We need to buy clothes and stuff for our new little guy.  Today Liam said three english words.  he can now say more, water, and bye bye.  he almost said cookie and yesterday he almost said banana.  We are making progress.  hye is happy to see us when we get there and is ok when the time is up.  I am hoping that he realizes that we are coming back each day.  It is hard to leave him, as I would just like to to take him home.  Adrian thinks he is so cute.  The play together and he really like Adrian.  Adrian is ahppy to come to the internet cafe so that he can go on redsox.com.  We are up 11.5 games tot he Yankees.  Sorry Nathan.  Go Sox.  We miss everyone at home and yesterday I was just pictureing our house.  We have been gone just over a week.  We will make it.  My mom and EStella are leaving a week from today to head back to the states.  Hopefully we will know when we will be following them back before they leave.  We are going to miss EStella so much, but it will be hard to have her here without my mom.  I just wish my mom could  stay here with us the whole time.  Well I better get going.  I still have not figured out how to hook my camera up at the internet cafe.  i tried yesterday but it did not work.  I need wireless internet access so I can do it on my own computer.  Maybe we will find some.  if not you all will have to wait for pictures until we get back.  Do not worry we are taking lots.  Bye

Estella met her brother for the frist time yesterday.  They are about the exact sam size, excpect he is thinner that her.  I did not think that was possible.  They were very cute together and very entergetic.  The ran into each other and both feel down twice.  Adrian and I were tired after chasing them both around for about an hour.  My mom met him for the first time as well and she just thought he was so cute.  He let her hold hima couple of times.  It was so cute.  Things are going well so far.  Hopefully by the end of next week we will have a better time frame.  Estella has been good and she keeps saying lets go get my brother.  It is so cute.  We got air conditioning in our apartment yesterday so that made for a better nights sleep for everyone.  Estella has been taking a nap form 5:30 to 7:30 and then going back to bed around 11.  So she is a little off.  This morning Adrian and I went to visit "Liam" by ourselves.  We have no water today so we are feeling alittle gross since it is as hot as hell here.  "Liam" was talking much more today.  We heard him coming.  Our facilitator said he was counting one two one two up the stairs.  He was running around all over the playroom, which is so stuffy and hot.  We are taking water with us every where.  Now we have my mom and EStella wth us and we are going to go put minutes on our cell phone and get some lunch.  Talk to you all soon.

Sarah

We met with a little three year old boy yesterday.  He is very cute and very small.  He is a little lighter than Estealla and about the same height.  They will be quite the petite pair.  He is opening up slowly to us.  He is very shy.  He has only said hi and bye to us.  Adrian has been great playing with him and we have brought him some snacks and he really like that.  We could not believe when they brought him in how cute and small he was.  Today when we went to leave he was holding on to Adrian's finger so tight and he would not let go.  It was so cute.  he wanted to stay with us.  At first he was nervous around Adrian, because they do not see Men that often.  Now he is all about adiran.  He would only hold his hand and put up a protest when they were trying to take him from Adrian.  he also has quite the throwing arm.  Which we saw today, as he was throwing balls all over the play room today.  This afternoon will be the first meeting between brother and sister.  We are very excited.  We think Estella will help him to open up.  he is a follower they said and we said that is ok since we already have a leader.  They are seven months apart.  They will be quite the pair.  We can't wait to get him home.  We wish we could take him home today and start feeding him and teaching him English.  Our apartment is very nice and the region we are in it is very easy to get anything we need and good food.  Well we have to get going.  Keep the comments coming I love it.

We had our appointment today.  The people at the SDA were very nice.  They only showed us two profiles.  We were a little disappointed that they did not show us more.  We decided on excepting a referal from a little boy who is 3.  So we are probably only going to get one which is fine with us.  We will be leaving at 3:30 in the morning to head to his region which is Kirovohrad.  We will be taking a car there.  It  is about a 4 hour drive.  We are excited and nervous at the same time.  We really hope that things will work out.  We meet with our facilitator Angelina today.  It has been great to have her hear.  We are feelign mroe relaxed.  We have met three families since we have been here.  They have all been great.  I know they are reading our blog so I want to wish them all well and thank them for the time we have spent with them.  We had dinner with Laura and Rob the first night we were here and that was great.  They have headed out to there region.  Good luck to them.  We had dinner with Mary and Jim last night.  We had a great time.  This is their thrid trip so they know their way around.  So we got a lot of good information from them.  They have an appointment today.  Good luck to them as well.   Well we have to get going.  Sorry there was no way to post pcitures yet.  We will as soon as we can.  We miss you all so much. 

Sarah, Adrian, Estella, and Annette

Well we are all feeling a little better today.  We headed out around our usual time noon.  We are still adjusting to the time change.  All of us got up around 9:30 and Estella sleeped for 13 hours.  We got a call today that our appointment is at 100 tomorrow morning.  Angelina our facilitator will be at our apartment around 9.  We are going to have to get up early.  At home 9 would be a welcome and easy time to meet. but here we have not gotten up befreo 9:30.  We will have to set the alarm and take showers in the evening.  We are suposse to meet up with another family tonight.  That will be nice.  They have been here before.  It is super hot today and Adrian only brought one pair of shorts, I told him t bring two.  We have a washer in our apartment, so I will do some laundry tonight or tomorrow.  I guess dryers are a luxury over here.  Good thing we brough our clothes line and clothes pins.  We have onlu eaten at mcdonalds and TGIFridays.  We are a little nervous to venture out, especially because we need to find something that Estella can eat as well.  We spoke with both of our families yesterday.  Seems like everyone is doing good.  Well I have not figured out how we are going to add the pictures, as I do nto see a USB port to plug into.  Hopefully we will figure it out.  We will write tomorrow after our appointment.  Hopefully with some good news.  Wish us luck and we miss all of you.

 

We got her on Sunday.  What a trip.  Estella was really good on the plane.  When we got to Ukraine it was 4 am our time.  She was grouchy with good reason.  She cried through most of customs.  Which was a long process.  She was better once we got in the car and headed to our apartment.  Our apartment is nice.  It is very big and it has air conditioning.  Which is a good thing.  It is so hot here.  They are having a heat wave.  Well things have been a little hard, as we do not speak the langauge and there is so many unknowns.  Starting to wonder what we are doing, had a melt down myself last nigth.  I feel better today, as we have gotten some sleep and took showers.  And yes we have hot water.  We have our appointment on Wed.  We now know where the internet cafe is.  We will try tyo post again soon.  Thanks for all of the support.  We are feeling overwhlemed, but I think we will make it.  Estella is being quite the trouper.  Miss you all.

Sarah, Adrian, Annette, and Estella

Today I decided to start our adoption blog.  We have just sent our second dossier to the Ukraine and are hopeful that we will get some information soon about when we will be able to adopt.  We are hoping for one or two boys under the age of five.  We have one biological duaghter who is two and we are looking for an older brother(s) for her.  The journey so far has been long as the Ukraine shut down for adoption and we just missed getting our dossier in before it shut down.  Then we had to redo everything, as all of our paperwork was going to expire in March and under the new guidelines all documents had to be valid for at least six months from submission (Jan 07, we hope).  So the next few months are filled with excitment, anticipation, and nervousness, as we wait for the news that we will be able to expand our family.  So I welcome anyone who would like to tag along on our journey through international adoption.